starrysteph's reviews
447 reviews

I mostly think The Full Moon Coffee Shop was an excuse to info dump about astrology - but you know what? It was kind of nice. 

The book is broken up into sections, each from a different narrator coming across the migrating coffee shop (which is run by human-sized talking cats who may or may not be literal planets). They’re served drinks and snacks that are exactly right for them at that moment and given advice about their astrological chart and current life struggles. Each person is at a crossroads and is feeling restrained or unhappy.

The cat content was cute, and all of the cafe goers had majorly intersecting lives. The writing was simple and direct. It wasn’t anything terribly unique or deep, but it was an easy little read and a chance to learn some new astrological facts. 

It left me feeling a bit reflective and relaxed. I appreciated how it all tied together in the end, but there just wasn’t enough depth to the story to truly engage me.

CW: death, infidelity, gaslighting, sexism, fatphobia, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny

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Lucha of the Forgotten Spring was a lovely end to the Lucha Moya duology, with themes of community care & responsibility, addiction, environmental respect & destruction, faith, leadership, and trust.

Lucha returns to her hometown after the most intense battle of her life. She has to learn to lead and rebuild, while making sure that the deadly drug she sought to destroy never haunts her community again. But the forest isn’t at peace quite yet, and the villagers of Robado face new dangers.

I continued to enjoy the thoughtful conversations around community and leadership. Lucha learns when to take charge and when to lean back - and everyone has to learn to communicate effectively and work together to build a better home. There are battling leadership styles at play and a whole lot of different motives, and it was interesting to see how different personalities meshed and fought for personal and communal interests. 

Everything here was richer and deeper. Just a really great expansion on book one! The pacing was a little funky (some big scenes FLEW by while we lingering in some quieter conversations for a while), but I was engaged the whole way through. 

I’m not one to care for a love triangle, but I thought both potential love interests were believable and the plot didn’t lean too heavily on any fighting between them. They were both just part of Lucha’s journey to forge a better world and future for herself and her loved ones.

I missed Lucha’s sister Lis in this one, though! Sisterhood was such a large part of book one and their relationship really resonated with me, so that was an aspect I was sad fell away here.

The ending was satisfying, but not TOO neat. There’s a lot left open and so many ways these stories could end.

Overall, I think that if you had a good time with book one then you’ll be very happy with this conclusion!

CW: death (child/parent), drug use, addiction, violence, confinement, body horror, grief, animal death, classism, fire

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Women with dreams of vengeance? We love to see it. Go after those eyes, Ji-won! Take control away from men!

The Eyes Are the Best Part is an unsettling journey about a young woman who becomes a serial killer once her disgust and frustration boil over into free-flowing rage at the racist & sexist men who surround her.

 Ji-won is constantly standing on unsteady ground. She loves her mom, but her dad abandoned their family after an affair and her mother simply crumples. Her little sister is scared and hurt, just wanting things to be okay. 

When a new man enters their apartment, Ji-won’s distaste grows and grows. George is sexist, racist, condescending, and generally obnoxious, but what Ji-won can’t stop fixating on is his bright blue eyes. And what it would be like to eat them.

Her dreams get darker and more compelling, and even as her grades suffer and her friends become wary, Ji-won’s hunger cannot be stopped.

It’s a disgusting and fascinating little tale about removing yourself from the boundaries of fate and choosing your path forward, no matter what ending the world has in store for you. Ji-won ponders whether her future is really set in stone, but she leans into violence to escape the expectations of society (and specifically of men). I’ll always gobble up an unhinged woman saying, “You know what? Fuck it. Let’s just destroy the world.”

Is Ji-won always sympathetic or likeable? Absolutely not. But I think part of the charm is seeing how much you feed into her mindset before she shifts into horror and violence.

The chapters are short and segmented, with lots of little dream sequences and famished visions. They’re sometimes abrasive and feel like rough blinks, especially as you start to wonder just how well you can trust Ji-won.

Ji-won’s family struggles were deep & heart-wrenching. They each deal with micro and macro aggressions and fetishization towards Asian women, and dreams versus realities of living in America, and just how much of their lives are out of their control. The web of relationships between mother and father and daughters were well-developed. And Ji-won’s place as the elder daughter who sometimes serves as translator, sometimes serves as protector, and often just has too much stacked on her shoulders is so relatable.

