Tag Archives: Nic Stone

A Universe of Wishes edited by Dhonielle Clayton

Book Review, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Overview
A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology by Dhonielle Clayton

Title: A Universe of Wishes
Author: Dhonielle Clayton, Tara Sim, Natalie C. Parker, Libba Bray, Anna-Marie McLemore, Kwame Mbalia, V.E. Schwab, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nic Stone, Jenni Balch, Mark Oshiro, Samira Ahmed, Tessa Gratton, Zoraida Cordova & Tochi Onyebuchi
In: A Universe of Wishes (Dhonielle Clayton)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: LGBTQI, Short story collections, Young adult
Pace: Medium
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2020

Thoughts

A Universe of Wishes is a fantastic and brilliant anthology. One I really, really enjoyed. And one that introduced me to a whole lot more authors that I plan to add to my shelves. It was a fun and unique collection that gave the reader a whole lot of diversity, not only in tales and styles, but also in lead characters.

I loved that this is an #OwnVoices collection, and now I’m going to add more such collections to my shelves. I love having non-white leads in my stories. And this has given me a taste of a whole range of new authors and cultures. Something that I really love when reading – discovering the unknown.

This anthology runs the gambit of genres and styles. The only thing all of the stories have in common is that they are thoroughly enjoyable and I loved them. I look forward to reading this anthology again and again and again in the future.

<- HabibiA Universe of Wishes ->

Image source: Goodreads

Dream and Dare by Nic Stone

Book Review, , ,
Overview
A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology by Dhonielle Clayton

Title: Dream and Dare
Author: Nic Stone
In: A Universe of Wishes (Dhonielle Clayton)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: LGBTQI, Paranormal fantasy
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2020

Thoughts

I love that the title of this short story is actually the names of the two lead characters. And that they are well-suited to their names. I mean, on the surface. They both definitely have elements of the other within their personalities, but mostly, they are very much like what their names imply.

Dream is seen to be the “perfect” wife, but is also into those activities which are considered unfeminine. I love that although she loves beautiful dresses, she also loves to climb trees and explore in these dresses. It’s a reminder that there is no one way of being a woman.

Contrastingly, Dare is tough and faces a lot of the ridicule for being “too masculine”. In fact, she deals with so much of this nonsense that she decides to effectively escape her life. And enact her revenge on all of those idiots who think that she needs “fixing”. It’s heartbreaking that both the girls experience prejudice in one form or another when they are just existing, but Dare’s constant battles are pretty hard to read about at times.

It was a pretty cute short story this one. I mean, they not only manage to find each other with a heavily implied happily ever after. But they also show that they’ve both been dancing around their interest in each other for years… a very cute little short story. And one I look forward to reading again in the future.

<- The Takeback TangoWish ->

Image source: Goodreads