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bookduck14 · 10 months

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HEARTSTOPPER SEASON 2!!!

I need to rant so here is one about each main character.

Issac: I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alice portrayed being aroace so well and I almost cried when he met the aroace art guy. AND THE WHOLE ROMANCE SUFFOCATING THING WHEN YOU KNOW YOU AREN'T GETTING THAT!!!!!! Also seeing more of his character and really fell in love with it It made my aroace heart so happy (I could go on lol)

Nick: I really related to him this season with his coming out struggles and wanting to come out but also not. Alice yet again exceeded expectations and perfectly showed how the queer teenage experience is! I love how much he helped charlie this season and his amazing development from season 1. He was just amazing in every way.

Charlie: His story was a lot this season in the best way. His story with his mental health really spoke to me and I related to it. This was exactly how is feels to struggle with your mental health. I loved seeing him get more comfortable, realize what he deserves and Im happy that he told ben and harry to fuck off. also I love how he was there for tao and nick and how he supported nick so much in his coming out and made sure not to pressure him and he truly won the best boyfriend award for that. Also the way he made sure to help tao and be his best friend their friendship rocked this season. Another amazing character

Ben: I fucking hate him and what he did to imogen and charlie he deserves to go die in a hole.

Imogen: I loved her so much this season!!!!!!!! I have to admit that I was a bit iffy about her in season 1 but she stood up for herself, made real friends and she was just amazing this whole season I also really love her dynamic with everyone.

Naomi and Felix: They both really helped elle find out who she was and what she wanted to pursue and I'd like to see them join the paris squad in the future!

Elle: Her character developed so much this season, you could see how much more confident she was getting and I loved seeing her pursue her interests and truly find herself and get together with tao! They are so good for each other and I think they will really come through for each other in the future and will be each other's rocks through it all.

Tao: My guy really likes elle and treats her like a queen. She is his everything and its so cute, He tried too hard at first but when he was himself he was at this best. I also loved him and charlie this season they are the best best friends and the lock thing was so cute.

Tara: She cares so much, She takes care of every single one of her friends and supported darcy in every way she could. Their relationship really took off this season, I liked seeing their ups and downs and them persevering through it all!

Darcy: Alice definitely used her character to portray the dark side of being a queer teen. I liked seeing her being shown as having two different sides and her not wanting to talk about her home struggles and presenting as this happy person. I really relate to that. She was great and I hope she gets the support she needs soon!

Sarhar: I'm sensing something between her and Imogen and I really like it! She was a great character!

Christian, Otis and Sai: I liked seeing nick with his supportive rugby guys and they were great!

David: He sucked so much of course. He is a homophobic piece of shit and he can fuck off.

Tori: She was great and really stood up for her brother and I loved all her scenes with at the Nelson-Spring dinner! she was iconic as always

Nellie: I LOVE NELLIE SO MUCH

Sarah (Nicks mom): SHE IS SO AMAZING AND ALWAYS SUPPORTS NICK!

Nicks Dad: He can go die in a fucking hole.

Also lets talk about the soundtrack? IT WAS SO GOOD! Mxtoons Mona Lisa, FALL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL BY CAVETOWN the colors of you throwback, CRUSH CULTURE AND PEOPLE WATCHING!! THE PROM SONG!!! It was all so good upgeicydgsilew8ugg623yuiqp18j

Alice oseman did an amazing job this season and it couldnt have been better!!!!!!! I loved how she included all the iconic scenes from the book too :) They are the best author/ screenwriter and she is jist the best!

I loved this season so much and I will rewatch it frequently! 10/10!!!!!!!!

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person4924 · 1 year

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new about me

my name is sam !! thats basically all u need to know but theres (a lot) more under the cut!!

im a lesbian (???) and ace

they/she (this is my pronouns page)

im probably genderfluid so u can really use any idc

i’m neurodivergent of some sort (i don’t even know anymore)

a minor (don’t be weird)

my personality type is INFP-T

my theme will change like weekly prob bc i wanna change it with every new huperfxation i have!!

things i like (the things bolder r what i talk about the most)

harry potter (fuck jkr)

marvel

the marauders

boy meets world

osemanverse

paper girls

teen wolf

owl house

shameless

glee

stranger things

friends

andi mack

the last of us (i’ve only watched the show tho, but i know most of what happens in the games)

riordanverse

musicals

poetry

reading

cats

animals

fictional characters

music

movies

tv shows

art

writing

women

sitcoms

brooklyn nine nine

new girl

hamilton

grishaverse

stand up comedians

ocean animals (specifically sharks)

community

moths (and just kinda winged bugs in general)

greek mythology

dawsons creek

bojack horseman

halloween

the sky (like stars, the moon, the sunset, etc)

jelly fish

criminal minds

animals

ted lasso

scooby doo (the older movies from the 2000’s ish specifically but all of it too)

everything sucks!

the sun bearer trials

atypical

octonauts

spencer reid

bo burnham

dead boy detectives

will and grace

my fav movies are tick tick boom, my girl, dead poets society, breakfast club, the outsiders, hamilton, stand by me, cmbyn, lady bird, beautiful boy, luca, nimona, (500) days of summer etc.

musicals i like are hamilton, tick tick boom and the greatest showman

my fav taylor albums are folklore, evermore, reputation, 1989 and speak now but i love all of them really (please please ask me abt them omg)

my current hyper fixation is the marauders (more of a life-long obsession atp) and criminal minds and dead boy detectives and shameless. my soul is being torn apart.

i’m currently reading the extraordinaries

my fav music people (i’m really just giving a short list of many): conan gray, cavetown, current joys, queen, rainbow kitten surprise, the front bottoms, harry styles, noah kahan, taylor swift, phoebe bridgers, the fray, coldplay, olivia rodrigo, billie eilish, boygenius, gracie abrams, sufjan stevens, maya hawke, the smiths, lucy dacus, julien baker, the smiths, sleeping at last, mitski

i mostly post about whatever hyperfixation and/or character/person has overtaken my brain, music and analysis things

i appreciate tone tags and i try to use them as much as possible

i’m always looking to talk to more people and i’m always bored (don’t be weird istg)

my fav books are any alice oseman book, the outsiders, the perks of being a wallflower, i fell in love with hope

child of athena (i think) and a ravenclaw

biggest pandalily shipper you’ll find

i love love love making character analysis’ or song or movie or tv show or books or ships or whatever

i also write sometimes!! (i suck ass)

and i’m person4924 on ao3 but i can’t figure out how to link it

this is my spotify (my character playlists are my pride and joy and reason for living. i also have the best music taste you will ever encounter.)

this is my discord

this is my airbuds idk if anyone actually uses it but i thought it’d be fun to share music with mooties

please please please send me asks i have no hobbies or friends and im always bored please please please (im on my hands and knees begging please please please)

i have a tagging system!! idk how much ill remember to use it but yeah!! (its also new so only my new posts will have them) #sam shut the fuck up -> rants/yapping #asks!!! -> asks #polls!!! -> polls #crazy? i was crazy once... -> headcanons for characters/analyis things

