The Dalton twins are so close they almost can’t exist apart from one another. One has a hangover, the other has a How close are you to your siblings?
The Dalton twins are so close they almost can’t exist apart from one another. One has a hangover, the other has a sympathy hangover. One’s depressed, the other feels it too. They know one another so well they can pretend to be one another; point in fact, they’ve been getting away with this very thing since middle school. Or, they were until Benny Dalton went and fell in love during the fall semester. Now it’s spring and Emmett Dalton is starting to feel like a frayed thread. He’s lonely, kind of lost, and can’t sustain pretending to be his twin anymore. He’s too full of secrets, even ones his twin doesn’t know.
We first met Emmett Dalton (in Franklin U 2) back in the second book, Saxon James’ A Stealthy Situation, with Emmett being the one to take Benny’s statistics classes for him since Benny isn’t good at math. While Benny was swooning over their classmate Harrison, it turns out Emmett was swooning over someone too: their stats professor, Jonah.
Twincerely Yours offers up a lot of great tropes, including some of my favorites:
How well do you remember your childhood? Are you sure you’re remembering it correctly?
Lenny Marks is alive, but she’s not living. She’d be fine with How well do you remember your childhood? Are you sure you’re remembering it correctly?
Lenny Marks is alive, but she’s not living. She’d be fine with that if it weren’t for the fact she knows it makes her mom (well, her former foster mom but the closest thing to a mom she’s had in a long time) upset if she doesn’t at least try and engage with the world around her. If Lenny had it her way she’d keep to her strict routines and schedules, never letting anyone get too close to her or know anything much about her. It’s safer that way. No one can abandon you if you don’t let them in, after all.
The themes of abuse, abandonment, fear, anger, loneliness, and loss are all at the heart of Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder. If you think this book is lighthearted at all, be forewarned it’s not. I cried more than once. My eyes are unhappy with me.
Debut author Kerryn Mayne has written a book with an extraordinary protagonist who will rip your heart out from your chest, break it, then repair it before placing it back inside and stitching you back up all shiny and new. Lenny Marks is written as a neurodivergent character who also has a large issue with dissociation surrounding a traumatic event from her childhood. Lenny’s type of neurodivergency isn’t explored or explicitly stated, but Mayne did a terrific job of writing a neurodivergent character without coming across as precious or exploitative. If you don’t fall in love with Lenny I don’t know what kind of person you are, because Lenny is so easy to love. I think that’s why this book has been so widely lauded for breaking people’s hearts and making them cry. You just feel so much for Lenny and what she’s been through. And after all she’s been through, she’s still out there trying her best to survive and do right when so many people who should know better choose to do wrong.
The pacing of this book is lovely, with a natural progression and no filler. Mayne’s writing style is sharp and insightful, with a dark sense of humor and a deep well of emotion. Her characters are well-drawn and her plotting is clear and well-rounded. The dialogue in this book is a delight and one of its best features.
This is definitely women’s fiction, but it’s definitely on the lit fic side of women’s fiction. It’s women’s fiction because the book deals with, in a large amount, issues that widely affect women and their children. The take on these issues is more on the darkly humorous side, which I always enjoy. If you love a tale that ultimately results in revenge, then you’ll end up loving this.
TW for child abuse TW for mild animal abuse (one scene) TW for violence TW for child death TW for domestic abuse
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Dark Comedy/Disability Rep/Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction...more
The first book in this series, House of Omega, was one of my top indie romance of 2023 and remains one of my favorite omegaverse novels. Roxy Collins The first book in this series, House of Omega, was one of my top indie romance of 2023 and remains one of my favorite omegaverse novels. Roxy Collins is also one of my favorite omegaverse authors. So of course I was going to want to read The Alpha Club. I wasn’t going to miss it.
Thankfully, Roxy delivered a great novel about Jasmine, the omega who was resigned to having to bond to Grace’s psychotic stepbrother Kayden from the first book. In House of Omega, every time Grace tried to help Jasmine escape Kayden, the omega reluctantly told Grace she was staying where she was. Did Jasmine have good reasons for staying with Kayden? Yeah. She also had a plan. But you make plans and the universe laughs. Especially in romance novels.
