Jess Avery
@jthebookworm.bsky.social
A bookworm of no specific gender from the mountains of Maine.🌲 Devoted reader of Queer Books : Genre Fiction Enthusiast (SFF, Horror, Romance) : Book Riot Contributor : Any Pronouns 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
I had this many pages left in THE BLACK HUNGER before I started putting the pieces together and oh no oh no oh no.
Oh no my heart.
Oh no my heart.
November 15, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I had this many pages left in THE BLACK HUNGER before I started putting the pieces together and oh no oh no oh no.
Oh no my heart.
Oh no my heart.
Come on Maine. Come on you gorgeous balsam-scented pile of granite.
November 5, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Come on Maine. Come on you gorgeous balsam-scented pile of granite.
THE BLACK HUNGER bh Nicholas Pullen is doing a fantastic job of curing the book slump I could feel myself sliding into. I'm only 36 pages in but I am fully committed to whatever dark places we're bound. 🖤
November 3, 2025 at 2:24 AM
THE BLACK HUNGER bh Nicholas Pullen is doing a fantastic job of curing the book slump I could feel myself sliding into. I'm only 36 pages in but I am fully committed to whatever dark places we're bound. 🖤
Sometimes you just need an Alexis Hall romance. LOOKING FOR GROUP is so adorable and honestly so funny. Is this going to be the first of Hall's books that doesn't make me cry?!
(I've still got like 50 pages to go, so it may be too soon to bet on dry eyes. 😅)
(I've still got like 50 pages to go, so it may be too soon to bet on dry eyes. 😅)
October 25, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Sometimes you just need an Alexis Hall romance. LOOKING FOR GROUP is so adorable and honestly so funny. Is this going to be the first of Hall's books that doesn't make me cry?!
(I've still got like 50 pages to go, so it may be too soon to bet on dry eyes. 😅)
(I've still got like 50 pages to go, so it may be too soon to bet on dry eyes. 😅)
Picked up my copy. It's beautiful! 🤩
October 14, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Picked up my copy. It's beautiful! 🤩
THE WORKS OF VERMIN comes out tomorrow (10/14). Borrow it. Buy it. Just get your hands on this book.
The way Ennes knit this plot together is nothing short of incredible. I actually gasped when I realized what was going on, and oh how my heart broke! An operatic tale on a truly fantastical stage.
The way Ennes knit this plot together is nothing short of incredible. I actually gasped when I realized what was going on, and oh how my heart broke! An operatic tale on a truly fantastical stage.
October 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
THE WORKS OF VERMIN comes out tomorrow (10/14). Borrow it. Buy it. Just get your hands on this book.
The way Ennes knit this plot together is nothing short of incredible. I actually gasped when I realized what was going on, and oh how my heart broke! An operatic tale on a truly fantastical stage.
The way Ennes knit this plot together is nothing short of incredible. I actually gasped when I realized what was going on, and oh how my heart broke! An operatic tale on a truly fantastical stage.
VAXED. 💪
You're the best, Hannaford!
You're the best, Hannaford!
September 26, 2025 at 10:39 PM
VAXED. 💪
You're the best, Hannaford!
You're the best, Hannaford!
THE BOYS. THEY HAVE ARRIVED.
I love that pulpy vintage Gothic cover so much I could actually die in a mysterious and tragic way in an isolated manor house.
I love that pulpy vintage Gothic cover so much I could actually die in a mysterious and tragic way in an isolated manor house.
September 22, 2025 at 11:48 PM
THE BOYS. THEY HAVE ARRIVED.
I love that pulpy vintage Gothic cover so much I could actually die in a mysterious and tragic way in an isolated manor house.
I love that pulpy vintage Gothic cover so much I could actually die in a mysterious and tragic way in an isolated manor house.
Between current events and a family health scare, this was a VERY long week. So when I realized I was well under on my annual book budget with only two pre-orders outstanding for the rest of the year, I may have treated myself... a tad.
I mean, I did need a few more terrors for my Autumn TBR. 🖤🧡
I mean, I did need a few more terrors for my Autumn TBR. 🖤🧡
September 14, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Between current events and a family health scare, this was a VERY long week. So when I realized I was well under on my annual book budget with only two pre-orders outstanding for the rest of the year, I may have treated myself... a tad.
I mean, I did need a few more terrors for my Autumn TBR. 🖤🧡
I mean, I did need a few more terrors for my Autumn TBR. 🖤🧡
Titan Books is too good to me. 😍 How gorgeous is the cover of Eric LaRocca's new novel? I want that coffins and buildings pattern available as fabric yardage asap.
I've been looking forward to We Are Always Tender With Our Dead ever since it was announced, and I can't wait to get started!
