duckprintspress | Entries tagged with book bingo

Love reading queer books? Love low-commitment chill reading challenges? Us too! Join the Duck Prints Press 2025 Queer Book Challenge!

A screen capture from the webpage Storygraph, showing "The Duck Prints Press 2025 Queer Book Challenge." Text on the page proceeds to read: Hosted by unforth. 14 participants, 46 books added. Starts: 01 January 2025. Ends: 31 December 2025. 0% completed. 0/1 prompts complete. Love reading queer books? Love low-stakes challenges that help you decide what to read next? Then you've found the perfect 2025 reading challenge for you! If you read even one queer book - as in, a book featuring a queer character, or by a queer author, or in a queer setting (whatever that means), or that just serves powerful queer vibes, or functions as an allusion to queer experience, or, or, or - then you can win this challenge! Then, use the bonus challenges to help steer you toward more fun books. We hope you'll join us! Want to chat with us and others about what you're reading? Join our Discord!"

Want to win an easy reading challenge? Then we’ve got the challenge for you: all you need to do is read one (1) queer book anytime in 2025 and log it with the challenge, and you’ll win our queer book challenge! Once you have done that, the fun begins: we’ve got 39 other themed prompts related to common tropes, character representation, author demographics, and more! You can also add books to each category, see what other participants are reading, and find some inspiration to expand your to-be-read pile.

Check out the full list of 40 prompts here! We hope you’ll come read with us.

If you joined us in 2024, you’ve only got 5 days left to log reading you’ve done and/or read a few more books like the wind to meet more of the prompts. You can check out the Duck Prints Press 2024 Queer Book Challenge, too – a few of the prompts for 2025 are repeats, but most are new. There’s lots of amazing books in the 2024 challenge, so even if you weren’t a participant, you might want to check it out.

And, looking for a supportive, friendly community to chat with about all your new reads? Come join our Book Lover’s Discord, too! Joining is absolutely not a requirement, but it is a great way to make some new bookish friends!

I realized a graphic novel I read last week would work for one of my three remaining squares!

I read "Kisses for Jet," which has a character's name in the title (I am still, slowly, reading "The Book of Jim," which my dad wrote and also has a character name in the title, and I'm gonna try to finish it before the next time I see my dad on the 3rd, so the square was gonna get filled regardless, but eh). Kisses for Jet was a coming of age story about a teenage trans man. I thought it was a little all over the place but it was EXTREMELY evocative of the late 90s, when it took place, and it really brought me back to being a teenager myself during those years.

I'm pretty hopeless on the last two. I'd have to go out of my way to find and read books that fit that and, tbh, there are just. so many other things I want to read. THOUGH...I just realized...lemme check something...NOOOO I MISS BY A YEAR THAT'S NOT FAIR. I just got "The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For" from the library, and I knew that started in the 80s...but it started THE YEAR AFTER. It's...it's WITHIN a year of my birthday...can I count that maybe???? It's so close... *sob*

It's been about a billion years (or, well, three months) since I've remembered to update my book bingo, in part because I've got so few squares left and I'm not actually managing to fill them. But, I've finished two books in the last couple weeks that fit two of the squares, so here we are!

Banned Book: The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (in this case, vol. 3). This was banned off JJWXC due to the sexual content, and is published heavily censored in China, so I think it counts. It's a re-read for me, but I still love it. The ghost city arc, in this book, so so good.

Mythology: Heaven Official's Blessing (vol. 7). I actually should probably use Guardian Vol. 1 for this square, since it's more mythology based, but I didn't think of it. Regardless, most cultivation novels have mythological elements so I'm rolling with it.

I have absolutely no idea how I'm gonna fill the last three, lmao, but even if I don't manage a black out, I still think I did pretty well, so I'm pleased!

