June 2022 Reads
This Pride Month I’m only reading queer books! So, as I read I’m going to update this list with the type of representation, date read, & a little review of the book! All summaries are courtesy of Goodreads <3
Our Dining Table 06/01
Eating around other people is a struggle for salaryman Yutaka, despite his talent for cooking. All that changes when he meets Minoru and Tane—two brothers, many years apart in age—who ask him to teach them how to make his delicious food! It’s not long before Yutaka finds himself falling hard for the meals they share together—and falling in love!
★★★★★/★★★★★
A super cute boys love manga! I absolutely adored the relationship the two men formed and really enjoyed the discussions on family in the manga. To top it off: Tane was absolutely adorable and because of my 12 year age gap between my sister & I, it felt so familiar to see how Tane and Minoru interacted. I’ve always wanted a partner who would love my little sister as much as I do and not see her as a pest <3
Catch These Hands! vol. 1 06/01
One day, Takebe, a former delinquent trying to leave that part of her past behind for good, runs into her high-school rival, Soramori. The two fight for the first time in years, and thanks to being desperately out of practice, Takebe loses-leaving her no choice but to accept Soramori’s request to start dating her…?!
★★★★★/★★★★★
Another manga! This girls love was super cute, but I’m not huge on tsundere tropes unless it’s a reallllllyyyyyy slow burn. I was hoping for a bit more before the girls started dating. Still, I like how Takebe sees everything as a competition! Definitely going to purchase volume 2 at the end of the month when it’s out!
The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This vol. 1 06/02
Thirty-two-year-old scriptwriter Sakuma Ellie and twenty-two-year-old rookie voice actress Inuzuka Wako are roommates with a strictly professional relationship. Or at least, that’s what they tell everyone. In fact, they’ve been living as a couple in Ellie’s apartment for the past year, spending delightful, tranquil days together.
★★★★★/★★★★★
HOLY SHIT FOR CUTENESS! This was by far the most adorable manga I’ve read. (Also, I’ve never read this much manga consecutively? Guess finding a bunch of queer mangas was the place to start!) But the girls love was so brilliant and I loved just seeing them take care of each other and support each other throughout the volume. I’m definitely buying volume 2 & 3! Also it’s going on my favorites shelf because (once again): HOLY SHIT!!
Hell Followed With Us 06/03-06/04
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.
★★★★★/★★★★★
HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT!!!! HFWU is definitely competing for favorite book of the year right now! The revenge! The rage! THE FUCKING GRACES?????!
Andrew made every character so wonderful, so beautiful, and so fucking realistic. The messages on transness and the spectrum of identity were so good, but I love that the story wasn’t just about Benji being a trans boy. It was about him being angry. It was about fighting back and unleashing the monster within you.
Creature Cafe Books 1, 4, & 8 06/06
The Creature Cafe Series follows the Barista and who he matchmakes. Each book will have a different monster finding their true love, tons of spicy scenes, and special *ahem* appendages. (Author: Clio Evans)
★★★★★/★★★★★
So, first real dive into erotica… wowza. Plot isn’t great in any of the books but I think erotica really has to be read through a pretty non-critical lens. Books 1, 4, and 8 are all MLM. I’m currently reading the 7th which is WLW. I had the whole day off and all the novellas were pretty fast so I was able to finish three in one sitting. When I started #7 I hit kind of a plateau with how much erotica I could handle in one day and am now putting it on hold for a little.
Puppy Love 06/09
Inukai works at a company where he's exploited and unappreciated, but one day he stops at a pet shop and meets a gentle clerk named Hoshi. Playing with cute dogs and the soothing conversation with Hoshi makes Inukai decide to quit his job and change his life situation so he can have a dog of his own.
A memory comes to Hoshi suddenly, and he blurts out, "I'm the reincarnation of a dog you helped when you were a boy!"
A fluffy love story between a mysterious pet shop clerk and a mistreated corporate drone!
★★★★★/★★★★★
Another really cute BL manga! This manga was a nice light read for a day off/lazy day! The boys are quite adorable and it was just nice to lay down and relax with them. (Wish they got a big dog because I’m anti-small dogs but you take what you can get.)
Little Taste of Need (Creature Cafe #7) 06/07-06/11
The Creature Cafe Series follows the Barista and who he matchmakes. Each book will have a different monster finding their true love, tons of spicy scenes, and special *ahem* appendages. (Author: Clio Evans)
★★★★★/★★★★★
Love seeing wlw/lesbian erotica!! Not my favorite monster… Nagas kinda freak me out, I would have loved to see a shifter or a siren (I’ve always had a thing for sirens…)
This Wonderful Season With You 06/11
Enoki is practically the poster-boy for what a typical nerd looks like: short and slight, complete with big round glasses and social awkwardness. His main hobby is making video games, and he's used to not having many friends at school. Then, he meets Shirataki, a former member of the baseball club and his exact opposite; tall, muscular and sporty. Despite their many differences, the spark of friendship between the two boys begins to grow into something more...
★★★★★/★★★★★
Another cute BL manga! I was kinda shocked to see them have sex in the end since they are so young (which, yes, teens have sex. I just think in literature it should be fade to black.) Besides that: cute concept, I love a little nerd/jock trope especially when the jock is actually a huge doofus.
I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up 06/13
Morimoto, a young professional woman in Japan, wishes her parents would stop trying to get her to marry a man and settle down. In an unexpected move, her friend from high school offers to be her wife in a sham marriage, to make Morimoto’s parents back off. But this “fake” marriage could unearth something very real!
★★★★★/★★★★★
A very cute yuri manga—but it just wasn’t quite my speed. It wasn’t horribly memorable in any aspect & while I enjoyed it, it’s something I could do without having on my shelf.
Fangs vol. 1, 06/30
"What kind of guy is unlucky enough to get bitten... and survive?"
As the sole survivor of a vampire attack, En wakes up to find that his hair has gone white as snow... and, worse, that he's developed a craving of his own for blood.
Fortunately, the vampire health and welfare organization FANGS is there to help with the transition, and the handsome Ichii steps up as his guardian and mentor. Swept up into a confusing and lonely new world where everyone seems to be hankering for a taste of his "virgin" blood, En must navigate the FANGS pairing system, an arrangement that sets up compatible vampires as mutual feeding partners... and partners in all other ways as well. But what happens when En panics and declares that he'll be paired with Ichii? And what does brooding, rough-around-the-edges Ichii make of his spunky, outgoing new charge?
★★★★★/★★★★★
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this manga! However, the amount of emotion it evoked in me easily earned it five stars. The conversations on love & loss are so important and the idea of being able to taste someone long after their death is a concept I don’t think I will ever get over. I’m really excited to see what Billy does next xx
