Welcome to Litsy!

First book of 2024! Short novella about two exes who have to go find an old woman who has somehow got lost in an IKEA-like multiverse. I‘m trying not to use novellas for my reading challenges but the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge specifically has a prompt for a sci-fi novella so this title fits that prompt.

#ReadAway2024
@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

Two recent queer exes who both work at Littenvard *cough IKEA cough* get sent on a trip way above their minimum wage paygrade through a wormhole in their store, where an elderly customer has accidentally wandered.

Wonderful world-building and character work, managed in the small space of a novella. Also, a perfect ending and great #audiobook narration!

#QueerBooks #LGBTQBooks #LGBTQ #NonBinary

#weeklyforecast

Just got my physical copy of Finna and it‘s definitely tempting to take it for a reread spin!

A surprisingly (for how short this book was) layered sci-fi adventure with touches of horror and romantic possibilities. Reminiscent of Grady Hendrix‘s Horrorstore, but lighter and with more swashbuckling. Having to work on your day off is bad enough, but when an elderly customer gets lost in a wormhole, Ava gets to add interdimensional travel, on foot, with her ex, to the suckage. Things can only go up from there, right?

Full review: https://scepticalreading.com/2023/03/hole-y-bookshelf-batman/

#SeriesLove2023 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Fun novella about what happens when two underpaid not-IKEA employees enter a wormhole to retrieve a lost customer.

#Booked2023 @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen
#GiftedByALitsyUserOrBookishFriend

Still don't know whom of you to thank for this Christmas present. Whoever you are: Thank you!

The most fun I‘ve ever had in a IKEA knockoff store.

Another surprise #BookMail. Is it from you, @KarenUK?

Two audiobooks set in Fall - the tagged and its sequel DEFEKT make up the fun LitenVerse fantasy novella set. Here wormholes to other universes are commonplace at an Ikea-like big box home store. One of the CWs for the 2nd novella is “graphic violence against anthropomorphic furniture“ which should give you an idea of their quirky humor. #Trans & #lgbt representation.

Tagged was a 2021 Hugo Finalist. Full review: https://bit.ly/rvw-Finna

PSA (Public Service Announcement) this lovely piece of IKEA furniture... Can hold books!! So it goes next to my new reading chair to hold my five or ten TBR pile.

@TheBookHippie I have been in the middle of moving and have just ordered your swap package. Its coming in three seperate boxes from Amazon. I hope you enjoy them. My apologies for getting them out so late. #LitsyLoveSummerSwap

Cute book about relationships and the friendships we build after breakups and in times of challenge when the unexpected happens. Loved the narrator 4 ⭐

This was a fun little sci-fi adventure. It takes place in an IKEA-esque store but when a customer goes missing in an alternate universe wormhole, two underpaid employees are sent after her. Of course they recently broke up and now must work together to get through the multiverse. Good queer rep and unique world-building

I've got some recs for some of the best sci-fi novellas over on Book Riot:

bookriot.com/short-sci-fi-novellas/

This was a cute sci-fi/fantasy romp. The reviews that compare it to Hitchhiker's Guide are apt. It has a similar feel where sci-fi elements encroach on the lives of the characters in humorous ways. I like the multiverse premise and enjoyed some of the humor. The characters weren't super compelling to me, but they worked well enough. I related to the retail IKEA-like setting as well. I might read more in this series if I stumble upon them.

An enjoyable novella-length romp with a nonbinary central character adventuring through various wormholes into the multiverse. The starting point is an IKEA-type big box store, so comparison to Hendrix‘s Horrorstor is a no-brainer. What I like best is the humorous critique of working in retail. For example, entitlement to overtime pay only if they are in the multiverse for more than 80 consecutive hours. #LGBTQ #ownvoices

“She managed to misgender me four times in two minutes,” Jules said. They bent down to pick up the books they‘d knocked off the shelf. “Two different pronouns, completely ignored my nametag, eventually settled on calling me ‘the kid.‘”

This was…okay? The writing was solid, but I didn‘t connect much with the characters and the IKEA-esque setting reminded me a lot of Grady Hendrix‘s Horrorstör, which I enjoyed a lot more. Not a bad book by any means, just not for me.

Not sure if this one was written for us, because it is set in LitenVärld ??
LitenVärld is a furniture store chain that exists through the multiverses. Ava and Jules are asked to rescue a customer who has crossed a wormhole into another variation which may be inimical.
I did find the use of ‘them‘, ‘they‘ etc confusing because it was used as both the singular and plural and I wasn‘t always sure which was which.

This 2021 Hugo Best Novella nominee is a fun romantic adventure through the multiverse that takes place in a wormhole-infested IKEA-like store.
#hugoawards #hugo2021

I managed to finish this 4th book by the end of yesterday, so it was a successful #NutsInMay readathon for me! Thanks @Andrew65 for hosting!

As tender-hearted in its belief in human relationships as it is razor sharp in its criticism of capitalism, FINNA follows two queer low-wage workers (who have just broken up with each other) at the IKEA-esque superstore LitenVärld through a wormhole and into the multiverse in search of a lost customer. FINNA is a quick, read-it-in-day romp that has a lot to say about labor exploitation—as well as personal growth, imagination, and friendship.

