Comments: The blurb was interesting and pulled me in, the world building kept me going, however the plot felt very basic and predictable and a lot the characters and the ways they interacted was annoying but I really liked how the different spirits were envisioned but it just fell short, like it had everything to make a great story it just didn’t rise.
I will keep an eye out for the authors other works because It feel like it had potential but wasn’t quite there.
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It's an exciting release week! We've got a dozen titles on our radar, so there are plenty of options for all readers.
And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun
Knopf Books for Young Readers
When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. She becomes restless and hungry . . .
Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.
When their town is engulfed by increasingly destructive rain and a series of harrowing, unusual deaths, Soojin is forced to reckon with the fact that perhaps the sister she brought back isn’t the one she knew.
Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen
Random House Graphic
Being a teenager is no fairy tale . . . but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a little magic. A high schooler’s journey to recover from burnout leads to a surprising romance with a twist from the bestselling author of The Magic Fish.
Angelica was the girl who could do it all—until suddenly, she couldn’t. Burnout hit hard. Now, after some very low moments, she’s ready to get her life back together, thanks to her friends, and one very surprising source of comfort.
A bear.
Peri is the mascot of the local theater. He’s been sending Angelica supportive messages from his social. They’ve become friends, and Angelica might even have . . . a crush?
Determined to find the human behind the bear costume, Angelica gets a summer job interning at the theater. She might never go back to being the girl who can do everything, but perhaps she is becoming the girl who can magically have it all.
Blood & Breath by Qurratulayn
Page Street YA
Born into the persecuted Magi class, Evan Wilde keeps her true identity under wraps. Her days are spent drawing up simple contracts—a task Magi are banned from performing—which call devils from beyond the veil to carry out clients’ requests in exchange for a bit of blood or breath. It’s not until Evan lies dying in an alley, the victim of an illegal blood sacrifice, that she draws a contract for herself. A devil can take the last of her life—if it grants her revenge.
Such a hasty, open-ended contract can only lead to trouble. But when a devil named Jack accepts her terms, Evan decides to make the most of her borrowed time. With Jack’s help, she infiltrates high society, posing as part of the ruling Necro class—the group responsible for oppressing Magi and perpetuating illegal blood sacrifices. Dining and dancing by day, unleashing her devil at night . . . for the first time in her life, Evan no longer lives in fear. She even finds friends—and love—within the circles of her supposed enemy.
A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo
Peachtree Teen
On the dreary Oregon coast, an all-seeing beast—known as the Watcher—lies in wait. When Shay and her girlfriend, Lauren, get into a fight over whether to go public with their clandestine relationship, they awaken the creature. Although Lauren is badly injured, the girls escape with their lives but can’t shake the feeling of the creature’s eyes tracking them.
Meanwhile, aspiring photographer Zoe is desperate to put together a portfolio worthy of earning a scholarship to attend art college. Her photography teacher praises her skill but urges her to select more daring subjects for her submissions—a tall task when Zoe’s camera acts as a barrier between herself and the rest of the world.
As rumors swirl about Lauren’s injuries, Shay remains steadfast in that the Watcher is to blame, not her. She asks for Zoe’s help in snapping a photo of the local legend. Proof would help Shay clear her name and certainly be daring enough for Zoe’s scholarship. Together with their friends Jack and Parker, they set out to expose the Watcher before its ever-creeping eyes cast the secrets they’re all keeping from the town—and one another—into the light.
Eerily atmospheric and as piercing as a pair of eyes on the back of your head, Alex Crespo’s LGBTQ+ supernatural thriller is a poignant story about the prices we pay to keep our secrets hidden—sometimes for good reason. Through creeping tension and mounting horror, readers will furiously turn the pages with their breaths held.
For No Mortal Creature by Keshe Chow
Delacorte Press
When Jia Yi finds herself alive again after being killed by an enemy’s sword, she realizes she possesses a rare power: the ability to move between life and death. With her new gift comes the discovery of a mysterious spirit realm teeming with ghosts like herself—and Lin, the boy she once loved before his betrayal tore them apart.
At first Jia wants nothing to do with any ghosts, metaphorical or otherwise. But when her beloved grandmother dies under suspicious circumstances, Jia is forced to follow in an attempt to save her.
