✨ 3/5

What is Helena's story in The Iliad?

Shadows of Sparta is a fantasy romance retelling of The Iliad by C.R. Jane, but this time the focus is on Helena.

While reading, I realized that Helena was the trigger or rather the excuse used by the kings to wage this massive war, conquer Troy, and massage their egos. Yet nowhere is it clearly established whether she was kidnapped, ran away willingly, or was under some kind of spell. Homer says she ran away, but Homer has never been particularly good at representing women in his stories. Anyway, not to digress, Helena's story is not widely known.

C.R. Jane takes her character and weaves an interesting tale filled with magic, power, betrayal, love, and passion. I especially liked how Helena's beauty is used as a weapon or even how lust itself becomes a weapon. Menelaus is also a well-written character; as you read the book, you begin to hope for his death.

That said, this is the first book in a trilogy, which is why it feels more like an introduction than a complete story. Many elements remain unexplained, which I assume will be revealed in future books. Achilles also feels promising as a character, but it's still early. Not much about him has been revealed yet. I also didn't fully understand the Achilles-Helena arc in the book. Helena says that "he sees her," but nothing substantial has happened between them for him to make that claim.

To be honest, I loved Paris more. ;)

I think Book 2 will be a more exciting read. Secrets will be revealed, and there will be more action. I also hope to see Helena become a more powerful FMC rather than remain as helpless as she seems in Book 1.

Thank you so much @podiumentertainment for this copy.

Author - @crjaneauthor

#bookreview #bookrecommendation #booktok #shadowsofsparta

"You're doing it again," Doug says ...
"Doing what?" (Jett)
"(Looking at her) Like she's at the end of every road you drive down. Your center point."

GENRE: Romance
RATING: 5/5
FORMAT: eBook ARC
Tropes: Boss x Employee, Set in Australia, only one tent, forced proximity, PR relationship, ADHD and Dyslexia rep

Overall Impression: If Nicole Cubba writes it, I will read it and read it in less than 24 hours as well! I fell in LOVE with the story in Deep in Love and this second book in the series, Wild in Love was no exception to this 🥺

Review:

So Wild in Love follows the journey of both Jett and Sofía and OH MY GOD? I love them so much! Jett is very much an easy going person that we saw in book one and we get to learn so much more about him. His love for what he does carries through his POVs and that starts to translate for how he views Sofía as well. And oh my heart, watching them (well reading) fall in love together?

Jett is definitely what I would call kind of a golden retriever MMC? He is so gentle with everyone but he is ESPECIALLY gentle with Sofía, realising that she needs time to recover from what happened in her past and he helps her through it all emotionally. I loved how we got to see his journey with ADHD and dyslexia. As someone with ADHD, it was relatable read, especially watching Jett question his worth after being told he isn't worth it because he followed a different path in life.

And Sofía is our typical eldest sibling who took on the whole world and carries it all on her shoulders while not taking care of herself. Her POV is vulnerable, getting down to the root of it all while showing us that she is trying to maintain control of her life and manage it all for everyone too.

You can literally see their journey and how they come together. Sofía helps Jett see his worth and that he is perfect just the way he is, no matter what he did because he paved his own way in life. At the same time, Jett offers Sofía a space to be vulnerable and herself.

I genuinely love when we get to see relationships like this, ones that allow space for healing and falling in love at the same time and I cannot wait to read more from Nicole Cubba (and hopefully in this series🥹)

I was provided a free advance reader copy and I’m sharing my honest thoughts.

May's Sad Rich Girl Salon dove into taste--

I could honestly do 10+ Salons on taste. People had so much to say and the convos were fascinating. The central question I posed was: Who gets to claim good taste? Who is excluded from having it (even when they adopt all the "right" signals and symbols)?

The reading/media below was not required by any means, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many people dipped into it (2 people told me they watched The Square which is one of the best disturbing/uncomfortable movies about elitist art/culture professionals).

