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The Love Con
The Love Con by Seressia Glass is $1.99! This one has cosplay, friends to lovers, and all sorts of nerdery. I remember there were some comments that going into medicine and getting into cosplay were not mutually exclusive, but I wonder if its more that the heroine wants to do this as a career. I haven’t read the book though.
He’s cosplaying as her boyfriend but their feelings for each other are real in this romantic comedy from Seressia Glass.
Sometimes Kenya Davenport believes she was switched at the hospital–how else could a lover of anime, gaming, and cosplay come from STEM parents? Still, Kenya dreams of being able to turn her creative hobby into a career. She finally has a chance to make it big when she joins the reality show competition Cosplay or No Way.
There’s just one catch: the challenge for the final round is all about iconic pairs, and the judges want the contestants’ significant others to participate. Unfortunately, Kenya is as single as can be at the moment. Luckily her best friend, Cameron Lassiter, agrees to be her fake boyfriend for the show.
Roleplaying a couple in love will force them to explore what they’re hiding under the mask of friendship. Can Kenya and Cam fake it until she makes it, or will she be real about her feelings, knowing it could cost her the best friend she’s ever had?
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The Sun and the Void
The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz is $2.99! This is book one in The Warring Gods series and I mentioned this one on a previous Hide Your Wallet. I find Gabriela to be a talented artist and maker, so I’m excited to see her writing and imagination in another form.
In a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism, ancient magic, and two young women’s quest for belonging unfolds.
Reina is desperate.
Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.
Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.
Eva Kesare is unwanted.
Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.
Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it’s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.
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Our Shadows Have Claws
Our Shadows Have Claws edited by Yamile Saied Méndez and Amparo Ortiz is $2.99! This is a YA horror collection featuring 15 “Latin American monster stories.” Lots of mythology and great for the spooky season!
Fifteen original short stories from YA superstars, featuring Latine mythology’s most memorable monsters
From zombies to cannibals to death incarnate, this cross-genre anthology offers something for every monster lover. In Our Shadows Have Claws, bloodthirsty vampires are hunted by a quick-witted slayer; children are stolen from their beds by “el viejo de la bolsa” while a military dictatorship steals their parents; and anyone you love, absolutely anyone, might be a shapeshifter waiting to hunt.
The worlds of these stories are dark but also magical ones, where a ghost-witch can make your cheating boyfriend pay, bullies are brought to their knees by vicious wolf-gods, a jar of fireflies can protect you from the reality-warping magic of a bruja—and maybe you’ll even live long enough to tell the tale. Set across Latin America and its diaspora, this collection offers bold, imaginative stories of oppression, grief, sisterhood, first love, and empowerment.
Full contributor list: Chantel Acevedo, Courtney Alameda, Julia Alvarez, Ann Dávila Cardinal, M. García Peña, Racquel Marie, Gabriela Martins, Yamile Saied Méndez, Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, Claribel A. Ortega, Amparo Ortiz, Lilliam Rivera, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Ari Tison, and Alexandra Villasante.
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The Royal Wardrobe
The Royal Wardrobe by Rosie Harte is $1.99! This combines several things I know the Bitchery is interested in: royalty, history, and fashion. It was released over the summer; did any of you have this on your radar?
Peek into the wardrobes of history’s most fashionable royals
Why did women wear such heavy and uncomfortable skirts in the Elizabethan era?
What the hell happened to Charles II’s pubic hair wig?
How did Princess Diana’s revenge dress become so iconic?Fashion for the royal family has long been one of their most powerful weapons. Every item of their clothing is imbued with meaning, history and majesty, telling a complex tale of the individuals who wore them and the houses they represented.
From the draping of a fabric to the arrangements of jewels, the clothing worn by royals is anything but coincidental. King at just nine years old, Edward VI’s clothes were padded to make him seem stronger and more manly; and the ever-conscious Elizabeth II insisted her coronation gown include all the representative flora of the commonwealth nations, and not just that of the United Kingdom. Yet reigning monarchs are not the only ones whose fashion sensibilities could mean make or break for the crown.
Original and enlightening, Rosie Harte’s complete history delicately weaves together the fashion faux pas and Vogue-worthy triumphs that chart the history of our royals from the Tudors to the Victorians right through to King Charles III and our twenty-first-century royal family. Travelling far beyond the bounds of the court, The Royal Wardrobe reveals the economic, social and political consequences of royal apparel, be it breeches, tiara, wig or waistcoat.
Each stitch has a story, you just need to know how to read them.
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No idea if the blurb for THE LOVE CON accurately represents the book or the author’s opinions (presumably they didn’t write it themselves but possibly had to approve it?), but every time it’s posted here I’m *fascinated* by how weird the implications of that first little paragraph are, lol.
Like obviously these are all lazy narrow-minded offensive stereotypes (I am a *massive* gaming/fandom/fanfic nerd!), but the stereotype for DECADES now is that gaming/anime/cosplay nerds ARE all sad lonely science/tech/STEM geeks who live in their mom’s basement playing video games because they’re too painfully nerdy to handle real life and have posters of anime girls(/guys) on their walls because they’re too sad and nerdy to meet real dates and go to cons in full cosplay because they’re cringe enough to openly show how nerdy they are, and that fandom is a sad silly way losers (nearly always STEM nerds!) spend their time while real *serious* grownups are busy having kids or becoming CEOs or something. And “cool” creative/artsy/humanities types are kind of stereotypically expected to be deep and intellectual and “above” frivolous silly things like fandom and pop culture. Like so much of pop culture for ages (at least until maybe the last 10 years) has leaned SUPER heavily on fandom/anime/gaming nerds = STEM geeks!
