sam ☆
(੭ ;´ - `;)੭ ♡ a soft lil fantasy about a fae king learning how to raise a human child. this was such a beautiful, heartfelt story. i truly didn't expect to fall in love with it the way i did. i thought this would be a very cozy, slice of life fantasy, but with it's deeper themes of grief, love, fatherhood and family it aligns more to “soft” slow paced, high fantasy. iohmar is one of the most emotionally grounded protagonists i've read in a long time. he's deeply flawed, fiercely loving, and trying so hard to be the kind of king his parents would respect. the bond between him and his son was so tender and profound (i literally teared up multiple times it was just so incredibly sweet). i adored the romance subplot, the changing seasons structuring the book, and the atmospheric prose that made each setting feel alive and almost sacred. the final 25% lost a bit of clarity, especially around the missing friend, shadows plotline but mccosh has such a strong and confident authorial voice that even though i found it a bit meandering towards the end i can tell she wrote everything with intention.
i absolutely adored this. to create such a sense of creeping dread and terror in such a short book is so impressive. the author was able to create this uncomfortable knowing of the complete unraveling of the narrators mind that was unique and gave me chills. there's a unique charm here, haunting and intimate, that is hard to capture, but was captured flawlessly. rich in feminist commentary this story shows how historically the mental health care of women (or lack there of) often being handled with gaslighting, dismissiveness and lack of compassion. a classic that transcends generations. absolutely loved it.
cw/tw: gaslighting, postpartum depression
a lyrical, atmospheric tale about sisterhood, the sea, and the strange magic that waits at the edge of this small town. this book felt almost like a folktale, but more melancholic, quiet, dreamy and mysterious. even though my interest waned as i kept reading (💔) i can't say this was anything other than quite beautiful. the writing was whimsical and lush in a way that reminded me of laini taylor or erin morgenstern with a touch of tolkein. the atmosphere was so immersive that i'd argue it's the strongest character in this entire novella. the sisters were compelling enough to carry the emotional weight, even if the love story subplot felt tacked on (this coming from a true lover girl and hopeless romantic). i literally can't tell you exactly what the f*ck happened, i wasn't particularly attached to a single character, but i had a good time reading this anyway.
a perfect rainy day read if you want vibes first, plot second, and prose that i can tell will become more lush and creative as the author continues her writing journey.
as atmospheric and beautifully written as small spaces, but not as strong plot wise. it's an easy to read wintery ghost story that felt incredibly immersive. this was quite scary and i do not ‧⁺◟( >_< ‘') recommend reading at 11pm like i did! the trio's friendship and coco's growth (my baby my angel!!) were definite highlights, but the pacing dragged and i didn't feel as connected to what was happening. still, i love the seasonal structure of this series and look forward to seeing where spring takes them.
genuinely creepy, emotionally grounded, and full of perfect autumn vibes. every book in this four book series takes place in a different season which i find super charming and fun. the setting was so rich. this author knows how to create a vibe. queen of vibe curation if you will. i could smell the leaves and feel the fog. the themes of grief, bravery, and friendship were beautifully done. can't wait to continue on with the series.
a gorgeously written fantasy that explores identity, belief, belonging, and freedom through the lens of myth and immigration. the prose is beautiful without trying too hard, and the characters felt so real and layered. the pacing is slow and meandering, but if you're a character driven reader (like me), it's incredibly rewarding. i only wish the setting leaned more into its time period, and pacing didn't feel so dense at times but the emotional depth and epilogue more than made up for it.
steam: open door (not explicit or plentiful)
+ beautiful prose, strong character work, immigrant themes, golem & jinni lore, emotional depth
– slow pacing, historical setting underdeveloped, final chapters dragged
Once upon a time, I had walked into a secret queer bar, and the woman who would be the love of my life asked me to dance. She hadn't known whether to lead or to follow, but she put her hand on my waist and did her best as she stepped all over my toes. Later that night, as we walked under a diamond-studded sky up the shore of Lake Michigan, she made up for not knowing how to dance by kissing me so sweet, the earth stood still to watch it.
