I thought this perspective was interesting, but I can't help but feel it falls into a lot of stereotypes about autism. I'm not diagnosed on the spectrum of autism myself, so take that with a grain of salt. Despite this, I always felt like Don's intentions for finding a partner were noble even if I didn't agree with his methods. Rosie was an interesting contrast to Don's rigidness. She feels like her own person, so I don't feel like she falls into "manic pixie dream girl" territory, which is nice. Don also learns to respect her and I think she brings out the more selfless side of him.

I think the side characters in this book left a lot to be desired. I do not like how Gene is neglectful of his wife Claudia's needs. I am all for consensual open relationships, but it feels like Claudia has reluctantly accepted an open relationship for the sake of satisfying Gene. Gene also makes comments that come off as sexist towards women. Furthermore, Gene doesn't really develop or become a better person by the end of this story and I just would have wanted more of that. Overall, I enjoyed the story and I just wish Don had a better friend that Gene.

I wish I liked this more than I did. There are a lot of male characters that talk down to Teagan, the female lead. Overall the male characters are overprotective of her because of her past. Rather than helping her this serves as a hindrance for her to overcome her past trauma. This is a criticism I also have for the male lead, Devlin. It doesn't help that there is a significant age gap between him and Teagan that emphasizes his attitude of "I know better". 

Additionally, I felt that the pacing for the relationship was faster than I would have liked. Devlin also has a long history of being surrounded by attractive women that he works with but has also slept with. There is a very strange whore/Madonna complex going on in his head in the way that he compares Teagan and other women he has slept with. It comes off as very sexist and made him a lot less likeable for me. I also think that the least he could have done is warn Teagan that he has indeed slept with a lot of the women he consistently interacts with so that they could both decide where the boundaries of their relationship should lie. I'm willing to try out other books by this author, but this pairing just had a lot of things I disliked.

This was a very slow burn rivals to friends to lovers. Lukov and Jasmine are very well matched with a level of incredible professional respect for one another. Through their rivalry and eventual friendship they help each other grow and comfort each other. There is a good amount of arguing and emotional tension that comes with this that isn't always pretty. However, I think it's a realistic depiction of healthy confrontation between people that care about each other. It takes a very long time for their relationship to actually become romantic, but the wait is definitely worth it. 

Furthermore, I appreciated the great relationship Jasmine has with her family. They are supportive, encouraging, and loving with her. There is also a lot of growth that we see for her in the context of her relationship with her father by the end of the story. Lukov also has a very loving family that I really liked as side characters. Overall, this story has a lot of emotional depth beyond the romance and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Mariana Zapata.

This was probably the slowest slow burn I have ever read, but I really appreciated it. There is only one sex scene in the entire book, so if you were looking for a steamier romance, this may not be the book for you. Vanessa has been Aiden's personal assistant for 2 years. She has been thinking about resigning to make a freelance design career her full-time job but has not finalized the decision. Being underappreciated by her employer finally pushes her to make the decision to quit. What she doesn't expect is for Aiden, her boss, to track her down and beg her to come back.  Aiden comes off as a demanding jerk at the beginning. However, he quickly takes accountability for his actions and genuinely apologizes to Vanessa when she reveals why she left and is angry at him. Vanessa is very responsible and cautious about the decisions she makes. After Aiden apologizes and offers her a deal she can't resist, she sits on it for a few days before agreeing to an arranged marriage. 

It was nice to just have the story focus on the building of a friendship rather than a romance for most of the book. Aiden and Vanessa are shown trying their best to communicate and meet each other's needs within a platonic context which made the relationship progression feel very organic. Aiden isn't good at relationship building at all, but you can definitely tell that he tries his best and listens to Vanessa. Vanessa also does the same and this builds a very strong foundation for the romance. Vanessa is reasonably oblivious to Aiden's feelings for a long time, but I also think Aiden contributes to this with his aloof demeanor. He isn't the most emotional or expressive person and Vanessa is very self-conscious about becoming a burden to him. Therefore, it takes them quite a while for Vanessa to realize when her feelings became romantic and Aiden to realize it was mutual. 

