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Moreish Queer Romances: Direct Descendant and The Pairing

2 Apr

Direct Descendant
by Tanya Huff
Tanya Huff’s fantasies are always enjoyable. I loved her mystery series Blood Ties about a human detective losing her eyesight and a vampire who assists her; the TV show was also lots of fun. I also enjoyed her Gales and Keeper Chronicles fantasy series. This sweet stand alone novel keeps with Huff’s ability to combine interesting likeable characters with humor along with some dark fantasy elements. Direct Descendant is a sweet lesbian romance story about Cassidy Prewitt, a baker, living in a town out of a Lovecraft story where eldritch horrors are ugly cute and children learn to hunt shadows with marshmallow skewers. The basic idea is what if your ancestors made a dark pact, but you just want to sleep in late and not use your power to control the world. When a beautiful women comes to investigate a mysterious disappearance though it will set things in motion that will require Cassidy to find her own inner strength. This is a page turner, a perfect read if you need cheering after the cold, dark winter months. I didn’t want to put it down as I read it over a long weekend.

The Pairing
by Casey McQuiston
I had enjoyed one of Casey McQuiston’s previous novels, One Last Stop, so was curious to check out The Pairing which promised a second chance romance set against a fabulous food travel adventure. Theo and Kit where childhood friends before falling in love and then breaking up right before their big culinary tour of Europe. Of course when they are given vouchers to book the trip at another time, both wait till the last possible moment, which means they will be on the tour together after spending years apart. I like that we are seeing more bi representation in romance and this one takes time to explore it more in depth with its two bisexual/pansexual main characters. I also enjoyed how we see things from first Theo’s and then Kit’s perspective which gives a more complete view of their relationship and feeling for each other. Beyond the romance and friendship, also delightful were the scrumptious description of the food and learning about the different destination they visited. This was another page turner, that was hard to put down.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Two Out of this World Reads by John Scalzi: When the Moon Hits Your Eye and Old Man’s War

26 Mar

When the Moon Hits Your Eye
by John Scalzi
Science Fiction legend, John Scalzi’s latest takes a nod from the classic crooner song That’s Amore and wonders what would happen if one day the moon didn’t just look like Swiss cheese due to its craters, but one day actually was cheese. When the Moon Hits Your Eye, is an epistolary novel with bits of
ephemera including newspaper articles and transcripts of presentations by experts that occurred when the moon went from being rocks to suddenly being made of cheese. Most of the novel occurs close to when the change happened, but starts fast-forwarding in time towards the end of the story. The many perspectives range from astronauts to religious leaders, which gives added reality to such an outlandish premise and how different people would come to accept the new way of the world. There are some very funny sections and very cheesy puns and also some very touching moments. My favorite day/chapter was about a woman who has always wanted to be a writer since she was a young girl, but got so trapped in wanting her novel to be perfect she kept rewriting and workshopping the same few paragraphs over and over; the moon incident finally gives her the nudge she needs. This may not appeal to some hard Science Fiction fans since the cheese moon’s behavior is only loosely reality based, but for those that like to see a master story teller’s imagination take flight, this will be a delight.

Old Man’s War
by John Scalzi
We read Scalzi’s classic novel, The Old Man’s War for our January Hoboken Library Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion. We had previously read his novels Red Shirts and Kaiju Preservation Society, making him currently the most read author for the group. His creative stories and fun humor make him popular with the group members. Old Man’s War takes the idea of Starship Troopers where military service is necessary to protect human colonies and allow people to expand beyond earth, but asks what would it be like if those doing the fighting weren’t young people, but senior citizens given new and improved bodies but all of their previous life experience still in their mind. Like the other novels we read this one is filled with humor, which reminded me more of the Starship Troopers film than book. But it also asks some philosophical questions about what makes us human and the ethics of expanding one’s life beyond its natural period which lead to an interesting discussion. There are several more books in the series if you enjoy Old Man’s War including The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale. If you are interested you can join us in April for our next book discussion.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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