howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

I don't believe in fairy tales and love at first sight and all that, but for just a second, I think this girl and those eyes and the way her freckles dot the entire expanse of her face are cute enough to make a believer out of me.

It's been a long time since I've reached for a fluffy, cutesy YA contemporary story because I thought I had gotten burnt out on the genre, but I'm here to tell you all that wasn't the case; I just wasn't picking up the right ones, and this book is absolutely the right one. This book takes literally every single thing I love to see in a fluffy YA contemporary/romance story and does them brilliantly, with a fresh take breathed into each and every trope and a narrator I would protect with everything in me. Liz Lighty is flawless and I'll hear no arguments!

"You're very Book One Prince Zuko — all honor and determination and stuff. You could use some guidance from an old pro to ease you into Book Three Prince Zuko: more relaxed, more open to adventure, better hair."

First of all, these characters are hilarious. Whether it's the pop culture references (with the above A:TLA reference reigning supreme, obviously), the banter between Liz and her love interest (I AM OBSESSED), or the playful, authentic sarcasm and wit we see not only in Liz's own narration but in her brother and her friends, too — these characters feel so REAL and genuine and three-dimensional, and I loved them so much! (Except Racist Rachel, of course. But even Racist Rachel's friends subverted some serious "mean girl" tropes and I'm so proud of them!) And I can't possibly review this book without mentioning Liz's family, whether it's her precious grandparents, or her brother supporting her with every fiber of his being despite his own daily health concerns with his sickle cell. I just cherish the entire Lighty family so damn much, y'all.

I'm so tired of the way this place treats people who are different, tired of feeling like I exist in the margins of my own life. I deserve better than that.

Most of all, though, I adored how complex and nuanced Liz Lighty's high school experience is. She has friends, she gets incredible grades and works her butt off to make her grandparents proud, and she knows she has a bright future ahead of her if she only has a chance to pursue it — but she also recognizes how unfairly she's treated as a Black queer girl in small-town Indiana, and she knows she deserves better. The moment when Liz shifts from a wallflower to someone who's going to make people listen to her and recognize her worth? Absolutely beautiful, and I was getting so emotional because I was so proud of her!

I roll my eyes so she knows that I'm joking, and she snorts with her laugh this time. It's a cuter sound than should be legal, really.

Last but not least, I gotta take a second to rave about how absolutely friggin' precious the romance between Liz and Mack is. While I don't feel that it's really the primary focus of the story, it's a prominent thread and it's executed so well! There's no insta-love, but Liz definitely crushes hard, and so does Mack. Watching them interact is so adorable, and even when there's a conflict, they work through things maturely and smoothly. I'm convinced that Liz and Mack are soul mates who would go on from this story to make it through college together and grow old and have cute babies, and nobody can change my mind.

"How does she even know what data is? The elders are evolving, and it's going to ruin us all."

If I haven't convinced you to give this adorable, beautiful, hilarious, heart-warming story a read, then I have clearly failed, because You Should See Me in a Crown is one of the best things I've read in a very long time — and definitely the best YA contemporary I've read in ages — and I want everyone I know to add this to their TBRs immediately. It's that good. ♥

✨ Representation: Liz is Black & sapphic; Mack is sapphic; multiple side characters are BIPOC; Liz's brother Robbie is Black & has sickle cell disease

✨ Content warnings for:

Spoiler

previous loss of a parent, sickle cell disease & related health scares (including a hospital visit), homophobia (challenged), transphobia (very brief, challenged), racism (challenged)

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Scholastic Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

#1 A Court of Thorns and Roses ★★★★★
#2 A Court of Mist and Fury ★★★★★
#3 A Court of Wings and Ruin ★★★★★
#3.5 A Court of Frost and Starlight ★★★★★

First of all, let me just express my total devastation that an entire year of counting down the days until this book’s release is gone in two and a half hours of reading. I mean, I knew it was only going to be a novella, but… *sobs quietly* I didn’t expect it to go by THAT fast! This amazing little series has pulled me through some really dark times and brought so much joy into my life that I know I will treasure it, always. ♥

Even now, with that bond again flowing between us like a river of star-flecked night, the echo of its vanishing lingered.

ACOFAS definitely doesn’t read anything like the 3 main novels; the chapters switch perspectives occasionally, featuring POVs from Feyre, Rhysand, Cassian, and Morrigan. What struck me as particularly odd about this was the fact that Feyre and Rhysand’s chapters were in first-person, while Cassian and Morrigan’s were in third—a slightly jarring writing style, but nothing too detrimental.

