Thank you NetGalley, Torrey Peters, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was absolutely blown away by this.Wow, wow, WOW!
Thank you NetGalley, Torrey Peters, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was absolutely blown away by this. This is a collection of 4 novellas and each one is very different but all very trans with a lot of repeated themes. Each novella displays a mastery of both writing and storytelling.
Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones: sci-fi and dystopian and edging into horror. A trans woman creates a drug that completely turns off sex hormone production- and it’s contagious. The idea is that once it spreads everyone will have to choose their gender, but of course there are some unintended consequences. What I loved most about this was the incredibly toxic relationship between the narrator and her frenemy/ex-lover Lexi.
The Chaser: Another very toxic relationship, this time between two teenagers at boarding school. One of them coming to terms with their identity, the other coming to terms with his sexuality. There is a lot of drama, mixed signals, petty revenge and sabotage.
Stag Dance: The main novella and longest of the collection. Told from the POV of a Paul Bunyan type character who is part of an illegal logging operation. The manager of the operation decides to hold a "stag dance" where any of the men can choose to be treated like women if they wear a fabric triangle over their crotch. Paul Bunyan wants to wear a triangle and be courted, but he’s got some competition with the camp beauty- Lisen. There is yet another toxic relationship between these two who are allies at times and other times…. Not.
The Masker: A horror(ish) story where the main character isn’t yet sure about their identity, but is experimenting with cross dressing and forced feminization erotica. Then they meet an older trans woman named Sally who takes them under her wing, but she's a little overbearing. There’s also a mysterious “masker” who is kind of creepy but also kind of enticing....more
I'm a sucker for tortured heroes, revenge, and kinky sex in lieu of therapy. And this book has all of that. As far as the plot- it was better than I eI'm a sucker for tortured heroes, revenge, and kinky sex in lieu of therapy. And this book has all of that. As far as the plot- it was better than I expected. It gets into some pretty dark themes (pedophilia, rape, torture, trafficking, etc.) but all of this happens off page, and in spite of the dark themes (and the fact that the MMC is described as "dangerous" about 100 times), it's actually pretty lighthearted and sweet overall.
As far as the smut- it was not as good as I was expecting, but it was still pretty good. And the writing style, character development, and relationship development is about what you would expect for erotica. This is one of those "I'm not saying it's good, I'm saying I liked it" kinda books. But I really did like it, enough to keep going with this series. ...more
I think I would have liked it more had I not just really wanted it to be more like Six Deaths of the Saint (#3 in this3.5 stars
This was....okay....ish
I think I would have liked it more had I not just really wanted it to be more like Six Deaths of the Saint (#3 in this series).
Undercover is about a woman who (surprise surprise) goes undercover to help keep a ghoul (essentially a zombie) alive for a gangster type woman known as the Widower. And everyone has secrets layered on more secrets.
The story has a sort of 1920s vibe, but with sapphic zombies. I realize how cool that sounds, but it just felt like it wasn't quite hitting the mark. I'm not sure what wasn't working for me though. The writing was good, although there is a lot of like old-timey jargon so I found myself reading slower than usual. The plot felt a little... pointless maybe? The characters weren't really fleshed out (pun not intended). I don't know. I just wasn't feeling this one. I probably should have just read The Six Deaths of the Saint again. ...more
Wow this really exceeded my expectations! The world building is incredibly creative and immersive. The mystery is paced well. The characters are dynamWow this really exceeded my expectations! The world building is incredibly creative and immersive. The mystery is paced well. The characters are dynamic. It is a dark romance- but not because of toxicity in the relationship- its dark because it highlights the darkest parts of humanity which constantly surround the MMCs but never corrupt them.
Alba is a trans man and sailor with a broken hip who has had the hardest of hard lives and narrowly escapes an indentured servitude to work as a lighthouse keeper and try to find his mother. Eridanys is a grumpy, sassy, untrusting merman/siren who at first tries to kill/eat Alba, then makes a bargain with him. They are both kinda murderous and blood thirsty- but in a very good way. There is lots of mystery and lore. And I do believe Kellen Graves has adequately solved the problem of how a merman and a human can have sex. There's creative anatomy too!