In the death realm, though, even ghosts have ghosts. The afterlife is more complex than Jia ever could have imagined—and no one knows what lies at its end. To survive, Jia must rely on both Lin and her longtime enemy, the cold and enigmatic Prince Essien. The problem? She can’t trust either of them.
With tensions high and new and old connections blossoming, Jia must confront the ghosts of her past . . . or risk remaining a ghost herself.
Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit: A Graphic Novel by Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada
It's almost Daeboreum in 1980s South Korea—a holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the year. Taehee couldn't care less. All she wants is to spend time with her boyfriend Kiwoo, avoid her controlling father, and play music for her mask dance club. But Taehee's weird granny and her even weirder friends have other plans for Taehee: they drag her, Kiwoo, and the rest of the dance club to their remote farm to celebrate Daeboreum...the old-fashioned way.
As the group arrives at the farm, Taehee overhears her granny talking about ceremonies, ghosts, and possibly (probably) sacrificing her friends to evil spirits. And if that's not bad enough, Taehee just said those Three Little Words to Kiwoo that he can't seem to say back. Meanwhile, her friends are running wild with secrets—ones they definitely don't want the grannies to overhear. It seems like everyone is up to no good.
The first full moon of the year is about to arrive, and with it confessions that threaten to change everything. That is, of course, if they all make it out alive.
Heartsick by Kristina Forest
Kokila
High school senior Margot Whitman is an intern at Healing Hearts Inc., the company that created the innovative pill that can erase a person’s heartbreak overnight. Every weekend, Margot witnesses patients get cured of their broken hearts. Meanwhile, she’s nursing a heartbreak of her own. With college on the horizon and their futures taking them in different directions, she and her ex Isaac recently called it quits. Margot has thought about taking a pill, but erasing her love for Isaac doesn’t feel right. However, her heart breaks all over again when Isaac shows up to the Healing Hearts center, presumably seeking a pill to stop loving her.
As soon as Isaac Fisher walked through the Healing Hearts center doors, he knew he’d made a mistake. Even though he’s struggling with heartbreak, he realizes that he doesn’t want to fall out of love with Margot. He’s surprised to see her working at the front desk, and of course she assumes he’s there to get over her. It doesn’t seem like things can get much worse, but then Margot and Isaac accidentally overhear a terrible and harmful secret about the pill. When they’re caught eavesdropping and almost attacked by shady Healing Hearts executives and their guards, they have no choice but to flee. Now they have to work together to reveal the truth about the pill . . . and maybe, just maybe, repair each other’s hearts in the process.
Illusions of Fire by Nisha Sharma
Union Square & Co.
First love. First kill. Just another day ending in y when you’re a monster-slayer trained by Hindu demons.
Unlike most of her classmates, Laila Bansal doesn’t roll out of bed and head to school. Instead, she wakes up early and trains in hand-to-hand combat with her adopted aunts who, when not tending to their thriving vineyard, are immortal Rakshasi demons sworn to protect Laila. Laila was born into a mythological bloodline—one infused with magic and entrusted with Lord Krishna’s secrets of the universe. By all appearances, though, Laila leads a peaceful, protected life.
Then Ahvi, the new boy in town, seeks out Laila. He also happens to be a descendant of a demi-god. As Ahvi and Laila grow closer, neither of them know about the curse on their bloodlines. Together, they might make a great couple…either that, or their chemistry is about to end the world by unleashing some deadly, monstrous mythical creatures. Magical powers get activated, dark forces converge, and it looks like Laila’s quiet town in upstate New York will be the setting for an epic battle.
Last Chance Live! by Helena Haywoode Henry
Nancy Paulsen Books
Last Chance Live! is the most popular reality show in America—and eighteen-year-old death row inmate Eternity Price’s last chance to live. Getting cast on the show could win her clemency preventing her execution… if she can convince the viewing audience she deserves a second chance. The catch? If America doesn’t vote for her, she loses the chance to appeal her sentence, and she’ll be executed within a week of being eliminated from the show. And since Eternity’s been unpopular her whole life, she’s terrified America won’t pick her. But any chance of getting out of prison and back to her little brother Sincere, no matter how slim, is better than rotting away in her cell.
