#bl radley

[maddiesbookshelves]

Strictly no heroics, by B. L. Radley

The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH. Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen: masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.

The writing was very reminiscent of tumblr folk tales, probably because B. L. Radley apparently used to(?) write on here. Or maybe I thought that because I knew Radley wrote on tumblr... Whichever it is, the vibes of the writing style were there, it was fun

It was also nice to have representation that doesn't end at "this character is gay, and this one is black": we get different gender and sexual identities, different body types (our MC doesn't have gressin limbs), different skin colors, Riley's sister even has a prosthetic leg. I feel like a lot of people would think it's too """woke""" but like, that's actually what the real world looks like outside of your bubble? Minorities are still a good chunk of the population and queer people do tend to band together, somehow. Anyways, I really liked that aspect of the story

The plot wasn't some convoluted evil master plan from some removed villain with the fate of the world at stake, it was closer to home (which makes sense given Riley and her lack of powers), so it was really refreshing and made the whole story seem way more realistic.

I'll definitely want to read more of Radley's works if they get more publishing deals after this one!

French version under the cut

Ceux dotés du gène des Super dirigent le monde, et Riley Jones n'en fait pas partie. Elle est une simple Normie qui esquive les combats incessants entre super héros et super villains qui détruisent Sunnylake City. Elle travaille dans un dinner minable pour pour payer sa thérapie tout en essayant de trouver le moyen de dire à sa famille qu'elle est queer. Seulement, lorsque Riley se venge d'un super héros aux mains baladeuses au travail, elle se retrouve en manque cruel d'un emploi et la seule entreprise qui veut bien l'embaucher est SBIRE. Oui, SBIRE, comme les sbires masqués des super villains qui prennent leur commande de café, nettoient leur repaire secret, et font les durs en arrière-plan pendant qu'ils se battent. Riley compte se mêler de ses affaires et toucher sa paie, mais ce plan tombe rapidement à l'eau lorsqu'elle assiste à un meurtre horrible au travail. Prise au milieu d'un complot d'embourgeoisement, d'une tentative de syndicalisation et ses sentiments naissants envers son irritable collègue, Riley devra faire face à la possibilité que même une Normie sans pouvoirs puisse prendre position contre l'injustice.

Le style d'écriture m'a rappelé les contes populaires de tumblr, probablement parce que B. L. Radley écrit (écrivait ?) sur le site. Ou peut-être que j'y ai pensé parce que je savais que Radley écrivait sur tumblr... Dans tous les cas, les vibes étaient là, c'était fun

C'était aussi sympa d'avoir de la représentation qui s'arrête pas à "ce personnage est gay et celui-là est noir" : on voit différentes identités de genres, différentes sexualités, types de morphologies (notre personnage principale n'a pas des membres-gressins), couleurs de peau. La soeur de Riley a même une prothèse de jambe. Je suis sûre que beaucoup de gens trouveraient ça trop """woke""", mais euh, c'est à ça que le monde réel ressemble en dehors de leur bulle ? Les minorités représentent quand même une bonne partie de la population et les personnes queer ont tendance à se regrouper, d'une façon ou d'une autre. Bref, j'ai vraiment apprécié cet aspect du roman

L'intrigue était pas un plan alambiqué fomenté par un lointain méchant où le sort du monde est en jeu, c'était une échelle plus humaine (ce qui a du sens au vu du manque de pouvoirs de Riley), donc c'était très rafraichissant et rendait l'histoire bien plus réaliste

Je lirai absolument plus de livres par Radley si iel publie d'autres livres à l'avenir !

[displayheartcode]

Comedy book recs?

I can’t think of any joke books, but here are some stories that made me laugh lot.

hold me closer, necormancer by lish mcbride - I won’t stop recommending the misadventures of this Seattle-based necromancer stuck in a supernatural turf war

little thieves by margaret owen -a terrible maid steals a pearl necklace, angers a god, and later accidentally starts a cult

the prospects by kt hoffman - come for the queer romance, stay for the muppets discourse

the fell of dark by caleb roehrig - either you live long enough to become a vessel for evil or you stay human enough to take a math exam

strictly no heroics by bl radley - henchpeople of the world, unionize!

out on a limb by hannah bonan-young - a ridiculous one-night stand involving pirate costumes shouldn’t make me this emotional

vampires never get old (anthology) - the title alone is a reason to buy this

[le-trash-prince]

Okay here is the final list of all the books I’ve finished this year! (since it doesn’t look like I’m going to get anything finished or even started this week.)

