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Book 968: Henry Hamlet’s Heart – Rhiannon Wilde

I picked this review copy up a while ago and due to school and work being a bit much recently, I’m posting this almost two weeks late.* I really try to have my responses published the week of publication but that week was also the week my first big paper was due, which I did great on, but still better luck next time.

Henry Hamlet’s Heart is the story of Henry and Len, best friends that have been in each others’ orbit forever. Henry has existed as the non-sexual know-it-all brainiac and Len has existed as the sexually fluid footballer who does what he wants when he wants with whoever he wants.

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Book 967: Our Dreams at Dusk (Our Dreams at Dusk #1) – Yuhki Kamatani

I found this one on a list of manga to read after really enjoying My Love: Mix-up! along with I Hear the Sunspot. So when I saw my local library had a copy of this I put it on hold and grabbed it before our weekend away earlier this month.

At heart, Our Dreams at Dusk is a coming-of-age and coming-out story. Tasuku has moved to a new town and he’s been outed and has to come to terms with either being open about it or trying to continue to hide it. So this one is not as light and fluffy as many of the other BL Manga I’ve read.

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Book 959: The Dove in the Belly – Jim Grimsley

When I finished re-reading Dream Boy back in May, I did a quick search to see what Jim Grimsley was up to these days and stumbled across this upcoming release. I reached out to the publisher for a copy and crossed my fingers it wasn’t going to be as traumatic or emotionally draining as the others I’ve read.*

The Dove in the Belly is the story of Ronny and Ben. It takes place on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in the 1970s and that’s the main reason I wanted to read this, Grimsley went to UNC and having it set on the UNC campus intrigued me as I also went to UNC and remember some of the history around the early LGBT organizations and experiences on campus.

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Book 951: Playing for Keeps (Sporting Secrets #3) – Jax Calder

It was a no-brainer I would say yes when this one finally arrived in my inbox.* I enjoyed Playing Offside and Playing at Home so much and was getting antsy this one was taking so long (a whole 6 months). It was definitely worth the wait and I’ll gladly wait this long again because Calder does a good job not only in writing the stories but also in making sure they’re reviewer ready. I’m still shuddering after a couple of recent ones I read that needed to start over.

This is the story of Ethan and Luke, childhood best friends who were inseparable until Char, Luke’s twin sister, ended up pregnant with Ethan’s kid, Theo. Needless to say shit hit the fan and they went their separate ways (including Luke fleeing to Japan to play professional rugby), but Luke is back to achieve his dream of playing for the New Zealand national team and he happened to sign with Ethan’s professional team, not because of Ethan but because of the out players on the team.

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Book 936: Café con Lychee – Emery Lee

What another wonderful juxtaposition from Dream Boy with so much light and happiness and just pure wholesome queer joy, I’ve really been putting myself through an emotional rollercoaster these last couple of weeks. Seriously, emotional whiplash is not fun and thankfully I can work from home where tearing up on my lunch break is totally acceptable.

I requested a copy of Café con Lychee because 1) I love lychee, like seriously on everything and lychee candy is the best—I say “LIE-chee” not “LEE-chee”; 2) to BIPOC protagonists which YA Lit is a lot better about than MM Romance; and 3) New England.*

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