Bug Can Read

2025 Books Read (So far)

Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews (★★★★★)

Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens (★★★⯪☆)

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen (★★★★☆)

The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me by Hiroki Haruse (★★★☆☆)

Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens (★★★★☆)

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (★★★★★)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (★★★★★)

Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation by James W. Loewen, Nate Powell (★★★★★)

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune (★★★★★)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 3 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (★★★★☆)

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag (★★★★☆)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (★★★★★)

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui (★★★★★)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 5 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (★★★★★)

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (★★★★★)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (★★★★★)

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Vol. 1 (Graphic Novel) by Luo Di Cheng Qiu (★★★★★)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (★★★★☆)

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones (★★★★☆)

2am Knows All Secrets by Unbreakable_Red_Riot (★★★★★)

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (★★★★★)

Holes by Louis Sachar (★★★★☆)

The Brightness Between Us by Eliot Schrefer (★★★★★)

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (★★★★☆)

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (★★★★☆)

Spock's World by Diane Duane (★★★★☆)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)

Killing Time by Della Van Hise (★★⯪☆☆)

Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews (★★★★★)

C.G. Drews' style of botantical horror has me in a chokehold. I read Don't Let the Forest In earlier this year and it blew my mind. Hazelthorn did just the same.

This story, where do I begin? As an autistic person myself, I felt so enraged on behalf of Evander, who takes so much shit and is treated like he isn't even a human half the time. I haven't seen a lot of stories from the perspective of an autistic person (most of the time it's a story from the pov of someone who knows an autistic person and they rarely if ever are written by an autistic person). I think Hazelthorn does an amazing job at conveying the horror that autistic people face and the rage that they feel about it. Being talked around, being deprived of your autonomy, being treated like a monster and feeling like one...reading this is such a catharsis.

I absolutely adored both Evander and Laurie in this book. If you couldn't tell from the synopsis, this is an enemies to lovers type story and it's dark. Just like Drews' last horror book, the romance here isn't meant to be wholesome, it's obsessive and codependent and it's so, so good. Their dynamic is great and it gets even better as the lore is revealed.

The mystery unfolds in a very interesting way and it gives you time to theorize yourself. The re-readability of this book...it's gonna be good. I got the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition of this book, which includes an annotated version of one of the chapters, and there's so much foreshadowing and depth to scenes that you can only notice after reading the book before. Drews doesn't write their books just for the twists, their stories are well thought out and planned so that knowing the twist just makes the book all the better.

When Drews writes horror surrounding nature, their prose is filled to the brim with references to flora and fauna. It feels like the book itself has been overtaken by the horrifying forces of nature that haunt the characters. Drews' prose is almost like poetry with their use of figurative language.

The opening chapters of this book were really fun. We get to see our usual Star Trek crew and some new characters that Van Hise came up with for this story (S'Parva is my personal fav). Once we start switching over to the Romulan perspective, the plot starts to thicken but the story also starts to struggle. Sarela and Thea are certainly interesting characters and I enjoyed their dynamic in the few chapters we get of just the two of them but, when the Enterprise and Romulan plots collide together, Sarela is tossed to the side for the sake of focusing on Thea and Spock's relationship. After spending so much time in Sarela's perspective, it just felt weird to sideline her. There are a couple moments when characters are put in a corner and stay there until they're useful again, something they do even with JAMES T. KIRK of all people.

Overall, the writing is a mixed bag. As I said, the opening chapters were great, the characterization was well-done and I was quickly endeared to the new characters. But through the course of the story, some plot choices straight up pissed me off, like what do you mean the timeline change made Spock go into Pon Farr???

That being said, the concept itself is very interesting. Seeing how different Second History Kirk and Spock are in this new timeline, it's bizarre and fun. The aggressive tension between them but the strange feeling of familiarity...the uncertainty on how to treat one another is great. Van Hise writes them like they're soulmates (she's right) and I love it. Character writing is Van Hise's strong suit, she really nails it.

It definitely depends on the person, but personally this book was hard to get through. It took me almost two months... The story really started dragging its feet after the midway point and I found myself losing interest, so bit by bit I slogged through it until the end.

This review has been sitting in my drafts for probably a month now. I just haven't been able to come up with much to say so this is probably going to end up being one of my shorter reviews.

