Allie

This was the last of the four holiday novellas Lau released, and I thought this whole series was really fun.

That said, A Big Surprise was probably my least favorite of the four - but I gave all three other books either four or five stars, so a 3.5 is still pretty decent. There were a lot of things I really liked about this one, but a few things that gave me pause.

The meet-cute in the grocery store and the openness and banter about buying condoms: A+

BUT, there was not a lot of character development for Sebastian. Though it was great that he stood up to his parents when it came to not disparaging Amber.

Lau's books are generally pretty open-door when it comes to sex, BUT because this one was about Amber wanting a sex buddy and not a boyfriend, there is a LOT more (very explicit) sex than in other Lau books I've read. Take that as you will.

Great communication, low-angst, heroine has hobbies and interests and friends outside the relationship - all A+.

I never think that books revolving around sports are going to be fun for me, but this was really FUN. The ending was a little anti-climactic, but the characters were well-drawn, teen girls behaving badly, against the backdrop of the Danvers High School field hockey 1989 season, and the Salem witch trials having happened just up the road. The audiobook was excellent.

My five-year-old nephew has started asking about death, and being afraid of his grandparents dying. As I am wont to do, I went searching for kids books, though TBH most of the kids books I've been looking for have had to deal with sibling loss rather than death of an older person. This one emphasizes the old age of Badger, and his friends are sad, but they smile as they remember all the things he taught them and gave them over the years. I'll probably pass this on to my sister, I don't think she is much of a reader and I don't think she'd get this otherwise. It was sweet, if not especially meaningful specifically for me.

Hoo boy, how to even describe this book? Epistolary novel where the plot is entirely through journal entries by this innocent guy Piranesi (except he doesn't think that's his name) that lives alone in a giant endless House except he's also got the Other (who is also alive but presumably lives in a different section of the House), as well as 13 skeletons that he's personified. Not-Piranesi basically fishes and explores the endless Halls of the statue-filled house, and writes in his journal and happily survives. He has no memory of arriving in the House or other people being there.

And then things TOOK A TURN.

Suddenly there's a Prophet, and the Other has been lying, and they're awaiting the mysterious Sixteenth Person, whom the Other says is an enemy, but maybe the Other is the real enemy?

Not-Piranesi was actually kidnapped and trapped in a giant labyrinth that was part of this philopsopher's Other Worlds ritual/theory, where an awful lot of people went missing - probably 13 in fact - and the labyrinth has a way of making people forget, which is why Not-Piranesi can't remember his previous life before he arrived in the House 3-4 years earlier. Oh and people (okay just 16) are looking for him in the real world but couldn't find him because he was NOT in the Real World!

And like, I was pretty engaged in this despite it being WAY outside my usual wheelhouse. So I guess 4 stars? I dunno.

Only got about 50 pages in, but already wasn't feeling it. Too much complaining about being 26 and getting old (barf) and feeling stuck, but with absolutely no interest in taking action to change anything; too much social media; too much talk about pumpkin spice lattes (barf again, but YMMV). Nope. Loved the first book, but you can't save an unhappy heroine by putting her in a relationship. Not to mention the much-mentioned catfishing storyline, which could have been cleared up immediately and wasn't. DNF.

Dr. Harper is a beautiful writer, and her stories really sucked me in. And I suppose I should be a little bit surprised I liked this so much, because I am a hypochondriac and I usually try to avoid medical stuff like it's the plague COVID?? Sometimes in her analyses after the fact, applying the things she learned from her patients to her own life, it came off a little self-righteous, but I still think she did a great job of weaving her own story of her own healing from an abusive childhood through her work in various emergency rooms. 3.5 stars.

TW: infant death, evidence of child abuse, discussions of rape

Hoang mentions in the author's note that this is the most autobiographical of her work to-date, which I had wondered about as I was reading. This is not as light as her previous two books - in addition to the romance (which is wonderful), it deals very much with the slow death of a parent, and what we owe (or are expected to owe) our loved ones when it comes to end-of-life care, especially when there are disagreements about what that person would have wanted at the end of their life. It is heavy, and hard to watch Anna drown in herself while trying to handle being around her family constantly, masking and suffering from autistic burnout without seeing an end in sight.

Quan was a wonderful partner, dealing with his own weighty past, but following his own dreams and dealing with his own issues, both with their relationship and his job. I loved him and Anna together.

