*2.5 stars, rounded up

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mark is a really great character and I liked reading about his sculpturing and how much he loved his art. I've never read about a character that makes sculptures before and I found it really interesting. Sadly we barely get to know anything about Enis outside of their relationship, which is weird since they are supposed to be best friends too? I just didn't really feel it. There was some familiarity between them, but it just always felt a bit off to me, because we have barely any information on Enis, so I couldn't connect to him at all.

I liked that there was no casual transphobia and I think Mark's transness was handled quite well (though I'm not an authority on this since I'm cis). I also like that there were a lot of anxieties of trans folks mentioned when it comes to more intimate parts of a relationship.

However, the book is only ~100 pages long and there were three quite explicit sex scenes in them which felt too much for me. While I understand the intent of the author it bothered me. I had a hard time caring for the characters since they felt kind of flat and I think if the book had been extended more it would have felt more realistic for me? The immediate relationship/date/sex talk just after Enis has broken up made me dislike Mark at first (also it felt really uncomfortable to me? Like he just broke up with his boyfriend and it just felt too much, too fast??) and so I took a quite long time to really warm up to him. I also felt that many things went to fast and maybe because of this their fight felt also kind of blown out of proportion to me?

I also disliked that there were barely any important side characters. There's a few that have names but only very few play any kind of role in the story? And that also only one time and then they are never heard of again. I can be a fan of romance novels, but I dislike it when neither the main character not the love interest seem to have anything to do besides their relationship and their work. So all in all, I think the story just felt too rushed and too underdeveloped for me to truly enjoy it?

However, once again, I really liked how Mark's transness was handled and that hormones and surgical operations were mentioned and that there was barely any transphobia (Mark was misgendered once over the phone) and all in all it's a nice feel-good story.

The book picks right up where Pantomime left off. With Drystan and Micah being on the run from the circus and wanted for murder. So in addition to the Shadow, a mysterious hunter that was hired by an unknown party, tracking Micah, there are now also other people looking for them, making it impossible for them to find a job or leave the country. Thankfully they find an old friend of Drystan, the magician Maske, who takes them in and also teaches them his trade. Having been banned from magic after losing to his arch-nemesis Pen Taliensin, he accepts when a rematch is offered. But if they lose it will cost them everything they have trained so hard to achieve.

While this sequel is not that different from the first book, it definitely builds up a lot more. The world building improves a lot, we get more insight in the society of Ellada and its history. We learn that Micah is not the only person with special abilities. There are Chimera (creatures with magical powers, some of them look human, some of them... don't) and Alder (god-like creatures from the past, who left the planet a long time ago, so there's none of them left... right?). What I really loved was that while the Kedi are intersex chimera, it was explained that a) not all chimera are intersex and b) Micah being intersex is not the reason he's a chimera. It took away from the magical-intersex-people thing the first book seemed to follow and it was definitely better than what I feared would happen.

There are a lot of other things going on in this book and I found it to be quite fast-paced. There were still a lot of flashbacks, but this time to ancient times long before Micah was even born. They helped a lot with the world building even though they felt a bit like info dumps sometimes. We also get to know a lot more about Drystan's past. I definitely enjoyed this book a bit more than I did the first one, mostly because we get to know a lot more about the world Micah lives in.

Another thing I liked about the book was also that we were introduced to Cyan, which also keeps Micah a bit out of the limelight, giving him time to grieve his losses. Anyway Cyan grew up in the circus and she too has powers. More specifically she can read minds. Due to this Cyan and Micah bond quite fast and I love, love, love their relationship. Cyan is also a wonderful and loveable character, with an interesting past and a super interest story line. I also love how these three then work together.

There's also Micah's and Drystan's blooming relationship is so sweet and amazing and I love them so much. Both of them deal with grief in this novel after what happened (Drystan also shows signs of PTSD) and while they are always there for each other and cling to each other, their problems are not solved by being in love. They have to deal with that a lot.

Just like the circus in the previous book, the magician story line in this book is amazingly well-developed and very interesting. I loved reading about Drystan and Micah learning how to do magic, starting with "simple" card tricks and ending in truly spectacular performances. And like I said Cyan definitely fit perfectly into their group and it showed all the time when they worked together, despite the mutual distrust in the beginning.

