February Reviews

For the shortest month of the year, I really did read a lot of books. Pay no attention to the picture above, with my unpictured ebooks I read a grand total of eleven books this month. I'm sure there's math for what that averages out to per week but I don't want to even think about that. I read a lot, get off my case.

Heart2Heart Anthology Volumes 7 and 8

Surprise! No pictures of these two because I got the kindle versions and read them both in like three days on my phone. The author of one of the queer romantasy series I'm sort of obsessed with, Tavia Lark, is featured in the paranormal volume, so when she said the proceeds go to charity, I figured, why not.

Heart2Heart is a collection of romance short stories based around the concept of a dating app that claims to find your perfect match. Heart2Heart gives you a chatting or blind date option, and folks can decide how they want to jump into finding love. Every author follows the same prompt but with their own spin, and it was delightful to see all the creative ways folks crafted their stories.

Because they're anthologies this will be a quick review, since we all know I'm not going to write an individual review for each story (it would take way too long). Instead, I'll just quickly say that I thought the contemporary one started a little weaker but ended strong, and that I really liked a lot of the stories. The paranormal one was just fun all the way through, even if I did have my favorites. All spicy (it's a romance series, what did you expect) but all about falling in love in a fated way. For someone who doesn't do the dating thing in real life, I do sometimes really love to read about it, and honestly a bunch of bite sized, smutty love stories was perfect for the week leading up to Valentine's day. 

I might just have to check out the other volumes. 

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

This was one of those books that I saw often enough on social media that I was immediately suspicious. I don't really trust what little of booktok breaches containment and have been burned before by high profile books, so this was a bit of a leap of faith for me, but it absolutely paid off.

Lobby, Nico, Reina, Paris, Cullum, and Tristan have been selected as the greatest medians of their time and hand picked to join a secret society of scholars. They study for a year, and when the year is up they will choose one among them to be eliminated while the others move on to untold power and untapped magic. Each a powerful specialist in their own right, and the relationships formed and broken between the six are their guide posts during the year. Bur something is strange in the society, something no one seems to want to talk about, and as secrets are revealed, who they can cannot trust will be put to the test.

I've been describing this book as a, like, dark academia like Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House but with a nearly backbreaking amount of scholastic lore and theory. That was maybe the hardest part of the book-- the dense understanding of not only the created magic of the world but the physics behind it. The characters are experimenting with space and time and wielding power far beyond my scope of understanding. It was incredibly well written and well beyond my physics knowledge to even know if it was inaccurate. But it was like poetry and I was willing to be dragged along for the ride.

Each of the six characters takes their turn at the pov helm and each of them have such a unique way of looking at the world, with the writing style reflecting that very impressively. All six are complicated characters with complicated wants and feelings and their own reasons for accepting the society's offer, and in a wild twist that almost never happens in alternate poverty novels, I was never disappointed with any perspective. I was always delighted to see who's head we'd landed in and intrigued to learn more about either their own individual plots or the main one. 

This book has layers on layers of secrets, building so sneakily toward the ending that I couldn't put it down, eagerly chasing after these magicians as they solved mystery after mystery. The world building was phenomenal, and with every new bit I learned about magic the more fascinated I became. I will absolutely be reading the rest of the trilogy, as I simply must know how it all turns out. 

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa

I have to say, this classic remixed series had really produced some bangers, this one included.

Oliver Bennet, second-eldest Bennet sibling, knows he's a boy, even if the rest of society doesn't. With his sister and best friend's help, he's able to spend time as himself, and on one of his outings he encounters Darcy-- a man who'd previously dismissed him as Elizabeth at a dance. But this Darcy is nothing like the other, and as he grows closer to the man he realizes that there is a chance he can find happiness as his true self. But the suitors after Elizabeth are growing bolder, and it will take a lot courage and acceptance for Oliver to truly shine. 

I love Pride and Prejudice, and I also love all the creative ways people have interpreted the story over the years. This one, with the Bennet main character reimagined as a transgender man, was delightful. Oliver does face a lot of terrible things-- he's forced to live as a girl, deal with body dysmorphia on a regular basis, and balance what is essentially a double life, all while trying to keep himself both safe and happy, a nearly impossible feat. He's funny and brave and knows what he won't settle for, and I appreciate so much that while the story does put him through the paces, (spoilers sorry) he's still accepted as himself in the end.

The author is also very aware of the fact that because Oliver is still closeted, his deadname is used frequently and he's often misgendered, a warning he's upfront about and still handles, I think, as tactfully as you can in that situation. He also includes some historical elements that are queer-friendly, including queer friendly spaces that would have existed at the time, which is awesome. I love learning about queer historical facts and people, because we have always and will always exist.

