Review: "Unvarnished Faith" by Bill Yoh

 

Unvarnished Faith by Bill Yoh
Published January 2023 via River Grove Books
★★★

Unvarnished Faith chronicles Yoh's experience as a first-time missionary, chaperoning high-school students as they delivered food and supplies to impoverished areas of Nicaragua.

I have a somewhat complicated relationship with missionary memoirs. That is: they tend to be written by people whose experience of faith and religion is very different from mine, and I go into reading them with caution, because I'm not looking to be preached at and I am wary of stories about, you know, sweeping in and telling people about Jesus and sweeping out again and patting self on back. But I find religion, and people's experiences with religion (however far from my beliefs theirs might be), fascinating, and missionary memoirs intrigue me because...because it's an experience so different from my own, and because such books often take place in far-flung places, and because I am generally too curious for my own good. All of this is to say that I try to know when I'm not really the intended audience for things that I read, but curiosity killed the cat and all that and I do try to go in with eyes wide open.

Here's the odd thing: what I didn't know, going in, was that the book takes place in Nicaragua, or that Yoh was traveling with a group of teenagers—the description didn't say. But I actually went on a very similar trip when I was in high school: not a mission trip, some service involved, but mostly teenagers learning about contexts and lives very different than own own. (I even lived in North Carolina at the time, same as Yoh.) The trip I went on was about two weeks, split mostly between city (Managua) and countryside, and it was truly weird to read about such a similar trip, religion or not. Yoh's trip was six days long, and I do wish it had been longer (futile wish for a memoir!), just because with longer experiences it's possible to dive deeper into individuals' lives and stories. But he paces it well, mixing stories from the trip with his own religious journey and more general questions and discussion about what it means to do missionary work. (There's also quite a thorough discussion guide at the end, and a Q&A with Yoh.)

Yoh does take an eyes-wide-open approach to his missionary experience, too. In his case, he talks early and repeatedly about the similarities as well as differences in various religions and various sects of Christianity; he himself grew up in Episcopalian churches but later converted to Catholocism. He's also (thank sweet mercy) aware that the mission work he and his cohort were doing in Nicaragua was in the context of a country that is already heavily religious, and that "conversion" wasn't the point. And...again, as someone who isn't generally the "ideal audience" for missionary memoirs, it's lovely to read the sort of book where I feel as though I could feel comfortable having a conversation with the author about religion. Recommended for those interested in less didactic views of religion and mission work, and in a narrative that focuses less on plot and more on idea.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent" by Ann Jacobus

 

The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent by Ann Jacobus
Published March 2023 via Lerner
★★★★

4.5 stars. I adored Jacobus's first novel, Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, so I leapt at the chance to read The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent. It didn't disappoint.

Set in 2015, The Coldest Winter follows Del, who lives with her aunt Fran in San Francisco. With a complicated family history and her own struggles with depression, addiction, and anxiety, Del's not sure that her loved ones fully trust her with her life—and she's not sure they should, either. Still, Del's holding it together—until Fran is diagnosed with cancer, and Del's carefully crafted present and future start to crumble.

Until about the midpoint of the book, I wasn't sure about Del. One of the things I loved so much about Romancing the Dark was how distinct it felt from so much of the YA I've read—how much it felt like the protagonist had aged beyond her time. Del, too, has been through the wringer, but it's not until later in the book that that experience truly starts to shape her into who she can become.

