morganthebee's reviews
452 reviews

Interesting Facts about Space is a captivating story about the hilariously quirky, clearly neurodivergent, deaf-in-one-ear Enid as she navigates life and love while avoiding bald men. Enid's relationships are the heart of the story here: with her mentally ill mother, her step-sisters and their judgmental mother, her best friend/coworker, the women she hooks up with, and Polly. Man, that Polly. 

Enid's obsession with true crime exacerbates her paranoia (or is it?) that someone is stalking her, leading to some hilarious escapades. Her worry over her mother's mental health is heartbreaking at times, and her obsession with space and true crime is intense but so interesting, too. As a nerdy neurodivergent lesbian, albeit in different ways, I found myself enthralled with both Enid and Polly. It did feel like it ended a bit abruptly and I would have loved to have the story keep going, but the biggest things did get wrapped up nicely. Would definitely recommend.

Ivy Aberdeen’s family has lost their home in a tornado, and while everyone is okay physically it’s taking its toll on them all emotionally. On top of that, Ivy is not only navigating her new status as middle child with new baby brothers, but she’s also figuring out that she doesn’t like boys and has developed a crush on a girl in her class.

It’s a story about a girl figuring out who she is and her place not only in the world she inhabits but also within her family, and about friendship and how it can lift us when we’ve brave enough to open ourselves up. Blake handles all of this with a deftness that literally brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. All of the characters are fabulously well developed, even the side characters, and the story flowed so well. Highly recommend.

A Hired Blade is a prequel novella for Rycroft's The Everlands Cycle series. I was impressed with how well developed the story and Des's character were, especially given how short it is, and there was some nice sapphic steam as well. That ending, though? Ouch. Check your triggers. I'm looking forward to continuing on with the series.

I received a free copy for being a member of the author's mailing list, but my review is unbiased.

Ode to My First Car is a coming of age story written in verse. A series of poems written as odes first to Claire’s car, Lars (who unfortunately meets his demise at the start of the book), and then expanding as we get further along in the story. It bounces around a bit, with bursts of stories interrupted by other thoughts and continuing further along, and is more about Claire exploring her feelings than a deep plot. I really liked all of the characters, but Claire and Lena in particular stood out as favorites. 

I listened to the audiobook, which is harder to distinguish as poem instead of story. I keep going back and forth with myself about liking the more natural conversational reading, and wishing that it had read more like poetry in the narration that made the writing style more obvious. It’s messy, but I enjoyed the mess.

I wanted to like this one, I just…didn't. I'm not sure if it was something getting lost in the translation, or the story, or my struggle to like Dayana as a person. It's YA, which I knew going in (I typically like YA), but it felt more like middle grade. I do think the grief and typical teenage behavior was handled in a realistic way, but a lot of the plot made me roll my eyes. 

On a technical note, I really didn't like how the ebook was formatted. It may be due to me having an ARC, but there weren't any real breaks between chapters and everything felt super compressed. 

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased.

My friend Katy suggested Legends & Lattes to me ages ago and said I’d love it. It felt like it took for me to get it from my local library through Libby, but she was so right! I already knew Viv from having read the prequel a while ago, but this story of a former battle orc turned coffee shop owner is so sweet and wholesome, and fun to boot. I loved all of the other characters in this cozy fantasy, too (Tandri and Thimble were my faves). Is it deep? Hell no. But it’s definitely worth the read if you like fantasy and cozy stories—and maybe even if you don’t.

Act Two is a short but sweet as pie second chance story about Gabriella, a tech manager, and Jenna, an actress who has returned to Toronto after a year away. The story is told from Gabriella’s perspective, and her best friends, the side characters, are wonderful. Gabriella and Jenna clearly care for each other and have a desire to reconnect and communicate with each other in ways they weren’t able to during their first go around.

It’s a little short (it is a novella after all), but I found myself wishing it was a bit longer and more fleshed out. It also would have benefitted from one final pass through a proofreader, as there are a few errors throughout. There are places where there’s a word missing, one place where there are two words where it seems Wolf wasn’t sure what to go with and both were left, that sort of thing. That said, all of my very minor complaints are things that are fixable or can be developed, and the quality and natural flow of the writing overall was great. I look forward to reading the next story!

I received a free ARC from the author through BookSirens, but my review is unbiased.

They’re not kidding when they say this is for adults only, this is a graphic novel with some steamy scenes throughout. I really enjoyed the art, and Patience and Esther were so sweet with each other and that was lovely, but I felt like the main story ended very abruptly and I wished there was more to it.