Roar Cat Reads

Author: Trish

  • Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

    Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

    Genre | Fantasy Middle Grade Graphic Novel
    Page #s | 224
    Publishing Date | February 2020

    Kat Leyh’s Snapdragon is a magical realist graphic novel about a young girl who befriends her town’s witch and discovers the strange magic within herself.

    Snap’s town had a witch.

    At least, that’s how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jacks is just a Crocs-wearing, internet-savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online. It’s creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it’s kind of cool, too.

    Snap needs a favor from this old woman, though, so she begins helping Jacks with her strange work. Snap gets to know her and realizes that Jacks may in fact have real magic—and an unlikely connection to Snap’s family’s past.

    Goodreads

    I had the pleasure of seeing Kat Leyh speak at a panel at Emerald City Comic Con, and combined with my love for her graphic novel Thirsty Mermaids, I knew it was time to read more of her work. I picked up Snapdragon, read it in one go, and left it on my girlfriend’s pillow. She also read it in a day, and we agreed that it is an utter delight!

    Snapdragon is a middle grade graphic novel about outcasts, young and old. Snap is a passionate, rambunctious kid who befriends the local witch and helps her care for animals, both living and deceased. I have never cared about possums until this book, and now I am cooing over online videos of possum moms laded with piggyback riding babies.

    As Leyh mentioned in her panel, this is a book about queerness that isn’t about sexuality (because the protagonist is a kid who isn’t thinking about that yet). Snap’s friend comes into confidence as trans throughout the pages, and Snap’s mom is a master class in how to support your kids and their friends. The witch that Snap befriends has a queer history with some sweet twists that I don’t want to spoil for you!

    This is a beautifully drawn story full of characters diverse in gender, sexuality, race, and size. I cannot recommend it enough.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Honestly, I can’t imagine who would dislike Snapdragon, but this book is especially for the intense animal lovers in your life. You know, not just those that love kittens and puppies, but who will get weepy over a sea turtle documentary.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker

    We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker

    Genre | Science Fiction
    Page #s | 378
    Publishing Date | May 2021

    From award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them.

    Everybody’s getting one.

    Val and Julie just want what’s best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.

    Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.

    Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and society: get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it’s everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot’s powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most. 

    Goodreads

    We Are Satellites is a realistic near-future science fiction novel that focuses on the cultural effects of a potentially exploitative tech advancement rather than the genre’s flashier explosions and chaos stories. As such, I found it to be a bit of a slower read, but one that resulted in a lot more consideration and long-term interest.

    Would you accept a brain alteration that allowed you to split your focus effectively? I definitely would, and so would nearly everyone in this novel. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Pinsker demands that we consider how such a tech revolution would expand the gap between the haves and have nots, leaving those with disabilities behind.

    The story follows a family of four, each of whom has a unique relationship to the Pilots that go from unique to ubiquitous over the years covered in the book. One mother gets a Pilot for work advancement, the second mother is against them, the daughter is not allowed to get one due to a history of seizures, and the son gets a Pilot but experiences debilitating side effects. Although I’m not often a fan of books that shift characters’ POVs, I thought this was done extremely well here. Changing perspectives is never done for the sake of a cliffhanger; they’re always to allow for deeper character and relationship exploration.

    I highly recommend We Are Satellites, and it was resoundingly enjoyed by my book club. If you, like me, find the beginning a little slow, take your time but please stick with it! You’ll be rewarding with a thoughtful and timely story.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Give We Are Satellites to the sci-fi lover who is more interested in character development than fast-paced action sequences.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

    Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

    Genre | Memoir
    Page #s | 400
    Publishing Date | March 2022

    Multi-awardwinning Hannah Gadsby transformed comedy with her show Nanette, even as she declared that she was quitting stand-up. Now, she takes us through the defining moments in her life that led to the creation of Nanette and her powerful decision to tell the truth-no matter the cost.