This book has so many things I consider to be some of my top-tier omegaverse tropes: two omegas who are involved with one another, some serious spice, why choose with LGBTQ content, disability representation, polyamory, and a twist on designation. The choice to write both omegas and one of the alphas as disabled (yes, I am counting mental illness) was something I didn’t know I needed but was very welcome. I like the acknowledgement that it’s not only omegas that can have issues, and I like that it’s not only one character that has issues.
I always love Roxy’s characters, spice, stories, and writing style. There was only one issue with this book, and that was the plotting. The first half was even, but the second half felt very rushed. I actually feel like the book could’ve been longer (I wouldn’t have minded at all) in order to give the characters and relationships more time to interact, integrate, and develop. In the end it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment all that much, but it did affect the overall quality. I love everything Roxy Collins writes and I’ll always read it, though. That hasn’t changed!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
There’s a huge thrill that comes with being a long-time fan of both Saxon James and Eden Finley and their “Sadenverse”, and that’s when you get blastsThere’s a huge thrill that comes with being a long-time fan of both Saxon James and Eden Finley and their “Sadenverse”, and that’s when you get blasts from the past as your new main characters and get to watch the new generation fall in love. In A Stealthy Situation we’re getting a call from the CU Hockey series in the form of Benny Dalton, one of the Chaos Twins from both Line Mates & Study Dates and Puck Drills & Quick Thrills (don’t worry, Emmett’s in here too).
The Chaos Twins fell out of love with hockey before they could be drafted and fled to California in order to get away from the pressure that had surrounded them all their lives. The pair of them still love to sow a little chaos, which is why they take great pains to make sure no one in San Diego knows the Dalton Twins exist. They each go to a different school, they keep their appearances identical, they dress similarly, and don’t go out in town at the same time. They rely on each other to get through anything and everything, which is why things start to go awry when Emmett is suddenly expelled from his university and takes to crashing on a mattress in Benny’s bedroom at the DIK frat house.
A Stealthy Situation is cute and sweet, with a great sense of humor to it. I love a good cinnamon roll and snark monster dynamic, and that’s exactly what Harrison and Benny have. Benny has a deliciously morbid sense of humor that I adore and insults being used as a love language is something I myself use on an everyday basis, so I can totally be book bffs with him.
I thought the supporting cast really came in clutch here for comic relief and emotional support, and I thought the disability rep was very well done.
I can’t wait for Twincerely Yours (which comes at the end of FU 2) so I can read Emmett’s story!
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Franklin University is back, and The Hook Up Mix-Up reminded me right away of how much I loved this series and how I wasn’t wrong to look forward to iFranklin University is back, and The Hook Up Mix-Up reminded me right away of how much I loved this series and how I wasn’t wrong to look forward to it returning this summer. The authors behind FU and FU 2 definitely saw the success that came with the first season of these books and understood the assignment: Take all of that, rewind it back, and build on this universe in an interconnected, tangential way.
Riley Hart decided to build The Hook Up Mix-Up on top of the foundation of her FU book from 2023, Playing Games (the story of Brax and Tyson, who feature heavily in this book). In Playing Games we were introduced to Perry, Tyson’s half-brother, who is one of the MMCs in this book. The other MMC is Theo, a student at Franklin U.
This is your pretty standard bi-awakening, friends-to-bed buddies-to-lovers plot, but that simply doesn’t matter one bit, no matter how much I’m almost always down to read those two tropes combined, because the thing that makes this book worth reading is THEO.
Can I just say Theo is so cute and sweet I wanted to reach into the book, drag him out, and adopt him? I was like that gif of Kristin Bell fawning over a sloth while reading this book the entire time. I almost spent the entire book wondering how anyone could possibly not fall in love with him (before I remembered not everyone loves a people pleaser and that being a people pleaser isn’t always the healthiest thing for your mental wellbeing).
It’s not like Perry is a slouch. It was funny watching how oblivious to how in his deep in his feels he was long before he actually realized it. The boy was done for long before he knew it and it was absolutely adorable to read.
