rep: butch lesbian mc & side character, sapphic li tw: drug use, underage drinking, internalised homophobia
sublime! the writing is gorgeous, makes the rep: butch lesbian mc & side character, sapphic li tw: drug use, underage drinking, internalised homophobia
sublime! the writing is gorgeous, makes the atmosphere almost palpable; somehow it's simultaneously claustrophobic & freeing. you know how it's gonna end, it can only end one way, but you're still on the edge of your seat - and nothing even really happens.
makes me think of the awakening by kate chopin, with the way the women reach for the things that make them burn inside. (and, for obvious reasons, of olivia by dorothy strachey, but an adult, more brazen version.)
all the talk about butchness is absolutely delicious, too. ...more
rep: lesbian mc, sapphic lis, Black side character, Jewish side character, fat side character tw: antisemitism, Holocaust denial, homophobic slurs, toxrep: lesbian mc, sapphic lis, Black side character, Jewish side character, fat side character tw: antisemitism, Holocaust denial, homophobic slurs, toxic relationships; in videos: self-harm, animal cruelty, bestiality, gore
the blurb promises so much, and then the novella is just... whatever. it's not bad, per se, it's just disappointing. it very much does pull its punches. i was promised something truly fucked up, a haunting horror story, and instead got one with a horror-like premise & nothing more. it could have been great if it actually fleshed out the characters (i can't tell you anything about anyone, apart front he fact they all need therapy), put more details (or just, thought in general) into the plot; basically, if it was longer & maybe planned out better. as it is, it scratches the surface, and that's it. and the ending is just so out of the blue; i like open endings but this is ridiculous frankly. ...more
rep: lesbian mc, sapphic li, side polyam relationship, side sapphic characters
reads like a fairy tale, like a legend, and the most delicious kind at trep: lesbian mc, sapphic li, side polyam relationship, side sapphic characters
reads like a fairy tale, like a legend, and the most delicious kind at that. full of characters who change their minds, who grow as people. and most interestingly with a lesbian heroine who's the mightest of them all & no one really holds it against her....more
rep: lesbian mc, sapphic li tw: past murder, implied murder
it's nice! but i feel like it's trying too hard. would probably work better if it was longerrep: lesbian mc, sapphic li tw: past murder, implied murder
it's nice! but i feel like it's trying too hard. would probably work better if it was longer....more
rep: Indian lesbian mc, Black genderfluid lesbian polyam character, lesbian li, sapphic side characters, Indian side characters, Black side charactersrep: Indian lesbian mc, Black genderfluid lesbian polyam character, lesbian li, sapphic side characters, Indian side characters, Black side characters tw: past child sexual abuse, transphobia, fatphobia, drugs & alcohol addictions
this is such a warm book! yes, it's ugly at times, messy, the protagonist not likeable & questionable in a lot of her choices. but that's just life. and at its heart, this is a book about love and tenderness. (without really being a romance, even if the love story plays such a big role in it.) a book about how friendship can save you, or rather: can make you see that you want to save yourself. about how without community we can't really navigate this world. about how even if we don't understand something, we can still support our loved ones. basically, this book shows us the possibility of a better, love-filled world.
it’s also very much an Asian immigrant book, in the sense that it captures that experience without being fanciful....more
rep: Black lesbian mc, biracial (Black, Japanese) lesbian mc, Black sapphic side characters, Black side characters
ARC provided by the publisher.
Can't rep: Black lesbian mc, biracial (Black, Japanese) lesbian mc, Black sapphic side characters, Black side characters
ARC provided by the publisher.
Can't Resist Her is not a bad book, per se. It’s just an unpolished one.
It reads very much like a first draft, and a rough one at that. The characters don’t so much have personalities, as a one single characteristic afforded them by the author, which guides all their actions. They don’t talk like real life people - instead it feels like they read from some coaching textbook on how not to hurt someone else’s feelings.
There’s no meat behind any of it, there are only the bones, the bare structure. The author had an idea for this book, they outlined it with a lot of details, but they forgot to put some life into it.
This of course means that reading Can't Resist Her is a bit like a chore. The book is boring, because there is no one to connect with and no one to root for. There are only ideas.
I do appreciate the basically all-Black cast, the conversations about legacy and gentrification, and love for one’s community. I just wish all of that had some real meaning, that it weren’t just empty words....more
think sci-fi but with the vibes of a '60s-written story. this is truly just a gay romp. doesrep: lesbian mc, gay mc, gay character, lesbian characters
think sci-fi but with the vibes of a '60s-written story. this is truly just a gay romp. doesn't take itself seriously at all, and so u can have FUN with it. don't expect a tight plot, expect gay shenanigans & horrible innuendos ...more
rep: lesbian mc, nonbinary lesbian mc, bi side character tw: domestic violence, child abuse, magic requiring self harm, blood, body horror, violence, mrep: lesbian mc, nonbinary lesbian mc, bi side character tw: domestic violence, child abuse, magic requiring self harm, blood, body horror, violence, murder, guns
Review also on Reads Rainbow. ARC provided by the publisher.
Imagine The Great Gatsby, but if Gatsby was a nonbinary lesbian blood witch. That single sentence alone should be enough to convince all the people with good taste to read Wild and Wicked Things, but I can and will say more!
Wild and Wicked Things is very much an adult book, despite the description that seems very in vogue for the current young adult landscape. This isn’t an admonishment of any kind, though, for neither of the literature groups. It’s simply something to be taken into account, when managing your reading expectations. Wild and Wicked Things is a slow book, it takes time to develop the world, the characters, it pushes the plot forward in small steps. And it’s very dark and bloody (figuratively and literally).
The slowness of the book works like a charm (no pun intended), because of May’s writing style. There’s no other word to describe it but lush. It shines like a diamond, every sentence somehow more beautiful than the last. Some descriptions feel truly otherworldly, while others forcefully bring you to the pain & dirt of everyday life. The stylistic choices help create the atmosphere of the scenes themselves.
And given that this is an adult novel, you as the reader have to piece together the world and its rules yourself. You’re given some pieces of information here and there, but only in the way that is natural to the characters existing in said world. No conversations about things all parties already know about, no infodumping in the narrative. No holding your hand. All is as it’s supposed to be in a fantasy book.
The greatest achievement of Wild and Wicked Things are the characters, though. Some of them are terribly selfish, some of them will give all of themselves for others, and all of them are so very, very human. They grow throughout the story, as well, especially Annie. Her journey into confidence, into finding a goal in life, mirrors her lesbian awakening. It’s absolutely spectacular.
Wild and Wicked Things is the kind of book to make you feel things. It’s full to the brim with magic, and yearning, and secrets… It’s not an easy to forget story, instead one that will find a place in your heart, like the characters within who carved a space for themselves in the world with blood & tears & love....more
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