My last month has been so busy that I completely neglected to update my bingo card, even though I've been reading. Currently I'm burying myself in a book for work and manhua on the Bilibili app, and none of those will fit for any of my remaining squares (though I could maybe stretch a couple to fit "Mythology." Like, does a modern manhua about Pixiu and other Chinese mythological characters count as mythology??? idk..). I definitely think the remaining squares will be hard for me, with what I read, but I'll see what I can do??? I did just realize I can count the Minecraft books I'm always reading to my son as books for my hobby square, so I just gotta pick one and put it in, cause heck knows I've read plenty. Books about building with legos, too. It's not MY hobby, but they're hobby books....

Anyway, I've added Dinghai Fusheng Records as my historical fiction book; it's very deliberately set a few centuries after the Warring States period, and the historical context is important and referenced often.

I read six volumes of the Black or White manga, too, and eh that might as well be my Free Square I guess??? Gotta put something there.

I still expect MDZS Vol. 3 to be my Banned Books square, I'm just reading it stupidly slow cause it's all flashback and I don't like it that much lmao. But I'll get there. Person's Name in the Title is still gonna be my dad's book, I've just been procrastinating. But I'm kinda forbidding myself from starting another danmei book until I finish some of the things I "have" to read, so.

Also I'm neck deep in the Poyun manhua and there's a good chance that, as a result, the book has vaulted from being "somewhere down on my TBR list" to "next," lmao.

So yeah, as long as I'm willing to bend "mythology" until it screams, which...I am...the only one of these remaining that'll really have me stumped is a book from the year I was born. I don't want to read something from 1982. I want to read gay shit. What gay shit were they publishing then???

I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll get lucky and one of the books I read to the kids will fit???

AHA! I just googled Children's Books Published in 1982. I've heard of almost none of these BUT one I have heard of, and own, and have read before, is The BFG. Could give me kids a worse introduction to Dahl...

I might just manage a black-out on this yet...

(Also I really enjoyed Dinghai Fusheng Records, and Black or White is hot af.)

Long time, no book bingo. May was a very light reading month for me, and I hardly finished anything. Now I'm reading something long and even though I probably could count it as multiple volumes like I've done with other danmei, the version I'm reading is chapter-by-chapter all online and deciding how to split it would be ??? so I won't include it until I'm done (It'll be the historical square).

In the meantime, I also read all 11 volumes of "Knight of the Ice," a manga by Ogawa Yayoi, and while manga is a much quicker read than a book I figure 11 volumes is enough to at least count for one square, lol. AND, it was a m/f romance, which means female protagonist, which means I can actually fill that square!!!

Overall, I liked it, though it leaned into miscommunication (or, really, lack of communication) more than I'd like, and I wish some of the hurt/comfort had been played up more. Still, it was fun fluff and I'm not sorry I read it. :D

*facepalm* I completely blanked on updating my Book Bingo card when I finished my latest read!

My 17th bingo fill for 2023 is Global University Entrance Examination by Mu Su Li. I read a fantranslation by KK Translates. Over all, I really really enjoyed it; I'd previously read 70-some-odd chapters of the manhua, which turned out to be about the first 20% of the book, and what followed that more than delivered on the things that had me intrigued and wanting more in the early parts. I felt the middle arcs were the strongest, and the final arc the weakest, so that was a little disappointing - it's always nice if a story can go out with a lot of awesome - but still, I was very pleased with this as a read and I'd absolutely recommend it.

I've since started the official English translation of Thousand Autumns by Meng Xi Shi. I've previously read a fan-translation, so this is a reread for me. I'll be using it for my "historical" square. After that...idk. I've got a pile of relatively short, quick reads of western queer fiction, a lot of it YA, so I might just plow through some of those. I could definitely use something lighter after reading QQGK and Mo Du back to back.

I can't believe I've filled 17 out of 25 squares and STILL only have one bingo, lmao.

I finished Mo Du over the weekend. BOOK 5 WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOD. I always want a lot of half the ship gets whumped/the other have goes feral and it's not been a super common trope in the danmei I've read, much to my surprise. However, Mo Du was very satisfying in this regard (even though I wouldn't say Luo Wenzhou goes feral each time Fei Du gets whumped so much as Luo Wenzhou goes so soft and caring that it breaks my heart. He's such a bad ass with a 'tude 99% of the time and the other 1% is when Fei Du gets hurt and LWZ spontaneously becomes the saddest cinnamon roll.

