This book was okay. I appreciated that the two main characters are queer because they just are. The beginning commentary on mind-numbing work at a bigThis book was okay. I appreciated that the two main characters are queer because they just are. The beginning commentary on mind-numbing work at a big box store and the way management can take line workers for granted was sharp, then the plot got a bit nonsensical but not in a good Alice way (at least not for me). The book is blessedly short. Book discussion later this week.
Merged review:
This book was okay. I appreciated that the two main characters are queer because they just are. The beginning commentary on mind-numbing work at a big box store and the way management can take line workers for granted was sharp, then the plot got a bit nonsensical but not in a good Alice way (at least not for me). The book is blessedly short. Book discussion later this week....more
Up, down, up. I was thoroughly intrigued by the beginning, then it got a little slow and draggy, then some cliched plot points happened, then some timUp, down, up. I was thoroughly intrigued by the beginning, then it got a little slow and draggy, then some cliched plot points happened, then some timey-wimey stuff I couldn't follow or didn't bother to follow, then the ending was good. I like the way the author puts phrases together, and I'm glad I read the book for one thing alone - a description of Guinness as tasting like "angry Marmite" which is hilarious.
I rounded up from 3.5 stars. I would definitely be interested in future books by the author and will watch the TV series whenever it is produced.
I like to read books set in Chicago, and I am fascinated by the tragedy of the Eastland, which isn't very well known compared to the Titanic. Despite I like to read books set in Chicago, and I am fascinated by the tragedy of the Eastland, which isn't very well known compared to the Titanic. Despite some misgivings I decided to read Drawn by the Current.
There were parts of it that I quite enjoyed. There are some strong scenes between the main character Olive and her love interest Erik. But the Eastland disaster is background noise. Like the movie Titanic, there is made up drama instead of focus on the real drama that was part of the disaster. There are so many real tragic and fascinating stories in the Eastland disaster, I don't get having to make them up. (There is even a Titanic-like bit of nonsense with someone shooting at two people on the Eastland.)
Also I had my usual problem with extremely religious Christian novels. I could hardly read the passages where the characters rely on their faith in God. Really, God saved you from the Eastland disaster but not the other 844 people who drowned? I guess they were all unworthy sinners. (*sarcasm*)
Note to self: this is my second attempt at reading a Jocelyn Green novel and she CLEARLY is not for me. ...more
This Is How You Lose the Time War won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction, the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2019, and the 2020 Hugo Award for This Is How You Lose the Time War won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction, the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2019, and the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
How. HOW. This book is in the running for the most pretentious book I've ever read. Despite multiple references to birds, which normally soften me toward even the worst books, I found this book unbearable. It's like spending time with your high school best friend who is obsessed with their new boyfriend/girlfriend/romantic partner, with a little Romeo and Juliet drama thrown in. Gag me with a spoon. Ugh ugh ugh. ...more
A Song to Drown Rivers might have made a fine short story, or even a novella. As a novel, I found it boring and repetitive. She’s beautiful; he’s beauA Song to Drown Rivers might have made a fine short story, or even a novella. As a novel, I found it boring and repetitive. She’s beautiful; he’s beautiful. She is so beautiful; he is so beautiful. I was not familiar with the story of Xishi and Fanli, but there is just not enough there there for a whole book.
There is some lovely writing in the book. But Xishi, Fanli, and Fuchai feel like characters in a fairy tale – not real people I can root for, or against.
I read an advance reader copy of A Song to Drown Rivers from Netgalley. ...more
This came up in a "you read that book, try this book" list and I thought, why not? It's been a long time since I read a young adult fantasy romance.
NoThis came up in a "you read that book, try this book" list and I thought, why not? It's been a long time since I read a young adult fantasy romance.
Now I remember why it's been a long time. Whoo boy. Every cliche in the book (except the romantic triangle, one small blessing). I think my favorite part was the hurricane followed by the earthquake while our romantic pair were sheltering in a cave in the middle of a battle. Where was the tsunami following the earthquake?
They both are undervalued by terrible parents, he is a bad boy who is really a good boy at heart, she is a plucky fighting princess better able to lead her people than her older brother. This is *fine* as a YA romance so I gave it three stars but I had so many issues with it.
