Fiction

Holiday Read

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Holiday Read

Author: Taylor Cole

Year: 2023

Genre: Romance, Surfing, 

Queer shit: one queer side couple barely mentioned

Vibe Check: Surfers in Cornwall, writers and readers, found family, extensive detail on random subjects and choppy incohesive plot 

Pile of Opinions: This one was rough… I think this book was a really great idea with poor execution. I was dragging myself through the book. There were too many stories going on that sort of came together at the end but not cohesively and it felt really forced into a tidy wrap up. I felt like there were many things well researched and understood but I could not tell you what this book was about other than surfing because there were so many stories and substories. I think this could make a great mini series show but it did not make a great book. The plot twists felt like plot holes and there were so many niche rabbit trails of information that I felt like they took away from the story instead of fueling it. The lead character fell flat for me but then would react explosively with great rooted values and character that were shown nowhere else in the book. It was unclear what she wanted in this book so in the end when it felt like she got some things, it wasn’t satisfying because it was set up so choppy. I wanted to like this book because I love found family but this felt like an unpolished draft. Also the title and cover do not reflect the book and though covers aren’t everything, they matter quite a bit to readers. I would like to petition for the cover to be of the ocean and her van as that intrigues me and feels like it reflects the book. I would also like the title to be changed to “Writing the Waves” because I think that is also intriguing and more in line with what the story is. This story is not just a romance, it has so many other pieces and is long enough and webbed enough that it really needs a title and cover that show that. This book is for you if you love surfing, if you love Cornwall and/or Hawaii, if you are looking for a little escape to another town, if you love found family, and if you read it in a single weekend so you can keep up with all the side stories. 

Professional Reader

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City of girls

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: City of Girls

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Year: 2019

Genre: Fiction, female relationships, building a life, responsibility (idk, these aren’t genres)

Queer shit: One side gay character, a threesome, lesbians, theater (IYKYK)

Vibe Check: Young woman decides to go against the plan her family had for her life and moves to her Aunt’s theater in NYC after dropping out of college in 1940

Pile of Opinions: This book as a whole piece was confusing to me as it felt like the first 250 pages were one book and the last couple hundred were a second book. I enjoyed both books but they didn’t feel cohesive. I felt like the first part felt like what I expected the book to be about and I loved it and enjoyed it. It was very coming of age, finding your purpose outside your parents’ expectations, understanding the value you already have that you can contribute to a community, fitting in without losing yourself. I loved the friendships and lessons learned and observations. I enjoyed the second part of the book, living through the war and building an independent life as an adult in NYC. I loved the friendships in this book and enjoyed seeing how they change over decades. This book was told from the perspective of the lead woman looking back on her life and telling her stories as an old woman. Seeing friendships over a lifetime and how someone can be our everything for a time and out of our life another time and that doesn’t make the relationship any less valid or important. I read this book in a few days and I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it over a longer period of time. Some shows aren’t meant to be binged in a single weekend and some books aren’t either. I really enjoyed this over all once I accepted it as more than the 250 I expected it to be and enjoyed it for the collection of stories that it was. I love a good found family and there should be more books about the beautiful chaos of a theater community.

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Blanca and Roja

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Blanca and Roja

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore

Year: 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fiction/Folktales/swans

Queer shit: Trans/non-binary, queer relationship, gender fluidity and expression, pronouns. 

Vibe Check: the vibe of this was kind of like panicked siblings left unsupervised. I really liked that set up though because it also was big about the complex nature of sibling relationships and how your siblings can be your best friends and your biggest enemies then back to your best friends in the same conversation. Sibling dynamics are very interesting and very sacred to me. Also big swan vibes. 

Pile of Opinions: Anna-Marie McLemore has quickly become one of my favorite authors the last couple years after a friend introduced me to their work. I love the folklore vibes of all their books (that I have read so far) and thoroughly enjoy how the stories are told. Blanca and Roja are sisters but their family has a dark curse; each generation always has two daughters, and one is always taken by the swans due to a questionable deal made with the swans generations ago. The sisters must work together to find a solution, but the sisters are also rivals because you don’t know who the swans will take. This book covered sibling bonds, exploring gender identity and expression, delicious apples, and teen shenanigans. I really enjoyed this story and wish I had all of McLemore’s books when I was younger. The way they keep mystery throughout the story and sweep you up in storytelling is beautiful and soul-healing. I find myself getting caught up in the characters and don’t try to predict the outcome, I just enjoy the storytelling. 

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Year: 2017

Genre: Fiction, romance, Historical Fiction, Queer, Hollywood

Queer shit: SO MUCH! You got gays, you got lesbians, you got bisexuals.