Were the murders believable and without plot holes? Eh, not really, but who cares? The male antagonists did feel a little bit flat & cliche at times (cardboard cutout villains) - which bored me a tad just because I think it would have been more intriguing to disguise their nastiness at the start - but overall this has a very fresh spin on eye horror and cannibalism.

For a “good for her” reading moment mixed in with navigating the beginning of adulthood while shouldering family trauma, be sure to pick this one up.

CW: cannibalism, body horror, murder, death, gore, racism & slurs, violence, blood, misogyny, stalking, abandonment, toxic friendship, sexual harassment, mental illness, cultural appropriation, infidelity, grief, pedophilia, panic attacks, gaslighting, torture, classism, excrement, vomit, cancer

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Lucha of the Night Forest is an action-packed sapphic fantasy filled with forest magic, feuding gods, and sisterhood.

Lucha lives in Robado, a grim city filled with struggling folks pinned between a salt river and an angry forest. Her mother (alongside most of the city) is addicted to a memory-altering drug called Olvida, and her daughters never know when (or if) she’ll return home. Lucha makes ends meet for herself and her little sister Lis by taking monster bounty jobs from a former friend & neighbor.

But when his demands become too high and the girls are threatened out of their home, Lucha has one option left: she begs El Sediento, a god of rot & hunger, for a deal. Alongside the secret-goddess-worshipper Paz, she transports Lis across the forest and to a hopefully better future. Though Lucha still must hold up her end of the bargain, and she doesn’t know what to make of a new power rising up through her blood.

Lucha is so determined to protect her sister, even when Lis lashes out and struggles to see the bigger picture. Their relationship is complicated and their bond is fierce – it’s an honest depiction of sisterhood. Lucha overcomes so much and her motivation is very centered around crafting a better world that her sister can thrive in. It’s a trope that always tugs at my heartstrings. 

Robado is a city revolving around drugs and addiction. The few in power use Olvida to manipulate the masses, getting richer while the residents crave more and more of the mind-numbing plant. Lucha dreams of destroying the drug, but also harbors complicated feelings for her mom, who is a user. She’s angry and doesn’t know how to fix things, and leans into anger while her new friend (and maybe more) Paz leans into compassion and patience. It’s a brutal look at capitalism, control, and power – and how to fight and dismantle these violent systems. 

I really enjoyed the forest as a living, breathing system. You’re always going to hook me with some mycelium magic! Each vine, every flower, and every root is connected here, and leaps off the page. There are terrifying monsters and overwhelming rot, but also greenery that fights back. And lots of lessons to be learned around compassion for all living beings and maybe leading with gentleness, understanding that there is darkness in everyone.

The gods and their lore were great as well. We get to follow the threads of myths and legends, explore choice versus fate versus responsibility, and see how stories become sanitized over time in order to make them cleaner and more palatable. Lucha uncovers truths that are scarier and messier, things that go beyond unwavering faith. 

There were some stumbles here for me. The timing was a tad off, and sometimes we flitted through months in a way that made me feel a little ungrounded. And I think the romantic relationship suffered for this, because Lucha and Paz go from untrusting strangers to declaring feelings for each other without really getting to know each other. We just skipped over most of that development. Generally, it was just a smidge too fast-paced. Maybe it could have been broken up into a trilogy.

Overall, I thought this was a great story and I would definitely pick up the second half of the duology. It’s a fight against inequality, a lesson in embracing your best inner qualities and finding strength in who you truly are, and a hug for everyone with complicated families.

CW: drug use, addiction, abandonment, violence, confinement, death, murder, animal death, child abuse, body horror, classism, trafficking, kidnapping, sexual harassment, grief, forced institutionalization, police brutality, vomit, pedophilia

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Bones to the Wind is a riveting coming-of-age adventure with desert monsters, magic, and young people who are tired of being underestimated.

It’s time for the annual Forging, a trial that every child must pass to be considered an adult. Teenagers are split up into groups of five, each piloting a windship, and must hunt down a creature and bring it back to the Grankull before time is up.

Rasia is a badass warrior dreaming of glory, and she wants to come home in record time. She’s determined as hell, cocky, and has the skills to back it up. But she’s never worked well with others.