#about me

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heartslobbf · 10 months

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i watched heartstopper s2 because i was an avid osemanverse enjoyer in my early teen years (back when alice oseman still had anons on rip) and owe some of my aspec self-discovery to their writing. i knew they had written an aroace storyline into this series and wanted to see it because whilst i knew as an aroallo lesbian i wouldn’t totally resonate and might be a bit cheesed off by aspects of it, i enjoy aromantic crumbs, and i enjoy discussing aspec Stuff even more. it was……. an interesting experience? has certainly given me a lot to think about. gushy rant below the cut :)

i will say, i think that the amatonormativity is still strong, and rigid in this show. it’s like, isaac is the exception to the rule and his true love is books, and he gets to yell at his friends for all being so damn couple-y and romance-obsessed but there’s no resolution to that. is that realistic? yeah, sure, allo friends can fucking suck, but heartstopper is the kind of show aiming to do certain things for queer kids where id expect a dialogue about this. you know, charlie & co coming to understand aspec identities and becoming more conscious of how amatonormativity affects them, interrogating it in such a way that these queer couples can also be liberated from its trappings. juicy shit like that. didnt happen tho. isaac gets a book about asexuality (no mention of aromanticism on its cover!!! the word is used by the artist who vaguely explains both terms to isaac, but there is a much greater focus on asexuality, so much so that this morning i saw pink fucking news celebrating isaac’s asexual storyline without a mention of his aromanticism) and that’s it.

a lot of that criticism is arguably coloured by my experience as an aroallo person, because i just want aromanticism to be engaged with as aromanticism. you know aroaces we are besties in arms solidarity and all that, and im so fucking happy you got some great asexual rep that frequently used the word asexual, as well as your flag and iconography. like fuck yeah!!!!!! let’s go!!!!!! however, aromanticism is not a subset of asexuality, is not an ‘extreme form’ of asexuality, does not necessarily have anything to do with asexuality. im sure the aspec folks know this, but allo fuckers dont and that means that this canonically aromantic character who was emotionally affecting to me is one that im gonna be barred from resonating with again and again.

you know, moments of isaac’s story were so profound and moving for me. i cried at the kiss scene in episode 5, it was probably the single most relatable moment of tv (related to my experiences with sexuality) that ive ever seen. its certainly not my favourite tv moment of all time lol, relatability ≠ quality, but when youre part of a marginalised group and experience a lot of loneliness and alienation surrounding your identity it is great to see it reflected. i honestly loved that shit!!!!! ive been there!!!! that’s me!!!!!! the wanting and the not wanting!!! the jealousy and confusion and alienation, the longing to be able to feel what you can’t just so you don’t have to be so lonely, the knowledge that you’re just not that person…… oh it was great. it was fucking great. so you can maybe appreciate how upsetting it is for other people to neglect the aromantic facets of this canonically aromantic character, when we dont get shit.

having said that, asexuals also dont get shit; my issue is absolutely not with isaac being aroace, but rather with how mainstream understanding of aspec identities is still so piss poor that people neglect the aromantic aspect of that identity. i found isaac to be a relatable character and i enjoyed and appreciated that about him; i wish more people would talk about him being both asexual and aromantic, because aromanticism does not get talked about enough as anything other than an ‘extension’ of asexuality, an idea which only diminishes the complexity and vastness of both (fucking awesome and beautiful) identities. love and light and solidarity forever with all other aspec folk <3

#im not tagging this as anythjng lol this was just for me hence the cut #i am once again riddled with osemanverse opinions #shut up daisy

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tomyo · 6 months

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Hbomberguy has unfortunately taught me that if I find myself really not gelling with someone it's probably because they're a shitty person.

Like I'm no Cassandra but all this time I remember I would just watch his videos and think "hmmm yeah, I can place my finger on it but I don't like the way he talks about these things." And then I ignored it because I thought I was just going out of my comfort zone.

I can't remember everything I beefed on him with but I definitely hated when he started to take on anime or Asian media. Overall I just think a lot of times westerners tend to assume their values and ways issues are dealt with are universal and he was just another lukewarm dive into the medium. Like its personal to me but I still stand by that Yuri on Ice isn't gay in the sense it isn't made for gay people, it's voyeuristic and pairing stories of incestuous feelings within it's short run time was a horrible choice they could have skipped. It comes to mind because I think he brought it up in one of his recent videos (I've been bedridden all week so my watch later queque has been playing on in the bg between lucidity) and it ticked me off. I hate the way he was dismissive of Heart Stopper for being twee and the whole rant about how it's not just him but other gay men too who think this! Honestly! For real guys! And for minutes I was just there like Alice Oseman is aroace! When he finally gets there it became infuriating how he diminished it's importance. Authors are allowed to let their experience effect their writing! She's not responsible to cater to you. The beauty of Heartstopper is it's release has lived through a rapid change in lgbtq acceptance and is the perfect opportunity to show that romantic and sexual inclination also exist on a sliding scale because that's something we are now widely teaching!! To write modern teen characters, you have to empathize with modern teens. They're not you!! Which is mostly good given the history of our community. It's good to get to see queer teen boys take it maybe infuriatingly slow because they don't have to be pressured for more.

James to me was always just a bit pessimistic and not really good at empathizing which given how much he stole makes sense why what he said and how he acted just felt off. It makes sense when everyone else in "breadtube" started promoting each other's works how it never seemed to happen with him. I don't remember him saying he was the only person really doing this but that's fucking bizarre to hear when the list of people who does what he pretended to was endless. Before I even watched the whole video I already brought up Matt Baume who like Hbomberguy said feels the exact opposite to James. Matt talks forward about progress, genuinely made me realize how we were always here, and the path lead forward to us getting there. Maybe it's not great to admit but there's YouTubers I watch that I know I have to psych myself up to watch, sometimes I don't like their running joke, sometimes they talk too fast multitasking, sometimes they have a habit that gets to me and I just need mental prep. James was like, "sigh here we go" that you'd feel before you were about to talk with that one friend who makes every convo abrasive and combative, I'm coming out a little annoyed and tired by the end of it. With Matt I remember it being a case of getting ready to sit down to hear a part of obscure history knowledge from that one friend who reads a book every two days. Possibly the biggest difference between the two is how much you believe Matt is committed to the material he's making because 1. It also focuses on sitcoms and old Hollywood queerness hence an well carved niche 2. It isn't as easy to churn out material. I've heard a million videos on owl house's queerness or Sherlock queer baiting but fuck all did I ever know how Tab Hunter was. There were so many "weird little funny guy" actors that I could make assumptions were gay but Matt actually gave me their stories and has made my heart cry for how hard they had it even thought I always could have figured that. And maybe that's what sucked, James as a queer man just never seemed to emotionally resonate.

Fuck, man I'm just rambling with all of this but the sheer validation of feeling off all these years paying of is wonderful. I don't really want to celebrate his downfall to much, not worth the energy, and I don't want to put another YouTuber on a pedestal because we have a bad habit of doing that only to have things turn out wrong. The thing is I watched illuminauti and Internet historian too but in the same way where I knew I was getting junk food. I wasn't looking for anything fancy and their sections did not surprise me and if anything maybe just make me feel embarrassed how comfortable I am eating badly made media. But god maybe worse is how happy I am to have someone tell me that it's alright that I don't like one gay dudes well produced videos.

#james somerton #tomyo says shit

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inmyarmswrappedin · 10 months

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Some thoughts on Heartstopper s2:

Overall, I liked Tara and Darcy's arc, but I wish it had been set up better. I got the impression in s1 that Tara and Darcy have been dating forever, maybe even since they were like 13-14, and I just can't believe that the ilu issue hadn't come up yet. Particularly on a show like this when even platonic friends will say ilu to each other all the time. I think a better way to set up the sl would've been:

show Tara saying ilu to Darcy without expecting reciprocation, portrayed like it's something she does all the time.

show Tara longingly watching Nick and Charlie saying ilu to each other.

have Tara say ilu to Darcy now with the hope/expectation that Darcy will say it back.

everything else takes place exactly as it did on the show.

