• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Once Stolen by D.N. Bryn | ARC Review

    27th July 2021
    Cover of Once Stolen (D.N. Bryn)

    Once Stolen (These Treacherous Tides) by D.N. Bryn

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This is the first novel I’ve read by Bryn, and I most definitely will be reading more of their future works.

    Bittersweet Earth (he/him, autistic, m-spec, boiuna) only cares about ignits, powerful magical stones that contains energy (think batteries, but cooler). When he saves Thais (she/her, nonbinary, human) from a boat, he only has eyes for Thais’ enormous ignit stash from her mother. But as the pair go through an adventure of reaching the ignits, Bittersweet Earth—or Cacao, as Thais calls him—realizes there is more to the world than precious stone, namely, friendship, trust, home, and maybe even love.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers | ARC Review

    13th July 2021

    A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This is so cute and it makes me so happy! Sibling Dex (29, agender, they/them) and Splendid Speckled Mosscap (agender, it/its) are the only travel duo I need, aka the burnt-out cleric and the impossibly inquisitive robot.

    This novella reads like a prequel as we are introduced to the world Panga, a moon of planet Motan, as well as the human religion Sacred Six (Parent Gods: Bosh, God of the Cycle, Grylon, God of the Inanimate, Trikilli, God of the Threads; Child Gods: Samafar, Chal, Allalae). Chambers’ writing is very descriptive, and the world comes to life as Sibling Dex starts out as a garden monk, switches vocation to a tea monk, and decides to take a break altogether and embark on a journey to Hart’s Brow Mountain outside of human settlement.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    There’s Magic Between Us by Jillian Maria | ARC Review

    6th July 2021
    Cover of There’s Magic Between Us (Jillian Maria)

    There’s Magic Between Us by Jillian Maria

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    God forbid anyone assumes I’m heterosexual.

    Fiery pansexual disaster with too much energy! Magical woods! Faeries!

    Lydia Barnes (16, pansexual) spends a week with her grandmother at Fairbrooke. Her mother hates the town and the townspeople hate her. But Lydia’s grandmother is nice and there is a forest nearby that everyone tells her to avoid. So what will Lydia find if she set foot in the woods when her grandmother naps? Eden Yu (16, Chinese American) and lots of secrets.

    It’s been a while since I had so much fun with a new read, but I did up my rating a bit just because I would have loved it even more had I been ten years younger, which is in the range of the targeted audience. I love Lydia, this prickly teen who would probably bite all her enemies. She has unbounded energy and will be quick to scale a wall when she can. The love interest Eden is more of a mysterious character. Who is this girl in the woods? Why is she trying to find those wood pieces?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu | ARC Review

    15th June 2021
    Cover of The Tangleroot Palace (Marjorie Liu)

    The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    The Tangleroot Palace contains six short stories (“Sympathy for the Bones,” “The Briar and the Rose,” “Call Her Savage,” “The Last Dignity of Man,” “Where the Heart Lives,” “After the Blood”) and one novella (“Tangleroot Palace”), all of which are fantasy with hints of horror and gorgeously written. At the end of each story, there is also brief commentary by Liu, providing some background and thematic connections between the stories.

    I adore the writing, which flowed beautifully, and I love how effortlessly detailed each sentence is. Fantasy short stories are extremely difficult to pull off, given the need to provide enough world building and plot within the limited word count, and Liu delivered not one but six satisfying stories.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston | ALC Review

    1st June 2021
    Audiobook cover of One Last Stop (Casey McQuiston)

    One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, read by Natalie Naudus

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

    tl;dr: 23yo disaster bi + 24yo chinese american displaced from the 1970s; a lot of chaotic, mostly queer 20-somethings in nyc

    One Last Stop is pure joy. CMQ has crafted a beautiful romance with a full cast of the loveliest characters ever existed. It is a perfect story of love, found family, connecting to one’s heritage, and finding oneself.

    August Landry (23, bisexual) grew up trying to solve the missing person mystery of her uncle with her mom. At 23, she moves to NYC for college, hoping to finally find a home, only to end up in a sketchy apartment. But soon, she finds out that her roommates are incredibly friendly. Automatic friends. When she meets Jane Su (24, Chinese American) on the Q train her first day of school, she couldn’t get the friendly hot butch in a leather jacket and ripped jeans out of her head. And when she finds out Jane is stuck on the subway without much memory of her past, August decides to help Jane piece out the mystery and maybe send her back to the 1970s. But as they spend more time together, August isn’t sure she wants Jane to disappear in time again.

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