I also watched the first episode of the live action last night, mostly cause I could. It was also quite good, and looked like it was sticking fairly close to the plot of the book (though Luo Wenzhou knowing about the animal thing is definitely different). It looks like Youku freaked out after posting 8 episodes and stopped adding more? Which is a pity. But I can at least watch a few.

Anyway, as for what's next:
1. I must read the book my dad wrote. I started it yesterday but I was too exhausted to really focus on it, but I'll try to make progress anyway. I'd love to finish it before he visits (theoretically at the end of the week, though it's always up in the air since his visiting depends on my step-mom's mood on any given day, and her Alzheimer's means her moods are very erratic). It's entitled "The Book of Jim" so it'll be my bingo entry for "Person's Name in the Title."

2. I then decided that my next danmei would be Dinghai Fusheng Records (I've read a mess of the manhua like 70+ chapters, and I've also read all the Legend of Exorcism manhua and seen a few episodes of the donghua, so I'm familiar with the verse and characters and stuff but I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS OKAY), but to get access to it, I need to get verified in the Chickengege Discord server, and so I submitted everything for that yesterday...but it looks like they're lagging about 6 weeks on verifying people. As in, last week they were verifying people from late February. Which is all well and nice, I'm willing to wait and I support translators protecting their work. But if I'm not gonna get access to mid-May that doesn't make a great choice for "next." I'll probably use Dinghai Fusheng Records as my "free" space since I'm trying not to use "historical fantasy" for my historical box.

3. But someone was digging through my old Tumblr posts and they hit "like" on a couple things I put up about Global Examination and was like ??!! I COULD READ QQGK! So that's what I'm doing, I'm already about 100 pages in. I've read about 70 chapters of that manhua too, so where I'm at in the book is still solidly in what I've read in the manhua, and as far as I can remember thus far the manhua has followed the novel plot pretty much 1-for-1 so I'm not even really getting anything new, but that's okay. There have been a couple interesting things, especially as regards to Yu Yao's pregnancy, and the fact that Qin Jiu's name is front-and-center. Like, as far as I can recall, through where I was in the manhua we STILL don't know Qin Jiu's name, he's still 001. (I can't remember for sure though, he might have said his name during the fire in the fucked-up village arc? It's been a while since I read it, oops). I'll use it for the sci-fi/fantasy box.

Anyway at some point I should actually sit down with my list of things I want to read and organize it in some way, cause I keep starting things and then going OH NO BUT WHAT ABOUT X I REALLY WANT TO READ IT about like 9 other titles so.

Actually...no time like now, I guess, I'm out of it and distractable so...
Danmei I know I want to read, like, high priority (there's loads of others I know I want to read, to be clear, but these are the ones I look at my list and go OH YEAH THAT ONE):
1. Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know (Cyan Wings)
2. Dinghai Fusheng Records (Fei Tian Ye Xiang)
3. Legend of Exorcism (Fei Tian Ye Xiang)
4. Fox Demon Cultivation Manual (Feng Ren Zuo Shu)
5. Those Years I Opened a Zoo (Marshmallow Bunny) (this one is tempered by the fact that I don't think there's a full translations available)
6. Yuwu (Meatbun) (which I'll read when the English comes out)
7. Peerless (Meng Xi Shi)
8. Copper Coins (Mu Su Li)
9. I Ship My Rival x Me (PEPA) (also not fully translated)
10. Lie Huo Jiao Chou (priest)
11. Sha Po Lang (priest) (which I'll read when the English comes out)
12. Liu Yao (priest)
13. Antidote (Wu Zhe)
14. A Sword of Frost (Yu Xiao Lanshen) (also also not fully translated)
15. How to Survive as a Villain (Yi Yi Yi Yi)
16. BONUS, they're baihe not danmei but, Jing Wei Qing Shan and Female General and Eldest Princess (both by Please Don't Laugh)

Did I say there were only 9? lmaoooo. And that doesn't even include my "secondary level" of "I want to read this but not quite as badly," for Married Thrice to Salted Fish, Po Yun, Mistakenly Saving the Villain, The Wife is First, and more...