Similarly, I loved Tao and Elle's arc. I was really looking forward to their getting together after s1, and throughout the season I was 😍😍😍😍. I just didn't connect with Elle's mood after the movie date. I guess I myself would've been disappointed, but not to that extent, and so that part didn't work for me.

While I'm glad that Imogen will be wlw (more in a sec), a part of me wishes she hadn't been just to compare the way people reacted to her character in s1 vs s2. Because really, Imogen acted exactly the same in both seasons (it was the way the dude treated her that changed), but I can't imagine people would have the same reactions towards her with Nick vs towards her with Ben.

I do hope Imogen will be a lesbian, mostly because of the lesbian lighting. That being said, I wish it was Sahar who got the self-discovery arc. In the end though, I want a wlw to get the Heartstopper self-discovery arc, and I look forward to whatever happens with Imogen (and Sahar!).

I was also looking forward to Isaac's arc and it didn't disappoint. I think Isaac is the first explicitly ace character (maybe also aro?) with a self-discovery arc I've watched, and I was really interested in how it was going to be portrayed. I love Isaac's actor's smile, I think he's so cute.

Olivia Colman put her whole pussy into that family dinner scene, whew! Nick's mom's role wasn't that large, but she stole the show with her facial expressions and her whole "I just don't know wtf is wrong with this man!" attitude.

I feel sorry for Ben despite his whole evil Mark Owen thing, but I also like that Alice Oseman chose not to redeem him. I am mighty tired of bullies and abusers getting half baked redemption arcs (hi Druck s7 and s8), and it's plausible for Ben to just not be there yet. I think Heartstopper as a comic and show has people being lovely more often than not. So I think it's a brave choice not to redeem Ben, and let us give him a happier ending in our mind if we so wish.

And on that note I really appreciate that Heartstopper allows its characters to call out bullies, abusers, bad parents, and tells its audiences they don't have to forgive bad treatment if they don't want to. For a show that's been so criticized for being wholesome (i.e. sexless) and, for that reason, not ~challenging~ enough, I think allowing its characters not to forgive is actually a subtly subversive choice. I think just about any other teen show would've made Charlie allow his former bullies into the party because the ringleader had been a bit nicer in the Eiffel Tower. Imo it's details like that that show an actually queer person is behind the show, compared to the shows produced, written or directed by straight people.

#heartstopper #heartstopper spoilers

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gayspock · 2 years

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i will say tho its weird sometimes when ppl talk abt idk... like, heartstopper, yah... & its not for me it is notttt i dont wanna watch it stop telling me its not 4 me.

BUT on tumblr - amongst this crowd -ive seen one or two ppl like "WEEEEEE dont need this" like ehh man cmon. i think a lot of younger kids do and i think its like... so counterproductive to try and push for, like, exactly "one type of show" for "THEcommunity" like. like say oh we dont need happy gay teen shows we need more for this, more of this- yadda, yadda like?

you know its not mutually exclusive, yah. like it isnt an actual factual "finite resource" - perhaps an imposed limitation that can be challenged, but even then in the most abstract of terms... like alice oseman's heartstopper isnt the reason the content u want doesnt exist, not really

. & thats not absolving criticism of, like, other actual aspects of this content vis a vis diversity- im not talking abt that, bc yah fair enough when ppl vent their frustrations abt the more genuinely sanitised aspects like how white some of these shows are, etc. but like... wrt just disliking it bc its a "happy teen show and i dont want that im an adult" like idk what the point of getting grumpy at a younger audience watching sth for them will do in the long run & it feels like a very weird misdirected vitriol for 0 reason...

bc yah its not for me either its cooool & irritating when ppl push it onto you but . just getting mad unprompted. its like idk... especially in 2022 its like. absolutely an important aspect of the whole: its time to move past the whole "there's an lgbt person in this!!" as a category of media pleaseeeee bc its kinda weird the way that categorisation starts to cannibalise itself when its like help... that isnt the enemy here i dont think<3

#Egg.txt #also this wasnt @author's post ofc it just reminded me of others ive seen like it ^_^#bc its like i gettt the frustration bc im a littl e frustrated too when ppl insist i watch certain media just bc its gay etc etc but then #some people so counter intuitively get this idea that like??? the hell??? thats the thing thats an attack on the rest of the media #like naur its not babe dont worry about it...#idk ive just seen some ppl so MAD abt it and its like-#idk i dont want to be like ''ohhh ppl flip on a dimeee''' bc that isnt what happens at all & i hate that sentiment bc it never makes sense #blah blah blah- BUT what i mean is and i say this carefully is like #ive seen a lot of ppl say so much of gay media is sanitised and full of happy endings & is unrealistic #and so many other ppl say that its all cold and depressing and bury your gays #& i think both of those things exist at the same time absolutely and paradoxically #and theyre both valid frustrations but its also like the odd . staunch opposition to the other ''type'' of show when #its honestly otherwise kinda harmless when its like i dontknow i think frankly its like..#kinda odd . kinda weird

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music-catalogue · 2 years

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Heartstopper: A Mixtape

I first saw the 'Heartstopper' trailer in April of this year. At the time, I was not too impressed and thought it looked like another garbage teen Netflix show (which honestly, I'd probably still love anyway). I didn't think much of the show's existence again until a group of friends insisted that I absolutely had to watch it. And so, due to the sheer pressures of my peers (and of course the fact that I was now interested in watching the show, after hearing such rave reviews), I decided to give Heartstopper a shot.

Boy, was I impressed. It was such an amazing and accurate portrayal of young queer love. My heart was so full. It was just so beautiful. It moved me so much and had such a profound impact on me for weeks. I was suddenly obsessed with consuming all things Heartstopper. For example, after finding out it was actually based on a comic series, I bought and binge-read all of the Heartstopper books and subsequently also decided to buy Alice Oseman's "Solitare" series.

One of my favourite things about the show was its soundtrack. It included a few songs and artists that I at least knew of, but also introduced me to some really great music that I'd never heard before. The show's musical aesthetic was so on point and fit the Heartstopper world perfectly. Wholesome. Romantic. Cute. Youthful. Hopeful. Upbeat. Optimistic.

I enjoyed the soundtrack so much so that I not only listened to the official Heartstopper playlists created by Spotify, but also Alice Oseman's own Heartstopper playlists on Spotify. The vibe and aesthetic of the soundtrack became the music that I consumed for the weeks following my first time watching the show, so I thought I would share some of my favourite tracks from the show and also some tracks from my own catalogue that I thought fit the musical aesthetic and vibe captured in the soundtrack.

HEARTSTOPPER: MIXTAPE

Want Me - Baby Queen

Let's Love - Sia

I Belong In Your Arms - Chairlift

Don't Delete The Kisses - Wolf Alice

What's It Gonna Be? - Shura

Shine - Years & Years

Girls - Girl In Red

Lucky Strike - Troye Sivan

Clearest Blue - CHVRCHES

The Louvre - Lorde

Super Natural - Danny L Harle, Carly Rae Jepsen

Live Forever - Nasty Cherry

Dancing On My Own - Robyn

All Of You - Betty Who

Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac

Just Like We Never Said Goodbye - SOPHIE

Paper Rings - Taylor Swift

Run Away With Me - Carly Rae Jepsen

Friday's No Fun Anymore - Kitten

The Edge Of Glory - Years & Years

Wild - Troye Sivan, Alessia Cara

Colours Of You - Baby Queen

End Of The Night - Emma Blackery

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staribon · 2 years

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Everyone has the right to their own opinion for sure but since i’m seeing so many people hating on and bashing Heartstopper lately now that it's a live action Netflix show and really in the public eye there’s so much stuff I see these people refuse to acknowledge about it before going online and being so negative about it without even watching it or reading the source material.