Eternity never expected to find her first real friends in a reality TV house full of people battling for survival after being convicted of capital crimes, but that’s exactly what happens. So when she gets the opportunity to sabotage them and secure her own victory, she has a choice to make: protect the friendships and acceptance she’s always longed for at the cost of her own life, or sacrifice her newfound community. Eternity must ultimately decide what forgiveness, family, and freedom mean to her, and how far she’ll go to win a game where the stakes are literally life or death.
The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson
Quill Tree Books
Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?
Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.
These Bodies Ain't Broken edited by Madeline Dyer
Page Street YA
Outsmarting deadly video games, hunting the predatory monster in the woods, rooting out evil within their community, finding love and revenge with their newly turned vampire friend―this anthology upends expectations of the roles disabled people can play in horror. With visibly and invisibly disabled characters whose illnesses include Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, PTSD, and more, each entry also includes a short essay from the author about the conditions portrayed in their stories to further contextualize their characters’ perspectives. From breaking ancient curses to defying death itself, these 13 horror stories cast disabled characters as heroes we can all root for.
Contributors include bestselling and award-winning as well as emerging authors: Dana Mele, Lillie Lainoff, Anandi, Soumi Roy, Fin Leary, S.E. Anderson, K. Ancrum, Pintip Dunn, Lily Meade, Mo Netz, P.H. Low, and Carly Nugent.
Zodiac Legacy (Descendants of the Zodiac, 2) by Katie Zhao
Random House Books for Young Readers
After the heist of a lifetime to reclaim the source of their magic—the twelve Chinese zodiac statues—Evangeline Long and her crew of supernatural beings are on the run. Something—or someone—is working against the Descendants of zodiac from the shadows, and despite Evangeline’s efforts, her people remain cursed as creatures of darkness.
However, not everyone wants to return to life before the curse. As factions begin to tear the Descendants apart, Evangeline must travel to London to finish her mission: break the curse and restore the Descendants to their former glory. But with one of her crew in enemy hands and longtime allies turning on her, Evangeline must barter with lives as she decides who to trust . . . and who to target.
And she’ll have to do it soon. There are whispers of monsters on the loose—longtime foes of the Descendants who have returned for blood—and as long as the Descendants remain cursed, they don’t stand a chance. Now more than ever, Evangeline’s crew must finish their mission and reclaim their powers, before there is nothing left of the Descendants to save. . . .
If anyones interested in learning about the first black vampire short story, published in 1819, heres a link to the wiki, its called The Black Vampyre, and its about a former slave turned vampire who seeks revenge on his slave master. Its actually a first in many categories!
Not only is it the first Black vampire story, it's the first comedic vampire story, the first story to include a mixed race vampire, the first vampire story by an American author, and probably the first anti-slavery short story. Some scholars believe that the text was written in response to John William Polidori's The Vampyre.
Character A approached Character B in an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation but it turns out that no one has ever approached Character B for an alliance before and they are now super smitten with Character A and even more invested in being "allies" than in defeating their shared enemy.
Character A: we will make our enemy regret being born! 🥂
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so metropolitan museum of art has a register of books they’ve published that are out of print and that you can download for free! they’re mostly books on art, archeology, architecture, fashion and history and i just think that’s super useful and interesting so i wanted to share! you can find all of the books available here!
Hi all! I've been seeing a lot a lot a lot of Project Hail Mary posting lately and wanted to offer up some "if you like PHM, maybe try __" book recommendations.
As I'm sure you all know, Andy Weir has written some other books; feel free to give them a shot. But there's a lot of lovely "two people inspiring one another to do great things", cross cultural connections with aliens, people working together to save the world with SCIENCE, etc books out there, so here are some to consider:
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
One of the greats. Two people inspiring one another to live (often out of spite), with flashbacks for backstory, on a roadtrip to kill the emperor.
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
I hype this book a lot. It's got cooperation, cultural studies, resettlement politics, sociology, and a little bit of magi-science.
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
Another one of the greats. Space welding technician gets sent to teach space welding to a zero-g native group of four-armed people and they all work towards liberation and independence together. Engineering! Family! Space! The Evils of Capitalism!
Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson
Professional translator for psychic alien ends up investigating a locked-room murder mystery. Aliens! Linguistics!
