Category: Fiction

Libby is really the only thing that is keeping me reading these days, I swear. The random books that come in seem to know just when I need something, and this one came in right as I was taking some time off of work because, well, I need the time off. And I needed a pretty calm read.

The book follows two people: August and Emery. August in returning to the island after many years to bury his mother, but his return comes with the resurgence of all of the reasons he left. He was accused of murdering a friend in the midst of a fire and essentially run off the island, leaving Emery behind to continue living in a place that feels like it lives in stasis. But in the short time August is there to finish what he needs before leaving forever, the past comes back in strange ways and the truth of the mystery behind that death comes to light.

It’s a very calm and atmospheric read, and one that was really hard to place in terms of genre. While there’s implied magic in some of the characters, it’s never really clear until the end one way or another whether it is actually a thing in the world. And while there’s the feeling of it being a murder mystery or some idea of a gothic horror, nothing really stands out in terms of how the story was told or where it ended up to really understand what I should be expecting.

And really, the atmosphere was probably the best thing about the book. The characters never grow or change1 only reveal more information. There were no surprises until the end when you get the definitive answer about whether or not magic is real and ultimately it feels more like the story ends than concludes. It’s a bit disappointing in that there is no feeling that there’s any justice or finality to what happened, only that everyone walked away to never speak of it again.

Overall, it was mostly an okay read. It was what I needed for the time, something calm that didn’t ask too much in terms of complicated plots or characters. The perspective shifts threw me at first, but once I got used to it, it was a pretty chill book with a disappointing ending.

1. Which is expected in some genres, which is why the genre is throwing me [↩]

I’ve been having a rough time of things, so reading hasn’t been happening as much as I’d like. But I did get one of my holds in and got it finished before I had to turn it back in, so let’s see what I decided I wanted to check out several months ago.

The book follows Jess, a kid who comes from a book smuggling family who has the opportunity to get into the Library of Alexandria where he can better help his family smuggle books. While there, he uncovers more about what it takes to be a part of the library, and some of the darker aspects of how the library works to keep their secrets and prevent the public from access to the information within.

The world is one that took me a bit to understand. At first I thought it was meant to be a straight alternate history where the Library of Alexandria did not burn but had instead been privatized, but there’s a lot of subtle and not so subtle magical elements in it that threw me off. It’s revealed slowly and very matter of factually, where Jess is not entirely new to the world so a lot of information is presented much more as fact than something that is explained. Which, honestly, I really like and once I got it I was in.

The story gets a lot darker than I expected from this story about a bunch of kids in a school to pursue their ambitions to this much more political game that is being played with them as pawns. While Jess is bright and able to eventually recognize what’s happening, it’s clear that he’s not in a place to actually do anything about it. At least, not in this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. The pacing was quick and, once I got a better understanding of the world, I was in and I really enjoyed watching the story unfold. There’s a lot of interesting characters besides Jess and they all feel very well rounded, each with their own mysteries that I was excited to uncover. Definitely worth the read!

I had been having a rough time of things, so I just needed to read something. Anything that was available. none of my holds had come in and I was not able to get into anything that was in my digital purchases TBR, so to the library and picking something at random!

Normally I would talk a little about what the book was about, and there was a story to this book, but I cannot do that. I am aware that there is a character named Jane, that a girl named Lily went missing, and that there is an asylum with a bunch of people in it, but I cannot tell you much more than that. I cannot remember this book at all, and I just finished it last night.

Some of it is likely due to the aforementioned inability to get into anything,1 but also some of it is the framing device that made it hard to get attached to anything happening. The story is told through the perspective of a bunch of ghosts that are watching Jane as she goes about her life, which made her story feel like it was so distant from what I was supposed to be paying attention to. Even though Jane was the throughline, I never felt like I was supposed to be paying attention to her so much as the characters in the foreground, and those characters did not stay on topic.

I think this was ultimately just not for me. I’ve never had a book vanish from my mind so quickly after reading it and, though the prose did have a nice quality to it, I think it was just not a good match for what I was looking for.

1. And health issues flaring up again, yay brain problems [↩]

This was the last physical book on my to be read pile and I am finally through it! At last, the whole pile is gone! After this I can start on the digital one and then finally I will have read all the books I have! AT LAST! And then get more books as a reward. Anyway…

We follow Frankie as she heads to Hollywood with her friend, Connie, to pursue a life as an actress. Things go wrong on the way there as they end up giving a truly awful person and famous director a ride into town and get caught up in the glamour and mystery of Hollywood, along with all the disappointment that comes along with it.

The story doesn’t really kick off until more than half way through the book when the murder mentioned on the blurb actually happens. Before that, it’s a lot of set up to understand the inner workings of Hollywood and just how terrible just about everyone in the book is. Once the murder happens, it feels almost like a completely different story, with Frankie going underground and trying to solve the crime while evading the police.

While the story is pretty well paced once the murder happens, I found that I didn’t like any of the characters. People are vindictive or self serving, and even when there’s a moment of redemption where I think someone might make a good decision, that is soon undone by their following actions. I was rooting for no one in this even though I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be.

