mandaleigh's reviews
427 reviews

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai

hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This is one of those book where I feel like I'm not smart enough to understand it. It's fine, but repetitive. After skimming other reviews, I realize this is a sequel which I didn't know when I grabbed it from the library.

Someone comes to this small diner off the beaten path of Kyoto and wants the chef to recreate a food dish from their past. Their reasons vary from wanting to move on from guilt or a hard time, relive a moment of glory, or because they think maybe this dish would provide guidance while they're at a crossroad of life. 

The chef and his daughter (who runs the "food detective agency" of the diner) gather information from their clients and set off to recreate the dish in two weeks time. (Yes, always two weeks later.) All the food detective business happens off page only to be summarized/explained when the client returns to try the food, which is always a perfect recreation. The clients leave having learned something about themselves and are told to pay whatever they feel is fair to some mysterious bank account on a piece of paper.

The food descriptions sound decident and delicious, though I'm not sure I'd pick them from a menu myself. I felt like the chef put down his daughter a lot, criticizing her needlessly, making comments about her being unmarried, even slowing him down on the final food detective field trip. Since it is a translated work, perhaps the humor gets lost?

I was drawn in by the adorable, colorful cover and the want to challenge myself in a way to read more translated work. Sorry to say I feel this one missed the mark. There is an audience for this I'm sure, but it isn't me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

slow-paced

3.0

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Grouch-ish by L.B. Dunbar

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was not the audience for this novella. I love the snowed in/forced proximity, enemies (ish) to lovers vibes, but did not like these characters at all. I found them both pretty one-dimensional and boring, and I definitely wasn't rooting for them together. Brock meets Pear and commenting on her body and his fantasies for the first few chapters really gave me the ick. And, perhaps aided by the cover art, Pear never read as in her 40s to me? But I'm also not in my 40s, so maybe I'm being too critical.

I read this novella physically and felt like it could have used some time with an editor. (I know Ms. Dunbar self publishes so I don't know her editing situation.) Some punctuation was off, there were misspellings, one sentence toward the end that was justified weirdly... it really took me out of the experience.

There are two, I think, chapters at New Years where Brock suddenly reaches out to the parents of a late fireman he mentored. The mentioned character is "Nat." In later chapters it suddenly changes to "Nate." A typo, yes, but it bothered me.

Finally, I have an issue with the plot and spoilers incoming.

Did Pear ever get that text from Dad on page? The one where he supposedly told her to send Brock home? I flipped through and couldn’t find it. I think I would've liked this better if I knew from the get go that she was hiding that from him. To see her rationalize it and admit her lonliness and what not.(Though it did take me some time to get through this novella, so there's a chance I just don't remember it and in the end I don't really care.)

The cover art is lovely, but that's not a 40 year old "curvy" woman, nor do I believe that man is a silver fox. This is perhaps the first time I'm not on team illustrated cover.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0