Ruse Reviews

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she/her
🌈 queer
🧠 neurodivergent
❤️‍🩹 chronic pain
📚 2026 Reading Goal: 18/52 (35%)
🛑 2 DNFs
😍 speculative, romance, mystery/thriller, horror, NF, historical
linktr.ee/rusereviews

08/20/2026

📖 Book Review 📖

Thanks for the free book St. Martin's Press

Slayers, Every One of Us is a q***r Buffy-focused memoir by podcasters Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs.

I borrowed the audio from my local library and followed along in my physical review copy.

I must admit, I picked up this book having never listened to an episode of their podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer. But Buffy the Vampire Slayer the television show was very formative for me while I was growing up.

Now that I’ve read this book, I plan to re-watch BtVS and follow along with their podcast!

You can find my full review on my blog, Goodreads, or TheStoryGraph.

❓QOTD: Have you watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer? If not, was there a tv show that was particularly formative for you while you were growing up?

08/18/2026

2️⃣ Two for Tuesday 2️⃣

Thanks for the free books Berkley Publishing Group Ace and Roc Books

They very graciously sent me two (non-related) books by Auralee Wallace. I love being able to try out different worlds from the same author!

In the Company of Witches is a fun paranormal cozy mystery and the start of the Evenfall Witches B&B mystery series.

If you give me a family of witches who run a bed and breakfast in a small town on a plate, I will absolutely eat it up. You can find my full review on my blog, Goodreads, or TheStoryGraph.

The Late-Night Witches is a fun paranormal novel featuring a reluctant chosen one.

I enjoyed the magic system, and nods to pop culture witches and vampires. It has great fall vibes and ends around the winter solstice. You can find my full review on Goodreads or TheStoryGraph.

❓QOTD: Is there an author you've read several books from lately because you couldn't get enough?

08/16/2026

Happy 41st birthday to me! 🎂

I pulled Tress of the Emerald Sea off the shelf again this year to see what the next chapter of my life might bring: The Philosopher.

Traditionally, I don't make a big deal out of my birthdays. This is mostly because historically, my birthday has been cursed. Like, disasters of various sizes.

Today, my partner and I made a simple (but healthy!) lunch together. We plan to go out to hot pot for dinner as a treat. I made myself clafoutis (a crustless cherry tart, my favorite dessert I tried in Paris) and it's waiting for me (literally chilling in the fridge).

❓QOTD: How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

08/14/2026

📖 Book Review 📖

Thank you Saga Press Books for the free book

I borrowed the audiobook from my local library while following along in my physical review copy.

This is such a fantastic sci-fi epistolary novella! Both authors embody one of the main characters: Red or Blue.

You can find my full review on my blog, Goodreads, or TheStoryGraph.

❓QOTD: Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? My video game orchestra is throwing our annual member barbecue!

08/12/2026

📖 Book Review 📖

Thanks for the free eARC Berkley Romance and NetGalley

I absolutely inhaled this book in under 24 hours and had so much fun. I read my advance ebook copy while I was away at an adult sleepaway camp in the woods with a bunch of friends and good music.

It ended up being one of the hottest weekends on record, and there wasn’t real air conditioning, so it was hard to sleep. Thankfully I had this book to comfort me!

You can find my full review on my blog, Goodreads, or TheStoryGraph.

❓QOTD: Speaking of hot weather, how's the weather like in your neck of the woods? It's actually fairly pleasant for me today in the Mid-Atlantic, though it's definitely humid!

08/11/2026

📖 Book Review 📖

I really enjoyed this one! I borrowed the audiobook from my local library system.

If you like the vibe of Lovecraftian stories, but you would rather center q***r and neurodivergent characters, this is a book for you. I love books with blended genres, and this melds mystery and sci-fantasy very well.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series. And even start it tomorrow. (Or maybe tonight?)

❓QOTD: Do you like books with blended genres? If so, what genres do you like mashed together?

08/08/2026

🐱 Caturday 📖

Thanks for the free book Berkley Romance

I was a big fan of the first book in The Crinoline Academy series, Rules for Ruin, and I absolutely ate this up and inhaled the sequel in a single day! You can probably read this as a standalone, but I'd still recommend reading the first book because it's fantastic.

The author's sense of humor is great, even when there are darker themes present. There's also fantastic disability representation in our FMC, Nell, who often uses a cane as a mobility aid.

The romance is closed-door, but still steamy and swoony. And the pining! Worth noting, the MMC is a cat-dad, which I love to see.

And speaking of cats, happy Caturday! Scroll past my rep/CW/tropes lists to get an update on Olly, one of the Catbuslets.

05/12/2026

1️⃣3️⃣3️⃣7️⃣

I'm glad I caught that my first post back was my 1337th post, or "leet" in gamer speak.

How perfect for me to hype up the fact that it's concert week for me!

I am part of an orchestra who exclusively performs music from video games. Our spring concert is this Saturday at 6 PM Eastern. We'll be live-streaming the performance to both Twitch and YouTube.

This concert has been programmed to highlight a suite of tunes arranged from Dwarf Fortress. "Songs of Zavazsil" is a symphonic adventure into the procedurally generated musical forms found and described in one world of Dwarf Fortress.

The performance will also feature a collection of arrangements inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Genshin Impact, and more.

I hope you're able to catch the stream or the VOD!

❓QOTD: Do you have any fun plans for this weekend?

05/11/2026

📖 Planner Check-In 📖

Hiya folks, it's been a while!

I was impacted by a reduction in force by my employer of well over a decade earlier this year. It really hit me hard, and I practically stopped reading.

Now that life has settled down a bit and I'm no longer really in ~*~crisis mode~*~ I'm hopeful to get back into the swing of things.

It's also Hugo Awards season, so I need to really get on that. I've read some of the nominees, but there are so many I haven't yet gotten around to!

❓QOTD: What books do you have on your radar to pick up soon?

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