Recent Reviews

	Hearts of Thin Ice	Perfect for fans of Icebreaker & Set on You, Hearts on Thin Ice is a joy of a debut novel. Watching Nick and Alyssa heal themselves and fall in love with one another felt like a tender act of care. This novel felt like an afternoon in front of the hallmark channel with a hot cup of tea in all the best ways. The author handled deep painful trauma in a compassionate way that created an MMC with such depth and warmth to him that I couldn't help but weep at his happily ever after, I genuinely love these two and their warm little world! I can't recommend this one enough. Big things come in cartoon covers around here! Recommended by Kahill
	Maya's Law of Love	Get ready for severe banter, light angst, and the funniest book I have read in months! Maya's Laws of Love is a perfect example of how having a rule for everything doesn't always work out and that in love, the rules are sometimes meant to be bent. What happens when your plane to Pakistan get's delayed and you're stuck next to a cynical lawyer for several hours? Bonding, banter, and a serious change of plans. This book isn't what I typically go for, it goes only as far as kissing, but the beauty of representation is when it's done well it is glorious. this book has the best Muslim rep I have ever seen and Khawaja is going to change the romance game. And I am so excited to see it happen. Recommended by Kahill
	Kilt Trip	Deeply romantic and honestly healing, Kilt Trip is a hoot of a book! The banter between Addie & Logan was everything to me, they are a perfect example of the rivals-to-lovers trope, and I personally adored it. This gorgeous book had so much heart in it, that it would be impossible to read it and not be touched by the depth of the characters and the beautiful landscape the author crafted for her readers. If a one-way ticket to Scotland is out of your budget, drooling over Logan is free. Recommended by Kahill
	I Love You So Much, It's Killing Us Both	Stovall’s I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both is like a Black punk soundtrack: rhythmic and raucous at once. Khaki’s coming-of-age experience is harsh and cutting, but she carries herself with a humor that is misunderstood by everyone except Fiona. Their connection is pulsing, as alive as the mosh pit. Stovall cuts the story apart and mends it into a heartbreaking journey. As I devoured these pages, I connected with Khaki and her faults. Stovall teases apart friendship, mental illness, Blackness in white spaces, and the meaning of love to the buzz of an amplifier. Recommended by Nikita
	If Only You	If Only You by Chloe Liese is heartfelt to the very last page. Professional soccer player Ziggy is sick of being babied by literally everyone from the press to her family. Of course, the natural solution is to team up with her brother’s best friend, a disreputable hockey player named Sebastian, for some publicity appearances that will polish his look while rumpling hers just enough. I adore Liese’s tender and emotionally nuanced love stories featuring people with disabilities—in this case an autistic FMC and a MMC with celiac disease. There's also great mental illness and therapy representation throughout. If Only You successfully passed my rom-com giggle test—where I catch myself giggling and smiling at super cute scenes without meaning to—at least four different times. Recommended by Kahill
	A Woman of Pleasure	Sometimes you pick up a book and know one chapter in that it will change you as a reader and a person forever. A Woman of Pleasure by Kiyoko Murata is one of those books for me—I’ve never read anything like it. The pillar of the story is ebullient, funny, and iron-willed Aoi Ichi, a teenager sold to a brothel in Kumamoto, Japan. Aoi, considered a rough and unmannered country girl, sees poetry in her raw reality. Entering the space of the red-light district of Kumamoto through her eyes was like turning on a light in a room with no windows; suddenly, this world I would have only read about in textbooks became a stark reality, full of life and vitality. I was particularly struck by the narrative’s brave roving in and out of the thoughts of other characters, including the oiran, or head prostitute, and Aoi’s teacher at the Female Industrial School. I came to know and care for the characters so intimately that I could have read 300 more pages of this sublime, political, and feminist historical fiction. My only disappointment was to discover that A Woman of Pleasure is Murata’s first work to be published in English. I’m hungry for more. Recommended by Wulfe
	The Fox Wife	The Fox Wife is a fabulistic tale told between two shifting perspectives as Snow, a fox woman, hunts down her child’s murderer, and an elderly private investigator who can hear lies ends up tailing her. While reading this book I, too, fell under the spell of the mercurial and charming fox men and women who live for centuries and cause endless amounts of mischief. Snow’s voice is peculiar and compelling, as she proffers reflections on mortality, morality, intimacy, and wildness that made my heart soar. A vivid piece of historical fiction set in Manchuria and Japan, The Fox Wife has many fascinating storylines that converge brilliantly to form an entirely singular fairy tale. Choo will have you wondering if these extraordinary foxes have actually been living amongst us all along.
	Bride	Twilight can step back because Bride is taking the stage! While this vampire and werewolf romance is a significant departure from the usual Hazelwood fare, fans of her STEMinist stories will appreciate that we still have a whip-smart hacker as our female lead. Misery Lark just also happens to be Vampyre nobility, so to speak, on the eve of an arranged marriage to the Alpha of the Weres. Hazelwood expertly pulls off the dark and sexy atmosphere that made this romance so tantalizing to me, while also not skimping on the plot or the rich relationships that Misery makes despite her persistent (and hilarious) cynicism. Bride is perfect for supernatural romance lovers, and a good starter book for the monster smut-curious. It’s my favorite Hazelwood novel yet, set in a fully realized urban fantasy world that I cannot wait to return to. Recommended by Wulfe
	The Darkness Manifesto	My favorite takeaway from this book is that it made me think about darkness and night in an entirely new way. With winter fast approaching, I’ve been able to appreciate—rather than dread—the longer nights for the power they give to beloved nocturnal species like bats and moths. I’ve also started to interrogate my human perception that darkness means danger—although this is complicated by womanhood—and to explore ways to reduce light pollution in my community. Other topics in this book include the ways in which different species perceive and process light and how plants and animals are guided by the moon and the stars. With short chapters and excellent narration, The Darkness Manifesto is a thought-provoking read. Recommended by Mary
	The Book of Love	The Book of Love is so special to me that I struggle to put it into words. Days after finishing it, all I want to do is listen to the eponymous Magnetic Fields song—moody, romantic—and think about this book. Don’t let the page count scare you; Kelly Link’s effortless storytelling kept me reading, never bored over nearly 700 pages, and I didn’t want it to end. With a super dynamic cast of characters, this story is largely about grief and self-discovery, but its message is also that love can be supernatural—it can defy dimensions. It’s set in our world with just a twist of magic, and it’s very funny, playful, and sometimes delightfully absurd. It’s beautifully intimate and daydreamy, with John Cage references and niche guitar stuff that I didn’t get, and I loved it. Recommended by Mary