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queerafictionado's Reviews (374)
I love audiobooks! And I really love audiobooks that feel more like listening to a play, so I was very excited to find Crimes of Passion on Audible! There is a full cast but two primary narrators for this book which makes it easy to distinguish between the two main characters - Emery Thompson and Calvin Chamberlain - who are both true-crime podcasters, but have very different ideas of what a true crime podcast should be! This is definitely a rivals-to-lovers story because Emery and Calvin do NOT get along. Then the dying wish of a mutual fan forces them into a working relationship.
This was a short and fun listen. I love the way it was set up where you get to hear bits and pieces of the podcasts mixed in with everything else. This is a very humorous book, but it also delves into some deep topics, particularly around racism and violence. There is some dark humor, so be forewarned if that is a trigger for you. It’s a low spice romance, but you can still feel the heat between Emery and Calvin! I love how these two opposite characters bring out different sides of the other. They compliment each other well and I really loved their connection.
This was a short and fun listen. I love the way it was set up where you get to hear bits and pieces of the podcasts mixed in with everything else. This is a very humorous book, but it also delves into some deep topics, particularly around racism and violence. There is some dark humor, so be forewarned if that is a trigger for you. It’s a low spice romance, but you can still feel the heat between Emery and Calvin! I love how these two opposite characters bring out different sides of the other. They compliment each other well and I really loved their connection.
I still don’t really have the words to explain how incredible this book was and how much I loved it. It was truly captivating. There is a romance subplot to this book, but that is not the focus. Free People’s Village is set in an alternate 2020 America in the midst of the War on Climate. This book is a dystopian allegory. Environmental racism and gentrification are two huge arcs in the storyline. It is not a light or easy read. It covers intense and heavy topics and there are parts of the story that might be hard to read for some (trigger warnings at the bottom).
This story isn’t just about protest, it’s about revolution. About what it takes to start a revolution. And the risks that come with being involved, especially if you aren’t white. It’s about the resiliency of humanity and power we can have when we come together. Kern tackled topics like capitalism and communism. Police brutality and racial profiling. Gentrification. Activism. The importance of unlearning the lies we’ve been taught and learning about our real history.
Maddie is not your typical MC/narrator. She is not the heroine or even anti-hero of this story. She is simply telling us the story of what happened at the Free People’s Village from her perspective. Maddie has so much growth as a character in this story. She starts from a place of selfishness and ignorance but begins to educate herself about history and politics and all manner of things. I love that while this story was told from the perspective of a white character, the story did not center whiteness. In fact, there were constant moves to decenter whiteness throughout. There is also SO MUCH representation in this book - BIPOC, trans, non-binary, and all kinds of queerness.
Free People’s Village was powerful and heart wrenching and beautiful and eye opening and just amazing. This book will both call you out and call you to action. It will challenge and inspire you. Simply put, this book was phenomenal!
Thank you NetGalley, Sim Kern, and Levine Querido for the ARC!
TW: drug/alcohol use, addiction, overdose, rape/sexual assault, death, violence, religious trauma, suicide/suicidal ideation, racism, homophobia, transphobia (Not all of these things appear on the page in graphic detail. Some are just mentioned. Some are past things that are talked about. Some are more prevalent parts of the story line.)
This story isn’t just about protest, it’s about revolution. About what it takes to start a revolution. And the risks that come with being involved, especially if you aren’t white. It’s about the resiliency of humanity and power we can have when we come together. Kern tackled topics like capitalism and communism. Police brutality and racial profiling. Gentrification. Activism. The importance of unlearning the lies we’ve been taught and learning about our real history.
Maddie is not your typical MC/narrator. She is not the heroine or even anti-hero of this story. She is simply telling us the story of what happened at the Free People’s Village from her perspective. Maddie has so much growth as a character in this story. She starts from a place of selfishness and ignorance but begins to educate herself about history and politics and all manner of things. I love that while this story was told from the perspective of a white character, the story did not center whiteness. In fact, there were constant moves to decenter whiteness throughout. There is also SO MUCH representation in this book - BIPOC, trans, non-binary, and all kinds of queerness.
Free People’s Village was powerful and heart wrenching and beautiful and eye opening and just amazing. This book will both call you out and call you to action. It will challenge and inspire you. Simply put, this book was phenomenal!
Thank you NetGalley, Sim Kern, and Levine Querido for the ARC!
TW: drug/alcohol use, addiction, overdose, rape/sexual assault, death, violence, religious trauma, suicide/suicidal ideation, racism, homophobia, transphobia (Not all of these things appear on the page in graphic detail. Some are just mentioned. Some are past things that are talked about. Some are more prevalent parts of the story line.)
