Did I need something cute? Absolutely yes. And I found something that has just the right kind of cute for me, which means tinged with murder.

The story follows Mona, a young wizard with magic over pastry that she doesn’t put much stock into because it is considered minor and she uses it mostly to help in her Aunt’s bakery. Unfortunately, when she finds a body in the bakery, it is the start of her becoming the most important wizard as she’s the only one left to defend the city from traitors and invaders.

I found myself delighted at the tone of the book being fairly light while the subject matter veers a little darker. There is a surprising amount of death and Mona creating monsters that go to war, as well as an ongoing theme that the adults should be dealing with the problems that have fallen on the children’s shoulders. If you’ve read my stuff, you know why I love this.

Also, Uncle Albert turned into Uncle Earl for half a chapter. That was odd.

Overall, it was a great read. It was a lot of fun, and I liked the younger tone with the more mature themes playing throughout it. I know I would have enjoyed it as a kid just as much as I did as an adult.

Somehow my financial planning books have led me here. To a book on retirement. As if that’s something that I will ever be able to do. I can dream!

This book, however, is very much written for not me as an audience. This is targeted specifically at people who were ready to retire in 2010, complete with advice that does not hold up very well anymore. They have a lot of faith in your employer providing funds for your retirement as thanks for your years of service, as well as far more trust in Canadian social programs for retirement than I do.

There’s also a really existential dread I’m noticing in books talking about retirement. Namely, the idea that without work, you lose a part of your identity. I do wonder if that’s as big of an issue as the book implies, though I wouldn’t be surprised now that I think about it. Still concerning, though.

Today in random books I found in my library, let’s learn about urban planning! I do have two series that involve cities that exist in isolation and are cut off from the world, so that seems like a good enough reason to start reading up about the usability of cities.

The thesis of what makes a happy city is pretty straightforward. Create a city in a way where the primary purpose is for humans to live in it as opposed to a means for cars to get from one location to the next. Make the cities more walkable, create public spaces for people to congregate and enjoy leisurely. Invest in other ways for people to get around. And make options in housing for people with lower income to still live in.

I will admit, I paid a lot more attention to the parts about Vancouver than the rest of the book, mostly because I know exactly what he was talking about. ((What was considered “low income” for that apartment complex is appalling)) It’s interesting to see how the same or similar issues are treated in other places, and how the changes have impacted things like hospitalization and crime rates.

Overall, I really liked this book! It was a lot of fun, and informational. While I did pay more attention to some parts than others, I did learn a lot about how urban planning is done in other places.

Today in random library books, yet another horror novel! I think I must have added a bunch of them to my list at once and just didn’t remember it. Probably for the best, because apparently this is what I’m in the mood for!

The book follows two people: Mila and Curtis. Mila lives in the past, a recent immigrant to Canada whose mother is betrothed to a powerful man in a strange house that she slowly learns is dangerous and she must find a way to destroy before it takes her like it took the rest of her family. Curtis lives in the present and is tasked with taking care of his mentally ill father and teenage sister, but the weight of his father’s illness is getting to be too much and he’s starting to hear voices as well. They meet one day through a mirror, Mila gaining hope from the experience while Curtis is scared that this means he’ll soon become insane and dangerous like his father.

It’s been a while since I have read a haunted house ((About the house itself being the antagonist, unlike Into the Grey)) story that wasn’t a struggle to get through, but this one turned out to be fun. Mila slowly realizing that the thing to fear is not just the master of the house but the house itself was fantastic, and I can see how the author was trying to create that parallel between what was happening with her and with Curtis. There were a lot of twists I didn’t see coming and, while some of the explanations for how the mechanics worked were sparse, I don’t think it ever detracted from the story.

The relationship between Curtis and Mila near the end felt very much like it came out of nowhere. I don’t think they interacted enough to build to that point, and the two of them were both so wrapped up in their own traumas that I’m not sure how this was supposed to work, but ultimately I do realize that it was a thing that the author likely felt had to happen.

I also wanted more of Diablo. I thought that horse was going to play a much larger part in the story.

Overall, it was a really fun read! If you’re looking for a relatively quick spooky story, it’s great. The characters are interesting and feel unique, and I’d definitely recommend it for a hounted house fix.

