Eight Arms Reading Room

Read: The Dead of Summer -- Ryan La Sala

Oh, the hopes I had for this book! I saw it on TikTok, described as 'queer horror with coral zombies off the coast of Maine' and say no more, folks, I was IN.

Here's the blurb:

Ollie Veltman is finally coming home to the quaint island of Anchor's Mercy after a year away while his mom battled cancer. It should be a celebration -- his mom is cancer free, and she's determined to have the best summer ever -- but Ollie's (now ex) best friends think he abandoned them, and he's returning with a lot of questions. Because for a place that's perfect on the surface, a secret rots below the waves. A secret that could explain his mom's illness, and the illness of so many other locals.

It's queer YA horror, as it turns out. And while I've read plenty of YA, it's not my genre of choice these days. And honestly, it doesn't read very much like the YA that I've read. Ollie and his friends are supposedly about to go to college, but the characters read much younger than they purportedly are. They were constantly being excluded from conversations by "the grownups" and while a standard trope in YA is that only the teenagers can save the world, these kids seemed more middle school age or in their very early teens than in their late teens.

It also doesn't really feel like it's set in Maine. The island seems more of a replica of Provincetown, Massachusetts, which is New England, for sure, but there's Massachusetts New England and then there's Maine New England. (Ask me how I know.) I do love how queer-friendly the entire town is. One of the most prominent citizens runs the local drag queen brunch establishment and being queer is mostly unremarkable (to the townspeople, anyway, there's a little less acceptance from the tourists. The townie/tourist divide feels 100% Maine, though, actually.)

There's really no romance in this book at all. Ollie seems to be gay and has a crush on one of the boys in the story and another boy seemingly has a crush on Ollie but no action taken by anyone on their attraction.

I probably could have handled all those things and enjoyed the book if it hadn't been for the way it's structured. It's presented in sort of a 'multimedia' manner, with the story from Ollie's POV alternating with scanned images of pages from a researcher's journal and transcripts from interviews the researcher conducts. This presentation would have been fine in a paperback version but was incredibly annoying to read in ebook. The journal pages and interview transcripts had hyperlinks to read the text in an 'accessible' format. Which meant that I was constantly jumping back and forth in the book and I gotta tell you, that really, really impeded my enjoyment of the story. If the publisher (Scholastic, btw, not an indie publisher who would have known better) had just presented the journal entries and interview transcripts in plain text, I would probably not be bitching about this book to you right now.

It also ends in a cliffhanger and while I do want to know what's causing the coral zombies (legit creative!), I may not read the next book, especially if it has a similar format/structure.

I don't know--what do you think? Would the format be annoying to you? What do you do about books with a premise that sounds interesting but the execution falls short?

Read: more hockey romance books

Yes, I finally watched Heated Rivalry! Only the once so far, but I'm sure I'll rewatch it. And again.

I have read Heated Rivalry, though. And The Long Game. And Tough Guy and Common Goal. That's the order in which I read them, although that's not the series order. (I read Game Changer over the summer.)

I confess that I had to take a break between Common Goal, which I read after The Long Game (which I read immediately after Heated Rivalry obvs), and Tough Guy. The angst of the three I read in quick succession kind of undid me.

I think we get to know Ilya better in The Long Game and I appreciated that, but poor bastard really has a lot of shit going on, y’know? And Eric’s anxieties about coming out and the age gap between him and Kyle in Common Goal, coupled with Kyle's insecurities about the kind of men who love him and leave him were a bit of a lot, too. I needed a palate cleanser of something a little lighter.

So I switched back to Amy Aislin, who I love for writing (possibly unrealistic) hockey romances where being gay is a-okay, even in pro hockey.

Blurb:

Sometimes the sweetest victories happen off the ice. Ryland Zervudachi lives for the game of hockey-and for the chance to build the kind of team unity that will carry the Columbus Pilots all the way back to the playoffs after last season's crushing defeat. Off the ice, though, there's one goal he hasn't managed to score-the heart of Kyle Dabbs, the Vermont Trailblazers' team captain and his long-time crush.

Kyle Dabbs has built a life centered on quiet strength. After a childhood scarred by his father's verbal abuse, Dabbs pours his energy into his career on the ice and the book series he's written to help kids like the boy he once was. He doesn't need someone flashy, loud, and spotlight-loving like Ryland turning his world upside down. But when an untimely appendectomy leaves Dabbs stuck at home, Ryland-recovering from an injury-shows up to help.

Between late-night Scrabble competitions, pumpkin-carving mishaps, and long talks that peel back layers they've both kept hidden, Dabbs begins to see past Ryland's bold exterior. With chemistry sparking and walls crumbling, both men must decide if they're ready to risk their hearts for something even better than a championship: love.

I just noticed that there's a Kyle in The Best Parts of Him and a Kyle in Common Goal--heh. Choosing names for book characters is a challenge, folks!

