Ahoy there mateys!  I had never read anything by this author but I heard good things.  I picked this book up because it features ghostships, pirates (Arrr!), starpaths, and is a standalone to boot.  Sadly I was very unenthusiastic about this book and abandoned it at 24%.

The majority of my problems came down to world building.  The science was (I think) supposed to be based on genetic engineering but it felt like magic.  I am not opposed to fantasy elements in my sci-fi but none of it particularly felt like it made sense.  I liked the idea of navigators slowly turning into crystal as they chart paths across space.  I found the idea of their deaths to be horrifying.  But, in general, I didn't understand the culture of these cryst-born or feel much suspense for the death of their people.  Their abilities felt very nebulous and hard to understand.  I think the navigation was supposed to be too complex for others to understand but instead it felt poorly thought out.  Also the politics and interpersonal relationships were lightly drawn.

I feel like this book was missing tension and a cohesive plot.  It felt like the novel could have used better editing and structure,  I was bored and/or confused.  I hope this is not indicative of the rest of the author's work.  I am willing  to give her another shot.  Arrrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there mateys!  The cat on the cover and the idea of a sentient basil plant is what led me to this book. I started reading it in February 2025, made it to 36%, and could not get through it no matter how much I tried.  So I officially gave up at the beginning of June.  In reading reviews of this novel, many folks describe the humor as being along the lines of Terry Pratchett or Monty Python.  Had I originally seen those comparisons, I would not have tried this book as that humor style doesn't generally work for me.  It is a bit too silly.

Other problems included that fact that I hated Mr. Nagg's misogynistic point-of-view chapters, the footnotes that were distracting, and the amount of tangents and exposition made the plot meandering and somewhat confusing.  I did not particularly enjoy the whole goblin fruit subplot or the machinations of Gwendolyn Gooch and her Ponzi scheme.  I did enjoy Isabella, the cat-creature, and even the donkey.  Lots of readers lot this book but ultimately the writing style was not for me.  Arrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there mateys!  My problem with this book comes down to my sense of humor and how the women are portrayed.  I am certainly in the minority because the crew loves it and there are eight books in the series.  I am glad I got this via Audible Plus and did not spend loot on it.  I also did not know it written as a series of short stories.  This is another book where I know I read about 20% but didn't take good notes so I could have read more.

I really did like the set-up of Fred becoming a vampire and decided to continue with his regular life because he likes being an accountant.  I liked the idea of him going to his high school reunion and what happens there.  The major problem was that the story felt so light and undetailed.  This makes sense given the short story angle but I wanted a better fleshed out world and details about Fred's life.

I also hated the insta-relationship between Fred and his girlfriend.  It came out of nowhere.  Also while Fred respects his girlfriend and her skills, I couldn't stand how he talked about how hot and badass she is.  Personal preference.  The voice actor for Fred didn't help matters.  Fred sounded like a teen idiot boy instead of a grown man.

Chalk this one up to not intended for me as an audience.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys!  This is the second book in a series.  I loved the first book very much and have reread it.  I had been meaning to read this one for a long, long time.  I tried it a couple of times and couldn't seem to get into it.  In this read, I think I made it more than half-way through but am not sure because I did not take good notes.  Maybe because I was so sad I finally have to abandon it.

The setting is a fairly short time after the events in book one.  The village saved by Isabel is trying to adjust to their new lives after the defeat of the Catchkeep-priest.  However, they get word of a coming raid of a nearby town due to a natural disaster.  Isabel will again have to find a way to save those she cares about.

The majority of this book takes place in the tunnels beneath the town.  I enjoyed this creepy setting and the struggles that arise.  I think the biggest problem with the book that I couldn't overcome was that a dead character comes back and I didn't like that choice at all.  I mean ghosts are part of the first story so it is not like there isn't precedent.  However, the particular person who comes back seemed like a horrible choice given how book one ended.  Once the raid begins, I just never felt the urge to pick it back up.  So book one is a favorite and I will let book two go.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys!  The silly but awesome cover and the author is what led me to try this one.  A virus is taking over the world and the people who catch it get utter contentment.  This happiness leads to unusual circumstances.  For example, the richest man in the world gives away his fortune.  But there are those in power who don't want to catch the virus and lose control.  What is the proper path forward for Earth?