I for one am so so glad to see something like this become mainstream and popular. Like this is a show that gets actual young adult/teen actors to play teenagers AND gets real POC to play roles written for POC AND actual trans actors to play trans characters. That alone is actually pretty monumental and reason enough to support it even if it’s not your thing because if we don’t ensure that it does well these corporations won’t greenlight stuff like this anymore and we’ll have even less representation.

It’s also really really amazing for a smaller content creator and not some big wig executive to be getting the chance to tell a story on a platform that can reach a lot of people! Again it’s important to support things like this! Support stuff made by small creators support artists who are queer and POC!

Unfortunately, not every single piece of media was made to specifically cater to your life experiences. For me as a queer POC I relate to both the comic and the show a lot. To see people hating the show so much and calling it corporate, unfeeling, and unrealistic or whatever is so invalidating to my own experiences considering… I relate to it!! Like are my experiences any less valid than yours because I relate to and enjoy a light hearted Netflix show?

I also feel like a lot of people are either not researching or forgetting that the original comic is literally made by an aroace nonbinary writer/artist, Alice Oseman, and that they were very involved in the creation for the show. Don’t we want these opportunities for creators? Personally, I don't feel that anyone has the right to say something has no value representation wise when it's literally made by someone who is in the community they seek to represent. Not that you can't critique content made by queer people about being queer (or poc content made for poc people for that matter) or dislike it, of course you can and should, but this "all or nothing" mentality the internet seems to have developed in regards to rep is so frustrating to see. Not all rep is good rep to me sure but with Heartstopper it's literally just... what too happy and silly? Literally what is wrong with that?

I think our community has enough sad depressing media and enough stories telling us we're going to die in the end and enough stories telling us we only exist to be comic relief for haha funny jokes or to be fetishized through bizzare sex scenes. Like the fact we even have a silly romcom for teens is such a good step forward. I know Heartstopper isn't the pinnacle of gay rep, but nothing ever will be!! Nothing is ever going to be perfect with absolutely no problems or things to improve on nor is any piece of media going to be able to encompass every single queer experience on the planet. I just think it's unfair to write off a piece of media written from a genuine place of love and care made by someone IN the community for reasons like that. We can just appreciate it for what it is. Holding it to such high standards as if it's claiming to be some cinematic masterpiece makes no sense when that’s not at all what it’s trying to be. Having a few cute stories isn't hurting anyone. Just because you personally can't see yourself in something doesn't mean other people can't. Shouldn't you be glad kids are seeing themselves in the show even if you can’t...?

Like idk maybe let people enjoy something happy and low stakes for once (not that the show doesn’t have its fair share of teen drama). If you hate Heartstopper that's fine but literally why go online and complain about it and make people feel like they don't belong in the community because you don't like it or relate to it yourself? Literally just don't watch it, block the tags, and unfollow people so you don't have to see it?

Maybe just ask yourself if you’re really angry at this little show about gay teenagers coming of age or if you’re actually angry at society for creating a system that erases our voices so much that we only have a fraction of the variety of content cishet people get and thereby there’s nothing custom made for you. 🤷

#ig this is kinda a rant sorry to my small following im just rly annoyedSDJJKASKJDSAJ #heartstopper #staritxt

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cricketnationrise · 3 years

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Reading Roundup: June 2021

previous reading roundups

like 80% of these are from my local library | averaged 1 book per day

The Ladies Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: book 1 in a series. romance. sex on the page. wlw lady scientists! historical! astronomers pretending to be men in order to be published!

Prime Deceptions by Valerie Valdes: book 2 in the Chilling Effect series. should definitely read them in order. rag tag cargo ship crew gets more and more embroiled in an intergalactic conspiracy

Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky: non-fiction, the history of milk and its by-products. examines how cultural norms around drinking milk has shifted as well as how gender roles in a dairy have shifted. contains delightful sketches of milk-producing animals and funny chapter titles.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston: wow wow wow wow wow wow i love this book so much. i didn’t know i wanted stuck-in-a-time-loop-wlw-riding-the-subway romance but that is for sure what i got. features a scene that directly makes fun of Bella Swan googling information about vampires. so that’s fun.

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite: book 2 in a series. romance. sex on the page. older women protagonists, a beekeeper and a woman who runs a printing press. interesting historical backdrop. don’t need to have read them in order.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman: alternating pov YA novel. what happens when you get contacted to do art by your favorite niche podcast and it turns out to be made by the person who lives across the street from you? chaos. chaos happens.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles: towles’ debut novel. set in NYC from Dec 31, 1937 - Jan 1, 1939. rich people problems as experienced by a person who is not rich. 4 parts, each labeled with a season.

Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson: a hitman, a motel receptionist, and a priest come up with increasingly convoluted ways to make money. they accidentally start a religion. humor.

People I Want to Punch in the Throat: True(ish) Tales of an Overachieving Underachiever by Jen Mann: non-fiction/memoir, taken from and expanded blog posts, follows Jen Mann through meeting her husband and having kids and having to deal with living in the suburbs and all that that entails

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: reread. book 1 in the Leviathan trilogy. alternate universe WW1. the son of archduke ferdinand of austria is spirited away the night his parents are assassinated in order to protect him. deryn is a girl disguising herself as a boy in order to join the british air force. their paths cross. alternating pov. very cool worldbuilding that is vaguely steampunk-ish.

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch: non-fiction. a look at how the internet has changed language/writing. fascinating read.

Song for a Viking by KJ Charles: short story set in the Think of England series. follow up to Think of England. sex on the page.

Think of England by KJ Charles: historical m/m mystery romance. sex on the page. stuck in a manor house mystery. warnings for blackmail, kidnapping, murder, being left in a cave, violence, period typical anti-semitism/racism/homophobia

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld: reread. book 2 in the Leviathan trilogy. must read in order.

It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn: book 7 in the bridgerton series. historical romance. sex on the page. don’t need to read in order, but it helps.

On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn: book 8 in the bridgerton series. historical romance. sex on the page. don’t need to read in order, but it helps.

Proper English by KJ Charles: historical f/f mystery romance. prequel to Think of England. sex on the page. stuck in a manor house mystery. warnings for murder, violence, period-typical racism/homophobia

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas: literally read it one sitting. YA m/m romance. trans male protagonist. accidental ghost summoning, dia de los muertos. warnings for youths with shitty home lives, homophobia, transphobia, kidnapping, violence against children/teens, blood

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn: book 1 in the Rokesby series, a prequel series to the Bridgertons. historical romance (revolutionary war era england). sex on the page. frenemies to lovers.

Sabriel by Garth Nix: book 1 in the Old Kingdom series. fantasy. when her father, the Abhorsen, who’s job it is to make sure the dead stay dead, goes missing in the land of the dead, its up to Sabriel to figure out what happened and how to save the Old Kingdom where magic is alive and kicking.

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn: collected short stories. a second epilogue for each main book in the bridgerton series. also contains violet (the mom’s) story

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin: book 1 in the Inheritance trilogy, fantasy, with her grandfather stepping down as emperor, he names 3 heirs who must duke it out to the death. the gods are watching and in some cases, meddling.

