leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

There There was such a stunning, haunting at times story, that ended with such a heart wrenching moment. I'm glad I read this when I did, because Wandering Stars, the follow up to this novel will be out in a few months.

While I normally don't mind open endings, I really want to see more from these characters and the aftermath of what happened at the powwow.

Orange's poetic storytelling did so much for this book, bringing a lot of really necessary and hard hitting conversations to light in digestible moments.

Everyone (especially if they look like me) should take the time to read this collection of essays and speeches as part of our learninf towards building a framework towards our anti-racism work.  Every bit of this was insightful, thought-provoking, and devastatingly still relevant in 2024.

I love short stories, and these collections that the Zon has been putting out have been really good.  This story had it all in 30 pages.  An interesting back-story and rich history, a confused protagonist, a djinn, big bads, and a need to save the history and stories of the ancestors. 

Definitely going to recommend this collection!

The Devil Takes You Home was gritty, heart wrenching, disturbing, and so fucking interesting.  It's going to sound weird, but I savored this story, sat with it for days longer than it normally takes me, and still, even as it ended, I wanted more.

Not because this story wasn't told to fruition, because it was, and spectacularly so, but because I'm absolutely unhingedly intrigued by the bits of supernatural we saw.

The beginning was 5 stars when June was working through her grief, sanity, and the mysteries surrounding her life. When she went through the door, I was excited about the magical element but that excitement was dashed when we found out it was 1951. Everything that happened in the past was interesting, but as soon as we found out she had a daughter, I knew where this story was going to go and it took some of the intrigue away. That and the angst was meh (3 stars).

I ended up giving this a straight 4 stars. The writing was gorgeous, but I thought the plot was weak in a few places. That and just not really loving the 1950s timeline moments, a 4 star is feeling a little generous to me.

2/6/24: update. The more I think about it the more I can't keep this at 4 stars. 3.75 feels better.

This was so freaking cute!  I have a tooth ache from how sweet Spencer was to Savvy. Savvy's growth and self reflections shifted so well from beginning to end, and I loved seeing her put herself first.

Her friendships were truly the highlight here, though the romance was fun. I loved how supportive her friends were, and how they stood by her with whatever Savvy wanted to try. True ride or dies.

Vampire noir set in a more modern alternate timeline where the world knows about vampires? Yes please, sign me up!

THEN give me third person POV following multiple characters that were so interesting from Atl and Domingo and Ana and Rodrigo, double/triple yes please!

Hell even Nick's POV was fascinating even though I hated him with a passion.

This was an absolutely delicious story with so much lore packed into 250 pages.  Gorgeous, gory, and gritty, I couldn't put Certain Dark Things down!

While I admire the amount of reflection it must've taken to write this, a lot of the poems felt more surface level than they needed to be for me to resonate with them fully.

There are definitely some powerful pieces here but I think quite a few are overshadowed by the length of the collection and the disconnected depths from one poem to the next.

NOTE: I will no longer be supporting Freydís Moon, their works (past or future) going forward. That said, I don't know if removing the fact that I've read their work is the right thing to do.

A lot of folks have been more heavily impacted by their deceit than me, and I want to make sure those voices are the ones heard at this time.

If I've recommended this author to you in the past, I'm sorry that you've potentially spent your money, energy, and emotions on a long con lie.

---------------------------

This cozy, queer, polyamorous romantasy has my heart and soul already on day 2 of the New Year. Ethan, Peter, and Nico separately and together were such stunning characters, each speaking to parts of my own personality in very honest ways.  I loved them!  

Honestly, everything about this story worked for me.  It had a stunning setting and backdrop on a magic filled isolated Icelandic island that felt both transported in time and space, while still being modern and mundane.  The characters, like I mentioned, were fantastic.  They were nuanced and absolutely delightful.  I loved Ethan's strength and understood his fears. Peter's gentle nature was everything, and Nico's otherworldly presence demanded space in my head and heart.

Plus the spice! It kept things real warm on a cool winter day.

Three Kings had me so invested in every moment from start to finish.  I highly recommend if you love cozy fantasies and Achillean love stories!

A perfect book to end the year with! A fairy godmother, a tower, a knight and a maiden with a curse, but nothing is as it seems.

T Kingfisher does an absolutely spectacular job of turning fairytales into something so much more.

I hope folks read about Toadling for years to come and that Thornhedge becomes one of those enchanting tales that we tell children.