I think my biggest problem with this book is that it's too long. It was somehow only 330 some pages but the audiobook was almost 13 hours. I listened I think my biggest problem with this book is that it's too long. It was somehow only 330 some pages but the audiobook was almost 13 hours. I listened to maybe 75% of it at 2x speed and then once they started having sex I bumped it up to 2.5 x. It's just too long. I really like the connection between the characters and I loved the concept even though it was pretty unrealistic. If you're doing a bachelor auction there's no way you're going to have to fulfill so many different dates. Anyway my only other small comment is that the doctor in the book makes a statement about how she doesn't wear a doctor's coat because she thinks it gets in the way But she doesn't like that people automatically assume she's a nurse because she's a woman but on the cover they show her wearing a white coat. I just wish that covers match the actual character descriptions please and thank you....more
I've loved every Anita Kelly book so far but it was gonna be hard to top Somewhere Wild and Wonderful. This one didn't quite beat out that one but it I've loved every Anita Kelly book so far but it was gonna be hard to top Somewhere Wild and Wonderful. This one didn't quite beat out that one but it was close.
I'm always impressed when an author is able to get me fully invested in any sort of sports book because I am the antithesis of sports ball. I am so apathetic to sports and so me loving a book that heavily has basketball at its core it's pretty impressive.
I genuinely loved this. It was so good. I am loving this series and all of these friendships and relationships that are connected. I loved the depression representation and chronic migraine representation. I liked the representation of the foster system and I basically cried at the epilogue so this is a win for me. Another absolutely stellar book by Anita Kelly....more
I really enjoyed this one. It's sweet and swoony and mischievous. I loved the parent trap aspect and I'm always for books that say fuck it to the heteI really enjoyed this one. It's sweet and swoony and mischievous. I loved the parent trap aspect and I'm always for books that say fuck it to the hetero norms. I'm really looking forward to the next book....more
I didn't know much about this one going into it and I have not read any other books by this author so I dDark academia sapphic vampires. Count me in.
I didn't know much about this one going into it and I have not read any other books by this author so I didn't have any expectations necessarily. At first it started out as a sapphic taboo dark academia vibe and then bam! vampires.
One day I'll get better at reading reviews before I start books but it was not today.
I liked this book. I liked the characters and some of the buildup of the vampire element. I do think that there was room for growth especially regarding the fantastical vampire element but as a whole it was a pretty good book.
I did really enjoy that pretty much anyone who has mentioned more than once is queer in some way shape or form and I appreciated that a lot. This book is set in the 1970s which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't but it does mean that the queerness is a little bit publicly understated but within interpersonal relationships it's talked about freely.
So this book is compared to Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe and honestly I think that does this book a disservice because thiSo this book is compared to Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe and honestly I think that does this book a disservice because this book has all of the same coming of age queer yearning and heartbreak that ari and dante has without any of the transphobia and problematic moments.
In all honesty it's been about a month since I've listened to this book and my memory is awful but I did enjoy this book. I don't quite get what people are saying about it being disappointing. This book is not a romance it is a coming-of-age story. We have a queer Indian main character who discovers and embraces her sexuality throughout the entire book and it gets hurt in the process and hurts other than the process and while there is a romance it is not the focus of the book and it is not present throughout the entire book.
I especially loved the depictions of healing through art and I wish there was more of that. Overall I did really enjoy this one and it's when I would recommend....more
After really LOVING D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding I had really high hopes for this one and most of those expectations were met.
We've got two badasAfter really LOVING D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding I had really high hopes for this one and most of those expectations were met.
We've got two badass Black sapphic MCs, one a fat lesbian stud and one a midsize bisexual femme. They've been best friends for three years and their friendship is unmatched. That energy had me fucking cheesin for the first 40% of this book. Like I was stupid grinning for the first half. I loved it.
I love the way Cyn talks about music and Jucee and I especially loved the way Jucee loved on her son Amani and talked about food. I swear if some of those restaurants aren't already real things, they definitely should be.
Cyn is a Grammy winning music producer and Jucee is an exotic dancer.
When one night their friendship energy turned sexual, things got a little rocky. Neither one wanted to risk their friendship for a little sex.
While I still really enjoyed this whole book, I do feel like some things were missed. I don't hate the miscommunication trope but it's not my favorite either and a ton of this could've been solved if they just actually said what they meant instead of expecting the other to read their mind.
