The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (★★★☆☆)
E-Book • Library • Historical Romance • 2021
Short synopsis: Kit Webb has given up his life of crime and now runs a respectable coffee shop. And then the suave Lord Holland comes into his shop, requesting that Kit complete a job for him. Kit refuses to participate in the robbery but will help Lord Holland learn the art of highway robbery so he can do it himself. Only the more time these two men spend with each other, the more they realize there’s something between them.
Cat Sebastian is one of those reliable 3-star authors for me. I love that she writes queer historical romance, but I can’t say that I’ve read any books by her that are outstanding. They’re all just… pleasant. They’re readable and have great sex scenes, but there’s always something missing from the story that keeps me from loving the book. The same was true with this romance; it was an easy story to dip in and out of, but I wasn’t enamored with it. It was a fine romance, but nothing outstanding.
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (★★★☆☆)
Audiobook • Library • Literary Fiction • 2021
Short synopsis: The lives of three individuals—a transgender woman named Reese, her detransitioned ex Ames, and Ames’s boss Katrina—intersect dramatically when Katrina’s unexpected pregnancy prompts Ames to propose a plan for the three of them to raise this baby together. Sure, Ames and Reese haven’t talked since their breakup and Ames’ detransition, but a baby is all Reese has ever wanted. The book weaves together concepts of gender identity, family, womanhood, and intimacy in a poignant look at society today.
I struggled a lot with this book. It’s our book club pick for June, and I was committed to getting through it, even though parts of the book made me feel very icky (specifically, Reese’s destructive pattern of sleeping with married men). There’s a lot to discuss about this book, and a lot to unpack about my own thoughts about queerness and the transgender community. While I can appreciate what Peters’ did here by creating incredibly complex, downright unlikable characters, it really made the reading experience difficult for me. There was nobody to root for in this novel; every chapter unveiled a new layer of complexity that made me dislike the characters even more than I already did. I found the whole idea of “man reaches out to his ex to see if she’d like to raise a baby with him and his new girlfriend” to be wholly implausible. I just wanted more from this novel.
*I want to say here that I sought out reviews from transgender people because I was really curious about their reception of the book. Most of the reviews I found were very positive with a lot of people talking about how they could relate to these characters and the novel spoke true to their experiences. And for that, I am immensely grateful to this author for writing this book and giving the transgender community the representation that is sorely lacking in the literary world.
This Spells Love by Kate Robb (★★★★★)
Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Contemporary Romance • 2023
Short synopsis: In a bid to heal her heartbreak, Gemma casts a spell to erase her ex from her life, but wakes up in an alternate reality where she never dated him—and her best friend doesn’t recognize her. To return to her old life, she must get her best friend to kiss her, but as they grow closer, she questions if he might have been The One all along.
I don’t know what it was about this book, but I could not put it down. I basically spent all of the July 4th holiday on my couch reading this romance because it was so cute and I wanted to stay in Gemma’s world forever. I wouldn’t say this book was particularly well-written and I don’t even know if the whole “alternate universe” concept worked. But for me, it was the right book at the right time. The “best friends-to-lovers” trope is my absolute favorite in romance (yes, above enemies-to-lovers!) and this one did it so perfectly. I loved being with these characters and I loved the setting of this book so much. It really does show you how small decisions you make in life can make such a difference down the road. You just never know what’s waiting for you around the corner!
What are you reading?
I love when you get a book you can’t put down! That’s the best. That is not the case right now, but the book I’m reading is interesting enough – it’s Loving Frank, the idea of which came from Birchie. Basically it’s a cautionary tale on not to have an affair! This poor woman, sheesh. Anyway, that’s what I’m reading and I have an enormous pile on my side table so I have lots to look forward to.
I’ve heard about Loving Frank, but the subject matter seemed a little too much for me at the time, haha. It’s so rare for me to find a book that’s so good I don’t want to put it down. It was fun, and I’m glad I had a day off so I could just sink into it!
You know what? It’s great that there are meh LBGTQ+ books out there. We need representation in mediocrity, as well as greatness. I’m not even being snarky. Do you remember when Margaret Cho did a sitcom and it was poorly received and then there wasn’t another sitcom about Asian Americans for fifteen years? That doesn’t happen in 2024 and that’s good news for readers because the great books featuring Sapphic romances and transgender romance and family will still get published!
That is such a great point! It reminds me of this point someone made of how we need more books that express Black joy. We have a lot of books that talk about the injustices the Black community has experienced, and it’s just as important to let Black characters experience joy and happiness.
I’ve been really enjoying Sarah Wallace’s Meddle & Mend series, starting with Letters to Half Moon Street. Basically gentle Regency romances but in a world with magic, and where the first child of either sex inherits, and the others, nextborns, have to figure out what they want to do marry or other. Lots of found family and people helping others figure themselves out.
That sounds really interesting! I’m going to have to look it up.
I had similar thoughts about Detransition. The infidelity plot just did NOT work for me! My child psych friend that works in a gender clinic with transitioning patients really liked it and knows of others that liked it, too, so it can work for other. Just not for me! But I am happy to see more transgender representation in books!
I just finished the WWII book about the Treasury’s involvement in the war that Sarah Dickinson raved about. OMG I was so bored at the end, I considered abandoning it at 80% because I just didn’t care anymore at that point. But that seemed silly to do so I kept reading. I need to change my star rating to 2 stars. I don’t know why I gave it 3 on goodreads. I must have been feeling generous. (Hops over to GR to fix this). It has over a 4 star rating so I was clearly in the minority in not liking it, though. Now I am reading “Wavewalker” which is my July book club book. It’s a memori about a family in the 1970s that sails around the world for 2 years. It sounds like the parents were kind of whackos. In the intro she talked about how it took her a long time to write this because she knew it would damage her relationship with her parents… So it should be an interesting read.
We had a really good discussion about Detransition, Baby at book club, even though most of us gave it 2 or 3 stars. I’m glad this book exists in the world, even if it wasn’t one I particularly enjoyed.
Sarah is SO hit or miss for me with her recs, so I always try to get a second opinion before trying out something she recommends on her show, haha. I’ll steer clear of that WWII book!
I loved reading that Detransition, Baby resonated so well with the transgender community. They do need that representation. (And I think I would struggle with not liking any of the characters too. Books like that put me in a MOOD.)
Yay for an unputdownable romance – one of my fave things in the world!
I am reading Great and Precious Things and listening to Iron Flame Part 2 on graphic audio.