Julia
Glad I read this series! I like Ash better now. I think the huge strength of this series is how Simone writes kink - this series finale even includes a beautiful defense of kink from Ash's perspective that I think contextualizes and deepens the meaning of everything that came before. I didn't love the demise of the villain (didn't ring psychologically true to me) and really don't think this happily ever after will withstand the test of time due to life logistics (won't say more as not to spoil), and yet I know I'll be thinking about this series for a long time. I especially loved Simone's afterward on Arthurian legend.
I co-sign the blurb on the back that reads, "The only thing hotter than a character written by Chloe Gong is a betrayal written by Chloe Gong." Yes, yes, yes. This sequel is a real psychological thriller as a bunch of compellingly nuanced characters try to figure out whom to trust and what is true. And just like Immortal Longings, a cliffhanger of an ending that I was exhilarated by instead of mad about. One thing I've also noticed reading this series is that Gong also excels at world-building that happens almost completely unobstrusively. San-Er is quite the crumbling empire, and yet my knowledge of that was never gained at the expense of speed/plot tension. Interested to see how this series concludes!
I can see why people have been raving about this, and definitely want to read Writers and Lovers now. I mean, this opening!
"You knew I'd write a book about you someday. You said once that I'd dredged up the whole hit parade minus you. I'll never know how you'd tell it. For me it begins here. Like this."
To me, the first two thirds were stronger than the end, but I'm not sure how sure I am of that, or if King just captures how college learning and love feel SO WELL that other life epochs pale a little in comparison. Either way, this is beautiful and I loved it.
A friend of a friend recommended this after hearing our spicy pepper book club liked "Kiss of the Basilisk" (while also finding it ridiculous!). This book is SPICY in a way that almost makes up for some considerable flaws - an initial age gap that was almost a dealbreaker for me, pretty wooden writing, and a protagonist who lacks confidence in an almost parodic way (think Rachel Leigh Cook in "She's All That" if you're millenial). That said, spice covers a lot of sins for me! If this book was written now, it'd almost certainly have content warnings. I also appreciated Simone's observations about jealousy, which was also when her writing was the strongest. Will for sure read the whole series.
Not sorry I read this, but hoo boy. There are some plot holes that make this book a fine work of open-weave crochet, but worse, I found some of the characters' choices totally inexplicable based on what we already knew about their personalities from Book 1 (ahem Leo ahem). Still - I really appreciate that Straube is one to go big or go home, there was plenty of spice, and I particularly liked the end. She writes like she's not afraid of making choices her readers may not like, which I appreciate about her!
This book defies easy summary. The plot jumped the shark essentially from the initial premise, then never stopped jumping, as if denying the existence of sharks at all. And yet it was a pretty fun if totally inane romp, and I know my friends in our "spicy pepper book club" agreed. Best and spiciest part of the book is easily the bonus chapter, which felt like Straube creating the fic every fan would dream of writing.
This essay collection is lovely, as I would have expected after also loving Red Paint. I think probably my favorite part is how this collection isn't chronological, exactly, but weaves in and out of various parts of LaPointe's life before and since her autobiography. It's a beautiful love letter to her home: land, and human and more-than-human family.
I continue to be totally charmed by this series. Totally charmed! I may go back and add in the final half star. I think I just want more Emily and Wendell? He was sick for most of this book! Waiting for the paperback version of the 3rd book but will definitely read. One huge bonus to all this charm is that the plot remained tightly edited and not too long, so it zipped along just like the 3rd.
This was good! My primary complaint is the cards at the beginning of each chapter. I get how they relate to the overall plot, but they were just too...rhyming. Will read the second, so world-building was good and I care about the characters. I especially appreciated the psychological angle of the protagonist's challenge. More "what is the self" than the typical romantasy!
Beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful book. Kin to There There, of course, but also an evolution in Orange's writing and a thing of its own. I also can't think of any writer other than Louise Erdich in The Round House who captures teenage boyhood better. I go to a family reunion every year with a book swap, and this is my book for this year. I do wish there'd been a teeeeeny bit more in the earlier parts of this family tree, but also that's part of Orange's point - what do people lose when forcibly disconnected from their own lineages?
So charming. So charming! I love a self-aware title to a self-aware book, and this is one of my fave romance tropes. A testament to how good this was is that I didn't even mind that it was less spicy than it could have been by half, because the LONGING at the end was worth it! Really wish the other half was already out, and 3 cheers for not one but TWO bisexual mains where their bisexuality is not just a token mention.
