I've been changing my mind about my reading goals non-stop, so set in stone, (or digital text that can be edited) here are my
2026 reading goals:
Read and review ARCs at least two weeks before pub date. I am already failing at this so I'll start in February to give myself time to catch up.*
Post monthly reading recaps
Read the books I own. Last year I read 6 books I own, out of my goal of 40 books. This year I shall aim to read more than last year, so at least 7 books.
Read more classics. Ok this one is just because I feel ridiculous reviewing books that are retellings of classics without having read the original. I shall aim to read one(1) classic a month.
*caveat that I might get ARCs too late to complete before pub date, in which case it's not my fault
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As the heir to the most successful tutoring company in the world, he can be nothing less than perfect if he wants to gain his parents’ approval. So it's simple. Rory studies harder than anyone else. He does not make mistakes. And he never loses.
Except to Luca Melendez. The infuriatingly good-looking hockey player who wins every academic competition without even trying.
When Rory has a very public meltdown, throwing a smoothie at Luca and shattering his own public image in the process – it feels like one more thing Luca ruined.
To salvage his reputation, Rory has his sights set on winning the most cutthroat academic camp in the country, BRAIN. There is nothing standing between Rory and the final medal.
Until, Luca Melendez shows up.
This means war, and Rory has the perfect plan: Make Luca fall in love with him.
And then break Luca’s heart right before the final competition.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
This is a highly entertaining book, with over the top drama, quirky cast of characters, and a hilarious and heartwarming romance.
Our protagonist, Rory, is super uptight, very smart, and completely ignorant of his own feelings. I think the author does a good job of making him come across as intelligent, while also being believably oblivious. His driving motivation to succeed academically is living up to his parent's impossibly high expectations of him, at the expense of having a social life.
Parental expectations are a big theme here, as Rory meets other kids who are forced to their adhere to their parents' expectations, or the opposite, kids whose parents are completely unsupportive or don't expect anything of them.
Rory's enemy/love interest, Luca, serves as a perfect character foil to him. Unlike Rory, Luca's motivations are innate and driven by his passion, and while his mother has dreams for him, it's clear that she doesn't pressure him into it. He also has much better work-life balance than Rory, as he makes time to pursue a social life and his own interests outside of academics.
The blurb promises a scheme by Rory to make Luca fall in love with him in order to break his heart, but, I'm not gonna lie, the book doesn't really carry through on this premise. Rory gets cold feet about it and doesn't try much, but even if he was determined to follow through, both of them are so incredibly oblivious about each other's feelings that the plan was doomed from the start. I love how Luca helps Rory open up and encourages him to pursue his own interests, and I loved how Rory started to care about Luca, even while he was deeply in denial of his feelings and "hated" Luca.
There are some descriptions of academic/science-y stuff, which for the most part I'm fine with. I don't have much(any) knowledge of that stuff, but I do know some coding. And what coding was depicted in this book was a little... dubious. Which does make me doubt the accuracy of all the science stuff, but if you can ignore that it would probably be fine.
Overall, this was a fast-paced, fun and heartwarming read that left me wanting more of the romance and characters!
Content warnings:
Controlling parents
Mentions of transphobia, but no on page depictions
Irene Shallcross Haley has dedicated her life to necromancy, a forbidden, reviled art that is passed along through sentient grimoires bound in human skin. With her undead husband St. John—a marriage of kindred spirits and platonic convenience—she has been protecting the knowledge of generations of witches that came before her. Like any magic, it has come at a cost: her reputation, her relationship with her sister, and her soul. But when Irene’s love, Agnes, is hanged for witchcraft, Irene refuses to let Agnes be one more thing that is taken from her.
A true resurrection has not been achieved in two thousand years, but Irene is determined. With the help of St. John, Irene bangs on the doors of the Halls of the Dead, demanding the third part of their triumverate back…or did she? Because the Agnes that awakens comes with both a hunger for raw flesh and a malignant ghost tied to her soul.
