this is actually the greatest gift from the universe i'm not sad anymorethis is actually the greatest gift from the universe i'm not sad anymore...more
FREYA MARSKE YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD I’M SENDING YOU A GODDAMN FRUIT BASKET
“i would put your heart between my ribs and guard it like my own. is there
FREYA MARSKE YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD I’M SENDING YOU A GODDAMN FRUIT BASKET
“i would put your heart between my ribs and guard it like my own. is there any way i could make you believe it?�
lets go to the beginning of the end�
following the death of his sister, hawthorn is having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Time. to uncover the final piece of the last contract and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, he’s reluctantly drawn back into the world of magic, living in and trying to solve a bizarre puzzle-box of a home. the key? alan ross—writer, thief, hater of hawthorn, and absolute short king.
series closers are an odd little thing. we yearn for it, mark its release date on our calendars, make a big event out of it, counting down the days and speculating over how the story ends. then the day arrives. the very last instalment in your hands. and suddenly a part of you doesn’t want to read it. you don’t want to say goodbye. because, well, then what?
it’s no secret that a power unbound is my most anticipated read of the year. it’s a finale, a grand hurrah. it closes off the story that began in one of my favorite books—a marvellous light. the hand kink book, if you will.
but within its pages is also a story of new beginnings. of learning to let go and stop running, to allow yourself to grieve and feel pain. to forgive yourself and make amends. to learn to move through the world again, allow yourself to feel, to let the blood rush back into numb flesh. to live again.
there's something about freya’s writing that makes me feel so insane. whimsical but not overly flowery. the way she strings the most innocuous words together in a way that makes me want to claw my eyes out. gnaw on my fists. tattoo them on the inside of my eyelids. eat her words whole.
and of course, hawthorn and ross. the feral wet cat and short king. filthy and delectable with so many levels in between. a consensual and fun play with power dynamics that doubles a vehicle for exploring class inequality. i’m fully obsessed with freya’s mind.
it’s always so interesting reading about historical queers. to see how they have to navigate their sexualities in that time period, how they keep themselves safe, how that love flickers like a bright light anyway, restless and powerful.
and now: the end. time to say see you later. but i'll always look at these books the same way robin looks at edwin: with a besotted gaze that says they could be doing anything and i would be just as content basking in their light....more
“home doesn’t have to be a place� “oh yeah? what else can it be?� “anything you want.�
*deep breath* gOD IM SUCH A HOE FOR FOUND FAMILY
shaun david hu
“home doesn’t have to be a place� “oh yeah? what else can it be?� “anything you want.�
*deep breath* gOD IM SUCH A HOE FOR FOUND FAMILY
shaun david hutchinson’s writing is, in a word, enchanting. be it contemporary, sci-fi, or a beautiful blend of everything, SDH has such a talent for spinning lyrical and spellbinding tales. he beams us up to space to confront a single red button, wakes us up in a spaceship on the brink of exploding, and now, he sends us to the 1909 alaska-yukon-pacific exposition.
orphaned at a young age, jack is taken under the wing of the enigmatic magician, the enchantress, where he’s assists her with his clever trickery and sleight of hand. also no stranger to growing up without his parents, wilhelm was kidnapped by laszlo, who exploits wilhelm’s real magic for his own sinister purposes.
at the exposition, the two boys� fates intertwine.
sometimes a family is a very Hot morally grey woman, two badass sapphics, and two cinnamon rolls with *jazz hands* magic !!
there is such immense beauty in witnessing these kids find home for the very first time. the sheer freedom and joy of finally being their unmasked self, of no longer needing to hide because every fibre of you feels like home to someone else too.
the magic of love and family - love for your past and future, that ragtag crew who never gives up on you, who gives you strength to carve out the future you want. the first time you see how love doesn’t have to come with strings or conditions. the person who feels like home.
before we disappear is also ahistorical. its overflowing with casual queerness in a way that wasn’t possible back in 1909. SDH talks about how there are moments where he left history and reality behind to tell a story full of queer joy. and while jack and wilhelm’s story is one of fiction, it could have been for the folk who existed back then. even if they may not have been seen, they existed and found love and home just like these kids did.
and queer joy indeed! this was so, so tender, an absolute delight. so many pages had me cheesy grinning in public - a nice change from looking like i’m one inconvenience away from breaking down :�)
“there he was, familiar and comfortable. that’s what it felt like. like his heart, or whatever part of him it was that yearned for someone worthy t
“there he was, familiar and comfortable. that’s what it felt like. like his heart, or whatever part of him it was that yearned for someone worthy to serve, had recognised the person he was meant to follow. the person he was meant to die for. there he was.�
perhaps the most annoying thing about me is that i love being right.
last year, i procrastinating reading this book, fearing it would mess up my rankings. for months lusted over it but held back. the moment the new year hit, i picked it up.
