Gavin Williams is having a bad month. He wakes up hungover, in pain, and not ready to face the sudden end of his hockey career. On the advice of his tGavin Williams is having a bad month. He wakes up hungover, in pain, and not ready to face the sudden end of his hockey career. On the advice of his teammate, Carlos, Gavin limps down to the local coffee shop to try coffee as a hangover cure. Unfortunately, he doesn’t like coffee and he’s in a temper he doesn’t have a handle on. He immediately butts heads with Piper, the owner of the Friendly Bean, who is also having a bad day. It’s a spectacularly un-cute meet. Piper and Gavin loathe each other and are embarrassed by their own behavior. Which makes them dislike each other even more. So how do we get from Meet grumpy to HEA?
Carlos� sister works at The Friendly Bean, and he wants to do some fundraising events with Gavin at the coffee shop. Piper likes Carlos, so she’s willing to tolerate Gavin. Gavin apologizes to Piper. As they get to know each other, they find they are attracted to each other, and decide to have a fling.
In Too Much Man, Davis explores identity and the expectations we set for ourselves. Piper is a queer woman � bi. Being queer and a part of the queer community is important to her. Being in a relationship with a straight cis man might lead others to assume she is straight and that makes her uncomfortable. Creating a queer friendly neighborhood coffee shop and being a part of the local queer community helped Piper heal from the sudden loss of her parents. For Gavin, his identity has ben tightly linked to hockey and Vancouver. An injury has ended his career, and while he was with a Philadelphia team, not the Vancouver team. He clings to his ideas of who he is to navigate this new territory. Neither is what the other wants for themselves long term.
I requested this from NetGalley largely because Anna Zabo said she had read an early partial draft and liked it. I love their books and if they say a writer is worth investigating, I will. Katy James has created a lovely, queer friendly, world in which to tell more stories. I’m interested to see how she will grow as a writer.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own.
Merged review:
Gavin Williams is having a bad month. He wakes up hungover, in pain, and not ready to face the sudden end of his hockey career. On the advice of his teammate, Carlos, Gavin limps down to the local coffee shop to try coffee as a hangover cure. Unfortunately, he doesn’t like coffee and he’s in a temper he doesn’t have a handle on. He immediately butts heads with Piper, the owner of the Friendly Bean, who is also having a bad day. It’s a spectacularly un-cute meet. Piper and Gavin loathe each other and are embarrassed by their own behavior. Which makes them dislike each other even more. So how do we get from Meet grumpy to HEA?
Carlos� sister works at The Friendly Bean, and he wants to do some fundraising events with Gavin at the coffee shop. Piper likes Carlos, so she’s willing to tolerate Gavin. Gavin apologizes to Piper. As they get to know each other, they find they are attracted to each other, and decide to have a fling.
In Too Much Man, Davis explores identity and the expectations we set for ourselves. Piper is a queer woman � bi. Being queer and a part of the queer community is important to her. Being in a relationship with a straight cis man might lead others to assume she is straight and that makes her uncomfortable. Creating a queer friendly neighborhood coffee shop and being a part of the local queer community helped Piper heal from the sudden loss of her parents. For Gavin, his identity has ben tightly linked to hockey and Vancouver. An injury has ended his career, and while he was with a Philadelphia team, not the Vancouver team. He clings to his ideas of who he is to navigate this new territory. Neither is what the other wants for themselves long term.
I requested this from NetGalley largely because Anna Zabo said she had read an early partial draft and liked it. I love their books and if they say a writer is worth investigating, I will. Katy James has created a lovely, queer friendly, world in which to tell more stories. I’m interested to see how she will grow as a writer.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own....more
“A Very Beery New Year� was a delightful early gift from Lau to her newsletter subscribers. The short story features Kelsey, who we meet in The Profes“A Very Beery New Year� was a delightful early gift from Lau to her newsletter subscribers. The short story features Kelsey, who we meet in The Professor Next Door. She is Nicole’s cousin who lives with their shared grandmother of TikTok fame. While searching for a steadier job, she is bartending. On Thursdays, just after 5 pm, Gerald comes into the bar and sits for an hour, has a beer and reads a book. This is Gerald’s version of socializing. Slowly, they start talking to each other. And then phone numbers are exchanged. And then there is the penis shaped donut incident. There’s some pretty excellent mutual pining before Gerald and Kelsey have their first date....more
A hair too taboo for me, but it's well written and I will continue to read the author. A hair too taboo for me, but it's well written and I will continue to read the author. ...more
On a near future Earth, alien ships appear and then moments later all the aliens die. As they die, clouds of nanites infect the area around the ships,On a near future Earth, alien ships appear and then moments later all the aliens die. As they die, clouds of nanites infect the area around the ships, killing many and leaving some with powers.
