Valerie's Room

Title: Hastings
Author: Samantha Kane
Year: 2024
Genres: Historical Romance, Queer
Content Warnings: Minor violence
Pages: 345
Rating: ★★★✩✩
Summary: Can three people who have lived their lives trying to be what other people demand find the happiness that has eluded them when they drop their masks and show each other the real people underneath?
Thoughts: Had some issues with this installment. I feel like any combination of the throuple works on its own, but all of them together feels flat. I've waited years for another book in this series, but this one was really dissapointing, it felt really rushed.

Title: Break and Enter
Author: Rachel Haimowitz, Aleksandr Voinov
Year: 2011
Genres: Short story, Sci-Fi, Romance, Queer
Content Warnings: Minor violence
Pages: 101
Rating: ★★★✩✩
Summary: Ex-Green Beret Victor “Cyke” Kellermann is on the run for a crime he didn’t — well, okay, did commit, but he didn’t realize it at the time. He’s a good guy, a “white hat” hacker for hire. He’s also more teched out than the Bionic Man, though his ailing ’ware creates as many problems as it solves.
Cyke can handle losing blood, even losing consciousness. What he can’t afford is to lose his heart. Distractions like that get people killed — and if he succeeds in unlocking Sentinel Tech’s ugly secrets, he won’t be the only one in the line of fire.
Thoughts: I really liked the story, a little confusing at the beginning but you're able to understand the sci-fi elements better as you read. The lenght is fine considering the plot isn't that complicated and I liked that the story gave room to a little of character grow and a relationship build. I recommend it as a light read if you are into sci-fi stories.

Title: The Crimson Moth
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Year: 2024
Genres: Romantasy
Content Warnings: Violence, Characters Death, Blood, Murder, Self-harm
Pages: 416
Rating: ★★★★✩
Summary: On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Thoughts: It was a bit slow in the romance department, but i loved the action, there were plenty of plot twists and the characters were lovable.

Title: La mujer de pie
Author: Chantal Maillard
Year: 2015
Genres: Philosophy, Auto-fiction, Poetry
Content Warnings: N/A
Pages: 320
Rating: ★★★★✩
Summary: La mujer de pie no es un tratado, tampoco es una ficción. Es una invitación a la escucha. Una historia contada en tres registros diferentes. Una historia en busca de argumento. Una reflexión sobre la enfermedad, el fragmento, la discontinuidad de la percepción y la ilusoria creencia en un yo que le diese sentido a la existencia.
Thoughts: This is a philosophical book in Spanish that leaves you on edge. It's full of grief but also hope. It's designed to make you reconsider your place within society in terms of your independence and invites you to think of yourself as a person capable of writing your own life.

Manuela by Eugenio Diaz Castro ★★★★☆

Antología poética by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen ★★★★☆

poems for the sound of the sky before thunder by Topaz Winters ★★★☆☆

Poesía completa by María Mercedes Carranza ★★★★★

El gran número, Fin y principio y otros poemas by Wisława Szymborska ★★★★★

Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka ★★★★☆(I wrote a letter from Milena's perspective)

Women and the Limits of Citizenship in the French Revolution by Olwen Hufton ★★★★☆

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean ★★★★☆

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean ★★★★☆

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean ★★★☆☆

Silk & Steel by Ariana Nash ★★★☆☆

Iron & Fire by Ariana Nash ★★★★☆

Laúd Memorioso by Meira Delmar ★★★★☆

La perra by Pilar Quintana ★★★★☆

Agente de Bizancio by Harry Turtledove ★★☆☆☆

Dos veces Alicia by Albalucía Ángel ★★★★☆ (I wrote a paper about it!)

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood ★★★★☆ (I wrote a paper analizing the characteristics of the of the apocalypse in this novel!)

Poesía y prosa by Gabriela Mistral ★★★★☆

Aves sin nido by Clorinda Matto de Turner ★★☆☆☆

Diosas, brujas y vampiresas: El miedo visceral del hombre a la mujer by Susana Castellanos de Zubiria ★★★★☆

Género y literatura en debate compiled by Simone Accorsi ★★★★☆

Maria by Jorge Isaacs ★★★★☆ (I kinda wrote a paper about this book).

