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simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)
I actually loved this. It's a straight M/F romance with a girl (with special, unique powers that are unheard of) and the dark faerie prince that she dreams about - so, pretty cliché on the surface. But it reminded me that maybe cliché isn't always bad. I felt the magic in the whole story and I'd totally fall in love with Cathair too. (Also, the sequel has the most beautiful cover.)
I read an ARC of this that I received from another reader for free.
Warning: This review is mostly just... a lot of rambling that might not always make sense. My opinions/feelings are my own and while I'm accepting comments, I'm not really looking for anyone to fight me on them or explain why I shouldn't feel that way.
Rep: Black, biromantic asexual protagonist. I believe it's #ownvoices for all three of those aspects, but definitely for the Black and ace parts.
I'd say the importance of this book is 5, while my enjoyment of it is 3, so that averages 4. This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year but I just... couldn't really get into at all. I admit part of the problem was that I heard awful things about the original version, and that tainted my view of the book even though the copy I read had almost none of that stuff. However, I also had a number of issues that /did/ stay in this version.
1) Alice is afraid of coming out because she doesn't want to be known as "Alice the Asexual", but honestly, she barely has any personality besides being asexual and liking cute things.
2) Alice's family stressed me out, and I didn't like that their behaviour was somewhat justified (e.g. Ryan agreeing with them). Maybe I took it personally because it's something I'm sensitive about, but man, forcing/guilting your kid into going to school for an incredibly difficult career she has no interest in is not a good thing. This was thankfully addressed and Alice does stand up for herself later, but I didn't like how her whole family + Ryan was just on board with it.
3) I also hated how Feenie said that Alice (best friend) and Ryan (fiancé) were both important to her, but at the same time it was obvious that her romantic relationship with Ryan was more important than Alice, and she just wanted Alice to accept this, while she also expected Alice to place her above her friendship with Takumi? In the end, they admitted it was both of their fault that they spent less time together, but it still had a really strong "well OF COURSE romantic love is more important than friendship, that's just NATURAL" feeling that I hated.
4) Before going into this book, I heard that it was kind of a wish fulfillment fantasy with a perfect romance and the perfect guy who accepts Alice for being asexual, but I... didn't really feel that. I get that Takumi saying he still wants sex and he can't change that was /realistic/, but some of his lines still made me cringe. I would have been happier if this was TRULY an "unrealistic" wish fulfillment where the love interest really, 100% accepts the main character's asexuality and desire to not have sex. Like, even if my partner otherwise accepted me, I'd still feel really guilty if he implied that he still wants sex and it's such a hardship for him that I won't have it. (This point is the hardest to put into words, so sorry if I'm not making sense.)
5) I mentioned this when I started reading the book, but I still have conflicted feelings about making the /very first chapter/ an acephobic and racist breakup. I understand that it had to be there, but it's just a really bad first impression in my opinion, and if I hadn't read praising reviews from other ace readers, I most likely wouldn't have continued.
6) There is a line where Alice says that if she went home and told her family she was bi or a lesbian then they'd understand that, but if she says she's ace they'll send her to the doctor, and like... Okay. I 100% understand that explaining you're ace can feel harder. I personally am out as bi to my parents, but I have no idea how to even begin to talk about being ace. I get it. But that doesn't mean coming out as bi was easy? And I was LUCKY, but that doesn't mean other people don't still get sent to the doctor for being bi or lesbian.
In order to not end this on a negative note, I'll list some things I liked:
1) I loved that the main characters worked in a library.
2) This might be obvious, but I just really love that there is a story about an unapologetic biromantic asexual black girl - it's important, even if I ended up not liking it.
3) I feel like with fandom/Tumblr, most people go either... a) full of praise of the whole thing, even the super cringy behaviours of fandom, OR b) scoff at Tumblr and act like the whole thing is cringe-worthy. In this book, Alice talks about how Tumblr can be a trashfire, but it also has incredibly validating parts, especially for lesser-known sexualities. It was the closest to my own feelings on Tumblr, and I liked that.
+ Honestly, the romance was... okay. I didn't really hate anything about it (as I said, the creepy parts I read about were mostly gone), but I also couldn't really get into it. And seriously, who just... randomly goes to an underwater hotel in Tanzania? Can't relate.