Some time later, Deneve is making her way to Austin from Houston. She’s had a flash of a vision, just enough to know someone is in danger. Deneve has been on the road, unwilling to stay anywhere too long since the aliens arrived. The nanites that infect her body lead her Jolie’s paper and stationary store in South Austin. Deneve doesn’t have enough information to give Jolie a good warning and Jolie is suspicious of her anyway. But a few days later, Deneve saves Jolie from a kidnapping and the two women slowly inch towards trust.
If I Were a Weapon is the start of a series that follows Deneve and Jolie. This first book is appropriately low heat and slow burn. Kilaen has established an interesting world, and I’m looking forward to seeing where she takes it. I really enjoyed the little slices of Austin that felt familiar.
One of the thing I like about Kilaen’s writing, whether she’s writing contemporary romance or scifi romance, on earth or in space, she thinks through how a normal, regular person would respond to the circumstances. Even in a world where some people now have superpowers, everything feels grounded in truth.
I received this as an advance reader copy from the author. This doesn’t impact my review....more
You can trust that Rachel Kramer Bussel is going to put together a good anthology. Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 7 is thoughtful with a widYou can trust that Rachel Kramer Bussel is going to put together a good anthology. Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 7 is thoughtful with a wide range of stories. I don’t expect to like every story in an anthology, and erotica is tougher because it taps into a place that can be rawly personal. When Kramer Bussel puts an anthology together, I know I will at least appreciate most of the stories.
My only complaint about the book is one I frequently have about e-arcs. The formatting was wonky (please, publishers, please make sure your e-arcs a formatted correctly). In this case, the text was broken up so that the whole book read as long form, modernist, deconstructed poetry. For example, from the introduction:
surprises, birthday parties where a roomful of guests shout the
fateful word at a startled celebrant would leap to mind. I wanted to offer readers different types of surprises. Inside this book
you’ll find a woman who sees color because she has synesthesia
I am generally pretty good at ignoring odd formatting, but in this case it kept my brain engaged on an intellectual level that distracts from descending into the primal brain. So, initially I thought that I hadn’t enjoyed this collection as much as I did last year’s. But every time I went back to look at a story as I was drafting this review, I would remember that I really did like the stories quite a lot.
The theme this year is Surprise. Everyone understood the assignment.
Angelina M. Lopez’s “Hot Pockets� was one of the standouts. A married couple has to work to find pockets of time for passion. A number of the stories involve established couples doing something that alters their dynamic, whether that’s finding a new way to meet needs, adding a third, or reigniting passion after a long illness. In Corrina Lawson’s “Wicked Ride� a couple with psychic abilities experiments with using their mental powers to explore sex joyfully and safely.
In some stories relationships take a surprising turn, in others, there is no expectation of a relationship. I particularly enjoyed “Gravity� by Gwendolyn J. Bean, where the surprise is the world itself. I really appreciated the range of women who explored their sexual desires and were the objects of desire.
Reading anything that stretches the boundaries of polite cis het sex feels like a political act. Culturally, we seem to taking a turn back towards the puritanical. I am not in favor. I am feeling more comfortable in my relationship with erotica now that I better understand my relationship to attraction and desire (I identify as aro-ace). Though it might seem counter intuitive, reading the way a lot of different kinds of people imagine romantic and sexual relationships has allowed me to know myself.
