Review of It’s a Whole Spiel

It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories (anthology) edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman. Forward by Mayim Bailik. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 2019. I really enjoyed this collection of YA short stories centering Jewish characters written by Jewish authors! It's a very strong collection, with only a few stories that …

#PrideLibrary19 Day 6: Green books

I thought I’d do a recommendation list for day 6, which focuses on green covers. All the books on this list are queer; I tried to have a bit of a cross-section, identity-wise. This list definitely shows my bias towards contemporary queer fiction, esp romance, but also includes historical romance, speculative fiction, YA fiction, litfic, …

#PrideLibrary19 Day 4: Orange Books

I thought I’d do a recommendation list for day 4, which focuses on orange covers. All the books on this list are queer; I tried to have a bit of a cross-section, identity-wise. This list definitely shows my bias towards contemporary queer fiction, esp romance, but also includes speculative fiction, essays, YA romance, litfic, aromantic …

#RomBkLove: Geek Romances

This post is part of #RomBkLove, a month-long Twitter event where folks share their recs for romances that fit particular themes. For the purposes of this post, geek romance is a romance that centers characters who are enthusiasts of something, be it a special interest, a hobby, a subject, a fandom. "geeks are fans of their subjects, …

Review of American Dreamer

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera, performed by Sean Crisden. Carina Press. 2019. Content Warnings for review: Discussion of racism, familial estrangement, abuse, queer hatred. I have such complicated, strong, mixed feelings about this book. There is so much I loved about it, for much of the story. And there is a later plot twist in …

Review of Team Phison Forever

Team Phison Forever by Chace Verity. 2019. Content Warnings for review: discussion of abusive family, familial estrangement, depression Team Phison Forever gave me so many feelings. It was rather different, and substantially more angsty when compared to Team Phison, which I also really enjoyed, as a fluffy cozy grumpy/sunshine geek foodie romance between two queer …

Alpha Recs: G

Recently, the wonderful Dahlia Adler did a thread on Twitter where she recommended five good books for each letter in the alphabet. She suggested I might do a similar set of recs, and that sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I have decided to do a weekly series of alphabet-based book recommendations. Here is …

Review of Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey

Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu. First Second. 2018. I enjoyed this so much! It was utterly delightful. It centers the most adorable gay boy hockey player ever. He figure skates! He bakes pies! He has a crush on the captain of the team! He is new to college, and new to college hockey, …

Review of Criminal Intentions: Junk Shop Blues

Criminal Intentions: Junk Shop Blues by Cole McCade. 2018. Content Warnings for review: Discussion of trauma and sex.  This is episode 2 in a contemporary police procedural slow burn m/m romance between homicide detectives on the Baltimore PD. It's incredibly queer and complex and I have been excited about it since I first heard the …

Fave Valentine’s Day Themed Romances 2019

This post lists my favorite Valentine's Day-themed romances I read since last Valentine's Day's list. I tried 30 romances to get to this list! These recs definitely show my bias towards contemporary romance, but there are romsusp and paranormal romances included as well. I link to reviews where I have written them; and also where …