Night Shine by Tessa Gratton

September 16, 2020September 16, 2020 meltotheanyAside17 Comments

ARC provided by the author

“I would destroy a thousand heart to find you, again and again.”

Sapphic enemies to lovers romance, queer bodyguard and royalty romance, dark fairytale setting! Magic, gender and sexual fluidity, yearning! Demons, dragons, unicorns, lots of cute tiny creatures to love! Atmospheric, lush, purple prose perfection! Are any of these keywords getting you? Because I’m still ready to sell my soul for Tessa’s deleted scenes and notes! Okay, how about the Howl’s Moving Castle comparison that completely is 100% accurate? This book is the book of my heart and dreams. Easily the best book I’ve read in 2020, so far.

At the very start of this story, our main character realizes the prince is missing and chooses to set out on a quest with another to try to locate them. Meanwhile, there is a witch who lives in seclusion in the Fifth Mountain, except when she needs to kidnap beautiful girls to steal their hearts, never stopping until she finds the most beautiful girl of them all.

I feel like I should just make a mini paragraph about demons, because this book is very demon heavy! There are so many kinds of demons in this book (from little ones, to big ones, to part demons like one of our characters), but greater demons live in places of power in this world! There is one in the Fifth Mountain and one living in the palace too! Also, there are other mountains (Second, Third, etc) where other powerful sorcerers live! But let’s get into our actual cast of characters!

➽ Nothing – queer, orphan who can’t remember anything from her past, not even her name, and the only thing she has as a reminder is a scar on her chest. She lives in the royal palace, where she is best friends with the prince.
➽ Kirin – non-binary, queer, crown prince, recently kidnapped
➽ Sky – queer, bodyguard for the royal family, demon-kissed
➽ The Sorceress Who Eats Girls – queer witch who lives in a mountain and waits and won’t give up

“Everyone is capable of being bound. By duty or love or blood.”

And Tessa is being very deliberate in naming our MC Nothing (and the love interest the Sorceress Who Eats Girls)! Words have power, names have power, reclaiming things has immense power, what you choose to give to people has power! We are all products of our surroundings and circumstances, but ultimately only you get to decide who you are, and you get to choose all the parts of you, every single part of you. Sometimes it’s easy to just be nothing or a wicked witch, sometimes picking your own name is the most powerful thing in this whole wide world.

“Everyone can be bigger than they seem, hold more than their bodies are capable of holding. You have always chosen to grow.”

Tessa normally doesn’t use actual terms in their books, but always shows constant multiple gender attraction and a lot of non-binary feels throughout. Honestly, everyone always feels pan in their books to me, but it could be me completely projecting. But we have main sapphic relationship (that is truly to die for), and a male and non-binary / gender queer character relationship (which also made my heart very, very full). But truly everyone reads queer and/or gender fluid, and we all know that gender and sexuality can be so very fluid, and we just love it here a lot. Also, like in true Tessa fashion, there are hints of polyamory and a constant beautiful light of how romantic and platonic relationships can be equally as important and… Tessa’s worlds >>>

“You decide what you are. You.”

Also, all of these characters are flawed and make mistakes and can look villainous! There is a lot of ownvoices rep between these pages, and I think that Tessa perfectly executes villains who just also happen to be queer, instead of… queer villains, if you feel me. There are a lot of questionable actions throughout this book, maybe even some villainous acts, but it’s just done in a very realistic way from these characters and their circumstances. (Okay, maybe not Sky, who is a perfect angel always, imo!)

This book does very gently talk about abuse and toxic relationships and how those things can be very hard to see when the word love is involved. Codependency is also something felt in this book, and how that can also be something that is very unhealthy. We also get to see a lot of power dynamics and power imbalances and how those things are not okay and can easily also become dangerous. But people who really love you, unconditionally love you, will not only wait for you on your journeys, but they will support you and respect your boundaries, too.

“I love you,” the sorceress said. “What you are now.”

But seeing Nothing become the person she wants to be? Despite her past, despite her current situation, despite an unknown future? So very beautiful. And to have someone showing her that she is worth the wait, that she has always been worth the wait, that she never has to be alone, and that she has never and will never ever be nothing. Please, hold me. Forever preferably.

“How strange, how thrilling, to be told your heart is half of someone else’s. A gift from a woman who loved you once.”

The romance in this book is out of this world. The perfect one-liners that Tessa has laced throughout this book? Makes me a bit speechless to even think about. All of you who constantly say you love enemies to lovers, who want to viscerally feel yearning, who want the characters to go through hell and back together, and you want it sapphic? Pick this up! I promise you, Tessa has some of the most gorgeous prose to every exist, and the way they weave these lines together is something of magic. Also, I’ll never eat a pear the same again, on all the higher powers.