I tend to not finish things if I’m not enjoying them (two exceptions on this list because sometimes I am spiteful), so I liked all of these—but the ones in bold are those I particularly loved (I only bolded one per series or it would just be a wall of The Murderbot Diaries lol).

LGBT+ books read: 48

wlw books read: 22

trans/nb books: 17

I’m very happy with my year in reading. I hit my new year’s goal of 52 books finished. And I read a lot of things that I really fucking loved. Lots of robots. LOTS of scifi/fantasy sapphics which I am SO happy about. Some good horror, some good fucky “romances”. A lot of things written in response to the Trump era or written during 2020 lockdown.

I also enjoyed partaking in online book fandom for the first time in possibly ever! Especially Murderbot fandom, which is very active and creative and lovely.

(If you followed me for my bookblogging, thank you for enduring my Thai BL vroom vroom omegaverse brainrot. It will not be stopping anytime soon.)

For 2024, I am going to keep my goal at 52 books and save any extra time I have for rereading old things.

Anyways the list, for posterity:

After Midnight: A History of Independent India by Meghaa Gupta

The Old Place by Bobby Finger

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae

Women and Girls With Autism Spectrum Disorder by Sarah Hendrickx

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

Unmasking Autism by Devon Price

Divergent Mind by Jenara Nerenberg

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

Strictly No Heroics by B. L. Radley

Love after the End edited by Joshua Whitehead

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom by Nina Varela

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Network Effect by Martha Wells

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

Burning Roses by S. L. Huang

In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

No One Will Come Back For Us by Premee Mohamed

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

The Witch King by Martha Wells

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Galveston’s Maceo Family Empire by T. Nicole Boatman et al

Blood Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Galveston’s Red Light District: A History of the Line by Kimber Fountain

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Linghun by Ai Jiang

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Spear by Nicola Griffith

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starking

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night by Iona Datt Sharma & Katherine Fabian

System Collapse by Martha Wells

Silver Nitrate Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele

[thistle-nightshade]

What to Read for the Trans Rights Readathon 2024

NonFiction:

I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom

Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

Safe and Sound by Mercury Stardust

Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words (Various)

Fantasy:

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Lark and Kasim Start a Revolution by Kacen Callendar

Our Bloody Pearl by DN Bryn

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Venom & Vow by Elliot McLemore and Anna-Marie McLemore

Sci-Fi:

Mazarin Blues by Al Hess

Winters Orbit by Everina Maxwell

Strictly No Heroics by BL Radley

Horror:

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Your Body is Not Your Body (Various)

General Fiction:

The Free People's Village by Sim Kern

Future Feeling by Joss Lake

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

Romance:

A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland

The Stars and the Stage by DN Bryn

[cactusprincewrites]

✨🌸💙 SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING ✨🌸💙

dhsfhhfsdhhndh this is so sweet, thank you ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

Uno reverse card, right back at you! get positivity'd, motherfucker

also: @nicola-writes @friiday-thirteenth @radley-writes @bye-bl @caspia-writes @albatris @gingerbreadgodofhyperdeath @bl00dyskies @gabriel-shutterson love you all, you're amazing 💛

[feywildfancypants]

More recs:

1. Our Bloody Pearl by DN Bryn (paralyzed siren, use of sign language, steampunk prosthetic fins). A very cozy read with found family. Also, ace rep.

2. Strictly No Heroics by BL Radley (the younger sibling has a prosthetic limb) I loved the snarky main character with all my heart and the sibling love is authentic with plenty of hair pulling but also they’d die for each other. Also, sapphic.

3. Safe and Sound by EM Lindsey (this is a rec from profiterole-reads in the comments that I am reading now)

One thing I want to read more of is books with disability rep. Recently read How to Sell Your Blood and Fall in Love by DN Bryn. It’s a cute little gay vampire romance with chronic pain rep.(also vampirism is treated like a disability and I found this exploration of it fascinating). Loved it. Bryn is a fantastic writer.

Im totally not posting this in the hopes that more people reblog with their fav disability rep books. A whole list of books to read… whatever would I do with that..,

[imisswonho]

1. (this is gonna go over several asks to answer your q's!!!) okay so my dogs are from the same litter!!! their names are Buffy and Willow (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and they're pit bull boxer mixes!!! they're about three years old nd they're smiley dogs!!! okay now for my cats,,, ooph. OKAY so, my cat we got from the humane society!! he's a black cat named Blackberry and god he's scared of actually everything ksjsksks - og sunset anon

