I've been changing my mind about my reading goals non-stop, so set in stone, (or digital text that can be edited) here are my
2026 reading goals:
Read and review ARCs at least two weeks before pub date. I am already failing at this so I'll start in February to give myself time to catch up.*
Post monthly reading recaps
Read the books I own. Last year I read 6 books I own, out of my goal of 40 books. This year I shall aim to read more than last year, so at least 7 books.
Read more classics. Ok this one is just because I feel ridiculous reviewing books that are retellings of classics without having read the original. I shall aim to read one(1) classic a month.
*caveat that I might get ARCs too late to complete before pub date, in which case it's not my fault
that poll going around of the guy who thought "people only eat tofu as a bit because they're deranged vegans" or whatever really crystalizes something that i have never been able to precisely say - which is "a nonzero fraction of people who start picky-eater discourse just happen to precisely hate those foods which are not from north america and refuse to introspect on this whatsoever"
In contrast some people say "there aren't any picky eaters in Asia 🙄" but this is laughably untrue. I have a cousin in India who refused until his 20s to eat anything in a sauce. as you can imagine in India this was difficult. he basically had to pick things out of curry and wipe them dry
The problem with commercial F/M romance is that it's written by the most heterosexual women alive and reading it you feel yourself slowly suffocating from the Gender of it all like a fish in a eutrophying lake. And what we actually need as a culture is F/M written by insane bisexuals violently allergic to heteronormativity
#hello yes#as one of the individuals in question#WATCH THIS SPACE#but it's true that publishing#understands marketing ff and mm to queer folks#it is LESS savvy#when it comes to wildly queer fm romance#they cannot conceive of a market for it#but if you enjoy such a concept#read Untamed by Anna Cowan#the most bonkers queer historical romance#years ahead of its time#tragically#but so so so so good (tags by @fahye)
oh that's a bummer, I didn't realize it was no longer available! Anna Cowan's website says she just had the rights reverted to her and that she does intend to make it available again, but there's no date given
I own it, but as a Kindle ebook, which is a maddeningly difficult thing to share, sigh
sorry to have recommended something out of print! as penance, here are some other books I like with m/f romances where there is some good gender stuff happening
Fan Service by Rosie Danan (contemporary paranormal, the star of a CW-type show actually starts turning into a werewolf and goes to the moderator of the show's fan forum for help, she's a bisexual fandom weirdo, he might be too)
Isn't It Obvious? by Rachel Runya Katz (contemporary, bi4bi, they love each other online and hate each other irl, this is funny and delightful)
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (fantasy, she's a huge butch bisexual medieval lady knight and he's a scrawny little modern scholar who studies her, they get stuck in a timeloop, it will make you cry)
like almost every Talia Hibbert book!! they are all great but I've got a soft spot for The Roommate Risk (contemporary, the title gets the premise across, the FMC is a wreck and there's a lot of angst)
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi (contemporary, absolutely gorgeous prose, two people come together after grief, bi4bi)
Tell Me Anything by Skye Kilaen (contemporary, bi4bi, he's been out for a long time and has a loving queer community, she's struggling with coming out because her family is awful, and also her life is just really tough, this is so real and grounded and full of angst)
The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (historical, I don't know if this one will make any sense if you haven't read The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, which is m/m, but both are good and they're about robbing rich people for justice and fun)
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (historical, trans woman fakes her own death at Waterloo in order to be herself, in doing so she cuts ties with her best friend, he's so destroyed by grief when they see each other again years later that he doesn't recognize her)
I could make a whole other list for polyamorous romances but I'm gonna stop here for now because it's bedtime
This might be a reach, but I think people who like What We Do in the Shadows and Lego Batman might enjoy this
Nobody is more surprised than Cyrus to learn that he’s no longer considered the greatest villain in the land of Athaca. Sure, he’s lying about the fact that his magical power is making flowers grow. And maybe lately he’s spent more time embroidering pillowcases than tormenting the locals. But that doesn’t mean he’s ready to be yesterday’s evil news.
Enter the hero Maximillian: the realm’s golden boy, complete with a blinding smile, chiseled abs, and an infuriating habit of spreading hope and joy. (Gross.) If Cyrus wants to be taken seriously, he’ll have to take this guy down.
