YA
Death's Country 谷歌图书
作者: R. M. Romero Holiday House 2024 - 05
Lakelore meets “Orpheus and Eurydice” when two Miami teens travel to the underworld to retrieve their girlfriend’s soul.

Andres Santos of São Paulo was all swinging fists and firecracker fury, a foot soldier in the war between his parents, until he drowned in the Tietê River… and made a bargain with Death for a new life. A year later, his parents have relocated the family to Miami, but their promises of a fresh start quickly dissolve in the summer heat.

Instead of fists, Andres now uses music to escape his parents’ battles. While wandering Miami Beach, he meets two girls: photographer Renee, a blaze of fire, and dancer Liora, a ray of sunshine. The three become a polyamorous triad, happy, despite how no one understands their relationship. But when a car accident leaves Liora in a coma, Andres and Renee are shattered.

Then Renee proposes a radical solution: She and Andres must go into the underworld to retrieve their girlfriend’s spirit and reunite it with her body—before it’s too late. Their search takes them to the City of the dead, where painters bleed color, songs grow flowers, and regretful souls will do anything to forget their lives on earth. But finding Liora’s spirit is only the first step in returning to the living world. Because when Andres drowned, he left a part of himself in the underworld—a part he’s in no hurry to meet again. But it is eager to be reunited with him...

In verse as vibrant as the Miami skyline, critically acclaimed author R.M. Romero has crafted a masterpiece of magical realism and an openhearted ode to the nature of healing.
2024年6月25日 已读
看起来只是普普通通的YA fantasy,其实意外好看,首先作者的文笔已经超过了90%的YA作者,诗化的语言很优美灵动,充满力量,其次我就喜欢拉丁裔LGBT这种zzzq叠buff的操作,更不要说主角还是polyamorous。难得的是这本不仅表现了一个polyamorous relationship,还表现了身处其中的人如何被monogamy的人误解、质疑甚至压迫,知道三个人的关系后Liora母亲的反应和Andres父母的反应就是典型例证,最后Liora出车祸昏迷然后Renee和Andres去冥府救她的故事虽然是基于希腊神话Orpheus和Eurydice的故事,但又非常反套路,Andres去冥府的一路都在自责,认为是自己和Death的交易导致Liora的灵魂不得不进入冥府,还一直不敢告诉Renee,然而让他真的告诉Renee,Renee一句“她的生命是她自己的,不由其他任何人掌管”,轻描淡写地扭转了古典神话的这一惯用套路。之后Liora的全部行动也正证实了这一点——自己决定交出记忆,自己决定留在冥府,甚至“出事故”这件事本身很可能也是她自己决定的,而最终也是被爱人说服,自己决定离开冥府,而非普遍意义上的“被拯救”,真是十分罕见的、强悍又富有能动性的Eurydice。当然大多数情节本身有点predictable,非常符合YA特点,但这本书的表现已经足够拉好感了。
LGBT YA 奇幻 浪漫
Hecate's Hollow 谷歌图书
作者: Tallie Rose Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp 2022 - 09
A Snow White and Rose Red retelling Besides the blood drinking and international crime, she's the perfect woman... Lemon has spent the last twenty years hidden away from her abusive father in the mountain town of Hecate's Hollow, a safe haven for witches like Lemon and her family. But that safety comes to an end the day she trips down an embankment and is honest-to-god swept off her feet by Claudia. It would be just like the romantic movies she loves, except Claudia is an international thief, cursed to live like a vampire by her witch hunter ex-boss, Julian. Lemon knows she should stay out of it, but curiosity and the urge to play the hero for a beautiful woman get the better of her. Talented at divining the ingredients for potions, Lemon agrees to help brew a cure, not expecting to find herself caught up in the very life her mother ran from years ago. Lemon thinks it will be easy enough to help Claudia - a few hikes for obscure ingredients, some clandestine kisses, and favors from farmers, nothing too dangerous - until Julian comes to claim what's his. With her girlfriend in the hands of a monster, Lemon can't hide anymore. She must leave Hecate's Hollow and learn just what she's really capable of.