    ‘There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself.’ -Hannah Gadsby, Nanette

    Gadsby’s unique stand-up special Nanette was a viral success that left audiences captivated by her blistering honesty and her ability to create both tension and laughter in a single moment. But while her worldwide fame might have looked like an overnight sensation, her path from open mic to the global stage was hard-fought and anything but linear.

    Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person from Tasmania-where homosexuality was illegal until 1997-to her ever-evolving relationship with comedy, to her struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, and finally to the backbone of Nanette – the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.

    Equal parts harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette continues Gadsby’s tradition of confounding expectations and norms, properly introducing us to one of the most explosive, formative voices of our time. 

    Goodreads

    If you’re interested in reading Hannah Gadsby’s memoir, you’ve probably already seen and loved her stand up special(s) on Netflix: Nanette and Douglas. She wowed me with her humor, yes, but especially with her honest reflections on trauma and autism. All three of these qualities are very much in play in her memoir, which shares stories from each year of her life up to the release of the show that made her famous.

    She doesn’t share all of her stories, though. Much like the way Nanette dissected the art of comedy while being comedy, this memoir dissects the experience of trauma through its form. She explicitly states that a biographer would want to highlight those moments of abuse, violence, and trauma; as the person who lived through them, however, she emphatically does not. Instead, we learn about her trauma only when another story necessarily brings up feelings or people that were involved. It’s brought up almost against her will, and is not dwelt upon longer than necessary. It’s just like a real trigger; it’s a brilliant choice, and also really nice to read someone’s memoir who is not willing to share her trauma for an audience’s “entertainment.”

    I also loved her decision to share her personal history alongside Tasmania’s homophobic history. Even when she is too young to remember the specific events, they inform the world in which she grows up. It’s also an incredible reminder of just how openly and violently homophobic governments and people were just a decade or two ago. We shouldn’t take our current experience for granted; nor should we assume it will always be this way (as is all too obvious in anti-trans laws and opinions today).

    All of this sounds quite dour! Just like her comedy shows, it’s hard to describe how something so affecting and heavy can also be funny and charming. But it is! Hannah is a master of comedy, knowing how to guide her audience (whether audience or reader) through a story with a deft touch. You’re in good hands here, folks.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Ten Steps to Nanette is essential reading for lovers of memoirs, and it’s especially valuable as an honest reflection on life as a queer autistic person.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • The Midnight Lie and The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski

    The Midnight Lie and The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski

    Genre | YA Fantasy
    Page #s | 358 and 384
    Publishing Date | March 2020 and September 2021

    Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.

    Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest.

    But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away who whispers rumors that the High Caste possesses magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.

    Set in the world of the New York Times–bestselling Winner’s Trilogy, beloved author Marie Rutkoski returns with an epic LGBTQ romantic fantasy about learning to free ourselves from the lies others tell us—and the lies we tell ourselves.

    Goodreads

    I fell in love with Rutkoski when I read The Kronos Chronicles years ago, and it was such a fun experience to rediscover her and find that her writing has become super queer! The Midnight Lie and The Hollow Heart are a fantasy duology about magic, oppression, and revenge with a lot to say about how people respond to abuse.

    I have very mixed feelings about these books. On one hand, I tore through them both; the dialogue sparkles (particularly in the first book), the worldbuilding is engaging, and the plot advances quickly (too quickly in the second book). On the other hand, plot twists hinge on my pet peeve, miscommunication, and the second book introduces an entirely new world that only gets half the book’s attention but was fully more interesting to me.

    Some of the broader strokes aren’t tight or clean enough, but it’s the details in which Rutkoski excels. Nirrim’s character development is compelling as she resists seeing and then realizes her abuse (both personally and systemically). Her reactions felt very human, by which I mean they are often messy and not “correct.” Sid has shades of manic pixie in the first book, but she is fully fleshed out in the second. Her rebellion against her parents without actually talking to them about what they want for her was excruciating but very teenager. And her parents! Where is THEIR story? I want it.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    The Midnight Lie and The Hollow Heart are perfect books to read if you want a quick, queer, fantasy palate cleanser.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Stone Trolls Milestone Reached!

