Book Review: Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

In Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, Hani comes out as bi to her friends, who react in a less than supportive way. She wants to prove to her biphobic friends that she really is bi, decides that what she needs is a fake girlfriend. Enter Ishu, who wants to be head girl to impress her parents, but needs to become popular in school to get the class vote. Fake dating Hani could be her ticket to popularity and the head girl position.

Ishu and Hani are super different. I absolutely adore the grump and ray of sunshine pairing, and I loved all of Ishu and Hani’s interactions, especially their banter. Ishu is focused on studying. She has a complicated relationship with her sister and parents that have very high expectations, and she doesn’t see the point in being friendly to people she knows don’t like her. Hani is the opposite. She is popular, because she works hard to be friendly with everyone. She tries so hard to fit in, but her white friends don’t understand her culture. Hani and Ishu sound like they wouldn’t get on, but perhaps they are each what each other needs. Both characters are Bengali and Irish, although they have different Bengali backgrounds.

The book deals with parental expectations, peer pressure, cultural pressure, biphobia, family relationships and learning how to be yourself and follow your own dreams. It’s a beautiful book, with engaging characters and a story that had me hooked. I particularly liked how Hani has supportive parents, because I’m so used to reading YA where everyone has major issues with their parents. I also loved Hani’s relationship with religion, as a queer character who takes comfort in religion rather than being hurt by it.

The fake dating trope! I love this so much. I love that they have a document for the rules of fake dating. I love the slowburn as their relationship begins to develop and change. I love the banter between two very different personalities. I just love all of it! And the drama was so good. I binged the second half of the book because I desperately needed to know how it ended, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I loved this as an adult, and I just know it’s the kind of book I wish I’d been able to read as a teen. That must go double for any Bengali or other teens of colour, and I hope everyone who needs a book like this gets to read it.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: The Anxiety Book For Trans People by Freiya Benson

The Anxiety Book for Trans People is a self help guide written by a trans person for trans people. The author has her own experiences with anxiety, giving this book a very authentic tone. The advice is good, but the thing I took most from this book was simply the validation of another trans person speaking candidly about anxiety.

The book is written in a friendly, down to earth way, and the explanations of anxiety are engaging and easy to understand. The book includes sections where different trans people, including nonbinary people, talk about their own experiences with anxiety. I think reading this will definitely help trans people to feel less alone. Sometimes it can feel like you’re the only person who is anxious about certain things, and that everyone around you has their life together, but this book shows that we’re all dealing with this together.

It’s really nice to see advice for anxiety specifically targeting trans people because so often our experiences are ignored in more general advice. As Benson writes, being trans can add another layer to the more general anxieties that most people experience. It can be hard to pull apart what is just anxiety and what are genuine fears due to being trans in a transphobic world. This book is a starting point for dealing with that, and includes some practical ideas of how to deal with anxiety.

This is a good book that I think any trans person who experiences anxiety will find validating and helpful.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: Son Of The Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Son of the Storm is a fantasy novel set in a world inspired by the precolonial empires of West Africa. In the city of Basso, Danso is a clever scholar chasing forbidden stories of what lies beyond the city walls. He meets a warrior with magic that shouldn’t exist, and his discoveries and their consequences threaten to destroy the empire.

I was immediately absorbed into the world. The world building is wonderful. There is so much depth and breadth to everything and it all feels so real. The system of magic is really interesting, and quite unlike anything I’ve seen in other fantasy novels. There are complex politics, clashing cultures, and a caste system that the main characters have to navigate. There is just so much going on.

The beginning of the story does feel a little slow. Things are happening, but a lot of it is establishing the world, rather than the story. But when things do start happening, the excitement ramps up. This is a complex story, where the pieces slowly come together and the connections between the characters are gradually revealed. I really liked some of the character development. Danso is far too clever for his own good, and yet he’s also really naive and not so smart in non scholarly ways. Esheme, Danso’s intended, is ambitious and ruthless, and her parts of the story were my favourite. I also really liked Zaq. He was very conflicted, torn between his different responsibilities and desires, which made for good reading. And, I’ll be purposefully vague here to avoid spoilers, but the making of the villain was brilliant.

This is the first book in the Nameless Republic series, and I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson

American Sherlock is about Edward Oscar Heinrich, murder, forensics, and the birth of crime scene investigation. Taking place over the first half of the 1900s, the story of Heinrich’s life is intertwined with the murder cases that he worked on and the scientific techniques that he pioneered. Heinrich was referred to by the press at the time as the ‘American Sherlock Holmes’, and the parallels are clearly there. As a big Sherlock Holmes fan, I liked the inclusion of relevant quotes from the Holmes novels at the beginnings of each chapter.

