I feel like I have been for a swim in a torrent of lava but the lava was made of words.
First of all, thank god I decided to catch up on this series bI feel like I have been for a swim in a torrent of lava but the lava was made of words.
First of all, thank god I decided to catch up on this series back to back, because you need to exercise every brain cell in remembering and making connections to Gideon the Ninth. But at the same time, Harrow has such a different tone - the narrative voice is confused, because the protagonist herself is (quite literally, at times) out of her mind - that even knowing what you know from the first book is no help at all. In other words, expect to feel fucked around for at least the first half of the story.
It’s just a good job that Tamsyn Muir is very very good at fucking with us. The way she makes is possible to re-know characters that we lost or disdained in the first book, in ways that make them utterly lovable? Chef’s kiss. The way she takes the found family trope and warps it around 10,000 years of toxic back stabbing? Perfection. The way she writes monsters and ghosts and fights like she’s taken LSD and then sat straight down to draft the action scenes? I love it.
I’m still not sure I know; only time and three more books will tell, but whoa boy did I enjoy this ride. Where dIs it batshit genius or just batshit?
I’m still not sure I know; only time and three more books will tell, but whoa boy did I enjoy this ride. Where do you even begin to describe it?
Our two foe yay leads, necromancer Harrow and her cavalier Gideon, are packed off to a haunted deserted planet along with teams from the seven other Houses of their magic Empire of death to participate in trials to become the next generation of Lyctors (which are like the Emperor’s immortal generals). So, in some ways, it’s the bog standard trials-and-competition plot line that’s dime a dozen in fantasy at the YA end of the market. Except the delivery is bananas. It’s got bone constructs. It's got soul-sucking. It's got reanimated corpses. It's got skeleton servants who staff the canteen. It's the most goth incarnation of this conceit you could imagine, and it’s told from the POV of Gideon, the sarkiest sword-wielding goth girl of them all (but she's a big softy really).
Also, you might have heard that it has An Ending, which it really really does. On to book 2 immediately....more
The operative word in most reviews of this seems to be ‘cute’, and that tracks. For the most part, this is a very lovely coming**spoiler alert** 3.5*
The operative word in most reviews of this seems to be ‘cute’, and that tracks. For the most part, this is a very lovely coming-of-age story about Hollis, a nerdy fat girl with anxiety who, in trying to impress her absolute douche of a boyfriend, joins a table top gaming group and unexpectedly finds her people. And also discovers new and confusing feelings about Aini, a fellow player and out-and-proud lesbian, at the same time.
There was a lot to like here. While their respective characters get closer and closer in the game, Hollis and Aini do too, dodging around naming their feelings. I really enjoyed the slow burn of their friendship and the little moments when it tips over into something more: the arms around waists; the holding hands; the thoughtful gifts. It reflected my own first forays into exploring my sexuality at around the same age. I mean, who hasn’t ‘pretended’ to be girlfriends with someone ‘because it would be funny’? *whistles* The support and solidarity of their gaming friends is great - Gloria, Maggie, Iffy and (most of all) FRAN (if you know, you know) were a joy.
However, the situation with Hollis’ boyfriend was over-the-top infuriating - did Chris have to be such a gaslighting villain for the story to work? At times it felt less like Hollis was finding herself and more like she was escaping an abusive relationship. Chris treats her terribly - and facilitates persistent bullying by his friends. He is jealous of her friendships; he likes her meek and anxious; he excludes her from his social life. When they argue, Hollis is always the first and only one to apologise, even though she knows she did nothing wrong. And all the while, she believes that he’s her closest and most comfortable friend. It was so blatantly wrong that I couldn’t believe no one was saying anything about it, to the point where I wanted to reach through the pages and start shouting myself. In the end I wasn’t satisfied with how this was handled and how little Chris was held to account for being The Worst Apart from Landon (who is such an asshole that I have no words). I wanted Hollis to really go for his jugular! I wanted someone to call him out for his behaviour, not only for the sake of the characters but for the readers. I needed that catharsis.