Seven Husbands was a very captivating story. Even on days I wasn't in the mood to read, when I would think "eh, just one chapter," I ended up reading for a couple hours. I don't think there was a single chapter where I felt bored, everything was paced just right and every single chapter felt like it had strong purpose and intent.

Every character in this book is written in a nuanced manner that makes them all so, so human; kindness and cruelty mashing together in such a way that make you either hate or love a character. At the book club I attended, we all agreed that we rooted for Evelyn but didn't necessarily like her. She's such a beautifully complicated character that even after it all, I couldn't hate her for all that she had done.

I don't have much else to say as this book really speaks for itself. It's absolutely worth giving it a read and especially talking about it at a book club or with friends. Being such a morally divisive book, the opinions on Evelyn and her actions can have great variety so it's just the perfect book for group discussions. For example, I enjoyed Evelyn and Celia's relationship, even if it was messy and, at times, toxic (but you know they overall ended up doing good), but another member of the book club thought that they weren't good together at all and should have sought relationships elsewhere (totally valid). We all agreed that Evelyn's best relationship was with Harry though; they were absolutely platonic soulmates.

I think this quote from Evelyn perfectly encompasses what I took away from the story:

"It's always been fascinating to me how things can be simultaneously true and false, how people can be good and bad all in one, how someone can love you in a way that is beautifully selfless while serving themselves ruthlessly."

Just to get it out of the way, let's talk about the one thing I mildly disliked about the book. For context, this book has two plot lines.

The first plot line (we'll call it the Enterprise plot line, as each chapter with this plot is called such) follows Kirk, Spock, and McCoy as they go to Vulcan to give testimony against Vulcan seceding from the Federation. If Vulcan successfully votes to secede, then all Vulcans must return to their home planet or else be exiled, and all humans and Federation entities from remove themselves from Vulcan too. This isn't one of your action adventure sci-fi stories, this is one of political intrigue and discourse and I. Love. It. More about that later.

The second plot line (Vulcan plot line) is like an anthology (?) in a way. It follows the development of Vulcan over the course of thousands of years, starting from when they were equivalent to human cavemen to the last fifty or so years. It's a very interesting concept, seeing how Vulcans evolved from their originally violent and warring selves to their logically minded culture today. However, whenever an Enterprise chapter ended (and usually on an intriguing cliffhanger), turning the next page to the Vulcan chapter felt like I was wading through water to get to the next patch of nice, dry land. I think almost every time I got stuck on this book, it was on a Vulcan chapter. Like I said, the concept is interesting, but with the Enterprise plot line following characters I adore compared to this one, the Vulcan plot line struggles to maintain the same hype. It has to introduce some characters, try to get you either emotionally attached or otherwise interested in the characters and/or plot line, but still wrap it all up so we can easily jump another couple hundred or so years into the next phase of Vulcan evolution. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I must admit though, Diane Duane has some lovely prose when writing about the galaxy.

BUT. BUT I SAY. The very last Vulcan chapter saves it for me, because it follows Sarek and Amanda, and GOD I am obsessed with those two. Ever since seeing them in The Original Series, I've been obsessed with them. It's just absolutely lovely to see their love story and Diane Duane COOKS.

Back to the Enterprise plot line, this is definitely the best part of the book. The characterization is really good overall but the absolute highlight of the book for me was McCoy. He is just firing on all cylinders this book with his sass and his smarts. The friendship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy too is very endearing in this book; they are all so silly. Please, I must share a quote from pages 215-216 in my Kindle edition.

"I want popcorn," McCoy said suddenly. The young woman looked up at him from underneath very pertly slanted brows and said calmly, "No eating in the auditorium, sir. Next?" They headed into the auditorium. Spock was looking bemused: McCoy was grinning. "You cut it out," Jim said. "Just for that, you're not getting the aisle seat." "Spoilsport."

One page later...

"Do they play the national anthem?" McCoy said, leaning over to whisper to Spock. He had gotten the aisle seat anyway.

It's just a treat to read about these three, and the Vulcan secession plot is very interesting and fun. I think the Enterprise plot explores Vulcan culture and society in a more captivating way than the Vulcan plot does. Cthia, the Vulcan concept of reality-truth (commonly mistranslated to "logic" in English), and its existence as a philosophy that some Vulcans follow more than others is probably the most fascinating out of them all. Plus, it being mistranslated, and therefore the source of some misconceptions about the Vulcan race (along with some other mistranslated words) just fits so well into the Star Trek universe. It's unfortunate that it only exists in this book, which is something to keep in mind when exploring other Star Trek media.

