Kristie
I really, really disliked this. I think I thought, if I kept reading, it would reveal something about human nature. I was curious to to see how popular this idea is in Japan and it seems as if this guy is not well liked. I see why.
Shogi Morimoto rents himself out as a person. That's it. No sex, no advice, he doesn't do anything. In fact the reader kind of gets the impression that he shows up and spends most of his time looking at his phone.
He didn't even write the book (see page 152).
Listen, I'm not a fan of hustle culture, I am not a girl boss, and I don't believe human beings need to be productive all of the time and I think this guy beyond lazy. I think he's just a modern do-nothing.
Supposedly he is supporting his wife and child on his “savings”. What I think is going on here is he had one idea- rent himself out and write about it and now he's going to capitalize on it.
I was highly unimpressed.
Perhaps the tv show is more interesting because I would have liked to have learned more about the people who feel the need to rent him. We get very little of their personalities or motives in the book.
Closer to 4.5 stars.
Leave it to Darcy Coates to get me out of a reading slump, even though I didn't know until after I started this is one novella and 8 short stories. I may have skipped it, I haven't been doing well with short story collections lately.
Ghost Camera was awesome, really chilling. Very scary, surprisingly violent. Reminded me of the movie It Follows.
I rated all of the short stories 4 or more stars. They were all really good but my two favorites were Untamed Things and A Box of Tapes. I'm still shuddering thinking about Tapes.
This is an excellent collection.
Maybe i'm falling out of love with this series. The last two have been...not my favorite.
In this one a hermit that lives in the woods is found murdered in Olivier and Gabri's cafe. Ruth, who I usually love, has become nasty- especially toward Gamache. I never got the impression she hated him before. Clara may get her own art show.
We learn a lot about stolen art, probably more than I cared to learn about. I did love the new family and the rescue horses. It just didn't have the coziness I expect from Three Pines.
I really wanted to love this novel, but I did not. Partially because I thought it was going to be more folk horror.
Leslie works for the Frontier Nursing Service and has been assigned a small village called Spar Creek but when she gets there her welcome is revoked because the local preacher is poisoning the people's minds with stories of women who do not behave in the way he feels the Bible says they should behave. Leslie, for example, wears pants and is educated- two big no-nos's. Additionally there is a young person in town exhibiting behaviors considered to be “man's work” and dress. Punishment for Stevie Mattingly is doled out with fists and attacks on their body. Leslie tries to help, but is powerless.
And something in the woods is stalking everyone.
I felt the strongest parts of the novel are Leslie's memories of serving in the trenches in the first world war. Her life in Europe is also very interesting.
I really thought more was going to happen with whatever was in the woods, I think I thought it had more to do with how the townsfolk were acting. I was incorrect. We really don't get to know anyone so it was hard to understand their motivation- either they were on the side with the preacher or they were not. And very few people were not on his side.
More like 4.5 stars. I love this series and it just keeps getting better.
Sage is about to open her newest coffee location- this one is a brick and mortar store that shares a courtyard with other restaurants and a brewery. When another restaurant owner is poisoned out in the courtyard, Sage is on the case. This time, she's not alone. A podcaster named Rose is also looking into the murder.
I'm always impressed with how level-headed Sage is. She asks great questions and doesn't waste a bunch of time following false leads. She also has healthy relationships with her fiance, father, and brother. She's also my healthy role model.
I can't wait for the next one!
I am just in awe of Amie McNee. This was her first novel and I loved it just a pinch less than [b:Regrettably, I am About to Cause Trouble 63946988 Regrettably, I am About to Cause Trouble Amie McNee https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1670259482l/63946988.SY75.jpg 99929658]. Here we have Elisa, who is being sent to the nunnery in a time period in which the king is really starting to dismantle the church's hold on the country and being a nun does not the have the air of respectability it once did. Elisa is a fantastic character and a survivor. The rest of the nuns are well drawn out and loveable too. This is not a comedy. Some terrible things go down. It is a story of getting back up when life pushes you down. Highly recommended.
While I liked some things about this one, it didn't feel like a Three Pines novel and I had to force myself through it. It doesn't take place in Three Pines but instead we are a lodge the Manoir Bellechase. The Gamaches are on vacation and they are sharing the lodge with a very wealthy family that cannot stand to be in each other's company. Peter and Clara are also there, as Peter is related to the family.
