The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi- Pearson

Pages: 432

Publisher: Gollancz 

Released: 18th of January 2023 

A century-spanning space fantasy novel that will take you on a whirlwind adventure, from a Regency Era love affair between a time-traveller and the prince waiting for him in the past, to a rescue mission in the 60th century, where a girl desperately races against time as she searches for the sister the emperor stole.

6066: In Emperor Thracin’s brave new galaxy, humans are not citizens. Instead, they are indentured labourers, working to repay the debt they unwittingly incurred when they settled on Gahraan - a desert planet already owned by the emperor himself. Asha Akindele knows she’s just another voiceless cog working the assembly lines that fuel his vast imperial war machine. Her only rebellion: studying stolen aeronautics manuals in the dead of night. But then a cloaked stranger arrives to deliver an impossible message, and her life changes in an instant.

1812: Obi Amadi is done with time-travelling. Never mind the fact he doesn’t know how to cure himself of the temporal sickness he caught whilst anchoring his soul to Regency London, the one that unmakes him further with every jump. Or if the prince he loves will ever love him back. Or why his father disappeared. He is done. Until he hears about the ghost of a girl in the British Museum. A girl from another time.

When Obi’s path tangles with Asha’s and a prophecy awakens in the cold darkness of space, they must voyage through the stars, racing against time, tyranny, and the legacy of three heroes from an ancient religion who may be awakening, reincarnated in ways beyond comprehension.

What I Have to Say 

Prophecy, time travel and gay romance, this book has everything. It had so many threads that I was surprised they managed to fit it all in one book! But they did and it turned out to be a great one. There was a moment when everything was coming together, when I was really blown away by the scope of what was happening. It felt epic. 

I loved Obi and the threads from 1812 a lot. Even though, because of his temporal sickness, they couldn't use the time travel much for the resolution of the plot, I felt it gave him a really interesting backstory. I loved the little references like the one to the cat bus from Totoro, the little reminders that he was from more than just one time period. 

The prophecy, while confusing at first, also added a huge element to the book. Right from the first excerpt, I was excited to see where it would all fit in and become relevant and there was so many places where I could speculate as to what would happen. It was so great to see it all fit together. 

I'm really looking forward to the next book, which will hopefully have more prophecy and more time travel and even more fun. 

4 stars 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Gollancz for providing me this gifted copy for review. 

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee

Pages: 272 

Publisher: Macmillan 

Released: 16th of May 2023 

Fake-dates, mooncakes and rich people problems. But love wasn't meant to be on the menu ...

Meet Dylan Tang: he juggles school and delivery runs for his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn. Winning a mooncake competition could bring the publicity they need to stay afloat.

Enter Theo Somers: a charming, wealthy customer who convinces Dylan to be his fake date to a family wedding full of crazy rich drama. Their romance is supposed to be just for show . . . but soon Dylan’s falling for Theo. For real.

With the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being distracted by rich-people problems. Can he save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?

What I Have to Say 

 The two best things about this book were the dog (Clover the corgi, named after the author's own dog) and the mooncakes. Though there could always be more dog moments, both lived up to expectation. The food descriptions in this book in general were wonderful and a lot of snacking happened while I was reading it, but the talk of different methods to make mooncakes was my favourite because I've never thought about what it entails. I've never had a snow skin mooncake or one with chocolate in, but now I want to try them! 

The characters were very lifelike and I loved how much the book showed the feeling of family. Dylan's family was wonderful and I could really feel the love, but I could also feel a lot of love between Theo and his cousins. It gave the book such a loving vibe. 

The only problem I had was that all Theo seemed to do was help Dylan out. It seemed that Dylan was always the one needing rescuing and Theo was always the rescuer. I would have liked a bit more balance as it got old fast. 

Read for a warm loving family dynamic, rich people drama, a cute dog and lots and lots of mooncakes! 

4 stars 

My thanks goes to Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher

Pages: 432 

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA 

Released: 11th of May 2023 

Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

What I Have to Say 

This book was wonderful. It was so fun to read. I love Lex Croucher's tendency to put very modern, relatable characters into historical settings. And this one had a pinch of Arthurian legend to it as well! I liked this once much better than I liked Infamous mostly because the characters were just so lovable. 