But Maximillian isn’t quite as perfect as he seems. When he proposes a scheme to fake an epic rivalry and increase their fame, Cyrus can’t resist. Stage the battles, soak up the spotlight, share the spoils—it’s a villainously good marketing plan.
There’s just one hitch. Pretending to hate your nemesis becomes a lot harder when you start falling for them instead.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
Cyrus is such an entertaining protagonist, I love his wry and irreverent narration, and his flair for dramatics. As a "wrongdoer", as they are called in here, he's not very villainous; his schemes mainly amount to inconveniencing people and ruining livelihoods, and in his spare time, he likes to be crafty--in an arts and crafts kind of way, not in a cooking up wicked plans kind of way.
I'm a big fan of role-reversal type stuff, where the characters assigned to the roles of "hero" and "villain" aren't what they seem. Maximillian appears to be the perfect hero--in fact, he plays his part better than Cyrus does at being a villain. But it quickly becomes clear that he's far from perfect. While Cyrus delights in being a menace, Maximillian is only a hero for the fame and glory. He's also more uptight and serious than Cyrus, but also silly enough to tease and banter with him.
Their romance was so much fun! Their initial fights, before they decide to team up, when Cyrus still hated Maximillian, were full of tension--and I'm talking about the sexual kind (read this in WWDITS Lazlo's voice). Their staged fights are also tense, but much sillier, with Cyrus taking advantage of the situation to cause maximum chaos, and Maximillian letting go and having fun with it. I feel like while they have plenty of chemistry, they don't necessarily connect emotionally? Maximillian actually shows more openness and emotional vulnerability, while Cyrus is more closed off. There were certain scenes where I got a little frustrated with Cyrus, because he is literally incapable of taking things seriously. He struggles a lot with feelings, which is fine, but I feel that it results in a disconnect between how they feel and what they do for each other. If that makes sense.
Also, this is not a critique, just an observation: I have read plenty of cozy fantasy books with "outsider" protagonists, and have come to expect certain things from this genre. These are 1) the protagonist has a character arc where they learn to care about people and 2) this character arc comes about by the protagonist being forced to befriend a group of quirky misfits(if they are uptight and boring) or normal people(if they have committed war crimes).
To my surprise, Nemesis Mine has literally none of that! The plot is exactly as described in the synopsis, with no character arc about Cyrus wanting to turn over a new leaf. There are a couple scenes where he gets called out by precocious girl children that made me believe the redemption arc was going to happen--but nothing comes of those scenes. By the end, Cyrus and Maximillian have the exact same morals as they did at the start. Nothing wrong with this by the way, it's fun to read about characters that are unrepentant jerks. (Not being sarcastic I mean it!) Honestly, I was more thrown off by the lack of side characters. Cyrus interacts with plenty of random people, but most of them are unnamed, and the ones that are are mostly antagonistic. Like, legitimately, he doesn't make any friends at all. He cares about his horse, if that counts.
Anyway, this was a highly entertaining read, with hilarious narration, a swooney romance, and an action-packed plot. Just don't think about the characters' morals or lack thereof.
if i had a dick i would love to have a disappointing orgasm in the shower while thinking of something or someone that i felt i should not be thinking about & then stand under the water with my forehead against a wall watching the proof of my guilt & shame go down the drain
Cod became an archaeologist to chase the ghost of her hero, Aleya Ana-Ulai. History may have written Aleya off as a myth, but Cod is determined to prove she existed, even if it means sifting through relics for the rest of her life.
Then a message arrives summoning her home. Cod's former teacher has found something monumental: the ruins of an enchanted city, slumbering beneath the soil.
This could be the breakthrough they've always dreamed of. But with war brewing, rival powers circling, and ancient magics stirring underfoot, their discovery soon becomes far more trouble than it's worth. Even Cod starts to wonder if some things are better left buried . . .
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
I absolutely adored Idolfire, so Heaven's Graveyard was a highly anticipated read, and it didn't disappoint!
This takes place a few thousand years after the events of Idolfire, which has, in time, become relegated to myth and legend. Where Idolfire was a large-scale epic journey, Heaven's Graveyard is a lower stakes murder mystery/archeological expedition. Ironically, even though Idolfire had higher stakes, I found Heaven's Graveyard more emotionally intense and dramatic.
