it's not my style of writing & i was pretty confused on the plot and pacing of the story, but boy if I don't love foolish romance 😊 definitely an underexplored era of history - young Filipino men in the early days of San Francisco & the author did a great job of exploring time and culture.

murder, influencers, and dead twin trauma, this book has it all. i don't think it's as satirical as r.f. kuang's yellowface, but liann zhang captures the current moment of social media performativity perfectly.

just like Hana Khan Carries On, i loved the premise of this novel. a detective aunty with progressive values? murder and gossip in the desi community? yes, yes, yes please. but what kept this from being a 5 star read was the repitition. Jalauddin, perhaps to sound like an aunty, repeats certain phrases everytime. for example I know now that Kausar Aunty pays her bills on time because it mentioned three times in the book. perhaps this won't bother some readers, but to me it feels unneceasary & slows down the plot of the book.

make history fun again! queenie is violent, graphic, gripping & unreasonably good read. i love strong female characters and this has just enough to keep the reader going without lingering too deeply in the grittiness. the drawings match the grime and lore of mobster America in the 30s.

thankful for Ebony Flowers for writing such beautiful comics that illustrate the multiple experiences Black women have with their hair. at first I thought the stories were going to be connected, so I was a bit confused. but overall this is a precious, piece of life collection.

talk about restorative justice & healing principles but mixed with demons, warlocks, and feuding spirits with a dash of self depcrecration and family humor. the plot twist had me crying gasping throwing up!

this was my first introduction to Kate Beaton's work. i liked the pacing and storytelling here but for me what would have kicked it into higher gear is more reflection toward the end. beaton describes the multiple complexities of oil workers - as laborers exploited in the system, as abusive and coarse men, as drug addicts and alcoholics, as fathers providing for their families, and as folks capable of great harm to others and to the environment. i just wish she drilled down into it a bit more - especially with the duck interlude - as the book is called ducks.

not going to lie, this was a very abstract comic. with 6 or so different start points, fink attempts to capture her origin story through myth, religion, family lore, and personal trauma. it is inventive and humorous at times. 

while I love anything Julia Wertz draws and creates, i love this particular collection because of the depth of research & passion for new york city's history that pours through each square. an entertaining read for sure!

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Time moves both immeasurably slow and in a blink of seconds in Juhea Kim's second novel City of Night Birds. Through gorgeous details, we follow the triumphant yet pained life of Natalia Lenova from her humble beginning to her ascent as the prima ballerina in St Petersberg and Paris. Though the ballet takes center stage in this novel, Kim also speaks to current day issues such as the Russian Ukranian war & the two countries' complicated histories. Sometimes we spend chapters on a single day and sometimes entire days, weeks, and years are jumped over - creating an ethereal otherspace where we slowly unspool Leonova's many psyches. An enjoyable task indeed.