In his stare, I could have sworn galaxies swirled. In the shadows between his wings, the glorious depths of the night dwelled.

We do get some really sweet and domestic Feysand moments, but I was actually surprised at how little time they actually spend together during the novella (and how little sex there is—who is this author and what did she do with Sarah?!). We did finally get the infamous wall scene! There are some incredibly sweet moments, at least a few scenes of Rhysand being his lovable cinnamon roll self, and a completely expected but adorable turn of events for their little family.

Shadows different from anything my powers summoned, spoke to. Born in a lightless, airless prison meant to break him. Instead, he had learned its language.

Feysand obsession aside, I loved how much time we got to spend with Cass and Az, learning more about their respective histories and how they’ve healed from the war. With Cassian’s perspectives especially, it felt like this was written to be a legitimate “bridge” between the ACOTAR series and whatever comes next, which I was honestly fond of, even if the next book’s focus on Cassian and Nesta does have me pretty nervous.

Lucien had not come here to make amends during Solstice, I realized as Tamlin opened the door to the dark library. Lucien had come here out of pity. Mercy.

Perhaps the most unexpected bits were the ones in which we visited Tamlin—with a novella this short, I honestly didn’t expect to see him at all, and certainly not in the state in which Rhysand found him. I never thought I would feel sorry for him, and I still think he’s a walking, talking garbage can, but I still couldn’t help being at least a little bit sad to see how far he’s fallen. I truly do hope that Sarah will write more about him in the future, because I can’t help but always feel that, no matter what a jerk he is, there’s something interesting about his potential as a character.

Cassian set me down at last. “What’d you get me for Solstice?” I smacked his arm. “A heaping pile of shut the hell up.”

Was ACOFAS everything I hoped and dreamed it would be? Honestly, no. This is more of a 4.5 rating, but you can believe that I did not hesitate to round up to 5 stars, because at the end of the day, I got to spend a few hundred pages with my precious bat babies, and watch this adorable little family interact and taunt and fuss and cry and laugh with one another, and that was all I really needed this novella to offer me. I have missed the inner court so damn much since ACOWAR ended, and it just felt SO GOOD to fall right back into this world for a little bit longer. ♥

Bonus list of tiny things that made me squeal:
→ the sauna scene
→ snowball fight traditions
→ more “the power of art” scenes
→ Morrigan reminiscing (ow, my heart)
→ Amren’s newfound jigsaw puzzle obsession
→ “Illyrian babies”
→ Rhys cooking Tamlin dinner, like… what even?
→ all the fuzzy scarves and winter holiday vibes
→ Amren receiving a million pieces of jewelry as always
→ Mor’s terrible taste in gifts
→ SHAMELESS reference to Cass’ wingspan

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

I feel like one of maybe four people in the world who just... really did not enjoy this book? I've been putting off this review for weeks because I just don't know where to start. I have so many friends who raved about this book to me, so I was so disappointed by it.

These are only my opinions, and I would never dream of disrespecting anyone who disagrees with my review, so please show the same courtesy and don't hate me for what I'm about to say. ❤

→ what i liked ←

This is a very quick read; if I had enjoyed it, I'm sure I would've knocked it out in one sitting. As it was, it still felt like it moved pretty quickly.

The main romance is fairly cute. Incredibly trope-y "goody-two-shoes smart girl falls for the brooding bad boy!" stuff, but, I mean, their interactions are fine, and I was rooting for them by the end of the book, which is a big plus. I would say I was more attached to the budding relationship between them than I was to any of the individual characters in this story.

Nate, 'the criminal', is a very likable character. He's got a really dark and twisty back story that explains away a lot of his motives, and I definitely enjoyed his perspectives of the story the most. He just feels like a really authentic teen who's trying to muddle through a hard, screwed-up life, and I loved that about him. Whenever it was any other character's POV, I definitely found myself rushing to get back to his sections.

→ what i didn't like ←

This book is so problematic and most of it is NEVER challenged. First of all, can we talk about the immense amounts of slut-shaming? I could handle it if it was coming just from the characters and/or was actually being challenged consistently, but 1) it isn't challenged every time in the dialogue, and 2) the author contributes to the slut-shaming narrative regarding women cheating.