This is the first time that anyone has gone through the entire archive of Heinrich’s papers, both forensic related and personal. I loved reading about how he kept pretty much everything, meaning that there was actually too much for archivists to deal with! All of these papers, from notes on criminal cases and experiments to personal correspondances to details of his finances, allow for a very detailed picture of Heinrich as a person to be built up. This is clearly a very well researched book, and a very interesting read.

The cases detailed in the book are interesting in their own right, and the methods used by the man solving them are fascinating. I loved reading about techniques that I’ve seen in modern CSI shows, liked using bugs to determine time of death, or very early profiling. There are plenty of gruesome details for true crime fans.

The book is very readable, with a compelling writing style, and well worth picking up if you have any interest in forensics and true crime.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: The Outrage by William Hussey

In this YA dystopian novel, in England the Protectorate is in charge. There are rules for everything, and you’re safe only if you follow them. Gabriel is a natural rule breaker. His biggest crime is being gay. And his boyfriend’s father just happens to be the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations.

CW: homophobia, homophobic language, self harm, suicide references, scenes of violence, ableism, racism.

This book has strong world building, with a fleshed out, painfully realistic dystopian setting. It has the standard YA dystopian set up of ‘society changes drastically for the worst after an event’, in this case ‘the outrage’. Hussey draws parallels to things like nazi book burning and UK section 28. I really liked the use of movies to highlight the importance of seeing people like yourself in the media (althought there were some questionable movie choices). There are some strong ideas in this book, and an interesting plot and compelling characters along the way.

A lot of it reads like a sweet, tragic love story. Eric and Gabe are so wonderful, soft and sweet and tough and loyal. They have a group of likeminded friends, and form their own private resistance against the police state that they live in. There is also a trans character who I really liked. However, as the plot progresses, things turn bad. Very bad. This book is not an easy read. It’s very heavy. Halfway through I was really struggling because of how horrific some of the events are.

This book is a wake up call to people in countries where being queer is legal now. Other countries are much more similar to the dystopia portrayed in the novel and the fight is far from over. It’s also a look at how easy it is to lose victories, which is especially important given the current situation with trans rights in the UK and US. Progress isn’t linear, and this is a good exploration of how our current politics and situation could lead to a loss of rights that we’ve gained. Whilst the opression on grounds of sexuality and gender is explored in depth, I did feel like the racism and ableism were brushed over somewhat, and therefore the book wasn’t as layered as it could have been. However, it’s a much more realistic dystopia than I usually see in YA novels, and I felt incredibly invested in the characters and their stories. Although it features a love story, this isn’t a romance, it’s a revolution.

4.5 stars.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: Sage and King by Molly Ringle

First things first, I absolutely love Molly Ringle’s books! I was so excited to get a chance to read this one early. Sage and King was loosely inspired by King Arthur and Merlin, which, if I hadn’t already been desperate to read it, would have convinced me to pick it up. The story is set in a magical world, in the country of Lushrain. I really love the way Molly Ringle creates new worlds. I loved Eidolonia in Lava Red Feather Blue, and I love Lushrain.

In Lushrain, magic is forbidden, but the crowning of a new king means that there’s the chance to change the rules. We meet Zaya, the irresponsible young prince who is unexpectedly crowned king, Col, his tutor, a young sage with strong magical powers, and Orzei, the villain of the story, a character who is both mysterious and interesting. Zaya and Col need to work together to navigate politics, magic, and the threat of Orzei, but secrets and lies threaten to get in the way of their budding relationship.

Something I love about Molly Ringle’s books is that queer people get to just exist. The main characters are queer, but there are also side characters that are queer as well, and it’s done so casually. These characters get to exist and live and love and as a queer person that’s something that’s just really nice to see.

I adore Zaya and Col. I really like the ‘I don’t know if I like you yet but damn you’re attractive’ trope. (Is that a trope? I don’t know but I like it). I really enjoyed seeing them get to know each other, and the slow growth of understanding and acceptance between them. Also the flirting. The flirting!! This is definitely a pairing that will be living in my mind for a long time, I can tell. But as well as the romance, I also really liked the friendships, especially the one between Col and Trivin.

And then there’s Heartwood, home of the sages. Oh my goodness. This place is magical. The descriptions are so vivid. Also, I want to visit the Heartwood library because it sounds wonderful. I really love the system of magic as well. The way that it works through plants is so unique, and really clever.

I adored this book. It’s definitely going on my reread list. When everything goes down, oh my heart. I was on tenterhooks because I cared so much about the characters. I admit, I cried a little, and I don’t usually get that emotional over books.

Please read this book when it comes out, I need people to talk to about it!

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: Between Perfect And Real by Ray Stoeve

Dean Foster is a trans guy, but everyone, including his girlfriend Zoe, thinks he’s a lesbian. Then he’s cast as an ‘untraditional’ Romeo in the school play, and he can’t keep things to himself any longer.

