Books

Book 938: A Teaspoon of Desire – Alex Danvers

Book cover of "A Teaspoon of Desire" with Amazon Affiliate linkI’ve had this book since January and I really should’ve started it well before I did—not because it was so good, but because it was a slog and I barely met the review deadline.*

I won’t rehash my issues with Riptide Publishing (search the blog, yes I’m still bitter) and as always I’ll give the good and the bad about the book, but TL;DR: this book took WAY too long for me to get through, and maybe it’s just me, but it really should not have.

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Books

Book 924: Tell Me Our Story – Anyta Sunday

Book cover of "Tell Me Our Story" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter reading Anyta Sunday’s adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels I knew I wanted to try one of her other contemporary novels without the Austen framework so when this arrived in my inbox I requested a copy of it.*

Tell Me Our Story is the tale of uptight, heavily burdened Jonathan, who stayed in his hometown to care for his younger sibling (gender-neutral, never clearly stated but doesn’t have to be) after their parents died, and David O’Hara, who fled town when they were younger because of his dad and, as we ultimately learn, Jonathan. They’re in some sort of social media competition and that’s the premise of the novel.

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Books

Book 920: Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun – Jonny Garza Villa

Book cover of "Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun" with Amazon Affiliate linkI’m not sure where I first came across this work, it might’ve been on a library list of YA novels to read, or it might’ve been a random Insta ad/post by someone I follow.

Either way, I added it to my list immediately and promptly forgot about it. When we went on vacation last month this was one of the few reserve books I took with me that I didn’t quite make it to, so I slotted it in at first chance and am so glad I finally got around to reading it. If I would’ve read it on vacation it would’ve taken half as long, but I kept falling asleep reading it this time (stupid time change).

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ARC, Books

Book 742: Crime Dot Com – Geoff White

Book cover of I honestly don’t know how people exist without being paranoid ALL THE TIME. When I first said yes to this after the publicist reached out, it was like 95% because the author’s first name was Geoff and 5% because the subject was interesting. And then I found myself completely absorbed with this book.*

Now I’m not saying we’re totally screwed, but I mean we’re not really that far from being totally screwed and White does a really good job of explaining all of it. He takes an in depth look at the start of cybercrime with the quaint “Love Bug” virus (Wikipedia) to the state sponsored hacking/cyber assault that nudged us into the rotting cesspool of Trumpism that is the US right now.
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Books

Book 711: Sticks & Scones (Check, Please! #2) – Ngozi Ukazu

Book cover of "Sticks & Scones" with Amazon Affiliate linkI’m so sad this is over. I waited a full year for it, and it was wonderful, but I’m still sad. I re-read each of the two books twice this time to really soak them in and make sure I looked at the artwork and appreciated the dialogue.

I’ll be frank and say that I’m not sure I enjoyed this as much as the first one. I don’t think it was anyone thing and I don’t think that should detract anyone else from reading it, but for me it didn’t have the perfection or the je ne sais quoi (that’s a nod to Jack ;-D) the first book did. There are spoilers after the jump, so don’t read ahead unless you want to know where #Hockey ended.

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