A diner owner with unreasonable low prices keeps his costs down because he buys beef in 1958, gets his best customer involved in a scheme to change the world for the better. At first, he’s not convinced but a tragedy from a student’s past inspires him. 

 

Loved it. I honestly don’t know much about the different conspiracies, but the history is balanced well with the relationships & characters. It never felt like a slog

I guess this is a standard in the genre, but it’s just medium good. Twists were 75% predicable and no one from NYC talks like that. 

Loved it. 

A quick read, the story of two sisters 👯‍♀️ the older one always cleaning up the younger one’s messes. 

 

Had me hooked from page 1 “Ayoola summons me with these words- Korede, I killed him. -I had hoped I would never hear those words again.”

I don’t know. It made me want some ube crinkle cookies but other than that… 

 

people don’t act like this. The restaurant that’s accused of murdering the food critic makes the food at the wake. I was confused that they would even go to the wake. & they… made the food. For the wake. 

 

I didn’t care for the “love triangle” or the family drama of every side character. & it just never really called to me between reads.

Does this book spend a lot of time on side plots & Dave Mustaine? Yes. Did I enjoy following Kari as she tried to get her head out of her ass, stay sober, act like an adult, interpret messages from ghosts & find out what happened to her mother? Also yes. 

I only made it through Italy and skimmed the rest. There was a whole white savior side plot in Indonesia, many many rude & disparaging mental heath comments, random racism, absolutely no analysis of her privilege & the moral of what could have been a cool adventure story was her meeting a man (& getting off antidepressants.. so much MH/medication shaming) Shallow and weak writing all the way around, embarrassing that Penguin paid for her travels. 

 This series has gotten better with each book so far & I cannot wait to see what’s next. 

 

Kate navigates shapeshifter nonsense as her past comes back to haunt her. Good monsters, lots of action, we finally get some 🌶️, there are a few genuinely gruesome moments, really adds to the tension.

Roberts writes a very good prickly cactus woman and agreeable solid man duo. Love the HGTV moments. 

Incredibly sweet. Really captures the complex internal perspectives of each character but doesn’t get bogged down by it. 

It wasn’t as good as Girl With All The Gifts, which was truly unique storytelling. This has tropes on tropes from zombie fiction, catastrophic secrets, scientists vs politics, the same thing that always happens to pregnant humans in the zpoc. & the epilogue was corny. 

 

But it was good, very immersive (I had 2 dreams about zombies in the 4 days it took me to read it) & Carey gives great unique voices to each of the characters. 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♂️