en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 20:20:13 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review6931484474 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 20:20:13 -0700 /review/show/6931484474 Jessica gave 3 stars to Great Big Beautiful Life (Hardcover) by Emily Henry
bookshelves: fiction
Honestly? I have some mixed feelings on this one. I didn't dislike it, but I thought the love story took a back seat to the other storyline. That's perfectly fine, but it ultimately left me less invested in the love story and that's what I came for. Not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but not my favorite Emily Henry. ]]> Review5722182504 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 18:29:49 -0700 /review/show/5722182504 Jessica gave 4 stars to A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them (Hardcover) by Timothy Egan
bookshelves: nonfiction
The more things change, the more they stay the same... ]]> Review6600942410 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 09:23:11 -0700 /review/show/6600942410 Jessica gave 2 stars to How to Get a Life in Ten Dates (Paperback) by Jenny L. Howe
bookshelves: fiction
This was the kind of romantic comedy where I actually wanted the protagonist to end up with someone other than the main love interest (Justice for Brian).

It might have been three stars, but then there was a whole scene about how the main character doesn't know the song No Scrubs at music bingo because "scrub something" came out before she was born and maybe it was by Destiny's Child and I was so filled with rage, I nearly threw the book. ]]> Review6695383467 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:43:35 -0700 /review/show/6695383467 Jessica gave 4 stars to A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery, #1) by Maxie Dara
bookshelves: fiction
I have never been much of murder mystery reader. Which is odd considering that I got my love of books from a mother who read almost exclusively Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, Sara Paretsky, and the like. That's been changing a little bit in recent years, as I've discovered a few authors whose mysteries I've adored and that's led me toward exploring the genre a little more.

Honestly, though, the reason I picked up A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer was that the main character in the book is a grim reaper who has to help a teen into the afterlife. I don't know many people who are familiar with the show Dead Like Me, which ran on Showtime for two brief seasons before returning with a lackuster TV movie to help wrap up a few storylines. That one's about a teen, George, who dies young and is welcomed into the afterlife by Mandy Patinkin (at his post-Yentl, pre-Homeland sexiest) and learns that she's been assigned to work as a reaper, whose job is to transition souls from Earth to an afterlife we don't really see much of. I haven't watched it in years, but I remember it being absolutely delightful. The tagline of this book reminded me of that, and that I read it specifically to see if it had the same vibes.

The book is actually a bit different, but it's largely just as delightful. It folows Kathy, a fortysomething woman who is pregnant, mid-divorce, and working as a "collections agent," which is really just a marketing-friendly term for grim reaper. In the world that Maxie Dara has built, though, grim reapers aren't dead people welcoming others to the afterlife so much as living people who have to help get recently dead people on their way to the afterlife. They have 45 days to do so before the person becomes a ghost trapped on Earth, and their departmental badges ensure that they can do their work almost invisibly (the book clarifies that Kathy's badge doesn't make her truly invisble to normies, just "not noticeable" - I don't really understand the distinction, because it seems like it's for all intents and purposes invisble).

The fact that Kathy can't really tell other people about her job is the reason she's mid-divorce, as she's used the need for secrecy to build lots of walls between her and her endearing soon-to-be-ex Simon. Her only friend is Jo, a recently retired fellow collections agent, who just so happens to be blind. She has coworkers, but she's always maintained a bit of distance from them. Working in the Natural Deaths division of SCYTHE - a company dedicated to the transition between the living world and the afterlife - Kathy just shows up, does the job without getting attached, and goes home to a microwave dinner in her sad apartment while the others hit up happy hours and go home to their happy families. Kathy is pregnant - the result of a backslide with Simon that indicates that she's not really as ready for him to be her ex as she claims - and the same emotional baggage that caused her to bail on her marriage is also causing her to feel a lot of anxiety about the idea of becoming a mother, but she's rolling ahead with it anyway, out of inertia as much as anything else.

As the book starts, Kathy is assigned to collect the soul of Conner, a 17 year-old boy who has died of a seizure. But when she shows up to his house, his soul isn't there. She eventually tracks it down to a park near his home, and he refuses to go to Processing because he insists he was murdered and he wants to know who did it and why.

Conner is a difficult kid at the outset. He's bitter that he's dead, obviously, but he's also bitter about the fact that his parents were kind of checked out of his life and he died without truly feeling loved by anyone other than his best friend Ethan. Even though she's a little skeptical regarding his insistence that he was murdered, Kathy is willing to help him investigate. At first, it's just because she needs to close this case file. But as time goes on and answers prove elusive, Kathy truly comes to care about Conner.

I came to this book prepared for a quick, maybe silly, little murder mystery with a paranormal bent to it. I was not expecting a bittersweet story of learning to let other people in. The relationship between Kathy and Conner was so fun, as they both learn to let their guard down a bit with each other. Kathy has to get some help from both Jo and Simon in order to solve the murder, which only serves to soften her up even more.

