Kayla Bashe

In the first Kayla Bashe book I read, the concept was great but the writing was very shaky. I think her technical skill has improved considerably since then! I enjoyed this queer superhero adventure wholeheartedly. Shadow, a famous young superhero with power over darkness, is devastated when they find that their adoptive parents have been killed by vicious wildlife on an alien planet. They also learn that their parents had taken in a teenage girl named Bean, who survived the beasts but will show more need help getting back to Earth. Shadow and Bean bond on their trek through the jungle, and when Shadow disocvers that Bean has the superpower of light manipulation, they help her to enroll in an academy for young superheroes in training.
This book is super fun, full of rainbows and cuteness, but it’s not all happiness all the time. Shadow and Bean both struggle with mental illness, and learning to manage their anxieties and trauma and accept the love they deserve is every bit as important as defeating supervillains, and considerably more difficult. show less

This was really good! The melding of speculative and sci fi elements with poetry is really well done and I loved the way the author played with words. The poems were all like beautiful stories, really alive with images of hurting and healing. I was really impressed by "Jersey Gothic" (as that's my home state!) but really the whole collection is so well done. I will definitely be looking for more from this author!

There are many wonderful, wonderful things about Make Much Of Me by Kayla Bashe. It has an innocence I haven't really seen in the fiction I've read very recently. And much of its charm comes from the story being set in an earlier time. While it doesn't flat out state it (unless I somehow missed something) the suggested era is the 1920s. Words like "jake" and "cloche hat" and the mannerisms and dress of the girls attending the school they go to suggest this.

Make Much About Me is only 84 show more pages, but it took longer to read because I so loved to linger over certain passages.

Delightfully unusual (it often reminds me of the Nancy Drew books, minus the mysteries) main character Lily has a plucky yet endearing spirit and the warm tenderness between her and her friend Laura permeates all around. And, best of all, there is no sex...it's all about emotion and connecting on other levels, while still being romantic and sweet.

Some of my favorite sections:

- "The woman I might marry someday. I was thinking of her." She propped her chin up on her fists. “Perhaps she lives only a few hours away in New York- or perhaps she lives right here, or in a tenement. I ought to send her my best wishes, in case she has no one to look out for her. That’s what I’m doing. I’m sending her my love.”

-How could one not listen to Stravinsky and not feel utterly wild afterwards, or not sit paralyzed in amazement and admiration after the final chord of a choral piece? The teachers who had heard her sing in her private assessment agreed that while her technique was shaky, the heart was there, and while the world might never weep to hear her sing, it would surely draw joy from her.

-Lily talked to Laura in bed, saying whatever came into her head while stroking her friend's sunbeam hair. Everything from, “I don't think there is any such thing as an unattractive woman. Tired women, and badly dressed women, and women who don't look after themselves or stand up straight or could use a bit of good advice on how to present themselves. But ugly? Never."

-Lily felt as if she knew Laura, and liked Laura, more than ever. She wanted to rescue Laura from any unhappiness, to look after her always, to see her smile like the sun coming out from behind a cloud at long last

-There was a girl in my life, Father, Laura thought, and she made me happy. And had I been worthy of her, I would have continued loving her until the day I died!

“No, Laura, that's not what I mean. The thing is...Every day before I met you, my soul spent it missing you. Laura, my dandelion fluff, my angel light. We were made to keep each other safe."

Make Much Of Me is definitely going to stay on my Kindle for re-reading. Its specialness (and deep sincerity) has nestled itself into my heart. I know how corny that may sound, but that's just how it is.:) show less

A sweet coming of age fantasy book for queer kids (or adults, for that matter). Bluebell Hall is a charming witch school novel containing familiar tropes that are deployed by the author with skill and a tongue-in-cheek revisionary streak.

The young women in the witch school have various personalities and magics that we get to know as the plot - driven by the school year, a crush, and an evil sorceress who practices blood magic - progresses. Hints of Garth Nix, J.K. Rowling, Diana Wynne Jones show more and many traditional British boarding school books make this pleasant fantasy even more enjoyable.

The subversion of cissexual and heterosexual tropes is joyously and cleverly accomplished. I had a smile on my face for most of the read and look forward to reading anything else set in this world. show less