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fierceandtender

they/them šŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ Centering global, bipoc, queer, disabled reps/authors with thoughtful voices and decolonial themes. Also cozy & playful storytelling šŸµ Free šŸ‡µšŸ‡ø

7062 points

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Level 7
Tiny but Mighty Nonfiction
Pride 2026
My Taste
They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom
The Bruising of Qilwa
Shubeik Lubeik
Sailing the Golden Chersonese
Be Better Broken: In Service to Liberation
Reading...
Assata: An Autobiography
51%
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
27%
Elatsoe
0%
Queer Menafsir: Teologi Islam untuk Ragam Ketubuhan
33%
All Systems Red
75%
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fierceandtender commented...

4h

Congrats on the double digit level-up!! šŸ™ŒšŸ½šŸ„³šŸŽ‰šŸŽ‰

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fierceandtender commented...

22h

Nice!! Congrats on the new badge šŸ„³šŸŽ‰

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fierceandtender commented...

1d

Agreed with no pressure šŸ’š Would mid-November be an ok time to check in for this if things align?

  • A Long and Speaking Silence
    Sep 05, 2026
    A Long and Speaking SilenceNghi Vo
    4.5
    Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.5
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    Lyrical, heart-rending, charming, blunt, and funny, poignant with its topic of displacement. This is a story, like all of the Singing Hills Cycle, about storytelling. It struck me in this one particularly how these books emphasize the importance of who tells the story, in what context, and who the audience is. These themes resonate for me among conversations about problematic authors and the use of AI. The way a story is told, who is telling it, and its audience don’t just matter, they fundamentally dictate what information a story conveys.

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    fierceandtender commented...

    1d

    Aw yay, yes 8th Sept still works for me. I have my ebook ready, will add it to current read and I'll keep an eye for your update cards as well. So excited for your thoughts on this one! The intro scenes might be one of my fave book beginnings, iirc! šŸ’š

    re: unrealistic plot points, I've definitely found a lot of comfort in these for some read, moreso than with others. I think it's a mix of what detail are being lifted off into the imaginal and which details remain grounded. Maybe my mood as a reader plays a role too. When the imaginative, maybe unrealistic scenes lift you up with it though, to me that can feel like such a precious, comforting feeling šŸµšŸ˜Œ

  • Where There's Smoke...: A Small Town Sapphic Romance
    Sep 02, 2026
    Where There's Smoke...: A Small Town Sapphic RomanceAricka Alexander
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.0
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    This was such a cute and lovely story! I had such a fun time! The characters were really charismatic and lovable. The small town setting was everything I was hoping for! I also love that the couple of focus was not the only queer couple! The entire town is made up of queer couples! I love that Black, sapphic, fat characters are loved so deeply! There was also no third act break up and no miscommunication. There was never any situations of betrayal of trust that made it difficult to root for the couple. I love love! I was smiling and giggling. I had an excellent time! I would rate the enjoyment of this story a 5/5! This is very much like a Hallmark romance story, which I love!

    If I had to be more analytical about the story:

    • The characters are very surface level. They easily fall into their assigned roles that were established when they were introduced and there isn’t much character development.
    • There isn’t much plot, in general. About 60% into it, the story plateaus. There’s nothing major the story is really pulling towards. Any plot that there is, is pretty predictable.
    • The writing isn’t clever or poetic. It’s very simple. But with that simplicity, to me personally, it holds so much life in it! I really got swept up in the writing. I didn’t even realize (until now when I’m writing this review) that there’s not really any plot or character development at all, but I still eagerly read through the whole story.
    • This is an instant love type of story, which I usually don’t like because I can’t get myself to believe in the couple. But I think because of the writing, I really didn’t mind. This relationship seems really led by lust rather than love, but I still registered the love between the characters as their leading force. (Edit: There are a lot of intimate/sex scenes. If that’s not your preference in stories, this might not be the one for you.)
    • Like any stories set in small towns, the situations are not very realistic. Everything just works out for the most part, very easily, and without any explanation.

    I love that Black sapphic characters can just love and love easily and be supported by their community. There are no bells and whistles. There are no huge, traumatic, mind blowing events that take place. It’s just simple (and I mean this as a huge compliment).

    6
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    fierceandtender commented...

    1d

    Wow!! Great work on getting Sapphire for this awesome quest šŸ˜āš–ļøšŸ„³šŸŽ‰

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    fierceandtender commented...

