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All Reviews, Literature

ARC Review: Rise to the Sun

6 July, 2021

Today is the (US) publication day of Leah Johnson’s sophomore novel, Rise to the Sun, a summery, sunshiney contemporary romance set at a music festival. If you’re looking for a book to read at the beach, if you’re looking for a book that’ll make you feel as though it’s summer, even as it’s grey and rainy outside, then this is the book for you. And you can pick it up right away!

But if you want a little more reason for reading this, check out this review! You can also follow Leah on twitter (which you absolutely should).

And don’t forget to listen to the mix at the end of this post while you read (or, really, just Joy Oladokun…)!

Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.

Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her.

Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward.

When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for, and Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined.

Packed with irresistible romance and irrepressible heart, bestselling author Leah Johnson delivers a stunning and cinematic story about grief, love, and the remarkable power of music to heal and connect us all.

Rise to the Sun

Leah Johnson

Goodreads

Rep: Black bi mc, Black lesbian mc, Black sapphic side character
CWs: suspected shooting, revenge porn
Release: 6th July 2021

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Book Recs: 100+ Books by Trans & Non-Binary Authors

26 June, 2021

Today’s post is a collaboration with a group of bloggers. The idea came from Mols and she reached out to a number of trans and nonbinary bloggers, in hopes of creating a truly giant rec list of books. So here we are, with over 100 titles!

To see the full list, though, and not just my contribution, you have to check out everyone’s posts! So head over to those lovely people: Mols @ Mols by Moonlight, Artie @ ArtieCarden, Ocean @ Oceans of Novels, Anniek @ Anniek’s Library, Bertie @ Luminosity Library, Andee @ Mouse Reads, Danni @ The Rush of a Book, Vee @ Vee_Bookish!

Please keep in mind, all the books are written by trans and/or nonbinary authors, but not every single one of them features such rep.

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In the Intersection: Neurodiversity and Disability in LGBT Lit

24 June, 2021

The final post in our intersection series is here! Today we’re looking at books which feature neurodiverse or disability rep. That does, of course, give us a vast array of stories to choose from, and we couldn’t represent every possible facet of it in a single post. As such, perhaps even more than the lists, this is very much a starter pack. And if you don’t see a more popular one on here, that you might have been expecting, that’s just because we wanted to highlight those which aren’t often recced.

Everything else we’ve featured in this series can be found here: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit.

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In the Intersection: LGBT Lit and Faith

22 June, 2021

The penultimate rec list in this series is one that covers LGBT lit in which faith and religion play a big role (but isn’t always the sole focus, mind). We’ve done our best here to feature as many religions as possible, but, as you might expect, some are (as ever) easier to find than others. The sections are sorted alphabetically (with a miscellaneous section which represents books covering multiple religions) so are easily searchable.

The series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, neurodiversity & disability in lit.

We didn’t find much more examples (outside of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism), but here, have this documentary about a lesbian Taoist priestess and her daughter.

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In the Intersection: Indigenous LGBT Lit

21 June, 2021

This was probably the trickiest list so far. We wanted to cover as many different indigenous peoples as we could—obviously limited by what’s published and/or available and/or translated—of which, there are some easier to find than others (as is probably clear). There’s also a fair amount of overlap with at least some of the previous lists, so we’ve tried not to duplicate books (although authors may feature more than once here, and across lists).

This list is a little bit different to the previous ones. We aren’t marking with flags, or including an emoji to indicate diaspora. Instead, we’ll split the list by continent, and make a note for specifics. As such, this is going to be a longer list than previous ones (although undoubtedly you’ll spot where we couldn’t find any books).

And once again, briefly, some links to the series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

And more links! Hausa lit, New Zealand lit (not all indigenous), some Sami lit (although not translated into English), North American lit (and here).

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In the Intersection: Latine LGBT Lit

20 June, 2021

Next up in our intersectional rec posts is Latine lit! We’ve done our best to cover as much of Latin America as possible here, but once again, what we can offer depends very much on what we can find and, as such, you’ll see pretty clearly where the gaps are. But. We hope you find something to enjoy on here! And there are plenty of links to search further (& if you speak Spanish, you’re in luck, we found some untranslated lit too!).

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

And once again, briefly, some links to the series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

As ever, more links: this Mexican book, which remains untranslated (boo), Chicana/Latina lesbians, Latine YA books, 9 books to read before you die, this Venezuelan book, again untranslated, some untranslated Ecuadorian essays, Puerto Rican lit (not all LGBT, but some by nonbinary authors), this (translated into German and French) book of stories about Argentine trans women, more Latin American authors, and some poets!

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In the Intersection: Southeast Asian LGBT Lit

17 June, 2021

The last of our lists covering Asia (if only because with the remaining regions we’d probably struggle to get 30 books), today we’ve got for you 30 books by Southeast Asian authors. I’m kind of running out of things to say in this introduction, since it’s much the same as previous posts: we haven’t read all of them, so it’s more a collection, than a rec list. So yeah. Enjoy.

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

And once again, briefly, some links to the series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

And more links! Indonesian lit (primarily in Indonesian), Malaysian lit, Singaporean lit (and also here), and variously here.

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In the Intersection: South Asian LGBT Lit

16 June, 2021

After digging around for hours for South Asian lit that wasn’t primarily Indian, we finally have managed to get together 30 books for you, of which only about half are Indian (perhaps unsurprisingly those are the easiest to find, comparatively). Once again, there’s a mixture of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, so we hope you’ll find something to enjoy here.

