Cute Mutants Book Tag

Back in December, I read Cute Mutants by SJ Whitby for the first time. It’s an incredibly unique, fun, inclusive, fast paced superqueero set of stories. To celebrate the release of Cute Mutants Volume 4: The Sisterhood of Evil Mutants on April 6th, the wonderful Art at Inkandplasma has put together this great Cute Mutants book tag with Finn (evidentlybookish) and Andee (mousereads). Please feel free to join in if you wish, I always love hearing about favourite books.

Read below for the fun character prompts and what my picks were!

You can find the images/graphics on the link here, if you wish to use them (please give credit) thanks!

Dylan aka Chatterbox: A book featuring a character who can be a little bit mean but a lot loveable.

For this one I’m going to pick Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle, and The Dreamer Trilogy. In the first book of The Raven Cycle he does appear to be a bit mean. He has his guard up and I get the feeling he only has a few people he really cares about. He also has a lot of money and handful of problems so I can see why he can be defensive and standoffish and appear hard to relate to at first. He’s not always cold though as he is a total softie for animals, and through out the books the reader gets to know him more and see him warm towards others and we warm towards him. He’s magical, funny, creative, fiercely loyal towards those he is close to, and I want the best for him!

Dani aka Marvellous: A book that caused you pain.

Clockwork Princess from The Infernal Devices trilogy of the Shadowhunter series. Cassandra Clare can write stories and characters that can break your heart like no one else.

Alyse aka Moodring: A book featuring monster girls.

I’m going to have to pick Cute Mutants here. Alyse is one of my favourite characters from this book and her super power is so cool and imaginative. This book is full of fierce and powerful characters that can go full monster at times but also be soft babies.

Emma aka Goddess: A book featuring a superpower you’d love to have.

Picking Cute Mutants AGAIN because I love Dylan’s power and all that comes with it. Talking and communicating with objects? It’d be useful and hilarious at the same time.

Lou aka Glowstick: A book with great trans rep

I’m not trans so can’t really speak for whether the rep is good or bad, but I can recommend Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas as an own voices story with a good trans character. The book does discuss the main character Yadriel’s identity as a trans boy but it’s not the whole main deal of the story.

Bianca aka Wraith: A book with a character you’d go to hell and back for

It’s been a while since I’ve read the Strange The Dreamer duology, but I immediately thought of the character Lazlo Strange for this prompt, because he is such a good soul, a hero, and he deserves the absolute best. I think there is a bit of Lazlo Strange in every one of us which is what makes him so wonderful to read about.

Onimaru: A book with a character much cooler than you.

I’ve recently read Once & Future by A.R Capetta and Cory McCarthy and I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend it to fans of Cute Mutants. The main character, Ari, is the newest reincarnation of King Arthur and she is so much cooler than me. She has a powerful magical mythical SWORD, a magician as her sidekick, and a band of amazing friends around her, and a spaceship! Def much cooler than me.

Pillow: A book featuring your favourite fictional relationship

Can I just say if you have not read Cute Mutants yet then you need to because I love Pillow so much!!!!! And you will too! But for my favourite fictional relationship (I have many) I am going to pick Gansey and Blue from The Raven Cycle because they are complete opposites at first…but they do say opposites attract! I really enjoyed the way they came together in the series and the effect the two of them have on each other.

Batty: A book with a secondary character/sidekick you can’t help but love

I’m going to say Batty and Onimaru from Cute Mutants because Batty is what made me force my friend to read this series and we both fell in love with Onimaru together as well.

Pear: A book with a family dynamic you love

Found family is the best family so I will have to pick The Foxhole Court / All For The Game series by Nora Sakavic for this one. Those who have read it will know why. Lots of books have groups and teams where characters will ride and die for each other, but this series explores why, along with discussing boundaries and how bonds can break and be repaired.

And that’s it! Here are the prompts if you wish to take part too!

Dylan aka Chatterbox: A book featuring a character who can be a little bit mean but a lot loveable.

Dani aka Marvellous: A book that caused you pain.

Alyse aka Moodring: A book featuring monster girls.

Emma aka Goddess: A book featuring a superpower you’d love to have.

Lou aka Glowstick: A book with great trans rep. 

Bianca aka Wraith: A book with a character you’d go to hell and back for. 

Onimaru: A book with a character much cooler than you.

Pillow: A book featuring your favourite fictional relationship.

Batty: A book with a secondary character/sidekick you can’t help but love.

Pear: A book with a family dynamic you love.

