recent books – a writer’s blog.

Mini Review Roundup [25/05]

Published on May 25, 2020June 1, 2020 by R.1 Comment

This was an audiobook and poetry weekend, to be sure! After finishing Gold Rush Manliness and Everything You Love Will Burn, I decided to pick up some romance and poetry. I have a lot more nonfiction on my list, but mixing it up definitely keeps things interesting. I’m also enjoying Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky, an epic sci-fi book.

Almost Love by Louise O’Neill

All she wanted to do was stand there and look. Being by the sea always made Sarah feel small. Insignificant in a way that was comforting somehow.

I’m actually setting this one aside for now. About halfway done, and whilst I really do like O’Neill’s writing and I’m definitely going to try one of her other books, I’m not in the right mood for this one. I think what the book is trying to depict is an important topic to discuss – how bad relationships can become – but I don’t think I’m in the head space for it. As well, Sarah is a character that I’m struggling to connect to. I’ll probably come back to this at some point though. The story certainly does draw you in.

I also picked out a few poems to read this week as I was definitely missing poetry. Uncanny Magazine has a lot of great poetry, so I checked out some of their recent issues

Issue 31 / Issue 32.

I started with ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ by Ada Hoffmann.

Have you ever torn through a forest of books, trawling the half-naked
flotsam
of dream and the tarnish of myth, desperately seeking
a memory?

Pretty, right? I liked this one. What a lovely poem. Available here.

Followed it up with Brandon O’Brien’s ‘Elegy for the Self as Villeneuve’s Belle’, which was brilliant.

Wanting pretty things is hunger, too,
and having is feasting, denied by few.

Available here.

I also read Annie Neugebauer’s ‘The Wooden Box’. Really liked this one!

It’s a wooden box,
ornately carved, beautifully
stained a dark mahogany.

It’s dry as I lift it up
and gently slide out the
tongue-and-groove top.

Gave me chills, to be honest! Read here.

Cage of Souls | science fiction, dystopian
A Small Revolution in Germany | lgbt, fiction
Agnes Grey | classics, fiction
The Curse of the Black Cat | fantasy, lgbt

What’s everyone reading this week?

Mini Review Round-Up | LGBT Romance

Published on January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 by R.1 Comment

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When Red Cried Wolf (Happily Ever Asher #1) by Nash Summers | lgbt, short story

His roommate, Morgan, had been like an elusive baby deer, skittering off into the woods at the first sign of human life. Asher usually made sure not to make direct eye contact or any sudden movements around him for fear of scaring him off.

I thought this was a cute start to the trilogy and it definitely left me wanting more, but Asher was a bit too much at times. Dude needed to chill about how much he loves love, haha. Morgan was my favourite and I’m excited to see how their relationship develops in the next two.

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His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light by Mimi Mondal | lgbt, short story

And then there was an arm around my waist, holding me upright again, there was a hand wiping dust, blood, and tears from my eyes. It was Shehzad Marid—ever loving, ever loyal, always on my side in my hour of need.

This was a really good short story about a trapeze master and his jinni. Available online here.

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Lovers (Voyeur #2) by Fiona Cole | lgbt, romance

“I miss you. You won’t touch me, or kiss me, or sit with me, or hold me. Nothing. And I fucking miss you.”

I haven’t read the first one in the series and I’m not sure I’m bothered to read the rest of it, but I did enjoy this one. It follows Jake, Jackson and Carina in a love ménage à trois that becomes increasingly complicated due to Jake and Jackson’s past and their intense friendship.

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Variations on an Apple by Yoon Ha Lee | lgbt, short story

It smelled of diesel hearts and drudgery and overcrowded colonies; of battery acid gone bad and bromides and foundered courtships. Intoxicating, yes, but in the way of verses etched unwanted upon the spirit’s cracked windows.

The imagery and descriptions in this are gorgeous. Available online here.

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The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu | lgbt, short story

This is the man who seconds ago risked going insane in order to feel soul-rending pain for fun. How can he suddenly look so vulnerable?

This was so random and quite good, if a bit too abrupt. I feel like I needed more information and development on the rain and on the sister. I’ve rarely hated a character so much who appears so briefly, but I wanted that addressed more in depth because she was horrible. Available online here.

