Happy Mardis Gras! In celebration, That Artsy Reader Girl‘s topic for this week is purple, yellow, and green covers, and you know ya girl is always down to shout chaotically about some beautiful covers. I’m not totally certain how I want to format this–three doesn’t add up to ten nicely, so maybe I’ll just do nine? Three per each color? Oh, that’s going to get so hard so quick trying to only settle on three for each because even while I’m just sitting here writing this intro, I can think of three books right away, and I know I’m going to find more along the way. Oh boy. ACTUALLY. I’m going to change things up a bit. Normally, I only use books that I’ve already read, but I think I’m going to stick to only books I haven’t read yet. That’ll make this more fun & challenging.

Even if the title & cover for How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland somehow wouldn’t have grabbed my attention, I’d already be looking at it for the amount of times I’ve picked up & put down Gilliland’s other book. I really need to read both because they just sound so up my alley. I’m a sucker for pretty covers, we all know that, but I also love obnoxiously long Fall Out Boy titles, so this is just the best of both worlds, plus it’s got space vibes (literally just with the MC’s name, I’m aware), and it’s about a band on tour? Man, I might have just convinced myself to go buy it.

Look, I’ve got standards, and they land at about “summary says witch, stop reading and add to TBR.” Did I know what Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury was about before I wrote this post? Not a chance! Admittedly, I didn’t totally immerse myself in reading the summary now, either, because I’ve gotten good enough at knowing what books I’ll like, and this one’s got witches, magic trials, ancestors out for blood, and what sounds like an enemies to lovers kind of romance, but more on the annoyed acquaintances to lovers side, so I’m down for this.

THE GAY IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE. You know when you just know a book is going to be gay? Like, yeah, The Prince & the Thief by P.S. Scott could be straight because women obviously can be thieves–and hell, why can’t they be princes, too, let our people live!–but when you know, you know. And I need a gay fantasy story about a prince & a thief falling in love against all odds because we’ve had too many damn straight ones of this kind of story, AND THE GAYS WANT THEIR TIME, OKAY!

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst is not labeled as LGBTQIAP+, buttttttt I’m gonna be real upset if it’s not actually lesbians falling in love during a chaotic race through the desert on the back of a monstrous being in order to save their lives, but also their families, but also their love for each other. Am I right, or am I right? Because that’s the only way I see this going, and it’ll be a mighty disappointment if that’s not, somehow, how it goes. Anyway, this sounds like a mashup between Mad Max and Elysium Girls, and that’s something I need in my life.

I really enjoyed Katie Henry’s other book, so I’m not sure why I still haven’t read Let’s Call it a Doomsday yet. She’s one of those authors that I’ll totally auto-buy, too, because she just about hit the nail on the head with my aesthetic last time, and this one definitely sounds like it’ll be right up there. Plus, it’s queer, it’s got an anxious MC, and it’s either about an actual apocalypse or just a doomsday prepper, and, either way, I’m in.

Using Into the Dying Light by Katy Rose Pool is definitely cheating because not only am I guaranteed to read it, it’s the finale of one of my favorite series, so this technically feels like something that doesn’t fit into this list of “books I haven’t read” even though I haven’t read it, technically, but it’s this weird grey area, and whatever, I am going to scream into the abyss about this series ending, and I literally cannot wait. I know I always say that I’m going to reread books before the finale comes out, but this one I’m definitely going to, if only so that I can fall in love with Anton & Jude all over again, both individually and together.

Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June is one of those books that I’m going to read no matter what, and it’s 100% because of the title & cover. A gay agenda? You don’t say, count me in! Two boys facing off in what is hopefully supposed to be a college aesthetic kind of way? PLEASE! Oh, gods damn it, it’s high school, but whatever, I’ll survive. New boy in school falls in love with the shy boy, I’m 100% buying this for Pride.

Do I have any idea what The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley is about other than my faves over at Reads Rainbow absolutely died over it? Nahhhhh, and I don’t care, either, because Pulley’s other three books basically took my soul and threw it off Everest, and I thanked them for it. Also, the freaking tagline in the summary says for fans of David Mitchell, MOTHER OF SATAN I AM GOING TO DIE. If Mori shows up in this, I will throw myself into the ocean and be happy about it. I’m not ready for this. Like, really, truly, not ready in the slightest.

That Way Madness Lies: 15 of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined by Various doesn’t really feel like green, but it also is, and I was having a hella hard time finding green covers of books I haven’t read, which makes sense given that the blue/green spectrum is my favorite, so I’m generally drawn to those, and I read them sooner than other books, so I don’t have many unread ones in this color hue. But also, short story collection about reimagined Shakespeare stories by some excellent authors, so it’s probably going to be chaotic and at least a little queer? HERE FOR IT.