And even though you know from get-go [spoilers removed]. I didn't expect to find this book so moving! It's not spoilery to say that it ends on a note that feels very much like the set-up to a series (and it's listed here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ as Book #1, despite no Book #2 being announced). I do hope it does end up becoming a series, because I would love to spend more time in Kathy's world. ]]> Review5884588428 Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:16:07 -0800 /review/show/5884588428 Jessica gave 5 stars to The Reformatory (Hardcover) by Tananarive Due
bookshelves: authors-of-color, fiction, favorites
One of the most emotionally draining things I have ever read in my life, but not in a bad way. An incredible work of art. ]]> Review7138346479 Thu, 06 Feb 2025 18:34:34 -0800 /review/show/7138346479 Jessica gave 2 stars to The Favorites (Hardcover) by Layne Fargo
bookshelves: fiction
I think I'm alone with this one, but this super buzzy book was not it. It's soapy and full of surprising twists, but the character development is paper-thin and it needed to be trimmed down by about 100 pages. You know the quote about how insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results? I felt insane every time the couple/ice dancing pair in this book broke up and then reunited only to have one more absurd event dash their Olympic/World Championship dreams. Nope, nope, nope. ]]> Review6764554550 Thu, 06 Feb 2025 18:33:53 -0800 /review/show/6764554550 Jessica gave 5 stars to Wedding Dashers (Paperback) by Heather McBreen
bookshelves: fiction, favorites
Long before I met my husband, I went on three dates with a guy and was convinced he was the one. Unfortunately, he received a job offer in another state that was too good to turn down; even though we promised to keep in touch, things fizzled out over time. As they do. He knew more than I did that it just wasn't going to work. I found myself listening to on repeat, wondering about what could have been: maybe when our hearts have realigned, maybe when we've had some time, I'll see you there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ridiculously happy with my husband and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world, but The Wedding Dashers reminded me so much of that time in my life when eveything was just a little too messy, when the timing was off, and when it was just really hard to let go.

Here, Ada is struggling through a career failure and a long-term boyfriend who wants to take a "break" when she has to travel from Seattle to Belfast for her little sister's wedding. Ada is skeptical of the suddenness of the whole marriage thing and that's led to some tension with her sister. So Ada is in a terrible headspace when her connecting flight gets cancelled and she's stranded in London. A fellow traveler takes pity on her, offering to buy her dinner and even let her stay in his hotel room. Ada is so frazzled she doesn't realize Jack's trying to get into her pants - or that he just happens to be on his way to the same wedding, where he's the best man she's heard nothing but gripes about from her sister.

Even though Ada doesn't want to sleep with him that first night, she accepts Jack's help in getting to their final destination. Ada's sister has mentioned that Jack has a reputation for sleeping around and he himself expresses contempt for the idea of commitment, so Ada is determined to keep her distance, but she can't deny that she is super attracted. Throughout their journey, they get to talking and you can guess where things are headed.

Okay, mildly spoiler-y ahead. I'm not going to tell you everything here, but my favorite part of the book is how it handles the stereotypical third act breakup.

What I really liked about this rom-com is how openly the book acknowledges that these are two people who are meeting at a time when a relationship would never work in the real world. They're both going through messy times in their lives and they don't even live in the same state. Not to mention, they've known each other for less than a week before their wedding duties end and they have to go their separate ways. Falling in love isn't going to fix all their problems, but falling in like helps them see how they need to work on their problems. It's gorgeously realistic without losing that sense of hopefulness you want in a rom-com. ]]> Review6489939007 Sun, 26 Jan 2025 19:24:37 -0800 /review/show/6489939007 Jessica gave 5 stars to Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive (Hardcover) by Eliot Stein
bookshelves: nonfiction, favorites
]]> Review7046374411 Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:42:07 -0800 /review/show/7046374411 Jessica gave 2 stars to I Might Be in Trouble (Hardcover) by Daniel Aleman
bookshelves: fiction, queer
Eh, I'm going to chalk this one up as just not my cup of tea. The premise seemed fun in a cheeky kind of way - a writer, David, wakes up one morning to discover a dead body in the bed next to him. It's a silly premise, but the first half of the book hewed a little too closely to Weekend at Bernie's for my tastes. It just wasn't funny to read about David trying to transport a dead body around in a way that no one realizes it's a dead body, especially when I had hoped there would be a little bit more of a mystery involved.

The second half of the story picked up a little, becoming a little bit more metafiction as David decides to use the experience as a means of reviving his flagging career. Still, the final outcome of this fell short for me as it ultimately [spoilers removed]. ]]> Review5912161148 Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:34:00 -0800 /review/show/5912161148 Jessica gave 5 stars to The Wedding People (Kindle Edition) by Alison Espach
bookshelves: fiction, favorites
I was a little hesitant to pick this book up, even though I enjoyed Alison Espach's previous book. Something about the way it was marketed made me suspect it might be treacly. But, man, I'm not going to be surprised if my first book of 2025 ends up being my best book of 2025.

The story of Phoebe, a woman at the end of her rope who unintentionally gets sucked into the elaborate wedding festivities of two complete strangers, was weirdly relatable and gorgeously written. I haven't underlined so much in a book in...maybe forever? It's poignant without being sentimental, smart without being dry, and funny without being glib. An absolute chef's kiss.

I guess this is 40: falling a little bit in love with books about complicated midlife crises and jotting down notes that you can discuss in therapy. ]]>