Books shelved under “Friendship”

Sometimes you can’t shake the idea that you’ve forgotten something. In Ruined History, the sixth book of The Chronicles of Nerezia, this feeling haunts Aliyah quite literally. As they navigate the expectations placed upon them by friends and foe, they learn a lot about themselves—but there is still so much missing. Claudie Arseneault’s storytelling continues to be a fun combination of thoughtful, creative, and fulfilling. I received an eARC in exchange for a (long…

As always, a new Holly Bourne novel is an instabuy for me at this point. One thing I have loved about Bourne is how she has rigorously pursued her own eras to an almost Taylor Swiftian degree: from her young adult novels to her novels about single women in their late twenties and early thirties to this, a novel about women having (and not having) kids. While perhaps a slightly chrononormative progression, that’s the only…

If I claimed to remember anything of Baker Thief, Claudie Arseneault’s aspec mystery romp involving a genderfluid baker, I would be lying. Five years is too long for this reader to remember details of books. Nevertheless, when Arseneault announced a sequel to this story, I jumped at the chance to read a review copy. Painted Flock is just as enjoyable and fun as my review of Baker Thief tells me I found that book.…

What’s that, did Kara wait four years to read a sequel again? Yes, yes she did. My bad. I enjoyed Victories Greater Than Death enough to buy Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak because the library didn’t have it. Clearly, though, I have dragged my feet on reading it, and I am regret. Charlie Jane Anders’s young adult science-fiction series about queer teenagers leaving Earth to discover an interstellar society at war is … wow.

This book…

What would you do to belong? And what would you do if you thought you didn’t belong, in fact that your attempts to belong had harmed the very people you love the most? The second Chronicles of Nerezia novella this year and the fifth overall in the series, Motes of Inspiration struck a chord in me unlike any of the entries since Awakenings. After several competent, entertaining, yet fairly straightforward entries in a row,…

Last year I reviewed the internet’s favourite ace dad’s book I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life. Now, Cody Daigle-Orians is back with The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide: Making It Work in Friendship, Love, and Sex. While both books are aimed at aspec readers, this latter is a more focused and broader exploration of the nature of relationships—of all kinds—as an acespec or arospec person. Jessica Kingsley Publishers has…

What’s worse than not having a place in the world? Finding your place only to feel like it might be ripped away from you. Claudie Arseneault dangles this prospect in front of readers with Flooded Secrets, the second book in her Chronicles of Nerezia series of novellas. I was impressed by Awakenings because it felt so cozy. This book builds on that success while also revealing the first layer of even more potent themes…

What’s better than a romcom? A story about friendship in the style of a romcom. Dear Wendy checks off so many boxes that it’s actually eerie: aro/ace protagonists, supportive secondary cast, plenty of humour, and a compassionate story to its core. This was one of my most-anticipated books of 2024, and that does not surprise me. I received an eARC from NetGalley and publisher Feiwel & Friends in exchange for a review.

Sophie and Jo…

Where do I start? Do I lament sheepishly how I’ve slept on bell hooks my entire adult life, and it is only now, at thirty-three, now that she has passed, that I’ve made time to read even one of her books? Do I confess that this was a revelation, that it was exactly the book I needed here and now? This review will be purely encomium, for that is what I feel about All About…

Once more, Holly Bourne has done the nearly impossible: she has made me feel sympathy for the plight of white straight cis women.

Fern is thirty-one at the beginning of Girl Friends (published as When We Were Friends in North America, but I didn’t realize it was being published here simultaneously and pre-ordered a UK copy instead). Her best friend from adolescence, Jessica, suddenly re-enters her life. But Jessica used to be a hot mess,…

This book had me at its opening scene, set in a tea store, where Darius talks to us for the first of many times about his love for properly steeped looseleaf teas. But then it had to go and introduce frequent, detailed allusions to Star Trek: The Next Generation, complete with Darius declaring that Captain Picard is the best captain, and … reader, at that point, I would have hid a dead body for…

Ordinarily, a book with this kind of ending angers me, but I think I was already angry with The Subtweet—in a good way. Ironically it took a Scot recommending me, a Canadian, this book by fellow Canadian author Vivek Shraya. So it goes. I was asking for recommendations for novels by trans authors that aren’t about “trans stuff.” As much as I love reading about trans experiences from trans authors, I believe it is…

I think I finally have the answer if someone ever asks me who my favourite poet is. Longtime readers of my reviews will know of my ambivalence towards poetry. I don’t want to malign an entire form, yet at the same time poetry has never transported me the same way a novel does. Until, that is, I started reading amanda lovelace’s poems. My reviews of the mermaid’s voice returns in this one and her earlier…

This is my 1700th review per my website’s official count (counts on other places, like Goodreads and The StoryGraph, might be slightly off because of import issues/what gets counted as a “review”)!! I didn’t choose Bookishly Ever After for my 1700th review on purpose, but I couldn’t think of a more deserving book for this arbitrary milestone. Lucy Powrie concludes the trilogy began in The Paper & Hearts Society and furthered in Read with Pride…

I have listened to Jenn and Trin’s Friendshipping podcast for a couple of years now. I adore it, mostly for their amusing and endearing banter, but also for their compassionate takes on listener questions about doing friendship—I enjoy their emphasis on this idea that friendship is a verb, because I agree. So when I heard they had turned their podcast into a self-help book, I pre-ordered the hell out of it—and I was also fortunate…

Every writer with each novel hones their craft. One of my joys in writing reviews of each of an author’s novels, in the order they’ve been written, is getting to see that development over time. (Meanwhile, my own review-writing skills have developed and changed over the years.) In Non Pratt’s case, Every Little Piece of My Heart showcases how her talents at characterization and particularly perspective have evolved over the years. With each novel, Pratt…

I was so excited to read the sequel to The Paper & Hearts Society, and Lucy Powrie does not disappoint. Read with Pride is another perfect blend of young adult drama, social awareness, and of course, a shameless love of books.

Olivia Santos (confirmed demisexual, woo!) learns at the start of Year Eleven that her school now requires parental permission to borrow books from the library—all because one parent complained about her son having…

Longtime Twitter follower of Hannah Moskowitz, first time reader. Why did I pick Not Otherwise Specified? No idea! This was the one that came up and got added to my to-read list. No regrets.

Trigger warning, obviously, for discussions of eating disorder and weight loss. Also for use of potential queer slurs, bullying, and depictions of controlling/manipulative behaviour from friends.

Etta Sinclair is a Black, bisexual girl at an all-girls school. Her decision to…

Let’s start with this: The Paper & Hearts Society is the kind of book I would have definitely loved as a teenager. Lucy Powrie combines her love of contemporary young adult fiction and classics with a captivating story of moving on from fractured friendships and bullying to create a great story brimming with allusions.

Tabby Brown is a fifteen-year-old book nerd moving to a new town over the summer. Somewhat introverted and anxious, Tabby isn't…

Having not read the graphic novels that started this series, I can’t compare them to Giant Days the novel. Nevertheless, the fingerprints of comic form are all over this book. By this I mean that Non Pratt manages to replicate the slight zaniness inherent in any comic universe, even one purporting to be as prosaic as a story about three people in university. This shouldn’t always work in the novel form (it’s why so many…