Husband Material by Alexis Hall
CBR16 Bingo: Rings (a whole bunch of rings being exchanged in this book) In Boyfriend Material, Luc and Oliver met, pretended to date for a number of reasons, pretended to be in love, fell in love, broke up, and then decided to actually date for real. By the time this book starts, they have been together for a good while (I want to say at least a year?) and as is often the case at a certain age of your life, they keep being invited […]
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
This is a ridiculous book that I loved very much. Also, because I have low spoons at the moment and also because I couldn’t do better, here is the blurb: Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love. Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain […]
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: fanfic. This is Lev Grossman’s take on the King Arthur mythos. I don’t really know how to write this review because I loved it and I really want to give it my full throated endorsement. But there are things I loved about the book itself and things as an Arthur fan that I both loved and hated. Let’s start here: it’s one of the best things I’ve read in 2024. I liked the first Magicians book, less so the other two. […]
The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman
In 1662, a former mistress of the king of Denmark-Norway (Norway was a Danish colony for about 400 years, for those not big into their history trivia), Anna Rhodius is sent into exile to a fortress in Vardø in the very north of Norway. She convinces herself that she has been sent there to help root out witchcraft, and if she does a good job, she will be welcomed back by the king with open arms. Zigri is the young widow of a fisherman, who […]
With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson
30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 18/30 Alicia Thompson is reliably smart and funny in all her romance books, and her characters have such heart. The setting in this one is also really fun: a tourist attraction in or near Orlando called Cold World, where it is winter all year long. Both of our main characters work there—Asa for over ten years (he’s been there since his family kicked him out for being bisexual), and Lauren for just over two (she is the […]
Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham
Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: liberate. Carlotta is coming home from prison, which is some sort of liberation and she’s trying to find her way as a trans woman in the world, seeking her own path to liberation. I’ve written before about my beef with contemporary writing and how smarmy it’s become. Every villain has to twirl their mustache, every hero has to overcome a specific obstacle to warm the audience’s heart, everything is so boringly Manichaean. There’s little space for complexity, imperfection, growth, […]
