Victoria Janssen

#TBRChallenge – Opposites Attract: A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys has solarpunk, hopepunk, and friendly aliens who nevertheless have a different perspective on saving your planet versus leaving it behind. As I’ve loved all of Emrys’ previous novels, I snapped this one up and was so impatient to read it that I went out of order on this challenge and read it back in April. I was extremely pleased to find the book is in conversation with Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. There are references to Star Trek as a human reference point for first contact, and at one point Emrys quoted Butler’s Parable books in the most perfect place imaginable. As a whole, this novel’s embrace of possibility feels like a love letter to human stories about space and the future: science fiction at its best.

The first-person narrator of this novel lives in the Anacostia Watershed, in what we’d call Maryland. The Watershed areas are their own political entities, separate from the nation states that surround them and from corporations, which are walled off enclaves, such as the “aisland” of Zealand near Australia. Using extensive environmental sensors and collective discussion via their own internet-like communications network, the Watershed people have been slowly and steadily improving the effects of climate change, with a long-term view. Their Dandelion Network relies not only on crowdsourcing, but algorithms that can give more weight to expert opinions and sensor readings. They are usually but not always at odds with the nation states, and mostly at odds with the corporations, whose pursuit of profit created and supported environmental effects that brought humanity to the brink of extinction. As you might imagine, there’s tension there!

When aliens arrive in the Anacostia Watershed, all three aspects of human society need to work together to decide what to do, despite their competing wants, needs, and desires. And then the network on which the Watershed people rely, with its weighted algorithms related to the community’s moral principles, becomes unstable and untrustworthy, making everything a thousand times more difficult. Intersectionality and coalition-building among people with diverse viewpoints are integral parts of the novel. The narrator, Judy Wallach-Stevens, is a Jewish woman from a family of activists; she and her wife are parents and a co-parents with another couple. There are trans characters, a character with a prosthetic arm, an assortment of genders, and a character with autism who’s part of a larger community of Corporate “techies,” who have found a way around the very complex gender presentation games played by Corporate society. Judy’s Jewishness and that of some of her family infuses the narrative, especially resonating with the alien social role of Questioner.

This is a book about negotiation and arguing and discussing; about making mistakes; and about trusting each other afterwards and finding ways to come back together, on both the political and familial levels. Flawed human beings, anxious and sleep-deprived, must nonetheless make important decisions, using their brains instead of their base instincts to “look for the big ape.” It’s a look at how what we share can be just as important as what we can offer each other, and how opposite sides can come to terms that provide benefit to all. It’s a wonderfully complex book and will, I think, reward re-reading and discussion a thousand-fold. Highly recommended.

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My June Reading Log

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction:
Witch King by Martha Wells only just came out, so I will avoid major spoilers, but it’s great.

The worldbuilding is similar to the Raksura books in that there are different sentient species who interact, but except for the demons while in their home Underearth (possibly another dimension or magical realm?), they are all human in appearance. The different types of people use magic in different ways, some of which harm others, some of which involve working with magical elemental beings. When the story opens, a stable situation has been upended. Alternating chapters, skillfully tied together, show the present problem and how it’s reflected by, and relates to, the past.

The “Witch King” of the title is Kai, a demon who inhabits the mortal form of a dead human, initially through a longstanding treaty with the nomadic Saredi people. Kai, with his magical abilities, had a major part to play when invaders arrived to destroy and colonize. We follow his point of view throughout as he works with old friends and new to find a missing friend and figure out what’s happening back at what seems to be the center of power.

Essentially, the story is about coalition building. It’s about how coalitions require effort, sacrifice, compromise, and attention to make sure they don’t collapse or swing towards authoritarianism as time goes on. I felt resonances between the characters in the story and how activism and coalition-building happen in our world, and seeing this in fiction felt validating and hopeful.

Fete For A King by Sam Starbuck is an extremely charming male/male romance between the elected king of a small imaginary European country and a celebrity chef who is also a Maxtagram influencer. Gregory is nervous about his impending coronation and determined not to rely too heavily on his father Michaelis, who is retiring from the role; he’s also worried that he’ll need to find a husband soon. Gregory’s cousin Alanna, his chief of staff, hires American Eddie Rambler to cater the coronation feast. Eddie is outgoing, friendly, and really excited by all Askazer-Shivadlakia has to offer. Their romance is completely adorable and I loved every minute of it.