When things get hard for Fran, though: that's when the book starts to sing. I spent 2022 in what we'll call a family cancer plotline of my own, and I'm not sure I would have been able to finish the book—wait, keep reading, that's a compliment—if Fran's cancer had been more similar to my family's experience. Del's grief, and perhaps more to the point her pre-grief, are palpable, and by the end of the book I could read only a few pages at a time before pausing and turning to something else for a few minutes. Only three books in the history of ever have made me cry, and I'm not looking to add to that list. If I'd stopped to think about it, I probably would have concluded that I wasn't in a place to read this right now—but it's just as well that I don't have a lot of bookish self-control. For all that this is set in 2015 (and there are reasons for that, but I won't spoil them), this is one of the most up-to-date looks at depression, grief, and (again, no spoilers) things surrounding those topics that I've seen in fiction in quite some time.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "This Book Kills" by Ravena Guron

This Book Kills by Ravena Guron
Published January 2023 via Usborne Publishing
★★★

Boarding school is supposed to be Jess's ticket to the top...but instead it looks like it might be a ticket to an early grave. A beloved student turns up dead—and Jess gets a message thanking her for the inspiration. Then there are threats, and more notes, and another dead student...and Jess has very good reason to think that she might be next.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book, to be honest. It's sometimes tongue-in-cheek (it's a ritzy boarding school, and there is literally a character named Clementine-Tangerine), and I do love a tongue-in-cheek boarding school mystery, but I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I'd known ahead of time that there was a secret society plotline—they're very common in boarding school books (far more common, I suspect, than real-life secret societies are...although the same can be said of a lot of common plotlines), but even with the twists here, such plotlines feel played out to me.

Beyond that, there are some nice red herrings and twists and turns, but my god that school is terrible. Students are being murdered, threats are being sent, and their best idea is 'well, if things get worse maybe we'll kick out the scholarship students who are receiving threats'? Oh dear. And I'm just now realizing how little time Jess & co. spend in class or doing homework, as opposed to running around trying to figure out which Gifted and Talented student might be a murderer.

Quick read, but not one that will stay with me.

Review: "Don't Think, Dear" by Alice Robb

 

Don't Think, Dear by Alice Robb
Published 28 February 2023 via Mariner Books
★★★★

Alice Robb was one of Balanchine's girls: as a student at the School of American Ballet, it didn't matter that Balanchine had been dead twenty years; his ghost still roamed the halls, and girls clustered, breathless, around dancers who once upon a time had studied with Balanchine, who could impart his wisdom.

Robb didn't make it as a professional dancer. Ultimately, her body was not built for the exacting requirements demanded of Balanchine's ballerinas, and she moved on to other things. Yet ballet had wrapped its pointe ribbons around her soul—she could leave ballet, but it would not leave her. Thus this book: Don't Think, Dear is part memoir of being a student, part dive into the history of Balanchine and all that surrounded him: the New York City Ballet, the School of American Ballet, the Balanchine technique (which enabled dancers to perform surprising new feats, but at a steep cost to their bodies), the way Balanchine demanded dangerous thinness and complete submission of his dancers.

I've read many, many ballet memoirs (though I'm no former dancer—I took one community class as a kid, then moved on to other activities—I just have arbitrary interests), but I am *quite* sure that Robb has read many, many more ballet memoirs than I have. If you too have read more than your fair share, you'll recognize some of the material Robb quotes from but also find yourself highlighting passages or folding down corners as you find new things to read. I admit that my knowledge of past generations of ballet dancers is not as sharp as it could be, and it was fascinating to read about Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Alonso in particular—the former, famed for her artistry but prepared to throw it all away for a toxic marriage; the latter, refusing to let increasing blindness keep her off the stage.

If Chloe Angyal's Turning Pointe was a bit too much modern history and not enough memoir for you, but you want something more contemplative than a standard ballet memoir—or if you're interested in hearing more stories that don't read like a litany of successful performances with the occasional worrying injury thrown in—Don't Think, Dear makes for a compelling middle ground of personal narrative and broader view. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to peruse Robb's bibliography...

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Lola at Last" by J.C. Peterson

 

Lola at Last by J.C. Peterson
Published February 2023 via HarperTeen
★★★★

Things are not going well for Lola Barnes.

On paper, Lola has it made. She's recently returned from a year in France, she's prepared to do whatever it takes to reclaim her queen bee spot at her California school, and her family is in a position—financial and otherwise—to fund whatever adventures she can dream up.

