I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Turning Japanese is an entertaining read, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in Japanese culture, host clubs, or the experience of being mixed race and/or otherwise disconnected from your cultural heritage.

MariNaomi’s artstyle is quite variable, which is consistently engaging, but I didn’t love every panel. Its strengths, however, are apparent: in particular, how they represent interiors and the creative flares they incorporate with inventive panelling, lettering, etc. I would absolutely prefer this over a “pretty,” art style that doesn’t take any risks.

The “characters,” in Turning Japanese are real people, and indeed, they feel extremely vivid and multifaceted, even if they only appear briefly. Whilst this book doesn’t have a strong narrative throughline, I really enjoyed the way that it was presented as a series of moments with thematic parallels. This feels more true to how memories are usually preserved, which suits a memoir well, and I appreciate that the reader can draw their own conclusions from MariNaomi’s experiences, without excessive rumination or commentary from them: just the events filtered through their point of view.

On a more personal note, I really appreciated this read as a mixed race person with some commonalities with MariNaomi’s experiences (e.g. a mother who did not pass on her native language). I think this memoir really captures the strange liminal space you can occupy as a mixed race person, and the sometimes absurd and bewildering experience of trying to reconnect to your heritage as an adult. The conversations it opens up about cultural and intergenerational differences, and how these can be exacerbated by interacting, are something I would love to see more of both in fiction and non-fiction.

The edition I read included a follow-up comic about a more recent visit to Japan, which I think bookended Turning Japanese really nicely- in fact, I can see the ending feeling a little sudden or dissatisfying without it. If you’re interested in this book, I think it’s worth buying an up to date edition for this comic alone: it really recontextualizes the rest of the memoir.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cutting Your Teeth is the kind of book that makes me remember how irritated I am by the vagueness of star-ratings. I’m rounding this up to a 3, because a 2 simply feels too low, but whilst there are plenty of titles I’ve rated 3-stars that I would still recommend in certain situations, I unfortunately don’t think Cutting Your Teeth is amongst them.

Cutting Your Teeth started strong for me. I like MacRae’s fresh twists on the vampire genre: there were some simple, yet entertaining and believable worldbuilding elements, such as the vampire support group, and I felt like the vampires themselves felt a bit more believable than those I’ve come across in similar media, simply for the breadth of responses to their new way of life (or undeath)- rather than all being “old souls,” or modernising without a problem, they responded diversely. On the other hand, a few magical elements- such as supernatural bonds- were intriguing, but not used in a particularly interesting way, and felt more like a cheatcode to speedrun relationship development- but I'll get to that. I did also appreciate that the cast was fairly diverse- vampires can sometimes look a bit homogenous. Another element I really liked was the casualness of the queer representation- no coming out or health class exposition here.

Unfortunately, I found it really difficult to get invested in these characters. I love found family stories, and romances that grow from that dynamic even more so, and especially romances that evolve from a transactional relationship into one of genuine affection. On paper, I should have been head over heels for Ezra, Killian, and Marigold, but I simply wasn’t convinced by their relationships. There was some cognitive dissonance with Ezra’s apparent lone wolf attitude and (reasonable) trust issues and his immediate absorption into this trio: the insta-love wasn’t relegated just to the romance, although I would say that Marigold and Ezra’s bonding moments actually made their relationship feel more meaningful to me than that between Ezra and Killian.

Some of the themes also felt a bit heavy-handed: certain parallels between the main trio felt a little bit inorganic and I think similar ideas could have been explored without making their commonalities quite so overt. The result was that they blended together a little bit for me.

The prose in Cutting Your Teeth was serviceable. Some occasional awkward turns of phrase and overwrought similes, but I often find issues with action scenes in self-published debuts, and MacRae’s flowed well and were easy to follow. I think MacRae’s writing was at its strongest when Cutting Your Teeth leaned into its horror elements: Ezra’s initial transformation sticks in my head as one of the strongest moments of the book. For a book marketed as horror, I wanted more eerie scenes like that one, but the novel felt more action-oriented as it drew on, which made it feel less like horror to me- in a way that reminds me how giving a player in a horror game a weapon makes them braver, and act like they’re playing an FPS game instead. The fast-pace made this a quick and compelling read… To begin with.