This book does have its hot and spicy moments, but not as spicy as some other authors’ books in this series might end up being. I didn’t find that upsetting in this instance because I was too busy loving Theo and Perry and their burgeoning relationship. Definitely a stellar start to FU season.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Like the Taylor Swift song of the same name, How You Get the Girl is sweet, cute, lighthearted, and irresistible (to me, at least).
I absolutely adoreLike the Taylor Swift song of the same name, How You Get the Girl is sweet, cute, lighthearted, and irresistible (to me, at least).
I absolutely adored the first book in this series, 2022’s Love & Other Disasters (it’s on my shelf!). I didn’t like 2023’s Something Wild & Wonderful as much. I was worried about how I’d feel about this book but it turns out I shouldn’t have been because from the very start I fell in love with the amazing cast of characters and Anita Kelly’s absolutely hypnotizing dialogue and effortless storytelling.
This is a cute love story about a queer high school basketball coach who meets her childhood idol and crush via one of her players and somehow their lives slowly but surely become enmeshed via high schooler antics and interference, genuine care and concern for one another as human beings, holiday meet-ups, cats (just cats), “practice dates” (yeah, sure), and basketball (because of course).
The spice level is rather low but that’s absolutely fine because the chemistry and cuteness is off the charts. The romance is absolutely swoon-worthy because Julie and Elle are absolutely next-level sweet, sometimes clueless, and absolutely needed an intervention a time or two.
There is a lot to be said for mental health concerns and LGBTQIA+ rep in high school sports in this book too, and that was a great topic to see handled well. Kelly also tackles the topic of labels and identity and I thought the way it was written about in this book was not only intelligent but very moving.
This was another Anita Kelly winner. Loved it.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
While I was reading this ARC I really wished I could text Lark Taylor and playfully curse her out because my eyes were already red and swollen from crWhile I was reading this ARC I really wished I could text Lark Taylor and playfully curse her out because my eyes were already red and swollen from crying my eyes out over another romance novel today and had I known Red Haze was going to make me sob like a baby then I maybe would’ve waited a couple of more days to read it!
I’m obviously not mad about a book making me cry. In my opinion, art of any kind should make you feel. That’s the point of art: to elicit emotions. I knew from the start that Arlo and Jack’s story was going to be a sucker punch and that’s one of the reasons I was so excited for it. During the first two books in the Caffeine Daydreams series we’ve watched Arlo pine endlessly over Jack (pine like a pine forest, this boy) and watch Jack clueless act like a guard dog who has no clue he’s obsessed with his master (and Jack is such a good guard dog). So this was always going to be a tormented bodyguard romance, with all of that yummy push and pull, drawing lines only to cross them, miscommunications (for once deployed effectively in this book), and a whole lot of emotional detangling between what’s toxic love and what’s a healthy level of obsession with another human being when they’ve been your world for so long?
Of course, we’re pre-programmed to feel deeply for Arlo: Raised in grotty council estates to a neglectful and abusive family with only his talent with drums as a possible way out. Even then, once Caffeine Daydreams hits success, he’s deep in the hole emotionally and creatively. It’s being assigned Jack as a bodyguard when he’s 18 that finally starts to drag Arlo out of the pit. However, this book makes it very clear we should have also been curious about Jack’s state of mind in all of this too. Keep that in mind when you start to read this book, because in the ways that count this book is a slow burn. It’s HEA guaranteed, but it takes a long time for Arlo and Jack to find happiness.
I’m going to end this with lots of winks, nudges, and nods to Lark, for giving me so many giggles and snorts throughout this book for the easter eggs. I was curious if they’d be in here, and they were. I was delighted.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. No compensation was offered or accepted in exchange for this review. Thank you.
File Under: Age Gap Romance/Book Series/Contemporary Romance/Disability Rep/Forbidden Romance/Kindle Unlimited/LGBTQ Romance/MM Romance/Romance Series/Rockstar Romance/Spice Level 2
It’s time for another visit to Big Boned Bertha! This time, it’s Rush’s turn.
I adore the Accidental Love series. I consider it to be the perfect middlIt’s time for another visit to Big Boned Bertha! This time, it’s Rush’s turn.
