skudiklier's Reviews (647)

I read these in the web comic and misunderstood where one book ended and the next started so tbh idk how to review the first volume specifically. But I love this series!!! Even knowing what would happen because I watched the show, I still absolutely adored this and I'm glad I read it. 

I absolutely adored this book. I mean, really. It's got witches. It's got found family. It's got enemies to lovers. It's got queer grandpas. It's got cute little kids. It's got plot twists. What more could you ask for from a book, honestly.

Also--you know that feeling you get when you're deep into a good story, or maybe you've already finished it, and you find yourself wanting to go back to that world and those characters? You could be doing anything and then suddenly you have this weird urge that maybe you can't place for a minute, until you go, oh, I just want to go back to reading/watching that.

I get that a lot, but in most cases it's not until I'm a good ways into the story, unless I'm rereading a childhood favorite or something like that. What's weird about The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is that I started feeling that way almost right from the beginning. I was barely into the book, and still would feel myself drawn to the characters. I didn't have a lot of time to read it at first, so I made my way through the first third the book pretty slowly, and it was surprisingly hard to not just drop everything and read it all so I could stay in the story.

By midway through, I sort of did drop everything to finish it. I couldn't help it. And agh, I just, I loved it so much. I have no idea if the author plans to write sequels, but I hope she does, just because I feel like I could spend so much longer in this world and with these characters, and never have enough.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Wow, this book was stunning. I was pulled in right from the start, and didn't lose interest at any point. It's absolutely gorgeous, about so many different things, and I'd recommend it to anyone. 

I don't spoil anything directly, but if you're worried about spoilers, you might want to skip the next three paragraphs. The final three paragraphs don't have any spoilers. 

A weird thing about my experience of reading this book was that by the time I was halfway through, it felt like I'd read an entire book--like maybe it should be done already. And I want to be clear I don't mean that in a bad way, like the book felt too long or had poor pacing. It just felt like some books could have ended it there, and been interesting and relatively satisfying overall. 

But because I knew I was only halfway through, I started getting worried: yes, this book had complicated relationships, and things that frustrated me, and heartbreaking tragedies. But what if something even worse was going to happen? What if this book was actually devastating, and I just didn't know it yet? 

Reader, this book was devastating. My intuition was right, but I had no idea what was going to happen until it was too late. I sobbed through a large section of this book, and was teary-eyed through the whole rest of it, all the way until the end. I already liked this book, and felt it was emotionally deep and moving, but then it just absolutely gutted me. 

This book was moving in so many ways. Emotionally, the characters and their relationships are so rich and real and complicated and messy. No one is perfectly likable all the time, and you're not on one character's side the whole way through. But also creatively, this book was so inspiring. I don't play a lot of video games, and know very little about making them, but I do write poetry. At one point I had to stop writing to frantically write down an idea--I'd been waiting for a breakthrough epiphany about something for over a year, and this book finally helped me crack it open, at least a little. 

The quotes I pulled from this book to save for later are gorgeous, and the writing is superb. I love the way the book plays with time, and how the future is so casually and distressingly referenced. In a way, it lulled me into thinking I knew what was coming, without ever revealing the worst part.

I tore my way through this book, and basically spent a whole weekend in this world. I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the chance to read and review this ARC. 

I found this really interesting and thoughtful and compelling. I'm not sure I'd say I loved it or anything like that, but I was engaged the whole time and especially loved her thoughts on motherhood and queerness. 

I'm not sure how to rate a collection of short stories, especially when my views on them ranged, but overall I liked this collection. I read it mostly because I like Curtis Sittenfeld's writing, and was interested to see what short stories she'd select for this. The introduction she gave was good context, and I found it really enjoyable to wait to read her reasoning for each individual story until right after I'd finished it.

Some of these were interesting in terms of their contents, others I liked mostly for their writing/quotes, and a few I wasn't super interested in either way. But my lowest rating was 4 stars and even that one I thought was completely fine. Here are my individual ratings for and brief opinions on each story:

Godmother Tea: 4.25 stars (lots of good quotes, I liked it)
The Apartment: 4.5 stars (didn't write down any quotes but was very invested in what happens almost right from the beginning, more engaging)
A Faithful but Melancholy Account of Several Barbarities Lately Committed: 4 stars (it was fine, eh)
Sibling Rivalry: 5 stars (my favorite so far, very interesting)
The Nanny: 5 stars (I liked this, how it got to the point slowly, the main character, the stuff with

the kid

)
Halloween: 5 stars (I liked this one, I like the ending, it

leaves you hanging in a good way

)
Something Street: 4.25 stars (well done, I liked it more by the end, but a lot of it I wasn't super engaged with)
This Is Pleasure: 4.5 stars (well done, mostly engaging, but idk if the point was clear enough--I feel like someone could go into that story thinking the me too movement is bad, and come out feeling like their suspicions were confirmed. Like it could be read uncritically in a way I don't like)
In the Event: 4.5 stars (relate to the anxiety, it being in SF was fun, but god this was tense and too real)
The Children: 4.5 stars (not a lot really happened but it still felt tense and engaging)
Rubberdust: 4.75 stars (meta, very engaging, not longer than it needed to be, bothered me)
It's Not You: 5 stars (probably my favorite so far, made me go back through all my other ratings later and bump most of them down .25 each just so this one can be rated highest. The writing was just really good, I really liked it, also I'm confused by the ending???

Why do people recognize her voice

)
Liberté: 4.5 stars (very engaging but idk if I really liked it? I didn't know anything about either person and idk what the point was but it was interesting at least)
Howl Palace: 4.75 stars (interesting, very engaging, devastating in a subtle way)
The Nine-Tailed Fox Explains: 4.75 stars (engaging, interesting, like the ending,

gay

)
The Hands of Dirty Children: 5 stars (very engaging, my other favorite so far, really sad but told in a way that's so endearing, heartbreaking, really well done)
Octopus VII: 4.75 stars (engaging, not a 100% sympathetic narrator but still on his side, too real with both the Bay Area and LA, felt so unstable the whole time despite him clearly being able to lean on his parents if he needed to)
Enlightenment: 4.5 stars (engaging, but I didn't like it very much really? I do agree with Sittenfeld's reasoning for why she liked it)
Kennedy: 4.5 stars (engaging, upsetting, agree with Sittenfeld that it's both horrifying and tender; but also why tf is it about

JFK???

Why him???)
The Special World: 4.5 stars (engaging, weird, idk) 

God this was so good. I feel like I have a lot to learn from Ada Limón, and how well she writes seemingly "simple" poems. So many in this collection were absolutely gorgeous. I'm definitely coming back to this again later. 

So: I loved both of Casey McQuiston's other books, but I had no idea if I would feel the same way about this one, given that it's YA. When I started it, it felt a little too Paper Towns, and I'll admit I was worried. 

But given the fact that I read the last three-quarters of the book today, neglecting many other responsibilities, I'd say I liked it. 

It's a sweet queer rom-com mystery with a great love quadrilateral and a fair amount of religious trauma. I didn't grow up in the south, but I was in the theatre gay friend group at a small-town redneck conservative high school, so, you know. I can relate. 

This book was really sweet. If you start it and you're unsure whether you like it or not, I'd recommend reading the author's note at the end. I did that a little ways in (not for any particular reason), and it helped me picture some of the characters/tone better. Also, side note, I love Smith Parker with my whole heart. 

I read this book much more slowly than the other ones--not because it was less interesting, but just because I had to wait for the library hold to come in and by the time it did, I had a lot going on and was busy. I really enjoyed it though, and I look forward to reading the next books when they come out. 

The writing in this was beautiful, and I love the bi/pan rep!