I absolutely adore the protagonist, Cod. She's obsessive when it comes to her research, and she's awful at understanding people, while people also struggle to understand her. As we learn more about her past, it becomes clear why she pushes people away, although it's clear that she's always been inherently a little awkward. I love her character arc of learning to open up to people, even though it's hard and she sucks at it.
The plot was also super entertaining! There are two mysteries Cod has to solve: a murder mystery and the mystery of Aleya's existence. I didn't expect the murder mystery to play such a large part of the plot, but I found it rather intriguing; Cod isn't the best at detective work as she struggles to interrogate suspects, but she's observant and good at putting things together. Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with murder mysteries, but the reveal of the murderer legit took me by surprise, I didn't see it coming at all!
Or perhaps it's because I got swept up in Cod's mission to rediscover Idolfire. Cod gets a little sidetracked from murder solving by the possibility of discovering magic, and I can't blame her. For readers of Idolfire, we already know how the magic works, but it's still lots of fun watching Cod not just figure it out, but also innovate on it. (No spoilers!)
I don't think it's necessary to read Idolfire first. Although it might give the reader some advance insight into what Cod discovers, I think it would be an interesting experience to read Heaven's Graveyard first before reading Idolfire.
Kit Davenport is in trouble—not that this would surprise anyone who knows him. Headstrong, reckless, and utterly unsuited for the stodgy House of Lords, Kit has spent years dodging his father’s stern disapproval and delighting in clandestine rendezvous. But time is running out. With an arranged marriage looming and the confines of white wigs and stiff decorum closing in, Kit is desperate to escape a life that feels completely wrong for him.
His solution? A wildly impulsive decision that lands him aboard the Deliverance, a galleon captained by the infuriatingly charismatic Reggie Sharpe. With a devil-may-care attitude and a delicious grin, Captain Sharpe commands the waves with his crew of misfits…who all turn out to be pirates. Before Kit can say “wrong ship,” he’s trading ballroom etiquette for rum-soaked camaraderie, explosive gunfights, and, perhaps most excitingly, heart-stopping kisses under the stars.
But life at sea holds just as many secrets as treasures. And when Kit’s past catches up with him, he’ll have to decide who he truly wants to be: a gentleman or a pirate?
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
A fun, low-stakes seafaring romp!
I love Kit--I have a fondness for silly, overdramatic protagonists, and Kit fits the archetype perfectly. I found his scandalised reactions to the rough and tumble life of living at sea simultaneously charming and annoying, though moreso charming.
I had lots of fun following Kit's interactions with the crew, which were probably my favourite parts of this book, as he tries to fit in with them and win them over despite his noble upbringing. My favourite side characters were the twins, Tristan and Trevor, Kit's dynamic with them was so sweet and endearing.
Compared to the found family part of Kit's relationship with the crew, I found the romance a little lackluster. Captain Sharpe is very mysterious, and while I did enjoy their banter and chemistry, Sharpe remains mysterious for basically the entire book. We don't get to learn his backstory at all, and Kit only learns his first name right at the end! The emotional bonding was also kind of one-sided, with Kit confiding in/relying on Sharpe, and Sharpe not getting that back from Kit. I would have loved it if they had spent more time sharing backstories, I think it would have made their romance feel so much more impactful.
There is also A Plot happening beyond the interpersonal relationships, and it was… fine. I guessed the twist pretty early on, but I didn't mind that--I always appreciate foreshadowing, even if it means getting the twist "spoiled" before the reveal. I found the plot as a whole not very intriguing, and less interesting than reading about the character relationships, but I'm a big fan of characters just, like, talking and hanging out, so other readers may disagree. Besides that, I loved the parts where Kit finds out more about his mother, though I would have liked if he got to learn more about his heritage and culture, but I understand perhaps there wasn't enough space to include it.
This is a very entertaining read as it is, but I wonder how the actual published version differs from the ARC. I saw that the author made a bunch of changes, specifically regarding historical accuracy and character sensitivity, so it would be cool to find out what improvements have been made.
if you'd like to show support, here are some upcoming queer books:
When Life Gives You Corpses is a brilliant YA about a cursed praying mantis who falls for a young witch. Yield Under Great Persuasion is a raunchy, but surprisingly sweet story of two men repairing their relationship. Fabulous Bodies is a horror story about a queer rockstar rising from the dead.