Suggested Reading & Media

• Tasteslop by Emily Segal

• Little Nolitas Everywhere in The Cut

• Tech Bros Have Just Discovered Taste (reel)

• "I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America" in The Atlantic

• When Harry Met Sally wagon wheel coffee table scene

• American Dad! Season 10, Episode 2 “A Boy Named Michael” (on Hulu or Amazon Prime)

• Xavier’s Substack (he’s harsh & very funny. a lot of what he says is just saying the ugly parts of status/power out loud, which is uncomfortable to some people)

• T Magazine “How to be Cultured” (I hate this soooo much)

• “Bitches with taste” reddit

• Ruben Östlund's The Square (2017)

• Bourdieu’s 500 page tome Distinction (if you want to join my book club and read this with us, tell me but you have to take it seriously)

• David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise

• Chris Lehmann's Rich People Things

• Martha Stewart interview (full length, 1 min clipping on taste)

Discussion questions:

• Who was the first person that you thought had ‘good taste’?

• Can taste be faked?

• What are the typical metrics of good taste?

• What are the less-obvious, subtle signals of “good taste” that are used to gatekeep?

• What is taste really a euphemism for?

• Does taste look diff for women/men?

• What’s wrong with “learning” taste (if anything)?

• “Taste can’t be divorced from class, except when _________[fill in the blank]”

• What is it “pretentious” vs “tasteful”?

• Who in your life would you go to for recs about taste? (it could be yourself lol)

• Has "having taste" become more or less accessible?

We made a pact to walk 3 miles every day in June. So far so good! Watson gets about 1.3 miles with me in the morning. It’s an early start, but worth it to see the breaking dawn and woodland creatures (deer and rabbits mostly)

Not sure what he will do when it rains. 😂

I was going to start the Elmore Leonard books today, but opted for a Friday start instead.

I hope you are having a great day!

June is Audiobook Appreciation Month, and to celebrate, Libro.fm is hosting a global audiobook walk on June 13! Listening to an audiobook is my favorite way to read, and I want to know...what's your favorite audiobook?

My goal is to make a list of favorites from the Bindery community to share before the walk! I would be so grateful if you took a second to comment below with your favorite audiobook (bonus points if it's a rec for Pride Month!). 🥰

Wherever you are, I hope you also join me for the Audiobook Walk on the 13th! 🥳

Happy Audiobook Appreciation Month, and Happy Pride Month!

P.S. Please let me know if you'd like me to include your name and/or social handle with your recommendation. 🫶

Good morning Readers!!

I am so excited. I just placed an order for a bunch of Bindery books. I am so happy to finally have them at the shop and share them with my readers. We will have

House of Frank by Kay Synclair

Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil

Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase

Devil of the Deep by Falencia Jean-Francois

Our sisters Keeper by Jasmine Holmes

Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife by Deston Munden

To Bargain with Mortals by R. A Basu

Just to start! Ill keep you posted on when these increbible books come in.

Happy Trans Joy Thursday!

Today, I wanted to highlight 10 books that have not only brought me joy, but also made me feel seen, heard, validated and others that just... altered my brain in the best possible way. By no means are these like my all time favorites, but they come pretty damn close, and I find myself recommending them over and over again. I chose 5 nonfiction books, and 5 fiction books.

Before we get to the lists, though, I wanted to remind you that if you're local to Green Bay, Wisconsin, I'll be vending my first ever big Pride event at Proud Out Loud at Stage Ten Seventeen from 12-8pm. I will be a vendor indoors. I'll have Pride exclusives and tons of merch to shop, in addition to my book, of course. Here are the details if you're curious:

I hope I see you all there! One more house keeping thing, we have finalized our Quarter 3 Book Club Pick and our Behind The Book chat! We will be reading Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H(she/they), and will ALSO be talking with them July 31st from 7-8 pm CST/8-9pm EST. Quarter 3 will be July, August and September. So, we'll have 3 months to dive in and discuss this book along the way. I will also be holding a giveaway for the paperback UK edition. More details on that coming in July.

But Sawyer, you told us last time we are speaking with DeAndra Davis in July for the Beyond The Rainbow chat!? YES! We're talking to BOTH OF THEM IN JULY. And I'm so pumped. More details coming later this week.

