• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    HEAT WAVE by TJ Klune | ARC Review

    20th August 2023
    Cover of Heat Wave (TJ Klune)

    HEAT WAVE (The Extraordinaries #3) by TJ Klune

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    I started reading Heat Wave some time last summer and got stuck about a third into the book when I ran into elements of mind control. This is primarily a personal preference, but I have to admit that mind control is one of the things I’d rather not read about.

    The first two books of The Extraordinaries trilogy (The Extraordinaries & Flash Fire) were such a fun and wild ride as we follow Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz along their adventure. I love these precious babies! If you also love fierce, disaster queer teens, you’d especially love the epilogue of this series like I did.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    FLASH FIRE by TJ Klune | ARC Review

    13th August 2023
    Cover of Flash Fire (TJ Klune)

    FLASH FIRE (The Extraordinaries #2) by TJ Klune

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This review contains MAJOR spoilers (in spoiler tags) for The Extraordinaries (book 1). There are no spoilers for this sequel.

    Cute Mutants meets One Last Stop (kind of) but achillean.

    First and foremost, I love how queer this book is! There are mentions of different gay cultures, discussions of safe sex, etc. It is written by a queer author for queer teens. Also, I love the friend group so much! The ever chaotic Nick (17, gay, ADHD), his hot boyfriend Seth (17, bisexual), Jazz (17), and Gibby (18, lesbian). I also love some new Extraordinaries, especially the drag queen Miss Conduct. She brings having super powers as an analogy for being queer to the next level.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS by Cat Sebastian | ARC Review

    15th November 2022
    Cover for Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian

    DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS (The Cabots #2) by Cat Sebastian

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    genre   : historical romance (achillean romance series)
    MCs     : 26yo cis white m-spec man + 30yo neurodivergent cis white gay man
    POV     : dual 3rd-person
    location: New York City, NY, USA (1973)
    indie?  : yes

    This is my first Sebastian book, so no, you don’t have to read the first book or prequel of the series to read Daniel Cabot, but it might help you recognize some of the characters that took me several paragraphs to identify.

    Set in New York City, 1973, Daniel Cabot (26, m-spec) and Alex Savchenko (30, gay, Ukrainian) have been best friends since Alex stumbled upon a post-fight Daniel one and a half years ago. Daniel is charming, fun-loving, and enjoys breaking up abandoned empty lots in the city for gardening. Alex is a pediatrician, dedicated to make healthcare most affordable for his patients (the sliding-scale pediatrics clinic he opened with fellow pediatrician Mary), and doesn’t like to be out and about like Daniel does. The two of them are inseparable: Daniel brings lunch to Alex, and Alex makes sure Daniel takes care of himself. Everyone else around them seems to think they’re boyfriends, but oh no, they are definitely not, nor are they in love with each other. Nope.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    BOYS, BEASTS & MEN by Sam J. Miller | ARC Review

    14th June 2022
    Cover of Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J. Miller

    BOYS, BEASTS & MEN by Sam J. Miller, introduction by Amal El-Mohtar

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    If light horror speculative fiction is your jam, Boys, Beasts & Men should be on your TBR.

    There are 15 stories (not including the interstitials) in this collection. The majority of them shared themes of family tension with young gay boys where the parents go to great lengths to fix their relationships, anger and/or injustice manifested as physical forms, AIDS, etc.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    BLAINE FOR THE WIN by Robbie Couch | ARC Review

    12th April 2022
    Illustrated cover of Blaine for the Win (Robbie Couch).

    BLAINE FOR THE WIN by Robbie Couch

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    I couldn’t put down Blaine for the Win and finished it in two sittings. The vibe of it reminds me of TJ Klune’s The Extraordinaries (my review) but without superpowers.

    Blaine Bowers (~16, achillean) cannot believe he got dumped by Joey Oliver (gay). On their one-year anniversary. At the fanciest restaurant ever. Joey said he didn’t want to date the mural painter who isn’t the kind of Serious Guy he needs to become President of the United States one day. Blaine will win him back by showing that he can ditch his mural painting gigs and be serious… by signing up to run for senior class president? Enlisting the help of his best friends Trish MacIntosh (sapphic, Black) and Camilla (sapphic) as well as the not-friend-only-acquaintance Danny Nguyen (bi, Vietnamese American) for an insider perspective from the student council, Blaine is ready to prove himself to be worthy of Joey. As the race kicks off, is winning Joey back still going to be Blaine’s goal?

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