Monday Chatter: Why Plagiarizing Reviews is Bad (Because Apparently it Needs to Be Said)

Happy Monday, everyone! Originally I wasn't going to write an entire post about this because I don't like voluntarily courting drama (unless it involves someone coming after a person I care about. Then I start sharpening knives), but the more I thought about it, the more irritated I got. So I'm just gonna get it …

Five Reasons Why You Need to Read Desdemona and the Deep

Title: Desdemona and the Deep Author: C.S.E. Cooney Publisher: Tor.com Release Date: July 23rd, 2019 Genre(s): Fantasy Subjects and Themes: Fae, LGBTQIAP+ (lesbian mc, trans side character) Page Count: 224 (ebook) Rating: 9.5/10         In Desdemona and the Deep, the spoiled daughter of a rich mining family must retrieve the tithe of …

Blog Tour Review: Rotherweird – Plenty of Weird, Not a Lot of Enjoyment

Title: Rotherweird Author: Andrew Caldecott Publisher: Quercus (US) Release Date: June 9th, 2019 Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Fantasy Subjects and Themes: Alternate History Page Count: 456 (hardback) Rating: DNF @ ~50%         1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say …

Monday Chatter: Pride Parade and Death By TBR

(Pride Parade and Death By TBR performing at your nearest city. Get your tickets now!) A bit of a late post today because we had our Pride Parade here in Vancouver yesterday and I stayed out really late walking, eating, melting, and dancing--not necessarily in that order. There were some controversies surrounding the parade this …

July Wrap-Up: Family News, Red & Blue is the New Black

I feel like a lot of my personal posts lately have just been me going, "I'm a sad little bundle of sadness!" And, well....the same applies today (I promise a LOT more flowers and rainbows for the next one). But I'll try to keep it brief this time. To put it shortly, my grandmother passed …

Review: Wilder Girls – A Strangely Beautiful and Flawed Gem (Minus that Ending)

Title: Wilder Girls Author: Rory Power Publisher: Delacorte Press Release Date: July 9th, 2019 Genre(s): YA Sci-Fi Subjects and Themes: Friendships, LGBTQIAP+ (f/f), Body Horror Page Count: 368 (hardback) Rating: 7.0/10         It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled …

Top Ten Tuesday – Settings I Want to See More of in Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now being hosted by The Artsy Reader. I've been telling myself that I'll try out a TTT topic for over a year now, but I never actually took the plunge. But I saw posts for this week's topic pop up in my …

Review: Missing, Presumed Dead – A Gritty Queer Paranormal Mystery that I’m Side-Eyeing

Title: Missing, Presumed Dead Author: Emma Berquist Publisher: Greenwillow Books Release Date: May 21st, 2019 Genre(s): YA Paranormal, Mystery Subjects and Themes: Mental Health, LGBTQIAP+ (f/f) Page Count: 384 (hardback) Rating: ???         With a touch, Lexi can sense how and when someone will die. Some say it’s a gift. But to …

Review: This is How You Lose the Time War – This is How You Write a Time Travel Story

Title: This is How You Lose the Time War Author: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone Publisher: Saga Press Release Date: July 16th, 2019 Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Romance, Epistolary Subjects and Themes: War, LGBTQIAP+ (f/f) Page Count: 208 (hardback) Rating: 9.5/10       Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a …

Broken, Awkward, Incompetent, Mismatched Heroes: Why We Need Them in Stories

I'm not sure what the umbrella term for these types of characters should be. Atypical heroes? Messy heroes? Well, whatever the term, I adore them. And my love grows stronger every time I come across a protagonist who's graduated from the academy of perfect heroes. You know--the shiny put-together ones. The ones whose mistakes are …