Necromancy is the art of saying no—no, I won't let you go; no, I won't let you be destroyed—and Irene’s work is not yet done. She must find a way to bring Agnes back to her true self, she must navigate her feelings for her resurrected lover as well as St. John, and she must do all of this without catching the attention of Sir Silas Underhill, the man who sentenced Agnes to death.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
A fascinating and immersive gothic tale, full of lyrical prose and necromantic rituals, cannibalism and bugs and gore.
While the synopsis makes it sound like Irene is the main character, there are actually three PoVs in this book, with each protagonist being equally important. The narrative is non-linear, jumping between the present and the past, often within the same chapter. The book starts right in the midst of action, with nothing explained. It does feel confusing at first, but as the story progresses, the character dialogue and flashbacks provide insight into how the characters came to be in their situation, and everything becomes clear.
There are different types of magic in this world, and while most are accepted and commonplace, necromancy is forbidden, with many of their spells being lost or destroyed. I don't want to give too much away, so i shall just say that I absolutely loved the lore behind necromancy, the way the spells work, and the depiction of the afterlife, referred to by the characters as the Halls of the Dead.
Although I wouldn't classify this book as a Romance™️, it is definitely romantic, with the romance between the characters being a significant part of the story. While Irene and Agnes have an established relationship, Irene's marriage to St. John is one of convenience. I love how their relationship develops, as they grow closer and realise their attractions to each other.
I didn't love the way the overarching plot was executed. The story was a little repetitive: the characters cast a spell, which goes wrong, so they cast another spell to fix the problem, which results in a different problem, and repeat. This is a little spoilery, sorry, but they basically do this over and over again until the big climax, which is, you guessed it, casting another spell. It doesn't help that the rituals to cast the spells are the exact same phrases and actions every time, which makes it feel extra repetitive.
I didn't mind this much; following the characters' journey and uncovering the lore of the Halls of the Dead kept me hooked. But it did make the overall reading experience a little tiresome.
Overall, I love this book for it's gothic atmosphere and descriptions of gore, as well as the tender romance between the protagonists.
A year ago, Owen Henson had a close-knit group of friends who felt like family and a boyfriend who made his heart race just by walking into the room. But now? Everything’s unraveling. His friends seem to be moving forward without him, and his happily-ever-after shattered when his boyfriend Jacob packed up and left for North Carolina to join a research team.
The last thing Owen needs is for Jacob to waltz back into the city like nothing happened, showing up at their friends’ annual Christmas party looking just as annoyingly handsome as the day he left. Or for their friends to spring a surprise six-day, seven-night cruise up the West Coast to Alaska as a bonding trip for the group. How is Owen supposed to keep it together around the man who broke his heart, all while pretending he’s fine? Totally fine. But then Jacob tells Owen that he’d like to be something even more complicated than exes. He wants to be friends. Skeptical, Owen agrees to the plan but as they spend time together among the gorgeous Alaskan backdrop and cruise-mandated activities, Owen feels his walls coming down and he might just discover that he can’t help but fall in love again.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
Second chance romances are typically hit or miss for me, and in the case of Ship Happens, I feel a little mixed.
Due to Jacob's dream job requiring him to move away, and Owen's reluctance to follow him, they decide to break up, rather than do long-distance. This sounds perfectly valid to me, and as I am pro-breakup, I was not inclined to root for them to get back together.
While this book is technically a rom-com, I found the general vibe of the first half rather depressing, as Owen is often in a negative headspace and stressed out about being around Jacob. This did not endear me to their romance, which so far seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. Of course, over the course of the story, they begin to grow closer and rekindle their relationship. I liked Owen's flashbacks to their relationship pre-breakup, which provided insight into how well they got on and made it easier to root for them.
By this point, I was wondering how their relationship would proceed, as the circumstances that caused their breakup remained unchanged. No spoilers, but I liked how it played out, with Owen and Jacob learning from issues they previously had in their relationship, and also choosing to pursue their dreams and not prioritise romance over everything else.
My favourite part of this book was Owen's character journey of feeling like he was being left behind by his peers to gaining the courage to pursue his dreams even at the risk of failure.
