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Are You Happy Now by Hanna Jameson
โThat this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.โ A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four peopleโs attempts at happiness despite a looming health…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adulthood, age gap, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, anxiety, Are You Happy Now, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, belonging, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, British author, contemporary malaise, dancers, DEATH, DEPRESSION, desire, divorce/separations, ennui, female authors, first love, gay, Hanna Jameson, heartbreak/breakups, i donโt think happiness is for me, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, journalism, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, m/m, male friendships, melancholy, mental health, musicians, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, pandemic, psychological, published in 2023, queer, read in 2022, restrained prose, right person wrong time, ROMANCE, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, strong sense of place, suicide, trauma, unrequited love, wedding drama, work culture -
Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater
2022 is officially dead to me. look, i don’t know what to say or write besides me not liking this book is one big & unwelcome twist. having loved every TRC book and book 1 and 2 in this dreamer trilogy, i wasn’t even worried about not loving this. ah. what a fool. the more…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ARTISTS, brothers, cambridge (us), confusing for the sake of being confusing, Contemporary, Dreams, f/f side, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay, Harvard, lgbtq+, m/m, Maggie Stiefvater, PARANORMAL, published in 2022, queer, queer side characters, read in 2022, series that went downhill, the dreamer trilogy, the raven cycle, unreliable narrative, URBAN FANTASY, virginia -
All This I Will Give to You by Dolores Redondo
โThereโs a type of open grief thatโs public, one of tears and mourning; and thereโs another, immense and silent, that is a million times more powerful.โ Initially, the premise for All This I Will Give to You intrigued me and I was gripped by the storyโs tragic momentum. Manuel, a bestselling author, receives a visit…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, All This I Will Give to You, books about writers, class, Contemporary, CRIME, Dolores Redondo, drama, female authors, gay, GRIEF, lgbtq+, m/m, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, police, published in 2016, queer, read in 2022, rich people, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, spain, spanish author, SUSPENSE, TRANSLATED FICTION, widows -
Confidence by Rafael Frumkin
โIt seems now like everything Iโve done in my life Iโve done because of love, a useless, gutting love that left me devoured from the inside.โ Fans of books exploring white-collar crime and/or conmen & scammers should definitely give Rafael Frumkinโs sophomore novel Confidence a shot. There were aspects of the storyline that reminded me…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, American dream, bad love, Confidence, Contemporary, CRIME, cults, disabilities, gay, heartbreak/breakups, jealousy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, m/m, masculinity, morality, obsession, prison, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2023, queer, Rafael Frumkin, read in 2022, rich people, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer camps, toxic relationships, unrequited love, wellness culture, white-collar crime -
The Arena of the Unwell by Liam Konemann
โAt any given moment, I have no idea whatโs true about any of us.โ The Arena of the Unwell is a gritty and exhilarating exploration of loneliness and longing, obsession and jealousy, queerness and male intimacy. tw: self-harm & suicidal ideation Our narrator is Noah, a 22-year-old gay man who lives in London. He works…
1st pov, 4.25 stars, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, atmospheric, AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR, bad love, bi side characters, cheating, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, DEPRESSION, england, feverish, gay, gritty realism, grunge vibes, introspective, jealousy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Liam Konemann, LONDON, loneliness, Longing, m/m, masculinity, mental health, music, nostalgic reads, obsession, psychological, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, self-destructive, self-harming, sex, SEXUALITY, strong sense of place, suicide, The Arena of the Unwell, the male malaise, toxic relationships, unreliable narrators -
The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsley
in The Dove in the Belly, it’s all about the ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ท๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ โA moment of happiness could feel almost like a wound.โ The Dove in the Belly is a work of startling beauty that presents its readers with a piercing exploration of male intimacy and a mesmerizing study of queer desire that beautifully elaborates the many…
1970s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, atmospheric, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about books, break-ups, campus, DEATH, desire, drama, family, first love, FRIENDS TO LOVERS, friendships, gay, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, Jim Grimsley, journalism, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, love can be ugly, m/m, masculinity, melancholy, mothers & sons, My reviews, NEW ADULT, North Carolina, obsession, published in 2022, queer, re-reads, read in 2022, read in 2023, reading, ROMANCE, sex, SEXUALITY, Southern America, strong sense of place, The Dove in the Belly, toxic relationships, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, youth -
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Summer Sons is very much a vibes-driven novel that would not exist without Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. From the aesthetics permeating the story to the combative & codependent character dynamics, Summer Sons share a lot of similarities with that book. Lee Mandeloโs older cast of characters however allow for them to employ an edgier…
3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cars, coming of age, Contemporary, curses, DEATH, FANTASY, friendships, gay side characters, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, identity, it’s about the *aesthetics*, Lee Mandelo, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, M/F/M side, m/m, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, nashville, NEW ADULT, PARANORMAL, polyamory, published in 2021, queer, read in 2022, reading, SEXUALITY, Southern America, southern gothic, summer reads, Summer Sons, SUPERNATURAL, tennessee, toxic relationships, trans side characters, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden
I had quite hopes for Anything But Fine and the first few chapters promised a ya coming-of-age in the realms of The Sky Blues, Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, and You Should See Me in a Crown. As the story progresses however I found myself growing weary of the unnecessary miscommunication. If you are…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Anything But Fine, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, Contemporary, dancing, drama, gay, HIGH SCHOOL, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m, male authors, My reviews, published in 2021, queer, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, sports, teen angst, Tobias Madden, YOUNG ADULT -
Right Where I Left You by Julian Winters
This is yet another one of my most anticipated 2022 releases that ended up missing the mark. Having read and enjoyed Julian Winters’ The Summer of Everything I went into this expecting something cute & wholesome only to be confronted with a generic coming of age ya about characters who are just out of high…
1st pov, 2 STARS, America, ANGST, bi side characters, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, coming of age, Contemporary, drama, FRIENDS TO LOVERS, gay, HIGH SCHOOL, Julian Winters, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m, My reviews, non-binary side characters, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, reading, Right Where I Left You, ROMANCE, Summer, summer reads, teen angst, YOUNG ADULT -
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
Brimming with humor and life, Love in the Big City makes for an โโentertaining read. I found its protagonistโs lighthearted narration to be deeply compulsive and I was hooked to his story from the very first pages. Similarly to Frying Plantain and The Nakano Thrift Shop Love in the Big City is divided into self-contained…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, conversational style, friendships, gay, heartbreak/breakups, HUMOR, interconnected stories, Korea, Korean, korean author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Love in the Big City, m/m, male authors, mental health, mothers & sons, My reviews, published in 2019, queer, read in 2021, reading, Seoul, sex, SEXUALITY, SLICE OF LIFE, TRANSLATED FICTION
luce [is reading] 