But, my desire to see violence aside, I’d recommend this - it’s a strong debut ff contemporary and I’ll look forward to what the author writes next....more
Anita Kelly did it again! They wrote a book that made me feel all the potential for queer joy and love in this world, amidst a cast of characters thatAnita Kelly did it again! They wrote a book that made me feel all the potential for queer joy and love in this world, amidst a cast of characters that I adore with all my heart. ❤️ this is an incredible end to the trilogy, except I hope it isn’t the end, because we need more Hank amiright?!? ...more
It is my experience that ff romance with highly emotional angst is pretty rare - although this may be proportionate to my overwhelming desire to find It is my experience that ff romance with highly emotional angst is pretty rare - although this may be proportionate to my overwhelming desire to find and read it. Anyway, Season of Love has emotions in spades; it’s also funny, kitsch, peopled by the most delightful secondary characters (Cole, my love!) and leans into the holiday vibes so far that it falls over and lands in a giant pile of sequins and twinkly lights. So, even while the burn is slow - but when our MCs get there, they seem to get there really fast - and even though the plot is bananas in parts, I just loved it so much. Plus, it had a positive description of growing up queer in less than ideal circumstances that just broke my heart open in recognition. ...more
The love story here is exquisite; the ending is extraordinarily perfect. I haven’t enjoyed other CL Polk I’ve read, and the hallmarks of why are stillThe love story here is exquisite; the ending is extraordinarily perfect. I haven’t enjoyed other CL Polk I’ve read, and the hallmarks of why are still here: the chaotic world-building and the plot that necessitates lots of running around. But in a novella form these elements are much less pronounced, and moderated by the hard boiled prose style of Helen’s narrative. ...more
DNF @ 25%. I hung in for a little bit longer than I should have with this because I’m shallow and a sucker for an FMC lumberjack type in plaid. But inDNF @ 25%. I hung in for a little bit longer than I should have with this because I’m shallow and a sucker for an FMC lumberjack type in plaid. But in the end I couldn’t cope with the gaping plot problems and the set-your-teeth-on-edge small town schmaltz. ...more
A Christmas f/f ‘disaster-bi’ romcom, and one of the MCs lives in York?! You better believe I smashed request on Netgalley for this one; like, severalA Christmas f/f ‘disaster-bi’ romcom, and one of the MCs lives in York?! You better believe I smashed request on Netgalley for this one; like, several times. And it turned out to be a delightful holiday confection: endearingly silly, amped up on hijinks, and full of genuinely sweet and heart-squeezy moments. Plus it’s funny!
We meet Haf Hughes at a decidedly low moment, just as her parents break the news that they’re leaving her alone for Christmas and jetting off to Madeira. Exhausted from her crappy low-paid exploitative job and still reeling from a painful breakup, she’s feeling extremely sorry for herself. So, when her flatmate Ambrose (an absolute legend of a secondary character) takes her to gate crash a party and she accidentally starts fake-dating a handsome banker called Christopher Calloway, who can blame her?? When the fake-dating escalates to being invited home to his parents house for Christmas… I mean, maybe that’s a step further than most people would take it? But. Haf instantly likes Christopher - although not in *that* way - and she wants to help him avoid an embarrassing Christmas being paraded in front of his own ex, Laurel. Plus, why be alone in York with M&S party food when you could be living it up in the Cotswolds at an upper middle-class shindig? What harm can it do? He can fake-dump her in January and all will be well. Enter Christopher’s sexy architect sister, Kit, stage right to muck up best laid plans.
What follows is a glorious mash-up of the plots of Imagine Me and You and While You Were Sleeping (undeniably two of the best films EVER made). While Haf and Kit try to resist an instant tummy-tingling chemistry, Haf and Christopher act out all the required Calloway Christmas traditions as a couple. There’s the Christmas Eve-Eve village fete, the annual local ball, and the big day itself… Haf - the most adorable chaos monkey I’ve read in a while - tries her absolute best to play her role, but what can she do when shenanigans are attracted to her like a magnet? It’s all destined to end in tears before the crescendo to the happy ending.
There was so much I appreciated about this story! There was great bi rep, as well as fat, neurodiverse and disability rep. It did a fab job with the chemistry between Kit and Haf, and made their insta-love feel at least half believable to me. It also delivered some truly daft set-piece scenes on just the right side of delightful. And it gave me all those snow-touched, twinkly-light, Christmas-music in the background vibes of an over the top holiday movie. I was bouncing about gleefully the whole time. But what I liked the most was that Make You Mine for Christmas was really good - REALLY GOOD - at platonic love. I actually enjoyed reading about Haf and Christopher’s growing friendship (and the other friendships of the novel) as much as I did Haf’s sapphic longing for Kit. Lizzie Huxley-Jones really captured the power of instantly connecting with someone, and the closeness of friend-attraction. I was actually thrilled to see Ambrose and Laurel and Christopher there at the end for the HEA moment, when I usually hate love declarations with an audience.