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole: book 2 in the Runaway Royals series. do not need to read in order. f/f romance. sex on the page. sort of an Anastasia retelling.

To Seek and to Find by Tamryn Eradani: ...look its just straight up erotica okay? BDSM. safe/sane/consensual. m/m. book 1 in a trilogy.

Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlberg: non-fiction. growing up in the depression in NYC as a hearing boy with 2 Deaf parents and an epileptic younger brother. includes how his parents met and fell in love.

Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project: tor.com published short stories by a variety of authors including Seanan McGuire and Charlie Jane Anders. All start with/feature the phrase: “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

To Have and to Hold by Tamryn Eradani: ...look its just straight up erotica okay? BDSM. safe/sane/consensual. m/m. book 2.

To Love and to Cherish by Tamryn Eradani: ...look its just straight up erotica okay? BDSM. safe/sane/consensual. m/m. book 3.

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan: YA f/f romance. private school. warnings for racism, homophobia, toxic relationship, alcohol use, teen on teen violence (one girl gives another a severe allergic reaction).

Highfire by Eoin Colfer: the last dragon in the world just wants to be left alone in the swamp where he is hiding to watch TV. Squib just wants the police officer to stop hitting on his mom and make some money. the crooked police officer wants to take over the local mob boss’ operations. their lives intersect. warnings for: kidnapping, violence against women/children, murder, blood, removal of toes, dismemberment

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faraway-wanderer · 4 years

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QUEER YA READS happy pride month here’s a list of lots of queer YA books!!

- The Henna Wars- Abida Jaigirdar When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized

- Red, White and Royal Blue- Casey Mcquinston First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

- You should see me in a crown- Leah Johnson Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen

- Tell me How you Really Feel- Aminah Mae Safi Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She's the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win.Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who's obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she's casting her senior film project, she knows she's found the perfect lead - Sana.There's only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since.

- Like a love story- Abdi Nazemian It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.

- I Wish You All the Best- Mason Deaver At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity.

- The Falling in Love Montage- Ciara Smyth Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out. But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

- The Fascinators- Andrew Eliopulos Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school's magic club—to see him through to graduation.But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.

- The Dark Tide- Alicia Jaskina The Wicked Deep meets A Curse So Dark and Lonely in this gripping, dark fairy-tale fantasy about two girls who must choose between saving themselves, each other, or their sinking island city

- Summer of Salt – Katrina Leno Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

- Sawkill Girls- Claire Legrand Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find. Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is. Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

- The Priory of the Orange Tree- Samantha Shannon A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

- I was Born for this- Alice Oseman For Angel Rahimi, life is only about one thing: The Ark – a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything – her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman – and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare.

- Summer Bird Blue Akemi Dawn Bowman- Bowman’s sophomore novel follows Rumi, a young musician plagued with grief and survivor’s guilt after her younger sister is killed in a car crash. Her mother sends her to liver with her aunt in Hawaii, and is also now mourning the loss of the music she would create with her sister and is unable to recapture her passion. As she navigates her loss, and feelings of abandonment from her mother, Rumi is also starting new relationships with neighbors, one a cute, easygoing surfer boy, and the other a irascible 80-year-old crankypants, while also becoming comfortable with her aromantic and asexual feelings.An immersive aromantic, asexual journey through grief and understanding.

- Felix Ever after- Kacen Callender a novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

- The Stars and The Blackness Between Them - Junauda Petrus Audre and Mabel, Black girls who find romance just in time for everything to fall even further apart.

- By any means necessary- Candice Montgomery By Any Means Neccesary dives into the intersection of race and sexuality through the lens of its main character, Torrey, a gay Black college student.

- Her Royal Highness -Rachel Hawkins- When Millie Quint discovers her best friend-turned-girlfriend has been kissing someone else, she decides to get as far away from her as possible – by going to boarding school on the opposite side of the globe. The only issue? Millie’s new roomate is the actual princess of Scotland.

- Tash Hearts Tolstoy - Kathryn Omsbee, Natasha Zelenka (Tash), is a serious fangirl of Leo Tolstoy and a rising YouTube star with her webseries Unhappy Families, a modern-day adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and Vlog, Tea with Tash. When a famous vlogger gives a shout out to the series, it goes viral. Now she, along with the cast and crew, are finding what it means to be a hit sensation and are managing the adoration, and the trolls, coming their way. Tash, a romantic asexual, has had a long time crush on the hit vlogger star Thom, who, as her online popular grows, so does Thom’s attention. Amidst the fame and romance, Tash is also dealing with her older sister creating distance, her parents announcing a new sibling on the way, college applications, the impending end of the series, and the big “What’s next.”An asexual romantic comedy coming of age.

- Full Disclosure- Camryn Garratt Camryn Garrett’s debut novel follows a Black, HIV-positive teen as she explores her first romantic relationship. There are few books that discuss what it’s like to live with HIV, especially those that are light, relatable, and told through the lens of a young Black girl.

- The Black Flamingo- Dean Atta Atta pens a coming-of-age story about a boy accepting his identity as a mixed-race gay teen, but then finds a place where he belongs as a drag artist named The Black Flamingo.

- Juniper Leaves- Jaz Joyner Kinky-haired Juniper Bray used to believe in magic, until she lost her best friend: her grandmother. Now this 15-year-old shy girl is headed to her father's research trip on a farm hundreds of miles away, with a family she barely knows and the opposite of a best friend, her new arch nemesis, Bree Mckinney. As if she wasn't miserable enough. Little does she know the next few months Juniper will discover magical powers she never knew she had, get a crush on a girl she never knew she'd like and well, quite frankly, save the world.

- Crier’s War - Nina Varela ‘In a world where humans are dominated by superior Automae, one human girl called Ayla takes the role of handmaiden to the Automae Lady Crier in order to help the human rebellion. But to Ayla’s horror, she finds herself falling for Crier.’

- Queen of Coin and Whispers Helen Corcoran -When a teenage queen inherits her uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings with her a new spymaster – a girl who only accepted the role to avenge her murdered father. But faced with enemies at every turn, the two learn to rely on no one but each other . . . though it may bring their downfall.

- Huntress- Malinda Lo – Ill fortune has befallen the land, and two girls have been tasked with the mission of setting things right. As Kaede and Taisin journey to the city of the Fairy Queen, adventure and romance awaits.

- This Song Is (Not) for You - Laura Nowlin- This is not your usual love triangle. Ramona has been in love with her best friend and bandmate Sam for a long time, Sam has also been in love Ramona. When Tom joins the band, he completes them. Now Ramona is starting to have feelings for Tom, and those feelings are reciprocated. Tom is a romantic asexual, whose asexuality is fully explored

- Seven Tears at High Tide- C.B. Lee – After Kevin Luong drops, yup, seven tears into the sea, he ends up rescuing a boy from the waters. It’s love at first sight for Morgan who, unknown to Kevin, is a Selkie.

- Loveless -Alice Oseman- (out on the 9th July!!) Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight. But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

- The Last Beginning- Lauren James- (you probably need to read the next together first which I HIGHLY recommend) Sixteen years ago, after a scandal that rocked the world, teenagers Katherine and Matthew vanished without a trace. Now Clove Sutcliffe is determined to find her long lost relatives.But where do you start looking for a couple who seem to have been reincarnated at every key moment in history? Who were Kate and Matt? Why were they born again and again? And who is the mysterious Ella, who keeps appearing at every turn in Clove's investigation? For Clove, there is a mystery to solve in the past and a love to find in the future, and failure could cost the world everything.

