I was provided an early copy of this book for review via Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

Representation: non-binary, Chinese American, hard of hearing

I really enjoyed the representation in this graphic novel. Both main characters, Nova and Tam are Chinese American. Nova is a witch who is hard of hearing, and Tam is a non-binary werewolf who uses they/them pronouns. This is a romance and Tam's identity wasn't addressed more than an interaction with them correcting a character on their pronouns. I would've liked to see that addressed a little more from Tam because they hadn't seen Nova in quite some time and there was a lot of catching up to do. But, I also respect that Tam's identity wasn't fully expanded on because it's nice to just see a non-binary character in love.

In general, I absolutely loved the illustrations, they were stunning! Especially the magic scenes, they blew me away! There was a lot of attention to detail in all of the right moments and the addition of the black cats were a plus for me! I would've liked more depth to the story because it felt sort of rushed. I felt like the authors just wanted to write a romance, if so they should've just stuck to that.

Thank you to The Dial Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

Note: I do not give books star ratings. It is a personal preference of mine and my reviews are detailed enough that it tells you whether or not I enjoyed or recommend the book.


CW: Brain tumor, cheating, gender dysphoria, outing, transphobic hate crime, mention of a character getting an abortion but it's brief and not graphic or detailed, t-slur (on page), f-slur (on page), transphobic language/comments, blood, injury, alcohol, alcoholic parent, alcoholism, fire, racism, medical content, microaggressions

review to come 

CW: Minor mention of anxiety and panic attacks; minor mention of autistic meltdowns

A very sweet friends to lovers autistic lesbian romance! This was the author's debut & I'm excited
to read more from them. There's a lot of potential with their writing and character work. The characters were very lovable & I adored their friendship.

Representation: Autistic lesbian MCs; Juno is a trans girl; Val (Cass' sibling) is nonbinary; MCs are Armanian & Latiné; spanish-speaking; Cassandra is nonverbal autistic and uses an AAC device to communicate. 

"That's the thing about trans joy. It can never be fully extinguished. People can try to narrow the possibilities for our lives, even end them. But our spirits will always expand to fill whatever space we are given. We will find the power in us. "

What a spectacular memoir! Filled with trans joy with an emphasis on the privilege of being stealth and how being stealth is a form of safety and protection for many trans people. I'm so grateful to have read this and to now know about Geena, a Filipino trans woman and model and her impact on the trans community especially to trans women across the world.

The audiobook was great and includes sound effects and ambience.

CW: transphobia, grief, alcohol; domestic abuse (graphic/detailed); colonization, medical content; death of a parent; mention of a stroke; hate crime; mention of murdered trans women; colorism, racism, internalized transphobia, gender dysphoria; brief mention and description of a car accident, drug use (weed and LSD); mention of abortion and death from abortion complications; panic attack; depression. 

(Note: I do not give books a star rating. This is my personal preference and my reviews can show if I liked or disliked a book.)  

CW: Grief, misgendering, minor transphobia

Representation: Trans boy MC; Panromantic SC, Bisexual trans woman; Indonesian