Review: The Prospects is a tender queer sports romance

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

Title: The Prospects
Author: K.T. Hoffman
Genre/s and tags: Adult, contemporary, romance, sports fiction, LGBTQ+
Publisher: Dial Press
Publication date: April 9, 2024
Content warnings: transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, panic attacks/anxiety attacks, injuries, sexual content (open door), ageism
Goodreads synopsis: 

The pressure cooker of minor league baseball leads to major chemistry in this exhilarating, sexy, and triumphant rivals to lovers debut romance.

Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.

Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis makes feel possible.

A joyful, heartfelt debut rom-com revealing what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences.

A big thank you to the publisher and Colored Pages Book Tours for sending
an e-ARC my way in exchange for an honest review!
(This, of course, did not affect my overall opinion of the book.)

Hello book nerds! I’m back with another book review and recommendation. But this time, it’s a queer sports romance! Now, I don’t read a lot of queer sports romance, but somehow I always end up really enjoying the ones I read (*cough*All for the Game, Like Real People Do*cough). This book is no exception! I’m talking about The Prospects!

The Prospects is a tender and wholesome queer sports romance novel that surprised me. It’s about baseball and optimism. It’s also about queer love, and most of all, it’s about hope.

Review: The Diablo’s Curse is a brilliant follow-up to The Wicked Bargain

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Title: The Diablo’s Curse
Author: Gabe Cole Novoa
Genre/s and tags: Young adult, fantasy, historical, paranormal/supernatural, romance, queer, Latine/x
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: February 20, 2024
Content warnings: miscarriage, childbirth, violence, blood, death, injuries, gore, sexual content (consensual/fade to black)
Goodreads synopsis: 

From the author of The Wicked Bargain comes a high-stakes race to defeat a curse designed to kill about a teen demon who wants to be human, a boy cursed to die young, and the murderous island destined to bury them both.

Dami is a demon determined to cancel every deal they’ve ever made in order to tether their soul to earth and become human again. There’s just one person standing in their Silas. An irresistibly (and stubborn) cute boy cursed to die young, except for the deal with Dami that is keeping him alive. If they cancel the deal, Silas is dead. Unless… they can destroy the curse that has plagued Silas’s family for generations. But to do so, Dami and Silas are going to have to work together. That is, if the curse doesn’t kill them first. . . .

A big thank you to the publisher and Turn the Page Tours for sending
an e-ARC my way in exchange for an honest review!
(This, of course, did not affect my overall opinion of the book.)

Hello book nerds! Happy 2024! And would you look at that? It’s my first official review of the year in this blog! And I am so excited that this is a review for none other than this book.

The Wicked Bargain was one of my top reads last year. I was fortunate enough to read it in advance (see my review here), and do an interview with the author, Gabe Cole Novoa (see the interview here). So when I heard that there was an upcoming sequel to The Wicked Bargain, and it’s about beloved genderfluid demon Dami, I was ECSTATIC! Lo and behold, The Diablo’s Curse makes it to my top reads this year as well!

(But first, thank you so much to Turn the Page Tours for including me in the Paparazzi Tour of The Diablo’s Curse! My main tour stop is on Instagram, and make sure to check out the tour schedule for more reviews and content!)

The Diablo’s Curse is brimming with magic, adventure, and heart. It is a delightful and brilliant follow-up to the story of the beloved character we first met in The Wicked Bargain.

Book Bingo and Reading Challenge: #ReadQueerly2024

Hello book nerds! I am back with another queer book reading challenge!

I can’t believe I’m once again doing this queer book reading challenge and in the fourth year now! What once started as a personal reading challenge is now a challenge for hundreds of others. So if you’ve joined us for the past years, thank you! And if you’re here again and ready to join, I hope you enjoy another year! 🏳️‍🌈📚

Review: For The Win shows the good and the bad of young love

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Title: For The Win: The Not-So-Epic Quest Of A Non-Playable Character
Author: Catherine Dellosa
Genre/s and tags: Young adult, contemporary, romance, video games, geeks, POC, Filipino, mythology
Publisher: Penguin SEA
Publication date: November 14, 2023
Content warnings: minor sexual content, alcohol
Goodreads synopsis: 

Eighteen-year-old Nathaniel Carpio has been having chicken inasal with his best friend Elena Dizon at their favourite sidewalk grillery for four years now, and he likes that things are always the same. But then, on a particularly bad day, Lena whips out a silly “six-peso coin” to comfort him, and—with the moment holding nothing and everything at the same time—Nat realizes that he’s fallen in love with her.

It only makes sense that when Tala Tales Games—local developer of their favourite real-time strategy game Mitolohiya—offers college scholarships to a select few, the two of them should go for it, right? Nat certainly thinks so—there’s nothing better than spending the rest of his life with Lena doing something they both love.

But just when Nat’s game plan is coming along nicely, in pops a new challenger—Rafael Antonio, the world-renowned Filipino voice actor for the hero Apolaki in Mitolohiya. Now, star-struck Lena spends all her time bonding with her online idol, and Nat starts to feel more and more like a boring Non-Playable Character with zero chance against the Big Final Boss.

With the scholarship program underway and his future hanging in the balance, Nat embarks on an epic quest to compete with the celebrity in a real-world PvP match he’s not ready for. But in the midst of life’s frustrating glitches, epic wipeouts, and disastrous rage-quitting, is winning over his best friend the right strategy after all before it’s Game Over?

A big thank you to the publisher and the author for sending an e-ARC my way in exchange for an honest review! (This, of course, did not affect my overall opinion of the book.)

Hello book nerds! It’s been a hot minute, I know. Life got chaotic for a bit (October does this to me every time, I don’t know why I’m still surprised). But anyway, I am excited to share another incredible book with you all! This time from a Filipino author!

For The Win: The Not-So-Epic Quest Of A Non-Playable Character by Catherine Dellosa caught my attention because of two things: Filipino video games and unrequited love! I’m getting into games a bit (does Stardew Valley count? I hope it does, lol), and unrequited love always hits close to home (cue sad music). And of course, I’m always so excited to support Filipino authors and Filipino rep in books! Lo and behold, guess who was crying when they finished the book? Yes, it’s me.

For The Win highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of young love, the beauty of friendships, and the fear youth experience when it comes to changes. It’s short, it’s funny, and it’s poignant.

Interview: Kalyn Josephson, Author of This Dark Descent

Hello book nerds! A few days ago, I shared my review of This Dark Descent, an exciting new YA fantasy novel about a deadly horse race competition, politics, magic, and romance. (AKA one of my top reads for the year!) Today, I get to share an interview with author Kalyn Josephson!

Last time I interviewed Kalyn, we talked about her MG fantasy debut, Ravenfall. Now, we discuss her writing a Jewish second world fantasy, characters and chemistry, a complex plot, aroace rep in fantasy novels, and more!

Avid readers and new fans, read on! (And don’t worry, there are no spoilers for This Dark Descent!)