This was haunting and sad and erotic and visceral and deeply sensual - both in the sexual and sensory meanings of that word. My heart broke for Jonny as a character even as I loved him, wanted good things for him, hoped for things that I knew would not happen. He felt very real, in part due to the nonlinear writing style that felt more like a train of thought than a narrative. The audiobook was narrated by the author and that definitely added to my experience. I want to read more from this author, and other two-spirit and indigiqueer authors.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio/Bespeak Audio Editions for free access to the audiobook!

This book went in a direction I didn't quite expect - it almost feels more like a prequel than the true first book in a story, and our main character Jeni is an unusual heroine, though not in a bad way. We see the whole story from her perspective, but at least for the story contained in this book, she is a secondary player in much of the action, the "sidekick" if you will. It's very clear she holds much more than that, and both she and her "cousin" Sisi (there's some stuff to unpack there and I've got to say that even an unrequited crush on a non-blood relative is making me itch a bit... I'd love for fantasy stories to stop making pseudo-incest happen when they could just.... not) know that she's formidable in her own way. But the climax of the story, the potential consequences and the big choices, largely center around Sisi and not Jeni, which may be why I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Jeni to become the central actor. She didn't quite, but I am intrigued about where this story is going - it seems to be clearly leading towards a sequel, one I'd definitely love to pick up. I tore right through this book, and was intrigued - I just felt too much was missing (including that I don't quite think the villain was defeated, like, at all... and it wasn't mentioned as much as I thought it should be) and will wait for the next installment of the series to decide if the parts that were missing were on purpose and will be handled later, or if they were simply overlooked. I did love a queer fantasy story that wasn't centered on a reciprocal romance, but I will note that although an interesting queer story, this is not a queer normative world, but flush with deep seated heteronormativity.

Thanks to NetGalley and GenZ/Zenith Publishing for the ARC!

This was a fun, sexy, and mysterious read! I loved the heist storyline, and appreciated how headstrong both protagonists were and that they both knew pretty immediately that they were interested in the other one and went for what they wanted. I will say that I tend to prefer my romances much more of a slow-burn, so Waspish Widows is going to stay my favorite out of the Feminine Pursuits series, but that's me, and I still loved this one! Olivia Waite's descriptions of the music and the dresses made me want to hear them, to watch the performances, to see the dresses and run my hands over the silk. It's so immersive! More importantly, she continues to bring me beautiful queer historical romances without the sharpest edges of homophobia (it's there, but doesn't cut) and with familial knowledge and acceptance and love!! And ALWAYS queer background characters, including a cozy polyamorous triad in this book. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

5/5 stars only because I can't go higher!

Rivers Solomon has blown me away yet again. I have never read Call of the Wild and the mystery section in our bookstore is the one I know the least about - I am a scaredy-cat. I had to read Sorrowland very slowly, supplementing it with lots of middle grade books to keep me from descending into the darkness and horror the book evokes. 

And I adored it.

Rivers Solomon's writing is grounded, clear and unabashful as fae indicts the world (and the country) we live in, as fae depicts Vern's journey of unlearning shame around sex and desire, and a scene that especially stuck with me - an orgy among: two queer men who have been dead from AIDS-related illness for decades, a lesbian woman-creature, and her girlfriend who's called in from a gas station restroom. Fae is audacious, and it works so well and ends up feeling incredibly real. 

The mystery kept me up late many nights while reading - where is Vern coming from? Where can she go? Who and what is she becoming? Most of the twists came as complete shocks to me, but made so much sense when thinking back. And the world Vern inhabits felt so real that I could almost feel the fire at the hearth, or the cold in the forest.

Pick this book up if you like horror, speculative fiction (leaning towards sci-fi and vaguely modern times), if a monstrous and #OwnVoices Black and queer survival story with no small share of fighting back sounds intriguing. I've already bought my copy!

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC.

This ghostly middle grade historical fiction book is exciting, mysterious and haunting (quite literally). I loved watching our main character Ophie grow up and into herself over the course of the book, and learning about 1920s Georgia and Philadelphia through her eyes as a young Black girl. I can see this book becoming an instant classic!

This is a sweet, pretty simple book about pronouns. I'm glad it exists and think it does its job pretty well! I liked the diversity of people shown in the book's illustrations.

I didn't love the reliance on the word "identifies" as that feels more like a mircoaggression than a correct word describing one's gender. I wasn't always sure that the language or presentation was that well targeted for very young audiences as the book seems to be meant for. It seemed to be trying to focus on gender identity, intersex experience, and pronouns in a very short picture book and I think it might have missed its mark on meeting all three needs - at one point it kind of seemed like it was implying that intersex people were the main people using neo-pronouns, but it moved away from that idea later on. It also didn't really explain what a pronoun IS in the actual grammar sense, which even as it's meant for young kids would probably be helpful... I did like and appreciate the note in the back for parents/adults as well as the resources available there. All in all, a cute, to-the-point and helpful book, there's just some language I would have chosen differently.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the ARC!

Wow this book was incredible!!!! The world building was so good and fascinating and the story was paced really well, and I love Riley as our protagonist, making hard choices, a mix of selfish and selfless, with so much growth over the course of this book. I can't wait for the rest of this series!

I read an ARC (although after the book came out) which I tragically spilled a significant amount of water on but hey I can still read it.