An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson

Pages: 288

Publisher: Orbit 

Released: 15th of February 2024 

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.

What I Have to Say 

This book hooked me in and didn't let go until the end. It did everything that Dowry of Blood failed to do and honestly I have to wonder if it's because I read it in print instead of audio. 

The writing was sublime. It was poetic, it was enthralling, it was just deeply beautiful to read. I was captivated by the characters. Capricious nature of De Lafontaine, abusing her power and setting these girls against each other was just so interesting to see. None of the relationships in this book were in the slightest way healthy, but that was rather the point. 

I loved the dark academic setting so much. I enjoyed the poetry and the academic rivalry so much that honestly I wouldn't have missed it one bit if the vampires hadn't shown up. However, the vampires did add something to this enthralling story and I was happy to see it take place in the same universe as Dowry of Blood. 

I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if you like dark academia, but it's certainly one for the Vampire fans. 

5 stars 

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

More Than a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

Pages: 384

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 9th of January 2024 

Love is more than just a game for two.

It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street.

Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s inherited her penchant for drinking too much and dancing ‘til dawn.

Beth and Gwen are enchanted with each other on sight. And it doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than join the husband hunt, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly-widowed mother.

They had a fling years ago, after all…

A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton you never knew you needed!

What I Have to Say 

This book was really good but there was a section in the middle that was really depressing. Obviously life was hard for gay people at this time, but reading the realities of it, really hurt. I'm afraid that it spoilt my enjoyment of the book a bit. 

Until that point though, I really enjoyed seeing the romance play out. I really liked the two characters, but especially Gwen and her whole family. I loved how they were just skirting with scandal the whole time because of how much they really didn't fit into society. 

On the whole, apart from being a tad depressing, it was a really refreshing take on the regency period and I'd love to see more from this author. 

 3.5 stars 

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

How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok

Pages: 320

Publisher: Hodder's Children's Books 

Released: 21st of September 2023 

A year ago, beloved cheerleader Stella Blackthorn vanished without a trace. Devastated, her younger sister, Iris, launched her own investigation, but all she managed to do was scare off the police's only lead and earn a stern once she turns eighteen, more meddling means prison-level consequences.

Then, a year later, the unthinkable happens. Iris's ex-girlfriend, Heather, goes missing, too-just after dropping the polarizing last episode of her true crime podcast all about Iris's sister. This time, nothing will stop Iris and her amateur sleuthing agency from solving these disappearances.

But with a suspicious detective watching her every move, an enemy-turned-friend-turned-maybe-more to contend with, and only thirty days until she turns eighteen, it's a race against the clock for Iris to solve the most dangerous case of her life.

What I Have to Say 

I really enjoyed this. Iris had a good voice and there was a good cast of characters to back her up. My favourite was her former best friend who just had such a distinct personality as the plucky journalist who just wanted to be friends with Iris again. 

The Sapphic edge on this was naturally what I was most interested in. Having all the detective agency characters be Sapphic in some way (the main character is pan, one is a lesbian and the other I think is a non-binary lesbian though I might be wrong about her orientation) was a good idea. It really gave this an edge up on the other mystery books I've read. 

Though with teen detectives, you often have to suspend reality on what they would actually get away with and what they wouldn't, I thought the teen angle was done well here. Iris doesn't have years of experience to fall back on. She's just a kid, trying to do what she can. I really liked that authenticity in our plucky young heroine. 

If you like detective stories and sapphic characters, give this one a try! 

4 stars 

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

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

 Pages: 368

 Publisher: Penguin 

 Released: 11th of May 2023 

We Are Okaymeets They Both Die at the End in this YA debut about queer first love and mental health at the end of the world-and the importance of saving yourself, no matter what tomorrow may hold.

Avery Byrne has secrets. She's queer; she's in love with her best friend, Cass; and she's suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression. But on the morning Avery plans to jump into the river near her college campus, the world discovers there are only nine days left to live: an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.

Trying to spare her family and Cass additional pain, Avery does her best to make it through just nine more days. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery would do anything to save the ones she loves. But most importantly, she learns to save herself. Speak her truth. Seek the support she needs. Find hope again in the tomorrows she has left.

