*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

Founder’s Mercy starts off strong, it’s got an interesting premise and diverse cast of characters. However, I only got a few chapters in before I had to dnf. The book itself isn’t bad, it’s just not my cup of tea right now. Some books I can just feel that they can put me in reading slumps, and this is one of them.

I do feel bad about not reading the whole book, but I just don’t want to force myself to and give it a lower rating. Based on what I read, it’s easily a 3 star read, though I’m giving it 2 since I only read around 25%.

The platonic relationship is so refreshing to read. You don’t see a lot of platonic friendships in YA books, so I was excited to read this one.

Maybe I’ll read a finished copy of this book, but for now, it’s a DNF.

*Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

I downloaded Hell Followed With Us because I saw the author on Twitter say it has a trans ftm lead and an autistic LI (and I'd call him a secondary side character since we get a few chapters in his POV). I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed this book.

We follow Benji, a recent escapee from the Cult that raised him. But when a group of Angels from that cult corner him, he is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Centre, aka ALC. Nick, ALCs leader, knows Benji's darkest secret; the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster. Still, Nick gives Benji shelter with his ragtag group of queer teens as long as he can use the monster to protect the ALC. Benji is eager, until he finds out Nick's hidden agenda, with more than a few secrets of his own.

Right from the start, this book was action-packed. I read this book within 24 hours of starting it. Page 2 and already, shit got real. There was no point where I felt like the book dragged. And this is a futuristic post-apocalyptic story, which was so fun.

I'm giving this book 4 stars, and it's only because this is a book that is very heavily based on religion and religious trauma. I'm an Atheist; I've only ever stepped into a Church because of a childhood friend bringing me to their youth group. I've never read the Bible, and they're very many Bible verses in this book. I know it's not a really good reason to take off a star, but I felt like I was missing some vital part of the story if I didn't grasp the Bible quotes. I still had a lot of fun reading this book, don't get me wrong, but the passages from the Bible are something that would make more sense from someone who has read it/is religious.

I was not expecting all the representation. I knew going in we had a trans ftm lead and an autistic character. I didn't read the description in depth before starting, so having the ENTIRE cast be LGBTQ was an amazing surprise. Not only do we have trans and gay rep, but we also have nonbinary rep (with neopronoun use; xe/xem and another one that I forgot to mark), aromantic rep, lesbian rep, and more. There is also BIPOC side characters. It's always refreshing to read books where the entire cast is diverse.

Overall, if you want a diverse upper YA fantasy set in the future, pick this up on June 7th!

*Side note: if you have religious trauma, look at more reviews than mine. This is a very heavy and gorey book, so take my review with a grain of salt.*

*Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

The City of Dusk was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022, and it did not disappoint. I was obsessed straight from the beginning.

Four Realms- Light, Death, Life, Darkness - converge in the City of Dusk. Each Realm has an Heir. The gods have withdrawn their favour, and the Realms are dying because of it. Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs - Angelica, an Elementalist with her eyes on the throne; Risha, a necromancer fighting to keep the peace; Nikolas, a soldier who struggles to see the light; and Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with a reckless heart - will become allies in their quest to save the city. But their rebellion will cost them dearly.

Tara Sim out here writing the best diverse fantasies. This book is filled with LGBTQ+ characters, including bisexuals, a transgender girl (younger sister of Risha), and BIPOC characters. I always love Tara Sim writing more than just cishet characters, and this book is no different.

The world in this book is so cool. Tara Sim is able to weave world-building in so well without being overwhelmed. She did it in her Scavenge the Stars YA duology, and in The City of Dusk, it's so well done.

I've seen reviewers say this is a more juvenile adult fantasy, but I have to disagree. Reading Tara Sim's other books before this one makes it very clear this is adult. It's so different than her YA series, and I love it. I love all her other books (5 stars each), and this one is no different.

I will forever be thinking about this book.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

I don’t remember how I came across A Veil of Gods and Kings, but oh MAN am I glad I did.

In A Veil of Gods and Kings, we follow Apollo as he is forced, by Zeus, his father, to spend a year getting mentored by Prince Hyacinth. What starts out as mutual distain for one another, but soon turns into something else. A spark, that if turned into a flame, could ignite everything they’ve always protected.

This retelling was SO GOOD. We have 3 POVs (Apollo, Hyacinth, and Epiphany), and each of them are so strong,

Epiphany, Hyacinth’s younger sister, is one of my favourites. She’s strong, willing to fight for what she believes in, and let’s her emotions guide her in times of need. Epiphany is also plus sized, and I was SO happy to have a plus sized character in this book. Non-fat people might misinterpret her description, but I will fight anyone who says she’s just ‘curvy’ and not plus-sized. She’s my plus sized queen.

