Book Review: Winter (Signs of Love #0.5)

Winter by Anyta Sunday

rating: 2 stars ★★☆☆☆
format: ebook
genre: contemporary, new adult, romance (m/m)

summary:

Caspian is a college student who has dated men in with every star sign except Leo. As he hunts for love under this feline sign, his best friend Eli, who is a Virgo, falls for him.

pros:

✔ Anyta Sunday is a very skilled and talented writer when it comes to her style.

✔ The cover is beautiful.

✔ The fluff was cute when it was believable and the sex scene was well-written.

✔ I enjoyed the text messages from each failed relationship with a different sign. It added some creative fun to the chapter breaks and I liked the little graphics for the signs.

cons:

✘ Most of this story was so far-fetched that I debated whether or not to continue. We're supposed to believe that Eli and Caspian are "clueless" best friends, but they act like they are dating from the start. Look, I've never been a gay man, but I'm pretty sure if I were, I wouldn't call "platonic" male friends "babe", sneak across a ladder from my bedroom to his (yes, these are college students who are able to use each other's front doors) to sleep cuddled with him in his bed every night, share tender head kisses, or frequently wrap my legs around him. Eli and Caspian are both caught off guard when Eli's girlfriend leaves him because she feels like a third wheel.

✘ A continuation of the previous point that I thought deserved its own bullet: Caspian asks Eli to check him out before he goes on a date with "Leo", which entails... looking at his dick. Yes, he actually asks Eli to look at him naked to see if he's "ready" to go on his date.

✘ Caspian whittles everyone down to one trait, their sign, and ignores any other personality traits that fall outside of designated signs. He believes that since it didn't work out with one (insert any sign besides Leo), it is doomed to fail with another. He even referred to Flynn in his head as "The Leo" on their date, which ended early because Caspian was completely ignoring him to daydream about his gay-affirming kiss with Eli. But it's okay, because Flynn ships Caspian/Eli! Which leads me to...

✘ Everyone freaking ships Caspian and Eli. Except, apparently, Eli's now-ex-girlfriend. Their moms practically fangirl over the prospect of their son's hooking up.

✘ Dialogue between Caspian and his mom mostly consisted of Caspian relaying his woes to her, and her responding sadly with different pet names. I think all she said in the entire book was "Oh, honey/darling/dear/sweetheart/etc." I wanted her to say something else, literally anything else.

Caspian and Eli's mothers, circa 2021

overall thoughts:

I'm going to be honest, this book almost ended up on my DNF shelf several times, and once or twice I almost threw my phone. I pushed through because it was only 64 pages long. I would read more by this author as long as the other novels in this series make more sense, because her writing style really is good and I really was looking forward to reading the full Signs of Love series books.

review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

applicable challenges:
none

Book Review: The Feast of the Drowned (Doctor Who: New Series Adventures #8)

The Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up ★★★★★
format: audiobook
genre: science fiction

disclaimer: For some reason, I repeatedly typed the title out as "The Feast of the Damned" which is why the url is like that. Sorry!

summary:

If you ever wanted an episode of Doctor Who, but every character is played by David Tennant, this audiobook is for you! The Feast of the Drowned is a short adventure about the Tenth Doctor and his companion Rose, who investigate a sunken Naval ship that Rose's friend's brother was on when disaster struck. After the sinking, ghostly apparitions of the victims begin appearing to their families, begging for help before "the feast."

pros:

• The audiobook is narrated by David Tennant, who reads the story with all of his enthusiasm and David Tennant-isms. It's funny listening to him jump from his native Scottish accent, to the Doctor's British accent, to a minor character's American accent, and back again. I think it would be impossible to be bored during anything read by him. I'm sure I would have gotten much better grades in school had my textbooks been narrated by him.

• I liked the spooky, mysterious story. It was a bit gorier than an episode of Doctor Who, though not in an overwhelming, horror way.

• There was a strong cast of new supporting characters.

cons:

• There wasn't much I could find wrong with this, except for my normal amount of annoyance at Mickey. It seemed like he was just sorta there, and that they plot could have been carried easily enough without him.
  
  

Sorry, Mickey.

overall thoughts:

This was a short, fun listen! I did pay $4.99 for it on iTunes, and while it was worth it, the price for such a short audiobook does not have me in too big of a rush to buy the rest of the books in the series, but I'm sure I will continue to listen to these in the future.

review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

applicable challenges:

Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge - Borrowing (a book with a character from a different book - The Doctor)
SFF Virtual Badge Collection - The Monster Badge

Book Review: The Fantastic Fluke

The Fantastic Fluke by Sam Burns
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

rating: 3 stars ★★★☆☆
format: ebook
genre: fantasy, paranormal, romance (m/m)

Whew, I've been putting off writing this review for a long time. In the almost-month it took me to sit down and write about how I felt about this book, I was just as conflicted as I was during the three months it took me to read it. It had everything I wanted: magic, ghosts, an adorable fox. I expected an immediate page-turn, but unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I found myself putting it down for weeks at a time, not connecting to any of the characters enough to really care what was going on in their lives.

