Emma Goto

Everyone wakes up one morning to find a box with a length of string inside of it, which shows how much life they have left. Besides the immediate implications of knowing how many years of life you have left, the book dives into how society would change - if you only had a year left to live, why would someone want to employ you, for example? - plus people would want to approach relationships knowing their own or their partner's lifespan.

A coming-of-age story about creating video games. You'd think something about video games would be right up my alley, but for some reason I found this book didn't grip me as much as it could have?

The book is set across three different eras - the first I found the most interesting, with it being an alternate history late 1800s America where gay marriage is legal (and people even do arranged marriages for it). We then jump 100 years forward to a Hawaiian living in America. It gets a bit confusing here because the main character's names are reused (which made me think this was going to be like Cloud Atlas?) but they're not actually connected in some tangible way, although storywise they are sort of similar. Then we jump forward another 100 years for a dystopian, pandemic-ridden America where gay marriage is now banned in an attempt to increase the population. Honestly you could have just turned one of these eras into it's own book and I probably would have preferred it more!

A common theme across all 3 stories is the uselessness of at least one of the characters in each due to their passivity. Which I visit makes for some frustrating reading. And then I finished the book and it's like, well what was the point? But maybe that's what you get with Yanagihara books. A bunch of people suffering.

The plot revolves around a mother who left her partner for dead on the side of a road, who consequently loses custody of her child and then gets with the dead partner's best friend. Like she redeems herself in the end but I found her really hard to like as a character, and also how easily the best friend is won over by her because she's hot I guess??

This one's about a tennis star (seems very heavily inspired by Serena Williams) who comes out of retirement for one last attempt at a grand slam.

Even though Carrie Soto as a character shouldn't be likeable, Taylor Jenkins Reid just writes really good characters!!

This was an interesting one. It's about women having the ability to turn into dragons en masse and leaving behind the patriarchy of the 1960s. Where it gets weird is it's not really straight fantasy (which would have been fun to read!) but more so some sort of menstruation allegory (almost? Or something similar anyway) in that the fact that women are capable of turning into dragons is considered embarrassing to talk about and people turn a complete blind eye to. Which it's dragons! Hello! Can you really ignore that?

I really enjoy T Kingfisher books, but I think it's more for the romance more than anything else so this was pretty light on it and hence the 4 stars. Still a cosy fantasy read.

I stopped and started this one a couple of times, but I found the beginning to be really confusing, and I didn't really connect with the characters either so I didn't find the middle or ending to be all that impactful either. Which is a shame, because I like some of the author's other books!

Science fiction with a romance subplot is by far my favourite genre, and there sadly isn't enough of it so for that reason I'm biased into giving this book a 5, but would probably dock half a star or more otherwise. I binged this one in one sitting on the plane so I definitely enjoyed it!

Basically the plot revolves around people with the ability to influence minds (architects) as well as those with the ability to read them (readers). For some reason architects are accepted in society and it's the readers that have to keep their powers a secret. And I struggled a bit to wrap my head around that one since manipulating thoughts seems a lot more dangerous than just reading them. And then they smash in that romance subplot by forcing an architect to mind-bond with a reader (yes sounds cheesy but it's good I promise).

This book was very... different. The main plot involves a house that defies science and is larger on the inside. But instead of just being a straightforward story it's told from the perspective of a researcher who wrote a manuscript compiling all the research and references from people who are discussing the film tapes that were made from exploring the house. (However the film tapes don't seem to exist). Sometimes there will be a page in French, or a page full of literally a list of 100 (irrelevant) names that you just have to skip over. So I guess it's a very artsy sort of book? But the mystery of the plot is compelling enough to keep it going.

Basically everything I wanted to say I covered in my review of the first book in the series (since I read them back to back). Comfy fantasy, action, a bit of romance, what more could you want!

The plot follows a couple of criminals plus a monk who hates women, plus a 3ft tall badger-person (who is honestly so cute) as they go on a suicide mission.

T Kingfisher just writes really comfy fantasy with a dash of romance (usually with proper adults with issues instead of your more typical teen fantasy romance) and this was definitely more of the same but a good one!