Highly recommended if you’re looking for a fun irrepressible holiday read over the next week. I’m hoping the author is going to write more in the series - I need to know more about the mysterious Bryn!!...more
3.5* - I enjoyed this very much, especially the first half - which is mostly ff neighbours to lovers sexy sweetness - but the plot got a bit out of ha3.5* - I enjoyed this very much, especially the first half - which is mostly ff neighbours to lovers sexy sweetness - but the plot got a bit out of hand towards the end. I wanted more world building and less manufactured drama around the paranormal elements of the story. 5* for the characters and their relationship, 2* for the running around the woods trying to save the day. ...more
This was a big messy mess: chaotic head-hopping POV, one MC who was (quite literally) too annoying to live and another who, despite being a stand-up pThis was a big messy mess: chaotic head-hopping POV, one MC who was (quite literally) too annoying to live and another who, despite being a stand-up person, has a terrible taste in President’s daughters. Based on the love vs duty premise I should have lapped it up but alas, it broke my spirit around the 50% mark. ...more
*I received an ARC of A Restless Truth from Netgalley, with thanks to the publisher. This review contains spoilers for the first book in the trilogy, *I received an ARC of A Restless Truth from Netgalley, with thanks to the publisher. This review contains spoilers for the first book in the trilogy, A Marvellous Light. In my opinion, it cannot be read as a standalone.
Freya Marske’s debut, A Marvellous Light, was one of my favourite books of last year and so I clutched my ARC of A Restless Truth to my chest (literally, figuratively) with glee and trepidation. Sequels are tricky creatures; the middle books of trilogies are even trickier. This one takes Maud Blyth, a character I was less-than-enamoured by in the first book, as its protagonist and puts her on a quest, on a ship, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Could it possibly live up to my expectations of prose and plot and plant Maud in my heart? Yes, yes, and yes, with added vigorous nodding. I loved this book. I LOVED IT. It’s the reverse-heist fantasy ff romance of dreams that I didn’t know I had, and it made me incredibly happy. It is also beautifully, gorgeously written. At sentence level and in aggregate, Marske has a facility with words that Blows Me Away. I set a highlighting record and spent ages dwelling on individual lines and passages, even as I was ripping through the hijinks plot.
At the end of A Marvellous Light, Edwin Courcey and Robin Blyth gave up their piece of the Last Contract – the physical embodiment of an agreement made between English magicians and the fae – to the nefarious forces seeking to use it for their own ends, in order to fight another day. Now they are desperately looking for the other two pieces, each held by a member of the Forsythia Society, a group of experimental women magicians who swore to protect it. Robin’s younger sister Maud, after much special pleading, was sent to America to bring home one of those women, Beth Navenby. A Restless Truth opens with Mrs Navenby and Maud – travelling under an assumed name – on a ship back to England, bringing her piece of the Contract home for safe keeping. But Maud is not the only Contract seeker aboard and when Mrs Navenby is killed in a magical attack, and every item of silver in her cabin stolen, Maud is thrust into a dangerous race to retrieve the piece of the Contract before they make landfall. If only she knew what it looked like…
Determined and indomitable, Maud recruits the help of three fellow passengers: Violet Debenham, an heiress to a magical English fortune turned American stage performer; Lord Hawthorn, a magician who has lost his magic (and who we met briefly and deliciously in AML) and Alan Ross, a journalist, pornographer and thief. Together they embark on a glorious reverse-heist, involving filthy-talking parrots and menageries, seances and disguises, near-death experiences and magic duels. It's a romp, basically. A sort-of locked room scenario that sees Freya Marske choreograph both a mystery plot and a romance plot between the upper decks and the hold of an Atlantic steamer. The duration of the voyage – the whole book takes place over just six days – adds temporal limits to the spatial dimensions of the story, compressing and intensifying the action. It’s a supreme feat of control to make enough space within this for the shenanigans of the plot and the development of the characters and their relationships. The former is wonderful, proper edge-of-your-seat stuff at times, but the latter is what gave me most joy.