#i think i did a good job at finding alot of diverse ones and with different sexualites etc represented #i haven't read all of these but i've read some!#queer ya masterlist #book blogging #pride reads #queer books #lgbtq boo #lgbtq reads #ya books

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tshepiso-reads-books · 4 years

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A Wrap-Up of Sorts

I’ve been in a reviewing funk for basically all of July. There are several books I’d like to review but I just can’t get my brain to craft meaningful worlds and a sensical order no matter how hard I try. This is a problem because I generally don’t like to read books if I have books unreviewed and the backlog is starting to get a bit intimidating. So these are some mini-reviews for books I’ve read in the past 3 weeks.

Revenant Gun · Yoon Ha Lee

The conclusion to the Machineries of the Empire series was confusing, to say the least. I have struggled in the weeks since I read Revenant Gun to parse why Lee made the choices he did in this series. The new perspectives we follow and the ultimate villain of the story feels incongruous with the set up in the first two books and many of the character choices baffled me. However, despite my qualms, Lee did still manage to write an engaging story. I’ll always be attached to the characters in this series and Jedao and Cheris especially had my heart. I enjoyed learning the backstory of Kujen and delving into his particular backstory as well. I overall had a good time with this series but I think I’d need to reread it before I could state any definitive opinion on it.

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The Empire of Gold · S. A. Chakraborty

The Empire of Gold was the perfect conclusion to the Daevabad trilogy. Every moment of this book was brilliant and the journey Ali, Nahri and Dara went on throughout this series was excellent. I adored the themes explored throughout the series. The way Chakraborty handled what it truly means to redeem yourself and how to move past centuries of violence was perfectly done. I could see some finding this book slow but I found the pacing perfect. Chakraborty took the time to show growth in our characters by having them make meaning full sacrifices and confront their previous desires. This made the stakes and consequences of this series all the more impactful. Chakraborty truly put her characters through the wringer and they benefited from it.

I adored the political machinations throughout this book as I always have in the Daevabad series and was on the edge of my seat throughout this entire reading experience. I absolutely adored watching the conflict within Daevabad play out though my one criticism of the series would be that I wish we saw more of Zaynab and Aquisa. Chakraborty stepped up when it came to romance in this book and for the first time in the series I had a legitimate emotional connection to Ali and Nahri’s romance. The Empire of Gold was perfect in every way and certainly won’t disappoint fans of the previous two installments in the series. Anyone with even a minor interest in fantasy needs to pick the Daevabad trilogy.

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Loveless · Alice Oseman

Loveless was another Alice Oseman knockout YA contemporary. The story follows Georgia Warr a college freshman navigating her desire to be in a romantic relationship despite her seeming inability to find love. I will warn that Oseman has an incredibly close first-person narrative style that may make this book, and especially its first half, difficult to read. Georgia and the other prominent side characters in the series, like most teenagers, are very stuck in her own heads. They often jump to conclusions and make short-sided, selfish choices and fail to make obvious connections which may make this book a frustrating read. However, these aspects of the characters make our main cast feel all the more real.

Loveless is a coming of age story about a girl coming into her identity as asexual romantic and Oseman’s ownvoices depiction of that was stellar. Seeing Georgia going through the long and arduous process of discovering and accepting her sexuality was while occasionally frustrating heartwarming nonetheless. I’ve never experienced media with asexual romantic representation and I’m glad to see that this book might make teens who feel lost and confused comforted and understood. And the way Oseman unpacked and directed the various ways society enforces heteronormativity and allosexuality (feeling romantic and/or sexual attraction) was spot on and even helped me unpack my own feelings about my sexuality.

Oseman’s characters are naturalistic in a way that makes them very easy to connect to and the strong friendships at the core of the novel were wonderful to read about. The side characters in this story Rooney, Pip and Jason felt fully fleshed out and individual in a way that made the story feel whole. Oseman’s underlying message about the importance of friendships and their equal importance and meaning as romantic relationships really hit the mark with me. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who loves grand romantic gestures, Shakespeare societies, and complex friendship dynamics.

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Prosper’s Demon · K. J. Parker

Prosper’s Demon was not an enjoyable reading experience. The story follows an unnamed morally grey exorcist. He discovers the genius philosopher, engineer and artist Prosper of Schanz is possessed by a particularly wily demon and the story unfolds from there.

Reading this book felt like listening to a scratched CD. K. J. Parker’s style in this novella was jumpy and skipped from place to place with no indication of where the story was going. Convoluted sentences structured in confusing ways were common and I often had to reread lines to fully understand what he was saying.

I also found it hard to connect to the narrator because Parker obfuscated his motivations and thought process in a way that made it impossible for me to care about him in any way. The story jumped from flashback to present timeline in a way that gave me narrative whiplash and while the story ultimately made sense by the time all the pieces fit together and our narrator’s plot revealed the story had already lost me. So while there was some interesting worldbuilding and I can see Parker’s style working for some this book just didn’t hit the mark for me.

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I can’t say whether or not I’ll come back to these books for stand-alone reviews but I’m glad to have gotten my thoughts out there for these books so I can move on with my life. I hope I’ll be in more of a reviewing mood in the future but I can’t be sure of that anytime soon. You may be seeing a lot more Recent Reads style wrap ups from me in the future.

#Loveless #Prosper's Demon #The EMpire of Gold #Revenant Gun #Book Review #mini reviews #Wrap Up

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unkindnessofsails · 4 years

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August 2020 Book Roundup

Books I read:

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Writing Down Your Soul: How to Actiate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within by Janet Conner

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura

The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole

My thoughts under the cut (not spoiler free):

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters:

Enjoyed the first half much more than the second half. The first half has a lot of the similar beats to its movie adaption ‘The Handmaiden’ which I watched and loved a couple of years ago. The second half is quite different though and some of the twists revealed felt contrived. Also SPOILERS for the ending tbh I didn’t buy that Sue would be in love with Maud, especially with her being put into the asylum and being so pissed throughout most of the second half due to this. Maud’s affection seemed more realistic, but it was Sue who went after Maud in the end so idk, the ending felt too nicely wrapped up considering everything that happened throughout the story.

Favourite Character: I liked both Maud and Sue and can’t really choose between the two. I just don’t think these versions of the characters should have ended up together.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn by Taylor Jenkins Reid:

This was a very quick read, which was good, because it sucks you in and is enjoyable to consume... but looking back on it, it’s a meh sort of book. Aside from Evelyn, most of the characters in her world are pretty one note and Evelyn’s relationship with Celia felt at times toxic. Like seriously Evelyn is an actor!!! getting jealous/upset over her acting out a sex scene in a movie is kind of stupid especially considering you yourself are also an actor.

Favourite Character: Evelyn I guess, she’s the only person the author developed fully.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman:

Ughhhhh. Nope. The teenage drama felt over the top and the storytelling was clunky with nothing really happening till the end then everything happened all at once and feeling unrealistic and undeserving at that.

Favourite Character: None. They all annoyed me.

Writing Down Your Soul by Janet Conner

Got this as a gift a lonnnng time ago, so decided to just give it a read. Had some interesting ideas, but some of her examples were very embedded in the patriarchal system. I do think writing down your thoughts to let loose steam is a useful practice though.

Favourite Character: n/a

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This book has clear parallels with atla, which is cool, but doesn’t always work. The first half is good, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world and then... it just all fell apart. The biggest problem is Iman who is supposed to be the Zuko character, but his ‘redemption’ just doesn’t work and the romance is cringy and unrealistic as fuck. It just took me out of the book and all of the things that happened after the romance was introduced was just frustrating. The moral and societal issues brought up in this book that are a reflection of our society are very important, but the character development needs a lot of work. Don’t know if I’ll read the second book as by the end of the book I didn’t care for any of the characters.