TW: suicidal ideation, anxiety, body dysmorphia (male)

3.5 stars.

“So what's happening in your ridiculous* romance novel?” Matt asked me last night. He was not expecting my next words to be, “The hero just got kidnapped,” which ended up setting us off into uncontrollable laughter, because what kind of romance novel involves a girl declaring she must be Terrible at sex, demanding sex lessons from her rock star best friend, falling in love with him after the first time they hook up only for him to get kidnapped by a stalker-fan not five minutes later?

Yeah.

*He doesn't normally describe them thusly unless I already have. And frankly, the ridiculousness started early. Who on earth, having only had one long-term partner and a dry spell of a single year decides they are Repulsive to the Opposite Sex and/or must be Lousy in Bed? It didn't start great, is what I'm saying.** But it was entertaining enough that I kept going.

**It didn't end great either. Who, when they are stalking a rock star, decides to drug and kidnap their quarry and lock him in their hunting yurt in the middle of nowhere, and then when it becomes clear that things are coming to a head, decides to set fire to said yurt, because absolutely - arson and murder are better things to go to prison for than outright kidnapping? Yeah.

But still, I kept reading. I wouldn't have been remiss to toss it aside during any of the aforementioned plot points, but eh, whatever. It was fine.

Book club pick. I haven't gotten to see anyone from our group in person in over a year, and we decided that for this book, we're going to go get takeout from the new Korean restaurant downtown and sit outside together, and I'm so looking forward to that!!

The story was engaging, switching viewpoints back and forth between Margot (in 2014 shortly after her mother's death) and her mother Mina (mostly in 1987), as they experienced America in two dramatically different ways - not speaking the same language even amongst themselves, having different mentalities about poverty, being an American vs. being an immigrant, remembering the past, trusting the police - and, as one described near the end, the sadness of never being able to understand where the other was coming from, even if they were trying.

I found that there was a lot I didn't know about Korea's separation into North and South, and what that would have been like for families trapped on opposite sides of the gaping wound of the border, and I appreciated getting to hear that perspective.

I didn't love that sometimes Jooyoun Kim's writing, particularly about immigration, came off a bit preachy. I felt like this story, which was full of immigrant characters, was able to stand on its own as an example without needing to go on too much about it.

The audiobook was good, though the narrator over-enunciated a lot. I found this less distracting when I sped it up a little bit (landed at 1.5x). It was nice getting to hear the Korean phrases and dishes pronounced.

Two thrillers in a row and I really enjoyed them both?! Am I turning into a thriller reader??

Both Odette and Angel were fascinating protagonists, and I was glad to spend time with them. Also I shouldn't be surprised ‘cuz it's not like it's hard to become a biological parent, but still I'm always surprised when characters have really shitty parents. Like, not beating your kids or putting a hit out on them actually is pretty easy. Oooh and there were some good religious overtones about forgiveness and guilt that were interesting though not theologically sound. Also some good disability rep, and the author had an interesting note about her research in the back, which I appreciated.

4.5 but I'm feeling generous :)

CW: suicide

Look, you know I love me some Backman, but this really didn't work for me. Yes he still has a way with words, yes he can state truths about life in a way that is chef's kiss, yes he can build relationships beautifully. But even when I tried to suspend belief, there was just too much about this story that I didn't believe.

- Estelle attending the viewing of her own apartment- The policeman giving the bank robber advice about how to get away from the police.- The "it's not your fault" unopened letter Zara carried around for 10 years, after the man she wouldn't loan money to jumped off a bridge. (That the man would write the letter and that Zara wouldn't open it.) Also that she basically stalked her therapist, that's a weird thing to do.- That anyone would rob a bank for $6000.- That whole rabbit-on-the-toilet thing?? WTF???

Also I really don't appreciate calling people names, and it bugged me a lot that Backman/the narrator kept calling the characters “idiots” throughout the book, especially because as the reader I didn't think they were all idiots. I maybe didn't believe their motivations or actions, but I rarely think so lowly of someone to think they're an idiot, and it bothered me that it was thrown around so unthinkingly.

I was disappointed, but clearly I'm in the minority based on how many rave review there are. But I've read a lot of Backman's work at this point, and this is probably my least favorite.

