• All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: Paranormal/Horror (January to June 2022)

    31 December, 2021

    It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!

    In this post, you’ll find the collection of paranormal/horror books that we know about from January to June of 2022!

    Looking for the other posts?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Poetry | Science Fiction

    Looking for July to December?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Paranormal/Horror | Poetry | Science Fiction

    Read More
  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: Poetry (January to June 2022)

    31 December, 2021

    It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!

    In this post, you’ll find the collection of poetry books that we know about from January to June of 2022!

    Looking for the other posts?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Paranormal/Horror | Science Fiction

    Looking for July to December?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Paranormal/Horror | Poetry | Science Fiction

    Read More
  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: Science Fiction (January to June 2022)

    31 December, 2021

    It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!

    In this post, you’ll find the collection of science fiction books that we know about from January to June of 2022!

    Looking for the other posts?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Paranormal/Horror | Poetry

    Looking for July to December?

    Contemporary | Fantasy | Historical | Mystery/Thriller | Nonfiction | Paranormal/Horror | Poetry | Science Fiction

    Read More
  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: The Midnight Girls

    21 December, 2021

    The last Tuesday of the year brings us some of the best gifts, actually. And by that we obviously mean what is probably one of the best books to read during those long winter evenings. To achieve the maximum of a Polish experience, maybe try some mead with it or at least mulled wine (not that we encourage drinking, of course!).

    Anyway, lets us give you all the reasons why you should absolutely read The Midnight Girls, enjoy the playlist for it, full of Polish songs, and don’t forget to follow Alicia on twitter, if you’re not already!

    It’s Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil’s Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit “kuligi” sleigh-parties.

    Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. Newfound friends and polar opposites, Zosia and Marynka seem destined to have a friendship that’s stronger even than magic. But that’s put to the test when they realize they both have their sights set on Lechija’s pure-hearted prince. A pure heart contains immeasurable power and Marynka plans to bring the prince’s back to her grandmother in order to prove herself. While Zosia is determined to take his heart and its power for her own.

    When neither will sacrifice their ambitions for the other, the festivities spiral into a wild contest with both girls vying to keep the hapless prince out of the other’s wicked grasp. But this isn’t some remote forest village, where a hint of stray magic might go unnoticed, Warszów is the icy capital of a kingdom that enjoys watching monsters burn, and if Zosia and Marynka’s innocent disguises continue to slip, their escalating rivalry might cost them not just the love they might have for each other, but both their lives.

    The Midnight Girls

    Alicia Jasinska

    Goodreads

    Rep: Polish-coded cast & setting, lesbian mc, bi mc, lesbian character, gay character, bi male character
    CWs: child abuse, blood, body horror (brief), death, murder
    Release: 28th December 2021

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Friends to Lovers

    19 December, 2021

    In the three and a bit years this blog has been up, I’ve made two enemies to lovers rec lists and always intended to make a friends to lovers list too, but somehow never got round to it. Well, today, I have finally got my act together! If you love the friends to lovers trope, the pining, the yearning, the belief that it’s unrequited—this rec list is for you! (And if it’s not your favourite, then I live in hope these books will convert you.) So, let’s go!

    Read More
  • All Reviews,  Literature

    Book Review: The Harbinger of Freedom

    14 December, 2021
    43294395

    In the millenary world of Taenand, the continent of Empiria is oppressed by a fifty year lasting military dictatorship perpetrated by the Army of the Harpy, the leader of which is the young General of aristocratic descent Ludwig Maximilian Eckhale who inherited the throne and became the second Emperor of his Era.

    In these challenging times, Valerius Raleigh, a young noble as the Emperor himself, takes on the mission to inspire his country to break its chains and free itself from the ever more raging tyranny, first becoming a symbol and a messenger of freedom, then building an army whose purpose is to take down the reign of terror and injustice which threatens to spread all over Taenand due to the ruthless ruler’s strategic mindset and powerful alliances.

