Ooooooof, some serious embarrassment squick for a bit there (end of chapter 11). Criiiiinge. Luckily it didn't linger *too* much on the cringe, but oof.

This danmei sounds absolutely nuts. It doesn't start out well for Li Yu, the pet fish of the title -- Shen Qingqiu in Scum Villain thinks he's got problems?! Li Yu's a FISH!

I'm enjoying this so far, though of course the romance potential is currently veeeery limited, because Li Yu's a fish and Prince Jing can't talk.

I'm in a kind of weird spot with this book where part of me feels like I ought to love it because a friend got it for me and was so enthusiastic... And part of me is getting really contrary about it and doesn't want to even give it a proper chance. 😅

This turned out... better than I was thinking, I guess? But I don't think I'll read more of it. It wasn't clear if the crossdressing was serious or making fun of the character, and it's just so silly and dramatic.

Hmm. Still a pick, but not my favourite of the series, I'd say. I was relieved Vera figured it out when she did; I'd figured it out around the 50% mark, I think, it'd have felt weird if she'd taken even longer (I think she got it around 80%?).

Some good autumn vibes for #HauntedShelf, too! No #RestlessSpirits, but plenty of crisp fall days and harvest food.

Dug into this immediately I got my hands on it, of course! Love this series.

Buuut kinda frustrated by Vera not telling Orville what was up right away. And by Orville not immediately coming after her asking for explanations and trusting her enough to give her a chance to give them.

Nuowan is so spoiled, and the relationship is rushed and just... doesn't make a lot of sense.

I grabbed this on release day, of course! This volume is much more about Fujinaga's acting than about his relationship with Keito and sign language, though there are some fun scenes. I loved that he wanted to work to help Keito experience the play fully, too.

Not a bad pairing with Claire Dederer's Monsters, rather similar in the end despite approaching the topic in two different ways. Lewis is basically saying that there was a point when people “had a genius for X“, and that was much truer than “X is a genius“, and the worship of people as geniuses produces monsters (among other things).

It was OK, but... having finished it, I feel like it could've been shorter.

I don't really like Greenberg's style... which kinda made this difficult to read. I don't find the lettering super easy to read, either.

There is a lot of vitality to it, it's just... not for me.

Man, Le Guin could really pick her images. Some of these are very slight, but some lovely ones. “Come to Dust“ and “On Second Hill“ stuck out for me. Here's the latter:

“Where on this wild hill alone
a child watched the evening star,
let these bits of ash and bone
rejoin the earth they always were,
the earth that let her sing her love,
the gift that made the giver
here on the lonely hill above
the valley of the river.“

I think I need to set daily goals for this one, it's such a chonker! I love the in-line colour illustrations, though; I've been seeing that more often in books in the last couple years, but it's still so good.

Welp, this was genuinely pretty darn creepy. I figured some things out ahead of time, but it was still super creepy.

And that was my #BookSpin!

Definitely recommend this series for #HauntedShelf readers; it fits under the “monstrous“ prompt beautifully (also “unhinged“ and “atmospheric“). #RestlessSpirits

Well, that was a heck of an ending.

I wasn't sure about this one, though I remembered liking The Sin Eater's Daughter, whether I'd still be interested now. And maybe I wouldn't rate it so highly if it'd shied at the last hurdle, but it didn't: the ending is brutal.

I hadn't remembered that this was gonna fit so well as a spooky/horror book for #HauntedShelf.

And that makes my first #BookSpinBingo line.

#RestlessSpirits

This was okay, but eh, not a favourite. There's a very long story with Reggie Fortune that takes forever to make sense, and it all kinda dragged.

I love Piper. I laughed ridiculously at the spongiform tissue thing. The guilty paladin thing does get a bit old, but still, I loved Galen too.

I also thought that this was maybe the tightest of the three in this series so far, which lead to me reading it extra quickly.

ETA: forgot, though, that I meant to say how annoying I found that epilogue. You can't just say that and not tell us more!!!

