Ace Books 3: Tokyo Drift (even more books with ace rep!)

Yes, yes, it’s already more than halfway through March, but I am just now getting around to my annual recap of all the ace books I read last year. I ended up only getting to eight in 2022 (not counting rereads, one book that I tabled because I wasn’t in the mood for it, or one book that didn’t actually have ace rep as promised), but a few of them ended up being truly fantastic, so I think I’m mostly okay with that? As always, this list is meant to be somewhat more thorough in its explanations of (a) what type of representation there is, (b) how explicit the representation is, and (c) my personal opinion of the quality of the representation. Where applicable, I have linked my full reviews of these titles; I only have a few reviews, unfortunately, because last year was a really busy time for me. Law school is a crazy time.

As always, please remember that ace identities are not a monolith, and people may always differ in their assessments of the quality of representation. I try to be relatively objective when possible, but please take my opinions with a grain of salt.

If you haven’t already, be sure to also check out my first and second posts in this series!

The Witch King – audiobook review

Author: H.E. Edgmon
Series: The Witch King (#1)
Publication date: June 1, 2021
Genre: YA fantasy
Audiobook narrator: Dani Martineck
My rating: 2/5 stars

Preliminary note: this review is a little spotty, is in part because I read this book last November, so my memory is a little iffy, and in part because the issues that bothered me have stuck in my head and I don’t much feel like talking about the rest. I didn’t like this book much, if at all, which was quite a disappointment, because the ace rep, Native American rep, and OwnVoices trans rep had definitely caught my eye. Ah, well. Not every read can be a winner.

Iron Widow – review

Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Series: Iron Widow (#1)
Publication date: September 21, 2021
Genre: YA science fiction
My rating: 5/5 stars

The first thing I’m going to say about this book is that I cannot believe it took me so long to pick it up. It’s been on my shelf since 2021 (I received it in my second-ever Illumicrate box), and yet I didn’t pick it up until the very end of 2022, at the urging of several good friends of mine. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Iron Widow has all sorts of great things: feminism, battle robots, characters with dubious morals, queer representation, revenge, sarcasm, Chinese historical references, and more. Often dark but never bleak, this is a page-turner that you don’t want to miss.

Aces Wild – review

Author: Amanda DeWitt
Publication date: September 13, 2022
Genre: YA contemporary
My rating: 3.5/5 stars

Okay, so. The blurb on this one had me 100% sold–a heist in the vein of Six of Crows featuring an all-asexual cast? You’d be hard-pressed to find a more perfect intersection of my interests. The thing is, this marketing tactic really did the book a disservice. This is not like Six of Crows, minus perhaps the found family element and some teens engaging in illegal activity. It was a fun read, and the ace rep was wonderful, but I’ll admit, I felt rather let down. Were it not for my extreme soft spot for good ace rep, this would likely have been a lower rating. Read on for a better breakdown of my thoughts!

Not Good for Maidens – blog tour (review, quotes, and ace rep!)

Author: Tori Bovalino
Publication date: June 21, 2022
Genre: YA fantasy horror
My rating: 4/5 stars

A modern take on the Goblin Market fairytale. Queer rep galore. Themes of belonging, family, duty, bonds, and bargains. Old English villages. Witches. Creepy-as-heck body horror. You’ll find it all in Not Good for Maidens, a dark YA fantasy full of bargains gone wrong, temptations too strong, and yearning to belong, unfolding over two timelines and two continents.. Read on for more of my thoughts, including some favorite quotes of mine from the book!

Game of Strength and Storm – blog tour

Author: Rachel Menard
Publication date: June 7, 2022
Genre: YA fantasy

Look, I may not have had time to read this one yet (if you knew how many hours I have spent on editing school- and work-related things this past week, you’d see why), but I am quite excited for when I do get the chance. I mean, come on–it is a gender-bent retelling of the labors of Hercules, featuring badass girls and cool magic. Plus, it has sapphic and demisexual characters (perfect for Pride month!), as well as anxiety rep. I’m tremendously looking forward to it. In the meantime, perhaps my posting here will encourage you to give this one a look as well. Read on for a synopsis and more info on the book!

Game On – blog tour (diverse short stories and more!)

Edited by: Laura Silverman
Publication date: January 18, 2022
Genre: YA anthology, short stories

Hello, friends! It’s ya girl, back at it again with another blog tour–this time for a diverse YA anthology that is all about games, from board games to sports to video games and more. If you’ve ever gotten a little too competitive, or if you’ve ever felt a deep and abiding love for your game of choice, this book is for you. I can’t wait to read it (seriously, it has some real rockstar authors on that lineup), but in the meantime, check out this post and the rest of the stops on this tour for more info on this book!

Ace Reads 2: Electric Boogaloo (10 more books with asexual representation!)

Hello, friends! It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on here that is actually from me, as opposed to a review or tour. But with 2022 officially underway, I wanted to do a brief recap of some of my 2021 reading. Apparently, my list of all the ace books I’ve read so far got super popular near the end of last year (if anyone knows how/why it took off, please let me know, because I’m as surprised as you). This past year, I read ten more books with asexual representation, and so, staying true to the format of that old post, I wanted to share those with you as well!

Obligatory disclaimer: while I am ace (and somewhere on the aromantic spectrum–labels are confusing, man), and therefore am an OwnVoices reviewer for this type of content, the ace experience is not a monolith. I try to keep my assessments of these books as objective as possible, but in my final “notes” on each of them (especially on the quality of representation), I’m purely expressing my own opinion. If you felt differently about any of them, feel free to comment and let me know!

On a related note, part of my reading goal for 2022 is to read at least 15 books with ace representation (for any and all ace spectrum identities, including demi, gray-ace, and so on). If you have any I haven’t read yet and want to suggest some for me, I’m always looking for more.

[Edit: for part 3 of this series, featuring all the ace books I read in 2022, click here!]

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions – blog tour (ARC review)

Author: Sheena Boekweg
Publication date: June 1, 2021
Genre: YA historical fiction
My rating: 4/5 stars

Take everything you knew about the 1920s, add in a secret network of women who manipulate the men in power to achieve social change, make it a little bit queer, write it with so many highlight-able lines, and you have…something pretty darn close to this book. The best way I can describe this book is that it is exactly what it is pitched as, and simultaneously way more than I expected. With strong female friendships, body positivity, ace and trans rep, and plenty of badass women (fighting with words and manipulation mostly, but still capable of fighting!), this was a seriously cool book.

The Sky Blues – blog tour (ARC review + giveaway!)

Author: Robbie Couch
Publication date: April 6, 2021
Genre: YA contemporary
My rating: 3/5 stars

Cute, diverse, and full of both the best and the worst of small-town life, The Sky Blues is an ode to friendship, young love, and the importance of being yourself. While I wouldn’t call it a perfect read, it is a fast, fun read that will certainly appeal to younger YA fans, especially fans of “leaked romantic feelings” stories like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Stick with this post past the review, and you’ll find info on how you could win a copy of this book for yourself!