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Here There Be Books

a queer SFF romance book database

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  • WLW
  • 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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    Fighting Gravity by Leah Petersen

    July 7, 2015

    Adrien English Mystery series by Josh Lanyon

    August 12, 2015

    Recently: Peripheral People

    May 18, 2015
  • 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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    The Just City by Jo Walton (2015)

    January 21, 2015

    Spectr vol. 1 by Jordan L. Hawk

    September 25, 2015

    A Hero at the End of the World by Erin Claiborne

    December 24, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    Bellingham Mysteries by Nicole Kimberling

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    This is a mystery-romance series about a newspaper reporter and his artist boyfriend, and the constant shenanigans they get into while trying to solve crimes! The first book is very mystery-centric, which makes sense because the protag’s love interest is also technically a suspect. Sidenote: I super loved having a newspaper journalist as the detective, as it allows him to use his natural nosiness and writing capabilities to solve the mystery! Also, his love interest is an artist. Fun! Anyway, the first book was good, but the SECOND book was even better, despite being shorter and less mystery-y. It’s set in a winter artistic retreat. This time the mystery took…

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    Threshold by Jordan L. Hawk (2013)

    May 4, 2015

    The Second Mango, The Money Book, The Franchise Affair

    June 1, 2015

    Skip Trace by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke

    October 23, 2016
  • 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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    The Just City by Jo Walton (2015)

    January 21, 2015

    Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk (2012)

    February 17, 2015

    The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

    June 3, 2014
  • Book Reviews

    Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

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    This was unexpected! And not in a good way. It felt like a very different book from Ancillary Justice, though the overall morality of the worldbuilding is the same. Unlike the first book, this one is set (mostly) all in one place, during one time period, with negligible character growth and no redemption arc/quest. It does add lots of interesting tidbits to the world of the Imperial Radch, like details about certain colonies and the people who live on them. It also delves more into class structure, racism/colonialism/classism, and how one person coming down from on high won’t fix everything, which I liked. Unfortunately, I didn’t like almost everything else,…

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    Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr

    February 13, 2016

    Skip Trace by Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke

    October 23, 2016

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

    September 4, 2015
  • 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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    Peripheral People by Reesa Herberth & Michelle Moore

    July 22, 2015

    Bellingham Mysteries by Nicole Kimberling

    October 10, 2016

    The Just City by Jo Walton (2015)

    January 21, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

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    Things I like: scifi stories starring women characters; robots; self-aware spaceships; visions of the future which don’t focus on straight white males; societies which aren’t just a copy-paste of current American/European society; space aliens; people enacting long, drawn-out plans of revenge. Things Ancillary Justice has: all those and more! This is one of those books where I’m just so happy to have read it that I had hard time coming up with a coherent review explaining exactly WHY I liked it. (Which is why this review has been so delayed!) I liked the little details of the story, as mentioned above, but there’s tons more good stuff to pick through.…

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    Liberty and Other Stories by Alexis Hall

    January 2, 2015

    One-Eyed Jack by Elizabeth Bear

    July 27, 2015

    Lady Knight by L.J. Baker (2007)

    June 19, 2015
  • Book Reviews

    Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall

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    This is a very short novella or a long short story about a space prince who really likes mermaids (and one particular merman). It feels experimental, and not just because it’s set on a scifi world where mermaids are treated like trained whales in an aquarium. The writing is luxurious and dreamy, quite different from the other Alexis Hall books I’ve read. And the content is very thought-provoking. It’s not really a romance, except it is? Except nothing happens but a lot of longing looks and face-touching. Is it bestiality if one half of the romantic couple thinks the other is basically just a marine animal? Except then he starts…

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    In Discretion by Reesa Herberth

    August 8, 2015

    A Case of Possession by K.J. Charles

    October 31, 2014

    A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar

    November 23, 2014
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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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