I've been looking forward to We Are Always Tender With Our Dead ever since it was announced, and I can't wait to get started!
September 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Titan Books is too good to me. 😍 How gorgeous is the cover of Eric LaRocca's new novel? I want that coffins and buildings pattern available as fabric yardage asap.
I've been looking forward to We Are Always Tender With Our Dead ever since it was announced, and I can't wait to get started!
I've been looking forward to We Are Always Tender With Our Dead ever since it was announced, and I can't wait to get started!
PLAY NICE is the scariest book Harrison has written to date. I read most of it with the lights off, which was a questionable life choice! The tension from the human elements in the story only makes the possession of the house that much scarier. A+ spooky time. It will leave you jumping at shadows.
August 31, 2025 at 4:36 PM
PLAY NICE is the scariest book Harrison has written to date. I read most of it with the lights off, which was a questionable life choice! The tension from the human elements in the story only makes the possession of the house that much scarier. A+ spooky time. It will leave you jumping at shadows.
I have been looking forward YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO BE HUMAN (out 9/9!) since it was announced, and it was every bit as brutal and upsetting as I hoped it would be. I was genuinely queasy with anxiety for about 80% of the book. No author kicks my ANS into panic mode quite like Andrew Joseph White! 😅
August 23, 2025 at 12:38 AM
I have been looking forward YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO BE HUMAN (out 9/9!) since it was announced, and it was every bit as brutal and upsetting as I hoped it would be. I was genuinely queasy with anxiety for about 80% of the book. No author kicks my ANS into panic mode quite like Andrew Joseph White! 😅
Emma-Claire Sunday is 2/2 for delightful sapphic romances for the Harlequin Historicals line. THE FORTUNE HUNTER'S GUIDE TO LOVE was so charming! I loved the romance between aspiring cheesemaker Hannah and impoverished-lady-turned-farmhand Sylvia. Sunday is definitely one of my auto-buy authors now.
August 22, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Emma-Claire Sunday is 2/2 for delightful sapphic romances for the Harlequin Historicals line. THE FORTUNE HUNTER'S GUIDE TO LOVE was so charming! I loved the romance between aspiring cheesemaker Hannah and impoverished-lady-turned-farmhand Sylvia. Sunday is definitely one of my auto-buy authors now.
On the theme of "Capitalists run the universe and it's freaking terrible": VOLATILE MEMORY was incredible.
Seth Haddon worked so much story into this action-packed, queer sci-fi novella that 176 pgs felt like both 300 pgs and not nearly enough. I'd love more stories from this universe!
Seth Haddon worked so much story into this action-packed, queer sci-fi novella that 176 pgs felt like both 300 pgs and not nearly enough. I'd love more stories from this universe!
August 21, 2025 at 11:52 PM
On the theme of "Capitalists run the universe and it's freaking terrible": VOLATILE MEMORY was incredible.
Seth Haddon worked so much story into this action-packed, queer sci-fi novella that 176 pgs felt like both 300 pgs and not nearly enough. I'd love more stories from this universe!
Seth Haddon worked so much story into this action-packed, queer sci-fi novella that 176 pgs felt like both 300 pgs and not nearly enough. I'd love more stories from this universe!
I'll just say: I have SO many questions that need answers!
This was amazing. Ballantine and Čarija absolutely killed it. They gave us characters you can really root for (or despise!), super creepy xeno variations, AND we finally got a first-hand look at the effects of one of the black goo bombs! 💚
This was amazing. Ballantine and Čarija absolutely killed it. They gave us characters you can really root for (or despise!), super creepy xeno variations, AND we finally got a first-hand look at the effects of one of the black goo bombs! 💚
August 21, 2025 at 11:25 PM
I'll just say: I have SO many questions that need answers!
This was amazing. Ballantine and Čarija absolutely killed it. They gave us characters you can really root for (or despise!), super creepy xeno variations, AND we finally got a first-hand look at the effects of one of the black goo bombs! 💚
This was amazing. Ballantine and Čarija absolutely killed it. They gave us characters you can really root for (or despise!), super creepy xeno variations, AND we finally got a first-hand look at the effects of one of the black goo bombs! 💚
KJ Charles' ALL OF US MURDERERS (Oct 7) was 100% my cup of tea. Sinister locked room mystery, charming second chance queer romance, increasingly perilous and chaotic goings-on, major Knives Out vibes - Oh I had so much fun!