This is Where the Future Bleeds is a fantasy set in a vividly imagined land, where two women (who happen to kiss) are the key to healing the broken sky. You're No Better is a story about a teen struggling in the shadow of his murderous parent. Oil on Canvas is about a woman who finds disturbing paintings in the home of her dead mother.
and then here's a list of 26 queer books by Black authors set to publish this year, and a 10 upcoming books by trans authors. if you want to fight back against queer censorship, use your wallet! or (if that's not an option) you can contact your local library and ask them to stock a copy.
Explorations of classism, corruption and abuse in academia
For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite prep school—the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history—is whispered to be magical.
Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple or believed in the rumors. He just wanted them to stay together forever.
When, at age 11, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.
Seven years later, a summer job advert a temp position sorting through the junk in Temple’s attics. Briar takes it. And they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by most of the school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so magical after all, but a dark conspiracy with implications that extend far beyond the gates.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
I absolutely LOVE this book. It may be too soon to say, but it's definitely making my top 10 books of this year.
The setting was a lot more grounded than I had expected. The magic school, Temple, and the magic system is relatively mundane: the buildings making up Temple, while grand, are regular, non-magical buildings, and the magic taught is a more subtle kind.
The plot revolves around exposing the abuse and corruption built into the system of Temple. It does such a good job of mirroring how real life academia enables and protects abusers, as well as how academia operates as a political tool for upholding the status quo. The exclusivity of Temple also reflects the gatekeeping prevalent in academia, while the magic system serves as a pretty apt metaphor for how elite schools grant students power and influence.
The romance between Briar and Bastian is my favourite part <3 The author does such a good job of showing their childhood friendship and establishing all the history they have between them, so every interaction between their present selves feels so fraught with meaning. They have so much chemistry, from their initial antagonism to their gradually rekindled connection, every moment between them is pure fire🔥🔥🔥
I also loved the friends Briar makes at Temple, who play big roles in the story as well. Each of them feel fleshed out, with their own distinct personalities and backstories. I love how they "adopt" Briar into their friend group, and their interactions and banter are so much fun to read!
This book is a standalone and wraps up well, but I would love a sequel that expands on what happens afterwards, I adore these characters and I would love to read more about them!! <3
Odette and Cecilia are young women, living between their grand homes in Hampstead and the imposing, ancient Herne House in Suffolk. Though Odette's artist mother Lydia keeps a tight grasp on her, she and her beloved Cecilia are mostly left free to roam, to learn and to love.
But when Lydia inexplicably sickens and dies, a dark veil falls. As the funeral rites are performed, Odette's aunt, the cold and implacable Claudine, increasingly takes charge of the household, while her father retreats to his study. Odette, lost in grief, disappears into the shadows.
But as Claudine is announced as Odette's new stepmother, a sinister presence in the house makes itself known. To her horror, Odette realises that despite her death, Lydia never really left. And now she wants revenge . . .
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
I went into this expecting something darker: a revenge story with more overt horror elements. While revenge is a large part of the story, Rottenheart turned out to be a slower-paced character portrait exploring the complexities of grief.
The prose is lovely and perfectly captures the gothic atmosphere of the story. The format is more experimental than I had expected; the book is split into parts, with each part taking place in different times, jumping around in a non-chronological order. I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of this. It created some confusion initially, as I had to go back and check the dates of previous parts, and I felt it took some of the tension out of the story, especially when returning to events that took place before Odette's mother died. However, I absolutely loved the epistolary sections of the book, between Odette and Cecilia. There are only a couple of those, but they give a lot of insight into their relationship and how they communicated to (or what they concealed from) each other.
I found this portrayal of grief fascinating. Odette's relationship with her mother is complicated. She resented her mother's temperamental moods and clinginess, but after her death, Odette grieved her deeply and obsessively. I feel like, besides Odette's relationship with her mother, the other relationships aren't necessarily portrayed with the same amount of nuance, with some of the characters being depicted as unsympathetic antagonists. While some things aren't explained too much, I feel the book does suffer from over-explaining, specifically with Odette's aunt, Claudine. Claudine's motivations are explained outright to the reader, when sufficient (in my opinion) information is provided for the reader to come to those conclusions themselves.