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
What if there was a disaster on earth and humans had to start planning to go to the stars in the 1950s? There's space, teamwork, pushing back on dumb policies and forward on smart ones and more science!
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Something strange has landed in Lagos' lagoon. Science! Human-alien interaction! Suspense!
My Enemy, My Ally & The Romulan Way by Diane Duane & Peter Morwood (and the other books in their Rhiannsu series)
yes, these are Star Trek novels, but they're really just awesome sci-fi about cross-cultural cooperation and understanding. 100/10.
To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
SCIENCE! It might be a crisis back on earth, but we're focused on the science and teamwork and what life might look like on other planets.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (and the rest of the trilogy)
Tbh these are on my tbr pile, but I've heard great things. Science! Space! Politics!
If you're looking for something with even more politics, philosophy, economics, etc, consider:
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
If you're interested in graphic novels, try:
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer
For this ragtag band of space gays, liberation means beating the patriarchy at its own game. After launching as a webcomic in March 2019, Co
Final caveats from your list compiler: Some of these might not be your jam. That's okay, feel free to try again. I know sci-fi can be a crunchy genre to get into, but it's really worth it. Have fun!
This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire
Many years have passed since Lucas was expelled from his childhood home by Felisberto and Eloy, the two men who arrived uninvited and slowly, insidiously, made it their own. Now Lucas is back, fully grown and intent on claiming his rightful inheritance.
But he is not interested in the house as it once was, in his mother's lovingly planted flowerbeds - now conquered by weeds - nor in the lavish portraits covering every wall. Lucas belongs to a darker world, one crawling with the only creatures he really trusts: insects. As the house crumbles before his eyes, Lucas turns to the allies of his underground kingdom to help him take revenge.
Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda
When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from Opus Dei Delta Academy for Girls convene after school, Annelise always spins the scariest stories and devises the riskiest games. Wearing her crocodile-jawbone crown, she leads them in rituals to her invented god: the rhinestone-encrusted firefly, the wandering womb, the mother pond of anacondas. Even more thrilling is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare that blurs the boundaries between affection and violence. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Obsessed with imitating her dead mother and immobilized by past traumas, each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality.
The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes
Puri inherited two things from her father: a passion for chocolate, and a cacao plantation located in Ecuador. After learning the art of chocolate-making from her grandmother, Puri opened a chocolate shop in her native Spain. But the Great War that devastated Europe has also ruined her business. Eager to learn more about the source of her beloved chocolate, Puri sets out across the ocean with her husband, Cristóbal. But someone is angered by Puri's claim to the plantation….
When a mercenary sent to murder her aboard the ship accidentally kills Cristóbal instead, Puri dons her husband's clothes and assumes his identity, hoping to stay safe while she uncovers the truth.
The Amnesia Clinic by James Scudamore
Anti, a quiet English boy living in Quito, Ecuador, strikes up a friendship with flamboyant classmate Fabián, who is everything Anti isn't: handsome, athletic and popular, while Anti lives in the dull ex-pat world inhabited by his parents, Fabián lives with his cool, eccentric Uncle Suarez. Suarez, a storyteller par excellence, infects the boys with his passion for outlandish tales.
Before long, the relationship between these two fifteen-year-olds becomes one conducted entirely through the medium of storytelling, and they lose sight of the boundaries between fact and fiction. With confused emotions and a tenuous grip on reality, the boys embark on a voyage across Ecuador in search of an “Amnesia Clinic” that may or may not exist.
The Inheritance of Orquídea by Zoraida Córdova
The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low or empty, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers—even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets that she has held onto so tightly their whole lives. Instead, Orquídea is transformed, leaving them with more questions than answers.
7 years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Marimar, Rey, and Tatinelly’s daughter, Rhiannon, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one as it seeks to destroy Orquídea’s line. Determined to save what’s left of their family and uncover the truth behind their inheritance, the four descendants travel to Ecuador, to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets and broken promises and never looked backed
Blurb: Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez - a biracial Jewish girl - finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents’ desire for her to pursue a more stable career. When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin’s grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth…but Benjamin isn’t the only one interested in Ilana. Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow, has become fascinated with her and the music she plays. He offers to share his magic, so Ilana can be with Benjamin and pursue her passion for violin…but after Ilana discovers the truth about Wassermann and how Benjamin became bound to the city, she resolves to save the boy she loves, even if it means losing him forever.