NOW. For the books that changed my brain chemistry. Here are my Top 5 Nonfiction Reads:

In no particular order, these are my Top 5 Nonfiction books:

1. The Rainbow Ain't Never Been Enuf: On The Myth of LGBTQ+ Solidarity by Dr. Kaila Story. This book gave me so much material to digest, I not only listened to the audiobook, I bought a physical copy to immediately reread to annotate. (I don't typically reread books. Let alone in the same month.) Dr. Kaila Story will also be with us Tuesday, June 16th from 12-1pm CST/1-2 pm EST to discuss this book, Pride, and everything in between. Zoom information coming soon.

2. Falling Back In Love With Being Human: Letters To Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom. This book was like reading a book of forgiveness to those that have wronged you. The book itself is broken up into different formats - poems, prayers, spells, letters, etc. Truly an eye opening book and one that has sat with me since it's release.

3. Black Boy Out Of Time by Hari Ziyad. Y'all. I had an e-copy of this book, purchased the audiobook, and still have yet to purchase the physical copy. But the way Ziyad writes letters to his younger self throughout the book, healed something inside of me. Ziyad discusses growing up as a queer Black kid with a religious upbringing and how he navigated that. It's a masterpiece that should be required reading.

4. Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. Seeing as how this book is our Q3 book club selection, it should come as no surprise that it also made my top 5 list. Growing up in an extremely (cultish) religious upbringing, I related to Lamya's stories about herself in relation to the Qur'an. Truly a must read if you can relate to navigating religion or religious trauma.

5. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. This book gave my adult self the ability to put words to my gender and identity that I was searching for. Truly a book that needs to be read by youth and adults alike. (The annotated edition was also just released in May, and I need it.)

Just typing out those 5 books, I thought of like 5 more I could've added. lol. Here are the Top 5 Fiction books that altered my brain:

I absolutely stay in my nonfiction bag, so branching out to fiction is way too hard for me. But when I do read fiction, it's usually queer books. These top 5 fiction books left me feeling some type of way about the characters, the plot, the storyline - they just left parts of me feeling seen. Looking at this list, I believe all but one of them are considered YA - I so wish I had these books in my youth. What a difference it could've made. I'm so thankful the kids today have access to stories that reflect them. Here are my Top 5 Fiction Books, in no particular order:

1. Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly. A book about a recent divorcee and a nonbinary individual? Sounds like Kelly wrote about me and Alisha. To the point Alisha called me London for a brief moment in time due to my shared awkwardness with the character. I will read Kelly's grocery lists. Their books just never miss. Ever.

2. Can't Take That Away by Steven Salvatore. Fun fact: This was the first book I ever won in a giveaway on Bookstagram. This book is about a genderqueer teen who finds the courage to speak up for themselves and equality to their school administration. And honestly? Still applicable today. A must read for not only parents, but every single kid to know that their voice matters.

3. I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver. This book hit a little close to home, as it is about a nonbinary teen who got kicked out of their home after coming out to their parents. It follows Ben as they navigate school. anxiety, crushes, and the complexities of being a queer teenager. Deaver is also another author that just never misses.

4. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. Another fun fact: We named one of the cats Felix after this book. This book follows Felix, a Black, queer, trans teen who is attending an art program in NYC. The overall themes include self-discovery, loving yourself, and accepting the fact that you are deserving of love. Such a beautiful book.

5. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. I have also read this book twice. (I'm sensing a correlation of books reread and my top 5. lol) I love the fact that this book explores coming out as trans and navigating it with family and belonging. Such a tender book. I cannot wait until Thomas releases the sequel, Espiritu, later this year.

And there you have it. My top 10 nonfiction/fiction books. I still could have added more books to both lists the more I sit here and think about them. But now I'm curious, if you could ONLY (yes, only) pick 5 books in each category, which books would you choose? Meet me in our Discord to tell me, or drop them in a comment below.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday and a very happy day 4 of Pride.

With all my trans joy,

Sawyer Cole

Have you ever been halfway through a book and suddenly realized two completely unrelated details were connected? The throwaway conversation from chapter two. The strange symbol nobody explained. The character who seemed unimportant.

Then everything clicks into place, and you immediately want to flip back 100 pages to see what you missed.

That's the feeling conspiracy thrillers are built around.

Of all the thriller subgenres, these are the books most likely to turn readers into detectives. You're not simply following a story. You're constantly looking for patterns, clues, and hidden connections.

Every answer raises another question. Every discovery reveals another layer underneath it.