I blew through this book in like 24 hours, and had a blast seeing how Novoa changed things while still keeping the well known throughline of this very famous story. The characters are all there, just as awkward and/or loveable (or detestable, fuck you Wickham) as ever, and Novoa did a fantastic job making them the same but still so different. An upgrade, if you will, though I do think the new Oliver Bennet and the original Elizabeth Bennet would get along in their headstrong way. And I do so love a happy ending.

This really was such a heartwarming and lovely remix and I highly recommend for both fans of the original and folks looking for a new take on a classic tale. 

Evergreen by Devin Greenlee

I wanted to like this book more than I did, bit it is sort of a love story and it's February, so I'll give it that.

Quill is sick and tired of being stuck at home. The first male dryad ever born and still waiting for his powers to kick in, it just isn't safe for Quill out in the world. But when he meets Liam, the boy next door, his world opens up, just in time for it to all come crashing down again.

The dryad lore in this was really interesting. I love modern magic stories, and this had some really fun elements to it. I thought the dryads absorbing water like plants was especially clever.

That being said, I didn't super vibe with the story itself. The plot felt a little off to me, the progression a little stilted, and I wasn't totally in love with any of the characters. I don't know, maybe I'm just mad because it seems like the problems could've been easily solved from the get go by just communicating. I couldn't always track Quill's mood shifts too, so that didn't really help.

I hate writing negative reviews, because I truly feel that every book is written for someone and has the potential to be someone's favorite book, and it's okay if it's not for me, but I never want to drag an author just because I didn't really like something. So I'm hoping this comes across as not terribly rude, just that the book isn't for me.

The Spells We Cast by Jason June

I figured another romance would be a good idea for Valentine's Day (a halfhearted theme attempt, who me?)

Nigel has been training his entire life for the culling-- magicians good enough to survive join the Guild, a magical society that fights the Depraved to protect humanity, while those that can't cut it are stripped of their magic. But Nigel's not prepared for Ori and the way he makes him feel, or the way their magic seems to explode when they touch. Whatever is between them is powerful enough to cause some real damage, or just maybe change things for good.

I'll be completely honest, I didn't really vibe with this book. The concept is neat and the world building is interesting, but I think maybe the writing style just wasn't my thing. It took me a while to get through the first half and then I was skimming pages for the last. Nigel is a sweet character and he and Ori were fun enough to follow, but I just couldn't connect with him enough to get really into the story. It is YA and I'm an adult, so that's probably why, but I think I was just disappointed because I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

We'll keep this quick for that reason, but honestly if you're looking for a queer cowboy in a magic competition, there was a lot of creativity that went into crafting this story.

Impromptu Match by Lily Mayne

Another surprise non-pictured book because I've started reading spicy books on my phone to maintain some semblance of innocence for my mom. If you actually read these, congrats, you more about what I read than my mom does.

Taylor's life is boring-- he's worked for the same soul-sucking for twelve years and hasn't dated since his ex dumped him four years ago. He even irons his underwear. But when he stumbles upon an underground monster wrestling ring owned and operated by incredibly handsome, Holt, things start to seem less and less boring.

This was just unashamedly adorable and horny. And the spicy scenes was hot, but what I liked was that the story itself was entertaining and funny, with clever character and wrestling gimmicks, a cool take on monsters and creatures, and a really sweet love story. 

The only "complaint" I suppose could be that there wasn't really conflict, but honestly the story was just a joyful time with a lot of self improvement and learning to make choices for yourself rather than other people. Also weird bean guys that do karate. Honestly, I had a blast with it.

Dipped in Sunshine by Fearne Hill

Another non-pictured book, whoops, I promise I'm actually reading like three books at once right now so it's fine.

Christian Grey, affectionately nicknamed Fifty by his friends, has a problem. And the problem isn't his best friend's little brother, far too young and far too interested, but it might as well be. But as Otto helps Fifty navigate the parts of himself he's not sure about, they may have a chance to build something together (assuming said best friend doesn't kill him first).

Honestly, I gave this one a chance because I loved Fearne Hill's short story in the Heart2Heart anthology and was hoping that would sort of carry over into this one. It didn't, but I still had a decent enough time that I finished the book.

I'm not opposed to age gaps in stories if they're done well, and while this story had moments of like...not as well as I wanted,  it did have a lot of funny bits and surprisingly tender moments of two guys fumbling their way through a first big relationship. Demisexual rep!

The writing was a bit awkward, but that could also be chalked up to the characters all being from different places and speaking English as a second language (except Fifty, who was maybe just kind of weird sometimes lol). I will say I love his nickname, I think the name is super clever.

