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cloudreads

28 | she/they | naarm/melbourne based portuguese phd candidate escaping into books 📚🐉🗡️🏳️‍🌈🪐

2538 points

0% overlap
Dark Academia
Sapphic Across Genres
Level 5
My Taste
In the Dream House: A Memoir
The Song of Achilles
Us Against You
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Piranesi
Reading...
The Bee Sting
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cloudreads commented...

3h

I completely forgot that reading Nettle & Bone would push me to silver on three quests looooool what a day

  • Written in the Stars
    Sep 10, 2026
    Written in the StarsAlexandria Bellefleur
    2.0
    Enjoyment: 2.0Quality: 2.0Characters: 2.0Plot: 2.0Audiobook: 3.5
    🌃
    💫
    📱

    I really wanted to enjoy this book for the cutesy hallmark romance that it tries to be, but I fear it missed the mark for me. The writing was very YA at times, but also extremely millenial. Like, defining characters by their Hogwarts houses millenial. I also found myself repeatedly rolling my eyes at the dialogue, which included pearls such as “We are literally made of stardust”. Yes, really. The premise was cute and the audiobook narrator did a good job, but I frankly could not wait to reach the end of this one… The astrology sapphics deserve better 😔

    0
  • avatar

    cloudreads finished a book

    1d

    Written in the Stars

    Written in the Stars

    Alexandria Bellefleur

    With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict! After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass. Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy... a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle's new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because... awkward. When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?

    0
  • We Could Be Rats
    Aug 30, 2026
    We Could Be RatsEmily R. Austin
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0Audiobook: 4.0
    🐀
    📝
    📱
    0
  • avatar

    cloudreads commented...

    2w

    It got to a point where every time I’d pick it up to read a few more chapters I’d start crying within like two pages… every time 🥲

  • A Language of Limbs
    Aug 22, 2026
    A Language of LimbsDylin Hardcastle
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🏳️‍🌈
    ❤️‍🩹
    🫂

    This book wrecked me on every level. But…

    God, it was worth it

    3
  • avatar

    cloudreads commented...

    2w

    Hope you have the best of times 🙂‍↕️

  • Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert
    Aug 26, 2026
    Harriet Tubman: Live in ConcertBob the Drag Queen
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5Audiobook: 4.5
    🎙️
    ⛓️‍💥
    🕰️

    As a fan of Bob The Drag Queen, I struggle to give this an objective review. While the writing sometimes reminded me this is a debut novel, having Bob narrate the audiobook made it very easy for me to skate past any issues and go along for the ride. The author’s passion for the story really shone through, and I found this to be an entirely charming read. Were there unanswered questions? Yes. Did I care? Not particularly. Highly recommend the audiobook for the full musical experience 🙂‍↕️

    2
  • avatar

    cloudreads TBR'd a book

    2w

    Taiwan Travelogue

    Taiwan Travelogue

    Yång Shuāng-zǐ

    A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear. Soon a Taiwanese woman―who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name―is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is. Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

    0
  • The Night Eaters, Vol. 1: She Eats the Night
    Aug 26, 2026
    The Night Eaters, Vol. 1: She Eats the NightMarjorie M. Liu
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🍙
    🏚️
    🐙

    This was unhinged from start to finish, but also surprisingly funny? Overall a great blend of horror, comedy, and family drama. It also had a gorgeous art style and really creative premise and execution. My main critique is that I wish we’d had a bit more time to dig deeper into the themes and characters rather than rush through some of the plot, but that is an issue I often have with short graphic novels. Definitely recommend as a quick spooky read!

    0
  • Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert
    Aug 26, 2026
    Harriet Tubman: Live in ConcertBob the Drag Queen
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5Audiobook: 4.5
    🎙️
    ⛓️‍💥
    🕰️

    As a fan of Bob The Drag Queen, I struggle to give this an objective review. While the writing sometimes reminded me this is a debut novel, having Bob narrate the audiobook made it very easy for me to skate past any issues and go along for the ride. The author’s passion for the story really shone through, and I found this to be an entirely charming read. Were there unanswered questions? Yes. Did I care? Not particularly. Highly recommend the audiobook for the full musical experience 🙂‍↕️

    2
  • The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel (Raven Cycle Graphic Novels, #1)
    Aug 26, 2026
    The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel (Raven Cycle Graphic Novels, #1)Stephanie Williams
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5
    🐦‍⬛
    🔮
    📖

    I went into this graphic novel completely blind, never having read the original books, and I had a good time with it! I did feel like I probably would have gotten more out of it with some prior knowledge of the characters and plot, but I let myself wade through the deep end. I also really enjoyed the art style, which immediately points to a well-executed graphic novel for me 😌

    0
  • A Language of Limbs
    Aug 22, 2026
    A Language of LimbsDylin Hardcastle
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🏳️‍🌈
    ❤️‍🩹
    🫂

    This book wrecked me on every level. But…

    God, it was worth it

    3