And can we talk about that gorgeous, vintage Gothic homage cover? 😍🖤
And can we talk about that gorgeous, vintage Gothic homage cover? 😍🖤
July 31, 2025 at 1:33 AM
KJ Charles' ALL OF US MURDERERS (Oct 7) was 100% my cup of tea. Sinister locked room mystery, charming second chance queer romance, increasingly perilous and chaotic goings-on, major Knives Out vibes - Oh I had so much fun!
And can we talk about that gorgeous, vintage Gothic homage cover? 😍🖤
And can we talk about that gorgeous, vintage Gothic homage cover? 😍🖤
I threw a bunch of (potentially too old) lavender seed in a random plant pot because I had a spare and a little (also old) soil that needed to be used. Called it chaos gardening and kind of expected nothing would come of it...
LOOK AT MY CHILDREN. 🥹 Look at their little lives.
LOOK AT MY CHILDREN. 🥹 Look at their little lives.
July 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I threw a bunch of (potentially too old) lavender seed in a random plant pot because I had a spare and a little (also old) soil that needed to be used. Called it chaos gardening and kind of expected nothing would come of it...
LOOK AT MY CHILDREN. 🥹 Look at their little lives.
LOOK AT MY CHILDREN. 🥹 Look at their little lives.
This book made me sob so hard I had to put it down and walk away at one point. It's beautiful, but it's brutal. The queer community has so much pain in its history, but all the way through A Language of Limbs, Hardcastle never lets us forget that there was also joy. Enduring, incandescent joy. 🥹🏳️🌈
July 25, 2025 at 1:44 AM
This book made me sob so hard I had to put it down and walk away at one point. It's beautiful, but it's brutal. The queer community has so much pain in its history, but all the way through A Language of Limbs, Hardcastle never lets us forget that there was also joy. Enduring, incandescent joy. 🥹🏳️🌈
Okay! Last one for today, and it's a psychedelic, mushroom-strewn fever trip that still have me in its grips. A genuine "what did I just read?!" experience, and I mean that in the best way. Utterly weird, queer, old-gods-rising cosmic horror you won't soon forget.
July 24, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Okay! Last one for today, and it's a psychedelic, mushroom-strewn fever trip that still have me in its grips. A genuine "what did I just read?!" experience, and I mean that in the best way. Utterly weird, queer, old-gods-rising cosmic horror you won't soon forget.
A RARE FIND by Joanna Lowell was such a gem. Lowell really is restoring my faith in historical romance one book at a time with these fantastic, shenanigans-filled plots that remind me of everything I love most about the romance subgenre. Georgie and Elfreda are an absolute delight. Highly recommend!
July 23, 2025 at 11:57 PM
A RARE FIND by Joanna Lowell was such a gem. Lowell really is restoring my faith in historical romance one book at a time with these fantastic, shenanigans-filled plots that remind me of everything I love most about the romance subgenre. Georgie and Elfreda are an absolute delight. Highly recommend!
So this comes out 9.9.2025, and if you enjoy queer romance with a trans lead and a little bit of a spooky twist, you're going to love having this on your fall TBR. (You're also going to love poor, sweet Edgar.) This was everything: a little scary, adorable, funny - I just had a really good time. 🎃
July 23, 2025 at 11:46 PM
So this comes out 9.9.2025, and if you enjoy queer romance with a trans lead and a little bit of a spooky twist, you're going to love having this on your fall TBR. (You're also going to love poor, sweet Edgar.) This was everything: a little scary, adorable, funny - I just had a really good time. 🎃
I actually had a story idea recently (gasp)! But I needed a copy of the original The Little Mermaid, so I bought this gorgeous edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales because I'd heard it was a really good translation. I've been enjoying reading a few stories at a time between other books. 🖤
July 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
I actually had a story idea recently (gasp)! But I needed a copy of the original The Little Mermaid, so I bought this gorgeous edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales because I'd heard it was a really good translation. I've been enjoying reading a few stories at a time between other books. 🖤
Space robots war over the fate of humankind while a sweet, charming piano man tries to get the universe to just leave him alone (except for his adorable rock star lover). This was such a great story about hope in the face of impossible odds. 10/10 galactic space jams - Can't wait to read the sequel!
July 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Space robots war over the fate of humankind while a sweet, charming piano man tries to get the universe to just leave him alone (except for his adorable rock star lover). This was such a great story about hope in the face of impossible odds. 10/10 galactic space jams - Can't wait to read the sequel!
Andrew Joseph White's COMPOUND FRACTURE was a top tier "up all night who cares if I have to work tomorrow" read. 10/10 recommend, and I'll officially read anything White writes.
July 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Andrew Joseph White's COMPOUND FRACTURE was a top tier "up all night who cares if I have to work tomorrow" read. 10/10 recommend, and I'll officially read anything White writes.