All Out

author: Saundra Mitchell

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages is a fun YA fictional anthology. I enjoyed the variety of the stories and the variety of representation, although I was sorry to see no bisexual representation (if I missed it, let me know!). Multiple ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds are represented and there are a couple of asexual stories in addition to the LGBT stories, which I was thrilled about since asexual relationships are so rarely explored in fiction.

In my experience, romance short stories are very difficult to pull off because there’s no time for a relationship to develop. Most of these stories deal with that by depicting the very beginning of a relationship and ending on that note – a first kiss, for example. In addition, most of these stories are romances and end either happily or, in one occasion, on a cliffhanger.

All of them are pretty solid (some more than others), but a few stand out:

“Walking After Midnight” by Kody Keplinger, set in upstate New York in 1952, depicts a single night in a small town where a former child movie star, now a young woman who can’t get movie roles, meets a resident of the town who is instantly star-struck. The movie star’s craving for stability meets the small-town girl’s need for change in a sweet, though fleeting, romance. Structurally it does a great job of delivering a satisfying story in a small space.

“New Year” by Malinda Lo is set in San Francisco in 1955. It doesn’t have a romance; instead, a young Chinese-American woman starts to make sense of her sexuality. While the story structure is messy, it tackles immigration, assimilation versus preserving one’s culture, the contributions of women to the space race, and the gender-bending world of San Francisco’s nightlife. I wanted this to be much longer than it was.

“Every Shade of Red” by Elliot Wake is a very unusual, erotic, and touching Robin Hood story set in England in the late Fourteenth Century. It left me longing for a book-length treatment, especially this is the story that ends on a cliffhanger.

Alas, two stories in particular, “Healing Rosa” and “The Coven,” deal with mental illness in ways I found troubling, suggesting that a single magical encounter or spell can heal severe depression and PTSD. I found this to be not only wishful thinking but also dangerous and diminishing, just as I would find it dangerous if a single doctor’s visit was depicted as curing serious mental health issues.

This anthology is ambitious and it doesn’t quite rise to its ambitions. I’ve yet to find a romance anthology that works across the board, because a love story is so difficult to convey in a small space. I was disappointed that no bisexuals (that I recall) were represented in the anthology. This is a serious omission. However, I appreciated the different time periods, the varied representation, and especially the positive depictions of people who are romantic asexuals alongside positive portrayals of people who are lesbian, gay, and transgender.

– Carrie S

Historical: Other, LGBTQIA, Young Adult

Beauty and Beastly

author: Melanie Karsak

Beauty and Beastly is a lyrical, lovely re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast. It’s a slight story and you don’t want to be asking too many practical questions about it, but it conveys fairy tale love well. This is part of the Steampunk Fairy Tales series and although there are references to other books, I had no problem jumping in with this one.

In a fantasy version of 1814 England, Isabelle and her father make a living by making and selling inventions and repairing mechanical things. Over all Isabelle is happy with her life, but she’s a bit bored. She’s thrilled when her father offers to take her to Ireland to deliver some of her inventions and attend a wedding. Alas, their ship, The Prospero, crashes and Isabelle finds herself washed ashore a mysterious island replete with whispering voices in the woods, standing stones, and a castle filled with automatons who creak into action to serve her every need. There’s also a mechanical dog and y’all know clockwork dogs are my jam.

The automatons, who are fully sentient, are thrilled that Isabella is able to provide some much-needed repair and maintenance. However, things are not as smooth between Isabelle and the lord of the castle, Rhys, who is also an automaton and who is annoyed at the intrusion of two shipwreck survivors (Isabelle’s father also turns up at the castle). Rhys has a small airship that he is willing to let Isabelle and her father use, but it will only carry one person, so Isabelle’s father, who has more piloting experience, leaves the island, planning to come back for Isabelle. From this point on things follow the basic beauty and the beast template with a steampunk overlay – can Isabelle find the literal key that will literally save Rhys’ steampunk heart in time to save him? (What do you think?)

This story is pretty overstuffed, what with references to previous books, the Fey, Druids, technology, and the usual beauty and beast motifs. On the other hand, it’s a fairy tale, not a science documentary. Many details should have been explored at more length and others should have been left out altogether. Also, I don’t care how many times Isabelle washes and dries the fancy dress she rescues from the waves – that dress ain’t coming back, honey.

Sometimes I write a review immediately after reading a book and sometimes I don’t get to it for a while. The advantage of the latter approach is that I can find out what elements of the book stick in my head. The plot of this book is pretty much paint-by-numbers Beauty and the Beast, so if you are familiar with the fairy tale then there will be no major surprises.

However, the tone of the book stuck in my head in the most pleasant way. Isabelle’s intelligence is valued. Beautiful things, both mechanical (such as the garden filled with metal flowers) and “natural” (the surrounding forest and ocean) abound. After the first sequence in which Isabelle chooses to stay on the island and her father leaves, Rhys is nothing but considerate and kind. It’s refreshing (in a Beauty and Beast retelling) that he is neither a kidnapper nor a habitual user of bad behavior. It’s a lyrical story with a familiar plot, soothing ambiance, and nice people. A bit bland, but so very pretty. I recommend this as a “de-stressing” read for when you just want to daydream.

– Carrie S

Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, Romance, Steampunk

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter

author: KJ Charles

Caution warnings: Misgendering; references to forced sex work; threats of violence, acid attacks, and torture.

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is a prequel to KJ Charles’ historical romance Any Old Diamonds. The focus is not on the Lilywhite Boys themselves, although they are an integral part of the story, but on their fence Stan and the music hall performer he admires, Miss Christiana.

Their relationship is very sweet, and a stark contrast to the horrible things that are happening around them. Christiana starts the story in debt to a crime boss who serves as pimp and fence, who kidnaps and intends to torture Stan by the end, so it’s not a sweet story by any means. But the way Stan and Christiana fumble towards trusting and being trustworthy after Christiana’s rescue was very believable and charming!

I did like the way that Stan and Christiana manage to talk about her being trans and their mutual asexuality despite the story being set in a time when neither of those things had easy shorthand. Stan is careful to make sure he’s not only using the correct name and pronouns for her, but thinking of her in the right gender, which was a touch that I appreciated. And as someone on the ace-spectrum, I was very happy with the scene of them laughing at how ridiculous allosexuals are!

I think my main issue with The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is that it feels like a lot of set-up for KJ Charles’ most recent book, Gilded Cage. It’s introducing a villain that Any Old Diamonds didn’t have the opportunity to, and there are points where it feels like the protagonists are there as bystanders for the Lilywhite Boys. It’s simultaneously frustrating and immensely entertaining. The Lilywhite Boys weren’t the characters I picked the story up for, but they’re fun, and the aura of casual bastardry they bring to the story is the perfect counter to the tension of the scenes before they arrive.

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is short and manages to thread a lovely romance in-between the mortal peril. I definitely recommend it if you want more context for Gilded Cage.

– Susan

Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Novella, Romance