Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (2022) is a beautifully written and heartbreaking novel set in the 1880’s in China, San Francisco, and Idaho. Daiyu is a young girl living with her parents, who are tapestry-weavers, and her grandmother, in a small village near the ocean. Both her mother and grandmother tellContinue reading “Four Treasures of the Sky”
Author Archives: bbwesquire
True Biz
I devoured True Biz by Sara Nović (2022) as if I hadn’t read anything in months! True Biz has something for everyone: family dramas, coming-of-age stories, a would-be terrorist thriller, all interspersed with deaf history and “Did You Know” explanations of ASL, deaf history, and activism. River Valley School for the Deaf, in southwest Ohio,Continue reading “True Biz”
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care (2022) by Ashley Herring Blake, is a delightful queer sapphic romance that features a couple of my favorite romance tropes: Forced Proximity and Coming Home/High School Crush. Blake has written several YA and middle-grade novels, including the 2018 Stonewall Honor Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, but this is her firstContinue reading “Delilah Green Doesn’t Care”
Detransition, Baby
I first became aware of Detransition, Baby (2021), by Torrey Peters, when it was one of Roxane Gay’s first picks for her book club. It is the story of Reese, a trans woman; and Ames/Amy, a trans woman, who is Reese’s former girlfriend who detransitioned, and then had an affair with Katrina, his boss, aContinue reading “Detransition, Baby”
The Chill
The Chill (2020) by Scott Carson was almost too creepy for me, but I couldn’t stop reading about a town, Galesburg, flooded by a dam that created the Chilewaukee Reservoir in upstate New York. The reservoir is part of the water supply system for New York City, and, as happened all over the country whenContinue reading “The Chill”
Fevered Star
Fevered Star (2022) by Rebecca Roanhorse, is the sequel to Black Sun (which was one of the first reviews on this blog and a 2021 Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda Finalist!) and second book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy. I was anxiously awaiting its release so I could find out what happened after Serapio,Continue reading “Fevered Star”
Right Where I Left You
Right Where I Left You (2022) by Julian Winters, is a super-cute, queer teen romance filled both with queer characters of color, and comic book and video game fan references. Isaac Martin has just graduated high school and is enjoying his summer before heading off to college in the fall. Despite his sometimes-crippling anxiety, hisContinue reading “Right Where I Left You”
A Dark and Starless Forest
In A Dark and Starless Forest (2021), Sarah Hollowell has written a rare gift–a fat-positive YA fantasy that has something for everyone, except perhaps for cis white middle-aged men. It’s written from Derry’s perspective–she is a fat, white teenager, one of nine multiracial siblings in an adoptive family headed by Frank, their guardian, Each ofContinue reading “A Dark and Starless Forest”
The Cherry Robbers
I highly anticipated reading The Cherry Robbers (publishing today, May 17, 2022) by Sarai Walker, author of Dietland, and I was not disappointed. Walker’s second book is different in tone and subject matter, but it is just as transgressive as Dietland was. There are two storylines: The first is set in the very recent pastContinue reading “The Cherry Robbers”
The School For Good Mothers
The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (2022) is frightening because it is our world taken just one not-so-unlikely step further. Frida Liu is the 39-year old Chinese-American mother to Harriet, a toddler, and shares custody with her ex-husband, Gust, who had an affair with Susanna while Frida was still pregnant with Harriet. FridaContinue reading “The School For Good Mothers”
Reading While Fat 