I adore the Accidental Love series. I consider it to be the perfect middle road of Saxon James’ repertoire: More mature than Frat Wars but less mature than the Divorced Men’s Club, but just as spicy (or maybe spicy in a different way?) as Frat Wars but more spicy than the Divorced Men’s Club. Maybe it’s like this: Accidental Love has dirtier spicy scenes than Frat Wars but more maturity to it. It’s a perfect mix of filthy and adult for me.
The Revenge Agenda is a great read because it’s full of forbidden naughtiness:
A butthead’s ex-fiance / said butthead’s ex-side piece Boss / employee ADHD chaos adult / calm but concerned adult Bertha’s Boys plot revenge Everyone loves Rush (except the butthead) Filthy talk Office sex A ton of puns about ants Punches get thrown (not between MCs) Hunter’s coat gets stolen by Xander because it smells good
The cuteness of this book is only outmatched by the sheer chemistry between Rush and Hunter and the sexiness of the spice scenes. These two are scorchingly hot. The steam left me feeling some kind of way. From the first pages of the book I loved Hunter as a character, and that feeling only grew throughout the book. By the end I was sad it was over. That’s one of the hallmarks of a truly good romance–when you wish you could keep reading about the couple’s HEA.
I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. No compensation was offered or accepted in exchange for this review. Thank you.
This year I’ve felt like there was a time BSD (Before Stats Daddy) and ASD (After Stats Daddy). The era of ASD began on July 21st, 2023, when the firsThis year I’ve felt like there was a time BSD (Before Stats Daddy) and ASD (After Stats Daddy). The era of ASD began on July 21st, 2023, when the first book in this series, Too Safe, was released. Ever since Abby Millsaps unleashed the wicked and cunning Kylian (AKA Stats Daddy) on the world with the publication of the first book in the Boys of Lake Chapel book series, I’ve decided no other book boyfriend compares.
With the release of Too Far, the last in this trilogy, my opinion has not changed. I don’t care how much more Josephine got of Kendrick, Nicky, or even the great Decker Crusade himself. No. It is Stats Daddy who forever holds my heart and is still, in my mind, the true male star of Boys of Lake Chapel.
This review is as much for the whole series as it is for Too Far; but make no mistake, Too Far is a truly excellent novel and is the epitome of what a series conclusion should look like. It picks up almost exactly where Too Fast left off and keeps hurtling forward, barreling towards disaster. It’s obvious that all it will take is a single slip-up for the house of cards to fall down.
The first half of the book is suspenseful, heartbreaking, emotional, and frustrating (so, so frustrating). The second half of the book is swollen with emotion, angst, love, and lust. The epilogues made me cry. And cry. And cry. Heck, this whole book made my eyes leak water several times. I did not sob. You did.
The last epilogue was so touching to me. I didn’t cry, but I was deeply, deeply touched. I can’t express how much it meant to me which character was chosen for the last epilogue and what they said in it. My heart grew fifty million sizes.
If you haven’t picked up this series, I can’t express how much I recommend it. This is my book series of the year. If you know me, you must know how rare it is for me to pick a non-LGBTQ Why Choose romance series as my series of the year. I just can’t escape how deeply this series touched me nor how hot Stats Daddy made me. The charisma of the group as a whole cannot be denied. Congratulations, Abby Millsaps–You’re a genius.
All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. No compensation was provided for this review. Thank you.
I should begin by saying I might be a bit biased because Ava Reid is one of my auto-buy authors. I love everything she has written so far, and I lovedI should begin by saying I might be a bit biased because Ava Reid is one of my auto-buy authors. I love everything she has written so far, and I loved A Study in Drowning, too, even if my love for it is more complicated than the love I feel for, say, Juniper & Thorn.
I’ve seen numerous reviews from people who’ve said this book gives them all the “fall feelings”. Well, then I feel sorry for what you think fall is, because this book made me feel incredibly sad, heavy, and emotional. I felt as weighed down as all of Hireath (the Myrrdin family home mentioned in the book’s blurb) feels in all its waterlogged sorrow. (Interestingly enough, I know the word Hireath from its Welsh origins, and while there is no direct English translation, to the Welsh, it’s a feelings that mixes longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness or an earnest desire for what–or how–something used to be).
