#A.M. Strickland

[lgbtqreads]

Happy Pan Visibility Day 2024!

Today is Pan Visibility Day, and as usual, we’re celebrating with a bunch of books that have pansexual leads! Today is Pan Visibility Day, and as usual, we’re celebrating with a bunch of books that have pansexual leads! Please note that this post only includes books that weren’t featured in full in previous posts; you can find more pansexual books in posts from past years! Court of the Undying…

[transbookoftheday]

🧛 Trans Vampire Books 🧛

Can't get enough of What We Do In The Shadows? Read some trans vampire books!

A whirlwind romance between an eccentric archivist and a grieving widow explores what it means to be at home in your own body in this clever, humorous, and heartfelt novel. When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who’s come to donate her wife’s papers, there’s an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the “vampire disease.” Then, when strange things start happening at the collection, Sol must embrace even more of the unknown to save himself and his job. DEAD COLLECTIONS is a wry novel full of heart and empathy, that celebrates the journey, the difficulties and joys, in finding love and comfort within our own bodies.

In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more. Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside. A blade. When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love’s place in their village’s Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls…or they don’t survive long enough to become either. Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life…or betrays her own heart.

ARC 1, IN WHICH: A cute punk-rock vampire and a disabled firefighter-turned-mall-cop with a dark past join forces to battle the forces of evil. Jude used to leap out of helicopters to rescue/protect people from terrifying infernos. Now, by day, he protects the local mall from rowdy teenagers who ride their skateboards inside. By night, he protects the the parking lot, and the rest of Portland, from undead, bloodsucking creatures of the darkness. Or would if he could find them. But he’s just about ready to give it up (living with PTSD and pain from the traumatic event that cost him a leg, a friend, and a lot more is hard enough), when something crashes into his life. And his window. It’s one of these creatures of the darkness - and he’s a lot less scary than expected. More cuddly, with dark fuzzy wings, and neon-bright hair. His name is Pixie, and he refuses to bite anyone. Assault/murder/draining fluids isn’t punk, even if being a vampire really kind of is. He’s very hungry by now, and the much bigger, meaner, deadlier vamps kick him around on the nightly. Jude would love to find and fight some actual undead bullies. And Pixie could use some help staying… ‘alive.’ Time to make a deal. Of course, life still sucks when you’re a vampire who refuses to suck blood. Fortunately, there’s a really interesting new barbecue restaurant in the mall, with an intriguing new recipe. (We hear that the secret ingredient is… love. No, really.)

Darren is your average half-human, half-fae trans teenager, busy figuring out his powers and puberty while trying to survive finals. When Vlad, a newly turned vampire, moves in with the witch down the street, he and Darren get off on the wrong foot. Darren is always one to give somebody a second chance, though, and as they become friends, he realizes Vlad is just lonely and struggling with his new powers. That’s something Darren can definitely relate to, and he’s happy to lend his support. But while he coaxes Vlad out of his shell, Darren ends up learning about Vlad’s past… and the danger Vlad is in. Darren only wants to help—help Vlad feel comfortable in his own skin and help him feel safe. He hadn’t planned on falling in love.

Book titles:

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

Stake Sauce, Arc 1: The Secret Ingredient Is Love. No, Really by RoAnna Sylver

Showers, Flowers, and Fangs by Aidan Wayne

[swan-orpheus]

Library adventures, Spooky Edition. Halloween is over, you say? Ah, but Spooky Season has just begun...🦇🦉🐦‍⬛🌙❄️

[good-books-to-read]

A Book to Sink Your Teeth Into

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

19 year old Fin takes a dangerous and terrifying path when she volunteers to take her secret love’s place in the Finding, where those chosen are taken to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either.

Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago.

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

A small Alaskan town, a missing boy and a brutal murder.

A detective is brought in from out of state to assist the former sherriff who investigated a similar murder twenty-five years ago.

But are they hunting a twisted psychopath - or something even more terrifying?

Morgana and Oz: vol 1 by Miyuli

Morgana belongs to a long line of witches, except she struggles to manage her powers which leads to more than one mishap, Oz a vampire of the local vampire clan, is a victim of such magic, and to make the situation worse the vampires and witches aren’t really on friendly terms.