Highlight the words in parenthesis for spoilers. (like this)

summary:

Sage is a level 2 mage and an epic disappointment to his recently-deceased father, who is a mega-asshole and now haunts the bookshop that he left to Sage in his will. Sage saves a fox familiar being beaten by some guys in an alley (what asshole beats a fox??). He soon meets Gideon, a hot ghost gunslinger who is back from the dead once again after a super-special mage is killed. Sage learns that he himself is one of these super-special mages that has an untapped power within himself that he can access by using the ley lines that converge under his town. It's not clearly explained how the ley line magical battery charging works, and 50% into the story, I don't think Sage understands much either. The story follows Sage, Gideon, Fluke the fox, and a supporting cast of quirky characters as they try to solve the mystery of who is killing magic-users and why the convergence keeps resurrecting Gideon to train new mages.

pros:

• FLUKE. Oh my god, Fluke. That little fox familiar stole the show, as well as my heart. His huge personality shone through in every scene he was in, which was fortunately most of them. I found it impossible to not smile at that tricky, dorky fox.
  
  

• There is a lot of potential for the sequel. I was very curious about the Convergence, what the hell was "living" down there, and what Sage is going to do with his newly-discovered powers.

• I thought Sage's friendship with Baz was very sweet.

• The idea of a (witch hunt within a magical community was very unique to me. Magic is something that is common in day-to-day life, but certain types of mages are considered "witches" due to the nature of their powers and a heaping dose of religious fanaticism.)

• I liked how much of a snarky-sweet asshole Gideon is. Sage's dad sent me into a blind rage every time he appeared, but Gideon's interactions with him made some of those infuriating scenes worth it (ex: taunting Sage's father by being able to sit on furniture - which isn't explained at all in the book and adds to the usual confusion about spectral physics).

• Sage had a brief moment of badassery when (he raised not only Gideon, but Gideon's horse familiar.)

• Sage was very relatable, and he addressed mental illness in a humorous way. I definitely use humor and sarcasm to cope when I'm having a rough time. Ex: "I wasn’t sure thirty-year-olds were supposed to be exhausted all the time, but maybe I was just ahead of the curve on the whole aging thing." & "Because clearly my gender was related to my ability to brush off trauma." Sage said fuck gender stereotypes and mental illness stigma.

• Sage's grandmother was the sweet, precious grandmother I wish I had. Her shipping of Sage and Gideon, while a little awkward at times, was pretty entertaining. She definitely wins Best Wingman of 2020.

• "You’re not the savior of everything just because you were born with a high capacity for magic.” The Chosen One trope: subverted.

• I love the writing style. Although sometimes crammed where it shouldn't have been crammed, the humor of Sage's internal monologue had my laughing out loud at times.

• The cover is lovely.

cons: 

• I felt like the tone of the book was far too lighthearted for all of the dark shit that was happening around Sage. People were being murdered, some mysterious entity lived in the ley lines under the earth, and yet everyone seemed rather chipper and spent their time discussing the bookstore and what colors to paint the walls. Someone was hunting down mages and Sage and Gideon were on a dangerous time crunch, and when Sage's grandmother gifts him important and presumably old and valuable magical books, Sage tosses them on the floor and doesn't open any of them except the one that will make Gideon corporeal so he can get laid. Yes, Sage learns how to bring people back from the dead and instead of bringing back any of the murdered mages (one of whom is his own mother), he brings back a guy he's known for just a few weeks cause he wants that dead cowboy dick. Priorities.

• Sage's immaturity. This ties into the above rant about the tone of the book, but I felt it deserved its own point. Sage is thirty years old, and instead of taking anything seriously as people around him are being hunted and killed, Sage continues to joke (to himself or out loud) how pervy "convergence link" sounds. Or touching the convergence. Or literally anything to do with the convergence. Am I missing a hilarious double entendre? I just don't get it.

• The "everyone is queer" trope. I'm pretty sure the only straight character in this book is Sage's father. But then again, who knows? Maybe his repressed feelings are why he's so grumpy all the time.

• The Big Baddie: (was some lady who owned a coffee shop. I know the author was going for a twist but this lady was the polar opposite of intimidating. Her motives were also unclear. She was sucking the life out of mages to become more powerful in order to... brew better coffee? Get more customers? Who knows.)

• Sage thought in memes, which, while amusing, I can't see holding up for long.

Yes, "Ok, boomer" was actually used in this novel.
Although I am grateful for any opportunity to use a Trixie & Katya gif in a review.

