Historical MM romance between a writer of illicit novels and a fan of his work. Some clunkiness that I hope to attribute to the fact that this was a debut, but a charming cast of characters that I'm eager to learn more about in the next three books of the series.

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Natalie C Parker presents a queer YA horror with Come Out, Come Out. The story is told in altering perspectives and timelines, following friends Fern, Jaq, and Mal. When Fern and Jaq accompanied Mal into the woods five years ago, she died, but they can't remember anything else about what happened. Only that something is different. And that something is trying to kill them too. Full disclosure: I had very low level investment in this book when I tried to read it and waited for the audiobook release to be able to give it a fair chance. I fully read the book via audio, sometimes with immersion. This book also has content that could be harmful to some readers. The horror is surrounding lack of familial support for queer kids, conversion camps, homophobia, and transphobia. Please read with care. Each of the main characters have a different experience with queerness, which was welcome. I identified most with Fern as they worked through dysphoria and finding the pronouns and physical presentation they liked best. This building of queer identity, not just for Fern but for Jaq as well, was important content to include for a YA age demographic. For me, the actual story content was a bit mid as the more important or greater power of this book was in the representation. I would still recommend this book to the target age demographic and older and intend on working through reading Parker's backlist books on my shelves.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Actual rating: 3.5 Kacen Callender expands into YA dark academia with We Are Villains. Readers follow a cast of diverse characters at the prestigious Yates Academy as they come back from winter break. Just before the break, scholarship student Arianna Reynolds was found dead by the lake, marred by the fire started by unknown means. Ari was one of the most recent targets of the decades-old "game" of bullying that is inherited by legacy through the student body. Liam Reeves, illegitimate son of a Wall Street businessman, is the most recent King of Yates. And he doesn't have an alibi for the night of Ari's death. Cue Milo Pace, scholarship student and the unofficial campus private investigator. He will find out what happened to Ari, no matter how many stones he has to upturn. There are many perspectives that this story is told through with the most constant storytellers being Ari, Milo, and Liam. Ari's perspective is written in a way that addresses Milo in second person, reflecting on what happened when she was at Yates. As such, readers get a bit of a fractured timeline with pieces of Ari's experience woven in with Milo, Liam, and the other perspectives. Readers tend to know primarily what Milo knows as he undertakes his investigation. I appreciated the fast pace of the story as there was never really an opportunity to be bored. I also appreciated that queerness was incorporated casually, but was rarely at the forefront of the plot. This is especially true for Milo, who is Black, trans, and ace, but was allowed to simply be himself rather than being reduced to solely representative of those identities. The bigger divide in the novel was socioeconomic, with scholarship kids falling into different social standing compared to legacy kids. Callender was not shy about conveying social and cultural messages within the story, and the messages delivered were very much in your face. That said, I feel like this style of delivery is appropriate for a younger to mid range of YA audience, which seems to be the target demographic. I had some issues with suspending disbelief at the ending and how things wrapped up, but still had a pleasant reading experience overall. I would happily recommend this book to its target audience or to adults hoping for a fast-paced, school-aged drama-filled read.

Suzanne Collins minds her business and releases bangers. This is, in my opinion, the best of the Hunger Games books so far. I will absolutely be buying a copy and I am hoping against all likelihood that it will match the pretty new editions of the rest of the series.

Mary E Pearson is such a solid writer. She's absolutely not breaking genre conventions or anything close, but her writing is always well-executed and enjoyable. Will continue with this series via the library.