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come is a celebration of queer love, a gripping speculative narrative, and an urgent, conversation-starting book about depression, mental health, and shame.

TW: Attempted Suicide 

What I Have to Say 

I really enjoyed this book, but the trigger warnings were not up to scratch. I was really glad I'm not triggered by suicide anymore because the opening which shows her about to commit suicide was definitely more than the "discussions of suicide" that the trigger warning implied. I would really recommended that anyone who is currently suicidal or is still in a fragile state skips the entire first chapter. 

The story was beautiful though. I was worried it would be too much of showing her how to live again, but it was a lot more subtle than that. The romance between Cass and Avery was so sweet and tragic and I wanted to read it forever. 

I loved the flashbacks as well. It was nice seeing the story of Cass and Avery build up and grow. 

This was a very sad book and had a lot of comments on society and religion, but I really enjoyed reading it. It was the kind of sad that makes an impact on you and you remember for a very long time. 

4 stars 

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

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Quercus Children's Books 

Released: 9th of November 2023 

Yellowjackets meets She Is a Haunting in this debut speculative thriller that follows a disgraced teen idol who comes face-to-face with the demons of her past in a glittering, cutthroat K-pop competition.

After a shocking scandal that abruptly ended her teen popstar career, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former life and cyberstalking her ex-BFF and groupmate, Candie. The two were once inseparable, but that was then—before the tragedy and heartache they left in their wake.

In the here and now, Sunny is surprised to discover that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop in her hometown. Candie might be there chasing stardom, but Sunny can’t resist the chance to join her and finally confront their traumatic history. Because she still can’t figure out what happened that horrible night when Mina, the third in their tight-knit trio, jumped to her death. Or if the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping had something to do with it . . .

But the workshop doesn’t bring the answers Sunny had hoped for, nor a happy reunion with Candie. Instead, Sunny finds herself haunted by ghostly visions while strange injuries start happening to her competitors—followed by even stranger mutilations to their bodies. In her race to survive, Sunny will have to expose just who is behind the carnage—and if Candie is out for blood once more—in Linda Cheng’s spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have readers screaming and swooning for more.

 What I Have to Say 

This book was so good. It was atmospheric, it was gripping and I just loved the storyline. It hit what for me is the right balance of scary. It was creepy without keeping me up all night because I'm too scared to sleep. I'm a wuss when it comes to scary books, so this was just right for me. 

I loved the main characters, I could really see the friendship between Sunny, Candie and Mina in the flashbacks and I loved the chemistry between Candie and Sunny. I would maybe have wanted a bit more of the romance, but it would have been hard to fit in to the story. 

The plot was so interesting, combining the horror plot with the modern, high pressure career of K-pop idol was such a good idea and it really fit well with Candie's past as well. I think the combination worked really really well. 

5 star 

My thanks go to Quercus and Netgalley for providing me with this gifted 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. 

Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK 

Released: 4th of April 2023 

What would you do if you forgot the love of your life existed?

Stevie and Nora had a love. A secret, epic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. They also had a plan: to leave their small, ultra-conservative town and families behind after graduation and move to California, where they could finally stop hiding that love.

But then Stevie has a terrible fall and the last two years of her life are erased overnight. Suddenly Stevie finds herself in a life she doesn’t quite understand – she’s estranged from her parents, drifting away from her friends and dating a boy she can’t remember crushing on. She’s headed towards a future that isn’t at all what her fifteen-year-old self would have envisioned.

And Nora finds herself … forgotten.

Can the two find their way back together through a lost memory?

A romantic ode to the strength of love and the power of choosing each other, against odds and obstacles, again and again.

TW: homophobia, racism, memory loss 

What I Have to Say 

This book was beautiful. The ending was perfect and made me cry so hard. I loved it so much. It was a wonderful story of sapphic love against all odds. Against a backdrop of racism and homophobia, it's about two girls tragically separated by memory loss and having to find each other again. 

I wouldn't like to speak about the medical stuff in the book. I don't know how accurate it is for memory loss and recovery, but it was a really interesting plot device and made for a really good story. It was in a way a coming of age story because it was her finding out that she was gay all over again. 

