Enum & Valerie reviewed Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
Here We Go Again
3 stars
2 sapphic lovers-to-enemies accompany their dying old teacher on his death trip and stumble upon loads of nudes of him. Also, they fall in love again.
Reviews and Comments
@vivavaleria@eldritch.cafe on the mammooth site. Reading mostly wlw rom-coms, with the occasional exceptions. I try to rotate languages, but it isn't really easy to find queer romance books in other languages than English. Reviews and comments usually in the same language as the book.
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Enum & Valerie reviewed Off with Their Heads by Zoe Hana Mikuta
In a world where Saints are monsters and Wonderland is the dark forest where they …
This is fucked up
4 stars
To be clear: This book is quite often called a "retelling of Alice in Wonderland", but I don't really agree with that description. The book is full of references - for instance, you'll find an Alice (Icca's middle name), a Rabbit (Caro's last name), a Red Queen who asks for chopped-off heads, a Hattie (the Red Queen's first name), a Cheshire (the apothecary's last name), jabberwockies, and, of course, a Wonderland. And regular nonsense. But apart from that, Off With Their Heads has nothing to do with Lewis Carroll's classic.
It is quite fucked-up though, and confusing (probably on purpose). Fucked-up girls in a fucked-up world, lovers-to-mortal-enemies, siding with the Queen or against her. Slaying saints.
Oh right, that is a consistent Mikuta feature: Every one of her books is about killing religious entities. In Gearbreakers and sequel, the girls slay gods. In Off With Their Heads, they decapitate saints. …
To be clear: This book is quite often called a "retelling of Alice in Wonderland", but I don't really agree with that description. The book is full of references - for instance, you'll find an Alice (Icca's middle name), a Rabbit (Caro's last name), a Red Queen who asks for chopped-off heads, a Hattie (the Red Queen's first name), a Cheshire (the apothecary's last name), jabberwockies, and, of course, a Wonderland. And regular nonsense. But apart from that, Off With Their Heads has nothing to do with Lewis Carroll's classic.
It is quite fucked-up though, and confusing (probably on purpose). Fucked-up girls in a fucked-up world, lovers-to-mortal-enemies, siding with the Queen or against her. Slaying saints.
Oh right, that is a consistent Mikuta feature: Every one of her books is about killing religious entities. In Gearbreakers and sequel, the girls slay gods. In Off With Their Heads, they decapitate saints. I love that, can't wait for her next book. Whatever it is about, I'm sure some divinities are going to eat shit.
And is this a fucking throuple at the beginning?? A gay throuple as main characters?
Contra: Lots of violence against birds. Probably to demonstrate that the protagonists are horrible people, but I'm sure that message already comes across without torturing crows all the time.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Die Lunte brennt. by Tuula Kallioniemi
Die Lunte brennt - und das nicht nur auf ihrer Freizeit, die nach ein paar …
Lanka palaa
3 stars
Nachwirkungen eines abgebrochenen Ferienlagers. Alle Charaktere sind super simpel gestrickt, aber der Zufall macht daraus trotzdem wieder unterhaltsame Wendungen. Und ich dachte, Novellen seien ausgestorben.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler (Daylight Falls, #2)
Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, …
A sequel thet doesn't feel like a sequel
4 stars
Both Josh and Van really are good characters from Behind the Scenes that desperately needed their own stories. Whenever a romance story is told from two alternating points of view, you automatically assume they're the couple. You're in for a surprise then...
Enum & Valerie reviewed Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler (Daylight Falls, #1)
High school senior Ally Duncan's best friend may be the Vanessa Park - star of …
Not overwhelming, but enjoyable
3 stars
I am a bit disappointed how it all boiled down to "oops we didn't communicate" again. Same applies to "Cool for the summer" btw. None of Dahlia's books have a really elaborate creative plot, but they're still fun to read and hard to put to the side.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler
Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase …
Go tell your mother. Kiss one another.
4 stars
If you don't have an earworm right from the start, you'll have one afterwards. Trust me. Also, this book was good enough to finish in 24h and keep me up all night.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal (Blood and Tea, #1)
From Hafsah Faizal, New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame, comes the first …
Read if you like coconuts
4 stars
The largest part of the book is about an elaborate heist, so if you like heists, knock yourself out. However, it's embedded into a larger major story, which doesn't really need that heist - it would work just as fine without it. Then again, the Spindrift Tearoom & Bloodhouse concept is pretty cool. And: coconuts!
Enum & Valerie reviewed Victory City by Salman Rushdie
A 247-year-old demi-god chronicles the birth and death of Bisnaga, a city she created and …
Full history of Bisnaga
3 stars
Spanning over 200 years, this is a long story, with characters coming and going. It's not very addictive, but still quite enjoyable, with a distinct kind of humour.
Enum & Valerie commented on Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal (Blood and Tea, #1)
From Hafsah Faizal, New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame, comes the first …
Despite the name, the main theme of the book seems to be not tea, but coconuts O_O
Enum & Valerie reviewed La Légende de Korra: 1. Guerres de territoires by Michael Dante DiMartino (La Légende de Korra, #1)
Un homme d'affaires douteux projette de transformer le portail spirituel, situé au cœur de la …
Continuation de la série TV
3 stars
Naturellement, j'aime la relation entre Korra et Asami. Mais Tokuga n'a aucun pas de sens.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling
Elise Beaumont is cursed. With every touch, she experiences exactly how her loved ones will …
Standard Vampire Romance
3 stars
Relationships between vampires and mortals will always be weird to me. Girl, you're five times her age, why are you dating a human teenager??
Enum & Valerie reviewed The Kill Club by Wendy Heard
Wie beim Wichteln...
5 stars
... aber statt anderen Geschenke zu besorgen, erledigst du ihren Mord für sie - und dafür kümmert sich jemand anderes um deinen. Und so gerätst du niemals in Verdacht, weil Motiv und Gelegenheit nie übereinstimmen. Was kann da nur schieflaufen? Jedenfalls war es verdammt schwer, dieses Buch zwischendurch auch mal aus der Hand zu legen um zu schlafen...
Enum & Valerie reviewed Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home …
Multi-track drifting
4 stars
This is a funny concept: The chapters play in two parallel timelines - one where Natalya stays in New York, and one where she goes to Los Angeles for the summer. The subtitle is "There's more than one path to happily ever after", and that's exactly what the book represents. However, both timelines are a little too straightforward, and seen individually, they wouldn't make an interesting story. It really is this multi-timeline-drifting approach that makes it an entertaining book.
Enum & Valerie reviewed Godslayers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
« Okay. So. I have been incredibly mean to my characters. »
3 stars
This is a sentence from the Acknowledgements, and I'm glad she acknowledges it. Because, twin hells, you have been incredibly mean to your characters. And that made the book really hard to enjoy, unlike its predecessor, even if it's written in the same spirit. In Eris's words: « Absolutely rot ».
Enum & Valerie reviewed Solitaire by Alice Oseman
Alle bekloppt
2 stars
What is wrong with people, none of this makes sense