Anyone who knows me knows my aversion to pregnancy, but this was a good book for me to read. You could definitely feel the fierce love Mari had for Angelo all throughout the book. Her stubborn and fighting nature was a little overdone at times, but I suppose "hell hath no fury" is doubly so when the character was always angry and short-tempered. Anyway, prepare your tissue box for this one!!

Merged review:

Anyone who knows me knows my aversion to pregnancy, but this was a good book for me to read. You could definitely feel the fierce love Mari had for Angelo all throughout the book. Her stubborn and fighting nature was a little overdone at times, but I suppose "hell hath no fury" is doubly so when the character was always angry and short-tempered. Anyway, prepare your tissue box for this one!!

4.5! A great, wonderful, horrifying and creative retelling of Carrie! The audiobook was a good choice. Making this version of Carrie set in a modern-day, super racist small town in Georgia was brilliant; and the horror element being more about the actions humans (whites) do to their fellow humans (blacks) as more monstrous than one bullied, telekinetic teen could ever do.

3.5 stars that bumped itself up to 4 towards the end.
I...am not good with poetry or prose or metaphorical flourish or symbolic writing. Therefore, this book was tough for me to get into. It's a short story, but boy was I struggling, even with the audio book (maybe, because it was an audio book?).

BUT! I just went with the flow, hoping my brain would pick up the kernel of the story plot and slowly let it grow and root and flower in my brain, helping me understand what in the heck was going on.

And what was going on was a sapphic love story, enemies to lovers, the slow burn of two women on opposite sides of the time war and two completely different personalities--Red and her almost robotic-like Commandant side of the war, and Blue, the natural, druid-like agent from Garden--crashing together in a carnal hunger for each other.

I'm glad I stuck with it because it was a wild ride through some really fantastical, futuristic settings with an excellent love story at its core!

Oh Second Book Syndrome, how I loathe thee.
A lot of walking/floating down a river. Too much of Kordas's thoughts wasting time just narrating what was happening and how exactly he felt about every little thing (yeah, I know we're introduced to the presence of Foresight).

Also Moon Moon has made an appearance? I think Ms. Lackey has just completely embraced internet meme culture and it's taken over her writing. Not a totally bad thing, but always jarring and turning upside down the medieval, fantasy world of Velgarth I've held in my brain for over 20 years now...

3.75 stars.
First off, this isn't usually the type of book I read. YA. Romance. Ugh. I'm done with that time of life. The MC in this book, Alice, isn't me and it was kinda annoying me for the first quarter of the book. I have not "squeed" since 2008 (and even then it was limited to anime conventions). The Cutie Code made me cringe. I was worried for a moment when Alice was like, "I don't know, AM I Ace? Is this sexual attraction??" and I was like "No! I'm reading this for Ace content! Please stay Ace!"

Luckily, in the end, this book delivered what I wanted. The "am I Ace? Or is there just something wrong with me? Is this what sexual attraction feels like? Or is it just love and romance? Will they break up with me if I don't give them sex?" questions are definitely present and a great example of the eternal questioning Aces ask of themselves. It has great Ace representation that does a really good job explaining what it's like (at least in Alice's experience) to be a romantic Ace and really drives home the fact that just because asexuals don't want to have sex, it doesn't mean we can't love our partner just as much as someone in a sexual relationship. Ace relationships are just as valid and full of love!

4.5 stars.
I was disappointed to learn that this didn't feature the Wayfarer crew from book 1. The only recurring character is Lovelace

Spoiler

in her new, physical body "The Kit"

. But like any of Becky Chamber's writing, I learned to love these new characters real quick.

Spoiler

The fact the story ends in a hug is the perfect example of how reading this author's writing feels to me!

3.5 Nothing but fluff, kitty cuteness, and toe-beans!

Funny little comic strips about either the library or publishing/writing a book. Must have been made during the pandemic in 2020 as there are many references to it!

Ugh...2020....*goes into a funk of despair*

Definitely a great book for kids, I would say 5th grade or older, who want to read something scary but with a little bit more substance than Goosebumps. I had a good time with it and really enjoyed the characters!

A decent teen horror book with all the tropes I enjoy: ghost hunting, ghosts, hauntings, murder. It's an easy read with the writing being alright. I think this would be great for a reluctant reader aged 14 or over that likes horror.