April

That was really clever and a lot of fun. The audio version added some texture to it too, I think, with the different voices the narrator performed for the different stories.

The story is based on a cool concept and it's creepy (body horror, cosmic horror), but I don't like this writing style. It's very vivid and the word choices are surprising, and that is just not my taste as a reader anymore.

This is the second story I've read by Kij Johnson. I've also read [b:Spar 56062910 Spar Kij Johnson https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 87322895], so I expected something disturbing here too, and Ponies definitely delivered. I didn't know this story had gone mildly viral. It looks like a lot of people read & reviewed it a few years ago. I listened to the audio version, so some of the cleverness didn't quite come through. But the text is free to read here. Big CW for animal harm.

This writing style is very literary and maybe not best suited to audio format. If I check out this author again, I'll be sure to read instead of listen.

I liked this better than the first Richard Kadrey story in this collection but didn't love it. I have liked second person in short stories before, but it just made me mildly uncomfortable here.

I loved this one, and it will definitely be in my mind the next time I encounter a story involving zombies. I usually avoid reading anything with zombies, but they do show up unexpectedly sometimes. I'm not sure if I'd really classify this as a short story, exactly; it seems more like a poem. It's a very thoughtful piece, though.

I liked this. Very scary if you have any sort of fear of spiders, which I do. Starting to wonder why I embarked on this “let's listen to horror stories” project, but I've never been one to back off from my terrible ideas. I definitely like Paul Tremblay's writing style. It really draws you in.

What was even the point of that?

This is an interesting concept and I might enjoy a longer work from this author, but I feel this story was too short to explore the ideas it presented.

I enjoyed this book so much! I love this world that AJ Demas has created. Bedar and Marzana are both great point-of-view characters, and their friendship is really nice. Both of their romance plots are also very satisfying, although the romances here definitely take a backseat to the story of finding the missing ambassador.

But really, the book is about Marzana and Bedar immersed in this city that's foreign to them, which made me feel like I was visiting this place too. I think Boukos is the author's version of Athens, because of the statues (hermae, in ancient Athens), and I've always dreamed of seeing ancient Greece. There are so many wonderful details here. Having read Saffron Alley before this, I was smiling every time Marzana was wistful about sweets, since I knew what was in store for him.

Overall, this book gave me such good feelings! Definitely a keeper.

This horror short story has a serious feeling of menace. The setting, the main character, and his fear are all so real to me. The concept is something anyone could relate to, and I especially like that the littering neighbor is also fighting her worst self. Glad I listened to this, and I feel sure it will stay with me.

The surface narrative of this short story didn't really work for me, and I also don't much like the writing style. But I can see the whole thing as a metaphor, and I do admire that underlying story. It's an interesting piece of writing, and it might be a good choice for a group discussion.

This is excellent. I loved it. CW for animal harm

Oh, I didn't like this one. It didn't really go far enough in any direction. I thought it was veering towards family drama, but that didn't quite pan out. I also thought of [b:Miriam 212888 Miriam Truman Capote https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346511958l/212888.SX50.jpg 4639808], one of the scariest stories I've ever read, but it wasn't quite like that either. Overall, not for me.

Lots of reviews are praising this story, but to me, the whole concept seems very disrespectful, in several different ways. If this had been the first story I would not have kept going with the anthology.

I didn't like this short story. It reminded me of a lot of things which are similar but much better, including the movie Palm Springs, The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick, and the previous story in this collection ([b:Daddy 48501534 Daddy Victor LaValle https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571430409l/48501534.SX50.jpg 73813292]). It was also much gorier than any of those.

I really liked this one. It's very short, and the language is poetic but not stilted in any way. I also loved his story [b:The Last Conversation 49674113 The Last Conversation Paul Tremblay https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563468739l/49674113.SX50_SY75.jpg 72182739], so I should read one of his novels someday.

Short and sweet slice-of-life historical romance between two young men with big dreams, set in 1910 England. This was my first time reading this author. I really like his writing style and will seek out more of his work. There are some truly lovely moments here. I especially liked this phrase: “polished into shining in one another's company.” The story made me feel their joy, too.