Charlotte Sloane is a widowed lady of quality with a secret. She is a satirical cartoonist under a pen name. She uses her pen to cast light on injustiCharlotte Sloane is a widowed lady of quality with a secret. She is a satirical cartoonist under a pen name. She uses her pen to cast light on injustices and misbehavior. Circumstances bring her together with two orphaned guttersnipes who she comes to love as her own, and with the intimidating Earl of Wrexford. This series has a nice mix of mystery, historical details, and found family. The relationships feature romantic love, parental love, family love, and deep friendships.
The book that introduces these characters and other series regulars is Murder on Black Swan Lane, and book seven in the series is due out in September. This is a great time to start reading, because if you like the first book, you can move right on to the next, but the number of books already published is not intimidating. Set in Regency London, the author likes to spotlight legitimate scientific innovation of the time period. Real scientists make occasional appearances in her stories.
Book seven, Murder at the Merton Library, starts with the murder of an Oxford librarian. It deals with fallout from the Napoleonic wars and intrigue around competition to create a marine propulsion system utilizing steam engines. (If that sounds boring, don’t worry – the author makes it interesting.) The Regency details seem perfect, and the author believably makes her female characters as important to the action as the male characters. I’ve found some of the other books in the series a bit draggy at times, but this one moved along briskly for me.
This series is a lot of fun for the serious historical mystery reader. I read an advance reader copy of Murder at Merton Library from Netgalley. It is scheduled to be published on September 26. ...more
I've been dragging this ex-library book around for 20 years and finally decided to read it. It started out well - a mixture of Agatha Christie and MarI've been dragging this ex-library book around for 20 years and finally decided to read it. It started out well - a mixture of Agatha Christie and Mary Burchell. It's dated, of course, but engaging. Then it got kind of ridiculous, and ended with the model heroine participating in a runway wedding and finding the man she loves/hates posing as the groom. Eyeroll. And seriously, you don't like your butler and he actually threatens you and you just keep letting him butle? Also (spoiler) the parrot dies. ...more
A mixture of lovely, lyrical nature writing... and rampant racism. I'm sure the author felt he was being very broad-minded, writing a star-crossed lovA mixture of lovely, lyrical nature writing... and rampant racism. I'm sure the author felt he was being very broad-minded, writing a star-crossed love story of a white man and a native Canadian woman, but we are expected to be outraged that whites are prejudiced against Kanina because she was raised by good, clean, educated white people. She is not dirty, ignorant, and backward like her own native people are. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
Even without the disturbing racism I would not be happy with this book. The last 100 pages contain a whole lot of melodrama (view spoiler)[(his mother dies doing a favor for him, his father decides his wife was an evil woman when he learns of letters between her and an old beau, Rory's colleague's tame birds are all set free into the snow to die by a spiteful janitor, Kanina nearly starves to death and her mother does, she and her father eat the dog, and worst of all, the goose who is the "strange one" has a terrible flight back to Canada and is badly injured - don't tell me that goose is going to survive in the wild). (hide spoiler)] Also, all that waiting for Rory and Kanina to get together, and the book ends before it happens. A shared look, the book ends, and I guess we are supposed to assume that love conquers all. Do NOT recommend. ...more
I've read this multiple times but apparently not recently. This book has it all - a great story, great settings, great characters, action, bravery, hiI've read this multiple times but apparently not recently. This book has it all - a great story, great settings, great characters, action, bravery, history, romance....more
I read and enjoyed the book when it came out. I loved the recent Masterpiece Theatre TV production and decided to listen to the audiobook.
The audiobooI read and enjoyed the book when it came out. I loved the recent Masterpiece Theatre TV production and decided to listen to the audiobook.
The audiobook narrators are good, but this is one of the instances where the adaptation is actually better than the book, in my opinion. Horowitz adapted it himself, and he did a great job reworking the story to be tighter and more interesting. And the casting is brilliant....more
This book is definitely a book of its time. Disaster, people dying, people killing each other, mortal peril - but young love and angst is real, y'all!This book is definitely a book of its time. Disaster, people dying, people killing each other, mortal peril - but young love and angst is real, y'all! The swoony teen love was quite eye rolly at times. The best relationship was between Kady and her fellow hacker Byron.