    Stone Trolls Milestone Reached!

    Tricia walked 22 miles this week | 1350 miles to Mordor
    Rachel walked 12 miles this week | 1221 miles to Mordor

    Walking Across Middle-Earth

    Week 17: I Made it to the Stone Trolls!

    It’s been over four months since we started this project, and I have to say I’m really proud of us for keeping it up. It has been really eye-opening, both in understanding my own walking habits but also in realizing just how much ground the hobbits covered in the first section of their journey. It’s a long way from the Shire to Rivendell, and they were half my size and without shoes!

    When I reached the Stone Trolls (420 miles!), I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate the milestone. Frodo and Sam were raised hearing Bilbo’s stories about the trolls, and here they realize their lives are intersecting with his adventures. One of my favorite movies plays with similar themes, but because it’s a tear jerker, Rachel won’t watch it unless it’s a special occasion (she does not find sobbing uncontrollably enjoyable in the way that I do).

    Big Fish is a Tim Burton movie starring Ewan McGregor, and it’s all about a son trying to understand his father by separating fact from fiction before realizing it’s more complicated than he assumes. It’s absolutely excellent, and yes, we did sob uncontrollably. From CATHARSIS.

    Tricia’s Tracker

    Rachel’s Tracker

    Join the Fellowship

    Download maps and spreadsheets for free at our Ko-Fi shop!

    If you want to join our Fellowship, let me know by emailing roarcatreads@gmail.com and I’ll add you to our What’s App group. It’s never too late to join in – we want there to be walkers at every stage of the journey!

    Tag your social media photos and stories with

    #rcrhobbitjourney!

  • People Change by Vivek Shraya

    People Change by Vivek Shraya

    Genre | Nonfiction
    Page #s | 112
    Publishing Date | January 2022

    Vivek Shraya knows this to be true: people change. We change our haircuts and our outfits and our minds. We change names, titles, labels. We attempt to blend in or to stand out. We outgrow relationships, we abandon dreams for new ones, we start fresh. We seize control of our stories. We make resolutions.

    In fact, nobody knows this better than Vivek, who’s made a career of embracing many roles: artist, performer, musician, writer, model, teacher. In People Change, she reflects on the origins of this impulse, tracing it to childhood influences from Hinduism to Madonna. What emerges is a meditation on change itself: why we fear it, why we’re drawn to it, what motivates us to change, and what traps us in place.

    At a time when we’re especially contemplating who we want to be, this slim and stylish handbook is an essential companion–a guide to celebrating our many selves and the inspiration to discover who we’ll become next.

    Goodreads

    You know when you read a book that summarizes your disparate thoughts and feelings into a new life philosophy? People Change was that for me, and I think it’s incredibly useful in this age where we are realizing that identity, personality, and sexual orientation are more fluid than previously recognized.

    “I don’t believe in a single, stable, true self,” Shraya says, and in the distance, you can hear me cheering. This little novella is an emphatic assertion that it is okay to change – creatively, queerly, personally. As someone who has gone through profound shifts in identity in the last five years, I resonated with this so deeply. I see this very often in queer communities specifically; someone comes out, then retroactively finds evidence for being queer all along. This might be true, but often it feels like shoehorning new discoveries where they don’t belong. What if we just allowed ourselves to be capable of growth and change?

    Shraya allows for the confusion that comes with change, but makes a compelling case for embracing it all the same. In fact, she reframes “confusion” and “curiosity” and encourages readers to pursue a life open to change rather than living so “authentically” that we are stuck with outdated labels. Instead of trying to be a single cohesive self, Shraya suggests that we “be yourselves” – across time, across communities, and across experiences. We are complex creatures, and that’s not only okay. It is good.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Give People Change to the thoughtful reader who likes for their books to challenge their thinking and promote deep compassion for self.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Adventure Queers: Dana Ebert with TPK Brewing Co.

