LGBTQ – World of Bai

Book Review: “Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” By Autumn K. England

I recently received a Kobo Libra Color from my husband for my birthday and this book was one of the first things I saved. The colors on the cover just really popped out to me but once I read that this book gives off Stardew Valley vibes I knew I couldn’t pass it up. Lucky for me and my really awful reading slump, this book did not disappoint.

“Well, did being in a cult really count as socializing?”
“Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” By Autumn K. England

About The Book

Author: Autumn K. England

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date: May 26th, 2026

Page Count: 368 Pages

Main Genre: Fantasy

GoodReads Rating: 3.82

Format: E-Reader

“Sometimes it was nice to be wrong about people.”
“Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” By Autumn K. England

Synopsis

When Oaklin Nettlewood accidentally joined an evil world-ending cult, mind control magic forced them to do unspeakable things. Years later, the realm’s heroes have finally saved the day, defeated the villain, and shattered the last remnants of the spell…leaving destruction in their wake. And so, with a spell-damaged memory and whole bushel of trauma, Oaklin escapes to a small farm on the edge of Mossley’s Rest and swears an oath: After all the things they were forced to do with their magic, they will never use it again. Ever.

The no-nonsense ghost granny who lives in Oaklin’s house has other ideas. As she coaxes Oaklin out of their shell and back into the world, they find companionship (a grumpy horse and a very good dog), friendship (a local bard and magical baker who should just kiss already), and tentative romance (a paladin-librarian who makes Oaklin’s heart come alive for the first time in ages.) Magic even seems possible again―though strictly for foraging magical mushrooms and protecting the farm from bugs.

Healing comes in gentle waves, and Oaklin doesn’t have to do it alone. So what does it mean when an inquisitor comes to town to hunt former cultists just as Oaklin begins to think that maybe, just maybe, they deserve a happy ending after all?

Synopsis From GoodReads

“What’d they just done…was good. Oaklin was good.”
“Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” By Autumn K. England

Rating

Review

This book sold me with the synopsis immediately. The instant cozy vibes were exactly what I needed for my reading slump. This book may have taken me about three weeks to finish but everytime I picked it up I had a great time which is all that really matters, especially when you are in a reading slump.

The book didn’t seem to have too crazy of high stakes which I appreciated. Our main character has a pretty harrowing backstory that haunts their daily life, making them their own worst enemy. Despite them struggling to accept themselves they had new friends who rallied around them and we all know how big of a sucker I am for a found family plot line.

I really loved the use of a non binary character for our main character. When I think of Stardew Valley I think of the character customization. Having the Non Binary character almost felt like that character customization screen got to come to life, so anyone who is reading this book could feel like they are this character feeling their emotions and experiencing this story right along side Oaklin. Along those same lines I loved how the town accepted Oaklin as they were and respected their pronouns without question. This all felt like such a breath of fresh air.

I know that this is going to be at least a two book series. I am really hoping that the second book follows the town baker Ryn and their potential love story. The bakery in this book left me enchanted, dying to know more. I could see myself getting sucked into that book just as quickly as I did with this one. Ryn is one of the most hardworking characters in this town and he truly has his hands full.

This is not me saying that Oaklin doesn’t deserve love or that I don’t like Oaklin and Lior together cause that’s not entirely true. I just feel like this book didn’t have to have the romance to make me enjoy this book. I would have been perfectly content to see Oaklin struggling the way they were while taking care of the farm and working on themselves while having support from just friends. If you can take a romance out of a story and still have a really solid plot line then why not let that main plot line shine a bit more and save the romance for a later book?

Overall I really enjoyed my reading experience and I can not wait for the second book to come out. I am hopefully that I will absolutely devour the next one.

“Why do you think cults work so well? They are literally designed to entrap people. They lure you in under false pretenses and wait to reveal their truth until it’s too late.”
“Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” By Autumn K. England

QOTD: What video game do you think would make a compelling book?

Book Review: “Loveless” By Alice Oseman

June has been seriously flying by! We are just over halfway through June and I have now finished two physical books and two audio books! That’s really not terrible but I don’t see myself finishing any more books for this month if I am going to be completely honest with you. As I have stated in a few of my latest posts we are moving and we are down to exactly one week till the moving truck arrives, eekk, so much stress!

