Sisters of the Vast Black

Lina Rather
Completed 11/28/2025, Reviewed 11/28/2025
4 stars

I had a tough time getting into this “nuns in space” novella.  It’s only 160 pages, but it took me the first sixty to get into the story.  Then I was completely sucked in.  I have a fondness for rebellious nuns, and specifically, radical lesbian ex-nuns with guitars, having been friends with several throughout my life.  They take the Gospel message seriously, providing good works and focusing on peace and justice.  This completely replaced the image I had of nuns from my experience in Catholic school as mostly being castrating and abusive, perverting the Gospel for conformity and punishment.  The story began feeling conformist but jumped into a battle against an oppressive new government colluding with the Church for galactic control.  

The book begins with introductions to the sisters of the Order of St. Rita on their living, breathing space convent, the Our Lady of Impossible Constellations.  They travel in space providing services to those in need.  Despite their call to live open, honest lives, they all have secrets.  Mother Superior has a dark past associated with the destructive revolution on Earth.  Now she hides aboard the Our Lady in a vow of silence so as not to give away her true identity.  Sister Gemma, the ship’s maintenance-biologist, has a secret love on another ship.  Other nuns have varying gifts and inner demons as well.  They are all arguing about the theological implications of allowing the ship to follow its own instincts to mate.  Some of the nuns want to preserve its virginity because it is a consecrated entity.  Amidst this contact, they answer a call from a new colony to perform some marriages and baptism and to bless the colony.  Some time after their visit, they get a desperate call from that same colony that they have been infected by the horrible plague and need help.  However, a priest sent by the new pope to bring the Order under rein refuses to allow it, opting for proselytization over service, sending them into a conflict about following the Gospel message or kowtowing to the whims of the oppressive Church-backed government. 

Yes, that was a long plot summary.  For a novella, it packs a lot of information.  I think that may be part of why it took so long to get into it.  It also took a while to get into the idea that the nuns were living inside a living creature genetically developed to fly through space and house humans.  Quite the conceit to wrap one’s head around.  And then to be dumped in the middle of a heated debate about allowing the ship to reproduce, it kind of made my head explode.  But it all came together after the first third when I finally suspended disbelief.  I also got into the more when the secrets of the nuns were made more clear and more specific.  And yes, at least one of the nuns is lesbian 😊.  That made me happy.  

Mother Superior was a very interesting character.  It takes a long time to unravel her past, considering that she only communicates through sign language and is even spare with that.  Somehow, she escaped the massive bombing of London at the beginning of the revolution that radically changed life on Earth.  And while dealing with being head of this Order in a state of disarray, she seems to be experiencing the onset of Alzheimer’s.  Her mind gets unstuck in time and she panics, forcing her translator to figure out what’s going on with the slurred signing.  But you get the sense that she was a powerful force back on Earth and has been using that skill as the leader of the Order.

It is through Sister Gemma that we get the complete picture of the spaceship creature.  It has interesting little details, like the moss that grows around standing feet to help stabilize the person in zero-g and acceleration.  There’s also an intimate moment between Gemma and the ship when she goes into its reproductive area to observe the eggs being produced and to read the communications with her girlfriend from another ship.  It is because of the ovulating ship, Gemma falling in love, and Mother Superior’s Alzheimer’s that we learn of the conscience conflicts of the other featured nuns in the story.  This personal conflict sets the stage for the decision they all must make whether to answer the call of the plague infected colony or follow the new orders of Rome by acceding to the new priest on board.

I ultimately really liked this book.  It is the in-person book club selection for December.  Being so short, I may try to reread it before book club to get the full impact of its beginning.  I give this book four stars out of five.  It felt really good to read about nuns making the radical choice to follow Jesus’ message rather than the Church’s nationalist mandate.  It warmed my heart during this time of spiritual despair over current events.  

The Hyperspace Enigma Part 1: Destination Unknown

Adam Andrews Johnson
Completed 11/27/2025, Reviewed 11/27/2025
4 stars

This book was a hoot and a half.  I bought it at Beaverton Pride last June at the author’s booth, along with its sequel.  He was an hysterical guy and I thought his books would be too.  This one certainly is.  It’s not great literature, but it’s excellent fluff.  Imagine an out-of-control Star Wars in a queer-normative universe with tons of puns, glorious drag queens, hunky gay mandroids, tough lesbian bounty hunters, people-eating giants, abducted children needing to be saved, a ton of space pirates, and a lot of “pew pew” (laser gun battles).  Everything, including the plot, is outrageous and fabulous.  I read this in two days and wished I had brought the sequel with me on my Thanksgiving vacation because it leaves you on a cliffhanger. 

The story begins on a spaceship that’s an all-male “reverse harem.”  One mandroid named 5NTR0M  (pronounced Phentrom) experiences a programming snafu and experiences real falling in love with Lyoth.  The ship’s computer declares him a danger to the crew and needs to be decommissioned for study.  But when that fails, the compassionate captain chooses to place the two lovers to a cozy island world, away from nasty computers that want to harm Phentrom.  However, they are abandoned there when a mutiny happens.  They discover that the planet has become a haven for space pirates.  They meet Stawren and her father Jintrin, who runs a drag bar.  Stawren, Lyoth, Phentrom, and a few others decide to lead a revolt to wipe the space pirates off the planet.  It turns out Lyoth is not just a lover, he has quite the heroic past.  Then they discover the mutiny plot and pursue the ship to save the captain and the faithful crew.  This leads them to a prison lab at the end of the known universe, an unreliable wormhole, and a plot to overthrow the governments of the known universe.  

Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also very enjoyable.  The characters are rather wooden, but still somehow, very sweet.  For most of the book, they are all unbelievably amazing at getting out of jams and leading rebellions.  Things don’t get dicey for them until very end, during the lead up to the cliffhanger.  One of my favorite scenes is when a bounty hunter tries to capture Phentrom at the drag bar and it turns out Priestess the drag performer is the bounty hunter’s boyfriend.  He humiliates him into surrendering up Phentrom, throwing enough shade for an episode of Drag Race and threatening to withhold sex.  It’s quite hysterical.

There were times when I thought the writing was clunky, with statements like, “They had a great time,” or “They really enjoyed themselves.”  But I forgave the author those unnecessary obvious statements because the overall effect of the romp is just so fun.  I think if I was a hardcore reviewer, I would say this is maybe a three-star book.  But I also like to support the indie writers, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community.  So I give this book four stars out of five.  To me, a fun, fluff novel is just as worth the investment as serious genre literature.  The escapism is worth it to me.  It is more fulfilling than a 600 page, dark, depressing, heavy handed space opera.  And I must say, the world building is absolutely terrific!

Baldr's Secret Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/26/2025, Reviewed 11/26/2025
4 stars

This third and final volume in the Mated to the Viking Alpha series is a surprisingly terrific ending to the trilogy.  The plot closely resembles that of the second book, Loki’s Enemy Mate.  However, it also provides a stunning conclusion to the conflict between the three brothers and Tyr, the maniacal leader of the rival pack.  I was impressed by the imagination of the author and his ability to incorporate Norse mythological concepts besides the characters’ names.  Yeah, it’s still a spicy M/M romantasy, but it transcends the mundane for an exciting climax.  It almost relies on a deus ex machina.  I won’t explain how because of spoilers, but I will say that the conclusion is more powerful than I expected.  

In the last book, we discover that Tyr is grooming and abusing a boy witch with amazing but uncontrolled chaotic powers as a secret weapon to destroy the brothers and their pack.  Unbeknownst to Tyr, Baldr, the third brother who is part werewolf part witch, has been visiting the boy, named Mist.  Every day, Baldr sits outside the dome and keeps Mist company, reading science fiction and fantasy and telling him about his pack.  He does this because Baldr has visions of his impending death and Mist is part of that vision.  In the process, Baldr gets the strong sense that Mist is his fated mate.  The two fall in love, but of course they hide it from each other, as they have no way to break through the dome.  After a devastating attack on the spa, Baldr finds his mother’s spell book and finds a way to cut into the dome to free Mist.  But Tyr catches them in the act and Baldr opens a portal into which they escape.  They end up in a different dimension.  The two must find a way back to their home dimension and put an end to Tyr’s rampage against the brothers.

