Brooms

 

Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo Duvall, 248 pages.

In a 1930s Mississippi slightly more magical than our own, illegal broom races fill the skies deep in the woods. These races are a vibrant gathering place for the people too marginalized for the national races, and an opportunity to win the money to change lives. Billie Mae is the leader of the Night Storms, and is determined to make enough money to get to one of the states where Black folks can legally practice magic. Sisters Mattie and Emma are trying to earn enough money to avoid getting sent to a residential school, a place where their cousin went and came back without her magic. Other members of the Night Storms have their own reasons to race, and as time runs out and the law draws closer, their desperation sends them to the most dangerous race of all. 

This was a really neat book! It draws on a lot of real history and extrapolates from there to make a world the feels real and believable. The art was expressive, and I think it did a good job helping to tell the story. A pretty cool historical fantasy graphic novel, definitely worth checking out. 

How to Fake It in Society

 

 How to Fake It in Society by K.J. Charles, 320 pages.

 Titus Pilcrow didn't expect to marry the extremely old lady when he went to deliver her order of paints; but an unfortunate inheritance clause, a terrible nephew, and an unprosecutable murder nevertheless leave him a very wealthy widower. This attracts all sorts of hangers on, including the Comte de Valois de La Motte (Nico to his friends) who was planning to marry the old lady himself, and now hopes Titus is a rube who can help him out of an extremely sticky situation. However, when he finds Titus desperately in need of guidance to navigate society he hatches another plan, and has to hope that his growing feelings won't ruin the con, or maybe that the con won't ruin the feelings. 

This was a fun book! There was a little less con-artistry and hijinks than I was expecting, but I did still enjoy it. I really liked both Titus and Nico as characters, and found the writing pretty solid. I will say it is quickly fading from my memory about a week from when I finished it, so maybe not the most impactful, but a nice casual book.

This Spells Disaster

 This Spells Disaster by Tori Anne Martin, 368 pages.

Morgan Greenwood is a disaster witch with a massive crush on Rory Sandler, who recently quit professional spellcasting to mix up magical cocktails in Morgan's hometown. Her family isn't thrilled about this decision, so Morgan agrees to be her fake girlfriend for the upcoming regional witch festival to convince Rory's family that she's happier with her life now. Unfortunately, the "disaster" part of "disaster witch" appears in the form of Morgan messing up a perfectly normal relaxation potion and potentially giving Rory a love potion instead, leaving her trying to break the effects of the spell with as little collateral damage as possible.

I really expected to like this book. The blurb really sold me, and I was ready for a light, funny book for Halloween. Unfortunately I found it very difficult to read because most of the plot could have been avoided if Morgan didn't constantly make the worst decisions physically possible for no obvious reason. There's an amount of suspension of disbelief usually inherent to fake dating (it's usually a larger-than-life kind of premise), but there was an amount of frustration involved with the choices of this book that made it very difficult for me to get invested in finishing it at all. I could clearly see all of the plot twists of the last fifty pages coming from before Morgan even suspected she gave Rory a love potion, and given that it's in first person it feels hard to believe that Morgan didn't even consider any of the many ways there may have actually been no problem. Although I'm sad to say it, I don't think I can recommend this one. 

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes

 The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (2022, 350 pages)

A continuation of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, this book focuses on two new characters. Kit's friend Rob started out as Marian's captive (or was she his captive?), but decides to help her hide from the public view after the heist in the first book.

Loved the casual queer representation, I also like the unique characters (loved reading about a aggressive woman who knows what wants in a romance!). Their banter is entertaining and it's a sweet story, more relaxed than the first book. It's cute watching this little family form!

★★★★☆

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

 The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (2021, 352 pages)

Queer romance, 18th century England, and a criminal element led me to pick up this book and it delivered.

Kit Webb mostly gave up his life of Robin Hood-esque crime after an injury and opened up a coffee shop in London. He's a little grumpy, but is happy with his new life.

Percy suspects his days as a lord are coming to an end, if a certain secret about his lord father are to be publicized. All Percy wants from him now is a book and enough money to care for himself and his childhood bestie (who is also his father's new young bride), Marian.

Neither Percy nor Marian are prepared to take this on,  so they reach out of Kit for help. Kit is reluctant to help the royal family that he despises, but finds this heist might be just what he needs.

Great queer romance with both comedy and drama bits. Wasn't too predictable and has funny characters that I genuinely want to read more about.

The ending of this book continues almost flawlessly into the sequel, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes which is another queer romance but with a different couple (whom you meet in this book, but this is a continuation/beginning of their story!).

★★★★☆
 

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian (2022) 333 pages

Marian, the Duchess of Clare, turned out to have married a mean dude. The Duke had already married a couple other women and was apparently still married to them. The first Marian learns of this is when she receives a letter asking for 500 pounds to keep the Duke's bigamy a secret. After a lively correspondence with the blackmailer, she tracks him down, drugs him and ties him up in a room in a public house. Then later, when she shoots the Duke, in order to save an adult son of his (by a different wife), she ends up returning to the blackmailer to ask for help escaping into the country, to lie low at the home of her senile father until she finds out if she'll be charged with murder.

The book is a lively adventure of these two souls ‒ Rob, the blackmailer with a soft spot for children and kittens, and Marian, a young woman who has learned not to trust anyone and who isn't afraid to do what needs to be done.

I would characterize this book as a Robin Hood-like adventure set in old days but with modern language, and a good measure of sex thrown in. Definitely a fast read.

I Kissed Shara Wheeler

 I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, 356 pages.

Chloe Green moved from California to False Beach, Alabama with her moms about the time she started high school, and in that time the most important thing has becoming beating Shara Wheeler out for valedictorian of Willowgrove Christian Academy. Shara is the principal's daughter, and all-around False Beach golden girl. Chloe is the only out bisexual at Willowgrove and has a whole lot to prove. So when Shara kisses her and disappears shortly afterwards (about a month before graduation) Chloe is determined to find her, because Chloe Green doesn't win by default. She soon finds that Shara kissed two other people shortly before she left, and the three of them are thrown into a completely absurd scavenger hunt trying to put together the clues that Shara left behind. 

This book is ridiculous. It's also extremely fun. Much like One Last Stop this book is carried by its great supporting cast and the relationships between them. This book is very theatrical and over-the-top, and I found it to be a great time. Honestly the part I ended up caring about the least was the romance, which I found okay. This was a fun novel, although probably more of a summer read.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, 513 pages.

Henry "Monty" Montague is a known rake, known for an overindulgence in drinking, gambling, and general carousing with people of all genders. The next year is meant to be the best of his life, as he embarks on the Grand Tour across Europe with his best friend Percy, who he's been in love with for years, and his little sister, who they are meant to be dropping off at finishing school in France. A year seeing the world with his abusive father a continent away sounds like a dream come true and Monty is determined to enjoy it, even if at the end he has to leave Percy in Holland and won't get to see him constantly anymore. However, when one of Monty's impulsive actions turn their tour into something from an adventure novel things get more dangerous than he had ever expected. 

This is an extremely fun book. As much as Monty can be insufferable and self-centered at times, he is still absolutely a sympathetic character who goes through a lot of growth over the course of the novel. That being said, I liked almost all of the supporting characters more than Monty himself, and watching them interact was a lot of fun. I believe this is the first novel I've read about the Grand Tour, but it's practically made for a fun adventure like this.