What I read in February!
Mar. 3rd, 2025 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mozaikmageIt was a very slow month at work so I got a very normal amount of reading done! Structured in order of when I read them, because I have a narrative arc in the middle there.
Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell: Ahhh this was so good. I knew it was going to be good before reading it (my coworker gifted it to me! And I keep up with the comics chatter) but man. So good and so timely, like even though it’s from 2018 it’s responding to things I’m thinking about now. The pink puma’s right, we do need to keep making queer art and existing no matter who tries to censor us! I enjoyed reading this on Hourly Comics Day.
The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur: This was not so good. The part that drove me insanest about it was Gemma’s friend group: why do they all live in her house when she does not need roommates to pay the rent, and why are there five of them when only two of them have any plot-relevant presence at all. (The other three are: French, Dating the French One, and the Person Of Color. They’re basically an interchangeable greek choir sort of background cast.) I could feel the intent to create a fun gay friend group but man did it fall short to the point it was actually distracting for me.
I checked out as many sapphic romantasies as I could get from my library to see if any of them would be good comps for my WIP.
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi: Meh. The dresses were described in extreme detail but the environment was described very little to the point where the central conceit did not make any sense: why do you need an element that produces heat and light if you’re in a desert/jungle kind of world? Are you in a desert/jungle world? Can you ever clarify that point for me? It also did that het and gay love story running parallel thing where the author seemed more into building up the het relationship than the gay one. Sex scenes were okay I guess. Overall, a lot of pages for not a lot of substance.
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson: BAD. Carmilla “retelling” that has nothing in common but the character names, “historical fiction” that doesn’t feel at all historical, a vampire story where there aren’t even any dead bodies until after the halfway point, a “dark academia” with no interest in engaging with the academia part of the premise and is just set in a college because the author liked The Secret History (as they said in the q and a at the back of the book), overall just a waste of my goddamn time. Sex scenes were kind of hot, I guess.
INTERLUDE: Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly
This was cute! NB/F romance on a Great British Baking Show type of show that wasn’t too preachy or overly explanatory. I liked the characters and liked seeing them together. Perfectly serviceable romance novel.
The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields
After being worn down by two mid books in a row, this abomination fucking broke me.
Then it was time for something completely different! Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe: I really enjoyed reading this, it’s a very narrative nonfiction. It made me think about how this could be useful for writing SFF fiction. And reminded me of that time Thanfiction said he fought on both sides of the Troubles lol.
The Club by Ellery Lloyd: I liked that all the POV characters were staff and not the celebrities, but overall this was just kind of unremarkable.
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft: Oh thank god, a sapphic romantasy that is good. I enjoyed reading this. I liked the characters and the plot and the world. I did not want to throw anything at a wall. Come get your edible arrangement, Allison Saft.
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian: Work Book Club pick. This made me crave avgolemono so I got my grandma to make me some from a recipe I found online and it was delicious. Otherwise, I really loved this and need to read more Cat Sebastian in the future. This felt very historical, the characters were all fun and interesting, the jokes were funny. I had a great time with it. I finally began to heal from my sapphic romantasy wounds.
Conclave by Robert Harris: I liked the movie so I read the book. It was very similar to the movie, so I liked it as well. Very easy read, I guess that’s airport novels for you.
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado: It was ready to borrow on Libby so I picked it up. I liked the structure a lot, and it definitely made me think. Not easy to read, but also not easy to stop reading once you start it.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik: potential comp for my WIP, except het when it would have been a better book if it was gay! Agnieszka and Kasia should’ve been lesbians! Unfortunate for us all Naomi Novik is not comfortable with lesbians. The middle dragged a bit for me but it was fun enough overall.
The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl: my library had this but did not have Perfume & Pain, so I read it while deciding whether or not I wanted to buy Perfume & Pain with money (still thinking. I did really like Exalted...) It was funny, and I felt like the parts that were bad were bad on purpose. I liked that only the queer characters got viewpoints. The last page was hilarious.
The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner: Love the characters, narrative voice, and romance, why did it turn into fantasy Breaking Bad halfway through?! Why are we making fantasy heroin?! Why was that not mentioned in the cover copy anywhere?! Frustrating book overall, but I might read something else by this author if the druglord plot was a one-off.
Witchmark by C.L. Polk: My girlfriend thought it was mid, but I thought it was pretty alright. Very strongly reminded me of the Last Binding trilogy, but I think this one came first. The basic conceit is a little silly (really, no one had ever thought healing might be a useful magical power in its own right up until now?) but I liked the original names for the months/days/holidays, and the central romance was fine.
Severance by Ling Ma: No relation to the TV show, which I knew already. The nonlinear narrative structure was a little confusing, but I think I liked it overall. The central character was fun enough to follow.
Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper: Mildly taken aback by the book seeming to think having Russian ancestry is cooler than it has been in my lived experience, but I liked the viewpoint character and her narrative voice a lot, the general plot stuff was pretty fun, and the obstacles and conceits for the central relationship all made sense. Not a romantasy, more a romance novel with a bit of an urban fantasy influence, but I enjoyed reading it. Not enough to read the het sequel though.
Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane: Beautifully written, very intense, very interesting portrayal of gods, deities and religion that made me want to rewrite my WIP with an eye for more consistency regarding that aspect. I don’t think I like war focused stories though. Too much getting invested in characters that die horribly :(
Check back in with me next month when I read... probably less, because our busy season is starting up again and also I have less hours in March for some reason and I mostly read at work lol.
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Date: 2025-03-05 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-05 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-06 07:10 am (UTC)i remember very little about this book, some years after i read it, except for the whole "fulmia" bit when kasia's saving agnieszka's life or whatever (or maybe other other way around?) and like. i think that says something don't you think. who's the actual love interest again i bet he's boring lol
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Date: 2025-03-12 02:47 am (UTC)and in Spinning Silver the rich girl whose name I also forgot should've just been a lesbian. I wish Naomi Novik didn't hate lesbians! We could've had perfect books!