What I Got:

• The Heartbreak Bakery (ARC) by A.R. Capetta
• The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy
• We Are Not Like Them (ARC) by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza
• As You Were (ARC) by Elaine Feeney
• Grievers (ARC) by adrienne maree brown
• Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero (ARC) by Saadia Faruqi
• Roll with It by Jamie Sumner
• The Starless Sea (UK cover version) by Erin Morgenstern
• You Are the Everything by Karen Rivers
• Taking on the Plastics Crisis by Hannah Testa

What I Read:

• CS Pacat’s Fence: Striking Distance (old ARC) by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Cheer Up!: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier & Val Wise
• Bingo Love, Vol. 1: Jackpot Edition by Gail Simone, Marguerite Bennett, & Tee Franklin
• Counting Down with You (old ARC) by Tashie Bhuiyan
• I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider
• Bloom (reread) by Kevin Panetta & Savanna Ganucheau
• The Heartbreak Bakery (ARC) by A.R. Capetta
• Out of the Basement: From Cheap Trick to DIY Punk in Rockford, Illinois, 1973-2005 by David A. Ensminger
• The Starless Sea (reread) by Erin Morgenstern
• Skate for Your Life by Leo Baker

I’m not gonna lie, I think it’s going to be difficult to write about books this month without addressing the elephant in the room: I was fired from my job as a bookstore manager for addressing the owner’s racism and standing up for a friend.

I might write a longer post about all of this later, but for now I’m going to do my best not to let this dampen my enjoyment for books because it has dampened my mood enough already. As my favorite Welsh king seeker would say, Excelsior! Onward and upward!

Reading Sarah Rees Brennan’s YA Fence spinoff novel was delightful. I already loved the characters from the graphic novel series, and I went into this knowing only that it was going to be a cheesy, queer YA book. The writing wasn’t profound or perfect, the plot was not without holes or random conveniences, and the characters were a bit too clueless for it to be realistic, BUT the charm and wit of the story overcomes all of these. Not every book needs to be a masterpiece. Sometimes I want to read just to have fun with some characters I enjoy. 

The story explored how different kinds of love manifest, how people show love differently, and how friendships can be just as messy and important and emotional as romantic relationships. 

The whole thing with Aiden and Harvard being friends and both liking each other but not saying anything was a bit frustrating. There were so many times that simply communicating would have solved the problem. And to be honest, I expected the story to end with them together, but it did not. I mean, Brennan strongly hints that their relationship has potential, but still…

Seiji and Nicholas’s friendship is one of my favorite frictional friendships ever. Logically, they should not work as friends, but because Nicholas doesn’t take anything personally and Seiji is so straightforward, they complement each other well. Nicholas doesn’t overthink Seiji’s social quirks because that’s just Seiji. And Seiji considers Nicholas a friend because Nicholas treats him like a regular person instead of making it seem like his only worth is in his fencing prowess. 

Learning about the boys’ families and backgrounds adds so much to their characters. Showing how some families aren’t super loving adds to the theme of different types of love and their importance to different people. 

Basically, this book made me smile, I love these characters, and gay fencing stories are the best. 

Since that was a pretty long review for one book, let’s do a speed round with graphic novels and one collection of illustrations.

In Cheer Up!, two queer girls join their school’s cheer team. They used to be friends, and now that they’re both on the squad, their friendship rekindles and they fall in love. This was very cute with some surprisingly difficult scenes to read pertaining to one girl’s trans identity. I have the same critique that I often do with shorter stories—I wish it was a bit longer so it could really delve into the issues it dealt with.

Bingo Love, Vol. 1 was another sapphic love story involving a second chance romance. Two queer Black women who got outed when they were younger run into each other at church bingo, where they first met as young women. The illustrations are beautiful and the plot doesn’t shy away from the fact that both women had lived full lives before their reunion, that just because this love has returned doesn’t mean their whole lives were a lie. It’s a bittersweet romance and, again, very cute.

I reread Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau because I am currently writing a queer love story that partially takes place in a bakery, and this is a queer love story that mostly takes place in a bakery. As with every time I read this book, I loved it. It made me emotional, and for a moment (a very short one), made me want to bake something. Then I remembered I don’t like baking and came back to my senses…

I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf is a collection of bookish illustrations. I’ve seen a few of Grant Snider’s illustrations floating around the internet, so when I was cat-sitting for a friend and saw it on her shelf, I thought I would flip through it. The book was relatable and funny, but not anything super special. I enjoyed the ones that were a bit more poetic the most.

Alright, back to the books with the words.

Counting Down with You was such an adorable and nuanced YA romance. Both parties in the romance felt like fully fleshed out characters, there were so many cute and heartbreaking moments, and the amount of cheesiness was perfect.

I love that Ace and Karina make each other better. They build each other up without worrying that confidence will make the other not want to be in the relationship. They have conversations about boundaries that are respected even when the other may not understand why the boundary was set. Karina and Ace also acknowledge their incredibly different life circumstances and make sure to address them (especially when they become an issue) instead of pretending they have no bearing at all on their relationship. 

This book actually kinda made me tear up. I one hundred percent do not know what it is like to be a Bangladeshi Muslim teen girl, but some of the issues Karina faces with her parents felt incredibly similar to issues I’ve had. I wish I could have been as lionhearted as Karina in high school. Regardless, lionheart is one of my new favorite words.

