Bookquarium

Work For It GoodReads  | Amazon Hoooo-leee shit. This book, you guys. Summary:   In this village, I’m an outcast: Griffin Everett, the scowling giant who prefers plants to people. Then I meet Keynes, a stranger from the city who’s everything I’m not: sharp-tongued, sophisticated, beautiful. Free. For a few precious moments in a dark alleyway, he’s also mine, hot and sweet under the stars… until he crushes me like dirt beneath his designer boot. When the prettiest man I’ve ever hated shows up at my job the next day, I’m not sure if I want to strangle him or drag him into bed. Actually—I think I want both. But Keynes isn’t here for the likes of me: he makes that painfully clear. With everyone else at work, he’s all gorgeous, glittering charm—but when I get too close, he turns vicious. And yet, I can’t stay away. Because there’s something about this ice king that sets me on fire, a secret vulnerability that makes my chest ache. I’ll do whatever it takes to sneak past hi...

Mira Grant  is well known for her science-y horror novels. The Parasites trilogy, the Newsflesh trilogy (hellooooo, zombies + journalists), and probably my favorite, Into the Drowning Deep, which is about killer mermaids. Anything by Grant is basically an insta-click for me, and when I was learned she was writing a ghost story, I nearly peed myself in the excitement. And friends, it's worth the hype. Let's break it down, shall we? The Cover: Can we take a moment to admire that cover? One, it's an incredibly detailed and intricate drawing, which is being used less and less by publishers these days, but I'm glad they went with that direction in this cover. A woman, half floating in the sea, gazing at a creepy old house while tentacles begin to twine around her ankles. Had I known nothing about Mira Grant, I would have read this book based on the cover alone. The Plot: A group of four paranormal investigators, who happened to get famous solving crimes, accepts a co...

The Luminous Dead The Blurble:  When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . . As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in ...

I don't think I've ever read a Cat Sebastian before! (But I met her at KissCon and guys, she's lovely.) She's also well known for writing queer historical romances, and A Duke in Disguise  was her first (to my knowledge) straight romance. It was really good, you guys. Five stars good. It was a friends to lovers, but with this delicious tension running throughout where both people sort of knew the other liked them, but they couldn't do anything to fuck up their friendship. On top of all that, she runs a newspaper, including one that is publishing a) seditious stuff, and b) an erotic novel, that - guys - he does the illustrations for. Sexy ones. But like... really sexy, to appeal to the female gaze. It's all against a backdrop of a London that is plagued by an asshole government who are throwing people in jail/having them hanging for speaking out against them, and our heroine, Verity, definitely does that in her paper. Did I mention she's also hella bi...

This book gives us some heroines that Ripley would be proud of! Alien: Echo is an original young adult novel set in the Alien film universe which means yes, we absolutely get to see the creepy, drooly, chittering aliens from the movies. The premise:  Twin sisters Olivia and Viola are daughters of two xenobiologists (coolest job title ever.) Their family is stationed on a new colony world. When they discover a new and deadly alien species (hmm, I wonder what it could be?) they are forced on the run in hostile terrain in a fight for their lives. Queer main character alert!! So excite! I loved Olivia, our protagonist. First off, she kicks SOOOO much ass, but in a smart way. Not a "blustering around, shooting anything that moves" type. She was smart. She had the knowledge. She used it and common sense to survive. Viola, her twin sister, is sassy and real and a nice opposite to her sister. One of the side characters I legitly wanted to punch in the face, which is probably...

Heated Rivalry - Rachel Reid I stumbled across this book as I do so many of my books these days, our fellow tank mate Elley told me about it. A m/m hockey romance with an enemies to lovers subplot? Yes please! Literally all I did this morning was read this book and make an enormous pot of soup, which I then ate while continuing to read this book. It was deeeelightful. Him  by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy is always going to be the quintessential hockey boys falling in love novel for me, because it's so damn perfect, but Heated  Rivalry comes in a very close second now. It's book 2 in the Game Changers  series. Book one (aptly called  Game Changer ) seems to be about a hockey player (Scott Hunter - he makes very brief appearances in this book) who falls in love with a barista, but they have to keep it on the DL because of "hockey-is-homophobic' reasons. This one doesn't appeal to me much because it sounds like the MCs are in love right away and the only th...

Author: Mackenzi Lee Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Pub Date: October 2, 2018 Genre: YA, LGBT, historical fiction Rating:  5 stars Amazon | GoodReads Summary:  A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science. But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid. In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motiv...

The Boyfriend Game Author: Stella Starling Publisher: Createspace Pub Date: July 24, 2018 Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBT Rating: 3 stars Amazon | Goodreads Summary:  Carter Olson never expected he’d get a chance to date his older brother’s best friend, Rip Taylor.   Wished for it? Yes.  Fantasized about it? Possibly too much.  But ever thought it would actually happen? Not in a million years, since Rip is straight. But even if it’s just to try and win a gay game show, having Rip for a boyfriend—even a temporary/pretend one—is still the best thing to happen to Carter in... well,  ever .  Especially because Rip’s so good at it.  Amazingly  good, actually.  So good that Carter starts to hope that maybe it won’t have to end once the show’s over…  Review:  You know what I super love even though it's really tropey? Fake dating romances. Also friends to lovers. Not so much "in love with brother's best friend" but w...