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Yours Celestially by Al Hess

After divorce, death, and having his reformatted soul uploaded into a new body, Sasha expected resurrection to be a fresh start. His time spent in digital Limbo with the program's cheeky AI guardian angel, Metatron, was cathartic, but what good is a second life when he only sees his daughter on the weekends, he has all the same problems he had before he died, and he can't seem to shake the ache for the married life he lost? If that weren't frustrating enough, a glitch in the program has given Sasha the ability to sense Metatron even outside of Limbo. And Metatron is in love. The angel's sickly-sweet yearning for one of the souls still in Limbo has turned Sasha's stomach into caramelized lead. It's hard enough to move on without someone else's feelings making the emptiness in his own life even more acute. He didn't have playing wingman to an actual winged being on his bingo card, but he's determined to help Metatron make a move on their crush so he ca...
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The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill

When her wife Cressidae goes missing, Teagan immediately knows where she has gone. A kingdom of the dead filled with untold nightmares, the Shadow Realm is the only place that can save Teagan from a lethal poison that’s killing her slowly. It is ruled by a princess said to make powerful deals with those brave enough to find her, and Cressidae has gone to bargain for Teagan’s life. Cressidae has forgotten one very important thing: no one makes it out on their own.

Teagan is furious Cress left without her, yet she’s determined to save her. The princess of the Shadow Realm, however, doesn’t let mortals roam her territories without opposition. In this thrilling tale inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Teagan and Cressidae must face both the horrors of the Shadow Realm as well as their own past.

TITLE: The Bone Way
AUTHOR: Holly J. Underhill
PUBLISHER: Nyx Publishing
YEAR: 2021
LENGTH: Novella
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling
RECOMMENDED: Yes

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s).

THE BONE WAY is a sapphic Orpheus and Eurydice retelling exploring illness, grief, sacrifice, and love as Teagan enters the kingdom of the dead after her wife Cress went alone to beg for a cure.

I love the flashbacks interspersed between sections of the present timeline, they gave welcome context and helped even out the pacing. The descriptions are vibrant, and the cast of characters is suitably small for a novella. My favorite detail is the backstory for the queen, it has messy complexities and leaves those jagged edges unresolved. This would make sense even if you haven't encountered this myth previously. As a retelling this obviously draws inspiration from the myth but doesn't refer back to it explicitly. 

I liked this and I'm glad I read it! 

CW for grief, violence, animal death, terminal illness (fantasy), parental death (backstory), harm to animals, murder, death.

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Two cloaked women stand back to back, holding daggers.


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