I could not put this sh*t down! I was so hooked on this book from (pretty much) the very first page. I'm off to stalk this author rn and add all their books to my tbr....more
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The writing in this is so beautiful - gothic, dark, and sensual - both the author anThank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The writing in this is so beautiful - gothic, dark, and sensual - both the author and the translator are incredibly talented!
Thirst is a short vampire story told in 2 parts. Part 1 (the main story) is about a nameless woman who is turned by a male vampire in the 1500s (?). The master vampire has created a harem of women vampires and he provides bodies for them to feed on, but then he is killed, and the women have to learn how to hunt on their own. And THEN all of the lady vampires are brutally killed except for our heroine, who goes on to live in the shadows, hunting, occasionally making alliances, and sometimes taking lovers, for centuries.
The story is told from the heroine's POV with very little emotion. She relays her actions matter of factly to the reader, as if she is not even sure herself how she feels about everything she's doing.
Part 2 is told from the POV of a modern day heroine, Alma, whose story converges with, and in a strange way, mirrors the vampire heroine's story.
This isn't so much a book about queer vampires (although, the vampire heroine is queer), as it is a book that uses vampire lore as an allegory to queerness. Our vampire heroine is persecuted, hated, ostracized, and occasionally even fetishized because of her desires. The book explores themes of grief, loneliness, death, and desire in a very poetic way....more
Thank you NetGalley and Jay H.D. for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Wow! Okay...where to begin...
I have mostly avoided horror in the past bThank you NetGalley and Jay H.D. for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Wow! Okay...where to begin...
I have mostly avoided horror in the past because I felt like I wouldn't like it...but I was wrong. I really liked this, and I'm not sure what that says about me, because this book is incredibly disturbing.
The entire book is told through Zac's POV. It is written in first person, so the reader never gets outside of his head, and it's...intense. Zac is not morally gray, he is a true anti-hero. He is narcissistic, sociopathic, delusional, and possibly, a murderer. It is impossible to tell what events are real and what is fantasy/delusion. At several points in the book, I wondered if Zac was just flat out lying to the reader.
I could not put this book down. I devoured it almost in one sitting. It is not campy, but there is a decent amount of dark humor in it and I found myself laughing out loud at several points. It has American Psycho vibes...but more fever dreamy, and with teenagers instead of businessmen. And of course, more queer.
I kept thinking about this quote from 10 Things that Never Happened by Alexis Hall where one of the characters says "excuse me, gay people can be serial killers too".
I don't really have any criticism of this. Like I said, I don't normally read horror so I have no idea if this is what horror is usually like. The author, Jay, H.D., does not shy away from anything, which I loved, but I imagine it won't be everyone's cup of tea. It is not overly graphic, but disturbing themes are definitely not glossed over. The violence and sexual fantasies all serve a purpose in the story though - they are not just put there for shock value.
And by the way, who is this mysterious author? I looked them up and found hardly anything! No website, no IG, no "about the author" blurb, nothing. Just one picture next to their name showing a person covering their face. I have no idea if it's even a picture of the author. Jay, you are an enigma wrapped in a mystery. But thank you for sharing your gift with us! I very much enjoyed this book which made me feel disturbed and disgusted, but also obsessed and addicted. I am sure I will be thinking about it for a long while. Please keep writing!...more
The characters are a bit extreme in this. Ethan is an extreme do-gooder, he's given up all his dreams to take care of his mom. Victor is the 4.5 stars
The characters are a bit extreme in this. Ethan is an extreme do-gooder, he's given up all his dreams to take care of his mom. Victor is the ultimate troubled brat. And the villains in this are pure, unadulterated evil.
That being said, I could not put this down and loved every minute. The angst, the obsession, the enemies-to-lovers dynamic - perfection. Also, one of the best meet-cutes I've ever read. ...more
How do I feel about this book? I'm really not sure. I kinda liked the writing style, and I liked the intensity of it, the obsession, the angst/pining,How do I feel about this book? I'm really not sure. I kinda liked the writing style, and I liked the intensity of it, the obsession, the angst/pining, the drama, the hot sex... but there were some elements that I guess just weren't for me?
