Jackie

The Maiden and Her Monster is an incredible, vibrant adventure that explores timely resistance against theocracy and fascism through love; familiar, communal, platonic, and romantic. Maddie Martinez has created a beautiful world and fascinating magic system inspired by Jewish folklore and mysticism. Malka is a fantastic main character, flawed but still likable, and Nimrah makes a compelling broody enemies-to-lovers romantic interest. While the focus of the novel is more on the political drama and magic system, the slow-burn romance is still threaded skillfully throughout with a pay-off that's worth the wait.

Caitlin Starling is an instant-pre-order author for me. Her books are always the perfect blend of creepy, fascinating, and weirdly sexy without being romance-focused. She creates lush, enthralling worlds contained perfectly in single stories. I always want to know more about the worlds they're set in, but never ever feel like they're lacking, and that's such a difficult balance to strike.

Now, was it a good idea to start reading this while in the hospital for 24 hours straight without sleep while my girlfriend waited to have her gallbladder out? No, probably not the best time to read a story about an extreme experimental pharmaceutical trial set in a hospital with a fleshy Silent Hill-ass alternate dimension. 

But anyway. Starling has knocked it out of the park again. This was creepy, unsettling, and disturbing in all the right ways, with a conclusion that felt like watching a really good episode of the Twilight Zone. Obviously, this book is not for the faint of heart. I had to take a break every once in a while to rub my wrists because the descriptions of the IV procedures made them ache. But if you love some good medical horror or feel nostalgic for Silent Hill 2, this is a real treat.

A creepy one.

This Vicious Hunger is a mysterious and enchanting gothic tale with flavors of dark academia and the Secret Garden. After the deaths of her father and new husband, Thora Grieve is sent away by her disdainful mother-in-law. She is sent to university to study botany under the tutelage of an old colleague of her father's, where she finds herself to be the only female scholar. In spite of the ongoing and all-too-familiar theme of misogyny and disregard for female contributions to academia, Thora does befriend a young man called Leo, and is apprenticed to the only female teacher at the university. She also discovers a garden of unfamiliar and poisonous plants locked behind a rusted old gate and tended by a mysterious woman who only appears at night.

This book has great mouth-feel. The university has a visceral atmosphere of heat and oppression; sweltering humidity, terra-cotta and plaster spires, and the green bittersweet smell of rotting plant matter. It brings the Mediterranean to mind, but also reminds me of the summers of my childhood in the Los Angeles area, so hot and damp it makes you feel sick. This feeling mingles with Thora's mental and physical degradation throughout the novel and serves to explain some of the more irrational responses she has to various events. 

My primary criticism is that while the world this book takes place it has the potential to be fascinating, there's just not enough of it that made it onto the page. The mourning rituals described by Thora are interesting, and seem to reference various in-universe legends, however those legends are barely mentioned and not expanded on nearly enough to satisfy my thirst for lore-dumping. This story could just as easily be set in a fictional 1800s Italian university as opposed to a completely fictional world, so I wish there was more to set it apart.

Earlier this spring, I read a very queer, very Jewish, very cute short story in the 2022 We're Here anthology by indie publisher, Neon Hemlock. The author was one Y. M. Resnik, and the story was The Chavrusah Worlds of Possibility. When I saw that her debut novel was up for grabs on NetGalley, I instantly smashed the “Request” button.

The Elysium Heist is a delightful, queer, clever sci-fi casino heist that has been accurately described as a “Sapphic Ocean's Eleven in space” (Eli Snow). There really is no better way to describe it, and I can't begin to recommend it enough. Resnik's prose is witty and hilarious while addressing topics like sobriety, bodily autonomy, faith, and ace-spectrum sexuality with frank gravity. 

There is also an extremely spicy sex scene that. Wow. All my thumbs up.

Resnik is definitely an author I'm going to be following very closely. Her stories check all my boxes, and I'm excited to see what else she has in store for us.

Another reviewer put it very well: it was difficult to assign a star rating to this because it was very much not what I expected. I was expecting a lot more personal essays about being queer in Appalachia. The essays in Y'all Means All are far more high-academic than I was ready for, full of unfamiliar and mostly unexplained jargon that made it difficult to follow. This certainly isn't Queer Theory 101.

