3.5 stars? Not quite as twee as the first in the series, so yay. I liked that the leads have a really good, unique connection, but the story felt a li3.5 stars? Not quite as twee as the first in the series, so yay. I liked that the leads have a really good, unique connection, but the story felt a little underdeveloped. Not my favorite from Roan Parrish overall, but there's still enough spark to her books there to keep me coming back!...more
Heck YES this was just as amazing as the first one. I haven't been in a can't-put-it-down love affair with a book in a solid 3 months, so this was likHeck YES this was just as amazing as the first one. I haven't been in a can't-put-it-down love affair with a book in a solid 3 months, so this was like a balm to my soul. Full review to come after I've done some pondering...more
I have a hard time with romcoms a lot of the time because I don't... really like funny books? At least not the kind that feel like they're actively trI have a hard time with romcoms a lot of the time because I don't... really like funny books? At least not the kind that feel like they're actively trying to break beyond the occasional appreciative smirk into full-on sustained laughter. So when a funny book does get me, it feels like the exception to the rule, and if any author is an exception to just about every rule I've got, it's Alexis Hall.
The reason his brand of funny works for me is that the main characters and the way they relate to each other never feel like the punchline. There may be ridiculous conversations or side characters or what have you, but the things that actually matter are solid. The emotions are all real.
And that's true here as it always is. You've got two people who are messed up and neurotic in their own ways figuring out how to be together gradually under the guise of a fake boyfriend situation, and it just worked for me. I was invested in these people, I was IN IT. I couldn't put this freaking book down, which is saying a lot these days.
And yes, I laughed, because Hall does situational social comedy with the best of them (even though one character in particular reminded me a little too much of the too stupid to live beefcake secretary, Kevin, from the 2016 Ghostbusters movie) But what keeps me coming back to Hall's books is his ability to portray emotionally vulnerability and intimacy like few other authors can.
While this won't overtake For Real or Waiting For The Flood for the top spots in my heart, it was still super enjoyable and compulsively readable!...more
I often have the hardest time reviewing the books I love the most. I'm tempted to just be like, "It made me cry. That's it, that's the whole review. 5I often have the hardest time reviewing the books I love the most. I'm tempted to just be like, "It made me cry. That's it, that's the whole review. 5 stars." But I think maybe I need to go a little deeper for this one.
So first off, I picked this up because a lot of the reviewers I trust were suddenly popping up giving it great reviews, so I went into it with an open mind but knowing I'd likely dig it. And of course I did; it was everything I hoped for and more- achingly beautiful, masterfully crafted, thoughtful, unique, quiet yet fierce. I think I would have liked it at any time in my life.
But it hasn't come at any time in my life. It's come during the midst of this quarantine nightmare, a time when I haven't been able to finish a book to save my life. A time when my fairly routine thoughts about the impermanence of life have shifted dramatically beyond the merely philosophical and into bone-deep neuroses. Breakdown level, for sure.
And in the midst of that, this book gave me a little window into a world that perfectly spoke to all those fears while also adding in so much tenderness and poignancy, and the soothing, healing perspective of time. There's one point in particular that now, more than a month after reading it, can still can bring me to tears in about a second flat- not the kind of tears that raw tragedy brings, the kind that come from the resonance you sometimes find with books that perfectly speak to your experience of life, its beauty and its pain, softened to a bittersweet suffusion that is somehow bearable and even welcome.