The only thing that made me pause was the fact that she was Asian. I loved the representation as it's always important to see in all sorts of books, but there was no explanation of her background. I was confused as to whether her parents or her mother were Asian or if she was adopted, because it felt like they fit into the town and there was no talk of them facing racial abuse or anything. It just left me confused about how it all fitted together. 

I really enjoyed it though and would definitely read it again! 

4 stars 

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

The Lonely Hearts Rescue by Missouri Vaun, Morgan Lee Miller and Nell Stark

Pages: 300

Publisher: Bold Stroke Books 

Released: 11th of October 2022 

When a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, the animals at the Lonely Hearts Rescue Shelter need love, and so do the humans who adopt them.

Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller. After rescuing a cat stranded in the hurricane, animal control officer Reese Shepard is adamant about finding shy, timid Apollo the best forever home. When she discovers Apollo giving cheek rubs to Hannah Marsh, Reese’s high school crush, she’s captivated by her all over again.

Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun. Rebekah Hawks has stepped in to help with hurricane disaster relief. Challenges are no match for Rebekah. At least until she agreed to foster an impossible dog. Rebekah has no choice but to seek the aid of handsome local dog trainer Rory Maclaren. But who is training whom?

Test of Faith by Nell Stark. Rescuing a dog is a dream come true for Faith Kincaid—and a chance to prove to herself that she really can, in the words of her therapist, “commit to commitment.” When Faith takes her new best friend, Pinoe, to the vet, she can’t stop staring at Dr. Delphine Wu. Del is completely out of Faith’s league. Or is she?

What I Have to Say 

This book has cosy written all over it. It's so warm and full of love. Revolving around the Lonely Hearts Rescue Centre, in a world where everyone seems to be gay (or at least everyone adopting or working at lonely hearts anyway) each story starts with a person agreeing to adopt or foster a pet, only then to meet the woman of their dreams along the way. It was simple and perfect and made for great reading. 

As it's a animal book, obviously I have to dedicate a paragraph on the animals in the book! Though I felt there could be more animal content (because who doesn't need more animal content?), the stories were full of cute moments between the animals and their owners. I would have liked to see more of Apollo the cat's rehabilitation, but Buffy the Cav cross and Cotton the dachshund (what better name is there than cotton??) featured a lot in their respected stories and there were moments that I really loved. 

The romance was simple, I could have done with more conflict in the first story as it all seemed a little easy, but with three short stories in a three hundred page book, there was not much room for elaborate stories. I liked all three main characters and their love interests, so I was fairly easy to please. 

Basically if you're LGBTQ+ (or just like reading about gay characters) and love animals then you couldn't really find a more perfect book to read. 

My thanks go to Bold Stokes Books and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

 

The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Pages: 336 

Publisher: Gollancz 

Released: 24th of November 2022 

Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates' enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si's help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si's technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together...

An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.

What I Have to Say 

This book had a really fascinating world that I really wanted to explore and find out more about BUT NOTHING WAS EXPLAINED. I wanted to know how everything worked. I wanted context for certain thing. This story had LIVING SHIPS that were at least slightly biological in their make up, but do I know how the ship fits together? No. Not even a little bit. They have something called the "mind" that seems to be the biological element, but I cannot even tell you what it looks like. It was just shoved into the scene and left there unexplained. 

You may be saying "that's all right, I'm sure I can cope with that" but let me tell you, it was also the most complex and elaborate sci fi world I've ever seen, so much was so different from our world. So much needed an explanation and not one single explanation was given. I had to guess every single thing. 

Honestly  I have not much else to say. The love story was sweet I guess, but I was so distracted trying to work out how everything actually worked or even looked like so I didn't really get to enjoy it. 

I so very nearly DNFd it. I would have if it hadn't been so short. 

My thanks go to Gollancs and Netgalley for gifting me this copy for review. 

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (audiobook)

Pages: 400 

Publisher: Tor 

Released: 10th of November 2022 

Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance! The second entry in Freya Marske's beloved The Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light

The most interesting things in Maud Blyth's life have happened to her brother Robin, but she's ready to join any cause, especially if it involves magical secrets that may threaten the whole of the British Isles. Bound for New York on the R.M.S. Lyric, she's ready for an adventure.