Unfortunately, she’s paired up with Nico, her childhood nemesis. Nico has impressive water powers, she’s next in line to lead their community, and she’s always been a bit of a self-righteous know-it-all. And Nico’s biggest Forging goal isn’t to be the best of the best like Rasia, but instead to make sure her little brother Kai survives. It’s his last chance, and he faces banishment otherwise.

Their society is always teetering on the brink of starvation, so nobody will miss the kids who don’t return. It’s up to Rasia, Nico, Kai, and their groups to make sure they’re coming home with heads held high. But time is working against them, and there are creatures and humans worse than the tentacled gondas they’ve chosen to hunt in the desert lands.

You’re plopped down into the sand and expected to gently sail away into this world. Nobody is holding your hand and explaining things, but I thought the immersive worldbuilding came in steady bursts and never felt too overwhelming or hard to comprehend.

And the world is SO interesting. I was devouring all the information we got, from the complicated politics of a society created inside the skeleton of a dragon to the tents and outcasts and scavengers to the ferocious creatures that hunt in the desert. There’s so much intricate culture here and a lot of thought went into piecing together this community.

The characters will make you furious and proud from one chapter to the next. Rasia is arrogant and at times a bit cruel, but she also believes in everyone’s potential and is incredibly hardworking and determined. Nico struggles to see the big picture, but cares so deeply for her little brother and also wants to be a better leader for her people. And Kai flip flops between secrecy and excruciating self doubt and then dares to dream. There’s a fascinating web here, and all of their various interactions will keep you guessing. Some characters are awesome and some are unredeemable, but they fill up the pages of this book pretty realistically. 

All the main characters are teenagers (though they will soon be considered adults in their society), and a lot of the middle portion of this journey is sex. They live in a community that encourages sex  (at least for those inside the Grankull) and there are severe consequences to having sex before they’re ready, so this is their first sort of “no adults, no rules” scenario. It’s not SUPER graphic sexual content, but there is a LOT of it and lots of sexual/sex joke-y commentary as well. It just wasn’t something I wanted to read about in depth, so the book really lagged for me in the middle. There’s also some acephobic/arophobic viewpoints held by the characters and their larger society (as an additional content warning heads up). I wanted to get back to the adventure and the other plotlines that had much higher stakes. 

Aside from that lull in the middle (which again, may just come down to personal preference), I thought the pacing here was really strong and the writing was great overall. A little bit of clunky text, but nothing that tripped up the reading experience.

This is the start to a duology and it does leave off on a major cliffhanger. I’m so desperate to know everyone’s fates, and I think that the second half of this story will likely be more politics-heavy which should be engaging. Most of this arc was spent away from their society and in the desert, and the insight we got into the politics was “yikes” at best, so I’m curious to see how they’ll come back and challenge and change their community. 

There’s also the start of a found family forming, and I hope we’ll see some more positive friendships explored on page during part two.

I’d definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a thrilling fantasy adventure with a heavy dose of romance, great action scenes, and a fascinating society & world! 

CW: death (parent/child), abortion, pregnancy, ableism, slavery, child abuse, homophobia, acephobia, rape, suicidal thoughts/attempt, eating disorder, explicit sexual content (underage)

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Hammajang Luck was a fun sci fi heist, but its real strength was in beautiful family dynamics, an inclusive & queernormative world, and its love for Hawaii. 

Edie has spent the last 8 years in prison on an icy, isolated planet, and missed so much of their life - their nieces and nephews getting older, their mother dying, their sister attempting to leave a challenging relationship - so when they unexpectedly get early parole, they vow to never go back to heists.

Except Angel, the very person who betrayed Edie 8 years ago, is the person who gets them out. And she has a plan for one final job. The job that they failed on their last attempt. The job that will bring down the tech trillionaire who essentially rules their planet.

Can Edie really put their trust in Angel again? If they want to save their family, they might just have to.

The relationships between Edie, their sister Andie, and their niece (Paige)  and nephew (Casey) were a HUGE highlight of the book for me. Paige is such an iconic teenage character (and super wise). You could feel the love radiating between them, and the heartache of Edie missing out on so much. Both kids took to Edie in a very sweet way, and they challenged and prodded each other a bit, but also grew together. 

Edie and Andie stick together and care about each other so deeply. It was such a charming sibling dynamic. They’d lost both of their parents and were struggling to stay afloat, and they constantly had each other’s backs. They were also both dedicated to keeping their culture (as Hawaiians) alive and their parents' memories alive. How do you honor and maintain your culture even when you’re no longer on Earth?