Favourite Character: Zélie... up till halfway through and then I couldn’t stand anyone. I loved how she’s cocky and brave and at times selfish and can get annoyed easily, but she just doesn’t back down. She needs better taste in men though.

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura

A teen romance book that actually doesn’t focus so much on the teen romance. The main character’s problems that she finds herself in are actually relatable which I found nice - like her procrastinating talking to someone because it’s a difficult conversation to have (legit what I do all the time and it’s bad...). Also, though clunky at times the author does bring up important discussions about race. I do think the whole resolution about the father cheating storyline was a bit hand wavey, but I can see why the author resolved it that way.

Favourite Character: Jamie Ramirez - she did not deserve the distaste she got from Sana’s friends and imo didn’t do anything wrong. Also, Sana can be so oblivious and racially insensitive at times which Jamie has to put up with along with everything else. If I was Jamie I wouldn’t have taken Sana back, but I suppose with it being high school and slim pickings and all...

The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole

100% recommend, especially for Canadians. So often Canadians, especially white Canadians like to say Canada is so much better than America when it comes to race issues, but this book clearly shows why this isn’t the case. It’s a picture of the issues Black Canadians face within the last decade (though the focus of the story is the year 2017). Given the racial climate we are living in now, this book is as relevant as ever.

Favourite Character: n/a

#fingersmith #the seven husbands of evelyn hugo #radio silence #writing down your soul #children of blood and bone #it's not like it's a secret #the skin we're in #books #august 2020

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coffeebased · 4 years

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I won’t be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January’s gauntlet. To be completely fair to February, it had the ongoing COVID-19 international epidemic, as well as the ABS-CBN shutdown crisis, the anti-terrorism bill, the reminder that historical revisionism re: the Marcos dictatorship is alive and well… and those were just the actual headlines.

I must digress before I spiral.

I read 12 books in February, half of which were newly released in this month. I’ve split my post up into three parts like I did last month: one-shots, parts of series, and re-reads. It seems to be working well for me.

Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker

The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out—he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.

Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.

After I read Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City last year, I knew that I wanted more by Parker. I considered delving into his back catalog, which I still will probably do, but I saw that he was releasing a new book in Feb 2020, so I jumped on that first. Prosper’s is exactly up my alley, what with the discussions of morality and the greater good with demons, and quite a bit of engineering. I’d admired the voice of the main character in Sixteen because he was dry and very caught up in doing what needed to be done, and the main character has the same appealing values. It’s a short read, but it sticks in the teeth and fills the belly.

Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year…

Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind…

Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, tends to write capable and damaged characters falling in with each other and foiling plots. She also tends to write paladins very well, which is a personal delight. I always enjoy a Kingfisher story, because the characters do the sensible thing more often than not, and she deals with trauma very compassionately, from what I suspect is a personal viewpoint. Her books are also usually very funny, very disturbing, and no-nonsense, scratching that Terry Pratchett Witch itch when I miss him very much. Grace is along the same lines, with a good solid HEA that leaves everyone, including the reader, satisfied.

Kindred, a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and illustrated by John Jennings

I lost an arm on my last trip home.

Home is a new house with a loving husband in 1970s California that suddenly transformed in to the frightening world of the antebellum South.

Dana, a young black writer, can’t explain how she is transported across time and space to a plantation in Maryland. But she does quickly understand why: to deal with the troubles of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder–and her progenitor.

Her survival, her very existence, depends on it.

This searing graphic-novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction classic is a powerfully moving, unflinching look at the violent disturbing effects of slavery on the people it chained together, both black and white–and made kindred in the deepest sense of the word.

Kindred, the novel, is on my Next 20s list. I had meant to read it before I read the GN, but picked up the graphic novel based on a friend’s recommendation. The graphic novel is searingly painful, and I enjoyed reading it, but there are parts of it that feel slightly disjointed. I’m not sure if it’s because of the time travel, or if it’s an adaptation problem. It made me want to read the novel immediately, which is what I am reading right now. I don’t think that I’ll be able to properly synthesise my thoughts about this book until I’ve read the original.

Mirror: The Mountain and The Nest by Emma Rios and Hwei Lim

A mysterious asteroid hosts a collection of strange creatures – man-animal hybrids, mythological creatures made flesh, guardian spirits, cursed shadows – and the humans who brought them to life. But this strange society exists in an uneasy truce, in the aftermath of uprisings seeking freedom and acceptance, that have only ended in tragedy. As the ambitious, the desperate and the hopeful inhabitants of the asteroid struggle to decide their shared fate, a force greater than either animal or human seems to be silently watching the conflict, waiting for either side to finally answer the question: what is worthy of being human?

Recommended to me by a new friend who’d heard I was into sci-fi and graphic novels, who absolutely hit the nail on the head with this rec. The art is beautiful, dreamy, and layered, and it keeps you tied to the story as the authors build what is a magnificent construction in your head. The authors do some really lovely things with timeskips that I have no idea how to talk about without spoiling anything, and I only regret that we weren’t able to linger through the second volume. I’m don’t know why there isn’t more of Mirror, but I do appreciate how they tied everything up as well as they could in two volumes. Looking forward to more like this in the future.

Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman

In this volume we’ll see the Heartstopper gang go on a school trip to Paris! Not only are Nick and Charlie navigating a new city, but also telling more people about their relationship AND learning more about the challenges each other are facing in private…

Meanwhile Tao and Elle will face their feelings for each other, Tara and Darcy share more about their relationship origin story, and the teachers supervising the trip seem… rather close…?

You can read all of Heartstopper and its future updates here. Heartstopper is a lovely slice of life comic, PG13 at best, that really takes me back to my own mid-teens. The story is centered around the developing relationship of two young boys, Charlie and Nick, and it really deals with it respectfully. It tackles a lot of teen issues without being too preachy about it, which is probably the least inspiring thing I could have written about it, and integrates it deftly into the story. The art style is adorable and really complements the sweet story. This volume, just released this month, revolves around a class trip to Paris, and there are some shenanigans that you’ll have to read for yourself.

Sixty Six Book 2 by Russell Molina and Mikey Marchan

Kuwento ni Celestino Cabal. Kabebertdey niya lang. Mayroon siyang natanggap na regalo na ngayo’y unti-unti niyang binubuksan. Ika nga ng matatanda, “Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol din.”

The story of Celestino Cabal. His birthday has just passed. He received a gift that he now gets to open, bit by bit. As the old saying goes, “Better late than never.”

This is the synopsis of the first book. There isn’t an official synopsis for the second book online, and I hesitate to write my own. Sixty Six Book 2 was released during February Komiket, and since I had been waiting for it for a few years, I had to go to the event even though everyone’s been iffy about going into crowded spaces due to COVID-19. I was excited to read this but unfortunately, I don’t think it capitalised on the foundation set in Book 1. The artist was different, and I admired their work on a technical level, as well as their humorous use of WASAK as a sound effect. I don’t know if there’ll be a third book, but the author has made themselves a little leeway for that possibility at the end of this volume.

Thank You, Jeeves, Jeeves #5 by P.G. Wodehouse

The odds are stacked against Chuffy when he falls head over heels for American heiress Pauline Stoker. Who better to help him win her over but Jeeves, the perfect gentleman’s gentleman. But when Bertie, Pauline’s ex-fiance finds himself caught up in the fray, much to his consternation, even Jeeves struggles to get Chuffy his fairy-tale ending.

