Escaping her mysterious and troubled past on a ravaged Earth, Saras aims to prove to the galaxy that she is a true culinary great. Unfortunately, her plan to wow everyone on "Interstellar MegaChef", the Iron Chef of the far future, fails spectacularly. But she runs into Serenity Ko, a tech wunderkind basically working on Metaverse simulations, and together they aim to change the nature of food experiences forever. I wouldn't call this a cozy, but it did fill me with warmth. There's queerness, found family, discussions of culture and food, a little romance. But there's also serious and sometimes dark examinations of tech and AI, colonization, empire, and xenophobia. There's so much worldbuilding in the first half of this book that I wondered how we'd possibly wrap up all the facets of the plot that had been introduced. In the last 20 pages I started to panic, hoping they would set us up for a sequel instead of trying to resolve all the loose ends. Thankfully, yes, a sequel appears to be in the works! 450 pages seemed like a lot before I got started, but I'd gladly read a second installment. 

Jude is a bookseller hoping to buy back her deceased mom's store, and Kat is a former child star looking to break into work for an adult audience. When their reading rec meet-cute seems like the perfect way for Kat to come out to fans as queer, her agent orchestrates a series of one-sided publicity stunts sure to generate buzz. But can a real romance grow from these deceptive beginnings? This dual POV romance is full of all the best baby queer angst, miscommunication, yearning, and messy friendship. It covers stuff like disordered eating, panic attacks, and growing up in high control environments. You might like it if you like books about books, queer normative writing, and child star memoirs like "I'm Glad My Mom Died". This was a great second novel after "Just As You Are"; I'm a Camille Kellogg fan for sure!
I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I couldn't read about social security at a time like this *gestures at US gov*

I read Fun Home and went straight into this and then became too depressed to finish lol

26-year-old Clayton was raised by a commune of elderly puzzle experts and enthusiasts after being left in a hatbox on their doorstep as a baby. When his adoptive mother, Pippa, passes away, she leaves behind cryptic clues he hopes will lead to an understanding of his past. Dual POVs reveal Pippa’s founding of the commune, and the novel is interspersed with actual puzzles to solve! I really liked both narratives in this novel; Pippa and Clayton were both loveable, as were all the side characters. I only cracked about half the puzzles, and they did slow my reading down a lot. But a GREAT concept that I think was well executed.

Great for fans of "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers". This cozy mystery focuses on Kausar, a Muslim desi woman in her late 50's with grown children. When one of them calls from the police station, she comes running back to Toronto - even though the city holds tragic memories she hasn't been willing to face for decades. Kausar is independent and badass, but she loves her family and has a lot of heart. The cast was diverse and, for the most part, really likeable. As always, I had no idea who the bad guy was until the big reveal - I felt like the pacing was really good. All the talk of food made me so hungry. I would definitely read a second book in this series and look forward to reading more of Jalaluddin's backlog (I loved "Three Holidays and a Wedding").

I received an advanced digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.