princes? pirates? mermaids? magic?

sign me up.

but honestly, i’m a little bit in love with tal and athlen. this was the best kind of fairy tale and it had just enough magic and suspense to keep me guessing and engaged.

super, super, fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the early copy of this book!

The Gold Persimmon is an odd, mysterious, yet beautiful hotel in New York City. Its guests use different check-in counters so they never cross paths, the employees use tunnels so they're never seen- anonymity is of the utmost importance at the Persimmon. Clytemnestra works at one of the check-in counters and holds the hotel in near reverence. Will a run-in with a guest change everything for her?

Jamie lives in New York and is interviewing for a position at a sex hotel, The Red Orchid, when an unexplained and terrifying fog engulfs the city. Trapped inside with staff and a few guests, things take a very dark turn when they all begin to turn on one another.

I won't lie, this is not the type of book I normally read, but the premise pulled me in so I gave it a shot. I loved Merbaum's writing style, and for a lot of Jamie's story, I felt like I was right there next to them, feeling everything they felt. It was intense and harrowing and I wanted to keep reading to find out what the hell was going on and what would happen next. Cly's story, though, wasn't my favorite. I definitely preferred the second half of the book.

I feel like a lot of this went over my head, as well. The ending was left kind of up to interpretation and left me kind of like "well, alright." I wanted more from Jamie and The Red Orchid, but I think folks that are used to reading thrillers, and suspense will enjoy this one a lot.

The biggest of thank yous to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for this ARC!

Holy shit, guys. This was SUCH a wild ride, and I loved every minute of it.

A new kind of plague overtakes the earth, killing more than 2 BILLION people. This isn't just a plague, this is damn near extermination. Andrew, injured, stumbles upon Jamie's shelter when he really has nothing left to lose. Jamie takes him in, nurses him back to health, and they form a friendship. When their previously safe shelter is abruptly threatened, they flee south in search of civilization. It's an INTENSE and wild trek, but as long as they have each other, things will be okay, won't they? New feelings develop and their lives are threatened more than once- but they face it all, together.

I want to shout at the top of my lungs about how much I enjoyed this. I tend to shy away from apocalypse, end of the world stories but I knew I wasn't about to pass up a queer one and I am SO glad I didn't. I was hooked pretty much right away, and I might have stayed up until four am because I had to know what was going to happen next.

The characters felt like real people I know, and man, I didn't expect to laugh in a story like this, but it was FUNNY. The pop culture references were spot on, and I full-body laughed THRICE within the first 10% of the book. I got scared when they were scared, and I felt everything right along with Andrew and Jamie. I also very much enjoyed the lack of gay panic when feelings started to develop between the two of them. It was super refreshing to read!

The book definitely had some dark spots (I mean, the world is literally dying out) but they were very well done and kept me on the edge of my SEAT. It gets emotional, and you really see these two humans just connect and grow together and be there for each other through terrible things and it's just lovely all around.

Please pre-order this and read it as soon as you can get your hands on it. It's fantastic.

I can't express enough thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for allowing me to read one of my most anticipated books of the year early.

This book is absolutely beautiful. Everything TJ Klune writes just cuts right to my heart, and this was definitely no different.

Wallace Price was not a good man. He was a workaholic and put nothing before his job as a lawyer. He treated the people around him more like servants than employees and did whatever it took to get ahead. When he dies, he expects death to go much like his life and it's quite the shock when he discovers that is not going to be the case. Hugo Freeman is a ferryman- helping the dead on their way to what comes next. Along with his reaper Mei, they run a tea shop that does a lot more than meets the eye. When Hugo and Wallace meet, Wallace is determined to get his life back and continue on as he was. Hugo, the most patient man in existence, explains how much that is not possible and begins the process of helping Wallace to move on. As the two grow closer and learn more about one another, saying goodbye suddenly seems like the worst thing.

I straight up silently wept throughout the entirety of this book. Death and what comes after is not something I think about often because it tends to send me into a panic. So, reading this and following Wallace's journey really got to me. I loved watching him realize that maybe he wasn't as good of a person as he'd believed when he was living, and then striving to be better in death.