Infinite Jes by Sam Starbuck is second in The Shivadh Romances. Non-binary podcast host Jes Deimos and their teenaged son Noah (who has his own podcast!) move back to their homeland of Askazer-Shivadlakia, a fictional European country ruled by an elected king. Recently-retired widower King Michaelis is at loose ends, not wanting to interfere as his son establishes himself as the new king, but deathly bored with dictating the political minutiae of his reign for future generations. However, a podcast might be just the thing; perhaps the charming kid he met on the train can help? This romance is exceedingly sweet and satisfying. I highly recommend this series.

Three Cowboys and a Baby by Kate Pearce is a contemporary romance that begins stressfully with a baby being left behind by his father, to be cared for by three ex-Marines at an isolated ranch, while the father flies to Africa for an unspecified job, trusting his friends will step up. I found this very stressful and had to skim a bit; the flaky father had not informed the mother where the baby was, and after she returns from her deployment she ends up doing a lot of cross-country traveling before being reunited with her son. Jen, the mother, is in the Navy and works on a hospital ship as a midwife; she’s competent and confident except when it comes to romance. Noah, the gruff former gunnery sergeant who took primary care of the baby before Jen arrived, finds it difficult to trust and swears he never wants children, while at the same time being gentle and devoted to the baby. Reluctantly, they begin to respect each other. Then, they get snowed in. For a long time. Jen and Noah are competent at each other and soon their attraction becomes too intense to ignore. Steaminess ensues! I was in the mood for something light, and aside from the anxiety-filled setup, this book filled the bill.

Dionysus in Wisconsin by E. H. Lupton is set in a world very like ours, during the Vietnam War, but with magic as a somewhat mundane and accepted thing. Ulysses Lenkov is ABD (All But Dissertation) in the academic study of magic, from a family of magic users, and can see and speak to ghosts. He earns extra money taking care of magical problems, and keeps in contact with magic users all around Madison, Wisconsin, where he lives. One of those magic users brings him a mysterious warning about an imminent event that might prove catastrophic. Ulysses tracks down Sam Sterling, an archivist who appears to be in the center of the issue. Sam, whose given name is Dionysus, seems destined to become a vessel for the actual Dionysus to enter the world; Ulysses wants to prevent that at all costs. Their romance is lowkey but I found it very satisfying, especially in how it tied into the magical plot. I’d be interested to hear what Madison locals think of it, and I’d happily read another book with these characters. I loved the bits about the academic study of magic, and the practical spells Ulysses performed, that gave a really good sense of how magic works in this world. I would happily read a lot more with this worldbuilding, as well.

Fanfiction:
Home Like Apple Pie by RabbitRunnah Check Please! alternate universe in which Jack left hockey after a couple of years and isolated himself from his college friends. Years later, Bitty re-encounters him as a restaurant owner and chef. Romance ensues!

Perdition’s Flames by i_ship_an_armada is a “role” crossover, in which the writer has taken two roles by the same actor (Benedict Cumberbatch) in different shows as a connecting factor. I love seeing this done creatively! In this case, genetic experimentation at Baskerville gives John and Sherlock extra-long lives, and they end up on the U.S.S. Enterprise (reboot version) in the midst of a plot to start a war with the Klingons.

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#TBRChallenge – Love Is Love: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was a gift from a friend who is a bookseller.

I’m glad I made the time to read it; it’s a very soft, hopeful novel set in an alternate world, roughly contemporary with ours, which includes many different magical populations and a 1984-like government that requires them to be registered and controlled (“See Something, Say Something” signs are everywhere.) The Protagonist Linus Baker is a meticulous career bureaucrat whose job is to inspect magical orphanages, to make sure the children are not being mistreated. He’s unexpectedly assigned a case at an island orphanage with children like no others he’s ever met, including an incredibly powerful six year old and one child whose species is unknown.

Linus takes his cat and leaves behind the city, where it always rains, emerging into the literal sun and seeing the ocean for the first time. His innate kindness soon wars with his fear of how he’ll be treated by Extremely Upper Management if he fails their expectations, and what will become of him afterwards, but he soon finds ways to assert himself as well as protect the children, and to tentatively reach out to potential new friends. Linus is strongly drawn to the mysterious master of the orphanage, who has his own secrets. It’s a sweet and satisfying book, even when elements of it are melancholy.

