The Greek Mythology Tag

I was tagged for 'The Greek Mythology Tag' by both the lovely Emily @ The Paperback Princess and the fantabulous Tina @ As Told By Tina.

Go check out their awesome-sauce blogs because they officially rock!

Zeus - God of the Sky: Favourite Book of Your Own Category

I am going to pick the uber-specific category of favourite vampire detective novel (yes, yes this is a thing; a thing that I read; do not judge me until you've tried my way of life.)

My favourite vampire detective novel is the first in Tanya Huff's Blood books: Blood Price (UK - US.)

Not only is there a vampire detective who writes romance novels in his spare time, but he's also the illegitimate, bisexual, son of Henry VIII - really, what more could you want?!

Plus, this is the series that really got me hooked on urban fantasy - though, unfortunately, it's no longer easy to get hold of copies in the UK (argh!)

Hera - Goddess of Love and Fertility: Favourite Book Couple

At the moment, I'm shipping Linda and Sarah from Robin Talley's Lies We Tell Ourselves (UK - US,) to the point where they're nearly at OTP status right now (plus, canon F/F romance!)

You can read my review of Lies We Tell Ourselves here.



(Fangirling notes:

Shipping = wanting characters to be in/approving of romantic relationships.

OTP = One True Pairing. A relationship you will defend to your last breath. Despite the name, most people have several OTPs.

Canon = Official.

F/F = same-sex female romance.)

Poseidon - God of the Sea: Book that Drowned you in Feels

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (UK - US.)

I really don't think I need to say any more.

Athena - Goddess of Wisdom and Handicraft: Series with the Best World Building

The Hollows series by Kim Harrison does such a great job of setting up a post-tomato-apocalypse (I kid you not,) urban fantasy world, where vampires, witches, etc. are living out in the open.

Plus LGBTQ+ characters! :)

Hades - God of the Underworld: Book with a Dark Plot

OK, so many I could go for here... you know I like the gothic-y-ness...

I'm going to go with Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (UK - US.) This is definitely not one for the faint of heart.

Even those who've seen either of the film adaptations will be surprised at the brutality and grit of this book, as well as the hugely uncomfortable plot-aspect of the paedophile who is manipulated by our vampire-child, Eli.

Scandinavian horror is a step past Scandinavian noir - though (in this case at least,) exceptionally skilled. You have been warned.

Aphrodite - Goddess of Love and Beauty: 2016 Release with the Most Beautiful Cover

I don't know - a lot of the time, the UK has different covers to other countries anyway...

Oh! I know! The cover of graphic novel The Beauty, Vol 1 (UK - US.) Wow, that is still one of the most striking covers I've seen.

You can check out my review of The Beauty, Vol 1 here.

Ares - God of War: Most Violent Book you've Read

Hahahahahahahaha - OH MY GOD, do you know who you're talking to????

All of the gothic-y-ness often leads to the stabbage. #TrueStory.

It's really hard to measure one type of violence against another, but I'm going to go with The Crow (UK - US) here.

A legendary graphic novel, this includes rape, violence, and a core of pain, melded with James O'Barr's poetic skill and ability to somehow make bleak scenes beautiful.

Hephaestus - God of Blacksmiths: Scorching Hot Character

Loki. Obviously.

via GIPHY

(When Loki is Lady Loki, she's also pretty damn hot; #JustSaying)

Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt and Fertility: Kick ass Female Character

Red Sonja - that famous comic heroine who is so often de-clothed and subjected to out-of-character actions by unskilled, misogynistic, hands - is, at her very heart, the woman who will save a kingdom and cut the hand/thing off a molester on the same day.

Apollo - God of the Light and Healing: Sequel that Redeemed a Series


Actually can't think of one right now - my brain is just throwing white noise at me. Sorry!

Hermes - Messenger God: Book with the Best Message

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig (UK - US.)

Why? Read my review.

Hestia - Goddess of the Home: Book that's the Most Relatable

Luna The Vampire: Grumpy Space by Yasmin Sheikh (UK - US,) because I, too, am a grumpy millennial space vampire.

You can check out my review of Luna The Vampire here.

Demeter - Goddess of Agriculture: Favourite Bookish Setting


I don't know - I tend to forget places pretty easily. Narnia, maybe.

Dionysus - God of Wine and Celebration: Anticipated Release

Ummmm... nothing in particular, in honesty. I have enough books to read right now!

Ooh! I know! There's a new Robin Talley book slated for 2017 called Our Own Private Universe - and I really want to read that!

Liked this book? Try these:

• The Liebster Award
• The Harry Potter Tag

Review Time! - Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Title: Lies We Tell Ourselves

Author: Robin Talley

Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+ (F/F)

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

Robin Talley is fast becoming one of my faves.