So. Many. Good. Books. and so little time.

Apparently I've been miscounting? Anyway, regardless of what I said before, I'm at 15 books now - I finished the fourth book of Mo Du early this morning (thanks insomnia, or something).

I've had to switch to the Thai covers because that's what Goodreads has up. As it is, it's really hard to track progress - none of the listings on Goodreads or Storygraph actually correlate to the number of pages in the fantranslation I'm reading (by E. Danglers) but oh well I'm making it work as best I can. There's one more book of plot (book 5) and then E. Danglers put all the extras into a "book six." I'll add 5 to the card when I'm done, but I'm not planning to count the extras as a sixth book. It's so hard to figure out how to count these, sigh, but I figure if I would have had to buy 5 separate physical volumes to read them, I might as well count them as "more than one book."

Still reading Mo Du. I finished Book 3 yesterday, so I went ahead and added Book 2 and Book 3 to my book bingo. I'm running out of slots I can reasonably shoe-horn my danmei into, lmao...I definitely lucked out that Vol 3 has a butterfly on the cover. I've got two volumes of Mo Du left and I figure those'll be e-book and POC author. (I can't wait to finish these books and watch Justice in the Dark YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I keep seeing sets on Tumblr and they've all been of parts of the book I've read and they all look so good omg.)

My next book after that is a book my dad wrote called The Book of Jim, so that'll work for the "name in the title" square, and then I'll be (re)reading Thousand Autumns in the new Eng translation Vol. 1, which'll work for Historical cause even tho it's got the cultivation it's still heavily historical/political, and then probably Sha Po Lang? Though it depends on release dates and when I get things done. Anyway, given what I read, I suspect "woman protagonist," "year I was born," and "Craft/hobby/cookbook" are going to be...very challenging. Though given how early in the year it is and how much I've already filled, well, there's time so I guess I'll see?

God, what was published in 1982??

It's been a little bit! I was reading some manga, which I don't usually count for this cause the individual volumes are so short, and I've also just been really sleepy so kinda slow. But, I did finish another book!

Since "Justice in the Dark" dropped pretty much out of nowhere, I figured that was my cue to read Mo Du by priest. I finished volume one on Wednesday and am a bit into volume two, and really enjoying it so far! If anyone is interested in reading it too, I'm reading E. Danglars' translation here. I've still got a lot to go but I'm tentatively thinking I might read Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know.

Also...I'm looking at this card and realizing I didn't update it with Tian Ya Ke *facepalm*. Let's try this again...

SO try 2! I read finally read Tian Ya Ke by priest (the book Word of Honor is based on) and I enjoyed it! I didn't love-love it...it's very different than WoH, and I think if I hadn't read the book in a "comparing" way I'd have enjoyed it more. As it is, a lot of the things I liked best about the show aren't features of the book, and that reduced my enjoyment. Unreasonably, I think, but there we are. I read it here.

And then, as I said, I've started Mo Du and read one volume! Here's the summary for Mo Du:

Childhood, upbringing, family background, social connections, traumas...

We ceaselessly seek and explore the motives of criminals, pursue every faint trace of emotion among them, not to sympathize with them and even forgive them, not to find a reason to exonerate them of their crimes, not to bow before the so-called complexities of human nature, not to reflect on social conflicts, and certainly not to become monsters ourselves—

We are simply looking for a just answer for ourselves — and for all those who still have hope for this world.

So far, it's pretty grim with the crimes, which I definitely expected but it's been hitting me a bit.

I expect I'll be finished Mo Du before I read anything else, and probably splitting it into 3 volumes? It's actually 5 volumes but Goodreads only splits it into three so for tracking it's probably easier for me to just treat it as 3.

