Sadness! #authorexistancefailure
I need to go rewatch Bedknobs and Broomsticks at once.
so-soMiddling for me, and very light. The bookish, novel-reading heroine who feels strongest and safest on horseback is exactly my catnip and I liked the hero and his secrets, but oh how I did not care to read their scenes together. I was much more invested in the secondary characters, and all conflict is remedied in single conversations.
This one would have been 100% improved if the heroine's parents died, ideally by her murdering them.
so-soThe meh-ingist meh you ever did see, and it's my own fault. I got this one confused with a collection series of the same name, read the whole dang thing, and wondered over why the twist horror wasn't showing up. Oops.
Young adult modern social commentary isn't my preferred genre, I'm afraid, but I'd have liked this better if I hadn't read it on Hoopla -- the art and layout was not designed to view on a mobile screen. It gave me a headache.
Not gonna lie, I kind of want some pov writing from her husband.
Oooo yes I would subscribe for body facts.
bailedY'all, I was so excited for this! Revenge, betrayal, story-telling, CHEESE!? All of these things I want!
I spent Chapter 1 hating the narrator, and by Chapter 2 also loathed the writing style. Bounced with minor regrets, pacified by making myself a cheese plate. Bail.
bailedA nice light novel, I thought. It'll be fun.
It's a'la Tumblr-driven writing that sets up a projected series with multiple loads of infodumping. I slogged through for a bit but dead stop at Chapter 3 and an explanation of ship hashtags. Multiple loads. Chapter 3. Bail.
pickCharmingly bloodthirsty! I loved Maud's complete unconcern for scruples and ingrained assumption she can do whatever the hell she pleases. Highly enjoyed the first few stories here, but the last, a paired companion set, made me think Maud is getting a bit too sloppy.
Still, I've already obtained the second book in this set, and I'll have to hunt for other works by this author.
pickHibbert writes dialogue and character interactions extremely well, and I loved loved loved how the main pair have their own important, on page, friend and family relationships.
Bonus points applied for good communication and honest handling of backstory traumas. Points knocked off for the clipping fast pace with ending that resolved all issues forever in like an hour. Felt a bit like a novel shoehorned into a novella. Low pick.
so-soHigh middling. Legit loved the interactions between the main pair and the slow growth of their relationship, and super enthralled by the author's descriptive writing -- she did a fantastic job of writing both human and non-human as the 'other' in each other's eyes.
Did not like the plot turn to high angst, which was perhaps inevitable in what amounts to a prologue novella but angst isn't generally to my taste.
bailedI completely misunderstood what this book was about. Turns out, it's Ready Player One updated to modern pop references. The best neutral review I'm seeing for this states "it's both weird AND all over the place." If that's your cup of tea, more power to you. I bounced at page 3.
Quote from comments section:
https://bibliosanctum.com/2022/01/27/book-review-battle-of-the-linguist-mages-by...
pickA very moving conclusion and I wanted to read more. The whole trilogy is highly recommended.
I'll take Humor That Has Not Aged Well for one million, Alex.
This fic dates at 2001, well after the 1992 tabloid coverage of Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi Previn and the 1993 investigation of the Dylan Farrow sexual abuse accusation, but well before the explosive 2014 New York Times article which was my own...
#notthetaggedbook #fanfiction
Cat-Tales, Book 1, Story 9, Satori (Chris Dee)
https://cat-tales.mobi/book1/CT_09.html
pickThe opening section, of children and families in a workhouse, is so horrific I had to take breaks for nausea -- I haven't had to do that since reading a Holocaust memoir.
A pick. Moving and powerful, and I highly respect Worth's strongly compassionate approach.
pickThe TV series is critically acclaimed, but I'm not a big fan of TV and picked up the book instead. I think the series fictionalized a bunch to flesh out the storytelling; even so, I found the bones of the book fascinating. The coda on the Cockney language was particularly interesting.
so-soI found this middling. I picked it up thinking that it had an arts focus, and that was wrong. The romantic pair seemed nice together and I especially loved the hero's parents, but the denouncement of the villains was mostly nonexistent and the heroine was thoughtless to her own safety well past the point of stupidity.
Read it if you like dogs
pickThis was hilarious! By the time the climax hit, I was in stitches -- the ducklings were particularly wonderful. This is my favorite by far of Heyer's.
Reader caveat for antisemitism, a moneylender character set as a minor villain. I appreciate that this edition hadn't experged the orginal text (1950), but I skipped the chapter anyway and thus missed the first time Sophy threatened someone with a pistol.
pickModerate pick. I like the characters, but the villains were extremely disjointed.