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In New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp's immersive middle grade fantasy, two young misfits embark on a dangerous quest to save their kingdom—and each other. For fans of B. B. Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers, Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil, and Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books.
On the eve of her twelfth birthday, all Princess Adelisa—Ash to her friends—wants to do is run away. The palace doesn’t feel like home. Her mother is holding the war-torn kingdom together by a thread. Her brother bullies her. And the masked ball to celebrate her birthday turns into a nightmare when the nobles openly mock her.
Then Ash meets Splinter. Fierce, brave, and adventurous, Splinter dreams of becoming a knight like her older brother, though only noble sons get to be squires. Until now.
There’s never been a princess’s squire before, but Ash decides it’s the perfect solution. Together, they can face the bullies, snobs, gossips, and disapproving families.
But as their friendship grows, Splinter and Ash discover a deadly conspiracy of nobles planning to overthrow the queen. When Ash is kidnapped, Splinter must navigate long-held secrets and dangerous plots. Ash needs to be a princess who saves herself. And they both have to find a way back to each other to save the kingdom, together.
The first in a trilogy, bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp’s Splinter & Ash evokes the classic adventure and atmosphere of fantasies by Lloyd Alexander and Tamora Pierce and the fresh, inclusive lens of writers such as Rick Riordan, Angie Thomas, and Soman Chainani. It invites everyone—no matter who they are or what they look like—to fight for what they believe in.
What I Like: I love how pink the cover is and the art style, I also love how they’re put the author’s name it looks so cool!!
Summary: Emiko lives with her Ojiichan in a small town surrounded by friends and neighbors, including her childhood friend Kenzo Sanada, who wishes she’d spend less time playing matchmaker. But Emiko can so clearly see who belongs together, even when her targets don’t know it themselves. She simply has to meddle — for the sake of true love!
As for her own romantic life though . . . who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, volunteering, her bustling social life, keeping up her grades, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. Plans she will absolutely decide on soon. Definitely. Maybe? But when Emiko ends up falling for the last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches. For the first time, instead of arranging from afar, Emiko has to figure out what it means to be in love herself, and that friendship and romance are more complicated than she ever imagined
Hello, hello! I wanted to recommend some fun reading for Pride Month. Most of my recommendations will be explicitly lgbtqia+, but I will include some titles that aren't explicitly but still include heavily implied/coded queer rep or are otherwise titles I found deeply relatable to my queer experiences.
(A general note: Many of these books can depict dark, triggering, or otherwise sensitive content; they're not necessarily always perfect, either. Please look up content warnings as you need before reading, and if you have any questions, please feel free to message me.)
"Ballad of Sword and Wine (Qiang Jin Jiu)" by Tang Jiu Qing (Danmei, M/M, Political Drama) - Shen Zechuan is the eighth son of the traitorous Prince of Jianxing, a man who doomed his cities and people to destruction at the hands of the foreign enemy. As the only surviving member of his reviled line, Shen Zechuan is dragged to the capital in chains. He bears the hatred of the nation, but no one’s hate burns hotter than that of Xiao Chiye, the youngest son of the powerful Prince of Libei. (Summary via SevenSeas)
Honestly one of my favorites that I've read in a long time, QJJ is a fantastic story with so much depth, it's brilliant in its execution and writing. It has a rich cast of characters and a fantastic main couple, so I definitely recommend checking it out. It really hits the heart of kingdom building that grain (a.k.a., feeding people) really is at the heart of most power struggles.
Please see under the cut for more recs!
"Raybearer" by Jordan Ifueko (Novel, F/M, Fantasy, Asexual Major Supporting Character) - Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? (Summary via GoodReads)
Absolutely fantastic novel. I was enchanted from start to finish. The author's voice is mesmerizing, and it handled issues of inequality with an admirable amount of nuance and intelligence. As an abuse survivor growing up, I also really appreciated the main character's struggles with her mother and how that was depicted, coupled with one of the major supporting characters being written as explicitly asexual, this book was very dear to me!
