Alexis: The Sins on Their Bones is a gorgeously written story about grief, abuse, and moving on from the past. ⁣ It has a loveable yet flawed cast of characters, a fantastically written evil villain, and enough humor to balance out the dark themes. ⁣(At one point, the main character, Dimitri, has to hold a goat, and it’s hilarious).  I loved the LGBTQ+ characters, the Jewish mythology, and the Russian-inspired world.  Samotin did an amazing job with the body horror elements in this. The descriptions are dark and gruesome—but I liked that the story isn’t dark just for the sake of it ..read more

Alexis: Last, Now, Next Last: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang  If you want to read a dark satire with an unlikeable main character that delves into the craziness of both the publishing and the writing world (especially online and on Twitter), this is for you. This book was crazy, timely, and easy to fly through! Now: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell  I’m only about a quarter way through this one, but it’s an LBGTQ, political space opera with an arranged marriage. I’ve been getting back into space operas and sci-fi, and I like this one so far. It’s definitely a little slow-paced and heavy o ..read more

Alexis: A Song of Salvation is my first Alechia Dow read, and umm, wow! I’m going to have to check out her other books! A Song of Salvation is a YA space opera. It has two primary POVs. The first is Zaira, the last of her species known as nightweavers…oh, and she’s also the reincarnation of a god named Indigo. The second is Wesley, an empath and a smuggler who loves ditching school to fly his ship. When Zaira and Wesley’s fates collide, alongside a celebrity podcaster named Rubin Rima, the fate of the universe rests in their hands as they vow to help Zaira defeat the god of destruction named O ..read more

Alexis: The Sunbearer Trials follows Teo, a 17-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of Quetzal, goddess of birds. This book is described as Percy Jackson meets The Hunger Games, and that’s the perfect description.  Synopsis from Goodreads:  As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of R ..read more