    The Harbinger of Freedom is the first act of the Falling Feathers Series, a crazy mix of blood, sex, drugs, hacking, cybernetic augmentations, shamanism, fantasy creatures, artificial life and an overall retrofuturistic and cyberpunkish aesthetic. In this vast, complex world, liberty and self-determination play a pivotal role in the search for balance and justice for all, while the diverse characters are pawns in a gritty game of power, intrigues and violence in which there is no place for surrender or subjugation.

    The Harbinger of Freedom

    Freddie A. Clark

    Published: 30th August 2021
    Goodreads
    Rep: bi mc, gay li, achillean & sapphic side characters, nonbinary side characters
    CWs: gore, violence, implied child sexual abuse, past child abuse (for more detail, see author’s website)

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Fake Dating

    21 November, 2021

    Wouldn’t be much of a stretch, would it, to say that the fake dating trope is quintessential for LGBT lit somehow. Which is why it was only a matter of time for a fake dating rec list to be posted on the blog.

    At the end of this post you will find a few upcoming titles that I haven’t been fortunate enough to read an ARC of yet, but absolutely want y’all to be aware of. And if, like me, you’re constantly on the lookout for fake dating books with trans rep, we’ve been told you should keep an eye out for TJ Alexander’s projects (and follow them on Twitter).

    And hey, quite a few of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Messy LGBT Teens

    15 November, 2021

    The “messy” in the title is to be understood in a few different ways. You will find here teens who make mistakes, teens who do (& don’t regret) things society thinks they shouldn’t, teens who make questionable choices… Which is to say: teens who are only human.

    So for everyone who is tired of books trying to portray teenagers as perfect (since no one in the world is), enjoy! And don’t judge.

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Bi/Pan Adult Fantasy

    13 November, 2021

    The other day, I did part two of this adult fantasy series, with books featuring gay mcs. Today, I’m back for part three: bi/pan mcs. I say bi/pan, because often it’s hard to tell, since this is fantasy and mostly labels are not in use. But these are ten recs for you, in which the mc is definitively attracted to more than one gender.

    And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)

    And if you want to check out the other posts in this series, you can find them below:

    Lesbian | Gay | Trans

    Read More
  • All Reviews,  Literature

    Book Reviews: Comics to Cap Off Your Spooky Season

    28 October, 2021

    October is drawing to a close now and we’re approaching Halloween itself. And, since there are three days left in the month (and only two more months in the rest of the year), perhaps you’re starting to think about how best to complete your Goodreads challenge. Fret not! Because today, we come bearing comic recs.

    So if you’re looking for the perfect short read to cap off your spooky season, Boom! Studios has you covered! Check these four out and let us know what you think!

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Retellings

    24 October, 2021

    There are already 3 posts about LGBT retellings on the blog: for fairy tales, for mythology and for classic books. They’re all a few years old, though, so it was a high time for an update. So I asked on twitter what kind of retellings y’all would want to see the most and the answer was “a little bit of everything”

    And that’s exactly what I’m bringing you today. I divided my recs into four categories, for ease of browsing. There is, of course, some overlap, because books aren’t always clean cut & they might fit into more than one category, but there needs to be some kind of logic to the chaos. So let’s go! Choose what you’re interested in the most (or simply browse all the recs):

    folklore • fairy tales • classic books • historical figures

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Get Your Spook On

    20 October, 2021

    It’s October, it’s autumn, it’s spooky season, so what better rec list today than a BUMPER rec list of books to read when you want to feel extra spooky! You can even pick your reads based on the emojis below, depending on what you feel like. It’s a win-win situation, I’m sure.

    And if you want yet more recs, here’s the list I made last year.

    Pick your spooky season emoji of choice!

    🧙🏼‍♀️ • 👻 • 🎃 • 🐺 • 🧛🏼‍♂️ • 🧟

    Read More
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Adult Fantasy (II)

    14 October, 2021

    By happy coincidence (or not, you decide), our rec list today comes on the heels of some twitter discourse stemming from an opinion that is—how to put this politely—really fucking stupid. And because of that opinion, in addition to making sure that each of these books is gay, today I’ve challenged* myself to not include a single cis white man!

    *It’s not really a challenge.

    You can also find part one of this list here. And, handily, you can find a massive thread of recs here!

    Read More