REVIEW: The Great British Bump-Off (graphic novel, vol. 1) written by John Allison, art by Max Sarin

The Great British Bump-Off is a blend of comedy and mystery. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

It's the start of a new season of UK Bakery Tent, and Shauna, a student and one of the new contestants, is delighted to spend time with all these fellow bakers. She's sure it will be an experience filled with good vibes and baking togetherness...until she finds one of the other contestants face down in a bowl of batter, apparently poisoned (but not dead, FYI).

In order to save the show, Shauna promises to find the poisoner before the end of the first episode, while simultaneously completing the baking challenges along with the rest of the contestants. The only two contestants she's sure she can trust are Jill (a retired midwife) and Sunil (a yoga instructor).

REVIEW: Game Art: Art from 40 Video Games and Interviews with Their Creators (nonfiction book) by Matt Sainsbury

Game Art: Art from 40 Video Games and Interviews with Their Creators is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review:

This was published back in 2015, so it's a bit old in game years. Of the 40 games featured, I've played or had some familiarity with only 10 or so, tops. A few of the ones I recognized: Dragon Age: Inquisition, American McGee's Alice, several of the Atelier games, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Contrast, and Never Alone.

This was 261 pages, which doesn't provide a lot of room to cover 40 games and interviews with 26 or so creators. Some games featured a better selection of artwork than others - both in-game and promotional art. Others had a more meager selection, focused more on promotional stuff than in-game artwork.

I had thought that the interviews might focus on the artwork as well, but that wasn't always the case. For example, Alex Norton's interview about Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox focused almost entirely on the game's origins and how its players/fanbase enhanced it. There were a few really good interviews that touched on game art in significant ways, though - I particularly liked the interviews with Jennifer Schneidereit (Tengami), Guillaume Provost (Contrast), Yoshita Okamura (Arland and Dusk trilogies from the Atelier series), Amy Fredeen and Alan Gershenfeld (Never Alone), and Akihiro Suzuki and Hisashi Koinuma (Bladestorm:Nightmare, Dynasty Warriors, and Samurai Warriors).

It wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but it wasn't bad.

REVIEW: This House Is Haunted (book) by John Boyne

This House Is Haunted is gothic horror. I bought my copy used.

Review:

In 1867, 21-year-old Eliza Caine's father dies. When she learns that they were only renting their home, and that her teacher's salary isn't enough for her to continue living there, she impulsively accepts a position as a governess in the country. When she arrives at Gaudlin Hall, she discovers that several important details were omitted from the job ad - there are indeed two children (Isabella, 12, and Eustace, 8), but other than the two of them there are no adults around. Eliza will not only be a governess, but also a cook and whatever else the children need. 

Something strange is going on at Gaudlin Hall, and everyone who could give Eliza answers seems determined to avoid her. As she grows to care for the children, however, she begins to worry that both her life and theirs might be at risk if she doesn't learn Gaudlin Hall's secrets.

REVIEW: This Is How You Lose the Time War (novella) by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This Is How You Lose the Time War is a blend of science fiction and f/f romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Red and Blue are agents from opposing forces in a war that spans multiple timelines and locations. They become intrigued by each other, seeing each other as worthy adversaries. Although they never directly interact, they communicate through letters cleverly woven into the fabric of worlds where they know or suspect their paths will cross. Initially, the letters have a taunting tone. Eventually, however, their relationship warms, becoming something more like love.

But that doesn't change the fact that they're on opposite sides of a war. One side or the other will win, right?

REVIEW: If Found Return to Hell (novella) by Em X. Liu

If Found Return to Hell is fantasy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Journeyman Wen is an intern at One Wizard, a wizarding firm that helps callers with any number of magical problems, as long as their problems are covered by insurance and the customers can afford to pay. Once upon a time, Wen dreamed of actually helping people. Now, however, daily life involves nothing more than passing customers off to more qualified but overworked wizards.

One of Wen's latest calls seems like something that might warrant a house call. Surprisingly, Wen's supervisor doesn't assign someone else to the job, but rather sends Wen, who brings along Nathaniel, a friend and coworker at the call center. Unfortunately, Wen ends up promising a little more than they should and soon ends up with a problem in the form of a new roommate who's possessed by a demon prince from Hell. 

REVIEW: The Girl Who Became a Fish (short story) by Osamu Dazai, art by Nekosuke, translated by David Boyd

The Girl Who Became a Fish is, maybe, magical realism. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is the story of Suwa, the young daughter of a charcoal maker. During the summer months, when visitors come to the area to see the local waterfall, Suwa's father has her run a small tea stand. Although she obediently does as she's told, her voice is drowned out by the sound of the falls and she rarely sells anything. One day, while staffing the tea stand, she witnesses a student accidentally fall and drown.