2024年6月1日 已读
据说是Snow White ans Rose Red的重述,不过原著我都没读过……这个重述似乎也没有什么童话故事的感觉,就是很典型的YA奇幻,有吸血鬼fantasy地的那种……不过角色塑造太一般了,不仅每个配角都很平板没有记忆点,就连Lemon和Claudia都没什么特色,太普通了,倒是Lemon的姐姐Ruby突然“我要演”反差萌让我笑到了……剧情平铺直叙甚至有点狗血,倒是queer community的塑造有点意思——重点不是几乎每个角色都是queer,而是女巫这个设定本身就有点queer,还有那个不受女巫魔法影响的abusive father/husband反派,好典
LGBT YA 奇幻 美国
Fire Becomes Her 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者: Rosiee Thor Scholastic Press 2022 - 2
In Rosiee Thor's lavish fantasy novel with a Jazz Age spark, a politically savvy teen must weigh her desire to climb the social ladder against her heart in a world where magic buys votes.
Flare is power.
With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks . . . or burn a building to the ground -- and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share.
Ingrid doesn't have a family fortune, monetary or magical, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden's father who refuses to acknowledge her.
So when Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid uses the situation to her advantage. She strikes a deal to spy on the senator’s opposition in exchange for his approval and the status she so desperately craves. But the longer Ingrid wears two masks, the more she questions where her true allegiances lie.
Will she stand with the Holts, or will she forge her own path?
2023年3月20日 已读
救命 Monica给一本YA打了四星!其实真就是很正常的 YA情节,主线YA得令我着急然而,这个主线应该只是一个用来铺开情感线的框架吧,这个情感线写得..可以说是非常动人了…...实话讲我是没有想到有一天还能在一本书里找到aro spec birep的,而找到的瞬间感受是惊人的,comfort and affirmation,也许我在找到rep的那一瞬间才意识到自己之前是这么的动摇和自我怀疑,这么渴望找到同类,外加这本书里对(与romantic love并行的qpr)描绘得那么美好让人安心,enbyrep和ace rep的处理我也很喜欢,读完这本书最大的感受就是知道了这个世界上的人际关系有可能是我理想中的样子,representation matters
LGBT YA 美国
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Goodreads 豆瓣
作者: Sangu Mandanna Berkley 2022 - 8
<b>A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.</b><br /><br />As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.<br /><br />But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.<br /><br />As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....<br />
2023年5月4日 已读
你怎么这么俗?我预期是一本无脑但还比较可爱的书,结果居然是a book of cliche.....三个小孩塑造得一点也不可爱,女主的“不敢被爱"处理得非常做作,你要写romance我接受,但是3032年了we are all made of stardust这种梗还能让你感动吗?You are anauthor come up with something original!本来准备给个三分结果sex scene那么 explicit还一点美感都没有我可真是遭不住了只想让这个作者赶紧闭嘴..最后有关 Lilian的两次反转也都是 predictable得要命,就,我真的没想到你这么拉
YA 小说 美国
Imogen, Obviously Goodreads 豆瓣
作者: Becky Albertalli Balzer + Bray 2023 - 5
With humor and insight, #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestseller Becky Albertalli explores the nuances of sexuality, identity, and friendship. <br /><br />Imogen Scott may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down.<br /><br />She's never missed a Pride Alliance meeting. She knows more about queer media discourse than her very queer little sister. She even has two queer best friends. There's Gretchen, a fellow high school senior, who helps keep Imogen's biases in check. And then there's Lili—newly out and newly thriving with a cool new squad of queer college friends.<br /><br />Imogen's thrilled for Lili. Any ally would be. And now that she's finally visiting Lili on campus, she's bringing her ally A game. Any support Lili needs, Imogen's all in.<br /><br />Even if that means bending the truth, just a little.<br /><br />Like when Lili drops a tiny queer bombshell: she's told all her college friends that Imogen and Lili used to date. And none of them know that Imogen is a raging hetero—not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa.<br /><br />Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with. . .