We have two characters in the story who are cheaters; one is a female character, who does it one time, while drunk; the other is a male character, who carries on an emotional and physical affair for MONTHS. We spend a tremendous portion of the book focusing on the girl's one-night-stand, while the text literally does not ONCE actually name the boy for what he is: a cheater. There's no remorse shown, and there are no consequences whatsoever for him. It also seems kinda gross to me that the girl who's guilty of cheating is a "pretty, vapid, popular girl" type - can we please stop with these cliches?

Also, can we please NOT make the only queer character in the cast a horrible character who cheats and hurts people? AND can we not make the character's coming-out scene a bigger twist than the actual murderer reveal? This book also does some serious vilifying of mental illness, but I won't get started on that rant.

Beyond all of that... honestly, the writing is just not that good, and the "twist" is so predictable it hurts.

→ final thoughts ←

All in all... I almost hated this book. If it hadn't been for the quick pace and how much I enjoyed Nate, as well as his relationship with Bronwyn, I absolutely would have DNFed this. As it stands, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book, and I will probably not be picking up any future releases from this author.

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EDIT: Because I have so many people constantly arguing that I'm in the wrong for being concerned about this author's intentions, I did some Googling, and found out that this author publicly supported JKR's anti-trans essay. Adichie also continues (at the time I'm editing this) to stand her ground on her opinion that trans women do not deserve the same support as cis women. If you can read the article I just linked, read this review, and read this essay, and still think Adichie is an inclusive feminist, I don't know how to help you see otherwise.

You can also read here about how Adichie demanded that her name be pulled off of Akwaeke Emezi's works after Emezi called her out for her transphobia — this is not an isolated incident.

Nobody could be more disappointed or shocked than me.

We Should All Be Feminists does a lot of things right. It's a quick, easy read that offers some great insight into the basic gist of why feminism is important.

That said, this novella has a lot of problems, with the worst of those being heteronormativity and trans-erasure. Adichie goes to great lengths to completely ignore the mere existence of queer and/or trans individuals, with endless gendered language and assumptions. She revisits the "women are biologically inferior" argument many times (which she is essentially in favor of - yikes). She literally even says at one point that she wondered while writing this if women have specific genes to improve their domestic capabilities, like cooking. I've face-palmed so many times in the last twenty minutes.

I wish I was exaggerating, but this entire novella left me speechless. I'm genuinely not sure why it's being lauded as some flawless piece of feminist work, when it is riddled with issues from start to finish. I thought I would have a new favorite author, and instead, I'm just pissed off.

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First of all, how gorgeous is this cover? Second, this was genuinely one of the most heartwarming novels I have read in a very long time, and I hope that every YA contemporary fan will pick it up and give it a shot!

I hated when my dad gendered the stupid truck. To retaliate, I called my boobs Brock and Chad, which my dad hated with equal fervor.

First of all, Clara is absolutely hilarious. She’s so awkward, and cynical, and weird, and her sense of humor is so similar to the way mine was at that age that I immediately clicked with her. She’s horribly sarcastic, to the point of obnoxiousness, because she doesn’t want to get hurt by the world around her, and that was a big part of my outlook on the world at that age, too.

I looked at Rose. “Let her tell the story. She’s really unbiased, like Fox News.”

Not only was her sarcasm so fun to read for me, but she’s constantly making these quips with quiet, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the current sociopolitical climate, as well as race issues and discriminatory struggles going on in the US, that I found myself more than once laughing as I nodded along to the points she made. Honestly, I could go on for a while about how much I just loved Clara all on her own.

Upon closer inspection, the Labrador was very good-looking. Not my type at all—I usually fell for guys who looked a little malnourished and tortured.

Hamlet, the Chinese teen who runs the coffee shop beside one of Clara’s father’s food truck stops, is so genuine and caring that it’s hard not to appreciate his character. He’s a little bit intense and insta-lovey, but the fact that Clara keeps a level head on her shoulders managed to balance it out for me. I honestly enjoyed the romance, more than anything, for how mature it was. For example, in most YA contemporaries, the love interest opening doors for another girl is going to be painted as sketchy, but in this book, Clara outright acknowledges the fact that she loves how polite he is (and the fact that “he would do it for a man, too” is icing on the gender-role-slaying cake).

“The first woman president has to happen in my lifetime, or I’m going to light this entire planet on fire.”

Next, enter Rose, who is the other half of one of the best enemies-to-besties friendships I have ever seen in any book. Things start off super volatile and I was worried it would be girl-on-girl hate all the way through, but they actually quickly find their rhythm, learn that neither girl is what they appear to be on the surface, and become the cutest little set of friends. Rose also provides a fantastic bit of talk regarding how tough it is to be a black woman in a world where she is always expected to look and act perfect, as well as how exhausting it can be to be the child of prominent community leaders and activists.