    Adventure Queers: Dana Ebert with TPK Brewing Co.

    Dana Ebert (she/her) is an openly bisexual and transgender author, game designer, and voice actor, best known for her contributions to Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder. Dana created Pathfinder’s first canonical in-world gender affirmation clinic (also boutique and day spa!), and some of her other works include OGL 5e-compatible content. You can find more information and links to her website, social media, and upcoming projects on her LinkTree.

    Dana, when did you first start playing D&D and TTRPGs?  What do you enjoy the most about the game?

    My first TTRPG was the Tom Moldvay edition of Basic D&D, which I played for the first time with my older brother and his friends when I was ten. That was a huge turning point for me, because I instantly fell in love with the medium. The part I enjoy most is the shared storytelling—those moments of surprise and triumph that lead to stories that get re-told around the table for years to come. As a player, I also enjoy the catharsis that comes from fully inhabiting another character for a few hours.

    As a queer person, have roleplaying games helped you explore or express your queer identity and/or sexual orientation?

    Oh, jeez. Let’s just say that the character I played nearly every week in high school was named Mavis. She was 6′ tall, with olive-green hair and shoulders for days. But the best part about playing her, the part I wouldn’t admit back then, was that during our sessions, everyone at the table referred to me in-character and used she/her pronouns. As Mavis, I also explored in other ways, such as near the end of the campaign when she married one of the party NPCs (a goblin who polymorphed himself into an excruciatingly handsome human to get her attention). So yes, that was very much my experience, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

    You are a professional DM. What is your style of DMing and what kinds of players would most enjoy playing with you?

    My style can be very writerly, and I almost exclusively run original content. Past players have told me that the things they enjoyed most were my worldbuilding, my willingness to improvise and take their story in unexpected directions, and how I let them alter and impact my campaign settings. The “rule of cool” and roleplay-heavy scenes are two things that I enjoy utilizing immensely, and while I can also adhere to other styles of play, I think the players who strongly prefer my style tend to like those same things.

    You are bringing your love of TTRPGs into an exciting new project.  What can you tell readers about TPK Brewing Co., a TTRPG-themed brewery in Portland, Oregon?

    TPK Brewing Co. is a craft brewery where, in addition to world-class food and original brews, our guests will be able to book games with full-time Game Masters. We’re going to offer a variety of titles, but our flagship experience will be an OGL 5e-compatible campaign called the “Leyfarer’s Chronicle.” It takes place in an original post-cataclysmic fantasy world called Val’Ruvina, which groups of player characters will simultaneously explore while contending with broken magical fields, warped creatures, and regular storyline events. I explain much more in our upcoming promos, so please sign up for our newsletter at tpkbrewing.com!

    TPK Brewing Co. is majority-owned by queer women of color. In what ways do you anticipate that this ownership model will be an asset to the company and to future visitors and guests?

    Part of our company’s mission is to create space for marginalized groups in the craft beer and gaming communities, and that begins with ensuring that our own spaces are as safe and inclusive as possible. On the gaming side, this means that safety tools will be part of our culture, we’ll always strive to keep our content inclusive and anti-racist, and we won’t hesitate to remove guests who can’t adhere to our community guidelines. In this way, we hope to build a durable and welcoming community for ourselves and our guests.

    When should people (myself included!) plan to come to TPK Brewing Co.?

    We plan to open our doors in the spring of 2023! We would love to see you there!

    Finally, do you have any recommendations of queer nerdy content that you would like to share with readers?

    I’ve had the pleasure lately of getting to work with several Portland-based artists, and I’d love to highlight a couple of them from the LGBTQ community!

