fiction

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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Rating: 5 out of 5 Twitter mentions

WHEW CHILE! I am still reeling from how good this book was! I listened to this on Libro.Fm, if you haven’t used them, you should!!!

Wow. I have never, and I mean NEVER, hated a protagonist more in my life. Which is a testament to how much I loved this book and the author, that I still rated it 5 stars because of that. It’s like hating the evil villain so much in a movie but it makes the movie SO GOOD because of it!

Juniper Hayward is a mediocre white woman writer who is friends with Athena Liu, a rising Asian woman author. She has seen so much success, it’s actually made June jealous. When she witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she manages to also steal the last manuscript that Athena was working on. It’s about Chinese laborers in France during WWI, but June believes she can publish it-as her own-and that no one will know. She finds a publisher and lets them rebrand her as Juniper Song, ambiguous enough, and the story skyrockets her into fame. Juniper is on cloud 9 and attending workshops and speaker series and all kinds of things. Sure, there’s some pushback, but she is good at deflecting and lying her way through why she thought a white woman could tell this story. It isn’t until a blogger finds some *interesting* similarities that suspicion falls on Juniper and so to combat it, she writes another story….which becomes her downfall.

I’m not going to lie, listening to her downfall had me cackling with glee the whole time. Juniper was SUCH a horrid person that I literally could not wait for her to be “canceled” as they call it. She was the epitome of white savior complex and just didn’t want to take accountability at all. You would think this would make me hate the book, but I think, as a Latina woman who sees this happen all the time, I was so gleeful to FINALLY feel like I was seeing justice. I believe that the point of the book is to hate her, that her place in the narration is to be unreliable and unlikeable. I think there tries to be sympathy, but I just could not muster any. I was so invested in seeing her complete and utter destruction. I felt almost bad about it, but I also felt safe enough in the narration to feel ok about feeling those feelings.

The last few chapters though, she becomes completely unhinged. At first, I’m so invested in like, WHO is doing this? To what end exactly?? She is masterfully manipulated, and it was by someone I definitely did not see coming. It was pretty cruel…but also, she needed to just let the lie out. Her delusion was getting to be so much. June Hayward was a terrible and fantastic character.

This is definitely high on my list so far this year!

ARC: Finding Northlane by D.M. Henderson

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Rating: 4 out of 5 guitars

Romance instalove, which is pretty normal in the romance genre, so I’m not mad at it! We begin by meeting Dallas Northlane and his pregnant wife, Samantha, having a picnic by the water. We then fast forward a few years, and Dallas and his daughter are heading to a funeral. A few more years, and we are in the present, Dallas is taking his daughter to school and he meets her music teacher, Annabeth Harrington. And what a Meet Cute (or Meet Lust!) it is! They are both completely enamored with each other right away. Dallas is nervous for a variety of reasons, one of which is the age gap between them, and Annabeth is scared because, well, he’s the parent of one of her students! But they just can’t seem to stop running into each other all over this small town. The side characters are also fleshed out to give them some substance, which I appreciate. I loved Dallas’s brother Colt, and Annabeth’s friend group, especially Ella, her roommate and best friend. I loved the setup of the POV’s for this, I think books where we get both MC’s perspectives are my favorite. The spice was SPICING and Dallas definitely knew what he was doing in the bedroom…whew! Made me almost blush! I also loved how vulnerable Dallas was when he finally talked to Annabeth about his past, especially about his wife. That vulnerability and willingness to open up is so sexy to me. Honestly, the only thing that made this not a 5 star for me was the incredibly fast time they took to say I love you. That took me right out of the story. I thin kif they had said something like “I could see me falling in love with you” that would be one thing, but they barely knew each other-I think the timeline is something like 2 weeks-so that was just so unrealistic, especially given the emotional trauma both Dallas and Annabeth had gone through in their lives. Plus, as a dad, he was very clearly thinking with his dick and not his brain. As someone who is a single parent (though I’ve been with my partner for a decade now), it took me almost 3 years before I said anything along those lines and it was almost a year before he even MET my kid. Granted, Annabeth knows his daughter, but still. That’s a big shake up for an 8 year old. His daughter was also written as if she was a teenager, not a child, so that threw me a little. Occasionally, there would be some dialogue that would show her age, but not always. Either way, these issues were not so egregious that I needed to rate this any lower than a 4 star for me. This was certainly a great story and I cannot wait to get into the second book!