I really wanted to like this book. I had hopes for this book after reading How to Get a Girlfriend. I wanted to see what would happen with Sian and Trillin and how they would navigate this “interspecies” relationship. But book two went in a completely different direction. It took me a while to figure out the Endless and how the magic on earth worked in book one. Then book two was set in a completely new world with a different kind of magic. I’m still not sure I fully understand it other than it’s some kind of horribly f*cked up version of a fairy tale in essentially an alternate earth. And book one was more in the science fiction realm whereas book two felt much more like fantasy. It almost felt like a completely different story at times.
Trillian and Sian get separated early on in the book and spend a majority of the book apart. Maybe if they had been navigating the challenges of this new world together instead of apart I might have gotten more invested in the story as a whole. But there was no relationship building, which was the part I was most looking forward to in this book. We don’t get to see their relationship develop at all. And yet [SPOILER] - they still end up falling in love somehow. Even though they’ve hardly spent more than a day(?) together.
I know other people have loved it and I genuinely wanted to love it, too. But it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I know it will be someone else’s cup of tea, it just wasn’t mine.
I received an ARC of this book from the author and this is my honest review.
Trillian and Sian get separated early on in the book and spend a majority of the book apart. Maybe if they had been navigating the challenges of this new world together instead of apart I might have gotten more invested in the story as a whole. But there was no relationship building, which was the part I was most looking forward to in this book. We don’t get to see their relationship develop at all. And yet [SPOILER] - they still end up falling in love somehow. Even though they’ve hardly spent more than a day(?) together.
I know other people have loved it and I genuinely wanted to love it, too. But it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I know it will be someone else’s cup of tea, it just wasn’t mine.
I received an ARC of this book from the author and this is my honest review.
OH MY GOD! I absolutely love this entire series and She’ll Steal Your Heart could not have been a more perfect ending! This is officially one of my all time favorite series and is one that I see myself rereading in the future (probably more than once). I loved every book in this series but She’ll Steal Your Heart might possibly be my favorite (it’s a close call between this one and Don’t Cry For Me). It was a second chance story, but not in terms of romance. Both main characters, Lauren Booker and Mia Solano, are trying to get a fresh start in life and in many ways start over - but for very different reasons.
Lauren is trying to make amends for her past mistakes and take responsibility for them after having been on the run for a year, while also dealing with the recent death of her brother. Mia recently got divorced and went from being a powerful attorney to a cat cafe owner. I related a lot with Mia’s character and the overwhelming existential crisis that comes from multiple life changes happening all at once.
Mia and Lauren are in a group of online friends that met because of Lauren’s sapphic fanfic for In Her Defense (from book 3, Come Away with Me), finally meeting in person to celebrate the new season. When Mia discovers Lauren’s secret about her past, she decides to help her-both legally and with a job.
Their friendship is so pure and endearing and just warms your heart. Mia worries that she’s too old. Lauren worries that her life is too much of a mess. They both worry about ruining the friendship thinking they must be the only one having these feelings. But as their friendship continues to grow, those feelings get harder to ignore. Their relationship is both sweet and sexy and I adore them. They truly are perfect for each other.
And the ending! I won’t share spoilers, but OMG! So many surprises, so much love, all the feels!
Lauren is trying to make amends for her past mistakes and take responsibility for them after having been on the run for a year, while also dealing with the recent death of her brother. Mia recently got divorced and went from being a powerful attorney to a cat cafe owner. I related a lot with Mia’s character and the overwhelming existential crisis that comes from multiple life changes happening all at once.
Mia and Lauren are in a group of online friends that met because of Lauren’s sapphic fanfic for In Her Defense (from book 3, Come Away with Me), finally meeting in person to celebrate the new season. When Mia discovers Lauren’s secret about her past, she decides to help her-both legally and with a job.
Their friendship is so pure and endearing and just warms your heart. Mia worries that she’s too old. Lauren worries that her life is too much of a mess. They both worry about ruining the friendship thinking they must be the only one having these feelings. But as their friendship continues to grow, those feelings get harder to ignore. Their relationship is both sweet and sexy and I adore them. They truly are perfect for each other.
And the ending! I won’t share spoilers, but OMG! So many surprises, so much love, all the feels!
Arte Tremaine and Charlotte Beaufort could not be much different. Charlotte is host of the reality show, Hotel SOS - known for her icy demeanor and ability to make hoteliers cry. Arte has recently returned home after teaching art in Italy to take ownership over Hotel Aloysius after the recent death of her grandma. Not long after her arrival, a whole crew of people arrive at her doorstep. She learns that before her grandma died, she had been accepted on the show Hotel SOS. The first thing Charlotte does when she meets Arte, is insult both her beloved hotel AND grandma… Not a great first impression!
