Category: Diversity - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

What's in a name?

31/10/2025

The Crystal Crown (Star Wars: The Acolyte - Disney)
by Tessa Gratton

Padawan Jecki Lon is pleased to discover that Master Sol is taking her on a mission to another world - but she's less pleased about Padawan Yord Fandar and his master going along with them. Jecki and Yord soon find themselves signed up in a competition that will force them to work together - and perhaps Yord will even be forced to have fun! However, the competition is the least of their concerns...

So this is basically "Star Wars does Hunger Games" - and maybe I'm just in a good mood or something, but this didn't bother me at all. I mean...it was obvious and a tad cringey, yet it was still fun. Gratton also managed to make me grow very attached to Jecki and Yord. They definitely deserved better than what The Acolyte did with their characters and this prequel did them justice. I kind of wish there was a whole Jedi Apprentice-esque series about them!

This isn't a perfect book. There are issues. There were many awkward turns of phrase... the villain was revealed way too early... and a Twi'lek was named "Darren", which was so completely jarring (it's a very prevalent name here in Australia lol - it's not suitable for a Twi'lek!). But all that aside, I found it enjoyable.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

6/10/2025

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava

Ember is struggling to find a job and discovers that a little lying can go a long way - she embellishes her education and ticks the box for Caucasian instead of Native American, a scheme that quickly scores her a job. Unfortunately, the lies start stacking up. Now Ember's new success is in danger of imploding... and so is the burgeoning relationship with Danuwoa, the hot IT guy.

There's a lot to like about this novel. But it's hard to focus on that when the main character is so unlikeable. I know heroines in these books need to make mistakes for Plot Reasons, but Ember's mistreatment of the hero and chronic lying really grated on me (and it made me anxious during much of the book!). Nava's writing is not yet polished (most debuts tend to have this issue) but shows a lot of promise. I'll be checking out her next book.

Bright Lights, Big City

21/8/2025

Love Unleashed by Melanie Saward

Brynn Wallace, a Bigambul woman who has to deal with heavy literal and metaphorical baggage, heads to New York City to try to land her dream internship. But the only employment she can get is at a doggy daycare and not every encounter is pleasant. Brynn, however, has found fast friends who have her back...including Sienna, who is confident in her own skin and strangely alluring...

I love, LOVE this book. So much. I'll admit that, like Brynn, I grew up with The Baby-Sitters Club and adored any adventure set in New York - which maaay have contributed to how much I enjoyed myself. This is like a BSC book but all grown up! Brynn was instantly likeable as an MC and I desperately wanted her to find herself and her happiness. Her healing process felt very real to me. And I'm just going to keep giddily enjoying this Season of Bi Heroines. I have been spoilt for choice of late!

PS: My favourite BSC book, which is very battered but still in my bookcase, is The Ghost at Dawn's House.

Content warning: emotionally abusive (ex-)relationship, racism, fatphobic comments, cancer

One Wedding & Some Drama

21/9/2024

Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment by Arushi Avachat

Arya should be happy - her sister is back and planning a wedding to really nice guy. But the more time they spend together under one roof, the more the tension rises. Meanwhile, Arya is trying to get ready for college and fulfil her student government responsibilities, but the boy who won the role of president over her is so annoying. How could he be anything but an enemy?

This book's main strength is how it explores and handles female relationships, particularly familial ones. I always like to see this kind of thing done well. It also helps that the plot is engaging, perfect for YA readers who want spades of character growth alongside the expected romance. There is no absolutely no need for familiarity with Bollywood movies to enjoy Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment (I think the only one I've seen all the way through is Lagaan!). And enjoy it I did.

Tropetastic

20/9/2024

The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzales

Ivy is a huge fan of a fantasy TV series but she doesn't expect to wake up with one of the characters in her bed. Weston is somehow real - and he thinks they're soulmates! Now Ivy has to find a way to hide his presence from everyone, especially her neighbour and ex-BFF, Mack. But maybe this isn't a story about soulmates. Maybe it's a story about mutual pining...and maybe Mack is Ivy's costar instead.

Gosh, this was cute. And I love seeing another bi girl with a similar haircut to mine on a book cover! As for the story, it's fun and amusing. The teen angst and drama ring true and you can't help but like every character. I did feel that this could have been something more, but sometimes you just want an uncomplicated YA novel to breeze through. As a bonus - I've discovered another Australian author!