🔎 What Is a Conspiracy Thriller?

Most thrillers revolve around a problem: a murder, a missing person, a stalker, or a kidnapping. Conspiracy thrillers usually start with a problem too, but the real story begins when someone realizes the problem is connected to something much larger.

What begins as a single mystery slowly expands into a web of secrets, hidden agendas, and connections nobody saw coming. The deeper the protagonist digs, the bigger the story becomes. That's the hallmark of a conspiracy thriller.

🧠 Why Readers Love Them

I think conspiracy thrillers appeal to a very specific type of reader. The kind of reader who loves saying: "Wait a second..." The kind of reader who immediately starts theorizing.

A good conspiracy thriller makes readers feel like they're participating in the investigation. You're collecting clues right alongside the protagonist and trying to figure out how everything fits together.

There is something incredibly satisfying about reaching the moment when dozens of scattered puzzle pieces suddenly form a complete picture. Even if that picture is terrifying.

🗝️ Secret Histories, Hidden Truths, and Forbidden Knowledge

One thing you'll notice in a lot of conspiracy thrillers is that they're obsessed with hidden information: secret societies, classified documents, historical coverups, ancient artifacts, forgotten discoveries, and most importantly, buried truths.

Many conspiracy thrillers revolve around the idea that the world isn't quite what it seems on the surface. Whether that secret involves governments, corporations, religion, science, or history depends on the book, but the appeal is often the same: What if there was more to the story?

📚 What Makes Them Different From Other Thrillers?

A psychological thriller makes readers question people. A domestic thriller makes readers question relationships. A conspiracy thriller makes readers question information.

• Who knows the truth?

• Who is hiding it?

• Who benefits from keeping it secret?

The tension comes from uncertainty. Not just uncertainty about what will happen next, but uncertainty about what is actually true. That creates a very different reading experience.

📖 If You Usually Read Other Genres...

One of the reasons I think conspiracy thrillers have such broad appeal is that they overlap naturally with a lot of other genres.

❤️ Romance Readers

Start with: The Last Flight by Julie Clark

If your favorite books focus on character relationships but you want more suspense, this is a fantastic entry point. The emotional investment in the characters is every bit as strong as the mystery.

🐉 Fantasy Readers

Start with: The Will of the Many by James Islington

Fantasy readers often already love conspiracy stories without realizing it. Secret societies, political manipulation, hidden agendas, and unanswered questions are everywhere in this book.

🏛️ Historical Fiction Readers

Start with: The Eight by Katherine Neville

Historical mysteries, secret histories, and centuries-old puzzles make this an easy crossover for readers who love digging into the past.

🚀 Science Fiction Readers

Start with: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

The science-fiction elements are front and center, but the growing sense that something larger is happening behind the scenes will feel very familiar to conspiracy thriller readers.

🧩 Mystery Readers

Start with: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Love clues? Love puzzles? Love trying to solve things before the characters do? This is one of the easiest entry points into the subgenre.

📚 Beginner Pick

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Two women swap plane tickets in an airport, setting off a story full of secrets, hidden identities, and unexpected connections.

Why it works:

• fast-paced

• highly accessible

• strong emotional core

• easy to binge in a weekend

This is the book I'd hand to someone who has never picked up a conspiracy thriller before.

📚 Advanced Pick

The Eight by Katherine Neville

A centuries-spanning puzzle involving a legendary chess set, secret societies, hidden knowledge, and layers upon layers of interconnected mysteries.

Why it works:

• complex plotting

• multiple timelines

• historical intrigue

• rewards careful readers

This is the kind of conspiracy thriller where every detail matters.

🌙 Final Thoughts

I think conspiracy thrillers appeal to the same instinct that makes us love puzzles, mysteries, and treasure hunts. We like discovering that seemingly random details weren't random after all.

Conspiracy thrillers take that feeling and stretch it across an entire novel. Every clue matters and every question leads somewhere. Plus, every answer reveals another secret waiting underneath, which is exactly why these books have a way of keeping readers up far later than they intended.

This month's book club pick is Next Time Will Be Out Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto. See what else we've read this year below!