Wales plays more than one part in this story, as Emrys Myrddin was the name of Merlin, King Arthur’s court magician, in the oldest known Welsh texts. Sadly, in those old texts, Merlin was just as atrocious a figure as Emrys is in this book, in the worst of ways. Also, notably, A woman named Angharad James was quite a notable poet in Wales from the mid 17th to mid 18th century. Both her son and husband died before her, and she wrote a beautiful elegy for her son. The manuscript survived and you can find it online.
I think my complicated feelings with this book begin with how much I identify with Effy, our female protagonist. It’s in her struggles to be taken seriously in academia, her mental illness issues, and her trauma. (BTW, here is a good place to suggest that you look up a list of TW/CWs before you read this book, if you’re the type of person who wants to know what they’re getting into before they start a darker book). For Effy, books have been her only friends and her only escape for her whole life, and I feel that sentiment in my bones. Books never leave like people do. Books never die. Books never physically harm you. Books are reliable, a portal out of here. And Effy, well, Effy has needed something to rely on her whole life because she’s had no one else to rely on. The only problem is she ended up relying on a single book to hold onto everything for her.
This book has a lot to say about misogyny, r@pe culture, victim blaming, grooming, the theft of women’s intellectual property for the sake of putting a man’s name on the work, prejudice against women in academia, philosophies behind what you believe and what you know, unwanted children, folklore, mythology, the younger generation changing the power structures, and more.
But what I find I enjoy more than anything when I read an Ava Reid book is the writing itself. The prose. The atmosphere. The imagery. The sentence structure. The way you can almost smell the sea, feel the ocean spray, shiver in the cold, smell the damp, feel the wood flooring bow beneath your feet, see the termite holes in the baseboards. Her books are immersive and evocative. You can feel the heavy doors and freezing water. You can see the trees flying through the air and the curving roads. And this is why I can’t help but love Ava Reid: her writing, just pure and undiluted, is magical all on its own.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/College Romance/Dark Academia/Dark Fantasy/Disability Rep/Romantasy/Gothic/Standalone Novel/Spice Level 1/Women’s Fiction/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance
Merged review:
I should begin by saying I might be a bit biased because Ava Reid is one of my auto-buy authors. I love everything she has written so far, and I loved A Study in Drowning, too, even if my love for it is more complicated than the love I feel for, say, Juniper & Thorn.
I’ve seen numerous reviews from people who’ve said this book gives them all the “fall feelings”. Well, then I feel sorry for what you think fall is, because this book made me feel incredibly sad, heavy, and emotional. I felt as weighed down as all of Hireath (the Myrrdin family home mentioned in the book’s blurb) feels in all its waterlogged sorrow. (Interestingly enough, I know the word Hireath from its Welsh origins, and while there is no direct English translation, to the Welsh, it’s a feelings that mixes longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness or an earnest desire for what–or how–something used to be).
Wales plays more than one part in this story, as Emrys Myrddin was the name of Merlin, King Arthur’s court magician, in the oldest known Welsh texts. Sadly, in those old texts, Merlin was just as atrocious a figure as Emrys is in this book, in the worst of ways. Also, notably, A woman named Angharad James was quite a notable poet in Wales from the mid 17th to mid 18th century. Both her son and husband died before her, and she wrote a beautiful elegy for her son. The manuscript survived and you can find it online.
I think my complicated feelings with this book begin with how much I identify with Effy, our female protagonist. It’s in her struggles to be taken seriously in academia, her mental illness issues, and her trauma. (BTW, here is a good place to suggest that you look up a list of TW/CWs before you read this book, if you’re the type of person who wants to know what they’re getting into before they start a darker book). For Effy, books have been her only friends and her only escape for her whole life, and I feel that sentiment in my bones. Books never leave like people do. Books never die. Books never physically harm you. Books are reliable, a portal out of here. And Effy, well, Effy has needed something to rely on her whole life because she’s had no one else to rely on. The only problem is she ended up relying on a single book to hold onto everything for her.
This book has a lot to say about misogyny, r@pe culture, victim blaming, grooming, the theft of women’s intellectual property for the sake of putting a man’s name on the work, prejudice against women in academia, philosophies behind what you believe and what you know, unwanted children, folklore, mythology, the younger generation changing the power structures, and more.