Posted in glbtqia+, reading, sf/f | Tagged reading challenge | 2 Comments

My May Reading Log

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction:
The Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum is set in a far future in a semi-utopian habitat where people (I assume humans) have two genders, Vail (ve, vir) and Staid (ze, zir); they still use the terms “Mother” and “Father” but either gender can bear children after suitable body modification. Also, most people have multiple bodies, usually three, which can all operate independently but know what the other bodies are doing and sensing. Everyone is linked into The Feed, in which all people can watch what any other people are doing at any time, and comment positively or negatively in ways that impact one’s social status; spaces with no access to The Feed are rare. Vails and Staids are expected to behave in certain set ways, and societal disapproval seems to keep this fairly rigid. Until, of course The Unraveling of the title. The story follows a Staid child named Fift, who does not, cannot, follow expectations despite wanting to do so in order to please zir parents and preserve zir familial Cohort. As a result, things change; I won’t spoil exact events since this is a relatively new book, but the scope encompasses not only gender but the disruptions of art, how and why societies change, and how individual activists, and groups with divergent opinions, can all make a difference; that includes people who make vids (Clip Operas) and write fanfiction (Real People Fiction in this story). It was lovely to read some science fiction that really made me work to get into the world, at least for the first few pages; Rosenbaum did a splendid job with worldbuilding that was never ponderous or didactic.

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole is a contemporary romance in which a penniless graduate student in Public Health, Naledi, is wooed by Thabiso, crown prince of the fictional African country of Thesolo. The twist is that Naledi was betrothed to him as a child, but due to her parents’ deaths, is ignorant of this fact and has been raised in a series of New York foster homes. Plot elements include royalty in disguise, rich man/poor woman, and the difficulty Naledi in particular has in truly opening herself emotionally to anyone after a life of constantly losing the people she loves; as well as learning from her relationship with Thabiso, Ledi learns and grows in her relationship with her flighty, needy best friend, Portia. I loved secondary character Likotsi, Thabiso’s snappily dressed lesbian personal assistant, and hope she’s being set up for her own happy ending.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older is a mystery set in a gas giant-circling habitat, featuring a lesbian detective and her former lover who’s now an academic specializing in the lost environments of Earth through literature (at one point, she’s studying Watership Down by Richard Adams, with its meticulous descriptions of flora known to rabbits). There’s a lowkey second chance romance woven into what, at first, seems like a locked room murder mystery but turns out to be much more complicated and unexpected. There’s a thematic undercurrent relating to how humans might cope with and adapt to have destroyed their home planet and left it behind.

Fanfiction:
Sorry If You’re Starstruck by heyjupiter is alternate universe fanfiction in which Tony Stark is a movie director and Bruce Banner wrote a wildly successful series of children’s books. While recovering from an accident, Tony gets treatment for addiction and reads Bruce’s books, and after a rocky start, the reclusive author comes to visit him. There are no superheroes in this world; Bruce’s transformations into Hulk are seamlessly redrawn as dissociative identity disorder, and Tony is Hollywood royalty instead of a technological pioneer. It’s a lovely friends-to-lovers romance.

My May TBR Challenge book was The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar.

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#TBRChallenge – Freebie: The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

This review is in advance of publication. The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar will be out June 6, 2023. I received this ARC from Netgalley, so it fits the “freebie” theme.

This book was a lot of fun!

Teenaged Shireen Malik, daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants to Ireland, is depressed from a recent breakup and because her best friend, Fatima, is spending the summer in Bangladesh with her family. Shireen is propelled out of her doldrums when she’s chosen for a junior baking show, but less thrilled when she learns her ex-girlfriend, Chris Huang, will also be a contestant. Can they learn to at least be friends again? What baking challenges await? Will Shireen’s baking experience pay off in a win that will help her parents’ donut shop stay open? Stay tuned!

I was initially drawn to this book by the baking show plot element. The fictional Junior Irish Baking Show mashes up elements of several different types of reality shows: a confessional booth for the contestants, weekly impromptu challenges (no pre-planning for the bakers), and different rules for different episodes. There are punning nods to real world celebrities Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry, and Gordon Ramsay.