& i was right.
hey google how do i inject a book into my veins.
when an altercation puts kadou, the shy price of arasht, on shaky footing with the queen, he tries to prove his loyalty by investigating a break-in at a guild with his newly appointed bodyguard—cold & stoic evemer. as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens to ruin the kingdom’s financial standing, kadou & evemer have to protect each other at every turn.
so like. there’s a lot going on here. there’s breathtaking world building with casual queerness, political & economical intrigue, a plot that meanders like a lullaby, a gorgeously diverse & layered cast, & women who wield their power without hesitation.
but the eye of the storm? that's evemer & kadou.
together they are a slowburn, a *clenches fist* Yearning so palpable that i swam it in, later choking & drowning. absolutely beautiful. i ate it all up. they teeter on a cliff’s edge, dreaming about leaning forward but holding back, the push & pull of duty vs. devotion, of consent & reciprocity. when they fling themselves into the wind? i’m gone.
there's the raw intimacy of fealty & devotion, looking at each other like they’re staring into the sun, the north star. crawling over coal & broken glass to kneel & press a forehead against the back of a hand. at first from duty, then wondering when it transformed to love, then to the steady compass used to set course by.
so many of y’all told me that i would love this. that it would be right up the alley of my pulley/marske loving ass. as i sit here with my brain oozing out of my ears, all i have to say is: you were all right.
i've said this before and i'll say it again - FRIENDS TO LOVERS NEVER HAD A BAD TRACK!!i've said this before and i'll say it again - FRIENDS TO LOVERS NEVER HAD A BAD TRACK!!...more
tj klune + found family = therapy bills and crying on the bedroom floor
“you are animals. fierce and wild. you are harsh and brutal and beautiful. t
tj klune + found family = therapy bills and crying on the bedroom floor
“you are animals. fierce and wild. you are harsh and brutal and beautiful. there is no one like you in all the universe.�
nate cartwright is lost. his parents recently dead, fired from his job, estranged from his brother. he inherits the family cabin in oregon and decides to go there to figure out what comes next. the cabin should be empty—it’s not. a man named alex and a strange little girl who calls herself artemis darth vader is there. alex is lost too and his sole purpose is keeping art safe. but art sees something more, something they may all need. nate is left with a choice: drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible.
what is it about the way tj klune writes found family that leaves me a snivelling mess??
nate and alex are two intensely lonely men. both running and grieving in the wake of profound loss. both who think it might be easier to stay lost because it’s hard to take things on faith when it feels like there’s none left.
and then: being found.
but before that we need to talk about little artemis darth vader. it’s hard to explain without giving it away, but this book looks at humanity from a different lens. how awful and flawed humanity is. but also, so fierce and wild. how fragile we are but how we take chances, how hard we fight to have a future full of hope.
together they make a home out of nothingness. they create a home for together after almost losing themselves. out of a place where they should not exist. they take turns carrying each other until their knees give out. together they search for home in a harsh and unforgiving world.
it’s hard to explain how this feels until you read their story with your own eyes, but when you do there will be so much love and trust and heartache and humanity that sometimes it will feel like you’re drowning it in. i felt so alive reading this book.
i loved nate, alex, and artemis so much that it hurt to let them go. but i know i'll be back to see them again sometime in the near future.
freya marske can we talk? our horny asses would be such good friends i'm certain of it
“maud blyth. you are a terror and should not be allowed to ru
freya marske can we talk? our horny asses would be such good friends i'm certain of it
“maud blyth. you are a terror and should not be allowed to run loose in the world.�
aboard an ocean liner, maud serves as mrs navenby companion. but when she finds mrs navenby dead, maud is left with a parrot, a ship full of suspects, & violet debenham—magician, actress, scandal. together they continue what was started in a marvellous light: solve a murder & put together pieces of the last contract, or risk a plot that threatens every magician.
it's no secret that aml is one of my fave debuts & a fave book. when you love a book this much, moving on is hard. you keep looking over your shoulder, at what you’ve left ashore. perhaps that’s why i put off reading a restless truth: i expected to yearn for robin & edwin the whole time. & of course i did.
but as i packed for my own cruise, i knew it was time to take the plunge. i had to go with maud & violet. to give myself the chance to fall in love with them while i, too, dramatically pranced around a ship crossing a sea.