Vibe Check: Glam, queer, struggle for love, our self that we put into the world and our self we truly are. What we do and give up for what is most important to us. Dignity.

Pile of Opinions: I read this book right after an overly heterosexual romance and had very low expectations of loving this book. This one was recommended by people and kept popping up on social media. Every so often I have to buy books that have been haunting me and pop up everywhere. I knew nothing about this book when I started it other than it was about a hard tear who was a famous actress in the 50’s. This book is about a 79 year old woman who was a famous movie star for decades and disappeared from the spotlight years ago, and she is finally ready to share her full story. This story is the journey of her telling her life story to a biographer. Her life, relationships, secrets, and most importantly the truths behind her seven husbands and who her true love was. I enjoyed this story for the characters and the stories. I loved to see character growth and hear the stories of these people across decades of their lives. The friendships in this were as good as the romance, which is not as common in books as I’d like and also one of my favorite things. Books that have friendships as interesting and important and nurtured as much as the romantic entanglements give me life. I finished this book and was ready to read it again immediately. This would be a great book to bring on a weekend away or vacation because the storytelling feels best read in a few sittings (or one sitting if you really want it). Looking forward to reading this book again soon. 

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Ghosts, Toast, and other Hazards

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Ghosts, Toast, and Other Hazards

Author: Susan Tan

Year: 2023

Genre: Middle grade, ghosts, split families, loss, Asian-American, Middle School 

Queer shit: Implied the Uncle and main character are queer, labels undefined

Vibe Check: This one hit hard, so intense and so relatable and still felt age appropriate for the main character being 12

Pile of Opinions: SO GOOD. I don’t know if my 12 year old self could have handled the nightmares, dreams, and ghosts in this because I was a really sensitive kid, but I also think I could have benefitted from this book at 12 for the same reason. So many heavy and very real themes covered with split families, feeling like you have to be the adult sometimes at 12, parents’ mental illness, learning who to trust and how to nurture friendships. People are so complicated at all ages and I feel this book captured that. We are haunted by so many things throughout our whole lives and we should never underestimate what kids can experience. I would recommend this book for kids who find this heavy and raw discussion of really tough situations and feelings helpful, and kids who are experiencing big life changes like moves or parents splitting up. I really enjoyed this story, the character development of the lead as she learned about herself, her grief, and her community, as well as the symbolism around the nightmares and ghosts. I would also recommend this book to parents of 12 year-olds, it’s easy to forget how heavy the world feels at that age and we, the adults, need to do our best to support them through it.

Professional Reader

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The Brooklyn Brujas Series: Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Brooklyn Brujas Series: Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch

Author: Zoraida Cordova

Year: 2016, 2018, 2019

Genre: YA Fiction/Fantasy, witches(bruja, brujo, brujex), 

Queer shit: Queer relationship, non-binary character (brujex)

Vibe Check: I…..confused myself (not uncommon) and accidentally read the third book first. The first book was all about the middle child vibes and explored wanting something different for your life than what your family chose, fighting with and against magical beings in another realm. The second book is about the oldest sister and explores outward beauty and its impact on our self-worth and identity, grief and loss, and was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite book of the series. I really didn’t like most of the plot because of reasons I’ll list below, and loved the overarching themes throughout. The third book is about the youngest sister and explores bonds with parents being different, personal power and identity, and includes more fighting with and against magical creatures in yet another realm.  

Pile of Opinions: 

Labyrinth Lost: I feel like this book would have had a bigger impact on me if I had read the books in order. I enjoyed the adventure and relationships and setting the scenes with family and traditions and normalcy, I just loved the 3rd one so much more that reading this one after the 3rd felt like a step back. I highly recommend reading these books in order as the author intended and not doing what I did haha Read the order of books in a series before you start reading, learn from my mistakes! I did enjoy this book and would recommend the entire series if you like witches and family and adventures. 

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Bruja Born: This was my least favorite of the series because it was about zombies. Something turns like the entire high school into zombies and hearts are being ripped out and eaten and it was just not for me at all. It was a great story and well told, I just really hate zombies and concepts surrounding fighting zombies.

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Wayward Witch: This is the third book in this series and I accidentally read it first because it happens. I loved this one the most out of the three. Maybe I am biased because it was about the youngest sister and I am the youngest sibling in my family. Also maybe because a non-binary character shows up. I enjoyed the adventure and the relationships of this one as Rose learned to use her powers and fight forces when she and her dad end up in a magical realm that traps her dad in a tower and sends her on a quest to fight powers destroying the realm. This book explained enough back story throughout it as a review that I wasn’t that confused reading this one first.

