An impressive mediation on the passing of time, relationships, possible depression, and overall place in one's journey of life. At times hard to get through because of the repetitive nature, it all still manages to pack a punch. I found every action taken by characters in this to be indicative of the strangeness of Tara being a time loop, but of the nature of humans and the relationship they hold with one another. We witness Tara explore what it means for her to be in a time loop and the ways in which to get out of it while the feeling of being indefinitely trapped increases with every page. Tara is slightly dull in a way that benefits the reading experience and the reader can substitute themselves in her place. Towards the end you get a fun little cliff hanger, but one that can ultimately be ignored. You can choose to not continue on this story and make up your own ending for Tara; I think because of that this book stands really strongly on it's own, but also as a tipping point for the rest of the series.

The weakest of the Iain Reid books I've read thus far, but still a compelling read for me. I think he has a really interesting way of creating claustrophobic settings where my skins start to itch the more I read. He's never writing something that is going to blow your mind with the twists, but more so leads you to the point where you are already guessing it yourself and you get this deep satisfaction at its reveal along with a slight sense of dread. You know what's coming, but that doesn't fail to make it less impactful. His stories are helped along with short chapters and overall smaller page count, he knows when to end a story.

I like the weird, quacky plot lines but this was just too much. Short story that felt like every chapter was an attempt to outdo the last one. There were some funny moments, but in the end nothing about this story stood out. Reading about these characters was exhausting and the payoff (ending) wasn't worth it. Also the naming convention, while cute, made for an annoying reading experience. I think even the author got mixed up at certain points.

Another unmemorable story unfortunately. Interesting premise, but I found the overall execution lacking and I quickly became bored. I think the character's voice became grating after a while and I started wishing on her downfall along with everyone else's.

Read this a bit ago now and I forgot to rate it. From what I remember, pretty unmemorable, it had a decently strong start and the humor was pretty funny. It quickly becomes too much though and I just found myself becoming annoyed by the love story developing. There is some character development in the last 25% of the book, but by then I just didn't really care. I wish I had more to say, but again just not a memorable story.

A unique premise that allows for a reflection on how the perseverance of Black people to gain their freedom does not stop in the 21st century. There was a really amazing quote in this:

I think even people who are not Black can gain something from this book. Bob the Drag Queen talks about the importance of never stopping. Unfortunately the freedoms awarded to minorities are not something guaranteed forever, that we can never stop the fight to be recognized and hold onto our spaces in this world. But also the importance of resting, that resting is not stopping and it is not a step backwards. Resting is important to maintain the momentum of the fight. I also learned about learned about some really important people from history. One being William Dorsey Swann, known as the first drag queen and LGTBQ+ activist, a formerly enslaved gay man who used to put on drag balls in Washington, D.C. 

This is not rated higher because I wish it was longer, I think that Bob the Drag Queen has such an interesting voice and the reading felt like being told a story by your friend. However, the pacing struggles a bit as things transition too quickly, not holding enough space for moments to develop and for characters to have more of a presence. 

Overall a fascinating read that had me tearing up at moments. I don't know if Bob the Drag Queen will write anything else, but I will read anything he comes out with.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really, really tried with this one, but oh my god talk about annoying, unlikable, unredeemable main characters. "Homemaker" and yet she does nothing but go around bothering people all day for gossip regarding a missing person because all of her housework is taken care of a team of hired individuals. She even has a business card like okay maybe I should get a business card for being a stay at home student who reads and looks at celebrity subreddits all day 😭. Also the whole premise is just weak and takes great inspiration from LuLaRoe (yes all MLMs are the same but the whole set up in this is just too similar down to the rotten storage containers). Not once did I find myself caring enough about what could have possibly happened to the missing mom because the main character spends so much time just stroking her own ego. We also keep getting told the same information repeatedly as she goes around catching other characters up on what she learned. We as the reader already know what's going on, we don't need to be reminded every other page.

I'm sorry this book just made me so angry and I had really wanted to give it a chance enough to finish. Others seemed to have really liked this book so maybe I'm truly just a #1 hater. 

This had a really interesting premise and I thought that monster design was something really creative. I think it made some interesting points that the hatred these racists feel is not something of real substance, they're just hateful because of their own feelings of inadequacy even when they're at the top. (Obviously there are other factors, I just want to be clear, but I felt that was an interesting point.) The short story format unfortunately did not really suit this story and there were just so much more left to explore, from the characters to world building. It felt as if too much information was given at once and the reader had little time to process. The ending also felt a bit rushed. 

Overall I think this would make a fascinating movie and I'm really interested in checking out P. Djèlí Clark's other work.

My rating is not based on the personal story told in the book, as everyone deals with grief in their own, but more so on the overall structure and pacing. I did not really connect with this book, but mainly I realized that I am not someone who enjoys reading descriptions of food. Others have said this and I agree that this feels like a book written for her own healing than for an audience. There is obviously nothing wrong with that and this is highly beloved book for a reason, but again I just found myself a little lost while reading this. 

I can ultimately see the importance of the book and how it has and continues to impacts others. I do think that if you are someone who is sensitive to difficult mother daughter relationships this one might be more of a tough read. I hope that Michelle Zauner and reader who have faced similar stories can find/have found closure and peace.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit I went into this story expecting something else and I think I just misunderstood the synopsis. I feel Nina McConigley has a unique writing style that at times was really captivating and fun. However the more I read the more I just felt bored and the less I wanted to pick it up. Thinking back it really did feel like a bunch of story stories from this character's life smashed together to make one bigger story and that just didn't work for me. The story felt all over the place and although I can see how it all ties up in the end I just ... didn't care? I did really like the little pop quiz sections that popped up. The upside is that this was a short story, the downside is that it felt like 300 pages. 

I'm really interested in reading McConigley's other book, Cowboys and East Indians, a short story collection.