All in all, even if I didn't entirely love the romance, Ship Happens is heartfelt read that I would recommend.
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the white boy of the month pushing his hair back and reading poetry for the camera is not the equivalent of the dehumanization of women in visual media by way of presenting them primarily as vessels for sexual gratification
please read this even if you're not indian. especially if you're not indian.
you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.
first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.
now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:
in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.
and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.
and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.
it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:
• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.
• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.
• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.
• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.
• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.
• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.
and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.
what i'm asking:
if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.
if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.
india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.
The movement, which began as a satirical protest, has evolved into a nationwide challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
Supporters of India's youth-led Cockroach movement said Tuesday they will continue their protest in New Delhi, refusing to leave their sit-in site a day after police used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of them as they tried to march toward Parliament.
Hundreds of protesters camped at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest site, under heavy police presence, saying they would stay until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns over alleged failures in India's examination system.
"We are going to continue our protest," said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, which emerged just two months ago.
The movement, drawing students, professionals and families, marks a rare public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's government in its third term, reviving criticism over its handling of dissent and its use of force to respond to protests. [...]
Sona Bisht, a 20-year-old student who was part of the protest, said the confrontation strengthened her resolve.
"If the government thinks that doing this with Gen Z, they can stop us, then that won't happen. We are here talking about education, talking about securing our future. And till the time our demands are not met, we will not move from here," she said.
"Definitions developed thus far about youth, like the Gen Z narrative, have largely been linked to roles attributed by the dominant system. The rulers have invented a whole range of terms — rebellious, irresponsible, apolitical, extremist, consumerist — not to understand youth, but to neutralize it. They know as well as we do that whoever wins over the youth wins over society. [...] Thus the question is not whether youth is powerful, but in whose interest this power is directed. Today’s uprisings — such as those in Nepal, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, and beyond — demonstrate that youth continues to emerge as a decisive actor. Young women like Deniz Ciya have proven this with their lives. These uprisings are not expressions of generational temperament. These „Gen Z uprisings“ are expressions of a social force confronting structural crisis inherent in the current system. [...] Recent youth uprisings — whether in the form of environmental justice protests, labor movements, or uprisings against authoritarian governments — are proof that youth worldwide are not only responding to a set of circumstances; they are consciously and collectively rejecting the narratives that seek to define them. Thus, it is crucial to analyze what transpired, and draw lessons from these uprisings, particularly in the context of building a global youth democratic confederalism. For the power of youth movements is interconnected, despite being geographically distant." — "Beyond "Gen Z": Defending Revolutionary Youth Spirit" by Lêgerîn
"The youth in general, and especially the young women, are the spark of every revolution.We can’t look at the history and found a revolution without the youth. We are a fundamental factor. We should be aware of this reality, we should take conscience of our historical role. By doing this we will provide ourselves with a plan that will allow us the unity of action and objectives. The Youth should not be condemned to be a slave of the capitalist system. [...] If we reject the labels and mentalities imposed by the system, taking consciousness as Internationalist Youth in a global level and organizing ourselves, is there someone who can stop us?" — "The youth is the spark of every revolution" by Lêgerîn.
Bridget & Gabe are Not Okay (The Camelot Disasters #2) by Lex Croucher
Publish date: 11 August 2026
Genre: young adult historical romance
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
If you are looking for:
Mental health and disability representation
Second chance romance
Lady knights
Exploration of grief and trauma
But it's also tender and heartfelt and funny??
Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can't tell Arthur just how not okay he is – so he's set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down.
Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When she’s invited to join Gabriel's round table, she hopes it’ll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible.
With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumoured sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
I loved the first book, so I was hugely anticipating this sequel, and it absolutely delivers!
Compared to Gwen & Art, Bridget & Gabe is slower-paced and more character-focused, and the general atmosphere is more subdued and serious, although there are still plenty of light-hearted and humorous moments. With the focus being the characters, the plot as a whole is much less climactic and with lower stakes.