Baldr is the gentlest brother of the three.  Having a different mother than Thor and Loki, and being part witch with terrible visions of the future, Baldr has developed into a kind, sensitive werewolf.  His flaw is that he believes he can’t allow himself to fall in love because he has seen his own death in the battle against Tyr.  He keeps this info from Mist, hoping to prevent him from being hurt when Baldr’s death comes about.  However, when he and Mist escape from the dome into the other dimension, they can’t help the natural progression of their love for each other.  The strength they derive from their mating helps them survive getting back home where they try to put together a plan to end Tyr’s tyranny once and for all.

I have to say that I was surprised and pleased with the plot of these books.  What I first thought would be silly, sexy fluff turned out to be very satisfying.  Yeah, the spicy parts are good, but ultimately, you want art.  While not as prosy as, say, Fourth Wing, this trilogy was well thought out and integrated Norse mythology more than just using the names of the gods.  The characters have depth and inner conflict and embody the characteristics of the mythical beings they are named after.  Even Tyr, the violent sociopath, turns out deliciously evil in how he manipulates the fear in all the good characters.  I give this book a surprising four stars out of five.  While not a literary masterpiece, it is surprisingly well constructed with a terrific ending.  For full enjoyment, I suggest if you read these books, look up all the names of the characters as you come across them.  It will give you insight into the characters’ personalities, motivation, and flaws.  This was definitely a good find.   

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
Completed 11/23/2025, Reviewed 11/25/2025
5 stars

Like The Martian, this book was an exercise in using science to solve problems in space.  While The Martian was engineering-based solutions, this book was based on pure science.  It’s perhaps the reason that I absolutely loved this book.  It was thrilling and fast-paced.  The characters were multi-dimensional.  And it was a book of hope.  It’s a first contact novel where both the human and the alien person cooperated to solve an apocalyptic problem affecting both their home planets.  It didn’t follow the trope of the alien being superior or inferior.  Instead, the human was better at pure science and the alien was better at engineering the solutions.  I found it an exhilarating experience.  This book was nominated for a 2022 Hugo Award.

Ryland Grace wakes up with almost total amnesia.  He doesn’t know who or where he is.  His two companions are dead, desiccated to mummy-like remains.  In the first 50 or so pages, he wanders around trying to piece together what’s going on.  Through a long series of sudden flashbacks, he finds out his name and that he is on a spaceship to figure out how to stop tiny organisms from feeding off the sun, which is causing quick cooling on Earth.  Once he gets close to the destination star, a star that seems to have those organisms without suffering any loss, he spots an alien craft.  He approaches the craft and sees a creature inside.  Through a series of gestures, he approaches.  The alien builds a tunnel between the crafts.  When they meet, they do so between a wall to separate their atmospheres.  The alien lives in an ammonia heavy atmosphere twenty-nine times that of Earth.  They slowly learn to communicate.  The alien speaks in music and uses touch and perhaps something sonar-like to see.  Grace uses a spreadsheet and music software to create a rudimentary dictionary as they communicate with music and touching through the wall.  Once they’re successful, Grace discovers the alien, whom he names Rocky, is there for the same reason.  Together they try to find the solution, Grace with his superior science background, and Rocky with his excellent engineering skills.  But as Grace’s memory continues to return, he finds out the devastating truth of his involvement in the mission.

The progress of the relationship between Grace and Rocky is amazingly well-crafted.  Weir wrote a near perfect first contact story.  They find a way to communicate despite the vast differences in their makeup and senses.  They are nearly equal in intelligence.  Each knows some things the other doesn’t.  And both are willing to give their all to find the solution that will save their home planets.  It was interesting that both are in similar circumstances.  The other two crew members on Grace’s ship died during the journey while in medically induced comas.  Rocky came with 23 other crew members and all of them died for unknown reasons.  Grace figures out why they died, having more knowledge of the dangers of space travel.  Rocky, on the other hand, is the better engineer, having the knowledge and equipment to create the solutions Grace proposes.  Rocky also is the better linguist, figuring out how to speak in idiomatic American English through his musical language.  It’s all quite remarkable and believable how they come to a partnership with a common goal and eventually become friends.

I also found the use of the amnesia to justify the flashbacks to be masterful.  It spread the info dumps over the course of the plot with Grace and Rocky, eventually revealing an amazing twist that could completely derail Grace’s motivation to succeed.   Flashbacks can be clunky.  Here, they were perfect.  They also introduce other characters from Earth, from the early days of the discovery of the organisms to the launching of the Project Hail Mary spacecraft.  The major character handling the crisis was named Stratt.  She was basically made a god-like program manager by the UN, forcing the project to move forward regardless of the cost in money, resources, and lives.  She has a great statement later in the book that when this is over, she’s probably going to jail for her iron fist approach and reckless spending.  However, it’s all justified in that she has to make this happen to save the Earth.  

I give this book five out of five stars.  I was completely sucked into Grace and Rocky’s psyches.  Though the book is narrated in first person by Grace, Rocky was just as loveable.  And the ending is incredibly uplifting.  I won’t give it away, but it’s awesome.  This book is very readable, with easy prose and science told in layman’s terms.  I CLEP’ed out of college biology 45 years ago but still understood everything that was going on.  I read this for online book club and it had 100% agreement on liking the book, which is very unusual.  Some people pointed out some flaws, but I thought they were far overshadowed by the spirit and execution. 2022 was a year with some excellent nominees for the Hugo Award.  I wouldn’t have minded at all if this book had taken the award.  

300,000 Hits!!

Wow, I can’t believe I got another hundred-thousand hits in less than six months!  For all the real people out there reading my blog, Thanks So Very Much!!  I’ve been cranking through an awful lot of books.  Having been unemployed now for just over four months, I have a lot of extra energy to devote to reading.  As promised, I’ve started on some gay romantasy, alternating with more reputable titles😂.  And I’m getting through books I picked up at Seattle WorldCon...which was awesome!  Well, I did get sick, probably COVID even though I never tested positive for it.  I’m still planning to go WorldCon next year in Anaheim and Montreal in 2027.  

Anyway, thanks again to my loyal followers.  I hope this blog gives you some ideas for your own reading pleasure.  

Loki’s Enemy Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/18/2025, Reviewed 11/23/2025
3 stars

Second book in the Mated to the Viking Alpha series.  Another spicy M/M romantasy featuring the second werewolf brother Loki.  This book began more seriously than Thor’s Unexpected Mate and ends with an intense cliffhanger.  The overarching plot is more complex than I expected.  I have to give the author props for coming up with tragic family dynamics that make this short novel better than simple erotica.  The prose is straight forward and the enemies to lovers trope is well done.  

At the end of the last book, Loki left the family to get revenge on Tyr by himself against Thor and Baldr’s wishes.  He can’t handle that Thor has mated with a descendent of werewolf hunters.  He goes to confront Tyr who is out with his son Heimdall.  Tyr commands Heimdall to kill Loki.  During the fight, the ground opens up below them, leaving them trapped in a cave.  Tyr just walks away.  When they recover, they begrudgingly cooperate to escape.  In the process, an attraction between them grows, realizing they are fated to be mates.  Once consummated, they realize they have to compromise over what to do with Tyr.  Loki wants him dead, but Heimdall doesn’t, being his son.  And we know Tyr isn’t going to accept their relationship.  So they must come up with a plan to punish Tyr without killing him so that they can bring the two families together.