Fictional Padma Bollywood, one of the show judges, is Shireen’s favorite professional chef, and their relationship offered a nuanced exploration of the value of mentorship and how race and culture figure into that. When racist trolls target Shireen and Chris, the only contestants of color, on Twitter after the first episode, they’re upset by how their fellow contestants are dismissive of the abuse. Padma is able to support them when others don’t, and later is able to leverage what power she has in helpful ways which I will not spoil here. I loved the contributions of supportive adults, especially Padma and Shireen’s parents, to the story.

Chris and Shireen have a hint of a Romeo and Juliet vibe (minus the tragedy!), in that their parents own rival donut shops across the street from each other, and they first interact via conflict. Both shops are suffering from declining business when the book opens; I loved the way those issues were resolved, as well.

Overall, I loved this book and would definitely read more by this author. I’ve been burned out on Young Adult for quite a while, so I was especially happy to read a teen romance that felt fresh and new.

Posted in lesbian, lgbtqia+, reading, romance novels, ya | Tagged reading challenge | 1 Comment

My April Reading Log

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction:
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles is a male/male historical romance set in Regency England in Romney Marsh in Kent, an area known for its culture of smuggling. Gareth Inglis, raised by his distant uncle and saddled with a bullying cousin, inherits a baronetcy and a house in the small town of Dymchurch from his estranged and selfish father. Unexpectedly, after his arrival he encounters a lover from a few anonymous but intense encounters in London. Joss Doomsday, along with his powerful mother, is the “gaffer” of the local smugglers and his duties in that role are almost immediately at odds with Gareth’s “outmarsh” ideas. When Gareth begins to follow in his father’s footsteps as a naturalist, he becomes embroiled in a mystery and must find ways to work with Joss to protect his half-sister and his own reputation from serious threats. Meanwhile Joss, while still being a caretaker for all, struggles to balance his uncle’s increasing bad behavior and his mother’s reluctance to chastise her brother as needed. The plethora of realistic conflict made this book a page-turner to the very end. My favorite secondary character was Joss’ grandfather, a former enslaved man who’d escaped Georgia; he is a conduit of local information, a steadying influence, and a valuable advisor at critical moments. Warning for some child abuse, mostly off-screen, that is not addressed by the characters as quickly as it should have been.

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai is contemporary fantasy romance featuring a Chinese near-immortal, Elle, and a half-fae Frenchman, Luc, who both work for a mysterious and powerful supernatural agency. It’s got many Xianxia (Chinese “immortal heroes” fantasy) vibes. After traumatic events with her family, for which Elle feels responsible, she’s in hiding, which means concealing the true extent of her power as a descendant of a god of medicine. Luc is concealing the reasons he continues to work for the domineering head of their agency as a fixer and sometimes assassin. Of course, Elle and Luc fall in love, but their conflicting responsibilities and the true selves they hide from each other add a lot of excellent tension, resulting in difficult but ultimately satisfying decisions. There’s a lot of fun banter and some side characters I’d love to see again. Warning for some instances of magical coercion.

Pretty Ring Time: Matches Making by L.A. Hall is nineteenth in the “Clorinda Cathcart’s Circle” series and was another soothing visit with old friends, some of whom have intriguing new acquaintances. I believe we have now reached 1851 in their timeline, given that various characters reference the Great Exhibition. I would recommend starting at the beginning of this series, The Comfortable Courtesan, which is set in Regency London, to get the most out of these stories, as the current “Circle” stories feature children and grandchildren as well as the initial characters.

