2025 Snowflake Challenge, Day 12: Recs extravaganza!

snowflake_challenge, Day 12: Create a rec countdown.

Like a number of the other respondents, I'm not going to do a countdown. Also, not going to say you "should" consume something or whatever. They're just recs. ;)

Books

Fiction
Before She Was Helen (Caroline B. Cooney) - Clemmie lives in a retirement community and happens upon what turns out to be the scene of a murder. Throughout the book, she becomes anxious that her past is going to come back to haunt her, and that the life she's fashioned for herself over the decades is going to evaporate. (Additional warnings that I recall: rape, stalking)

The Blue Castle (Lucy Maud Montgomery) - In her late twenties, Valancy Stirling is held back and chastized by her relatives in various ways. But upon receiving news that she has only about a year to live, Valancy decides to take matters into her own hands and start giving fewer shits/damns/fucks/cares about her relatives and what they think of her, and create a life for herself.

Evil Eye (Etaf Rum) - Sort of in a similar vein to her debut novel, A Woman Is No Man (which I also recommend), but different. Yara is married with two children and works as a college art teacher, but as much as she thinks she should be happy because of her situation, she still experiences pangs of anger for an unknown reason. When she is fired from her job for calling out a racist colleague, she is forced to confront her present and past. Is she cursed, like her mother would lead her to believe? Or is it something else entirely? (Warnings for both: abuse, discussion of intergenerational trauma. Additional domestic violence and character death warnings for A Woman Is No Man)

Non-Fiction
Beyond Survival (edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha) - A collection of essays focused on transformative justice and how it can look in various settings.

The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover (Lerone A. Martin) - A look at J. Edgar Hoover and how his co-optation of Christianity and his directorship of the FBI in the US aided the rise of white Christian nationalism.

Exvangelical + Beyond (Blake Chastain) - A look at the history of evangelical Christianity in the US as well as the rise of the Exvangelical movement, interspersed with snippets of Blake's own story.

Fanfiction

The Affair of the Command Performance (6853 words) by Gray Cardinal
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Muppet Show
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Kermit the Frog, Statler (Muppets), Waldorf (Muppets), Sweetums (Muppets), Scooter (Muppets), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker (Muppets), Rowlf the Dog, Baskerville (Muppets), Rizzo the Rat
Additional Tags: Musical, Songs, Stealth Crossover

Summary: Holmes and Watson are invited to an evening at the theater - only to find themselves guests at an unexpected celebration with an even more unexpected mystery behind it, and an even more unlikely performance as its featured climax.

Comment: A crossover that I didn't know I wanted or needed until graycardinal wrote and submitted it for holmestice June 2024. So delightful!

Walking Clothes (1173 words) by Vulgarweed
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Watson and Holmes (Comics), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Irene Adlero/Jeffrey Norton
Characters: Irene Adlero (Watson and Holmes), Jeffrey Norton (Watson and Holmes), Original Character
Additional Tags: Genderfluid Character, Questioning, music business, fashion - Freeform, Gender Presentation

Summary: As Irene Adlero's career clears the runway and takes off at high speed, there comes a time to explore a few things.

venusinthenight's prompt (from the 2021 Winter round): "I'd love to see some deeper exploration in regards to Irene Adler, specifically how she presents herself to the world and when she presents herself in certain ways. A bit of ACD Canon's Irene that I'm not sure has been explored (much) in more modern adaptations is how the Canon idea of her going out in "men's" clothing would be adapted to the present day, and whether she'd still identify as a cis woman or as a different gender altogether."

Comment: I am still super stoked that

vulgarweed wrote this for me!

not mad yet (15354 words) by Ibijau
Chapters: 7/7
Fandom: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Relationships: Bertha Mason/original character
Characters: Bertha Mason, Grace Poole, Adèle Varens, Jane Eyre
Additional Tags: domestic abuse, Implied marital rape, Abusive Relationships, Rats, Homophobia, Internalized Misogyny, Freeform, Past Relationship(s), One-Sided Attraction, Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Up to a point anyway, Bertha deserved better

Summary: It's been a week, and Bertha screams when she sees a rat
It's been two years, and the rats have names

Comment: I first attempted to read Jane Eyre in high school and ended up abandoning it for whatever reason. I finally read it in 2022. While it ended up being a good read, I believed that Bertha deserved far better than what she got. Scrolling through the book tag on AO3, up came this fic by Ibijau that gives her a more fully fleshed-out backstory, a personality, and a happy ending.