By the time my loan had come through at the library I had forgotten why I had decided to pick this book up. Still, I figured it was worth a read and continued on. 

 

It was weird reading a book on habit building when I was not specifically looking to change my habits. I tend to continually fine-tune my life based on my extended outcome on a regular basis. I would even say that I used many strategies that were included in this book. However, I created them based on my psychology background and trial and error. 

 

I will say that I found everything in this book useful, and nothing contrary to what I had previously learned. However, it also did seem fairly basic. It is a great book if you are a novice at building habits. It would be amazing for a younger person, or a person who is entering a new independent stage. 

 

For myself, I found it a nice refresher. It made me look at what I was doing and analyze how effective it was for me. That being said, I did not end up changing anything specifically. So, in a way reading Atomic Habits was kind of self-validating. 

 

Like any self-help book, it does not have all the answers. It also is not the only correct answer. However, I can understand its popularity and see its usefulness.

Where the Drowned Girls Go is the seventh book in the Wayward Pines series. While the majority of books in the series are stand-alone, this one is not. The story is one of the nexus books in the series, bringing together several storylines back into a unified narration. 

 

In this novella, we go to the Whitethorn Institute. It is a school for Wayward Children that is the less free-spirited cousin of The Home for Wayward Children. The institute is not as it seems, and it is up to Cora to become the hero of the story. 

 

Honestly, I thought I would like this story more than I did. There was nothing wrong with it, I just felt like the actual climax of the story was a bit rushed. There were also so many characters that If let like I should have reread the series before reading this book. I am positive that I will enjoy it, even more, when I do reread the series. 

 

It is nice to see new stories being uncovered in this series. There is so much more that could happen based on the ending of this book. So, I am excited to see what happens next. That being said, I do think before I pick up the eight books I should marathon the series again.

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex was an enlightening read. It is a combination of the limited research that has been done on asexuality, memoir, experience, and social cometary on sex. It is not a comprehensive take on asexuality, but it is a huge contributor. Made even more so because there are not a lot of books that focus on asexuality. 

 

What I did not expect was to relate so much to this book. I had so many preconceived notions about asexuality. This book threw them all out the window and made me realize that maybe I do not think about sex the same way as everyone else does. 

 

If you are questioning, this book will help. If you already know you are asexual then this book will provide a shared space. If you are an alley trying to better understand asexuality then this book will provide that. If nothing else it is a conversation on how our society values sex. 

The Truths We Hold was written by Kamala Harris while she was a member of congress. The book is an interesting look into her personality, history, and politics. I would not call the book groundbreaking. It is interesting and a good read. 

 

I do not agree with everything that Harris wrote in this book. It would be unreasonable to think anyone’s views line up perfectly. However, even when I did not agree I respected Harris take on the situation. She is passionate, determined, and truly cares about her work. Most importantly she learned from a young age to sit back and look at situations critically. 

 

I honestly had no idea that she has only been in Congress for one term before running for president. I think she would be an amazing person to meet. I will gladly pick up her next book when it comes out at some undefined future point. 

I put off starting this series because I was under the impression that it was military science fiction. I am not all that partial to very militaristic storylines, probably because I enjoy characters over plots. I was wrong. While there is no use kicking myself for not having started the series earlier, I can at least be happy that I did not wait any longer. 

 

Firstly, this series has both plot and excellent character building. The main character is an artificial intelligence, or a fraction of an artificial intelligence, housed in a human body. It is an excellent narrator perspective. 

 

The world is very militaristic, but the plot is more political. It has the feel of being both extremely simplistic and incredibly complicated at the same time. Yet, it works out well. Probably, because the characters pull it off. 

 

I love how gender is talked about in this novel. It is truly dependent upon the language that we have to talk about it. Leckie uses language dialects to address this. The main character’s own culture does not have a separate concept of gender and is often confused by its use in other cultures. 

 

I did question the use of female pronouns rather than gender-neutral pronouns. It is possible that Leckie was unaware of gender-neutral pronouns. However, thinking about it, I believe it was more of a push back on the male dominance in science fiction. It may just be because the author herself uses she pronouns. Yes - I looked around, and no I did not find an in-depth answer. Ultimately it does not matter, the conversation would have been the same. 

 

This book is amazing and I cannot wait to read the rest in the series. It is hard to imagine that this was Leckie’s debut novel.

How to They/Them is a cute but informative guide about the use of the pronouns they/them as well as being non-binary in general. The book is presented graphically. Think more like Illumine files rather than a graphic novel. It makes for a short read. I finished the book in one sitting. However, that does not diminish the substance of the book. 

 

I would say the audience for this book is people who are supportive but don’t know a lot about being non-binary or why someone would be using they/them pronouns. It is not a book that I would take to work for less supportive people. It is a book that I would recommend to allies. It would be great for families and friends who want to be supportive but do not know-how. 

 

Amazing book, easy but worthwhile read. I absolutely enjoyed it and am glad I have it on my shelves (well once my kid returns it to me.) 

I do not read a lot of middle grade. However, I have seen Nevermoor making the rounds on bookstagram and booktube and it looked like a fun read. I picked it up on audio and found it to be an excellent fantastical story. 

 

The characters and the plot are not all that diverse (unless you are including animals and paranormal creatures.) However, there are themes common to most middle-grade books. It is about a character in a miserable family setting whisked away to a fantasy world where they find out they are special. It has a character that feels unseen and another that is up to no good in a respectable way. 

 

It was fun and I will be continuing with the rest of the series. 

Smoke Bitten is currently the most recently released book in the Mercy Thompson series. The series had a few book slumps, but twelve books in it is still an engaging series full of growth. 

 

The further I get in the series the more I cannot speak about it. So I will just say that if you like urban fantasy series then you should really check this one out. 

After careful consideration, I have decided that I do not like this book. 

 

First, the first half of the book talks about the dismantling of mental health hospitals. But it is not a constructive conversation. Rather, it blames individuals with mental health diagnoses for violence and murder. It is a horrible conversation that goes nowhere. It literally stops halfway through the novel so even the abelist B$**S^#* has no end goal. 

 

Second, a child is murdered and everyone goes about their life like normal. No one grieves for her, not even the parents and siblings. Also, everyone says horrible things. It is dreadful. Even the most dreadful twelve-year-old would be mourned better. And any neighborhood would be abuzz with the gossip of what happened. 

 

Lastly, the end was predictable. At least the majority of it was. The part that was not, looking back was not built up well. Then there were parts built up that were not followed through. 

 

You can’t love every book by an author. However, the more I read by Agatha Christie the more problematic she is. I plan on reading the books I already own and that may be it for me. 

Storm Cursed is the eleventh book in the Mercy Thompson series. This book was more reminiscent of the first part of the series. I loved those books, hence why I kept reading them. Don’t get me wrong, I have never disliked any book in the series. I just like some more than others and Storm Cursed was more of a favorite. 

 

Eleven books into a series it is impossible to say anything about the plot without spoilers. I will just say that this book seemed to bring new life to the series. There are so many areas of exploration being set up for new books. And some older threads were cut loose.