sashahc's reviews
189 reviews

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

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emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Ander & Santi Were Here" by Jonny Garza Villa is a beautiful and incredibly funny romance between two teens: a non-binary Mexican-American and an undocumented Mexican boy both living in San Antonio.  There is an incredibly supportive family that gives shade like they are professionals.  There are queer friends and mentors and so much Spanglish.  There is fcking ICE.  The book overflows with art and food and music.  Do yourself a favor and read it.
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We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The new Cat Sebastian "We Could Be So Good" was lovely as usual.  I stayed up WAY TOO LATE reading it.  1959 queer newspaper romance in NYC.  Lots of dealing with the public notice of homosexuality.  There are great friends and complicated family and plenty of old trauma.
By Her Own Design by Piper Huguley

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I just read “By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register” by Piper Huguley.  It’s a fictionalized memoir of a real person.  Ann Lowe was a Black woman and granddaughter of enslaved peoples who designed bespoke clothing for the New York elite, including the wedding dress of Jackie Kennedy.  It’s a fascinating story and character.  After I read it, I looked up an interview with Ann Lowe in Ebony and whether it was true in the details, the book definitely seemed to capture her spirit.
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Happy Snak by Nicole Kimberling

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 It’s a fun sci-fi cozy called “Happy Snak” by Nicole Kimberling.  The basic premise is Becky Chambers x Legends and Lattes.  A cranky fast food joint owner on a space station gets unwillingly caught up in alien politics that she doesn’t understand when all she wants to do is repair her deep fryer and sell tasty things.   Bonus points for the repeated idea that “Snacks are freedom!” Quirky, great world building, and overall fun.
Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum, Sara Waxelbaum

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Not a Sci Fi, but I just read a very cute queer YA romance.  It’s called “Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl” by Brianna Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum and the main characters are queer and neurodivergent and Jewish.  There is no homophobia (though some biphobia), just typical teen angst.  I love that one of the main characters is high femme and popular and autistic, because it’s a combo you just don’t usually see.  The writing is deliciously sarcastic and funny enough that I’ve been texting Leah screenshots.    Anyway, if you need a delightful brain break on this, our Pride Month, I recommend it. #book

ETA: Nyx just finished it and declared it “Glorious.”
The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

“The Glass Magician” by Caroline Stevermer is a gilded age fantasy whose main character is a spunky woman vaudeville stage magician who finds out she may have inherited some real magic.  There’s mystery and monsters and minor mayhem.  It’s got fun world building and it’s a very easy read without boring tropes.  It made a great plane book.
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sometimes there are those who would rather burn the world down than bend to it.  Wyatt, MC of the "The Witch King" by HE Edgmon, is a trans witch with a predestined royal love, uncontrollable magic powers, and rage for days.  This one is an epic urban fantasy / portal fantasy about fighting tooth and nail for who you really are and who you love and deciding if the world is really worth saving or not.  Wyatt's best friend is an absolute keeper and brings the levity to what could otherwise be a heavy.  This is the best kind of epic YA #PridesSFF #book, full of teenage angst and power.
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Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Black Water Sister" by Zen Cho is about "gods, ghosts, gangsters, and grandmas".  Jessamyn Teoh is a closeted queer zillennial who moves with her family back to Malaysia after graduating college.  She is soon haunted (literally) by her bossy dead grandmother, Ah Ma, who used to be a medium for local deity Black Water Sister.  Ah Ma cannot cross into the afterlife unless Jessamyn takes revenge on a real estate developer with plans to demolish Black Water Sister's temple.  Antics abound!  The #book has a lovely dry sense of humor and explores the complexities of generational politics and being an outsider in one's own country.
Girls at the Edge of the World by Laura Brooke Robson

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 “Girls at the Edge of the World” by Laura Brooke Robson is hard to classify.  Fantasy but not high fantasy.  Queer.  Just pre-apocalypse.  Solemn and sweet.  It has some predictable beats, but in the end, isn’t at all.  It is an intimate story within a larger catastrophe that leaves a lot deliberately unexplained.  Anyway, I enjoyed it.
The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


“The Ballad of Perilous Graves” by Alex Jennings is described by the author as “a Blaxploitation Pippi Longstocking adventure, where nine songs have escaped from Professor Longhair's Magic Piano, and my Pippi character and her friends have to capture the songs and return them before the city they live in ceases to exist.”  It features a magical New Orleans overlaying our own that is driven by music.  There are haints, zombies, streetcars in the air, living graffiti, and the Storm.  New Orleans is as much a character in this book as anyone else, and it’s a delight to read a love letter to the city.  It combines folk tales, blues and jazz, smart ass kids saving the world, and a trans MC.  It represents some of the best aspects of this golden age of SFF and it’s a whole lot of fun.