Well, folks, we did it. We made it through April. The con is coming up and everything has been tipsy turvy at the shop getting ready for Free Comic Book Day and the first annual SOUR CHERRY CON on May 7-8… But of course I found time to read. Without further ado…
The Magic Fish
This was our book club pick for the month of April and I am SO in love with this book! We had such a wonderful discussion too – great group, thank you so much to everyone who attended – and I think we all came away loving this story even more. It is a beautiful tale of a second-generation Vietnamese boy who comes out as gay, though there is so SO much else going on. It’s also sort of a few different stories within the story, as you have him reading his mom stories, some flashbacks, and other storytelling within the main narrative. It’s a really sweet, uplifting queer story and I recommend it all the time.
100% by Paul Hope
I wasn’t quite into this one. I think I like some of the ideas/concepts – it’s a little sci-fi/dystopic, which is generally a genre I like, but I don’t love how the women were written as all being completely straight, which is unrealistic in my experience of knowing sex workers / being involved in sex work. Lol. I dunno. Maybe it was just too hetero for me in general. But the art was really cool. It was all in black and white (unusual for paperbacks of this variety), I think to lend to the noir~ feel of it.
I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up
This was SO cute! I sold out of it pretty quickly because it’s an adult yuri story with no inappropriate age gaps and a really sweet, healthy, uplifting story. Which unfortunately can be a little rare in yuri genre.
Bad Boys, Happy Home vol 1-3
I actually loved this series a lot. It’s only 3 volumes which is cool because that’s pretty reasonable for a manga series. It’s about this high school kid (17) who runs away from home because his dad doesn’t approve that he’s gay, and he ends up befriending a local homeless dude who, as it turns out, is like, a former gangster, and they practice sparring and it eventually leads into a romance which is actually kind of sweet. Trigger warnings for some implied sexual assault/violence and an age gap.
Girl Haven
REALLY cute story about coming to terms with transness aimed towards a younger genre. I loved this – Lilah Sturges does a great job with the story (just enough fantasy to be fun, and enough reality to be educational) & art is very cute and relatable overall.
Hell Phone book one
Ugh Benji Nate does it again!! If you loved Catboy + you enjoy Benji Nate’s cute art + quirky stories, you can’t miss Hell Phone. Especially if you like a horror mystery. Can’t wait for Book 2.
There are Things I Can’t Tell You
This is a one-shot yaoi story and I have to say, definitely one of the better ones out there. It is pretty highly regarded on BL lists, and for good reason. It’s a very intimate, interpersonal drama and I recommend it if you like angsty gay romance.
Power On!
Very cute story about a group of high school kids who learn to code in order to bring more diversity to the industry, at its core. But it’s also a story about friendship and family and interpersonal relationships geared towards kids and pre-teens.
Deko-Boko Sugar Days
Another BL/yaoi story- this one is a best friends to lovers high school story. I thought it was pretty cute, and not as angsty as some of the other BL on this list.
Alters vol 1
Alters is a classic superhero story about a world of “Alters” or people who have superpowered abilities but are feared in society because an evil group of Alters have terrorized non-alter society. A girl emerges who is powerful enough to beat the big head honcho of the evil Alters, but she has an equally powerful secret. As her superhero self, she gets to be her true self, but at home, she is still in the closet and living as a boy. I liked this a lot and would recommend to anyone who likes a classic superhero story.
Raver Girl
This is a memoir by Bay Area based author, Samantha Durbin, about her life in the rave scene in the Bay Area. She has gone to 104 raves, and this book is a raw, and sometimes graphic retelling of her coming of age at some of these raves. It is a vulnerable and introspective book, and I am glad that I was introduced to it. She will be visiting us to teach May’s Non-Fiction class on Tuesday, May 10 and then she will return on Thursday, May 12 to read from her book and sign copies.
Destiny, NY
Oh man I need to restock this trade paperback of the combined issues because of COURSE I sold out of this very gay, very exciting super-power-ish-drama-romance. I swear, I don’t think there’s a single straight character in this book. It has great supernatural / fantasy elements and a very forbidden love romance and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page. I loved it a lot and can confidently say this is one of my favorites from this month’s worth of reading.
Crowded vol. 1
What do you do in a world where anyone can start a campaign to have you killed, for any reason, at any time? Does this change the way you act/behave around people? Do you become a hermit? This story follows Charlie, who has become the “Million Dollar Girl”, with countless people adding to her Reapr campaign, and her grumpy bodyguard, Vita, a 1.4 star on Dfend who was the only one who would take Charlie’s case. In vol. 1 we learn about this future, and we get to know Vita, Charlie, and a little bit of Vita’s past… But I have to pick up vol. 2 and 3 to learn more about WHY Charlie has the million-dollar bounty on her head…
Yuri Life
Cute yuri anthology – very short stories, most of them are pretty adorable. Only one was very questionable- they threw in a teacher/student romance that made me quite uncomfortable. Yuri writers have a bad tendency to do those types of storyline and honestly, anime/manga in general. Wonder if it has anything to do with the age of consent in Japan being 13…. yikes!
Devil Maybe Cry
PEOW studios little comic – kinda weird, kinda freaky, and I probably would have “gotten it” a lot more if I was more familiar with Devil May Cry which I think is a video game ..? I am a fan of Devilman Crybaby which is one of my favorite anime series of all time, but apparently they’re not the same thing.
Sara
This was a heavy one to finish the month of April. Sara follows the story of the Leningrad anti-Nazi / anti-fascist snipers during WWII, and their trek through the snowy forests. The art is absolutely gorgeous and if you’re familiar with / enjoy Garth Ennis’ heavy writing you will probably like this. I won’t say I didn’t like it, because I did, but dramatized historical nonfiction is definitely not my go-to genre. But all things considered, it was a great read.
And that’s it for April recap! As a reminder, moving forward, I will be posting one of these types of posts per month, along with the schedule for the month.
Reminders:
Sour Cherry Con is THIS WEEKEND!!! Wow!! Hope to see you all there. Really looking forward to making this a fun yearly thing. You can get raffle tickets online or in-store up until the winners are announce on Saturday, May 7 at 5PM. You can view the schedule here on the website or on the instagram if you’re looking to plan your weekend.
Sour Cherry Comics has a Patreon! Subscribe any tier up until 4pm on Saturday 5/7 and get 2 FREE raffle tickets to contribute towards any of the themed boxes. Certain tiers offer in-store benefits. All tiers include full access to all digital content and unlimited access to workshops/events. 18+
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