It's Gay and . . . it hits different?

This book consumed so much of my thought space until early this evening when I finished it.

Some parts felt all too relevant to the work of January 6th, 2021. and I can't decide how I feel about this depiction of what boils down to the "radical right because while they are shown to be a danger, in some ways, it felt like we were making light of a severe problem.

The world built by Buchbinder feels so real, and I was left wanting to know more about this society and other colonies that theoretically exist. There is so much happening that it drags you in...

The come-up is startlingly quick and leaves you with more questions than answers about just about everything we are shown. But I suppose not knowing is its own act of patience.."

I want to start this off with the complete insanity that the "rescue" ship is only built to handle one person. Like I get the odds are grim just generally in this world but I feel like that's insane like assuming everyone made it out of the crash, how does a crew make that decision of who to send back.

But once you get past the lack of forethought on what are we going to do if things go down. This story is action-packed from beginning to end, it is definitely a page-turner and leaves you on the edge of your seat the entire read. Because up until the last page you really don't know how this is going to turn out

As I was reading I really ended up feeling like this was a commentary on humanity, and how it is easy to put your survival over everyone elses.

A Darker Practical Magic where Gillian doesn't kill Jimmy Angelov, quite.

This book was easily the most intriguing thing I've picked up in a while, at least when it comes to characters and watching their motivations. Reading this book, required all of my focus to be on it at all times, partially because of how Rainsford formats her writing. But also because Rainsford packs an entire Novel into a Novella and you really don't feel like you missed anything in doing so.

I have really mixed feelings about this books, but these mixed feelings didn't settle in until I'd consumed about half of this book.when I realized I hadn't heard anything about countries like Russia or Japan and didn't hear anything about them until we his the 20th century.

I had the thought that (everything after human civilization really begins) felt so similar to the course of history I was taught in the US Public School System, incredibly Euro-centric and Amero-centric, stopping after World War 2. I did find expansions on the histories of China, India, and information related to Islamic Golden Age. Which are things I hadn't been exposed too.

I know Lloyd does say in his afterword, that there is no way that he can cover everything, because that would be endless. But I think the opportunity was missed to maybe have ended the book sooner then the mid 20th century in favor of going more in depth about other countries and cultures existing in the same time period.

I say this because, I had no concept of overlap of the timelines of history until I was an adult. I remember a professor in college saying that Samurai and Cowboys existed at the same time (albeit a short amount of time) and it blew my mind wide open because while I had loved history as a kid. No one every teaches these topics in a way that really shows how the world developed.

Which I will say Lloyd DOES in this book, and I LOVE it.

So while it isn't perfect and I wouldn't use it solely as a text book if I were homeschooling. It would be great for a history loving kind in your life.it will cover a lot that they may never hear about in school. I know it has sparked me to want to know more about countries histories that I had never learned about in school (India and Zimbabwe).

When I started this book, I started it with a physical copy at work and loved it. But once I reached Mama Jean speaking I found myself reading aloud to ensure I was understanding what she was saying.
So I went a checked out the Audiobook, THE AUDIOBOOK IS FANTASTIC! Channie Waites made me fall hard for this book. The Audiobook brings this book to a new level of amazing.
I found myself feeling like I was sitting listening to my grandmother tell me a story.
This book is fast passed, and has some amazing women running the show. There will be moments that make you grin, and moments that will nearly make you cry.

After finishing this book, I honestly felt like I wasted time. When going for erotica, I tend to go more towards straight smut, or smut but with a plot.
This book was neither. containing less than three pages of anything steamy and definitely nothing that could pass as being beyond vanilla. Which felt contradictory to the vibes a tile like "His Doll" gives off.
The characters feel one-dimensional and stereotypical at best, paired with an insta-love romance. It makes the most of the book feel really dull.
Along with sections of the book that are honestly hard to follow, and honestly would have been done better being written from the other person's point of view, Along with glaring plot holes, which stands out even more with the lack of smut.

I had thought that this book would be something I would take a lot out of but it felt like we were separated by a layer of glass I can see what is on the other side. But I couldn't really grasp what was there.
Everytime I dove in nothing would really stick. Even now I'm finding it difficult to pull any memory of what I have read.
Which left me disappointed in myself in reality, because the nature focused approach of this feels new and intriguing. I feel like I will pick this book up again once spring begins starting to trickle in and maybe then this will better connect for me.

Did I pick up this book explicitly because I saw Roxane Gay listed as an author? Yes.
Did this meet my expectations? No...?

I expected more I guess, like the stories were honestly captivating and I found them truly interesting. But I felt left wanting it to be more SPICEY.
While the stories in this collection are something if showed up in my run of the mill book, I'd be less than pleased. But being this book is labeled as Erotica, and named Kink I expected more spice to this book.

TLDR: if you're looking for smut this probably won't meet your expectations.

Even after diving into the first volume of this series I am still uncertain as to whether or not I should have started with the prequel. As I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I had known the Characters better.
What I can say is that it was a fun read from start to finish, and it didn't feel like their was REALLY anything that would have spoiled the later volumes, or been misunderstood without the context of the future volumes.

I think starting with early registration, or Volume One are both completely acceptable approaches to beginning this series.

Every single outfit Esther has is something I want in my wardrobe.
I found the Character growth in this book to be intriguing. Looking back I had been surprised that it had happened over the course of just this one Volume. Because it had felt like it had taken so much more time.
Watching the girls relationship change and adapt to each others needs was wonderful and made me long for my friends again.