After reading As I Descended in September, I kind of... wanted more. So I found one of Talley's earlier books, Lies We Tell Ourselves - and dove right on in there!

That said, I was conscious of the fact that I'm a white woman, writing a review of a book by a white woman, with one of the two points-of-view being that of a black woman, and the major theme being race and desegregation.

So I put out a call on Twitter for any black people who had previously reviewed this book; it felt only right to get a black person's opinion if possible, otherwise it's just us white women talking about a book which has race at its heart.

The lovely Dee Dee @ Will Read For Food answered, and I am uber-pleased to be able to link to her review here :)

Her review is fab, so check it out! I'll also be quoting Dee Dee in the course of my review :)

Premise:

The late 1950s. Virginia.

Sarah is one of the first black students to ever go to the local, previously all-white, high-school.

She and a small contingent from the local black high-school take that first step towards integration; they thought it would be difficult... but did they think it would be this difficult?

To make things even more complicated, Sarah's eye has inexplicably wandered to Linda Hairston - the daughter of the local voice of pro-segregation, and herself an advocate against integrated schools.

Sarah and Linda are on opposite sides of the integration battle - so why, more than anything, do they want to spend time together?

Best bits:

Hrjgtnepthmmkgyrhnlke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDES, THIS BOOK!!!!!!

We have complex characters, deep themes, and an F/F love story that doesn't feel as if it was shoehorned in at the last minute.

All that is awesome enough - but Robin Talley can also write, and it's to her credit that she balances all of the different aspects of this book.

Talley does exceptionally well in showing the realities of desegregation, and the general prejudice Sarah's family and friends face.

She doesn't sugar-coat the process of black and white students going to the same school, but neither does she lose sight of integration being the greater good.

This is what Dee Dee thought on this point:

'This is one of those books that I’ll recommend to anyone that says to me that the #BlackLivesMatter movement is doing more harm than good. Once upon a time it was thought that desegregation would do more harm than good as well.'

I loved Sarah and Linda.

But wait, Cee, how can you like a bigoted character?

Because she has a rocking story arc! Because the change in Linda is... I think Dee Dee says it better:

'Linda's character growth was beautiful to witness. She moved from a closed-minded status quo POV to someone who finally thought for herself.' 

Sarah is strong - she struggles a lot with what she's going through: both the attitudes of the white students/teachers, and the fact that she is attracted to girls.

But throughout it all she is strong - and is my new book-girlfriend, because - wow! She rules.

Not so great bits:

Look, this book is heavy (metaphorically - I read the e-book so it was not, in fact, heavy.)

It deals with the harsh realities of this period of history, and doesn't shy away from the sh*t that black people had to deal with just to go to the same school as white people.

As such, it gets violent in places, it gets shocking often, and there's lots of racist slurs - including repeated use of the 'n' word. You've been warned.

Personally, my only problem with this book is the perennial problem with a good book - you can't leave it there! What happened next?!?!

Verdict:

The book! Guys, the book!

Or, as Dee Dee said far more eloquently (seriously, check out her review):

'This book leaves you feeling raw.'

UPDATE 27th November:

Recent discussion of this book has brought up issues with the racial representation in this book - especially the use of the 'n' word, and issues with Linda's early perspective.

While I still love this book, these are valid criticisms that I hadn't caught in my reading - and this is Robin Talley's response to them.

If you have any posts/reviews sharing your concerns with the racial rep. in this book, I'd be more than happy to share/link to them.

UPDATE 27th Jan 2017:

Here's a review from Sammie @ Bookshelves and Biros, discussing problems with the racial representation in this book.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

Liked this post? Try these:

• Review Time! - As I Descended by Robin Talley

• Review Time! - These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Month in Review(s) - September 2016

September was the month that various sh** hit various fans.

In case you're not caught-up on all the goings-on of the bookish online community, let me briefly summarise:

• Some people questioned authors about the lack of diversity in their books (no matter you're opinion on this, those people had the right to ask the questions.) This resulted in trolling.

• There was a video on BookTube (the bookish portion of YouTube,) by a horrible person who sees diversity as a dirty word, and is generally a bigoted jerk. She then took offence when it turned out a lot of people didn't agree with her.

• White supremacist & Nazi trolls decided to spread their racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, etc. hatred by trolling members of the online bookish community. Most of these people were also Trump supporters.

• A US library magazine called VOYA showed some of the worst customer service you can imagine in their response to criticism of their apparently bi-phobic reviewing.

...I think that covers most of it. It was an... interesting month.

via GIPHY

But we, as a community, are pulling through this... I hope.

As far as my blogging stats go this month, things have been good :)

I discovered an acronym for my blog which had been staring me in the face the whole time - DORA. Which I will now be using when Diary of a Reading Addict is too long-winded.

I passed 30k page-views for the first time (!!!!) and now see between 100 and 300 page-views on a typical day :)

I gained a handful of followers on BlogLovin and Twitter, though not as many as I would've liked.