a love letter to chicago, and maybe absolutely, a love letter to sapphic women who feel connected to their heavenly court and want to feel safety in that sacredness. “the revulsion for homosexual love is human prejudice. how you perform intercourse is irrelevant. [she] keeps love in her heart.” this novella is about a woman living on borrowed time due to selling her soul a decade ago, and all she wants now is to grow old with the woman she loves. i adore any media that retells biblical stories in interesting ways, but especially media that reimagines angels on earth. good and bad, evil and good—there's always a balance. while it's important not to romanticize biblical narratives, this story strikes that balance beautifully. i absolutely adored the grounded romance between elena and edith (who i imagined as roxie hart every time she spoke). this was such a fun reading experience and i am on my knees pleading for the author to continue writing in this world and with these characters.
+ witty writing, elena & edith <3, swoon worthy quotes, chicago setting, first third of the book, angels & demons, romance (!!!)
- “smiling black man” (jarring and out of place), inconsistent pacing, underwhelming mystery elements, middle of the book
THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANT OUT OF A FANTASY ROMANCE.there's something so special about stumbling across a book that feels like it was written just for me. legacy of the brightwash is one of the most emotionally rich, gorgeously written fantasy romance books i've read in a long time. the romance was super well balanced with the various plot points, fantasy elements, and mystery.
this book is nearly 650 pages and i devoured it in three days. i'm devastated. i'm euphoric. i'm on my knees in the metaphorical rain clutching this book to my chest. matar completely excels at having you feel every single emotion.
this world is often brutal, dark, painful, traumatic, intense, heavy and raw, but we also get these moments filled with so much hope, love, resilience, tenderness, and emotional depth that i found myself crying one page and smiling the next. just ugh omg. this is one of the best reading experiences i've had in a long time.
THE. ROMANCE. breathtaking. this was one of the slowest slow burns i've read in awhile. it builds so carefully, so tenderly in a way that is so lacking in not only fantasy romances, but contemporary romance as well. the love between tashué and stella is the kind of love that feels earned. when the slow burn finally brings them together it didn't feel cringe or surface level because it was so layered with grief, guilt, trust, and the softest moments of vulnerability. i smiled so hard at some scenes i had to put the book down and just breathe or scream into my pillow it was so sweet. it was that good.
also yes. there is smut/spice/sex/whatever. there are three or four spicy scenes each one emotionally charged, intimate, and delicious. not just there for the sake of heat, but deeply tied to the characters' emotional arcs. the payoff was everything.
overall, i'm so happy i found this world, this book and this author ♡
spice: explicit and open door
tw/cw: abandonment, abuse, addiction, alcoholism, amputation, anxiety, child death, child murder, corruption. death, death of a parent, depression, sexual assault, murder, drug abuse, forced medical procedures, grief, miscarriage, police brutality, violence, violence against women, war, rape (mention)
the first 75% was soft, slow, and full of yearning. caretaking (one of my fave tropes), found family, subtle tension, and everything i want in a cozy-ish fantasy romance. the prose was beautiful, the slow burn was top tier, and i genuinely adored the characters. but the last 25% was an absolutely disappointment. one of the worst endings i've read in a while. in the span of two chapters and an epilogue, the entire tone shifted. character motivations changed. the emotional payoff vanished. the resolution felt rushed and unearned, almost like a different writer took over at the last minute. i'm 1:4 on draven (loved radiance, neutral/dislike on eidolon, disliked entreat me and disappointed by the ending of this) 3
cw/tw: violence, death, death of a parent, murder, misogyny, grief, war themes, rape (mention), age regression (or something similar)
The Head — 3.5 ★ ‘The Substance' but more feces <3 I interpreted this a discussion on aging, younger self vs older self and gratitude for overcoming trauma but WHO KNOWS TBH.
