I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: racism/xenophobia 4.2
This is a super cute, wholesome story full of baked goods! If you love Jaigirdar's other bI received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: racism/xenophobia 4.2
This is a super cute, wholesome story full of baked goods! If you love Jaigirdar's other books, and you're a cooking show fan, then this might be your new favorite.
I love the tropes in this, and I think they're played so well! The competition based romance is a favorite of mine, and the extra tension of this being a second chance romance and a love triangle, something I'm usual not a fan of, upped the ante in a serious way. The romance in this played off of that tension and also played into comfort, mutual respect, and mutual history nicely.
This book is super light and fluffy in a way that feels like a balm, or a sweet treat, without compromising the actual plot, or overshadowing the realities of being a marginalized person. I thought the inclusion of more down to earth plot points and the way Shireen is seen and sees herself was thoughtfully included, without stopping this book from feeling so light.
The only issue I have with this book is, because of all the layers to the competition show centric plot, the actual romance sometimes felt a bit more tagged on than it did a strong part of the plot. But, I can't argue with the priorities, because those other pieces of plot definitely do work.
Pre-review comments below I feel warm and fuzzy inside and also I want a donut...more
I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: eugenics, vicious attack via animal, drowning, gun violence, knife violence, religious trauma, strangulation 4.I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: eugenics, vicious attack via animal, drowning, gun violence, knife violence, religious trauma, strangulation 4.4
"Sometimes your don't get to go back to being who you were. Sometimes, the change kills you."
Dead AI gods, pilot priests, relic hunters, betrayal, the funniest man-robot hybrid I have ever laid my eyes on- there is so much to love in this book.
I thought the concept of this sounded great, everything about it pulled me in, but I am nefariously bad at reading higher concept scifi, and this also sounded like a book that could easily bludgeon me in the head and send me on my way confused and ready to DNF. However this book is actually insanely readable! It's so packed with humor, and personality, emotions that ring true even more so in their complication! I love the meeting of the poetic and the technical and very brashly human, and how all of that combines into a complete quilt of a world, crew, and story.
I love these characters, by the way. I love them! They're all bursting with personality, they all have such varies relationships with each other, they all have their own role in the suicide mission comedy troupe that is this crew and they play it well! Sunai is, of course, my favorite, and I love how many multitudes he holds, and how often we get to see how what he says clashes with what he thinks and exactly why he would let them, but even the supporting characters are so well written it's hard not to want to play with them like dolls.
For a book about robots and misunderstanding or misusing humanity to your own downfall, as well as some cannibalism adjacent vibes, this book is so tender. There is so much guilt and desire for faith, even while hating yourself to hoping, there are so many conflicting feelings, all being used to cradle the traumatized child within. There is so much love, persisting messily, good idea of bad, care even with the uncertainty of trust.
Also, the aesthetics in this are just top tier. I've been hoping beyond hope that this gets the amount f love that Gideon the Ninth, another funny, queer, trauma filled SFF gets, mostly because I desperately want to see this world on the screen somehow- give me art, give me analysis, give me a place to continue exploring this place.
This book is the beginning of a series, so some of my complaints can probably be directed there. But, still, the pacing of this book gets a little out of whack. The last third has a lot of things happening, which makes the middle feel sparse and makes then ending feel too overwhelming to properly sift through. Things suddenly got very over complicated for me, and it was hard to hold on to the thread. There isn't space to totally observe the weirdness happening here, though I'm sure there will be in the next volume- it just felt like a lot, and then very abrupt, here.
Read this book! Come meet the most interesting cast of characters you've seen in ages!...more
I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: foster system, racism & intentional white washing, child abandonment, toxic parents 3.7
As a fan of queer haunteI received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: foster system, racism & intentional white washing, child abandonment, toxic parents 3.7
As a fan of queer haunted houses an Peach Tree's particular brand of both queerness and horror, I jumped at this one. And there are some things I was really excited about, and some others that didn't quite work for me in particular.
I do really love the concept of this one. Something I love about haunted houses is how varied that theme/concept/trope actually is! There are so many different ways to do haunted houses, and this one did not let me down in terms of originality. The haunted house in this book is an abandoned, dilapidated house in the woods, one that a character gets physically trapped in after being psychically lured in to explore it. While there are some clear touchstones to other haunted house stories, I thought this was such a unique way to do it!
I'm also always a fan of spooky small towns and their prejudiced history, so the way things were explored and the reveal of the haunting were really satisfying to see dealt with.
I did want the romance to win me over, but I never really did. The chemistry wasn't really at a point where I felt invested, and things moved too quickly for me to really get into it. But the concept is good, and they were very sweet together by the end. Honestly, I think a Taylor romance would've been interesting, and is something I might've been more intrigued by.