I'd still love more depth on Chris and Tina, but just as the first book dug into Nigel's background, this one digs into Oscar, which is a lot of fun too.

I'd forgotten this one doesn't have much about Patricia and what she wants; I'm very curious about that. Looking forward to the third book, which I haven't read before!

I don't usually do seasonal reading, but it's fun to have the reminder/excuse to revisit.

#HauntedShelf #RestlessSpirits

Reread this in order to refresh my memory for the third book -- obviously I'll need to reread the second book too.

Nigel and Oscar's budding relationship is so cute, and I enjoy both their characters a lot. Found myself wishing for a bit more about the supporting characters, though!

There was no picture for the two penultimate last stories, so I didn't make a separate post. Shen Qingqiu finally realising that he was Luo Binghe's sexual awakening is such a funny moment, but the “questionnaire“ chapter is pretty pointless (if sometimes funny).

The proposal/wedding chapter is so cute, though, even if the sex is still dreadful.

And there's my reread finished! I feel like I love them more each time.

Honestly... the less said about this chapter, the better.

Maybe it's a relief there's no explicit sex in TGCF, so Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's story can't be messed about like this. 😅

Ahahaha so cute and smol. It's a very silly plot, but it's still cute to see Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's post-canon life a bit more.

Only a couple of stories left and my reread will be done!

Such an important moment for Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu, when SQQ actually seems to welcome the idea of having sex with him for the first time, and even initiates! I love the glimpse this story gives of the period when SQQ was apparently dead, as well. Poor Binghe.

I love the illustration of the “council“ advising Binghe on how to make Shen Qingqiu love him... but I had to pick this one as a favourite, almost the only time Shang Qinghua is ever brave.

It's fun to see some background filled in with this story. That said, I still don't get Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua as a ship. Not my thing.

Doing a post about this story by story/chapter by chapter is really making me stop to think about what I do/don't like about them all. This one's actually nice, it's pretty much Zhuzhi-lang's POV, which fills in some real gaps.

Poor Zhuzhi-lang.

The Shen Jiu/Yue Qi story makes me so sad. Even Shen Jiu deserved better, and Yue Qi definitely did.

I know that MXTX says that Liu Qingge's straight but... he so clearly believes that Madam Meiyin might be saying that he's Shen Qingqiu's fated partner. He gets cross at the idea that he's in love with him, but then doesn't stop being cross when Meiyin tells him he's NOT Shen Qingqiu's fated partner...

Well, of course I'd look for excuses, I definitely ship it.

It must be so strange for Bing-ge in this story, to experience this alternative shizun, who so clearly loves him. But once he's experienced it... I doubt he can let it go.

Such fertile ground for fic!

I have gotta read more books with brighter palettes, but at least I managed to pick a bright purple out of Into the Dark!

#BookSpinBingo

This volume has Lizel on a total reading ban, poor baby. I love the scene where he goes to confess to Gil that he really can't take it any more, but ohhh his sad face earlier in the volume. I sympathise!

Reread done, no more volumes for now, ahhh. I don't even know if vol 11 has any kind of release schedule... 😭

I've never read this one, but since Ruthven is a major character in the Greta Helsing books, I decided to read the source material (much as Vivian Shaw's Ruthven would hate that!).

I found it funny reading it as spite re: Byron. There's not a huge amount of literary merit here, but it's interesting to go back to a vampire touchstone.

Not sure what I'll read next via #SerialReader... maybe I can find something else seasonally appropriate.

With the other danmei I'm planning to read this month, I wanted to finish my reread of Scum Villain first. So here we go! And starting with the most Shen Qingqiu quote ever, after he refuses to share a bed with Binghe:

“Look, he'd only refused out of habit. If Luo Binghe had just pestered him a little more, he would have agreed!“

If only SQQ would just communicate properly!

September sure was a month! 46 books, yikes.

Average rating being around 3 sounds bad, but in my rating system, 3 = liked it, and I rarely give 5s.

