Oh, the joy of thinking you are on a verge of a reading slump: you are never sure on how you feel about the book and if you should do a small write-up about the stories you have read. I’m probably going against my better judgement and I am going to do a two mini-reviews in one post. Which isn’t going to be a difficult thing to write as one ebook I read, I had a blast with and the other… not so much.
Might as well get them out of the way now!
- Title And Author: A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
- Publisher: Tor
- Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
- Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
- Length: 162 Pages
I had such high hopes for this. Such high hopes. I mean, LOOK AT THAT COVER! Yes, I did buy this because of the cover. Plus, part of the book’s blurb catch my eye and I went “YES!”. Aqib, fourth-cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of the Hunt, finds himself falling for a handsome Daluçan soldier named Lucrio. As the two start a star-crossed whirlwind of a romance, the two don’t know if their love cam survive all the hardships the world has planned to throw at them…
Like I said earlier, I had such high hopes. An adult fantasy novella with a black queer romance at its heart? SIGN ME UP! And yet… and, sadly, yet, this didn’t work for me. There’s nothing wrong with this - the writing and world building were on point, though a tad confusing at times if you’re not on the ball. Plus, maybe it’s because I am on the verge of reading slump that I felt that this was a tad dense for my brain. But the main reason I went into this novella - the black queer romance - while there, often felt overshadowed by the writing and the world-building.
Ok, so I had a tiny misfire as I judged a book by its cover (DON’T!), but I thought I would try something with kissing. So, when I saw an eBook version of Heartstopper: Volume 1 on my kindle for 99p, I “ooh”ed and “ahh”ed over it. I have read the webcomic for a few years now, but kept putting off buying the first volume. Not sure why, but I did. So, I got Volume One now (AT LAST!) and, oh, hang, I need to do the links/essential info!
- Title And Author: Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman
- Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
- Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
- Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
- Length: 288 Pages
Ok, with that out of the way, let’s chat graphic novel/webcomic! Charlie and Nick go to the same school, but have never met. Until they made to sit next to each other in class. The two become friends, and soon Charlie finds himself falling hard for Nick, though he’s sure he has got a chance with Nick. But Nick might be more interested in Charlie than either of them realise.
This is wonderful, feel-good graphic novel. The art might not be as polished as other graphic novels, but this has a lot of heart and does wonders for representation within the LGBTQ+ community. Plus, if you follow the web-series, this series does tackle some issues with sensitivity and care, but this is very much setting up Nick and Charlie’s friendship and slowly growing romantic relationship and it’s wonderful!
I had to jump onto the web-series once I had read the volume to double-check what happened next as it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. But this was exactly what I needed after reading A Taste of Honey.
Speaking of this, this might be my last bookish-review/write-up for a while as life is slowly trying to return to normal plus reading slump so going to give myself a few weeks off blogging my reading and my thoughts (though not for long. I just need to find my feet again and then, can hit the ground running again. And oooh, I have titles I want to read that I can’t wait to sink my teeth into!!!)
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