Nico
As someone on GRs said, “no plot just vibes,” but even the vibes were a miss for me. I felt like I was kept at arms-length. It’s an interesting premise, but I never was wowed by Penny, Dallergut or the store, and - maybe because of the state of my cold, dark heart - I never felt my heartstrings pulled, even though I craved it. My favorite of the stories were about the customers addressing their trauma and the musician struggling with inspiration, but even those felt too brief and just at surface level. I just felt nothing with this one.
Penny gets a job at the Dallergut Dream Department store, a place where you can purchase dreams ranging from meeting a celebrity to seeing a family member who has passed. Told in a series of vignettes, you follow Penny as she bumbles and learns the ropes while interacting with customers.
I think fans of When the Coffee Gets Cold might enjoy this or vice versa, folks who enjoy the cozy subgenre, or *maybe* light novels (I’m pretty ignorant about these, but this somewhat reminded me of light novel The Haunted Bookstore by Shinobumaru - maybe it was just the cutsy protagonist in the vignette style, though I prefer that one).
As someone on GRs said, “no plot just vibes,” but even the vibes were a miss for me. I felt like I was kept at arms-length. It’s an interesting premise, but I never was wowed by Penny, Dallergut or the store, and - maybe because of the state of my cold, dark heart - I never felt my heartstrings pulled, even though I craved it. My favorite of the stories were about the customers addressing their trauma and the musician struggling with inspiration, but even those felt too brief and just at surface level. I just felt nothing with this one.
Penny gets a job at the Dallergut Dream Department store, a place where you can purchase dreams ranging from meeting a celebrity to seeing a family member who has passed. Told in a series of vignettes, you follow Penny as she bumbles and learns the ropes while interacting with customers.
I think fans of When the Coffee Gets Cold might enjoy this or vice versa, folks who enjoy the cozy subgenre, or *maybe* light novels (I’m pretty ignorant about these, but this somewhat reminded me of light novel The Haunted Bookstore by Shinobumaru - maybe it was just the cutsy protagonist in the vignette style, though I prefer that one).
Books 2 and 3 of the Morrigan Crow series were a light in between most of the listens I’ve been begrudgingly tackling recently and I devoured them because I just couldn’t with the others.
Wundersmith focuses on Morrigan in her first year with her cohort - sisters and brothers for life - yet it seems most everyone, cohort and teachers alike, is against her and believes she is dangerous. She is bolstered and validated by Jupiter, the staff at the Hotel Deucalion and her BFF Hawthorne. Blackmail to her cohort to keep her secret isn’t helping, people around her are going missing, and she gets multiple surprise visits from the evil Wundersmith. How will Morrigan make it through her first year?
Books 2 and 3 of the Morrigan Crow series were a light in between most of the listens I’ve been begrudgingly tackling recently and I devoured them because I just couldn’t with the others.
Wundersmith focuses on Morrigan in her first year with her cohort - sisters and brothers for life - yet it seems most everyone, cohort and teachers alike, is against her and believes she is dangerous. She is bolstered and validated by Jupiter, the staff at the Hotel Deucalion and her BFF Hawthorne. Blackmail to her cohort to keep her secret isn’t helping, people around her are going missing, and she gets multiple surprise visits from the evil Wundersmith. How will Morrigan make it through her first year?
I’m pretty sure this will be a cozy read for most readers - lightly adventurous traveling story, friendship and a cat! I consumed the audio of this between some more aggravating reads and found it very relaxing and soothing. I loved the sweets descriptions and it made me hungry every time. Just noting there is some racism, an estranged family relationship and a missing child.
Tao, a Shinarian, travels Esthera in her cart with her donkey companion reading small fortunes to residents of the towns she visits. At one stop, she tells small fortunes that change the trajectory of her future and begrudgingly welcomes new traveling companions.
Cat satisfaction rating: 🐈🐈🐈 out of 5. Love that there’s a mundane cat, but not enough cat cuteness or other cat behaviors, and why is he always craving sweets and other carbs?! It distracted me everytime!
I’m pretty sure this will be a cozy read for most readers - lightly adventurous traveling story, friendship and a cat! I consumed the audio of this between some more aggravating reads and found it very relaxing and soothing. I loved the sweets descriptions and it made me hungry every time. Just noting there is some racism, an estranged family relationship and a missing child.
Tao, a Shinarian, travels Esthera in her cart with her donkey companion reading small fortunes to residents of the towns she visits. At one stop, she tells small fortunes that change the trajectory of her future and begrudgingly welcomes new traveling companions.
