Ivy
Rose has officially seen Bake-Off and enjoyed it, I can rest happily. Outside of how absolutely miserable she and her boy were this whole book, it was very sweet. I actually really enjoy Laura as an antagonist, and her realization of who the Boy is was great. I'm glad I've finally gotten ahold of this series, and my only problem is I'm gonna run out probably sometime this week.
Oooh, magical sad pretty ghost story! I'm not generally much of a ghost story person, but I do enjoy McGuire's other books, so I figured I'd give this one a try when I saw it. I have the next two checked out from the library now, started on the second one today. Rose is a great character and I love her, and I'm a big fan of the entire myth world that McGuire has created around her.
A good read, but to be honest, I was looking for the story of running a trauma cleaning business, not necessarily the history of the woman who runs it. We spend at least every other chapter going through this woman's story, and while it's an incredible life...I don't really care that much. This is more of a biography than about the business she runs, and I feel it's a bit disingenuous to not say that.
I really wish someone had sat me down about ten years ago and explained that Stephen King has the reputation as a great author because he's a really damn good author. I won't read all of his stuff, but a lot of it is just legitimately so good, spectacularly plotted and paced and engaging and enjoyable. This was a hell of a book and I am glad I got around to reading it.
I shouldn't be surprised that Becky Chambers has yet another book that gives me all kinds of fuzzy heart feelings. I loved all of the Wayfarers books, and saw someone recommending this one and had to give it a shot. It gives me vibes of “Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn too” with the robot trying to learn what it is that humans/humanity needs. I have a great deal of love for Dex, and I think the sweetest thing I've read in ages is Dex not being able to eat their meal without giving some to their guest.
The awkward baby gays continue to be awkward and I am delighted, even if I have to close my eyes and cringe every so often. Usually at the fanfic. Klune is very good at making me glad that I am no longer a teenager.
It looks like, from the acknowledgements, there's gonna be one more book in this series, and I need it NOW. So so much happened in this one, and it was fun and good but now I need to know what the heck is going to happen next, because that was a whole lot of plot for one novel.
I bounced around for a solid couple minutes and ran over to the friend also reading this book to squeal “Drag queen superhero!!” in absolute delight when that happened. That may genuinely be my favorite character so far. Precious.
I'll be honest-I didn't love this one the way I loved the first book or the third in the series. Not because it's not a great story, it absolutely is, but I'm just not as attached to Sun as I could be, and I barely know his teammates. I do enjoy the backstory time, and I liked getting to know team SSSN better, but I mostly read it to know what's happening.
A reread, since apparently I'm getting into “horrific events treated gently and kindly” at the moment. This lives up to the rest of Roberts' novels. I think my only quibble was with the concept of every bad guy coming out of the woodwork in the span of a couple months, just to throw themselves upon the barricades and get hauled to jail. I know that's just the nature of a story, but it was right there at the edge of my suspension of disbelief. The characters, though, are believable and a delight, as always.
So, first and foremost.
Leverage, #2? I apparently need to get my hands on #1? I did not know until like a week ago that these existed and I am delighted to spend more time with my disaster crime children?
Another delightful heist-with-heart deal. All of my characters are in character, and I absolutely love the brief flashes into a character's thoughts, it's adorable. The author also notes where, in canon, this heist is occurring, which I appreciated.
I really need to get my hands on more of this series.
This is Romeo and Juliet levels of tragic. Everyone's keeping secrets, for this reason and that, and not only is it pointless, but it leads to heartwrenching resolutions. I deeply appreciated the stubborn chronically ill character-I loathe books where one of the characters is ill or disabled in some way and leads their life as a kind and giving soul because of it. Let disabled people be angry and stubborn and scheming.
Adorable in the way you look at a high schooler and think “Oh, god, I'm glad I'm not there anymore”. I may still be a disaster, but in a different way than that. This was earnest and charming and extremely gay, all of which I appreciated, but you'll need to build in time for pausing to bury your head in your hands at the secondhand awkwardness.
This book is very strongly aimed at people in office jobs, not retail. That's not necessarily a critique, but it is a factor in how much I got out of it. I don't have regular meetings to prepare for, and my exercise comes from being on my feet all day, rather than a brisk walk to and from the office building. Outside of that, I did genuinely enjoy this and I feel like I got some good stuff from it. There's a few things that I read that I do already, like framing how I view my work or trying to be around people who are happy, and there were plenty of things that I'm intrigued by and would like to try to incorporate into how I do things. I read this as an ebook, but if it sounds interesting, I'd suggest getting a physical copy so you can actually refer to it and like, highlight and sticky note things.