*I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

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Rating: 4 out of 5 fathoms

Well that was certainly something. I haven’t listened to an audiobook in a long while, but I am glad I did for this one. Having the two narrators was a fantastic choice, since it really gave us the sense of the two women and their struggles. I do wish that the book touched more on Leah in the “after”. I liked getting the “during” but we only get Miri’s version of the “after” and it’s skewed. I would have like to know how Leah was feeling…even if it was gibberish…I think it would have added to the horror element. Which, honestly, only really happened toward the last 20% of the book, which was kind of a let down. The book stayed mostly on the topic of the two women and their dissolving relationship in the wake of Leah coming back from her research trip down in the sea and how she had changed. Miri was not really someone I cared too much for, I feel like she was kind of shallow, but I could tell that she did love Leah a lot. There was definitely a lot of repetition when it came to the water elements of the book, lots of water imagery, which could be a bit much (I saw that comment in a lot of reviews), but overall, by the time I was done, I was kind of staring into space and feeling. It was a good way to end, I think.

(art from Elizabeth von Oehsen/The Washington Post)

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

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Rating: 5 out of 5 wine coolers

“Everything makes sense if you look at it long enough.”

Wow. I’m really glad I did not read any of the reviews on this book. Like The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, it took me a bit to get into it because of SGJ’s writing style. But once I was hooked, it was over. I simply devoured this book (no pun intended). The story of the unnamed narrator as he navigated growing up as, essentially, a nomad with his aunt and uncle, was made more exciting by the twist of them being werewolves. There then became this underlying tension of will he or won’t he also come into his wolfness. Darren and Libby, his uncle and aunt, are not married, they are twins, and our narrator’s mother died in childbirth, and was their sister. Grandpa was their father, and most of what we know about werewolves come from stories told by him and Darren. Like most stories, these were embellished but held some truth to them. And thus, this is how our narrator saw the world. The family moves frequently because once you cause havoc, you can’t stay in one place. Too many animals dying can make people suspicious, as can human body counts. When you are the outcasts, the first fingers pointed are pointed at you. Libby and Darren take on jobs when they can, and they are pretty good about trying to be good citizens too, paying taxes (even if it’s with falsified identification) and sending the narrator to school. I think what I loved best was the chapters calling him a name based on what he was in that moment (mechanic, reporter, biologist, etc.). The narration of the book is very disjointed, but at the same time, makes so much sense, because you can tell it is coming from the voice of someone who is trying to remember events as they happened but also will remember when something happened at a different time of life. So the age jumps around, sometimes we are reading when he was 8 and sometimes 12, then sometimes 16, then 8 again. It is not a linear story, but we get all the necessary parts to capture the whole of his life with his family and his feelings about becoming a werewolf. There is high school romance, cut short, but there nonetheless, and even some growing pains of boyhood.

All in all, this wouldn’t be one of my favorites of his, I’m not a HUGE coming of age book reader, but it was still very good and I did enjoy it a lot. I am really enjoying going through SGJ’s body of work, as this is my 3rd by him, and I have more to go.

See my reviews of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and I Was a Teenage Slasher on Goodreads.

“That’s how it is with werewolves. You have something, then you just have the story of it.”

