Not holding my interest. Sequel sounds interesting, so maybe I will circle back one day. But there is too much I want to finish before the summer ends to commit to this right now. 

I wanted to like this more than I did. As a queer, nonbinary mother, I have an intense craving for books that explore queerness/gender/motherhood/desire the way that this one did. And there were some beautiful moments. But mostly I struggled to get invested in the plot due to the meandering pacing and writing style that felt occasionally overwrought. I tried to read this on my e-reader, and I don't think that was the best experience. I think it would have been much easier to push through if I'd had the physical copy in front of me (and it's very possible it would have grown on me by the end), but when I'm reading on my e-reader, losing interest is fatal to any of my best intentions to finish a book.

That being said, I love reading about queer characters being as messy and loveable and unlikable and dramatic and wounded and held as cis/het characters, so will I return to this one day? Possibly. If you're looking for something similar, Weekend by Eaton Hamilton is a good comparison read. I don't necessarily think it was overwhelmingly better, but while similarly messy and dramatic, overall it was more succinct, which worked better for me. 

😮‍💨 Exhausting. I thought I would connect to this as a queer millennial who consumed a lot of the same media as the writer growing up, but this was so hyper-focused on nothing but the author's experience of the world. Very white, cis, lesbian. Queer women were called lesbians whether or not that is how they identify, and gender was only ever spoken about in a fairly binary way (which rubbed me the wrong way as a bi enby). Gutowitz doesn't strictly have to write beyond her perspective but it does alienate some of your potential audience when you choose not to even acknowledge varying identities/perspectives. By the 20% mark I still didn't feel like I had read anything meaningful, mostly just nostalgic ramblings. Which could be fun, but wasn't the stated objective of the book. The real killer though was that it was written in such a grating "this-is-what-internet-millenials-sound-like" way. I think the right audience would love this. I am not that audience. 

Not holding my interest right now. I've read and enjoyed Jamaica Inn, so I know du Maurier's writing works for me. Not giving up on this fully, but probably won't try again for a few years. A lot of suspension of disbelief. A bit eye-roll inducing dialogue. 

Great world-building, decent characters, but ultimately wasn't for me. I know urban fantasy isn't typically my thing, but I thought maybe the mafia/rival families thing would hold my interest. It didn't. I'll file it away with revenge plots - usually uninteresting to me. 

I'm also kind of surprised at some of the hints of sexual violence that were ignored (in the text and in reviews).

Hilo sneaking into Wen's room and waking her in a threatening way, even to prove a point, was gross. I know the world was kind of gritty, but that was so off-putting to me. And then the Weather Man exploiting a young girl? That was not only barely acknowledged other than in how it impacted Shae, but Shae also ended the friendship with the girl because of it?? Maybe these two things are dealt with later, sure, but my impression from that was not great.

Wanted to read this for so many reasons (cover? Amazing. Queer rep? Yes please. Dragon automaton? Mmmmmmhmmmm), but I couldn't get into it. The characters feel so flat, and from reading reviews it seems that doesn't get any better. That's too important to me as a reader to push through. 

Would really like to finish this one day, but it's not holding my interest atm. 

Another Hugo nominee. I couldn't get into this one. The prose was bizarrely difficult to follow, the paragraph breaks and perspective shifts dizzying. And while the premise sounds interesting, it's not the sort of thing I'm drawn to as a reader. I can totally see why some people love this, but I wasn't enjoying myself at all. 

I'm just not scared. Could be my state of mind right now. Need to read a book about babies that won't sleep to experience real fear (jk that's my life). 

Okay, so I decided I was going to read the Hugo Award nominees this year. I was already halfway through the list, so why not? But then I started this book.

The DIALOGUE. That's my biggest problem. I cannot force myself to read an entire book with this dialogue. The characters don't speak like real people (or at least anyone I know, I guess), but like characters in Marvel Movie (or, if I'm being really salty, a Disney Channel original show. Like Suite Life in Space). I might have gotten a bit further in despite this, but I found the beginning of the book didn't work for me either. It felt like listening to someone solve one of those escape room style games out loud rather than an actual novel. I'm wary when authors try to pique my interest by withholding lots of information from the get-go. The combination of two things that I can't stand in books made it too difficult to push through in the end. 

I mean, it's a beloved book clearly, and Weir is a very successful author. But I'm decidedly not a fan.