I love hearing about what my friends are reading! It’s one of the best ways to learn about new books that I might like. That gave me the idea to do a post celebrating my friends and the books that they loved this year. I asked my friends to pick up to 7 of their favorite reads of the year, and say a bit about them if they wanted. I hope you find some great new books to check out from this list, I know I did. Also, this ended up being a lot longer than I expected haha but it’s worth it I promise!

What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through the world not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about consent, about compromise, about the structures of society? This exceedingly accessible guide to asexuality shows that the issues that aces face—confusion around sexual activity, the intersection of sexuality and identity, navigating different needs in relationships—are conflicts that all of us need to address as we move through the world.

Through interviews, cultural criticism, and memoir, ACE invites all readers to consider big-picture issues through the lens of asexuality, because every place that sexuality touches our world, asexuality does too.

Hey, it’s me (Shari – or as I go by these days, Ri 😊)! It’s been a while since I’ve been on this space, but I recently finished reading Ace and just had to TALK ABOUT IT.

It’s hard to describe everything I took away from this book. There were so many moments when I wanted to pull out a highlighter and underline paragraph after paragraph (not my copy, so I resisted 😆) as I saw myself in the experiences of the author and other aces interviewed for the book.

Hugo award–nominated author Stina Leicht has created a take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure.
Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.
Rosie--owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who sought to employ them.
Angel--ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will effect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t damned well try.

Let me start by saying – THIS SHIT SLAPS!!! If you are not up to date with internet lingo (and I do not blame you AT ALL if you aren’t), that means – THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. I had SUCH a blast reading it, what a fun ride. There are spaceships, epic fights, badass women, queer protagonists, alien species, and! The best thing of all! FOUND FAMILY wweeeeeewwwwww. This was my first read of 2021 and lemme tell you, we are off to a great start babyyyyyy.

One of the best things about blogging is being in the blogging world and reading the wonderful posts by all the other book bloggers out there. So today I decided I’m going to share some of my recent favorite posts from other blogs! I hope you enjoy (and that you go follow all of the blogs I mention!).

Lili is a Mesopotamian siren, and life as an immortal being is hard enough as it is. She’s asexual (which is incredibly difficult to reconcile if your entire point as a mythical being is to seduce people to death). She’s also struggling with depression from being alive for so long.
Lili is an absolutely shoddy improv-detective trying to track down a serial killer so ruthless that it makes even her murderous soul uneasy. However, there’s something larger at work than just one serial killer. A small town is hiding an even deadlier, global-scale secret. Forget Area 51 conspiracies. This one beats them all. With magic.
So, what better way to spice up her eternal life than being hired as a vigilante detective to stop a serial killer? Anything, literally anything. She’d trade her left lung to get out of this. Or, perhaps, somebody else’s.

Thank you so much Sophie Whit for providing me with an eARC for review!

Listen – an asexual siren?? WHY HASN’T ANYONE DONE THAT BEFORE??? Or maybe they have and I just don’t pay attention. EITHER WAY. I love the concept so much. Also just books with sirens, because I don’t get enough of that. I love having main characters that are mythical beings!! There were a lot of elements of this book that I liked, but ultimately it fell a bit short. However, I do think there are lots of people who will love this!