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A Few Rules for Predicting the Future: An Essay by Octavia E. Butler
5.0
Wow. This was so well done. I loved the text and the illustrations. Butler talks about how easy it is to predict what is going to come based on the past and how she used that to inspire her writing.
This is organized around full main rules that I loved:
1. Learn from the Past
2. Respect the Laws of Consequence
3. Be Aware of Your Perspective
4. Count on the Surprises
And I loved how it ended:
This is organized around full main rules that I loved:
1. Learn from the Past
2. Respect the Laws of Consequence
3. Be Aware of Your Perspective
4. Count on the Surprises
And I loved how it ended:
So why try to predict the future at all if it's so difficult, so nearly impossible?
Because making predictions is one way to give warning when we see ourselves drifting in dangerous directions. Because prediction is a useful way of pointing out safer, wiser, courses. Because, most of all, our tomorrow is the child of our today. Through thought and deed, we exert a great deal of influence over this child, even though we can't control it absolutely. Best to think about it, though. Best to try to shape it into something good. Best do to that for any child.
Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed
1.0
Did Not Finish 40 percent
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I tried. But with the world and my current job the way it is. I am not doing one blessed thing this year that is not bringing me joy. Heck, sometimes I can read a book that I am not exactly hate reading, but I go into a "I am finishing this because what in the world is happening here and where is the author going?" mode. But sometimes, like this, I hit an, "I just don't care. I don't care about the characters, the journey, the ending. I refuse to keep reading this because it's doing my head in." mode.
I really did love the cover of this book when I saw it. I don't know with the world the way it is right now, it spoke to me. The book synopsis did too. I liked the idea of following four people in really separate timelines that end up being the key from humankind moving on from an Earth that is growing more inhabitable to a settlement on Mars.
"Terrestrial History" follows Hannah, who is working off the coast of Scotland and is a scientist working on fusion. Roban lives in the Colony (big C every time it is discussed which was jarring) where he dreams of Earth. And then you have Andrew and his daughter Kenzie who are taking up different sides about whether Earth can really come back the way it needs to for humankind to survive. Throw some time travel in (which honestly this book did not need that at all) and that's this book.
I have to say this upfront. This book was pretentious as hell. I don't know. It didn't hit me the right way at all. And I got tired of honestly just wading though paragraphs upon paragraphs about ethics, morality, etc. It didn't help the story is out of order. Just to let you readers know, the book plot is not written chronologically which made it hard to follow. I had to hunt to to look for who was speaking and what year it was at all times which was jarring. For example, Hannah is in whatever year. I can't tell you. At one point it just says Hannah no year so I assume that's present day? Roban is in year 2103, Kenzie and Andrew are in year 2071.
Hannah's chapters/perspectives were easier to wade into than Roban/Andrew/Kenzie. Each character perspective is told first person point of view and yet they all sound the same. And honestly that is what really did me in. I would assume these people in different points of time would "sound different" and they did not. At the 40 percent mark I gave up.
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I tried. But with the world and my current job the way it is. I am not doing one blessed thing this year that is not bringing me joy. Heck, sometimes I can read a book that I am not exactly hate reading, but I go into a "I am finishing this because what in the world is happening here and where is the author going?" mode. But sometimes, like this, I hit an, "I just don't care. I don't care about the characters, the journey, the ending. I refuse to keep reading this because it's doing my head in." mode.
I really did love the cover of this book when I saw it. I don't know with the world the way it is right now, it spoke to me. The book synopsis did too. I liked the idea of following four people in really separate timelines that end up being the key from humankind moving on from an Earth that is growing more inhabitable to a settlement on Mars.
"Terrestrial History" follows Hannah, who is working off the coast of Scotland and is a scientist working on fusion. Roban lives in the Colony (big C every time it is discussed which was jarring) where he dreams of Earth. And then you have Andrew and his daughter Kenzie who are taking up different sides about whether Earth can really come back the way it needs to for humankind to survive. Throw some time travel in (which honestly this book did not need that at all) and that's this book.
I have to say this upfront. This book was pretentious as hell. I don't know. It didn't hit me the right way at all. And I got tired of honestly just wading though paragraphs upon paragraphs about ethics, morality, etc. It didn't help the story is out of order. Just to let you readers know, the book plot is not written chronologically which made it hard to follow. I had to hunt to to look for who was speaking and what year it was at all times which was jarring. For example, Hannah is in whatever year. I can't tell you. At one point it just says Hannah no year so I assume that's present day? Roban is in year 2103, Kenzie and Andrew are in year 2071.
