In an effort to better understand horror as a genre that is distinct from supernatural and urban fantasy ((And to better understand why people think some of my stuff is firmly in the horror category)), I’ve been trying to find more horror novels and this one came in one of those lists of recommendations!

The story follows Iris Hollow, the youngest of three sisters. As children they vanished for a month and returned without ever finding out what happened. Her two sisters left home early, leaving Iris behind though they still kept in touch. So when her two sisters, Vivi and Grey, are supposed to be back in town and Grey never shows, they are worried and have to . As the mystery of where their sister went unfolds, Vivi and Iris start to learn just what happened to them all those years ago.

I thought this was a story with a lot of interesting concepts. The touches of supernatural elements that each of the sisters had and how it manifested differently based on how they decided to use it was fantastic. I like that the mystery of what happened to them was not a driving factor of their lives until there was motivation for it and that they all seemed to have… maybe not normal lives, but lives that made sense outside of their disappearance.

It’s also the second book in a row I’ve read that hinges on the concept of cuckoos which… I don’t know how I feel about that.

Overall, I liked it! I wasn’t that creeped out or scared or anything like that, but the story was interesting and the concepts and the way they were explored were a lot of fun.

I read Every Heart a Doorway a while back and this book showed up in my recommended books. And then it took a year for me to get off the holds list at the library to actually check it out!

The story follows three perspectives, though I’m going to only focus on Roger and Dodger, two people who do not know that they are science experiments created to hold a large amount of power. They are twins separated at birth and find each other by communicating by a form of telepathy. As they grow older, they encounter one another, cause harm to their relationship, and then vanish from the other’s presence over and over again until they find that they have the power to destroy the world when they are together. Not only that, but because they are experiments, their maker now wants them destroyed in favour of another pair that is easier to control.

I ignore the third perspective, that of the mad scientist/alchemist named James Reed, because I felt like that was the weakest point for me. Where I understood what Roger and Dodger were doing and why they were acting the way they were, I had no idea what was going on with the motivations of Reed. There was a fairy tale that he was trying to make happen, but the fairy tale was an allegory but it wasn’t. There was a heavy fantasy element to it, but nothing happening with the other two perspectives had that fantastical fairy tale element to it that it lost me. It was too dissonant and felt like it was a completely different story.

But I did enjoy watching Roger and Dodger as they had a terrible time trying to get on the same page and they acted almost entirely based on their own incomplete contexts of the situation. Their inability to communicate properly didn’t feel forced for the plot or malicious, just the actions of people who don’t know better. And I always like that.

And I like the ideas behind it. This idea that two children are separated and then come together to realize that they can destroy the world together is great. That someone created them to see what they can do and when they get too powerful and incontrollable that they must be eliminated is great. ((Not exactly what happened, but how I could interpret it.)) I just… didn’t like anything to do with Reed.

Overall, I did like more than I disliked. It was a fun story with a lot of interesting ideas and execution. And if you like alchemy, this might be a great fit for you.

I’m continuing my journey to learning more about personal finance and a friend of mine recommended that I check this one out! The author is fairly well known in personal finance circles apparently ((Very early in this journey)) so I figured it was worth checking out!

It’s good foundational stuff. The first half of the book has a lot of basic information about how stocks and bonds work, as well as the mechanics of how investing could work and how to set your goals.

Unfortunately, I am Canadian, so a lot of the more specific advice is not as useful for me. The tone comes across as very finance bro-y as well with a dash of FIRE movement, which is not my thing. He’s also very into Vanguard investments. Like, to the point where I think he has a share in the company for how much he emphasizes that everyone should use them and only them ever.

Overall, though, it’s not a bad starting point. I learned a lot about the basics of investing, and certainly enough that I could get started with something. Just… not Vanguard.

After some issues with the preorder, I have finally gotten my hands on it! I need to stop trying to preorder things, given how strangely things keep going whenever I try to do that. It’s been a fun year of trying it, at least.

Lost in the Never Woods follows Wendy, a young woman about to head off to the next stage in her life and leave behind the unresolved parts of her childhood. Her brothers went missing when she was young and so did she, but she was the only one who returned. With no memory of what happened, the past continues to haunt her as local children start disappearing. Worse, Peter Pan, the boy from the stories her mother told her as a child, has come to ask for her help.

I do have a soft spot for Peter Pan stories ((Ahem.)) and this one did not disappoint. Having this one set in modern day and centering around Wendy’s trauma more than the fictional world of Neverland made it feel a bit more grounded, and made Peter feel a lot more magical by contrast. In doing this, it does create a contrast to how other people have done it before, and I rather enjoyed the experience of having the story focused almost entirely on the experience of Wendy over that of Peter.

It does use the same villain as other ones do, though, which makes me think I was missing something when I read the original back in the day.

It’s not too romance-y, which is nice for me. There’s certainly elements of it in there, but it doesn’t ultimately overtake the story that I came for. And I will note that it’s likely a lot more prominent for the audience that might be looking for it, but, well, it’s me.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book! It’s a lot of fun and a different look at the story from any of the others I’ve read before. If you’re looking for a new take on Peter Pan, definitely check it out.