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Here There Be Books

a queer SFF romance book database

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  • Book Reviews

    Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles

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    K.J. Charles is one of my favorite authors, and I love basically every single one of her books– and this one is no exception. It’s very difficult to write a coherent review for a favorite author because all my positive feelings overwhelm my analytical thoughts until my brain is just a big ball of “yay, this book was good!” Well, it IS good and I DID love it, and if you haven’t read K.J. Charles yet, you desperately need to. Any Old Diamonds is about Alec, a son of a duke with a grudge against his father and step-mother. He’s desperately in need of money and revenge, and so he…

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    Jackdaw by K.J. Charles

    July 9, 2015

    A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar

    November 23, 2014

    Prosperity by Alexis Hall

    December 18, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    Spectered Isle by K.J. Charles

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    Let’s speed past the fact that I’ve been on a 1.5 year hiatus from blogging and have fallen out of writing for fun or even reading and let’s get right to the review: This is the first in KJ Charles’ newest series Green Men; it’s a historical horror-fantasy romance set in interwar England, roughly connected to her book Simon Feximal. This first book is about a disgraced archaeologist (+1) and an upper-crust sarcastic fucker (+1), with a mysterious evil entity and malignant government forces providing much of the antagonism. I really like the fantasy setting, particularly as it incorporates the older, scarier British paranormal elements of a similar kind to…

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    In Discretion by Reesa Herberth

    August 8, 2015

    There Will Be Phlogston, vN, The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal

    September 4, 2015

    Recently: Peripheral People

    May 18, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Think of England by K.J. Charles

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    Easing back into reviewing with a book that has been on my TBR since June of last year! At first I wasn’t sure of Archie’s hero-ness, as he has some historically-accurate feelings about Jewish people, effeminate men, and “queers” that didn’t mesh well with the romantic element and furthermore made me very uncomfortable. It also isn’t that usual for a romantic lead to feel disgust for his romantic interest, either. But over the course of the book things changed! His thinking was forced open by his interactions with his queer effeminate Jewish love interest, in a way which I found realistic-ish as Archie wasn’t a horrible person, just prejudiced and…

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    Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling (1997)

    February 7, 2015

    Spectered Isle by K.J. Charles

    April 8, 2018

    False Colors by Alex Beecroft

    December 15, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    There Will Be Phlogston, vN, The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal

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    Desperately trying to play catch-up, as always! Here’s three tiny reviews of books I’ve read several months ago. There Will Be Phlogston – Alexis Hall I hated Byron Kae’s sister in previous books because she made her sibling’s life very unhappy, but it turns out she’s more complex than just “horrible bully.” She wants to escape her terrible parents! She feels stifled by society and its expectations! She wants to find love! And she finds it, alongside a super repressed gay guy and their boyfriend. Surprise! It’s a threesome! And way more complicated than that, of course, because Alexis Hall does nothing simple in his books. Anyway, I loved it.…

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    Adrien English Mystery series by Josh Lanyon

    August 12, 2015

    Meatworks by Jordan Castillo Price

    August 6, 2015

    The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper (2007)

    January 12, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Mystic, Remnant, Some Kind of Magic

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    I read this because of Memory! Also G. Willow Wilson is writing Ms. Marvel now (which I very much enjoyed) and I wanted to try another of her books. This one’s about two friends: one destined to be a great magician and one who, well, isn’t. It is super short– maybe too short, as the story moves along at a breakneck pace and character development suffers as a result. With only 96 pages there isn’t a whole heap of room for anything but the main plot. The beginning was so strong that I had high expectation for the rest of the book. Unfortunately, the pacing was way too fast and…

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    A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar

    November 23, 2014

    Hotblood! vol. 1 & 2 by Toril Orlesky (2014)

    March 25, 2015

    Jackdaw by K.J. Charles

    July 9, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Jackdaw by K.J. Charles

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    This is set in the same world as The Magpie Lord, but stars two different characters! And it’s so great, because Jonah and Ben could not be further from Stephen and Crane, both personality and relationship-wise. Which is great! It’s nice seeing the different kinds of people who populate a favorite series. Plus, I really enjoyed seeing how KJC dealt with Jonah and Ben’s tragic history and its repercussions within the larger Magpie Lord context. Turns out she’s super good at constructing characters who make me both want to cry from empathy and also bash their heads together because they just need to KISS already sheesh. Jonah is a criminal,…

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    Steampunk and court intrigue: a review of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

    April 1, 2014

    Glitterland and Aftermath by Alexis Hall

    August 19, 2015

    The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper (2007)

    January 12, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Flight of Magpies by K.J. Charles (2014)

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    I don’t know why I bother preordering books (see: this post), as I almost always put off reading them until way later anyway. Case in point: this book! I’ve had it since pub date, but I waited ages to read it. I suppose it’s the excitement of knowing that it’s going to show up in my mailbox/Kindle? And I WAS/AM excited for Flight of Magpies to be published! It’s the third book of a series I’ve very much enjoyed, with characters I like and a wonderful fantasy-mystery plot. So in the previous book, A Case of Possession, Crane and Stephen worked through some problems in their relationship: namely, do they…

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    Skip Trace by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke

    October 23, 2016

    Spectr vol. 1 by Jordan L. Hawk

    September 25, 2015

    There Will Be Phlogston, vN, The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal

    September 4, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    A Case of Possession by K.J. Charles

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    So remember how much I loved The Magpie Lord? Take that love and apply it to A Case of Possession, because it was just as good a read! All the great stuff from the first book is in here– great characters[1. including Stephen’s magic partner, who I was very excited to meet. She is snarky and hard as steel, but with a marshmallow center. Love her!], and interesting setting/worldbuilding, fun (yet scary) magic stuff, tricksy mystery, etc. etc. It’s not just a copy-cat of The Magpie Lord, though. For one thing, there are Chinese vampires instead of evil wizards. Also, things are complicated from being in the city rather than…

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    Spectered Isle by K.J. Charles

    April 8, 2018

    Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles

    August 12, 2019

    Skip Trace by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke

    October 23, 2016
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Welcome!

Here There Be Books is a book review database for queer (LGBTQ+) science fiction/fantasy romance books.

Romance as in either a book focused on the romantic relationship between two (or more) people, with a happy ending; OR a book with a romantic subplot (and probably a happy ending because I’m a sucker for those).

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Recently Added

  • Magic in Manhattan (series) by Allie Therin
  • On not being "a reader" anymore
  • Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles
  • Spectered Isle by K.J. Charles
  • The Only Option by Megan Derr
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