A MODERN GOTHIC HORROR?? Say less! This is the book I am leaning towards, so I have TWO options in case you want to save it for spooky season instead.

Demons clash with inheritance claims as secrets unfold and violence is unleashed over twelve harrowing hours trapped in a house with the worst thing imaginable: family.

Fireblooms by : speculative Queer YA romance set in a town that uses technology to prevent hate speech and bullying. SPECULATIVE LGBTQ ROMANCE, COMPLEX LATINX FAMILY DYNAMICS

And I'll Take Your Eyes Out by A.M. Sosa: Debut following a queer Chicano’s cannon-shot into adulthood amidst familial turmoil and the suffocating violence of Stockton, California in the early 2000s.

We're launching a Kickstarter! We want you guys to feel better about donating to help us open the store, so we've created an all-or-nothing campaign with several tiers! As Bindery subscribers, you get to know those tiers ahead of time!

• $5 - Bookmark/Sticker Pack - two bookmarks and a sticker

• $10 - Shirt - previous goodies plus a shirt

• $25 - Tote Bag - previous goodies plus a tote bag

• $100 - Permanent 10% Discount - previous physical goodies plus a permanent 10% discount on our online and physical stores

• $200 - Permanent 20% Discount - previous physical goodies plus a permanent 20% discount on our online and physical stores

If we are able to do any stretch goals, be prepared for annual book boxes and more!

Please consider following our Kickstarter and please share the link! <3

To help build our community, we have a Discord server! All you have to do is link your Discord account to Bindery and then click the icon in our header to join!

It's quiet now, but once we start to grow, we'll have a whole host of people to discuss books with! We also will use the Discord server to help spread announcements.

As of now, we are awaiting the Assumed Business Name Certificate and next month will hopefully be getting our LLC registered! Then it's on to get our website back up and running under a new design.

Have you seen our post about the Libro.fm 12 audiobook giveaway in celebration of Independent Bookstore Day? Just a few steps will get you entered for this massive Golden Ticket to a whole host of great audiobooks (may I humbly recommend the Green Bone Saga?).

Till next time!

I'm starting a new series called "What I'm Reading This Week."

I'll use this to showcase what I'm currently reading/plan to pick up before the week is over.

CURRENTLY READING

I'm currently reading two books. One as an audiobook and one as an ebook.

Butter by Asako Yuzuki--The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story

There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a master class in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii, but it seems that Rika might be the one changing. Do she and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu Killer”—Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance, and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.

Hooked by Asako Yuzuki--Eriko’s life looks perfect—from her prestigious job at a Japanese trading firm to her spotless apartment and devoted parents. Her newest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile Perch into the Japanese market, is as ambitious as she is. But beneath her flawless surface lies a consuming loneliness. Eriko has never been able to hold on to a real friend.

Enter Shoko: a popular lifestyle blogger whose work Eriko follows obsessively. Shoko lives a life of controlled chaos—messy apartment, take-out dinners, a kind, easy-going husband. She writes about daily contentment, though her fractured relationship with her father gnaws at the edges of her happiness.

When Eriko orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Shoko, the two women strike up an unlikely connection. For a fleeting moment, Eriko believes she’s finally found what she’s always longed for. But as her fascination turns to fixation and Shoko’s carefully balanced life begins to dissolve, both women are pushed to breaking points neither of them saw coming

WHAT I PLAN TO PICK UP

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed--A world-weary woman races against the clock to survive a deadly forest in this dark, otherworldly fairytale from Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author Premee Mohamed.

At the northern edge of a land ruled by a merciless foreign tyrant lies a wild, forbidden forest ruled by powerful magic.

Veris Thorn—the only one to ever enter the forest and survive—is forced to go back inside to retrieve the tyrant's missing children. Inside await traps and trickery, ancient monsters, and hauntings of the past.

Dark Is Where The Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce--The woods are known as the place to avoid. What goes in, doesn’t come out.

Hazel has been gone from her small hometown of Idless in the English countryside for years. Now returned in the wake of a traumatic divorce and crumbling personal life, her simple plans are to lay low at her parents’ vacated house, reconnect with her prickly sister Cathy, and slowly get back on her feet.

She's his captive but something has come home with her.

Cathy is surprised when Hazel doesn’t show. Their relationship strained from a fallout half a decade ago, she didn’t expect them to get back into a sisterly rhythm…though she hadn’t counted on Hazel bailing, either.

But something isn’t adding up. Other people in town whisper of a threat that can’t be shaken. The woods are known for being restless. And Cathy knows the old saying.

Okay… I know. It’s been a minute since my last Bindery update 😭 but life has been lifing.

Per usual... 🙄

If you know anything about springtime + kids, just know they start acting like the rules never existed in the first place. On top of that, people have been out sick left and right… so I've basically been holding it down in the classroom by myself for the past month. So yeah, I've been tired.

But also… I've been really intentional about being gentle with myself this April. I'm not forcing anything. I’m not rushing through books just to say I finished them. I'm just reading because I actually want to.

Right now, I’m reading Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood, and honestly… she’s one of my comfort authors at this point. Like her, Meg Cabot, Simone Elkeles, and Kennedy Ryan… they are authors where I already know I’m going to enjoy the ride no matter what.

This book feels very much like a palette cleanser. It’s light, a little nerdy, a little funny, and the jokes are definitely giving "punny" in the best way. It’s been a really easy read to come back to after long days, which is exactly what I needed.

Next up, I’m deciding between No Ordinary Love or When I Think of You by Myah Ariel. Both of them feel like they’re going to hit in different ways, so we’ll see what mood I’m in when I finish this one.

Have you read either of these, comment down below!

And for my non-fiction read this month, I’m planning to pick up Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey… which honestly feels very on-brand for where I am right now.

We’ll see if I actually finish all of these, but this is the plan for now 🤍