I was impressed by how well the author got Loki to go from angry, bitter, and grieving to realizing how he let his emotions put a wall between himself and his family.  The softening process takes most of the search for an exit from the cave.  It’s slow, steady, and more believable than I expected.   Heimdall, on the other hand, is quite the sensitive soul.  He cries easily and allows himself to feel his emotions.  Despite blindly believing in Tyr, he also undergoes a transformation.  He comes to recognize his father is not a good person, and is in fact, a brutal, narcissistic murderer.  But cognitive dissonance remains, which is what softens Loki’s drive for vengeance.  

Most of the action takes place in the cave.  It’s quite claustrophobic for the characters and the reader, as they try to avoid gaping holes in the floor while looking for an exit, all with a single cell phone’s flashlight feature.  This book is just over 200 pages, but it takes its time with changing belief systems and plotting ways to stay together as mates, despite what their families may say.  I give it three stars out of five.  It’s intense and sensitive and occasionally fun.  I’m looking forward to the next book wrapping everything together.  

Brigands and Breadknives

Travis Baldree
Completed 11/17/2025, Reviewed 11/17/2025
4 stars

This is the official sequel to Legends and Lattes.  Baldree’s other book, Bookshops and Bonedust, was a prequel.  This book features Fern, the owner of the bookshop in the prequel.  She has a foul mouth and is discontented.  This is her accidental exploration of what she does and does not want to do with the rest of her life.  It’s another cozy fantasy, although there’s more action than in the first two.  I didn’t feel very engaged with it until the end when I wished it would go on.  I think books about discontent make me feel discontent, even with the book itself.  It is almost meta, where I have the same feelings of the main character to the point that I stay as disengaged as they do.  This book was just released and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.  I really like Baldree’s prose.  I think he has become the epitome of the cozy fantasy genre, the way I feel that TJ Klune has become the epitome of cozy LGBTQ+ fantasy.

Unhappy where she is, Fern sells her bookstore from her sleepy coastal home in Murk in hopes that Viv, the Orc owner of the Legends and Lattes coffee shop, will welcome her and help her start a new bookshop in Thune.  However, Fern quickly becomes restless again.  She has a night out drinking with Cal, the handyman, revealing her dilemma and gets quite drunk.  She tries to wander home but ends up passed out in a parked carriage.  Next thing she knows, she’s riding with the legendary Astryx, a thousand-year-old elf with a long, storied past as a mercenary and bounty hunter.  Astryx has captured a goblin named Zyll who is wanted in a town about three days away.  With Thune already being a day and a half behind them by carriage, Fern reluctantly agrees to go with them rather than try to walk back alone through the dangerous woods.  This time away gives Fern the opportunity to reflect on her life choices and determine if she really wants to go back to the bookshop in Thune and Viv’s generous circle of friends.  However, Zyll is being pursued by other bounty hunters, putting the party in continuous danger.  

Fern is quite an interesting character.  She’s depressed with no sense of what will satisfy her restless longing for something else.  Astryx is famous throughout the land.  Fern has read many stories about Astryx’s exploits and is excited to be part of an adventure.  But again, she questions her decision to remain in the party once they begin encountering danger.  However, she more or less bonds with the aloof elf, becoming a sort of squire, although she doesn’t exactly feel worthy. She’s exhilarated and terrified with each attack on the party.  She constantly questions herself and her motives, but is always intrigued by Astryx, Zyll, and the other creatures they meet.  

Astryx is larger than life and two dimensional to Fern, but there’s more to Astryx than meets the eye.  It takes a while, but her depth comes forth as the bond between the two women tighten.  While I thought Astryx was pretty cool, I found Zyll to be much more fun and entertaining.  The goblin wears a patchwork jacket with tons of pockets.  Zyll regularly reaches into her pockets which are much deeper than they appear and retrieves something that the party needs to escape their pursuers.  She feigns not speaking the common tongue and surprisingly disappears from the carriage, free from her bonds, only to return later with her hands once again tied together.  Zyll is a mystery, but fun and amazing to the reader and Fern and Astryx.  She has a penchant for stealing silverware and kitchen utensils.  Her antics and insights made the moroseness of Fern and the aloofness of Astryx seem tolerable and humorous.  

Besides Zyll, comedy arises from the talking sword and breadknife.  Nigel and Breadlee, respectively, were imbued with sentience during forging and are powerful weapons.  However, they are also overly chatty and stuffy with foppish egos.  Nigel prides himself by being the sword of Astryx while Breadlee, a former sword diminished to a breadknife, is jealous of Nigel and wants to be the primary weapon of the elf.  They provide commentary that’s both hilarious and annoying.  Fortunately, Baldree knew how to use them in the right amounts throughout the narrative so that they weren’t as obnoxious to the reader as they were to the main characters.  

I basically saw the end coming, though the adventures and self-discovery were a good journey for me as the reader as well as for the three main characters.  Though I had trouble getting into the story in general, I didn’t want it to end as much as Astryx and Fern didn’t want it to end.  Despite being chased by dangerous bounty hunters trying to steal or kill Zyll, the book is still a cozy fantasy.  I enjoy Baldree’s prose and the universe he created.  I give this book four out of five stars.

Thor’s Unexpected Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/11/2025, Reviewed 11/16/2025
3 stars

Fun M/M supernatural werewolf romantasy that easily engaged me.  It’s not as profound as the TJ Klune Green River series featuring Wolfsong, but it held its own.  It’s cute and steamy with an interesting story.  The prose is decent and the world-building a bit unusual.  But I enjoyed it and will read the rest of the series.  

Flynn has moved to Fenris to live with his grandmother for a while.  She’s a feisty widow living in the mountains.  She’s somewhat estranged from her daughter but gets along great with Flynn.  Flynn is out to his grandmother, who loves and supports him.  He often goes on hikes on the mountain to have some alone time, but Grandma always warns him to watch for wolves.  However, there haven’t been wolves on the mountain in years.  What is there, though, is a sprawling spa for the well-to-do.  On one hike, Flynn takes a fall and hurts his leg.  Before he passes out, he sees a great white wolf approach him.  It turns out to be Thor, the alpha of a pack of werewolves.  Thor and his brothers own the spa.  Flynn wakes up at the spa and is being healed by Thor.  The moon goddess has revealed to Thor that Flynn is his fated mate, despite not being a werewolf.  This causes commotion with the brothers, the rest of the pack, and most importantly, the evil alpha of a rival pack who is out to kill Thor.

The most unusual thing about this book is that Thor and his brothers own a fancy spa.  Their father recognized that to survive in the present, they must adapt and interact with humans.  The spa generates income so the pack can live “normal” lives instead of scavenging out in the wild like their rival clan.  That clan eschews anything modern and human.  Thor continues the family legacy of adaptation, especially in light of his fated attraction to Flynn.  

Like most M/M supernatural romantasies, the male characters are generally physically amazing.  Flynn is a twunk (hunky twink) and Thor is a hot daddy bear.  What made Thirsty stand out for me was that the gay main character is a little chubby.  It’s more realistic and the characters more complex.  This book is a very basic gay male sexual fantasy.  It’s not bad, just a little too typical.  As for character development, I was surprised that it was pretty decent.  There’s a big twist about Flynn’s ancestry which caught me off guard, and it enhanced the story nicely.  

I give this book three stars out of five.  It’s fun, quick paced, steamy, and exciting.  It ends rather nicely without a cliffhanger, but it is obviously set up to be a series.  I recommend this to anyone who likes steamy gay romantasy and werewolves.  Note:  my DnD character is a gay werewolf 😊

What Stalks the Deep

T Kingfisher
Completed 11/10/2025, Reviewed 11/16/2025
4 stars

Third in the Sworn Soldier series, this book was pretty good, but again, like What Feasts at Night, not as perfect as What Moves the Dead.  This novella is very creepy, as it mostly takes place in an abandoned coal mine.  Kingfisher’s prose once again is the star as it makes the exploring of the cave so very claustrophobic.  The past books were nods to Poe and local folklore.  This one is a nod to the Chthulu mythos.  It’s a satisfying read.  It just didn’t grab my whole being.

