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Review: Jinkies and Minority Monsters
Oct. 17th, 2025 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merrileemakesThere's 2 more works from the itch Curated Collections About LGBTQIA list that I want to highlight.
Jinkies! A Daphne/Velma Zine by Elise Schuenke
More an art book than a story but it contains utterly adorable snippets from the life of 2 gorgeous and adventerous women. There's fun encounters, domestic scenes and bonus Buzzfeed Unsolved references. I am 100% here for these feels.
If you like Elise's style I also recommend her other works Starcrossed and Still Here.
Minority Monsters by Tab Kimpton
Description: Greetings explorers, and welcome to Alphabet Soup Land! Want to learn about the not-so-invisible Bisexual Unicorn? The secrets of the Asexual Succubus? Or the previously unfathomable fathoms of the Genderqueer Merperson? If so, you’re in the right place! Packed full with comics of mythical monsters, field notes and information sections; this spotters guide of LGBT* and Queer creatures is the perfect companion for any adventurer.
Review: This is such a wholesome and fun approach to describing the different flavours of humans. But it's also quite nuanced and introduces some of the common mythconceptions and misunderstandings around different identities. The art is fun, colourful and inclusive. It might read a little condescending at times, but I mostly read that as minority fatigue. For an entry price of pay what you want it's worth checking out, even if only for a moment of dopamine.
Jinkies! A Daphne/Velma Zine by Elise Schuenke
More an art book than a story but it contains utterly adorable snippets from the life of 2 gorgeous and adventerous women. There's fun encounters, domestic scenes and bonus Buzzfeed Unsolved references. I am 100% here for these feels.
If you like Elise's style I also recommend her other works Starcrossed and Still Here.
Minority Monsters by Tab Kimpton
Description: Greetings explorers, and welcome to Alphabet Soup Land! Want to learn about the not-so-invisible Bisexual Unicorn? The secrets of the Asexual Succubus? Or the previously unfathomable fathoms of the Genderqueer Merperson? If so, you’re in the right place! Packed full with comics of mythical monsters, field notes and information sections; this spotters guide of LGBT* and Queer creatures is the perfect companion for any adventurer.
Review: This is such a wholesome and fun approach to describing the different flavours of humans. But it's also quite nuanced and introduces some of the common mythconceptions and misunderstandings around different identities. The art is fun, colourful and inclusive. It might read a little condescending at times, but I mostly read that as minority fatigue. For an entry price of pay what you want it's worth checking out, even if only for a moment of dopamine.
mozaikmageI Hope This Doesn't Find You
Author: Ann Liang
Genre: YA Romantic Comedy
(Sorry for the delay I thought I posted yesterday but I forgot to hit the button)
(Sorry for the delay I thought I posted yesterday but I forgot to hit the button)
I read This Time It's Real by Ann Liang last year and it floored me. For a YA fake dating romcom to be that genuinely funny and inventive seemed like a miracle. A few months ago I read her debut, If You Could See The Sun (a title I only later realized is a silly pun) and loved that too, and now I just finished reading her third book, about a people-pleasing high achiever whose senior year is almost ruined by all of her mean email drafts getting sent out at once.
My conspiracy theory is that this book, while published third, was actually written before either TTIR or IYCSTS, because it's noticeably weaker than either of those in multiple ways.
The thing that bothered me the most about it was the setting, but I'm inclined to chalk this one up to editorial meddling: I'm willing to believe that an editor thought American high schoolers would not be able to relate to a story about Asian immigrant kids in Australia and thus mandated any Australian-ness be toned down, but I think the level of vagueness made the whole story needlessly confusing. Melbourne is mentioned as the setting all of two times, and I managed to skip over it the first time and was then left wondering for half the book where it was happening. Australia's school years start in January and end in December, unlike the American school year, they have different weather and scenery, neither of which are very described or can be described if we're trying to pretend the story is not set in Australia. But this lack of description makes the location feel vague, and makes it harder to visualize. Both of Liang's other books had very strong senses of place, and that's something I would've appreciated more of in this book.
The other thing that felt weaker to me was the character writing, which is usually a strength for Liang as well. Sadie keeps going in circles and repeating herself in regards to Julius, which might be realistic teenage behavior but gets annoying to read about fast. Although their relationship dynamic is something I would've latched on hard to at age 13, and I understand her people-pleaser thing really well, I think Julius is a less interesting love interest than those of her other two books. The school also feels smaller, though Abigail is a very fun best friend character.
I Hope This Doesn't Find You is not unfunny, but less funny than Liang's two previous books. The plot hook is fun, but less fun than her previous two books. If it was anyone else writing this, I'd probably think it was a pretty okay YA romcom. Unfortunately, I know she can do better, because I've seen her do it. I hope her next book outshines them all.
