If you’re new here, hi! I’m Icarus/Alok (he/him 🏳️⚧️) and this is my bookblr side account where I post mainly about what I’m reading (obviously). This blog is run by a bisexual and/or trans and/or aroallo book enthusiast so if you have a problem with any of that, idk suck my dick. Find me online at fun places such as StoryGraph if you want to keep up with what I’m reading/planning to read but I forget to post for some reason (more common than you would think). Expect horror/romance recs, especially if they’re in a historical setting because I’m wild about alla that.
Also. I have an Instagram too. I know. Pls forgive me.
If you’re going to be mean to me in my inbox, first you must answer my riddle: have you done anything to help a family in Palestine today? If not, you must donate a minimum of 20$ before you are allowed to send me any hate mail. That’s my one rule I’m afraid.
For those who can’t afford to donate and don’t want to be mean, have you done your daily click for Palestine yet? If not, here’s a handy link to make your job easier!
Please help deliver support to Palestinian families; all you have to do is to click once a day for free, every day!
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@2026-book-bingo Book Bingo Update: May, June and July Edition
So, I fell into a three month long reading slump and basically fucked around doing nothing. Then i started to take fluoxetine again and that kinda broke through the depression haze and now i can read original fiction again! huzzah! Anyway, this really fucked my book bingo progress but we still persevere. Forwards and onwards !! reviews as always under cut!
May
Total books read this month: 4
No. of books read for Bingo: 1
Prompts filled: Literary Fiction
Literary Fiction: Girlfriends by Emily Zhou - 3.75 stars. It is a short story collection, kinda meandering and definitely reads like one of those typica mfa collections but i liked it. it's very us midwest centric but it was nice reading a collection about asian transfemmes being catty bitches and so utterly human and not the perfect representation us queers are always expected to be. i followed this up with max dehlstone's crawl for the transmasc side of the spectrum and while i liked that one slightly less simply because of a preference for the prose and writing style, it was a good thematic match up to read directly after this one.
June:
Total books read this month: 5
No. of books read for Bingo: 1
Prompts filled: Originally Published in a Language other than English
Originally Published in a Language other than English: Boys Run the Riot by Keiko Gaku - 4 stars. So this is manga about a transmasc teen who opens up a fashion line with his cis friend. this was the first physical manga i read so it took some time to figure out the backwards reading of the book but i ended up really liking the story. it's realistic and while i can't quite relate to the mc's dysphoria despite also being transmasc since im a femme but it felt really intimate and realistic. i have a couple of nitpicks about certain phrasings or translation choices around being trans but also, i know personally as an indian transmasc who has been through the ringer of being trans in an asian country that the way we view transness is different from the way western folks might view it so... anyway, will pick up the next volume
July:
Total books read this month: 3
No. of books read for Bingo: 1
Prompts filled: Read It + Do It
Read It + Do It: Weaving in the Peruvian Highlands by Nilda Callanaupa Alvarez - 5 stars. And finally the book that ended up breaking me out of my reading slump and causing my first bingo!! I loved this so much. it taught me so much about different weaving techniques in peru and the surrounding areas and how much the indigenous communities of the area are working to revive their traditional art forms. plus the images of their work that was provided were so colourful and beautiful and alive i was nearly crying at their beauty. anyway, for the do it portion, while i didn't attempt to jump straight into centuries old peruvian weaving traditions since i have never woven before, i did start an attempt at weaving a tapestry and here is me nearly half way done after 3 weeks worth of work:
considering how much i'm enjoying this, i guess ive found a new expensive textile arts hobby to go with my embroidery passion. oh well, cant say im too disappointed. i do love textile arts.
✊🏾 Freedom has always lived in our stories.
This Juneteenth, five reads that hit different. Past, present, future. All liberation.
📖 Ours by @phillipbw_author
A conjurer destroys plantations and builds a hidden free Black town. But what does freedom really cost?
📖 Blood Slaves by @markusredmond
The enslaved free themselves 150 years before the Civil War. Supernatural horror meets alternate history.
📖 Caramelle & Carmilla by @vampyrevamp & Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Two vampires seek sanctuary at an Underground Railroad way station. Gothic horror. Black women's resilience.