There was so much humour in this book. It didn't take itself too seriously and it made it such a fun, enjoyable experience. Arthur was my favourite character, I think, simply because he was just so outrageous. His banter with Gwen and the fact that they absolutely hated each other at the start just added such texture to the story. I haven't found many books with such a tempestuous friendship and it was refreshing to see! 

Also this book was gay. Very gay. Most of the main characters were gay and it was a delight. 

4 stars 

My thanks go to Bloomsbury for providing me with this copy for review. 

Straight Expectations by Calum McSwiggan

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 4th of May 2023 

Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out, proud and just a little spoiled. Frustrated by the lack of romantic options in his small-town high school, during an argument with his lifelong best friend Dean, Max lashes out and says he wishes he had never been born gay.

Max gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up to find his wish has come true - not only have his feelings for boys vanished, but so has Dean.

With his school life turned upside down and his relationship with his family in tatters, Max sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the romance he thought he'd never have.

 What I Have to Say 

This was a fun, alternate universe comedy about friendship, identity and what it really means to be gay. It did what it set out to do and looked at identity in a comedic way. 

I enjoyed it mostly but it felt a little out of touch in parts? At one point the main character said that there wasn't really a fight for gay rights anymore. I understand that publishing takes a while and this may have been written before all the recent turmoil, but the trans fight has never stopped and it's still illegal t be gay in many countries. I could forgive it if it was just cis white gay privilege (which the character certainly has in abundance) but as nothing was said to combat the statement, I can't really figure it out. 

The characters were fun. There were definitely a lot of stereotypes, but they seemed like young boys trying to explore their identities and there was some exploration of that in the text and they seemed like well rounded characters as well. I loved how they looked at gender non-conforming fashion so much both as part of the characters and part of the plots as well.  There was also a beautiful emphasis on friendship between the main trio of characters and that was beautiful to see. 

All in all, I'm a bit conflicted about this book. I think if they take out the line about not having to fight anymore, I could say I enjoyed it, but as it stands, I'm just uncomfortable. 

3 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me with this copy for review. 

PROUD blog tour: Recommendations

The authors of PROUD reveal their recommendations of LGBTQ+ lit! 

For this post, I asked Stripes for some recommendations of books that some of the authors featured in the anthology would recommend to readers looking for some more LGBTQ+ to read and boy did they deliver! So get something to take notes on because you'll want to jot down some of these amazing titles they came up with! I'm adding a bunch of them to my own list! 

1) What was the Queer book or poem you connected with personally as a young reader and why did it connect with you?

Simon James Green: BEAUTIFUL THING by Jonathan Harvey. It’s not actually a novel, it was originally a play, and then later a film. It’s about two teenage boys growing up on a council estate in South London, and it was written in the 90s. The dialogue is so real, and the story is so tender and, indeed, beautiful. You can buy the script (and you can watch the film) and I’d highly recommend it.

Michael Lee Richardson: Recently, Casey Plett’s Little Fish, about a trans woman finding out that her religious grandfather might also have been trans. Casey Plett is so good at character, and this book - her first novel - is so sharp and honest and witty.

Karen Lawler : My Real Children by Jo Walton - an alternate history title that follows its main character through two different versions of post-WW2 history (neither matches ours) and two versions of her life. In one she finds love, but the world is much worse than the one we know. In the other she finds heartbreak, but we have colonies on the moon. I was particularly moved by the questions it raised about individual happiness vs collective good, inevitability and the ways in which small actions can have huge consequences.

Moïra Fowley-Doyle: Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue -- a collection of queer fairytale retellings that I first read & fell in love with at 14

Cynthia So: Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake. A 12-year-old girl has a crush on another girl and realises she likes girls - I realised I was queer at about the same age!

2) Share a current book that you think someone who enjoys your story in PROUD would like to read next.  

Simon James Green: Check out FLYING TIPS FOR FLIGHTLESS BIRDS by Kelly McCaughrain, RUNNING WITH LIONS by Julian Winters, OUT OF THE BLUE by Sophie Cameron, and JACK OF HEARTS by L.C. Rosen.