• The finances of Sage were a bit confusing. He just inherited a bookshop, says that he has just a few hundred dollars in his budget for groceries each month and therefore can't buy vegetables. Look, I've lived paycheck-to-paycheck more often than not, and I am still able to afford more than just ramen and PB&J sandwiches with a few hundred dollars a month. Either a) food is incredibly expensive in this world and there isn't an Aldi in sight or b) Sage is stockpiling ramen and peanut butter for a hypothetical apocalypse, much like my father does, but I won't go off on that wild tangent.

• Sage has the thickest freaking skull, and everyone around him is patient and seems to find his cluelessness endearing. It was, at first, but when I was 60% into the book and Sage still didn't realize Fluke was his familiar, I felt like throwing my phone.

• This one is very minor, but it get a bit confusing to have a class called "dead mages" in a book with multiple mages that are, you know... actually dead.

overall thoughts:

I think this is the bitchiest review I've written in my short time writing reviews. It's either because I had such high hopes for this book, or because I've already had my before-bed smoke. Probably both, although any glaring, absurd typos are likely due to the latter. The storyline had me interested but there was too much filler and the plot moved slowly. I do fully intend on reading the future sequel. Sage's story has enormous potential, and I hope that is explored more.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Book Review: Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

rating: 5 stars ★★★★★
format: audiobook
genre: fantasy, mythology, short stories

REVIEW COMING SOON

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Applicable challenges:
Books in Wonderland Fantasy Reading Challenge - January (a fantasy book inspired by mythology)

Color Coded Reading Challenge - Black

Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge - Occupations (a book written by a college professor - professor of the arts at Bard College)

SFF Virtual Badge Collection - The Big Battle Badge 

Book Review: What Type of Witch Are You?

What Type of Witch Are You?: A Handbook of Over Thirty Types of Witchcraft for New Witches by Julie Wilder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

rating: 4 stars ★★★★☆
format: ebook (Kindle Unlimited)
genre: no genre listed on Goodreads - I guess it's considered self-help or reference?

So, I've been feeling a bit more witchy than usual recently. ✨ I've been into crystals, spirit guides, smoke cleansing, and meditation for many years, but never called myself a "witch". I will admit I had a different view on witchcraft before reading this book-the picture in my head was a lot more dramatic than most witchcraft actually is. I learned that a lot of the things I had been doing for years was considered magic.

This book is an informative and easy read. There many more types of witches than I knew about, and the author is very adamant about not boxing yourself into a category. The book is written in a way that is open and accepting of everybody's differences. It's very "you do you". You chose what types of magic you want to practice and what you identify as. It's a great introduction for newbies such as myself and it got me excited to learn and experiment more.

🔮 pros:

• The author has a very open-minded view of things. While I was reading I felt as if I was being spoken to by a friend.

• The book does a good job of explaining cultural appropriation and teaching how to avoid it.

• A very easy read. I have trouble focusing and everything is broken up and organized in a way that helped me process everything, even at 4 am before I went to bed.
  
  

🔮 cons:

• The ebook contained a lot of links for the "White Witch Academy" but not a single one of them worked. It seems like the site might not exist anymore.
  
  

🔮 overall thoughts:

I felt warm and comforted while reading this. It's a great intro into witchcraft, though I wish the links worked because some of them were freebie offers.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Applicable challenges:
Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge - Shapes and Colors (a book with a shape on the cover that reminds you of a Rorschach test)

Book Review: Baby Got Bite

Baby Got Bite by Maz Maddox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

rating: 4 stars ★★★★☆
format: ebook
genre: fantasy (paranormal), m/m romance

summary: This is a lovely bite-sized story about a vampire who has been hiding in his coffin after a bad break up in the nineties (admit it, we've all been there). He hates Halloween but agrees to go to a Halloween party that an attractive Starbucks barista invites him to. Somehow, I still can't escape "The Siren" while at home, trying to enjoy not making froofy drinks all day. It turns out, the barista is not all that the vampire, who goes by the alias "Vincent" after the Pulp Fiction character, thought he would be. Vincent finds it hard to fit in due to his 90's catch phrases and lack of current pop culture knowledge. He leaves the party and finds a man named Ben smoking outside. He's dressed like a character from "Clerks" and is sweet and accepting of Vincent and his quirks. They go back to Ben's place and, well... I'm sure you can guess the rest.

pros:

• BODY POSITIVITY! I was absolutely thrilled when Ben was described as being a little on the "softer" side, no six pack and head-to-toe model physique that it a very common trope in m/m romances. Yet, Vincent sees him as sexy, irresistible man. Every time I read more of Vincent's thoughts about Ben, the smile on my face grew wider.