📖 We Will Rise Again edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz & Malka Older
Speculative fiction about protest, solidarity, and the futures we build. NK Jemisin, Nisi Shawl, adrienne maree brown, and more.
📖 The Dream Hotel by @lailawrites
Detained for crimes not yet committed. A fight for freedom in a near-future surveillance state. Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Read boldly. Read free. 🤎
📚 Grab your copies at www.sistahscifi.com or request them from your favorite #library.
ARC REVIEW: Hold Me like a Grudge by Celine Ong
Publishing: 30th June, 2026
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Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC to review. All opinions are my own.
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This is an electric rivals-to-lovers sports romance about professional wrestlers Asher Ross and Caleb Knight, and how much they’re willing to fight for their love.
What a ride! I’ll be the first too admit, I am not a fan of athletes. However, given this seems to be the year of Sports romances, I decided to give this book a chance. And boy am I glad I did!
Asher is such a sweetheart. Himbo bisexuals for the win! It really does make me feel seen. I loved how soft he was with Caleb and his hurt. The way he showed Caleb he didn’t have to be alone and that there were people out there who wanted to love him, if only he’d let them try nearly had me sobbing.
And Caleb! Ugh, his backstory broke my heart but it’s one that needs to be written. I understand his actions so deeply, why he acts the way he does and pushes away people. How Asher manages to wriggle his way inside Caleb’s heart anyway.
I’d also like to point out this book is HILARIOUS, at least to me and my grew up on tumblr sense of humour. I think I lost count of the number of memes I found. I see you Celine. Great work. Can’t wait to see what you come up with for the next one.
Anyway, if the inherent homoeroticism of pro-wrestling and basically all other contact sports is something you enjoy, go read this.
The Obake Code is the story of bored hacker Malia, who finds herself on the wrong side of a group of vicious gangsters, and must now bring down a corrupt politician at their behest and face her dark past as she does it.
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Comparison is the thief of joy and unfortunately, like most sequels, I could not help but compare The Obake Code to Yamamoto's debut, Hammajang Luck. Don't get me wrong! Malia is a great protagonist but when put against Edie, she just doesn't compare.
The heist bits were fun! I liked that masterminding is not something that comes naturally to Malia and that she struggles with it. It really gives that human aspect to her character that is often amiss in the childhood genius archetype. Combined with her other self-worth issues and fear of connection, she's just such a great deconstruction of that trope and the impacts of gifted kid syndrome.
However I just felt she had too much plot armour at times? Even with her struggles when it came to hacking, everything just felt too easy, like there was nothing allowed to go wrong for her. Which is funny because a lot of things do go wrong for her. I don't know, the stakes just never felt like they were high enough.
I also missed a lot of the transness and Indigenous Hawaiian culture that made the first book such a standout for me. I get Malia is disconnected from her culture, but I would have really liked to see that aspect more present. Besides, the trans presence in this book was also much reduced.
Overall, a solid book good for some fun but not one I'll probably be rereading.
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Carnalis is the story of party girl Lauren, who hides a terrifying secret from her injured girlfriend Alex, that she’s actually a cannibal and that Alex might be next on the plate.
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This novella has made me a Tiffany Morris fan for life. It is exactly the kind of thing that drives me insane. Horror that interrogates the extents of informed consent, abusive relationships, and obsession.
Morris’s prose is both lush and sharp as knife, cutting deep to reveal the rotting flesh of Lauren and Alex’s relationship. Like I cannot understate just how beautiful the writing in this book is. It’s poetic and sensory and exactly the sort of way you’d imagine a cannibal would think. Morris really understands her characters and you can see this reflected in the prose.
The horror is visceral. I read a lot of body horror so it’s rare that a book elicits actual disgust within me. But Lauren’s depraved and obsessive mind and actions kept me on the edge of my seat and worried for Alex the entire time.
And Alex! Her Mi’kmaw heritage is so important to the book and inextricable from the way Lauren treats her. The saviour complex and infantilisation that Lauren subjects Alex too, the codependency and social-racial dynamics that underlie their entire relationship, it’s all so delicious to me.
