Books

Book 1,041: Would You Like to Be a Family? – koyama

Apparently, there are three stories in this one short collection, and I only remember one, so that doesn’t bode well. The biggest struggle for me was the style. I’m not the biggest fan of the super stretched out/tall bodies and super angular faces. I think it just makes them all look creepy.

The story itself was actually very cute (or least the one I remember) Takemura is a shy loner who had a bad bullying experience in high school, so he keeps to himself, but his coworker Natsui is outgoing and has tried to engage him before. They meet one evening in the grocery store and Takemura finds out Natsui has a kid and can’t get out of a dinner invite.

Before you know it, they’re all hanging out all the time. There’s even an awkward moment where Takemura has to go pick up the kid (cannot remember their names) and it goes well even though Takemura is SOO nervous. In the end the kid is the one that’s like hey you need to move in here, we’re always happier when you’re here. I’m 99% sure the book was sex free and that anything that did or didn’t happen was 100% off page and it was kind of refreshing knowing how edgy manga/yaoi/BL can get.

Recommendation: It’s a cute read. I’m a little concerned I have ZERO recollection of the other stories, but the entire book was pretty short, so they must’ve been even shorter. Illustration style wasn’t my jam, but I could see where others like it as there are quite a few in this style.

Books

Books 1,037-1,040: I Think Our Son Is Gay, Vols. 1-4 (I Think #1-4) – Okura

Y’all, I can’t even tell you how adorable these books are. Think Heartstopper, but without the getting together (they’re younger than Nick and Charlie) and the beautiful acceptance of My Brother’s Husband and you’ll start to see where these fall.

These are told from mom Tomoko’s point of view, and she is the most loving and accepting person. She’s started to note that Hiroki, her oldest son, slips up saying “he’s handsome” or “my husband” and she just goes with the flow. She doesn’t ask questions or ask for declarations, she just let’s it slide and tries to make an accepting home for her son.

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Books

Book 1,032: Something Like Summer (Something Like . . . #1) – Jay Bell

I have had this book on my radar for as long as I can remember. Definitely long before the 2017 adaptation (which I still need to watch), but I’m not sure when or how I heard of it. I’m sure it was back in the early 2010s not long after it was originally written, and I was desperate to find LGBT love stories. What a world we’re in now where there’s a plethora of all genres and all tastes!

Something Like Summer is the tale of the tumultuous relationship between openly gay Ben who is a total nerd and artsy and the new kid Tim who’s moved to town and immediately falls in with the popular kids. What starts out as an unrequited crush quickly turns into a DL friends with benefits and Bell takes it from there through a lifetime.

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ARC, Books

Book 1,031: Speak of the Devil – Rose Wilding

OMFG. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to read this. I accepted an ARC ages ago from the publisher, but then school and life got in the way and I blew past the publication date.* Then there were so many MM Holiday Romances I just had to read, and this is where we ended up me reading it in January 2024, six months after publication, and then finally getting the review posted almost a year to the date after publication (six months after I read it but back-scheduling). OH, THE SHAME.

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Books

Book 1,014: Find Me Worthy (Safe Harbor #3) – Annabeth Albert

Of the three books in Annabeth Albert’s Safe Harbor trilogy, this one was by far my favorite. I won’t say it’s unfortunate that you need to read the other two to get to this one, because they’re still well written books, but you do have to read the two of them to truly appreciate this book due to the underlying murder mystery that ties them together.

Find Me Worthy is the story of Sam, the slightly younger (I imagine slightly nerdy) do-gooder that idolized Monroe (from Bring Me Home), Holden (from Make Me Stay), and Worth, the other protagonist of this novel who fled as soon as he could after his mother disappeared and buried himself in first an MBA and then a high-stakes finance job that’s come crashing down around him.

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