It felt really hard to rate this one on its own, because it honestly felt like half a book with the way it ended on a cliffhanger. But it was compelling enough that I read the sequel back to back. Combined the two of them are 5 stars!!

My favourite book in the series yet! A good combination of romance but enough action to keep the story moving.

A very short and sweet read. It's the second book (novella?) in a series about a robot travelling together with a tea monk. For the first half it felt like it wasn't going anywhere (and I'll admit I kind of already forgot what happened in the first book) but I found the last section very heartwarming.

The beginning and middle felt quite dry and impersonal, like I wasn't really connecting with the characters and they were just going through with the motions of the plot - and it was like, well what's the point? It got better towards the end so it redeemed itself a little.

The story is a mix of fantasy and politics with a maidservant attempting to reclaim her magical powers who stumbles across a princess imprisoned by her own brother. With some strong female leads plus a lesbian romance this reminds me of The Priory of the Orange Tree. It's hard to put my finger on why but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as that one - it might be that I found it a bit harder to follow along with at the beginning? - hence the 4 stars.

A child loses his mother in a terrorist attack at an art museum. As he escapes the wreckage he steals a piece of art, and keeps it along with the guilt he has for stealing it for the next 10+ years into adulthood.

I found it to be quite a gripping book. I definitely preferred when he was more of an idealistic child and not the troubled adult he becomes, though.

This was a historical fiction book about the Nigerian Civil War that took place in the 1960s. It covers 5 viewpoints - upper-class twin sisters, a professor, a boy from a village and a British journalist - and the relationships they share with each other. Obviously as a wartime story it's very gripping and can be quite sad to read, but there was also drama just in the interpersonal relationships between the main characters as well. Going into the book I knew absolutely nothing about the war, so it was really nice to be able to enjoy reading a book plus learn something new at the same time!

The book is about an affair, so the main character is a trash human being but at the same time it's beautifully written so I couldn't help but like it anyway.

Our main character wakes up and realises she is missing the last 18 months of her life - because she is a clone and the last date her consciousness was downloaded from the “real” her was 18 months prior. As she attempts to piece together what her original body was doing in the last 18 months, the book also explores the ethical dilemmas that come with cloning.

A really fun (and different) read!

Another fantasy romance book by T Kingfisher. To be honest didn't grip me as much as the previous book in the series but an easy read nonetheless.

A really nice sequel to my favourite sci-fi book, Children of Time. This time around it's not spiders, but octopuses! I did find myself getting a bit lost towards the end (probably doesn't help that I didn't binge it and read it over a couple of weeks). The wow factor wasn't quite as there versus the first book, hence the 4 star rating.

Every decade 6 of the world's top magicians are chosen to join a secret society that has access to the Library of Alexandria. Only 5 will make it through to their second year of study.

The (small) romance portion didn't pan out the way I expected, which was nice. The most annoying part for me was there was a whole lot of plot suddenly vomited out in the last 20% (which I didn't really care about?) and ends on a cliffhanger as a set up for the next book.

Otherwise I enjoyed this one. Although the whole secret society thing as a concept seemed iffy, considering most of them are kind of bad/selfish people, and they'll go on to assume leadership positions across the world with the knowledge and skills they gain.

Random thought that I had while reading - the fact that 3 women and 3 men were chosen is great but doesn't feel realistic when you think about the gender ratios of positions of power in the world today and idk if that needed to be addressed? Or I guess magic causes a true meritocracy (but then again this is a fantasy book so maybe I shouldn't complain about realism when there's magic involved).

Yet again, another one of those books with seemingly unrelated storylines - a 1912 immigrant to Canada, people living on a moon colony in 2300 - but it all comes together for a satisfying finish. Does this subgenre have a name?? I love it.

Pretty spicy for an 1850s novel - involves a married woman with a child, mysteriously living without her husband, before her backstory is revealed through a series of her diary entries.

Not gonna lie though I didn't find it super gripping so it took me a long time to come back and actually finish it off.