Much of the plot was pretty cliched. The book is told through messages and logs etc., and that is not the best format for an audiobook. The cast did a good job, but I definitely missed things (like the fact that the teen hacker's screen name is ByteMe, not BiteMe). I listened to just over half the book, and then we got to the raving mad sentient artificial intelligence with feelings and I could not take it anymore. I switched to print for the rest of the book. The violent mass murdering was not great to listen to either. The authors kept introducing characters for us to become interested in and then killed them.
For some reason (because the book is marketed to teens maybe), there is supposed to be no swearing, so the bad words are blacked out in print. In the audio, the words were sort of pronounced but swallowed, which was super super annoying. They should have said them, skipped them, or substituted other "safer" expletives.
So yeah, I'm finished and I'm glad. Not going on to book two.
Super fun and enjoyable fantasy steampunk retelling of Shop Around the Corner/You've Got Mail.Super fun and enjoyable fantasy steampunk retelling of Shop Around the Corner/You've Got Mail....more
Don’t let this book’s unwieldy and somewhat misleading title put you off - it’s a ton of fun. The story is written (mostly) as Emily Wilde’s journal, Don’t let this book’s unwieldy and somewhat misleading title put you off - it’s a ton of fun. The story is written (mostly) as Emily Wilde’s journal, not as the encyclopaedia she is writing. She is a very serious-minded scholar who knows more about the fae than members of the fae themselves. She has worked very hard to be taken seriously as a researcher. The closest person she has to a friend is another scholar, named Wendell Bambleby, who is popular and charming but seems to sail through life with a minimum of work. She is both fond of him and mildly resentful of how easy things seem to be for him.
With her somewhat unnatural dog in tow, she travels to a remote Scandinavian village to investigate the fae of the north. She makes some big mistakes with the locals, as she understands the fae much better than she understands human beings. When Wendell arrives unexpectedly, it becomes clear to the reader but not Emily herself that Wendell’s interest in Emily is not just scholarly.
This book is not particularly original, but the author puts some nice twists of her own on the stories and legends of faerie. Some perilous things happen – as they do in all good fairy tales - but this is a book that left me in a good mood. The author really painted pictures for me of the various places (both real and magical) that Emily visits, and of the human townsfolk and the various magical creatures and people. I very much enjoyed the “it takes a village” mentality that is needed to bring all right in the world by the end. It’s okay to be both a capable independent woman and someone who has friends she can rely on.
This book reminded me of Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series. It’s an entertaining romp that needn’t be taken too seriously. I’ve seen some indication that this is book one in a series, and I will look forward to book two. I read an advance reader copy of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries from Netgalley....more
This is not the book for me, or I'm not the reader for this book.
I'm either too old for this or maybe it's just that I grew up at a different time. I This is not the book for me, or I'm not the reader for this book.
I'm either too old for this or maybe it's just that I grew up at a different time. I found it boring and predictable, with way too much emphasis on sex, body parts that want nibbling, and impressive bulges to be interesting. There seemed to be a significant number of words being used in a way they are only defined in the Urban Dictionary. About two thirds of the way through, Muriel and Oz discover sex with each other, and I'm sure there are readers that will find every graphic word fascinating, but to me it was like when your friends keep making out no matter where they are. Engrossing for them, boring for you.
There's some stuff about finding your power and learning to value yourself even when others don't. If that plus hot sex with a demon sounds great to you, this book may be just your jam.
I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley. ...more
This author was recommended to me by a fellow romance reader, and I appreciate the recommendation because you never know if you are missing out on a wThis author was recommended to me by a fellow romance reader, and I appreciate the recommendation because you never know if you are missing out on a writer that you will love.