Michael Lee Richardson: Simon James Green’s books, Noah Can’t Even and Noah Could Never, are fab! There should be more funny books about GBT boys.

Moïra Fowley-Doyle: Ask the Passengers by AS King -- a gorgeous contemporary YA with a dash of magic realism about a queer teen girl figuring herself out

Cynthia So: Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, a contemporary realistic story about a Chinese-American boy who's an artist and in love with his best friend.

Karen Lawler: Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda. Contemporary gay teen romance for the win.

3) What Queer books do you love?

Simon James Green: BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan. The final line of that book is probably my favourite final line, ever.

Michael Lee Richardson: I’m hoovering up Alice Oseman’s books at the moment - so much stuff about queer friendships and relationships and fandom and internet culture - love ‘em!

Moïra Fowley-Doyle: Jeanette Winterson has been one of my favourite authors since my secondary school English teacher lent me her copy of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit after I wrote a short story in class when I was fifteen about two girls falling in love. Every copy of her books I have has been heavily underlined by me at various ages since.

Cynthia So: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth!

Karen Lawler: Sarah Waters and more specifically Fingersmith are my favourites. Fingersmith has it all - a brilliant, pacey, surprising plot, excellent and well-developed characters, a historical setting that completely comes alive, and a hot lesbian romance.

Author Bios: 

Simon James Green is an author and screenwriter. His debut YA novel, Noah Can’t Even, was published by Scholastic in May 2017, followed by the sequel, Noah Could Never, in June 2018. The books have also been optioned for TV by Urban Myth Films. Simon’s screen credits include co-writing feature-length rom-com Rules of Love (BBC), and a short stint directing Hollyoaks (C4).

Michael Lee Richardson is a writer and youth worker from Glasgow. As a screenwriter he has written comedy for CBBC and BBC Alba. His original work has been shortlisted for BBC Scotland’s Frank Deasy Award and the BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Award, and his young adult comedy ‘Real Life Experience’ was ‘highly commended’ for BBC Writersroom’s Trans Comedy Award. In 2015 he won the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in the Children and Young Adult category. As a youth worker, he set up and ran Trans Youth Glasgow, part of LGBT Youth Scotland. He currently works for LEAP Sports Scotland on Trans Team, a project aimed at encouraging transgender young people to engage with sport and outdoor activities. www.hrfmichael.co.uk

Karen Lawler is an American living in London with her awesome wife and extremely cute dog Buffy. She loves reading, especially sci-fi, fantasy, YA, and historical non-fiction, and she funds her book habit by working in children’s publishing. She loves a good teen movie (10 Things I Hate About You is the best and she will fight you on that). This is the first time her writing has appeared in print.

Moïra Fowley-Doyle is the author of The Accident Season, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and Spellbook of the Lost and Found, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Irish Book Awards. Moïra is half- French, half-Irish and lives in Dublin with her husband, two daughters and two cats.

Cynthia So is bisexual and proud to be queer. She is Chinese, born in Hong Kong and now living in London. She studied Classics at university. Her writing has appeared in speculative fiction magazines including Anathema: Spec from the Margins, which publishes work by queer people of colour.

To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 304 

Publisher: Egmont 

Released: 21st of February 2019 

Avery (Night Owl) is bookish, intense, likes to plan ahead, and is afraid of many things. Bett (Dogfish) is fearless, outgoing, and lives in the moment. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and their dads are dating each other.

Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same camp for the summer vacation. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends – and possibly, one day, even sisters.

Against all odds, the girls soon can’t imagine a life without each other. But when the worst happens, and their dads break up, Avery and Bett must figure out a way to get them to fall in love again. Is keeping a family together as easy as they think it is?

From two extraordinary authors comes this moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters.

What I Have to Say 

This beautiful reverse Parent Trap style novel was just perfect. I loved the two girls and their voices so much. Their emails back and forth to each other while they tried to split up their dads made me smile and laugh.  They both had such distinct voices and the way they kept saying that they would never meet each other and they were obviously going to be complete strangers at the same time as asking each other random get to know you questions and becoming best friends was completely wonderful. It felt really real and genuine, the way that young girls really interact. 