This book does an excellent job of exploring Bridget and Gabriel's trauma. Both of them are deeply affected by the events that took place at the end of the first book, and there are lasting consequences. There are no easy solutions for them, but over the course of the story, they grow in emotional maturity, find the courage to take back their lives, and repair their relationships.
Bridget and Gabriel are the main focus of this book, but through their points of view, we also get to see how Gwen and Arthur are doing. While they also struggle with the aftermath of book 1, it's so lovely to see they still retained their character arcs and brought forward the lessons they learnt.
I'll admit I had some issues with Gwen & Art, but Bridget & Gabe fixes all of those issues and provides such a heartfelt and satisfying ending for these characters that it makes the duology so much better as a whole. Overall, I highly recommend this duology, and while Gwen & Art works as a standalone, Bridget & Gabe is an essential follow-up.
Six years ago, Shea Fury’s sister was whisked away by the High King of the Otherworld, the ruler of the treacherous land of fae. Although Shea has spent the years since dreaming of rescuing her sister from captivity, the Iron Veil that separates the human world from that of the fae has made it only a wish. That is, until an invitation to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime chess tournament in the Otherworld arrives on Shea’s doorstep. The winner of the tournament may ask the High King to grant one wish, and Shea is finally within reach of hers.
But entering the tournament and winning it are two different matters. Dark magic lurks around every corner in the Otherworld, and Shea’s cutthroat opponents are willing to bend the rules to make their own wishes come true. To make it to the end—and to find her sister—she is forced to strike an alliance with her longtime rival, the sharply beautiful fae princess, Ciara of Bri Leith. One wrong move, though, and Shea could lose more than just the competition: She’d lose her sister, her dignity, and maybe even her life.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
A quick and fun adventure through the world of fae!
The plot is straightforward and I predicted the plot twists pretty easily, but it was still entertaining to follow along and see how everything played out.
Our protagonist, Shea, is kind of a mess. While she's brilliant at chess, she often lets her emotions get the better of her and crumbles under pressure. I love her character arc of learning to overcome her fears and letting people in.
I also love her love interest, Ciara. I am a sucker for fae (or non-human) characters who love human stuff, and Ciara's overly formal way of speaking combined with her very laidback personality made her lots of fun every time she appeared.
I was a little worried going into this about how the chess playing parts would be depicted, as I have only the most fundamental understanding of how the game works, and I think the author did a good job of portraying it for non-chess players! The games are described with lots of metaphors that show Shea's progress during the games, rather than describing all of the moves she makes, which make them feel exciting and entertaining, and the characters also frequently discuss chess plays and strategies, which are more technical, but the author explains enough so that I feel like I know what's going on.
We're at the "JK Rowling is personally funding litigation to try and destroy AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL" stage of rabid UK terf brain.
Screenshot via Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net on bluesky
Tldr Amnesty International, global human rights organisation, published a report called 'A growing threat: the anti-rights movement in the UK'. In it is detailed, amongst others, a whole bunch of transphobic groups and organisations, including Beira's Place, JK Rowling's trans exclusionary sexual violence support service. JK Rowling threw a shit fit and got Amnesty to take the report down by threatening libel. This was obviously not enough, because you can't appease a fascist, so now she's going to bankroll a bunch of lawsuits anyway through the JK Rowling Women's Fund.*
You can read an archived version of the report here, please save it and share it.
*Not so friendly reminder there is no way to engage in the wizard books without enabling this shit.
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i respect ppl who think frodo & sam were sucking & fucking constantly when the narrator wasn't looking. but personally i think the furthest they went was an awkward attempt at mutual handjobs one night in mordor which started as sam trying to do something anything that'd make frodo feel good & frodo insisted on doing it for sam too & sam closed his eyes & tried to imagine it was rosie cotton while frodo tried to remember the shire or focus on the texture of sam's rough hand or the unyielding heat in his own grip or think about anything other than the great burning wheel & neither of them succeeded. & frodo never got fully hard & eventually pushed sam's hand away but kept going & sam felt like he had failed & part of him wanted to push frodo's hand away too but instead he came harder than he had ever in his life & they never talked about it again
I had fewer ARCs to read, so I caught up on library books for once.