On: Reading

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I read. A lot. Hence the blog, and the many other avenues of social media attempts to become more bloggerish. I’ve been a huge reader since about the third grade. I was introduced to chapter books then, and I fell in love. Finally, I could read LONG STORIES!!! From there, I read just about anything I could get my hands on. When I was 10, my mom died. Books were my only solace. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Sorry UK folks), was my lifeline (fu*k you, JK Rowling). I still re-read that in my darkest of times, when I’ve had other losses. But I would go on to read all the major books like Twilight, The Maze Runner, Divergent, Fifty Shades, etc. I even manage to get my hands on Flowers in the Attic and Forever, way before I probably should have been able to read them. I read Goosebumps, RL Stine, Ask Alice, Animorphs, Tamora Pierce…the list goes on. Safe to say, no genre was off limits, I even read the Dear Diary series and the American Girl books. Nancy Drew? Yep. Baby Sitters Club? You got it! SO many books, so little time in life.

All this is to say: I read books yes. I listen to them, I e-read them. But I also am a voracious Fan Fiction reader. I will NEVER let anyone besmirch fan fiction. I think it is such an integral part of reading and the art of creative writing. Many books start, occasionally, as fan fics (notably Twilight and Fifty Shades, from my list above). I started in Live Journal, moved to FFnet, and have been with Archive of Our Own (AO3) since 2013. AO3 is FINALLY out of Beta!!! I can’t believe I’ve made it through all these years of different versions of Fan Fic, and have lived to see the biggest archive of them all make it here. It’s been such a privilege to read these amazing authors, some who I follow religiously, and some who I find for the first time, very frequently!

So for this musing, I say: be a reader. Be a voracious, hungry reader. Read everything. Go out of your comfort zone. Find new authors. Indulge in your tried and true authors. Do reading challenges. Participate in the Dewey 24hour Readathon! Check out local book clubs. Hold authors accountable for their morals, because reading IS political. Hold YOURSELF accountable to your own morals. Expand your horizons. Listen to an audiobook, read an e-book, read a paperback or a hardcover. Support your local libraries! Support your local indie bookstores! Read new; read old. Just READ.

March is Reading Month!

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Whew! I missed ALL of February…I meant to read so much but I just…didn’t. I think I needed a break. It does mean I missed out on the challenge for February on Goodreads, but it’s ok, I’m good with that. I did read a few more books in January, and you can find those reviews under my Goodreads Challenge here. Now, on to the first book of March! I feel like I really should have read Go Luck Yourself here, but…oh well.

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

Rating: 5/5 Invisible Nicks

I have already decided that Sara Raasch is a new fave of mine. After meeting her at a book signing for this book specifically…then not reading it right away…to reading her OTHER books first (Go Luck Yourself and Nightmare Before Kissmas)…I am still singularly blown away by how well she makes these characters. They have flaws, they have deep seated (need therapy and go to therapy) issues, and they are all queer and I love it. I love that this was a story of a rivalry (because who doesn’t love that) between two guys (a half fae and a human) taking place in college between grad students (who I know from some second hand experience are stressed TF OUT) but also a rivalry between morality…or is it? That last part is crazy, and it’s certainly where something like “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” would certainly come into play.

We meet our human, Sebastian, as he is getting ready to compete for a grant, and his competitor is Elthior Taurel, of the infamous Taurel family who is…decidedly not nice in this world. They are from two competing departments, Conjuring and Evocation, who have a long rivalry in the university. Sebastian has had a horrible past with the Taurel family (justifiably so as we later learn) and so his mistrust with Thio is epic. Thio, on the other hand, also has a horrible past with his family…but hasn’t really told anyone about it. The best part? They now have to work together, as they BOTH get the grant. Will they overcome their own obstacles? Or will their project blow up in their faces?

Considering its a romance, we all pretty much know it’s a HEA, but watching them get there was the most fun and worthwhile journey. We meet Orok, Seb’s bestie and their dynamic is so sweet. Oh and I can’t forget Nick! I wish there was more of him, tbh. I can’t wait for the next book!