Sadly, as Cutting Your Teeth dragged on, I think some of its strengths also worked to its detriment. With so much constantly happening, and in such a short timespace, there was little time spent with the characters and I found myself unable to care. Ezra and Killian’s voices were a little bit similar, and everyone felt a bit vague and depthless- a lot of focus on tragic backstories, which I honestly adore, but less thought put into what these characters are like in a normal conversation, what their hobbies are: what they’re actually *like*. More than once, I confused Ezra’s ex and his sister, because they were only ever described in generic positive terms, and used as a plot device to pressure him into making his next move. And though many were intriguing, there were also a huge number of side characters in this fairly short novel, none of whom I really felt invested in. I hadn’t grown attached to anyone at all by the time the denouement kicked in, and I found myself more invested in reaching the end of the book than unravelling the mystery and determining the fates of the characters. This is a shame, because there were some twists and turns that I’m sure would have entertained me if I had felt at all attached, but as it was, I kept glazing over. The resolution fell flat- I just didn’t feel like these characters knew each other well enough to have earned an ending of that tone.

Overall, Cutting Your Teeth was a bit of a letdown for me, but not a dealbreaker- I would absolutely be interested in MacRae’s future work based on the strengths I mentioned… But I probably wouldn’t read a sequel, which was heavily teased at the end of this narrative. I wholeheartedly expect this series to improve as it goes on, but I’m just not willing to stick it out based on the overall malaise I’m left with after feeling the first novel.

I recieved an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s always disheartening reading a book you are excited about, only for it to fall flat. Shattered is a fantastic concept that could have delved into some interesting themes in a complex, nuanced way, but it utterly fails to deliver on any of them. I wavered on whether to give this a two or a three star rating, because I think there’s some wonderful ideas here, but ultimately, seeing great ideas dissolved in this narrative like wet cardboard in the rain was arguably a significantly more frustrating experience than seeing a shallow story badly executed.

Shattered pretty much disappointed me on every front. The dialogue and prose were fairly rote, and the latter was bogged down by excessive rumination from both PoV characters. It’s absolutely not necessary to have them rehash every conversation in their heads after it's occurred, re-explaining to the reader how they feel and how terribly conflicted and/or affected they are. It got tedious extremely quickly, which was a real shame, because these characters could’ve been fantastic. I loved Lena’s introduction and was very excited to have an unapologetic bastard as a female lead, but by the seventh time she exposition-ed at me about how very tragic and repressed she was I had lost patience with her. Similarly, Nyah’s character feels inconsistent- I appreciate she’s in a difficult position with conflicting feelings about her role- but her complete abhorrence for being put on a pedestal does not seem to mesh with certain twisty elements of her backstory.

The vast majority of Shattered is that cookie-cutter dialogue I mentioned earlier, which simply isn’t strong enough to support the narrative. This was an unwelcome surprise after the story opened with a dramatic (and engrossing!) action scene, only to a grind to a halt, interspersed with a couple of less relevant action scenes with less compelling stakes.. Lots of the arguably most interesting parts of the central conflict are hand-waved in a slew of exposition at the end, and I couldn’t help but desperately want a book that actually tackled the subject of a burned-out population of superheroes trapped in oppressive contracts head-on. It wasn’t credible that the changes would take place as quickly and smoothly as the narrative implies, and I felt it did the themes a disservice. The characters also felt pretty one-note: particularly the villain, which was another big disappointment for me, given the strong foundation of an interesting and complex motivation. When the protagonists did have shifts in ideology or outlook, it didn’t feel believable- just that it was time for them to change their mind. The twists that were in this narrative felt stale and predictable, and I was in that unhappy position of feeling irritated at the characters for not being smart enough to cotton on to what seemed so obvious. I actually felt like this read like the lower-aged end of YA, apart from one fairly forgettable intimate scene and a quick stopover into some very heavy themes, which I don’t feel were included with much thought- more so as fuel for Nyah’s angst, which didn’t have the desired effect, at least for me. (Nyah is almost a hundred years old and has been all over the world, reading people’s minds as she goes: she’s come across this before. Why was this particular case so affecting for her? I didn’t feel like that was demonstrated to the reader.)