But paper doesn't always match reality, and Lola is still feeling the sting of the events that saw her whisked off to France. Now she's home (no more the French sophisticate than she was to begin with) her former friends don't want to rekindle their friendship, and oh, there's the little matter of accidentally setting a boat on fire. A boat that turns out to belong to Lola's brother-in-law. And any plans Lola had for the summer, or for regaining her popular-party-girl reputation, are well and truly sunk.

Now, I'll be honest: I read Being Mary Bennet last year, and when I saw that Peterson had followed up with Lydia/Lola's story, I flung the book bodily onto my to-read shelf without reading the rest of the description. (It's a risky move, but when it pays off...) So you can imagine my delight when it turned out that Lola's punishment/last-ditch effort at forcing her to build some character involved a summer of hiking and camping and learning to set sanctioned fires. Be still my beating heart. (This sounds sarcastic, but it's not—truly, give me all the books where the characters spend their time tromping about in the woods. Better, give me a tent and some woods without wild boars to read those books in.)

Be warned: Lola is exhausting. She has to be exhausting, mind, because she's Lydia Bennet incarnate, and if she were anything other than exhausting—and energetic, and petty, and shallow—she'd be a disappointment. It's a story best read after setting aside the need to love the protagonist from beginning to end. But Peterson walks a masterful line here, allowing Lola to be all of those things (some of them right to the end of the book) while also allowing Lola the complexity that comes with self-awareness, and loyalty, and (eventually) genuine desire to be something other than the story that has been written for her. Plus, Lola is self-aware enough to be funny, and that alone makes up for a multitude of sins. Did not disappoint.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "A Tale of Two Princes" by Eric Geron

 

A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron
Published January 2023 via Inkyard Press
★★

Two boys: One is first in line for the Canadian throne, and the other is first in line to take over the family ranch in Montana. But they're in for some upheaval, because it turns out that the Montana cowboy is actually the twin of the Canadian prince...the older twin.

Now...I think this was going for something along the lines of American Royals, but with gay twins as the leads. And I'm here for that! But it landed somewhere closer to The Princess Problem, and I'm...less here for that.

Billy: I'm not sure about it either. I'm supposed to be crown prince? And I only have about two weeks to prepare? I don't think I'm qualified.

Edward: Certainly not. It's...interesting...that I have a new brother and all, but a glorified maple ranch hand? And one who's older than I am?

The king: Now, now. Just because we didn't know your brother existed until now doesn't mean that he isn't far more important than you are. Run along.

Edward: Wait...but...I've been training my whole maple life for this.

The queen: We know, dear. But didn't you hear your father? You're just the maple spare now. You don't matter.

Pax: Oh my goddddddd honey! We're going to New York! I'm sooooo glad you get to take your bestie along!

Billy: Wait, New York? I thought I was a prince of Canada. We're not going to, like Ottawa? Or Toronto?

The king: Of course not. Why the maple would we spend time there? As Canadian royals, we conduct our business from New York. Obviously. We don't actually know anything about Canada.

Edward: We do know about hockey, Nanaimo bars, and French! And maple syrup, of course.

Billy: Uh, okay, I guess. Hey, it's not going to be a big problem if I don't get everything exactly right, is it? Since I'm new and all.

The king: All we care about is what the maple tabloids are saying. If you can't please the tabloids—

The queen: —the monarchy will fall, and it will be all your fault.

The king: But we're sure you're up to the task of learning fluent French, acing a PhD-level exam on the history of our maple monarchy, memorizing the names and statistics of every member of Canada's seven national hockey teams, maintaining a 4.0, and putting in at least 80 hours of volunteering and charitable events.

The queen: You have two weeks to get all that done. Your brother will help, since he has nothing better to do now. He might not even try to stab you in the back! And don't forget to smile for the cameras—oh. Not like that, dear. Smile like you mean it.

