#Get it now

[magickpancakes]

Plooshie MagickPancakes! She full of beans! Hug her! Love her! Tuck her into bed! Throw her against the wall! Endless possibilities!

[richincolor]

Title: Icarus Author: K. Ancrum Genres: Contemporary, Romance, LGBTQIA, Thriller Pages: 382 Publisher: HarperTeen Review Copy: Review copy provided by publisher Availability: Available now

Summary: Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught.

Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous—a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus’s rules.

As reluctance and distrust become closeness and something more, they uncover the gilded cage that has trapped both their families for years. One Icarus is determined to escape. But his father’s thirst for revenge shows no sign of fading, and soon it may force Icarus to choose: the escape he’s dreamed of, or the boy he’s come to love. Reaching for both could be his greatest triumph—or it could be his downfall.

Review: [Icarus contains scenes of physical and verbal child abuse and mentions of past intimate partner violence. There are also some intense scenes of violence between an unrelated adult and a teenager, as well as underage drinking, smoking, and drug use.]

I went into Icarus expecting a thriller based on the publisher’s summary. And while there are multiple scenes of excellently done high-tension thievery, Icarus is a far more character-focused work than I anticipated (and a wonderful one at that). You’ll be spending far more time with our protagonist in high school than sneaking through the Black house. I was not at all disappointed by the discrepancy, but I just wanted to flag that for other readers who may be interested in the book.

Icarus, our protagonist, has lived most of his life in service of his father’s elaborate and time-consuming revenge scheme. He has built himself a distant, calculated life, one carefully engineered to prevent others from seeing anything other than what he wants to project. Author K. Ancrum excels at exploring the emotional toll that maintaining that distance requires and does a masterful job of developing Icarus’s relationships anyway. There are multiple scenes where Icarus’s acquaintances from school prove themselves to be true friends or even just capable of seeing who Icarus is, when his father is incapable of it. Icarus’s romance with Helios is one of the main drivers of the book, but the love Icarus’s friends have for him is of equal importance to the story, and I adored Celestine and Luca in particular.

Icarus and Helios are a fantastic pair, and I was very happy with how their relationship developed. The way they slowly opened up to each other and revealed their secrets was wonderful, and I loved their moments of emotional—and physical—connection. The looming threat of Helios’s abusive father, Icarus’s father’s obsession, and Icarus’s eighteenth birthday combined to heighten the tension around them as they got to know each other. Some of Ancrum’s best work was in quiet scenes between Icarus and Helios, and by the end, I was desperate for the two of them to escape their fathers together.

Recommendation: Get it now if you like character-focused books. While there are great thriller/heist elements in Icarus, author K. Ancrum’s work shines in the titular character’s development. This introspective book explores characters’ relationships in lovely and surprising ways, and Icarus’s friendships are just as important to Icarus’s arc as his romance with Helios. I am definitely interested in picking up K. Ancrum’s other work after finishing Icarus.

Extras: The Art of Icarus (twitter thread)

K. Ancrum discusses her latest novel ‘Icarus’

Q & A with K. Ancrum

[fizzy-stars]

Cat: We couldn't even catch a sample before it melted away....Oh dear that lead researcher won't be so glad....

[jacksmylove]

Guys I just finished Defy the Night and am OBSESSED I can definitely say this is one of the books that has tear stains all over it and I definitely recommend it!

[abluestitchintime]

Just saw this in xmas clearance at Walgreens 

[bitchfitch]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

[lovely-v]

It’s crazy and fucked up that being yourself is actually the solution.

[angelofdumpsterfires]

presented without comment

[koobiie]

i feel strongly about this

[macbethz]

Well I like it but it’s not very well written. Also it’s a visual mess. The plot doesnt make any sense and the creators suck and its politics oscillate from mildly problematic to frankly baffling. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. However. the character

[bookwyrminspiration]

god I would be UNSTOPPABLE if I was capable of consistently initiating tasks. just you wait. you'll be waiting a while but just you wait

[cordspaghetti]

really factual recounting with no embellishments whatsoever

[richincolor]

Title: Asking for a Friend Author: Kara H.L. Chen Genres: Contemporary, Romance Pages: 336 Publisher: Quill Tree Books Review Copy: eARC provided by publisher Availability: Available now Summary: Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

Review: [Note: ASKING FOR A FRIEND includes several difficult familial issues, including parental death, disowning a child for a pregnancy out of wedlock, parents who probably ought to get divorced but don’t because of social expectations, conflicts between parents and children over school/career expectations, and additional threats of being disowned.]

It’s always a delight when you get a romance that hits all the right notes for you. ASKING FOR A FRIEND is one of those for me, thanks to a mix of a couple with real conflicts, family and community strife, and lovely moments of genuine connection. Juliana and Garrett are engaging characters in their own rights, and their reunion after an abrupt end of their childhood friendship had me rooting for them both. (Yes, even when they fought!) Their optimistic vs cynical takes on romance in their joint dating advice column were a lot of fun, too.

There is a lot going on in ASKING FOR A FRIEND beyond the central romance, but author Kara H.L. Chen interweaves the various subplots skillfully so that even though some things aren’t neatly wrapped up in a bow at the end (or even happily), nothing feels like it was abandoned midway through. I really enjoyed how much development characters outside the main couple got, particularly Juliana’s parents (even though her father has been dead for several years—no small feat!). Juliana and Garrett’s Taiwanese American community also felt well-explored and lived-in thanks to the interpersonal and intracommunity conflicts that played out in different ways throughout the book.

I appreciated that Juliana’s subplots with her family weren’t always resolved in ways that I initially assumed they would be. Grief, social expectations, and your parents’ dreams for you can complicate your view of yourself and your future. Juliana had to confront a lot of painful parts of herself in ASKING FOR A FRIEND, and her journey in establishing her own values and dreams was all the stronger for it. Even when she made what I felt were frustrating decisions, I understood why she chose the way she did and was ultimately pleased by where her character ended up. I also enjoyed Garret’s character arc and position in the story as one of the people who helped Juliana confront her own beliefs about the world as well as her role and future in it.

Recommendation: Get it now if you’re looking for a contemporary romance to wrap up the summer. ASKING FOR A FRIEND has a heartfelt romance at its center, which is complicated by conflicts between our romantic leads and within their families and community. There are a lot of great things going on in this book, and I’m looking forward to whatever author Kara H.L. Chen comes out with next.

Extras: Author Corner| Interview with Kara H.L. Chen

Q&A: Kara H.L. Chen, Author of ‘Asking for a Friend’

Living In Between, a guest post by Kara H. L. Chen

[everythingwasnormalhere]

pls rb if you think cuddling doesn't have to be s3xual

im tryna prove a point to my bf's mother help me out

[hansoeii]

only you.