Review Round Up: Three Novellas/Short Stories

Published on January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 by R.2 Comments

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The Butcher of Anderson Station (The Expanse #0.5) by James S.A. Corey

“Because why matters, Colonel. Why always matters. Whatever your story is, I know how it ends. It ends with you, here, talking to me.”

I am a huge fan of the television show (which I only started a week ago and am almost done with because it is awesome) so I wanted to try the books and see if I liked them. I picked the very first in the order, even if it isn’t technically the starting point and I really liked the writing!

The storyline of Anderson Station is so tragic and highlights the casualties of war and all the innocents caught in the crossfire. Fred is a very interesting character. He and Dawes play off each other well. Can’t wait to start Leviathan Wakes! I need more of Captain Jim and his crew!

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The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seemed to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

This is a hard one to stomach even if it is so short. I went into it not knowing the premise, so for the first part of the story I was intrigued, and then I was furious, and then I just sort of sat there and went whoa. I feel like if you know anything about the premise, it ruins the surprise, and since it is only a few pages long, I won’t go into much detail. Simply put, I definitely recommend this, even for the emotional and philosophical gut punch you will receive. Very thought-provoking and days later I’m still thinking about it.

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Marked: A Possessive Vampire Romance by Dawn Jansen

Let me stay here, underground, where it is quiet and dark. Let me sustain myself on the blood of rats and be at peace.

This short story follows Ada and Lucien, a human historian and a vampire hiding underground, respectively. Ada’s exploring the tunnels in New York for research when she runs into Lucien and accidentally pepper sprays herself in the face in surprise. But Lucien’s even more surprised, cos, you know, Ada looks like his dead lover Claire.

I stumbled a bit with how quickly they fell for each other. I kind of get Lucien’s obsession – it reminded me of Stefan and Damon finding Elena in The Vampire Diaries — but I thought Ada fell a bit quick for the lad. I think if I met someone in a tunnel and freaked out, I wouldn’t be flirting. You do you, girl, but I agree with Laura, the roommate: She told me it doesn’t matter how hot he is, there’s no way I’m going back there. BRING THAT GOOD ADVICE, LAURA. Honestly, I struggled with how consumingly Ada fell for Lucien. I don’t care if it’s gonna get me killed, if I don’t see Lucien again, I might as well be dead. Girl. GIRL. VALUE YOURSELF. Like, at least ascertain that he is not, in fact, a murderer before kissing him.

I found the vampire lore that was hinted at to be quite cool! The idea of vampires living underground because of hunters makes for an intriguing backstory. I would have loved more of a backstory on Lucien’s turn. Lord Gaston only got a brief reference and I’m desperately curious about the vampiric world building and how covens work in this. In fact, Lucien and Claire’s whole backstory went by so quickly, but teased at so much intrigue! If the author wants to write a prequel, I vote for Claire and Lucien bossing it up across Europe in the 1700s.

Overall there’s a lot to like here, but I’m a fan of the slow burn so I do wish it’d been a bit longer and given us more of a build up and backstory.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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all reviews cross-posted to goodreads 🙂

A Trio of Book Reviews

Published on December 8, 2019 by R.1 Comment

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Horatio by T.J. Klune: lgbt, short story; freely available at the author’s site.

‘“What happened to free will?”

He snorted inelegantly. “Who knows? It’s one of the great secrets of the universe. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was destiny, or maybe it was nothing at all and we’re just two people in the middle of cosmic nonsense clinging to each other because we can.” He waved his hand dismissively, almost hitting me in the face. “It doesn’t matter. Here you are. Here I am. And there’s no other place I’d rather be. You intrigue me.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I will.”’

I picked this one up at random tonight and put off cooking dinner until I’d read the entire thing. It was so quietly beautiful and haunting. It tells the story of two men facing the possible end of the world. The writing style is so lush and draws you in effortlessly. It’s definitely a story that will stick in your head for long after you read it.

I thoroughly recommend it to everyone! Lovely story.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts: fiction

‘I don’t know what frightens me more, the power that crushes us, or our endless ability to endure it.’