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray includes almost all of Jane Austen’s married couples at a house party where George Wickham shows up and gets himself murdered. Gray has given the completed Austen novels a reasonable chronology so the couples are spaced out in age and time of life; Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon are the most newly-married, while Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett have been married for over twenty years. Gray constructs connections between all of them, some close and some more distant. Original characters are the detectives: Jonathan Darcy, eldest son attending with his parents, and Juliet Tilney, who’s attending her first house party alone, which means that Austen’s canonical characters are the suspects. Gray ramps up the conflict between Wickham and the Darcys, and adds motives for the rest by extrapolating Wickham’s seducing ways and adding in blackmail and a plausible fraudulent investment scheme. I am not sure if anyone has fanfictionally murdered Mr. Wickham before, but it’s a great idea and I was entertained, more by the canonical couple dynamics than the mystery itself. As for the original characters, Juliet is an ingenue who privately questions constraints upon a young woman’s behavior as part of her strong sense of right and wrong. She was realistically spunky and I loved her. Jonathan is clearly portrayed as a person with autism, though I felt the traits he exhibited (good at numbers, overwhelmed by crowds, socially rigid) were in my opinion a bit stereotypical and hammered in in relation to the rest of his characterization; note the author does not have autism but did employ a sensitivity reader. Jonathan’s perspective made a terrific foil and complement to Juliet’s; I would have liked more of Jonathan’s dialogue and investigations with Juliet. I am assuming the book is intended as a possible series opener [ETA: confirmed!], and am curious if the next murder victim would be a canonical character or not. ETA: I’m expecting the second book will expand the roles of the original characters.

My April TBR Challenge book was Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark.

Otherwise in April, I read some fanfiction but did not make notes on any of it.

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#TBRChallenge – Unusual Historical: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark is a novella set in 1922 Georgia, mostly in Macon with a set piece at Stone Mountain. It’s a dark fantasy that includes body horror, in which white supremacists use the initial release of “Birth of a Nation” in 1915 to enact a ritual bringing demons into the world. The human racism and racist actions of these white supremacists are subsequently exacerbated by these monstrous creatures who devour both hatred and people, including some of the supremacists. As always with Clark, a historian, the significant details of the time period are skillfully deployed, lending deep resonance to the story’s thematic concerns.

I particularly enjoyed the wide range of women characters. The protagonist, Maryse Boudreaux, was called to become a monster-hunter first via trauma at the hands of white supremacists, then by a supernatural weapon gifted to her by ambivalent otherworldly beings. She brings the mystical sword with her when called to fight “Ku Kluxes” by the wise old Gullah woman, Nana Jean, who serves as the group’s mentor and counsels Maryse not to be led by her hatred of those who harmed her. (I loved that Nana Jean and Uncle Will, who leads the Shouts that raise power, have a romantic relationship.) Maryse’s hunting companions include Sadie, a brash, fearless sharpshooter, and an older woman, Chef, a butch lesbian who dresses as a man, is an explosives expert, and fought in the Great War with the Harlem Hellfighters. German Jewish widow Emma Krauss, the only sympathetic White character, is a socialist who provides both similarity and counterpoint views to the Black characters she lives among.

The book isn’t long, but it packs in a lot of history with its examination of hatred’s harm to both haters and hated, leaving them in a vicious cycle that allows no relief or resolution.

NPR’s review. Before We Go’s review.

Posted in reading, sf/f | Tagged reading challenge | 1 Comment

My March Reading Log

Posted on April 14, 2023 by Victoria Janssen

Fiction:
The Iron Princess by Barbara Hambly is her first fantasy novel in about a decade and a half. To me, it had elements that reminded me of both the Darwath books and the Windrose Chronicles; it’s likely meant to be a world in the same universe, where magical travel between different worlds is possible through a void, mageborn people can see in the dark, and messing with things humans don’t understand can lead to disastrous invasions from outside our ken. The world where most of the story takes place is in the midst of industrial advances via colonialism and slavery. Magic is fading and becoming unreliable, except for that of the Crystal Mages, who rely on the magical dust adamis. Mining for adamis seems to be the origin, or at least the expansion, of the colonialist invasion, which has pushed the indigenous people further and further from the coasts, assuming they can avoid being enslaved as workers. Protagonist Clea is the daughter of the most wealthy of the colonialists, but her mother was a powerful indigenous magic user, and after her father has her mother executed for political reasons (He’s definitely got some Henry the Eighth vibes going on), she connects with her mother’s people and begins to work towards revolution. This novel is more about the monster plot than the nuts and bolts of revolution, but I appreciated that so many issues were at least raised; I’m curious whether there will be more stories set in this world.

A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas is seventh in the “Lady Sherlock” series, and felt a bit like taking a breath with a shipboard mystery/spy story, after the intense Moriarty plotline semi-resolved in book six. Charlotte Holmes’ sister Olivia is at long last free of her mother and going on a long voyage to warmer climes with her beloved older relative, accompanied by her sister’s lover, Ash, and his two children. Then her mother shows up unexpectedly on the same ship. At the same time, Charlotte Holmes and Mrs. Watson are in disguise, looking for some highly classified materials amid the passengers. The mystery has a fair amount of typical Thomas flashbacks that illuminate the mystery with new information or different points of view, but otherwise was fairly standard. I enjoyed it, and will buy the next one.