Anyway, end notes, if you’ve ever wanted Hannibal but lesbian, this bite-sized (hah!) book might just be the thing for you.
Books and comics with Butch/Masc protagonists or Love interests 🧡
I asked on IG for book recs, and these are the ones I got! Well, including a lil promo of my comic. In any case, I figured I would make a graphic for them. I love seeing recs laid out all nice.
Guess who hasn't been reading again because life got tough and now has a bunch of borrowed books he need to return by the end of the month! Rules of the game: I am not allowed to place on hold, borrow (or god forbid buy) another book until I've crossed of at least four of the ones on this list! wish me luck
Let the record show I finished the Readathon exactly at 12:30 am on April 30th and am thus WITHIN THE TIME FRAME!!! everybody pls clap and cheer (quietly, because I’m going to bed now!)
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The vampire Lestat trailer came out this week but since I’ve taken a vow to not talk about exclusively faggot nasty cis men for lesbian visibility week does anybody want to hear about my recs for nasty lesbians and dykes in gothic horroromances?
The vampire Lestat trailer came out this week but since I’ve taken a vow to not talk about exclusively faggot nasty cis men for lesbian visibility week does anybody want to hear about my recs for nasty lesbians and dykes in gothic horroromances?
Another week gone! Gosh, the time is just flying by this year. At least we’re finally in lesbian visibility week now? I still have hope I’ll finish reading all my planned books for the Lesbian Lit Readathon but we’ll see how I go. Here’s the lesbian books I read last week till then:
Feeling the sudden urge to rearrange my 2026 tbr to prioritise my ST Gibson reads. Savage Blooms is already on there but I really want to know what the fuck is up with David Aristarkhov so bad as well. So many books so little time
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So. I never got over Netflix cancelling First Kill. Ever since then, I’ve been compiling a list of sapphic vampire books to hit that spot for me. And after a lot (and I mean a LOT) of my friends decided to ask me for sapphic vampire books recs, I decided I might as well as compile and post an official list.
(Also thanks to my lover @eurydices-carnation774 for being just as weird about sapphic vampire books as I am and for helping me out with finding some of these!!)
It's less pretty and most of those are on here but this is my current reading list (aaaand I'm just about to add the ones from this post I'm missing)
Edit: I'm still working my way through the list so I can't vouch for them all personally except the first four, this is just a list of recs I've found various places
Ohhhh, there's a couple on this list i didn't know about (baby teeth, a ballad for slayers and monsters) or didn't include (fledgeing, a dowry of blood, the midnight shift etc etc) because they arent solely/explicitly sapphic which i'm adding to my own list now! but i'm pretty sure this list also has books non-sapphic MCs? (a tempest of tea, blood as bright as the moon, etc etc)
Baby teeth is fantastic! It's the one by Meg Grehan, for clarity, since there's a few books with that title that definitely aren't about sapphic vampires.
And now I'm going to have to go through and check all of the ones on the list to make sure they're actually sapphic. I think a couple of them might have snuck in from the reading list for the vampire book club I'm in (which is very cool and queer but tragically not exclusively sapphic). There's a bunch I just copied down from various threads on a sapphic book subreddit without looking them up and *apparently* I can't necessarily trust that. Sad times.
Haha yeah I get that unfortunately! You know society has truly gone to hell when you can’t even trust Reddit threads. Also I would love to be part of a vampire book club that is so incredibly lucky
Vampire book club is great! (Usually at least, I did have to read Vampires At Sea this month and it was very possibly the worst piece of published writing I've ever read and I'm tempted to write a giant post about how much I hated it). I'll give a bonus rec from there, actually, check out Of Monsters and Mainframes if you want a really fun and queer scifi story that's not exclusively vampires but there is a bit of sapphic romance in the end and the whole story revolves around Dracula as the big bad guy.
adding monsters and mainframes to my tbr! also pls write that post about the book you hated, i havent personally read it but i love drama and i love reading about other people talking about books and i so want to read why you think its the worst piece of published writing youve ever read now
I should be working on stuff I need to work on to graduate and instead I am listening to to lesbians audiobooks and embroidering transgender atlas to make a patch for my jean jacket. I don’t have anything else to say I just wanted to let yall know what my priorities in life are