Sometimes teenagers really scared the crap out of hipsters. It was like their tenuous hold on “cool” was exposed around the truly young.

One of the best things about this book, though, was the descriptions of food: positively mouthwatering! My stomach grumbled so many times while reading, between the descriptions of the amazing foods the KoBra sold, as well as the dishes that Hamlet’s grandmother created. Not only are the food descriptions on point, but so are the descriptions of LA. This book reads at times like a love song to Los Angeles, and it made me want to visit so badly I could barely stand myself.

I realized right then—how disappointed you could be when you were all in with someone. When you cared so deeply. How your heart could break, so precisely and quickly.

The last positive I want to touch on is Adrian, Clara’s father, who was worth five stars all on his own. He’s hilarious, loving, protective without being overbearing, and has been stuck raising Clara on his own her entire life while her mother travels the world as a social media influencer. He’s flawed and human, and makes mistakes, but their relationship is so adorable and precious. It’s one of the healthiest and happiest parent/child relationships I’ve ever seen in YA, and it had me shamelessly crying for pages on end in the last few chapters!

“How is that legal? What has this country come to? Oh, better not let in refugees, but sure, hey, let a minor fly to Central America!”

I do have a few minor complaints: the writing could use a little bit further refining in the dialogue (as it is sometimes slightly stilted and awkward), and I sometimes had a hard time believing that certain activities in the book were legal. There’s also a scene in which Clara is allowed to get extremely drunk and videos are posted on the internet of her, by adults, and there is never any sort of recourse for the adults contributing to her underage drunkenness and public foolishness. I don’t have a problem with underage drinking in books, but I do have a problem with it going unaddressed, and I’m hoping maybe that’s something that will be wrapped up a little bit more cleanly in the finished copy.

All in all, though, this was such a fun read—I give it a solid 4.5 stars (rounding up, because I must have loved it to gush this much about it!) and have already pre-ordered my finished copy and can’t wait to add it to my shelf. ♥

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

“If I'd wanted you dead five minutes ago, you'd have died five minutes ago.”

It’s been about a year since I read this, so I’m not even going to try to give it a full review. I just really want it off of my “RTC” shelf, so I’m going to sum this up in a few points:

1. I hate this writing. I hate it so much. The narrative voice is everything I don’t miss about late 2000s YA fantasy.

2. Nora is a tremendously boring, unenjoyable protagonist. I remember nothing about her at all except how bored I was by her existence.

3. I promise I’m not here to judge anyone, but I heard so many people swoon over Patch that I expected… well, not this. He’s awful, toxic, gross, pushy, has no respect whatsoever for Nora or anything she wants, and genuinely made me want to punch myself in the face at least three times a chapter.

That’s it. This book was awful. I had to force myself to skim the last third or so just because I wanted to see if it got any better. It didn’t. I have no desire to ever continue this series and will not recommend this book to anyone, ever. I’m so grateful that, over the last decade, YA romance has (mostly) moved away from this over-the-top toxicity in male love interests.

update: february 8th, 2019:
That was just as magical and beautiful and sweet the second time. I have to say that Luca and Imre are one of my favorite OTPs of all time, and I just don't think I'm ever going to stop gushing about this incredible story. ♥

——————

first read: june 16th, 2018:
When I first heard about this book, the author was accepting ARC requests, and I immediately had to send one in. Feel free to judge my long love of this “taboo”, but I have loved age gap romances ever since I was a preteen. My favorite theme in age gap pairings is when the older individual is this sort of mature, caring, stoic type, while the younger is still wild and angsty and trying to find their place in the world… which basically sums up Imre and Luca, but there’s so much more to it than that, too.

Some people were born with a thick skin; some developed it over time. Luca had been born with skin like paper, and a crystal heart.

Luca, the younger man, is a gay 19-going-on-20-year-old, and is an utter wreck inside. He’s got a turbulent home life, and he’s desperate for love and attention, especially from Imre, who he swears he’s been in love with practically his entire life. I know, there’s a lot of potential for the relationship to come across as “grooming”, but let me go ahead and put your mind at ease: nothing in this coupling felt inappropriate or pedophilic to me whatsoever, and Imre is honestly as innocent as they come.