I don't want to spoil anything because it's such a spare thing at 112 pages, so I'm just going to wrap this up by saying that this book touched me deeply, and it sits with Kai Ashante Wilson's books, with Octavia Butler, with Circe and with This is How You Lose the Time War, and all of the other books that have found their way into the deepest parts of me....more
Like a sweetly sappy, PG-rated Hallmark movie. The first half is great and nicely crushy, but I eventually found it a little disappointing that the MCLike a sweetly sappy, PG-rated Hallmark movie. The first half is great and nicely crushy, but I eventually found it a little disappointing that the MC spends more time interacting with his best friend than with the love interest (by like a factor of 4). Also, while I identify with stories about people insecure about their weight, I found the level of ego boosting the love interest has to do to convince the MC that he indeed does find him attractive to be a little cringey....more
That definitely put my heart through the ringer! It's much more angsty and less fluffy than Talia Hibbert's books tend to run. The two leads are very That definitely put my heart through the ringer! It's much more angsty and less fluffy than Talia Hibbert's books tend to run. The two leads are very distinct, memorable characters with their unique sets of issues; Olu is a total mess but he splits it all up nicely with some well-placed humor (though I wouldn't call the narrative funny overall), and Griff is a cinnamon roll whose particular insecurities really struck a chord with me.
My only criticisms are that it felt a little unbalanced- sometimes the angsty bits felt a little too unrelentingly tense, and then once that shifts beyond the beginning stages of uncertainty it feels a little too obvious that everything's going to work out- and the writing sometimes felt aggressively romantic and flowery for my taste.
Overall, though, very well done for Hibbert's first mm romance!...more
Absolutely wonderful story! The first part of the story clearly and compassionately shows how Aidan was mistaken for a girl when he was born, but how Absolutely wonderful story! The first part of the story clearly and compassionately shows how Aidan was mistaken for a girl when he was born, but how he is now recognized for who he is. The story then shifts to talking about how he is soon going to be a big brother, and how he wants to make sure that the same mistake isn't made for his new baby sibling. This does a great job of talking about how mistakes will be made, but love is the important part! Very well done and warm-hearted :)...more
I mostly picked this book up because of the gorgeous cover and the Jeff VanderMeer comparison in the blurb, both of which are A+ strategies for gettinI mostly picked this book up because of the gorgeous cover and the Jeff VanderMeer comparison in the blurb, both of which are A+ strategies for getting me interested in reading something. I'm a total sucker for books that are generally a) strange or surreal in a WTF sort of way, b) have a supernatural premise, and c) are written in a vaguely literary style.
I'm starting to think that I need to stop getting lured in with that bait, though, because while this checks all my boxes on a superficial level, it really failed in a lot of essential ways.
I mean, there are definitely things I liked about it; the writing really pulled me in and I was pretty engaged up until the final act. I love that it doesn't assume default whiteness/straightness (the main character, Trina, is a 51-year-old Native American trans woman in a long term relationship with a woman, for instance).
I also loved the whole setup for this world and a lot of the ideas that it introduces. The majority of the book is set 20 years after an amorphous alien species called The Seep first entered our water system. Once they infiltrated or bodies, they showed us that they just want to help us be happy, and that we are all connected- to each other, to the Earth and the animals and plants- and that violence and capitalism are silly.
A "soft" alien invasion where is seems as though the aliens only want to give humans everything they desire? Heck yes, sign me up!
Overall, though, I had huge problems with the execution.
I'll give one example that I think most clearly illustrates what I found so frustrating about this book. (view spoiler)[First, you need to know that The Seep make humans feel the lives and deaths of the things they eat, which fundamentally changes how people consume food. One way this plays out is that Trina is a vegetarian or vegan (it's not made totally clear), which makes sense. But how else does this play out in the story?
There's one striking scene where we see a woman sitting on a park bench crying as she eats little live fish one by one. Morbid, right? I was spooked, I was intrigued.
So given our setup, Trina should immediately know at least one reason why the fish lady is upset, right? Meat is murder and all that. Seems like an excellent place to show how The Seep informs Trina's understanding of the world around her and the actions of this woman, particularly because she has had several decades to get used to the intricacies of this reality.
Nope. She apparently has no idea why the woman might be upset and has to ask her what's wrong.
Uh... ok?
Well, maybe we can at least explore why this woman is eating these fish when it's obviously causing her so much distress? There are some interesting possibilities for looking at how people have reacted under this alien influence. Maybe we'll explore the idea that humans need pain to feel human? Or how living in a Utopia might compromise some folks' mental well-being? Something?
Nope. No deeper meaning here. Zero, nada, zilch.