I'm gonna withhold any detailed spoilers or any of my other thoughts for now and will add on when I do a reread after it's released.
What I will say is that this one should definitely be on your radar, especially if you're into friends to lovers. The representation is also unmatched since I know a lot of y'all got bingo cards to fill up.
It's rare for me to read a digital book in it's entirety so quickly and that is always a good sign for me. I finished this one in about 24 hours. I literally couldn't stop. I would try and do something else and then come back for just one more chapter. Jucee and Cyn are both strong emotional women with lots of feelings even if they try to hide some of them and I really genuinely enjoyed their story.
I'll 100% be doing a reread via audio when this releases. Thanks to netgalley and Harlequin Books for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own. 4.5 stars...more
This was cute! And a bit heavy at times dealing with coming out and disownment from parents but it's mostly adorable.
It's got an out autistic cis lesThis was cute! And a bit heavy at times dealing with coming out and disownment from parents but it's mostly adorable.
It's got an out autistic cis lesbian who has just been broken up with and she's a teacher. Then we have a supposedly straight best friend with ADHD who is a photographer and works at an art gallery.
Clara starts at this art gallery and it's super queer right so the owner assumes that she is queer so instead of correcting her, she comes up with a plan to bring her best friend (who is of course in love with her) as a fake girlfriend. Except it's not so fake. There's basically no faking going on which I liked because it got right to the point.
I do feel like their friendship and relationship was a bit glossed over and I would've liked to see it drawn out a bit more but this is a novella and I get that some things get sacrificed for page limits and such.
I think the autistic and ADHD rep was very well done and I love seeing a sapphic neurodivergent couple.
If you give me a book by Jenna Miller, I'm going to read it. Fat lesbian rep is few and far between and Jenna is fantastic at it.
This book is super cuIf you give me a book by Jenna Miller, I'm going to read it. Fat lesbian rep is few and far between and Jenna is fantastic at it.
This book is super cute. it's a YA with a friends to enemies to friends to lovers. We've got these two girls who met one summer but then ended up enemies when they started high school and now a couple years in, they're still enemies and avoid each other at all costs. But when Jordan is assigned the volleyball beat for the school newspaper, she has to come face to face with her rivalry with volleyball team captain Mack.
I think this book does a really great job at highlighting how teenagers make mistakes and fuck up all the time and a lot of things can be overcome.
My favorite parts of this book were the friend group and also the relationship between our main character and her brother. So cute.
I didn't dislike the love interest but I feel like we didn't get a lot about her. I wish we had gotten more backstory and depth to Mack in the way that we did for Jordan. Their love story and friendship and everything is super cute and adorable but it is a little bit surface level for me and I would have liked to see more development there....more
Honestly the summary for this book does a better job than any review I could write. It is campy and hilarious while also having a serious thriller at Honestly the summary for this book does a better job than any review I could write. It is campy and hilarious while also having a serious thriller at the heart of it. I love the non-binary lesbian representation and all the discussions about gender were so freaking relatable....more
This was so good! Definitely my favorite of this author's book so far and it is hilarious and emotional and such an important book. It features a middThis was so good! Definitely my favorite of this author's book so far and it is hilarious and emotional and such an important book. It features a middle school girl who gets diagnosed with Crohn's disease well also trying to figure out that she likes girls, dealing with her best friend joining a group she's not a part of, and some big life changes with her mom. This book has a lot going on but it all works and it's all important and I really hope that a chronically ill queer Jewish Middle schooler gets their hands on this.
I also need a whole moment for the variety of queer representation in this book. We have a sapphic/questioning lesbian MC, a lesbian character, a gender queer character who uses they / she pronouns, an Aromantic character who actually uses the term aromantic, a gay character, a bisexual character, and sapphic adults. There was just such variety and I loved seeing it, especially that aromantic representation made my heart so happy. Also I just love all of these queer middle school books because I wish I had known I was queer that young and I'm just so happy and emotional for these kids who get to live most of their lives knowing who they are....more
For a book that has two main characters and families that own bakeries, there was a surprising lack of baking. I picked this one up because I wanted tFor a book that has two main characters and families that own bakeries, there was a surprising lack of baking. I picked this one up because I wanted to read about lesbian bakers but it's actually just about sapphic bakery owners who don't do any of the baking. And like that's fine and whatever but it's not why I wanted to read this one. (I think one MC is bi and one is lesbian but I can't recall specific labels, or maybe they're both lesbians I honestly don't know)
This one is about these two Cuban bakeries who have this generational family feud and the daughters of each of the families are set up to take over their respective bakeries and then they fall in love.
I don't think that I like books with generational feuds because they seem so ridiculous. There's no point to any of them and I can get behind a rivals to lovers if there's actual angst between the characters, but this sort of made up and fueled by rumors rivalry is not my favorite thing.
I actually just read another book about a generational feud between rival bakeries that was YA and maybe I just should have waited a little bit to read this one because they were just so similar despite being very different.
I did appreciate the conversation about work hours and having a wake up at 2:00 a.m. and as a professional baker who gets up at 2:30 everyday this was very relatable. And the queer representation is great but I was just disappointed in the rest of the book.
I also feel like we didn't really get any of them falling in love. We get this back story of them in high school and then just them bickering and then all of a sudden they kind of like each other and I feel like I missed a step. Again, I didn't necessarily dislike this book It just wasn't what I was expecting and it unfortunately didn't do very much for me....more
THIS BOOK. HOLY FREAKING WOW. IT LIVES IN MY BRAIN RENT FREE NOW.
Murderous sirens and a super diverse cast of characters was exactly the type of enerTHIS BOOK. HOLY FREAKING WOW. IT LIVES IN MY BRAIN RENT FREE NOW.
Murderous sirens and a super diverse cast of characters was exactly the type of energy I needed today.
So, here's the rundown. You've got this story of this big ship that went out to the Mariana Trench to do research and everyone died. The footage that was discovered (because it was funded by an entertainment media company that makes horror movies) showed horrendous creatures brutally murdering the people and everyone wrote it off as a hoax or special effects. Mermaids couldn't be real, right?
Fast forward a few years and Imagine Media wants to send another crew out. They reach out to the best and brightest in marine biology and oceanography and set forth to find the mermaids.
This book is wild. From start to finish, it's nonstop tension. While some say the plot is slow I strongly disagree because you are just waiting for something tragic to happen, and happen it does.
So if you're looking for a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat book with killer sirens and a diverse and incredibly developed cast of characters, this is the one for you. Please tell me if you've read this or if you do because I want to talk about it.
Olivia: autistic lesbian geek beauty, the face of Imagine entertainment
Tori: bisexual badass scientist who wants to avenge the death of her sister (who died on the first voyage) and learn to understand the mermaids
Hallie and Holly and Heather: the sisters. Deaf identical twins and their older sister. All different types of scientists.
Jacque and Michi: killers. Literally. Like big game killers hired to kill the mermaids if necessary. Honestly bad people but absolute romance goals. Iconic.
Jillian Toth: the original sirentologist, super badass icon, and problem child.
Theo Blackwell: Imagine PR and head of voyage, physically disabled and the estranged husband of Dr. Toth.
Did I copy and paste my caption from my Instagram post about this book that I wrote immediately after finishing it? Yeah pretty much.
I do want to expand upon some of my thoughts because Instagram captions are only so long but holy freaking nuts this book is wild. It was so good and so unique and interesting that I felt like a rubber band ready to snap the whole time because of how much tension I had. I was worried for them! Those fuckers were going to die. And some of them do. This is definitely one of those books where you're going through it and you're like are any of the characters going to survive this? Spoiler yes some of them do but definitely not all of them.
I still can't quite explain why the big game hunter couple were some of my favorite characters. There was something about them being so unlikable yet so in love with each other that just did it for me I guess. There really is someone for everyone if they want them I suppose.
Reread thoughts: I can't figure out if this was more stressful the second time around because you knew what was coming. The scene with Ray and Olivia caused heart palpitations in the bad way and the pool scene. If you know you know. This book is still absolutely amazing and definitely one of my favorites of the year....more
This is a nice solid book. I always love reading queer romance books with older main characters and this one we have one in their '50s and one and theThis is a nice solid book. I always love reading queer romance books with older main characters and this one we have one in their '50s and one and their 40s I believe. One of them is the president and one of them is a renowned heart surgeon. I think this is a fun step away from the current reality of the US and I would love to imagine a world where we had an openly bisexual woman president. Sounds like a freaking dream.
I do think the pacing is a little bit off sometimes and I wish we had more of their conversations on page but as a whole it was good and solid.
Amazing. Honestly perfect. It somehow gets even better when you get to the very very end and you realize that the story is based on the author and theAmazing. Honestly perfect. It somehow gets even better when you get to the very very end and you realize that the story is based on the author and their wife. Immaculate....more
I really liked this one. I finished it during one shift and it kept me entertained the entire time. We love a grumpy sunshine moment here and I liked I really liked this one. I finished it during one shift and it kept me entertained the entire time. We love a grumpy sunshine moment here and I liked the little twists and turns. My one real struggle with it was the end main action scene where I feel like all of the magic that we had been told all of a sudden was different. Like the magic systems weren't the same throughout the whole book and all of a sudden they could do things that they couldn't do before which was a little bit weird to me but whatever.
I have so many questions. This was absolutely wild.
I'm a big freaking scaredy cat yet though reading this on my way to work at 330am where I wWHAT!?
I have so many questions. This was absolutely wild.
I'm a big freaking scaredy cat yet though reading this on my way to work at 330am where I work in a small town surrounded by woods was a good idea ...more
This was so cute! I did not read the blurb so I had no idea where it was going but I loved it. My singular complaint is tLET'S GO LESBIANS, LET'S GO!
This was so cute! I did not read the blurb so I had no idea where it was going but I loved it. My singular complaint is that I wish there was more but it's still a really long graphic novel so maybe I'm pushing it but I loved that all the characters had their own things to work through and make progress and be cute and adorable and even the character that feels a little bit irredeemable at the beginning has her own moment. Lots of love for this very pink and very gay graphic novel....more
I loved the first half of this and I loved the suspense of the second half I just think that it needed another half. Like WHAT. THAT WAS THE ENDING?!
I loved the first half of this and I loved the suspense of the second half I just think that it needed another half. Like for real another hundred pages If not more because this book feels unfinished. I don't know if it's going to beat the start of a series or if it's supposed to be vague and open-ended but all of a sudden I looked at my audiobook and realized I only had four minutes left and I did not comprehend how that was humanly possible.
That being said, because it's written by Jen Wilde, of course all of the characters are amazing, at least the ones you're supposed to like. We have some phenomenal queer autistic representation in our main character and a ton of other disability rep and queer rep that is consistently highlighted. The story itself is interesting but I needed more. The premise is super cool but like I said, it needed a lot more to feel finished....more
I want to start my review by saying that if you enjoyed Gideon the Ninth you're going to like this one. While it is a very different book from Gideon,I want to start my review by saying that if you enjoyed Gideon the Ninth you're going to like this one. While it is a very different book from Gideon, it does have a 6 ft tall, emotionally stunted, sword-wielding sapphic with red hair who has a love interest with short black hair. I was dying over some of the similarities and for the first half of this book I really felt like it was a less convoluted version of Gideon if it was fantasy instead of sci-fi. I stand by that but this book holds its own in a completely unique way as well.
I loved the take on it being these Irish gods and all of the queer representation and neurodivergence and that twist at the end will just have you on the edge of your seat. I am so ready for the next book....more
"why have sex when you can make scones" relatable.
So that was my favorite quote from this book and I genuinely had to pause after that scene because "why have sex when you can make scones" relatable.
So that was my favorite quote from this book and I genuinely had to pause after that scene because I was cracking up because it was so relatable from my asexual perspective. The person who says the quote is not ace and it's totally taken out of context but it was still very funny for me.
There's something about this cover that screams adult fiction but this is actually a YA book. It follows this group of friends on their prom night and they've all made this pact that they're going to have sex that night in their respective couples. But one thing after another goes wrong from hilarious surprise cats to tragedy to chronic illness flare-ups to fighting etc. This book was both very fun and realistic at the same time. There is one sapphic couple and I would have loved to see another queer couple but it's okay. There is chronic illness representation as well which was really well done and a great part of the book.
The author really tackled a way to make a nuanced story about sex and relationships while also showcasing how not everything in your life can be planned and that making decisions without considering all of the facts and factors will only be detrimental to everyone....more
Loading...