Actually, Taylor in general is something I wanted more of in this book. While Jaime and Theo both have their own stories going on that we get to see, I found Taylor more interesting than either of them. I never really felt totally connected to either of them, and I think I definitely could have felt connected to Taylor. Her story is used more as support for the plans put into action to free Jaime, and I would've loved to have seen more from her side of things standing in her own story.
I was also hoping for more of an explanation of the powers. I would've loved a little more information- deeper information- about the haunting and that character, too. I guess, in general, I wanted things to be explored past the surface level reveal.
This is an interesting one, bringing in Peach Tree's quintessential representation, and some spookiness to boot.
Pre-review comments below Peachtree is really committing to giving me all the queer horror vibes I want huh ...more
Just as good as the first one! I loved the pirate reveal, and am also glad things seemed to be on the right track and get resolved sooner rather than Just as good as the first one! I loved the pirate reveal, and am also glad things seemed to be on the right track and get resolved sooner rather than dragging everything out. Book Three looks like it's going to be exciting! I love how this little family of space fugitives is coming together!...more
I received an ARC from Netgalley TW: slight gore, racism & references to colonization, casual ableism, hallucinations/delusions, casual transphobiaI received an ARC from Netgalley TW: slight gore, racism & references to colonization, casual ableism, hallucinations/delusions, casual transphobia 4
Intertwining short story collections are always a lot of fun, and it's exciting to see more of them coming out! I think that this concept in particular is really unique, and will be able to grab quite a few readers who otherwise don't tend to read short stories. The way almost every short story allowed for cross overs and hints at the other characters, and the way they build off of each other to pass along clues and information like a relay race was well done and definitely keeps you invested!
I thought the transitions between the stories were really unique too and gave the whole thing more depth. It was cool to get info outside of these specific POVs, and in different formats than the stories themselves. It definitely helped make the school feel more expansive and demonstrated well how the murder was actually effecting everyone there, even characters we don't hear from personally.
There are also a lot of cool ideas in this! Some of the characters were really amazing, and I would've loved to have stuck with longer, but all had me convinced they could've been legitimate main characters in their own full-length stories. The myriad of magical cultures and abilities were great, and I was really impressed by these totally new feelings ideas, like magic channeled through incense, embroidery focused magic, and the new takes on necromancy.
As in all anthologies, some stories are weaker than others, and that also meant that while my attention waned from that itself, there were also some moments that seemed at odds in the flow of the over arching story or just totally unnecessary.
Also, though it's a feat to really herd all these many stories, characters, and styles into one solid direction and I commend it being done, I was hoping the mystery itself would have the room to be given some more payoff. The reveal didn't really feel built up to, it was much more back and forth, being led around the room, and while I do think there could've been a good ending that would have made that journey feel wrapped up, I don't think it was the one we're actually left with....more
I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: death of a parent (pre-story), memory loss, mentioned mass animal death, reference to child death, threat of gI received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: death of a parent (pre-story), memory loss, mentioned mass animal death, reference to child death, threat of gun violence 4.2
I loved The Dead and the Dark, so I was really excited to see what Gould was going to do next! This book wound up being a different type of story than the one I was expecting, but definitely with the same readability spark.
This is such an eerie story. The memory loss and the way grief seeps into the very atmosphere, it gives you this heavy, surrounding feeling that covers you the entire time you're reading.
I also love complicated family dynamics, and realistic sibling relationships, and this book has both in spades. The resentment that the sisters carry, so different from each other's and unwilling to be communicated, is so real and gives their baggage a whole other layer.
Romance is hard to balance, and I think in this story is very easily could have felt out of place along side the mystery and grief, but instead it really succeeds. I love their dynamic, I love their give and take, the unknown versus the known-but-you-wish-you-could-ignore, the way they uncover parts of each other. It's such a great relationship right from the start, because you desperately want to know what will happen when the layer between them breaks enough for them to really come together. I also do appreciate the way that the romantic plot is almost held apart from the heavier aspects. They're intertwined, inherently, but there's still something about the way Gould writes it that makes this blossoming love feel untouchable, like an alter in the middle of the muck.
However, there were a few things I didn't love. Mostly, they're plot points revealed later on. (view spoiler)[The time travel reveal was a surprise solely because I truly didn't believe that that's where we were going- I thought it would be more confusing, more insidious or paranormal. And there's nothing objectively wrong with it being time travel, but I think in order for it to feel like a full thought instead of randomly choosing a fantasy aspect it would've needed further exploration. Instead we get one angle explained a handful of times. Honestly, the most interesting part of it for me was the idea that the reason everyone needs this procedure is because this place is so radioactive it's literally killing them and they're only resetting themselves to before thy were poisoned. Being there is the reason their mother died. But that is barely actually touched on. I also thought that the discovery of the lab entrance was too convenient to take seriously. How in the world would they not have found it if she found it that quickly? It made no sense. (hide spoiler)]
I didn't love every part of this story, but I did gladly sink into the atmosphere, and I'm always in awe of the way Gould writes these settings and these deeply interesting characters....more