My amazing Bindery team,

I am so incredibly grateful for all the support you’ve given me since I started this page. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. That said, I am not doing what I should be here on Bindery. You are paying me $5/month, and in return, I’m not giving you anything. Despite my best intentions at the beginning, I just don’t have the time to give what I should over here.

That said, I’m going to be discontinuing paid memberships. I have to reach out to Bindery to get this taken care of, and I actually don’t know if they’ll allow me to keep the page running if I don’t have a paid tier, so I’ll let you all know soon if that’s the case. In the meantime, please feel free to downgrade your membership. I feel horrible that I took this long to do this. I hope you all know I never intended to take advantage of your generosity, and I sincerely apologize if you feel scammed in any way.

Nothing else will be changing (unless Bindery makes me), but I just feel this is the best path forward. I love you all and again, I’m so grateful for all of you being in my life.

Hello nerds,

Coming in hot with a busy June!

In Person Events

Thursday, June 4th at 6:00 PM

Join us at Sunny's for Yuma County Abolition's monthly book club. This month they are meeting to discuss the second half of Let This Radicalize You. RSVP HERE.

• About the book: What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe.

• About Yuma County Abolition: Yuma County Abolition is a grassroots, volunteer-run network dedicated to providing immediate support to our community while building long-term, self-sustaining resilience. We ground our work in solidarity, intersectionality, abolition, accountability, mutual aid, and autonomous direct action.

Friday, June 5th at 5:00 PM

First Friday is back! Come beat the heat and spend some time downtown after the sun goes down.

About the event: In partnership with the 261 Shops, we will be participating in First Friday. Creation Coffee will be on-site with speciality brews for paying customers to ANY participating business. No minimum purchase required. Sunny's entire store will be 10% off from 5-7 and 20% off for card holding members.

Friday, June 12th at 6:00 PM

Join us for an author event with Dora Rodriguez, advocate for migration justice and memoirist. Dora will be reading from her memoir and books will be for sale to be signed by the author. This is a FREE event to attend, but we ask that you RSVP so we have a good headcount and can prepare the space. RSVP HERE.

• About the book: Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain is a gripping memoir by Dora Rodriguez, one of only thirteen survivors of a harrowing 1980 crossing through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona during El Salvador’s civil war. At just nineteen, Dora risked everything to flee political violence, only to be met with new dangers along the migrant trail. Her story unfolds in vivid, heart-wrenching detail, from a childhood of hardship and resilience in Santa Ana, El Salvador, to the moment she collapses in the desert, left for dead, and through to her eventual rise as a humanitarian leader in the U.S. borderlands. Her story became one of the catalysts for the Sanctuary City movement in Tucson.

  Now the Founder and Director of Salvavision, Dora shares her journey with unflinching honesty, illuminating the realities of forced migration and the resilience it demands. This is a story of survival, service, and the enduring hope that drives people to risk everything for a better life.

  For readers of Solito and The Line Becomes a River, this book offers a firsthand account of forced migration and the strength it takes to rebuild. An essential title for readers drawn to immigration stories, human rights, and voices of lived experience.

Thursday, June 18th at 6:00 PM

Join us at Sunny's for our monthly in-person event, Sunny's Salon. This months edition is to celebrate queer reads. RSVP HERE.

• About the event: To honor Pride Month, this edition of Sunny’s Salon we will be talking about and recommending our favorite queer reads. We also will have a curated selection of books available to be purchased and donated to one n ten. one n ten is a non-profit that enhances the lives of LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, ages 11-24, by providing empowering social and service programs that promote self‐expression, self‐acceptance, leadership development, and healthy life choices.

Online Events:

Sunday, June 28th at 11:00 AM

Join us at Sunny's us online for our monthly book club Zoom meeting. The June book is Canon by Paige Lewis. RSVP HERE.

• About the book: Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!

• About Sunny's Book Club: Sunny’s Book Club is a monthly book club highlighting both new releases and backlist titles we love. A virtual discussion is hosted over Zoom on the last Sunday of the month. You can check out our selections each month and sign up here. You do not have to buy the book from Sunny's to participate, but we love when you do!

Thank you all for your support as always and hope to see you in person this month.

CJ

Love what we do? Become a paid subscriber for less than a cup of coffee a month. Your ongoing support helps us plan ahead, fund causes we care about, and create meaningful programming for our community.

