Contemporary · Fiction · LGBTQ+ · Romance

Hang the Moon

Hang the Moon

Title: Hang the Moon

Author: Alexandria Bellefleur

Page Count: 384

Series: Written in the Stars

Publishing Date/Publisher: May 25, 2021/ Avon

Format: Paperback

Review: 

Once again, Bellefleur has gifted us a magnificent comfort read. A follow-up/companion novel to her Written in The Stars, Hang The Moon follows Darcy’s brother and her best friend and their…dynamic. She’s packed the novel full of tropes, as is her MO (oh my god, there’s only one bed?) and the human golden retriever that is Brendon is impossible not to love.

While the relationship is between a man and a woman, it is in no way ‘straight’. As with Written in the Stars, there is a bisexual main character and while that isn’t in the forefront of every conversation or scene, it is mentioned or implied a few times. It is also great bi representation simply because not every bisexual will end up with the same sex, and vice versa. It’s important to show that, and she has in both her books.

This series is an absolute delight that I return to time and time again when I need a break from the real world or just because I feel like it. The fact that I have to wait until February for Count Your Lucky Stars to come out to finish the trilogy is causing me distress.

Reader: Kymberly

Rating: 

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fantasy · Fiction · Historical · LGBTQ+

She Who Became the Sun

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor, #1)

Title: She Who Became the Sun

Author: Shelley Parker-Chan

Page Count: 416

Series: The Radiant Emperor

Publishing Date/Publisher: July 20, 2021/Tor Books

Format: eBook

Review: 

This was a highly anticipated book for a lot of readers and reviewers, and it did not disappoint. It is advertised as Mulan meets Song of Achilles, and even knowing that did nothing to prepare me for exactly what this book contains.

Full of morally grey characters whose fates and desires are interwoven, this book had me hooked form the start. I was thinking about it any time I had to put it down and found myself reading slowly so I could savor it.

Reader: Kymberly

Rating: 

All_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_GoldAll_Star_Gold

Fiction · Science Fiction · Young Adult

The Last She

Title: The Last She

Author: H.J. Nelson

Page Count: 352

Series: Unknown

Publishing Date/Publisher: December 7, 2021 by Wattpad Books

Format: eBook

Review: This is one of those times when I feel like I am reading a different book than most other reviewers. Unlike a lot of other readers, I felt this book had an overdone plot with no depth or real backstory for any of the characters. I think there was supposed to be a love triangle, but I’m honestly not sure. Gabriel made no sense as a character, so he was an uninteresting “villain.” Ara and Kaden? The reader surmises that they have all these deep conversations in order to justify their connection, but we are not privvy to any of the details. Plot twists? I guess, but they don’t go anywhere. The cliffhanger at the end implies that this story is going to go on a whole new tangent. No questions are answered, only more questions. You can draw a lot of comparisons to other books in the genre, but this one is nothing special.

Reader: Bekah

Rating: 

All_Star_Gold
half star

Fiction · Historical · Young Adult

Luck of the Titanic

Title: Luck of the Titanic

Author: Stacey Lee

Page Count: 368

Series: N/A

Publishing Date/Publisher: March 4, 2021 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Format: Hardcover

Review: I really enjoyed Lee’s The Downstairs Girl, so I was surprised by how little I enjoyed this book. The heroine, Val, felt like a regurgitation of Jo in a different setting. Not a whole lot actually happens in this book until the end, and her charade as the Merry Widow seems highly implausible throughout. There are a bunch of jumbled subplots that don’t add much to the story overall, and the relationship building between characters fell flat for me. I appreciate what Lee is trying to do with this novel, but the slow pacing and convoluted storyline made it hard to get through.

Reader: Bekah

Rating: 

All_Star_Gold
All_Star_Gold
half star