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Fun historical queer romance.

@JennyJaybles@bookwyrm.social It’s my local library’s book club choice for November. Im looking forward to it.

A short novella about a sweetly neurotic New Yorker divorcé named Paul traveling to Venice for a no-longer romantic Christmas trip. He sees a street dog projecting a level of confidence he has never felt and wishes to study its ways.

As usual, Rowley delivers a witty, silly, and heartfelt story. Paul’s heartbreak and feelings of failure and rejection are palpable. He feels like he can’t even do though most basic things, but he pushes himself more and more. It would be easy to make Paul into a ridiculously pathetic person, but Rowley lets us see that he’s a relatably “pathetic” person instead. Paul carries so much fear of rejection and lonelinesss and I felt it viscerally.

It’s a definite recommend for fans of Steven Rowley and those who love stories about sweet gay men who need to find their spark again.

Just started this new novella by Steven Rowley. 9 pages in and I’m already called out, despite never being in a marriage.

I was hoping for a zippy little romcom, but it dragged in the middle for me. I loved th concept and it did go into a few interesting narrative places, but I probably won’t read the next book in the series unless I hear something amazing about it. The leads were good, but not exceptional. The theme of looking for joy authentically as you deal with your troubles instead as a facade of perfection spoke to me.

Who wants a fluffy holiday themed romcom after a few books of death and mayhem? Me. It’s me. I’m the one who wants it.

Charles now uses prosthetic legs after losing his legs and nearly his life from illness as a child. He also can now see ghosts. So can Sam, a ~~cute~~ frustrating boy who tries to get close to him, looking for help finding missing ghosts.

This is a fun adventure. It telegraphs most of its twists, so there were few surprises, outside of some details. It’s a wonderful book for teens (and adults) who love spooky stories with cute boys solving mysteries. I’m looking forward to continuing the series after a fluffy romcom to cleanse the palate.

CW: Death, murder, violence, self-harm, minor transphobia, mental health, medical, supernatural. Some graphic descriptions of deaths prior to and during the narrative.

A spooky book about a boy who wears prosthetic legs and sees ghosts and another ghost-seeing boy (who he definitely doesn’t have a crush on) trying to find why local ghosts are disappearing.

Using the Mesoamerican and Polynesian cultures and mythos to build the story is wonderfully unique. The POV characters are all intriguing. It definitely felt like a first of three books. If you like palace intrigue based fantasy novels, this is a definite recommend.

I’m enjoying it enough, but it definitely feels like a lot of putting the pieces in position.