The Embodiment — 3 ★ Thought this was going to be relatable PCOS-core story for us suffering with enlarged ovaries and hormone issues, but then it turned into??? Also, is the matchmaking business in South Korea as booming as these short stories make it seem? (will be googling and falling down a rabbit hole v soon about s. korean matchmaking and relationship culture. i know about the 4b movement, but that's super surface level knowledge on my part)
Cursed Bunny — 4 ★ 🐰: “Eat the rich”
The Frozen Finger — 3.5 ★ Would love to listen to this on audiobook. Eyes closed, but preferably wearing a sleep mask to make it where I can't see. That's the ideal vibe here.
Snare — 4 ★ Probably going to be the darkest and most disturbing of the short stories, but what did we learn about greed and gluttony? Let's ask the audience.
Goodbye, My Love — 4 ★ Should've been boring because “AI bad” and “robots will take over” is the least fresh take of the last decade or two, but I really enjoyed this. How much media will have to be made on these topics for us to realize that the mass population does not need access to these technologies 😭
Scars — 2 ★ This made me so angry and never gave me the opportunity to come down from that feeling. I am curious if this is based on a Korean myth or folklore though.
Home Sweet Home — 4.5 ★ Yes, yes having sympathy for landlords is not cool (3), but it's a horror story in itself to come from nothing, work your way up to financial stability, invest in a form of passive income and have it all ruined by a MAN. Ugh.
Ruler of the Winds and Sands — 4 ★ Girl, do not piss me off.
Reunion — 5 ★ Perfection!!!
✰ "To be a woman was to watch yourself not just through your own eyes, but through the eyes of others."
important message, boring characters. great ideas, mid execution. i just wanted to feel something, but this was incredibly underwhelming. hoping for more authors to create stories based on our current surveillance society though.
even if the story itself doesn't fully realize its ambitious goals [in my humble option] 💔 the author has some essays and think pieces that I'm eager to work through soon.
“So Shanna got a new job at the movie theater, we thought we'd play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead, and I'm really starting to feel kind of guilty about it all.”
great start, disappointing finish. loved the unreliable/unhinged narrator + dark humor. this was entertaining, creepy, nostalgic (i miss teen summers) and genuinely funny.
i absolutely adored the characters and the found family aspects of this book. i really enjoyed the story telling of this project as it felt like a more adult version of ‘a series of unfortunate events' with it being so whimsical, fun and cozy. there's something almost nostalgic about reading this. however, some of the major plot points were quite anticlimactic. for the length of the book that was pretty disappointing. i, personally, feel the plot twists were quite obvious.
at about 35% in i started to think that charlie was hoit and huck was the sorceress so i wasn't that far off.
if you want a cozy fantasy it does exactly what one would want.
if you want a romance be aware that this is incredibly romance light.
this is a book that lives and breathes by your love for the author's brand of comedy (it won't be for everybody) & your love for cozy fantasy (it's high enough stakes to keep you engaged, but very low pressure. just a silly little read).
oh i adored this. slow start, but so worth it. the mystery was fine but the characters carried which is perfect for a character driven reader (me!). obsessed with ana + din (my babies, my angels, my luvs). highly recommend the audiobook. andrew fallaize did a fantastic job. the atmosphere in this book was the star, i absolutely loved the world.
i am beyond excited for book 2. i can't wait to visit ana and din again ♡!!
content warnings: body horror, fungus/mold, abuse (not on page, but briefly mentioned)
i finished reading this, closed the book and cried. my heart hurts for a woman i never met. dorothy dandridge is a woman whose story deserves to be heard. most importantly, her story deserves to be heard from dorothy herself. i truly believe she wrote this book with the intent of being a cautionary tale.
though she received praise and recognition in her life, she doesn't receive such in her death. especially in comparison to comparable women of her time. of course, she is often referred to as “the black marilyn monroe” but even other women of color of the time such as josephine baker or lena horne are more widely known and discussed. ‘everything and nothing' is such an important book because it's written from the source. you read her triumphs and trials, her highs and lows. most importantly, you read it from a foundation of humility, grace, authenticity and honesty.
dorothy is what i would call an “imperfect victim” and you have to read this book being fully aware of that fact. she makes questionable choices (frequently!) and while we get some insight into why (less than favorable childhood, low self esteem, self worth rooted entirely in her race etc) there were so many moments when i just wish dorothy had a support system.