What she actually finds is a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and a beautiful stranger in Violet Debenham, who is everything—a magician, an actress, a scandal—Maud has been trained to fear and has learned to desire. Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of loathsome, aristocratic suspects, they must solve a murder and untangle a conspiracy that began generations before them. 

What I Have to Say 

This book fell completely flat for me and I honestly don't know why. I really liked A Marvellous Light, I adore sapphic romances, I love a good mystery, but this didn't hit the spot and there's nothing in there that explains it. I didn't dislike the characters, in fact I really liked Violet a lot. I was interested in the magic society and exploring the way it intersects with regular society in a way that we didn't get to see in A Marvellous Light. 

I suppose the main thing was that I didn't get very into the relationship, which is a big part of the book. There were three really long sex scenes, which I just found left me bored, though that's not unusual, I'm not really one for spicy books. And there was just no heat in the relationship. I didn't feel the passion and the love that I love to feel. It felt too easy and not very romantic. 

I'm very disappointed because I was ready to really love this book. I was looking forward to it so much. 

3 stars 

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

 

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Tor 

Released: 10th of November 2022 

High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention

Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth. 

What I Have to Say 

This was just what the fantasy genre needed. A nice refreshing tale about an orc who opens a coffee shop, this book hit the spot quite nicely and made me crave coffee and cinnamon buns in the process. I would love this to bring new stories to the fantasy genre, because there's so much scope for slice of life stories in fantasy and sci fi books. It's a chance to explore worlds in more calm relaxing ways without the protagonist being whisked off to  save the world. I just absolutely love this idea. 

The story itself was great too, though it was probably the uniqueness that made me rate it so highly, it had a strong plot and a really loveable cast of characters. My favourite was Thimble the rattkin, but the other characters are notable as well. It was really easy to see the friendship and camaraderie that formed between the characters. 

If I had to make one complaint it's that the romance wasn't introduced until really late into the book. I'd have liked a stronger romance especially since it was sapphic which is always my favourite type of romance and the two characters worked so well together. If it had been a little more slow burn this book would have been absolutely perfect. 

5 stars 

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

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

 Pages: 384

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 12th of April 2022 

This was how things began: Boston on the cusp of fall, the Sackler Museum robbed of 23 pieces of priceless Chinese art. Even in this back room, dust catching the slant of golden, late-afternoon light, Will could hear the sirens. They sounded like a promise.

Will Chen, a Chinese American art history student at Harvard, has spent most of his life learning about the West – its art, its culture, all that it has taken and called its own. He believes art belongs with its creators, so when a Chinese corporation offers him a (highly illegal) chance to reclaim five priceless sculptures, it’s surprisingly easy to say yes.

Will’s crew, fellow students chosen out of his boundless optimism for their skills and loyalty, aren’t exactly experienced criminals. Irene is a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything; Daniel is pre-med with steady hands and dreams of being a surgeon. Lily is an engineering student who races cars in her spare time; and Will is relying on Alex, an MIT dropout turned software engineer, to hack her way in and out of each museum they must rob.

Each student has their own complicated relationship with China and the identities they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but one thing soon becomes certain: they won’t say no.

Because if they succeed? They earn an unfathomable ten million each, and a chance to make history. If they fail, they lose everything . . . and the West wins again.

What I Have to Say 

This book is not a heist book. It has heists in it, but the focus is on the characters and their relationships and it is written in a contemporary style. I was disappointed by this. I love a good heist book and the fact that it wasn't a thriller threw me off. It's a shame because it tempered my feelings for the whole book. I think if I'd gone into it knowing it was contemporary, I would have liked it more. 

The plot and characters were really interesting though. I liked that it showed five different perspectives and five different ways to be Chinese American, from Daniel, who was born in China and moved to the US when he was young, to Lily who doesn't speak Mandarin and has never been to China before the events of this book. 

I really liked the ending as well. It was the perfect way to close the book and I'm glad the author chose to do it that way. 

In all, I would have preferred a thriller, but it was good despite that. 

(3.5 stars)

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a free copy of this book for review.