User Profile

Enum & Valerie

enumeration@kirja.casa

Joined 3 years, 1 month ago

@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

2025 Reading Goal

26% complete! Enum & Valerie has read 8 of 30 books.

Torrey Peters: Detransition, Baby (hardcover, 2021, One World)

A whipsmart debut about three women--transgender and cisgender--whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces …

this book is so trans!

This book actually consists of many little stories, and all of them are so trans, i feel seen. One of the stories is in the foreground, stretched over the entire book, while the others are told as anecdotes from the characters' past. I liked many things in the book. But it is a slow read, nothing to consume in one weekend.

Sophie Gonzales: Perfect on Paper (Paperback, 2021, Hachette Children's Group)

Darcy Phillips has a secret. Even Brooke, her best friend (who she hopes could be …

Dear Locker 89,

Darcy really is just my kind of disaster bisexual, and she has a transfem sister who is just precious <3 When reading the promo summaries, I immediately assumed she'd get the girl in the end, but this ending is just as glorious. All thumbs up!

Ruth Ware: It Girl (2023, Simon & Schuster, Limited)

It was Hannah who found April's body ten years ago. It was Hannah who didn't …

So many plot twists

Every time I had plausible ideas about who the murderer might be, i had to stop myself because there were still so many pages left. There was no lack of tension.

One point deduction because a girl went back to the guy who literally hunted her, and who is suddenly portrayed as a hero and saviour. The straights really aren't okay.

Adiba Jaigirdar: Dos and Donuts of Love (2023, Hachette Children's Group)

The ex she still has feelings for. An exciting new crush. And the competition of …

Adiba Jaigirdar never disappoints

This book is full of puns, full of delicious baking goods, and full of wonderful people with character development during the story. And there isn't a single person-walks-into-wrong-situation-and-jumps-into-conclusions plot antipattern, the queen of YA WLW romance doesn't need that.

Taleen Voskuni: Sorry, Bro (2023, Penguin Publishing Group)

An Armenian-American woman rediscovers her roots and embraces who she really is in this vibrant …

Cute, but I'm missing more story and tension

What I liked: All the Armenian culture references, and the proverbs at the beginning of each chapter! That's so cool!

What I found boring: The tension curve is missing. The romance story is pretty straightforward, step by step without fallbacks, and at about 50% they're a couple and I asked myself "the story is already over, why are there so many more pages, oh no, please don't do a person-jumps-into-wrong-situation-and-jumps-to-conclusions" and well, what followed was a person-jumps-into-wrong-situation-and-jumps-to-conclusions.

Taleen Voskuni: Sorry, Bro (2023, Penguin Publishing Group)

An Armenian-American woman rediscovers her roots and embraces who she really is in this vibrant …

I squeeze past a group of rowdy tech boys and a waitress dressed in a traditional German folk costume, similar to the one I own, thanks to a gift from my boyfriend, Trevor, and the beer maiden fetish he won't admit he has.

Sorry, Bro by  (Page 1)

Literally the first sentence setting the mood.

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle (Paperback, 2021, Random House Large Print)

To his customers and neighbours on 125th Street, Ray Carney is an upstanding salesman of …

Colson Whitehead really loves character design

... and it's the best thing about the book. There's not really a classic tension arc. The book consists of three smaller stories, in different years, slightly interwoven. But the cool thing is not really the three major stories. It's how every single side character has some kind of backstory, smaller or larger, and Colson Whitehead tells you about all of them, sometimes leading to several nested layers of time in the narration. Those little ones are the stories that really make this book a great read.

Sophie Gonzales: Never Ever Getting Back Together (2022, St. Martin's Press)

Revenge is a dish best served on live TV.

Eighteen-year-old Maya's cheating ex Jordy is …

Douchebag gets dumped

Very entertaining romcom story where two absolutely gorgeous women get to dump their constantly lying douchebag ex on public television, while head-over-heals falling for each other. The book kept me up all night and didn't let me sleep. Another plus: The author invented a conlang for this (Chalonian). Minus: It's not used very much, and probably it's not designed out that well.