😣💕💞💓2. and he’s deemed as my cat bc he only cuddles me, only lets me hold him, when we first got him he would only eat if i fed him. my sweet baby. he knows how to open my door too so sometimes i just wake up nd see my baby boy. he’s about five years old!! our other cat (idk her real name) pudge, who is super pudgy nd small, is also a black cat from the humane society!!! she’s really friendly and doesn’t know how to meow!!! - og sunset anon

3. we got blackberry and pudge at the same time! our other two cats we also got at the same time and they are three years old, these two we’ve had since they were kittens. okay Boo Radley (radley for short) is ANOTHER BLACK CAT nd him big… when he rubs against your legs you can just grab his tail w/o changing your position. he’s also super chillaxed… he’s also my cat technically bc he only cuddles me and i’m the only one to hear his purr after 3 years!! - og sunset anon

4. and lastly our lil pixel cat!!! pixel is our only non-black cat and she’s an orange tabby!!! she’s super antisocial and really only comes out to play in the morning. she’s 3 years old but when she was a kitten she was super sick and didn’t grow a lot so she’s so tiny and still has lil kitten bounces!!! she’s my mom’s cat but she’s learning to trust me as well. today she came into my room and cuddled radley nd blackberry with me!!! - og sunset anon.

5. and for me nd my wonderful novia!!! okay, so she and i met through a mutual friend who writes fanfiction (i write fanfics too nd this friend is from uruguay and we talk about writing and the differences in our culture and since i have family from france we compare that too) and for awhile we were both anons on this friend’s blog aksksk then we came off and started talking and i had an instant crush tbh sksksks - og sunset anon

6. so did you end up exploring or going shopping?? i love your stories and pictures!!! if you have any memories you wanna share pls do i would love to listen!!! also i hope you had a great day bc you’re a genuine angel!!! i hope you have a great day today as well and you can smile a whole lot :) ALSO THE TAGS ON MY BLOG ALSO BEGIN W PRINCE FOR ALL THE MEMBERS OUR TAGS CAME TRUE!!! - og sunset anon

OH MY GOOOOSH KLSDJFLKFJSDLJDKL thank u so much for telling me about ur familie wowie i’m so in love 😣🐶💕🐶💕🐱💓🐱💓🐱💓🐱💓 buffy, willow, blackberry, pudge, radley and pixel has the cutest most loving owner ever okay im so soft 😪🎐💞💙💓🍧💘🌸💕😪🎐💞💙💓🍧💘🌸💕😪🎐💞💙💓🍧💘🌸💕😪🎐💞💙💓🍧💘🌸💕KITTEN BOUNCES SDLKFJDKLFS i’m so jealous is this what heaven is like!!!! ALSO DOUBLE SOFT BC SLKDJFAKLJFASFAL u n ur gf were meant to be !!!!!! 🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹🎈🌿🍓❤️🍒🌱🌹 

n hehe we actually ended up exploring - a new brunch place!! except it was meh (our pasta was kinda bland and the ice cream was... $7......) but we took a . bunch of pics bc the outside of the building was so aesthetically pleasing!! :D ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SEND ME YOUR MESSAGES they made my night n i loved reading everything!! 💕💞💓 also kldffdfljksda ur so cute bls UR THE GENUINE ANGEL!!! i love u sm i hope ur day is full of sunshine and big ass rainbows ok :’(((

[cherrypicker21]

I just added this listing on Poshmark: T-Shirt Dress with 3/4 sleeve NWT. #poshmark #fashion #shopping #shopmycloset

[displayheartcode]

Hi i ate up your recommendations lists and added so many books to read!!! But do you have any female empowerment book recs? I’m looking for fantasy but non fiction is fine too.

thanks for reading the lists! i'm glad you found more books to add to your tbr!

books about women and girls who battle terrible systems (internalized issues, society, etc.) and find themselves along the way!

*Please check content warnings for several of these books beforehand*

adult

The Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro (horror)

A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson (horror)

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (contemporary/romance)

The Roommate by Rosie Danan (contemporary/romance)

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho (urban fantasy/mystery)

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson (horror)

Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher (fairytale)

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (historical/romance)

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai (urban fantasy/romance)

Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig (non-fiction)

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole (contemporary/romance)

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (horror)

young adult

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (contemporary/thriller)

When Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah (urban fantasy/horror)

Required Reading for Disenfranchised Freshmen by Kirsten R Lee (contemporary)

Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah (fantasy)

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore (magical realism)

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore (magical realism)

Legendborn by Tracey Deonn (urban fantasy)

The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters (mystery/urban fantasy)

Strictly No Heroics by BL Radley (superhero)

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett (contemporary)

Breathe and Count Down From Ten by Natalia Sylvester (contemporary)

Where You See Yourself by Claire Forrest (contemporary)