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Holiday Romance

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Holiday Romance

Author: Catherine Walsh

Year: 2022

Genre: Romance, travel, Irish, Christmas

Queer shit: Nods to queer side characters

Vibe Check: this friends to lovers set over years of traveling home for the holidays just hit me right in the romantic feels, I loved it so much 

Pile of Opinions: I read this book digitally as an Advanced Readers Copy through NetGalley. I hoped for a cozy Hallmark Christmas vibes book with maybe a little steam and this did not disappoint. Friends to lovers over Christmas, sunshine and grumpy, and kooky families, I love it. This book had me laughing out loud at their banter and I loved the way they communicated. I get so annoyed when characters unrealistically keep secrets or do unbelievable things to keep the plot moving. This book had none of that and this felt like an adorable telling of a believable pair of pals falling in love. I am looking forward to reading this book again at Christmas time and I have added the author’s other books to my TBR.

Professional Reader

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Juliet Takes a Breath

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Juliet Takes a Breath

Author: Gabby Rivera 

Year: 2016

Genre: YA fiction, personal growth, coming of age, coming out/queer

Queer shit: Lead (female) is gay, has a girlfriend, and is trying to come out to her family. Lots of support queer characters, lesbians, poly.  

Vibe Check: jumping into the deep end before you are ready and being fine

Pile of Opinions: LOVED THIS BOOK. I needed more of this book the second I finished. Juliet is a lesbian about to go on summer break during her college years in 2003. She reads a book by a lesbian feminist in Portland Oregon who opens Juliet’s eyes to a world of queerness and body positivity that is new for her. She lands an internship with the author, decides to come out to her parents, and heads off to Portland for the summer. This book was empowering and human and made me want to up and go somewhere new and meet new people. This book covers the complexities of being gay in the early 2000’s, family dynamics and varying responses to queerness, intersectionality, white privilege, polyamory, and meeting your heroes only to find out they are human. This book is one I will reread soon and suggest to anyone who will listen (already sent a copy to someone so they’ll read it and we can talk about it). This book felt so real and personal and human and i just loved how Juliet builds relationships with the people she meets, how the characters love and make mistakes, and how the author addresses body image and the intersectionality of Juliet being a queer woman of color. The author portrays whiteness in a way that is both disappointing and incredibly accurate. Rivera uses a character to address white fragility and how queer white women cannot represent queer women very well because the experiences of queer women of color are not only different, but something white queer women cannot understand because they are not queer women of color. This book was light and enjoyable while touching on heavy and complex topics, the author balanced all of this brilliantly. 

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The Love Hypothesis

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Love Hypothesis 

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Year: 2021

Genre: Romance. Academic

Queer shit: none? If there was any it was like random side characters that didn’t really matter other than being fillers. Maybe there was none? If it was, it was subtle enough to not be memorable. 

Vibe Check: Academics and grad school, fake dating, gender roles. 

Pile of Opinions: I both loved and felt really icky about this book. I read this book because it was recommended by many people and I kept seeing it pop up on social media. I loved the idea of a love story while someone is in grad school, I enjoyed that this felt like smart people making out of character decisions like faking a relationship. The story is about a grad student who decides to get a fake relationship to convince her best friend that she doesn’t have feelings for the boy her best friend likes. The man she picks at random is the faculty who is harshest on his students and least liked among her peers. I felt like the connection between the two leads felt believable and I enjoyed watching them fall for each other for realsies. I did not like the jokes about Title IX, especially when it became a real concern with a side character. I did not enjoy how heterosexual this was not only being a cis man and a cis women but how much it enforced gender roles and stereotypes. The male lead was often described by how large of a human he was and the female lead was often talked about as small and petite. Yes, she was smart and a hard worker, but the sheer number of times he rescued her was frustrating by the end of the book. He’s already faculty and she is a student (not his student) so there is already a power dynamic to be aware of and I felt that was leaned into rather than treaded lightly near. The sex……more about how small she is and how large he is, weird and unnecessary virginity or inexperience shit (I super hate this tactic with adults because it is almost never done in a way that isn’t sexist). By the time they were done having sex I actually started admitting I disliked the book as it was sort of the nail in the coffin of a lack of queerness, continued reinforcement of gender roles, and I was happy when I finished the book but sort of wished the whole sex part was left out and I could just enjoy the rest of it without feeling icky about gender roles and just write this off as likely too straight for me. I later found out this started out as Reylo (Rey and Kylo Ren) fan fiction and I really disliked it with commitment after that. Star Wars is sacred and I have strong opinions about Rey (because I will fight Kylo for her, I mean, only if she loves me back and wants me to fight him. She may want to fight her own battles and that is one of the many reasons I love her). Anyway, I probably would not have read it had I known it started as fanfic for a couple I don’t ship. It wasn’t bad, just not for me and arguably perpetuating damaging stereotypes. Not gay enough haha 

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