    • Spyder Dee is simply a phenomenal creature artist—they always manage to exceed my expectations with their wonderfully terrifying blend of the fantastical and the grotesque.
    • Alejandra Gutiérrez is a powerhouse. At Image Comics she has contributed to titles including Twisted Romance and SFSX, and was the one who created our promotional splash page featured above.
    • Brie Golden has been up-and-coming for some time, producing stunning battle maps for AP podcasts and livestreams. We should all expect to hear her name more in the future.
    • Elodie Kahler has a whimsical illustration style that never fails to make me smile. She recently finished an illustration of our building that we all absolutely adore.

    For more from Dana, check out her LinkTree!

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  • Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

    Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

    Genre | YA Contemporary Fiction
    Page #s | 276
    Publishing Date | January 2016

    Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff.

    Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle?

    With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself. 

    Goodreads

    One of my friends said this is her favorite book, and I totally see why! Juliet Takes a Breath is an excellent novel/primer about queerness, West Coast liberalism, and the perils of white feminism. When a Puerto Rican young woman from New York moves to Portland to intern with a feminist author, she learns a lot about the world and herself.

    This is an educational book, in that Juliet is absorbing feminist and womanist culture with wide eyes and lots of details. But the lessons portrayed are wonderfully written with either poignancy or humor (or both). I laughed so much at Juliet listening with awe and confusion to the world’s most polite argument between polyamorous lesbians.

    For being a fairly overt book in terms of showcasing queer feminist ideas, it’s also wonderfully nuanced. Juliet’s friends and family urge her to be careful in idolizing a white woman, and they urge her to dig into black and brown queer feminist spaces. I won’t give away what happens, but I thought her experience was so honest. There aren’t easy answers given, and there are no villains, even if Juliet does realize that some changes are necessary moving forward.

    As a Great Plains kid who moved to Vancouver as an adult, I was delighted by the wonderful and wacky Pacific Northwest represented here. I can only imagine that a Latinx person in a similar situation would feel even more seen and understood, and for that I adore this book.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Juliet Takes a Breath is the book for you if you want to see intersectional feminism flawlessly portrayed within a sweet coming-of-age lesbian story.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

    The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

    Genre | YA Contemporary Fiction
    Page #s | 352
    Publishing Date | October 2021

    Syd (no pronouns, please) has always dealt with big, hard-to-talk-about things by baking. Being dumped is no different, except now Syd is baking at the Proud Muffin, a queer bakery and community space in Austin. And everyone who eats Syd’s breakup brownies . . . breaks up. Even Vin and Alec, who own the Proud Muffin. And their breakup might take the bakery down with it. Being dumped is one thing; causing ripples of queer heartbreak through the community is another. But the cute bike delivery person, Harley (he or they, check the pronoun pin, it’s probably on the messenger bag), believes Syd about the magic baking. And Harley believes Syd’s magical baking can fix things, too—one recipe at a time.

    Goodreads

    I did not expect to be emotionally moved by magical baked goods, but here we are! The Heartbreak Bakery celebrates love, whether romantic, communal, or sugar, and it’s the perfect quick read to satisfy a readers’ sweet tooth.

    Syd works at a queer bakery in Austin, TX, and literally everything about this sentence makes me happy. Austin is one of my favorite cities, and its awesomeness (as well as it’s flaws) is captured here so personally. If this is based on an actual queer bakery in Austin, someone please let me know because I want to go there immediately. The Proud Muffin is the queer community we all long for – diverse, inclusive, and full of activities and free desserts.

    Anyway, Syd works there, and accidentally bakes a batch of breakup brownies by pouring heartbreak into them. The rest of the book is a falling-in-love montage while Syd and coworker Harley scramble to reunite couples through even more magical baked goods. I honestly thought this would all turn out to be a “we were reading too much into this and thought magic but it was mundane” situation, but instead the reveal at the end turned out to be thematic and poignant.

    This book does gender non-conforming so well! Syd is agender and wrestles with what this means throughout the book, while Harley is confidently gender fluid and signals their pronouns by pin on any given day. While there is some coming out themes where Syd is concerned, it’s very much about personal understanding rather than societal acceptance. I loved it.