& fall in love, i did.
part of it was the immersion. the fun of reading about hijinks & mischief in staterooms, decks, & dining halls. feeling like if i closed my eyes, that world could’ve fit over mine like a magic trick.
the larger part: this is freya marske’s world. home to my favorite magic system, one of cradles & leylines &...magical rope bondage? (freya can we talk?)
somewhere along the way, after rereads & subconsciously mulling over the threads behind each spell & cradle, this world has become a comfort. it happened so naturally, blink & you miss it that i barely realized. how good it felt to come back, to learn more its possibilities, limitations, & manipulation of intent.
& intent there was within these pages, woven into every word & act, so carefully thoughtful & lush. with women who wield their femininity like the power it is, defiant & bold, a sharp tongue & sharper wit.
but turns out all the awards actually go to hawthorn who needs a break from the worst babysitting job ever.
y’know who would love this book? fuckin' benoit blanc.
& if i wailed whenever robin & edwin were mentioned that’s between me & god.
i'm forever in a love spiral over that forearm hussy....more
what right does nina lacour have to leave me an ugly messy after every single one of her books
“a leap. look how precious you were. a spin. how wort
what right does nina lacour have to leave me an ugly messy after every single one of her books
“a leap. look how precious you were. a spin. how worthy of love you were. a dip. look at your heart, intact. reach to the sky. what a miracle it was. swoop to the grass. how steadily it beat for the people you loved.�
mila is used to being alone. she's just aged out of the foster care system and accepts a teaching job at a remote farm, a refuge amidst the flowers, fog, and waves for young residents who have faced with past traumas. she thinks: maybe this is where she’ll find a new home, a real home. but nobody told her about the ghosts and the memories that come with them.
that hollow heartache, that loneliness reverberating through an empty room. again, nobody writes grief quite like nina lacour - this time with an eerily whimsical spin.
watch over me is a strange and hauntingly beautiful story of the toll of grief and processing trauma, all the ghosts of the past that weigh you down. its a look at what you desperately try to forget, holding them and bringing them into the light, and learning to move past that fear. how facing what haunts us is the only way to truly know ourselves and to accept love. to realise that you’re not your past, you’ve grown, that you deserve forgiveness, and that it can’t hurt you anymore.
lacour really captures that desperate desire for connection and family, the want to fit in and find a place to call home, the need to love and be loved in return. the family we choose and how powerful it can be to feel like we belong, when we connect with others with guise or guile. this has ghosts and magical realism, and yet is so painfully human.
lacour’s books are quiet; there's no big crescendo. its understated and yet powerful, so just left yourself get gently swept away by the emotion and lyrical imagery.
as of writing this, i’ve finally made it through nina lacour's entire backlist. if you ask which was my favorite of them all, i’d say they’re all special in different ways and they’re stories that you’d be looking for at some point in your life.
but to answer: watch over me occupies a very special crevice in my heart. and i just. trust nina lacour. my heart is in good hands, and hopefully yours too.
it takes a certain skill to take a story that we’re so familiar with and spin it into something new yet familiar, with characters we think we know but now painting them in a slightly different light, slightly off-kilter, and make it queer as a treat!
at its core, the king of infinite space is a retelling of the tragedy of hamlet. you’ve heard this song before, but it’s still different, still manages to take your breath away and leave you gasping for breath and reeling on the floor. it lulls you into a false sense of comfort and then goes “haha bitch you thought !!�
it may feel odd to call a book a work of art but it is. figuratively - the sublime prose and gorgeous emotional insight to all these characters feels like magic. the way you’re plunged into a dreamscape from the very first page, juggling light and darkness, chaos and peace. it’s raw and delicious.
and literally - the king of infinite space is art. an experimental piece that not many can pull off, but lyndsay faye does it and what a gripping ride. in particular, she breathes life into ben, using stylistic fonts (even comic sans baby!) as a way for you to enter /his/ world, his scattered and unhinged thoughts. fonts flowing upwards downwards around hurryhurrynotimetobreathe - pure genius.
at the end of the day, this is a story you think you know, steeped in love. a love persevering everywhere, everywhen, every universe all at once. all the time. and you’ll think to yourself �maybe this time, we won’t go down in flames�.
content warning: addiction, alcoholism, bullying, death, substance use, gun and knife violence, infidelity, suicide attempt and ideation...more
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