The supporting characters are absolutely fucking lovely and Nelson Freeman is just... the best. He had me laughing out loud while also crying SEVERAL times. I'm a sucker for a faux-grumpy, found family man and Nelson delivered all that and more.

There are a lot of life lessons wrapped up in love in Tj Klune's books, and this one is no exception. I love how Klune makes the reader think about things that are difficult or painful to think about without coming off as preachy or condescending. Also, he's just fucking funny. I had no business laughing as much as I did while also crying, bit man did I.

I can't recommend Klune's books enough. Definitely pick this one up.

4.5, rounded up.

This was… holy shit, this was INTENSE.

They had me at “gay” and “spooky”, but honestly i don’t think I was prepared for the actual level of spook here. I love ghost stories but I am fully a punk that gets scared over everything, and I STILL enjoyed this.

It sucked me in and I literally fell asleep reading it because I did not want to stop. It hits so many important topics and It’s just a fucking wild ride.

I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the arc!

4.5, rounded up.

tw: mentions of suicide, drug & alcohol use

So, if you know me, you know I don’t do spooky shit. At all. But something about this little blurb made me give Summer Sons a chance, and I am so glad I did. I finished it a day and a half ago and I’ve been thinking about it nearly nonstop since.

Andrew is mourning his best friend, Eddie, who has passed from an apparent suicide. Reeling with the abrupt loss, Andrew packs up and moves almost literally into the life Eddie was living in Nashville, desperate to figure out why his friend would leave him. Between trying to hunt down leads and clues, dealing with ghosts and haunts, and figuring out what the hell Eddie was doing with his life, Andrew is also trying to maintain his own life as a student at Vanderbilt, where Eddie was also enrolled. His new roommate Riley and Riley’s cousin, Sam, bring along a whole other slough of issue for Andrew to sort through and things get dark, really quickly.

Summer Sons is, pardon the bad pun, a haunting story that I literally felt in my gut as I was reading it. I often found myself holding my breath for passages at a time because it got INTENSE. You can literally feel the summer in Nashville and all the dark, wild shit Andrew gets into along your skin as the story progresses.

I loved the way the story blended in all this dark, macabre academia and then just a crew of young people out racing cars and and making questionable choices with drugs and alcohol together. Like, it was just a bunch of regular young adults being young adults while also dealing with ghosts and some magic and terrible, awful things and I bought every second of it.

The characters are COMPLETELY flawed and real and often selfish assholes (hello, Eddie) and yet I still found myself charmed by a majority of them as often and I was annoyed by them. It was long, but I didn’t feel it was too long that my interest waved. Rather, I kept devouring the story, wanting to know what could possibly come next. Also, when I was correct about a hunch I had regarding a plot point I shouted, “I fuckin’ knew it!” out loud at two am. Vindicated.

I really enjoyed this story and I know that it has taken up a bit of a permanent residence in my brain for the foreseeable future.

Also, Sam Halse must be protected at every single cost. If you disagree, don’t talk to me ever.

i adore the way austin chant writes. their characters feel like every weird friend i have ever had and loved.

this is a cute, quick little read and i really enjoyed it!

the amount of tears i cried reading this- happy & devastated tears, could fill a pool.

there were several parts i yelled out loud in celebration and a whole lot of wishing i could do literally anything to take the author’s pain away.

i think this is a very important book for young people and adults alike i’m so glad it exists. definitely enjoyed reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for making this available to read early!

Honestly, they had me at “boyband romance”. and I was not disappointed.

The characters were real and flawed and relatable. I loved all the boys for different reasons, and they all annoyed the hell out of me for different different reasons, as teenage boys are wont to do.

They did a great job balancing the romance and the hard stuff, and boy do they face some hard stuff. The adults in this book are really not great people, man. These kids deserve better, haha

Overall this was a hell of a lot of fun to read, and seeing Ruben and Zach overcome made me SUPER emotional many times.

Definitely one I’ll read again and again.

3.5, rounded up.

i would die for adam and caleb. completely precious.

i didn’t love the ending or the resolution of the “conflict” but the idea behind this story and the way adam and caleb interacted was quite lovely.

a fun read.