    For a book about falling in and out of love, I only fell in! The Heartbreak Bakery is so much fun.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Want a fun summer read to read at a (literal or imaginative) coffee shop? The Heartbreak Bakery is for you!

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

    Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

    Genre | Science Fiction Graphic Novel
    Page #s | 352
    Publishing Date | February 2022

    When they were kids, Fassen’s fighter spaceship crash-landed on a planet that Lu’s survey force was exploring. It was a forbidden meeting between a kid from a war-focused resistance movement and a kid whose community and planet are dedicated to peace and secrecy.

    Lu and Fassen are from different worlds and separate solar systems. But their friendship keeps them in each other’s orbit as they grow up. They stay in contact in secret as their communities are increasingly threatened by the omnipresent, ever-expanding empire.

    As the empire begins a new attack against Fassen’s people–and discovers Lu’s in the process–the two of them have the chance to reunite at last. They finally are able to be together…but at what cost? 

    This beautifully illustrated graphic novel is an epic science fiction romance between two non-binary characters as they find one another through time, distance, and war.

    Goodreads

    Across a Field of Starlight is a creative sci-fi graphic novel about two non-binary kids developing a long distance friendship while surviving a revolution against an evil empire. Lu is part of a separatist faction that avoids the fighting altogether while Fassen is rising in the revolutionary ranks; they each have to figure out how to resist an empire without losing their soul in the process. Along the way, the uncover hard lines they will not cross, but no easy answers.

    For me, the highlight of this book was seeing the beautiful diversity of trans and non-binary characters drawn on the page. There is a woman rocking a beard and body hair who is badass and lovely, and she stole the show for me! Additionally, because there are so many trans characters, some of them get to be bad guys, which was also so much fun!

    I really enjoyed this quick read, but I did feel that it didn’t QUITE reach the heights to which it could have aspired. The empire was not fully developed, so it was never very clear why it was so important to resist them. I mostly came away thinking their robots and flower-shaped space ships were pretty rad, which did not help me empathize with the revolutionaries. Still, it’s lovely to see a queer-heavy cast of characters in unique sci-fi settings!

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    If you ever wished Star Wars was more queer, you’ll enjoy Across a Field of Starlight!

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

    Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi

    Genre | YA Fantasy
    Page #s | 272
    Publishing Date | February 2022

    Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the town of Lucille. Bitter’s instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus . . . but her friends aren’t willing to settle for a world that the adults say is “just the way things are.

    Pulled between old friendships, her creative passion, and a new romance, Bitter isn’t sure where she belongs – in the art studio or in the streets. And if she does find a way to help the revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: at what cost?

    Goodreads

    The prequel to Pet (one of my favorite reads last year), I had high expectations for Bitter, and I would say they were mostly met. The world of Pet was one in which monsters were eradicated and people had stopped being vigilant. Bitter is the story of Pet’s mother and how she played a role in the eradication of monsters. It’s worth noting that here, monsters mean people, and this is the strongest facet of both books. Throughout the early chapters, we hear about billionaires who exploit their workers, police who shoot protesters, and they are described in such a way that I kept thinking, “MONSTERS! Oh, wait, whoa, these are everyday occurrences in real life… How have I become so desensitized to how terrible this is??”

    In opposition to the terrible (real) world, two factions have arisen. There is a group of protesters and a school of artists; Bitter is in the latter, and she feels real and self-imposed judgement for not wanting to join the protesters. I really enjoyed the way the book explored art as protest and how not everyone needs to take to the streets…but that also, maybe you should sometimes.

    All of this combined with a cast of queer characters living messy lives means I should have loved it from the start, but I found that the first half of the book read as a little slow to me. It wasn’t until Bitter raised an angel from her artwork that I was hooked. The way Emezi depicts angels is exactly the kind of terrifying Old Testament too-many-eyes creature that I am Here For! At one point an angel basically says, “Why do you think angels are always saying, ‘Do not be afraid’ when they appear?” and I nearly fell over from Oh Snap-ing so hard. This is liberal areligious theology nerdom at its best.