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

And once again, briefly, some links to the series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

And if you want more links, there are (so many) more lists here, here, here, here, here, and here. There’s also this zine by a Sri Lankan & an Afghan-Pakistani creator.

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In the Intersection: West Asian LGBT Lit

15 June, 2021

I hope everyone’s excited for this post, because me and Anna are! Of the posts we’ve collated so far, this is the one that’s required the most digging (I think Anna is most proud of finding a book by a Yemeni author), especially since we’ve done our best to cover as wide an area as we can with these recs. But we managed it! So here are 30 recs for you by West Asian authors.

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

Before we start, briefly, some links to the series: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

And if you want more links… well we found a couple of untranslated books too! Here’s one from Georgia, one from Azerbaijan and one from Syria (available in Swedish or German).

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In the Intersection: East Asian LGBT Lit

13 June, 2021

It’s like buses: you wait ages for one pride rec list and then two arrive at once! Today we’re covering East Asian LGBT lit, both that which is translated, and that which comes from diaspora authors. Once again, we’ve not read everything on this list (in fact, because we do want to prioritise translated lit in general, there’s a fair bit that’s not read), so it’s more a starter list for everyone.

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

All of the series: Black, African & Caribbean lit , West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

Once again, some more links if you want to read more: translated literature from Taiwan and China, Japanese literature, Korean literature (also here – in Korean).

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In the Intersection: Black, African, and Caribbean LGBT Lit

12 June, 2021

For Pride Month 2021, our rec posts are taking a bit of a different shape. Over the course of June, we’ll have nine posts for you (of which this is, obviously, the first) in which we rec books where LGBT-ness intersects with another identity, be it race, disability or religion. These posts are only intended as starter packs, mind, and we’re going to try include books that may be less talked about. Ideally, we’ll have read most of the books we’re reccing, but sometimes that might not be the case (in a way, these are as much lists for ourselves as for you!).

And, also, a brief note on “ownvoices” (or however you wish to refer to it): all of the books we rec are (for the most part—there are a handful of exceptions though) by authors who ID as LGBT, although maybe not the specific identity of their characters. The other part of the intersection will more strictly match up with the character’s identity (within reason, i.e. whether the author talks about it specifically in terms of themself).

In the case of this list, we’ve used flag emojis to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

All of the series: East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

And, if after reading this you’re looking for more LGBT lit by African authors, let us point you in the direction of this list.

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ARC Review: The Way It Breaks

5 June, 2021

You won’t find reviews of adult contemporary novels very often on this blog, but both me and Charlotte like to venture out of our comfort zones every once in a while. And whenever we do, we’re lucky enough to come across something we enjoy.

Which is why we are all here today. I already mentioned The Way It Breaks on my post about ownvoices achillean books, and I was actually able to read it a bit early. So read on to find out why you should pre-order this book, and in the meantime, follow Polis on twitter!

Orestis is a young man who refuses to accept his lot in life. He wants a better job, a toned body, his own place, a brighter future. On a night out, he bumps into an old school friend who lands him an interview at her father’s five-star hotel. Orestis feels he is finally on the path to success. That is, until he becomes acquainted with a high-end gigolo who draws him onto a different path – one that takes him to a wealthy Belarusian trophy wife named Darya. Before long, Orestis’ destiny drifts even further out of his control.

Set in Cyprus, The Way It Breaks is a modern tale about fate and free will; love and boundaries; and the value of a human being.

The Way It Breaks

Polis Loizou

Goodreads

Published: 24th June 2021
Rep: bi mc, bi character, gay character
TW: fatphobia, internalised fatphobia, xenophobia

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ARC Review: One Last Stop

20 May, 2021

Kicking off the Pride releases’ season the right way, with our reviews of an absolute gem, a sapphic time-travel rom-com of your dreams. One Last Stop hits all the spots for a perfect book.

And as an extra treat, apart from the mix you can listen to while reading the book, we want to offer you one more thing: Charlotte actually set up a bot that will start tweeting in mid June, to avoid spoilers.

Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn’t believe in much. She doesn’t believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn’t believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that.

But then, there’s Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane.

All hard edges with a soft smile and swoopy hair and saving August’s day when she needed it most. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train every day. The one who makes her forget about the cities she lived in that never seemed to fit, and her fear of what happens when she finally graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother who won’t quite let her go. And when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than one—namely, displaced in time from the 1970s—she thinks maybe it’s time to start believing.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.

One Last Stop

Casey McQuiston

Goodreads

Rep: bi mc with anxiety, Chinese American lesbian li, gay side character, Black sapphic side character, Black gay side character, Puerto Rican American trans side character, Black pan side character
CWs: past homophobic violence, off page death
Release: 1st June 2021

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Book Recs: Standalone Fantasy

13 May, 2021

After a few days of unintentional downtime (can you tell neither me nor Anna has the slightest clue about self-hosting), we’re back with a rec list of standalone fantasy books. For those times when you don’t want to invest in reading an entire series, but you do want something fantastical.

I’m sure we can all relate.

But anyway. Enough waffling on, because it’s been days since we’ve been able to post. I’m sure you all just want to get straight into it (so to speak).

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Book of the Month, Literature

Book of the Month: Blackheart Knights

4 May, 2021

For May’s book of the month, I badgered Anna into letting me choose a book that’s out in the month, rather than the next month, because I read it and loved it, so now I have to force it all on you.

(Just kidding.)

But if you’re looking for gay Arthuriana (and aren’t we all on some level), then this is the start of an upcoming mini-boom, and one you really won’t want to miss out on!

Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.

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