It was great to see a gay relationship between the parents of the girls. Both had single dads, Avery's dad having never married and Bett's having been married but had his partner die. It was a great way to show the different types of relationships that gay parents can be in. It was nice to see the representation go beyond two gay people in a committed relationship having a child. 

I adored the email format of this book as well. I don't know what it is about a book told through letters or emails or even diary entries, but I just find them so fun to read. They're a bit of a change from the regular style of story, I suppose. I'm not sure I'll ever get bored of all the interesting and different ways that people find to tell a story. 

Perfect for anyone who loves plucky young girls trying to change their parents dating lives. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Egmont for providing me with this free copy for review. 

Proud edited by Juno Dawson

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Stripes 

Released: 7th of March 2019 

A stirring, bold and moving anthology of stories and poetry by top LGBTQ+ YA authors and new talent, giving their unique responses to the broad theme of pride. Each story has an illustration by an artist identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Compiled by Juno Dawson, author of THIS BOOK IS GAY and CLEAN.

A celebration of LGBTQ+ talent, PROUD is a thought-provoking, funny, emotional read.

Contributors: Steve Antony, Dean Atta, Kate Alizadeh, Fox Benwell, Alex Bertie, Caroline Bird, Fatti Burke, Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Frank Duffy, Simon James Green, Leo Greenfield, Saffa Khan, Karen Lawler, David Levithan, Priyanka Meenakshi, Alice Oseman, Michael Lee Richardson, David Roberts, Cynthia So, Kay Staples, Jessica Vallance, Kristen Van Dam and Kameron White.

Following A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, winner of the YA BOOK PRIZE SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2018

What I Have to Say 

This was a fantastic anthology. The fact that I loved almost every single one of the pieces (I just wasn't that fond of the first poem) is something that I've never experienced in an anthology before. Some of my particular favourites were:   Penguins by Simon James Green (and the adorable artwork to go with it by Alice Oseman), The Phoenix's Fault by Cynthia So (a new author found for this collection and a beautiful story from a Asian-inspired fantasy world), I Hate Darcy Pemberley (another new author with a lesbian retelling of Pride and Prejudice) and the Courage of Dragons by Fox Benwell (a lovely story of D & D players sneaking around the school to make everything in it gender neutral).

Along with each story is a piece of artwork to go with it. The art made a really great addition to each story or poem, though art can be a lot more subjective than stories, so I did find some of them were just not art styles that I liked. I really liked their inclusion though, it made the book so much more than most anthologies.

With all the contributors, writers and artists alike being LGBTQ+, this is an amazing book based on many different perspectives and experience.

Whether you're LGBTQ+, questioning or an ally, this book is definitely a MUST READ,

My thanks go to Netgalley and Stripes Publishing for providing me with this free copy for review. 

What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 433

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's UK

Released: 18th October 2018 

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is? 

What I Have to Say 

This is the perfect blend of an exciting, beautiful love story and the more realistic portrait of how hard relationships can actually be. It's a romance to gush over with Arthur and Ben seeming to be so, so perfect for one another; meeting through a twist of fate; finding one another again against all odds, but it doesn't shy away from the fact that dating is hard. Dates can go wrong easily, the stuff you planned can be something the other person isn't good with, the restaurant you picked can be all wrong and in the end, there may be compatibility issues that need to be worked out. But despite showing all the roadblocks that can come between two people starting a relationship, What If It's Us continues to keep a hopeful feel to it that one day, these two wonderful boys can work it all out! 

 I loved Arthur and Ben so much. Their individual lives and family and friends were so well built up around them. It added so much to the story to see what their lives were like. Sometimes in books like this I find that the characters can be whisked very quickly from their home lives or have vague friends and family who are never really built up. I loved the fact that not only did Arthur and Ben have such well built up families, they spent time with them, they informed their characters, it showed exactly where they came from and the differences between them. 

I loved the ending. I can't go into why I loved it without spoiling it and I don't know how happy other people are with it, because it could have disappointed some people, but personally I thought it was brilliant and completely in  keeping with the whole style of the book. 

This is definitely the big LGBT release of the year and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (though we need more LGBT books about girls!!!!!). 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me with copy for review.