This book was in my next 20s! So I’m accomplishing one of my 2020 reading goals, yay! But hot damn there is some racist language in this book. Every time I was finally sinking into the story boom! Racist language! And I know that it was because of the time it was published, like I know that academically, but oof. That aside, the story is solid. It’s a comedy of manners AND errors with Jeeves ex machina, as per usual, but this is the first full Jeeves novel I’ve read, the rest were short story collections, and it was good to see the characters take more space. It certainly made the comedic payoff a lot stronger.

But oof.

Die Vol. 2: Split the Party by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles

No one can escape DIE until everyone agrees to go home. Or rather, no one can escape DIE until everyone who is alive agrees to go home. The second arc of the commercial and critical hit of bleakly romantic fantasy fiction starts to reveal the secrets of the world, and our heroes’ pasts. Yes, they can’t escape DIE. They also can’t escape themselves. Collects issues #6-10 of DIE

CHARACTERISATION. There’s a lot more breathing space in this newly-released volume of Die and I live for that! The first volume was a lot of the characters running from one place to the next and we, as readers, were being given the sense of setting. But volume two, you can feel Gillen just finally branching out and hitting us with their joined histories. I want to see more of how these older players will be dealing with the actions of their teenage selves, and I think the third volume will really show what the comic’s capable of. I’m really looking forward to that.

False Value, Rivers of London #8 by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company.

Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son.

Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological – and just as dangerous.

The last Rivers of London book finished the first major arc of the series. It was a succession of explosions contained in a novel. So I was wondering what kind of tone Aaronovitch would be setting with False Value. Would it be all action, immediately? A filler story? I just wanted more Peter Grant. It could literally be an entire novel of Peter going to America to visit the Smithsonian museums and I would be on that.

False Value is a slow story but does a lot of table setting for the next arc. While the case of the book feels very small and contained, you can see that they’re being pulled into the larger world of magic. I did have a hard time with the first few chapters, but I’m not sure if this is a problem of the book, or because I sailed straight into it after the Jeeves book I had been reading.

I finished the book too quickly and now I have to wait for the next one. Bother.

The Thief, The Queen’s Thief #1 by Megan Whalen Turner

The king’s scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king’s prison. The magus is interested only in the thief’s abilities.

What Gen is interested in is anyone’s guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

It’s March now, so my friends and I are starting on the second book in our read-along of The Queen’s Thief. I wrote last month that I was worried about how my friends would take the series, but really I needn’t have thought about it at all. The book stands well on its own, and my friends all got into the story. I hesitate to say that they loved it because there are four more books in the series, but they were definitely into it. Some of them had a hard time sticking to the two chapters a day schedule because Turner’s prose really just pulls you in.

I still love Gen, and I’m excited to relive his character growth.

The Farthest Shore, The Earthsea Cycle #3

Darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea. As the world and its wizards are losing their magic, Ged — powerful Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord — embarks on a sailing journey with highborn young prince, Arren. They travel far beyond the realm of death to discover the cause of these evil disturbances and to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

I’m reading Tehanu, the last book of the Cycle, now, and I’m scared of ending the series. It’s given me so much joy and peace these past few months. I slipped right into it after finishing The Farthest Shore, remembering that they overlap slightly, and that’s done a lot to soften the blow of the third book. Re-reading Farthest at this age, when things have been losing their colour and flavour, where I have to fight harder to keep myself honest and keep myself ‘good’, hits differently. I’ve been recovering, and the bitterness that Ged has over the loss of his mastery is too real to me. Of course, it’s a good book, but it hurts.

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All right, that’s it for now. I’ll probably be popping in to post a little about Komiket and some other things I’ve been reading next week or so, so please keep a weather eye out for that next post!

February Reading Round-Up I won't be the first or last person to marvel at how quickly February whizzed past, especially in comparison to January's gauntlet.

#books #books 2 #reading #reading 2 #reviews

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heartstopper: the best show out of 2022 so far

posted: 4/26/22

this was supposed to be a post about the shows I've been watching recently but i ramble on a lot

starts playing lover by taylor swift...

a few spoliers for heartstopper!

a tv show that was adapted from a webcomic by alice oseman! i had actually never heard of this show until twitter blew up after it was released. i think it's one of the best shows I've seen in a while (and that's kinda saying a lot). i love all the characters and the representation in the show. one thing that i noticed while watching is that they rlly nailed how teenagers talk and interact with each other. through the texts and dialogue, i felt like i was talking with my friends. sometimes the dialogue was witty, sometimes it was just plain awkward and that's how me and my friends talk so i think it was great. there were a lot of emotional scenes throughout the show that pulled on my heartstrings :"). i never usually cry while watching shows bec i never get emotionally invested in the characters on my first watch so that was a new experience for me.

the things i usually look for in a tv show are the small details, especially if the show was adapted from somewhere else. idk why but it sort of gives me an insight into how much the production team sought to understand the characters and how much effort they were willing to put into the show. it also gives me a few details on the characters! one thing that i noticed were the little rainbows in the outside shots, an extremely small thing for me to notice but seeing the pops of color made me so happy.

another thing that i noticed were the books that Isaac was reading. i read a few articles on the show and the major thing that people were mad about was that they cut off a major character, aled. isaac was brought as a kind of replacement for him, from my understanding. the creator wanted to use isaac as a way of branching out into newer storylines. after finishing the show, isaac really caught my eye just because he never rlly talked that much, but when he did, it was comforting and kind of gave me insight to what his character is. i guess you can say that he's my favorite character because of how much he reminds me of myself in terms of being the introverted character that nothing ever rlly happens to (reminds me of the shrinking violet trope but not rlly?? don't get mad at me lol). the small details that i noticed were the books that isaac read throughout the series. if you want to know the full list of books you can check out this link. i loved the books that he read because it sort of followed the storyline. his range was kind of wide bec i like to think that as the characters were discovering their sexualities by experience, Isaac is learning through his books. one of the books he read was gender explorers by juno roche. this book is a collection of interviews from trans children, teens, and adults, talking about their everyday experiences. i read a snippet of it online and i thought it was extremely thought-provoking. i like to think that Isaac read it to better understand elle and how to support her. another book on the list was proud by gareth thomas. gareth, nicknamed alife, was the first openly gay rugby union player for wales. i think its a cute but subtle reference to the fact that his gay bestie was playing rugby! the last book that i noticed on the list was radio silence by alice oseman, the creator of the webcomic. i saw people saying that it was a continuity error and that it was breaking the timeline which i thought was pretty funny. i think the fact that he was reading alice's book was bec the book, radio silence, is about aled. aled wasn't in the show because the author thought that aled deserved his own story.

i think this show goes in line with a lot of other shows i've been watching. sex education, young royals, and yuri on ice are great shows that i highly recommend and are kinda in the mix with this show! one thing that i do want to see is a wlw show that, for the most part, resembles the themes of shows that i mentioned. a lot of lesbian series that i've watched are vv depressing and angsty tbh and i would loovee to see a super cute, fluffy but realistic show that makes me feel how i feel while watching heartstopper!

i finished the whole series in one day and i loved every single minute. i think i might actually start reading the webcomic since i like comparing the original to the shows (that's kinda what i do with mangas). i'm excited to see season 2 and what else heartstopper has in store!!

#heartstopper #isaac deserved better but hes still my bestie #netflix series #tv show recommendations #lgbtq shows

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