I started FINNA over breakfast! It features two not-Ikea employees who look for a grandma who goes through a wormhole, which is an occasional problem across all not-Ikea‘s stores, so it‘s got me all nostalgic for the time I took MY grandma to actual-Ikea. She didn‘t wander into any wormholes, but she did give me an excellent opportunity to make a raunchy joke*. She didn‘t get it, but a lady passing by us snickered and I felt validated.

“there are worlds where you are too much of a coward to find out, and worlds where you are brave enough. So. It‘s up to you: which of those worlds do we exist in right now?”

“I could remind myself that somewhere in the multiverse of possibility, there existed a world where I was all of those things. Maybe it was the world that I already lived in.”

“She‘d lived with fear and anxiety for so long, and fell into fits of dread and despair over the smallest things. Going to work. Making a dentist appointment. Grocery shopping. The light right after the sun went down, when she realized she‘d accomplished almost nothing that day. All normal things that normal people could deal with, and she was never equal to the challenge of them.” #mood

This is a fun novella about a couple of minimum-wage workers in an imitation IKEA store. When the store's disorienting layout opens a wormhole, a customer goes missing and our heroes -- a recently-separated romantic couple whose feelings are still raw -- have to track across parallel dimensions to the rescue. It's a clever satire on consumer culture, but also a surprisingly effective emotional journey.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Book #13: This novella was so freaking delightful. An ikea-esque setting where a wormhole opens and adventure ensues when two employees (who used to date) must rescue a customer from alternate worlds. Amongst delightful imagery and fantastical plot twists, there is a very human story about love and loss and finding your place in the world. I definitely recommend this amazing book!

Really liked this one. Short. Travel between dimensions. Humor. Awesome.

This little SF novella is a lot of fun. Best summed up by the scene early on when in the staff room of an IKEA type store the manager plays the floor staff a training video called Wormholes and You.
(Basically What to do when a wormhole connects you to the multiverse of IKEA stores) I think anyone who‘s worked retail will grin at this. Wish it was longer!

Short & sweet. I really enjoyed this multiverse-boxstore-bittersweet-romance novella. Ava & Jules just broke up & work at the same Swedish home furnishings store when a customer wanders though a localized wormhole & they - the newest & most expendable employees- are sent in to retrieve her. What follows is a journey that opens up new possibilities for living more authentic and adventurous lives for both of them.

You know you have a shitty job when a wormhole opens up in one of the showrooms (think of a generic IKEA) and you are voluntold to go fetch an old lady that fell through... with your ex. Yikes. This was funny and a great albeit short adventure. #lionelritchiedoormat

Check out my pick for Best Books of 2020 So Far and all the other awesome books on the list!

https://bookriot.com/best-books-of-2020-so-far

It didn't rock my world, but the concept is amusing and I do like the non-binary protagonist.

Nino Cipri is one of those authors I seemed to stumble across everywhere all of a sudden. I'm looking forward to giving this a try; so far I'm just one chapter in, but the non-binary protagonist has me hopeful!

Ava and Jules just broke up. So of course they get paired up on a quest to retrieve a shopper who‘s entered a portal to an alternate dimension. Short, fun, adventurous, sad, and hopeful all at once. A short read, though sometimes it feels longer. Another book gently mocking IKEA and offering sharp eyed commentary on capitalism, retail, accountability, and love.

#queerbook #trans #alternateuniverse

This was short but I enjoyed it entirely. Ava is sent on a mission to retrieve a customer that has wandered through a wormhole but in the end learns more about herself in the process.
#BuriedAliveChallenge

Fleet and fun and sad too. How far are we willing to go to escape the systems we're stuck in?

A magical anti-capitalist adventure sounds like the perfect book to mark my efforts to stop buying physical books on Amazon and instead support my local indies like Tombolo Books.

This SFF novella has a biting satirical edge which savages modern retail jobs. Include a non binary love story, real corporate clones, and a steampunk submarine adventure and you have a hell of a story.

A story about what we all suspected could happen at IKEA after hours.

Wormholes open up in an IKEA-like store, forcing two recently broken-up employees to track down a missing elderly customer. Let's just say this shift is way above their pay grade. Thoroughly loved this fun, quirky sci fi novel, and it somewhat reminded me of a Legends of Tomorrow episode which probably tells you just how wonderfully weird this book is if you're at alll familiar with that show.

5 stars / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. Finna, The Bone Witch, and An Agent of Utopia

2. RWRB, Hitchhiker's Guide, Pride and Prejudice, Daughter of Smoke and Bone

3. Just signed up for library cards at a new library with my sister @sebrittainclark and going to do some reading and vintage shopping next 😊

#weekendreads

This is a fun, anti-capitalist, wonderfully queer, light sci-fi adventure novella and I'm all about it. It's like NBC's Superstore meets Grady Hendrix's Horrorstör, but FINNA has its own unique style. You've got wormholes and multiverses, danger and discovery, humor and heart. I raced through this book right along with Jules and Ava, and I'm rushing off to read more by Nino Cipri. #nonbinary #transauthors #ownvoices #scifi #quirkyreads

I need to get to these 3 NetGalley books ASAP, because they're releasing soon. Super excited about FINNA, especially!

Me, making grabby hands at all the SFF:

https://bookriot.com/2020/01/07/2020-sff-books/