Dash Graci > Recent Status Updates

My lords. My ladies. My lords! My ladies. And everyone else here not sitting on a cushion! This story is an absolute delight and you should pick it up immediately if you liked A Knight's Tale half as much as I did as a teen. And so, without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, I give to you, the one, the only, Sir Ul...I mean, Sir Gawain of Toulouse!

Spoiler alert below:


The sympathy I had for Gwen during the "tea party" was honestly palpable, I swear. I have been that queer friend who got kissed when it was "just for practice", and got my heart broken because of it—I really do not miss the awkward, closeted part of my youth. And I'm so glad there's so many more books with queer joy and rage (and not simply despair) than when I was young. ❤️

The amount of times I've spent humming "oh yes it's ladies night, and the feeling's right..." to myself while reading this book is well and truly bonkers.

Maybe it’s because I grew up around a bunch of mostly terrible, entitled upper-middle class WASPs but this book is like pulling teeth. I don’t mind reading characters I don’t like but I am annoyed or ambivalent towards 75% of the cast—and I don’t think the mystery is going to pay off the games being played with the timeline to be worth it.

I really cannot stand Alice Van Laar. That is all.

It’s pretty decent, some of the stories are way better than others. But one or two have been downright gross.

I’m going to be honest with y’all—I love Carmilla and Carmilla adaptations so I was really excited for this book, and I really enjoyed A Dowry of Blood… but this one is rubbing me the wrong way. Everything just feels very pretentious and the pacing is bothersome.

I’m having a couple problems with this book. For one: Sophie is way more interesting than our POV character of Annie. Secondly, I’m really sick of hearing Annie cry about Sam (I get it, they were in a ten year relationship but tbh I don’t see WHY they stayed together so long). Thirdly, I feel like this book is queer-baiting me and I’m a little miffed.

Am I insane or has anyone else been getting a hint of WandaVision vibes from the townsfolk? This is *not* a complaint, everyone just seems a smidge off and my spidey-senses (pun intended) are tingling.

I have no idea if this book is queer or not but, dear lord, it has queer vibes out the wazoo.

This concept is just *chef’s kiss*. A retelling of the myth of Icarus as a queer teen romance about a cat burglar / art thief who replaces what he steals with his dad’s forgeries and falls for a mysterious boy named Helios—the son of his dad’s target?! SIGN ME UP!!!

Yeah… I’m not really about just sitting around while the FMC just banters with the MMC and the plucky side characters. You gotta give me something.

Maybe I’m just old and salty but did anyone else struggle with how nothing is progressing in this book?! Feyre’s just… stuck in this lovely home where everyone is cursed and wearing masks and Tamlin is weird… and she keeps talking about leaving but NOTHING IS HAPPENING?!?!

I’m pretty sure Lucian is the only character I like of this bunch. >.<

I’ve had friends that have loved these books and I’ve had friends that weren’t super into them. Might as well give them the good ol’ college try, you know?

Also, I see why everyone couldn’t stand Feyre’s sisters—good lord! (Nesta… listen babes… that much rage will kill you one day) Even so, I appreciate that they’re not just pieces of cardboard and have some bit of personality.

I know the way Amal El-Mohtar isn’t for everyone, but GOD… I freaking love it. Wrap me up in this lyrical sort of prose and transport me to a time and place that could’ve been or might’ve happened—please and thank you!

Here’s my problem so far with this book. The character study is FABULOUS. The Wren family is absolutely insufferable and the biting commentary against the moneyed and social elite is fabulous… but the pacing is a little like watching a glacier melt. Not to mention, and this is a me problem, this is a book you REALLY need to be in the right headspace for or it’ll feel more like a slog than a fun time.

This is like Aaron Sorkin and Sally Rooney had a twisted literary love child that gorged itself on dark academia, weird speculative fiction, and biting satires about the upperclass and tbh I am HERE for it!

I’m going to admit this right now, this book is getting a whole additional star because the “vibrating creature” looks exactly like my partner’s 18-year-old cat that passed this year.

Okay, remember when I said I couldn’t wait to say how Theo grew? Yeah. I kinda adore this girl.

THIS is how you write a character that you kinda want to bitch slap but can’t help but root for. Theo is absolutely a brat to start (she’s also only 19), but there’s so many interesting layers to who she is as a person and her messed up family’s dynamics that I’m enjoying seeing how she evolves.

“IS IT POSSIBLE
for a hug to peel back skin of time, the toughened and raw bits, the irritated and irritating dry spots, the parts that bleed?”

This book is just beautiful and heart wrenching and I’m honestly kicking myself for waiting so long to have read it.

So, Mountain Fell is “work reading” while I finish up edits. This is undoubtedly my “fun reading” at the moment. And oh boy, do I love a good Cinderella retelling!

So, yeah… I worked on this book! I gotta reread it because I’m working on the last round of edits for the sequel (which is about two characters that popped up in this book!)

((If you read this, you’ll know those are Willow’s moms))

Judi Dench is an international treasure and we do not deserve her.

Okay, I was WONDERING if we were going to see the Harkers. I’m kind of disappointed they only got a passing mention.

I gotta say, the vibes of this book are just sensational. It’s dark, it’s gloomy, it’s often decadent, and gothic as hell.

I figured out what it is that’s bothering me about this book! And, full disclosure, this is 100% a me problem. So, I’m polyamorous. And a big thing in poly is recognizing that, while some jealousy is normal, you don’t own your partners or their time. Marion has become intensely jealous over the course of the story and doesn’t want Lisavet hiring other bloodmaids and spending time with them which irks me.

I see what people mean about how the middle section drags a bit. It’s got enough of that lush, atmospheric creepiness I like in my gothic horror stories to keep me interested. I wish there were more books in this world, it’s such a cool take on the vampire mythos.

Something I really appreciate that is that this book manages to present the worldbuilding in a really seamless way. It’s all because Marion is, by her own admission, a clueless foreigner in a strange land, so what she knows about bloodmaids and the customs of the North are all speculation/rumor—so her understanding shifts when she is presented with new information, even though things are clearly not great.