#k ancrum

[cat-crowned-8]

book recs but its super specific

category: books with romances where they want to crawl into each other's skin

disclaimer: there will be quotes to showcase the writing/relationships and their insanity

hazelthorn by cg drews

literally just finished this, inspired this list. botanical horror with a little enemies to lovers (kinda)

quotes:

"God was stronger than me when he made Adam and didn’t fall in love with him.”

“He would core him like a pear and throw away the soft, rotted skin until he saw him as he really is: horrible and beautiful and real.”

“He is Icarus with wings of swan feathers, who chose to fly into the sun because it looked like a pretty boy.”

“There is nothing else to me but the hollow spaces I've carved out for you. I knew I'd cut myself to pieces on you if we ever had the chance to touch, but I wanted to. Let me ruin myself on you.”

icarus by k ancrum

absolutely love this one, about a teenager secretly visiting his neighbor and art thievery, not as intense as some of the others

quotes:

“I was yours before we even met and I’ll be yours until we die.”

“I was made for you; I was born for you, and you’re still standing before me acting like you’re not worthy.”

“Meeting him feels like learning about a part of myself that I haven’t been allowed to understand until now.”

“He wondered at the picture they made. Icarus dark and small, in the water, head tilted back in devout wonder. Helios, red like the sun, gold in the light, standing above him.”

these violent delights by Micah nemerever

oh my God. THE queer dark academia novel. super unhealthy and toxic but so good

quotes:

“He couldn’t stand to look at the truth, even now. All they were—all they had ever been—was a pair of sunflowers who each believed the other was the sun.”

“He remembered the way love had burned through him like a flame under glass, grasping outward, devouring what air it had left before it choked.”

“They wanted each other in the way of flesh wanting to knit itself together over a wound.”

a series of rooms by aj barlowe

not as intense, rlly sad and check tw

quote:

“For weeks, they had been climbing higher and higher, every accidental brush of skin, every smile, every laugh, every secret bolstering the wind beneath their wax wings until they had flown too close to the sun. The view from the ground was unforgiving.”

don't let the forest in by cg drews

body horror with oblivious artist and pining writer, best friends to lovers

quotes:

“You could cut me open and devour everything that I am. I would let you, I'd ask you to. But I have no idea what it means to you. What I mean to you.”

"They'd be forever together, rib against rib, fused in gore and bone and adoration.”

“He needed Thomas, needed their lungs sewn inside each other so he could remember how to breathe. He needed to take words from Thomas's mouth and put them in his own so he had something to say.”

[neptunecigs]

Maybe some parents are better suited to parenting children instead of teenagers, Icarus thought. Maybe all they know eventually just runs out.

just read Icarus by K. Ancrum and loved it!!

where the hell is the fandom :( (went on ao3 and there were 2 works and one isn't even finished guys cmon)

[andrewminyardslawyer]

Y'all if you liked Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo I'm begging you to read The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K Ancrum, and vice versa

I've been looking for something that hits the same way as Summer Sons for 5 years now and Hollis Brown 100% meets the criteria

[iftrashcouldsparkle]

"Do you like our house? Is there a garden for your roses? Do you want to paint my fences white?" (ver. with and without the text)

I'm late to the party, but I read The Corruption of Hollis Brown by @kaylapocalypse in 24 hours, and I'm still thinking about it. I had to draw something to get it out of my system, and this was my favorite quote.

[saaraofthesand]

big fan

[corruptionofjulia]

“Immediately Hollis used his new freedom for retribution.”

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Favorite Intersex Characters

Semifinals

Cal Stephanides (Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides) VS Helios Black (Icarus by K. Ancrum) VS Regan Lewis (Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire)

Cal Stephanides

Helios Black

Regan Lewis

Show results

Voting ended onOct 14, 2025

Propaganda under the readmore

Helios Black :

"Canonically intersex and written by an intersex author. Teenage boy trapped and abused in his father's house, makes friends with the teenage boy who sneaks in to replace expensive art pieces with forgeries, and then they fall in love."

[jyae23]

Looking at the past books in Dazzling Bookish Shop (because I like pain and I'm nosy and I wanna see what else they had before I read books) and I saw they did one for The Corruption of Hollis Brown... NOOOOOOOOO I MISSED IT WAHHHHHHH IF ONLY I WAS THERE IF ONLYYYY IF ONLYYYYYYY WAHHHHHHH AHHHHHHH ITS SO BEAUTIFUL TOO WHAT THE FUCK DAMN IT UGHHHHH WHYYYYYYY WHYYYYYYYYYYY

LOOK AT IT LOOK AT IT HOLLIS WALT YULIA AND ANNIE AUGGHHHHHH AND DON'T GET ME FUCKING STARTED WITH THE EDGES THE FUCKING MIRROR THE FUCK THE FUCKING PHOTOGRAPH IM GONNA BE SO SICK AHHHHHHHHHHH