Tag: Oregon

ARC, Books

Book 887: If This Gets Out – Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich

Geoff W

My little closeted teenage heart would’ve died to read something like this in the late-90s/early-00s. So, when I saw it on NetGalley I requested it IMMEDIATELY, the publisher approved, and I have been sitting on it for months.*

I know I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it—I am SO jealous of all the teens today getting to see themselves in books like this. I mean hell I enjoy them and I am WELL outside the target demographic for these.

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Books

Book 846: The Lavender Menace – Tom Cardamone (Ed.)

Geoff W

UGH. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I remember the excitement when I stumbled across it seven years ago at PAX East in the LGBT lounge. I guess I either forgot the premise or didn’t really read the full premise of the book so ended up slightly disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong there were definitely a few stories I very much enjoyed (more the redemptive ones) and there was some great writing throughout the novel, but there were some larger issues with the collection that may reflect when it was originally published (2013) and how far we’ve come as a society, and also the background of the editor (cis white gay man).

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ARC, Books

Book 806: The Music of Bees – Eileen Garvin

Geoff W

I had no expectations of this going in. I grabbed a copy from NetGalley after re-upping my name on the Dutton ARC/Review copy list and if I’m honest I totally chose it because of the cover and the lyricalness of the title.*

I was so glad when I started reading that I fell right into it. Garvin has a way of building place and chosen family that does sometimes feel slow—it’s like COME ON you’re totally going to be BFFs forever we all can see it, just get there—but really is the perfect pace. She also clearly has s huge respect for bees and their place in the pollination cycle.

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Books

Book 750: Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius the Great #1) – Adib Khorram

Geoff W

As I mentioned in my monthly recap I discovered this when Sarah from Sarah Reads Too Much sat on an awards committee of some sort and they really liked this one (can’t remember if it won or not). I added it to my list then, but when I saw her talk about the sequel I knew I needed to bring it forward on my list.

I thoroughly enjoyed my very slow read of this. I probably wouldn’t have read it this slow, but life got in the way. I read a chapter or two at a time over two-ish weeks and it allowed me to luxuriate in Khorram’s rich descriptions and characters.

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Books

Book 717: Mr. Right Now – Annabeth Albert

Geoff W

I had NO intentions of reading another Annabeth Albert book right after that, I fully planned to jump into Eric Cervini’s The Deviant’s War (or one of the other half-dozen ARC/galleys I’m trailing), but when I saw this flipping through Kindle Unlimited I of course jumped at it.

This is a holiday novella and comes in at just over 120 pages and I’m honestly mad at myself for not saving it for the holiday season so I’ll have to keep an eye out for other options.

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