@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.
This link opens in a pop-up window
5% complete! Enum & Valerie has read 2 of 40 books.
Nora O'Malley's been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets …
Entertaining thriller, where girls kiss girls, build bombs, and stab misogynist shitpieces.
Since a crushing breakup three years ago, Nina Rice has written romance, friends, and her …
It's nice and gay, but also a bit linear. There were no surprises at all. There was always the challenge of Nina's past relationship trauma, but this has been transparent from page 1, effects predictable. Though Nina's chosen family is really really great and I'm fucking jealous about it.
Bonus point for inventing an invisible cat.
Point deduction for this consistently weird attitude about alcohol. No, a meal doesn't make you sober, the body does need a few hours for that. And driving under the influence is not cool. And mixed consumption increases the effect.
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …
Beautiful novella! A lot of it is very abstract, on purpose. Like, how unlikely is it that two agents from rivaling parties both name themselves after colours, Blue and Red? It doesn't matter. Neither do the specific missions. The war events. The time strands.
What does matter, are the letters they send each other. The Seeker following them everywhere, snorting teapots like cocaine. And how they lose and win the time war.
Bonus points for the writing method (the two authors wrote the letters to each other, one after another, and built the universe that way). Bonus points for wlw romance. Bonus points for singing Steven Universe songs while writing the book. Bonus points for posing with swords on the backcover photo.
Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men …
What a fucking thriller! An ecofascist cult, a mass murder ritual, a loss of memory, and a damn unhealthy relationship. And never knowing what's true, what's speculation, and what is a gaslighting result. Really going to keep you up at night.
Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men …
"We didn't use to have any secrets between us. Pony bros for life," he said with a sad smile. God, Sloan remembered how they used to be so obnoxious about My Little Pony in middle school.
— Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan (Page 120)
BRONY REPRESENTATION! I FEEL SEEN!
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …
After she's gone, the seeker, dressed as help, armed with dustpin and brush, collects the remnants, gathers them like rosebuds. When she is out of sight, she cuts the mix of clay and bone and leaf into three tidy lines, tightly rolls up a bank note, and inhales sharply enough to feel smoke behind her eyes.
— This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (Page 58)
Cocaine is for cowards, real gangsters snort teapot clay.
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …
Dearest Blue-da-ba-dee,
— This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (Page 27)
well thanks for the earworm!
Saoirse Sorkova survives on secrets. As the last siren in her kingdom, she can sing …
A beautiful woman killing any creep who gropes her, and recharging her energy that way? Hell fucking yes, I'm so here for that. I also like a lot of the magic system in this world even though it doesn't seem balanced at all, and how the hell did the fae manage to seize all power in the first place??
Anyway. the problem is, this conspiracy plot doesn't make sense at all. It's needlessly complicated and could have been sooo much easier, faster, more effective and efficient, and more failsafe. It really didn't have to involve Saoirse at all. In German we say "hintenrum durch die Brust ins Auge" and I think that's really fitting here.
Moreover, the evil side's ethics, motivation, behaviour and plans are not consistent at all. Really, it's all just stitched together to enable this siren-and-prince-falling-in-love plot.
For fuck's sake though: Never fall in love with royals, …
A beautiful woman killing any creep who gropes her, and recharging her energy that way? Hell fucking yes, I'm so here for that. I also like a lot of the magic system in this world even though it doesn't seem balanced at all, and how the hell did the fae manage to seize all power in the first place??
Anyway. the problem is, this conspiracy plot doesn't make sense at all. It's needlessly complicated and could have been sooo much easier, faster, more effective and efficient, and more failsafe. It really didn't have to involve Saoirse at all. In German we say "hintenrum durch die Brust ins Auge" and I think that's really fitting here.
Moreover, the evil side's ethics, motivation, behaviour and plans are not consistent at all. Really, it's all just stitched together to enable this siren-and-prince-falling-in-love plot.
For fuck's sake though: Never fall in love with royals, they're all shitheads, no exceptions, none.
Content warnings for the book: genocide, lots of murder, torture, blackmail, slavery
Saoirse Sorkova survives on secrets. As the last siren in her kingdom, she can sing …
Not royal but regal.
— Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton (Page 65)
Corporate needs you to find the difference between these identical words
Leah Burke girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier s best friend takes center …
Back when I read this I didn't realize it's a direct sequel to "Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda" rather than just existing in the same universe, and I guess mixing up the order really did spoiler me a lot. So, yup, don't do that - read Simon first, then this.
And yup, the tension between Leah and Abby goes way back and really needed to be addressed with its own backstory and future, they deserve it. However, once again, why the wizard school references everywhere??? Really ruins it.
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. …
... not that hype-worthy? And why is it full of Harry Potter glorifications? I really do not want to see those in a queer book.
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. …
"I'm glad I was cute and grammatical. I think you're cute and grammatical, too."
— Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Page 89)
new linguistic category just dropped
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. …
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy. (Eyebrows, butthole mouth, etc.)
— Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Page 16)
no context can justify this
Oh there are so many things I loved in this one. First of all, this huge fucking scavenger hunt - Shara organized her disappearance so well, she must truly be a genius. All to distract her nemesis, Chloe, who's certainly not obsessed with Shara, but still can't stop trying to find her.
On and on they try to win the upper hand on who wins valedictorian and who makes whom obsessed with them, it's kind of kinky, but also just mean. They're assholes and they're angels. They're bitches and they're hell fucking amazing. They deserve each other.
But this is not just about Chloe and Shara. On this journey, you discover so many side characters, where you first think "probably a douchebag", but then this football quarterback turns out gay and non-binary, another one just loves kissing absolutely everybody but never thought about having a queer identity. Heck, they're all …
Oh there are so many things I loved in this one. First of all, this huge fucking scavenger hunt - Shara organized her disappearance so well, she must truly be a genius. All to distract her nemesis, Chloe, who's certainly not obsessed with Shara, but still can't stop trying to find her.
On and on they try to win the upper hand on who wins valedictorian and who makes whom obsessed with them, it's kind of kinky, but also just mean. They're assholes and they're angels. They're bitches and they're hell fucking amazing. They deserve each other.
But this is not just about Chloe and Shara. On this journey, you discover so many side characters, where you first think "probably a douchebag", but then this football quarterback turns out gay and non-binary, another one just loves kissing absolutely everybody but never thought about having a queer identity. Heck, they're all THE coolest.
Most of the things in this book, you really don't expect. But when they happen, you laugh "of fucking course!", because it's both funny and also exactly what the story needed. Literally half the book is quote-worthy. Definitely all of it is read-worthy. Top five Chloe moment.
[right before making out] "Don't be nervous," Chloe says. "Just like, pretend I'm the AP Calc test." Shara's glare flickers back. "I should have let you fall out the window."
— I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (Page 322)