“I’ve learnt some Things. Like the way friendship can be just as intense, beautiful and endless as romance. Like the way there’s love everywhere around me – there’s love for my friends, there’s love for my paintings, there’s love for myself.”
Direct Quote From The Book

About The Book

Author: Alice Oseman

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published Date: July 9th, 2020

Page Count: 433 Pages

Main Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult, LGBTQ

GoodReads Rating: 4.31

“She’s happy with who she is. Maybe it’s not the heteronormative dream that she grew up wishing for, but… knowing who you are and loving yourself is so much better than that, I think.”
Direct Quote From The Book

Synopsis

Georgia is about to head off to University never having the chance to have a relationship let alone her first kiss. She felt like she was falling behind in the romance category but she believed that was all about to change when University started. This was her time to find the love of her life.

Arriving at University she finds out that she has a roommate who seems to have relationships all figured out. This gave Georgia hope, thinking she could learn a thing or two about relationships and sex. However, this just caused her more confusion than anything. Why is romance so easy for everyone but her?

Throughout the course of University Georgia has a chance to find her true self but this will turn out not to be an easy task. Will Georgia be able to find love?

“You know why people pair up into couples? Because being a human is fucking terrifying. But it’s a hell of a lot easier if you’re not doing it by yourself.”
Direct Quote From The Book

Rating

“People are really out there just … thinking about having sex all the time and they can’t even help it?’ I spluttered. ‘People have dreams about it because they want it that much? How the – I’m losing it. I thought all the movies were exaggerating, but you’re all really out there just craving genitals and embarrassment. This has to be some kind of huge joke.”
Direct Quote From The Book

Review

When I first ordered this book I had just finished reading the “Heartstopper” Books and honestly I assumed this would be a graphic novel as well. To my surprise I opened the book up and it was a full novel! It is really hard to compare Alice’s writing in the novel and in the graphic novel. They both have such a different impact. In the graphic novels you can see the emotion but in this book you really felt the emotion, which I really enjoyed! I am very happy this was a 400 paged book, I felt like the topic of Aero Ace really needed a full story and explanation because it isn’t something many people know about or can really understand.

I have a lot to say about this book but I do feel like I am still trying to fully process everything that I read. Asexuality is a very broad spectrum with many sub sexualities and I am very thankful of the way this book was written. Alice really explained Aero Ace in a way that you can understand their feelings and emotions even if you aren’t feeling the same way. I just can’t tell you enough how well this book was written. I think that anyone who thinks they might fit into the Aero Ace sexuality or even those who want to learn a bit more about it, this is a great book to start with.

I will always be recommending this book and I know I will be rereading this one. I am also dying to order the rest of Alice Oseman’s books, She has quickly became an auto buy author for me.

“The aromantic and asexual spectrums weren’t just straight lines. They were radar charts with at least a dozen different axes.”
Direct Quote From The Book

QOTD: Have you read any of Alice Oseman’s Books?

June Hopefuls

June is Pride Month and this year me and Noah are participating in all the festivities in our area! I am so excited to actually get to participate in the Pride festival, our town hasn’t had an actual festival in over three years, mostly because of Covid, but we finally have a chance to gather again!

With June being Pride month I have decided to dedicate my monthly reads to LGBTQ+ reads. I went to Amazon and added about 20 books to my wish list but there is no way I have the time or money to actually read them all. I ordered a few books and I have a few already on my shelf so I will list all my hopefuls down below and see how many I can actually read by the end of the month. I am moving this month and I have a lot of packing to do, along with a vacation, so I don’t expect to read too many books this month but I am very excited for what I can get too.

Hopefuls

I am currently reading “Read Between the Lines” and listening to “Written in the Stars”. So far I am really enjoying both books! “Written in the Stars” is a fake dating trope and I honestly believe besides friends to lovers that this is my favorite romance trope. “Read Between the Lines” I already know is going to be so cute because a bookstore owner falls in love with her favorite author! These two could be my favorite books of this month.

These are the three books that I just ordered and picked over like 20 other options from my Amazon Wish List. I am extremely excited for all three of these books, plus they are all different genres.