Okay, one last tangent, I love how Diane Duane integrates a lot of different aliens into the Enterprise crew, especially non-humanoids. K's't'lk is so cool (apparently she first appears in another Diane Duane novel, love that) and there's a Horta crew member mentioned and I lowkey screamed when I read that. I LOVE the Horta episode.

Overall, I rate Red, White & Royal Blue 4 out of 5 stars. McQuiston has always been skilled at writing lovable and well-rounded characters that I can't help but get attached to. Some people find Alex obnoxious but his charisma and his passion make him so likable to me. His smartassery makes me roll my eyes, not because I'm annoyed, but because I'm amused by his "quirks" (i.e. flaws). I think a lot of people forget that he's 21, which absolutely floored me when it was mentioned (since I last read it when I was 4-5 years younger than him). They definitely age the characters up in the movie, which I think leads people to expecting absolute adult maturity from him and Henry...but they're 21 and 22 at the start of the book. People in their early 20s can be very, very dumb (I say this from experience).

Opposed to Alex, Henry is everything Alex is not. He's composed, quiet, and reserved. One of my favorite things in this novel is the process of seeing Henry unravel, his passions revealing themselves through texts and emails, that show he has the same fire inside as Alex. I also absolutely adore all the supporting characters in the book, June by far being my favorite (it's an absolute crime they cut her from the movie and I'll never forgive them for it) and after that night in LA, I am a Nora/June/Pez poly truther.

Plot-wise, the romance is solid. The whole enemies to lovers trope was over advertised; they're only enemies for like 30% of the book (I was keeping track with my audiobook app, Libby). Not a big deal to me, as that is mainly a part of the advertising, which I don't really care about as a second time reader of the story. The whole book industry is overrun with advertising books as lists of tropes, imo. I personally prefer the secret dating situation they're in for most of the book, because that also creates a juicy amount of conflict. As a couple, I love Alex and Henry. Their emails are one of my favorite parts of the books, we just get to learn about their personal struggles and their thoughts and their passions... it's really great in making you feel attached to them.

The main issues I have seen people have with the plot is the politics, something I find understandable. The politics of the story are portrayed in black and white; democrats are absolutely good and republicans are absolutely evil. There is no nuance to the characterization of the political spectrum which is....a spectrum. I agree with the morals of the book, obviously, but you can't ignore the simplification of a very complicated political system is not necessarily a good thing. You can't always trust politicians and you can't trust everyone who is "on the same side" as you; you absolutely shouldn't idolize them and assume they're always doing something for the sake of it being morally good either.

However, I also think we should consider the context in which Casey McQuiston wrote this. The book was written in a post-2016 political climate where the cheeto man won the presidency (unfortunately a political climate that exists again today...) and McQuiston wanted to create a world where a democratic woman won and became president. I don't think she really intended the story to be realistic. Instead, it's more of a "let's pretend the world really isn't as shitty as it is" scenario, where corruption and bigotry still exist but we're able to overcome it. Therefore, while I understand and agree that there are problems with the flat portrayal of United States politics, this might be a situation where we can suspend our disbelief and enjoy a fictional win for the LGBTQ+ community. Despite it being fictional, it does give me hope that this is a future that we can one day achieve. I totally get that not everyone wants to suspend their disbelief in that way though, so if you don't like the book because of the politics, that's perfectly fine.

As mentioned, this isn't my first time reading the book, but this is my first time with the audiobook, and I absolutely adored Ramón De Ocampo's narration. His voices for the characters and his acting choices for them were absolutely brilliant. The only time it got awkward was during the karaoke scene, when Henry's dialogue is just the lyrics of a Queen song, and De Ocampo has no choice but to say the lyrics in the least copyright strikable way he can. Strange, but very funny to hear the lyrics of a song I know very well lacking absolutely any of the rhythm and notes that should accompany it. Anyway, De Ocampo adds so much personality to the characters through his voice that I want to recommend it to anyone who found Alex and Henry unlikable when reading the book. De Ocampo just...absolutely rules. (I have also learned that he narrates the Diary of a Wimpy Kid novels and.....the range of this man)