Alex Easton, the gender fluid soldier from Gallacia, and her trusty companion Angus begrudgingly sail to America at the request of James Denton, the doctor whom they befriended in the first book.  Denton’s cousin Oscar went missing in a coal mine in West Virginia. The mine had stopped producing coal a while ago and has been rumored to be haunted.  Oscar’s companion survived but is now living in an alcoholic stupor in the town near the mine.  So Denton, Easton, Angus, and Denton’s Boston companion John Ingold retrace Oscar’s steps and find mysterious lights and slushing sounds.  They also find that there has been a recent spate of gruesome deaths nearby that may be linked to the missing Oscar.

I love the characters of Easton and Angus.  It turns out that Easton is somewhat claustrophobic.  When crawling through tight spaces, their inner dialogue alone gets them through the ordeal.  Angus continues to be a wonderful companion who almost always can anticipate Easton’s needs.  I like the fact that no one can pinpoint his age or nationality.  I picture him as kind of a big daddy bear.  Denton was harder to appreciate this time.  I like him in the first book, but here, he’s less level-headed.  I guess that’s appropriate considering he holds onto the hope that Oscar is still alive.  Still, I felt like he was too irrational for the situation.  I really liked Ingold.  He was obsessed with the science behind the cave and the strange findings within.  He’s described as a person who is not just content with an answer but must continue to drill down into the details to learn as much as possible.

This being another novella, it’s hard to explain too much without spoilers.  But the creature stalking the deep is surprisingly well described, despite being very esoteric.  And I did like that there was a good creature and a bad creature.  It made for a thrilling ending.

I give this book four stars out of five.  It’s really good, but not for the claustrophobic.  It spends a lot of time in the mine and there’s quite a bit of body horror.  But if you are into horror, I think you’ll be satisfied with this.  T Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon is one of my favorite authors these days.  I’ll continue reading this series and I’m sure I’ll read more of her other works in the future.  

Long Live Evil

Sarah Rees Brennan
Completed 11/9/2025, Reviewed 11/12/2025
4 stars

I found this book highly entertaining.  It’s about a woman who is transported into her favorite book.  However, she ends up as the major evil female character.  It’s a great riff on the nature of good and evil.  She tries to advance the plot without being totally bad, but the plot keeps adjusting to the changes she makes.  The writing is terrific, and the author throws a lot of great snarky commentary.  I found it a fast, exciting read.  My only complaint is that I thought this was a standalone book.  Instead, there’s an incredible cliffhanger.  I nearly threw my e-reader across the room!  Argh!  Well, I’m sucked in now and will have to read the sequel when it comes out…in SIX MONTHS!

Rae is a twenty-year-old with stage four cancer.  One night, a woman appears and gives her the option to jump into her favorite fantasy series.  Her mission is that if she finds a special flower which only blooms once a year, she will be cured of the cancer.  Until she does, she’s stuck in the fantasy world.  Rae agrees and finds herself in the body of the villainous Rahela who is to be executed the next morning.  She joins with her mistrusting maid and her sketchy, possibly psychopathic guard to find a way out of the execution.  She succeeds, but then she has to navigate the plot to make sure everyone who hooks up does and who succeeds does.  The problem is that she is known as the Beauty Dipped in Blood, an unreliable, promiscuous, and generally evil person.  So no one trusts her.  However, she does find another person who is also from the real world.  That person works with her to get to the magical flower.  But nothing goes as she remembers from the book and chaos ensues.

Rae is quite the impressive character.  When she first enters the fantasy world, she’s excited about being the villain, although she has to survive and get past the execution order.  She pretends to be an oracle and proceeds to give away the end of the book.  That gets her past the first day, so she has fun with it all.  The problem is, she doesn’t view the other characters as real since she is in a fictional universe.  The other characters’ lives don’t matter and has a flippant view of their deaths.  All that matters to her is that the plot continues.  In reality, this is the definition of psychopathic behavior.  However, things do start to become real to her.  So when her interference to make the plot progress changes the plot, it affects the characters around her and she begins to have feelings about them.  And, as it progresses, they go from being cardboard to multi-dimensional.  It’s an interesting evolution of Rae and the reader.

As for those side characters, the Cobra is probably the most fun.  Flamboyant and superficial, he seems to have his hand in everything.  Emer, Rae’s maid, is one of the most interesting.  Besides Rae, we get narrative POV from her, so we witness firsthand her transformation from cardboard to real.  Oh yeah, and she wields an axe.  There are so many fantasy stock characters in the story, it’s quite fun.  It’s almost like it’s the author’s “Game of Thrones” but sprinkled with meta and snarky comments throughout.

I’d like to share a few of these comments:

“Rae had always assumed Anonymous [the author of the book inside the book] was a woman trying to avoid being pigeonholed.  Sometimes women writers got discussed as if they ran a fictional vampire dating agency, while clearly men writing green, bare-breasted tree women burned with pure literary inspiration. “

“She believed he wasn’t a monster.  He lacked empathy, went into a dissociative state and killed people serially, that was all.”

“Rahela’s lady mother had many uses for men.  They could be seduced for state secrets, married for money and estates, and poisoned to relieve one’s feelings.”

“He was the Emperor, so she would love him when he went through blood and fire and character development.”

These had me rolling on the floor.  But there’s a lot of seriousness as well.  Mainly, what really is good and evil?  This may make it difficult for some people to read.  For me, I found that some of the characters being deliciously evil made it more fun.  I think it also has a message about the fluidity of identity as well as that appearances may be deceiving.  This is evidenced by the Rae and others who were real people sent to the fantasy world.  Their characters obviously changed when they entered their bodies.  And of course, it changes the other characters’ reality as well.  

I give this book four out of five stars.  I found it fun and fascinating.  Watching the characters react and change around her was an impressive feat.  I guess there’s a big craze for this kind of meta fantasy in Japan.  But this was new for me, so I was entranced.  Next comes the long wait until the sequel comes out.  Ugh!

Thirsty

Lucy Lehane
Completed 11/2/2025, Reviewed 11/3/2025
4 stars

Very engaging M/M vampire-human, enemies to lovers, urban romantasy.  What I liked best about it was the exploration of other supernatural communities.  Well, and yes, the romance.  One of the main characters is not a traditional hot male, but rather a bear: bearded and a little chubby.  But the physical wasn’t as important as the emotional connection, and I really appreciated and honored that.  This book is very readable.  It’s also fun and silly at times, while tackling the issues of blood family, found family, honesty, and intent.  This isn’t going to win any awards, I don’t think, but I just might win Lehane an army of fans.

Charlie writes an advice column called the Wise Old Crone.  It’s been losing readership now that other advice columns are tackling the recent coming out of the supernatural community.  Charlie has no knowledge of vampires, werewolves, poltergeists, unicorns, trolls, and the like.  One day, he runs into Lorenzo, a man who dated a friend of his in college.  Charlie advised her to end the relationship with Lorenzo because she wasn’t that into him.  Now, five years later, Lorenzo still carries the grudge against Charlie.  Lorenzo confronts him, demanding to know why he did it, and if it was because he was a vampire.  Charlie didn’t know he was a vampire and tries to apologize, but sees an opportunity.  He convinces Lorenzo to answer questions about vampire-human relationships in exchange for running errands for him during daylight hours under the guise of it being for a “research paper” for Charlie’s dissertation.  Lorenzo begrudgingly accedes. Soon the two are attending supernatural functions of all types. With this information, the Wise Old Crone column becomes a hit and of course, the two slowly develop feelings for one another.  But can this relationship last when it is based on Charlie’s lie?

