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On Her Terms is Amy Spalding's third installment of her Out in Hollywood series & once again, Amy has hit it out of the park.

This one was the most relatable for me as I felt like I had a LOT in common with Clem as someone who always identified as bisexual but didn't fully step into my queerness until my mid-30s. Worrying whether you are queer enough to exist in your own queer identity especially when surrounded by other queer people is such a common experience for a lot of us.

This one is a slow burn but in the best way. I love Clem & Chloe doing this sort of delusional dance around each other. It feels so authentic to the Sapphic experience, honestly. The meta-ness of the MC hating fake-dating tropes in fiction while agreeing to fake-date someone in real life had me …

This last year, I found a rekindled love for historical fiction in a new form for me - queer storytelling. Given who I am as a person, it's surprising that I've reached my big age before stumbling on this love for queer historical fiction. Nonetheless, I am thoroughly enjoying my new finds.

I've been looking forward to All The Painted Stars by Emma Denny since I saw it on Netgalley. Knowing I've too much on my plate, I didn't elect to be an ARC reader & am thoroughly pleased with having purchased the book. It's just so good.

We have an unputdownable late Middle Ages tale of the duty to family, friends, and oneself. Lily shines in the role of a Sapphic woman disguising herself as a man in order to save her secret love from the societal expectation of heteronormative oppression- sorry, marriage. Jo is …

Gabrielle Korn has crafted an incredible duology of queer speculative fiction. Because every great work of SpecFic builds on reality and asks "what if?", the effect in Your For the Taking and The Shutouts is often chilling. The reader is reminded that the very near future could be well reflected in this work of fiction. I feel that is what makes a strong piece of SpecFic - not the fabulous outlandishness of the future, but the plausible reality of a fictional outcome. 

Each character these two books follows is a masterpiece. At once a hero and villain, showing that humanity lives within the shades of gray. On one page, you love Ava and another you hate her. You understand Jacqueline's motivations in one chapter and in another find her methods abhorrent. In the first book, we empathize with Ava in her struggle with her relationship with Orchid and …

This book had such mixed reviews, I knew that I had to read it for myself. 

On the one hand, I get it - it's a meandering kind of story with the kind of strange narration that puts a lot of folks off. Especially those accustomed to more straightforward narratives. Personally, I really enjoyed Robin's interjection in storytelling but I'm partial to the impish nature of fae creatures. 

Yes, the story is slow moving, the language is decidedly archaic, & the antagonist during the whodunit portion of the book is pretty predictable but the world is immersive & the book is so well-written that I hardly noticed. The wry humor, subtle salaciousness, & blend of historical fiction & fantasy was a lot of fun. I'd love more sapphic stories like this. 

I think if I had one critique that I didn't wave away, it'd be that I wish there was …

Having never had a sleep away camp experience or any direct experience with religious homophobia, I went into this read with a pretty open mind. Written in first person & in YA format, this story was a really good time with great pacing & development.

Although the resolution of the primary issue (the horrible pastor who treats anyone who doesn't bow & scrape to his religious perspective) leaves me wishing I could march into the pages & throw some punches, I think it's actually a more realistic ending.

Those years of late adolescence are rough for anyone, throw in some sexuality grappling & religious intolerance & it becomes a powderkeg. The struggles & triumphs are really well captured here by Jenna Voris. Recommended!

Thanks to Penguin Group for this ARC!

Full disclosure: I very nearly DNF'd this book about halfway through. Decided to keep at it and by the end I kind of wish I'd stopped when I initially wanted to.

The slow build of this one is mindnumbingly slow. For all of the otherworldly weirdness the characters experience, the story itself is dull. 

It's meant to be a reimagining of the Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. The author examines society's abhorence of women's anger and the measures taken to supress and villify it. This premise is so appealing. I was looking forward to this commentary in the setting of dark academia. 

Not only did it fall flat, every interesting plot piece was handled so hamfistedly that I was left with the sense of wasted time.

What a bummer. 

My thoughts contain spoilers so if you're dead set on avoiding them, scroll away. But I'm not hiding this behind a spoiler button because I think at least one review of this book should be out there with the information that people want to know.

I got over 80% through this alleged romance before there was an intentional kiss between the main characters. Until more than halfway into the book, this was just an employer/employee plot. Not even terribly friendly. And the one & only spicy scene isn't worth the wait.

Is the writing good? Sure, I guess. No real complaints there.

But the story? No one needs this story. Easily the most boring romance novel I've ever read & I used to read cishet romance once upon a time.

Save yourself the frustration & skip this one.

A story like The Last Witch in Edinburgh could have fallen flat, losing it's punch to the shallowness of White Feminism. But Thompson manages to stay true to a universal experience & brings very real history into a story of modern speculative fiction. 

Reading Nellie's character is frustrating but rewarding through her journey. She learns & grows, eventually becoming honest with herself about her own motivations.

I think that's the part that I most appreciate, the hubris the characters have or grow to have. It would be easy for a writer to give their main character a sense of infallibility but Thompson allows each character to be human, flaws & all.

Beyond that, the message that carries through this story from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries is one that pulled at me. We're not alone.

When I was a teenager, we read Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. Over the decades since then, Speak has become a widely read and celebrated novel detailing an all-too-common experience for girls and young women. I think it still deserves a place among literature that provides representation for an under-represented perspective. But I do feel Speak is beginning to show its years, despite recent attempts to contemporize it.

I just read a different novel that I feel takes the path left by Speak and blazes ahead of it. Dear Medusa, written by Olivia A. Cole, is a story written in breathtakingly beautiful verse that weaves itself in and out of your bones. Where Speak stops short of exploring the darkest corners of trauma, Dear Medusa brings the reader along as it plumbs the depths of the traumatized soul. This novel tells its story unflinchingly, daring to stare down the patriarchy in …

Copious Harry Potter references in the positive. 

I'm late to the party -- again. Story of my life. But I'm so glad I finally got this series started. Wow. Roth weaves her dystopian future so vividly with our present you feel like this outcome is absolutely plausible. The romantic angle is of course, unnecessary but I feel like it almost comes with the YA Lit territory at this point. Still a fantastic read & I've already started on the next one. ;)

I was elated to discover that there was post-apocalyptic pagan fiction in the world & SM Stirling's 'Dies the Fire' has been my first sojourn into the genre. All things said, I couldn't put this book down. The writing is not without faults but it is enjoyable overall. Pacing was often slow but ultimately I didn't mind since the subject matter was of interest to me. I'm eager to start the next book in this series.

'The Night Circus' is a highly descriptive novel. The author shows remarkable talent for forming such vivid pictures with only words on a page. The structure could be considered confusing for some but it more than compensates by relating an amazingly fascinating story, rich with fantastic plot lines & ever-developing characters. 'The Night Circus' has quickly carved a place for itself in my list of favorite reads.

This book was a heartbreakingly beautiful read. The author's juxtaposition of the senses is what stands out for me, maybe even more so than the story itself. There are no happy holocaust tales but this one offers up the beauty that can be found in all of that ugly tragedy.

This invaluable tome belongs on a bookshelf in every home in America. Throughout my experience in the funeral industry, I've witnessed time & again the naivete of consumers being taken advantage of.

Too many places in this country don't have the regulations in place to protect funeral consumers. Across this nation, places fall through the cracks & the funeral industry holds those communities hostage. People need to know they can stand up & demand the death & memorialization they want & need.

You have rights. Be aware of them!