#arc review

Official Summary:

Percy Jackson meets Thunderbolts in this action-adventure romcom where the descendants of gods protect humanity, and Zeus’s snarky, vigilante heir is forced to team up with the globally beloved descendant of Thor. As a Zeus descendant, Pollux “Lux” Keraunos never intended to be a villain. But if the cyber-crime hat fits, he’ll wear it to destroy the tyrant Hero Council led by his brother. Then his brother vanishes (not Lux’s fault). Zeus’s line must continue, and the Hero Council turns to Lux as the heir—with the caveat that he trains under Erik Thorson, his brother’s Viking-wannabe BFF. Lux’ll use this to bring down the Council, and he isn’t falling for Erik’s smoking hot with a heart of gold persona— Even if Erik didn’t know Lux’s brother was corrupt. Even if Erik actually helps people—and believes Lux can, too. As Lux tries the good guy role, the truth behind his brother's disappearance surfaces, and he’ll have to decide if he still wants to destroy the Council . . . or if he wants someone else more. Hero? Villain? Or a secret third disaster bisexual with a savior kink?

My Thoughts:

Lightning & Thunder is the first book in a new queer romantasy series by Sara Raasch. In this series, called Heroes and Romance, the descendants of various mythological Gods and Goddesses use their superhuman abilities to protect humanity from monsters.

Our main character is Lux, a descendant of Zeus. He's also a hacker who works to repair damage done by his careless and egotistical brother, Castor. When Castor vanishes in the middle of a monster fight, Lux is pulled into the Hero Council, where he's paired with Erik, a descendant of Thor... and Lux's long-time crush.

This feels a little like a queer version of the early Marvel superhero movies. It's a little more character-focused (and a lot more romance-focused), but it has a fun group of characters and action scenes with superpowered heroes saving New York City. The plot is engaging, with Lux's integration into the Hero Council and the Castor mystery both serving to keep the story propulsive.

The two main characters are excellent, and their romance is even better. Their relationship is steamy, but most importantly, it's healing. You can see so clearly how these two help make each other better. I love romances like this, and I always end up so emotionally invested!

The supporting characters in this are also really good. I already love Rameses, Hattie, and Ophelia so much. Molly, Yuma, and Tristan are standouts that I'd love to see more of, too.

I have to mention the friend group that develops. This group might be my favorite friendship from Sara Raasch's books, and that is saying a lot considering how much I love Coal, Iris, and Kris from Royals and Romance, and Sebastian and Orok from Magic and Romance! This group has such a fun mix of personalities that it leads to some truly amazing moments. There are also two potential future romances teased that I am very excited about.

As I've said many times now, I'm a huge fan of Sara Raasch. I think Raasch is consistently giving us some of the most fun, heartwarming, and romantic queer rom-coms available. If you're a fan of any of her previous queer romantasy novels, make sure you pre-order this one: you are going to love it. If you've never read her before, this would be an excellent book to start with!

My Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕 (5/5 stars)

Pages: 336 (Kindle Edition)

Tropes/Tags: Queer, Achillean, Romantasy, Fantasy, Rom-Com, Mythology, Bisexual Main Character, Brother's Best Friend, Size Difference, Superheroes

Contains Depictions Of: Some Violence, Emotional and Physical Abuse, PTSD

Links: Storygraph | GoodReads | Pagebound | SaraRaaschBooks.com

Lightning & Thunder will be released on December 29, 2026, and is available for pre-order!

I received an advanced copy of this book for free, thanks to NetGalley, Bramble, TOR, and Macmillan. The above are my honest feelings about the provided book.

Release date: 13 January 2026

Genre: young adult fantasy graphic novel

If you like:

Little Red Riding Hood but sapphic

Forgotten gods

Eldritch beings

Shapeshifting animal guardians

Red, a fiercely loyal hunter, has dedicated her life to protecting her witch Grand Mother. Monsters have been roaming the forest that they call home, bringing forth a mysterious illness that has devastated the land and chased every living soul away. Until Red stumbles upon an injured wolf-girl named Sil.

Red is cautiously optimistic to befriend someone new, but the more their relationship deepens, the more she begins to uncover the sinister truths behind everything she’s ever known.

hello i have arrived with book 2!!! of ecaden's crown!! … yes that is my art there

i'm looking for arc readers and putting together an arc team ahead of ARCs going out in mid-august! no, you do not need to have read book 1 (a little primer can be sent if you'd like, unless you wanna go in completely blind)

if you're a fan of m/m, religious horror, dragons, grimdark fantasy, and watching characters fall apart in real time—and you'd be willing to leave an honest review—we'd love to have you!!!

there's a lil google form to fill out that covers all the details, including content warnings :3

(blurb below)

𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘳𝘥. / 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. 

Two timelines. Two lives. One house connecting them. 

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker is a timeline shifting ghost story that keeps you guessing the truth until the very end. Evocative and unnerving, everything in this novel feels not quite there, not quite right, and it’s up to both of the people in this novel to discover the truth. 

2026: Lee Turner has murdered his roommate. He doesn’t remember doing it. 

1877: Sen lives as the last of the samurai and knows their time will soon end.

Meeting each other spells doom for them both as they work to discover the truth that hides within their house of sword ferns.

Perfect for anyone looking for a ghost story that pushes the very definition of the genre, where history and mythology merge into a single unsettling atmosphere that nearly chokes you by the end. 

Bat Eater and now Japanese Gothic are amazing horror reads, and I cannot wait to see where else she decides to go in the horror genre!

Look at this gorgeous Evernight edition!

ARC Review of “What I Want” by Frances M. Thompson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have thoroughly enjoyed France M. Thompson’s work and “What I Want” is no different! I absolutely loved this story and getting to know Cassie and Pia! Huge thanks to Frankie for allowing me to read this book before its release, today, April 21!!!