I can’t guarantee that you will like all or any of the stories in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 7, but I can guarantee they were chosen thoughtfully.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Cleis Press. My opinions are my own....more
This book. From the cover until the very end, it was a delight. If you are looking for a fluffy romance and a fake engagement trope that features two This book. From the cover until the very end, it was a delight. If you are looking for a fluffy romance and a fake engagement trope that features two Black queer women, pick up D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding.
D’Vaughn has decided to audition for a reality show called Instant I Do as a way to force her to come out to her family. Kris has decided to audition because she wants to find love. Instant I Do is a reality show in which strangers are paired and the challenge is they have to convince their families that they are in love and getting married in 6 weeks. The couple who makes it to the alter is offered a choice of going through with the wedding or taking $100,000 prize money each. There were a lot of opportunities for Higgins to lean into the drama, but instead, she chooses to show adults talking through their feelings and conflicts. In 2021, this was exactly what I needed.
Kris is an out and proud Afro-Latina butch lesbian, with lots of tattoos, who works as a PE teacher at a high school in Houston and has a side gig as a social media influencer. D’Vaughn is proudly fat, but privately a lesbian. Both are delightful. With the security of a family that accepts her as she is, Kris is fully prepared to support D’Vaughn in coming out. While keeping the book fairly fluffy and light, Higgins acknowledges the nuanced ways homophobia and bigotry can show up in people we love.
Chencia C. Higgins gives supportive partner lessons in D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding. While Kris has D’Vaughn’s back, D’Vaughn is open and generous with Kris’s family. The two of them are refreshingly adult as they navigate the complexities of falling in love while being fake engaged on a reality competition.
I really loved this book, and think it will make a great start to a romance lover’s reading year. I hope to see it on all the “Best of� lists, next year.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own....more
Somehow, while letting Audible throw romances narrated by Andi Arndt into my ears, I ended up listening to Kylie Scott’s Repeat. There was stuff I likSomehow, while letting Audible throw romances narrated by Andi Arndt into my ears, I ended up listening to Kylie Scott’s Repeat. There was stuff I liked, stuff I didn’t like, and it was a solidly enjoyable, perfectly fine listen. I like Arndt’s voice.
In Repeat, Clementine Johns is recovering from a head injury that has given her amnesia. While searching out information about herself, she walks into a tattoo parlor where she is met by a bunch of angry faces, including the large, handsome tattoo artist, Ed Larsen. Apparently, Ed is her ex-boyfriend, and apparently she broke his heart.
What I liked: Clem asks questions and is honest about how she feels. Her head injury and memory loss have reduced her filters and all the context that would govern her behavior. She is stripped of her social masks and trying to understand who she was while rebuilding a life based on who she feels like she is now. For reasons that are often quite thin, she ends up back in her ex’s life and having to deal with the hurt she caused when she blew up their relationship. It’s an interesting place to put a second chance romance.
What I didn’t like: there’s an undercurrent of hostility to mental health issues. When Clem needs medication to deal with some of the emotional issues that are completely understandable, she acts resentful and like it’s a temporary weakness. There’s also an odd “not like the other girls� vibe.
I haven’t read Kylie Scott before, and while I didn’t love Repeat, it was a good snack romance. I’ll probably listen to the next in the series, Pause, in which Ed’s brother gets into a relationship with a woman who has recently come out of a coma. Or maybe not.
What do you do when what you want more than anything is to get married, but your perfect man is married to the woman who set the two of you up on a blWhat do you do when what you want more than anything is to get married, but your perfect man is married to the woman who set the two of you up on a blind date? Mason has been dating a man who seems perfect, but they keep not taking the step from casual to serious. Meanwhile, his friend Claris has finally nagged him into agreeing to a date with her husband, a fashion designer named Diego. They are in an open relationship. While Mason is ok with one date before locking down his forever with Dr. Tim No-Last-Name, he can’t take Diego seriously, because Diego is already married. Without the burden of expectations, Mason and Diego have a wonderful time, and then another wonderful time. They click so beautifully, but Mason can’t see how he would ever be anything else but the guy on the side.