This is a belated review of a favourite book, actually. I mentioned it to someone the other day and it stuck in my head that I ought to actually review it. I’m actually a little shocked I never did, because it’s hands down one of my favourite books of all time, but I read it long before I joined Goodreads and started a blog, and sometimes finding ways to review your favourite book is impossible. How do you describe something that irrevocably moved you? A book that crawled into your mind and heart and soul. Even now, years later, when people ask me my favourite book, I can spew a monologue about this one. Funnily enough, it took me four tries to actually get past chapter one, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. The same thing happened with one of my favourite shows, Black Sails. A bit of a rough opener and then perfection.

After reading this book, I tracked down the newspaper article that documents his prison escape, just to see that it was actually real. It was. True, a good bit of the book is embellished, but the essence is real. And you know what? Even if it wasn’t based on a true story, this book would still blow me out of the water. It’s the kind of book that blends philosophy, adventure, action, crime and love into one intricate web of beauty.

Recommended for everyone.

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff: philosophy

‘The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.’

This is another one I haven’t reread recently, but felt like just writing a review for. I read this book on a lunchbreak when I was 13/14. I remember being in a truly horrible headspace at the time. Being a teenager is just so fun, right? /s

But then I found this book on a shelf at home and figured, hey, Winnie the Pooh, sounds groovy. And I can safely say that reading this book changed my entire perspective. I remember walking out of the library and feeling better, feeling less like a blackhole of doom and far more capable. I dunno. Maybe it wouldn’t have the same effect on me now, but back then, this book seriously helped me. I honestly think it philosophically kicked me in the butt and made me re-evaluate my perspective, which is fairly impressive for a book to do.

‘Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they’re part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They’re not only the ending, but the beginning as well.’

I never fell in love with the sequel (I actually had to set it aside to keep from throwing it at the wall), but this one? This one was beautiful and something I very much needed at the time.

I recommend it for anyone who’s struggling through life and needs a new perspective.

Books Read in September 2019

Published on October 2, 2019 by R.7 Comments

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I read quite a few books this month and I’m trying to be better about writing up reviews! (These are cross-posted to Goodreads.) 😉

1. The Monsters We Deserve (Fantasy, Gothic) —

I AM SHOOK.

About two pages into this book, I came across a quote that I wanted to leave in my review and put a post-it on the page; about five pages later, I put another post-it. This kept happening and now my book is full of bright orange post-it notes of wonderful quotes and I want to use them all. But alas, I’d probably end up quoting the whole bloody book.

But this is definitely one of my favourites:

Yet every writer worth a good-god damn knows this too, for it is graven into each of us: no one cares for beauty. Not in fiction. Not on its own, not pure, untroubled beauty; not in fiction. It’s what we crave in the real world, of course; beauty, and you know I mean that in its broadest sense: the sense of kindness and wisdom and peace and joy: all the things in the world that are beautiful, and all the things we crave in real life, but which are not sufficient to count, on their own, for anything in the world of stories.

There are so many fantastic questions and curiosities in this book. It’s also eerie and Gothic and beautiful. It’s got ATMOSPHERE. And the author’s unending quarrel with himself over hating Frankenstein is in equal parts funny, interesting and thought-provoking.

Almost everyone has an inborn need to create; in most people this is thwarted and forgotten, and the drive is pushed into other actives that are less threatening, less difficult, and less rewarding. In some people, the need to create is transmuted into the need to destroy.

I actually had no idea what this book was going to be about and I feel like that almost made it better. I didn’t see any of the twists and was just along for the ride and totally loved it. There are so many gorgeous paragraphs and I read the whole thing in an afternoon. It full on distracted me from my Buffy rewatch, so you know it’s gotta be good.

I 100% recommend this to everyone.

2. Little Mouse’s Sweet Treat (Children’s Books) —

The drawings in this are utterly adorable and the rhymes are cute. I did notice that the font on a few pages was hard to read in places due to the colour, but that’s only a minor thing. Definitely recommend it for kids. 🙂

3. 1984 (Dystopian, Science Fiction, Classics) —

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.

1984, along with V for Vendetta, Children of Men, Brave New World and Harrison Bergeron (and many others), is amongst my favourite dystopian tales. If you haven’t read it yet, get cracking!