Well, I have strep throat, so I've spent the last three days curled up on the couch reading, and as a result I've now caught up on my backlog of 3 volumes of Tian Guan Ci Fu that I bought in print but hadn't (re)read yet. Technically I'd started the first last year, but I was only like 80 pages in, and I counted other books I was way further into and finished in 2023 as 2023 reads, so.

Anyway, I coulda used them in multiple spots but I realized I could get my first bingo if I did it this way, and anyway how could I not put the book that literally has two dudes making out as my LGBTQIA+ book? Like gee. Is it gay? WHO KNOWS? MAYBE THEY"RE JUST BEIN' BROS YEAH?

Anyway, updating this graphic has taken the last of my "sitting upright at a computer" ability for the day, so I'm gonna go collapse on the couch again. My plan is to read Tian Ya Ke next, though apparently the Mo Du live action just randomly dropped so I might do that instead, I keep flip-flopping. I've never read either before. I've heard TYK is a quick read, though, and I've wanted to read it for a while, and it's not super clear if the Mo Du live action is available in the west yet, so... (I'll probably use TYK as my "made into a show" since like. I've even already seen the show, it's why I want to read it.)

Yeah idk. I'm gonna go fall on my face and read something.

"I'll wait a day or three to finish the extras," I said. "I'll savor the last few chapters," I said. Well, you can see how well THAT worked out.

I realized I kinda goofed up in a way, since I've decided NOT to treat "all books in a series" as "the same book," which means that reading Volume 2 of a book by Shisi isn't a new-to-me author, reading Volume 1 of a book by Shisi is, and I used Vol 1 on TBR (and Vol 2 isn't really on my TBR, since it only just came out, I was saving vol. 1 and read them both when I got volume 2). So, perhaps it's not the best match to a square, but oh well, screw it. I probably could have justified putting 2 in the TBR square (it was literally on the pile, for about two weeks - it's even in a picture I took in mid-January of my TBR) so...whatever, between the two, they cover those squares. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ANYWAY. Before I started Little Mushroom the question was, "read something new" (as in, Little Mushroom) or "reread the volumes of MXTX books I've got waiting." So now that I'm done with Little Mushroom, it's onward to read the three volumes of TGCF I've been stalling on because I hate the (original) Book 2 extended flashback so much that it's a huge slog to get through. I've given myself permission to, if not skim, at least not read it super carefully. I remember what happens and I don't like it and I want to get back to (original) Book 3.....!!!!

Yes, already. It's been a long time since I had a book eat my entire brain as completely as the one I just finished (and I'm only 50 pages shy of being done with the second book, too. Fortunately it's only two books long or I don't even know when I'd come up for air).

Title: Little Mushroom
Author: Shisi
Genre: sci-fi, dystopia, danmei
Back cover summary:

In the year 2020, Earth's magnetic poles disappeared and humankind was nearly wiped out by cosmic radiation. Within the span of a hundred years, living creatures began to mutate and devour each other while the remaining humans, numbering in the tens of thousands, struggled bitterly in their man-made bases.

In the Abyss, home to the mutated xenogenics, there lived a sentient little mushroom. Because it had been nourished by the blood and flesh of the deceased human An Ze, not only did it take on a similar-looking human form, but a similar name as well: An Zhe.

An Zhe is determined to go to the human base to search for his spore, which had been harvested by humans. Once there, however, he faces the omnipresent risk of discovery and certain death as he tries to keep his non-human nature hidden from the Judges, whose responsibility is to inspect for and eliminate xenogenics like himself. And of all the Judges, Colonel Lu Feng is the most perceptive and merciless—as soon as he determines that someone is a xenogenic, he will execute that person on the spot.

But An Zhe's mutation goes undetected by Lu Feng's eyes, and so a tale of humans and xenogenics unfolds...

*
This book was so good. The second book was/is so good (I've finished the main story and only have a few extras left to read). I'm going insane over how much it hit me. Gah.