As for the heist itself, it was more-or-less formulaic. Big bad tech guy, a team built of archetypes, a few “uh oh” moments but nothing too fear-inducing, and so on. The tension was never very high for me; I always thought they were going to be okay. There were no real twists and turns and I don’t think the heist elements offered anything new to the genre. 

The compelling aspect of the heist for me was Edie as a character and how much they had to lose - versus the danger or excitement of the heist itself. I did think the preparation elements and the introductory cons were very fun (though charmingly unbelievable).

Turning to the pacing, some parts towards the beginning really dragged. I wish we had leaped into the team already compiled, because there were a couple team members that didn’t get as much time in the spotlight. I wanted to SEE them come together as a family, and it felt like we were just told that it happened. I was really into the characters as we got to know them, but they still seemed like mostly strangers to each other. I do think adjusting the pacing at the beginning would have helped with this.

The queer rep is so rad. Butch and femme are used by the characters, and there are three super different butch major characters. The setting is a queernormative world with no gender or sexuality trauma, just casual representation. There are some discussions about how the world places you in boxes (ie. due to gender presentation, you might end up working at a dock or at a club), but no blatant queerphobia. 

As for the romance, Edie and Andie both are in toxic relationships (Andie is divorcing her husband and hoping to maintain custody of their kids, but he is still present, especially since she is pregnant). For Edie’s situation, I wished it had a slower redemption arc and we saw them move towards friendship. I loved Edie and Andie and just wanted healthier romantic relationships for them both! On the positive side, though, I adore Duke and Nakano’s relationship.

I think this book addressed classism really powerfully. You see the nitty gritty of this city and working life and who gets left behind - how neighborhoods are being destroyed and people are left in helpless situations.

The sense of space was a little weak, though. It was just tricky to get a full sense of the world. We were told that the characters are on a space station, but that tended to be glossed over outside of a few stated reminders and some funky gravity moments. It generally just felt like a high tech (but Earthside) city. What does it actually mean to be in space? What does the universe look like? What does it mean to mourn Earth? The ties to Hawaiian culture were powerful, but the rest fell to the side.

Though I clearly had some mixed feelings on this one, I really do believe it’s a worthwhile read. Not for bringing something revolutionary to the heist genre, but for the queerest heist team you’ll ever meet, a family that sticks together, and a love letter to Hawaii.

CW: death (parent), grief, classism, cancer, pregnancy, toxic relationship, sexual harassment, confinement, violence, sexual content

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Reread January 2025 with book club!

I think I enjoyed the reflections on Earth and funding and nationalism and radicalization even more this time around (thinking about billionaires playing around in space while cities burn). And the messy mother-daughter relationship, though I didn't entirely love that conclusion.

Asuka's arc is still awesome, advanced immersive reality and AI with emotions (maybe?) is fascinating, and in general I love how much this book gave me to chew on. Beyond the actual plot and pages, I found myself brainstorming so much about what would happen afterwards and the elements we didn't see in the book.

An above-and-beyond space thriller for sure.

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Get ready to send yourself into a tailspin as you try to unravel the truth in this fast-paced sci-fi thriller. 

It’s hard to be an avid thriller reader when so many of the plots feel recycled – but I found <i>The Deep Sky</i> to be fresh, engaging, and anxiety-inducing (that’s a compliment).

Asuka is a skilled crew member of The Phoenix, a ship carrying eighty young graduates of EvenStar, an elite academy created by a wealthy augmented reality tech inventor.  They’re meant to be humanity’s last hope: heading to Planet X and leaving environmentally-destroyed Earth in the dust.

All the crew has is each other (and their future generation of children). So when someone sets off a lethal bomb 11 years into their journey, nobody knows who they can really trust. Asuka - as the ship’s Alternate - takes on the investigation, but time is running out and the bomber may just try again.

The world-building is so well-done. Between the shifting world of tech, the complex political climate, the media frenzy that surrounds the young crew – it’s all captivating yet clearly laid out. And the stakes couldn’t be higher; the crew is fighting for their own survival, but also the survival of humanity.

The plot jumps back and forth through time. On one end, we’re following Asuka’s investigation of the terrorism on board. And that’s illuminated through past journeys: the crew’s training at EvenStar, Asuka’s strained relationship with her family, and the chain of circumstances that secured Asuka’s spot on The Phoenix.