Hello my Mushies!

I am trying to bring back polls for you guys and challenge myself with prompts and such! I'll be focusing mostly on the WIP that I have been sharing with you guys, but I also want to sprinkle in the modern sapphic romance that I have been wanting to start.

Ancient History part 2 is our Category for June for the Booksworn Book Club! Voting below for First Swords and Bright Stars...

I’ve always had the perhaps unpopular literary opinion that Le Fanu’s Carmilla beats Stoker’s Dracula by a country mile, and it’s not just because I like to see women get what they want. 

Written 25 years before Dracula, Carmilla is short, with an economy of language that makes the entire story feel like a single feverish dream. Both were written during an era of incredible social change and wrestled with ideas about modernity, class and social order, feminine sexual agency, and moral purity. The vampire in both Carmilla and Dracula embodies the perversion that threatens “goodness.” Both are also rooted in Victorian anxieties about cleanliness and contagion, the rising influence of the middle classes, the parasitism of the nobility class, and, more simply, intolerance of “the other.” Count Dracula is of a noble, ancient line, while Carmilla’s background is ambiguous but her uncanny magnetism and influence place her firmly in this position of an “other” who commands significant power. 

Anyway (and this is all necessary background, I promise), where Le Fanu succeeds for me in a way Stoker doesn’t–besides that Stoker loved himself a dead horse for beating–is in the utter failure to make me fear Carmilla. She is not grotesque as Dracula often is for Stoker. And the moments of longing and eroticism in Carmilla are so compelling, so tender, that I surely would have been vampire food.

I mean, look at this: 

“I have been in love with no one, and never shall," she whispered, "unless it should be with you."

How beautiful she looked in the moonlight!

Shy and strange was the look with which she quickly hid her face in my neck and hair, with tumultuous sighs, that seemed almost to sob, and pressed in mine a hand that trembled.

Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. "Darling, darling," she murmured, "I live in you; and you would die for me, I love you so."

I started from her.

She was gazing on me with eyes from which all fire, all meaning had flown, and a face colorless and apathetic.

"Is there a chill in the air, dear?" she said drowsily. "I almost shiver; have I been dreaming? Let us come in. Come; come; come in.”

You’re swooning, right? You’re swooning. It’s an incredibly effective work and it doesn’t need 600 pages to be so. 

Carmilla laid a foundation for much of the subsequent vampire fiction of the European canon, and the popularity has never stalled. Now, what I loved about Kat Dunn’s Hungerstone, was that it honored the original work while also subverting its narrative into a bloody celebration of good-for-her-style feminine sexual agency. 

Lenore is a wife of ten years to a social-climbing steel magnate, Henry, but their marriage is stale and unsatisfying. They’ve just moved into the imposing Nethershaw manor in the English countryside, surrounded by wind-blown moors and a sense of looming dread. 

When a carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla to stay in the manor, something begins to stir in Lenore. 

So, it’s a Carmilla retelling, obviously, and it takes all of what is lovely about the original – the atmospheric sense of dread that drapes itself across the narrative like wine-red velvet, the bloodthirsty longing, the tender eroticism, but it also expands upon the idea of a woman’s hunger within a repressive context. Lenore’s personhood, womanhood, ability to experience pleasure, and agency are all tightly restricted, and Carmilla is the force that helps her to reacquaint herself with want. This hunger permeates the book, and it’s brutal, bloody, and so, so satisfying. This thematic exploration of desire is deepened through the parallel explorations of the appetites of the capitalist class, the industrial revolution, and colonial expansion. It's also subversive of the original narrative in that Carmilla's arrival is indeed a threat to the patriarchal status quo and to the carefully curated sterility of Lenore's life -- but this danger is ultimately imperative for Lenore's survival and liberation.

Two things I really appreciate: one, that this is not a story about Carmilla. She is an almost surface-level character, and little of her motivation or backstory is necessary for the story. Though what bites we get of her on-page are delicious (she’s sarcastic, strange, beautiful, and mean – consider me seduced! I’ve seen enough!), she is little else, ultimately, than a catalyst for Lenore. This is not a love story – at least, not one between the two women, though the development of their relationship has tension and tenderness enough to get by on. Lenore, on the other hand, is an expertly fleshed-out protagonist. She’s riddled with juxtapositions, complications, and short-comings. She is intelligent but fearful, self-repressed but full of rage, self-involved but self-aware. She is not good, she was never meant to be, and it’s for this reason that she’s so compelling. 