    In contrast to Pet‘s focus on the individual, Bitter focuses on group responsibility, asking questions like: What is allowable in a revolution? Is bloodshed necessary? If so, how much? There aren’t easy answers, but it’s asking the questions that matters most.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Give Bitter alongside Pet; these books go together and will pack the most punch as a unit!

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Roar Cat Reads Book Suggestions for Our 2022 LGBTQ+ Summer Book Bingo

    Roar Cat Reads Book Suggestions for Our 2022 LGBTQ+ Summer Book Bingo

    Are you participating in our 2022 LGBTQ+ Summer Book Bingo? Maybe you need just one or two more boxes to complete your bingo; if so, check out our suggestions below! These are all books that have been read and reviewed on our blog, so click the links to read a full review and see if it is the right book for you!

    Roar Cat Reads Book Suggestions for Our 2022 LGBTQ+ Summer Book Bingo

    Queer Memoir

    Reviewed on Roar Cat Reads

    Check out any of our books in the LGBTQ+ Book Review list.

    African-Influenced Culture

    Red Cover

    Trans Protagonist

    2022 Release

    Fairy Tale Retelling

    Audiobook

    Orange Cover

    Mystery/Thriller

    Asian-Influenced Culture

    Award Winning

    Pet Akwaeke Emezi

    Yellow Cover

    European-Influenced Culture

    Nonfiction

    Released Before 2000

    Disabled Protagonist

    Green Cover

    Reread a Favorite

    Fanfic Tropes

    Indigenous-Influenced Culture

    Story About Siblings

    Blue Cover

    Want more recommendations? Try Halli and Lauren‘s Book Recommendations for our Summer Bingo. Then get reading and send in your completed Bingo sheet by August 31, 2022!

    Share what you’re reading with the hashtag #RCRBookBingo2022 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

    How to Play

    Entries must be received by August 31, 2022 to be considered for the drawing.

    If you have any questions, email roarcatreads@gmail.com.

    Happy reading!

  • The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

    The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth

    Genre | YA Contemporary Fiction
    Page #s | 368
    Publishing Date | June 2020

    Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.

    But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

    Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.

    Goodreads

    The Falling in Love Montage is a YA contemporary fiction sapphic love story that offers a realistic message about the worthiness of love despite its ephemerality. I have to admit that it took me a minute to get into the story, because Saoirse is a brat. She’s a cranky, moody teen, and I felt myself related more to her father than to her for a good portion of the story. However, more than most moody teens, Saoirse has good reason for her outbursts. In addition to the typical angst that comes from transitioning out of secondary school and coping with a breakup, her mom has been placed into a care home due to early-onset dementia and her dad is dating someone new.

    All of this has led Saoirse to attempt the classic “Avoid pain by avoiding intimacy” gambit. When she meets Ruby, who is visiting for the summer, they agree that they just want a romance that is light, fun, and totally on the surface. But feelings take hold, and Saoirse has to wrestle with whether or not it’s worth opening your heart when you know there is an end date to the experience.

    I really appreciated the nuance of this book. Both Saorise and her father are coping with the tragedy of her mother’s condition, and they help and hurt each other in realistic ways as a result. Love is allowed to be complicated, and it’s Chosen Love rather than True Love that is the star here.

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    If you want a quick read with a lot to say, The Falling in Love Montage is for you!

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

    Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

    Genre | Fantasy
    Page #s | 318
    Publishing Date | February 2022

    Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

    However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

    A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.

    Goodreads

    I need there to be innumerable books like Legends & Latte, a cozy coffee shop AU set in a fantasy D&D setting. Viv the butch orc barbarian uses a magical item she got from her adventuring to start a new, peaceful life as a barista. Coffee is, you see, a mostly unknown gnomish invention, so her introduction of it (as well as sweet pastries) to a small fantasy town rocks the citizen’s minds and taste buds.

