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pithia · 10 months

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Everyone should be afraid of those who can embroider. We have the patience to keep stabbing the same thing over and over again.

Mianmian (A Clash of Steel by C.B. Lee)

#quotations #CB Lee #embroidery #skills #patience

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layaart · 2 years

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Xiang and Anh from a scene in A Clash of Steel by CB Lee!

#A Clash of Steel #cb lee #c.b. lee #book fanart #books #lgbtq books #sapphic books #2022 fanart

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bibliophilecats · 1 year

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April 22 2023: Three word title

#book photo challenge #justonemorepage #cb lee #not your sidekick #not your villain #not your backup #the sidekick squad

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queer-books-bracket · 1 year

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#aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #not your sidekick #nora sakavic #cb lee #books #lgbt books #polls

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aurorawest · 9 months

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Reading update

Just Like That by Cole McCade - 2/5 stars

So I started reading this age gap romance about two professors at a boys boarding school expecting it to be different than the last Cole McCade romance I read. It...wasn't. The emotions are turned up to 11 all the time, from the very first page, and that means there's nowhere emotionally to go. It also felt rushed and like the characters didn't really have room to breathe. So...I might retract what I said about the first Cole McCade novel I read needing to be shorter, because this one was shorter, and it didn't work.

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell - 4/5 stars

Bought this for the SnowBaz story, ended up reading the whole thing and quite enjoying it. The SnowBaz story was definitely still the best though.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo - 4/5 stars

In my last reading update I said I wasn't going to read any my Leigh Bardugo books, totally forgetting this one was sitting very near the top of my TBR pile. I liked it a lot, but I have been informed that Hellbent involves a glowing, fully erect demon penis in multiple scenes (and not even for demon sex) soooo yeah. I think I'll give it a miss.

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles - 4.75/5 stars

Drama! by AJ Truman - 4.25/5 stars

Bloodline by Jordan L Hawk - 4.75/5 stars

Wanted, A Gentleman by KJ Charles - 5/5 stars

Oh I loved this one so much. I love when KJ Charles writes books with a twist because I never see them coming. And it's not like the clues aren't there. This is a super quick read but so good. I definitely could have read a full length novel about Martin and Theo.

The Klockwerk Kraken by Aidee Ladnier - 5/5 stars

You look at this book and you think, tentacle porn. And yeah, there's some sex with tentacles. But??? This book??? It kind of wrecked me. It's two connected novellas about trauma, healing, family, memory, love...really really good. Highly recommended.

Pack of Lies by Charlie Adhara - 5/5 stars

And then I read a werewolf book and loved it! Not that I expected to hate this or anything, but I definitely went into it feeling a bit iffy, because werewolves are really not my thing. This book is romantic suspense and really good, and I loved Julien and Eli so much. This is a spinoff of Adhara's other werewolf series, which I want to read, but it's only available as an ebook, and I don't do ebooks.

Seven Tears at High Tide by CB Lee - 4/5 stars

Cute little YA mermaid book. Mermaids also aren't my thing so I liked this more than I thought I would. Much better than Jason June's Out of the Blue, imo.

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske - 4.75/5 stars

Again, my toxic trait is I don't really enjoy reading books about women or f/f romances. But not surprisingly at all, this book was really good. Though, you know. I inhaled all references to Robin and Edwin (of which there were many) and was sorta/kinda more invested in the hints of romance between Hawthorn and Alan. Obvs excited for the third book.

The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths and Magic by FT Lukens - 3.5/5 stars

Just Like This by Cole McCade - DNF

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I put this one down before I got through chapter 2.

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales - 5/5 stars

I tore through this book in a single day. It was SO funny and sweet. It's considered YA but quite honestly I'd call it New Adult. Or if you don't like New Adult, straight Adult. Sophie Gonzales is the author of one of my top reads of last year, but of course, since this is an f/f romance, I was wary. But ugh, so good. Highly recommend this one.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard - 5/5 stars

Apparently the idea for this came from the author posting polls on twitter for what would happen next, which is...unspeakably lame, honestly. But the book that came out of it is great. Loved the world, loved Winnie and her family (especially her brother and his boyfriend).

Beguiled by Joanna Chambers - 5/5 stars

Loved the first one, loved this one more.

This Census-Taker by China Miéville - 3.25/5 stars

What was this even about? Pretty sure Miéville was high on peyote when he wrote this.

Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman - 3.75/5 stars

Picked this up because it was 20% off at Target and was actually pleasantly surprised by how much more adult it is than the series. Then of course started watching season 2 of the series and found it to be as sanitized as season 1.

The Henchman of Zenda - KJ Charles - 3.5/5 stars

He Bears the Cape of Stars from Duck Prints Press - 4.5/5 stars

Glitterland by Alexis Hall - 3.75/5 stars

This is a re-release of one of a novel Hall wrote like a decade ago. It's not a romcom (which I knew going in), but I didn't expect it to be quite so rough. Similar in ways to Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble, only that was funnier. The fact that he wrote out the Essex accent really grated, but I guess it kind of made sense. My bigger issue with this book was the absolutely shit editing. There were repeated paragraphs, formatting issues, and places where it seemed like there had to be something missing because it made no sense.

The new edition is annotated by Hall, which was pretty fun. Not a bad read, but it's not Boyfriend Material.

Part 2

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ahb-writes · 3 months

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Book Review: 'Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix'

Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee

adventure

Asian fantasy

LGBTQIA

lesbian characters

mythology

pirates

queer books

romance

swashbuckling

ya fiction

My Review: 5 of 5 stars

At the farthest edge of what the westerners have historically branded "the opening of China," two young women discover the unmapped intersection of youth's uncultivated curiosity and the desperate proclivities of a dawdling adulthood. A CLASH OF STEEL begins painfully slow, but once all of the rightful pieces are in place, the novel's momentum churns forward with such unrelenting power that no amount of dramatic irony can outrun the book's satisfying conclusion.

Xiang's wistful gaze, from the rough mountains beyond her tiny river village, spy a curtain of distant ports and a mixed and matched fleet of merchant vessels. She lives in modest comfort, yes; and she has wont of little beyond the approval of her regularly absent mother, certainly; but what Xiang desires most is more. That is to say, the girl desires to stride the deck of a sea-worthy vessel, to taste and smell the vastness of a mercantile city a thousand times the size of her home tea shop, hear the myriad languages spoken by the myriad folks who sail the world's distant oceans. Xiang is an avid reader, but she wants to do more than read about adventure, she wants to experience it for herself (Xiang: "[W]ould I be satisfied merely listening to travelers' stories now that I've had a taste of the world?" page 273).

A chance trip to Canton, to visit her mother's center of business, enlightens Xiang to the possibility that she was born for more than being scolded by her tutor on lazy afternoons. Bandits running through alleys. Pirates and smugglers skulking the bay. Corrupt government officials absorbing bribes day-in and day-out. Trade for salt, fish, and more, are heavily tracked and regulated, but between the seams, the people of Canton, ephemeral, drift from one glimmering opportunity to the next, danger be damned.

The novel's opening act pivots grudgingly around the main character's misgivings for her simple, rural life, whereas the quickened pace of the book's later events makes for an effective contrast: life around narrow rivers and rice terraces versus life in the smoke-filled streets of a loud port city; life at a rural tea house with few visitors versus life among the raucous fools scratching for coin aboard patchwork ships. One has sympathy for readers who never made it past the first 80 pages.

A CLASH OF STEEL doesn't hit its pace until Xiang wields such opportunity by tagging along with her first new friend in ages, a pirate girl named Anh. Warm, brown skin. Wild hair. Talkative. Fearless.

Xiang's connection with Anh flares bright and hot, almost immediately, and the young woman is both enthralled and fearful of what that means. A CLASH OF STEEL nurtures and frames and scolds and builds back up Xiang and Anh's fledgling relationship, revealing, to those not previously aware, the author's skill in crafting queer characters worth believing in is nothing to worry about.

The lure of riches notwithstanding, boarding the Huyền Vũ and making for an island chain and a hidden hoard are the least of Xiang's troubles. After all, seeking to mend a fractured mother-daughter relationship by running away from home and pursuing a decades-old folktale thanks to an ancient, family relic? If that's not adventure, then what is?

A CLASH OF STEEL is a fun read for several reasons. Some such reasons pair well with the novel's reflection upon a long-eroded Age of Exploration. Others more to do with the book's structural arrangement and clever narrative positioning. What is the relationship between humanity and nature? What is humanity's relationship to itself when assimilation is believed inevitable? Why is the bond between government and the individual so heavily strained (stained) by greed? Relatedly, if there is no room for good people to conduct legitimate business, then does that mean freedom is only guaranteed through means of illegitimate business? (Xiang: "Who is more the thief: the government that preys on its people, or those who must become thieves in order to survive?" page 241)

Xiang stumbles into these questions and more while slowly transitioning from pampered countryside waif into a scraggly but sprightly shipmate with salt in her hair and a few splinters in her heels. The girl soon learns that an adventurous life is equally sought and earned.