I'd put a warning here to say that there are references to Alice being pressured into sex (either by her partner or peer pressure) in the past, before Takumi.
Warning: This review is mostly just... a lot of rambling that might not always make sense. My opinions/feelings are my own and while I'm accepting comments, I'm not really looking for anyone to fight me on them or explain why I shouldn't feel that way.
Rep: Black, biromantic asexual protagonist. I believe it's #ownvoices for all three of those aspects, but definitely for the Black and ace parts.
I'd say the importance of this book is 5, while my enjoyment of it is 3, so that averages 4. This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year but I just... couldn't really get into at all. I admit part of the problem was that I heard awful things about the original version, and that tainted my view of the book even though the copy I read had almost none of that stuff. However, I also had a number of issues that /did/ stay in this version.
1) Alice is afraid of coming out because she doesn't want to be known as "Alice the Asexual", but honestly, she barely has any personality besides being asexual and liking cute things.
2) Alice's family stressed me out, and I didn't like that their behaviour was somewhat justified (e.g. Ryan agreeing with them). Maybe I took it personally because it's something I'm sensitive about, but man, forcing/guilting your kid into going to school for an incredibly difficult career she has no interest in is not a good thing. This was thankfully addressed and Alice does stand up for herself later, but I didn't like how her whole family + Ryan was just on board with it.
3) I also hated how Feenie said that Alice (best friend) and Ryan (fiancé) were both important to her, but at the same time it was obvious that her romantic relationship with Ryan was more important than Alice, and she just wanted Alice to accept this, while she also expected Alice to place her above her friendship with Takumi? In the end, they admitted it was both of their fault that they spent less time together, but it still had a really strong "well OF COURSE romantic love is more important than friendship, that's just NATURAL" feeling that I hated.
4) Before going into this book, I heard that it was kind of a wish fulfillment fantasy with a perfect romance and the perfect guy who accepts Alice for being asexual, but I... didn't really feel that. I get that Takumi saying he still wants sex and he can't change that was /realistic/, but some of his lines still made me cringe. I would have been happier if this was TRULY an "unrealistic" wish fulfillment where the love interest really, 100% accepts the main character's asexuality and desire to not have sex. Like, even if my partner otherwise accepted me, I'd still feel really guilty if he implied that he still wants sex and it's such a hardship for him that I won't have it. (This point is the hardest to put into words, so sorry if I'm not making sense.)
5) I mentioned this when I started reading the book, but I still have conflicted feelings about making the /very first chapter/ an acephobic and racist breakup. I understand that it had to be there, but it's just a really bad first impression in my opinion, and if I hadn't read praising reviews from other ace readers, I most likely wouldn't have continued.
6) There is a line where Alice says that if she went home and told her family she was bi or a lesbian then they'd understand that, but if she says she's ace they'll send her to the doctor, and like... Okay. I 100% understand that explaining you're ace can feel harder. I personally am out as bi to my parents, but I have no idea how to even begin to talk about being ace. I get it. But that doesn't mean coming out as bi was easy? And I was LUCKY, but that doesn't mean other people don't still get sent to the doctor for being bi or lesbian.
In order to not end this on a negative note, I'll list some things I liked:
1) I loved that the main characters worked in a library.
2) This might be obvious, but I just really love that there is a story about an unapologetic biromantic asexual black girl - it's important, even if I ended up not liking it.
3) I feel like with fandom/Tumblr, most people go either... a) full of praise of the whole thing, even the super cringy behaviours of fandom, OR b) scoff at Tumblr and act like the whole thing is cringe-worthy. In this book, Alice talks about how Tumblr can be a trashfire, but it also has incredibly validating parts, especially for lesser-known sexualities. It was the closest to my own feelings on Tumblr, and I liked that.
+ Honestly, the romance was... okay. I didn't really hate anything about it (as I said, the creepy parts I read about were mostly gone), but I also couldn't really get into it. And seriously, who just... randomly goes to an underwater hotel in Tanzania? Can't relate.
I'd put a warning here to say that there are references to Alice being pressured into sex (either by her partner or peer pressure) in the past, before Takumi.
mixed feelings, but overall I liked it. 3.5 stars (PLEASE GOODREADS LET ME HAVE HALF STARS). review to come
I received an ARC through through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Read on my blog.
