The Year of the Witching is a very, very good book. It’s unsettling and horrifying, beautiful and incisive, and ultimately, radiantly triumphant. As it centers on a religious dystopia and has feminist themes, it has already been compared to the The Handmaid’s Tale. This is not an inapt comparison; however, I think in tone and setting it reads much more like Nathanial Hawthorne, but as written by a woman living in 2020. In the vein … Continue reading The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson →
I love a good heist story: Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s 8, (we’re pretending the other Oceans in between don’t exist), The Italian Job, the TV show The Catch, all of them are my catnip. It’s no wonder I absolutely loved To Catch an Earl since it’s a love story about a thief and the man charged with catching her. It’s a heist story, and a game of cat and mouse all in one. It’s just wonderfully, … Continue reading To Catch an Earl by Kate Bateman →
If you love Ru Paul’s Drag Race like I do, then you might have fallen in love with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova. Trixie, with her deep love for Dolly Parton and Barbie, and Katya, who is ultra-flexible and deeply honest about recovering from addiction, have to be two of the most popular drag queens to have graduated from RPDR. If, like me, you’re a bit of a superfan, you might have also watched their … Continue reading Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood →
There was much excitement among the Bitches when Cinderella is Dead was announced, due to its exciting cover and concept, and the promise of a queer heroine of color. Alas, the book is virtually unreadable due to sloppy writing and a whiny, self-absorbed heroine. The concept is great. 200 years after Cinderella met her prince, Cinderella is dead and every year all the young women in the kingdom go to a ball (not optional) at … Continue reading Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron →
Girl on Film is a graphic novel memoir by Cecil Castellucci, the author of, among other things, Boy Proof, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes, and Shade, The Changing Girl, all of which I enthusiastically recommend. In this memoir, Castellucci documents her obsession with becoming a movie director, a goal she developed at a young age and pursued through her years at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the high school … Continue reading Girl on Film by Cecil Castellucci →
TW: Miscarriage, infertility The Heir Affair is the follow up to 2015’s debut The Royal We, a book I enjoyed immensely. Unfortunately, while the humor and the narrator’s voice still worked for me, there was no character growth at all in The Heir Affair. A lot of things happen in the book, but the three main characters, Bex, Nick and Freddie all end up at pretty much the same place they started at. First of … Continue reading The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan →
The Relentless Moon is part of the wonderful Lady Astronaut series. I recommend reading it after reading The Calculated Stars and The Fated Sky but if you do jump in you should get enough backstory in The Relentless Moon to catch you up. However, you will miss the overall flow of events and you’ll miss some emotional payoff. The premise of this series is that a meteor strikes Chesapeake Bay in 1952. In the aftermath, … Continue reading The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal →
Content warning: There is an emotionally abusive parent. There is a very realistic and rather grim depiction of an abusive marriage. And there is either a miscarriage or an abortion – we never really find out which. Every so often I read a book, and as I read I start making a list of all the people I know who will love this book and then I keep reading and writing down more names, and … Continue reading Or What You Will by Jo Walton →
After three novels and a novella, you’d think I’d run out of new things to say about the Heroine Complex series, but the fourth book, Haunted Heroine, found new ways to surprise and delight me. This series involves a group of women, some with superpowers, who fight paranormal manifestations in San Francisco and who form a family. There’s Evie Tanaka, her sister Bea, Evie’s best friend Annie Chang AKA Aveda Jupiter, and trainer and bodyguard … Continue reading Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn →
Before this year, I didn’t pay attention to YA fiction releases. Frankly, I didn’t think they would speak to me, since I haven’t been part of the target demographic in more than 20 years. After having spectacular luck with The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea, You Should See Me in a Crown, and now Girl, Serpent, Thorn, I am here to eat my words because these three are some of the best books I’ve … Continue reading Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust →
How do I even begin to review Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga? There were parts of it that made me squee with delight, and parts that made me laugh because they were so true, and also parts that made me just cringe in horror and want to hide under the couch or throw things at the TV…and these parts followed each other in such quick succession that it’s honestly hard for me … Continue reading Movie Review: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga →
