FORMATIVE.

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-152-mallory-and-the-trouble-with-twins/

This was a lot of fun, for an adult book. I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment but it's...well, maybe it is. It reads like a YA urban fantasy book but with more ~literary~ writing. Very sharp and fun, with bonus for local Boston North Shore references. Also, a good and thoughtful use of an 80s setting and reference unlike SOME books that think a simple list of references to things of the 80s is enough to hold a book together, *cough*Ernest Cline*cough*

I wasn't exactly a fan of the first book in this series but somehow I did want to know what happened to these characters, which counts for something? I still think the royal worldbuilding here is dumb and this book comes so close to being like "oh the American monarchy is a bad idea" but then I got whiplash from it being like "jk actually the PATRIARCHY is bad and it will be better when we have a QUEEN" and like

is it??

a lot of predictable but enjoyable tropes in here--multiple kinds of fake dating ending in real dating?? arranged marriage turning into true love?? trapped in a panic room with your ex-bf?? coma victim waking up and then dramatically regaining her memories? it's all here babey

I did like the introduction of Marshall as a bigger character and this book continuing to vaguely try to grapple with racism?

Anyway folks who liked the first book will probably also like this one. I spite-liked it in the same way that I liked the first one so I figure that follows.

It's...fine.

When I was in the Peace Corps, our country director would always tell us, "You're not here to suffer," by which he meant that Peace Corps volunteers often have a mindset of, "Well, I'm supposed to be roughing it and I'm here to help people, so I guess I should just put up with XYZ unacceptable behavior." This was both a funny thing to hear repeatedly and also reassuring.

Anyway, I picked up this book because it had a sparkly gold cover and it had something to do with cults, and I like sparkles and I'm interested in cults. This book seems to be about a fairly standard-issue patriarchal cult with one questionably charismatic male leader who is interested in subjugating all the women of his flock. It was hard for me to tell if this is meant to be a satire or not--the cult leader's name is Vern and people say things like "In Vern we trust" which seem comical to me, but it's set against some extremely grim details and I didn't make it very far into this book.

I got a few chapters in and it was clearly just very gritty and bleak in a way that I'm not generally interested in reading. And then in chapter 4 there was a detailed description of a dead cat on the highway as well as a metaphorical anecdote about how that same cat had previously killed her own kittens because she wasn't ready to be a mother, and the book's child narrator discovered the dead kittens.

And I read that, and I kept going for one more chapter, and then I said to myself, "You're not here to suffer," and I did myself the favor of returning this book to the library.

If you are a cult enthusiast with a stronger stomach than I have, perhaps you will appreciate this book. It's pretty clearly not for me.

oof this book was real dumb. Like I expected that it would be but like, all of the Selection books were very dumb but somehow deliciously compelling? But this one...I mean I finished it but...very very bland. It feels like generic fanfiction where Cass expects that I'm already rooting for this very sketched out heroine without doing any character development? And the worldbuilding of this kingdom is...honestly even less-fleshed out than the nonsense world of the Selection?

Just not fun, aside from a few stupid names (Queen Thenelope).

This was fun! I'm looking forward to seeing where this Greek myth-inspired development goes.

was this book brought to me by Pizza Hut? Anyway I want to go to Pizza Hut now.

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-153-freeze-tag/

I don't always like reading middle grade novels as an adult reader, because sometimes they are just too simplistic to be satisfying--again, to me as an adult reader. These books are intended for younger readers and often those readers do need and want a simpler story with an easier resolution. But for me, when middle grade novels are at their best they can speak to the messiness of coming of age and figuring yourself out, and that's what Brandy Colbert is doing here. PLUS ALSO a mystery that is both something that could plausibly be solved by middle schoolers without being either totally dumb or totally solved by unrealistic plot device of some sort.

Highly recommended for tweens AND adults!!

Oh I read this awhile ago and forgot to add it to GR! I think most interested people have read it already tbh but I'm glad it's in book form for folks like me who struggle with webcomics. It's very cute and fun! If you didn't already know!

This was a really sweet, fluffy teen romcom. I'm not very familiar with K-pop but I still enjoyed the book; I suspect the many many readers who ARE fans of K-pop will enjoy this even more. I love Skye as a fat-positive main character, and I love that she specifically responds to the power of media representation--that as a bi Asian-American woman she's super stoked to see an Asian WLW couple because it's rare and makes her feel seen. In that vein, this book will make a lot of characters feel seen.

There is some definite anti-fatness in here, primarily from the main character's mother (who slowly starts to accept her daughter but not fully, at least not by the end of the book) and one of the judges on the reality TV show. But overall it's very positive and fun.