I'm changing up Monday's posts! I'm going to try out moving my book reviews from Instagram to Bindery, and doing them in a weekly roundup style. I'll be giving a few bullet points about each book I read in the last week.

Honestly, I'm a little nervous about this because I do not like change, ha. But we're doing it! Also, come on over to my Discord server and share your own reviews with the friendly folks there!

Books marked with a * were gifted to me, books marked with a ^ I was paid to read.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - This was a reread, and I've hollered enough about DCC that I won't subject you to too much more. I made my spouse listen to this on a road trip we took to try and get them into the series and it worked! Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised given that they rarely read fiction, let alone sci-fi/fantasy.

The Maidenheads by Benny B. Johnson* - Y'all already saw my rave review of this! Honestly, it's a contender for a top book of the year for me. (And watch this space for my mid-year faves!)

Escala's Wish by David James^ - I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's a D&D style story with a faerie trying to complete a task that will allow her to end her exile from the fae realm, and it's told with the framing of a bard telling the tale to a tavern full of people. It's not the most complex story and doesn't have the most three dimensional characters, but it was full of heart, action, and silliness.

Last weekend was Capital Pride in DC and I still feel all discombobulated from that busy weekend. But that won't stop Friday Faves! Be sure to jump into my Discord channel and share your own faves!

My favorite book I read this week was The Maidenheads by Benny B. Johnson. This book is about Jamie and Mari, who were in a DC punk band in high school in the early 2000s and were also girlfriends. They had a horrible breakup, and ten years later they are back in each others' orbit.

Listen. As a girl who grew up in the DC suburbs who was very into the local music scene and didn't understand her sexuality at the time...I AM IN THIS PHOTO AND I DON'T LIKE IT. But also, hell yeah. Johnson name checks all my favorite venues in DC and Baltimore and perfectly recreates the grimy love we all had for our local faves.

The Maidenheads is messy and mean and full of yearning and good god please go to therapy, my guys. Everyone makes the worst decisions at every turn and I loved them for it.

My non-bookish fave this week was Pride weekend. I didn't go to any of the official events. To be honest, I haven't gone to the parade in several years because I'm over watching four hours of mega corporations pretend like they care about us. Instead, I went to a friend's party. I hosted a picnic. We had some friends over to hang out in our pool. Just queer folk spending time with queer folk, and it was the best.

July is almost here, OMG. This year has been a blur, but here's what I've got my eye on for July releases.

Perverts by Mac Crane - July 7 - Nothing is off limits for Mac Crane as they rework classic stories of rejection, isolation, and connection to suggest that the so-called pervert, by existing in the margins of society, may be the one who sees the world most clearly.

Moss'd In Space by Rebecca Thorne - July 7 - Former smuggler Torian Razner finally bought a starship, and contrary to Amelia’s assessment, it was not “a meteoric sign of stupidity.” Except Torian’s first flight reveals a surprise passenger: the moss is actually an organic computer with a snarky attitude and serious abandonment issues. (Psst - snag yourself a copy of this one if you're part of my Found Family Book Club!)

Not With A Bang by Temi Oh - July 14 - Station Eleven meets Leave the World Behind in this family drama at the end of the world about a crumbling household’s attempts to find their way back to each other amidst a cataclysmic event from the Alex Award–winning author of Do You Dream of Terra-Two? and More Perfect.

Hustle, Baby by Priya Guns - July 14 - From the incendiary voice behind Your Driver is Waiting, a riotous novel following a family of Tamil refugees who fled civil war in Sri Lanka to pursue a better life, just for it to be up-ended by the schemes of a self-proclaimed day-trading savant, jeopardizing everything they’ve worked so desperately to secure.

Free Girls by Kristen McCallum - July 14 - A heartfelt coming-of-age debut about a girl starting over while keeping secret that she’s spent the last year in juvenile detention. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Leah Johnson.

What are you hoping to pick up in July?

Happy Monday! Today I am encouraging you to read Love at 350 Degrees by Lisa Peers. I adored this sapphic romance when it came out a few years ago and feel like it did not get the love it should have! Set on a TV baking competition (it's certainly not The Great British Bake Off, I don't know why you'd think that), this is a romance between a contestant and a judge on the show.

I totally understand why this book was a hard sell on bookstagram - it's a slow burn, closed door romance. But my god, the LONGING! The PINING! It's so good. Add in some really good competition scenes and some really excellent food descriptions, and we're cooking (sorry, I couldn't help myself)!

Another thing I loved about this books is that both the main characters are over 40, with Tori having teenage kids and contentiously divorced from her wife. I loved that she and Kendra both knew themselves (including their weaknesses) and still grew emotionally - both together and separately - in a believable way.

So, if you're looking for a Pride read that's not on every reading list already, please give Love at 350 Degrees a try!

Happy Friday, and happy Juneteenth! I hope you will consider donating to a Black-led cause or organization near you today, especially if you're a white person with the day off work.

My favorite read this week was Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar. I know this is quite a shock considering I have literally tattooed This Is How You Lose The Time War onto my body, lol.

This book is a short story collection, which I often have a hard time with because I want more time in each story's world. But El-Mohtar is so good at spinning up perfect, tiny little universes in just a few paragraphs. Sure, I wanted some of these to go on longer, but that's just me being greedy.