    1d

  • Thoughts from 35%

    So many people are writing positive things about this but I must say I am finding it really hard to read all the stereotypes they’ve crammed into Sun Li. An Asian who is a doctor, a monk, and runs an Asian restaurant? Also his speech pattern is normal at times but when he serves customers it becomes racialized? E.g instead of ā€œThe special today is snap peas, it’s very tastyā€ he says ā€œSpecial today is snap peas. Very Tastyā€ Idk I feel it’s a bit odd that not many people are mentioning this?

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    fierceandtender commented...

    2d

  • Illustration Credits šŸ–¼

    Stunning cover design by Olly Costello. _


    "Olly is a non-binary, queer illustrator, prison industrial complex abolitionist, urban food growing enthusiast and community seed saver who is committed to participating in the creative, collective work of building a liberated and flourishing future for all of us.

    Through their artistic and community based practices they explore themes of interconnectedness, spiritual ecology, community resistance, anti-imperialist world building, emergence, accountability, prison industrial complex abolition, transformative justice and belonging. Olly finds direction and purpose in recognizing the power our radical imaginations have in shaping the world we live in and knows that this is one of our most essential tools.

    Olly hopes their work can be a small contributing part of creating our new culture that is grounded in honoring the inherent sacredness of all beings and pushing us beyond violent cultures of imperialism, white supremacy and capitalism toward a culture of accountability, collective flourishing and abundance."

    (information taken from the artist's website)


    You can support Olly Costello through: Website: ollycostello.com Instagram: @olly.costello.art Bluesky: @ollycostello.bsky.social Facebook: Olly Costello Creative Practice _

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    fierceandtender commented...

    2d

    Wonderful! Congrats on the new badge šŸ’ššŸ„³šŸŽ‰

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    fierceandtender commented...

    2d

    Rec'd by @leitmotif

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    fierceandtender is interested in reading...

    2d

    A Gentleman's Gentleman

    A Gentleman's Gentleman

    T.J. Alexander

    From the acclaimed author of Chef's Kiss, a groundbreaking trans Regency romance that's both delightfully witty and refreshingly iconoclastic. The notoriously eccentric Lord Christopher Eden is a ā€œman of unusual makeā€ and even more unusual habits: he prefers to live as far from the prying eyes and ears of the ton as possible, and would rather have the comfortable company of his childhood cook and his aged butler, Plinkton, than the swarm of servants and hangers-on befitting a man of his station. But Christopher's pleasant, if occasionally lonely life is upended when he receives word from his lawyers that, according to his late father’s will, he must find a wife by the end of the Season if he intends to keep his family's fortune and the Eden's End estate. Christopher cannot imagine a worse fate: as he isn't attracted to women, his chances of making a wife happy are slim. Furthermore, if his quest to marry has any hope of succeeding, he must move to London posthaste and acquire some more suitable staff. Enter James Harding, Christopher's new, distractingly handsome—if rigidly traditional—valet. After a rocky start, the two strike up a fragile friendship amid the throes of the London Season . . . a friendship that threatens to shatter under the looming shadow of Christopher’s impending nuptials—and the secrets both men are keeping. With its heady combination of dry wit, slow-burn romance, and a nuanced, complex portrait of trans identity and relationships that’s as relevant now as it was during the Regency era, A Gentleman's Gentleman stands to transform the historical romance genre as we know it.

    1
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    fierceandtender is interested in reading...

    2d

    A Gentleman's Gentleman

    A Gentleman's Gentleman

    T.J. Alexander

    From the acclaimed author of Chef's Kiss, a groundbreaking trans Regency romance that's both delightfully witty and refreshingly iconoclastic. The notoriously eccentric Lord Christopher Eden is a ā€œman of unusual makeā€ and even more unusual habits: he prefers to live as far from the prying eyes and ears of the ton as possible, and would rather have the comfortable company of his childhood cook and his aged butler, Plinkton, than the swarm of servants and hangers-on befitting a man of his station. But Christopher's pleasant, if occasionally lonely life is upended when he receives word from his lawyers that, according to his late father’s will, he must find a wife by the end of the Season if he intends to keep his family's fortune and the Eden's End estate. Christopher cannot imagine a worse fate: as he isn't attracted to women, his chances of making a wife happy are slim. Furthermore, if his quest to marry has any hope of succeeding, he must move to London posthaste and acquire some more suitable staff. Enter James Harding, Christopher's new, distractingly handsome—if rigidly traditional—valet. After a rocky start, the two strike up a fragile friendship amid the throes of the London Season . . . a friendship that threatens to shatter under the looming shadow of Christopher’s impending nuptials—and the secrets both men are keeping. With its heady combination of dry wit, slow-burn romance, and a nuanced, complex portrait of trans identity and relationships that’s as relevant now as it was during the Regency era, A Gentleman's Gentleman stands to transform the historical romance genre as we know it.

    1