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The Raven Cycle: The Dream Thieves – Maggie Stiefvater
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…
Not gay per se but I love Ronan and he swings that way so this is highly recommended. Actually, I didn’t notice that he was gay until I read the reviews but he was always been my favorite of the four boys so it’s a nice bonus. I liked this second book better (possibly my fave in the series) as I now have a clearer grasp of what Gansey was all about (I struggled with that on book one) and we get to know Ronan’s family and why he’s so damn angry all the time. Ok, it’s not just all Ronan and his family. Adam has his issues. Blue is still great and Noah is Noah. The adults have more active roles. The Grey man is worth getting to know as well. I could say something about Gansey too but really, I just adore Ronan.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17347389-the-dream-thieves)
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How To Be A Normal Person – TJ Klune
Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.
Gus is not normal. And he’s fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.
Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.
But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Gus or Grumpy Gus is a lovable but very socially awkward video store owner who struggles with very unsettling feelings towards a certain asexual hipster named Casey. Gus happens to like things the way they are and hates sudden changes or uncertain things. To help him deal with his feelings he consulted his trusty encyclopedias (he reads them alphabetically). When his trusty encyclopedias failed him, he asked the internet. There he goes through through steps on how to be a normal person and follows them verbatim with hilarious results.
Casey is Don Atari from Zoolander. I swear. I hear his voice every time Casey speaks. That doesn’t mean he’s not adorable. I mean, he and Gus are just so perfect for each other. One of the things that got me reading this is that Casey is asexual. Rarely do we get MCs who are asexual and in a love story no less
The rest of the characters are also fascinating and quirky like the We Three Queens who could be sisters or lovers no one knows and Lottie who likes alliterations. Casey’s friends are as hipster as they could get but they mean well.
The moment I started reading this, I knew it was just 5 stars all the way. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. Read the chapter where Gus was asking Casey for a date and tell me if that didn’t make you laugh out loud. And yes there is an actual wiki guide on how to be normal (I checked). The only quibbles here are the pot smoking and that I don’t find stoner and stoner talk attractive so overall a 4 for me.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25548442-how-to-be-a-normal-person)
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Speechless – Kim Fielding
Travis Miller has a machining job, a cat named Elwood, and a pathetic love life. The one bright spot in his existence is the handsome guitar player he sometimes passes on his way home from work. But when he finally gathers the courage to speak to the man, Travis learns that former novelist Drew Clifton suffers from aphasia: Drew can understand everything Travis says, but he is unable to speak or write.
The two lonely men form a friendship that soon blossoms into romance. But communication is only one of their challenges-there’s also Travis’s inexperience with love and his precarious financial situation. If words are the bridge between two people, what will keep them together?
Lots to love in this little gem. Drew plays punk and grunge (shout out to The Sex Pistols!). Travis is a one-eyed guy with a one-eyed cat. The conversation was mostly Travis babbling away but it never felt one-sided and he seem to understand Drew instinctively. The disabilities were handled sensibly and you can’t help but root hard for these two. The fluff is also strong in this one. This could have gone the angsty route but the author kept it light and warm. It’s also refreshingly not insta-love but a more gentle and slow realization of feelings. Cheers to Kim Fielding for creating a great love story about two people who are not perfect but are more alive and real because of it
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15733541-speechless)
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Hexworld: The 13th Hex – Jordan L. Hawk
Romance. Magic.
Murder.Dominic Kopecky dreamed of becoming a member of New York’s Metropolitan Witch Police—a dream dashed when he failed the test for magical aptitude. Now he spends his days drawing the hexes the MWP relies on for their investigations.
But when a murder by patent hex brings crow familiar Rook to his desk, Dominic can’t resist the chance to experience magic. And as the heat grows between Dominic and Rook, so does the danger. Because the case has been declared closed—and someone is willing to kill to keep it that way.
The 13th Hex is the prequel short story to the all-new Hexworld series. If you like shifters, magic, and romance, you’ll love Jordan L. Hawk’s world of witch policemen and the familiars they bond with.
This is where you get to find out about the witch and familiar whose relationship made Cicero green with envy in the first book, Hexbreaker.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29474747-the-13th-hex )
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The Bestiary: Cleanly Wrong – Mell Eight
Rung is a half-breed orphan brownie who can’t do anything right, much to the worry of his cleanliness teachers. When he runs away, Rung decides that he can resist the need to clean. Only, there is that one office that so desperately needs help...
OMG this is sooo cute and fluffy!!! This is my kind of faerie tale!
Rating
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15841288-cleanly-wrong)
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Skybound – Aleksandr Voinov
Love soars.
