026 ☆

[tinkaton]

January's reading round-up! This got too long for the previous post so I saved it for later and then spent several days not writing the like, last two paragraphs needed to finish. Instead I did very important things like *checks notes* playing more FFXVI and making a spreadsheet to keep track of all the pins/charms/stationery/etc I've bought from independent artists. But here we are at last!


Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (★★★★★) 

My first read of the year and a great start with 5/5 stars. A YA historical romance about Gwendoline and Arthur, a medieval princess and lord who have been betrothed since birth yet hate each other. Very 'Swan Princess.' Except instead of falling in love they both discover that the other person's gay and decide to team up to cover for each other, as Gwen's got a crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget, and Art ends up falling for Gwen's older brother Gabriel.

This was an incredibly fun and cute book that I zoomed through in about a week. It definitely has the "A Knight's Tale" vibe with the modern-ish dialogue, which isn't a problem for me so I found it very enjoyable. The humor was especially good and Arthur stole the show in terms of characters, though both his and Gwen's POVs were entertaining. Gwen and Art's developing friendship was really sweet and honestly one of the highlights of the book, and the friendships between them and their side character pals were really nice too.

I do wish we got to see more of the development between the main romantic pairs (particularly Arthur and Gabriel) as well as getting more in-depth characterization with the love interests; I think not having POVs for Bridget and Gabriel did hinder the romance a little. In terms of tone too the last 1/3 of the book got surprisingly serious with the turn in plot, which I feel got in the way of properly wrapping up the romances.

But even with those minor complaints they weren't enough to dampen my enjoyment of the book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a funny and (mostly) lighthearted historical fiction/romance.

Reforged by Seth Haddon (★★★☆☆)

Kind of a disappointment, only 3/5 stars. A fantasy romance set in a medieval-ish kingdom where Zavrius, fifth heir to the throne, has just become king after the mysterious deaths of all his siblings. His ex boyfriend, Balen, is now at the top of the Paladin Order sworn to protect the king from the political intrigue that unravels throughout the book.

This one was kind of a disappointment to me because I love a king/bodyguard romance, but overall I didn't love this. Didn't hate it either, but didn't love it. The romance and characters were fine enough, but in general nothing really grabbed me and the majority of the book was mostly average. The magic system was interesting, espescially the worldbuilding with the gedroks (the ancient creatures whose dead bodies are the source of this world's magic), but otherwise there was a lot of info about the world I sort of just glazed over. (I will say I loved Zavrius's mix of magic and music, that's always a winning combination for me.)

I also didn't love the writing, the book definitely could have used a better editor to clean things up. (Normally I don't even really register the occasional unneeded epithet eg. "the Paladin" but there's so many in this book it's hard to ignore.) But I think this is a debut (?) and I just saw there's a sequel of sorts with a side character from this book that I'll probably read lmao so I'm certainly willing to give Haddon another try.

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban (★★★★☆)

Another historical romance, 4/5 stars this time. "A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed!" This is the blurb on Goodreads and yeah that's about it.

This is another one of those historical romances that reads a little more contemporary-ish, so YMMV as usual, but if you read the summary and think it sounds fun then you'll probably enjoy this book. I liked both the Parent Trap-esque plot and Beth and Gwen's romance, though the latter could have used a little more build up. Honestly, I ended up being more interested in the parents' plot and probably would have rather seen more of what they were up to lmao. Once Beth and Gwen got together the story focused more on the problem of Beth's engagement/their parents getting together than the main romance. I still enjoyed the book, the romance just could have used a little more development, and I'll still pick up the sequel at some point.

Aside from regular books, I've also been making my way through Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle because one day I was like I should actually finish Tsubasa?? I'm 11 volumes in so far, that's about 110 chapters, but there's 28 volumes total I think so there's still a ways to go. This is a partial re-read since I used to read this back in high school but never finished, but my memory's so shoddy I can't even remember how far I got before quitting, so this is basically all new information to me anyway.

I DO remember how much I loved KuroFai sdhfkjshdf CLAMP always knows how to make the yaoibait really hit. I've been sort of live-tweeting as I go on Twitter and it's basically just a KuroFai update thread lmao. That and the Ashura/Yasha arc RIP my sad gays. But yeah, unsurprisingly Fai is my favorite character, my poor little meow meow, my sweet cheese good time boy, etc. etc.

Tsubasa has also infected me with the CLAMP brainworms in general again so I am bracing for the inevitable full CLAMP catalogue re-read I will be inflicting on myself when next possible.