The Life Revamp is a lovely romance about expectations and connections. Most polyamory romances are about 3 or 4 people in a closed romantic group all having sexy times together. The open V relationship, where one person is in a romantic or sexual relationship with two people who are not romantically or sexually involved, is less represented, but very common in reality. I loved that Mason’s questions and insecurities are dealt with realistically. Mason is friends with Claris, but he is uncomfortable with her being the wife of the man he loves. It takes him a long time to believe that he could have the kind of life and love he wants with Diego. Diego is amazing. Diego and Claris are great together, and Diego and Mason are great together. Mason has wonderful friends and a pretty great life, once he gets out of his own way.
The Life Revamp is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, and I’ve read some fantastic books this year. It’s funny and heartbreaking and cathartic. I want to spend more time with the Motherf*ckers, so I will be going back to read Kris Ripper’s The Love Study and The Hate Project. This hug of a book will be out in time to sooth your soul between Thanksgiving and the Winter Holidays.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Adores. My opinions are my own....more
While I have read and enjoyed Ilona Andrews� two largest series, the Kate Daniels world and Hidden Legacy, I haven’t explored their other series. WhenWhile I have read and enjoyed Ilona Andrews� two largest series, the Kate Daniels world and Hidden Legacy, I haven’t explored their other series. When I got Fated Blades from NetGalley, I worried a bit because I haven’t read any of the other Kinsman Universe stories, but I knew I would enjoy it because it’s Ilona Andrews. It was no problem. The world explains itself well enough and I don’t think the other Kinsman Universe stories impact it too much.
Matias Baena and Ramona Adler don’t hate each other personally, but their families are longtime enemies and business rivals. So when Matias finds out Ramona is waiting in a conference room to talk to him privately, he knows his day is about to get bad. And then it gets worse. It gets even worse after that. Ramona and Matias have to team up to stop an invasion and probably a slaughter.
As they work together, cut off from their usual resources, they have to trust each other. They quickly learn the other is competent, smart and deadly. They have far more in common with each other than they do with most other people. As is shown on the cover, they can manifest blades and shields. The story moves fast with betrayals, corruption, chicanery and a couple of really good fight scenes.
I really enjoyed going into this knowing almost nothing. It’s short, it’s fun, I stayed up much too late finishing it. Having read the third book in the series, I plan to read every bit of the Kinsman Universe I can get my hands on. And then I’ll probable do yet another reread of Kate Daniels.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGally and Montlake publishing. My opinions are my own....more
Proper Scoundrels is a spin off from Therin’s Magic in Manhattan series. The adventures of Sebastian and Lord Fine won’t make much sense if you haven�Proper Scoundrels is a spin off from Therin’s Magic in Manhattan series. The adventures of Sebastian and Lord Fine won’t make much sense if you haven’t read the series, but you should read the series. It is excellent and Therin built a wonderful world while writing it. I’m so glad she’s writing past Arthur and Rory, and that we get to spend more time with Jade and Zhang.
Wesley, Lord Fine, feels separated from the world by his title, and by his experience as a sniper in WWI. Sebastian de Leon feels separated from the world by his magic and by his years under the control of blood magic. Lord Fine doesn’t know that magic exists, but he and Sebastian are connected. In the aftermath of the defeat of the Baron in Wonderstruck, Sebastian has been keeping an eye on Lord Fine, trying to keep him safe from the magic world he unknowingly brushed against. Wesley is suspicious of Sebastian until Sebastian saves his life.
The two men who feel so broken and undeserving fall in love while hunting down dangerous magical artifacts and trying to stop a mad man. It’s an excellent adventure with family secrets, daring rescues, and people who have no hearts catching feelings while running for their lives.
I enjoyed the Magic in Manhattan series enormously. Therin takes full advantage of writing in a well built world. She balances plot and character, dishing out adventure and feelings in equal measure. I’m looking forward to seeing where Therin takes her world next.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own....more
Elena Armas� debut romance The Spanish Love Deception, has been getting a lot of attention. I’ve seen the cover on social media a lot and it recently Elena Armas� debut romance The Spanish Love Deception, has been getting a lot of attention. I’ve seen the cover on social media a lot and it recently won the ŷ Choice Award for Best Debut. I hate not liking a book, but I did not like it and now I have to write a bad review.