4. Starting New (LGBT, Romance) —

Everyone is born into something, and from the moment of birth our paths are somewhat influenced by who and what is around us.

This book was a total random read and I ended up enjoying it more than I anticipated!

5. Happy for You (LGBT, Romance) —

He was like family and she asked him to leave.

I really liked the previous book, Made for You, but this one didn’t work quite as well for me. The romance was good (and the author’s writing is always wonderful!) but the background plot was a bit confusing and I was just left wanting more. The main guy was definitely the best.

6. Last Bus to Everland (Fantasy, LGBT) —

There’s bravery in surviving this world when your mind can only focus on the bad in it.

This was a lot more … real than I expected. Like, I felt quite melancholy whilst reading it. Overall I did really like it, but I was holding out for a different ending. 😦

7. The Time Machine (Science Fiction, Classics) —

From the edge of the sea came a ripple and whisper. Beyond these lifeless sounds the world was silent. Silent? It would be hard to convey the stillness of it.

At last! I’ve been meaning to read an HG Wells book for ages. Glad I started with this one. The ending was fantastic.

8. Thoughts from the Borderline (Poetry and Prose) —

Ask me of life, and I’ll struggle
to pen a sentence.
Ask me of death,
And I’ll spit the alphabet without intention.

This collection of mixed poetry and prose was wonderful and reminded me why I fell in love with writing and poems to being with. Honestly, this book left me desperate to read poetry for hours, which says a lot. (I’m picky with my poetry.) King’s words are raw and real, and flow together so well. There’s also a great visual layout to the poems that changes up the rhythm of how you read it, which was a really cool effect. I don’t want to give too much away, because I think the poems unfold beautifully without spoilers, but I thoroughly recommend it.

9. Notes on Nationalism (Essays, Politics, Classics) —

The point is that as soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged. And, as I have pointed out already, the sense of right and wrong becomes unhinged also.

I can’t believe I haven’t read this before now, but I’m so glad I found it in the bookshop the other day. Written in 1945, many of the quotes and observations about nationalism and hatred continue – depressingly – to be applicable to today. I thoroughly recommend this to everyone, not just those interested in politics and history.

10. The Other Boy (Children’s Books, LGBT) —

‘And the reality is that life sucks?’

‘Not always.’ She sat back down and crossed her legs. ‘You got to take the bad with the good, you know? It’s all about figuring out what your choices are, and trying to make the right ones. The ones that don’t hurt people.’

I devoured this book in one sitting. The main character, Shane, is so lovable and relatable. We share a love of Firefly and I loved the references!

And I ADORED Josh, the best friend, Alejandra, the new friend, and Shane’s mum. She was wonderful and such a shining star throughout the novel. The comics between the chapters were an adorable addition, too! Loved them! I’d totally read Shane’s comic.

I recommend this for anyone looking for an uplifting read. Great representation and message. ❤

A Map for The Outlands Pentalogy

Published on August 6, 2019July 31, 2022 by R.12 Comments

The new ebook and paperback covers are now available!

My immensely talented friend Jenna-Claire Ellis created a map of the Kingdom of Cutta from The Outlands Pentalogy, and is kindly letting me share it with everyone! I’m honestly so blown away by how beautiful it is!

A hand drawn map of the Kingdom of Cutta. The places are: Clearbow, Rinlow, Eyre, Muntenia, Talon, Nitoib, Eastern Islands, Southern Lands, Redland, Anais, Cutta, Mount Vulpine, Redwater Prison, Blues Cove, Perry Mines, Bernstein Prison. There's a hand drawn sail ship and a sea monster in the water in the middle. There are mountains scattered around the edges. A compass rose is at the top.

A Touch of Death (dystopian sci-fi, action/adventure, romance), published in 2017.
A History of Madness (dystopian sci-fi, action/adventure, romance), published in 2017.
A Promise of Return (dystopian sci-fi, action/adventure, romance), published in 2017.
A Dance of Lies (dystopian sci-fi, action/adventure, romance), published in 2018.
A Time of Prophecy (dystopian sci-fi, action/adventure, romance), published in 2019.

*In 2022, A Touch of Death made it to the semi-finals of the first Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) and ended up in 8th place! Very proud of ATOD!