christinefitz's reviews
54 reviews

Sugar Farm!: Sweets and Stories from My Kitchen on a Sugar Beet Farm by Molly Yeh

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funny informative lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

5.0

 The Sunday morning routine at my house: sleeping in, making a French press (and often breakfast), and watching Food Network in the hopes that we’ll catch a few episodes of Girl Meets Farm. So this book could have had nearly anything in it and I’d still be singing the praises of this sprinkle-loving millennial who studied percussion at Juilliard and followed a love of baking (and her husband) to live on his family’s sugar beet farm in the Midwest. But I don’t have to delude myself, because it’s just a great sweets cookbook (not just baking but drinks, frozen, no bakes, and more)! Molly’s blogging background really shines in her recipe intros, and if you’re a superfan (or looking to become one), you’ll love all the lore. And the recipes resemble classics but always have a great spin, often inspired by her Jewish and Chinese heritage and the Midwest - Miso Toffee Crackers, Black-and-White Cookie Salad, Black Sesame Babka. I’m still not totally sold on sweet salads, but I am completely sold on Molly Yeh. 

I received a digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

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funny informative lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A real gem; if Heartstopper and Bridgerton had a baby - very gay English period romance YA graphic novel. The queer yearning and intense female friendships were top tier, it was diverse but not always utopian, the pacing was great... Hit all the right notes for a few hours of swoony and sweet “tehe”ing.
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All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mike Gayle has delighted me again with a sweet but sometimes painful story that had me gasping (more than once). Another pandemic novel, Gayle examines loneliness through 82-year-old Jamaican immigrant Hubert. He’s on a quest to prove to his daughter that he’s got plenty of friends and she shouldn’t worry about him from Australia. Alternating flashback chapters give Hubert’s present circumstances a deeper poignancy. As all my favorites do, this novel turns a group of trauma-inflicted misfits into a real community. A great examination of relationships and aging. 
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Home Sweet Home: Modern Cross Stitch Designs for Home and Garden by Cheryl McKinnon

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lighthearted

4.0

Lots of little elements in this one, so while the patterns overall read a little too granny for my taste, I did rearrange some coffee, tea, and craft bits to make a fun Frankenstein hoop. 
Cross Stitch with Cattitude: 20 pawsome designs by Emma Congdon

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funny lighthearted

4.5

Some cute patterns, adapted a few of the little faces to make rough portraits of my cats. Definitely planning to come back around to the cat alien-abduction pattern with text about humans being gross. 
Calling In by Loretta J. Ross

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Ross's story was very inspiring and full of hope, more so because it was at times so heartbreaking. Throughout her life she has been the victim of rape, incest, teen pregnancy, forced sterilization; an essential voice in the reproductive justice movement; a call-out thrill seeker, a person who struggled with drug abuse and committed embezzlement; a deprogrammer of Nazis and rapists. It's one thing for theorists to talk about community, abolition, and restorative justice; it's another for someone to be both the victim of abuse and the perpetrator of harm and share their lived experience on forgiveness and redemption in a widely applicable way. I really appreciated that Ross not only shared when she had been wronged, but also when she had misjudged allies or even stolen from others in response to her own suffering or anger. The theme throughout is to lead with love because movement requires all hands on deck. Too often in organizing spaces we see the narcissism of minor differences resulting in wide-spread call out culture and alienation of offenders - then every organizer is bemoaning the lack of community buy-in and volunteers. Fostering a call-in culture might be the first step to rebuilding the traction we seem to have lost in recent years.
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The Usual Family Mayhem by HelenKay Dimon

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funny lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Well, I officially think the mystery-romance hybrid is not for me. This book had an awesome premise - lesbian grannies who bake death pies for bad husbands - but the execution was lacking. The pacing felt off (it's really less mystery and more "oops, I've gone and created a conflict of interest and now I have to keep it from imploding on me"). Some of the incidents from the past brought up between the FMC and the love interest didn't seem necessary, borderline creepy - this is fiction, you don't have to make their dynamic historically weird. I think the main issue with the genre-mash up is the way it never seems reasonable for people to talk in detail about murder and then feel in the mood for kissing. But if you liked, say, "The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year" by Ally Carter, you might like this one.

I received a free digital ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
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Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is a book I scoffed at until my therapist recommended it (that happens a lot honestly); some really great strategies for positive habit building, especially listing and explaining the necessary factors for keeping up a good habit or quitting a bad one. A lot of it was things I knew (like the strategy of keeping your intended habit visible so it’ll trigger the habit etc) but there were some new ideas, especially habit stacking (combining a new habit with one you already have down to trigger the new habit). Would recommend if you’re struggling to stick to a resolution, just beware of weight talk galore. 
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The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

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dark mysterious sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I loved the queernormative world; there's such a diversity of gender and sexuality representation and while a character does struggle with dysphoria, queerphobia isn't the primary theme which is nice to see. There is, however, a lot of violence and dead people and dead animals and blood and xenophobia. So it's not exactly a conflict-free cozy fantasy. The primary focus is on the restricted use of blood magic, which opens the door for a bit of a mystery. I loved the mystery, but wasn't a huge fan of the blood magic device. 
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