I did not love Second Thyme Around. It's competently written, but the heroine is a drudge and slob who is nonetheless gorgeous (but she would be even more so if she would just let the girls from Ronnie's health farm provide her with some beauty services!). The hero is a monster and a liar who blames the heroine for the fact that he cheated on her when they were married. It's right there on page 227: "How can I possibly have anything to do with it? I loved you, I was faithful to you. How can it have been my fault, in any way?" "You didn't fight back, Perdita. You didn't demand that I was faithful, you didn't curse me for bringing colleagues home unexpectedly. You let me get away with murder....If you hadn't put up with so much bad behaviour, I might have stopped behaving badly. You should have thrown me out when I came home smelling of other women, made me see what I stood to lose by abusing our relationship."
No. Just no.
I guess we are just supposed to go along with the assumption that great smoldering attractive chefs have tempers but are worth it. We are told but not shown that they exchange a lot of sparkling dialog and burn up the screen when they are cast together in a British cooking TV show. They almost have rage sex when she threatens him with a knife and then bites him, and she wonders "if he would bite her back or knock her senseless with the back of his hand." (p. 153) He then threatens to slap her if she doesn't stop, and they kiss "as if they hated each other," but apparently we are supposed to admire his restraint because he stops them from actually having sexual intercourse. I am not a fan of rage sex (or almost rage sex).
Not an author I'm likely to read again. Sorry, my friend. :)...more
Moody and atmospheric, with breadcrumbs of magic and mystery and .... hey, I'm halfway done and nothing has happened. You can't build a great story juMoody and atmospheric, with breadcrumbs of magic and mystery and .... hey, I'm halfway done and nothing has happened. You can't build a great story just on moodiness and atmosphere. It's terrific to have mystery and magic in a thriller but there also has to be, you know, some thrill. There just wasn't enough thrill in this for me to recommend it.
Also there was too much Bella and Edward in Emery and August for my liking. This isn't advertised as YA but it feels very YA.
The last 20 pages or so were good. This could have made a strong short story.
I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley. ...more
Settle down on your comfy sofa with a nice cup of tea and an animal companion and sink into the restful comfort to be found in The Very Secret SocietySettle down on your comfy sofa with a nice cup of tea and an animal companion and sink into the restful comfort to be found in The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. In the author’s acknowledgments, Mandanna notes, “When I started writing this book, we were eight months into the pandemic and all I wanted to work on was a warm, cozy, romantic story about magic and family. A story that was, above all things, about love and human connection.” It’s safe to say that she succeeded in her goal.
The main character is Mika Moon, an orphan who was born in India but raised in England. Through a series of unlikely events, she finds herself hired as a tutor for three unrelated young witches of color by their nonmagical guardians. The household includes two gay men in their 80s who have been a couple for many long years, a middle-aged housekeeper, and a suspicious 30ish librarian who ran away from his own unhappy family as a teenager. Mika arrives with her energetic dog and her magical pond of fish. After Mika unpacks way more belongings than could possibly have fit in her car, one of the girls says approvingly, “That was some excellent Mary Poppins shit right there.” (p. 47 of the ARC)
For Good Reasons, witches all over the world avoid each other’s company, meeting only occasionally and in secrecy. This is a safe practice, but one that leads to a lot of loneliness. Mika is both lonely and afraid to get attached to this unusual household, and Secrets Are Being Kept that will cause stress and anguish before we arrive at our happily ever after.
I loved the oh-so-English setting and the way the magic was visible as gold dust. There’s nothing especially original about this book, and the plot moves along a mostly predictable course, but it’s a lovely found family story. You’ll wish you too could move in to Nowhere House.
I read an advance reader copy of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches from Netgalley. ...more
This book was fine. It will most be enjoyed by fans of repetitive young adult fantasy romance with more action than character development, and readersThis book was fine. It will most be enjoyed by fans of repetitive young adult fantasy romance with more action than character development, and readers who like novelizations of games.
The story is mostly formulaic and unimaginative (with a character named King Roi - King King, really?). The narrative reminds me a lot of the books of R.A. Salvatore, but without the compelling character of Drizzt. It feels like it is based on a game (or perhaps the author would like to see it become a game). I haven't read the first three books and it felt to me like there was a lot of unnecessary filling in of backstory from previous books.
I dub this fun and forgettable. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I'd read the first three books in the series, but I doubt it.
I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley....more
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