There are four main characters in the novel.  Mariel Murdoch is a homeless teen who lives with her mother in her car.  She seems to be immune to the virus.  Rón Escobedo is the favored son of one of the world’s wealthiest men but is lonely and feels like he has no purpose outside of his father's plans for him.  Dame Glynis Havilland is an elderly adult who needs someone to run her empire and continue the quest for a cure to the virus.  Margot Willmon-Wu is an intelligent but ruthless 19-year-old who inherits this empire.  I found the teens to be caricatures.  Dame Glynis was my favorite because of her transformation after catching the virus.

Once again the set-up was the better part of the novel.  I stopped reading at the 45% mark.  Rón ends up becoming a super spreader with no real care about how 1 in 25 people die.  While the concept of people people happy from a virus was interesting at first, the consequences of this happiness causes a lot of scary problems.  For example, a boat overturns and an entire group is compelled to jump into the water to save them and many die because of the current or not being able to swim.  So the virus is killing more people then Covid, is taking away their autonomy, and has horrible irreversible side effects.

Full disclosure, is that I was recently diagnosed with Long Covid and my autonomy is actually being taking away due to the side effects I am experiencing.  So when the happy people began to actually die and be controlled like infected zombie ants, I just couldn't bring myself to read more of this book and actually started to have more PTSD symptoms.  What started out as silly turned into a kind of offensive read for me based on my personal circumstances.  No more for me.  I cannot even recommend this book.  Arrrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there mateys!  The main characters of a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI are what captivated me about the book.  Saint Enita Malovis is one of the city's elite thanks to the sacrifices her family made when the city was founded in order to save humanity after the cataclysms.  She does not have to work but chooses to be a surgeon.  She has no children so she decides to create a body for her house's AI system, Nix, and train it to take over when she dies.  Cool right?

The set-up and history of how the city is structured was fascinating.  I loved Saint Enita and Nix's relationship.  I loved the body horror in how they grow prosthetics.  I also appreciated the body horror in Body Martyrs and how they donate organs to the elite in return for credits towards living expenses.  There is also a murder with interesting ramifications for why the city is failing.

I managed to get to 61% of this novel before I found it dragging.  The problem was that I was not interested in the newer characters and the revolution.  I also found that a lot of the world building and the politics did not always make sense and ended up being confusing once the setting extended outside of Saint Enita's home.

The ideas here were worth exploring but the novel didn't seem to have a strong focal point.  There was the AI portion of Nix exploring the world with a new body and then the sections about the poor and how they are exploited. But overall it became muddy in both plot and purpose.  However, what I did enjoy was evocative.  I am willing to try whatever the author writes next.  Arrrr!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . . .

The stunning cover and premise led me to this book.  In Tokyo there is a magic pawnshop that cannot be found.  Some people enter a popular ramen restaurant only to find themselves transported to the pawnshop.  In this pawnshop, you can't pawn belongings but regrets.

I read this book expecting to read about the people visiting the pawnshop, giving up their regrets, and how that impacted their lives.  I also expected to get more about the owners of the pawnshop, what living in the pawnshop was like, and what they did with the regrets they collected.  But instead there was a romance with a love triangle and a mystery of a missing father.

The highlights of the book for me were the descriptions of places in the pawnshop world.  There was an ink world inside a scroll, living paper cranes holding pieces of history in a museum, and a town that build the night sky out of dreams and wishes.  Travel could happen by jumping in a puddle.  All of these places were evocative.  That said, the characters don't spend any time truly exploring them.  They run from place to place.  Also the inner workings of the pawnshop world seemed to have no real internal logic, rules, or world building.

I also think that a lot of whether the book is liked or not will come down to how the reader feels about the romance.  I personally found it off-putting.  There is insta-lust, the love triangle, and lots of lack of communication and lying.  Once the romance is introduced, it takes the focus of the plot and the mystery.  It is a shame because I found the beginning of the story to be so engaging.  Also there isn't a whole lot of character development so emotional resonance is practically non-existent.

At the 65% mark, I finally admitted to myself that I was really struggling to continue.  So I took a break to read other reviews to give myself a push to finish.  I was entertained and confused when three different reviewers gave different descriptions and meanings to the ending.  How could it be that confusing?  So I skipped ahead a did something I never do - read the ending.  And I was confused too.  What I did understand seemed angsty and immature.  So I abandoned ship at that point and still wish someone could explain the ending to me satisfactorily.  Arrrrr!