A Lack of Tea

15/5/2024

A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1)
by Hafsah Faizal

Arthie Casimir runs a tearoom that morphs into a bloodhouse for vampires at night, but the main currency she deals in is secrets. A little bit of pressure gets her what she wants. This time, though, her tearoom is in enough trouble that a few secrets won't help her. She has to pull off a heist inside a vampiric lair and take down a ruler. In order to do all that, she needs a team. Trust is secondary.

I was excited to pick this book up from the library, since the tearoom-and-heist concept was right up my alley. Except there wasn't much of the tearoom or much of a heist. A lot of other things were going on instead. Disappointment quickly set in, though I was able to enjoy Faizal's beautiful phrasing and liked some of the characters (so full of hopes and flaws). I especially liked the hint about how revealing a secret can actually cover a bigger secret, since I guessed Arthie's secret early on... but I did not see the other reveal coming. I'm cautiously interested in book 2 (but I will hold the excitement for now...).

Not Like the First Book

3/4/2024

Not Like the Movies (Waiting for Tom Hanks #2)
by Kerry Winfrey

Chloe is not coping. She's looking after her father, whittling away on her business degree, working in a cafe - oh and now there's a romantic movie coming out, written by her best friend and based on Chloe and her boss, Nick. But real life doesn't have neat, happy endings. Besides, Chloe doesn't have time for a relationship. Nothing will EVER happen between her and Nick. Nope.

I've spent half my day wondering if this book was merely average or truly terrible, because comparing it to Waiting for Tom Hanks is unfair since I love that one so much. Annie was a charming MC who made it easy to overlook the romcom homages. Chloe, on the other hand, is exhausting and at times really quite horrible to the hero. But I will admit... I am always thrilled to read a book with a bi heroine. The author also made me reevaluate some things in my life, such as how my friendships changed after marriage. So I guess Not Like the Movies is merely average after all.

Red Dawn: Star Wars Style

7/2/2024

Escape from Valo (Star Wars: The High Republic)
by Daniel José Older & Alyssa Wong

Ram Jomaram was trapped on Valo when the Nihil erected the Occlusion Zone. Now he is a lone Jedi, always lurking in a secret part of the Jedi temple, always doing what he can to mess with the Nihil's plans. He calls himself he Scarlet Skull - and now his cause has brought other, younger Jedi out of hiding. Ram must somehow balance his self-imposed mission with looking after them.

First of all, the number of queer characters in this was a delight - and most of them were young too. I also enjoy any story where kids find ways to fight back against nefarious invaders, so heck yeah I was down for that. But there were quite a few rough patches in this book and honestly there were too many characters taking up pages that were needed for more focused development.

Okay, so...I'm still trying to figure out if Ram annoys me because of how his neurodivergence is written (it does not align with my own experiences, but neurodivergence is a spectrum of many diverse experiences) or for some other reason. I feel that Delilah S. Dawson did a much better job of writing an autistic Force-user (Iskat in Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade). Admittedly, there were specific, very personal reasons that Iskat resonated with me. Hmm.

Side note - my Australian copy of this book does not have the spelling errors that beset the previous Hardie Grant releases. That's a relief. I'd like to think my contacting them helped, but it's highly probable that no one there read my email lol

Beach-ish Read

4/1/2024

No Words (Little Bridge Island #3)
by Meg Cabot

Jo Wright only agreed to attend the new literary festival on Little Bridge Island for two reasons: 1) the money and 2) she was assured that Will Price would NOT be in attendance. But unfortunately, there he is when she lands. And worse still, he's helping to fund the festival! So now she's stuck on an island with the guy who demeaned her novels - and now seemingly wants to apologise.

Yeah, this book has the undeniable whiff of Beach Read about it. But oddly enough, I enjoyed it just as much, if not more so (okay, full disclosure: I am a Meg Cabot fan 4 life - perhaps that has resulted in some bias here!). Keeping the story in one POV was a change from the previous entries to the series, but a good one. I had a lot of fun reading about unhinged author antics and enemies who are irrevocably drawn together.

Split Book's Curse

7/12/2023

Wolf's Curse (Otherworld: Kate & Logan #2)
by Kelley Armstrong

Logan, Kate and some of their fellow campers are sheltering inside a cabin in the woods, which is never a safe place inside of horror movies. But outside is even worse - there's a demon hanging around and she's really pissed off about supernaturals trampling through her territory. But she's open to making deals. Because it's totally a good idea to do that.

Splitting this story into two books was such a bad idea. I let nostalgia blind me a bit during the first book, but this one has fewer redeeming qualities. The characters walk in circles. The plot follows them and also goes around and around until you lose interest. Look, I did sort-of enjoy this - mostly because of Kate - but it's hard not to be annoyed when you see so much potential being squandered.