Before I requested it on NetGalley, I had seen a few reviews calling it a Hating Game knock off. I read a lot of genre books. I don’t have a problem with derivative, or “knock off�. Some of my favorite books are variations on a theme, or derivative, or knock offs, depending on your perspective. That’s what genre does. So, I don’t have a problem with The Spanish Love Deception being a knock off of The Hating Game. The combination of workplace romance, enemies to lovers, and fake dating is not uncommon and can be quite fun. I have a problem with the way it’s a knock off of The Hating Game.
What Armas misses in her variation on The Hating Game theme, is that Lucy and Josh are equals in all things. They are equally invested in the games they play, they are equally competent at their jobs, and they are equally dorky. They rescue each other.
Lina and Aaron are not both willing participants in their rivalry. Aramas tells us that Lina and Aaron are equals, but that isn’t what we see on page. Worse, she tells us Lina is bright and competent, but shows her as a mess:
1. Aaron offended Lina during his first days at the company where they both work and got on her blacklist. Fine, except when she gives other examples of people on her blacklist, she uses celebrities. I like a good celebrity grudge, but the hate we have for celebrities just isn’t on the same level as someone who harmed us personally. As soon as Lina started talking about Zayne Malik, I stopped taking her grudge seriously. She’s just being a jerk to Aaron. Other than one mild dig, we only ever see Aaron try to be helpful, making Lina’s behavior look petty and small.
2. We hear about Lina being competent, but on page she endlessly embarrasses her self. Aaron is constantly coming to her rescue. I won’t innumerate all the ways, but the first third of the book was one cringe after another. I don’t love cringe, and I really don’t love a character who is supposed to be a competent professional woman be shown as a series of missteps, pratfalls and bad decisions. Not only does Aaron appear to be more generous and gracious, in comparison, he is a more competent human being.
There was one plot line that made it hard for me to appreciate the perfection of Aaron. Spoilers: (view spoiler)[During a meeting of department heads, Lina is assigned to do a task outside of her expertise and it’s heavily implied that she’s given the task because she is the only woman in the group. When she pushes back on the assignment, none of her colleagues, including Aaron, support her. One colleague, Gerald, is clearly rude and condescending to Lina, doubling down on the implied sexism. (Gerald is the also the only character in the book consistently described as fat. Make of that what you will.) Aaron leaves without challenging Gerald’s behavior which Gerald, unsurprisingly, takes as approval. Later, Aaron shows up to help Lina do the work but first, he tells her that he didn’t think she was the kind of person who wanted other to people to fight her battles for her and that he didn’t think she was a whiner. What? WHAT? I don’t know what Armas is doing here, but there is a lot of space between silence and threatening to fire someone where Aaron could have supported his colleague. Instead, it becomes another instance of Lina being incompetent and Aaron riding to the rescue. There is a later incident where Aaron does attempt to fight Lina’s battles for her and his anger that she won’t join him falls rather flat when just a few weeks earlier he had accepted Gerald’s misogyny in silence. (hide spoiler)]End spoilers.
What Armas does well is the emotions and the romantic words. If you want the emotional sugar high, The Spanish Love Deception delivers. But it left me with a headache and a queasy feeling in my stomach.
Content Warnings: crash dieting, the only character consistently described as fat is also the worst antagonist, workplace misogyny, off page parental death, on page parent with terminal cancer.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the advance reader copy. My opinions are my own....more
I really wish I had something like Molly Muldoon and Will Hernandez� A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality when I was struggling to figure myself out. I really wish I had something like Molly Muldoon and Will Hernandez� A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality when I was struggling to figure myself out. I did not hear the term asexual outside of very specific conversations about cellular reproduction. When I did start hearing the term in relation to human sexuality I initially confused it with androgyny, which is an entirely different thing. Fellow Cannonballers started reviewing Angela Chen’s Ace and I was very curious. Further investigation gave me an almost cartoonish lightbulb moment when suddenly SO MANY THINGS made sense. Anyway, it would have been very nice if I had realized not really being sexually attracted was a thing and not a problem to be fixed a few decades ago. I feel like I owe a few exes an apology.
