Sleep Like Death - Kalynn Bayron

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Princess Eve was raised with one purpose: to destroy the Knight. Far too many generations of Queen's Bridge have been terrorized by this evil sorcerer's trickery. Eve's own unique magic - the ability to conjure weapons from nature - makes her a worthy adversary.

As she approaches her seventeenth birthday, Eve is ready to battle. But her mother, Queen Regina, has been acting bizarrely, talking to a strange mirror alone every night. Then a young man claiming to be the Knight's messenger appears and shares  a shocking truth about Eve's past. Unsure of who to trust, Eve must find the courage to do what she's always done: fight. But will it be enough to save her family and her queendom?"

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Oh my goddddddddddddddd this book was so good. I've read one other book by Kalynn Bayron, Cinderella is Dead, and I thought it was solid but dragged a bit after a while. I was curious to see if this would be similar, and while I did think there were a couple things that got repetitive, the pace was solid and there were enough big reveals and plot twists that it's easy to forgive a little repetition. I thought Eve and her mother were such badasses, and I was so curious about Eve's powers...but the real strength of this story? The secondary characters. 

Just...SO good. Nova? Nuanced, complicated, and wonderful. Claude? What do I even say about Claude? Thoughtful, strong, vulnerable. His boys? HIS BOYS. Ugh, I love them so much. Truly, they made the book what it was, and the way that Eve had to unlearn being fiercely independent and never needing help, let people in, and lean on them even though it wasn't something she was comfortable with...so emotional. So beautiful.

Plus, don't judge a book by its cover...but judge this book by its cover, baby.

Glorious. And it has bright green sprayed edges (poisoned apple, babyyyyy), artwork on the inside cover and the reverse side of the book cover. BEAUTIFUL.

Most Ardently - Gabe Cole Novoa

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"London, 1812. Oliver Bennet feels trapped. Not just by the endless corsets, petticoats and skirts he's forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society's expectations. The world - and the vast majority of his family and friends - think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone's wife.

But Oliver can't bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family's home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It's during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to "Elizabeth" at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart. And not to mention incredibly attractive. 

As Oliver is able to spend more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares begin to hope that his dream of love and life as a man to be possible. But suitors are growing bolder - and even threatening - and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: Settle for safety, security, and a  life of pretending to be something he's not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly, honestly his own."

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I.........am still really on the fence about how I feel about this book. Which is disappointing, because it's well-documented how much I love a good Pride and Prejudice remix, and the premise for this one was sooooo up my alley. But alas, as good as some moments were, I feel like you don't get much more from the book than what is in the synopsis, and there were some choices that were just straight up weird or not at all fleshed out. Gah, where to begin.

I stepped away to gather my thoughts (a.k.a. I started writing this too close to bedtime and decided to just go to bed and finish it later, and now it is later), and I think what my issues with this book boil down to are this: it did too much while simultaneously doing too little. There were multiple threads going on, some better executed than others, but even with the ones that came through a little better, I don't think anything was developed well enough to truly come together. If less time had been spent on the wilder plotlines (looking at you, Wickham and his friend, for some reason, Collins), more time could have been devoted to the more central plotlines, thus making them...better.

Beyond that, I did think it was a very unique take on a story that has been reimagined countless times, and I thought the support system Oliver had built around himself was lovely. I also really enjoyed the insight into how life might have worked for queer, and specifically trans, people in that time period. Obviously queer people have always been around, but I'm not super well versed in history and social norms of different time periods, so getting some insight into customs of that time period was cool. I can't add half stars to my little rating system, but this was a 3.5 for me.

The Bennet Women - Eden Appiah-Kubi

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Welcome to Bennet House, the only all-women's dorm at prestigious Longbourn University, home to three close friends who are about to have an eventful year. EJ is an ambitious Black engineering student. Her best friend, Jamie, is a newly out trans woman studying French and theater. Tessa is a Filipina astronomy major with guy trouble. For them, Bennet House is more than a residence - it's an oasis of feminism, femininity, and enlightenment. But as great as Longbourn is for academics, EJ knows it can be a wretched place to find love.

Yet the fall season is young and brimming with surprising possibilities. Jamie's prospect is Lee Gregory, son of a Hollywood producer and a gentleman so charming he practically sparkles. That leaves EJ with Lee's arrogant best friend, Will. For Jamie's sake, EJ must put up with the disagreeable, distressingly handsome, not quite famous TV actor for as longa s she can.

What of it? EJ has her eyes on a bigger prize, anyway: launching a spectacular engineering career in the "real world" she's been hearing so much about. But what happens when all their lives become entwined in ways no one could have predicted - and EJ finds herself drawn to a man who's not exactly a perfect fit for the future she has planned?"

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Oh, I do love a Pride & Prejudice retelling! And between this and Debating Darcy, I've been reading some winners recently. (Next up: Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa. Honestly, an embarrassment of riches.) Please note, in case you have interest in reading this, this review will contain some degree of spoilers. Read on with caution.

Similarly to Debating Darcy, I enjoyed that the original characters were incorporated into this story in different ways. Instead of SISTER sisters, they're dorm sisters...it's not really a sorority, right? Although it seems like there are similarities. Anyway, they're chosen family instead of blood family, and the way that they connect and relate to each other is way different and really sweet. 

Additionally, while a bit heavy-handed at times, I enjoyed the way some of the more hurtful moments in the original were honored while being handled differently. For example, Jamie and Lee have bumpy relationship moments, but the way they communicate and resolve them, instead of one of them essentially ghosting, is so sweet. (Sidenote: It really tickles me to think of Bingley leaving in the original as ghosting) Also, while a version of Darcy's terrible first confession of love is incorporated, I like that this confession was a. basically a rough draft and b. shared with other people instead of EJ, so then they could say hey, dufus, that's SO insulting! Instead of EJ's feelings being further hurt.  

If I had one gripe with this book, it would be that there was a little too much crammed in, so instead of REALLY developing one or two things about each character we got lots of partially developed things. Still fine, just a small grumble. Outside of that, and beyond my comparisons to the original inspiration, I found this story enjoyable as its own thing. I loved seeing so many passionate, inspiring women coming together and supporting each other, the way the various families, found or otherwise, supported each other was lovely, and while there were ups and downs and the book dealt with serious things, like discrimination in STEM, disordered eating, and addiction, there was so much encouragement and having each others' backs that it was just...so lovely and ultimately uplifting to read. 

Final thought, I found it very fitting that garbage people Carrie and Jordan ended up together and that Colin got dumped. Very much appreciate those choices.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns - Julie C. Dao

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is Julie C. Dao's debut novel.  From the cover:

"An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl's quest to become Empress--and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.

Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins--sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute."

I'm not sure what to say about this book. Parts of it, I liked...the writing was so descriptive, it really brought some of the scenes to life. It was a much darker story than I expected, and reading such vivid scenes was spooky and chilling at times. Loved that.

That being said, I wish the story had been a little less centered around Xifeng's inner monologue. A lot was happening, but so much of it was inside her thoughts that it didn't always feel like a lot was happening. Also, the whole "I can choose between the darkness in me or the light, I love Wei but I don't know if I can be with Wei" deal got old pretty quickly. We. Get. It. You don't have to tell us again every other chapter that Xifeng is conflicted. Ultimately, I thought it was an ok book, but the story felt kind of all over the place and repetitive. I think I would have liked it more if it were shorter.