He’d had massive hands, hands that could crush granite to dust, this great dark earthen god with the strength of stone, but he’d handled everything—from his tiny, bleating goat kids to the smallest clover flower to Luca himself—with a gentleness that flowed from his hands like water, imbued with a living warmth. And Luca had been in love with him, the way only little boys could be.

For every place that Luca warms my heart with his fragility and tenderness, Imre turns me into a damn puddle with how kind and gentle and honest he is. He’s a goat farmer, but he loves and cherishes all of his animals so much, and he’s just the most ridiculously precious “gentle giant” sort of character that I’m a complete sucker for. He constantly deals with this internal warring over his growing feelings for Luca, and sometimes, his perspectives are so hard to read because you can just feel the agonizing guilt in his chest.

That was the problem with Imre; he was so honest, so rawly and quietly true, that his honesty seemed to ask for the same from everyone.

Beyond the romance and Luca’s coming-of-age story, there are a few underlying currents that I loved: 1) Imre’s demisexuality, which Luca speaks frequently about how much he respects and how terrified he is of violating; and 2) Imre’s Romani heritage. There’s a scene where he mentions feeling like his culture has been watered down and erased due to the forced displacement of his ancestors, and it is absolutely heartbreaking and so incredibly necessary. Romani rep is something that I feel like we see so rarely, and I loved Cole for adding those pieces in to Imre’s fabric.

He would destroy himself for this kiss.

It’s a long book, clocking in at just under 600 pages, but it’s such a fast read, and so addicting; I literally read this in one day, and could not focus on anything else until I finished it. It is a sloooooow burn in the best way, and the payoff is passionate, sweet, and worth every moment of building up. AND there are baby goats, sooo…

Luca and Imre are my new favorite adult contemporary OTP, and I strongly encourage every single fan of contemporary romance to pick this book up ASAP! ♥

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

I wanted to post this review a couple of weeks ago, but honestly, I adored this collection so much that I needed to sit on my thoughts before I could even attempt to do it justice. First and foremost, I need you to know that this is my favorite read of 2021 so far, hands down. Eric has become an all-time favorite author for me and I'm forever in awe of the depths of horror and tragedy their stories reach, time and time again. ♥

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales is a collection of horror short stories, and these stories cover a wide range of topics and characters. In most short story collections, some pieces are stronger while others are weaker; however, in this one, I'm looking through the notes I took while reading these stories and I literally gave each and every one 5 stars all on its own. With a collection this powerful, each piece deserves a moment of attention.

1. You Follow Wherever They Go
This first story is so damn sad and heavy, and it really kicks off this collection with a bang and lets you know you're in for quite a ride. Told through the story of a child whose father is ill, there's a strange, ominous atmosphere that filled me with a sense of dread from the very first paragraph, and never let up.

2. Bodies Are for Burning
This story brings in the element of shock that Eric's readers are accustomed to, as it follows a character who is plagued by endless intrusive desires to burn people around them. Despite how violent and terrible the narrator's internal monologue is, I found myself feeling sorry for them at times, especially as someone who has OCD and deals with intrusive thoughts as well (of a very different and milder nature, thankfully).

Side note: This particular installment in the collection "shouldn't" have worked for me as it strongly involves my only trigger, but this story (and Eric's last novella, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke) taught me that I've reached a point in my life where I am able to sometimes separate myself from a topic emotionally enough to enjoy the story without being triggered by the content, which is a lesson I was incredibly grateful to learn.

"Each thing we love takes a little piece of us whether we give it willingly or not. By the time we find the person we were meant to be with, we're a honeycombed shell of what we once were. Each person we love turns us into the strange thing we become."

3. The Strange Thing We Become
This piece will be noteworthy for my fellow Things Have Gotten Worse lovers, as it's told through online journal postings. It follows a couple dealing with one member of the couple being diagnosed as terminally ill, and the havoc it wreaks upon her desperate desires to have a child before she passes. I was especially fond of how humanly flawed the narrator is; despite knowing their spouse is terminally ill, it isn't all sunshine and roses, and their cynicism towards the situation added an element of shocking reality.

4. The Trees Grew Because I Bled There
Absolutely one of my top-tier favorites in a collection of favorite stories. There isn't much I can say about this installment without giving the whole thing away, but it's graphic, viscerally painful in both a physical and emotional sense, and wraps up with the most perfectly satisfying ending I could imagine.

