Hanna's writing style is casual and funny--like a zine, even when she's talking about intense experiences, including sexual assault, child abuse, and betrayal. It also has a ziney-confessional tone wherein people reflect on their past often problematic actions and try to explain or correct them. 

Despite the often harsh realities depicted, the book doesn't feel heavy. The chapters are short and compelling. I loved reading it. 

Thanks, Edelweiss for the digital ARC!

Not to be a snob, but SMART Bachelor Nation memoir--wut?!?! Rachel Lindsay is a 2nd (or more?) generation attorney whose Bachelor audition was an impulsive fluke. She made it into the top three. Then she was out...and immediately IN as the first Black Bachelorette. 

Lindsay's memoir is a more traditional memoir than you might expect. It isn't until about halfway through that The Bachelor makes its appearance. She tells us about growing up Black in a white suburb and of reckoning her privilege with the racism that no amount of money or prestige could protect her from. 

The Bachelor/ette stories are informative and sometimes juicy, but Lindsay is too classy to spill all the tea (I hate that). 

Confession: I thought this was a romance going in, not erotica! It's a good read, but more sex than I expected. The protagonist, Suzanne, is into mommy/little girl domination as a sub. Her last domme messed her up, so she's got trust issues when she meets Pilar (Mami P) on kinklife. 

The plot of the book is the two of them working out Suzy's issues and falling in love. And doing a lot of fucking. It's a sweet story and an interesting look into a world other vanillas and I don't know about!

Solid follow up to Warcross with some real surprises. 

This is a fun, Matrixy, romancey, Wargamesy read about an orphaned teen bounty hunter and a tech billionaire in virtual worlds and IRL. And the end: total surprise to me, even if, upon further reflection, it feels implausible. 

When a bisexual teen moves from Palo Alto to Provo, he goes back in the closet because all the happy Mormons are total dicks if you cross them (cross = mind your own business living your best gay life in a town they dominate). And then...he falls in love with the bishop's son, who has a lot to unpack. 

What's such a bummer about this book is it seems that there's no way for a kid who loves and believes in Mormonism to stay in the church if he wants to love who he loves. You can be gay, but you can't do gay. 

It's a long will-they-or-won't-they, but not too long! 

Pretty much what you'd expect from a Christian reality television tell-all. Absorbing read (listen), but also give me a break. 

When an asexual rom com is what you didn't know you needed! This is the sweetest, but also sad and sometimes bad, coming of age story for a bunch of theatre nerds in their first year of college (university, because it's the UK). 

She snorted. "I'm at uni for three months and suddenly I'm not straight anymore"
"Mood," I said.
"Love that for us, I guess?" she asked.
"Love that for us," I agreed. 

I appreciate the premise and weight of this book, but the Orpheus story was too much work.  

This is a novel about Tekserve, a Mac repair shop that operated on 23rd Street for what felt like a long time, but kind of wasn't. It's light on plot and heavy on mise en scène. I read it because A.j. Michel listed it in her 2023 reading log. Recommended for the nostalgia and its take on anarchism