Overall, I wasn't totally enamored by this story, but it was a good enough time to finish the book.

Prince of Air and Darkness by M. A. Grant

Another 'prince something' book to add to my read list, but this was was a totally different vibe from the others.

Phineas Smith is a rarity-- a host for the ley line, he has unimaginable power and barely the control to wield it. Prince Roark Lynne is the only thing keeping that control in check, and it's a shame Finn can't stand him, it would make wanting him a little bit easier to manage. As Finn grows more powerful, so does the threat of the Seelie and Unseelie courts, and it will take both of them to see an ending that isn't a tragedy for everyone.

I love a fae and human love story, especially one that follows so much court drama. At times it felt like reading two different stories as the perspective switched between Roark and Finn. Finn was living a collegiate story, tinged with the desperation to keep himself alive long enough to save his family's farm. Roark was a whole court drama and political intrigue, drenched in forbidden love and imitate threats of death. That back and forth was sometimes a little whip-lashy, but it also provided a lot of "oh noooo!" moments as certain knowledge got bigger and bigger for just one character.

I liked Grant's writing style and the world she built, this college campus an in between for the face courts and the human world. The different types of fae were interesting, but I really liked the complicated relationship between Roark and his mother, Mab, even more than all the magic present.

Roark and Finn's love story was a bit of a slow burn on Roark's end (six years, my guy, holy shit) and a burst of sudden enemies to friends to lovers to Finn, which was such a fun dissonance.

I think my only gripes about this are that things maybe wrapped up a little too neatly? I don't know, I appreciate the ending for the resolution of it and the (spoilers) clear happiness it gave them both, but it is feel like the knight problem was solved too easily. Or maybe my understanding of it wasn't quite right, but it seemed to resolve in ways I didn't know that it could without just straight up ruining someone's life. But, you know what, it was a happy ending to an entertaining story, so I'm not mad.

Overall this was a fun modern magic fae court love story with an angsty prince and a farmer golden boy, can't complain.

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

Finishing the month how I started it: deep in magical academia and murder.

The newest initiates of The Society have a year to research within the archives, reaping what they sowed with their initiate destruction. Only, they're all convinced Libby isn't dead-- she's lost in time somewhere. And it will take all five of them to get her home, as well as keep themselves alive.

This is book two in the Atlas trilogy, and it takes the magic and physics of the original to an even further extreme. The characters are just as enthralling and also maybe kind of insane in the most heart pounding, entertaining way. Each of their perspectives continues to be riveting, and their convergence and dissemination devastating and remarkable. The language is scholastic but also hilarious and witty and heartbreaking. Just, the creativity it took to make something like this, something that holds up characters as gods and gives them the agency to hate and save one another, it's just astounding. I will forever be impressed by everything Blake has done with this series and am beyond excited to read the next book.

It's building toward something that I feel like I'm running to keep up with, something that will drop from nowhere and cinch the foreshadowing into sense and leave me breathless. I do not know who the heroes are, who the sane ones will be, or who will even make it out of this alive, and I truly cannot wait to find out. I've already ordered the next book, so catch me screaming about this series next month.

Prince of Agony by Tavia Lark

Because I'm an overachiever, we're actually ending on a book that came out the same day I'm writing this because I read it in a day.

The final book in Tavia Lark's Perilous Courts series follows the youngest Dire prince, Kazia, who's hidden grail status has made him a pawn in his father's game of pain. But when captured Lucian Vaire practically falls into Kazia's lap, the opportunity to not just escape but maybe take the throne becomes a real possibility. As Kazia and Lucien grow closer, so does their only chance at freedom, if they're both brave enough to take it.

It's wild to see the end of a series that I fully just devoured. I had to wait for this book to come out, and the waiting didn't make it any less strange to reach the end. Kazia is a very compelling character, with a lot of complicated protective layers, and watching then slowly start to open up and let Lucien in was gratifying. Lucien, similarly, is a character that was fun to finally see step into the sun. He's been around since book one, and it was such a delight to finally have him fall in love. 

Kazia's perspective was both interesting and heartbreaking, after seeing his chaos through his brother's perspectives for two books and finally receiving context for it. I will say I think I almost enjoyed the perspectives and planning more than the falling in love. It's about healing and learning that love doesn't fix a person but it can change their life. That being said, things progressed very quickly in the second half of the book, not quite to the detriment of the story but it was slightly jarring in places.

Overall this maybe wasn't my favorite of the Perilous Courts series, but it was a very sweet and vindication end to a series I would happily read again.

And that's it! Happy February and see you all next month!

Literary recommendation: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane

Media recommendation: I have been working my way through the most recent season of Love Is Blind, and it's trashy reality tv but it's my chosen reality tv so