When we first met Maud in AML she was a sometimes-petulant, often-frustrating nineteen year old, exerting her will for independence and freedom after the death of her narcissistic parents. I was unsure whether she was going to be able to carry her own book and convince me as a romantic protagonist – I doubted and underestimated Maud at the outset, just as much as everyone around her does. She’s perky, irrepressible, and naïve in ways that could be, should be, annoying – she can’t dissemble, refuses to lie, knows very little about the world, has no magic or special skills, but insists on plunging straight into danger without thinking first. She couldn’t be more different from laconic, uncaring Hawthorn or Violet, who has spent so long performing and dissembling that she no longer knows if there is a “real” person underneath. Nevertheless, Maud grows on you by increments – her absolute determination to do good and fulfil her promise to her brother broke down my defences. Charlotte (whose review of ART you should also read) pointed out to me that she’s like a knight on a quest for the grail: while she may appear the most simplistic figure in the picture, she’s its beating heart. Maud also undergoes one of the most satisfying sexual awakenings I’ve ever read, first acknowledging and then exploring her physical and emotional attraction to confident, sparkling Violet.
If Maud is the heart of the book, Violet is its blood and bones. She’s brave, playful, liberated, scandalous – or at least, that’s the character she plays to the world. Having fled her home and family in England to secure her freedom in America, she has lived a life of games and magic tricks and sex whenever and with whomever she pleases. Now 23, heading back to secure an inheritance she didn’t want or expect, she’s determined to hold on to that persona. However, no plan survives first contact with Maud. Like Hawthorn, like Ross, Violet falls gradually under Maud’s beguilement – the difference being that her falling takes place inside, as well as outside, the bedroom. The two explore each other with heat and tenderness, matching my expectations for sex scenes set by AML, and showing creativity that I don’t feel we get enough of in mainstream ff romance. The conflict that arises out of their different ways of relating to the world - one through constant theatre of the self; the other through relentless honesty – generates a satisfying low buzz of angst to mix into the tension those characteristics also bring to the plot. How does a woman who can’t lie fight and win against magical tricksters? How can a woman who can’t shed her masks or look her true self in the eye commit to a self-less quest?
I found the weaving of plot and theme ticklish, and the denouement deeply satisfying. We start to see the worldbuilding and theory of magic open up in A Restless Truth, from the confines of English society to a global perspective. Although this story is about the particularly English magic embodied by the Last Contract, it’s not the only magic available, even if some of the characters in this story hold to the imperial superiority of British principles, ideals and ways of thinking. There are hints of American adaptations – Violet has learnt to practice illusions using imbued rings rather than cradles – as well as other magics of song and dance. It’s briefly mentioned how slavery destroyed much of the magic traditions of Black Americans, for example, showing how different ways of knowing have been subject to violent suppression. We also learn more about how the women of the Forsythia Club have developed magics of their own, which are not constrained by the form and structure of the Assembly – magic that pushes back against patriarchal assumptions of what magic is and who should control it. We’re starting to see how what’s at stake here is epistemological as well as political and personal: the conspiracy to secure and use the Last Contract to enhance the power of white, patriarchal, cishet imperialists is about locking down understanding of the world as well as the power to control that world.
All of which creates a tense and powerful set up for the battles of the final book in the trilogy. I’m already fizzing with excitement about it, and not only because of the overall arc: we also got some delicious hints of a romance between Lord Hawthorn and Alan Ross in A Restless Truth that stood all my hairs on end with wanting. If Freya Marske can stick the landing, I think it is going to be extraordinary.
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CWs: Attempted sexual assault; murder (one reported off page; several on page); violence and threat of torture; narcissistic parents; police violence; ablelist language (a character describes a person’s hand being ‘crippled’ by magical torture); racialised and racist language....more
I've been meaning to pick up a Jane Walsh book for a while now - I follow and enjoy her social media, and when she posts about her books the tropes alI've been meaning to pick up a Jane Walsh book for a while now - I follow and enjoy her social media, and when she posts about her books the tropes always pique my interest. When I saw Her Duchess to Desire on Netgalley I snapped up a reviewer's copy. While it's technically the third book in a series of ff historicals there doesn't appear to be any connection between then other than the period setting and this one can certainly be read as a standalone. There was lots to enjoy in it, although it didn't quite light up my reading life: this is very much a 'three stars because it was fine' reads rather than a 'three stars and there were things I disliked/were problematic'.
