book review
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Holding Still for as Long as Possible
Holding Still explores an unusual love triangle involving Billy, a former teen idol, now an anxiety-ridden agoraphobic; Josh, a shy transgender paramedic who travels the city patching up damaged bodies; and Amy, a fashionable filmmaker coping with her first broken heart. With this extraordinary novel, Whittall gives us startlingly real portraits of three unforgettable characters, and proves herself to be one of our most talented writers.
I love Zoe Whittall and her messy queers. This goes up in my favourites from this author, alongside The Spectacular, and will definitely be in my June 2023 recap.
Lavender House
When you’re a cop in 1952 and your colleagues bust you in a raid on a gay bar, your career options become extremely limited. Former San Francisco Police Inspector Evander Mills’ retirement plan is to drink until his money is gone, then pitch himself into the bay. Until a widow sits down next to Andy at the bar and offers him a private gig—find out what happened to her wife.
Persuaded to take the case, Andy accompanies the widow to Lavender House, the family seat of recently deceased Irene Lamontaine, head of the Lamontaine Soap empire. At this secluded estate, where none of the residents, or the staff, need to hide their identities, Andy finds a bewitching freedom.
He also immediately finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy—and Irene’s death was only the beginning. The gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world, and it turns out that not even a soap empire can keep everyone clean.
A delicious story from an new voice in suspense, Lavender House is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.
A murder mystery set during the Lavender Scare and gay-bashing in 1950s San Francisco. Sometimes you want a neat little mystery that does exactly what the genre says it’s supposed to do. Sometimes you want it to be super gay. If that is the case and if you don’t mind a few graphic police beatings…
Jawbone
Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of an abandoned cabin, kidnapped by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise?
I labored through this entire book waiting for the payoff. It didn’t pay off. The ending made me so angry, not because it’s anger-inducing but because it’s empty. You’re telling me I went through all these convoluted, « I love hearing the sound of my voice »-type monologues for this? I should have listened to my gut and…
Ariadne
As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.
When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.
I’ve seen this book compared with Circe about a million times, so I’m going to start by doing the same: Yes, this is similar to Circe in its premise. But it’s much less dense and verbose, and it’s also more in-your-face with its « women suffer the consequences from men’s actions in Ancient Greek mythology » underlying theme.…
Ronde de nuit
C’est un homme comblé que le duc Sam Vimaire, commissaire divisionnaire du Guet d’Ankh-Morpork, heureux père bientôt. Hélas ! la poursuite d’un dangereux criminel entraîne un accident qui le ramène dans son propre passé, en un temps de tumulte et de violence.
Vivre dans le passé n’est pas facile mais y mourir étonnamment simple. Il doit pourtant survivre car des tâches essentielles l’attendent : mettre le grappin sur un meurtrier, s’instruire lui-même, débutant, pour devenir un bon flic et changer l’issue d’une rébellion sanglante.
À l’assaut des paradoxes temporels, un « conte d’une ville » façon Disque-monde, avec sa collection de gavroches, de dames à l’affection négociable (« L’amour au juste prix ! »), de rebelles, de policiers de la Secrète et autres enfants de la révolution.
it wasn’t as funny as i expected it to be. and yet, the story was amazing, well written. it felt like reading lore about the universe rather than its own story. i loved it.