I should've reread this right after volume 8, because I kinda lost the thread of things again... and this volume is kinda bitty. Not my favourite, even though Lizel's scheming all comes to a head.

Some good moments though. What a heterosexual way of letting someone know that you're mad about them coming up with a dangerous plan! 😂

And here's my #BookSpin list and thus my October TBR, or part of it -- most of them fairly random choices. I'll also want to read the second volume of Love In The Palm of His Hand, and I have a couple of rereads lined up as well -- including the two books before Into the Dark in Jordan L. Hawk's series, because it's been a bit too long since I read them.

And of course, wherever else my whim takes me.

#HauntedShelf #RestlessSpirits

I did a rec for @PuddleJumper's #HauntedShelf before, but technically too early, so here's another. This book haunts me, it's weird and offers little by way of answers to the mysterious events it discusses. I kinda want to reread it again.

Also, here's the post all about it if you want to join #HauntedShelf and gamify your October reading a little: https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2895375

#RestlessSpirits

Received to review via Netgalley. Also, #BookSpinBingo blackout, second month in a row.

The magic reminded me a lot of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, though the rules were never quite clear.

Overall I liked it, though the reading experience was frustrating because of a badly formatted ARC.

The worldbuilding never entirely makes sense (much more would need to change than just no Norman conquest in order to change the world in these ways), but the mystery part isn't bad and I got to rather like Aedith and Drustan. Light pick, with huge caveats about the worldbuilding.

I found this slower going than I expected, and I wonder if it should have led with the anemonefish and the spectrum of sexes, to avoid getting all up in an artificial binary that it's meant to be critiquing. But there were some interesting examples, and Cooke does eventually work her way around to understanding that it's a spectrum.

I really need to reread The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting; it isn't necessary for understanding/enjoying this book, but it'd have enhanced that last chapter at the very least.

I love Cassian. He really should've told Daizell the truth, but... they work it out, and he figures out how to be much more of a person. It's quite the journey.

Think I can make it to the blackout? I'm hoping to.

Either way, I think I've done respectably -- especially given the tough family/bereavement stuff this month.

#BookSpinBingo

Plot holes out the wazoo.

For example: a evil witch cursed the honey witches to never be loved, “in order to stop their bloodline“.

Now not only can you definitely manage to have babies without love, the honey witches can apparently just... create babies. On their own.

Soo... what good does this do to end the bloodline, remind me?

It also just feels really cursory about some stuff... just, totally wooden.

I am trying to decide if I want to spend the time to finish this (another hour). I can see where it's going, but it's doing it clumsily, and I don't like the writing style.

This is so lovely. Mark's so prickly, and Eddie's such a sweetheart, and aaah.

I've liked a lot of Sebastian's work, but We Could Be So Good and You Should Be So Lucky are something else, so good.

Ahhh I loved this. I loved how hard it worked to portray the different ways Keito can communicate (different sign languages, lipreading, texting), and the silly exuberance of Fujinaga.

The romance that grows up between them is cute, too.

I don't always 100% love the art style (mostly the expressions, I think?) but that didn't detract from my enjoyment here.

Thought I'd post a #BookSpinBingo progress update, since I don't think I've done that recently! Despite reading 38 books so far in September, I've still got a few to read for my card, though most are in progress.

I liked this less than In Love's Key, Reprised, especially since the consent is quite a bit more dubious for the first sex scene. It turns into a rather bittersweet story (heavy on the sweet, with the bitterness in the final part), but the lead-in is rough.

This is very “one guy goes after the other eagerly, the other seems almost not into it at all, and then suddenly gives in“ in a way that's pretty common in Japanese m/m but might feel a bit weird if you're not used to it. In context, it's pretty sweet.

Though they're *very* dramatic, and it's quite short/not a lot of development... it did tug my heartstrings anyway.

Very slight and speculative, but entertaining as a short read and a glimpse at how Child views the world.

I thought I liked Simon Armitage's poetry, but I didn't really find anything in Magnetic Field that I particularly enjoyed.