ARC, Books

Book 1,068: The Rules of Royalty – Cale Dietrich

Book cover of "The Rules of Royalty"Imagine the Princess Diaries, but gay, with a few more edits and that’s what you get here, and I loved it. I accepted this galley at some point last year and finally got around to it on vacation in March.*

Seriously, imagine on your 17th birthday your adoptive mother is like oh heyyyy remember how I’ve been open with you about your mom. Well your mom actually wanted me to keep all of this LIFE CHANGING INFORMATION FROM YOU. As if you weren’t going through enough issues as a gay teen, throw in that you’re apparently also a crown prince of a small European country, yeah oof.

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Books

Book 1,054: The Heartstopper Yearbook – Alice Oseman

I hadn’t really planned on buying or reading this. It’s one of those add on things, that you always wonder if it’s a cash grab or a demand of the publisher (or production company by the time this was released), versus something the author truly wanted. That being said as we were packing up to move I found a $25+ credit for one of our local book stores and wanted to use it. I went looking for something else and they didn’t have it, and it’s not an area of the city we live near anymore so I knew I wouldn’t be back so I grabbed this.

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Book 1,029: Racing into Love (Cut to the Feeling #1) – Noah Steele

Oof. Steele is hit or miss for me, and this was a HUGE miss. After reading Heartthrob back in late 2022, I knew I wanted to read more by Steele, but it seems he’s only just hit his stride with Heartthrob, because this one was just not good and the middle one Catch Me If I Fall was mediocre, and I think that had more to do with timing than the book itself.

On the surface I should’ve loved Racing Into Love, awkward bookstore owner Aiden, is forced to face his fears when he meets athlete/race car driver Derrek, in order for them to be together.

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Book 1,027: Heartstopper, Vol. 5 (Hearstopper #5) – Alice Oseman

Where do I even start with this series. I’ve read the first four volumes multiple times. With each new release I hold my breath and cross my fingers that Oseman doesn’t somehow pull the rug out from under us. She definitely didn’t this time, it’s just more unadulterated queer joy and I am here for it.

In Volume 5, Nick and Charlie have to come to terms with the fact that Nick is wrapping up secondary school and has to start thinking about his future. And that future includes university options all over the country. What that means for their relationship has yet to be seen.

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Book 999: Head to Head (Nerds vs Jocks #3) – Eli Easton & Tara Lain

Of course, if half their frats start falling in love with each other, the presidents of each would too. Head to Head brings us Jax, the hipster president of the Sigma nerds, and Rand, the soccer-playing, pre-MBA president of the jocks.

These two had the most hatred for each other than any of the other members of their frats and that’s just coming from them being background characters. The bulk of that seems to have been from Rand’s point of view, but even Jax loses his cool more often than not.

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