What I did love: the bits about the history of the robber barons of Canada. It reminds me, I need to read Barkskins. I love that Gabri got Reine-Marie to clog. And I loved this line, “He carried calm with him as other men wore cologne.” pg 7
When Talitha Velkwood was away at college, her entire street disappeared. Maybe her family is still there, maybe not. No one can get near the “vicinity” to find out. Until now.
Jack arrives with an offer: Talitha can enter the street and his team of scientists will monitor her every move.
I loved this right away. Talitha is my kind of a main character: a little bit broken and a lot sarcastic. Velkwood is dreamy and scary and the story just gets better when Brett shows up.
Highly recommend.
A big, huge thank you to Bramble and Edelweiss Plus for letting me have an advance look at The Spellshop. It was the perfect spring read and I have already pre-ordered a physical copy because I know I am going to reread this.
I fell in love with this book in the first chapter. Kiela and her sentient spider plant, Cas live and work at the city library. Seriously, they sleep in the stacks. When rebels set the library ablaze they barely escape with their lives (and 5 crates of spell books). Kiela has no where else to go but home. She had been born on a small island called Caltry and her parents still have a small house there.
When they arrive- Caltry is in bad shape. the main economy is based around the merhorse farms and the merhorses cannot foal. The trees are dying, and the springs have dried up.
What's a librarian with crates full of spellbooks to do?
I'll leave it there. Just know there are unicorns! spirit animals shaped like cuddly bears! tea shops! jam!
It's literally the most cottagecore thing I've ever read.
I have a very low tolerance for twee, but this is cute and it turns out: I LOVE CUTE. Blame a childhood surrounded by Lisa Frank products.
This was literally perfect.
My only wish was that the book should include a recipe for jam at the end. That is all.
I'm going to try and read all 3 of the books in this series this year.
First up is Howl's which I enjoyed even more than the movie (which I LOVE). We are in Sophie's head more. There are more characters. I felt like I understood Michael more.
We know the book is almost always better, but I loved being steeped in this world. Sophie has always kind of amazed me. She wakes up an old woman, losing probably 50 years of her life, and she's like well, okay. She owns it and moves on.
I listened to most of the audiobook while getting the garden ready for planting. It was perfect.
Julie went missing. Then, a few years later, she returned. She remembers nothing of her time away.
Her 3 best friends (Elise, Mae, and Molly) invite her to a girls weekend in the Catskills so they can catch up.
It's a disaster from the get-go. Julie shows up and is obviously not well. The weather goes bad, the hotel is full of weird vibes.
And then the story goes completely off the rails.
I've never read a bad Harrison book, in fact, I'm pretty sure I've give 5 stars to every single one of them. I might just be her perfect fit as a reader, but I loved this. I love the writing, I love never knowing what is going to happen next, I loved the banter between friends, I loved the kooky hotel decor.
I can say that, even up to the last chapter, I still wasn't 100 percent clear if there was more than one evil at work here.
Sigh, I was so sad it was over.
Dawn has come home to her father's after breaking up with her boyfriend, and stabbing him with a pencil. And quitting her job. I loved her right away. Also coming home is her brother Cody, he is being let out of jail.
Dawn's unlikeable- and I do love an unlikeable main character. She can only hold herself together for small chunks of time, she's super judge-y, and she's unkind to her father.
Then things get weird. I want to say it is folk horror adjacent? Cody and his new BFF are up to something supernatural and Dawn's (deceased) mother starts speaking to her via the living but only a few words at a time.
A fever dream of a novel.
I really enjoyed it.
Somehow I missed this one in my teens when I read everything else I could get my hands on by Block. Laurel is wasting away. She doesn't eat. This is a Laurel Canyon fever dream. There are mentions of AIDS but there has clearly been some sort of sexual abuse. I didn't love this. Probably because I also grew up in a world where kids were pushed into adult life at way too young of an age as well and because it's so dreamy there is no real healing going on here.
Read for RIM. This one did nothing for me. It took a long time to get going, everyone was very one dimensional and I just had such a hard time believing that these intelligent, educated women would be so stupid to attempt a hike that is clearly for experienced (and fit) hikers. In a storm. All of the in-fighting gave me a headache and I had to force myself to finish it.
I'm becoming a big fan of Margaret Killjoy. This was my first read. Dani Cain travels to Freedom, Iowa to a village populated by anarchists to find some answers about a dead friend. What she finds is a folk horror nightmare of deer demon that is terrorizing everyone.