• This story had me giggling from beginning to end. Vincent and his banana costume and his social awkwardness could have been uncomfortable to read, but it was written in a way that made Vincent very endearing. I felt for him as he struggled to fit in with the hipster crowd. The humor was clever and not too over the top. My favorite line embodies the overall feeling of the story: "I leaned over, my banana suit squeaking sexily as I did." In addition, there was the protagonist's casual references to murdering people and drinking their blood.

• I loved both Ben and Vincent. They had great chemistry and I want more of them!

cons:

• It ended a little too early for my liking. Right when things were about to get exciting, that was it. Cliffhanger. I was looking forward to the resolution that never came.
  
  

overall thoughts: This was a fun (and free, from the author's website) read from beginning to end. I would recommend it to anyone who likes humor, great characters, and a touch of steamy romance.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Applicable challenges:
Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge - Favorites (a book with your favorite color on the cover) - purple

SFF Virtual Badge Collection - The Uncovered Diamond Badge

Book Review: Brina: A Pagan Picture Book

Brina: A Pagan Picture Book by Andrea Stein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up for the enjoyment factor
format: ebook (Kindle Unlimited), which was a bit difficult (it would be nice to see the art larger and I wasn’t able to zoom in on the pictures)
genre: children's

I read this adorable book while looking on in the Kindle Unlimited shop for books on Wicca. I was surprised to find a children’s book on the topic, but certainly not disappointed! It’s cute and creative with enchanting illustrations that gave the story a whimsical, yet still grounded feel to it. I loved the sweet, encouraging relationship the mother had with the daughter. Bonus: POC representation that little girls can look up to!

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Applicable challenges:
Pick Your Poison - Picture This (an illustrated book)

Book Review: The Prince and the Troll (Faraway #1)

The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars ★★★☆☆

Disclaimer: I work for Starbucks. My review was in no way influenced by any emotional trauma I may or may not have faced in the line of duty.

rating: 3 stars
format: ebook (Kindle Unlimited)
genre: fantasy, retellings, short stories, YA

Summary:

A man, who is not a prince, works doing... something on "The Road", which is supposedly the bees knees despite having a negative impact on the environment (it has somehow completely halted rainfall) and a cruel "if you fall on the road we will push you off and you will die" policy. After dropping his phone off of a bridge, he meets a quirky troll who lives in the mud develops an affinity for Starbucks in what seems to be an extended ad for the company, intermingled with a short love story.

I started reading this short story with high hopes. As I read, those hopes fell little by little. I felt like I was not understanding part of a bigger picture, and the common YA theme of capitalizing words to make them seem Very Important left me feeling like I was missing something that everyone else was in on ("Collapses" and "Tragedies").

Pros:

✔ I really enjoyed the character of the troll! She was cute and witty and a sweetheart, albeit a bit mischievous.
✔ The ongoing bit of Adam noticing the troll's features.
✔ A subtle, overarching message about climate change and development (but not, of course, about consumerism).
✔ Great writing and editing.
✔ I really was rooting for the pair. I enjoyed their chemistry and the troll's attempts to get Adam's head out of his ass.
✔ Easy, bite-sized length.
✔ I found myself laughing quite a bit. Adam yelling "Starbucks is always open!" despite a deadly tragedy had me giggling.

Cons:

✘ At times I felt like I was reading a Starbucks menu. Can I not escape the Siren even in the confines of my own home?
✘ In what could have been a unique and elaborate world, I found myself asking many questions, most of which were never answered. What does Adam actually do? What is the road, really? How do people fall on the road, and why are they pushed off if they fall? What happens after they are pushed off? What are the crows that watch everyone? Why the heck does the troll have a (mermaid) tail, and does she also have legs? How does the troll already like Starbucks- has she manipulated men into caffeinating her before? Why did Adam say the Strawberry Acai Refresher was seasonal???
✘ Various fantastical creatures were alluded to but never mentioned again, and it would have been nice to have the fantasy aspect of this world expanded upon, but this is more just my personal taste.

Overall, not bad for a free read. I would like to read more of Rainbow Rowell's works, as well as more works in the Faraway series.

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog

Book Review: Putting the Romance in Necromancy (The Knight and the Necromancer #0.5)

Putting the Romance in Necromancy by A.H. Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ★★★★★

rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up
format: ebook
genre: fantasy, lgbt, m/m romance

I read this little prequel before having read any other book in the series, just to get a feel for the writing and characters to see if I would enjoy this author’s work. I really did. In just 15 pages I got a great feel of the world and the main character, Sairis. I liked his smart, subtle humor interwoven with a much darker scene of killing a horse and raising it from the dead, which was described in such a creepy, visceral way. I also enjoyed the supporting character and the awkward but sweet conversation that pushed Sairis towards a side quest of self-discovery.

I look forward to starting this series soon!

Review cross-posted: Skyler St. Clair on Goodreads & Skyler's Bookshelf Reading Blog