Cat satisfaction rating: 🐈🐈🐈 out of 5. Love that there’s a mundane cat, but not enough cat cuteness or other cat behaviors, and why is he always craving sweets and other carbs?! It distracted me everytime!
Mostly audiobook review- Clearly I’m in the minority of negative opinions about this book, but I do think that folks looking for own-voices Black-American YA fantasy fiction, positive adoption rep or queer family rep might want to check this out.
City kid Briseis is a teenager who can help plants grow. Her moms (plant shop owners) know, but she has strained relationships with her friends who don’t understand her and want her to distance herself from the world of plants. While she’s thinking about applying for college, she learns she’s inherited a mysterious mansion and ultimately finds it has secrets.
Oooookay, my issues. I found the plot to be slow and it takes so long to build on the gothic atmosphere, mysteries, and stakes. There’s a fair bit of repetitive and one-dimensional writing, dialogue, and characters — and it doesn’t translate well on audio IMO. I mean there’s just so many times you can listen to “I said,” over and over again (my point was 81% when I switched to e-book). If the writing was better OR the book’s plot and characters tightened up this could have been at least 3-stars from me - I think it just needed more editing. There’s more griping I could add, but I’ll just say I face-palmed myself SO many times and the romance was only based on “she’s so pretty,” (spoiler below)
even when Briseis learns about the age gap — vomit.
Mostly audiobook review- Clearly I’m in the minority of negative opinions about this book, but I do think that folks looking for own-voices Black-American YA fantasy fiction, positive adoption rep or queer family rep might want to check this out.
City kid Briseis is a teenager who can help plants grow. Her moms (plant shop owners) know, but she has strained relationships with her friends who don’t understand her and want her to distance herself from the world of plants. While she’s thinking about applying for college, she learns she’s inherited a mysterious mansion and ultimately finds it has secrets.
Oooookay, my issues. I found the plot to be slow and it takes so long to build on the gothic atmosphere, mysteries, and stakes. There’s a fair bit of repetitive and one-dimensional writing, dialogue, and characters — and it doesn’t translate well on audio IMO. I mean there’s just so many times you can listen to “I said,” over and over again (my point was 81% when I switched to e-book). If the writing was better OR the book’s plot and characters tightened up this could have been at least 3-stars from me - I think it just needed more editing. There’s more griping I could add, but I’ll just say I face-palmed myself SO many times and the romance was only based on “she’s so pretty,” (spoiler below)
even when Briseis learns about the age gap — vomit.
Mostly audiobook review- Clearly I’m in the minority of negative opinions about this book, but I do think that folks looking for own-voices Black-American YA fantasy fiction, positive adoption rep or queer family rep might want to check this out.
City kid Briseis is a teenager who can help plants grow. Her moms (plant shop owners) know, but she has strained relationships with her friends who don’t understand her and want her to distance herself from the world of plants. While she’s thinking about applying for college, she learns she’s inherited a mysterious mansion and ultimately finds it has secrets.
Oooookay, my issues. I found the plot to be slow and it takes so long to build on the gothic atmosphere, mysteries, and stakes. There’s a fair bit of repetitive and one-dimensional writing, dialogue, and characters — and it doesn’t translate well on audio IMO. I mean there’s just so many times you can listen to “I said,” over and over again (my point was 81% when I switched to e-book). If the writing was better OR the book’s plot and characters tightened up this could have been at least 3-stars from me - I think it just needed more editing. There’s more griping I could add, but I’ll just say I face-palmed myself SO many times and the romance was only based on “she’s so pretty,” (spoiler below)
even when Briseis learns about the age gap — vomit.
Mostly audiobook review- Clearly I’m in the minority of negative opinions about this book, but I do think that folks looking for own-voices Black-American YA fantasy fiction, positive adoption rep or queer family rep might want to check this out.
City kid Briseis is a teenager who can help plants grow. Her moms (plant shop owners) know, but she has strained relationships with her friends who don’t understand her and want her to distance herself from the world of plants. While she’s thinking about applying for college, she learns she’s inherited a mysterious mansion and ultimately finds it has secrets.
Oooookay, my issues. I found the plot to be slow and it takes so long to build on the gothic atmosphere, mysteries, and stakes. There’s a fair bit of repetitive and one-dimensional writing, dialogue, and characters — and it doesn’t translate well on audio IMO. I mean there’s just so many times you can listen to “I said,” over and over again (my point was 81% when I switched to e-book). If the writing was better OR the book’s plot and characters tightened up this could have been at least 3-stars from me - I think it just needed more editing. There’s more griping I could add, but I’ll just say I face-palmed myself SO many times and the romance was only based on “she’s so pretty,” (spoiler below)
even when Briseis learns about the age gap — vomit.