I think this had the potential to be really good and it just fell flat. I liked that it was written in verse, but the organization and structure left something to be desired. The symbolism and imagery played together beautifully and I think the overall story was impactful but just wasn't for me. The disjointedness took me out of the story and I found myself just wanting to be done with it.

I love the Apothecary Diaries so much. I wanted to catch up before watching season 2 of the anime. Jinshi & Mao Mao are my beloved babies. I love the continuous mysteries and how they all seem to play into each other. I will be finishing.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was really compelling for a novella. The length actually did credit to the story. It didn't feel overly drawn out, like it would've as a novel, nor was it too short or feeling like it was missing something. It was fast paced with an eery feeling as a troupe travels through France in the far future. I loved the blend of the sci-fi, post apocalyptic world with an almost medieval feel to it. It felt whimsical and fresh, but also nostalgic, like a story you heard as a child. I couldn't put it down. I'll be keeping an eye out for Alastair Reynolds in the future.

This was both cringy and fun. Aly & Josh should've killed more people and did it on purpose. All the tension and build up about Josh's dad dissipated in such a disappointing way. The first half had cute banter, but then the sex scenes were meh and the second half felt like an entirely different book. Josh had her fuck the handle of a knife, and all I could do was pause, because why would he do that and who would find that hot?

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was so good !! If only there weren't pacing issues at the beginning. I went from hooked to drifting to hooked again. You could tell this was a work done with love for history. The research was so well done. Celia was absolutely compelling as a main character. The hardships she faced she faced due to being half-Chinese, as well as the class barrier between her and her love, became so fantastically convoluted. I learnt so much about the Portland Shanghai Tunnels through this and I'm excited to see more from Kristina McMorris.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I haven't read any of Slocumb's other works but I'm more than willing to after reading this. I really like Slocumb's writing style and the idea of blending classical music and superheroes into a thriller was super unique. The story does require a complete suspension of belief and honestly, I didn't enjoy the superhero parts as much as I had hoped to. The author's note does a lot of lifting for my understanding of the narrative shift at the end, and I wish I had loved this more because of that understanding.

I think this was a really solid anthology. Girlboss in Wonderworld was a fantastic start to the book and a great choice for the beginning of the anthology. It really set the tone of the stories going forward. I didn’t know any of the authors going into the anthology but several are now on my radar. The stories has several recurring themes throughout but not to the point of being indistinguishable. There also weren’t any stories where I didn’t understand why they were part of the anthology either. Silverheels was one of my favorite stories overall but they all ere pretty great. Overall, this was a really fun, solid, horror anthology.