Hannah's chapters/perspectives were easier to wade into than Roban/Andrew/Kenzie. Each character perspective is told first person point of view and yet they all sound the same. And honestly that is what really did me in. I would assume these people in different points of time would "sound different" and they did not. At the 40 percent mark I gave up.
Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Not too much to say about this one, it's honestly a 3.5 star read, but I don't round up on my reviews anymore and just let you all know, this is not a 4 star read, but definitely not a 3 star read. I think parts of this worked really well, and others not so much. For me, I think it would have worked better if you had followed only Dani (current wife) versus Kim (ex-wife). That would have made the book flow so much better throughout and when you get to the reveals and what happened, then you can added in other characters such as Orlaith. I honestly thought the character of Mikayla didn't need to be included as a separate point of view, but Cox did include her and I found it puzzling we did not get a final point of view for her though we did get one for everyone else. I thought that was a hiccup at the end that I wish had been addressed.
"Party of Liars" follows the day before and day of Sophie Matthews's 16th birthday in Texas. The book starts off though with a tale of the home where a "Mother" grieves over the loss of her child almost 100 years ago. And now the Matthews's family that consists of Dani, her husband Ethan, and their daughter Charlotte live there.
Dani is stressed about an "incident" and making sure her stepdaughter Sophie has a great birthday. Kim is angry over a lot of things that occurred in her marriage, but most importantly losing the house that was such a part of her identity.
Orlaith is Dani's nanny and Mikayla is Sophie's childhood best friend. The book follows the three women and teenager through the day of the party. We get interludes here and there to let us know that something "tragic" occurred and the police are investigating. The entire book is just a countdown to whatever this incident was and you wondering who if any of these women and teen could potentially be the victim(s).
As I said above, if the book had just followed Dani and Kim it would have worked better. I think because it jumped so much between the four women and there was a huge Gothic vibe to it (which didn't get fully explored at all) the whole book felt erratic at times. I don't know if Cox wanted this to be a straight thriller or what at times.
The setting of this soulless house of glass just didn't feel very realistic to me though. I just can't imagine a house that is fully glass at one side in Texas. It didn't even sound like something that would make sense in that part of the country. I could see doing something like this in CA though.
I said in one of the updates to this book I thought the ending was very good and I still agree with that. I didn't see the reveals that we got coming at all and I even went back to re-read some things that came before. As I said above though, I wish that we had gotten Mikayla's point of view since we got everyone else's in the end.
Not too much to say about this one, it's honestly a 3.5 star read, but I don't round up on my reviews anymore and just let you all know, this is not a 4 star read, but definitely not a 3 star read. I think parts of this worked really well, and others not so much. For me, I think it would have worked better if you had followed only Dani (current wife) versus Kim (ex-wife). That would have made the book flow so much better throughout and when you get to the reveals and what happened, then you can added in other characters such as Orlaith. I honestly thought the character of Mikayla didn't need to be included as a separate point of view, but Cox did include her and I found it puzzling we did not get a final point of view for her though we did get one for everyone else. I thought that was a hiccup at the end that I wish had been addressed.
"Party of Liars" follows the day before and day of Sophie Matthews's 16th birthday in Texas. The book starts off though with a tale of the home where a "Mother" grieves over the loss of her child almost 100 years ago. And now the Matthews's family that consists of Dani, her husband Ethan, and their daughter Charlotte live there.
Dani is stressed about an "incident" and making sure her stepdaughter Sophie has a great birthday. Kim is angry over a lot of things that occurred in her marriage, but most importantly losing the house that was such a part of her identity.
Orlaith is Dani's nanny and Mikayla is Sophie's childhood best friend. The book follows the three women and teenager through the day of the party. We get interludes here and there to let us know that something "tragic" occurred and the police are investigating. The entire book is just a countdown to whatever this incident was and you wondering who if any of these women and teen could potentially be the victim(s).
As I said above, if the book had just followed Dani and Kim it would have worked better. I think because it jumped so much between the four women and there was a huge Gothic vibe to it (which didn't get fully explored at all) the whole book felt erratic at times. I don't know if Cox wanted this to be a straight thriller or what at times.
The setting of this soulless house of glass just didn't feel very realistic to me though. I just can't imagine a house that is fully glass at one side in Texas. It didn't even sound like something that would make sense in that part of the country. I could see doing something like this in CA though.
I said in one of the updates to this book I thought the ending was very good and I still agree with that. I didn't see the reveals that we got coming at all and I even went back to re-read some things that came before. As I said above though, I wish that we had gotten Mikayla's point of view since we got everyone else's in the end.