5. You're Not Supposed to Be Here
Part horror, part thriller, this story had me on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat the entire time. A couple takes their child to the park and is approached by odd-acting strangers, only to have their child abducted as they are forced into a terrifying "game" to win their child back. As a parent reading this, knowing that I, too, would give anything to keep my son safe, I couldn't reach the ending fast enough and found myself amazed at how much care went into crafting this mesmerizing installment. (Of all the stories, I would most enjoy seeing this as a short film, because it would translate flawlessly to the screen!)

6. Where Flames Burned Emerald as Grass
This story felt so different from the previous ones at the beginning that it surprised me; it feels optimistic and fairly laid-back in the beginning, following a father and daughter on vacation when the daughter is injured, and a strange man comes forward to help her before making a shocking offer to our narrator, the father. This is another one I can't say much about without spoiling!

7. I'll Be Gone by Then
This next-to-last piece follows an adult whose ailing, elderly mother has come to live with them for the rest of her days, and explores the theme of a prodigal child growing up and being dragged reluctantly back into the fold. Yet again, I'm blown away by Eric's ability to write these tremendously flawed, unlikable protagonists and still keep me glued to every word on every page.

That was perhaps the single most repeated phrase I had heard throughout the course of my life — "Please leave or I'm going to hurt you."

8. Please Leave or I'm Going to Hurt You
Something in me suspects this is going to be one of the most controversial installments in this collection, but it just might be my favorite of them all. I've never read a story that tackles incest in this way, and I found myself stunned by how much nuance Eric managed to pack into these few melancholy pages. Our narrator and his elderly father are on a hike to visit the gravesite his father wants to be buried in, and during their journey, we explore the protagonist's memories and feelings for this figure he was never meant to love in such a way. While I would have hoped this could go unsaid, I know how the internet works, and I'll be very clear: neither my review nor this story are glorifying incest or promoting the idea of it; that aside, this final piece is a genuinely tragic, compelling, beautiful piece of art and I'm still in awe that Eric could weave this story from these elements. Eric LaRocca has become an all-time favorite author of mine, and this is my favorite singular piece they've released thus far.

All in all, The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales is one of the single greatest short story collections I have ever picked up, and I'm already desperately feeling the need to revisit it. I kept getting distracted while reading my notes for this review, because those notes kept tugging me back to certain scenes and I would have to read them all over again before I could move on to summarizing the next story. It's that good. I'm absolutely amazed by the stories and characters Eric creates, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. ♥

✨ Representation: multiple queer characters

✨ Content warnings for:

Spoiler

parent loss, spouse loss, terminal illness/cancer, violence, murder, torture/mutilation, abusive relationships, infidelity, kidnapping, miscarriage, elder abuse, incest, thoughts of violence against children/infants, thoughts of matricide

Thank you so much to the author for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

This graphic novel was so sweet and precious and adorable and beautiful and- *deep breath* I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS. A precious sapphic romance between a fat, punk, antisocial girl and a beautiful, shy, sunshine-n-rainbows trans girl? Be still, my heart. The art is lovely and sweet, the story is wholesome, the character cast in inclusive and varied, and I just adored this with my whole sweet-queer-girls-getting-the-happy-endings-they-deserve obsessed heart.

Above all else, Bebe's character and the commentary brought up by things she was facing: the hyper-exposure of trans women, the way trans women are held to unfair standards and expected to be flawless 100% of the time, the struggle of having parents who are trying to be accepting but haven't quite figured it out yet, the way people can turn their trans loved ones into tokens to be objectified instead of cherishing them for who they truly are... There are so many good discussions within this short little story. ♥

✨ Representation: fat sapphic MC, trans questioning biracial MC, multiple BIPOC and/or queer side characters

✨ Content warnings for:

Spoiler

transphobia, fat-shaming, sexual harassment (all challenged)

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

And while there is still a glimmer of hope behind those sad, tired eyes, know he hasn't worn you down. And while there is an ounce of fight in you, know he hasn't won just yet. And while there is a chance in hell you get out of this, you come out swinging.

I'm a long-time fan of Lang Leav's, and it always makes my little heart swell right up when I see that she's releasing a new collection. Lang is quite easily my favorite modern poet — in fact, I'd only rank her second to Poe as my favorite poet of all time — and historically speaking, her words have always cut right to the core of me. While this wasn't my favorite collection of hers, it still held true to that record: something about her words always exposes something in me that leaves me feeling incredibly understood, and it's a beautiful yet sobering feeling.

Whether you come to Lang's work looking for feminist commentary, expressions of love and yearning, or the quiet, endless ache of someone who's been truly heartbroken, she never disappoints. ♥

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!