So without using this scene to actually tell us anything, then, it becomes gimmicky. It becomes empty shock value.
And this is the crux - this book's sense of creepiness and weirdness feels too centered in our world today, in our normal reactions to our normal world. That event would be fucked up in the here and now and that's why we read it as deeply wrong. Sure, it takes on an extra level of fucked when you consider that the person is feeling each of the fishes' deaths. But the story doesn't DO anything with it. We get a base level creep out moment without ever exploring any of the implications.
That's my problem with the whole book- it's all style over substance. There are just so many missed opportunities here for exploring the complexities of this radically changed world.
Like-
Does it explore the complex emotions a trans person might have if they were suddenly able to alter their body easily and without consequence? Nope.
Does it look at what happens to the people who don't imbibe The Seep? Nope.
Does it look at how the lives of anyone except the super bougie are changed? Nope (why this book promises "searing social commentary" I have no idea).
Do we see character growth at pivotal moments? Nope. We see the night of the seep, then fast forward 20 years. We see the main character's wife leaving her, then fast forward 5 years. We are constantly skipping over the parts that matter.
My second main complaint is the ending. I am ok with weird, surreal endings that don't really make sense if they feel intentional on the part of the author, and if they actually fit with the rest of the story. For example, I reached the end of the Southern Reach series with SO MANY questions, but the ending was all so in-line with everything that had come to that point that I couldn't bring myself to be upset. I wouldn't have expected anything different. These unanswered questions didn't feel like a lack of vision, they felt like they were fundamentally unknowable.
I'm not ok with a weird, surreal ending, though, that just feels like the author didn't quite know where to go with it or how to make it work. This ending felt like a bit of dramatic hand waving, hoping the reader won't notice that it's as holey as Swiss cheese. It also tried to convince me, after absolutely no character growth or emotional development, that the main character suddenly works through her mountain of shit. The whole thing felt abrupt and unearned in the extreme. (hide spoiler)]
The finale also has a jarring tonal shift that I thought was entirely unsuccessful, taking it to a comedic, surreal place when the narrative up to that point had been actually quite serious and concrete. It just utterly failed in almost every way for me.
I'm giving it one extra star for being very readable and having interesting ideas and imagery, but that's where it ends....more
4.5 stars! Delightful, quick novella set in an alternate 1914 where Cairo is one of the top powers of the world and humans coexist alongside a host of4.5 stars! Delightful, quick novella set in an alternate 1914 where Cairo is one of the top powers of the world and humans coexist alongside a host of otherworldly beings that were released into the world 40 years prior.
It's a testament to how well done this book is that I loved it despite the fact that it is full of things that would normally completely turn me off: a detective as a main character (ugh), a central murder mystery (snooze), and a steampunk setting (overplayed). Yet none of these things bothered me one wit because they are all done in such a fascinating, gorgeously original way. I loved it all!
The only thing keeping it from being a 5-star is that it felt a scoach too short and easily resolved. That said, though, I'm definitely going to be reading more by this author!...more
Edit: I'm knocking this down a star because the most I can muster for it now is a general "oh that book... Yeah I guess it was pretty good...". I thinEdit: I'm knocking this down a star because the most I can muster for it now is a general "oh that book... Yeah I guess it was pretty good...". I think others have been better able to put words to its various issues, but it mostly comes down to flat characterizations and a lack of true, compelling emotion for me. The writing and world building are gorgeous, though!
3.5 stars. Beautifully written historical fantasy full of mystery, magical doorways, and wild, fierce women.
There are just two things that stop me from going full on rave mode; first is that it's told as a story-within-a-story, which is a narrative device that I don't particular love (I find that it tends to slow things down, and in this case it felt a bit info dumpy at times), and second is that the end lacked something emotionally for me.