But what I find I enjoy more than anything when I read an Ava Reid book is the writing itself. The prose. The atmosphere. The imagery. The sentence structure. The way you can almost smell the sea, feel the ocean spray, shiver in the cold, smell the damp, feel the wood flooring bow beneath your feet, see the termite holes in the baseboards. Her books are immersive and evocative. You can feel the heavy doors and freezing water. You can see the trees flying through the air and the curving roads. And this is why I can’t help but love Ava Reid: her writing, just pure and undiluted, is magical all on its own.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/College Romance/Dark Academia/Dark Fantasy/Disability Rep/Romantasy/Gothic/Standalone Novel/Spice Level 1/Women’s Fiction/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance...more
I’m among the few that didn’t really enjoy What Moves the Dead that much when it was released. I found it to be underwhelming when I reviewed it, but I’m among the few that didn’t really enjoy What Moves the Dead that much when it was released. I found it to be underwhelming when I reviewed it, but I like Kingfisher so much I decided to read the sequel anyway and I’m glad I did because I loved What Feasts at Night so much better than What Moves the Dead.
I think what threw me off with What Moves the Dead was the inevitable comparison with Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. I just couldn’t let it go and I think that may have compromised my ability to enjoy that story. With What Feasts at Night, we’re removed from the Usher household and on a new journey with Alex Easton. There’s no prior story association for me to be hung up on and so I got to enjoy this story just as it’s presented.
What I loved the most about this book was the dry witticism of Alex Easton. Alex’s voice is strong and clear and so funny to me. I laughed so many times reading this book because my sense of humor is skewed much the same way. Alex is a genuine character and one I loved reading. I could read an entire novel in Alex’s voice, but if Kingfisher wants to keep writing novellas featuring Alex Easton in creepy gothic occult horrors then I’ll totally keep reading them just to laugh the way this book made me laugh.
It was lovely to see the esteemed Miss Potter and the besotted Angus again, as well as meeting new supporting characters that made for a colorful and entertaining cast.
The world building and story in this installment were so much more my speed this time around. Some nice moth core (it’s a thing) aesthetics, nightmare lore, superstitions, folk treatments, and musings on PTSD. It’s well-constructed, even if I felt the writing could’ve been better in a few places. The imagery was top-tier though.
It’s a great sequel to What Moves the Dead. I totally recommend it.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
The Silence in Her Eyes is a thriller novel with a female protagonist that has a visual impairment casually known as motion blindness. She can’t see mThe Silence in Her Eyes is a thriller novel with a female protagonist that has a visual impairment casually known as motion blindness. She can’t see movement. She can only see things that stay still. Think of her eyes as a camera shutter.
While this makes for one heck of an interesting approach to a thriller novel, it’s a shame author Armando Lucas Correa (making his thriller debut) isn’t a more practiced thriller author. If he were, this novel might have been heaps better than it was. In its current incarnation, it was rather boring.
For a very short book (272 pages), I expected a great deal of suspense hemmed in by a brisk pace, an economy of words, and a completely tense atmosphere. Instead, this book feels uneven. It feels like this book solely exists so the author could write the ending (which is one heck of an ending, but still).
A book should feel like a journey. Instead, what we have here is an author’s first attempt at thrills and chills where it seems like there were two salient parts that had to be in place and then the author just wrote everything else around it.
You might like it. I feel like it’s going to be one of those books where it’ll depend on the reader. But it wasn’t for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the rating of 3 stars or under this review will not be appearing on social media. Thank you....more
Magical realism takes fantastical events and portrays them in a realistic tone. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t agree with categorizing The PaMagical realism takes fantastical events and portrays them in a realistic tone. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t agree with categorizing The Parliament as a fantasy novel like it’s being marketed. Because this isn’t a fantasy novel, dark or otherwise. This is a magical realism novel, first and foremost, with philosophically dark themes and horror tropes.
It was everything I hoped for from Aimee Potwatka’s second novel: The prose soared, I sobbed, I felt all the feelings, and I was completely swept away by this incredibly immersive story.