TW for dysphoria, misgendering, forced outing, transphobia, physical bullying.

I really, really loved this book! I was excited to read a book by a nonbinary author, as a trans person myself, and this book did not disappoint. Between Perfect and Real is a story about coming of age, self realisation, and gender exploration. It captures the emotional rollercoaster of coming out during high school perfectly. It’s really emotional. Dean goes through so much in this book, my heart hurts for him. But also, it’s so wonderfully positive and hopeful. This book brought tears to my eyes. It’s the coming out story that I needed as a teen but didn’t have, and it makes me so happy that teenagers now have a story like this to read. Dean’s journey to his identity feels similar in some ways to mine, and I love that. There are so many different ways to be trans, and I found Dean’s story particularly relatable for me. I hope that young people reading this will feel the same as I did.

I think my favourite scene in the book is where Dean and Ronnie try out pronouns in the cafe. It was such a wonderful, lighthearted moment, so realistic to the trans experience, and so sweet and nice to read.

This book tells a really lovely, really important story and I’m so glad that I got to read it.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: Living And Loving In The Age Of AIDS by Derek Frost

Living and Loving in the Age of AIDS is Frost’s memoir of his life before, during and after the AIDS epidemic. It is a beautiful, powerful, tragic, and yet ultimately hopeful love story. It is a personal history of the epidemic that affected so many queer people, about love at a time when the popular opinion was that queer love was nothing more than lust.

Frost describes an almost idyllic sounding life prior to crisis. Both he and his husband have privileges that many other people don’t, like the ability to travel, interesting careers, and financial security most of the time. I’ve noticed some reviews saying that readers gave up in this part, but really it’s worth pushing through, because the comparison between the first part where they have everything, and the onset of the AIDS crisis that takes so much from them, is really powerful. Before AIDS, queer people, or at least certain demographics of them, were feeling more freedom, like the world was progressing, life was getting better, and then AIDS set everything back. This book masterfully expresses the pain and shock of going from liberation, love and freedom, to AIDS, death, stigma and judgement. There are so many names and personal stories that really bring home the horror of the crisis and emphasise how we geniunely lost almost an entire generation of queer men. There is a lot of anger and sadness in this book, but also a lot of love between Frost and his husband, between them and their friends and family. There Frost’s own spiritual journey, J’s medical journey, and the hope they both held on to.

Learning about the founding of AidsArk, the charity the two of them set up, is interesting. I remember in early noughties as a child learning about AIDS charities in Africa through my church but didn’t have much of an understanding of it then. I feel like this book really deepened my understanding of exactly why, even after the development of life saving drugs, the crisis continued in many countries.

Ultimately, this book is a story about love, hope, and survival. It is an important telling of queer history that the next generation of queer people needs to learn about.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: Best Of The Wrong Reasons by Sander Santiago

Fin and Orion reconnect at Orion’s mother’s funeral. They have history, and haven’t spoken to each other in years.

This is the story of two complicated characters. I really enjoyed getting to know them both. I was intrigued by their history from the very beginning, and their backstorys are teased and hinted at for quite a while, making me want to keep reading.

This story is about grief and lost. It contains a lot of pain and angst, and yet at the same time manages to be surprisingly soft. I really loved following both Fin and Orion’s journeys and seeing their growth. I was rooting for them to deal with their problems the whole way, and I wasn’t disappointed. There is so much love and hope in this story.

I really liked Orion’s songwriting, and the little snapshots of lyrics in his chapters. I did get a bit confused at times by the way they both referred to their mothers by their first names, I don’t know if that’s a cultural thing or something unique to those characters.

This is a lovely book, that I really enjoyed reading.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.

Book Review: The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

In The Inverts, we see the lives of Bart and Bettina, two childhood friends who enter into a Lavender marriage and live a decadent lifestyle full of drink, drugs and affairs.

This is an absolute train wreck in slow motion, and I have to say that I am completely here for that. We know that something bad is going to happen because we’re told at the beginning of the book, and then after that the whole story is building up to that moment. I’m keeping it vague to avoid spoilers, but there was definite tension as I waited to see how things were going to go down, which I really liked.

About the characters. Well, everyone in this book is absolutely awful. There were pretty much no characters that I liked, and it felt a bit like watching soaps or reality TV. I did feel for the main characters at times, but most of the time I just really didn’t like them, and felt they were kind of getting what they deserved. Or, at times when things seemed to be going alright, that they were getting more than they deserved.

The book has a great sense of atmosphere, and the place and time came across really well. However, the plot dragged a little at times, and then ended rather abruptly. I did enjoy the book, although I did need to read something with nicer characters afterwards!

3.5 stars.

I received this book from Netgalley for free in return for an honest review.