Stepping into 2026

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Whew! We made it to 2026…even though it feels like we have stepped back into the 1950’s here in the US. But that’s a tangent for another day. I was so proud of myself for 2025 that I UPPED my reading goal from 50 books to 75! I’m already two books into 2026 so let’s get this party started! I’ve also planned on participating as much as possible with the Book Riot 2026 Read Harder challenge, so this will be so fun! If I read a book on that challenge, I’ll be sure to denote it here as well! If you would like to participate, the challenge is linked here. I would encourage, if you can, to also become a Book Riot member. They do send you 2 book ideas for the different challenges for free if you are not a member, but you get more if you are! Anyways, here are my first two reads of 2026!

Pucking Strong by Emily Rath

3 hockey pucks

Well. That was certainly a ride for the first book of the year! I have enjoyed the Jacksonville Rays series, Pucking Around and all the rest, and I really enjoyed this one too. For me, what makes this not a 4 or even 5 star is the unrealistic look at grief, especially for a young girl losing her mom, who is an only child to a single mother. I should know, I was one. My single mother died when I was 10 years old. It was the single most devastating moment of my life. It still is and I’m 37. I get that the story was going to be about the MMC’s love, but if Emily Rath is going to have this cataclysmic event happen to this little girl, then proceed in only showing her happy and well adjusted, then I’m afraid I have to call bullshit. Again, I get showing her going through therapy and everything isn’t fun or cute but it felt like her grief was glossed over to the point that it even seemed like Henrik and Teddy didn’t even care. She not only was there when it happened but also suffered her own injuries and trauma and the only time we see her is as an accessory or so happy it’s all sunshine and rainbows. Yes, there are some good days, but I can promise you, unless you hated your mother, no little girl losing their whole world in an instant would be so well adjusted.

Outside of that, Teddy and Henrik’s story was alright. I appreciated that it was a slow burn and not just jump into the sex and spice. The way they actually established their relationship was nice, even when I cringed when Teddy basically laid out all his feelings to Henrik at their pap dinner. Like, I get he was trying to make a point but that’s also a good way to get someone to never step up. Also, Teddy’s family, specifically his mother, sucked. Not a single one thought to actually ask him about how it all went down, they just assumed, then his mother basically disrespected him in front of Henrik?! Like the actual f?? And also, there was so much more about Henrik’s family life than Teddy’s which made the book feel very unbalanced.

Gosh, maybe I didn’t like this book as much as I thought. Which is a bummer since I liked the rest?? Ugh. Maybe I need to rest on it more or something. Either way, I didn’t hate it, it had its great moments, the epilogue stole my breath away, it was very sweet.

His Grace, The Duke by Emily Rath

3 whole men

Ok so let’s get gone thing out of the way: Emily Rath can absolutely write spice. She can even write drama!!! But for some reason, between book one and book two she couldn’t write the love between all the players in this book. There is no way that Tom the sailor was too in his head about sexuality. None. Even if he didn’t experiment, he would have seen things. Now Burke and James I get. I could see that Burke loved James and James loved Burke. And I still think that Burke really loved Rosalie. What I don’t believe is the torch Tom held for Burke. I think he certainly could have held one for James, given he always came to Alcott Hall when he was home from being away. I don’t know. I feel like in the end it was all very rushed. While I liked the book and duology as a whole, there were definitely parts that could have been fleshed out more. But in the end, it is what it is. A good romp.

Welp, there we are! My first two reads of 2026!

Final reads of 2025

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Ah! I can’t believe I made it out of my reading slump this year and read 100 books!! I am so proud of myself!! I neglected, however, to update here, simply because I didn’t want to get my computer up and running! But here are the last books of 2025 for me!

Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch

5 Shamrocks!

Oh goodness. I freaking loved this! I was so happy to finally read Kris’s story, especially with how badly he seemed to be in the book with Coal and Hex. This was such fun and yet, so much happened. The progression of hate from Loch and his one sister to them both absolutely adoring Kris was hilarious. I really loved Loch’s character too. He knew what he wanted and also knew he couldn’t have it? Very different from Hex, who was a very submissive character. Even Kris wasn’t that bad. I will definitely keep these as Christmas book rotations in the coming years.

