(Almost) Everything is Monsters: What I Read Over My Vacation

Thanks to situations largely outside of my control, I just went through a fourteen month stretch without taking a vacation. And let me tell you, even as someone who enjoys her day job THAT WAS NOT EASY. People (myself included) benefit from taking the occasional break. And while holidays help, I do enjoy getting to take more than just a day to myself every now and then. This way, I can indulge in things that I don’t always have time for.

And lately, that’s included reading.

Don’t get me wrong, I still read more than your average gal, but as we move closer and closer to Red and Black‘s publication date, much of my reading time has been taken up with things like contacting reviewers about ARCs. So when I finally took a break last month, I decided that I wanted to dedicate some hours to reading.

Of course, compared to some of the other “what I read over vacation” posts, this one is going to look a little stingy. But given the other things I did this vacation (which included dedicating plenty of time to writing related activities, traveling to a concert, and getting WAY TOO MANY MOONS on Super Mario Odyssey), I’d call this a pretty good list. So let’s get into it.

Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger (Steampunk Romance)– Gail Carriger is best known for her widely popular Parasol Protectorate series, but did you know that a couple years back she went hybrid? Poison and Protect is the first of her self published novellas, which takes place in the same universe as the rest of her writing. Poison and Protect focuses on the character of Presha from the Finishing School seires, but all grown up. And let me tell you, this trained spy has seen some shit. In Poison or Protect, Presha takes on an intelligence job that brings her face to face with Captain Gavin Ruthven, a big Scottish man that she can’t help but be drawn to. Gavin feels the same, but is rightfully cautious, given Presha’s reputations as a murderess.

Poison and Protect has pretty much everything you’d want from a Gail Carriger book such as humor, steampunk, action, and paranormal elements. Only this time the romance has been turned up to eleven. Despite the fact that Presha was not always the most likable character in the Finishing School series, you really end up feeling for her this time around, and Gavin was an appealing love interest. I’m quite happy I checked out this novella, and already have another one by Carriger loaded up on my kindle.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (Mystery/Pulp Horror)– Ten-year-old Karen is an outsider who relates more to the monsters in her favorite stories rather than the kids in her class. Then her upstairs neighbor is murdered and Karen finds herself pulled into the case.

I feel like I’m cheating a little, including My Favorite Things is Monsters on this list as I read the majority of it in the week proceeding my vacation. But I’m glad I ended up taking my time on it, because this graphic novel is quite dense. On top of being a murder mystery/homage to pulp horror, My Favorite Things of Monsters explores the concepts of family, art, disease, sexuality, and the issues related to race and prejudice that occurred in Chicago during the 1960s, as well as in Germany during the holocaust. On a visual level, My Favorite Things is Monsters is quite striking. Told as if it were Karen’s personal journals/sketchbooks, the illustrations are detailed and rich, yet not always conventionally attractive. The graphic novel does venture into some very trigger-y territory (including pedophilia), and is very much only half of a story (volume 2 is coming out soon!), but the results are something special. I read this for a column over at Speculative Chic and I’m very glad that I had that opportunity, as I’m not sure if this would be something I’d pick up on my own.

Bitch Planet, vol 2: President Bitch by Kelley Sue DeConnick. Artwork by Valentine De Landro (Science Fiction). And here’s the second graphic novel I ended up reading for that same Speculative Chic column. Bitch Planet is a really gritty series about a dystopian world where woman who go against the grain are penalized. Some are even forced into a planet sized prison (hence the title, Bitch Planet). President Bitch is the second graphic novel in this series, and I probably should have re-read volume one before diving in as I found that I had forgotten about some key characters in the meantime, which resulted in an uneven reading experience. Still, President Bitch was a fascinating read. It takes time to delve into the history of one of it’s characters before really pushing the story forward (there’s even an exciting prison break/riot sequence). Volume two also has some solid trans representation. I will continue to read this series with volume three.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (Gothic Horror/Mystery)– I first became interested in The Strange Case of the Alchemists’ Daughter after it was positively reviewed over at Speculative Chic. Now that I’ve read it, I can see why it’s received so much praise. The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter tells the story of the daughters of many of the prominent characters from classic gothic horror/Victorian mystery novels. The story begins by focusing on Mary Jekyll (the daughter of the infamous Dr. Jekyll from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde) who, after the death of her mother, find herself destitute. While going through her meager finances, she stumbles upon a terrifying truth. Her father may have had a second life.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is a delightul read that should appeal to fans of classic stories such as like Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein, and more. It was fascinating to see how these different classic tales intersected, and the narrative that was then woven from all of these various threads. I found very easy to care for the cast women and girls that came to populate these pages. regardless of any previous investments I may or may not have had with the books they were based on. The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is the first book in a series. I will be reading book two.

Level Up by Cahty Yardley (Contemporary Romance)– Tessa Rodriguez is a dedicated coder who has big dreams of becoming a video game engineer. Unfortunately, her introverted nature holds her back from both professional and personal success. When she finds herself on an impossible deadline (design a mobile game in three weeks) she must learn to reach out to others for help. In the process, she might even find love.

Level Up is a super cute geeky romance novella by one of the authors of the Geek Actually serial. In fact, the themes explored here are so similar to Geek Actually (female friendships, the difficulties face by women in nerdy career fields, strong POC representation, geeks falling in love) that I had to wonder if one inspired the other. The romance in Level Up is sweet and steamy (even if the events surrounding their first kiss were a little unbelievable), the pacing is swift, and the characters are all around lovable. Level Up is the first in the Fandom Hearts series, and it looks like multiple characters introduced in this book get their stories told in future installments. I look forward to checking them out.

So that’s what I read over my vacation! Interestingly enough, while I was typing this up, I began to notice a unintentional theme: monsters. We have books about literal monsters/the daughters of monsters (The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter), a character that identifies with monsters (My Favorite Thing is Monsters), a monstrous society (Bitch Planet, vol 2) and a heroine who has committed monstrous deeds (Presha from Poison or Protect).

It’s kind of funny how trends can emerge like that.