Sci-Fi Rom-Com

Every now and then I read a book that feels like a love letter to a lot of my elder millenial comfort media. Stardusted is one of those books. It's a sci-fi rom-com with callbacks to so many sci-fi shows/movies that have been formative experiences for so many of my generation, like the X-Files, Roswell, and Stargate.

It's all about Raven, or Rae as she's known to her friends, an anthropology major who is working at a tacky tropical themed restaurant/bar to pay her way through school. Thanks to solar flares, the electrical grid and technology have been acting up, leading some of Rae's coworkers to loudly speculate that aliens are to blame.

Rae, following in the footsteps of STEM inspiration Dana Scully, is deeply sceptical. So much so that when she has her very own close encounter after working a late shift she rationalizes it away as a ball lightning sighting, rather than a UFO sighting.

The encounter leaves her stranded on the side of the road with a broken down car. She's rescued by the hot, enigmatic bartender that she's been crushing on for months. And he's strangely not buying her excuses to explain away the UFO she refuses to admit to seeing.

Not too long after, though Rae has an encounter that's not so easily explained away. She's attacked a giant, freaky robot in the anthropology lab, blasted with energy from a strange crystal she picked up in the attack and now she's got weird, freaky symbols showing up on her skin. Weird, freaky symbols that reveal a shocking secret hidden by Skye, the hot bartender.

Suddenly Rae is faced with either putting her life in danger of more robot attacks or abandoning everything she's worked for and trusting Skye, a man she barely knows, to keep her safe as they search for a way to get rid of what's causing the symbols on her skin.

If you're a fan of late 90s/early 2000s sci-fi, rom-coms, sweet-but-mysterious MMCs and smart FMCs, you'll probably enjoy Stardusted too. It's book 1 in an in-progress series, so there's a minor cliffhanger at the end, but all that did for me was make me even more excited for the next chapter in Rae and Skye's adventure!

Statues Crumble

Statues Crumble is more than just a sapphic Medusa retelling. It's a story of two broken, brutalized women finding healing.

We all know Medusa's tragic story, but Statues Crumble tackles the mental toll it would have taken on her. And Evadne understands all too well, as she was sent to Medusa's Island as punishment for not "properly" grieving her abusive late husband. Her blindness, caused by an accident on the boat that brought her to the island, protects her from Medusa's curse.

Evadne, despite now living in darkness, is such a sunshiny character. She views the island as a fresh start and is thrilled to be alive and permanently away from all the people who helped further abuse on her for not mourning another abuser. On the other hand, Medusa is rather grumpy. She's spent centuries imprisoned on an island, being used as an executioner of the criminals dropped in her shores. She really doesn't know what to do with Evadne. She's never had another soul last more than a day around her.

The more time they spend together the more they fall for each other (which terrifies Medusa beyond reason). Evadne is so patient and kind and always waits for Medusa to be ready for the next bit of intimacy. Because Evadne knows what it's like to be touched without consent and she refuses to continue that cycle.

Thank you so much L.V. Brooks for the opportunity to advance read. 💚