Big Nick Energy by Morgan Elizabeth

4 Christmas Stockings!

Well this was adorable. For a novella, there was plenty of character arc for both Nick and Shae, and the epilogue gave us more to tie up any loose ends. I kinda wish we had more of a tie up for what happened to Shae’s ex, but I did love the conclusion of the mean girl Molly-she redeemed herself there, I think. Overall, super cute, pretty spicy but can definitely hold triggering plot lines so definitely make sure you’re in the correct space for that. The author does a great job of listing them in the beginning of the book, which is great, but I’ll add them here in case you are looking BEFORE you even decide to pick it up.

TW: domestic violence (not on page but described) including both verbal, physical and mental abuse.

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

3 Robots

This was…unexpected. Cute, hints of social discourse, lots of bots making noodles and figuring out their place in the new world they woke up to. Definitely could have been fleshed out more, made into a longer book, as there are some themes that kind of…fall off? Enjoyable and quick read.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar

5 freaking stars!!!

I have a love/hate relationship with true crime novels. Sometimes I feel like they are either over complicated, with legalese meant to confuse the reader and make the author feel like they are so much smarter than than the reader, OR , they are so dumbed down that I get bored very easily. This was neither of these. By the time I was halfway through the book, I had forgotten that this was a piece of fiction and not an ACTUAL true crime book. Chizmar does an excellent job of making the reader feel like we are indeed looking for a killer, that all of this actually happened. He keeps the idyllic nature of the small town in tact, while simultaneously showing the absolute horror that small towns can endure.

Richard Chizmar is a 20-something guy coming back to live with his parents in the summer of 1988, a few months before his wedding. He’s freshly graduated from college and his marriage to fiancé Kara is going to be in January. The timeline for all of this is important, since the murders happen during that summer. 4 young teen girls are abducted and murdered. All but 1 are sexually assaulted before death. But the police and FBI are completely stumped as there is no evidence at any of the sites. Chizmar and his friend Carly Albright, an up and coming journalist, begin to have their own investigation around the cops. Eventually, they are even stumped. 30 years later, the man is found and you will not even begin to believe who it is. Or will you?

I do have to admit I figured out who it was about halfway through but seeing it all spelled out still shocked me. And then I get to the authors note and am reminded that OH YEA! This didn’t actually happen but holy moly did the book feel like it did!!! I really really enjoyed this one. I would absolutely recommend you folks who like true crime and thrillers. This was a heck of a read.

Thank you to everyone who has read this blog in 2025! As always, to see other reviews, please check out my Goodreads page and follow me there too! On to 2026!!

The Nightmare before Kissmas by Sara Raasch

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5 out of 5 Candy Canes and Jack O’ Lanterns

Holy Christmas, Batman! I really enjoyed this one, and I read it to begin December, so it was PRIME Christmas storytelling-with a twist! Nicolas (Coal) and his brother, Kristopher, are the sons of Santa (or who we know as Santa, his name is never really given in the book). Coal, the oldest, is a bit of a troublemaker and we start the book with a major disaster that he created in an attempt to “help”, that came after the big break up between he and one of the Princesses of Easter. He’s known as a bit of a prankster, so it’s not seen as being helpful, just as him being himself and a screwup. Kris comes to find him in a bar and they get a phone call from dad, and just before Coal decides to go home, he ends up in the alley way and there is a hot guy back there – and things happen. But the guy disappears. Once Coal returns to his holiday, Christmas, there is a big PR stunt to get his image back by marrying him off to his best friend Iris (the other daughter of Easter)-who coincidentally is his brother’s crush. However, Halloween gets wind of this and objects, by sending their son, Hex Hallow, to Christmas to vie for Iris’s hand in marriage. The problem? Hex is the Alley Guy. Hijinks and conspiracies ensue.

