February reading prompt: Interracial romance – Get a life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

I had seen this book around for a long time, and it’s longevity on must read lists intrigued me, and yet it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

But here’s why I do think it’s an important contribution to the romance genre – it has real and flawed human protagnists. Chloe lives with chronic pain and has been misunderstood and hurt by partners in the past because of this.
But Red is not just a knight on a shining motorcycle, but also a hurt individual that has been through his fair share.
Together they try to figure out how to make a relationship work without hurting each other and at the same time avoiding getting hurt again themselves.
The idea of this story is five stars! easy.

But then comes the execution. I struggled with the writing and the push and pull became a little too much for me. Misunderstandings and butthurt feelings that could have easily been explained away. The humor wasn’t there for me (but then again, british humor isn’t really my favorite, so that may be on me.)

I love that this is an interracial romance, but the focus isn’t on that part! The focus is on these two flawed beings wanting to fall in love, but holding themselves back due to past hurt. It feels very authentic and beautiful. I just wish the reading experience was a better one. ⭐⭐

February reading prompt: Interracial romance – The things we didn’t know by Elba Iris Pérez

I went into this blind and was immediately drawn into an immigrant life in the 50’s. Two children under the age of ten are being pulled between parents and countries.

(And bonus – it fit this months reading promt with an interracial romance that was very frowned upon in the time it’s set.)

About halfway through I started looking up some things, because it didn’t make sense to me that the author was 74 speaking about trans issues in the 50’s. Turns out that what I thought was a well written memoir, was a well written fictional story written in the first person and beautifully disguised as a memoir. (Complete with vague memories and mumbled dialogue.)
Honestly the disappointment of this threw me out of the story, because as fiction – the driving force is lost to me.
I want to ask myself – why does it matter? Because it does, a lived story holds power because it is affirming for our lives. We connect to actual people and listen to their stories. I expect different things from fiction. I expect more exploration and drive, because you have the power to go anywhere. I do not hang around for 320 pages reading about mundane things in fiction. And in all honesty, that’s what this was. It sped up and wrapped up things in the last 50 pages, but the book in it’s entirety I would say was absolutely mundane. But wonderfully written! So I have to give the writer props for managing to write an engaging text with a completely unremarkable story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read with Jenna: Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Andy is heartbroken, Jen has left him after 4 years together. Serial monogamist now single at 35, we follow Andy getting over Jen, through the good, the bad and the ugly. 

I always find it fascinating when the opposite sex chooses to write from the perspective of the other sex. Men often do this very badly, if women do it badly, I wouldn’t know, being a female and all that. But the story definitely depicts how I would envision a man going through a break up so I’ll give her that! It was believable to me! 

What blows my mind is that we spend the whole book dragging our feet around with this shallow bozo and we get 1 chapter with Jen at the end. One deep, thoughtful, complex chapter that gives meaning to it all. Perhaps a great representation to what us girls think is the main difference between men and women, we think we are very complex in our thoughts and feelings and that men are just big babies. 

A few things, because as they say, the devils in the details. I have to wonder why Alderton has chosen to have her romantic couple meet at a bar in 2015 where the music is very 2001. Did anyone still play Ja Rule and mambo number 5 over 14 years later? (Or is this a British thing that I wouldn’t understand?) It just made it feel off to me. 

Another thing I noticed was the taking of basic relationship pseudo psychology and pushing it into the story (where it didn’t always belong) like “the person in the relationship that cares the least holds all the power”. It didn’t really fit the narrative here, so this is one darling that should have been killed in my opinion. 

And I have one pet peeve here – there’s clearly a “nod” to Joan Didion here – when Alderton writes “I’m fine not to know myself too well at the moment. I’m happy just to be on nodding terms with Andy for the time being” – since Joan Didion has a famous quote going “…I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.” But while Alderton references song lyrics, and sites Nora Ephron as an inspiration, Didion is left out. Which makes it feel like she’s taking credit for this, when it’s clearly influenced. Again, it doesn’t really fit in the text and it feels forced in, if you ask me. (Which nobody did, so…)

Aside from that, I thought it was a great book on a completely normal break up! If you’ve ever been broken up with or have broken up with someone, you’re gonna recognize some feelings and behavior here. It felt very tender and true to me, and I think I am becoming an Alderton fan. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ninth house by Leigh Bardugo

Talk about a mixed bag – this is going to be the most difficult review. I don’t know how this book was written, but something feels off. 20% of the time the writing flowed so effortlessly and the stories were so engrossing and beautiful that I sobbed. SOBBED! (The scenes Alex before Yale.)
But those passages were few and far between. Rest of the time I struggled.

The majority of this book was so difficult to read, I almost felt I had to pause between each sentence to try and decipher what was happening.

example: “The giant cube of the rare-books collection seemed to float above its lower story. During the day it’s panels glowed amber, a burnished golden hive, less a library than a temple. At night it just looked like a tomb.” – I’m sorry, but am I dumb? What are we looking at here?

I can appreciate that the author threw us right into the story, (because I truly hate being fed endless backstory) and it sort of helps that Alex is learning alongside with us. BUT… I don’t understand the world and there seems to be no framework or vocabulary to hang on to, because anything can happen at any time. The second you think you understand something, something new gets thrown at you and nothing is what you thought it was. A ghost or a gluma can attack you or a portal can open or you can be drugged by something magical or posessed by a gray. It took getting to the end to almost try and understand some of it – and along the way I cheated and read some reviews that would explain the world to me. And the end… well… lets just say book 2 seems like it will be more of the same – which is something completely different and equally as confusing. I’m not sure I have the energy for that.

So how do I rate it? When it was an absolute chore to read, but at the same time had some of the favorite passages I have ever read? I’m going mid. But the truth is, parts were 5 stars (the human emotions) and parts were one or two (everything I just didn’t understand). ⭐⭐⭐ (or ⭐/ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Olivia Strauss is running out of time by Angela Brown

A well written book that needs editing. This could have easily been under 300 pages, it doesn’t need 350 pages when 2 entire chapters are dedicated to – we’re on our way/tell me where we’re going/no you’ll have to wait and see! – with her friend. And then she leaves and we get 2 chapters of her contemplating/changing her mind/going back again… That’s not building suspense, that’s stalling. 

What trips me up is that I like the writing! It’s just The pacing thats all off! We’re halfway through and the story has barely started. What’s the delay here? The MC is so out of touch. 

There are some age issues that I don’t understand here, because the trigger of the spinning out is that she’s turning 39, the last year before the 40’s which I feel shouldn’t be that big of a deal? And then she treats the 26 year old in the office as a child and cannot believe that they dare have an opinion and then she turns right around and demands answers from her handler at the institute where she did her test – to which the handler exclaims “I’m only twenty-two. I don’t even know if any of this right, honestly.” 

I understand that this is some sort of commentary on life, and time and perhaps that it’s relative? But I don’t fully understand it. In the end it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The potential was there, but it fumbled it early in the game and never quite recovered. ⭐⭐⭐

The dead romantics by Ashley Poston

I instantly liked the voice in this book, and then she said “my heart swelled by the sound of his voice” as she was talking to her dad on the phone. I get it, we’re establishing her love for her dad before killing him off, but it gave me the ick.

There turned out to be a few of those ick moments, but they didn’t ruin the story as a whole, a story that I just so happen to adore! Yes adore! It’s well plotted, and the writing flows beautifully and I couldn’t stop reading! It’s sweet and original while sticking to what you would expect from a classic rom-com. (There’s a reason why we love them! No need to mess with a winning formula!)
It’s just what I wanted and needed for valentines! 💌⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The seven year slip by Ashely Poston

Since I enjoyed “The dead romantics” so much, I decided to pick up her most recent book too – The seven year slip. About a girl in publishing (love that both her protagonists have women in publishing!) that meets the man of her dreams in her dead aunts apartment – only problem is – he lives 7 years in the past. It’s like he lives in a time glitch in the apartment. (It’s giving “The lake house if anyone remembers this movie with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.)

I recognized the authors voice immediately and I was ready to enjoy the ride, but a third way in I was still waiting for something to pique my interest. It’s an ok book, and I like the premise, but it wasn’t really engaging me. ⭐⭐⭐

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

I’ve seen this book around for a while now, I even saw there was an HBO show but I have apparently been SLEEPING with my eyes open – because WOW – just WOW! I binged this in 2 days, I could not put it down! THIS is why I love reading!

Do I love hockey? No, I don’t even know the rules, I’ve never watched a game, but this isn’t about hockey, its about community, and we can all relate to that. It manages to take a story about a hockey team and make it so profound, so relatable as a parent, as a girl who likes a boy, as a boy who wants to impress the other boys, as a friend, and an outlier. It takes something so simple and looks at it through a lens like a kaleidoscope and shows you all the different sides and colors of that one simple thing.

I absolutely fell in love with Backmans writing, his characters and his little beartown. I’ll be going straight to book number two! On second thought, the benefit of sleeping on this one is I now have the whole trilogy and I don’t have to wait! Ha! But I have to say I’m worried it won’t manage to live up to the first one.
I rarely give out five stars, but this book was as close to perfect as they come, if you ask me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Us against you by Fredrik Backman

A perfect example of how you do a sequel!
Even though Beartown stood beautifully on its own, this was a treat for us who wanted to spend some more time with these amazing characters, rooting for this team in this small town. The sequel also stands well enough alone, and you get the necessary lookbacks along the way. (Having JUST finished Beartown, there were some lookbacks I didn’t need, but I see their purpose, if you’re not reading the books back to back.)
Again, these books are structured around a small town community where hockey is what unites them. But the book is not about hockey. It’s a study on community and the people that comprises it. And it is written so beautifully that I just want to push the books to my chest and hug them!
“The path back to normal life is indescribably long once death has swept the feet out from under those of us who are left. Grief is a wild animal that drags us so far out into the darkness that we can’t imagine ever getting home again. Ever laughing again. It hurts in such a way that you can never really figure out if it actually passes or if you just get used to it.”
I’m a puddle on The floor. I’m not ok. How was this book even better? I think Backman might be my new favorite writer! Going straight on to book number three. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Winners by Fredrik Backman

A perfect trilogy in my opinion! But not an ending as the book says, as towns don’t end, only stories about people do. And how I’ve loved spending my winter holiday with these characters and their stories.
“That’s why it hurts to be a different child. The one whose name no one remembers when they look back at school photographs because that child was never part of anyone else’s childhood except their own. It’s so cold being outside other people that you freeze to death all by your-self.”
I could quote these books forever, they are all just three full books of annotations. Or one big one if you will. Backmans writing captures the essence in the characters so well and describes them so tenderly that you can’t help but relate to every single one of them. I’ve never been an ex-hockey star, but I know how it feels now.
This last book had me stay up way past my bedtime because I just had to finish it and I ended up crying myself to sleep. So here’s a tip: have tissues handy!
This trilogy is high on my list of favorite books ever, and I would gladly read them again and again, on a deserted island. They are my deserted island books for sure! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Babel by R.F. Kuang

The tower of Babel in the bible was a tower built by a unified mankind that all spoke the same language, and the Lord decided to confuse them so they could not finish their tower and they later scattered. Which is supposed to explain how we speak different languages.
In the book, Babel is the prestigious royal institute of translation in Oxford University where our protagonist Robin Swift is enrolled. He is soon approached by a doppelganger from the Hermes society and finds out that as a Chinese boy, he is betraying is homeland by serving Babel.
It feels to me like the audience falls into one of two here – absolutely loved it and thought it was brilliant or fell off after 200 pages because it’s dull, the characters are flat and the footnotes are annoying. I, unfortunately was the latter. Which annoys me, because I wanted to love it so bad. There just was nothing keeping me interested here. I found the language lessons interesting, and everytime the Philippines was mentioned little butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
I think the book is accessible and easy to read, but it breaks my heart that it’s so stuffy at the same time. I wish I rooted for the protagonist more – heck, I’d settle for rooting for anyone! But I just didn’t like anybody or feel like I got to know anybody. They just didn’t feel human, they felt like characters.
Yellowface was my favorite read last year, but this, unfortunately doesn’t even feel like the same writer to me. ⭐⭐

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.

The first chapter was so beautiful and spellbinding that I was sure it was going to be a favorite, but then it never really took off for me. It just kept going in the same tone until the spell broke. It felt old and long winded.
Almost like hearing your grandpa telling you the longest story ever, but never getting to the point. Made it about 70 pages before I threw in the towel. I can’t even give it a rating based on this. (Love the cover though!)

The return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

A missing girl stumbles out of the woods 2 years after she disappeared, and the hunt for her abductor begins, but she refuses to cooperate.

On the “Couldn’t put it down”-ness scale of 1-10, this was a solid 8 for me. Not because it’s fast paced or action packed, but because the “what happened”-driver is there pushing the story along the whole way through. If only I could review the whole book based on the first 80% and it would have been golden! It was well plotted and well paced. The writing was easy to read and flowed very well. (Almost to the point that it could have been YA.) The story is clear and easy to follow. I was just in Seattle last year and we drove through the forests out to Oregon, so it was easy for me to picture the scenery here.

Buuuut unfortunately the landing didn’t stick like I wanted it to. It wobbled over into “unbelievable” in an over exaggerated, roll your eyes type of way and it lost all credibility. There is such a thing as too far fetched and too convenient I think. I was completely on board for the first couple of twists! I though they were very clever and original. And then there was just one twist I could not get on board with. And it tanked it for me.
However, because I enjoyed the first 80% so much I’m going to ignore the implausible twist at the end and give it four stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐(first 80%) ⭐(last 20%)