Anyway, I bought Vol. 1 almost a year ago, and didn't read it because I was waiting oh-so-patiently for volume 2 to come out, which it finally did in December (or maybe January? idk I pre-ordered it and it arrived about a month ago), so it's definitely been on my TBR, for about a year, so that's the box I put it in. I'll probably put vol. 2 in for "author I've never read before." It fits umpteen other of these squares, but those ones will probably be easier to fill considering what else is on my TBR, so.

I can't believe I read an entire 400 page book in like 3 days. I haven't done that since my first kid was born and I had two months of nursing and no work and no sleep and nothing to do but mainline books. Zero regrets.

(btw in case anyone was wondering, this is an account for a business, Duck Prints Press, but I'm

unforth and I do all the blogging here. I don't update my personal account any more, which is port of my ancient LJ account made in 2012 when LJ got bought by Russians; I transferred to here and deleted the original).

Gosh, I'm off to a strong start to my reading year in 2023! This is unusual for me, lol.

On Saturday, I finished volume 2 of the English translation of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun.

I then almost forgot to put it in, lol. It's interesting doing this with the kinds of books I read, because so many of them fit multiple squares - all the danmei is poc author, non-western setting, lgbtq+, more than 300 pages, and many count as other things too - historical, fantasy, sci-fi, in the case of 2ha I'd say it counts as banned (considering that it was censored off JJWXC), and 2ha does count as "made into a TV series" even if HAO YI XING STILL ISN'T OUT AAARGH, and...yeah. At least, because they're all so multi-purpose, I actually have a decent chance of getting a bingo!

Anyway I don't have the brain to write much about 2ha. This is yet another reread for me, but my next book won't be - I'll be starting "Little Mushroom" by Shisi probably today (and I expect I'll use it for the "sci-fi" square).

Onward to my Year O' Reading!

Not gonna say tons about this one - but I finished Golden Stage vol 2 yesterday!

Given that one of the two main characters spends a lot of the series dealing with his leg injuries, often in a wheel chair, I felt it was appropriate for the "disability and mental health" square. :D

I started two more books last night, too, so...onward!

As expected, I finished Golden Stage yesterday (the official English translation calls it "Golden Terrace" but whatevs). I could have used it for a lot of squares, but I decided to go with "recommended" even tho maybe it's kind of a stretch? But when I originally read Golden Stage it was because a friend was like "If you enjoyed Those Years In Quest of Honor Mine you really should read Golden Stage." So while this is a re-read, it's a re-read of a book I primarily read because of a rec, so here we are. :D

Golden Stage Summary: It is year twenty-five of the Yuantai Era of the Great Zhou Empire. The renowned Marquis of Jingning, commander of the Beiyan Cavalry, Fu Shen is injured on the battlefield at the northern border. Returning with a broken leg to the capital, Fu Shen learns that the emperor has conferred a marriage for him—with another man. To make matters worse, Fu Shen’s spouse is his political nemesis: the famed Imperial Investigator of the Feilong Guard, Yan Xiaohan.

In spite of the political differences that stand between them in court, Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan gradually start to accept each other’s presence in their shared home. Yet as they learn to navigate their new life together, it is the calm before the storm. The mystery behind the attack at the northern border begins to unfold, unveiling dangers that threaten the peace of Great Zhou.

(the book on Storygraph)

I remember enjoying this book a lot when I first read it but it didn't really stick with me; now on a re-read I find I'm enjoying it even more. I really wish I could launch immediately into book 2 (and yes I've decided to count each volume as one novel, I mean, it was 400 pages long...) but I gotta do some more reading for work first. Oh well, at least I'll end up with something for the "e-book" square, lol.

I also read "Would You Like to Be a Family?" by koyama yesterday, because I finished Golden Stage and wanted to read more but didn't want to start anything real so I just plowed through a stand-alone manga volume. It was cute, but I wish I'd known going in that it was three stories instead of one, I might have picked something different. Oh well. I do love "the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one" and all three stories were that trope and for some quick bites of sweet mlm manga stories, it was enjoyable enough. I might have been ticked if it cost me more than a dollar though, lmao.