Coincidentally, it’s National Coming Out Day, and this is me, coming out as Ace. Specifically, somewhere in the aro-ace corner. I’m not going to worry about it too much because at this point in my life it’s largely irrelevant.
But back to Molly Muldoon and Will Hernandez� A Quick and Easy Guide to Asexuality. It is a lovely and joyful short comic doing exactly what it says on the tin � providing a quick introductory guide to asexuality. At this point, I’ve moved beyond this level of introduction, but even two years ago, I could have used this. I liked the friendly artwork. I liked breadth of covered topics. I liked the very clear message that we are all more than our labels, and that attraction and love are a spectrum. This would be an excellent addition to any library where teens and young adults (or older adults who had no idea asexuality was a thing) are looking for information.
This lovely little book is out in late March of 2022. Plenty of time to pre-order or suggest to your local library.
Thank you to NetGalley and Limerence Press for the advance reader copy. My opinions are my own....more
I picked up The Donut Trap, put it down and then came back to it. Initially, it was presented as a romance, and it really isn’t, so I had to recalibraI picked up The Donut Trap, put it down and then came back to it. Initially, it was presented as a romance, and it really isn’t, so I had to recalibrate my expectations. It is an absolutely lovely, nuanced, coming of age story, and I’m so glad I read it.
Jasmine Tran is a recent college graduate who has stagnated. She barely managed her degree and instead of starting a career and blazing a trail, she is living at home and working in her parents� donut shop, Sunshine Donuts. She doesn’t know what she wants to do. She doesn’t know how to be the person she thinks she is supposed to be or who her parents think she is supposed to be. Hanging over her uncertainty is the weight of everything her parents have sacrificed to give her a better life.
Meanwhile she is ignoring the group chat of her high school friends who she thinks are doing a better job of being an adult. Mostly Jasmine works and talks to her college roommate, Linh. But Linh is about to move across the country and start law school. Though everything is not coming up roses for Jasmine, she slowly works on making it better. When inspired, she takes initiative, giving us a look at the person Jas will be when she lets go of the burden she has taken on herself.
I loved the way Julie Tieu brought out the complexity and push pull of Jasmine’s relationship with her parents, and her feelings about herself in relation to them. The love between them shines through even as they do not understand each other. I really loved that no one changes dramatically. Small changes and adjustments make huge differences.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Avon. My opinions are my own....more
The worst thing about Mike and Stephanie Le’s That Noodle Life is that it isn’t out until April of 2022. Everything else about it is fantastic. I loveThe worst thing about Mike and Stephanie Le’s That Noodle Life is that it isn’t out until April of 2022. Everything else about it is fantastic. I love it. I’ve never wanted to turn a cookbook into a huggable plushie before, but I absolutely want to hug this book.
Cookbooks are becoming more challenging for me because there are so many foods I can’t eat anymore. But, I have always approached cookbooks and recipes as more guideline than rule. While I was a vegetarian, I adapted recipes all the time. Here, the authors make it easy by writing a cookbook that encourages adaptation and playing with your food. Mike and Stephanie Le are the creators of iamafoodblog and if you haven’t explored the site it would be worth your time.
That Noodle Life has a distinctly US fusion vibe that skews more towards East Asian influences. Which is fine with me. I was very happy to get a breakdown of bun (Vietnamese vermicelli bowls), because I can’t try any of the super cheesy recipes (3 different mac and cheeses I will never eat *sob*). They also have sections on instant ramen, homemade ramen, pho, lasagna, and others. While there are plenty of traditional recipes, they also play with ingredients. The Yakiudon al Pastor and the the Philly Cheesesteak Mazemen (a ramen without all the broth) are two of those recipes and they look like fun to make. Just so you see the range of That Noodle Life, the Philly Cheesesteak Mazeman calls for instant ramen and Cheeze Whiz on page 65. On page 73, The Double Lobster is a date-night worthy cacio e pepe style pasta topped with lobster in a white wine garlic butter sauce.