I loved the other novella I read by Glassman (Knit One, Girl Two) so I was prepared to love Gifts of Spring too, but this was just not for me. Fantastical, which isn't super my favorite, but I could get over that if it told a great story. Unfortunately it felt too short for any real plot development, and things like motivations were kind of throwaways. This happened then that other similar thing happened then fade-to-black-the-end before the romance even really took off.

It was fine! Quite dramatic and there's a LOT happening here - both H/h are the products of unplanned teen pregnancies, MMC is a professional hockey player with a wild family story, the FMC has dropped out of like 30 colleges (not literally, but it's mentioned a lot that she didn't finish for Reasons) and is now working as her dad's assistant, there's golddigger drama, tabloid drama, All My Exes Live In Texas drama. It's not a very relaxing book. Very high anxiety even though the MMC projects like a beacon of calm. But he's also very like, I gotta protect my woman and keep an eye on her, which I never love. I was also irritated by the names - Kingston and Queenie, which is punned on a lot - and some of King's teammates were called Bishop and Rook and har har har yeah we get it.

So I enjoyed it while I was reading, and probably it will fall out of my head momentarily.

Friends-to-lovers fake-relationship that turns real-relationship with little angst. Plus board games. Thumbs up!

Similar to the previous book, lot of heavy issues and trauma. This one revolves around Sam, who is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair for mobility, and Niko, who played in the NHL for just minutes before an injury ended his career. But the big issue in this book is that Sam is trying to gain custody of the daughter he's cared for over the previous three years, when The System is trying to prevent a disabled man from doing so. As such, a lot of discrimination here (against disabled people, as well as gay people). It's also very open-door, and focuses a lot on sex when one partner is disabled, and all that comes with Sam's specific paralysis.

I still enjoyed reading this, but there was next to nothing about the tattoo parlor, which is one of the things I liked about the previous book. Probably done with this series for now, it's much more serious than I prefer my romance.

TW: custody issues, child abandonment (past), discrimination against disabled folks, homophobia

The formatting on the Kindle version was a little wonky when it came to the text messages, and at first I felt like there was a lot of exposition info dump, but it eased up a lot as the book went on. And you know, I think it made sense - Derek works at this tattoo parlor with his “found family” (including his identical twin brother), and they all clearly have very full lives and are involved in each others' lives, and that's lovely.

I don't have any tattoos currently. I really want one, have gone so far as to find artists I'd like to work with in the last two cities I've lived in, but have never been able to pull the trigger. There's something about the permanence that makes me uncomfortable and noncommittal. I finally realized what my problem is, when I was talking to my mom about the art I have on the walls of my home office - I am not super invested in art for art's sake, but when I see something I love, I know immediately and I buy it; whereas, when working with a tattoo artist, you have to build the trust that they will create art that you love, but you haven't seen yet, that will live on you forever. And how do you create trust when you've never worked with that person before!? It's a snake eating its tail situation.

Anyway, I was thinking about this level of trust because the h, Basil, allows Derek to tattoo him without knowing what the outcome will be - knowing that he loves Derek's work, and that Derek will know when the piece is “complete,” allowing it to be a moment of both healing and intimacy, even if they're not sure they will end up together. (Spoiler: this is a romance novel, duh.)

I don't really know what to say beyond this. It's a romance that deals with some heavy issues with, I think, great care. This series features a mostly queer cast, written by an agender author. Many of the characters have disabilities (hearing loss, PTSD, spinal cord injury/wheelchair user), and several push back about their bodies needing to conform to able-bodied norms in order to live normal lives. I really appreciated their stories and perspectives, and probably will get the next book in the series once I catch up on some book club reads.

TW: mentions of panic attacks, mentions of suicide, homophobia from off-page characters, child abuse (past), bullying, death of a romantic partner (past)

A little bit smuttier than I normally prefer, or rather maybe it was just that it was a novella and therefore there's the regular amount of romance novel smut but crammed into 1/3 the pages? I liked the banter between Pinky and Trucker, their mutual interests (y'know, besides banging each other), and the stuff about the restaurant Pinky's parents own. Her goals. The fact that Trucker was a feminist, mutual talking about consent. Openly talking about racism. I don't know that I buy the ending, but whatever, it's romance.