As for representation, MAN I was not expecting as much as there is. We obviously have Apollo as bisexual, Hyacinth is gay, but then we have Temi who is aromantic, and Epiphany is plus sized. Apollo, Hyacinth, Temi, and Epiphany are also all nonwhite. There is character art on Nicole Bailey’s website that I highly suggest looking at because it is BEAUTIFUL!

The plot was so good. I never felt bored or that there were filler scenes. Also, the chapters are pretty short which helped with pacing a ton!

The relationships themselves are so cute. Apollo and Hyacinth start out as enemies. They absolutely hate each other and don’t want to do anything. Their hate slowly turns into liking, and then into love. I do think that if you aren’t a fan at how fast characters realize that they love one another, this isn’t the book for you. They go from liking one another to kissing one another pretty fast, but it’s not that bad. I think it’s perfectly written for enemies to lovers. There’s also a second one between Epiphany and a stable man, Valerian. It’s a forbidden romance and I just keep yelling ‘KISS KISS KISS’ every time they are on page together. They are absolutely adorable and I will fight anyone who doesn’t like them.

I love everything about this book, and I am desperate for book 2! I love all the characters and can’t wait to see what will happen now.

If you’ve been on booktok in the past 72 hours, you’ve probably seen this book floating around. 17 year old twins and their stepdad. Yes, that’s right, a MMM throuple with twin UNDERAGE boys and their stepdad. Not only is this book literal pedophilia, but also feeds into the harmful rhetoric that gay men are predators. For fuck sake, this book is written by a cisgender queer woman. You being a queer woman doesn’t fucking matter, you can still fetishize gay men no matter your sexuality. She’s tried defending her book by saying that she can’t fetishize gay men if she’s queer herself. No, you CAN fetishize gay men no matter if you are straight or queer.

My booktok account is @rhys.reads and I’ve made 3 videos on this authors terrible behaviour. On her instagram story, she had posted 4 or 5 pictures and one of them had a very transphobic line in it. It’s in my first video (the cover on my account says ‘double-edged and ss4 (tw: transphobic insta stories)’). The quote was ‘Stop invalidating the words of your fellow gays because we don’t have a penis.’

Why is this transphobic? It’s because she is insinuating that she thinks if a gay man doesn’t have a penis, he’s not a man. She is saying that trans men who don’t have a penis aren’t real men. She is saying that trans women who do have a penis aren’t real women. And that is truly disgusting and vile.

I called her out on it. I tried to reach out privately to describe it to her. She blocked me on both TikTok AND Instagram.

She had then made a TikTok story saying she was ‘being called transphobic by more misguided people…’ You realize what you are insinuating, right? You are calling transgender people ‘misguided’. You are calling transgender ally’s ‘misguided’. All because you don’t want to apologize for your shitty action. You are actively being transphobic by calling transgender people and trans ally’s ‘misguided’.

She then tried to say that ‘nothing I’ve said or shared has the remotest inkling of transphobia.’ Oh? So you’re going to ignore my voice as a transgender man? You’re going to ignore the voices of trans ally’s who see your words are transphobic? We aren’t reaching. Maybe take a fucking step back and realize that you are a CISgender person, and a TRANSgender person is calling you out for your actions and words.

I have also had a few people block me since making my videos, and if I’m feeling petty, I will say their tiktok usernames so you know who not to support. One tried to say she didn’t block me because of my videos, but I was able to see her account before I posted my videos, and now I can’t, so, hmm.

If you still support Nyla K, you are transphobic.

She’s also trying to say that since queer women have been fetishized since the beginning of time, it’s okay if she fetishizes gay men! Yeah, no. It doesn’t work like that. She has said that her books are ‘written with more support and love for the LGBTQ+ community than any haters can fathom without reading them.’ Uhm, girl. You know what reviews are saying about this specific book who have read it? That you play into the harmful rhetoric of gay men being predators. That you play into homophobia, biphobia, misogyny, and fetishizing.

Oh, and the author doesn’t actually put trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. She CLAIMS she does, but her foreword is her ranting about ‘delicate people’. Here is a trigger warning list from a review:

grooming of minors, statutory rape, homophobia, misogyny, incest, dubious consent between minors, non-consent, non-consensual filming of a sexual act, homophobic violence by a parent resulting in a major injury, drug and alcohol use.

it’s been so long…

i read almost half of the book and it was okay, wasn’t anything to write home about for me. but this book is one that doesn’t represent me, so take this with a grain of salt please.

don’t get me wrong, i liked the story and characters, but i just don’t desire to read it anymore. i might give it another chance closer to the sequels release date, but idk we will see