February Reads!

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Buckle up, this is going to be long! I can't believe how much I read in the shortest month of the year. I don't even know how it happened besides joining book clubs and following interesting people who recommend interesting books both here, and on Fable. (if you join through that link-- and everyone should be on Fable! It's awesome-- both you and I will get a 5$ credit for one of their interactive ebooks).❤️

I guess it also helped that it was SOOOOOO fuckin’ cold there wasn't anything else to do. 😍😍

Oleander by Scarlett Drake ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

JFC. I am emotionally drained and hollowed out and I am just so very smitten with this fucked up story.

For those unfamiliar, it is a queer retelling of Great Expectations, but only SO MUCH MORE! (No offense, Mr. Dickens). And for a lot of the book, the obsession relationship is one sided and I was left wondering why we never got the POV of the less devoted one, to the one who strings people along. Why can't we ever get their why? (I've read a fair few books with this dynamic) but then…but then, BAM! We get it! And it is EVERYTHING!!

The only reason this (and a few others this month) didn't get a 5 ⭐️ is because I'm saving that rating for books that I would happily read again and again forever and I'm not sure I'm up for that with this story. But, maybe.

Not So Sincerely Yours by A.M. Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

The second in the For Him series that I started last month. This one had epistolary elements too, but they aren't as necessary. I did enjoy this book, just not as much as the first one.

Eternal Thorns by Ken Sanchez ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Ugh. This book, man. It was an ARC and I disregarded a lot of the typos because I was given two versions and maybe I accidentally read the wrong version? But that wasn't really the biggest problem with this story. It was just such a strong premise and the language of it was gorgeous, but it was just so tediously repetitive and I wanted to throttle the author. It wasn't even in a genre that I normally read (fantasy), but I powered through because I really did get invested in the characters and wanted to see how it played out.

Worst of all, it's the first of a series. YIKES, NO!

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Riviera ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gorgeous graphic novel with all sorts of queer and feminist power, while also being super pointed and calling out bad behavior of certain types of supposed activists (aka privileged white women). It was great to see and read, but I imagine as a novel, it would have been too thin of a premise. But that's sort of the purpose of graphic novels, yeah? Punches in the gut, no holds barred and then The End. ❤️

Dear Mr. Brody by A.M. Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The last (I think?) of the For Him series. This was also epistolary, but with a much bigger why. It's bi-awakening and forbidden, and teacher/ student (college!) who hook up on a dating app, and don't know who the other is.

All these books are pretty spicy if that's something that interests you. And while all the characters have a workplace (sort of) in common, they all stand up on their own too (I think).

The Final Strife by El-Arifi Saara ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. It had been a long time since I've actively sought out sci-fi/fantasy with a lot of world building and characters. But once I sorted out which characters were important and necessary and what parts of the world building were, it was super interesting. A bit Dune and The Hunger Games mixed with other classics of the genre. I'm glad I took a chance on it, and will definitely check out the rest of the series.

This was chosen because it was on one of my MANY Storygraph Bingo Cards, and because of a book club that highlights Trans characters in books. And those two things are the only reason I knew the main character was trans. I wanted to ask someone where in the text we were given that information, but I was too afraid to be ~that~ person.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

OMG! I JUST CAN'T WITH THIS BOOK! I, again, read it because of a book club and because it always gets hyped at Yuletide, but I had no idea what it was.

And honestly, I still don't. But the language? The love? JFC. It is enough, just for that. I mean…

A Career in Books by Kate Gavino ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This was a fun graphic novel! It was like if The Bold Type or Younger were cartoons, and if the characters were Asian. I enjoyed it.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

~sighs in queer joy~

I do wish I would have read this book before I read its sequel, but, what are ya gonna do? It was still a delight. ❤️❤️

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Oh man, oh man. I almost didn't start this book because it was YA and I was sort of burnt out on that genre, but it'sT.J. Klune and I had to know. And now, the irony is that it was an YA superhero book that sort of started my disinterest in immersing myself in the lives of teenagers for a while (Infinity Son by Adam Silvera 😭😭) and it's this YA superhero series that is bringing me back.

It does everything that I want YA to do-- not talk down to its audience, not have the characters make stupid decisions and keep making them because they don't TALK ABOUT IT or seek help, have humor AND a lot of heart. It also does something better than any other Klune book does--actively name and discuss the neurodivergency of the character. I think A LOT of Klune's characters are neurodivergent-coded and that makes sense since the author is, but this is the first book I've read of his that it's addressed, and in such a real and true way. The main character has ADHD and sometimes it's a curse, and sometimes it's a superpower. It affects him and everyone else in his life. They help him, understand him, and they also call him on his shit.

Pansies by Alexis Hall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Again, I was shocked by just how much I liked this book. Like, I'm not sure if these characters, and this premise (a guy coming to terms with his queerness runs into the boy he used to bully as a kid for -- you guessed it -- being queer) would have worked for me if any other author wrote them.

Plus, it was one of the re-issued Spires series books, and therefore had my favorite thing, Author Annotations (even if these ones were obnoxiously messed up. They were still lovely. As was this book). ❤️❤️

So, that was my February. How about you?