You Sexy Thing involves characters, settings, themes and tropes that are pure catnip for me. One of these themes is cooking. I have therefore translated the book into a recipe so as best to convey its nature. Before we begin the recipe, here’s a quick overview. You Sexy Thing is the space opera tale of a group of both military veterans and civilians who run a restaurant on a space station and who find themselves, … Continue reading You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo →
Hana Khan Carries On is part epistolary, part coming of age story, and all heart. Hana, aka AnaBGR, an aspiring broadcast producer, podcaster, and storyteller, is struggling on several fronts. There’s the difficulty in breaking into broadcast in general, there’s her racist boss who presumes to be #woke, her family’s struggling restaurant, plus her sister’s risky pregnancy. What she definitely did NOT need on this list was Mr. Silver Shades to come sauntering in with … Continue reading Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin →
With thanks to Tara. The Love Study is a romance between Declan, who swore off romance after leaving his boyfriend at the altar six years ago, and Sidney, who has no interest in dating, but who does have a YouTube channel called ‘Your Spinster Uncle’ where they provide relationship advice. (Sidney is gender nonconforming and prefers they/them pronouns). Declan might be commitment-phobic, but he is also 29 and beginning to wonder if he would, in … Continue reading The Love Study by Kris Ripper →
Shout out to Maya who shared her expertise on racialization and approved of Megxit Ranger! Thanks, Maya!!!! Headliners is the fifth book in Lucy Parker’s London Celebrity series, and it is not an exaggeration to say that I have been a squatting like a goblin in the corner, waiting to pounce on this book. I LOVE Parker’s style, and it’s absolutely worth picking this book up for her snark and wit alone. All the books … Continue reading Headliners by Lucy Parker →
I came close to crying more than once when reading A Delicate Deception. Sometimes I think of myself as a jaded reader; many books entertain me, but few impress me, and even fewer really move me. But then I read a book like this one and it turns me into a giant mush-ball and I think maybe my book-reading heart and brain are not so hardened as all that. A Delicate Deception is about Amelia … Continue reading A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian →
Angel in a Devil’s Arms is the second book in Julie Anne Long’s Palace of Rogues series, and it is adorable. I loved basically everything about it, from the ensemble of ‘found family’ at the Palace of Rogues, to the humour, to the sweetness and intimacy of Lucien’s conversations with Angelique, and most especially to the subversion of several very Old Skool tropes which are beyond ready to be retired. You don’t really need to … Continue reading Angel in a Devil’s Arms by Julie Anne Long →
I am super impatient for the season three of The Expanse to start, with the wonder that is Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, so when I saw this YA sci-fi romance with an amazing cover, I picked it up to help tide me over. Our Dark Stars is much more sci-fi action-adventure than it is romance, and it has more of a Happy for Now ending than I’d prefer, but I still enjoyed it. Talia Starchaser … Continue reading Our Dark Stars by Audrey Grey and Krystal Wade →
Max Seventeen is a science fiction romance that has a lot of problematic elements (several of which ambushed me near the end of the book). On the other hand, it has an action heroine of color, a rickety spaceship with a motley (and diverse) crew, and mosasaurs. Once I started the book I couldn’t stop reading it, and every time I said to myself, “Wait, WHAT?” another mosasaur or some other shiny plot device popped … Continue reading Max Seventeen by Kate Johnson →