Pax: It's okay, honey! I am an authentic ray of maple sunshine and I can teach you everything you need to know about smiling with authenticity!

Edward: I swoon for that authenticity. I'm okay with giving up the maple crown if I can bask in that glow.

Billy: What's with all the maple? It can't just be the maple syrup.

Edward: It's our national symbol, obviously. And one of the only things we know about our country. And the word appears approximately 213 times in the book, so it seemed important to get it into this review about as many times.

Here are the other 202 uses: maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple crown maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple leaf maple maple maple maple maple maple butter maple maple maple maple maple maple maple syrup maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple print maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple online maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple underwear maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple bacon maple maple maple maple maple maple tree maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple sugar maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple maple

Review: "The Hard Parts" by Oksana Masters

The Hard Parts by Oksana Masters
Published 7 February 2023 via Scribner
★★★★

All you need to do to know that Masters is an exceptional athlete is look at her Wikipedia page: medal, medal, medal, medal... Her first athletic love was rowing, but a combination of injury and delight in having a challenge led her to skiing and cycling.

But "The Hard Parts" isn't about that, not really. Sports matter in this book—they became a vital outlet for Masters, and a way of proving to herself that she was capable and powerful—but Masters didn't have an easy or direct road to them, and in fact the "hard parts" were the dominating parts for much of her childhood. Born in Ukraine, in the shadow of Chernobyl, Masters had physical deformities that in a place with limited resources meant being consigned to an orphanage and...well, given up on, I suppose. Treated as disposable. I think it would be disservice to Masters to try to explain her particular circumstances in detail—I'd rather leave it to the words she uses herself in the book—but I will say that the orphanage lived up to nearly every grim expectation and stereotype you might have of an orphanage in Eastern Europe immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and that Masters was the size of an average three-year-old when she was adopted at the age of seven.

I wondered, early on in the book, if it was doing itself a disservice by taking a chronological form rather than shifting back and forth between Masters' life in the US and her childhood in Ukraine, but the farther I got in the more I understood that she was in fact doing that—laying the foundation and then making smaller shifts back and forth to illustrate how the abuse and neglect of her childhood continued to affect her, and how she was able to gradually process it. Intermingled with this, of course, is Masters' introduction to the world of the Paralympics, some of which is so completely infuriating: she notes, for example, that her Team USA gear was first team uniform she'd ever worn, because she'd never truly been allowed to participate in school. It's illustrative of this odd irony, I think, one that must be true for many people with disabilities: that her options were to compete at the highest level or not at all. She happened to have the talent and the drive and the creativity to compete at that high level.

There's so much that I want to say here—like, I'm fascinated by the way that Masters describes some of para-athleticism as being a matter of figuring out how to make a given sport work best for her body's strengths and weaknesses and quirks; obviously able-bodied athletes also work to their strengths and so on, but the potential for variation with para-athletes seems to be on a different level. But in the spirit of not accidentally writing a dissertation about a book (...wouldn't be the first time...), I'll leave off on an important note: that Masters' mother is an absolute hero of this story, as fierce an advocate as any child could hope for.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Slava: After the Fall" by Pierre-Henry Gomont

Slava: After the Fall by Pierre-Henry Gomont
English edition published January 2023 via Europe Comics
★★★

It's the 90s, the Soviet Union has fallen, and a new power has taken hold: capitalism. Slava, once an artist, is caught in this shifting landscape, learning to broker sketchy deals but uncertain of just how far along the capitalism scale he is willing to go.



The tale is about as lighthearted as it can be under the circumstances, though the humor is not always to my tastes (and the book definitely does not pass the Bechdel test). In terms of art style, my favorite parts by far were the moments that Gomont pulled back to show us the sweep of a mountain, or a city, or a mine—such dramatic scenery, and sometimes dramatic architecture, in what is at times a dark story. (Honestly, with the first sweeping snow scenes I thought, "Maybe he'll turn the Dyatlov Pass story into a comic!"—but that's just my pet obsessions showing through.) Worth the read for those sweeping images alone.