January Wrap Up & February TBR

Well that’s January. Christmas feels like a long time ago although January doesn’t feel that long for once! We’re still in lockdown in the UK, working from home if possible, and most shops shut, along with everywhere else. Nothing to do but read I guess, so I’ve read 7 books this month! I’ve also been re watching The Office so that’s taken up some of my time 🙂 I managed to read everything I set out to read for January so that’s a win!

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games) Suzanne Collins

First up was finishing up my Hunger Games re read so I finished Mockingjay just after Christmas and re watched all of The Hunger Games movies. Still love them. Still so dark, and I think they stand the test of time.

Cute Mutants by SJ Whitby

I read Cute Mutants for a December group read, then I read volumes 2 and 3 this month. Some books suffer from “second book syndrome” where they are not as good or seem like filler, but not this one. The second book was really fun and so much happened and brought a lot of stuff together. The third book was also good even if the plot felt a little bit similar to the previous book, but the X-Men references are starting to get a bit tedious but I guess that’s only because I’ve never read or watched any X-Men! I love the characters in the book, the imagination behind the superhero powers, and the silly humour, would definitely recommend.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This one was so disappointing for me. I’ve previously read another of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books and it’s one of my favourites but I couldn’t say the same for Daisy Jones at all. I should have liked it, I like character based books, ADORE music, and after reading reviews thought I might like this. However I just didn’t care about any of the characters, none of them felt really likeable, some of them were forgettable, there was barely any plot, the ending had no impact on me, and the weird choice of format (like an interview transcript) became tiring after a while. Maybe it would have worked better for me in a novel format. Perhaps it will work better in the upcoming TV show where you can actually hear the music as well. I’ve read books about fictional bands before and they got it right whereas I really wasn’t feeling this one.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

I was conflicted how to rate this, because it is a good, creative premise, is beautifully written and it was enjoyable. In short, it follows a girl who can discover other worlds, and two stories weave into one. However I could pick holes in the plot all day, and it did take me a while to get fully immersed into the world, and then it was over. I think I had issues with how it wrapped up, and how long it took me to really get into the story stops me from rating it 5 stars. You can check out my review here. I would definitely love to read something else by this author though.

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

I read Cinderella is Dead for a group read for January, and I’m glad I did. I’ll put a review up in a couple of weeks, but I really enjoyed this one as it was so easy to read but I also couldn’t wait to see what happens so I read it quite quickly. I didn’t want to put it down. It was a good piece of YA and a standalone, so you could just try and enjoy the story and not worry about wading through loads of world building which was what made it easier to read. A very odd re imagining of the Cinderella tale, but it’s QUEER so that’s always a plus. Another great pick from The Queer Book Crew.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The TV show for Good Omens was excellent and so uplifting for me, loved David Tenant and Michael Sheen in their roles, and I missed them in this book. My favourite chapters were the ones about them for sure. I think I would have liked this book more if I’d read it first before seeing the show, because I already knew what happened and a lot of the book seemed a bit like waffle. I think if you were not already familiar with Gaiman or Pratchett’s style then you might find this a bit too meandering and confusing. It’s a great story though and again, the show is awesome, I think there is only 6 episodes so if you haven’t watched it, then go do so 🙂

February TBR

For February I plan to read;

The Lost Coast by A.R Capetta for a group read – it’s queer magic in the woods, what more could I want!?

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston because it was on offer on kindle and people keep tellling me to read it!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig because I had the paperback copy of pre order for months so it should arrive this month

Cute Mutants Volume 1 – Mutant Pride By SJ Whitby

I feel like anyone can find something in Cute Mutants to like! I wouldn’t have heard about this if it wasn’t a pick for the December read on the Queer Book Crew server. But I’m so glad I got to read the weird, queer, teenage superhero book I didn’t know I wanted!

You can expect the following wonderful things;

Found family
Squad goals
Friendships and PEOPLE SUPPORTING EACH OTHER
Chaotic pansexuals
Hacking and tech
Pillow that talks
Odd but pretty cool superpowers
X-Men references
Nicknames and group chats
Queer Shipping

You read from the point of view of Dylan, and you grow to like her and it’s cool watching her grow in confidence and change through the story, you really get to route for her. I enjoyed watching the friendships form, along with each character getting some development throughout the book so you got to know them better. There is a variety of diverse representation from LGBTQ+ identities which can only be a good thing in my book!

I thought it was pretty good as a standalone, and I’ve only read the first (volume one), but the next few look pretty good and I’m looking forward to reading them.

Only slightly jealous that this crew are not my friends irl!

Content warning; Profanity, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexual Assault (off page) Bullying, References to self harm.