Second, that the tone and pacing don’t recreate but implies the original novel’s sensory experience. Much of the first half of our story is a meandering through Lenore’s interior self, and it’s quiet, introspective, but never dull. The prose is lovely and elegant, and throughout the setting reverberates an anxious, eerie ticking of a clock, with the distinct impression that time is running out. In contrast, the final third of the story is a blood-drenched frenzy, though this sudden change of pace feels intuitively correct. It is like the death throes of a wounded animal; there is a heavy sense of inevitability, as though it is only right, only natural, that Lenore should rip control of her life back with her own bared teeth, that things should erupt from everywhere and nowhere, all at once.

Hello everyone!

Moving forward here on Bindery, I need to ask you a very important question. Do you want to receive email notifications as to when I post content. I respect either decision, I don’t want to overwhelm your inbox.

Hey, y'all! Here are some events you can find Left Unread authors at this week!

• Tonight, Inez Ray and I will be LIVE on Instagram discussing Chapter Two of Liberating Abortion (we will be LIVE every wednesday, discussing a chapter of this book at a time). 7pm CST

• Tomorrow, Inez will be on Instagram LIVE again tomorrow with Dominique Burleson, the owner and curator of Paperbacks & Frybread, an Indigenous bookstore based in NC 7pm CST

• June 6th/7th, Falencia Jean-Francois will have a table at the West of Mars signing table at Pittsburgh, PA Pride

• June 11th, I will be in conversation with author Rasheed Newson at Call & Response Books in Chicago, Illinois (Grab tickets HERE)

• June 20th, Falencia will be at Millvale, PA Pride

  Hope to see you all tonight for our LIVE and at all of the other events you are able to attend!

It’s Pride Month!

2 years ago I stacked all my queer books so see how many I had. It was 60 at the time, now it’s 80!

You can see all the covers in this TikTok, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNR7s2tUa/

But if you just want to read the list - here it is below! I have read and loved all of these.

Happy Pride!

80 Queer Book Recs:

Fantasy:

Faebound by Saara el-Arifi

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir

Cinderella is Ded by Kalynn Bayron

Angels Before Man by Rafael Nicolas

The Final Strife by Saara el-Arifi

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

Dowry of Bl00d by S.T. Gibson

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

The Final Strife by Saara el-Arifi

Among Thieves by MJ Kuhn

In Deeper Waters by FT Lukens

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Here to Slay by Radhika Sanghani

Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou

Overemotional by David Fenne

When the Tides held the moon by Venessa Vida Kelley

Lies we sing to the sea by Sarah Underwood

Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai

The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A.

The Wolf and his Kingston by Finn Longman

One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

Nimona by N.D. Stevenson

Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens

Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

Sci Fi:

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

All that’s left in the world by Erik J Brown

Twice Lived by Joma West

Face by Joma West

Iron Widow by Xirin Jay Zhao

The City We Became by NK Jemisin

In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Liu

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Key Lime Sky by Al Hess

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Romance:

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Henna Wrs by Adiba Jaigirdar

Hani and Ishu’s guide to fake dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Rani Choudhury Must D!e by Adiba Jaigirdar

Drink Up, Darling by Harvey Oliver Baxter

Initiation by Alethea Faust

Cafe con Lychee by Emery Lee

Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution by Kacen Callender

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

Mercy by Ian Haramaki

Out of the Blue by Jason June

The Prospects by KT Hoffman

Ander and Santi were here by Jonny Garza Villa

Self-Made boys by Anna-Marie McLemore

Game Changer by Rachel Reid

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Common Goal by Rachel Reid

Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

Role Model by Rachel Reid

The Long Game by Rachel Reid

Cafe con Lychee by Emery Lee

A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles

Horror:

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

The Spirit Bares its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

Let’s Split Up by Bill Wood

Poetry:

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

Bad Q u e e r by Gayathiri Kamalakantham

Coming of age:

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Mystery:

Tradwife by TC Parker

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars