REVIEW: On the Rocks (book) by Georgia Beers

On the Rocks is a contemporary f/f romance, the second in Beers' Swizzle Stick Romance series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Second grade teacher Vanessa Martini isn't wild about having to call the parents of one of her students. She's a teacher because she likes kids - if she never had to deal with their parents, she'd be fine with that. But something is going on with little Oliver Chapman, and he's been acting out in class a lot lately.

Grace Chapman is exhausted and feels like she isn't measuring up in any area of her life lately. The owner of the flower shop she works for is difficult, to put it mildly, and her personal life isn't going any better - she and her husband are divorcing, and she's tired of her mother constantly acting like the failure of her marriage is all her own fault. Then there's her son, Oliver, who's taking the divorce badly. She knows he loves her, but that doesn't stop it from hurting when he says something angry and hurtful or acts like he'd prefer to be with his father.

Vanessa, Oliver's teacher, feels like yet another source of judgement in Grace's life. As the two of them keep crossing paths, however, they gradually thaw towards each other...and realize that there's a mutual attraction brewing between them.

REVIEW: You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post, Vol. 1 (book) written by Blackegg, illustrated by Ninemoon, translated by alexsh

You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post is Chinese historicalish m/m erotica. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Wu Xingzi, advisor to the magistrate of the remote Qingcheng County, is 39 years old, poor, and all alone in the world. His parents died when he was young, and he's never really had any close friends. He's gay, and although the people around him don't take issue with this, he's never had a lover. With nothing to look forward to except the grave site he's picked out for himself, he decides to commit suicide after confessing his feelings to a handsome local tofu seller.

To Wu Xingzi's shock, the tofu seller tells him that he's also gay - however, he's in a relationship. He tells Wu Xingzi about the Peng Society for Gentleman, through which he met his own lover. It's a society for gay men to meet other gay men via messenger pigeons. Hope blossoms in Wu Xingzi's heart, and he decides to pay his first month's subscription fee for The Pengornisseur, a catalog of portraits and basic information about other Peng Society members.

Wu Xingzi sends out a few letters with the expectation that he might eventually make a few like-minded friends. To his shock, the response to every letter he sends out is an illustration of the recipient's penis. Suddenly, Wu Xingzi's goal shifts from making friends to collecting as many dick pics as he can...until a particular favorite of his prompts him to send a response of his own, and he captures the attention of the notorious and powerful Guan Shanjin. 

REVIEW: It Ends With Us (book) by Colleen Hoover

It Ends With Us is, I suppose, marketed as romance, but I'd call it more women's fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Domestic abuse is a huge part of this story. Don't be fooled by the romance novel trappings and marketing.

This is the story of Lily, a young woman who grew up wondering why her mother stayed with her abusive father. Now her father is dead, and Lily has moved to Boston and started up her own business, a flower shop. Her father's death and other events prompt her to think about her past, so she gradually reads her way through her teenage diary entries (which were always structured like letters to her favorite celebrity, Ellen DeGeneres). Her diary reminds her of her first love, Atlas, a young man who ran away from his own abusive family and lived for a time in the abandoned house next door to Lily's home. 

As Lily reminisces about Atlas, she meets Ryle, an ambitious surgeon who tells her right from the start that he isn't interested in relationships or romance. Still, they're attracted to each other, and Lily gradually falls in love. As things with Ryle take a turn and he becomes abusive, Lily has to grapple with complicated emotions and memories of her past. She becomes even more torn when she runs into Atlas for the first time in years.

REVIEW: One of Us Is Back (book) by Karen M. McManus

One of Us Is Back is the third (and final?) book in McManus' One of Us Is Lying series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This review contains spoilers for the events of the first two books.

It's been almost 2 years since Simon's death in the first book. Jake, Addy's ex-boyfriend, is about to be retried and potentially let out. Addy is understandably terrified - Jake has been working hard to turn public sentiment in his favor. Meanwhile, Phoebe is killing herself with worry that Owen, her little brother, will turn out like Jake because she and her sister didn't turn him in for his part in the events of Book 2. 

Then someone hacks a billboard, announcing the start of a new game, and one of the Bayview Crew goes missing. Is Jake responsible, or someone close to him? 

REVIEW: The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone's Legendary Druid Pack (nonfiction book) by Rick McIntyre

The Reign of Wolf 21 is nonfiction, the second book in McIntyre's Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the first book of this series, McIntyre wrote about the life of Wolf 8, Wolf 21's adoptive father and alpha of the Crystal Creek pack. This book focuses on Wolf 21 and his time as alpha of Yellowstone's Druid pack. 

Although McIntyre's writing isn't anything special and often feels like field notes written out in paragraph form, with occasional asides telling readers what he'd done on a particular day, his enthusiasm and appreciation for wolves shines through. I appreciated his interpretations of wolf behavior, and following Wolf 21 through his eyes was fascinating and occasionally thrilling. I gasped at Wolf 40's fate (it should be noted that, for the most part, McIntyre just related things as they happened, without too much sensationalizing) and got attached to 21, 42, and 253. 

302 was quite a character, and I'm looking forward to reading McIntyre's book about him. Although audiobook is usually my format of choice for nonfiction and was how I read the first book, I opted for a print copy this time around, and it worked much better for me. I not only got to see McIntyre's various pack charts and maps, as well as the color photos of the wolves, I was also able to skim some of the more boring bits I'd have been forced to slog through in audiobook format.

REVIEW: I Know What You Did Last Summer (book) by Lois Duncan

I Know What You Did Last Summer is YA suspense. I bought my copy new.

Review:

A year ago, Julie was a cheerleader who was more focused on her social life than on her academics. All that changed after one particular summer night. Now she's determined to leave everything behind, go to college, and forget everything that happened.

Except someone won't let her, sending her a note that just says "I know what you did last summer." Sick and scared, Julie tracks down the others who were there that night: Helen, a pretty but insecure young woman; Barry, a football player and Helen's boyfriend (who unbeknownst to Helen, is seeing lots of other girls besides her); and Ray, Julie's former boyfriend, who she broke up with soon after the events of that summer.

REVIEW: Five Total Strangers (book) by Natalie D. Richards

Five Total Strangers is a YA thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Mira is heading to her mother's for Christmas. She knows her mom will need her support - it's the anniversary of Aunt Phoebe's (her mother's twin) death.

Except that there's a blizzard on the way and her connecting flight, as well as all other flights, has been cancelled. Rather than wait it out, Mira accepts an offer of a ride from Harper, the glamorous and unflappable college student she met on the plane. Harper is accompanied by several others Mira initially assumes are her friends: Kayla, a young woman who looks sick and sleeps most of the time; Josh, who's using crutches due to a torn ACL; and Brecken, a handsome pre-med student who rubs Mira the wrong way.

In reality, all of these people are actually strangers Harper just befriended at the airport. Or are they? Something weird is going on. Harper and Brecken seem surprisingly close for people who supposedly just met in a rental car line. Random things keep going missing, and everyone in the car seems to have secrets. As the drive becomes more treacherous and the situation goes from bad to worse, Mira wonders who she can trust.

REVIEW: Four Found Dead (book) by Natalie D. Richards

Four Found Dead is a YA thriller/horror novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The mall movie theater is one of the last places that held on after most of the businesses in the Riverview Fashionplace shopping mall closed. It's finally closing, however, and seven employees and one manager are there on its final night, cleaning and locking everything up.

Clayton, the manager, has always been disliked by his employees, but this evening in particular he's jumpy and angry. Then Jo notices that he has a gun on him, and she's instantly terrified - when she was 9, she witnessed her dad get killed in a gas station robbery. 

As the situation in the theater rapidly devolves, one of the employees ends up dead and the rest of them find themselves trapped, locked inside with Clayton (who has the keys, and who took their phones at the beginning of their shifts because no one is supposed to be using their cellphones while working). So begins as tense game of cat-and-mouse as the group tries to figure out how to get to safety.

REVIEW: Velocity Weapon (book) by Megan E. O'Keefe

Velocity Weapon is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I read this a ridiculously long time ago (June 2023, according to my reading activity) and never got around to reviewing it. I was just about to give up on the review and put it on my "finished" shelves anyway when I found some notes I'd written tucked inside. So, this review is going to happen.

Initially, this follows 3-4 POVs: Alexandra (Ada Prime's founder) and how she came up with gate technology; Jules and her crew of thieves trying to steal drugs and ending up with valuable info; Biran (a young, bright-eyed new Keeper), desperate to find his sister; and Sanda, his sister, waking up on Bero, an enemy AI-piloted ship, and learning that her world was destroyed 200 years ago.

REVIEW: Under the Oak Tree: The Comic (manhwa, vol. 1) art by P, adapted by namu, original story by Suji Kim, translated by Sena

Under the Oak Tree is a fantasy romance comic based on a serialized Korean novel. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Lady Maximilian (Maxi) hasn't seen her husband Riftan in some time - he left to go fight a dragon shortly after they were married, and they barely knew each other. After Riftan defeats the dragon and is hailed as a hero, there are rumors that he'll divorce Maxi and marry the princess. Maxi's father is furious at the possibility and wants Maxi to stop it, but Maxi, who has a stutter, has no idea how she's supposed to accomplish this. 

Then Riftan arrives. He's angry with Maxi for some reason, but rather than divorcing her, he declares that she's going with him back to his castle estate, barely giving her time to pack. Maxi has no idea what's going on and is initially somewhat terrified of her husband - he's intense, somewhat cold, and her memories of their one and only night together after their marriage aren't good. 

However, as gruff as he is, he's gentler and more considerate than she remembers him being. He tells her she's beautiful, doesn't seem to care about her stutter, and wants his knights and servants to treat her well. She becomes determined to stay with him, but it's clear that, mentally, he has her on a pedestal, and she worries that he'll be disappointed when he finally learns that she isn't the elegant and treasured young noble lady that he seems to think her father raised her as. 

REVIEW: Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (nonfiction book) by Bethany Brookshire

Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I picked this book up because I wrote my undergrad thesis on a similar subject (although my focus was entirely on rats). 

The introduction, which included a rant about "F***ing Kevin," a squirrel (or likely multiple squirrels) that has repeatedly interfered with the author's attempts to garden, had me wondering whether I'd made a mistake. Thankfully, the book did improve.

Initially, it seemed like the text would be organized to cover one animal per chapter. Chapter 1 was rats, chapter 2 was snakes, chapter 3 was mice (I raised an eyebrow at this, since there would inevitably be overlap with info from the rat chapter). The organization scheme slipped a bit in Chapter 4, which started with pigeons but repeatedly slipped into "rabbits in Australia" territory. This happened a lot, to the point where I wondered whether the author had originally wanted to write a book about invasive species in Australia.

REVIEW: The Mist (novella) by Stephen King

The Mist is a horror novella originally published in 1980. I bought my copy new.

Review:

A terrible storm hits western Maine, although thankfully the damage to David and Steff Drayton's home is relatively minor. In the aftermath, David decides to go to the supermarket to pick up a few things. His 5-year-old son Billy comes with him, as does his neighbor, Brent Norton. Steff stays home in order to continue working on cleanup.

Immediately after the storm, a thick fog starts rolling in. By the time David is in line at the supermarket, the fog has swallowed up a good portion of the parking lot, making him uneasy. But the true fear doesn't start until a bloodied man stumbles in from outside, and others try to leave. Something is moving around in the fog, and whatever it is is deadly.

REVIEW: Let's Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook (nonfiction book) by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan

Let's Make Ramen! is a cookbook. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I'll start by saying that I haven't actually made anything from this cookbook. Also, I'm highly unlikely to ever make even half the components of a bowl of ramen from scratch. But if I ever do, this book will be the reason why.

The food illustrations and graphic novel portions are gorgeous, with rich colors and thick linework. The various bowls of ramen and other recipe illustrations made my mouth water the same way some delicious-looking Studio Ghibli meal might.

The book starts with a brief history of ramen, provides a guide for navigating a Japanese ramen-ya, includes a few pages of ramen pantry staples and cooking equipment, and then gets into recipes, starting with stocks and broths, the noodles, then meats, then accompaniments, and wrapping up with some ramen offshoot recipes like tsukemen, abura soba, mazemen, and more. There are also some tips for using a pressure cooker to speed up parts of the cooking process.

REVIEW: Life and Death (book) by Stephenie Meyer

Life and Death is YA paranormal romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In her foreword, Stephenie Meyer writes that this book was inspired by complaints that Bella was too much a "damsel in distress" and too consumed by her feelings for Edward. Meyer was inspired to write this gender-swapped version of Twilight because she felt it would show that the things Bella experienced and the way she reacted wouldn't have changed in the slightest had Bella been male instead of female.

And so we have this book, which follows the same plot as Twilight and even, I'm pretty sure, uses much of the same text word-for-word, with a few pronoun changes. I didn't have a copy of Twilight to compare it to, and it's been years since I last read Twilight, but even I could recognize chunks of text.

The two characters I know for sure weren't gender-swapped are Charlie and Renee, Bella's (or in this case, Beaus's) parents. Meyer explained her reasons for that in her foreword as well, although I think she could have managed to make the change work if she'd really wanted. 

REVIEW: Lout of the Count's Family, Vol. 1 (book) by Yu Ryeo-Han, translated by Henry Shin (MiracleRifle Translations) and Lauren Na

Lout of the Count's Family is an isekai fantasy light novel (or whatever the terminology is for the Korean equivalent). I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Kim Roksu, an ordinary Korean guy who grew up as an orphan, wakes up one day to discover that he is Cale Henituse, the loutish son of Count Henituse in the novel series Birth of a Hero. He's only read up to volume 5 of the series, but it's enough to know that Cale is a very minor character, and he's about to get thoroughly beaten up by the actual hero of the story, Choi Han, a 17-year-old Korean guy who was transported into this fantasy world.

Kim Roksu, as Cale, becomes focused on a single goal: living a peaceful life. As Count Henituse's beloved but loutish son, he should be able to live a life of leisure with all the money he could ever want at his disposal. First, however, he has to avoid getting beaten up by the story's hero, prod the hero and a bunch of other dangerous characters into going elsewhere, and ensure that the Henituse family lands stay as safe as possible.

Getting all those dangerous characters to leave him alone is more difficult than he realizes, however - for some reason, he not only finds himself surrounded by Choi Han and his original entourage, but several additional dangerous characters as well. It's not ideal, but Cale figures that he can at least put all these people to good use, further preparing for his eventual peaceful life while putting himself in as little danger as possible.