If you like witchy stories about rituals, mother-daughter relationships, and missing time, be sure not to miss Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert. This parallel story follows a mother’s descent into magic with some serious teeth, and a daughter uncovering the mystery of a woman who appears suddenly in the woods followed by the appearances of some dead rabbits – and it’s a gripping page-turner.
Read moreRead It or Skip It?: How to Win the Bachelor
One of the great things about Audible is the ability to return a book if you’re not loving it. But sometimes this backfires. If you’ve made too many recent returns, you might get stuck with a book you’d rather DNF. Well, reader, I lived it. And I powered through just so I could write this blog post and something could come out of the time I spent listening to this painfully detailed breakdown of our beloved show, The Bachelor. That’s right. I listened to How to Win the Bachelor by Chad Kultgen and Lizzy Pace, so you don’t have to. Spoilers to follow.
Read moreEverything Everywhere All at Once: A Review
Mary: We’ve gathered here today to talk about Everything Everywhere All at Once, the new movie directed by Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan. It’s difficult to describe this movie, I think, but I’ll say that it’s a sci-fi look at family and the infinite possibilities of the multiverse, told through the eyes of Evelyn (Yeoh), the matriarch of the Wang family. Needless to say, we’re going to spoil some things.
Read moreIron Widow Dragged Me Out of a Reading Slump
I have a slight confession. I haven’t been excited about a book in a long time. Sure, there have been plenty of books I’ve enjoyed lately, but not many that I’ve been genuinely excited about. You know that feeling when you can’t put a book down because it’s just too good to not keep reading? It’s a great, thrilling feeling, and I just haven’t really gotten to enjoy it much lately. After treating myself to a day off Friday (freelance life, amiright?), I decided to pick up a book for fun, just for me. Settling on Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, I prepared myself to read for about 15 minutes then delve into TikTok for an inevitable doom scroll session. Then those 15 minutes passed, then 30, then an hour, then two. I couldn’t put down Iron Widow. I didn’t want to.
Read moreYA Book Club: Of Curses and Kisses
Mary: Hello and welcome back to YA Book Club! Today we’re talking about Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon, which has been on our TBR for quite some time now. Menon is one of our favorites, and we’ve talked about her novel There’s Something About Sweetie in the past, and we even did a whole podcast episode about Make Up Break Up. Of Curses and Kisses is different from any other Menon book I’ve read before simply because it has kind of a fantasy spin. It’s a contemporary retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” (we can get into which version later), and there is a curse as the title implies. There’s not really magic or anything, but there is a fabulous boarding school and lots of money, which is basically magic, isn’t it?
Read moreElden Ring Stuns and Saddens
I spent the last weekend in February planted firmly on my couch, playing hour after hour of Elden Ring, the latest offering in the Soulsborne series. A while back, I wrote about Bloodborne, another FromSoftware game that is incredibly punishing. I concluded the post by saying I wasn’t sure if I liked it, and now, even much later, the answer is still unclear.
Read moreBoard Games to Play While Trapped Inside
There are plenty of great reasons to stay inside right now. If you’re not worried about catching covid (and, let’s be clear, you absolutely should be), there are several winter storms wreaking havoc across America that should serve to keep you locked in with a cup of tea and a good book. Sometimes, though, the cabin fever starts to settle in, and a book just isn’t going to cut it anymore. Yes, I said it. Sometimes it’s okay to not want to read! That might not be the advice you’d expect from a book podcast, but here we are.
Read moreOne to Watch: A Chatty Review
Mary: Okay, so here we are, not doing any kind of YA book club or anything, just talking about a ROMANCE novel we’ve read. I think—and Emily correct me if I’m wrong—that romance is one of those genres that neither of us would pick up first, but we sometimes get one we really enjoy.
Read moreCrying in H Mart, My Mom, and a Recipe
I’m getting ready to celebrate another holiday season without my mom, and it feels just as weird this year as it did last year.
I normally don’t write posts that are so personal, but more and more I’m thinking it’s important to see how other people experience grief, especially during times that are traditionally happy and full of cheer. Earlier in 2021, I read Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (who I got to know first as Japanese Breakfast).
Read moreQueer Girl Book Club: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Emily: Welcome to another edition of Queer Girl Book Club, which is now past its inaugural stages and is in full swing. We’ve read some great books, we’ve read some okay books, and we’ve read some really bad ones. So where does our latest one fall on the scale? This time, we’re discussing Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca. It’s a novella written all through e-mails and instant messages between two women who enter into a BSDM relationship with each other that’s entirely virtual. Agnes meets Zoe when she’s trying to sell her apple peeler on a queer message board. Agnes seems desperate to find connection, and Zoe… well, her motivations are a little less clear and something I think we should discuss. We also have a guest with us this time! So welcome Mary! What made you want to join Queer Girl Book Club for this particular book?
Mary: When you mentioned that y’all were reading this book, I knew I had to force my way into the discussion because I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time. I keep seeing posts on BookTok about it, and a lot of book influencers have talked about how shocking and horrific it is. Nothing gets me hooked more than something people are disgusted by–I just have to know what’s up. Also, I love an epistolary novel; the constraint required makes for a more interesting story, sometimes. I’m not ashamed to say I read this one in one sitting!
Emily: Well, this is interesting because I know Kelli hates epistolary novels so maybe we should start there and let y’all duke it out. Did this form work? What sort of constraints does this form put on the story, if any?
I should also say… spoilers to follow!
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