I also noticed something in terms of my Twitter followers, which kind of upset me.







Whenever I tweet about anything to do with LGBTQ+ issues, I lose 2-3 followers; that's per tweet where I mention queer issues, characters, books, etc.

via GIPHY

At first I thought it was just coincidence - but after that it became too regular, and I couldn't believe it was coincidence any more.

It's not like I tweet about LGBTQ+ an excessively large amount... is it? I don't think I do.

Anyway, I figure I'm better off without followers like that. As upsetting as that is.






But I just want to thank all the people who do read this blog, like and RT my tweets, comment on my posts, and continue to follow me.

I love you. Each of you is worth 1000 of those homophobic a*sholes.

In a month of trolls, bigotry, and bad news, there were two high-points - my birthday, and you guys.






So, to the books I reviewed this month:

Young Adult

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova - Fantasy, Witches, LGBTQ+

As I Descended by Robin Talley - Ghost story, Horror, LGBTQ+

Adult

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer - Contemporary

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - Classics, Crime

Comics

The Sun Dragon's Song #1 - Kids, Fantasy

Review Time! - As I Descended by Robin Talley

Title: As I Descended

Author: Robin Talley

Genre: YA, Ghost Story, Horror, LGBTQ+ (F/F and M/M)

Release Date: 6th September 2016

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

A young adult re-telling of Macbeth. In a boarding school. With LGBTQ+ protagonists. Hell yes!

I sooo wanted to read this - so much so that when my request to receive an eArc was declined on Edelweiss, I marched myself straight over the NetGalley to see if it was listed there.

And on NetGalley I was approved!!!!!!! XD XD

Happy book nerd all around!!!!!!!

Premise:

Lily wants her girlfriend to come to the same college as her after they graduate.

Maria deserves the best, and the Cawdor Kingsley prize would mean the scholarship of her choice. It would be perfect.

The thing standing in their way? Queen bee Delilah Dufrey.

It wasn't meant to go down like this. But after that night with the Ouija board, nothing goes to plan.

They wanted Delilah out of the way, and they just might get it.

Best bits:

Let's just take a moment to appreciate the diversity in this book:

The central relationship is between two girlfriends, one of which is Latina, and the other of which is disabled.

The two main supporting characters are boyfriends Mateo (another Latinx character) and Brandon.

None of this feels forced, and none of the characters feel 2-dimensional.

As well as being diverse, it is a damn good horror/ghost story.

With enough nods to the original Macbeth to keep the bard lovers reading, Talley weaves a story full of creepy tension and layers of meaning.

Because there is some deep sh** going on beneath the surface here - themes of ambition, insecurity, and hypocrisy all feature.

And Talley doesn't shy away from the issues either.

Her characters face the sting of homophobia in a variety of forms, and the irritation of being the only people of colour (PoC) in the school and therefore used by the establishment as proof that the school has left its racist roots behind.

The achievements of Lily and Mateo are often put down to 'affirmative action' - despite how hard they work, they can never get full credit for what they've done; and this, understandably, makes Lily in particular pretty damned angry.

The way Talley deals with these issues is truly skilful. She neither belittles them, nor makes them the central point of the book. They are an aspect of a complex plot filled with complex characters.

Honestly, there's so many excellent points that I could make about this book that I couldn't possibly get to them all. You'll have to read it to find out ;)

Not so great bits:

Personally, I would've loved an expansion on some parts of this book.

What is up with minor characters Austin and Felicia, who clearly know a hell of lot more than they should? Why is the dining room such a focal point for the spirits? Is the woman really La Llorona, like Mateo thinks? I NEED MORE!

It would've also been a plus to up the exploration of the Brandon/Mateo and Lily/Maria relationships.

I felt like there was so much more space for development there, and was left slightly unsatisfied when this aspect didn't fulfil its potential.

I also found the ending slightly underwhelming. There was nothing wrong with it - I just felt like it needed more POW!

('POW!' is now officially a technical term. I've decided.)

There're some issues in this book that people may have trouble with, including (but not limited to,) - death, ghosts, homophobia, self-harm, suicide, drugs, and a disturbing lack of interest by the authorities in what is happening at this school.

I didn't notice any swearing, but the odd word might've snuck in there.

There's a lot of violence, blood, gore, and references to the sexy times.

If you don't like ghosts or horror, then maybe try a different book. ;)

Verdict:

Well-written diverse YA horror with complex themes and characters!!!!!!!!

Book, will you marry me? ;)

Update 27th Jan 2017 - In the interest of fairness and openness, here is a Goodreads review from a reviewer who had a lot of problems with the representation of various people in this book.







Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

Liked this post? Try these:

• Review Time! - Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
• Review Time! - Say Her Name by Juno Dawson