julies_contentclub finished a book
Zatanna & the Ripper 1 (Zatanna & the Ripper, #1)
Sarah Dealy
julies_contentclub finished reading and wrote a review...
Emma R. Alban has done it again! Like in Love with You has it all, from humor to intriguing characters and loads of tension that make the chase for the suitors' attention all the more interesting.
This story features so many different kinds of love, the most obvious one being romantic love, but platonic love and familial love are also given so much room to be explored and make you feel the value of each of these connections.
If the words "no third act break-up" don't make you jump to read this book, then "no lavender marriage to keep the relationship secret" might help convince you even more. Instead of a painful misunderstanding turning the main character's relationship sour, you have the most heartfelt interactions of honesty and support. Especially the coming out and the following reactions felt so raw and real, I nearly started crying.
So, no matter if you have already read Emma R. Alban's other books or if this is your first, you can look forward to a story that will bring a breath of fresh air to the concept of sapphic Regency romances and the possibility of happy endings.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager Publishing for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.
julies_contentclub started reading...
Zatanna & the Ripper 1 (Zatanna & the Ripper, #1)
Sarah Dealy
julies_contentclub finished reading and wrote a review...
Wholesome, funny, and a pretty art style.
These are the first words that immediately popped into my brain after finishing volume one of this cute little story.
This is the perfect fast read for everyone who needs a little wholesome queer joy in their life. While dialogues sometimes lack nuance and the story is mostly focused on the main characters' relationships instead of shining some light at the goings-on in the kingdom, I enjoyed this read quite a lot and would definitely come back to see how Sapphia and August's story progresses. Especially because of all the newly introduced characters we don't get a lot of time with yet.
The layout is also pretty well done, which is sometimes a huge difficulty when adapting a Webtoon, and supports a fast reading flow. So, if you are looking for a story to make you smile and spend a couple hours with, why not choose High-Class Homos?
Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.
julies_contentclub wants to read...
Copper Script
K.J. Charles
julies_contentclub finished a book
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 2
C.R.C. Payne
julies_contentclub started reading...
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 2
C.R.C. Payne
julies_contentclub started reading...
Like in Love with You
Emma R. Alban
julies_contentclub finished reading and wrote a review...
I have been excited for You'll Never Forget Me for such a long time and really pushed my hopes up, which may have been the reason this book didn't hit quite as hard as I hoped it would. It feels like a sapphic version of NBC's Hannigram in Hollywood, if Hannibal lacked his talent for manipulation and Will's interpersonal relationships didn't follow a clear logic.
This story definitely had its strengths, and the showdowns between Saffi and Dimple were really intriguing and kept me invested. The vibey Hollywood aesthetic that is present throughout the entire story was also one of its strong suits. However, the actual crimes being committed always ran incredibly smoothly, which made them feel a bit too easy.
Sadly, where I was really lost was at the ending. I was very excited to see how this story would be wrapped up , but really, it just made me drop my star rating down one star. What could have culminated in a final showdown of two minds that have been pitted against each other to reach their goal of mutual destruction did end with some death, but definitely not the ones whom I would have logically expected.
If you want a book with a toxic sapphic relationship, don't mind unclear motives, and instead want to experience the wild and occasionally dark Hollywood vibes, then this might be the book for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.
julies_contentclub wrote a review...
Interactions? Wholesome Jokes? Delivered My depression? Healed Hotel? Trivago
This Webtoon made me so incredibly happy, and the more serious topics were incredibly well-handled. I am so obsessed. While it is questionable if some of these interactions fit into the actual DC canon, the Wayne family adventures and especially the comments help get a good impression of how the Bat Fam works and where to place other characters in relation to specific characters.
Definitely worth a read, no matter if you are only starting out getting into DC comics or just need a dose of serotonin in a pretty art style.
julies_contentclub finished a book
Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 1
C.R.C. Payne
Post from the You'll Never Forget Me: A Novel forum
Seems like Saffi is not just running away from her problems but also character development, because damn. What is she even doing rn?
julies_contentclub started reading...
You'll Never Forget Me: A Novel
Isha Raya
julies_contentclub finished a book
Thirteen Storeys
Jonathan Sims
julies_contentclub finished reading and wrote a review...
The kind of horror found in Chuck Tingle's „Lucky Day“ is definitely not for everyone. Luckily for me, I hit the jackpot, and the existential dread I found in this novel is exactly my vibe. If you love horror based on real-life philosophical concepts, it might be yours too.
This story is absurd, crazy, and absolutely everything out of the ordinary, but what makes it so special is that every single aspect clicks into place to show the insane domino effect that made the story spiral into what it is: a story of hope. Against all odds, it's still a story of hope that proves that in our existence, meaning can always be found.
Yes, at times it definitely is a bit much. And it absolutely should be noted that it's pretty gory. And a bit disgusting sometimes. And it's definitely very over the top. But somehow it works. This can also be partly attributed to Mara Wilson. The voice actor did an incredible job with bringing the characters to life while giving every character a distinct voice to make conversations easy to follow.
So buckle up, this is a wild ride where you just can't help but get swept up in unlikely odds, existential questions, and the occasional disaster. But hey, at least we get provided with a nice playlist.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.
julies_contentclub wrote a review...
Usually when you start a book called "Queer Villains of Myth and Legend", you expect queer villains of myth and legend. And while sure, you could argue if some of these villains are actually villains or not (Crowley from Good Omens? HELLO?). What can‘t be argued about is that most of the characters included in this book weren’t really from myth and legend but instead various pop culture characters.
I wouldn't even have particularly minded that if the analysis didn't also lack depth. It works if you want a little pop culture overview, but it's really mostly that: an overview. Another problem was that I wasn't sure whether some labels were really accurate (e.g., a character's tagline says lesbian, but the text then refers to them as bi, etc.), which added another level of skepticism about the analysis' accuracies on my part.
Also the amount of times this book features the phrase "eye watering" should be studied. I thought I was going insane when I read it the fourth time.
julies_contentclub commented on a post
julies_contentclub wants to read...
Like in Love with You
Emma R. Alban
julies_contentclub finished a book
Queer Villains of Myth and Legend: A Revelry of Queer Rogues and Outlaws through the Ages
Dan Jones
julies_contentclub finished reading and wrote a review...
So, The Baby Dragon Café. I don't even know where to start. Finishing this book was a battle in and of itself. I was constantly fighting the urge to DNF (the "I am sorry, but my feminism only goes so far" line nearly was my breaking point) and only finished it for my book club.
The writing style not only completely lacks all subtlety and nuance but also loves overexplaining every little thing. This proved to be a massive problem when trying to develop the relationship between the two main characters, which ended up feeling more like a list of everything they found hot about each other without really examining the romantic feelings that were supposedly there. At times it seemed like the author forgot that you can start sentences with anything other than a pronoun or a name, which caused the sentences to be very abrupt and stopped it from feeling like a well-connected scene.
The book is heavily trope-ified and seems to use plot lines and wordings just so they could fit the BookTok trope hype (one bed trope, Aiden being referred to multiple times as grumpy when he is just introverted, fake dating being thrown in out of nowhere, etc.). However, it should also be credited that this book at least tries to address classism and dealing with grief, but it is never even challenged by the main characters or discussed in detail.
If you are looking for a very BookTok-ish book with baby dragons and can ignore writing issues and entrepreneurial disasters (like using wood furniture in a place where there are fire-spitting animals and then being unhappy about the amount of money needed to do repairs), then sure, this could be for you.
P.S.: I don't know who needs to hear this, but please don't pet real-life bees. That's an easy way to get stung.