The political conflict that was hinted at in the first book also grows immensely in this story. The Foresters are tired of the huge class differences between the classes, the Twelve Trees and the monarchy, some of them owning villas with so many golden ornaments that you could feed entire districts with it while the poor people starve and the lower middle class only barely manages to survive. For now the protest are still pretty peaceful. The question remains: For how long?

And despite everything happening in the novel, Micah is never forgotten, his identity struggles are shown and thanks to him being very level-headed we are kept in the now-time despite all the visions and flashbacks. It could be very easy to forget about the characters in a story where there's so much plot going on, but this doesn't happen. Laura Lam seems to have a talent for writing compelling and interesting characters in whose heads I don't mind spending hours and days.

Again the writing was beautiful, the characters were loveable, wonderful descriptions of everything and a bit better world building than the last book, but there are still so many questions left unanswered! But don't fear, because the third book will be published soon and I'm sure our questions will be answered!

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay so first off let me start this with a wow. Wow! WOW!! What an ending to a fascinating trilogy! New mysteries are uncovered, violence breaks out, family bonds are formed again, friendship becomes more important than ever, the political climate gets worse by the day.

But let's start from the beginning. Micah who normally never grows sick has fainted quite a bit in the second book and right at the end he fainted again, Dr. Pozzi's warning that it might be a sign of a mortal illness ringing in his ears. Drystan is forced to take him to Dr. Pozzi, who helps him with some medicine that strengthens his powers. But unfortunately its effects only last for a week and then Micah has to return to Pozzi. Does Pozzi really just want to help chimera like Micah? Or is there something far more sinister behind his actions? And if that was not enough an old friend of theirs is revealed to have been working as a spy for him. But do they do it out of their free will or are they also forced to help him?

Many of the questions you might have had from the first two books are answered. At least mostly. I still have no idea how Ellada looks like, the lack of a map is something that is probably one of the few things that still bother me, having finished the series now.

There are still a few scenes that felt very info-dumpy, more flashbacks, a lot of hints at what happened in the books before, which bothered me a bit, since I had just read the first two books, but if you don't plan on re-reading them just before reading Masquerade they should definitely be very helpful. Also the ending was so neatly tied up, it bothers me a bit. It is just absolutely perfect, which felt like a bit too much. However, it fit well with the series and the character's deserved this ending a lot, so it doesn't bother me that much.

Despite all that the story was amazing. There was more focus on politics now, the demonstrations of the Forester Party grow violent and a rekindled hatred for chimera leads to a terrorist attack in which many people are wounded. Then a secret in Micah's past is unraveled and he finds out another secret that might as well cost him his life. And then there's also still those weird grave robber dreams that plague him in the night.

Micah and his brother also connect more again and their loving relationship really shows through, I love good sibling relationships, they are great. Drystan's and Micah's relationship grows even further and honestly I could cry because these two are so cute together and I honestly love them so much! Micah also grows more secure in his non-binary identity and realizes that while he likes being seen as a man more than he does a woman, he is still very much both and neither at the same time.

This story was, while still very focused on the characters, also good at giving us world building answers that we have been yearning to know since the first book. Not all questions are answered in the ending, but many of them are and so the ending is pretty satisfactory.

Also, don't worry, there will be a real masked ball in the end, but even before the title of the book fits well with all the deceit and hidden identities in the book.

All in all this story was a worthy ending for a lovely trilogy and if you're looking for diverse books, books with bisexual, trans- and intersex characters, a fantastical world building, amazing fantasy, then this is the story for you.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I picked up this book I really hoped I'd enjoy it more. A romance between an English Professor and a Chef? I can't say I've read this combo before but it sounded really interesting.

Kit is stressed out, she has been traveling a lot during her summer break and now she has to visit a conference in New Orleans while being jet lagged and tired. And then there is also Teddy, who makes it impossible to even think about sleeping.

