I wish Bob the Drag Queen wrote “Hamilton”

I am in awe at this work. Obviously one book can only scratch the surface of the impact of reality tv on popular culture (we never even get to Jersey Shore) but so much is covered, and it goes way further back than I expected. I was talking about this to anyone who would listen. I also made a Letterboxd list inspired by the book because I had to: https://boxd.it/FjOkS

Girl-bossier than I had anticipated

This took me six weeks to read and it felt long as hell. So much of the middle felt unnecessary. Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m just bad at reading sci-fi, but at times the descriptions of the setting or the tech they’re using is very difficult to imagine. Like the author will be describing something and the image in my head is not loading. So much felt way more complicated than it needed to be. At the mid-point of the book, I had decided I wasn’t interested in reading the third installment when it came out. But then those last 150 pages… damn do they know how to end on a cliffhanger! I want to know what happens!! Also not a lot of likeable characters in this one? And while there is some smut, absolutely no romance. Total downgrade from the throuple scenes in the first book.

One of bestie’s favorites and we had the opportunity to go to a book club for it so I zipped through the audiobook real fast! Gene’s whole thesis on hope vs. want and keeping yourself from wanting things to protect yourself from disappointment felt very relatable. There are many things in life that I stop myself from Wanting even if I do really want them deep down. Really lovely depiction of trans gay love 💗 And I might have learned a bit about baseball along the way!

I think I fell for this book at the exact same pace as I did for One Last Stop. I had steady skepticism for the good first half, and then out of nowhere I was all in. The moment that got me was

when it shifts to Kit’s perspective. Obviously we knew he loved Theo, but the way he described his love for them made me fall in love with them both.

I was crying a few separate times in the middle seat on the plane.

Fresh, silly, fun! Got a little too silly at times but I do admit the baby landshark was adorable

Why has there never been a Midwest Avengers team? They could cover the Great Plains too

One of my favorite things about Tillie Walden’s comics is the lack of panel boxes. There’s no hard lines but sometimes there’s still a suggestion of a panel. I like the big full page illustrations where you can see the colored pencil marks. One of the biggest criticisms of her books are that it’s hard to tell the characters apart and that definitely seems like something the Quins maybe pushed her on a bit because the characters are much more distinguishable in these than her other books. This series is much more feel-good than Walden’s stuff too, lol. I still enjoy the illustrations but it’s missing that gut punch feeling I get from her solo work.

I was getting kinda bored until it was revealed

that that one kid was the informant

then I was like ok I’m back in. Just sometimes feels like the kids are explaining a math word problem when they’re trying to figure out their plan