I read this is one sitting and immediately bought the sequel.
I loved this.
Did I mention there is a witch who lives in a treehouse?
I had to wait to be in the mood to read this. Finally, I had jury duty and that was perfect. I almost got this done in one sitting.
Erin is a plastic doll in a dying world. When her job at Tablet Town goes up in flames (literally) she meets Jacob.
There is a LOT to unpack here. There is a church of technology. Everyone speaks in weird, choppy text speak.
I really, really got into it and then I knew it flew too high and the ending was a bit of a bummer.
Overall this is weird and smart and wonderful.
I read this for the romance book club I am in. Honestly, it was the title and the cover that caught my eye. I ended up loving this. Cinnamin Hotpepper (they all have names like this) does not want to be the “Chosen” one. She's super happy just being in her cups and eating tasty food. My kind of girl. When she accidentally saves a demon one night, and her world is turned upside down. They (everyone) has been lied to all of these years. Cinnamin and Fallon (the demon) set out on a quest to make things right.
Highly recommended for fans of Legends and Lattes. A lot more spice, but same cozy fantasy feel.
Can't wait to read the rest of this series (saving werewolf for October and Mistlefoe for holiday romance).
I loved every minute of this, in fact I had purchased a physical copy by Chapter 4. I also bought a copy of McNee's first novel as well.
Maud is a pip. She's unlikeable and a smartass (my fave combo for a lead character). I loved the setting, I love the time period, I love Hildy and Zita and anyone who thinks they can hide a 6ft tall man in a Tudor village by convincing everyone he is an escaped fairy. We to Henry's court for Christmas, we meet Anne Boleyn.
Amazeballs. Will probably reread yearly.
Loved the audiobook as well. Read by the author.
I think I'm on a quest to find the most cottagecore books I can get my hands on. This one fits the bill. Gilly Ramsey inherits a cottage from her godmother, also called Gilly. The cottage, Thornyhold is adorable, there is a pigeon coop on the second floor, a rescued dog, and hot neighbor with an adorable son.
Gilly, it turns out, has some skills. Skills that are similar to her godmother's skills. There is some drama with a rival “witch” in town called Agnes Trapp.
Happy endings abound.
Okay, don't go by me, I made a major mistake. I KNOW never to read series books almost back to back. I tire of the author's voice. I should have saved this for summer, but I couldn't wait so I ended up not loving it as much as the first one and I doubt highly that is the fault of the book.
In this one, Emily goes off in search of her hero Diane de Grey. And she's bringing a whole expedition group: Wendell, Professor Rose and Adriana, Emily's neice.
Maybe it's because Wendell is not himself in this book and gets himself kidnapped, but I just wasn't as entertained. I did come to love Adriana.
The ending is quite exciting and I did enjoy it. I just felt it was a bit....rambling on a bit.
The perfect book for the perfect moment in my life. I was in the mood for some science fiction, but not heavy science fiction and, of course, I prefer humorous science fiction. I mean, I could have read Hitchhiker AGAIN, but instead I went with Calamity because I liked the way the book felt in my hand when I pulled it from the library's shelf. True story. Temperance is a bad ass ship captain with a ragtag crew on a bucket of bolts (I know, I know). They have been hired by one of the top 5 families to scope out a remote planet for a new fuel called phydium. The problem, they have to take the super hot, super smart son with them to oversee security. Oh, darn. Think The Expanse (which also features several romances!) with a great sense of humor and scene after scene of kick butt action. I actually had to put the book down once or twice just to give myself a break. And I like Temperance and Arcadio together. The crew is amazing too. I can't wait for the second book, [b:Fiasco 195790808 Fiasco (Uncharted Hearts, #2) Constance Fay https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1705699196l/195790808.SY75.jpg 197724609].
I loved this so very much.
Confession time, I ignored this all year when it popped up in reviews because I thought it was an actual encyclopedia of fairies. I normally can't stand stuff about the fae.
But Emily and Shadow, I love them so very much.
In this one, Emily goes North to study the Winter Folk. Bambleby joins her in an attempt to save his tarnished reputation. Together they attempt to stop the folk from stealing children.
Seriously loved every minute of this.
Mystery book club pick for Feb.
Maxwell does a good job giving a different voice to all of these characters. I predict that this is one in which I enjoyed it while reading it but will quickly forget all about it. I wrote “meh” many times in my notes. I did a hybrid of audio and print on this one because I was in a time crunch.