Germany, 1945. The Third Reich is on its knees as Allied forces bomb Berlin to break the last resistance. Yet on an airfield near Berlin, the battle is far from over for a young mechanic, Felix, who’s attached to a squadron of fighter pilots. He’s especially attached to fighter ace Baldur Vogt, a man he admires and secretly loves. But there’s no room for love at the end of the world, never mind in Nazi Germany.
When Baldur narrowly cheats death, Felix pulls him from his plane, and the pilot makes his riskiest move yet. He takes a few days’ leave to recover, and he takes Felix with him. Away from the pressures of the airfield, their bond deepens, and Baldur shows Felix the kind of brotherhood he’d only ever dreamed of before.
But there’s no escaping the war, and when they return, Baldur joins the fray again in the skies over Berlin. As the Allies close in on the airfield where Felix waits for his lover, Baldur must face the truth that he is no longer the only one in mortal danger.Lots to love about this. WWII from the German POV, men in uniform, beautifully written story, pacing that didn’t feel rushed, historical authenticity, poetic imagery, the atmosphere of fire, smoke and steel plus a gripping and suspenseful climax. Even without the romance this is already a gem. The romance itself was full of longing and love. I love the subtly of actions and the tender moments, the sharing of cigarettes, the tinkering of the piano, the clinking of the safety belt. Never had I wished so hard for a story to have a happy ending.
Rating
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32506330-skybound)
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Masters of Rome Series – Colleen McCullough
An epic series about the last years of the Roman republic, struggles between politicians and generals, and the men and women in the centre of all.
The M/M genre was not yet invented when these were published so it’s not really LGBT-centric. This series is all Roman politics and lifestyle and shows you that people were gay even back then. And not just gay, I mean, the wealthy Romans were the sort who slept with everything that moves. Plus they really know how to throw a party.
The main star of this series was obviously Caesar but people need to know Sulla more. He was as golden as Sebastian St. Vincent and twice as debauch. He would have been as famous or notorious as Caesar if Caesar was not in the picture. My interest in this series petered out when it was just all about Caesar and his women.
Rating:
The First Man in Rome – 5 stars
Fortune’s Favorite – 5 stars
The Grass Crown – 5 stars
Caesar’s Women – 4 stars
The October Horse – 4 stars5 Stars – absolutely perfect
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits*haven’t read Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra
(source: https://www.goodreads.com/series/43716-masters-of-rome)
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Whyborne & Griffin: Necropolis – Jordan L. Hawk
Introverted scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne has spent the last few months watching his lover, Griffin Flaherty, come to terms with the rejection of his adoptive family. So when an urgent telegram from Christine summons them to Egypt, Whyborne is reluctant to risk the fragile peace they’ve established. Until, that is, a man who seems as much animal as human tries to murder Whyborne in the museum.
Amidst the ancient ruins of the pharaohs, they must join Christine and face betrayal, murder, and a legendary sorceress risen from the dead. In the forge of the desert heat, the trio will either face their fears and stand together—or shatter the bonds between them forever.
I don’t know if this was shorter than the other books but I finished this one really quick. Griffin gets to take Whyborne to Egypt, Whyborne gets to do some bad ass magic and Christine gets what coming to her.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21533138-necropolis)
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A Charm of Magpies: Flight of Magpies – K.J. Charles
Danger in the air. Lovers on the brink.
With the justiciary understaffed, a series of horrifying occult murders to be investigated, and a young student who is flying—literally—off the rails, magical law enforcer Stephen Day is under increasing stress. And his relationship with his aristocratic lover, Lord Crane, is beginning to feel the strain.
Crane chafes at the restrictions of England’s laws, and there’s a worrying development in the blood-and-sex bond he shares with Stephen. A development that makes a sensible man question if they should be together at all.
When a thief strikes at the heart of Crane’s home, a devastating loss brings his closest relationships into bitter conflict—especially his relationship with Stephen. And as old enemies, new enemies, and unexpected enemies paint the lovers into a corner, the pressure threatens to tear them apart.
Warning: Contains hot-blooded sex, cold-blooded murder, sinister magical goings-on and a lot of swearing.
I’m sad about Stephen Day’s decision about his job. I’m sad that this is the last book. I love this series and I wish this could just go on and on. Heck, I want to be a magic police.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21529170-flight-of-magpies)
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Think of England: Song for a Viking – K.J. Charles
‘Song for a Viking’ takes place during/just after the events of the last chapter of Think of England and will be of no use at all to anyone who hasn’t read that book. It is not a standalone.
You will definitely get the most out of it if you remind yourself of Think of
England’s last chapter before readingThis I enjoyed more that the main story because we get to see what’s going on in Daniel’s head.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29754736-song-for-a-viking)