I didn't enjoy this book much while reading it, I think perhaps because it didn't line up with my expectations. But looking back, I can appreciate this book for what it is, and for what it's trying to do.
The question hidden within enemies-to-lovers is “who will love me at my worst?”, the question hidden within friends-to-lovers is “who will love me at my most mundane?”, hope this helps
Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For edited by Natalie C. Parker, Zoraida Cordova
A Treachery of Swans - AB Poranek
DNFs
A Fae in Finance - Juliet Brooks
The Secret World of Briar Rose* - Cindy Pham
The Sun Blessed Prince - Lindsey Byrd
*netgalley arcs
Read a lot this month but I didn't really love anything? I tried to come up with a top 3 but I couldn't pick two other books. I mean, I could've, I liked a lot of them but I didn't love any other books enough for them to deserve be on the level of top 3, ya know?
The Unworthy was a clear favourite though. I love love love the prose, and it was so dark and gritty oughhhh!!!!!
I also DNFed 3 books this month, which is a little more than I usually DNF. Other than Briar Rose, I didn't actually dislike/think my other DNFs are bad.
I read about 100 pages of A Fae in Finance, before I had to DNF. I picked it up thinking it was a silly funny book (and I heard there was a bi love triangle in it) like just a quick easy read. NOPE. The MC is stronger than any US marine, because her boss is the worst!!!! I figured we would move on from her terrible office job once she got to the working for fairies in fairyland part of the story, but she ends up getting kidnapped by the fairies (not even in a sexy way) and trapped in fairyland and she still has to continue working?? What's the point of getting stuck in fairyland if you're still stuck doing your job???? I was looking for an escape from reality, i.e. escape from having an office job, but I found myself getting secondhand stress from this poor woman, on top of my own stress. I had to DNF when she was forced to reply to work emails while hunched over the toilet puking from food poisoning. Maybe one day in the future, when work is but a distant echo in my memory, I'll give this book another try, but as it is, it hit way too close to home.
I also DNFed The Sun Blessed Prince at like 30%. I decided to listen to the audiobook, because I haven't listened to an audiobook in years, and the narrator was the same guy who did the audiobook for Boyfriend Material, and his narration was so funny and entertaining I decided to give this one a shot. Y'all, this thing was slow as hell. I think I got faster at reading since I last listened to a audiobook, because the pace was excruciatingly slow. I got like 4.5 hours into it, which was only 30%! Which is like the equivalent of reading 120 pages. I liked the narration well enough, but it irked me that I could have read that amount of the book in half the time. Also, I did try increasing the speed but I couldn't stand listening to it sped up. I might come back to this book, but if I do, I'll read it with my eyes.
Lastly, The Secret World of Briar Rose.
I DNFed at 50%.
It started off alright. The prose is lovely, and the initial premise is intriguing.
Where it went wrong was the characters. I had expected the main relationship to be the one between Corin and Briar Rose, but it turned out that the story focused more on Corin and her relationship with her sister, Elly. Which is fine, but Corin and Elly are so one note and one-dimensional; Corin is angry and Elly is naive and optimistic. That's it. There are big emotional moments between them, but because they're so busy rushing around doing plot things, we don't really get to know them, and the emotional beats end up feeling empty/unearned.
I feel the same about Briar Rose/Amelia. Not much is shown about her emotional state, like yes, she's sad, but most of her PoV chapters are spent doing more plot things, with a few sentences here and there about how she doesn't want to get married.
While there's a lot of plot going on, there's also not much happening? The characters are constantly busy rushing around, but at the same time they're just sort of meandering and not going anywhere and the plot drags. There needed to be some sort of balance between plot things and also giving the characters breaks, to let the plot breathe and to spend more time with the characters.
I also had an issue with the setting, which is just a me thing TBH. A lot of the story takes place in Briar's dream world, which is full of whimsical talking animals and changing landscapes and beautiful scenery etc. etc. I do not like that kind of stuff at all, I find it immensely annoying.