Calling this book “The Birds meets The Princess Bride” (as it states in the marketing material) is a gross oversimplification and absolutely does this book no justice. In mythology, owls symbolize everything from evil omens to talismans of wisdom. In fantasy, a parliament of owls has been used more than once as an unbiased council of judgment. In real life, they are beautiful and peaceful by day but chaotic and bloodthirsty by night.
“In the night, when the owl is less than exquisitely swift and perfect, the scream of the rabbit is terrible. But the scream of the owl, which is not of pain and hopelessness and the fear of being plucked out of the world, but of the sheer rollicking glory of the death-bringer, is more terrible still. When I hear it resounding through the woods, and then the five black pellets of its song dropping like stones into the air, I know I am standing at the edge of the mystery, in which terror is naturally and abundantly part of life, part of even the most becalmed, intelligent, sunny life—as, for example, my own. The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too. There is only one world.” - Mary Oliver
I chose to view the titular parliament as a combination of that fantastical body of judgment and symbols of the underworld. It seems to best fit the themes of this book: grief, regret, anger, violence, abandonment, desolation, loneliness, helplessness, and trauma. Of losing your voice, not having a voice, fighting to have a voice, regaining your voice, and what comes after regaining your voice. Of flight, fight, and freeze. Of responsibility, fault, and blame. About sacrifice.
Aimee Potwatka delivers an amazingly complicated novel containing hugely emotional themes with a deft hand and sweeping prose that carries you away. You’ll feel drawn in and ensconced with these characters as they contemplate how to escape their judgment and survive the parliament of owls.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Disability Rep/Horror/Literary Fiction/Magical Realism ...more
I really wanted to love this book because magical realism and speculative fiction are my favorite genres and because the plot sounded somewhat akin toI really wanted to love this book because magical realism and speculative fiction are my favorite genres and because the plot sounded somewhat akin to one of my favorite reads of 2022, Self-Portrait with Nothing. I was so grateful when Mulholland Books reached out to me and asked if I’d like a copy.
Sadly, there was more of the book I didn’t like than I did. The issue wasn’t with Lauren Beukes’ writing, because I enjoy her writing style–especially her talent for realistic and snarky dialogue. The issue also wasn’t with the plot, because that was why I was so interested in the book in the first place. My problem was with the multiple-POVs, the different storytelling styles (sometimes there are journal entries, sometimes there are letters, sometimes there are medical records, etc), and with the fact that we also have to deal with our characters jumping into different realities and becoming different people. It’s just so…crowded. Add in sections told from Bridge’s mom’s first-person POV in the past, and I just got so tired of all the voices when in truth I was only enjoying the entries from either Bridge or Dom’s (Bridge’s bestie) POV. Everyone else was just noise. I wanted the signal.
It’s a shame. Maybe I’ll come back to it another time when I feel like I have more patience to put up with it, but right now I just felt like this book was too many cooks in the dreamworm kitchen.
I was provided a physical copy of the uncorrected proof of this title by the author and Mulholland Book’s influencer program. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. ...more
This book was amazingly diverse in so many ways: Native American representation, socioeconomic representation, ethnic representation, mental health reThis book was amazingly diverse in so many ways: Native American representation, socioeconomic representation, ethnic representation, mental health representation (I’ll get back to that), and so much LGBTQIA+ representation I was absolutely giddy for the queerness of it all.
I only have one huge gripe with this book: Did it have to be so predictable? That’s what lost this book a star. Well, that and the fact that I didn’t love the book enough to need it on my own bookshelves.
Don’t get me wrong: I truly enjoyed the book. I was hooked on it from the beginning and engaged from start to finish (in spite of the predictability). The story is compelling, especially with the added diversity and representation angles that aren’t simply thrown in for the sake of marketing appeal. Edgmon is definitely using fantasy’s ability to comment on sociopolitical and sociocultural issues to full potential with this book and I was living for all of it.