Can the two set aside their differences before an all out war is started.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to advise Count Dracula on a London home, he makes a horrifying discovery. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the arrival of his 'Master', while a determined group of adversaries prepares to face the terrifying Count.

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

In a lonely castle deep in the Styrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her elderly father for company – until a moonlit night brings an unexpected guest, at first Laura is glad to finally have a female companion of her own age, but her new friend’s strange habits and eerie nocturnal wanderings quickly become unsettling, and soon a ghastly truth is revealed.

[drastrochris]

Kashire is such an ass. I mean, he's still one of my favorite characters in the book, but he needs to learn to say things like, "I'm sorry I tried to murder you on what was probably already a very stressful day."

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Court of the Undying Seasons | Author: A.M. Strickland | Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (2023)

[beakys-book-hoard]

In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed what I read for the most part but a lot of the time I felt like the romance didn't mesh with the actual story line. It felt almost random and thrown in there to me. And it was so completely rushed. Not at one point did I think the MFC actually liked either in a romantic way. Any and all declarations of love fell flat and were unbelievable. Every time there was a romance scene, the plot of the story basically disappeared. When we get back to the plot, the romance parts seemed like they never happened. There was no mention of it until it was convenient. So I feel like the balance there was really off. The fluctuation in the MFC's thought process and actions were interesting. Again, some of those didn't feel like they fit. The closer to the end of the book, the more erratic the character seemed to get. At one moment it was like it was a different person. Which could have been the goal, she was doing things people had supposedly never done before. So you kind of have to accept that that's what would happen in those situations. Especially when nothing had been previously written about. I also found it strange that for someone who was adamant on revenge for 400 years, that they couldn't see it right in front of them. Guess that was to be saved for a "twist." The end was alright. Sort of your typical happily ever after. View all my reviews

[songedunenuitdete]

La cour des Saisons Immortelles de A.M. Strickland

[mistwraiths]

3 stars

Sadly, I didn't love this as much as I loved A.M. Strickland's In The Ravenous Dark.

I think this is mostly a fine book however I felt it really average at best and didn't really give me any depth that I would have liked on the multiple different things it had. It had a interesting concept like training novices in vampire abilities and slowly, slowly turning them to be more vampire and gaining approval to become a vampire by the vampire courts. It was like a vampire school which was a cool backdrop.

We don't really get any good worldbuilding here. There's a few mentions of how this is set in our world here with a sentence here or there talking about these are Nordic lands, we were fighters once, which okay but it felt odd to throw in there a couple hundred pages later and not have it mean much of anything??? Where did the vampires come from?? How did they take over? There's other areas where the Courts have influence in different ways other than Fin's experience living in the Red Court's land. Like science and governing. How's that work? Once we're very near the end, we suddenly get more new information on Founders and suddenly, this Nameless Queen in the last 30 pages or so. Why would you introduce a huge plot thing in the last handful of pages? We're also thrown a new term that hasn't ever showed up in the entire book in the last 10 pages? There's also some mentions of actual children being groomed to become vampires that's never explored.

Fin was a frustrating character for me because she thinks she's so clever and instead she gets one thought and clamps down on it and refuses to actually think or listen or use reason. She just bounces around suspects and during one moment when she confronts said suspect it becomes so embarrassing. I don't really understand her either. I understand she hates vampires but like... why?? Is the practice of enthrallment awful? Yes. Taking a handful 17-19 year old every year terrible? Sure. But it DOES give people who don't have opportunities in life to HAVE new opportunities. She was treated HORRIBLY by humans especially and she's like I don't hate them. But vampires actually treat her sometimes better and she's like I'M GONNA KILL THEM.

The romance was there but personally I didn't quite feel like it was done well. Gavron was kind of bland mostly, and naturally even though he's being enthralled to do things, it's still his hand. There should be some weight there, not of blame but just hurt. Especially since it seems it's fully Gavron's idea to place Fin as a thrall, which is the biggest fear of hers AND keep her with his blood so no one touches her. Which was hard to follow, another concept completely brought up once. And then they were equals or something. There's no talk really of the power dynamic between Gavron and Fin either.

I will say I loved the acceptance of queerness and non-binary. I think some of the powers are cool, and the side characters were interesting although we don't get much. The complicated relationship between Fin and her mother could have been interesting but it wasnt really focused on. To be honest, there's really not much character growth to the characters at all? The end is a giant clusterfuck of new characters, new enemy, and like... what's going to happen later. I really didn't follow much of the ending about the Council, blood they drank, alliances of Courts, and what's to be done for the Black Court. We do get this half-hearted "we'll look out for humans and police the vampires" vibe at the end, but there's nothing concrete or set in stone. It's just "Oh things will be better" with no evidence.

If you want a YA vampire fantasy, I personally wouldn't recommend but I realize it wasn't bad just not my jam.

[justreadingfic]

is there somewhere i can read Beyond the black door by a.m strickland for free? 😢

[signourneybooks]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland | ARC Review

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway. Book: Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland Release Date: May 16th 2023Tags: Fantasy | Young Adult | Paranormal Romance | Vampire Trigger/Content Warnings: Blood | Gore | MurderOther books in this series I reviewed In the Ravenous Dark When nineteen-year-old…

[lgbtqreads]

Shopper's Delight: B&N Preorder Sale

[transbookoftheday]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

In becoming a vampire, I’m less than a girl. And more.

Or maybe I’m becoming what I always have been, deep inside.

A blade.

When nineteen-year-old Fin volunteers to take her secret love's place in their village's Finding, she is terrified. Those who are chosen at the Finding are whisked away to Castle Courtsheart, a vampire school where human students either succeed and become vampires, fail and spend the rest of their lives as human thralls...or they don't survive long enough to become either.

Fin is determined to forge a different path: learn how to kill the undead and get revenge for her mother, who was taken by the vampires years ago. But Courtsheart is as captivating as it is deadly, and Fin is quickly swept up in her new world and its inhabitants - particularly Gavron, her handsome and hostile vampire maker, whose blood is nothing short of intoxicating. As Fin begins to discover new aspects of her own identity and test her newfound powers, she stumbles across a string of murders that may be connected to a larger ritual - one with potentially lethal consequences for vampires and humans alike. Fin must uncover the truth and find the killer before she loses her life...or betrays her own heart.

[astralbooks]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

Read: 11/05/2023 - 17/05/2023

Rating: 4/5

Rep: pan demigirl main character, pan love interest, Black lesbian side character, bigender side character, agender side character, queer side characters including pan & aroace characters

CW (provided by author): blood drinking (voluntary & forced), violence, gore, death & murder, child abuse, child neglect, mind/body control, consent issues, uneven relationship dynamics, death of a queer character (but most characters are queer), death of a parent (off page), death of a mentor, substance use (alcohol, mushrooms, vampire blood), mild gender dysphoria, mild body horror

Review:

When vampires come to Fin’s village to choose someone to turn into one of them, Fin makes sure she’s the one who gets chosen. This way she can make sure the girl she’s secretly in love with will be safe, and she can use this as an opportunity to learn how to kill vampires so she can avenge her mother. She’s taken to a vampire finishing school where, as she’s slowly turned into one of the undead, she must learn different vampiric skills to a high enough standard to be accepted. Failure means death or becoming a human thrall, neither of which are an option. Things get complicated, however, when people start getting murdered, and the deaths all seem to have some connection to Fin.

I liked Fin as a main character! She was reckless enough to be willing to do things that drove the plot forwards, but still reasonable enough not to verge into ridiculousness. Except for this one incident when she was so determined to yell at someone that she refused to let a likely fatal injury be healed for a lot longer than was reasonable. She was just clutching at her still-bleeding wound as she shouted and honestly I was so entertained by this that I don’t even care how unrealistic it was. Sometimes the need to chew someone out is simply bigger than whatever crisis is unfolding no matter what it is and I think that’s a feeling we can all relate to on some level.

I found the relationship between Fin and Gavron to be believable, and I enjoyed watching them gradually come to trust each other and see each other as an ally. Also, they’re Very Into mutual blood drinking, more so than is apparently typical for vampires in-universe. I thought this was a very fun aspect of their relationship to read about, but it might not be for everyone, even for a book about vampires. If detailed descriptions of blood drinking are going to bother you then this isn’t the book for you. If you’re down with that then full steam ahead.

I think the consent issues inherent in this premise were handled well! Gavron is Fin’s vampire maker, or sire, to borrow terminology I’ve seen used in other vampire media, and this inherently means he has some power over her due to him being in that position of authority. There’s also a significant plot thread regarding the vampiric ability to control the actions of humans. If left unaddressed, all of this would have serious and troubling implications. Thankfully, it wasn’t left unaddressed. The ability to consent (in both sexual and non-sexual contexts) is a point of discussion, and Gavron and Fin place heavy emphasis on being equal partners in their relationship. They could’ve easily been super codependent and toxic, but they very deliberately weren’t, and I appreciated that.

I loved some of the side characters in this book! Especially Jaen and Kashire. Jaen is a bigender scholar, who’s largely kind and compassionate, but who’ll show no mercy to those who cross him or hurt his friends. She gets the book’s sole f-bomb and it’s glorious. Jaen’s the character I’d most like to be friends with out of everyone and the person I think I’d get along with the most. Kashire is a lot of fun. He’s Gavron’s ex, and is introduced to Fin in such a way that she takes an instant and very understandable dislike to him, but as time goes on he grows on her despite how much she wishes he wouldn’t. They’re totally besties by the end. Besties who still pretend to hate each other half the time. 

If you’re looking for a morally grey world with morally grey characters, a vampire book that doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of such a story, and a casually queer cast, then you’ll probably enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review

[good-books-to-read]

Books

In the Ravenous Dark by AM Strickland

welcome!

this blog is a side project built from my own frustration at how hard it is to find creative media with canon polyamorous relationships represented. i wanted to create a repository of what i find and consume. this pinned post will serve as a rec list, with links to my reviews as i complete them.

note: this blog is currently a work in progress as i set things up. faq and info about the review below the cut.

books

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao | F/M/M

A Novel Arrangement by Arden Powell | F/M/M

The Companion by E. E. Ottoman | T4T(4T) F/F/M

True Love Bites by Joy Demorra | F/M/M

Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie | it's complicated

Honorable Mention: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells | several background polyamorous relationship + their families

movies & TV

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women | M/F/F (historical fiction based on Wonder Woman creator/s)

The Expanse |

Black Sails |

video games

Hades | F/M/M

When the Night Comes | M/M/player's gender (x2)

Honorable Mention: Boyfriend Dungeon | polyamorous romance options that are acknowledged/supported within game and implied some romance options interact with each other as well.

graphic novels & comics

.

podcasts

The Penumbra Pod: Second Citadel | M/M/F

to read/watch/play list

about the reviewer: i'm a 28, white, bi, nonbinary from the u.s. my pronouns are they/them and you can call me A. i have a mfa in creative writing, which might peak through in how i review things. my favorite genres are science fiction, fantasy, romance, and mystery which will bias my reading habits. [credit for profile pic]

faq

q: can i send a rec?

a: yes please! if there are major trigger warnings i'd appreciate them, but they aren't a requirement. my only ask is please don't send anything where pregnancy and/or incest are a large parts of the narrative.

q: can i submit a review?

a: not at the moment, but i may reconsider as i get this more put together.

q: will you cover x media which has a really popular ot3/ot4/etc.?

a: no, though i may do a special edition posts on some of my favorites. probably the biggest debate was Leverage/Leverage: Redemption but sadly at present i don't feel i can count among "canon" (though i will be popping the biggest bottles if it ever does become fully canon). i may rethink the "word of god" type canon later, but for now that's where i land.

[drastrochris]

Page 377.

Obviously there are spoilers.

I'm imagining that they've just come outside, and the courtyard is filled with what is essentially the armies of the four houses, all of them ready to kill whomever they need to to stop whatever is happening.

And then the gang just all starts talking at the same time, explaining whatever part of the story seems the most important to them, and everybody who was just getting ready to fight to the death is now trying to understand the cacophony of everyone speaking over each other.

Like, I'm imagining the soundtrack is swelling with a horn fanfare that builds and builds

Only to immediately be replaced with like this. Just a complete tonal shift, and I love it.

Kashire's still an ass, and I love him.