The sex scenes felt a bit much at first (hot but... a bit much), but the evened out a bit better towards the middle and they were quite well written, so I didn't mind them that much, just be warned that there's quite a lot of explicit sex scenes in this book.

I found the chemistry between Kit and Teddy to be a bit lacking. Of course, there was a sexual connection and they both were really hot for each other, but while we are told they spend a lot of time together, we are not shown them growing closer? I would have loved for their (at first probably quite awkward) situation of having to live together to be explored more so the story would give the readers the opportunity to see the characters grow closer together and get to know more about the other person. If this had happened I could have maybe actually bought the ending, but like this, I didn't really like it?

A lot of the conflict felt super contrived as if to prolong the story? A colleague of her's actually just... left her?? in New Orleans because she didn't say anything good about her paper? I can't imagine that anyone would act like such an ass, at least not when they know each other and have considered themselves friends before that. Maybe another plot would have worked better for me there? But like this it just really bothered me! + the conflict in the second half of the book annoyed me a lot, it felt weird and like it was just used to drag out the book and I hated it. Tbh the book would have probably gotten a better rating from me without the last ~40 pages or so.

I liked the build up that happened during the conference and the side characters were also interesting. Then it even still made sense that they didn't know that much about each other since they had very little time and were just planning on a couple-nights-stand, but after living together for a week they should have at least gotten to know each other a bit more, but like I said, at least we readers weren't shown that.

I loved the chase in the first part of the book, the worries about whether or not this would have a future or just was a couple-nights-stand, their sexual chemistry was there, but sadly the book dragged out for too long, so the ending fell really flat and I didn't really enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I feel that I need to praise how incredibly diverse this book is! The main character is a bisexual trans woman, another is genderqueer, there's a biromantic asexual character who dislikes kissing, but likes some other parts of relationships, there's a lot of bisexual characters in general (so nice!) and yet neither of those parts is really the main focus of the stories. It has a huge influence on the singular character of course, but it is never their main storyline, which was nice to see. There's also two different polyamorous relationships, one that is portrayed as unhealthy whereas the other is lovely and very healthy.

Another thing I really liked was how different fairy tales were incorporated into the book (mostly Snow White). Some parts were quite similar (though with an interesting twist to most of them), many others, however, were super different, and it had a good balance.

However, it is really hard to keep track off all the characters, as the viewpoint constantly changes and there are a lot of characters you have to keep track off. (

Spoiler

: the three love interests for example (the ending is so nice though!! there's no boring love triangle, they end up in a squad, it's wonderful!)

)

There's a lot of complexity and political intrigue, kind of like A Song of Fire and Ice but with way less sex. The level of violence and the death count is similar and I cried when some characters died because I had grown to love them a lot. (However: None of the Main Gays uh Bis are buried, hoorah!) There's also abuse and misgendering, as well as some casual biphobia (all of this is challenged in the text though), one suicide and an attempted sexual assault, but neither is described in detail.

The story is really long, which felt exhausting at times, even though the story never felt dragged out and it is very hard to read at times due to the different viewpoints and all the characters, but if you have the time to really submerge yourself into a novel, this is definitely a good choice.

I was however not really a fan of the later antagonist in the book. She felt over the top for me a lot of times, but I liked her ending even less. It just didn't sit right for me.

But despite this, this book was a really good and it is definitely a lovely fantasy/fairytale retelling with an incredibly diverse cast. I really liked it.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about two good friends growing up together and then moving in together. It's also about their love life and how it influences their friendship, about good and bad relationships and about growing up.

This book has some quite interesting characters and I loved the interplay between Travis and Stephen. Their friendship feels very strong at first, but I couldn't really buy it in the end due to various reasons I will discuss later on.

I really liked Gabe, the redhead Boston Cop. He's a great guy, but sadly I felt as if his and Stephen's relationship could have been developed more? But despite this, I enjoyed their build up a lot.

I also loved the family relationships that were shown in the story, especially Gabe's and Stephen's parents who seemed really supportive and nice, this was really great to read. The characters were also written quite well, so I enjoyed reading the book

There were a lot of time skips, many in the beginning, quite a few again in the back, which threw me out of the story a few times and made it hard for me to really feel connected with the character.