And I’m back to the random library books! Libby had this in a list of books that I cannot remember too much about, but it was at least somewhat featured and it sounded interesting enough to pick up. And then I promptly forgot about it for a few weeks until it came up on my rotation of books.

Feeder primarily follows Lori, a young woman who gets paid to deal with otherworldly eldritch horrors called Feeders. She takes a job for the Lake Foundation that ultimately turns into a rescue mission where she saves several people from a shipping container and earns the wrath of her employer, a god looking to essentially end the world.

To start, I’ll warn that there’s very little in terms of explanation of how the world or the specifics of how a lot of other elements of the story actually function and I am completely okay with that. The focus is entirely on the narrative and explains only enough to give the characters what they need to continue to move through the story. As a result, the story is very fast pace and great for a quick read, but not as good if you’re trying to figure out the mechanics.

But the story is where all of the fun happens. It is very much a modern YA Lovecraft story, with the focus being on the unknown and the horrors that lie just where you can’t see them and how they are always around you and sometimes even inside of you. In the tradition of the modern Lovecraft narratives I’ve seen, there’s also a lot more diversity ((Suck it, Lovecraft)) that is done really nicely that helps to compliment the story.

Each of the characters have been brought from around the US and the world, with different worldviews that both clash and compliment one another. It’s great to see them interact with one another, particularly as you get to see the world from their perspective and get to understand why they are the way they are. All five of the leads is diverse in a different way, and in some cases you don’t even find out about that until the very end of the story though it’s clear that their diversity impacts their interactions. And I really liked that.

I will also add that the story left me feeling like there could be more. At the end, the status quo gets reset to a degree and it feels like this could work really well as a prequel to a whole series of books that has the kids going out and encountering more horrors throughout the world. Which I would be great with, because the characters were a lot of fun and it was an entertaining take on the genre.

Overall, it was a fun read! I do recommend reading it over the weekend and not spending too much time analyzing the why of some of the elements. The characters are fun, the voices are unique, and the premise makes for an interesting story.

The story follows Pat as he and his family are forced to move out of their house into the extended family’s summer home after their grandma burned their own house down. While there, his brother gets possessed by a spirit that does not immediately realize that he’s dead and he must find a way to put the spirit to rest before the possession kills his brother.

The story was really cute. It’s very much intended for a younger audience with frequent references to stuff like Doctor Who and Eurovision, which places the story very squarely in the UK ((Ireland specifically? There were a lot of very specific references, but I didn’t pay that much attention…)) and I always like seeing that. It is, however, definitely a book that takes place in an older time and some of the references haven’t necessarily aged well.

The focus of the story is Pat and he really does feel like a teenager, with his concern for his brother being paired with choices that feel like they would make sense to someone his age. It’s nice seeing books where teenagers act more like teenagers than short adults, and are prone to that combination of turning to their parents when they are lost while not wanting to actually tell their parents what the problem is and expecting them to intuit it without having to voice that concern. I really liked those moments.

Overall, it was cute and it’s a nice quick read. If it sounds interesting to you, check it out!

I need a break from fiction, so I’ve gone back to one of my old standbys. Crime documentary. I have seen a few documentaries about Theranos, and followed the story loosely while it was happening ((Though I have no idea what happened with the trial. That was supposed to happen in 2020 and…)) and I do love a story about Silicon Valley nonsense.

Theranos was supposed to be a revolutionary product for healthcare: A machine that could test your blood faster and in a less cumbersome way than sending it into a lab. It was a lab that you could have in your house and allow you to check at your leisure if you are at risk for any diseases. It was, of course, a dumpster fire of a project with ethical issues ((Which, well, it was both Silicon Valley AND healthcare in one go)) and technical ones that were kept hidden via a veil of secrecy and terrible business and development practices.

Have I mentioned that I’ve been in tech for over a decade? I have lived parts of this.

It’s structured with a different perspective in each chapter telling the full story of the project from inception to eventual collapse. It’s interesting to see how the different perspectives from different parts of the company come together to paint the picture of something that I can 100% believe happened as told in the account. It’s a horror novel where the villain is the idea that this device could go out into the world and ruin lives where the heroes are the ones who eventually risked and were rewarded with legal threats and private investigators following them looking for any missteps that they could use against them for whistleblowing.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was exactly the break I needed and I loved having this perspective on what happened. If you love this kind of thing too, or just need an interesting nonfiction, it’s a lot of fun.