There are a series of subplots that help bulk up the story and give some background to Aiden and Vanessa. They both have friends and family histories that are complex and help add depth and context to their personalities and circumstances. It also helps them find common ground in the trauma they have experienced and makes their emotional bonding stronger as they share their pasts with each other when they become friends and eventually romantic partners. The side characters also stand out with individuals with personalities. Zac was probably my favorite. I rarely see platonic relationships between men and women that are just nice friendships and Vanessa and Zac really hit the spot for me. I'm looking forward to reading more from Mariana Zapata soon, this was just the slow burn I needed.

Esta historia lee como una carta de consuelo para aquellos que han perdido a un ser querido. Se sigue a un personaje principal que acaba de perder a su madre y siente un gran dolor por ello. Comienza a buscar a su gata perdida, María, por su barrio. Se exploran las historias de todos los vecinos del personaje principal y cada uno a pasado por alguna pérdida de un ser querido. Esto ayuda a dar la impresión de que el personaje principal no está sola en su dolor. El final se siente como un abrazo necesitado, un consuelo, y una promesa de esperanza. 

Las historias de Sandra Cisneros tienden a ser sencillas y cortas, pero con un impacto emocional muy fuerte. Las ilustraciones también son hermosas y ayudan a darle vida a la historia. Aunque esto no sea una experiencia que haya experimentado una persona, todavía creo que este es un libro que debe de ser leido por todos.

The most memorable part of the story for me was the friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh. I appreciate stories about found family and friendship. Despite this being an example of a very ancient literary tradition (which is reflected in the way it is written), I still felt for the characters and the trials and tribulations of their friendship and struggles. 

I read the Maureen Gallery Kovacs translation and found the footnotes and tablet summaries that prefaced every tablet incredibly helpful in understanding the story as a first time reader. I think the most unfortunate part of this reading experience is knowing that the story is incomplete. Despite this, the translator made sure to point out parts of the tablets that were incomplete or for which there was not a direct translation for certain words. It made me feel like they tried their best to stay as true as possible to the original text. As far as reading epic poems, this is probably not a bad one to start with. It is not difficult to understand, it is reasonably short, and from what I've looked up it has multiple translations.

I am reading a lot of other things I'm more interested in at the moment and I have lost interest in this book particularly. The concept of going back and forth between two characters that are 1000 years apart is intriguing, but it's just not something I want to read right now. I might come back to this in the future.

Este libro es narrado desde la perspectiva de un conquistador. El relata como embarazó a una mujer indígena y luego la rechazó. Las consecuencias de sus acciones se vienen a ver al final de la historia. Siento que me hubiera gustado tener una historia mas larga para poder explorar ha este personaje mas. No se supone que uno simpatize con él y se nota por la manera despectiva que se refiere a los indígenas. De todas maneras, fue un relato interestante. Espero leer sus otras obras literarias.

This was a friends to lovers romance with some darker themes explored towards the ending. The story starts off pretty quickly with both leads waking up married in bed in Las Vegas. They decide to keep their drunken unplanned marriage a secret from Thea's brother, Cade. Despite starting off the romance quickly, you can tell by the way Thea and Xander interact and tease each other that they know each other very well. The relationship does not feel rushed. In fact, it feels more like they are just finally giving a romantic relationship a shot after being friends for a very long time and fighting their attraction to one another. The story does not have a misunderstanding trope if that is something that you dislike. Instead, there is a great exploration of family relationships. The themes of domestic abuse and child abuse are explored. I felt the ending was very cathartic and gave space for a lot of healing. The side characters are also pretty well developed. This book is the second in a series but can be read as a standalone (which is how I read it). The platonic relationships in the story are well developed and you get to know all of the other characters really well, which is impressive because that can be hard to do within 350 pages or so. I appreciated how accessible it was for me as someone who has not read any of the other books in the series. If this book encompasses tropes you like and the triggers noted here are something you think you can tolerate, I would recommend it.

I appreciate these retellings of the original TOS adventures with the Kelvin Timeline characters. This volume includes Trouble with Tribbles which is one of my favorite episodes. McCoy is by far the funniest character overall. Spock and Kirk seem to have already established a basic sense of trust in one another. I think there is still a lot of space left for them to become closer friends, so I am looking forward to that.