"To Your Eternity" by Yoshitoki Oima (Manga, gen, Fantasy) - It, a mysterious immortal being, is sent to the Earth with no emotions nor identity. However, It is able to take the shape of those around that have a strong impetus. At first, It is a sphere. Then, It imitates the form of a rock. As the temperature drops and snow falls atop the moss, It inherits the moss. When an injured, lone wolf comes limping by and lays down to die, It takes on the form of the animal. Finally, It gains consciousness and begins to traverse the empty tundra until It meets a boy. The boy lives alone in a ghost town, which the adults abandoned long ago in search of the paradise said to exist far beyond the endless sea of white tundra. (Summary via MAL)
This is one of the ones that isn't explicitly lgbtqia+, but I feel like Fushi, as a shapeshifting being capable of taking on the forms of the deceased who made a mark on their life, is deeply relatable to the queer community as they go on their journey of self-discovery. The manga is a profound exploration of the sense of self, the march of time, the weight of complete and total immortality, of family and community, and the marks of grief. Fushi, our main character, can be read as genderfluid, non-binary, agendered, and probably a variety of other things, and they're shown taking on a variety of different forms with different gender expressions. It's a fantastic manga and definitely worth a read.
"Burning Roses" by S.L. Huang (Novel, F/F, Fantasy, Trans MC) - When Rosa (aka Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer join forces to stop the deadly sunbirds from ravaging the countryside, their quest will take the two women, now blessed and burdened with the hindsight of middle age, into a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and the quest for immortality. (Summary via GoodReads)
So this is actually the third book in a series, which I had no clue about before I read it, but it's a testament to the author's skills that I was still entranced by the book and wasn't lost. The author combines elements of eastern and western fair tales so well, it makes to book such a vibrant and intriguing read.
"Love me for who I am" by Kata Konayama (Manga, M/NB, Slice of Life, Non-binary MC) - Mogumo is known throughout their entire school as an easy target. They are non-binary—neither male nor female—which ostracizes them from the rest of the school community. However, in a chance encounter, they meet a boy named Tetsu Iwaoka, who decides to bring Mogumo to a maid cafe. (Summary via MAL)
I will warn this one deals with some heavier topics, but I did think they were addressed surprisingly well. This one had me crying in the end, too. It was nice to watch all the characters work towards happiness and acceptance with their loved ones, especially when starting from rough places of rejection and misunderstanding.
"Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire (Novel, gen, Fantasy, Asexual MC, Trans Major Supporting Character) - Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. (Summary via GoodReads)
Honestly I've fallen in love with the Wayward Children series. They're short, fun reads that are packed with imagination, creativity, and lyrical prose that make them a joy to read. I especially loved that the first one decided to include an asexual main character (Nancy is great), and a transmasc major supporting character (Kade is also great). There's also a sapphic couple later on if you continue through the subsequent books in the series! Definitely a fun series.
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I'd much rather see one thousand "graphic design is my passion" canva book covers and scribbly ms paint covers and poorly scanned colored pencil covers than a single AI generated book cover
Blurb: Every night, Ceridwen Kinsley plays music on her rooftop for the spirit of her dead mother. A peaceful - if odd - ritual...until she witnesses a murder by something not quite human. The monstrous encounter earns her notoriety within the city and a visit from the reclusive Lord Protector, Drystan Winterbourne. Charged with protecting the backwater city of Teneboure by the king, Drystan is failing at his task, and he can't afford another slip-up...but when fate and the very monster he means to conquer bring Ceridwen to his notice, he seizes the opportunity and presents her with an offer: play music for him at his manor in exchange for the money her impoverished family desperately needs. Music eases the strain of his magic, and who better to hire than the woman whose tunes he secretly listens to at night? At first, Ceridwen is put off by Drystan's unkempt appearance and harsh demeanour, not to mention the odd ailment that plagues him...but as he embraces her passion for music and she draws the recluse out of his lonely tower, the two develop an unlikely attachment. Class lines begin to blur as fearful indifference shifts to unexpected desire, and Ceridwen yearns to help Drystan subdue the monster as well as provide for her family. However, the monster prowling the night isn't their only enemy, and as terrible secrets come to light, protecting those they love may risk their lives...and their hearts.