I've read a few of this author's historical romances, and enjoyed them all, but this was my first time trying one of her contemporaries. It's a very good read. It's romantic suspense. Both main characters are easy to like, and the romance is paced so well. There's an instant attraction which turns into a believable connection and a lot of sexual tension. Torr falls for Jasmine quickly, but that fits with what we see of his character and past experiences.

I like that both main characters are a little older than most romance leads; I don't think their ages are specified, but they seem to be over 40. Jasmine's profession sounds pretty great: she runs a business as a private librarian, fulfilling book- and library-related requests for wealthy clients.

The crime plot is a little strange, and not the kind of thing I usually read. But I like this author's writing style and I just went with it.

Apart from the MCs, Loretta was my fave of the rest of the cast, and I was very happy with the resolution of her story. I also always enjoy how Beverly Jenkins writes friendships between women, and Jasmine and Terri's moments together are lovely. I'd read more books set in this world; I'd love to read a romance about Terri someday!

My heart is full of Yuri and his adorable yeti. This is a very sweet and cozy read. It isn't very long, but the characterizations are good. Muunokhoj, the yeti, is so caring and protective, and very sensitive too. The sex scene is strange, but also hot and completely reasonable. I also liked the glimpses of their possible future together. We don't learn too much about yeti society, and the details of Yuri's life before his recent past aren't relevant, either. Instead, this story is totally focused on the two of them and the bond they create. I enjoyed this so much!

I enjoyed this book and it was definitely different from anything I've read before. I mostly agree with KJ Charles's review (here), except I'm not sure if I agree that the combination worked. The mystery plot is openly silly, and the humor did work for me because it's very absurd. But I also didn't care about any of the characters except for Liza and Hanna. This is an interesting contrast to [b:The Affair of the Mysterious Letter 41998209 The Affair of the Mysterious Letter Alexis Hall https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538509765l/41998209.SY75.jpg 60960806], which is also pretty absurd; I cared about the bizarre characters in many of the adventures, because they felt real to me. The characters in this book, though, seem like cartoons. So that aspect of the book is extremely lightweight, but the humor is exactly what I like.A “marriage in trouble” plot isn't my usual taste as a reader, but whenever it was going to places I was uncomfortable with, the mystery picked back up. There's also a third thread to this story, of Liza gaining self-confidence in her career. I really liked the drawing-room wrap-up scene, because of the description of Liza's emotions at that moment. It was the emotional climax of the book for me and it worked very well. Overall this book felt kind of experimental, but it was a fun read. I laughed out loud so many times. I appreciate that Alexis Hall continues writing different kinds of books and bringing us so much entertaining genre fiction with queer characters.

This is very good but it's extremely short, and I feel it would work well as a full-length novel. It's set in the Canadian wilderness in the 1790s, and I've never read anything with this setting before. So, I enjoyed that as something different, but I wanted to see more of it. I was imagining the movie The Revenant, but I don't think that's quite the right location or time period.

I'd definitely read a serial about these two characters journeying around Canada. I liked them both and believed in their connection, but again, I wanted much more. Still, it was a good story.

I've seen a lot of enthusiasm for this author. I don't think I've ever read a contemporary m/f book, though, and this is her first m/m novel. It's a very solid romance and I enjoyed it. I'd also love to read the fictional book series Cedric writes!

This is written in first person present tense, with alternating point-of-view chapters. I shy away from reading books set in present tense, but I felt the tense worked well for this book. It's extremely easy to read. Both main characters do some amount of soul-searching, but I'd characterize the overall style as fairly light and breezy. Reading it was a really nice experience.

I read this a chapter a day with some friends this year, and it was so much fun. I highly recommend reading the book this way.

I have an audio version of the author reading it, and it's very good, if you can find it. But I don't have a way to play the CD right now, so I picked up the ebook, which has the original illustrations. A great experience either way.

Happy Halloween to all my Goodreads pals!

I loved this series, and this book was even better than the first two, somehow. There are several different plot threads: Damiskos and Varazda figuring out their future together, a mystery, and Damiskos's family troubles. The author wove them all together really well, with good pacing throughout, and the happy ending is very solid.

I'm so excited to find out what AJ Demas does next.