Something that really bothered me was the way how no one seemed to really care what happened to Travis. We were shown again and again how he was abused and even though Stephen didn't know everything he knew enough, which should have made him grab Travis and get him as far away as possible from his abuser. Especially with the time skips it seemed like they talked about the problem, but didn't directly offered Travis their help, which hugely peeved me out. Another thing that bothered me was when Gabe threatened Travis' abuser, without having first made sure that Travis is safe? Threatening an abuser is never a good idea as it can lead to them lashing out even worse at their victim.

While I understood Travis way of thought to some extent I have to say I'm really disappointed in all his friends and family, as until the end they didn't step up enough. Now something like this is surely a hard situation to be in, as you want to help your friend but feel like you're helpless, but it just made me feel a bit resentful towards Stephen and Gabe, especially since both of them knew what this kind of abuse could lead to when it comes to its worst. Maybe I wouldn't have felt that way if we would have seen them directly talk to Travis more than once, but like this I just... didn't really like how they handled the situation.

Another thing that bothered me was that even though Stephen had dated a girl before and Gabe had even suggested that not everyone is straight or gay, the bisexuality was never brought up. Even Stephen just thinking it over and realizing that's not who he is would be better than this complete ignorance of sexualities that fall between gay and straight.

All in all, I think this is quite a quick read and lovely writing, but due to the time skips which felt very jarring, I didn't enjoy the story as much as I could have. However, I'm also happy that it told the story of an often overlooked part of same-gender relationships as spousal/domestic abuse is barely every brought up in LGBT spaces (I feel like it's being brought up more recently, but I also still see some people over-romanticising same-gender relationships and completely denying that they can also be abusive or victims feeling that since they've had such a relationship they shed a bad light on the community if they told about it, which is definitely not true, so it is definitely a very, very important thing to talk about and this book has some quite good points about that)

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I picked up this book I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I definitely was not disappointed.

This story features an age gap (not the creepy kind though, they really fit well together and their age difference is discussed without dismissing problems that could come from such relationships) and it's set mostly in a community garden in the middle of Manhattan. I'm not a big gardener, but I found the talk about it interesting instead of boring. It could have easily become too much of course, but I think it was nicely balanced. But hey, maybe that's just cause I could really relate to Jordan as a city-dweller who also misses the countryside. All in all Radclyffes love of the environment and gardening really shone through and it was lovely to read.

There is a scene in the beginning of the book that borders on Sexual Assault and feels super creepy, which I really disliked so be warned that it's there. There's also talk about death, suicide, loss and drug abuse all throughout the book, even though it doesn't go into a lot of detail.

One thing that bothered me was the kind of dragged out conflict in the beginning. I felt like it was just used to build up some more tension between the characters, even though they have enough other things going on. One thing I did love though was that as soon as the story really got rolling, it never got boring and it was lovely to read. Especially the end was gorgeous. However, I was a bit annoyed by the fact that many things that were talked about in the novel were never realized until it ended (the greenhouse for example of the booth at the fresh market). I would have loved to see their happiness at having achieved that after they struggled so much to get it done, but other than that the ending was really nice.

Now it's time for the most important part of the book: the characters! They were really well written and give the book an incredible depth that I loved. Both of the women have experienced traumatic things in their life and lost loved ones. The reveals were written so heart wrenchingly that my heart really broke for those two characters. But also side characters like Tya were great. I really loved Tya. (She should have gotten some more screen time tbh)

Another thing that was wonderful was the amazing chemistry between Jordan and Kip. At times it was sizzling and at others just truly heartbreaking, but you could tell that they had great chemistry. I also loved that it wasn't Insta Love and that instead their relationship slowly developed from Who are you over distrust to a wonderful friendship and then ended with love. They are definitely a couple you can't help but root for. But also separate from the relationship their interactions (f.e. at work) were great and I truly enjoyed it a lot.