One Sunday late in 1964, as I prepared to do this book and held the contract in my hands, I telephoned some friends to break the news. Much to my astonishment they said, “What, an auto-biography? Who are you to do an autobiography? What have you accomplished? If you tell your story, you'll set Negro womanhood back a hundred years. You make a damned poor image of a Negro woman. You will do us no good. Nothing in your career has any meaning for the Group.” As I listened I wanted to die. .. to hear my friends tell me that they viewed me and my career as meaningless trash.
“In our country there is a great deal of fretting over imagined differences between white men and women and Negro men and women. All of this stems from the simple fact that much normal contact between the two groups is illegal, has been illegal for centuries. This lack of knowledge of each other has bred ignorance, fear, fantasy, and a cultivated genre of lies and untruths. If you hold people apart by force and law, it is inevitable that they invent fallacies about each other. I was in some position to lean this simple truth.”
“In the last analysis what this society denied me was what it denies most women of color, perhaps all: simple respectability. If my story means anything, it means that the white millions still have to grant that simple and cost-less right to black women.”
“Finally when friends, physicians, and lawyers managed to convey to them that I was sick and broke beyond repair, they put my case in the dead file. Dead file. How true.”
I am weary now as any river that ever flowed: the disasters, the mistakes, the fortune made and misplaced, the lovers held and lost. What do you do when you are still young, and, so they say, still beautiful, and nothing much has meaning except to stay, to last, to hold on, to carry on regardless each day, wondering sometimes what for. Then what do you do? Why, of course, you pray. As Dunbar put it in his stanzas called “A Prayer”:
O Lord, the hard-won miles Have worn my stumbling feet;
O soothe me with Thy smiles, And make my life complete.
The thorns were thick and keen
Where'er I trembling trod;
The way was long between
My wounded feet and God.
Where healing waters flow
Do Thou my footsteps lead.
My heart is aching so
Thy gracious balm I need.
tw/cw: abandonment, ableism, addiction, anxiety, cheating, child abuse, depression, gaslighting, racism, sexual assault of a child (dorothy's aunt checked for dorothy's virginity by inserting fingers into her vagina), suicidal thoughts
this felt like a breath of fresh air, but i also might've been starved for a decent contemporary romance since it's been a while where i've read one that doesn't feel so disgustingly copy/paste. it felt honest and vulnerable while still being fun, cozy, and sweet. i loved the epistolary setup, the slow burn romance, grumpy/sunshine dynamic and an fmc i deeply related to. lily's people-pleasing and anxiety felt really true to life. the side characters were strong and the world felt warm and lived in. thinking back, i think i overhyped this in my mind. it stood out because so many contemporary romances have been mediocre lately. still sweet, still recommendable, just not a favorite like i thought.
trigger/content warnings: anxiety and social anxiety, parental abandonment themes, mention of cheating (not between main characters)
✰ "It is always interesting to see how often women are described as ravenous when it is the men who, without exception, take without thought of compensation."
this was either brilliant or nonsense and i have no way of knowing which. the writing was gorgeous, dense, and totally unhinged in both the best and worst ways. i loved the imagery and the sheer audacity of it all, but i constantly had to stop and look up words, which completely broke the flow of reading for me. i'm not sure if my vocabulary is severely underdeveloped (probable) or this author has some sort of dictionary kink (possible) or perhaps a combination of both these theories. i think i liked this. i remember liking it. i also remember understanding almost nothing.