I think what draws me to her writing is how ethereal it is. The descriptions of the settings are so gorgeous, and even when the action doesn't make Earth-bound logical sense, I'm willing to follow it. That's probably actually why I'm willing to follow it, actually, because I often have no idea where things are going to go.

El-Mohtar does bring the real world into some of the stories. There are a few that focus on queer and/or Arab experiences that weave the magic into the heartbreak.

I just love her so much. I hope you'll pick this book up, even if short stories aren't usually your jam.

My non-bo0kish fave this week is that I went to my cousin's wedding last weekend. It was held up in the mountains and we stayed in a lakeside cabin, and then we danced our butts off at the reception. I just love weddings so much, especially when it's some of my favorite people getting married. I made my spouse take a zillion photos with me because we never get dressed up anymore, so please enjoy, haha.

Today for Must Read Monday, I bring you The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. The story follows two women from three time periods - Josephine, both during and after her enslavement, and 100 years later, her descendant Ava. Josephine, in 1925, lives on land she used to work, and strikes up an uneasy friendship with her new white woman neighbor. Ava, in 2015, is a single mother who moves in with her white grandmother - fraught, as she is the mother of a black boy around an old woman slowly losing her grip on time and reality.

The three story threads weave together beautifully, making time bend in on itself. The women are extraordinary, each survivors in their own way.

There is a slight magical element to this story, which puts this book almost directly in conversation with THE WATER DANCER by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which came out around the same time. Both explore time and memory and how racism drains a community, but THE REVISIONERS puts women's power at the center. It's not only their powerful need to be free, but their relationships with friends, family, and their own selves.

Happy Friday! Ready for another round of faves? Be sure to share your faves in my Discord server as well.

My favorite book I read this week was One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller. Grace is a newly out trans girl in her senior year of high school. She had been on track to be recruited as a kicker for college football, but stopped playing to begin her transition. However, after her school's team has a rough start, the captains and coach ask her to return to the team, and she does.

My favorite kind of YA novel is the kind with big, messy feelings, and this book delivers. Friend feelings, romantic feelings, football feelings, family feelings.

I liked that Grace encountered people who were supportive, antagonistic, and even indifferent about her transition. Some parts were tough to read - there is quite a bit of verbal and physical transphobia. However, it felt very real to me. This book isn't set in a perfect world, it's set in a world where people have complex and even nonsensical feelings.

If you like football, you can tell that Zeller knows her stuff when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the game. If you don't, it's fine and you'll still know what's happening (this is me, lol).

I feel like this book went kind of under the radar when it should have been big on YA/queer bookstagram. I hope you'll pick it up!

My non-bookish fave this week is that it's pool season! Last year, my spouse installed a stock tank pool in our backyard and it's possibly the best money we've ever spent. It's looking like we're on track for a very hot summer, and I plan to be in the pool for as much of it as possible.

Monday again? At least we have Must Read Monday to get us through it.

Today's pick is Coming Home by Brittney Griner. This got a pretty good amount of buzz when it came out, but not as much as I think it deserved.

As you might expect, this memoir covers Griner's time spent detained in Russia. If you're unfamiliar with the event, she was traveling to play on a team there during the WNBA's offseason and had accidentally left a mostly empty weed pen in her luggage. She was held for ten months in a Russian prison.

This is a horrific read, to be clear. Griner experienced a lot of emotional and physical pain, and she doesn't sugarcoat it. She speaks about the specific dangers of being a tall, masculine Black lesbian in this situation. However, she tells the story with such clarity and care that it's impossible to put down.

This is also a story about how the general disrespect of professional women athletes led to this situation. If the WNBA had been paying players salaries commensurate with their talent, Griner would not have had to play in a shady Russian league in the offseason to stay afloat.

Happy Friday, friends! I'm back with this week's edition of Friday Faves. Make sure to join my Discord server and share your own weekly faves with everyone there!

My favorite book I read this week was Shapes of Love by L.V. Peñalba. I read this for the "Aspec Rep" square on my Pride Reading Bingo board, and it totally blew me away.

This is a YA novel about Sasha, a teen girl whose music goes mega viral on TikTok and makes her an international star. Everyone is trying to figure out who the love songs are about, but Sasha is actually aroace and the songs are all about her favorite characters in TV, books, etc.

This book so beautifully covers the many nuances of aromantic and asexual identities. This is woven in with the bright spotlights of viral fame, being a woman, coming out (or not), and navigating changing friendships through it all.

I really loved how Sasha pushed hard against the idea that friend love can't be as meaningful and important as romantic love. The book lets her make some mistakes around that belief as well, which I liked. Everyone in this book makes mistakes, learns, and has complex conversations about it all.

It is vanishingly rare to get portrayals of queerplatonic relationships in novels, let alone traditionally published ones. I'm so glad that Peñalba included a plotline exploring the possibilities of QPRs, along with a few other types of nontraditional relationships among the secondary characters.

On top of alll that, the characters are racially diverse as well, adding yet another layer to the complexity of coming out. Layers on layers on layers!

I really hope to see more from L.V. Peñalba in the future. This book has such a unique voice, telling a story that is practically absent from YA literature.

My non-bookish fave this week is that I got to go to a The Big Cake Exchange event. Basically, 300+ people all bring a cake, and then you get to go around and take home slices of as many as you can get your hands on. It was joyful chaos, and I had so much fun seeing and tasting everyone's work.