All in all this book definitely doesn't really let you set it down with all the mysteries that are hiding in Kip's and Jordan's past, but when you have two main characters that are so great you really don't want to set it down. It takes a while to get into though since the beginning feels dragged out, but the ending is just amazing.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jackson is a tourist in China and he wants to write Horror Stories to make some money which is why he decides to slip away from his group. But in the night he meets Yuèhai, a Chinese Woman who wants him to tell her story. And she's really persistent about it.

I really, really, really wanted to like this book more. Honestly, I really wanted to.

It looked like an interesting horror thriller with creepy ghosts, tragic background stories and some really good commentary on various social issues, but alas it didn't happen.

However, I just couldn't care about the characters. While Jackson is not that bad of a character, I just found him to be deeply unsympathetic at times (he's quite misogynistic and it's gross!). He grew on me a bit better towards the end, but until then I was just incredibly annoyed with him.

What I really hated was all the girl on girl hate in this book. I don't think there's a single good relationship between girls and the one girl who is portrayed positively still thinks "most women are batshit crazy". I can also understand writing asshole-ish characters, but Meghan, the antagonist, felt very over the top at times. She calls Kate a wh*re all the time, as well as insulting other people who she barely even knows? These scenes just felt really over the top for me and annoyed me.

There's also mild ableism with calling the wish to have a clean room "OCD tendencies" as well as the joke that Kate could just become fat so other women wouldn't hate her anymore for her ~good looks~. Because obviously, fat women can't be hot, suure. And all women just to hate on other girls all the time. *yawn*

Anyway now for the triggery parts of the novel. A side-character committed suicide in the past and due to some ghost-y magic we are also transported directly into his head and get to read about his suicidal ideation. But of course, there's more. Another side-character was raped and what happens after is really not pretty with victim blaming and wishes of more rapes. Also apparently, ghosts can be very rape-y too and the MC is sexually assaulted by one. It is well shown then that men can be raped too, but it was still disgusting to read. In another scene, we are told about a ghost that molested his own granddaughter. There's also mass murder. Most of these things are condemned in the book.

All in all this book had an interesting premise, but a severely unlikeable protagonist (until far in the back). It also didn't really scare me as much as it grossed me out and I wish I could have gotten trigger warnings for this before I picked the book up (I mostly only did it for the cover bc it looked amazing!). The writing also let me down a bit and I found myself not really that invested in the story as I would have wanted to be. In the end I can't really say that this book was as amazing as I had hoped.

Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Jonesy is pretty much a typical teenager, except for one exception: She's pretty sure she can make people fall in love. Not just with people no, but with anything. Sadly this doesn't work for herself at all. So while she is trying to get her crush to notice her the old fashioned way, she tries to figure out how she can use her powers. And who says Cupids always have to use their power for good?

A thing I liked about the comic is that it is very diverse and light hearted. There are many non-white characters in the book and there's a lesbian couple as well which is not portrayed any different than a straight couple would be. The art, while not exactly my style, is still nice to look at. The side characters are also quite interesting.

However, I sadly didn't like Jonesy herself all that much? She mostly acts like a self-absorbed jerk, and while people can be self-absorbed jerks and still be interesting characters, it didn't really work with Jonesy, especially since she had some nice moments, which aren't explored as much as I would have liked (but then it was in the end of the first Volume). I wouldn't have minded her causing mischief with her powers and maybe learning from it, but she didn't really have that, at least not yet. We are told that Jonesy is a fan of Ferrets and likes to make Zines, when she's not watching anime. However we are not really shown any of that (the Zines are the most developed part, but even then we never really see Jonesy making them, only selling them? Idk maybe it would have helped me connect with Jonesy if we could have seen her outside of her plan to ruin things with her powers and get her crush to notice her.) Also her taste in music is mentioned in the description, but except for Stuff (a pop singer), isn't shown in the story. I would have loved that, since I really like some Riot Grrrl Bands and some nods to them ala Gone Home would have been nice.

Sadly there is also barely any character development and the storyline is also... not that well developed? All in all, it's just a very light hearted story that doesn't go into a lot of depth. This makes it really hard to connect with the characters sometimes, but can also be really relaxing if that's what you're looking for. Maybe this will improve in later volumes, but for now the story is a bit too superficial for me to really enjoy it.