“Loveless” is written by Alice Oseman who also wrote the “Heartstopper” Series which I was obsessed with so I already know I will love this. I am also interested to see how different her novels are compared to her graphic novels.

“Ace” is a nonfiction book explaining what Asexuality is and what it is like to be Asexual. I am really interested in learning more about Asexuality because it is something I haven’t had the chance to explore and learn about and now having a book that has a 4.4 rating on Goodreads to help me learn as much as I can will be a great start! Reading all the reviews on Goodreads, I feel like this is going to be such a great experience.

“Coming Home to Her” By Emily Juniper is a poetry book. I don’t have much experience in reading poetry but I think it is about time I start reading it. I am very interested in poetry books but they are so very different from novels that I just haven’t really given them a chance. This one has a 4.1 rating on Goodreads and I think based off of the reviews that this will be a great poetry book to start with.

Like I said above I have like 20+ other books in my Amazon Wish List that I would really love to read but because I am moving this month I really don’t know if I will even be able to finish these five books but I really hope to at least read these ones. I plan on reading more LGBTQ+ reads throughout the year and I am very excited to post my reviews.

QOTD: What are your favorite LGBTQ+ reads?

Book Review: “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” By Casey McQuiston

Casey McQuiston is my all time favorite author! They wrote “Red, White and Royal Blue” Which I read pretty early on in my reading journey and probably the first romance read I had ever picked up and immediately I was hooked on their writing! When “One Last Stop” came out last year I knew I had to buy it and of course I fell in love all over again with their writing and their characters. “One Last Stop” Is still one of my all time favorite books to this day. I pre ordered “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” Back in early February and I have been not so patiently waiting to get my hands on my copy! Well I got it on Monday and read the book in about two and a half days! Lets see how this book held up.

“Shame is a way of life here. It’s stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under the desks. Spoken in morning devotionals. She knows now that there’s a bit of it in her. It was an easy choice not to go back in the closet when she got here, but if she’d grown up here, she might never have come out at all. She might be a completely different person.”
Direct quote from the book

About The Book

Author: Case McQuiston

Publisher: ST. Martin’s Press

Published date: May 3rd, 2022

Page Count: 320 pages

Main Genres: Romance, LGBT, Young Adult

GoodReads Rating: 4.24

“While she does like boys, she generally finds the traits of a compelling villain—arrogance, malice, an angsty backstory—tedious in a man. Like, what do hot guys with long dark hair even have to be that upset about? Get a clarifying shampoo and suck it up, Kylo Ren. So your rich parents sent you to magic camp and you didn’t make any friends. Big deal.”
Direct quote from the book

Synopsis

Chloe has one thing on her mind: being Valedictorian. She is so close she could taste it! All that’s standing in her way is her rival Shara Wheeler. Shara is the most popular girl in school, not to mention the principals daughter, but Chloe lives and breathes beating Shara in all that they do. But when Shara kisses Chloe out of the blue and then vanishes, Chloe’s main goal is to find Shara so she can beat her to Valedictorian fair and square.

Chloe quickly realizes that she’s not the only one Shara kissed and ditched. There’s Smith, High school quarterback and Shara’s long term boyfriend. Then there’s Rory, the class bad boy and Shara’s next door neighbor. Together, they must work to solve cryptic clues left in some very creative places in order to find Shara and get some answers.

Along the way, new friendships are made, and old friendships are put to the ultimate test.

Rating

“She feels like the spine of a book about to crack and spill out all the love story guts.”
Direct quote from the book

Review

Possibility for light spoilers nothing you couldn’t guess by the back of the book though. Read Cautiously.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Hmm What’s with all the Taco Bell?” Well let me tell you, this book is full of a lot of Taco Bell! It only felt right to ask my local Taco Bell for as many sauce packets as I could get and I believe they gave me like 70 packets! I am not someone who eats at Taco Bell and I don’t think that before today I have ever even had one of their tacos but now I can say I have, all because of this book!

Ok, but really, lets get on to the stuff I know you all came here for. The book review!