Obviously that’s all completely lazy and inaccurate nonsense and mostly society does seem to have finally moved past those depictions, but I’m fascinated that this author/blurb writer has somehow evolved *those* longstanding offensive stereotypes into a *different* offensive stereotype where fandom and gaming and anime and cosplay are now actually *TOO* cool and creative for sad boring STEM nerds to possibly be able to grasp or be interested in.
Like it’s *so* impossible that a person in a STEM field could ever have fun hobbies or be creative (or…be the exact type of fandom nerd that STEM people have for ages been stereotyped as!) that “switched at birth” is the only plausible explanation!
Perhaps it says something interesting about how society’s views of fandom/gaming/anime and general pop culture nerdery have shifted to become more mainstream and celebrated! (Though it’s also depressing that we can finally move past one set of stupid lazy stereotypes only to twist them into new ones that mock the same group but now for the *opposite* reason somehow – rather than just realizing stereotypes are stupid because there are all kinds of fandoms for all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds who express it in all kinds of ways.) Perhaps whoever wrote it has simply never met anyone in a STEM field OR any actual fandom nerds.
Sorry for the rambling, I just find the shift from “fandom is a lame nerdy escape for these sad geeky STEM nerds” to “fandom is far too cool and creative for these sad geeky STEM nerds” really interesting!
The blurb is so *horribly* phrased and almost deliberately, blatantly insulting to a large portion of potential readers (I’m an English major and it still makes me want absolutely nothing to do with this book!) and yet in such an interestingly opposite way from the normal stereotypes! Maybe (hopefully) it’s not at all what the author intended, but yikes.
Royal wardrobe only US.
Sadly.
While I, too, have questions about the assumption that STEM and cosplay geekery somehow are anathema, I’m going to stick up for the blurb of The Love Con because I think the point is being missed (take it with a massive grain of salt, as I haven’t read the book).
I don’t think the author or character meant to imply that STEM people can’t have creative hobbies and are never into cosplay, or that fandom is too cool for science nerds. Quite the opposite. I think it’s more about the character’s specific relationship with her parents’ expectations, and that HER parents do not see a career in something like fandom or art anywhere near as viable as a prestigious STEM field career. I think the character is struggling, feeling she is not SMART enough for the science nerds, and all she has is fandom, which her parents see as lesser than STEM (I assume? assuming quite a lot, but that’s the vibe I get.)
I understand the defensiveness, believe me, but I think that one single sentence is being misinterpreted with very little grace.
However, if the book comes out and SAYS anything like the negative assumptions made, feel free to rant!
As someone who’s read The Love Con and enjoyed it, the problem here isn’t that STEM fields and geekery aren’t notably compatible, the problem is Kenya wants to make cash in a creative field instead of a technical one, and her parents don’t approve.
@Jen / @Lisa F – Fair enough, I guess it’s just weird phrasing!
To me, it reads as “it’s almost inconceivable that STEM parents could have a child that’s into these things!” And the only reason for that seems to be “STEM” vs her interests and “creative hobby.”
Maybe if it said “come from *her* serious/unimaginative/pragmatic parents” rather than making it read like a universal truth about STEM parents? (Why even mention STEM? All kinds of parents want kids to pursue practicality over creativity. “STEM” isn’t a character trait, and using it as shorthand for “unimaginative/not supportive of creativity” only adds to the impression that we’re meant to see STEM and cosplay/creativity as opposite sides.)
I’m definitely way overanalyzing a couple of sentences in a blurb! But it *is* a pretty important first impression and sales pitch for a book, and this one was an immediate turnoff for me because it seems to start with such a weird generalization that’s pretty negative and just…wrong.
I’m glad it’s apparently not what they meant to suggest! IDK if I’m the only one who read it this way but that’s the way it came across to me, so it seems like it could definitely be phrased better.
The five books in the Kissing Games series are $.99 each
– Kissing My Brother’s Bride by Molly McLain
– Kissing the Rival by Kaylee Ryan
– Kissing My Crush by C.A. Harms
– Kissing A Stranger (The Kissing Games Book 4) by Lacey Black
– Kissing My Soulmate (The Kissing Games Book 5) by Evan Grace
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWLRC6PP?
$2.99:
– Loving Hearts: A Loving Day Anthology by Eliana West, Aliyah Burke
Just gonna say that the two “nerds” I know best, the ones at several cons a year and all dressed up plus writing excellent fan-fic, are a surgeon and her internist husband. They are definitely scientists. One of my younger friends parlayed “nerd skills” into hardcore computer skills, especially in the field of anime. She contracts until she has enough money and then takes time off for gaming, cons, etc. IDK why people think there has to be a dichotomy. Maybe the so-called normals are jealous.
@Loramir “The Love Con” was published by an imprint of the largest publishing company in the US. The author did not write the description and almost certainly didn’t get a chance to approve it. I read it the same way as @Jen and @Lisa F. I understand overanalyzing, but it seems absurd and unfair to read THAT much into it and hold the author accountable for one detail that they had no control over
@Loramir – no, you’re not the only one who read it that way, and @Pam, I have to respectfully disagree with you that it’s absurd and unfair to be put off by it.
Blurbs are crucial for interesting people in the book, and that first sentence is its most important real estate. Lots of us do not have time to investigate past immediate first impressions of a blurb if it’s unappealing. The intern or editor botched this one, badly enough to guarantee that some people, including unfortunately probably many people who would be the target audience for the book, would be completely turned off or alienated and uninterested in reading further.
This poor author! Her publisher really did her dirty with that sentence and it was unnecessary. If they’d used “serious” or something similar instead of “STEM,” the whole thing immediately changes.