My only complaint is that some characters in this world can change their appearance magically, and in the ARC I realized that in the past one character had lighter skin, and now her skin is dark because she altered it that way. I am a biracial person with white skin, but it for sure made me side-eye a bit. But every other aspect of this book was absolutely perfect for me.

Overall, I truly believe this will be my favorite book of 2020, just like how Strange Grace was my favorite book of 2018. Tessa and their worlds, and their characters, and their writing just makes me feel so seen in a way that no other author does. This book means so much to me. Tessa truly gave me the romantic, sapphic, whimsical, love story of my dreams. This story is everything I’ve ever wanted, and I feel like I’ve wanted it for so very long. I also feel like Tessa maybe redefined the word “yearning” and their power is just unmatched. I just want to spend the rest of my life reading their stories over and over again and feeling seen, and happy, and in love. Forever.

“Everything poured into Nothing.”

Trigger and Content Warnings: gore, violence, murder, death, blood depictions, self-harm, magical coercion, kidnapping, incorrect use of pronouns upon meetings someone (is immediately corrected and the character learns and corrects themselves) and war themes.

Aquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill

October 3, 2018October 2, 2018 meltotheanyAside8 Comments

Goodreads | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

ARC provided by Oni Press in exchange for an honest review.

“But there’s no home without a future…”

I just want to say that Katie O’Neill has the most breathtaking, most gorgeous, and most adorable illustrations out there right now. Each page is literally a brand-new work of art. Never have I ever loved the illustrations in anything as much as I do in this and in The Tea Dragon Society!

Aquicorn Cove stars a young girl named Lana, and she and her father come to visit her Auntie Mae on her little island. Lana is grieving the loss of her mother, but feels happier in her hometown, before Lana was forced to move to the city with her father. And the village is rebuilding after a disaster has struck. But Lana is more than happy to help. But when she goes to the water, she finds a little seahorse-like friend, who is in need of her help!

We also get to see Auntie Mae’s journey below the water, where the Aquicorns live! And Aunt Mae and their leader, Aure, strike up the most heart-warming f/f relationship. But we also get to see firsthand how important it is to keep our waters clean and that we need to respect coral reefs and underwater ecosystems.

Every book I’ve read by Katie has also has such an important and powerful message. Aquicorn Cove is about conservation and how the actions we take on land are impacting our waters. How overfishing, climate change, and polluting is hurting these water sources, and if we don’t change our actions then the results are going to be more and more severe. This is a book that really focuses on the delicate balance we have with all living things, and how we have to respect and protect each other to keep the cycle going. We all have to be responsible for our carbon footprint, or nothing will be safe; land or sea.

“Children don’t deserve to lose their home with the sea.”

Overall, I loved this more than words. Some of these panels were able to evoke such an emotional response from me. I shed so many tears, but also grinned so many smiles. I truly think Katie O’Neill is doing so much good in the world, and I wish I could put her work in everyone’s hands. Beautiful and breathtaking illustrations, empowering and important messages, and characters that I wish I had growing up. I hope you all pick this up and fall in love, too!

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

September 4, 2018September 4, 2018 meltotheanyAside29 Comments

Goodreads | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

“Memories don’t just live inside you, Minette. They live in all the people and objects you share your life with.”

Friends, this was the literally cutest and most heartwarming book I’ve read all year. Also, the art in this book is probably my favorite art style of all time. I recommend this with my entire heart and soul.

This story is broken down into five parts; one for each season and then an epilogue. And during Spring, an apprentice blacksmith, Greta (who is getting trained by her mother), rescues a little dragon outside! Greta’s father recognizes the little dragon and knows who his owner is. And once Greta goes to return the little dragon, she gets an invite from the owner, Hesekiel, to come and learn all about the Tea Dragons!

Tea Dragons are basically just mini dragons that grow different herbs alongside their horns! And all the names of the dragons are because of their different herbs. The dragon that Greta saves is named Jasmine, but we also meet Rooibos, Chamomile, and a few others during the duration of this book.

Greta learns all about Tea Dragons, but also learns about a society that Hesekiel and his husband, Erik, are the last remaining members of. Greta also meets Minette, who is a young girl who was training to be a prophetess and is now having trouble remembering things. She left home, and is now working with Hesekiel and Erik, while also making a beautiful friendship with Greta.

But this story is truly about friendship, and how important it is to find a place in the world that will surround you with unconditional love. This is also a story about honoring the past, and traditions, and cultures, and not forgetting where you come from. And ultimately, this is a story about balancing those two aspects and living a life that you’re proud of and that makes you happy.

Overall, I loved this more than any word combination I could come up with. Friends, if you are looking for a beautiful book, with even more beautiful messages, that star people of color, and people with disabilities (someone in a wheelchair and someone living with memory loss), and LBGTQIAP+ characters, then look no further. This was nothing short of a treat to read, and I hope you all pick it up. Also, I desperately want my own Tea Dragon companion now.