I did it! I completed at least one line in Jae's Sapphic Book Bingo, and I achieved my goal of reading one award-winning novel per month in 2023! I'm so much gayer and more cultured now!

I picked Warm Pearls and Paper Cranes for the "roommate romance" square because its setup stood out from other roommate romances I was finding. The dual timelines intrigued me, especially as this means historical lesbians, perhaps my all-time favorite sort of lesbian.

And I did enjoy the historical setting. I got very wrapped up in Bea and Maud's pre-WWII love story and the drama of whether they would get to be together. The Shakespeare! The Morse code! How romantic!

But I struggled more with the modern-day plot, largely because I hated Hannah's relationship with Suki, who treats her horribly, leading her on before they start dating and then hiding her afterward. I wanted their plotline to resolve with Hannah realizing that she deserves better, that she should be dating someone who isn't always in a horrible mood and in need of appeasement, but no!

I had other problems with this book, as well. Suki's culture as a Japanese woman felt very surface-level and inauthentic to me, limited as it is to, well, her reading manga and knowing the story of the little girl with leukemia who folded paper cranes? And that's about it? The pacing was also off, major problems stalled for ages before being solved way too quickly, and let's just not discuss the pillow talk.