I wish I could say that I was at least invested in the romantic tension between Lena and Nyah, but unfortunately, they just didn’t compel me. I wanted to root for them desperately, especially given that it’s refreshing to see a sapphic couple in fiction who are both on the butcher side of gender presentation, but I just couldn’t click with them.

Sadly, I wouldn’t recommend Shattered- even though it is bursting with interesting ideas, I just don’t feel like it makes good on any of them.

I recievd an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Parallel was sadly a little underwhelming for me. For one reason or another, I found it difficult to connect with the protagonist and the characters- it could be that they didn't really seem to exist beyond the sexuality conflict. Obviously, that's the focus of this book, and I think these stories desperately need to be told- but I think this one dimensionality undermines the themes the book is trying to sell. I only put this book down yesterday, and already I couldn't tell you a single character's name. Parallel is also genreally a pretty bleak read, it also begins to blur together a little, and I think this contributed to how emotionally distant I felt when reading it: for me as a reader, it kind of made me shut down. Obviously, I wasn't exactly expecting a rom-com, but I think Parallel could still have used a few moments of levity, particularly with the protagonist's family, if only to drive home what he was so afraid of losing.

That said, I didn't hate Parallel: the backdrop was interesting, and although the art didn't always work for me, (sometimes characters, locations, etc. blurred together or expressions were difficult to read. ) I really liked how Lehmann depicted environments and buildings. I think the post-WWII Germany setting is one of the strongest aspects of the book, and I liked how that was woven so seamlessly into the narrative. On the other hand, I felt that the pacing was sometimes a little odd: I would have liked a clearer visual delineaiton between past and present, since that opportunity was available with this being a graphic novel.

This is arguably spoiler territory, so if you're especially nervy about them, skip this paragraph, but I'll keep this vague as possible: I have a massive peeve about books that build up to a particular event, only to cut off without letting that event play out in full. I understand why it was done here, but I don't think it works. It's unsatisfying as a reader, and I think it's a huge disservice to the themes, since this book is so much about repression and secrecy and how toxic it can be: to not see the conversation that the whole book balances on play out- to not get even a glimpse of the other side of the story- was massively dissapointing to me.

Although it is exciting to see more historical fiction centred around queerness, particularly in the graphic novel space, Parallel simply wasn't for me. I feel extremely little, looking back on the experience of reading it, though I doubt this will be anyone's experience. If you're considering it, I'd recommend reading some other reviews as well, because while I wouldn't recommend it, I wouldn't warn someone else away from it either. It's at times like these I really wish GoodReads allowed half-star ratings: I feel so neutral about this, 2.5 stars is really the only possible rating I could give it.

I recieved a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lovely collection, and perfect to read during LGBTQ+ History Month. I really appreciated that this collection wasn't a monolith: there were letters spanning a good deal of history, many of the writers were PoC and some were transgender (or would probably identify as such nowadays), although I would personally have loved more letters brushing on transgender topics. I believe all were originally written in English, which meant they were mostly confined to English-native speakers- so Brits, and Americans, but I believe that's a feature of the archive from whcih they were gathered. I would love a collection with some translated letters, so as to get a wider sample of letters cross-culturally, but I appreciate that's an extremely tall order. I also really enjoyed the letters of 'friendship,' featured here, and would love to have seen a few more of those- but I appreciate the love letters are probably were most of the dramatics lie!