I'm grateful for the author's note at the beginning, which provides a bit of context and sets both scene and expectations for the rest of the book. This is a story about people caught in history's shackles, he writes, and that seems about right. The characters in this book would all be themselves in a different context, but if they had different opportunities and options...well, many of them would not be in the positions that they find themselves in for these hundred-odd pages. The story is not about today's Russia (although Gomont touches on the "idiotic war" in the author's note), but it feels timely nonetheless—small cogs in a huge machine, making the choices they need to, or think they need to, to get by.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Jane Eyre" (manga adaptation) by Charlotte Brontë, adapted by Crystal Chan and SunNeko Lee

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, adapted by Crystal Chan & SunNeko Lee
Published 2016 via Manga Classics
★★★

Manga Jane Eyre! This is something of a first for me: I've read Jane Eyre many times, and I've read many adaptations of Jane Eyre—including at least one graphic novel—but I've read very very very little manga, let alone a manga adaptation of my all-time favorite book.

It's a very well-done adaptation. It hews closely to the original text, making cuts to keep the length manageable but keeps the critical moments, from Jane's time in the red room to the little (and big) dramas of Lowood to Thornfield Hall to (ugh) St. John. No surprises, no "creative" interpretations, and clean and pretty illustrations.

I did struggle in places with the way Jane is drawn. In the book, she's considered very plain; in the manga adaptation, her "plainness" is really visible only in her clothing choices and hairstyle. (My s.o. suggests that her rounder face shape—relative to, say, Blanche Ingram—is meant to indicate plainness, but as far as I'm concerned it just makes Jane entirely adorable...not plain.) Similarly, Rochester is written to be kind of rough-looking, and something like twice Jane's age, but here he's basically a dashing young man. That said: I'm not sure how much could realistically be done there to keep the story true to manga's classic style as well as to Jane Eyre. (I would have loved a full-color version and was sorry to learn that full-color manga is the exception rather than the rule.)

There are a couple of other places where manga's style and Jane's style seem to clash a bit—every time adult Jane shouts and rages, basically. One of the things I've always loved about Jane as a character is how measured she is, and self-sufficient, and...that's still largely true, but with extra doses of drama and flirtation. (Mr. Rochester, though: it's a good thing that I've never been a fan of him, because here he is something of a tantrum-throwing, skeezy old guy with a good skin care routine who likes to throw his weight around. It should tell you something about how I feel about the Rochester of the original book that that's not a criticism of the manga.)

I can't say that this will mark a shift to me reading lots of manga...but I might save some of the pictures of Jane to use as fodder for my (so far futile) attempts to learn to draw more than a stick figure.

Review: "Secrets and Gold" by Claire Ellis

 

Secrets and Gold by Claire Ellis
Illustrations by Jacquie Hughes
Published February 2023 via Cherish Editions
★★★

In the vein of Rupi Kaur, Bridgett Devoue, or Amanda Lovelace, Secrets and Gold leans into short, social-media-style poetry on themes of love, friendship, religion, and growth. A number of the friendship/romance poems can be read as written either about people in Ellis's life or about Jesus/God—I wasn't sure at first if I was reading too much into those (I've been reading some things with heavily religious themes recently), but some more overtly religious pages make me think this is intentional.

There are some lovely lines, like this from the poem "Grief Is Like Glitter": Glitter gets everywhere / sparkling, sweet and bitter (73).* Other poems, like "Pity Chorus" and "In Praise of Darkness," provide some food for thought. Generally, though, I tend to prefer poems that make me work for it—maybe it's the English grad in me, but I love being able to dissect a poem and find all its nuances, to think about different possible meanings and how the author constructed each line and chose each word. (It's one of the many reasons I think poetry is so hard to write: the fewer the words, the more each one has to count.) That's harder to do when poems are only a couple of lines or a short sentence long, and at times I found myself wondering what could have been made of some of these poems if connected into longer pieces. Readers who are fond of short and sweet, though, may find this a good fit.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

*Mine is a review copy, so the final text may differ.

Review: "Unspeakable" by Jessica Willis Fisher

Unspeakable by Jessica Willis Fisher
Published November 2022 via Thomas Nelson
★★★

3.5 stars. Fisher grew up in a context that most of us can only imagine: her family was large, talented, and driven, and she was on stage—and then on TV—from a young age. But behind the picture-perfect front was something else that nobody wants to imagine: abuse that pervaded Fisher's earliest memories, that spread silently through her family, each affected daughter, or child, thinking it’s just me.

In Unspeakable, Fisher puts to words all those things that she couldn’t say for years and years, things that were hidden behind a veneer of religion and smiles and, yes, a TLC show. And it is a complicated story: family trauma, money, and abuse that nobody around them wanted to see. I looked up a couple of old performances after reading this, and it's jarring to think about what Fisher and her siblings—some of them very young children—faced when they got off the stage and could wipe their performance-ready smiles off their faces. Jarring and terribly, terribly sad.

It sounds like some of the complicated parts of the story continue. Even before her father's crimes became public knowledge, Fisher was semi-estranged from her family; I watched, too, some interviews that the other older siblings gave after the fact, and it sounds like they are still trying to put on a good face for the public but have extensive work to do behind the scenes to heal both individually and collectively. Fisher does not try to tell anyone else's story, and I would not be surprised if some of her siblings eventually choose to tell their own stories in similar form. Where Fisher goes from here remains to be seen, but it's a safe guess to say that there will be creative work involved.

Review: "Dino Stud" by Lola Faust

Dino Stud by Lola Faust
Published February 2023 via Storm Crow Press
★★★★

There are only two pieces of information that you need to decide if this is the book for you:

1) The cover

2) The fact that the promotional materials for the book include the following "advance praise":

★★★★★ "Exactly what you think it is!" - Reader review
★ "Oh my dear lord. Tiktok sent me here and now my life is worse for it" - Reader review

If you see all that and laugh, you're in the right place. If not, well. I can't help you. This is basically...well, take Jurassic Park and throw in a twist or two and a saucy romance. The writing is on par with any other self-aware romance novel, but the plot doesn't make all that much sense, and the entire thing takes place over the span of about a day (insta-love galore). But then...I didn't read it for anything to make sense, and I can safely say that I got what I came for.

Now. Quibbles. There must be quibbles:
- I would have liked more dinosaurs.
- The book could have been a bit smuttier. (If the heroine has to go commando in the rush to flee a rampaging dino, surely it's not too much to ask that that comes into play later...)
- More camp! Reid has a gallery of dinosaur paintings—is there really not an etching among them?

Whether or not I can recommend this to you depends entirely on your sense of humor (and perhaps your kinks, but those are none of my business). If the cover is ever turned into postcards, though, I will be buying a pack and sending them without explanation to everyone I know.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Friday I'm in Love" by Camryn Garrett

 

Friday I'm in Love by Camryn Garrett
Published January 2023 via Alfred A. Knopf
★★★

Mahalia knows what she wants: she wants Siobhan, the new girl, to reciprocate her interest; she wants a sweet sixteen party like the one her best friend just threw; she wants a little less struggle and a little more sublime. Mahalia also knows what she can't have: Siobhan might or might not be interested in girls, but she has a boyfriend; Mahalia and her mother are getting by, but they're living just above paycheck-to-paycheck, and that doesn't leave thousands of dollars to pour into a party; and, well, none of that seems likely to change anytime soon.

But Mahalia's nothing if not determined, and she sets herself a party budget and a theme—it's a little late for a sweet sixteen, but a coming-out party sounds even better—and gets to planning.