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
3.0
This one took a while to get going. I took my time on this one on purpose since I wanted a T. Kingfisher to savor that I knew would make me laugh a lot. This book really doesn't get going until the goblins and the elf healer (yeah there's a lot happening in this book) meet up and investigate a mysterious noise. Once that happened the book picked up in terms of plot and flow and I enjoyed it a lot. But due to the really really slow build up to things, I couldn't give this one more than three stars though it has lots of awesome things like a unicorn birth scene that has further repelled me in the whole nature of natural birth. Shit, give animals drugs too. And a goblin with a kitten, and another with a teddy bear that was one smart bear.
There's no sequel or prequel to this, so it is just from the mind of T. Kingfisher in a world where human, elves, goblins, warlocks, and humans run all over the place, yet there seems to be rules.
There's no sequel or prequel to this, so it is just from the mind of T. Kingfisher in a world where human, elves, goblins, warlocks, and humans run all over the place, yet there seems to be rules.
The Next Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
1.0
I don't have too much to say about this one outside of, not every thing needs a sequel. This was just bad. From beginning to end the only comment I had to myself was who was this for exactly? The first book ended perfectly with Daphne Parrish (the first Mrs. Parrish) getting away clean from her ex-husband and his new terrible wife. This sequel had so many ridiculous side plots that I just got fed up. And with how this second one ended, I have a bad feeling that Liv Constantine are gearing up for a third book.
Real quick, Mr. Parrish is getting ready to get out of the federal prison he went to in the last book because white collar criminals are hilarious I guess. He and his new wife, Amber hate each other. Amber has been given a few months reprieve but being low on funds and not ready to be one of the poors, she discovers that her husband is hiding something that she takes advantage of and per usual they just scream at each other. In the end, Amber agrees to help him get back what he really wants, Daphne. Daphne Parrish decides to return because her oldest daughter (who sucks) keeps running away to get back to her awesome father. Daphne ignores her mother, therapist, best friend, and common sense and returns. The book follows Daphne, Amber, and a new player, who I will call Player 3 because her whole story was not needed for this book and could have been cut.
The plot was absurd, the flow was awful, and it just kept going on and on. And I had real problems with Daphne hiding/lying from her daughters about what went on with her and their father.
The whole book felt like a ridiculous stretch and it just felt like it was some big build-up to have another ending that would have you go, oh are the very spoiled finally vanquished? The first book ended perfectly and if there is a third book in this series, I am hard passing.
Real quick, Mr. Parrish is getting ready to get out of the federal prison he went to in the last book because white collar criminals are hilarious I guess. He and his new wife, Amber hate each other. Amber has been given a few months reprieve but being low on funds and not ready to be one of the poors, she discovers that her husband is hiding something that she takes advantage of and per usual they just scream at each other. In the end, Amber agrees to help him get back what he really wants, Daphne. Daphne Parrish decides to return because her oldest daughter (who sucks) keeps running away to get back to her awesome father. Daphne ignores her mother, therapist, best friend, and common sense and returns. The book follows Daphne, Amber, and a new player, who I will call Player 3 because her whole story was not needed for this book and could have been cut.
The plot was absurd, the flow was awful, and it just kept going on and on. And I had real problems with Daphne hiding/lying from her daughters about what went on with her and their father.
The whole book felt like a ridiculous stretch and it just felt like it was some big build-up to have another ending that would have you go, oh are the very spoiled finally vanquished? The first book ended perfectly and if there is a third book in this series, I am hard passing.
I Found You by Lisa Jewell
3.0
Trigger warning: Sexual assault
I struggled with the rating on this one, but honestly it's a three star read. I think that there were way too many gaps in this one and the past POV with Graham honestly took away from things. I am realizing that I wish that the POVs had stayed women throughout since we have a lot of things that were about the abuse, rape, murder, and assault of women. And honestly, the character of Alice was out of her head. I was so annoyed with her entire story-line and her deciding to open up her home to a man she didn't know and when you find out about her past I got doubly angry. I don't know why Jewell tried to play it off as some epic romance, but there you go.
"I Found You" follows single mother of three, Alice. She has gotten into trouble before with her impulses and once again decides to go against all sense and has a man who claims to have no memory stay with her and her three children. Alice finds herself drawn more and more to the man named "Frank" and wonders if there is someone looking for him.
Newly married Lily is scared because her husband of three weeks Carl has gone missing. She realizes she knows next to nothing about his life and worries that he is dead somewhere.
In 1993, we follow teen Graham (who wants to be known as Gray) who goes away with his family for their annual two week holiday. Things turn sinister though when an older boy named Mark focuses his attentions on his younger sister Kristy.