Anyway, I DNFed because I wasn't enjoying myself, and I figured it wouldn't get any better.
Cubby Clark is the heart of her band—loyal, earnest, and determined to make music that matters. But just as they’re about to break out, Connor, her on-again, off-again boyfriend walks away . . . and rockets to solo fame with a hit song tearing her down.
Left with a fractured band, a publicly adored and toxic ex, and relentless writer’s block, Cubby is barely holding it together.
The only thing keeping her steady are her friends and bandmates Darcy and Harry. Especially Darcy—bright, magnetic, and more guarded than she lets on. But, when a seemingly romantic photo of Cubby and Harry goes viral the same night Cubby and Darcy hook-up, the inseparable pair begin to fracture.
Thrust into a whirlwind tour, Cubby and Darcy are forced into close quarters. Now Cubby has one summer to decide what she’s willing to risk. Walking away would be easier. But staying might mean everything.
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
I went into this expecting a lighthearted, fluffy romcom, but WOW this turned out so angsty!
The MC is dealing with a LOT in this book, so it makes sense that this isn't a totally chill easy read. She has to deal with interpersonal drama, online hate, and figuring out her sexuality/ compulsory heterosexuality. This is all on top of her (undiagnosed) depression, which makes it all the more hard on her.
I think the author did a good job of developing the MC. She's far from perfect, and even though she makes the wrong choices sometimes it's easy to sympathise with her.
It's pretty obvious which couple is the endgame in the love triangle, but honestly, they all have history together and care about each other so genuinely I wouldn't have minded who the MC ended up with either way!
The depiction of social media felt very realistic; I feel the author did a good job of depicting online misogyny in the way people reacted to the MC, as well as the MC's growing dependence and addiction to social media, despite the hatred she received. I feel like the ending brushed over it too easily, but I'm glad it was resolved, even though it was a little unrealistic for things to wrap up so neatly.
I see so many arguments over what is and isn't "good queer representation" that really just boil down to "y'all are actually arguing over matters of taste and genre preference, which is incredibly subjective and personal."
Worldbuilding where being queer is normalized and queerphobia has no impact on the plot? THAT'S FINE. Worldbuilding that includes queerphobia and tackles the effects of it as part of the story? THAT'S ALSO FINE.
Low-stakes queer romcom where the characters are fluffy and cute? THAT'S COOL. Messy queer drama with toxic people who fuck each other over and clash repeatedly? THAT'S ALSO COOL.
Stories that center the characters' queerness, show a trans character's transition, and are about the queerness as much as the rest of the plot? AWESOME. Stories where the characters' queerness isn't treated as a big deal, and have trans characters whose transition happened before the story entirely? ALSO AWESOME.
You may PREFER one thing or another, but it is actually good to have all these things. It's about variety. It's about queer characters being allowed to exist without censorship. It's about queer artists getting to make things without being told we're a "niche issue" or "adult content." It's about having as many goddamn cakes as the bakery can produce.
At the end of the day, I'd prefer a media landscape with fifty pieces of problematic queer representation over a media landscape with one single piece of queer representation that's trying (and usually failing) to be 100% perfect for everything and everyone.
When Kristina rises from her violent death, she’s not the same fragile woman her family once abandoned. She’s rageful, powerful, and hungry—for the blood of the ones who were supposed to love her. With a newfound craving to see vengeance and grief served, she launches into a once-in-an-undead-lifetime journey across blood-slicked highways to the scorched Australian bush and her hometown. As her body fails and her mind fractures, she’s left with one final question: Is she here to forgive, or to feed?
Review:
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!
This is a pretty quick read at under 100 pages, but it manages to pack so much in!
Although Kristina is a zombie, she's an incredibly human zombie. I liked how her zombie brain rationalised her actions, which would seem violent and gruesome from a regular human standpoint, but makes perfect sense to her.
There are intermittent flashback chapters of various memories from her past. Many of them show the horrible abuse her family inflicted on her, making it clear (and very understandable) why she wants revenge. But we also get to see lots of happier moments of her life, which makes it so much sadder that Kristina lost so much in becoming a zombie.
I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say that her grief was depicted with a lot of complexity and emotional depth, especially for such a short book!
