Chris or Cooper

Part helpful guide, part memoir, this graphic novel is a wonderful exploration of asexuality, OCD, and the feeling of not fitting in. It is rare for me to feel represented as an ace woman, more rare still to see representation of both my asexuality and my OCD in one person, and it made be feel seen to a degree I was not expecting. This is a beautiful little book that everyone should read.

Minutes after finishing reading this book, I declared it a new all time favorite of mine. As someone who loved Fast and Furious, but always wished it was queer, this book was the perfect match to my desire. I loved the characters, the relationship, the unfolding mystery. It was full of incredible queer rep throughout.

The main draw is the relationship between Sam and Andrew. if you love Fast Saga like me, this is the what if story of Dom and Brian your heart is likely clamoring for. If you've never seen the Saga, you will still enjoy the dynamic. It is a beautifully realized exploration of a complicated and wonderful love.
The found family is also pitch perfect. It's impossible not to become enthralled with the dynamic of their little group, the way they care for each other.
The mystery is breathtaking. It kept me turning the pages as I waited to see what came next.

Going a bit deeper, the themes of classism, homophobia–both external and internalized, and the dangers of clingy to grief were exquisitely realized throughout the story. This book was beautiful, start to finish.

Truly one of the best books I've read all year! I could not put it down (ended up reading the first hundred pages in a single day). The characters are so brilliant, I was captivated by all of them. The writing is gorgeous, with a haunting lyrical quality. It was creepy in a way that wove through the atmosphere of the story. I would recommend this story to anyone!

Full disclosure, Aliza is my friend so my opinion is hardly unbiased. However, I feel so fortunate to have a talented friend who writes the kind of things I want to read!
This book is every good Halloween feeling carried year round. It is spooky in a fun, lighthearted way. The story of friendship and lovely queer romance is so gorgeous. The dynamics in this book are flawless. The overall vibe is so good. It's a cozy, comfort read worth curling up with a cup of tea to! I love it with my whole heart

Carpe Glitter is a strange little bit of magic realism. It is a very internal story, focusing on the lives of the few main characters largely in isolation from the rest of the world.
Overall it was not for me. The characterization fell flat for me. There were only a handful of characters, but I feel like I don't know any of them. The horror elements were fairly boring overall. I was not impressed.
It may be more interesting to fans of the Night Circus, as it read in a similar way.

Out Now is one of the best short story anthologies I have ever read. I could not put it down. The stories continued to surprise me. In such a short time, the stories completely transported me into each new world, which can be challenging in short form. The stories are incredibly diverse, representing a wide variety of queer identities, but also racial identities and body types. I adored it and can not recommend it enough.

I have such complicated feelings toward this book.
I love the increase in fantasy stories full of queer characters. Having a found family story where all three main characters are queer was a delight. I also appreciated the complicated metaphor about trauma and healing. The writing was at times lovely and lyrical.
Unfortunately, the problems outweighed the good on this one for me. The biggest problem being that the first few chapters write a check the body of the book doesn't cash. It promises an interesting story about queer roller derbies, magical coffee shops and ghost hunting, but it delivers a magical other world story that just does not land the way the original chapters do. I would love to read the book this promised to be. The magic is chaos idea was interesting, but doesn't quite do for an explanation of why nothing made sense ever. I also felt generally that sometimes the prettiness of the writing was overbearing on the story, making it hard to follow. Everything felt ungrounded.
I think this author has promise and I would check back in with their future works, but I can't recommend this one.

This is an alternate history infused with magic that vividly realized the past. But more than that and at its core, this is a story about friendship and ideals. It's about how friendship and ideals can clash in ways both powerful and devastating, and how the choices of a few powerful men can change the lives of many.
Overall, I think this book is strong. It was often fun, definitely interesting, and a read I think people can talk about over drinks with friends. The characters were so richly drawn that I found myself deeply invested in them even when I didn't agree with them, which is a fascinating balance.
It wasn't entirely successful. The middle lulls quite a bit in connecting the beginning which was fun and full of youthful excitement and the end which was full of important consequences. The lull was hard to get through but the end was worth it.
I think the author was also balancing a lot of threads. To write a story about abolition that doesn't read like a white savior novel and to inject magic into the past without absolving very human evil. It was delicately handled, and I think overall worked though it was the part I found myself wanting to talk over with others. I would be curious how other people took these considerations.
Overall, I really liked this book. The beginning as I said was fun, the ending meaningful. If you enjoy a historical fantasy, along the lines of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I would give it a go! I'm certainly going to read the authors work again in the future.

The Four Profound Weaves is a lovely novella about hope, resilience, and the stories we leave behind. It is lyrical and strange in a lovely way. It is also one of the only fantasy stories I know where both leads are trans, where trans identity is explored through magic, and where trans and non-binary identities are woven into the nature of the world as well.
It is a lovely, inclusive narrative. We need more fantasy like this!

Black Sun is a gorgeous, devastating book. It is always challenging to write an ensemble cast story where each perspective character is equally interesting, and Rebecca Roanhorse pulled it off with a flourish. I was so invested in each character's lives and struggles. I did not want to put the book down. It was high tension, high stakes story, which made the moments of lightness that much more powerful. Beautiful weaving of Indigenous culture into a fantasy world. So many queer and gender diverse characters! I will not stop thinking about it until the next one comes out!

Boyfriend Material was honestly one of the best and most fun books I have read all year. It is a clever, hilarious, and moving slow burn queer romance full of delightful banter. It made me genuinely laugh out loud with no one around. The main characters are fully realized and incredibly lovable. Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue.

I really loved this! I couldn't stop reading it. The characters were so complex and fully realized. The plot was brilliant and unpredictable. I was particularly impressed with the way it handled the major plot point in the middle. A change that significant can be hard to pull off, but this book did without losing momentum.
As a book about racism, inequality, prejudice, and police brutality it struck as particularly powerful in this current moment.
Fully recommend

This deserves to be an instant classic of children's literature. The story is so fun, the scenes full of an Alice in Wonderland like surreal beauty, and the characters so fully realized. On top of that, it layers subtle things that are so important to learn—messages of understanding and honoring our emotions, of identity being more than what people see, of inequality and unfairness being something to fight against. I love how deep and meaningful everything is. I can't wait for the sequel!

This book is incredible, start to finish! It managed to be so many different things but weave them together without every breaking stride. It's part road trip story, part multigenerational narrative, part thriller at times and each part feels like it adds to the whole. Every character was gloriously realized. I cannot recommend this book enough!

And that right there is how you properly end a series. I loved the Percy Jackson series, and even still this took me off guard with how fantastic it was. The intense emotions that are packed into this novel are incredible. I love how invested I was in every page, in every line. I was so happy. I also genuinely cried multiple times. The ending was flawless. Well done, Riordan!

This was a really sweet mlm love story! It hit the dramatic beats well, there were a lot of sweet moments. You could feel the ache of longing, you can feel the anxiety of competition, and yes, you can feel the joyful moments too. La Sala is masterful at evoking emotion. If you are looking for lovers to enemies to lovers story, look no further.

I would have loved the convention setting to be more fully realized. There was very little of that aspect of it despite being the central focus. It would have been fun to see more of it. I also felt at time the overall story hit the tropes of a YA romance pretty hard, there was not much here I had not seen before. The ending also felt a little easy after the conflict it set up.

However, overall, it was a fun journey. If you are looking for a romance with a more dramatic tint, you will enjoy this.

The audiobook was wonderful! The narrator put so much pathos in his performance!