Very cute. I feel like Heather Fawcett & Freya Markse have some fun commonalities. Emily Wilde is an absolute nerd, Fawcett adeptly depicts neurodivergence, and the world-building around faeries is just so fun to read. I'm hopeful the sequel will include some spice, but the plot is captivating enough that I'll read regardless!
I wanted to like this more!! Obviously Lynch is in the midpoint of a sweeping epic, but this one felt too plotty to me in a way that detracted from how much I love Locke & Jean. I just want a swashbuckling buddy novel!! Saw another review that said Sabetha in reality is a disappointment, but I didn't feel that way - enjoyed both the awkwardness of their adolescent fumbling and the "will they or won't they" vibe of their adult interaction, including some good communication! The first two novels are also very plotty, too, but I think what makes the difference is the setting changes. Here, the mage, election, and play storylines end up feeling tedious as opposed to excitedly involved (although - do love where the mage storyline ends, and feel like Lynch has done great work foreshadowing how the Eldren history relates to all this throughout the series). I'll keep reading, but am taking a break.
I'm writing the review a few months late, so keeping it short because my memory is fuzzy. There was *quite* a plot twist at the end that I didn't mind, and I liked the setting, but the writing felt a bit "telling not showing." I don't think I would return to what seemed like the setup to a sequel unless it plopped into my lap.
This was great. I'd say like The Hunger Games for adults, but I think both deserve to be recognized on their own merits? Gong's world building is very evocative and the smaller details of this seamy, overrun city really pop off the page. Lots of "will they or won't they" tension, and a cliffhanger surprise that did indeed surprise me, but it's the kind I was thrilled by, not mad about. I think at some point the games are a plot inhibitor instead of propulsive thing? Interested to read #2.
I really like this part of Lidia Yuknavitch's blurb on the back: "A Physical Education performs power from the inside out." I've been reading Casey's column from back when she was "Ask A Swole Woman," and "She's a Beast" (https://www.shesabeast.co/) is the newsletter I am most likely to forward to friends. Casey is incisive, incredibly intellectually curious, and writes with a big wide open heart. None of the content of her memoir is surprising for a long-time reader, but stands alone in its own right, and is a book bound to make you want to go lift heavy things and feel the edges of your own power. Maybe actual weights, maybe metaphorical ones; I loved this start to finish.
What a cap to the trilogy! I felt a bit irritated by the dynamic of the two mains in #2, all redeemed by the steamy hot tension between the mains in #3! Both emotional and sexual, and a truly phenomenally well-written negotiation of kink/fantasy scene. Plus a nail-biting non-romantic plot re: the fate of all magicians in Britain, and Marske's sharp, sharp prose, like this gem: "Alan's annoyance gave an enjoyable lash of its tail." The trilogy as a whole is a delightful and wondrous accomplishment.
Read this with a friend for an impromptu two-person book club, and I agree with her - this is smut crack! Short on plot, long (hah pun intendd) on spice. The novella length really did mean that the plot was wrapped up too quickly/neatly, so the tension felt rushed/artificial compared to her novel length stuff, but I'm not mad about any of it!
This is my book club's 4th Simpson book (we've done Rehearsals for Living, As We Have Always Done, and Noompiming) and I just LOVE IT ALL. I also heard her at book tour stop at Tidelands in Seattle a few weeks ago, and was starstruck. There is so much wisdom in this book, and I think that all of Simpson's writing is love letters. This one is a love letter to water, her mentor & Elder Doug, and to the children of the future. Two quotes I especially love: "Perhaps racial capitalism has destroyed the humility necessary to see that humans are not the conductor of the euphony of life, but instead play the third chair of a bassline instrument? Perhaps world making isn't up to us, at least not on a planetary scale. Perhaps world making is a communal struggle," (p. 34) and "World making requires love, kindness, and care. It requires collectivity and relationality, and it is these practices that generate the knowledge needed to move on to the next step" (p. 41).
This is practically perfect Hazelwood. Not in Love definitely one of my top two faves of hers, and now the end of this duology makes for a very closely beloved top #3 (my other is Love, Theoretically). Classic Hazelwood banter, spice, the works. For me personally, making a finance bro sexy (even if he's technically a biotech finance bro) is a real tall order, and she delivered. Also, the title! Chef's kiss.