I was impressed with the character development of both Charlie and Lorenzo.  Charlie is simply a charming guy.  He loves life and helping people.  Lorenzo is terse and solitary.  Over two hundred years old, he’s bored with his vampire life and would rather have nothing to do with Charlie, or most people for that matter.  Charlie slowly falls for Lorenzo, but tries to keep it casual knowing that their relationship is based on the “research paper” lie.  He stresses over this and won’t admit he’s falling in love.  Lorenzo finds his heart opening up to Charlie despite his resentment over his old girlfriend’s rejection.  Charlie’s innocence and sense of wonder tug at Lorenzo.  But he too has a secret, besides the fact that he rarely opens his heart to anyone.  The play between falling in love and cognitive dissonance is very well played throughout the story.

The cast of side characters is also wonderful.  Lorenzo lives in a big house with a troll, a human possessed by a poltergeist, and a unicorn in human form.  They each have their own quirks and add color and humor to the story.  Lorenzo takes Charlie to a werewolf wedding, a druid initiation ceremony, and succubus/incubus art opening, among others.  Almost every chapter is chock full of new supernaturals for Charlie, and the reader, to learn about.  

I only had a few minor complaints about the book.  First, the narrative is third person, alternating between Charlie and Lorenzo per chapter.  Sometimes, it was hard to remember whose perspective was being told, even though the two characters are very different.  Second, the resolution was awfully quick.  I thought it could have played out a little more.  Still it was satisfying and a little surprising.

I give this book four stars out of five because it is terrific fluff.  I love a good romantasy.  The angst isn’t too deep, but the passion is powerful.  I particularly loved Charlie’s desire to be bitten for the increased intimacy while fighting his reluctance over his lie about the advice column.  And I loved Lorenzo’s slow turn from hermit to recognizing found family.  A very satisfying book even if it is a little silly.  

Cemetery Boys

Aiden Thomas
Completed 10/31/2025, Reviewed 10/31/2025
4 stars

This was a very sweet story.  It features a trans teen boy from a Latinx community where the women can heal people, and the men can release earthbound spirits to the afterlife.  As a trans boy, the main character wants to prove that he can perform the tasks of the brujos, but his father, one of the community’s leaders, won’t let him.  Immersed in mystical Latinx magical culture, this story of identity and belonging was one of the most heartwarming stories I’ve ever read.  However, I had trouble getting pulled into the story until the last one hundred pages, even as the relationship with the main character and the spirit of a gay teen boy develops. I’m not sure why, because I loved the protagonist, his best friend, the love interest, and the development of the other characters.  There’s also a murder mystery amidst all this, but I still found it hard to get into.  Despite my inability to connect with the story, I think this book may well end up a contemporary classic of YA transgender and Latinx experience.

Yadriel wants to prove himself a brujo, a male witch.  He and his best friend Maritza, a bruja with a strong, non-traditional approach, secretly perform the ritual that affirms him as a brujo.  His first task is to summon the soul of a missing and presumed dead cousin Miguel.  Instead, he summons a gay teen named Julian.  Horrified at their mistake, he tries to cut the tether to what’s keeping Julian on Earth, but it doesn’t work.  Julian convinces the pair to not release him until he can make sure his friends are okay.  Over the next few days, Yadriel and Julian slowly become close.  As they help him with his bucket list, they find out that other kids besides Miguel and Julian went missing and no one has leads.  But Julian’s spirit must be released before he becomes violent and mindless.   Yadriel knows what he must do but now doesn’t want Julian to leave.

Yadriel is a great main character.  He’s a typical teen trying so hard to be loved by his family and appreciated by his peers.  But of course, as a trans kid, he has self-doubts and a negative self-image.  His supportive mom died a few years back and his father doesn’t understand.  He has an uncle, Tio Catriz who understands not fitting in because he did not inherit the magic of the family.  He provides Yadriel with the support his father and older brother do not give.  Yadriel tries his damnedest to prove he’s a brujo.  When he summons Julian instead of Miguel, his self-doubt returns.  However, Julian provides him with subtle support, affirming him as a boy.  Maritza is also great as the sassy friend who doesn’t take nonsense from anyone.  Despite being a bruja, she won’t use animal blood for rituals and covers for Yadriel as he helps Julian in the few days they give him before trying to sever his tether.  She also sees the obvious that Yadriel and Julian are falling for each other, despite Yadz’s denials.

Julian is a tough character to like initially.  He’s the bad boy of the neighborhood, mostly because of a quick temper and general misunderstanding by most people, including his brother Rio.  Julian and Rio had a big fight before Julian disappeared, and Rio believes Julian ran away from home.  On the other hand, he was not in a gang and didn’t do drugs, but hung out with a small group of other teens on the margins of the community.  They were his chosen family.  As the story progressed, I found myself loving Julian almost as much as Yadriel.  I thought the rest of the characters were well developed.  Thomas does a great job of making them multi-dimensional, infused with the Latinx culture of East LA.   

Despite all these positives, something kept me from becoming completely enmeshed in the story.  It just seemed lacking through the first two-thirds.  Maybe it was the teen dialogue, or perhaps the lack of urgency with finding the missing kids.  That’s why I give this book four stars instead of five.  I think that a teen reader would find this book terrific.  It captures the trans and gay experiences accurately and presents lovable characters.  It deals with other issues, including homelessness and immigrant deportation.  The last hundred pages kept me reading late into the night.  I just wish the first part did as well.

Iron Widow

Xiran Jay Zhao
Completed 10/25/2025, Reviewed 10/27/2025
4 stars

I tried to read the sequel first when I was reading the 2025 Lodestar nominees (for YA novel) in the Hugos.  I found it incredibly hard to follow with an unlikeable main character.  I was running out of time before the voting deadline.  I ended up DNF’ing it, totally frustrated.  I thought I’d give it another chance by reading the first book and then attempting the sequel afterwards.  Well, to my surprise, Iron Widow was terrific.  It’s been described as a cross between Pacific Rim (which I never saw) and The Handmaid’s Tale (which I read in the 80’s).  So in reading this, I had no preconceived notions.  Now I know why the main character can be grating, what the technology is, and how the world came to be in this situation.  It's based on a Chinese society, complete with a Great Wall and oppressed and abused women.  It's kind of a downer but it makes you root for the main character.  This book was nominated for quite a few YA novel awards in 2021 and 2022.  

Chrysalises are giant robots piloted by older boys and copiloted by older girls.  They use their minds and yin and yang energies to control the Chrysalises in the war against the mech aliens that are constantly attacking beyond the Great Wall.  Wu Zetian’s older sister was such a copilot who was killed in battle.  Many girls die as the boys will often completely use their copilots’ psychic energies, leaving a human husk.  Zetian is very bitter and wants revenge on the superstar pilot responsible for her death.  She gets selected for the Chrysalis force, testing very high on the psychic scale.  She’s paired with the superstar pilot and kills him in their psychic link, winning the battle herself.  As punishment, she’s paired with Li Shimin, who has scored higher than anyone else but is also a known family murderer and has sucked the life out of all his female copilots.  Instead of a monster, she finds an alcoholic who hates being a pilot, killing girls, and his life.  Together with Shimin and her best friend from home, the sexually ambiguous, well-bred Gao Yizhi, the trio set out to find the truth about why these girls must die, why they can’t pilot the Chrysalises themselves, and the nature of the aliens, truths which would undermine the whole misogynistic social order.

This is a very dark book with a very dark protagonist.  Zetian was abused by her father and forced to have her feet broken and bound in the traditional way.  Every step she takes is terribly painful.  With this horrible background, she was already predisposed to anger and bitterness.  This only escalates when her only joy in life, her sister, is killed, turning her into a revenge machine.  It’s tough liking her at the beginning of the book, but as her childhood is revealed, we understand what formed her into this bitter and rageful young woman.  Yizhi, her best friend, loves her, though Zetian knew she could never reciprocate since she was on a suicide mission.  But when she joins the force, Yizhi does as well as a strategist.  He becomes rather obsessed with Shimin’s story and finds a way for the three of them to share quarters so he can keep them safe.  Yizhi is a kind soul, someone to offset Zetian’s intensity.  

Shimin is a very interesting character.  We find out he too is a kind soul.  He used alcohol to keep himself numb after killing his soul mate in a battle.  One point I didn’t mention above is that a Chrysalis’ pilot and copilot are also sexual partners so that they form an even deeper bond for their psychic yin/yang connection.  When he meets Zetian and finds out that his soul mate didn’t have to die, he joins her crusade to overthrow the status quo.  However, he is jealous of her closeness with Yizhi, creating a complicated love triangle.

The relationship of the three is at first distracting but becomes an integral part of the story.  It gives them the strength to fight the aliens and against the injustices toward woman.  Of course, they meet roadblocks the whole way, not only from the military officials, but from parents and even their peer pilots and copilots.  The young women copilots who you think would be supportive of Zetian are defensive and uncooperative.  Yizhi’s father backs the Shimin/Zetian pair financially to influence the military into protecting them.  But even he has his own agenda in supporting them and it doesn’t line up with the trio’s mission.  It’s all very messy but very realistic.

I think the book can be hard to follow.  There are many characters and the book moves at a very fast pace.  But if you stick with it, I think you’ll be rewarded with intriguing world building and philosophy, not to mention a delicious twist at the end.  I give this book four stars out of five and am ready to take on the second book, Heavenly Tyrant.

Into This River I Drown

TJ Klune
Completed 10/20/2025, Reviewed 10/21/2025
5 stars

This book drudged up a lot of daddy issues for me.  It features a young man whose father dies in a suspicious car accident and retreats into rage and self-pity for five years.  My relationship with my father wasn’t like the main character’s, but it was a trigger for many feelings I had many years ago.  The intensity translated into a powerful and emotional experience, much more so than I would have expected.  The first hundred pages or so were a little rough, but then the gay romance kicks into high gear and the book becomes an action-packed mystery.  This book won Klune his 2013 Lammy for Gay Romance, but it was so much more than just a rural gay romantasy.  It was an emotional powerhouse and murder mystery with a guardian angel thrown in.  It was awesome.

Benji is a twenty-one-year-old living in the small town of Roseland in south central Oregon.  He runs the convenience store and gas station that was left to him by his late father, Big Eddie.  Their relationship was incredibly close.  Benji came out to Big Eddie when he was fifteen and his father loved and supported him in it.  Since Big Eddie’s suspicious accident, Benji has been bitter and angry, keeping everyone at a distance, including his mother and three aunts.  One day, while picking at his emotional scabs at the river where his father’s car went off the road, an angel falls from the sky.  Calliel is the guardian angel of Roseland but became corporeal because of Benji’s prayers for help.  Cal loves Benji unconditionally and fiercely guards him.  Eventually, Benji falls for Cal, though Benji can’t admit it.  In the meantime, it becomes clear that there is a conspiracy to obfuscate the circumstances of Big Eddie’s death.  Benji starts putting the pieces together, threatening his life and that of his family as well as his relationship with Cal.  In addition, there are consequences when an angel takes on human form that may punch another hole in Benji’s soul.

One of the things that always gets me about Kune’s books is that his characters are so believable.  Benji is relatable in his bitterness at his father’s death, especially after feeling total love and acceptance by him.  It strains his relationship with everyone, including his mother.  His only friend is an old man who comes into the store everyday to shoot the breeze.  When Cal appears and explains his love and purpose, it brings Benji into a state of complete cognitive dissonance.  Benji is angry Cal didn’t save his dad, he wants revenge on his father’s killers, and swears he’ll be alone the rest of his life.  However, he begins to fall for Cal and can’t quite handle it, never admitting he loves the angel.  However, Cal becomes the hit of the town.  Everyone falls for Cal’s sweet nature, not knowing he’s an angel, and roots for Benji and Cal to become boyfriends.  Cal is a little unbelievable but he is an angel after all.  So I had no problem suspending disbelief of his actions.  

One of the star characters is Benji’s Aunt Nina, a woman with a variation of Down Syndrome.  She’s somewhat simple but at the same time, sees more than the average human.  She doesn’t know Cal is an angel exactly but has a deep insight into and love for him.  She and the old man from the store are the only characters that can knock some sense into Benji.  Nonetheless, Benji fights against all the love and advice Nina and the old man, and everyone else in town has for him.  

The suspect characters are pretty well drawn.  They’re a little standard issue but do come across as realistic.  Since the story is told in first person present, we’re always in Benji’s head.  We only see the sheriff and his cronies through Benji.  We also know that Cal growls around the sheriff, which is a good indicator of what Benji already suspects.  

The book is a little long with a lot of time being spent on Benji’s internal struggle.  There were times I thought, “Enough already.”  But to be honest, when presented with that level of cognitive dissonance, it does take a lot of time to let go of preconceived and self-destructive notions.  We are there first hand to watch the slow, normal transformation.  This is a theme in many of Klune’s novels, especially the earlier ones, like The Bones Beneath My Skin and Wolfsong.  The main characters have to suspend disbelief and then overcome their own prejudices and behaviors.  The other big theme in his books is allowing oneself to be loved.  Most of us think we’re not worthy of being loved.  It takes a lot of work to overcome this and allow people to enter our lives and care for us.  

I give this book five stars out of five.  Despite a rocky beginning where Benji was not very likable, it quickly morphed into an emotional rollercoaster.  I read it each night until my eyes hurt and didn’t want to leave the characters in the end.  I thought it funny that this won for Gay Romance Novel.  It’s so much more than a simple romantasy.  It’s a powerhouse of dealing with self-acceptance, parental issues, and letting love into one’s life.  I think this could easily have been nominated for Gay Novel or LGBTQ+ Spec Fiction.  It certainly makes me want to continue reading Klune’s back catalogue.  

The Haunting Between Us

Paul Michael Winters
Completed 10/14/2025, Reviewed 10/15/2025
5 stars

Wow!  This book scared the pants off me!  I read it mostly at night and every time something creepy happened, I got intense goosebumps.  It was also a terrific first love gay teen novel.  I’m a sucker for romances, and this was great.  I was completely caught up in both the romance and the haunted house shenanigans.  It also tackled some important issues like racism, body image, bullying, and parental acceptance.  Growing up a gay kid in the 60’s and 70’s is way different than now, but the issues are still the same.  There’s just a lot more support now, if you know where to look and are lucky enough to have the right friends.  Winters’ first book, Together in a Broken World, was good.  “Haunting” is a stunning sophomore effort.  I’m so glad I met him at WorldCon in Seattle where he convinced me to buy his books.

Cameron is a gay sixteen-year-old kid in the small town of Port Townsend, Washington.  He’s out to his family, but his father is in denial.  He lives across the street from an abandoned, dilapidated Victorian known as the Crimson House for its terrifying, storied past.  Cameron himself had a terrifying experience in it when he was twelve.  His best friend is Abby, an intense amateur ghosthunter with whom his father hopes Cameron will fall in love.  Out of the blue, another teen the same age moves into the Crimson House with his dad.  Hugo and his dad have been moving from place to place flipping houses, never settling down long enough to develop friends, let alone find a boyfriend.  The boys meet under less than ideal circumstances.  Eventually, they become friends, and Cameron introduces him to his circle of friends.  They start falling for each other.  Through all this, strange things happen in the house, and Cameron, Hugo, and their friends try to investigate.  They are quickly out of their league, but have to do something to save Hugo, his dad, and Cameron from the terrifying reality of the strange old woman who haunts the house.

Cameron, Hugo, and their friends are all terrific characters.  They are angsty and self-conscious, as most teens are.  Cameron was bullied his whole life for being fat and gay.  He’s lost weight but is still a little fluffy around the middle, and he hates it.  He’s now out to everyone, but there’s one particular bully who still tortures him.  Abby is a good friend, trying to help him build up his self-esteem, but with little effect.  Cameron’s dad is annoying, paying more attention to his sports loving older son, Jack.  He’s always dropping passive aggressive hints at Cameron about girls which Cameron hates but doesn’t confront.  Fortunately, Jack and the mom are very accepting.  Cameron is a good kid.  I was instantly drawn to him in the first couple of chapters.  

Hugo is Latinx and without connection.  His mom died in a car crash three years earlier and his dad is his only friend.  He’s been dealing with racist comments his whole life, as well as new kid taunts.  He’s more closeted than Cameron, never having come out to anyone but his mom and his college student older sister.  He gets into a fight with Cameron’s bully his first day at school and shuns the rest of kids in self-preservation.  Fortunately, Cameron breaks through Hugo’s shell, but it takes some effort.  

Abby and the others are good, quirky kids.  Chloe and Maya are a couple, and Chloe has insight into supernatural happenings.  Matty is an out, flirty kid with a supposedly straight, non-binary best friend who is also a jock.  When Hugo finally loosens up, they make a terrific team, tackling the mysteries and dangers of Crimson House.  

This book is called a “Heartstoppers” meets “The Haunting of Hill House” gay YA horror romance.  Now, I’ve never read either of those books, so I don’t know how much might be borrowed from them.  I just know that whatever the inspiration, Winters created a fantastic story.  In his Acknowledgments, he notes that some of Cameron’s experiences were his own.  I think it definitely shows in the ease in which I slipped into the characters.  In particular, the difficulty Cameron had letting Hugo put his hand under his shirt.  I struggled with this same issue when I was first coming out and trying to date.  

As I noted at the beginning, the spooky parts really creeped me out.  I thought it was all done masterfully, with the right amount of setup and suspense.  I had my guesses about the back story of the house, one of which turned out to be correct, but I was still surprised when it was revealed.  

This book is no literary masterpiece, but it is terrific, fast paced storytelling.  It kept me thoroughly engaged and spooked.  I would say it’s great fluff, but it’s deeper than that.  It has great world building, with an intricate haunted house, complex ghostly happenings, and a terrifying backstory.  I give this book five stars out of five.  This is definitely an emotional rating, based on my fear factor, my love of romance, and the fact I was up until 3 a.m. every night trying to read as much as I could.

Direct Descendant

Tanya Huff
Completed 10/11/2025, Reviewed 10/13/2025
4 stars

A cozy horror.  Eldritch, to be specific.  Not sure if that’s quite possible, but Tanya Huff did it in this novel.  My experience with Huff’s works average about three and a half stars.  A few above average, a few others terrific.  I lean a little towards terrific with this book, mostly because I’ve come to enjoy eldritch horror and always have a fondness for romance, especially in the LGBTQ+ rainbow.  My net feeling is that this book is basically fluff, but very enjoyable fluff.  I cheered for the protagonists and was a little surprised by the revelation of the evil-doer.  The writing didn’t feel up to par with Huff’s other works, but I still was glad to have read it and felt satisfied with the ending.

The narration follows two main characters in alternating chapters; both told in first person.  Cassidy lives in the small town of Lake Argen, Ontario, several hours north of Toronto.  She and several others are Guardians, the eyes, ears, and mouth of the dark forces with which the town has an agreement: service the dark forces in exchange for its prosperity and isolation.  One day, Cassidy witnesses a visitor seemingly sacrificing himself to the dark forces.  And hell literally begins breaking loose.  Then Melanie appears in town, sent by the visitor’s grandmother, to put closure on her missing grandson.  Cassidy and Melanie are attracted to each other and have a date or two.  Cassidy and the town try to hide the dark trouble from Melanie while the town cheers for the two women’s burgeoning relationship.  However, the lies of omission soon come to a head as the demons and monsters become evident to Melanie, and the darkness threatens to destroy the town.

The things I liked the most about this book were the Canadian details.  There are many references to Tim Hortons, people are generally friendly, and the summer days are very long.  I also liked the LGBTQ+ support by the general population.  I’m also a sucker for a good romance and I really enjoyed this silly love at first site relationship.  There’s even an awesome U-Haul reference to the old stereotype about how quickly lesbians form long term relationships.  Besides the romance, it was a good way to explain the backstory of the town which, until the big reveal, only comes in small doses.  

My biggest complaint was that I had a hard time following Cassidy’s narration.  There was something disjointed and non-intuitive about it.  While Melanie’s narration made sense, Cassidy’s was all over the place.  I think it had to do with the rate at which we were fed the nature of the dark forces and their interaction with the town, and particularly Cassidy’s role.  Character-wise, Aunt Jean was particularly annoying.  I felt like she mucked up the flow of the dialogue with her hardcore stance on keeping outsiders ignorant of the dark forces.  

Back to positives, though, I really liked that there were some eldritch creatures which coexisted in the town or its environs.  The mysterious Alice was some tentacled creature in the lake to whom the dead were sacrificed.  Oh yeah, and they said “s-word” instead of “sacrifice.”  There’s the strange young demon messenger that’s more like a cuddly sloth than a demon.  I was sad for the boy who was transforming into a blueberry eating, tentacled, big foot-like creature.  Add some militaristic crows and a couple of hell hounds to round out the Cthulu cast.

Overall, I felt very positive about the book.  I usually don’t give fractional ratings, but this one is clearly a toss up between three and four stars.  So I’m rounding up to four stars because of the cozy fluffy nature which was so entertaining.  This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was definitely mine.

Rogue Community College

David R Slayton
Completed 10/5/2025, Reviewed 10/8/2025
4 stars

This is the beginning of a new trilogy in the Adam Binder universe.  The first book of that trilogy was White Trash Warlock.  I loved that whole series and was delighted to find that a new series had begun.  This book is very different though.  It takes place in an interdimensional school run by the Elves.  Yes, a common trope since Harry Potter, but I almost always enjoy the variations that authors come up with.  This one educates and trains people who do not fit in more traditional schooling environments.  Enter Issac Frost, an assassin working for the “Undertaker” to kill the school itself.  With themes of loyalty, inclusion, found family, and morality, this book features an asexual M/M romance that is heartbreaking.  

The book opens with Issac coming upon a house where goblins have captured Vran, an Elf who made an appearance in the previous series.  To Vran’s dismay, Issac kills a few of the goblins, but a few get away.  Argent, the Elf queen from the Binder series, appears and Isaac explains he has escaped being a young, orphaned assassin for the Undertaker.  Argent takes him and Vran back to the school.  Little do they know that Isaac’s mission is to destroy the heart of the school.  Over time, Isaac assimilates into the environment.  He also slowly falls in love with Vran.  Isaac begins to question the reason he was assigned to destroy the school now that he has befriended his classmates and fallen in love.

The transformation arc of Isaac from ruthless young adult to empathetic, love-struck student who wants to save the school is very well done.  Slayton is a master at character arcs, as was evident in the Binder series.  At the beginning of the story, Isaac just wants to get this job done so he can go back to the Undertaker to help overthrow him.  Isaac is part of a small group of rebellious young adults who want to end the acquisition and abuse of orphaned boys who then are turned into paid assassins for their mysterious, dark master.  But finding the heart of the school is not easy as it magically changes its rooms and hallways until the school trusts the new student.  Isaac begins to appreciate the classes and assignments as well as his classmates.  Then Isaac falls for Vran, which exacerbates the cognitive dissonance over his original mission.

Another interesting thing about Isaac is that he is a Phage, a being that consumes a few drops of another being’s blood to ingest knowledge of them as well as some of their powers.  He’s not a vampire, as he does not need it to live.  It is more of a superpower.  During one battle, he ingests some blood from his classmate Ford who is half human, half troll and gains his super strength.  To complicate matters, Isaac may be the last Phage, not having known his parents or interacted with any other Phages.  In several really cool scenes, he visits a demon at the school who does a sort of regression therapy with him to try to get him to remember his parents and early childhood.