“What I Want” is a story set in 1979 and follows two rock stars who are the leading ladies of their respective bands. Cassie Everard and Pia Lindberg are long time rivals, that is, until they are forced to write a song together. What happens when folk rock’s golden girl and English rose and punk rock’s black cat and rebel with a cause are put in a hotel room together to write a love song?! Well, let’s just say they’re not just finding their rhythm on paper, if you catch my drift.

I really enjoy Frankie’s writing. It’s relaxing and easy to get lost in. I found myself not wanting to put “What I Want” down and was genuinely invested in the story from page one. I also love the layers she gives to her characters. There’s enough depth to get a good feel for them and make an emotional connection. You really want to root for Cassie and Pia to get their happily ever afters! I also may be a bit BI-as 😏, but I love the bisexual representation in most of Frankie’s books! I related to Cassie a lot in her sexuality self-discovery, and it always feels good to be represented!

June 2026 reads

[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]

The Count of Monte Cristo* • Summers at Castle Auburn • The Unicorn Hunters • The Tainted Cup • A Psalm for the Wild-Built • Cinder House • Samantha: the Next Chapter (first 6 chapter sneak preview) • Borne

June was an incredibly busy month in which I did a frankly insane amount of traveling, with the result that I managed to be in both Paris and Chicago for two separate heat waves (and not to be patriotic, but. That American air conditioning, man. Fuck the Star-Spangled Banner, that's what our national anthem should be about.) So I didn't get to a tonnn of reading but what I did read was mostly pretty interesting. I also managed to read 3 books off the Bella's Book Club summer reading list, so we'll call it a win.

The Count of Monte Cristo, vols 1-2* ★★★★☆ - So glad BBC picked one of my faves to read in June! I slightly prefer the second half of the book (which we'll read in September) but had a blast rereading this first chunk. Franz is such a hilarious POV character.

Summers at Castle Auburn ★★★★☆ - Did not expect this book to stick with me the way it did! I like that the fantasy elements are almost incidental to the coming-of-agey-ness of it all. Where of course the two most important lessons are 1) men ain't shit and 2) get radicalized by witnessing the injustices around you, idiot

The Unicorn Hunters [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - Hmm. I think if I wasn't such a fan of Anne of Brittany/Breton stuff in general I would have found this just okay, but I happen to be both of those things and also in my Unicorn Era. The day after I finished this book, I went to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musée de Cluny and it was awe-inspiring. ily medieval and early modern fiber arts <33

The Tainted Cup ★★★1/2☆ - Glad I finally got around to this one! The mystery was well-crafted and the fantasy world building very cool. Also enjoyed this particular take on the Holmes/Watson dynamic between an autistic GILF and her faithful Jared, 19. Will definitely read the next two in the series.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built ★★★☆☆ - Becky Chambers books are usually either profoundly beautiful to me or leave me out in the cold. This one was more like... lukewarm. The character arcs and dynamic weren't quite interesting enough to drive a story with so little conflict, imo.

Cinder House [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - Very cool take on Cinderella! Marske's writing as she described this amalgam of person + house was fascinatingly original. We really thought outside the bibbidi bobbidi bun here

Samantha: the Next Chapter ★★★☆☆ - I didn't read the whole book, just a sneak peek consisting of the first six chapters (the whole book does not exist in ARC form yet.) They seem solid, with Samantha getting a good grade in Suffragette while the conflict begins to appear in the form of her grandmother getting dementia. The vibe feels a little juvenile (I'm assuming the AG brand defenders instructed the author not to have Samantha do shots and hook up with strangers at a speakeasy or anything) but it's possible that's due to the short chapter format that mirrors the original kids' books. The accompanying American Girl retrospective panel I attended was incredibly fun! I had no idea Valerie Tripp was such an engaging speaker.

I'm not even like, THAT much of an American Girl fan, I just find the idea of adult books featuring grown-up versions of the characters cool. But Samantha schmamantha, gimme some Josefina ones!

Borne [GR review]★★★★☆ - Can't believe it took me this long to get around to Borne when Jeff Vandermeer is one of my favorite authors and bears are some of my favorite animals. I appreciated what an intimate, character-forward story this was despite its buckwild post-apocalyptic setting. And those plot twists got me good!

DNFs: None.

June superlatives: here!

Next up:

July is once again gonna be Try To Finish All These ARCs Month. I'm currently reading Immortal Game and would love to get around to Taipei Story, The Felicity Complex, and maybe Dreamland. There's something so urgent and motivating about physical ARCs!

previous months:

2024 2025

Drew is an overachieving perfectionist who doesn't understand how anyone can just relax on the couch with a book. But working too hard literally put him in the hospital. So what does he do?

Ellis used to be the worst guy at the D&D table. He was a walking Reddit troll. But being a dick had one too many consequences, and now he's determined to be different. But how does that work?

Kind: A Romance Where Nothing Bad Happens is a book about a recovering workaholic and a recovering asshole who find love at a community volunteer group. It's a novel with no crises, no breakups, no long dark nights of the soul - just a slow climb out of misery and into happiness.

Additional Book information can be found here @blueskysoul-writes

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (3/5 Stars)

I received an advance review copy from the author, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was initially very intrigued to dive into this debut because moon mythology is something I really love, and the premise promised a unique mix of dark fantasy and oceanic mysteries. The story follows a tight-knit diving crew on a high-stakes search for ancient treasure, which immediately pulled me in. While the core concept holds a lot of potential, my actual reading experience turned into a bit of a mixed bag, leaving me with complex feelings and landing it right in the middle of the road as a solid three-star read.