Finally got around to reading The Jasmine Throne! It's been a while since I read epic fantasy, so it took me a bit to get into it, but once I did, the book took off. It's actually kind of a relief to read a fantasy fantasy, with magic and royalty and politics and myths and wider scope, after reading, like, just assorted fantasy subgenres for a while. It feels like there's so much going on in the book, but at the same time, it very much feels like just the beginning of the story.
I also got around to reading Heartstopper volume 6 and omgggg😭😭😭😭 I was waiting for the whole thing to be posted before reading, then I put it off until the Heartstopper movie trailer came out. I didn't expect it to hit me so hard that its actually over, and it was so lovely and emotional and such a perfect send off to the characters😭😭😭😭😭
I've also been hugely anticipating Lord of Ruin and it ate! Ngl, it's objectively not good; the character work could do with, well, more work, and it's suffering from second book syndrome. However☝️ I am reading these books for two(2) things and they are sex and vampires, and this DELIVERS. The sex scenes were abundant and fire, and we even got some light monsterfucking!! Also, I was wondering, since the author/characters are Filipino, if there would be any mention of Filipino vampires, aka the manananggal, and ohohohohoh there is! No spoilers, but ooooh the manananggal is here and glorious. I am so seated for book 3, which will hopefully have more monsterfucking, and more manananggal content and more violence and gore🙏🙏
Perverts is an interesting collection of short stories, all exploring queerness. The longer stories are rather bleak and end ambiguously, and there are some shorter ones that are more experimental in style. I liked the longer ones, which have interesting premises that would have been really cool if explored in longer form. I'm not really into short stories, but I found this collection thought-provoking and fascinating, though I fear some of them may have gone over my head.
Ask yourself, how does this piece make you feel? (No wrong answers)
Look for an artist statement nearby. What does it say about the artist and their relationship to their work? What does the artist say that they are trying to convey with their art? What contextual clues can you pick up from what they say about their background, or what they omit?
Look at the title of the piece. What is the artist saying about their work by naming it that, either explicitly or implicitly?
Look at the medium. Is there anything about the piece that stands out to you, knowing what it's made of?
Look at the year it was made. What cultural events might have been happening around this time? Was this piece part of a particular art movement? What was the purpose of that art movement, and what was it trying to say?
Accept that sometimes, you still might not get it. This is perfectly okay.
Katie is far from home and fresh out of college, desperate to skirt adulthood’s demands, and all too willing to let her wealthy boyfriend James make decisions for them both. It doesn’t help that she’s no longer speaking to her mother. Or that her roommate has abruptly moved out of their New York City apartment. But when James takes Katie on vacation to his family’s seaside house, he brings Silver, his childhood cat, and Katie discovers a sudden, strange, and giddy sense of connection.
Silver doesn’t mind that Katie can’t seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to lie around all day, misbehave spectacularly, be cute, gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. Soon enough, they’re inseparable, and something inside Katie begins to crack open, or maybe just…crack.
Because if Katie has learned anything from her estranged mother, it’s that devotion comes at a price. As Katie’s affection for Silver deepens, all of her other relationships begin to falter. Soon, Katie must confront what it is she desires from her life, and what she might have to risk to get it.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
Not gonna lie, I very nearly DNFed this.
The reason I wanted to DNF wasn't because I found the book bad--it was because I found the main character too relatable.
Katie is in her early twenties, freshly graduated from college, and unable and unwilling to get a job. The author perfectly captures what it feels like to have your whole life ahead of you and not know what to do with it. I related a lot with Katie's feelings of powerlessness; she feels like her life is beyond her control, and feels naive and immature compared to her peers, who seem to have their lives put together. These feelings are amplified by her relationship with her boyfriend, James, who is a few years older than her, with more life experience and a well-paying job.
Katie desperately wants to return to being a child, solely relying on her mother's care without the responsibilities of adulthood, but she finds it increasingly impossible, with her estrangement from her mother growing with time. Katie isn't the only one who wants to return to her childhood. Whenever they talk, Katie's mother only wants to reminisce on Katie's childhood, unable to connect with her daughter any other way.
