This is a great alternative history. This book felt slower to me, and I liked Jane's voice much more than Katherine's so I wasn't a fan of the alternating narrators at first. The best part of this book was the focus on friendships. I'd read more of Katherine and Jane's adventures in a heartbeat.

This was not what I expected. The first half or more is very sad as the main character and supporting characters struggle with grief. That cover does not give the impression that this will be a sad book. At. All. Expectations aside, this is a really great story of friendships, secrets, assumptions and grief. I wish the ending wasn't wrapped up so quickly. 60% of the book spent on processing grief and then a quick turnabout and ending.

I liked this. I don't know much about the fanfic world so I was a bit lost with some of the lingo, but some of the fanfic included was fun. I also really liked all the glimpses of Marcus's prior work :D Overall though, it was a fairly quiet and predictable book. However, I did not predict so much sex. The cover should have highlighted some chiseled abs.

This started out really good. I liked the MCs getting to know each other long distance, and I really liked the friendship between the two women. However, the second half of the novel is one trope after another, and I lost patience for all the misunderstandings and how each was nicely tied up in a bow.

Spoiler

Each person is so unhappy without the other but acting happy thinking that was best. Ugh. Lola answering the door, appearing that Jason has cheated on Sloan. UGH. Lola suddenly being the victim and doing a 180 after a short stint in rehab, and then she saves the day by giving Jason the songs he needed. UgH

I'm a sucker for a modern epistolary-ish novel, and this love story begun by post it exchanges was lovely. Leon's sections were a bit strange at first, but then I loved his voice as I got used to it. I also loved the stories of his patients and his work place maze, and I loved Tiffy's exuberance for life, her work place survival skills, and the nutty books and authors she worked with.

This was a surprisingly good memoir. I watched Van Wilder and Harold and Kumar when they were released, and I vaguely knew that Penn was on House and worked for the Obama administration. Although I'm not a huge fan, I picked this up because I was curious about a person who could act in raunchy comedies and also help drive policy. It didn't disappoint. I enjoyed reading about his childhood and learning about his family, and I was really interested in his experiences as a brown actor in Hollywood. I especially liked the threads that carry through his career, including his relationship with Mira Nair and her work. I haven't watched The Namesake because I loved the book and didn't want Hollywood to ruin it. Knowing now how much thought and care was put into the making of the movie adaptation, I will have to give it a chance.

I found the parts about his time in government to be a bit boring, and the footnotes got distracting. There were too many of them with only about half being funny. Like some others mentioned, I wish he'd written more about his sexuality and his identity. He mentions feeling proud of being a role model for young South Asian kids who love the arts a lot more than STEM, but this feels like a missed opportunity to also be a role model for South Asian kids in the LGBTQ+ community.