Micro Reviews: June

In which I review the books I've finished reading this month in one sentence.
Covers link to Goodreads.

 

All That is Lost Between Us by Sara Foster

 I really enjoyed this as a family drama, but it's not as psychologically thrilling as it promised.

Rolling with the Punchlines by Urzila Carlson

Lucy Lawless said it was good and it was good - funny, sad, and altogether a moving and entertaining memoir. 

 

 

Far from Home by Lorelie Brown

A tense and hot f/f romantic comedy about a marriage of convenience, however the epilogue is cheesy and I would've liked to read more about the awkwardness their married life could have involved.

 

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

A well-written and interesting novel that I would've enjoyed more 5+ years ago when I was still in my Tudor/Elizabethan phase and was less wary of girl/girl hate.


 

Carolyn for Christmas by Lucy Carey

A cheesy f/f novella that had jarring POV changes and should have been extended into a novel, but I liked the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers aspect of it. 

The Further Adventures of Xena: Warrior Princess by various authors

 An expanded universe anthology in which all the stories rely too much on dialogue and not enough on showing instead of telling.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

 Yet another WW2 book, and it didn't have the strongest plot line or climax in the world.

 

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

 This classic Gothic novella fits under both early vampire lit and early lesbian lit, and while the climax is obvious for 21st Century readers, the ending itself is quite horrific and sad.

 

Storm Season by Pene Henson

A non-cliched f/f book that involves the good old trapped-in-a-cabin trope and is full of ethnic and LGBTQ representation, but even though it's set in Australia it doesn't feel authentically Australian as it uses American spelling and American words (bangs? Ass? Sidewalk??). 


 

Unknown Horizons (New Horizons #1) by CJ Birch

 An f/f sci-fi novel that I flew through because it's short and exciting, but it ends on a cliffhanger (noooo!). 

I would describe June as an "okay" reading month - I didn't hate anything I read, but I didn't love anything either. I'm currently reading The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson and

The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor.

Have you read any of these? What did you read this month? What are you excited to read next?

Read More

May Wrap Up

Life

• I've hardly blogged this month because I've been so damn busy. But I haven't seen many stand-out posts from other bloggers either, so I guess it's been a quiet month for some of us.
• Back to uni for the second half of semester. Man, it's been exhausting. So. Many. Assignments. I have my last lecture tomorrow, my last essay due the day after, and then it's exams. Help Yay!
• I visited my grandparents for the first time in a long while.

Posts

10 Things I Need More of in Books 
Film Review: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Micro Reviews: May Edition

Review: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Read

Covers go to Goodreads.

     
     
 

Around the blogosphere

Cait at Paper Fury talked about 10 types of reading moods.
Daisy at The Broke and the Bookish recommended 10 beach reads that aren't contemporaries. 
Bec at Readers in Wonderland listed 5 book friendships that are squad goals.

Was your May busy? What cool books did you read? What about disappointing books or books that didn't live up to the hype? Did you find any good posts in the book blogosphere?

Read More

Review: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Jamaica? No, she wanted to.

This is possibly the grittiest and most "literary" book I'll read this year. I mean it. It's the kind of book you study in high school and hate, but read on your own and love. It's one powerful piece of writing, and it reminded me of The Color Purple but even bleaker.

Here Comes the Sun is set in Jamaica in 1994. The basic plot is a queer, black woman (Margot) trying to build a better life for herself and her loved ones. This involves working for a posh, white hotel owner and prostituting herself.

It's a character-based novel written in the third person, present tense (my favourite) and switches POVs between Margot, her secret lover (Verdene), her sister (Thandi), and her mother (Delores). All four are very flawed and complex, and they feel real. I thought Thandi and Delores were interesting, but I was much more invested in Margot and Verdene's lives. They're opposites in some ways but similar in others, and their relationship is pretty complicated.

One interesting feature of this book is the dialogue, which is written phonetically/in the Jamaican dialect. This gives the setting and characters authenticity, but I struggled to understand a few of the words and phrases. I got the gist of what they were saying, though.

I enjoyed the writing style. The non-dialogue parts are quite sophisticated and flow well, and I could picture the setting in my head. It made me want to go to Jamaica and see what it's like for myself, the good and the bad.

I liked the idea that this island we think of as paradise is really not. The book deals with some horrible themes: poverty, racism, rape, homophobia, forced prostitution... It's not for the faint-hearted. But, as I said, it makes an interesting contrast with the island setting.

Remember I said this book is bleak? Yep. It doesn't have a happy ending. Margot achieves her goal of having money and owning her own big house, but she loses everyone. It's a warning to be careful what you wish for. I don't blame Margot for her ambition - she just wants to exit the cycle of poverty - but the way she goes about it is unethical and she betrays her family and her lover. The book ends on a bitter note.

Overall, I really enjoyed Here Comes the Sun. (Well, "enjoyed" is a bit strong for such a dark book...) If you're interested in reading about Jamaica or just want to read something that's not set in the UK/US/Australia, this might be worth a try. If you're looking for something gritty with queer women of colour as two of the main characters, I definitely recommend this one.

Summary

Capturing the distinct rhythms of Jamaican life and dialect, Nicole Dennis-Benn pens a tender hymn to a world hidden among pristine beaches and the wide expanse of turquoise seas.

At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman. As they face the impending destruction of their community, each woman—fighting to balance the burdens she shoulders with the freedom she craves—must confront long-hidden scars.

Add it on Goodreads

Read More

Micro Reviews: May Edition

In which I review the books I've finished reading this month in one sentence.
Covers link to Goodreads.

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction edited by Mike Ashley 

A fun (albeit long) sci-fi anthology, although it needed more diversity and women writers and I enjoyed the early and middle stories the most.

Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford 

A fantastic, vivid historical fiction with important themes, lots of sass, and superb character growth from the protagonist.

 

 

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

A nice enough YA fantasy that didn't quite live up to the hype as it was too short for the romantic relationship to develop, I kept wondering about mermaid science like how would bowls even work underwater, and it felt like a dystopian set in a historical/mythological setting.

Shaken to the Core by Jae

An angsty f/f romance set in 1906 San Francisco that has three very interesting main characters and deals with cool themes.

 

 

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

 An interesting, well-written, and grim (no-one in it can be called happy) character-based novel set in Switzerland.

 

The Sappho Companion by Margaret Reynolds

An interesting anthology about my favourite poet, Sappho, however it's too long and some of the poems and other included works are barely related to her. 

 

Heart Trouble by Jae

I enjoyed this interesting (and hot) f/f medical paranormal(?) romance although the soulmates trope came through a little too heavy (even though that word wasn't mentioned once).

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Cool premise, cool diversity, and informative about fan conventions, but it was very clichéd, the main characters were flat, romance was valued more highly than friendship, and it didn't have a plot.

I'm currently reading Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn. It's so good so far! Hopefully I'll review it in the next few days.

 

Have you read any of these? What did you read this month? What are you excited to read next?

Read More