feral fall book recs pt 3

"Your roommate's cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that's how"

Nov 13, 2024

Last one, I promise!

Papouli, this section is NOT for you!

Honestly this is what I need right now with my election hangover. Smut and human-interest documentaries have been the only things keeping my brain off this week.

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

Brynne Weaver is the queen of dark romantic comedy, and Butcher & Blackbird is the book that put her on the mainstream map. It follows two serial killers who fall in love while hunting serial killers.

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I loved this book so much that I edited a full two minute fan-trailer for it (I did have COVID-19 at the time and was trapped inside the house). {trailer linked below}

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And Brynne Weaver is so nice and friendly. She even responded to an Insta story I put on @bck.reads (I was very proud of the pairing with So It Goes…) where I pointed out an error in her math that all my Bookstagram friends said I was wrong about… AND SHE CONFIRMED I WAS RIGHT AND EVEN SHARED THAT THEY WERE CORRECTING IT WITH A JOKE IN THE NEXT PRINT!

The Ruinous Love Trilogy is due its own post, so I’ll cut myself off here. But if you read anything form this whole post, do yourself a favor and read this one!

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

The Dark Olympus Series follows modern imaginations of Greek Mythology through kinky romance novels. Neon Gods is the first in the series, most popular, and I’d think most universal. I am now deep into this series, and sometimes miss the simple days of Persephone and Hades in book one.

Eyes on Me by Sara Cate

The Salacious Player Club Series is another kinky romance series that I’m only half way through. Eyes on Me is the second novel in the series (but can be read as a standalone) and is my favorite. Based on the tropes and kinks, I thought it’d be an absolutely not for me (age-gap, step-sibling catfish, voyeur and exhibitionist), but somehow it turned out to be my favorite. I’m not alone in this feeling.

Sara Cate’s writing is unexpectedly delightful and bright. This book covers some heavy themes of depression which I have not read the likes of before (and I’ve read ACOSF), but it still worked for me.

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Scarred by Emily McIntire

The Never After Series is hit or miss for me. These books are not connected but follow re-imaginings of different classic fairy tales, often in modern times where the villain gets the girl. Scarred is slightly different in that it’s still set in a historical time. I don’t know how to explain it, I did not love this book, but I did? Like I maybe hated parts of it? But I still binged it in a day and it worked for me. I’ve read 4 of the 6 books in this series and this one is my favorite. If I recall correctly at one point he walked into her knife during a stand-off and that was it for me. 🤷‍♀️

tl;dr: if this series is on your list at all, I recommend starting with Scarred. It’s Lion King, forbidden, and absolutely medieval.

Want hope for the future? Miss your naive innocence? READ THESE!

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

If fall is better known as “football season” to you, you must check out this book! It just has all the queer ya romance feels! 💜💞💙 This is my favorite Dahlia Adler, and it was my favorite queer YA romance until Heartstopper stole the show.

She wears short shirts and she wears tshirts. She’s (wannabe) cheer captain and she’s QB1!

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

A modern classic with a film and spin-off television series, you may know this story better as Love, Simon. I listened to this audiobook while driving to the lake and back, and it was soooo good! I don’t know how Becky Albertalli captures the essence of being a high school student, and specifically a high achieving, theatre-geek, high school student in the 2010s. It helps that her fictional Creekwood Series is set in Metro-Atlanta (where I was a high school student in the 2010s).

I know she is (was?) an adolescent therapist so that probably keeps her current with the behavior of high schoolers, but the way she incorporated technology and friend groups, it felt so organic, it was almost triggering to be thrust back into my 17 year old self.

tl;dr: I don’t read YA these days unless it’s queer, so yes, this is another queer story

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I cannot tell you what originally pulled me into the Simon Snow Series, but I can tell you, once I was there I binged each audiobook in a day. (One day per book.) While this isn’t my favorite book, or even a series I think to recommend all that often, it is a fun, queer, young adult, fantasy romance.

I do not understand how this gay, bootleg Harry Potter was published, but I’m glad it was.

It’s basically Harry Potter but like if Harry and Draco were roommates, and Draco was also a vampire. Yeah that’s pretty much it. They’re also so hot for each other and opposites attract. (So pretty much like Harry Potter for my sad little Drarry a$$.)

midnight sun by Stephenie Meyer

Something most of you probably do not know about me… circa 2008 when Midnight Sun was initially leaked and Stephenie Meyer put it on hold indefinitely, I wrote her emails encouraging her to continue writing and to publish the story anyway. I went so far to find her personal address and was ready to send her a heart-felt letter in the mail, but chickened out at the last second.

So you best believe 12 years later when it came to be I rushed to McNally Jackson in my mask to scoop it up. I wasted $30 on it, because now it’s always on the bargain shelves at Books A Million, AND I listened to the audio from the library anyway. AND I lent it to a coworker 3 years ago and still have not received it back.