Anne, the Duchess of Hawthorne, has been taking care of her husband's estates and duties for years while he gallivants around Paris with a parade of male lovers. They entered knowingly into a lavender marriage as friends and confidantes but shortly afterwards - many years before the start of this story - he abandoned her for a life of infamous parties on the continent. Anne's response was to cultivate a hard cold shell of unimpeachable manners, earning herself the title of the Discerning Duchess. If she takes a female lover it's quick, impersonal and always, always discreet - she is determined to protect the family name and the many people who depend upon it for their livelihood. But now her husband has come home to London with his long-term partner, Phineas, and he is determined to move back into the Hawthorne's London home, lover and all. Anne is incensed and terrified and more than a little hurt. In an attempt to thwart or at least delay his return, she decides to make the house uninhabitable; she will embark on a programme of renovations so complicated and disruptive that the Duke will simply give up and go away again.
To do this she employs Miss Letitia Barrow, an interior designer with a good reputation amongst the upper middle classes of Holborn but a stranger to the ton. Anne's logic is simple: Miss Barrow will be out of her depth, will never finish the job or at least never to ducal satisfaction, and the process can be drawn out for years if necessary. She doesn't anticipate Letty's impact on either her household or her life. The designer turns out to be an Anne Lister figure in a cravat and top hat, with a silver tipped walking cane, and a sparkling eye for the ladies. She's bold and open about her sexuality, moving through a London of queer spaces and people that Anne has never glimpsed before. She's also a very very good designer. What starts out as a friendship between the two women turns more intimate, as they demolish walls in Hawthorne House and in the facade that Anne has built around herself.
My favourite part of the book was undoubtedly the beginning, where we get to know both Anne and Letty as complex women, both unyielding and lonely in their ways. Anne's feelings about her husband and the position of power she has been able to carve out in a male-dominated homophobic world give us insight into why she behaves the way she does and circumscribes herself so fiercely; while Letty's experiences of being queer, a single mother and a working woman explain why she is free with her body but cautious with her heart. Seeing Anne open up to Letty's gentle urgings - to eat cake, to take a walk in the snow arm in arm - and seeing Letty start to dream of a more settled, comfortable future was just lovely. Plus, I'm a sucker for home renovation romance. Start talking about paint colours and door handles and you've got me. I swoon when a character does a DIY act of service for their love interest. I also very much enjoyed seeing Anne come to terms with her sexuality and think through how to live more freely, beginning to understand the Duke's decision to leave and live a more authentic life even though it hurt her.
However, I wasn't gripped by the latter half of the book, which felt less organic and more melodramatic than the first half. The third act dark moment hinges on the arrival of some bad actors from Letty's past, facilitated by her adult son Robert who acts as the misguided villain throughout. I didn't like the way this plot line was treated or find the denouement believable. Similarly, the reconciliation between Anne and the Duke, while satisfying in principle, felt rather simple and forced in detail and involved the silliest cameo ever given by the Prince Regent in a romance novel. The last forty pages were full of romance reasons that tied things up with a nice neat bow. While the book is at some pains to explore the injustice of homophobia and homophobic laws, with the Hawthornes both embracing responsibility to fight for equality given their relatively safe privileged position, there isn't much consideration of other forms of injustice. Race and class, for example, are rather simply hand waved away and the vast inequities of the very existence of a British aristocracy aren't tackled. Instead we get a "white saviour-aristocrat" ending that doesn't acknowledge the complexities of how injustice works in society.
Overall, then, I relished the satisfying low-key romance between Anne and Letty but didn't so much appreciate the broader attempts to set their relationship in "England Times" themes. I'd definitely try another Jane Walsh but I won't be rushing out to gobble her backlist.
CWs: internalised homophobia; systemic and structural homophobia (secondary character is shunned; background characters are assaulted by police; tertiary character is arrested under sodomy laws); alcohol consumption....more
A rich and chewy story about loss and smuggling and community, with a very strong sense of place and character. I was tantalised by the bigger story tA rich and chewy story about loss and smuggling and community, with a very strong sense of place and character. I was tantalised by the bigger story that unfolds off the page of this smaller one and would love to read that as well. ...more
It took me a long long time to read this, because I started it at the wrong moment, but when I *was* reading it (rather than looking at it untouched oIt took me a long long time to read this, because I started it at the wrong moment, but when I *was* reading it (rather than looking at it untouched on the coffee table) I adored it. I find that it is painfully rare to read a story this intense, where the romantic thread between two women is stretched as taut as it would be between any other gendered pairing. Malini and Priya are both such dangerous, ruthless, vulnerable, lonely people - and the personal and political deals they make only exacerbate those qualities. I really enjoyed Tasha Suri’s first duology, but this promises to be even bigger and bolder. ...more
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