If you want to get deep into noodles, they have recipes for making your own Italian and Asian noodles, making your own chili oil, making your own XO sauce, and making your own laksa paste, all without ever making me feel like I have to do any of that.
I really appreciated the colorful photography and the playfulness of That Noodle Life. I’m looking forward to getting my sauce covered hands on a hard copy next Spring.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company. My opinions are my own....more
Last year, Katie71483, MsWas and Prolixity Julien got together and ordered a copy of Allie Brosh’s Solutions and Other Problems for my birthday. When Last year, Katie71483, MsWas and Prolixity Julien got together and ordered a copy of Allie Brosh’s Solutions and Other Problems for my birthday. When it came, I was touched that these lovely people thought so much of me that they would go to the effort and expense. I also knew that I was not going to be able to read the book at that moment, and probably for many moments after that moment. In fact, it sat on my shelf for almost a whole year because I wasn’t ready to dive into the hard things I knew were in the book. The unread Solutions and Other Problems could have been a symbol of my guilt (and occasionally has been), but more recently when I have seen it on my shelf, it has been a talisman of friendship.
Solutions and Other Problems is Allie Brosh’s long awaited and much anticipated second book. After the release of her first book, Hyperbole and a Half, some unfair and bad things happened in Allie Brosh’s life. The sections in which she deals directly with her sister’s death, and other specific bad things are very short. Most of the focus is on the existential crisis she experienced and her efforts to be a better person. It is equally heartbreaking and hilarious and so very relatable.
I am grateful that at some point in my weird and chaotic childhood, I learned that the universe is not fair, everything is pointless, but keep trying anyway. A major motivator for me has often been that the universe is unfair, making it my job to bring things closer to fair. It’s a big job and I fail at it every single day. The corollary to that is the universe is unfair and random, so make that work for you. Chapter 14: Fairness might be my favorite chapter. I laughed so hard I may have peed a little and it spoke to me on a cellular level. So much of my life can be explained by the thesis of the chapter: “If you can’t win, start playing a different game and score just as many points.� I can’t recommend you follow my path in this. I am the proverbial cautionary tale....more
Not a Love Song is a second chance romance set over the Christmas holidays. While on a live daytime talk show, Bree has a small meltdown when asked (aNot a Love Song is a second chance romance set over the Christmas holidays. While on a live daytime talk show, Bree has a small meltdown when asked (again) about why she never wrote a breakup song about one of her exes, Colin, an actor who is having a successful year. After walking out of the interview, she plans to spend the holidays holed up alone in a friend’s penthouse.
Instead, Colin shows up at her door, concerned by what he saw in the interview. Of course he still has feelings for her and of course he wants to make sure she’s ok. A consoling hug turns into kitchen counter sex. And then they decide to spend the next few days together.
Colin is fairly open about still having feelings for Bree. Bree is more opaque, still attracted, but does she want a relationship? I really appreciate that Colin never made Bree responsible for his feelings, not does he expect anything from her in return. Not a Love Song is a well told second chance romance. I never clearly understood why their first relationship ended, but got the sense that Bree was very young and trying to to get out from under her mother’s controlling thumb. In a second chance romance, the author has to make the reader believe that whatever broke the couple apart, won’t break them up again. Albright skirts this by making Colin ok with the break up and the years apart.
There is a lot of on page sex, including some playing with toys. The consent is great and they are enthusiastic and creative lovers. Bree is dealing with the grief of losing her mother, with whom she had a complicated relationship. Sex is the way she is willing to connect and be vulnerable. Sometimes she felt so muted as a character that I had a hard time investigating in her happiness.
Veronica Albright is a pen name for historical romance author Jess Michaels. She does a nice lateral move from Dukes and Earls to contemporary celebrities.
CW: grief, past death of parent
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley. My opinions are my own....more
I haven’t read any of Jenny Holiday’s books before, but it sounded interesting, so I put it on my TBR and then ŷ offered a giveaway, I enteredI haven’t read any of Jenny Holiday’s books before, but it sounded interesting, so I put it on my TBR and then ŷ offered a giveaway, I entered, I won, and then I waited for weeks. It finally arrived, just as a cold front brought the temperatures down to the low 70’s. I made some celebratory hot cocoa with oat milk and sipped it while still wearing a t-shirt and perusing Duke, Actually.