I really enjoyed the idea that the Holidays are different realms with leaders, but that the people there are…people? Like Coal, Kris, Iris and Hex all go to universities in the real world (Yale, Cambridge, UNAM) and have actually studies and such. But they also have these realms of their respective holidays that has their own hierarchy, no dissimilar to royalty. I think the combination was super fun. I also loved that there was no Bi-erasure – Coal is bi. He likes women, he likes men, full stop-and it’s not seen as “other”, it just…is. Hex was so unexpected. After the alley scene, I totally expected him to be this badass, tough dude but he is a COMPLETE MARSHMALLOW OMG SOMEONE WRAP HIM UP! He was so sweet and so duty minded, but he was so afraid to show how he really felt about Coal at first. Iris is such a BAMF, she is so awesome. I need a story about her, honestly. She was such an amazing friend, but you could tell she absolutely needed someone in her corner. It would be cool to see what the fallout of the failed engagement between her sister and Coal affected Easter. Santa?? He can eat a bag of dicks. He was so awful. To an extent, I could see why he was doing what he did, but OMG he was such a terrible father to the boys in their later years. He definitely only used them for leverage instead of as his sons who were going to inherit Christmas. It was crazy.

I really did enjoy this. I actually met the author at a signing event for a different book entirely (not even in this series) and didn’t even realize it was her…and I owned this book already and hadn’t read it. I didn’t realize just how much I had missed out on! She is AMAZING and funny and so creative!!! I can’t wait to dive into more of her work!

First December read in the bag!

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Ok, so the first of my December reads is complete, and let me tell you…I hated it. I’m so sad too. Anyways, the review:

Title: Love is a War Song by Danica Nava

Rating: 2 stars

I had very high hopes for this. I wanted to like it. I had some good times in it! Really, I did. But OMG did I hate the FMC. Avery Fox is an up and coming pop star – who makes a SERIOUS faux pas with her music video, where she basically mocks Native American (or Indian, as they say in the book) culture, though she is Indian herself (Muscogee). Honestly, calling them Indians made me cringe, since many of my university colleagues have taught me to stray away from that, but the author is herself of the Chickasaw Nation and so I will defer to her own words as I go into this review. Anyways, her momager (think Kris Kardashian but like…meaner?) sends her to the reservation to be with her grandmother, Lottie…who she has NEVER met. Remember, this is a POP STAR who knows NOTHING about her heritage…being thrown into an environment where she ALREADY OFFENDED PEOPLE. Her mother made me so angry.
Enter Lucas Iron Eyes, ranch hand on Lottie’s Red Fox Ranch, where they board and keep some horses. Who already has preconceived notions about Avery and is so awful to her when they meet (though, not for lack of reasons).
Honestly, this whole book made me so frustrated because Avery would go from being a 20-something character to a spoiled 16 year old in like 2 sentences. I sincerely could not remember just how old she was throughout the book. Lucas, while he had some redemption in the end, was NOT someone I expected Avery to fall in love with (seriously? In one month??) but I definitely could see them as friends. I don’t think those two had a LICK of chemistry. Also, his parents suck too.
For those who are like “OMG ThE CeLlAr ScEnE”-again, there was NO CHEMISTRY, it was so wooden…I was cringing the whole time. I’ve seen way better spice scenes.
I dunno, this was just a whole lot of let down to me. I even didn’t really like Lottie. Like Avery was just dumped into this place where she knows absolutely nothing and Lottie does nothing to even help? What was the point of even agreeing to take her if you weren’t even going to try to make a relationship? Like I just…I didn’t like this book.

Apparently, the author also made a video for the song that Avery sings…so here is the link to the video if you care to watch it. I was just so underwhelmed by this. I wanted to like it SO BAD. Maybe I’m just jaded because of Stephen Graham Jones and Buffalo Hunter Hunter? IDK. This just wasn’t it for me.

On to the next! Probably some novellas, to kick start the holidays!