When Ilana's parents send her to stay with her aunt in Prague for the summer, they expect her to buckle down and study for her SATs instead of getting distracted by things like having fun and making music. Instead, the young Jewish Latina falls like Alice down a rabbit-hole of Czech and Jewish mythology. She begins to see the ghosts of children, and a terrible monster that has them trapped, feeding off of their memories to fill the empty hole within.
At first, I was intimidated by the prospect of reading a book in verse. I don't really “get” poetry, but the premise of this novel was so interesting, I decided to give it a shot.
If you're also intimidated by poetry and unsure about the idea of reading a story in verse, please give this book a try anyway.
It's written in such an accessible way, you don't need to know anything about poetry to enjoy it. The prose is so colorful and vivid it just draws you right into the mythology of Jewish Czech. Reading The Ghosts of Rose Hill is like listening to a Psalm, a lyrical and magical story. I loved the characters, and I especially enjoyed the beautiful exploration of what it means to be a Jew, especially a young mixed-race Jewish girl. Ilana is a treasure, and it was a blessing to see the world through her eyes.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I will certainly be preordering it with my next paycheck. This author is one to watch for certain.
I also really hope to someday see this done as an audiobook. What an absolute joy it would be to hear such lyrical prose spoken aloud by a skilled actress, with music and sound effects.
This eARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to R.M. Romero, Peach Tree Teen Publishing, and NetGalley.

I almost hurled my Kindle across the room when I got to the end of this massive cliff hanger. Luckily, the sequel is available on Kindle Unlimited which I am IMMEDIATELY downloading.
Overall this was a cute, idyllic romcom that is exactly the right cure for a massive book-hangover. I can't wait for the next one.

Ruth Ware's books always seem to me like they should be much more enjoyable than they actually are. The premise and the characters are interesting, but by the last fifty pages, I feel like I'm walking through mud. This book was no different for me. The dual perspective is interesting and worked for a while, but toward the end, it dragged what should have been an adrenaline-filled chase into more of a tedious slog.

This was amazing. I need to remember to come back and do a proper review later but all I can say is absolutely you need to read this book.

Amazing anthology, great for slightly older teens. There are a few “spicy” bits, but nothing explicit, and all age-appropriate. I'd say this is good for age 16 or older. Great rep for POC characters as well as non-binary and ace rep, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

I ate this book up! Loved the atmosphere and the lore, and Simon was my favorite character. I could just HEAR his voice in my head. He reminds me of so many people I know in different little ways, he just really comes alive and steps off the page with a glass of fine wine in hand.

It does require the suspension of some belief, however. It's a bit unrealistic how everyone just seems to take the supernatural in stride and doesn't question Kate's relayed experiences even a little bit. That might bother some, and it did briefly draw my attention a couple times. But then I remember how often I scream at books and movies when characters are OVERLY skeptical. So, I guess I'm just not happy either way, haha.

I'll definitely be reading more of Wendy Webb's books if they're all like this one. The atmosphere was chilly and close, the lore and history behind the story was interesting, the characters compelling, and full of beautiful descriptions without being overwhelming.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

That's really all I can put into words right now.
Holy shit.
I devoured this book. In less than 24 hours, I gobbled it up like an absolute literature hog and now I'm sitting in bed staring into The Void, ten different kinds of what the fucked up.
Read this.
Do it.

I've lost count of how many times I've read this book. I don't think I'll ever stop loving it, and I don't think the last few pages will ever stop bringing tears to my eyes.

Boy, I thought I didn't give plenty of fucks already, but I was Wrong. Time to adjust which fucks I give and which fucks can fuck right the fuck off.

Wanted to like this more than I did. I did get some good out of it, a few things I'm going to try, a few aha! moments.
But her attitude toward depression totally turned me off. Mindset has a lot to do with depression and CAN help, but no amount of hype and mindset changes can cure a chemical imbalance. It's just dismissive.