All I knew about this book going in was that it had a bisexual MC, and there’s maybe a female love interest. In reality, the four core characters in this book are all bisexual (two guys and two girls), and they are involved with each other in all kinds of combinations – so, the bisexual female MC has both a female and a male love interest who are both bisexual themselves. (Edit: According to the author, one of the guys is actually panromantic demisexual.)
While there are no central nonbinary characters, there is a small acknowledgment that bisexuality isn’t only about being attracted to the binary genders, so that was nice. As I said, Brooklyn is both into Gabriel (female) and Porter (male) and Gabriel is dating Dawson (male) who Porter is also into, but I’d hesitate to call it real polyamory – although that might be where the series is heading. I’m curious to see how these relationships evolve in the next book(s).
As for the plot… honestly, I don’t have much to say that wasn’t already in the blurb. Half the big secrets were already revealed in the first chapter, which felt a little soon, I would have preferred more time in the camp maybe. Then something happened to my favourite character around halfway in that just made me stop caring about the book, and if not for the last chapter, I probably wouldn’t have rated it above 2 stars.
All in all, this was an okay read and I certainly appreciate the amount of queer representation, but it felt very much like the beginning of something, like an introduction, and I don’t think it’s particularly enjoyable without the rest of the series.
Read on my blog.
All I knew about this book going in was that it had a bisexual MC, and there’s maybe a female love interest. In reality, the four core characters in this book are all bisexual (two guys and two girls), and they are involved with each other in all kinds of combinations – so, the bisexual female MC has both a female and a male love interest who are both bisexual themselves. (Edit: According to the author, one of the guys is actually panromantic demisexual.)
While there are no central nonbinary characters, there is a small acknowledgment that bisexuality isn’t only about being attracted to the binary genders, so that was nice. As I said, Brooklyn is both into Gabriel (female) and Porter (male) and Gabriel is dating Dawson (male) who Porter is also into, but I’d hesitate to call it real polyamory – although that might be where the series is heading. I’m curious to see how these relationships evolve in the next book(s).
As for the plot… honestly, I don’t have much to say that wasn’t already in the blurb. Half the big secrets were already revealed in the first chapter, which felt a little soon, I would have preferred more time in the camp maybe. Then something happened to my favourite character around halfway in that just made me stop caring about the book, and if not for the last chapter, I probably wouldn’t have rated it above 2 stars.
All in all, this was an okay read and I certainly appreciate the amount of queer representation, but it felt very much like the beginning of something, like an introduction, and I don’t think it’s particularly enjoyable without the rest of the series.
This was an adorable graphic novel about a girl with fifteen brothers who has to open her own restaurant and have it be more successful than the other fifteen in order to win the family legacy. Only, Brianna ends up opening her restaurant in Monster City, where she's almost the only human.
I liked the art style and I loved the characters, but I felt like the plot was lacking, a lot. I mean, part of the conflict in the story is that monsters can't legally eat sugar, flour or cooked meat, but like.... there are plenty of human foods without those? There are humans who are vegetarian, or can't eat sugar and flour? There are other options! Brianna could just... use those, instead of having the illegal substances in her restaurant?? This was something that I just really couldn't get over. My suspension of disbelief covered the monsters, but not this part.
Suzan is awesome, though.
(Also: If you want to read this, be aware that the main character is very insecure and anxious, which was nice to see because she kept on fighting despite that, but there is A LOT of self-hate, including internalised fatphobia that could be triggering.)
I liked the art style and I loved the characters, but I felt like the plot was lacking, a lot. I mean, part of the conflict in the story is that monsters can't legally eat sugar, flour or cooked meat, but like.... there are plenty of human foods without those? There are humans who are vegetarian, or can't eat sugar and flour? There are other options! Brianna could just... use those, instead of having the illegal substances in her restaurant?? This was something that I just really couldn't get over. My suspension of disbelief covered the monsters, but not this part.
Suzan is awesome, though.
(Also: If you want to read this, be aware that the main character is very insecure and anxious, which was nice to see because she kept on fighting despite that, but there is A LOT of self-hate, including internalised fatphobia that could be triggering.)
Well. The ending of this pretty much killed me in several different ways, thanks.
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
“I’ll kill you if I can.”
“I’ll save you, if you let me.”