I enjoyed exploring the themes of belonging, heritage, and imposter syndrome (there’s definitely an Among Us joke to be made here … someone should run with it). Different countries have selected representatives to populate Planet X, and Asuka is selected by Japan. She was mostly raised in the US and feels anxiety and doubt about her ability to claim Japan. Asuka also questions her abilities and her worth as a crew member - she’s loyal and honest and doesn’t puff herself up like some of her once-competitors and now-crewmates. There’s also some exploration of survivor’s guilt after the catastrophic bombing.

The relationships between crewmates were varied and complex, and there’s a really diverse set of characters here. The ship only launches with those who are able to bear children (mostly women, with some nonbinary and trans men characters as well) which created a fascinating dynamic. It was curious to me that everyone was totally cool and happy with expected pregnancy - when did they learn that aspect of the mission? Would that have been an interesting flashback scene?

I also wish that we’d been able to explore the onboard characters further within these 400 pages (we probably only get to know 8 or so of the 80 members) - I think spending a bit more time in the present would have solved this for me. Additionally, because our time in the investigation portion was limited, the red herrings became clear. But it’s all nuanced, and my interest in the culprit/motive never waned.

Things also went from bad to fatal REALLY quickly. It felt a little unrealistic for such a massively-funded project meant to be humanity’s chance of survival (like why are there no backups for some of the tech components of the ship?). But maybe that’s intended commentary.

It is dark, but cautiously optimistic. There’s a lot of thoughtfulness here around technology, trust, friendship, and family. There were moments of quiet hope as we watched this team sort through complicated issues and learn to rely on each other. And as we see them grow, maybe we can hold onto some hope for the larger community of Earth.

CW: death, miscarriage, fertility issues, pregnancy, terrorism, racism, gore, grief, fire, medical content, war, drowning
(also there is a reference to eugenics but the concept is not quite used correctly)

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Wheww this one made me sweat!

Marcus is a young soldier with vitiligo – he’s left on his own after his adventurer parents go missing, his people mock him for his skin blemishes, and he’s just a norm in a world of Divines (superpowered humans). After a brutal attack on his village, Marcus feels survivor’s guilt and is ready for revenge. He soon learns that his skin may indicate huge power, and that the land he has been so loyal to might be planning something pretty terrible.

The world and lore were really unique & interesting, and the world-building felt natural. There’s a large cast of characters, but I never felt overwhelmed.

Marcus is definitely likeable and boy, does he go THROUGH IT! He learns a lot about himself, he’s starting to melt away his internal shame for his skin marks, and he’s slowly starting to form a circle of friends (and maybe romantic partners) that will actually have his back.

The plot is very fast-paced, and there’s a good central mystery with plenty of twists. There are a lot of battle scenes, and they’re messy! 

My stumbles were mainly around the writing style and uneven pacing. Everything that happened was interesting to me, but the flow of the story felt stilted and sentences themselves were sometimes a bit unnatural and choppy. The switching of tenses was a little awkward (especially when it would go back and forth within one chapter) and sometimes information was repeated again and again. 

As for the pacing, we’d spend pages and pages on small moments with a LOT of detail, and then battle scenes would fly by. Often, crucial things were left unresolved and the tension dissipated for me.

I’m curious to see where the gender segregated storyline will lead. Some of the language used to describe women was a little peculiar, so I’m hoping that all gets unpacked really well during the next book.

CW: death (parent/child), murder, violence, blood, gore, bullying, sexism, abandonment, torture, violence, war, genocide/mass murder

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

😭 ❤️

An interesting little novella - I loved that we were watching everything unfold in real time over the course of a single night.

Both Shera and Max are surrounded by the ghosts of past relationships, haunted by ways they were hurt and ways they were cruel. It’s an exploration of vulnerability, intimacy, and processing past pain in order to open yourself up to something new.

It’s simple and realistic, but all of the conflict is centered around exes and past flings, which is not really what I like to read about (and not necessarily the best way to start a potential new relationship). Both leads can also be a bit hard to like. I think they needed to go talk to professionals more than each other! 

Still kind of cutesy, still kind of tender, but a bit too cheesy at times for me. 

CW: infidelity, alcohol, panic attacks, sexual content

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)