Delivered on everything that was promised in a really fantasy way. Queer POC cast, Pirates, witches, all kinds of fun, and a happy ending. Literally my only complaint is that to me, it seemed like Florian/Flora, after having spent the entire book very fluid in their gender, ended the book solidly as a “she.” It left a weird taste in my book-mouth. Other than that, I loved every single thing, and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fresh read.

An interesting dystopia that had me sucked in from the start. Kind of wish N. K. Jemisin's Forward, as great as it was, didn't have spoilers for this book and the next, though.

This was...okay. I really wanted to like it more than I did, but the copy I received was full to bursting with errors that the most inept spell-check should have caught. Coupled with the constant, repetitive perceived betrayals and the heroine's maddening flip-flopping trust issues, not to mention a distinct lack of the promised swashbuckling, it was just a disappointment.

Quick and Entertaining; A Perfect Cozy

I blasted through the first in this series in a matter of two days, and this one only took me a day while I was sick in bed. A perfect cozy mystery, a great read for those days when you just want to sit and relax. It's also so very nice to read something with a lesbian protagonist in which the driving force of the plot doesn't have anything to do with her sexuality. It's just a part of who she is, and it's great. Can't wait to read more of this series.
The e-book does have quite a few errors, but I can hardly count that against the author in my rating. Just be aware that there are some weird scanning errors. Amazon, you really need to hire someone (me) to proof read for this kind of thing.

Atmospheric, a little spooky, and totally engrossing. Vasya is the definition of a well-written, strong female character. The criticism of the way Christianity has historical stamped out pagan traditions to the detriment of native practitioners is as clean and cutting as the prose.
The only thing that really took away from the novel for me was what I think might be the beginnings of a romance between Vasya and a particular Winter King. The entire “immortal god x regular human girl” trope always feels so predatory to me. It's not something that will prevent me from continuing the series, however. I just feel that the book (and the series) would have been perfectly fine without any kind of romantic interest for Vasya.

When I read this book and it's sequel, people would constantly be intrigued by the gorgeous cover-art and ask me what they're about. My immediate response is always, verbatim, “A fantasy Genghis Khan but with demons and lesbians.”
That's the humorous description, but if I were to honestly compare it to anything, I would have to say it's more like The Tale of Genji but with lesbians and less infidelity. The prose is poetic and flows just like something you'd read in Murasaki's pillow book. It's intimate and beautiful and heartbreaking. Shizuka and Shefali's relationship is romantic in every sense of the word.
Also any of the women in this novel could break my neck under their boot and I'd thank them and beg for more, just saying.

A sci-fi for anthropologists.
If you're not interested in sci-fi or in fiction that reads like an anthropological textbook in some places, this isn't the book for you. Me being me, I adored these parts.
Being written in the 60s, there are a few parts that rubbed me the wrong way. The main character has a very poor opinion of women. A great example of the author's opinions not being necessarily reflected in their characters.
The parts that interested me the most were the gender-fluid race, the cultural and environmental growth of the planet, and the terrifyingly relevant contemplation of nationalism and country pride. Le Guin makes a point of saying that speculative fiction is not meant to predict the future, but in certain themes, she's done a fantastic job of stumbling upon a prediction.

One last thing, the blurb on the back ends with a very misleading comment about the main character finding love. He does in a way, but don't be fooled. This is no romance.

Repulsively homophobic and transphobic, what the absolute hell is wrong with this author?

I don't have the spoons for a proper review, but I want to fuck Pyrrha Dve SO BADLY. I could read an entire Priory of the Orange Tree sized novel that is literally just Pyrrha calling herself “daddy” and making up stupid nicknames. Jod I love her. Tamsyn Muir writes such great characters that you just want to love to pieces, even when they're terrible like Ianthe.
Five out of five duplicitous sluts.

When I was young, I devoured books by Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, and other great female fantasy authors whose focus was on adventurous young girls, and this book reminded me so much of the feeling of reading those novels as a child. The concept, a world where music is literally magic, is so brilliant, and the cover art is just absolutely gorgeous. Bakewell's writing certainly has a musical quality to it that is a pleasure to read, and Elisse is such a sweet character, you can't help but root for her. I'm so glad to have read this book, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a little nostalgia, or for any young girl with an interest in fantasy.