It’s June, and you know what that means! Pride Month ahoy for this bi demigirl of a SFF writer, reader, and blogger! This is the month where I come out of hiding to spend some time on this super neglected blog – specifically with queer themed posts of a variety of types, especially queer book reviews!
So, it is not at all a coincidence that my first Pride Month read this year features an asexual romance - I felt it was definitely where I wanted to focus first considering all the gatekeeping against aces and aros this month. Whatever else you take away from WE AWAKEN by Calista Lynne, the fact is that love is freaking love, whether it’s sexual in nature or not, and ace darlings are DEFINITELY queer enough.
No really – if you disagree, please find another blog because gatekeeping is not welcome here.
As always, the first thing I need to mention are trigger warnings: acephobic language both internalized from the MC and verbalized from the MC’s best friend, also vivid descriptions of a fatality car accident, and taking oxycodone pills to sleep/due to depression, though not an intentional suicide attempt.
Moving on! First up - holy crap can we talk about how lovely this cover is? Because seriously - it's the first thing that drew me to this book, even before I knew what it was about. Great job, cover artist! This #ownvoices asexual (and interracial) f/f romance between Victoria and her dreamy (literally LOL) Ashlinn was very sweet, I thought, and was really well woven in with Victoria’s grief and her still trying to strive to achieve her dreams while simultaneously feeling guilty about having a life after a severe loss in her family. I loved the images of the different dreams she entered and also how ballet was the one constant in her life, too. Add all the lovely details together and Lynne is definitely an author I will be looking forward to reading again!
Do y’all have any more SFF recs with ace or aro protagonists for me? We all know I’m always looking for more books to pile onto my never ending TBR mountain LOL.