Like I said at the beginning of this blog post, I have read all of Casey McQuiston’s books at this point and I waited with much anticipation for this one to be released however, this one is my lowest ranked book of theirs. I really loved their writing as usual but for me it really came down to the characters. So the reason this book is getting four stars rather than five is because by page 200 I was still not in love with Chloe and Shara. I was however invested in all the sub characters and their story lines. I could really use a book about Rory and Smith or even Georgia and how their lives are after high school. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I just had a hard time really falling in love with Chloe and Shara both as individuals and them as a couple. I am not really an enemies to lovers trope person so that might be why.

What I really loved was the mystery behind every clue Shara left behind. It was a really fun and unique story line. Also every book Casey McQuiston writes is extremely LGBTQ friendly and this book especially felt like a great book for teens who felt like they were unable to come out in high school now or even 30 years after graduating. This book will be one that touches many people for the rest of their lives.

Even though the main characters weren’t for me, this was still a really cute read that I would highly recommend to everyone!

QOTD: What is your favorite fast food Mexican chain?

(Book Review) “Razorblade Tears” By S.A. Cosby

This was one of my buddy reads that I signed up for this month. I think I was the last one to finish the book despite us not having our discussion till the end of this month. I only have two more buddy reads to finish this month with so little time left, I am getting slightly nervous!

About The Book

Publication Date: July 6th, 2021

Author: S.A. Cosby

Publisher: FlatIron Books

Main Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction

Page Count: (BOTM Edition) 319

Goodreads Rating: 4.25 Stars

“It wasn’t Isiah being gay that caused problems between the two of you. It was how you dealt with it or didn’t deal with it that caused problems.”
Direct quote from book. Page 47

Synopsis

Two ex-con fathers lost their married sons in some horrific hate crime. Despite not approving of the relationship their sons had, the fathers are out for blood to avenge their sons’ deaths because the cops have no leads! Through all the challenges these men go through they find acceptance for their sons and each other but can they get revenge on whoever did this horrendous act?

This book highlights the struggles the LGBTQ community and Black communities face with acceptance, racism, and everyday life trials.

“This is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t want to, really. But for once I’m gonna put this devil inside me to good use.”
Direct Quote from book. Page 96

Rating

Review

I have really been into reading books about the LGBTQ community lately and I am so happy I added this to my completed pile. The books I have read have been very LGBTQ positive and this book has a lot of darker tones. You see the community from the perspectives of fathers who really disapprove of their gay sons but after their sons pass away due to a hate crime you can see their fathers start to slowly understand their sons lives and choices a bit more and become more accepting of the choices their sons had made. It was just a really beautiful story about two very tough topics that I feel like authors avoid.

The other topic that got talked about heavily in this book was racism, particularly about the black culture. Ike, the father to one of the sons, is a black man. Buddy Lee, the other father, is a white man who grew up in a very racist family and has some habits that need to be broken. Throughout the whole book Ike teaches Buddy Lee the proper way to address issues with racism and things he should or should not be letting out of his mouth. Ike really brings up tough issues in this world that we need to correct.

These topics are things we all need to take time to educate ourselves on just a little more so we can all be more accepting of each others lives. This book was very insightful but mostly emotional! S.A. Cosby really knows how to pull at your heart strings while speaking the truth!

I only had one problem with this book but after doing some quick research I realized it has nothing to do with the book and wasn’t the authors fault. The issue was that it had a lot of grammar errors! I found out that it is because I read the Book of the Month version of this book and they got the book before the final edits went through. So just a heads up, if you have the BOTM version their will be a lot of grammar errors.

Overall I loved this book! It talked about tough issues, It was very emotional and the story was beautiful! I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants a good thriller/mystery that talks about some tough topics.

“Yeah, you can’t hide that you’re black. But the fact that you think I should hide who I am proves my point. Like Dr. King said: an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Direct quote from book. Page 141

This quote is in reference to a part in the book where Ike tells a gay guy that he can hide who he is cause unless he tells anyone he is gay no one would know, but Ike is black everywhere and can’t hide who he is. But like the quote says why should anyone who is gay have to hide who they are just to make everyone else comfortable? Something to really think about!

Possible Trigger Warnings

Racism

Hate Speech

Violence

Homophobia

Murder

Grief

QOTD: What is your favorite book subscription company?