Nonfiction:
My TBR Challenge book for March was My Father’s Ghost by Suzy McKee Charnas.

Fanfiction:
Castor and Pollux by Ione is a delightful crossover: Frederica by Georgette Heyer, with the Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O’Brian. Frederica is pregnant; she and her family make some new friends.

Human Touch by Edonohana Biggles and von Stalhein from the W.E. Johns books are experimented upon by an evil scientist and must support each other to escape. A perfect hurt-comfort bonbon.

If There Was a Me for You by westernredcedar is a Check Please! AU in which Eric and Jack don’t meet until middle-age. Jack is a retired NHL star, divorced with two kids; Eric is directing commercials, having given up on making a career out of baking long ago. It’s time for a change, for both of them. I really enjoyed this.

Snap Decisions by heyjupiter is an Avengers AU in which there are no superheroes. In their thirties, Tony Stark is an unhappy CEO and and Bruce Banner is a high school teacher with complex PTSD from childhood abuse. They’re both coaching high school academic decathlon teams (the author’s note explains a great deal I never knew about the many different variations of decathlon/bowl). For the most part, it’s a sweet romance between the two with a Greek chorus of high schoolers, until Chancellor Thanos closes half the schools in New York City. Crushed beneath the weight of too many expectations, Bruce needs Tony’s help to survive; meanwhile, Tony has learned a lot from Bruce about how to deal with his own issues. There’s a very satisfying happy ending.

edge of providence by adiduck (book_people) and whimsicalimages is a massive “fixit” for the Star Wars prequel trilogy, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi and his teenaged padawan Anakin Skywalker stumble across the vast clone army being assembled on Kamino while the clones are still teenagers and younger. I saw the prequel trilogy once, in the theater when it came out, and never felt the urge to see it again; I have not seen the Clone Wars animated series and am not that familiar with Star Wars: Legends (the Expanded Universe/EU), but I managed to follow just fine. Ultimately, in this story there’s a romance between Mandalorian Jango Fett (the source of the clones) and Obi-Wan, while Anakin finds the social support he lacked in canon. One of the things I hated most about the prequel movies was the disposability of droids and clones; their purpose in the story felt half-baked, like an excuse for massive CGI battles instead of an integral element of the worldbuilding. This story focuses on the clones and on Mandalorian culture and politics; though I was still extremely dubious about Jango Fett’s initial motivation for the clones and the whole convoluted Sith plot, I ended up enjoying this alternate universe saga quite a bit.

Unbranded Air by suitesamba is a Sherlock AU set in 1890s Wyoming; Sherlock is injured while investigating cattle rustlers and is brought to John Watson, the only available doctor who is trying to forget his widowhood by being a rancher. A gentle romance and an excellent partnership ensue. Spoiler: Mrs. Hudson is fine because Watson is an excellent doctor.

And This, Your Living Kiss by opal_bullets is a mundane Supernatural AU in which Dean Winchester becomes a (very reclusive) poet, at least until his father’s death sends him into depression. After he moves to California to live with brother Sam and his family, he reconnects with his former English teacher Missouri Moseley, who tells him to take a poetry class with Professor Castiel Novak. Romance, and eventually more poetry, ensues. I loved this exploration of another plausible career for Dean, linked to his love for rock lyrics.

Until I Can Say It Myself by westernredcedar is an Olympics AU in which Eric Bittle became an ice dancer and Canadian citizen instead of attending Samwell, and meets Jack Zimmermann when he’s playing for the Canadian national team. As well as a romance, this is a story about standing up to homophobia and realizing how harmful inaction can be. Warning for a hate crime that is not seen, but is briefly described afterwards.

Posted in fanfiction, mystery, sf/f | Tagged reading log | 1 Comment

#TBRChallenge – Opposites Attract: A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

My June Reading Log

#TBRChallenge – Love Is Love: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

My May Reading Log

#TBRChallenge – Freebie: The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

My April Reading Log

#TBRChallenge – Unusual Historical: Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

My March Reading Log

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