Another Tragic Gay Flower Book: Voice Like a Hyacinth

Voice Like a Hyacinth by Mallory Pearson

Amazon First Reads January 2025 (1/2)

Pages: 356 Genre: horror

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Kindle Highlights

Art student Jo Kozak adores her friends. The five women — Jo, Finch, Saz, Caroline, and Amrita — are all painters that share a bond like nobody else. And with the pressures of senior year looming over them, they will do anything to achieve their goals. Even if it means turning the occult at the expense of their esteemed-but-infamously-creepy professor. But the aftermath isn't what Jo was expecting, and she gets a lot more than she can bargain for. All she wanted was to keep her friends together, but forces even bigger than her seem to be out to destroy them.

I loved this book. While I was able to pick out some flaws, I really enjoyed reading this book. This is the exact kind of tortured and dramatic gay story that I find myself to be very fond of.

The biggest flaw with this book was how overt the narration could be at times. Jo would often repeat the same thoughts over and over in a way that was sometimes a bit too repetitive. I think it really would've benefitted from being condensed a bit more, because we didn't need a full monologue every chapter about Jo's unchanging feelings. There were also many moments where something would happen and it would be very immediately obvious that it was foreshadowing. It was as if the author was worried about the reader not picking up on important details, but I assure you, I would've.

Other than that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Jo was a very engaging main character to me. She was very flawed, but I found her mostly charming. And the book did a good job of bringing all the friends to life. Each felt well-loved and intentional, which I appreciated. I wouldn't call it an ensemble cast, but the book was only as good as it was because all of the characters were strongly written.

My favorite part of this book was how cinematic it was. I could so clearly see the author's vision. Everything really came to life as I was reading, from the setting to the character interactions to the general vibe.

I just really enjoyed this book. It was unsettling and tense and a little gross and uncomfortable but also so enticing. I'll be thinking about it long after I've read it.