Full of heart, hope, grief, humor, delicious character development and perfectly steeped tea, Under the Whispering Door is one-of-a kind. I laughed, I cried, I stayed up far too late. You don't want to miss this.

Thanks to NetGalley and TOR for the ARC!

Obie is Korean-American, in seventh grade, and a competitive swimmer working hard to qualify for the Junior Olympics. He’s also transgender. A perfect classroom read, Obie Is Man Enough follows Obie as he faces transphobia at school and from his old swim team and learns to stand up for himself with the support of his community.

The transphobia in this book is very present and violent - deadnaming happens, the t and f slurs are used, and it gets kinda dark, although Obie is very well supported by most of the adults in his life and the violence is handled promptly and fully when called to adult attention. I'm not sure I would give this book to a young trans kid, but I do think it's an important book for cis kids (and adults) to read, and may be an important book for trans kids to read but with adult guidance. It may be triggering and upsetting.

Turns out the advantage of reading a romcom centering around a modern intimacy curriculum is you get to learn a thing or two about intimacy and vulnerability. This was a fun and sexy - what a delicious slow-burn - romcom that was extra relatable as a former Jewish professional.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC!

This book was so much - very imaginative, and dark, and mind-bogglingly bizarre. I am honestly having trouble writing a review because it just was so weird and wild to read, especially during a pandemic. I want to check out the author's other books - her imagination is fascinating. One of the audiobook narrators was weirdly cheery - it didn't quite feel right. I kind of wished I had read this in text form, but quite honestly might not have gotten through it in that form during a pandemic.

Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

I do recommend reading or re-reading Gatsby before reading this book - I haven't read it since high school and I eventually caved and looked up the SparkNotes version just to clarify what was from the book and what was new. I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I had actually reread it first, or if I was a big Gatsby fan (or anything other than forgetful and indifferent) going in.

This is kind of.... Gatsby but what if: 1) From Jordan Baker's perspective 2) Jordan was an adopted (into a white family of societal import) Korean bi woman 3) everyone else was bi too and in love but not reciprocally or happily and 4) also there were demons and magic

Unsurprisingly, I still hate Tom.

One thing I thought was an interesting choice was that the demons aren't, as far as I remember (reading books as audiobooks can sometimes make the beginnings and world building a little fuzzy for me) really given a lot of clarity and world building and explanation? It's as if the book is written for readers living in that same universe with those demons, who already know the background. It was confusing, but also a cool and enriching experience just in a way I didn't expect.

The ending , or to be precise, the revelation right before the ending, made the book worthwhile for me and ALMOST makes me want to reread the original Gatsby with it in mind. Almost.