Xiang's greatest education comes not from her trusted tutor, Master Feng Zhanli, who loves her like a daughter and protects her from the wrath of the girl's absent mother. Instead, Xiang learns kindness from the garrulous Captain Hoa Ngọc Hạnh; she learns steadfastness from shipmate Maheer, gentle and devout but indiscriminating; and she learns feminine ferocity from Ling Shan, a former courtier in the Forbidden City, who is now a skilled swordfighter whose tongue is a pit of vipers.

The book builds its tale of the modern imaginary on this foundation of furtive exploration. Readers of fairytales and folklore will recognize the author's exquisite use of a call to purpose, a lure from the quotidian, the foreshadowing of disappointment, the shifting standard for filial piety, and the introduction and subsequent destruction of a source of intrepid enlightenment. Tales of legendary pirate commanders? Stories about playful and distant relatives who only tease their benevolence? A CLASH OF STEEL is about leaving home on a treasure hunt, but it is also about unburying friendship and camaraderie from the embers of a discomfited life nobody truly asked for (Xiang: "I'm tired of others deciding my story for me," page 352).

❯ ❯ Book Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

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booksnotbombs · 4 months

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DECEMBER 2023

Someone Else's Shoes - Jojo Moyes : This book screamed girlpower... I love her books where there is actual plot next to the romantic plot!

❤️ Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas - A queer story around Dias de los muertos in Los Angelos featuring a love story between Yadriel (love that name btw) and Julian and also a ghosts! 👻 Lovely to reread when Halloween comes around!

💛 Not Your Sidekick - C. B. Lee - This book was on my goodreads tbr shelf since 2019 and I finally bought it (to avoid shipping cost for another thing) and I really really enjoyed it! Not sure if I will read the next two books in the series (different characters in the same plot) but I might...

💜 Lights - Brenna Thummler : The last graphic novel in the Sheets series... just stunning and this cover is my fav because of all the purple :-D

Currently reading Heartstopper V5 so expect me to fangirl about it next month ;)

#booklr #books #review #jojo moyes #aiden thomas #cb lee #brenna thummler

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happygirl2oo2 · 2 months

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saw this textpost and got inspired

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couldntbedamned · 5 months

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Elementary's Sherlock is just so achingly human.

He doesn't solve murders because it's a game to him; it's because he finds the taking of a life abhorrent. Even when the victim was a Terrible Person™, he'd rather the murderer go to jail, because that person didn't have the right. It's not a game to him.

He's shown again and again to be compassionate and thoughtful, even when he's being an asshole. He's so bad at human relationships but despite what he says, he cares so much.

Jonny Lee Miller was 100% the perfect casting for Sherlock. He knocks it out of the park in every single episode.

#elementary #cbs elementary #Sherlock Holmes #jonny lee miller

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pithia · 10 months

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I have felt untethered all my life, drifting endlessly, and here, finally, is a safe place to land, a quiet harbor to protect me from the turbulence of the sea.

from A Clash of Steel by C.B. Lee

#quotations #CB Lee #untethered #drifting #turbulence

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17isrighthere · 11 months

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HEESEUNG for @heeseunq / Dark Blood Showcase 2023

#no one else i would rather live blog abt an enha cb with! also first gif i did die a bit tbh #heeseung #lee heeseung #enhypen #enhypenet #kpopco #kpopedit #mgroupsedit #tuserchrissy #userfairy #heypaulita #usermeeseung #userjuju #creations #2605 #g #500 #1k

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bibliophilecats · 1 year

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Read this month: March 2023

All in all, I finished five books in March:

R. Rowell - Scattered showers

C.B. Lee - Not your backup

L. Arnold - Last Smile in Sunder City (audiobook)

K.A. Applegate - The invasion, Animorphs #1 (ebook)

C. Kumagai - Catfis rolling (eARC)

Unfortunately, my health was so bad that I did not even leave reviews for several books. I finished them but can hardly remember anything about the story and cannot say if they were good or bad.

Maybe, hopefully April will be better.

P.S.: I managed to finish Erich Kästner's Der Herr aus Glas last night as well. Yay!

#read this month #read this month March 2023 #rainbow rowell #cb lee #luke arnold #clara kumagai #ka applegate

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queer-books-bracket · 1 year

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