Finished my second book of 2023! As with the first, I actually started it in 2022, but I read more than half in 2022 so whatevs, it's on the 2023 card. :D

Romance Plot/Sub-Plot: another fill done with a book for work - Hockey Bois by A. L. Heard. This book is currently up on Kindle, but A. L. and I are working on a re-edit and re-release that'll include listing with Duck Prints Press (I swear, most of my reading is not/will not be for work, it's just starting out that way). So if you like some modern sports mlm, keep your eyes open!

Summary: Nick Porter has always loved hockey. Ever since he can remember, it's been his favorite thing in the world. It's too bad he never learned to play, he'd tell himself, but it was too late to do it now. Adults don't just magically learn to skate and join a hockey team. That'd be ridiculous.

Except maybe they do? On a whim, he decides to sign-up for an adult beginner's class. He learns to skate, joins a team, and meets a really hot teammate… and it’s pretty much a disaster from there on out.

*
For other reading, I did actually finish something else - Go For It Nakamura by Syundei - but idk including manga on a list like this feels like cheating; I'm gonna try to keep it primarily to novels. I'm also currently reading Golden Terrace Vol. 1 by Cang Wu Bin Bai; this is a re-read - I read the fan translation in 2021 - and I've only got about 50 pages left, and I'm currently debating how I should count series-book reading. Like, is Golden Terrace 1 one novel and Golden Terrace 2 a separate novel? But if I read them as a fan translation, I'd only count it as one book. So...idk. I'll decide at some point I guess, some point soon considering how close I am to finishing vol. 1.

I finished my first book of 2023! I technically started this one in 2022, and I don't know if that's actually "within the rules" but eh I'm gonna go with it. It's not like I had a book I'd read 95% of in 2023 and I finished it on Jan. 1, so.

For work, I (re)read Commit to the Kick by Tris Lawrence; we're working on a re-edit of it and we'll be launching into the other two books in the trilogy (which I have neither read nor edited before).

Blurb:

For eighteen years, Alaric has lived under the cloying politics of family and his Clan community. His freshman year is supposed to be a chance to explore a world where Clan and his shapeshifting Talent isn’t central to his life. But when his inner bear bursts forth during his first football game, endangering those around him, Alaric realizes that it’s not so easy to ignore his past, or his own internalized anger.

In his quest for anger management, Alaric begins to train in taekwondo, and makes new friends in both sports. He finds that he is creating his own small community, where Clan, Mages, other Talents, and even humans come together and build their own found family.

When Alaric receives news that something has happened to his brother Orson, he must return and deal with his Clan and his place in their world. He discovers that old prejudices are still strong between Clan and Mage communities, but that both may be in danger from a creature long thought to be only a legend. Alaric must figure out how to move forward and prevent a war and protect both his home and newly built communities, his found family with him every step of the way.

*
I really enjoy this book, and I think I liked it better on a second read than on my first. I feel like knowing the characters better improved it. The other books have different main characters, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know some of them; I expect to start the second book later this week, or maybe early next week.

And, not only does Tris live in my state (New York) - we've actually met in person, not just online! She was at my house on Saturday!

I'm close to finishing another book (that I also started in 2022), and I started my first all-new read of the year (if I only count novels, anyway, I read a lot of short stories but I'm not using those for the bingo)

Onward!

Inspired by @shipperslist, I've grabbed the reading bingo card from @kingstoken, and I'm gonna take a stab at at least getting a line. I read 11 novel-length books for leisure in 2022, and I'm aiming for 12 in 2022, so. And I swapped out two that I would have found really challenging for two that will be, for me, gimmes, considering everything I read is by Asian women writing stories set in China, lol.

Bonus, maybe I've finally found something Dreamwidth-specific to blog about here! I try to make it that each of our accounts has SOMETHING that isn't just "reposting things we post on other platforms," but it's been harder with Dreamwidth. I've been eyeing memes done by our mutuals, but this is our smallest platform platform right now so it's just. A little challenging. This'll be something, at least. :D

(If you're reading this and have some ideas of what else you might like to see us blog about on Dreamwidth that we don't do on our other platforms, feel free to speak up. :D )