ARC, Books

Book 866: Under the Whispering Door – T.J. Klune

After loving everything I’ve read by Klune so far it was obvious I was going to read this. And then, when it appeared on NetGalley AND I was approved, I had to sit on it for SO. MANY. MONTHS.* It was 100% worth the wait.

Having not read any of Klune’s “adult” books, this one feels more mature than his superhero books (The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire) or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Most of this is directly because there are no young adult characters and this deals so much with the topics of death and grief. And it brings up so many philosophical ideas about life and death that I’m sure I still missed plenty.

Continue reading “Book 866: Under the Whispering Door – T.J. Klune”

ARC, Books

Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. After really adoring The Midnight Lie, I thought it was a shoe-in this one would be just as good. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

The publicist reached out to me a few months ago and I was immediately drawn to the story because of the slow reveal of the magic and the love story aspect.* And Rutkoski really delivered on that in book one, but it just fell short for me in this book. Some of it may have been the narration, but I think the ending was what really sealed it for me as being meh.

Continue reading “Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski”

ARC, Books

Book 860: Obie is Man Enough – Schuyler Bailar

When I saw this on NetGalley I knew I was going to request it.* I remember the news stories of Bailar joining the Harvard University swim team and being the first trans athlete to compete on any NCAA D1 Men’s team and when I saw he wrote this I knew I wanted to read it.

The bulk of my LGBT reading is either MM Romance of some sort or nonfiction history/politics. There are a few Sapphic romances and a few with trans characters mixed in, but for the most part it’s not very diverse when it comes to reading the entire rainbow so I was super happy when the publisher approved my request!

Continue reading “Book 860: Obie is Man Enough – Schuyler Bailar”

ARC, Books

Book 856: The Last Chance Library – Freya Sampson

When I saw the title of this one, it was a no brainer I was going to request a copy of it from the publisher.* I’m sure I read the blurb and thought it was a great premise, but by time I got around to reading it (months after I was approved) I had forgotten the premise of the novel.

The Last Chance Library is the story of June Jones. It’s ostensibly the story of her trying to save her local library which is threatened with closing because of council cuts, but it’s really the story of her finally getting over her mother’s death and the processing of the grief, while finding a community. There were also SOOO many books mentioned (I think I got them all in my list at the end of my post).

Continue reading “Book 856: The Last Chance Library – Freya Sampson”

ARC, Books

Book 844: An Unexpected Kind of Love – Hayden Stone

I grabbed a copy of this from NetGalley when I was looking for books to fill in between other upcoming deadlines.* It had a cute premise and reminded me a lot of Notting Hill so of course I was going to want to read it!

Aubrey has taken over his family’s bookstore and is struggling to keep it afloat after he was unceremoniously dumped by his first (and only long term) boyfriend for their mutual friend, when he meets Blake, an up-and-coming American movie star who’s filming a movie up the street and encourages the film to approach Aubrey about using his store as a set.

Continue reading “Book 844: An Unexpected Kind of Love – Hayden Stone”