This is a wonderful addition to any queer bookshelf. It's always wonderful to have concrete reminders of the old maxim, "we have always been here," and I love the emotional range in this connection- from domestic conversations (the letter between a gay couple which mentioned little things like one throwing out the other's worn shirt and doing his laundry was one of my favourites) to some extremely dramatic trysts and love triangles.. I also appreciated that many of the writers were slightly underdiscussed, or viewed from a slightly new angle- e.g. the Vita Sackville-West letter written not to Woolf but to another lover. It was also exciting to come across a George Sands letter, having just finished Briefly, A Delicious Life. And I defintiley enjoyed that they weren't all writers- of course, writers tend to write many letters and write dramatically, and famous people tend to have their letters preserved regardless of their occupation, but it was lovely to see letters from those who clearly didn't write for a living, and I appreciated that the collection left grammar and spelling errors intact where meaning could still be gleaned: there's clearly a real effort to paint as comprehensive a portrait of the queer community as possible here.

If I had one peeve, I would say I sometimes got lost in the introductions to each letter. Sometimes there's a lot of players to introduce- not just the people exhanging the letters, but third parties they're referring to- and this collection will waver between using surnames and forenames in these sections, which is tricky if you're just learning the names. I'd definitley reccomend a physical copy so you can flick back when you need to refresh on the names: I imagine this could get really frustrating in an audiobook. A similar point could probably be made about the little additional comments usually presented after the letters. I can't say I wish they weren't there, because many were fascinating, but because they were often so disjointed from the collection they did tend to break my flow a little, and I find I can't remember any of them now. Where they weren't directly relevant to the letters they came after, I think I'd rather have them expunged, or placed at the back, and have one or two letters included in their place, but that might just be personal preference.

All in all this is a wonderful collection, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in reading more about queer history but intimidated by historical tomes. This is readable, relatable, thought-provoking, and sorely needed right now.

I recieved an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Coven is an unobjectionable, if extremely middle of the road read. It feels a lot like somebody's first attempt at a webcomic: the characters aren't super well defined, the story kind of seems to trip over itself a little bit as it goes along, and there's some inconsistency with regard to the art- sometimes characters feel a bit "off model," or close-ups or awkward composition feels like it was put in place because the artist wasn't confident drawing the pose or angle that would have actually worked. Combined with slightly awkward panelling and some overstuffed dialogue bubbles, this definitley feels like it was drawn by an artist new to the medium. Not to say that there isn't potential here, though: the use of colour was thoughtful, and I loved the designs of our main gals: no same-face syndrome here, and a range of body types, fashion preferences, etc. helped them all feel unique.

In terms of the plot itself, this is pretty cookie-cutter YA urban fantasy fare, which is... fine, but definitley not very memorable. I think this could've worked better with three main leads- if not two- to let the characters breathe a little bit more and improve on the pacing. Their relationships also felt somewhat ill-defined: there wasn't time to establish their unique dynamics as pairs or really even get a sense of why these girls were friends (and even the narrative seemed to go back and forth on whether they remained close or used to be, and drifted apart?) I find I can't remember any of their names. It was nice to see a sapphic woc as a lead however, but again, the lack of focus on any of the characters individually means I can't dredge up any fondness for any of them.

Finally, the twist at the end was both a little bit predictable for me personally- it felt overly signposted- and... Arguably slightly undermined what little tension the book had managed to construct. This very much feels like the first volume in a series, as well, which makes for a slightly frustrating conclusion: I think that's what ultimately knocked this down from a three-star to a two-star for me.

I recieved an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been putting off writing this review for an age, simply because I really have very little to say about this book. The friends who chatted with me while I was reading it have been regaled with my litany of personal problems with this book- an inability to connect with the characters, an irritation with the worldbuilding that stands up to zero scrutiny (HOW do the magical council not have any non-magical task forces for fugitives hiding away from ley lines?), and a general lack of investment in the plot, but I think those problems are, as I said, personal. To me this felt stiflingly generic and bland, but there are other people that fell head over heels for these characters. I was really excited to see a nonbinary Korean character as a romantic lead, and I really wanted to be invested in the two leads' dynamic, if nothing else, but I was simply so, so bored reading Spell Bound. I would have DNF'd it if I hadn't commited to reviewing it.

In short, I couldn't personally recommend this, and while I do think it's a bit lacklustre in terms of generic prose and awkward pacing, I don't think there's anything egregious about it, so I wouldn't exactly warn someone away- and that's why it's not one-star... But I can honestly say that it did absolutely nothing for me.