Honestly, I think the strongest POV for me was Lily. I think that Alice was too irritating by far for me and Gray's just didn't work. I know why Jewell did it that way, but it just felt like too many separate incidents up until the reveal/twist point.
The entire book jumps between Alice, Lily, and Gray. Alice and Lily are in the same present, but Gray is firmly in the past. I think the flow of the book just didn't work because of that honestly, and as I said again, I think that Jewell had a lost opportunity to stick with Kristy there. I think some of the scenes we got would have held more weight.
The setting of the book jumps between the present and 1993. We have Alice wandering around with Frank hoping he gains his memory and Lily rushing around with a former colleague of her husband trying to figure out what went on.
The ending was a big who cares honestly. It just didn't ring true and wasn't satisfying to me at all.
I struggled with the rating on this one, but honestly it's a three star read. I think that there were way too many gaps in this one and the past POV with Graham honestly took away from things. I am realizing that I wish that the POVs had stayed women throughout since we have a lot of things that were about the abuse, rape, murder, and assault of women. And honestly, the character of Alice was out of her head. I was so annoyed with her entire story-line and her deciding to open up her home to a man she didn't know and when you find out about her past I got doubly angry. I don't know why Jewell tried to play it off as some epic romance, but there you go.
"I Found You" follows single mother of three, Alice. She has gotten into trouble before with her impulses and once again decides to go against all sense and has a man who claims to have no memory stay with her and her three children. Alice finds herself drawn more and more to the man named "Frank" and wonders if there is someone looking for him.
Newly married Lily is scared because her husband of three weeks Carl has gone missing. She realizes she knows next to nothing about his life and worries that he is dead somewhere.
In 1993, we follow teen Graham (who wants to be known as Gray) who goes away with his family for their annual two week holiday. Things turn sinister though when an older boy named Mark focuses his attentions on his younger sister Kristy.
Honestly, I think the strongest POV for me was Lily. I think that Alice was too irritating by far for me and Gray's just didn't work. I know why Jewell did it that way, but it just felt like too many separate incidents up until the reveal/twist point.
The entire book jumps between Alice, Lily, and Gray. Alice and Lily are in the same present, but Gray is firmly in the past. I think the flow of the book just didn't work because of that honestly, and as I said again, I think that Jewell had a lost opportunity to stick with Kristy there. I think some of the scenes we got would have held more weight.
The setting of the book jumps between the present and 1993. We have Alice wandering around with Frank hoping he gains his memory and Lily rushing around with a former colleague of her husband trying to figure out what went on.
The ending was a big who cares honestly. It just didn't ring true and wasn't satisfying to me at all.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez
4.0
Honestly this is mostly a 3.5 star read, but I loved the interactions between Charlotte and Seth. I agree with my friend Sam, thought the ending was a big old eh frankly with regards to the stalking subplot.
"The Fall Risk" follows Charlotte and Seth. Stairs are removed from their apartment complex so they are both stuck until the following week when the stairs will be reinstalled. Charlotte is dealing with having to move multiple times because of a stalker. Seth is getting over being cheated on and divorced. However, both of them end up talking and enjoying to get to know one another.
Honestly, the parts with Charlotte and Seth were awesome. I also adored Charlotte's best friend and how protective of Charlotte she was, but also constantly telling her how she was going to overcome what has happened to her before.
I would recommend readers may want to read "Worst Wingman Ever" since this is a sequel to that with some of the same characters appearing in this one.
The ending though as I said, eh. I just don't know. The whole stalking subplot felt like a different story and the ending to that wasn't that satisfying to me at least.
"The Fall Risk" follows Charlotte and Seth. Stairs are removed from their apartment complex so they are both stuck until the following week when the stairs will be reinstalled. Charlotte is dealing with having to move multiple times because of a stalker. Seth is getting over being cheated on and divorced. However, both of them end up talking and enjoying to get to know one another.
Honestly, the parts with Charlotte and Seth were awesome. I also adored Charlotte's best friend and how protective of Charlotte she was, but also constantly telling her how she was going to overcome what has happened to her before.
I would recommend readers may want to read "Worst Wingman Ever" since this is a sequel to that with some of the same characters appearing in this one.
The ending though as I said, eh. I just don't know. The whole stalking subplot felt like a different story and the ending to that wasn't that satisfying to me at least.
The Bookstore Keepers by Alice Hoffman
2.0
I don't know if this is going to be the last book in Hoffman's series, but this felt like a very weird note to end things on. I have loved the magical realism of the other books, but this one was kind of not hitting it for me. And I think it's because of a common thing that often happens in romance books which I think is going to set off some readers. No spoilers, but I was just disappointed by it.