My book club discussed this last night (well, as much as we could discuss it with two of the three attendees not having finished it). We agreed that the language and storytelling was beautiful.

When I first heard about this book, my instinct was to avoid it like the plague (har). A story about the loss of a child, and the associated grief? Right now, that's not for me. I've experienced the loss of a child. My daughter was stillborn three years ago. I know that grief intimately. Maybe someday in the future, I will be interested in revisiting this and seeing it through the lens of a farther-off past, but at this moment, I don't feel like I have enough distance to actively want to read about the grief of losing a child.

All that, and yes I still would have tried to get further through it for book club, because I am a Good Little Reader and I like talking about books even when they're difficult subjects. But the library sucked it back from me, and alas I didn't get more than halfway through. But my friend Jen confirmed last night that this was probably going to be really hard for me if I continue through the second half, so I think I'm going to let it lie, for now.

A sweet, quick read featuring a Russ, a hot ex-marine, and Esteban, a hot ex-actor, who are neighbors and pretend to be in a relationship when Russ is expected to introduce a significant other to his family on Thanksgiving the following day, but that dude was the worst and broke up with him the day before and left Russ in the lurch. It pretty much keeps to the few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's, but it is heavier on the relationship aspect than the holidays specifically. Some steam, not a ton. I liked Russ and Esteban, I could see why they were good together. And no 3rd act breakup unless you count one stalking back to his own house and the other following like half an hour later.

I did not like this book. It was a bunch of unhappy people, being unhappy and doing nothing to make their joyless lives any better — just complaining all the time, while being immature and lazy and pretentious. The description on the back of the book (“... the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright young couple ... bored by the banalities of suburban life and long to be extraordinary”) was entirely misleading, because they weren't bored or longing for anything — they were miserable and snobby (without having any reason to be either of those), and they were unwilling to do anything about it except continually cheat on each other. Zero stars.

Gyasi is a gorgeous writer. This is not a happy book, and yet it was beautiful and touching and deeply resonant. It's about addiction, and faith, and depression, and the complexities of family, and trying to find answers when you can't even articulate the questions.

I don't even want to write more than this, because it was beautiful in the way it unfolded. Read it.

TW: drug addiction, overdose, depression, suicide attempt, animal experimentation

I don't believe anyone would claim that Steinbeck can't write. It's not a matter of that at all.

Cannery Row is written in short little chapters that flip and flop from the main story to other microcosms of life in this neighborhood. I spent the first few chapters reading before bed and falling asleep after a couple chapters, and then picking it up again the next day having forgotten who some of the characters are, or their place in the narrative (if there was a place for them at all). Later on I started reading it in bigger chunks and that helped with comprehension at least, but ... I never totally got a feel as to why I should care what happened to these characters. Mack was kind of endearing at first, but the more he tried to swindle people he sees literally every day, and the more he tries to do nice things for Doc (to ill-effect), the less I liked him. To my mind, the other guys he lived with were mostly interchangeable.

It's like how people always think their drinking stories are the best time, and they are a good time ... unless you're the one who's sober. I felt like the sober one at this beer- and whiskey-soaked nightmare of a party.

It was just okay.

Wrong book at the wrong time for this one. I'm not sure why I was slogging so hard through a book that's barely 100 pages, but I was struggling to pick it up, and then stay awake while reading it. I still have another Baldwin collection on my TBR, plus some of his fiction, and hopefully one of those will work for me better and will make me want to revisit this at a later time.

I was handed this book on the way into Mass on Christmas Eve. We were early for service - we had to get there early to get a seat because of the kids' Christmas pageant? - and I felt weird about getting my regular book out of my purse while visiting someone else's church, so how convenient that I had been handed some church-sanctioned reading material! I cracked it open immediately.

I was not raised Catholic, so I never discovered the saints in the first place. Kelly indicated that there are plenty of biographies about the Catholic saints, and that he wasn't going to rehash that info here, but since I hadn't heard of many of the saints, I do wish he had included just a tiny bit of biographical information, like what action propelled them to sainthood, for example, which few of these included.

The chapters were very short, like 2-5 pages each, and were clearly meant to be quick reads with a few nuggets of insight and some personal application, and I did like that. It could maybe have been a little tighter, a little less generic in some chapters, but I gleaned a few things that I think will stick with me regarding prayer and God's call. 3.5 stars.