The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier ★★★★☆ (I wrote a comparative paper between this book and The Half-Blood Prince!)

La Celestina: Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea by Fernando de Rojas ★★★★☆ (I wrote a paper about one of the characters)

Los recuerdos del porvenir by Elena Garro ★★★★☆ (I wrote a paper on feminism in magical realism using this book, La casa de los espíritus and Como agua para chocolate!)

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn ★★★★☆ (reread)

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn ★★★★☆ (reread)

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift ★★★☆☆(I wrote a paper on historiography in this book. I'm not super proud of it, tbh, but eh, might as well put it out there)

At Love's Command by Samantha Kane ★★★★☆ (reread)

Change of Heart by Mary Calmes ★★★★☆ (reread)

Trusted Bond by Mary Calmes ★★★★☆ (reread)

Honored Vow by Mary Calmes ★★★★☆ (reread)

Northumbria, El último reino by Bernard Cornwell ★★★☆☆

Gracias y desgracias del Ojo del culo by Francisco de Quevedo ★★★☆☆

Crucible of Fate by Mary Calmes ★★★☆☆

Forging the Future by Mary Calmes ★★★★☆

Incursion by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★★☆

Exile by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★★★

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles ★★★★☆

Mercenaries Part I by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★★☆

El sol de los venados by Gloria Cecilia Diaz ★★★☆☆

Poetics by Aristotle ★★★★☆

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson ★★★★☆

The Iliad by Homer ★★★★☆

Medea by Euripides ★★★★☆

Medea by Seneca ★★★★☆

Ajax by Sophocles ★★★☆☆

The Wasps by Aristophanes ★★★☆☆

The Shaping of England by Isaac Asimov ★★★☆☆

1066: A New History of the Norman Conquest by Peter Rex ★★★☆☆

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost ★★★★★ (reread)

Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon ★★★★☆ (reread)

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee ★★★★☆

Lucifer 113 by Jonathan Maberry ★★☆☆☆

Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist by K.A. Merikan

Road of No Return: Hounds of Valhalla MC by K.A. Merikan ★★☆☆☆

Jerkbait by Mia Siegert ★☆☆☆☆

Somebody Killed His Editor by Josh Lanyon ★★★☆☆

Love Betrayed by Samantha Kane ★★★★☆

Defeated by Love by Samantha Kane ★★★★☆

Think of England by KJ Charles ★★★★★

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn ★★★☆☆

True Letters from a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan ★★★☆☆

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs ★★★☆☆

Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost ★★★★☆

Retreat From Love by Samantha Kane ★★★★☆ (reread)

Love's Fortress by Samantha Kane ★★★★☆ (reread)

Prisoner of Love by Samantha Kane ★★★☆☆ (reread)

La guerra de la duquesa by Courtney Milan ★★★☆☆

The Soldier's Scoundrel The Turner by Cat Sebastian ★★★★★

Love's Surrender by Samantha Kane ★★☆☆☆ (reread)

Fight For Love by Samantha Kane ★★★☆☆

For Love and Country by Samantha Kane ★★★★★

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang ★★★★★

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian ★★★★☆

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian ★★★★☆

Laurent and the Beast by K.A. Merikan ★★★☆☆

My Dark Knight by K.A. Merikan ★★★★★

On Your Knees, Prospect by K.A. Merikan ★★★★☆

Gray's Shadow by K.A. Merikan ★★★★☆

Beast by Brie Spangler ★★★☆☆

Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★☆☆

Dark Edge of Honor by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★★☆

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee ★★★★☆

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs ★★★★☆

Soldiers by Aleksandr Voinov ★★★★☆

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst ★★★☆☆

El Hombre Bicentenario by Isaac Asimov ★★★★☆

Bird Box by Josh Malerman ★★★☆☆