Ineke remains introduced primarily by her tattoos. It came up in three chapters this time. The way Bishop clearly believes the very existence of these tattoos is both sexy and intimidating is pissing me off.
#pricedrop! I've wanted to read this for AGES.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/star-trek-ebook-deals
This is some really moving writing on the passage of grief.
TW: Child death (incompatible with life).
#notthetaggedbook #shortwork
You're Not the Only One (Cade)
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/cade_02_22
Well, I'm bummed Klune hadn't genderflipped the spawn of Satan, even if it's my own fault for hearing the name Lucy before reading the gender indicators. I haven't been this disappointed since The Hunger Games and learning that Gale and Peeta were both men.
pickAn intense pick, but distressingly realistic. My fantasy preference would be for MacCallan to be jailed, instead of the heroine leaving the position and resolving to consult with a lawyer, but alas.
Reads like a marvelously written case example of 'what to do in case of X.'
Okay, I know it's been years since 50 Shades published, but I remain charmed by the authors who responded to it, 'No. That's awful. I'm going to write my own dang book.'
Oops.
so-soThe heroine was a complete Angel of the House and I wanted to shake the hero until his head rattled and his teeth fell out. And I also loved the secondary charcters and wanted a whole other book for them. But lowest marks for, again, the poor quality of villain characters. They're all off screen! I didn't even get a good denouncement here! Gr.
Middling fun.
Ahhh! Book, you are deliberately being That Sort of book!
Ha, I'm here at Chapter 2 and I've lost count of our number of musunderstandings.
This is the first, I fear, of many misunderstandings. This seems to be that sort of book. Oh, dear.
#pricedrop
I haven't read the first two and cannot comment, but I'm amused that the third, a first-person narrative of a strongly asexual character that shows absolutely no romantic interest in this book, is part of something labeled 'Bundle 'o Love'.
It's perfectly valid to celebrate Valentine's Day platonically, of course, I just practically never see that in media.
https://www.tor.com/2022/02/14/download-tor-coms-bundle-o-love-before-february-1...
TWO sequels in the works for this one! Hm!
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/interview-sarah-monette
pickAbsolutely a pick. The story was wonderful, romance and all, and the artwork was gorgeous. I have to read more by Wang.
TW for a scene where the prince was traumatically outed, by a character's deliberate malice.
Okay, my hopes are dashed on the friendship-only front, alas.
#pricedrop and for me, an autobuy. The only thing I really know about this is that it's beautiful.
#pricedrop! I indulged.
Oh, I hope the plot isn't romantic! I'm in the mood for something friendship focused, and this seems perfectly positioned for that.
Ooo, I was given an ARC because I know a guy who's married to a guy who's related to a guy, in a lineage straight out of that Spaceballs scene. But oh, I'm in the mood for a new romance!
#notthetaggedbook
A Compromised Lady (Boucher)
panSomewhere between a pan and a bail. Anthologies can be a mixed bag, but this started off more uneven than most: I skipped over three authors I know from experience I dislike, I disliked the two stories I read, I DNF'd a third at the third sentence, and the remaining 10 stories didn't attract so much as my glance. Massive thumbs down here.
Hm! This is a nice coda to Tor's earlier essay series on Lewis' works.
Essay, #notthetaggedbook
https://www.tor.com/2022/01/24/our-country-c-s-lewis-calormen-and-how-fans-are-r...
pickMild pick. Held has a sciences background, and I liked how that perspective was built into the main character. It made the 'secret saboteur turned defender' much more grounded and nuanced.
I'll be curious if the other novellas in this series follow this character, or new ones.
Novella / Clean Install (Held)
#notthetaggedbook
Right, and now for something completely different. I've previously hugely enjoyed Held's fantasy works; this seems to be her first scifi work.
Clean Install (Held)
#notthetaggedbook
pick(Author's note quoted above.)
I broke down. I bought it. It's very sweet.
Pros: Matthews packed this story full of female friendships, descriptions of beautiful gowns primarily from the perspective of the maker, ladies on sidesaddle, gentlemen introduced first by their horses, and a POC hero. I especially loved the horses and the focus on non-noble characters.
pickThe way Sebastian grows this relationship gives me all the warm fuzzies. I've read so many books where the couple comes to an understanding in Book One, and Book Two opens with already a misunderstanding and separation -- a will-they-or-won't-they forced to drive reader engagement that I find vexing. But Leo and James are utterly different here.
The Missing Page (Sebastian)
#notthetaggedbook
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
