Rose-Anne

This started slowly, but be patient and give it time because you'll suddenly realize you want to keep reading. I thought the world the story takes place in was well done, the characters well done, the dialogue well done. I deducted a bit of a star only because it took me a smidge over 10% to get sucked in to the story.

Wow. This is not my normal kind of book but I read it for a challenge. I guess that proves the worth of participating in a challenge or two, because otherwise, I would have missed out on this. It was a really enthralling, well written story and I loved it. 

I only docked it a quarter of a star because there several words I didn't understand and Kobo dictionary was no help so a glossary would have been awesome. 

Okay, really intriguing story. About half way through I thought : "This could totally be a storyline in Doctor Who." It really has that vibe, and I'm into that.

It did feel long though, and it was a heavy read. Or at least I found it that way, and it might be because of a lot of heavy things going on in my life right now and I need a lighter read. I'll do that next.

Charming little book about the importance of human connection, kindness, empathy. Often, we are stubborn about letting others know we don't have it all together. Does anyone ever truly have it all together though? In my experience, once you open up even a little, it's surprising how compassionate and helpful fellow humans become. This book is about that.

A few of the scenarios might be a bit unrealistic, but that's okay in a book like this. I encourage you to read it and be inspired to either reach out to, or check in on, your fellow human beings just a little more often. We should be there for each other.

By all means, read Brandon Sanderson...just not this one.

The story had a clever plot, but the language used was painful. I know it was meant to represent an over the top version of the 1920s but it was just too over the top. Maybe it was fun to write that way, but it's less fun to read. Even intentionally done, the misogyny is just excruciatingly cringy in 2026.

I do know this was a novella he wrote very, very early in his career. Thank goodness he got so much better at it.