2023年10月22日 已读
感情线非常普通,甚至有点俗,但讲真不太是重点,非常欣喜地读到了作者的两点很有意思又很罕见的讨论,一是双性恋在对不同的性别产生 crush时会有不同的感受,这实际上大概是包括我在内很多双性恋的真实体验,也是我认为很多双性恋区别于泛性恋的最大特征,但很少在遇到bi-rep的同时见到这么细致的讨论,可恰恰是这一点让双性恋本身就很模糊很摇摆的自我认知变得更加困难和自我怀疑;而是queercommunity里存在的严重的 gatekeeping现象,这一点在非单性恋群体身上体现得尤其明显,所以从一个自以为hopelessly straight多年的bisexual身上入手去讨论这一点变得顺理成章,其实很能理解 Gretchen的一些反应,但是以自己遇到的trauma去衡量别人的queerness着实不可取
LGBT YA 美国
Dear Medusa Goodreads 豆瓣
作者: Olivia A. Cole Labyrinth Road 2023 - 3
<b>This searing and intimate novel in verse follows a sixteen-year-old girl coping with sexual abuse as she grapples with how to reclaim her story, her anger, and her body in a world that seems determined to punish her for the sin of surviving.</b><br /><br /><i>I'm starting to realize</i><br /><i>that a woman doesn't get that mad</i><br /><i>so mad that her hair turns to snakes</i><br /><i>so mad that her rage turns blood to boulder</i><br /><i>all on her own.</i><br /><br />Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has a reputation that precedes her. But there's more to her story than the whispers that follow her throughout the hallways at school--whispers that splinter into a million different insults that really mean: a girl who has had sex. But what her classmates don't know is that Alicia was sexually abused by a popular teacher, and that trauma has rewritten every cell in her body into someone she doesn't recognize. To the world around her, she's been cast, like the mythical Medusa, as not the victim but the monster of her own story: the slut who asked for it.<br /><br />Alicia was abandoned by her best friend, quit the track team, and now spends her days in detention feeling isolated and invisible. When mysterious letters left in her locker hint at another victim, Alicia struggles to keep up the walls she's built around her trauma. At the same time, her growing attraction to a new girl in school makes her question what those walls are really keeping out.<br /><br /><b>[This] fierce and brightly burning feminist roar...paints a devastating and haunting portrait of a vulnerable young woman discovering the power of her voice, her courage, and her rage. --Samira Ahmed, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Internment </i>and<i> Hollow Fires</i></b>
2023年11月8日 已读
Very intense,very powerful.用诗歌一样的形式讲述了 16岁的Alicia与性侵经历抗争的过程,语言非常有韵律感,但又如利刃一样尖锐、闪着寒光……前一半的阅读感是脆弱、挣扎和支离破碎,像带着无处发泄的愤怒和无穷无尽的自我怀疑慢慢滑向绝望和崩溃的深渊,好在 Alicia逐渐找到了黑暗中的点点光亮:彼此分享挣扎和苦难的好朋友、组织女性小组的老师、一眼洞察恶狼的母亲、努力把她拉回正轨的教练,还有那张写着Me too的字条....阅读感觉其实很emotional,但其中对结构性问题的讨论(包括性、性别、种族etc)理性且尖锐,有关Alicia受伤害到疗愈的过程也过渡得很好
LGBT YA 美国
A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking 豆瓣
7.4 (5 个评分) 作者: T. Kingfisher Argyll Productions 2020 - 7
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…
2023年7月4日 已读
三星半,你真的好YA哈哈哈哈,可能是主角年纪实在太小,甚至读出了middle grade的感觉😂可能也是expectation的问题,跟我之前读的两本Kingfisher风格好不一样,人物比较平,剧情也挺流水账的,但是可爱,女主这个絮絮叨叨重点不对的人设真的挺有趣,死到临头还在关心对她举着刀的人牙上沾了菜叶是否过于真实hhhh用面包打仗的设定可以说是很新了,可惜这个文风写打仗总觉得有点不对劲,导致大战的地方有点拖沓感
YA 魔幻