A few years ago, there was a book called The Hating Game that featured two people in competition for the same job and even as they pretended to hate each other, sparks were flying and it turned out they actually liked each other very much. Everyone loved that book. I kind of thought it was just okay although I tried very hard to like it. This book has a VERY similar premise and I like it much more. Rather than the romantic comedy contrivance of […]
I came to this book both too early and too late
Well, this book ages really, really poorly. Some spoilers below. It reads exactly like the time it was written (1989): “progressive” enough to include, at least superficially, a cast of characters including a same-sex couple and people of color in mixed-race relationships, as well as treatment of the AIDS epidemic and drug abuse that leans more sympathetic than condemning. However, it’s not exactly “woke” enough to avoid stumbling into some major Don’t Do That’s. Weetzie, pixie bohemian darling protagonist, is signified as being creative and […]
A magical sports world where every athlete is uncommonly attractive and devoted to true love
Kristen Callihan is a hot name in NA, for her Game On series, which are football romances between the athlete heroes — all of whom are as astonishingly dedicated to academic/intellectual pursuits as to football — and heroines who are very outspoken about how little they are impressed with the formers’ football fame. The books tend toward insta-lust that becomes love *quite* quickly. I’m not bothered by insta-lust/love unilaterally, but if you read too many of that type of story in a row, the heat […]
Novik’s books aren’t just about magic; they are magic
Uprooted was one of my favorite books of the last few years, and possibly ever. Since I’d never read Novik’s Temeraire books, I had no idea if it was a particular stroke of genius from her, or if she’s just always been consistently great and I never knew. I still haven’t read Temeraire, but now that she’s 2/2 for me with Spinning Silver, the imperative to do so becomes more pressing. Here is the summary from Goodreads: “Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, […]
Boundary-crossing erotica that’s Courtney Milan approved
It’s been a minute since I’ve written a review, and I feel like I’ve forgotten how to do it. Let’s pretend I was never gone and this is actually going to be competent, shall we? So I said right in the title of this review that this is Courtney Milan approved erotica, which is a kind of flippant way of saying she gave it a 5/5 star rating with about a billion caveats. Specifically, I’m referring to this review of The Siren, the first book […]
Dark horse favorite YA ‘verse
Something about the original Grisha trilogy has really stuck with me. At the time that I finished Ruin and Rising, the third book in that series, my passion and protectiveness of the main character Alina inspired a ranty, off-topic diatribe of a review about shipping wherein I was basically mad that other readers didn’t appreciate the book and the ending of the trilogy because they were mad their ship didn’t become canon. It’s a silly thing to become incensed about, but clearly something in the […]
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