I read this on the strength of 1) the author's first book and 2) the cover. And it's a lot of fun—Mahalia's high-energy but also pretty...realistic? That is, she understands that her mother can't put a lot of money toward things that are want rather than need, but she sometimes also resents that fact. She knows there's a point to which she'll have to scale down her party dreams, but what that looks like in practice hasn't quite registered.

I could have used a bit more space to get to know Siobhan, as well as some of the supporting characters, but I'm intrigued by the budgeting that takes place throughout the book—we see Mahalia's bank balance fluctuate as she earns money, spends money, saves money, faces the unexpected. Nice (if, honestly, a bit stressful) to see her realistically attitude toward it: she knows what's in the bank, she knows what her financial limits are, but she doesn't have the experience or the full perspective to budget in detail.

One thing about the cover: gorgeous though it is, it doesn't reflect the fact that Mahalia is described as being plus-sized. It's the second book I've read in the past week where that's the case, and, like...remember when Bloomsbury tried to whitewash Liar? Can we stop with the thin-washing as well?

Review: "Olympic Enemies" by Rebecca J. Caffery

Olympic Enemies by Rebecca J. Caffery
Released 6 February 2023 via The Wild Rose Press
★★★

Oliver and Lucas don't get along—they never have. Lucas has a chip on his shoulder the size of Wales and resents the fact that his gymnastics teammates haven't had to do as much as he has to get by; Oliver, as team captain, resents the fact that Lucas doesn't want to be best mates with the rest of the team.

I'm no gymnastics expert: I took a gymnastics class as a kid and was fast-tracked into the "you are too incompetent to ever turn a cartwheel" group (literally, they taught us "modified cartwheels" because they didn't think we had the talent for anything more complex), and that was the end of my gymnastics career. But I have a soft spot for gymnastics books, and it's rare to find one about men's gymnastics. The difference is fascinating to me for a couple of reasons, starting with that gymnastics is a rare sport in which women get more attention than men...but also because male gymnasts, who are usually older than female gymnasts, often get a very different training approach—they're allowed to have things like friends, and opinions, and maybe even occasional carbs. (They have some sport-specific similarities, too, like small stature—successful gymnasts tend to be on the short side because being short makes rotating midair easier. Something to do with center of gravity and other physics-related things!)

So here we have a book about two male gymnasts (plus their teammates), complete with pommel horse and rings. It will resonate well with fans of enemies-to-lovers books, I think; there's a great deal of screaming at each other and smoldering gazes before they get on with the boinking. For people more interested in gymnastics, though, I'd probably take a pass—it was hard to believe that these Olympic athletes in a body-focused sport were, well, Olympic athletes in a body-focused sport. A bit too much gorging on fast food, getting drunk as a skunk just days before competition, and the coach(!) covering for Oliver and Lucas when they bailed on practice(!), at least for my tastes. This is a book in which the heroes are tall and strapping, as befits a romance novel, but not necessarily as befits a book about gymnasts. My priority is the characters flipping through the air, but if your priority is the characters flipping out, flipping each other off, and then flipping naked into bed, this might be a better fit for you.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Poūkahangatus" by Tayi Tibble

Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble
First published 2018
★★★★

This collection makes for a searing exploration of identity (and identity politics), race, gender, sexuality, and more. First published in Australia, it made its US debut last year, and upon finishing it I immediately checked the availability of her second collection. The poems vary in form and content, but each is tightly woven, tightly wrangled.

I always approach poetry with some trepidation, because verse is not a language I speak fluently—B1 at best, and even that is pushing it. But at the very least I can tell what sort of language speaks to me, makes me want to read more, and Tibble is doing that here.

I am the dress you wear / to your funeral / I am the dress you wear / then it comes off (35)

Once Mum tried / to scare my sister and me by grabbing us / as we finished our makeup in the bathroom. / I froze and tried to slip down the wall. My sister / punched her in the nose. Not sure who learned / what that day, but she's fire and I'm stone. (63)