Overall solid though, would recommend. Especially if you're like me and love magical doorways and feminist tales...more
3.5 stars. Extremely cute, a little highlight reel-y. It feels like you're just peeking in on this hockey team every so often, and it frequently cuts 3.5 stars. Extremely cute, a little highlight reel-y. It feels like you're just peeking in on this hockey team every so often, and it frequently cuts away right when some major character development is about to happen. Kind of frustrating....more
I have mixed feelings about this one. I decided to give it a shot despite not being into murder mysteries because it sounded super interesting (a non I have mixed feelings about this one. I decided to give it a shot despite not being into murder mysteries because it sounded super interesting (a non magical private investigator is asked to solve the murder of a teacher at the magical academy where her estranged sister works), and there are a lot of things I really liked about it.
The setup is great, obviously, and the writing is top notch. It's snappy and well-crafted, really giving a nice feel to this P.I. story without ever going too ham on it. For example:
Across the bay, San Francisco bled money like an unzipped artery. Those who had been privileged enough to have their buckets out to catch the spray drove back over the water to Oakland-- from The City to The Town. They bumped aside people who had been living in these neighborhoods for generations, and they tore down storefronts, and they built brunch pubs with wood reclaimed from the houses they were remodeling.
The character development for the main character, Ivy, is also so clear and fleshed out that it gave me all sorts of feelings.
The problem? Those feelings were not always good in the later stages of the book. She starts out so sympathetic! I wanted good things for this stunted woman who was having to face this world that she had never been, and would never be, a part of. Her defensive reactions to this pain, to the mages' total and utter indifference toward her, are just so spot-on.
But at a certain point she starts letting her desperate desire to belong drive her into making some really awful decisions. Just really unwise, y'all. She goes from being believably sad sack but still smart, to being honestly kind of pathetic.
The closest real-world example I can come up with is like when that popular person who bullied you in high school tries to friend you years later on Facebook, but instead of gleefully (or indifferently) denying the request, Ivy is that person who's flattered and validated and starts spinning fairytales about how they're going to be best friends. And we're talking about a woman in her mid thirties here.
I also had some issues with the mystery being too simple, with several of the pivotal clues just being stumbled upon. I admittedly don't know the genre well, but this seems... not ideal. The romance also felt very out of place (although the love interest was a total peach), and there were ideas I wanted to see explored that were just dropped (consent!!).
I had to think about the main thing that bugged me overall and I think it's this: the book was determined to stay lighthearted even though there are some big, deep ideas that I personally feel should have been treated with more gravitas. There are some pretty dark implications to some of the magic that the author shies away from exploring, and I feel that the actions of the characters are treated too lightly.
I ended the book feeling like, "No, this person can't just go on with their life!" "No, that person can't just have that relationship back after what they did!" There are characters that are just going to call it a day and be able to sleep at night, and I hate it.
I will say that overall I do think it's a worthwhile read, though, and I think a lot of people are really going to really like it. It's got a great premise, great writing, a very complete characterization of Ivy, and an overall fan-fucking-tastic first half. It's just that I also wanted to brain Ivy on the nearest hard surface at times, the mystery lacked complexity, and the conclusion didn't quite sit well with me....more
3.5 stars, rounded up because Garrett Leigh is always there for when I need an angsty-but-not-melodramatic romance about damaged-but-essentially-good 3.5 stars, rounded up because Garrett Leigh is always there for when I need an angsty-but-not-melodramatic romance about damaged-but-essentially-good people that's not tragedy porn and that deals with tough subjects (addiction, poverty, mental illness, disability) in relatively sensitive ways. They're never my absolute favorite, but they reliably work for me and there's always a few I haven't read waiting in the wings....more
This was fascinating and original and so, so beautiful. Rivers Solomon has this amazing talent for writing about incredibly painful topics in a way thThis was fascinating and original and so, so beautiful. Rivers Solomon has this amazing talent for writing about incredibly painful topics in a way that makes them feel bearable. Instead of being overwhelmed with dread, I'm all tender and open and ready to receive the devastating gut punch of sorrow and joy when it inevitably comes.
While this obviously touched me deeply, it also made me think a lot about things like loneliness, community and our responsibilities to each other, and the things we gain from validating and sharing each other's pain. Just wow. There's not much more that I can say other than I loved it....more
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