Charlotte is icy at the start, but is far from your typical ice queen. She is more of an ice princess in my book. Her mother, the illustrious Claudette, is the real ice queen in this story. And she is a character you will love to hate. OOF! Charlotte is simply trying to live up to her mother’s reputation and expectations. Playing the part as she’s been told. When it comes to Arte, she thaws pretty quickly, desperate to impress her and failing miserably every step of the way. Arte doesn’t care about money or prestige. She just wants real. And Arte doesn’t hesitate to call Charlotte out on her bullsh*t. I enjoyed watching the relationship unfold between Charlotte and Arte. I do wish they had been physically together for more of the book to give us more of that build up and tension. Because that first kiss was HOT!
Charlotte is icy at the start, but is far from your typical ice queen. She is more of an ice princess in my book. Her mother, the illustrious Claudette, is the real ice queen in this story. And she is a character you will love to hate. OOF! Charlotte is simply trying to live up to her mother’s reputation and expectations. Playing the part as she’s been told. When it comes to Arte, she thaws pretty quickly, desperate to impress her and failing miserably every step of the way. Arte doesn’t care about money or prestige. She just wants real. And Arte doesn’t hesitate to call Charlotte out on her bullsh*t. I enjoyed watching the relationship unfold between Charlotte and Arte. I do wish they had been physically together for more of the book to give us more of that build up and tension. Because that first kiss was HOT!
This was the perfect queer cozy mystery novel I needed to start my fall off right! Abby Spector is a quirky stage magician just trying to get by in life while grappling with grief from a tragic loss in her life when she was younger. Abby has every reason to not be the upbeat, carefree person that she is, but Abby truly embraces life in every way. No matter what interesting and bizarre things it throws her way. Like an unplanned trip to pick up her best friend at a haunted manor, being attacked by a ghost, and then ending up in a whodunit mystery adventure with nothing but a walkie talkie, a salt gun, and a very special pair of binoculars. And did I mention all the prime suspects…are dead?
For a novel whose major plot line revolves around the subject of death and grief, this was a very lighthearted and humorous read. And there are mysteries to be solved both for the reader and the characters. In a house full of ghosts who all seem to have some sort of motive for wanting to commit murder - not to mention the fact that they are DEAD - it’s hard to figure out who the real culprit is. And Abby’s quirky, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants nature allows readers to guess and speculate alongside her. She doesn’t have a lot of inner monologues where she is rifling over details. She just lives in the moment, figuring things out as she goes, and making up plans along the way. It starts out a tad slow in the beginning, but once the action started this story had me at the edge of my seat!
There were also a ton of queer characters in this book (both living and dead) and I loved to see it! There is a sapphic subplot with Abby and Mina and I loved watching the growing tension and chemistry between these two. The connection between them, while not a primary focus of the story, is palpable from start to finish.
If you like cozy mysteries, girls who like girls, haunted mansions, and humor - you will definitely want to read Say I Boo! I highly recommend it!
I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest (and voluntary) review.
For a novel whose major plot line revolves around the subject of death and grief, this was a very lighthearted and humorous read. And there are mysteries to be solved both for the reader and the characters. In a house full of ghosts who all seem to have some sort of motive for wanting to commit murder - not to mention the fact that they are DEAD - it’s hard to figure out who the real culprit is. And Abby’s quirky, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants nature allows readers to guess and speculate alongside her. She doesn’t have a lot of inner monologues where she is rifling over details. She just lives in the moment, figuring things out as she goes, and making up plans along the way. It starts out a tad slow in the beginning, but once the action started this story had me at the edge of my seat!
There were also a ton of queer characters in this book (both living and dead) and I loved to see it! There is a sapphic subplot with Abby and Mina and I loved watching the growing tension and chemistry between these two. The connection between them, while not a primary focus of the story, is palpable from start to finish.
If you like cozy mysteries, girls who like girls, haunted mansions, and humor - you will definitely want to read Say I Boo! I highly recommend it!
I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest (and voluntary) review.
Good Enough to Eat is definitely not your typical vampire romance. Because in this story, the vampire is trying not to drink blood. But it’s hard to find support in fighting that urge when it’s not like there’s a “Blood Drinkers Anonymous” group. (And let’s just say…her diet is NOT looked upon kindly by other vampires.) So Robin decides to try Alcoholics Anonymous. Except it’s hard to get the help she needs when just going to a meeting is a temptation. So many tasty options for a meal.