This gets tied in with a story Suwa's father once told her, about two brothers, one of whom was transformed into a serpent, as well as Suwa's eventual fate.

REVIEW: Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl: The Complete Manga Collection (manga) story by Mocchi-au-lait, art by majoccoid, translated by Cerridwyn Graffham

Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl is f/f romantic comedy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Okuma Satomi's friend needs her help getting volunteers for a cross-dressing cafe, Satomi uses this as an opportunity to finally talk to her handsome crush, Kanda Mizuki. Satomi has no idea that Mizuki is actually a girl, and when Mizuki jokingly asks Satomi out, the misunderstanding spirals completely out of control. Mizuki knows she has to tell Satomi the truth soon, but Satomi is clearly over the moon about dating her. Mizuki doesn't want to upset or hurt her...and, she realizes, she also doesn't really want Satomi to break up with her, which she's convinced is what will happen once the truth comes out.

REVIEW: The Return (book) by Rachel Harrison

The Return is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Elise is first told that her old college friend Julie has gone missing, she doesn't believe it. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she's convinced that she has just temporarily gone off somewhere on her own and will turn up again soon, laughing at everyone's reaction to her supposed disappearance. Except a year goes by, and Julie's friends have a sort of funeral for her. Even to Elise, this seems a bit too long for some kind of game. Then, exactly two years after Julie went missing, she turns up again. She swears she's fine, but she has no memory of where she was.

In order to reconnect, Julie and her three closest friends, Elise, Mae, and Molly, decide to spend a weekend at a remote hotel in which each of the rooms is elaborately decorated according to some bizarre theme. Elise and the others are shocked at how emaciated and sick Julie looks, but their friendship has been built around knowing about but avoiding talking about terrible things, and so they privately worry about Julie but pretend like nothing's wrong when they're with her. 

However, as hard as they try to pretend that everything's normal, it definitely isn't, and tensions are on the rise. It doesn't help that there seems to be something wrong with the hotel - Elise wonders whether her room is haunted, as she keeps imagining a presence there, just out of her line of sight, and she struggles to get the thermostat to stay above sixty. There's also something going on with the hotel staff, and the supposedly fully booked hotel is weirdly empty.

REVIEW: A Court of Mist and Fury (book) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury is the second book in Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This takes place shortly after the events of the previous book. Feyre is a mess, her sleep interrupted by nightmares of Amarantha and her time Under the Mountain. She desperately wants to do something useful. Unfortunately, Tamlin's time Under the Mountain has left him with a bone-deep terror of anything happening to Feyre. It doesn't matter that she now has the lifespan and powers of the High Fae - he's convinced that if he gives her the freedom she craves, she'll come to harm.

However, even Tamlin can't do anything about the agreement between Feyre and Rhysand. When he comes to claim his first week with her, there's no choice, she has to go. Her time with him doesn't go at all the way she expects, and it isn't long before she wonders if she wouldn't be better off with Rhysand than Tamlin, the man she loves and who she died to save.

REVIEW: On the Rocks (book) by Georgia Beers

On the Rocks is a contemporary f/f romance, the second in Beers' Swizzle Stick Romance series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Second grade teacher Vanessa Martini isn't wild about having to call the parents of one of her students. She's a teacher because she likes kids - if she never had to deal with their parents, she'd be fine with that. But something is going on with little Oliver Chapman, and he's been acting out in class a lot lately.

Grace Chapman is exhausted and feels like she isn't measuring up in any area of her life lately. The owner of the flower shop she works for is difficult, to put it mildly, and her personal life isn't going any better - she and her husband are divorcing, and she's tired of her mother constantly acting like the failure of her marriage is all her own fault. Then there's her son, Oliver, who's taking the divorce badly. She knows he loves her, but that doesn't stop it from hurting when he says something angry and hurtful or acts like he'd prefer to be with his father.

Vanessa, Oliver's teacher, feels like yet another source of judgement in Grace's life. As the two of them keep crossing paths, however, they gradually thaw towards each other...and realize that there's a mutual attraction brewing between them.

REVIEW: You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post, Vol. 1 (book) written by Blackegg, illustrated by Ninemoon, translated by alexsh

You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post is Chinese historicalish m/m erotica. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Wu Xingzi, advisor to the magistrate of the remote Qingcheng County, is 39 years old, poor, and all alone in the world. His parents died when he was young, and he's never really had any close friends. He's gay, and although the people around him don't take issue with this, he's never had a lover. With nothing to look forward to except the grave site he's picked out for himself, he decides to commit suicide after confessing his feelings to a handsome local tofu seller.