Honestly, I preferred her Stella Ryman book more, but this might be a good fit for someone looking for some of the old Hollywood glamour and a more traditional read. If it sounds interesting, check it out!

Back to my physical TBR and another book from the Pulp Lit event! Naturally, I did not remember what the book was about and just picked it up because it was the next one on the list, but I am pretty happy with what I found! It’s been a while since I’ve read some fantasy.

The story follows Kyer as she ends up being recruited into a party on a mission. The country is being slowly overtaken by another power on the edges, but Kyer is mostly just trying to figure out her own life and along for the ride and the experiences. Due to a duel at the start of the story, she is pursued by a man named Ronav whose plans she has thrown a wrench into and he is on a mission to get what she owes him as a result.

This may be because I’m currently putting together my character for a new campaign, but this whole story had a D&D feeling to it where the campaign is based around one character. The magic and the worldbuilding just felt like I was in that world, which felt both very familiar and a bit off at different points, and I was waiting for more side quests that would allow other characters to shine as well.

Despite that, it felt like a familiar journey back into my fantasy days where there was a quest to be fulfilled and a lead with a mystery about themselves that made them the chosen one. It’s a fun read and I’m interested to see how the rest of the story goes. This is, after all, only the first book and I would like to see how some of the threads about Kyer’s past progress. Check it out if you have an itch for a fantasy book!

Today in I don’t remember why I put a hold on this book but it came in and I did not even read the summary to find out what I was getting into, body horror! Do I normally have absolutely no issues with this kind of thing normally? Yes. Is my brain pretty fried from work burnout and stress and still recovering from all the brain issues, making it much less okay with this kind of thing? Also yes!

The book follows Kara (Carrot to close friends and family) as she finds herself living in her uncle’s Wonder Museum and helping him care for it while he’s out having knee surgery. A small hole appears in the wall, likely caused by a tourist accident, she discovers a passage to a strange world between worlds where you hope desperately that the willows that cover the place are hungry, because if they aren’t they are curious and will find new and interesting ways to toy with the humans who are unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped there.

The worldbuilding is a lot of fun, especially in how the willows become a very strange, alien force that creep into the minds of people. There’s also the fun that is seeing what was left behind by others, and how Carrot finds out that these are people who did not come from her world, but from parallel universes that are just a little off of her own.

I also appreciated the interplay and relationship between her and Simon, the barista from next door who also ends up experiencing the horrors with her. There was a distinct attempt to ensure there was absolutely no sexual tension between Carrot and Simon by pointing out he was, in fact, gay, which was just a weird reminder for me that they would have been expected to end up together otherwise.

Overall I really enjoyed it! It was a creepy story maybe not best read at bed time with some haunting imagery and an appreciated lack of a clean wrap up for the situation. If it sounds even vaguely interesting, definitely check it out!

You know what’s annoying? When you keep reading books that seem to keep calling you out specifically in weird ways. And let me tell you, it’s worse when that book is a fiction book that is about robots and tea and somehow it still manages to get in your head in strange ways.

This is the story of a tea monk named Dex who runs into a robot named Mosscap. The robots gained sentience ages ago and human let them go to live their own lives, rebuilding their world without. Mosscap is here as a representative to understand what humans need, and so it joins Dex as they travel the countryside.

The whole book is a series of Socratic dialogues, which I was not expecting. I honestly thought this would be more of a road trip book, but instead it was a series of conversation about life and purpose and meaning and perspective changing those things with the framing device of a robot and a monk travelling a quiet countryside where little would interrupt their dialogue or provide any external stakes to distract from the internal conflict.

There isn’t really that much in terms of narrative to cling to, but there is a degree of character progression. Dex is someone who keeps chasing purpose and cannot seem to find something to give them that feeling of fulfillment which, well, hits a little too close to home at this moment. Through the winding series of conversations, there isn’t so much a resolution as peace that comes out of it all and the whole thing leaves this feeling of calm that I really appreciated.

Overall, not what I was expecting but still one of the more interesting reads so far this year. If you need something pretty calm that will let your mind wander into some more philosophical places, this might be a good one to check out.

Have I had this book on my TBR forever? Yes. My bad! I got it with the intent to reward myself for finishing the trilogy with reading it and then, well, last year was not the best year for me in general. But I picked this up from a Pulp Lit event directly from the author and we had a great chat that had me excited for it.

We follow Basil Stark, Captain Hook’s first mate and only surviving pirate who has now settled into the land of Everland, a place very different than Neverland was, and has been working as a private detective in a world of corruption and dark history. When the woman he’s been asked to track down turns up dead, he falls into a mystery involving magical research that they all thought had no merit and uncover some mysteries of the island.

This was so much fun. With my brain, I can’t follow a lot of mystery stories well and I found that I was perfectly okay with just coming along for the ride without trying to keep track of the clues that had been laid throughout the story. Between the characters and the way the world came together around the central story, I was fully engrossed and wanting to keep going right until the end.

I really loved it. It was so much fun, and I love a reimagining of a story. The choice to use an evolved Neverland as a backdrop to the story and taking inspiration from the original made for a lot of new ideas and it was a fantastic ride. Absolutely check it out.