Max and Dani meet in A Princess for Christmas. Their respective best friends are getting married and they are the Best Matron and the Man of Honor. Max, heir to a Duchy in Eldovia has decided that he and Dani are going to be friends, so he starts texting her. Dani, a literature professor who is trying to get her cheating ex to finalize their divorce, is post love, post men, and has a list of everything she will never do for a man. Initially, she isn’t interested in having anything to do with Max outside of the wedding. The threat of an evening in the company of her ex and his very young new girlfriend prompts her to invite Max to join her as her plus one. From there, they build a friendship that surprises them both.
Holiday builds a great acquaintances to friends to friends with benefits to lovers romance. Dani and Max have good banter and develop a level of trust and emotional intimacy that was lovely to read. Both have had their expected futures upended, and their usual best friends are swooningly in love and not as available as they have been in the past. Max woos Dani into friendship mostly by listening to her, but also with Nutcracker tickets and falling in love with her Yorkie, also named Max.
I enjoyed Holiday’s deft handling of tropes, feelings, family dynamics, and bucking of tradition.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Avon. My opinions are my own....more
I remember the moment when I realized that white women, as a whole, are not crusaders for social justice, but enforcers of white supremacy. I had beenI remember the moment when I realized that white women, as a whole, are not crusaders for social justice, but enforcers of white supremacy. I had been working towards it for a while. It happened a lot later than I’d like to admit, and the realization took a while to sink in. I’d like to say I’ve given up my illusions about the role of the white woman in the world, but the things we absorb subconsciously as children are the hardest to root out. My eyes started opening in 2008 when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-anchored Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update and tried to persuade Democrats in Texas and Ohio to nominate Hillary Clinton instead of Barak Obama because, yes, she is a bitch and that’s a good thing.
TINA FEY: Maybe what bothers me the most is that people say that Hillary is a bitch. Let me say something about that: Yeah, she is. So am I and so is this one. [Points to Amy Poehler]
AMY POEHLER: Yeah, deal with it.
TINA FEY: You know what, bitches get stuff done. That’s why Catholic schools use nuns as teachers and not priests. Those nuns are mean old clams and they sleep on cots and they’re allowed to hit you. And at the end of the school year you hated those bitches but you knew the capital of Vermont. So, I’m saying it’s not too late Texas and Ohio, bitch is the new black!
Excerpt from Salon.com By TRACY CLARK-FLORY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 25, 2008 5:10PM (EST)
“Bitches get stuff done� and “bitch is the new black� were everywhere. I happily chirruped the first, but the second one bothered me. It very clearly pitted (white) women against Black people and that’s way too…accurate. I don’t think I ever said it, but I also didn’t know how to explain why it felt ugly to me. Yes, a white woman and a Black man were competing for the nomination, but “bitch is the new black� wasn’t about Clinton versus Obama. It was about us versus them and even then I could see the only winner in that fight was white men.
I’ve spent the last few years learning and unlearning so that I can move from a surface level “racism is bad� to an active anti-racism. Jessie Daniels� Nice White Ladies is a piece I needed. It explains me and the world I have moved in to me. Daniels is a few years older than I am, and we had fairly different upbringings, but like me, she is from Texas and we had similar American history as presented by the State of Texas educations. Reading Nice White Ladies felt like talking to an old friend who is much smarter than I am, who kindly lays out their arguments brick by brick. I always knew where she was going, but she helped me walk with more confidence. It is a must read if you are white and want to evolve past white feminism in a meaningful way.
Nice White Ladies is deeply personal. Daniels uses examples from her own life and her family to illustrate how white womanhood is entrenched in white supremacy, how we are rewarded and incentivized to maintain it, and how it is killing us.
I will be recommending this to almost everyone I know. I’m pretty sure some of my friends are going to find it uncomfortable, while others will feel the relief that I felt in seeing our half understood discomforts explained so clearly.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley. My opinions are my own....more
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