To Wu Xingzi's shock, the tofu seller tells him that he's also gay - however, he's in a relationship. He tells Wu Xingzi about the Peng Society for Gentleman, through which he met his own lover. It's a society for gay men to meet other gay men via messenger pigeons. Hope blossoms in Wu Xingzi's heart, and he decides to pay his first month's subscription fee for The Pengornisseur, a catalog of portraits and basic information about other Peng Society members.

Wu Xingzi sends out a few letters with the expectation that he might eventually make a few like-minded friends. To his shock, the response to every letter he sends out is an illustration of the recipient's penis. Suddenly, Wu Xingzi's goal shifts from making friends to collecting as many dick pics as he can...until a particular favorite of his prompts him to send a response of his own, and he captures the attention of the notorious and powerful Guan Shanjin. 

REVIEW: It Ends With Us (book) by Colleen Hoover

It Ends With Us is, I suppose, marketed as romance, but I'd call it more women's fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Domestic abuse is a huge part of this story. Don't be fooled by the romance novel trappings and marketing.

This is the story of Lily, a young woman who grew up wondering why her mother stayed with her abusive father. Now her father is dead, and Lily has moved to Boston and started up her own business, a flower shop. Her father's death and other events prompt her to think about her past, so she gradually reads her way through her teenage diary entries (which were always structured like letters to her favorite celebrity, Ellen DeGeneres). Her diary reminds her of her first love, Atlas, a young man who ran away from his own abusive family and lived for a time in the abandoned house next door to Lily's home. 

As Lily reminisces about Atlas, she meets Ryle, an ambitious surgeon who tells her right from the start that he isn't interested in relationships or romance. Still, they're attracted to each other, and Lily gradually falls in love. As things with Ryle take a turn and he becomes abusive, Lily has to grapple with complicated emotions and memories of her past. She becomes even more torn when she runs into Atlas for the first time in years.

REVIEW: One of Us Is Back (book) by Karen M. McManus

One of Us Is Back is the third (and final?) book in McManus' One of Us Is Lying series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This review contains spoilers for the events of the first two books.

It's been almost 2 years since Simon's death in the first book. Jake, Addy's ex-boyfriend, is about to be retried and potentially let out. Addy is understandably terrified - Jake has been working hard to turn public sentiment in his favor. Meanwhile, Phoebe is killing herself with worry that Owen, her little brother, will turn out like Jake because she and her sister didn't turn him in for his part in the events of Book 2. 

Then someone hacks a billboard, announcing the start of a new game, and one of the Bayview Crew goes missing. Is Jake responsible, or someone close to him? 

REVIEW: The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone's Legendary Druid Pack (nonfiction book) by Rick McIntyre

The Reign of Wolf 21 is nonfiction, the second book in McIntyre's Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the first book of this series, McIntyre wrote about the life of Wolf 8, Wolf 21's adoptive father and alpha of the Crystal Creek pack. This book focuses on Wolf 21 and his time as alpha of Yellowstone's Druid pack. 

Although McIntyre's writing isn't anything special and often feels like field notes written out in paragraph form, with occasional asides telling readers what he'd done on a particular day, his enthusiasm and appreciation for wolves shines through. I appreciated his interpretations of wolf behavior, and following Wolf 21 through his eyes was fascinating and occasionally thrilling. I gasped at Wolf 40's fate (it should be noted that, for the most part, McIntyre just related things as they happened, without too much sensationalizing) and got attached to 21, 42, and 253. 

302 was quite a character, and I'm looking forward to reading McIntyre's book about him. Although audiobook is usually my format of choice for nonfiction and was how I read the first book, I opted for a print copy this time around, and it worked much better for me. I not only got to see McIntyre's various pack charts and maps, as well as the color photos of the wolves, I was also able to skim some of the more boring bits I'd have been forced to slog through in audiobook format.

REVIEW: I Know What You Did Last Summer (book) by Lois Duncan

I Know What You Did Last Summer is YA suspense. I bought my copy new.

Review:

A year ago, Julie was a cheerleader who was more focused on her social life than on her academics. All that changed after one particular summer night. Now she's determined to leave everything behind, go to college, and forget everything that happened.

Except someone won't let her, sending her a note that just says "I know what you did last summer." Sick and scared, Julie tracks down the others who were there that night: Helen, a pretty but insecure young woman; Barry, a football player and Helen's boyfriend (who unbeknownst to Helen, is seeing lots of other girls besides her); and Ray, Julie's former boyfriend, who she broke up with soon after the events of that summer.