Raven and Clint have some really big obstacles to their relationship. Not just an age gap, but Clint essentially raised Raven, and not only that, but Clint's bio son (Joey) is Raven's best friend (and essentially his brother), and not only THAT, but (view spoiler)[Joey is in love with Raven too (hide spoiler)]
So with all of this against them, turning this into a HEA seemed like an impossible feat, and at the end of it, I think that C.P. did pretttttty well getting there. For me though, it was maybe just too much to overcome: (view spoiler)[ One of the things I really liked about Clint was that he was such a good dad. But the author kind of had to make him into a bad dad to make this whole thing work out, and it made me sort of hate Clint. Like that scene when Joey is confessing to Clint that he loves Raven, and Clint is just getting mad and jealous... I don't see how you could not have compassion for your child in this situation? (unless you're just... a bad parent, but we had already established that Clint isn't so...) But maybe that's just me. Also the ending felt really contrived and like the author sort of just wanted to wrap up every little loose end into a perfect bow. (hide spoiler)]
Anyway, if you're in the mood for something intense, this is a good pick. Although it takes a little bit for the real intensity to get going ...more
I kinda fell in love with this fantasy/idea that psychopaths can learn how to become super successful while also hunting and murdering pedophiles and I kinda fell in love with this fantasy/idea that psychopaths can learn how to become super successful while also hunting and murdering pedophiles and serial rapists as a sort of outlet for their psychopathy.
This book is pretty dark in its premise, but the romance is super sweet with a ton of hurt/comfort which I loved. As for the dark themes, there is nothing on-page or explicit, and everything is handled with care which I appreciated. I actually found it quite therapeutic.
The characters and relationship development is great. Adam and Noah have both been traumatized. But the way they understand and care for each other and communicate is just perfect! And of course, in this mental health fantasy, their kinks line up perfectly too.
*sigh* another day, another book I have very mixed feelings about. I basically couldn’t stand this book until about the 70% mark when it fina3.5 stars
*sigh* another day, another book I have very mixed feelings about. I basically couldn’t stand this book until about the 70% mark when it finally starts to pick up. Julian’s character… good LORD he was such a boring character! As my friend Chelsea would say… a “microfiber cloth” of a character. Or an “untitled word document” if there ever was one. For the life of me I could not understand how he was a love interest!?!?!? And Nikos was only marginally better.
Big Spoilers Ahead….
Eventually we see why Julian was the way he was… but for me it still didn’t really make up for the pages I had to endure of his non existent personality.
At one point we are faced with the classic conundrum of the hero being captured and needing time to make an escape before he is killed. Most authors would have the villain give some sort of unnecessary monologue or something, but Ariana Nash had a more creative solution- the villains all wanted to fuck Nikos before killing him, giving him a chance to escape while also adding in some non-con… I’m still not sure if I was repulsed or impressed by this choice.
In any case, I found the smut in this to be, overall, very okay-ish.
But now I feel like I must finish this series because it ended on a cliffhanger and, it really did start to get kinda good at the end. ...more
Very interesting plot and world building, it moves a little slow at time, but it definitely got me hooked. The reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars: Very interesting plot and world building, it moves a little slow at time, but it definitely got me hooked. The reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars: (view spoiler)[It bothers me when the author gives a LOT of clues about something, but one of the characters still can't figure it out. In this book there was ample evidence to suggest that Prince Laurent was sexually abused by his uncle when he was a child, but even though Damen is shown the same evidence as the reader, he can't seem to figure it out. At first I though maybe he's a himbo, but that didn't work because he was able to figure out other things, so I decided to tell myself that he's just such a moral person himself that he can't fathom the Regent (whom he respects) doing something so horrific. I'm not sure if this is what the author intended but that's what kept me from going insane. I really can't wait until these two get together I really like both characters a lot! (hide spoiler)]...more
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