What are you reading now? Have you watched Heated Rivalry yet or are you the last person on earth who's managed to avoid it?

So, I've been...ahem...not exactly around much lately, I know. It's been a a lot lately, folks. Between the state of the world and the state of my health, I've been barely hanging on. I have been writing (!!) and I have a first draft of a book that I'll release this year, but for the last few months, any and all spoons I've had for anything related to being an author have been going to finishing that book. And this is very possibly the messiest first draft I've written in a long time, so it's gonna take a bit of time to wrangle it into something worth reading.

But I've also been reading a lot and have some posts coming up about what I've been reading. AND, I'm getting back on track with the Devilfish Annotated Read-Along. Chapter 11 just went up!

Dabblers can access the current chapter here (I'll leave Chapter 10 up for a little while for you, too).

Divers and Cephaloheads can access it here (and all chapters are available to you).

Read: The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune

I confess, it's taken me until now to read this book. I have friends who've read it multiple times; who either have or plan to have some aspect of the book tattooed on their bodies. I can't quite explain why I've resisted reading it so long. I've read most of TJ Klune's Wolfsong series (okay, not the last book yet because the others have all made me cry and I've been holding off on that level of heartbreak).

I also generally like my books on the spicier side than TJ Klune writes. But he does write beautiful prose and heart-warming stories (or, heart-breaking, as the case may be) and this book is definitely beautiful and heart-warming.

The reason I picked it up now is that the public library in my tiny Maine village has a monthly book club and this is January's pick for the book club, so I sort of took that as a sign from the universe that it's time I read it. The January meeting was rescheduled for tonight, so I haven't actually talked about it with other members yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Blurb:

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist.

Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

I love Linus and Arthur and the kids. I'm especially fond of Chauncey, the unidentifiable green blob, whose dream is to grow up and be a bellhop. 💔 Obviously, Lucy (Lucifer), the Antichrist is a delight and I especially appreciate Talia the gnome's misanthropic attitude.

Have you read this?

We're up to Chapters 9 and 10 in the Devilfish Annotated Read-Along!

In Chapter 9, Declan has convinced Elliot to nap after the service for Celeste and is planning to get underway, back on the hunt for his father (and Celeste). In Chapter 10, Elliot insists on going with him.

Dabblers can access the current chapter here.

Divers and Cephaloheads get full access here.

In the Queer Romance Book Club, my take on chapters 15 and 16 of KJ Charles's A Case of Possession is posted. We're near the end! What are your thoughts on this book?

Reading: queer dragon books

Okay, I read the Empyrean series. I wasn’t going to but I was vacationing with friends and they talked me into it. This is a family of mom, dad, 15 year old boy, and 11 year old girl and every one of them had read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame and were impatiently awaiting Onyx Storm in January before it came out. (Actually, it’s likely that dad quit after Fourth Wing but I know the other three read both books—I got a bit of spoilery detail from each of them.)

I couldn’t put Fourth Wing down. I didn’t love Iron Flame but I chalked it up to the all-too-frequent second book syndrome and waited something like six months for Onyx Flame to come available at my library (obviously I didn’t like Fourth Wing so much that I was willing to pony up the $ to buy the others).

I generally don’t want to use this space to shit on other authors’ books. Suffice to say that when I finished Onyx Storm, I went straight to Goodreads to read a bunch of 1 star reviews so I could feel less alone in my feels about the book. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Onyx Storm is not, in fact, the third book in what I’d understood to be a trilogy, but book 3 of an eventual 5. I’m out, though.

So, I asked my friends for some (better) queer dragon-fucking romance recs. And got this hilarious, but fair, question in return:

“Are the riders fucking the dragons? Are they shifters? Or like we are talking an equestrian equivalent?”

Followed by: “And I need to know who to turn to if I can’t help - like do we need to consult a dragon shifter book fan? beastiality connoisseur? Paranormal racing sport writer? I don’t know. 🤷🏻”

My answers:

“Dragon riders for sure and I’d love a bond between rider and dragon. If the riders fuck the dragons or vice versa, even better! (But I’m not asking for miracles here and I think we can probably hold off on consulting bestiality connoisseurs (do you know bestiality connoisseurs to consult??).)

I think we’re talking equestrian equivalents but yeah, now that you mention it, dragon shifters could work too. 

And fuck, if you’ve got a paranormal racing sport writer in mind…that might be something I didn’t know I needed.”

I got a bunch of recs! And I’m starting with

Skydive by Roe Horvat.

Heavens to Betsy, Roe Horvat knows how to write deliciously filthy books!

(And the answer to my question of whether my friend has a bestiality consult they can tap?

“I’ve got a person for everything. And I mean *everything* 😬👀😬”

😳😳😳)

Do you have any dragon fucking book recs for me?

In the Queer Romance Book Club, my take on chapters 13 and 14 of KJ Charles's A Case of Possession is posted. What are your thoughts on Stephen and Crane's adventures?