When Katie meets James's cat, Silver, she discovers a connection with it. She finds unconditional acceptance from Silver, unlike her roommate, who wants Katie to pay back the rent she owes, or James, who wants Katie to improve herself. She also relates to and envies Silver. She wants to live dependently like Silver does, yet wonders if Silver feels trapped like she does, unable to make choices for herself.
At about 60% I had to pause reading this for a while, as Katie's feelings mirrored my own so closely it put me in a weird headspace that made me feel worse about my own life.
But I am glad I decided to pick it back up. Katie begins to figure out her relationships, and her character arc as she learns to take control of her life was so well-executed. The messages of the story are clear and easy to understand, but without feeling like the author is working to spell it out to the reader, as the way Katie arrives to these conclusions feel natural and not forced.
Honestly, Katie probably isn't the most likeable protagonist--I'm sure other readers would find her insufferable. But she's the most relatable character I've come across in a while, and her story made me feel a little hopeful for my own life too.
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Genre: young adult paranormal fantasy with horror elements
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Maximiliano Rafael Guerrero Lopez “Max” has been dead for 30 years. He’s stuck as a sixteen-year-old in his childhood bedroom with no memory of how he died, and no company aside from rotting floor boards and mildew-ridden guitars.
Joaquín Felix Ladrón “Joaquín” is a high schooler who's desperate to experience something paranormal—he’d do anything to even catch a glimpse of a ghost, even if it means sacrificing his relationship with his boyfriend.
When Joaquín goes on a ghost hunt at an abandoned house that's rumored to be haunted, he and Max find their fates becoming intertwined in ways neither of them expected. But, as Max’s powers begin to grow stronger, it becomes clear that their tentative friendship may just prove to be fatal...
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
A fast-paced and thrilling read!
I went into this expecting a paranormal mystery story, about solving the mystery of Max's death, as well as the subsequent paranormal/ghostly goings-on, but it turned out to be a much more straightforward plot focusing on the characters' interpersonal relationships.
While the general story arc is focused on the character relationships, there's still a lot happening, and the tight pacing makes the book unputdownable. (Seriously, I finished it in a day.) The author does an excellent job of portraying and developing the dynamics of all the different relationships even with everything going on, and in such a (relatively) short book.
I found both protagonists to be sympathetic and relatable. It's easy to understand where they are coming from, even when they mess up. Max is trying to remember his family and learn what they know about his death, and Joaquin has to reconnect with his ex-boyfriend, while both of them are figuring out their relationships with their brothers.
I also love the relationship that develops between them. Even though they only just meet, Joaquin is immediately determined to help Max, and they quickly form a bond that is not necessarily romantic, but still profound and important.
While the paranormal elements were less of a plot point than I expected, what we do get of the worldbuilding was fun. There was some classic ghosts-causing-lights-to-flicker activity, as well as good old ghosts-are-actually-everywhere-and-we-look-right-past-them bits. No spoilers, but there were some really cool bits where Max uses his ghostly abilities to interact with tech that were lots of fun. I would have liked to spend more time learning about Ghost Lore, but for what we get, it's enough.
stop. analyse that text through the lens of its author's intentions and original historical context. okay now take the author out back and kill them dead and analyse that text as though it were published by your mutual yesterday and is in direct conversation with the contemporary discourse that's most relevant to your life. okay now pick your favorite angle of interpretation and come up with the strongest possible argument against it. now imagine that the text is your best friend and that it means you well and that you naturally give it every benefit of the doubt because you're on its side and you want the best for it. now imagine that the text wants you dead and it'll eat you if you don't eat it first. now pretend that you found this text locked away in a cave with no evidence of when or where it came from and you have to divine its meaning solely through its internal coherence and nothing else. okay now address the elephant in the room aspect of the text you've been ignoring because you find it boring or confusing or uncomfortable and become the number one expert on it. now spend forty minutes assigning all the characters dnd classes with at least three sentences of reasoning each. okay now do the cha cha slide.