"The Bookstore Keepers" follows sisters Isabel and Sophie. It's been several years since Isabel has returned and is now happily married to her childhood sweetheart, Johnny. But something occurs that has Isabel waiting for someone that she loves to realize that she's right there, just waiting for them to come back to her. Sophie is also dealing with waiting. Her daughter is about to graduate college but has not come home as much as she would have liked. But now with her daughter returning to the island, Sophie thinks this means she's going to help her and Isabel run the bookstore.
I think that my biggest issue as I said above was that Isabel's story felt very unworthy of the character. I was just disappointed and will leave it at that. But I also think that Sophie did not get enough time to shine. I was disappointed that we really only had glimpses of her in this book story, and we get a little bit more from her daughter Violet, but not enough again.
This story was way too short and I was left feeling unsatisfied.
Slither by Joseph Delaney
2.0
I finished Slither around 2 am today and honestly this was just not good. You know all the ways that made "I Am Grimalkin" so fantastic? Totally missing here. It doesn't help that even though she shows up, we don't get her POV which maybe would have helped. Instead we stay in the head of Slither (a terrible character) and Nessa (an oldest daughter forced to have to deal with the fact her father sold her into slavery and certain death). Also there is way too many plot holes and nonsensical world building in this one and the ending was not satisfying. I don't know if Slither will show up in the next two books or not, but honestly if he does not, the series is missing nothing. This was a filler book and honestly I think Delaney could have said, hey we don't need 13 stories, let's end with 12, but what do I know.
Fair warning, this one is a lot more gory than the other books in the series.
"Slither" follows a creature named Slither who is a Kobolos Mage (and no I have no idea in the real world what this corresponds to, it was so unclear and I just gave up trying to piece it together via other myths) and lives somewhere far north of the County and in a land that does not know about spooks, the Fiend, and even really witches. It's a land where the Kobolos rule and take blood from animals and humans. Slither has an agreement with a farmer that if he dies, that he takes his three daughters to his family, and the youngest are not harmed, but his oldest, his daughter Nessa, can be sold to him. Nessa of course is dismayed at the agreement her father made, but has no choice and does what she can to protect her youngest sisters Bryony and Susan.
The story shifts between Slither and Nessa's point of views. And if you think this is a girl falls in love with a monster story and vice versa, think again. It's harsh reading about what happens to the girls as they focus on getting to the family that they hope will take them in. At one point I even gave up following what was happening because the world building was all over the place. In one chapter we are told that the things that happened when Slither sought sanctuary shouldn't have happened, but then it does and they are forced to flee and then in trouble for the very things that should not have happened. The whole flow was disjointed and got worse when Grimalkin showed up. And it didn't even make sense what happened to her and how she even got there. I think that Delaney needed her to be the big deus ex machina because otherwise the ending would not work.
The ending you think may be going another way until you read that poem/song at the end and you go, whelp that was a dark way to end this. Lovely.
Exposure by Ramona Emerson
3.0
What a bummer, the first book had such an excellent premise and I think that Emerson wanted to have her cake and eat it too with this one. I think that Rita should have been the sole focus of this second book and instead seemed to be stuffed into it and it just didn't work.
"Exposure" follows Rita after the events of the last book. Rita, still a forensic photographer is dealing with the fallout of everyone knowing she sees ghosts. And using what she learned to go after corrupt cops has her being seen as the enemy by those in the police force. Rita though is determined to get her job back, and when called to a horrific scene, she realizes that she may never be healed enough to do her job. The book then jumps between Rita and someone unknown who grows up determined to "heal" those Natives that he sees in New Mexico by killing them and sending them to heaven. Using the frigid temperatures to mask what he is doing, he's gone unnoticed, until now.
I liked all of the parts with both Rita and the serial killer, but honestly, it felt like I was reading two separate books. It didn't help that in the end, Rita was not necessary to the outcome of this story at all. It felt like she got shoehorned in. I think Emerson wanted to tell a bigger story about war, alcoholism, and the effects of the Church on the Native population in New Mexico. And she was trying to do so, but it just didn't work with Rita's chapters and points of view.
Shifting between the dual POVs caused the flow to not really work at all. I felt disjointed while reading between the two of them and never got settled into the story the way I did in the first book.
The setting of New Mexico reads bleak throughout this book. Except when Emerson has Rita go back to the reservation. I was just in New Mexico and was picturing some of the things described, the highways, reservations, etc. and that was nice that I had a picture in my head from visiting that matched this book.
The ending leaves things slightly unfinished for Rita, but no idea if Emerson plans on another book in this series.