    The heart of this book is its characters and the simple but lovely relationships that develop between them. It’s slow burn sapphic love between coworkers, it’s old friends and rivals crashing into a new life, it’s mysterious mob bosses, it’s gruff construction workers turned friends.

    Honestly, if “D&D party runs a coffee shop” sounds appealing to you, then that’s all that’s needed. The only other thing worth saying is that the audiobook is read by author Travis Baldree, and I really enjoyed it!

    Who Do I Recommend This Book To?

    Give Legends & Lattes to your D&D party member who just wants to start small business and romance friends in your game.

    Check out our Queer Lil Library for more book recommendations and reviews!

  • Weathertop Milestone Reached!

    Weathertop Milestone Reached!

    Tricia walked 31 miles this week | 1549 miles to Mordor
    Rachel walked 30 miles this week | 1428 miles to Mordor

    Walking Across Middle-Earth

    Week 9: I Made it to Weathertop, Time to Get Stabbed!

    I planned to celebrate my arrival at Weathertop (251 miles into my Middle-Earth journey!) by asking Rachel if she would care for me as though I’d been stabbed by a Morgul blade. This turned out to be more necessary than I’d intended, because I went to a full-body massage the same day and had one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life.

    Some context: For the past six months or so, there have been chunks of time where I experience severe lower back pain when I first wake up. When I went for the massage (which I hoped would help with the lower back pain and with general carrying-anxiety-in-my-shoulders), the actual 60-minute session was lovely! I felt like a hot bowl of soup at the end, and the masseuse told me she would slip out while I got redressed. That’s when the horror began.

    I tried to sit up, and my lower back spasmed, more painfully than it ever had before. I couldn’t move, it hurt so badly, and let me tell you: It is a unique terror to be naked and unable to move!! In desperation, I just kind of…rolled myself along the massage table to get nearer the chair full of my clothes. I tried to stand to reach them, but couldn’t. So I stretched my arm as far as it could go and nearly cried with relief as I managed to grab each piece of clothing and put it on. Next were my socks and shoes, but the floor was somehow further away from me than it had ever been before. I awkwardly threw myself to the ground so that I could reach them without bending over, put them on, and clawed myself upright.

    By then, I had moved enough that my back was slightly less excruciating, and I was able to walk. However, I had taken far longer to get dressed than could be reasonably expected. When I opened the door for the masseuse to return, I said, “Um, my back hurt when I tried to get up, like…pretty bad.”

    “Huh,” she said, “Well, try these stretches for your neck.”

    “But I had a hard time standing up. It was like I described before the massage, how in the mornings my lower back hurts?”

    “Hmm. You must have been so relaxed that when you try to move, your back spasms.”

    “How can this…stop happening?”

    The masseuse directed me to sit down in a chair and stand up while being conscious of using my core to do so. “Just do this today and help your body remember how to be a body.”

    HELP MY BODY REMEMBER HOW TO BE A BODY? When did it forget?? No one told me that bodies could just forget how to perform basic functions!

    “Haha, that’s uh, pretty embarrassing!” I said, shuffling toward my backpack so that I could make an exit out of this hellscape.

    “Oh, don’t be embarrassed. Come back next month!”

    Like heck I will, Witch-Queen of Massages! I hobbled to the skytrain station, and by the time I got home, the only thing that still hurt was my pride. I flopped onto the couch, and Rachel dutifully cared for my wounded spirit, which had left this plane of existence and was fully occupied with the horror of my 34-year-old body just…forgetting how to body with no real solution other than “sit while using your core for one day”!

    Anyway, I made it to Weathertop.

    Tricia’s Tracker

    Massage horror aside, I’m pleased with my progress. I haven’t had any big weeks lately, but I’m happy with a slow-and-steady pace for now!

    Rachel’s Tracker

    Rachel is still going further than me each week, but with miles in the 30s it’s a breeze compared to her earlier records.

    Join the Fellowship

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