Really I only have nitpicky complaints about the book. Though there were a few gems, I didn’t find Karina’s poetry particularly engaging, but the poetry always added to the story or the atmosphere. There were also a few phrases that popped up over and over again that didn’t feel as purposeful (like writing tics), which bothered me a bit. 

But give me a soft-hearted, broody “bad boy,” a couple of fiercely loyal friends, an anxious yet incredibly brave main character, and great siblings and I will read the story any day!

Right after I had to leave my job, my dad and I took a trip to Chicago to go to a concert at Wrigley Field that was part of Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and Green Day’s Hella Mega Tour. Immediately going on this trip after a huge upset in my life gave me emotional whiplash. But even though my emotions were swinging like a pendulum, I still had to bring a book with me. (I actually brought two but I didn’t get to the second one. I like being prepared!)

The Heartbreak Bakery ARC found me at the perfect time. I was losing a place that I previously thought was a queer oasis, and it was nice to see the dedication these characters have to the Proud Muffin bakery—how they want to save this safe space not just for them but for the whole community. (Yes, this is another bakery romance. Even though I don’t like baking, bakery romances make me happy. I’m not sure why, but hey, I’m not gonna fight it!)

I love that the recipes interspersed between chapters add to the story, too. They sprinkle in extra details and emotions before and after they appear.

This book is delightfully queer and shows so many different ways to be queer and be in relationships. The conversations surrounding pronouns are so amazing, especially because Syd (the main character) hasn’t figured out pronouns yet. That’s representation you don’t see very often, and it’s important rep. It often feels like you need to have pronouns and labels figured out immediately, or at least to have it figured out before you can start enjoying life fully. But Syd is still happy and able to connect even if Syd is still exploring what feels comfortable.

The love interest is in the he/they club, so I could sort of see myself, too, instead of just learning about how others might experience queerness. I loved this book and all its Great British Bake Off references and baking metaphors and sappy flirting. I definitely recommend reading this when it comes out if you need something wholesome in your life.

Out of the Basement is a short nonfiction book that promises a lot in its title that it didn’t fully deliver on. As always, I enjoyed reading about a punk scene, and I particularly liked that this depiction was not as cynical as many pieces I’ve read about punk. In fact, I would say this one is hopeful. Sure, it documents the disillusionment when faced with punk idols who disappoint you, but it also documents the community-centered and family-driven underground. The ever-evolving scene is not put down for changing but is instead praised for its resilience.

This book could have been so much more interesting if it had been written a bit better. The chapters were choppy and didn’t flow into each other, and because it was so short, I still don’t think I could tell you much about the Rockford, Illinois punk scene.

Honestly, though, the choppiness and more personal approach (David A. Ensminger was a part of this scene and has seen it grow and change) fit with the DIY scene depicted in the book. As a reader, I would have liked more cohesion. But as a fan of punk, I didn’t mind the DIY feel at all.

Next up is another reread! Giving myself a break from trying to shorten my TBR and just letting myself mood read? Who is he?

Alternate universe Ryn decided to reread The Starless Sea because he got a new copy of it with the UK cover (another rarity—buying a second copy of a book for a better cover). Bad covers don’t bother me, but sometimes when a favorite book has a better cover out there, I give in to the urge to get pretty books.

I love this book. It’s so beautiful and the characters are lovely and everything is so complex and confusing in the best way possible. Rereading allowed me to more fully appreciate how artfully these stories are put together from the very beginning.

This book is contemplative and storyful (which might be a word I just made up). It just feels like home. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. This is my first reread, and I can’t wait for many more in the future. 

Skate for Your Life (a book in the Pocket Change Collective series) is another short and small nonfiction book about something I always enjoy reading about—queer people’s successes! Leo Baker is a nonbinary pro skateboarder, and although I don’t know a ton about skate culture, I do know that it overlaps a bit with the punk scene. It’s supposed to be for the outsiders and “weird” kids, but just like punk, can sometimes be incredibly exclusive. And like any professional sport, it can be incredibly gendered, too.

It’s so awesome to see queer people follow their dreams and create spaces for non-cishet men in the communities they love. Nonbinary people are underrepresented already, so seeing one in the pro sports arena is especially cool. As I said before, I’m not super familiar with skateboarding as a hobby or sport, but Leo’s writing makes me feel their passion and love for it. I mean, to keep pushing through in an industry that is not made for you is tough, let alone carving out spaces for yourself and others like you. 

So despite the shitty second half of my month, I read a lot of hopeful and interesting books. And I was able to spend a little bit of time writing something fun rather than the heavy novel I could be editing. I suspect that the only change my job loss will have in my bookish life is that my “What I Got” lists will be a lot shorter without access to free ARCs and damages.

In an effort to avoid carrying over the shittiness of this month, I’ve made sure next month is going to be an epic reading month. My sister and I are participating in the Magical Readathon: Orilium—The Novice Path (which is an amazing and creative reading challenge I highly recommend you check out if only for its backstory). I love a themed TBR, and being able to do it with my sister is gonna be so fun! I just have to say goodbye to any extra free time and fill it all up with books. And that sounds magical to me!