I can’t tell anyone reading this or the author in the length of a book review how much the mental health representation in this book meant to me. I may be cisgender, but Gem’s mental health struggles in some ways feel so much like the ones I’ve dealt with my whole life as a bipolar and having BPD. That feeling of needing to do whatever I can to keep people’s love, attention, and to keep myself safe. That feeling of sometimes not knowing if you’re real (I call it “my meat suit doesn’t feel right”), saying things you don’t mean, acting out even though you don’t even want to and then having to face the aftermath of your destruction once the episode passes? Yeah. I’ve been there. When I was a teenager I would’ve given anything for a book like this to identify with. I’m glad teenagers today have books like these to identify with.
So even though this may not be something I want to live on my bookshelves, I highly recommend it to all of you. Please, go read it. It’s everything diverse and important fantasy needs.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was written without compensation. Thank you.
File Under: Book Series/Coming of Age/Disability Rep/Fantasy/Romantasy/Fantasy Series/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/OwnVoices/Psychological Fiction/Supernatural Fantasy/Urban Fantasy/YA Fantasy/YA Romantasy ...more
Fantastic concept. Great imagery. Creepy baby. Great antagonists.
I just wish it hadn’t been predictable and, well, boring. Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Fantastic concept. Great imagery. Creepy baby. Great antagonists.
I just wish it hadn’t been predictable and, well, boring. For a book that had the potential to terrify the absolute crud out of me and make me hang on to every page or even every sentence, this book was remarkably dull.
My problem is solely with the two parents in this story: Reid and Ana. It’s in their predictability as characters and as tropes. I found myself two or even three steps ahead of both of them throughout the book.
Of course Reid did that.
I bet Ana is going to…oh look, she did.
I knew Reid was going to make that decision.
Ugh, Ana.
Down to the ending of the book, I knew exactly who these characters were and it wasn’t the familiarity of an old friend or the recognition of like to like. It was, “I’ve read so many characters just like you and I’ve danced this dance before. I know how this ends.”
In the end, I only kept reading to see if I would be surprised. I wasn’t. I wish I had been.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review is offered without any recompense.Thank you.
Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you stillReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you still do. You know, you start a story, then you fold the sheet of paper over so only the last line or so is visible, and the next person in the circle only has those two lines to go off of to continue the story…and so on until the circle is completed and you see how the story played out under those limited circumstances.
That’s part of the vibe I got while reading The Grimoire of Grave Fates. An overarching concept story, each of the chapters done by a different author (which gives it an almost-anthology feel due to the variations in each author’s writing style and voice), and each author carrying their assigned character through the story with only the limited knowledge of what’s already happened in the story prior to their chapter to guide the way. It’s a sophisticated game of Round Robin, with Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf playing the roles of (essentially) comperes: checking for continuity and other possible goofs so that, when the individual chapters are collected from the contributing authors and put together, the story blends almost seamlessly into a single compendium made of many disparate parts.
The most important part of this book, which I didn’t realize when I requested it, is that the release date on the first Tuesday of June (HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!) was not coincidental: The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a book where every chapter is written from the POV of a marginalized member of society. Minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ people, mentally ill people, and even a young criminal who’s no stranger to jail. Not only that, but more than one allusion is made about the school in this book (Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary) that likens it to the Hogwarts of the transphobic JKR’s brain (and points out how inaccessible castles like that are to the disabled), and the central mystery of the book centers around the murder of a professor at the school who is somewhat like Snape, if Snape cared about money.
(But, the castle also wins points for being able to fly like a gyroscope and Howl’s Moving Castle is mentioned. So mad props.)
See, I get what Owen and Alkaf were trying to do. I don’t know if it’s my age (I read YA all the time, but this felt like maybe it was made for the younger section of the YA set–maybe closer to 13 than 16-18?), but this book felt a little simplistic in the writing and ran too long for my tastes. It’s not the book was bad; it’s just that the book seemed to go on far too long and I started to feel like Owen and Alkaf were just trying to shoehorn in as much diversity as possible.
By all means: Do that. We need diversity. We want diversity. It’s necessary. The more diversity there is on bookseller websites and library bookshelves and home bookshelves the less excuses there will be to take them down. I’m all for publishing diverse reads in ever genre and every format possible.
Will that change my mind about how I rate this book, though? No, it won’t. But I can tell you this is a book I’d recommend to someone like my 13 year-old niece. She’d probably give it 5 stars and a place of honor on her bookshelf.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the creators/editors. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
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