• 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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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson | ARC Review

    26th April 2021
    Cover of A Dowry of Blood (S.T. Gibson)

    A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: blood, death, bones, gore, murder, loss of family, burning, plague, war, manipulation, emotional abuse, depression, sexism, cutting, confinement, isolation

    What is it like to be in a relationship with the same vampire for centuries?

    A Dowry of Blood read almost epistolarily, perhaps a nod to the original Dracula story. The book opens with “you” (think Dracula, but never named) bleeding to death, seemingly killed by the first-person character Constanta. Divided into three parts, each part tells the history of where “you” find each new lover—Constanta, Magdalena, Alexi—over the last few centuries.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga by SJ Whitby | ARC Review

    19th December 2020
    Cover of Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga (SJ Whitby)

    Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga (Cute Mutants Vol 3) by SJ Whitby

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This review contains minor spoilers to Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride and Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer.

    Content warnings: hate crime against LGBTQ+ people, homophobia/homomisia, trans/non-binary discrimination, misgendering, murder, death, gore, outing, religious extremism/cult, brainwash/mind control, gunshot wounds, bombing, fire, dismembering, mention of conversion therapy

    If you haven’t heard me scream about how much joy the previous two books have brought me, please check out my reviews for Vol 1 (here) and Vol 2 (here).

    This third installment of the series is way heavier than the first two. While the previous books were mostly happy and warm, Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga certainly took a darker turn and I am left worried, in shock, and wanting more upon finishing. I feel like a restless parent or older sibling concerned about these teens, and Cute Mutants Vol 4: The Sisterhood of Evil Mutants cannot come fast enough. As the powers of the Cute Mutants grow, their world becomes darker and more shady organizations are coming after them. Everything escalates quicker and turns more dangerous and deadly.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer by SJ Whitby | ARC Review

    15th December 2020
    Cover of Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer (SJ Whitby)

    Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer (Cute Mutants Vol 2) by SJ Whitby

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This review contains minor spoilers to Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride.

    Content warnings: kidnapping, self injury, dismembering, reference to HP series, acid attack, misgendering, homophobia, death, death of prominent character, murder, blood, gore, forced hospitalization, forced captivity, nonconsensual medical experiment, mind control, manipulation/threats, talking people into suicide, mention of deceased family member, off-page amputation

    Do you ever feel like there is something missing in your life, like, maybe an ancient, noble Japanese sword who is by your side at all times? Even if you didn’t, I’m sure you do now. In this sequel of Cute Mutants, you can live vicariously through the mutants and see Onimaru “Oni” Kunitsuna (鬼丸國綱) work his magic.

    At the end of Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride (my review here), Yaxley Corporation coerced the Cute Mutants into joining their training programs. Since we all know that powerful corporates and the government are often shady and cannot be trusted, nothing goes smoothly as the gang struggles to do what is truly right under Yaxley’s incessant tracking and fights fiercely to keep each other safe and alive.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Other Women by Erin Zak | ARC Review

    23rd October 2020
    Cover of The Other Women (Erin Zak)

    The Other Women by Erin Zak

    Content warnings: infidelity, mention of miscarriage, gambling addiction, mention of drugs, mention of past car accident scene, mention of parental loss, uses of ableist language

    This book is heavy on infidelity but light-hearted. The flirty interactions between these two other women are cute and them entering a friendship without expectations makes the story relatively low drama.

    Francesca Lopez (31, Latina, bi+) is recently dumped by Willow Carmichael (lesbian), who declared she was in love with a married woman elsewhere. Cecily Yates (bisexual), who has been with Willow for four years, and her husband Luke are separating. When Willow dumped her, too, while Cecily is on a business trip, Cecily meets bartender Francesca. The pair decides to spend the rest of Cecily’s trip together for an unforgettable weekend, not knowing about the woman they once shared.

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