The classmates have very distinct personalities, which helped differentiate them and their voices.  One nice thing was that their class was small and other students were hidden in other parts of the school.  It made it much easier to keep track of everyone.  Ford is interesting as the sweet, optimistic jock.  Hex is the perfect student who doesn’t trust Isaac.  Vran, the sea Elf, is sweet, caring, and brooding.  He has an interesting relationship with the Elven King and Queen that is not fully explained until it becomes apparent towards the end.  He is also asexual, which Isaac accepts as part of their relationship.

The world building was terrific.  The school was Liberty House from the Binder series.  It was its own character with its changing halls and rooms as well as its “heart.”  It would take you where you needed to go if it trusted you.  It opened to the other dimensions, like standard Earth, the faerie world, the Underworld, and the sea kingdom.  The prose was just right as well, not too flowery or plodding.  It made for a fast-paced read.  I give this book four stars out of five.  It’s different in tone from Adam Binder, but just as enthralling.  I’m looking forward to the next volume.

In Tongues

Thomas Grattan
Completed 10/1/2025, Reviewed 10/3/2025
4 stars

This is my first non-genre read in a while.  I got it on sale because it was a RuPaul book club selection.  Then I found out it was nominated for a 2025 Lammy for Gay Novel.  My expectations rose.  Well, I finally read it and yes, it’s a very good book.  However, the protagonist is not very likeable.  He’s a young, self-centered gay man from a very unsupportive family and a recent breakup who leaves Minnesota to start anew in New York City.  It’s an interesting perspective; I have not read much fiction where the main character is annoying, whether gay or straight.  So I had to work at being open-minded, getting through this finely written novel with a strong character arc navigating through sex, love, classism, and ageism.

Gordon is twenty-four in 2001, freshly landed from the upper Midwest.  With a job at a lousy grocery store, he shares an apartment with a cool lesbian bartender.  When he leaves the job, her girlfriend gets him work walking the dogs of Manhattan’s upper crust.  One job is for an A-list, art gallery owning gay couple, Phillip and Nicola.  Gordon gets closer to the couple as they ask him to help host a dinner party, dog and apartment sit, and be a personal assistant.  Soon, the lines blur between employee, friend, and lover, getting Gordon into trouble with most of the people around him.  He travels to Europe with Phillip right before 9/11, then later to Mexico City to follow an artist with whom he has a brief but passionate affair.  In the meantime, he alienates his closest friend, the bartender, and hunts the parks and piers for quick hookups and false connection.  

The best thing about Gordon is that he does learn about life, relationships, and himself through the course of the book.  But it’s not an easy road for him.  He uses sarcasm and dry humor as a defense mechanism which is obviously off-putting.  He sleeps with just about anyone at the drop of a hat, lacking any discernment or control.  The A-list couple are an odd pair.  Phillip is quite a bit older than Nicola and its clear things are rocky between them.  They both show kindness toward Gordon, particularly Phillip.  When Nicola and Gordon have a quick tryst, things become tense between them.  However, Gordon maintains a warm fascination toward Phillip despite taking advantage of his kindness.

It was hard to read about Gordon’s youthful indiscretions, manipulations, and spitefulness as a senior remembering my own raucous youth.  I also have quite the aversion toward A-gay culture, full of nasty shade, snobbery, and disdain.  Phillip and Nicola’s parties reminded me of two I attended.  Around 1984, I went to one in jeans and a T-shirt, like most young guys my age, only to find all the fifty or so clone boys wearing almost the exact same chinos, button-down collar shirts, and topsiders.  At another party, around 1992, I wore a nice flannel and jeans, but all the gays that showed up were again in chinos, button-down collar shirts, and topsiders.  To be fair, a few had designer polo shirts LOL.  At both, I was mostly ignored.  Having had those experiences, I found old buttons pushed in many scenes.  

However, Gordon does mature from his youthful arrogance, slowly, but eventually, as one would hope in a coming-of-age novel.  And the end is heartfelt.  I give this book four stars out of five.  The characters are written so well with great arcs.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had such strong reactions to their choices and consequences.  This book reminded me about how much I liked slice of life novels.  I don’t know if I’d pick this as a winner for the Lammy, but it certainly deserved to be nominated.

The Bones Beneath my Skin

TJ Klune
Completed 9/27/2025, Reviewed 10/1/2025
4 stars

If you love TJ KIune, you’ll love this book.  I loved it, though I recognized it dragged in a few places and had some repetitive sections.  It hits all my buttons, particularly found family and unlikely gay romance.  This book is more of a sci fi thriller than a romance, but the relationship dynamics are awesome.  This book was an unusual turn for Klune, originally self-published, but rereleased by Tor in 2022 after he shot to stardom with The House in the Cerulean Sea.  

Nate Cartwright was fired from the Washington Post for having an illicit moment with a junior representative.  In addition, his parents recently died in a murder-suicide.  Estranged from them and his brother, he only inherited a mountain cabin in Roseville, Oregon, and an old pickup truck.  He decides to escape to the cabin, lick his wounds, and figure out what to do next.  However, when he gets there, he finds a young girl and her “bodyguard.”  They refuse to leave and after a brief, hole-filled accounting of their situation, Nate reluctantly lets them stay.  The bodyguard is Alex, who seems to be an ex-military type.  The girl is ten-year-old Artemis Darth Vader.  She appears to have some unexplainable gifts.  When the house is surrounded by black helicopters and mysterious federal agents, the trio goes on the run, resulting in a cat and mouse chase where Nate is eventually let in on the secrets Alex and Art possess.  

As in most of his books, the protagonist Nate is simply lovable in his brokenness.  You feel for his initial plight, and you understand his decision to protect Art and Alex even though he doesn’t understand it himself.  Nate is tired and empty, but also empathetic and caring.  For some reason he feels drawn to the snarky, wise-cracking little girl, though he can’t figure Alex out.  Alex keeps his feelings and background tightly controlled, only letting Nate learn as much as he deems necessary.  Of course, Nate slowly falls for Alex despite his frustration in his not being completely forthcoming.  

Artemis, or Art, is certainly a mystery through the first two thirds of the book.  At first, she says odd things, like she never met a waitress before or eaten bacon.  Then, on their first encounter with the feds, she uses superpowers to help them escape.  She is clearly not an ordinary child.  Klune keeps her character snarky in just the right amount throughout the book.  She is also very insightful, dropping hints that she knows that Alex and Nate are attracted to each other, despite their protestations.  Through her odd but adult statements, she helps Nate move through his thinking that this is a parental abduction or some scary pedophile thing to an unbelievable government coverup.  

The part that was most problematic for me was the constant bickering between Nate and Alex.  It’s interesting at first, then kind of fun, then just tedious.  When Alex finally starts opening up about himself and Art, the book picks up again.  Despite this, the suspense was still top-notch.  It kept me turning the pages well until late each night.  The science fiction aspect was pretty cool, though we don’t discover all the details until about two-thirds of the way through.  So I’m not revealing it since it would be a spoiler.  There’s also a creepy comet cult led by another ex-military guy from Artemis’ past.  That part made my skin crawl.  It’s clearly a reference to the Heaven’s Gate cult, and if I remember correctly, Klune even has a Nike reference in there somewhere.  

I give this book four stars out of five.  Despite getting all warm and fuzzy as Nate, Art, and Alex’s relationships grew, the repetitive nature of the conflict between Nate and Alex was tiresome.  Art kept it fresh.  I also appreciated the slow explanation of Art and Alex’s origins leading up to this point.  It kept it from feeling like massive info dumps.  The book has that TJ Klune warmth that makes me feel cozy reading his books, whether it’s his mainstream novels, or his more sexually explicit earlier romantasy works like Wolfsong of the Green Creek series.  I can’t wait to read more of his back catalogue, both genre and non-genre.