My rating: 4 stars
Let me start with this: if you love science fiction that really goes into the science aspect and has long descriptions about objects and happenings in space, and also you love stories about artificial intelligence, this story is for you. Personally, I found myself scrolling through a lot of the heavy science because it really wasn’t working for me, but I still managed to enjoy this book immensely.
Personally, it was the relationships that really sold this book to me, especially the relationship between the main character and the Chimp. It would be easy to say that the two of them have a close friendship in the book, but of course, it’s much more complicated than that.
Read the full review on my blog.
“I’ll kill you if I can.”
“I’ll save you, if you let me.”
My rating: 4 stars
Let me start with this: if you love science fiction that really goes into the science aspect and has long descriptions about objects and happenings in space, and also you love stories about artificial intelligence, this story is for you. Personally, I found myself scrolling through a lot of the heavy science because it really wasn’t working for me, but I still managed to enjoy this book immensely.
Personally, it was the relationships that really sold this book to me, especially the relationship between the main character and the Chimp. It would be easy to say that the two of them have a close friendship in the book, but of course, it’s much more complicated than that.
Read the full review on my blog.
Seriously, how does anyone read Marvel comics? All I wanted was a fun volume with Loki's trickery and genderfluidity, but then everyone and their mother appeared and everything was full of footnotes, with entire chapters left out.
In any case, this was a fun volume - I think I finally sorted out this whole Loki/Kid Loki/Old Loki thing, and the little nods to Loki being genderfluid were awesome. Still, I don't think I'll continue the series because it's just way too messy.
In any case, this was a fun volume - I think I finally sorted out this whole Loki/Kid Loki/Old Loki thing, and the little nods to Loki being genderfluid were awesome. Still, I don't think I'll continue the series because it's just way too messy.
I received an ARC through from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
If I had to sum up my feelings in one sentence, it would be this: I loved most of it, except for one thing that really took me out of the story.
There is a certain feeling of acceptance, understanding, safety and validation that (so far) seems unique to the works of indie queer authors. A sense of understanding that can only be found in a book with an aromantic bigender protagonist, a biromantic demisexual protagonist, these two being in a unique relationship fitting both of their needs, and a cast of nonbinary, aromantic, transgender and otherwise queer side characters (as well as some casual references to polyamory, and SIX CATS). The fact that there is a list of trigger warnings at the beginning with chapter numbers already suggested that I was about to read a book that really cared about its marginalised reader.
… Which is why the one exception to this rule felt like a slap in the face. While there was a warning for accidental misgendering in chapter 14, it didn’t quite prepare me. In this chapter, a new teenage character is introduced, and both Adéle and Claire initially refer to nem as “she/her” and “girl” initially. Once they are told the correct pronouns, they both use those without a problem, but there were two reasons why this felt wrong and unnecessary to me.
Read all about what I liked and what I didn't in my full review.
If I had to sum up my feelings in one sentence, it would be this: I loved most of it, except for one thing that really took me out of the story.
There is a certain feeling of acceptance, understanding, safety and validation that (so far) seems unique to the works of indie queer authors. A sense of understanding that can only be found in a book with an aromantic bigender protagonist, a biromantic demisexual protagonist, these two being in a unique relationship fitting both of their needs, and a cast of nonbinary, aromantic, transgender and otherwise queer side characters (as well as some casual references to polyamory, and SIX CATS). The fact that there is a list of trigger warnings at the beginning with chapter numbers already suggested that I was about to read a book that really cared about its marginalised reader.
… Which is why the one exception to this rule felt like a slap in the face. While there was a warning for accidental misgendering in chapter 14, it didn’t quite prepare me. In this chapter, a new teenage character is introduced, and both Adéle and Claire initially refer to nem as “she/her” and “girl” initially. Once they are told the correct pronouns, they both use those without a problem, but there were two reasons why this felt wrong and unnecessary to me.
Read all about what I liked and what I didn't in my full review.
Ehh. I still enjoyed this story, the art style is great, I love that there's a disabled important character and the Dad clearly deals with PTSD. I saw some reviews mention worldbuilding loopholes, but honestly I didn't even notice those while reading, so it wasn't distracting. What did make me cringe is that Willa is about to get into trouble that she could have easily avoided if she bothered to ask her dad first. Still, overall a good story.