christinefitz's reviews
54 reviews

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While I was expecting something a little more lighthearted and cozy, this turned out to be a great read. There’s an amateur detective with an English degree and some small romantic elements like a cozy, but this is very much a Murder Mystery Novel. Claudia is flawed but likable; her struggling with her complicated family dynamics, finding her spot as an adult, finding love (or not), constantly referencing Austen and an obscure series of mystery novels - it’s all very endearing, and none of it overshadows the actual mystery. I thought I saw the ending coming a million times, but as always, the reveal hit me over the head with a big “duh”! It did a great job opening itself to a sequel as well. 
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Life Hacks For a Little Alien by Alice Franklin

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dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

If you've ever felt like everyone in the room is in on a joke you don't understand, you might relate to this book. Told in the second person ("You do this, they laugh at you. Your dad tells you to act normal." etc), it's easy to sink into the unsettling place of the nameless main character. There are laugh-out-loud bits of observational humor, broken up by a lot of heartrending misunderstandings and details about the little alien's family life (which is turbulent at best). This is about neurodivergence, mental health, family, friendship, and finding a place for yourself in a vast universe where everyone else seems to intuitively know where they fit. It seems less like fiction and more like memoir. It's the kind of book that hurts to read but you can't put it down.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Great for fans of Japanese translated fiction like "The Kamogawa Food Detectives", this was a sweet, fast-paced collection of interwoven storylines. Each character has lost someone and is looking for closure, and the magical nature of the remembrance meals at Chibineko Kitchen grants it to them. Like a cozy mystery, each chapter ends with a relevant recipe. Really appreciated this addition, as international dishes can be hard to imagine based on names alone and having a sense of the ingredients and preparation is helpful. There were also good explanations of Japanese mourning, burial, and remembrance traditions, which is helpful in understanding the nature of the Kitchen in the first place. The translation was well done, and - this is always the real question with translated Japanese fiction - YES, there is actually a cat!

I received a digital copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
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Single Player by Tara Tai

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funny hopeful 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

Loved this one; light spice, lots of hate-yearning, very slow burn, workplace romance. Great enby she/they rep, I could relate to their dysphoria so much at points. Gaming references galore, and some TTG references too. 
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Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It’s crazy to me how hopeful we managed to be in 2020. Everything was pretty chaotic and there was a lot of tragedy we were all soaking in from behind screens during a time of isolation, but so many of us (cozy sci fi authors especially) really thought we could build back better. Anyway, probably going to be the year of me reading everyone’s aspirational pandemic novel with tears in my eyes !! Escape the present by pretending it’s 2020. Yay /s
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Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

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emotional funny hopeful 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

Clare Pooley's books are great ensemble comedies with diverse casts. Iona was a great FMC, struggling with a middle-age crisis that wasn't a divorce from a man! Actually she's a lesbian. NICE! All of the MCs faced traumas, pretty serious problems, and character flaws that were holding them back; but the support they had for each other was really sweet and the intertwining plots were engaging.
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My Time to Stand: A Memoir by Melissa Moore, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard, Michele Matrisciani

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4.0

The Umbrella Maker's Son by Katrina Leno

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Reminds me of books like City of Ember and The Giver. Some Lemony Snicket-style elements as well. Diverse representation and an anti-megacorp (dare I say Amazon??) message with attention paid to the effects on not just small business owners, but poor communities and the climate. Really enjoyed this book, glad I finally prioritized it after seeing it in the library for nearly a year and saying “I really gotta read that”. Also… Stardew inspired?? Maybe??
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One Of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I was really looking forward to this book. Recently I've seen a lot of spec-fic books by white women challenging the promises of "wellness culture" and I was interested what kind of take a non-white author would have on the topic. The whole time I was reading, I had a sense of unease; sometimes, it was because I wanted the MC to escape the horror, like I was supposed to feel. But more often, it was because I found the MC so unbearable, unrealistic - and the colorism! I kept waiting for her to have character growth, or honestly a full-on meltdown. As someone who has held beliefs in common with Jasmyn, I thought maybe I was being too defensive of my own experience / journey to understanding the value of rest and that as a white person, maybe my understanding of the MC's view was flawed in some way. But after reading a lot of reviews by Black readers - seeing references to The Nap Ministry and how miraculous it is Jasmyn never burns out - I think I had the right idea after all. This book would have resolved better if Jasmyn had learned something other than "Blackness = aesthetics + trauma". But please read those other reviews and don't take my word for it.
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The Broposal by Sonora Reyes

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emotional funny hopeful sad fast-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

5.0

This highly enjoyable and very believable take on the fake-dating trope handled heavy themes with a careful touch. While I cried for almost the entire second half, a lot of those tears were happy ones. The support the MMCs demonstrate to each other, as well as the support of their families, is so touching. I think it's still rare to find explicitly autistic characters in fiction and I really appreciated Han's character and the way his autism affected his dating life and understanding of his sexuality. There are a lot of miscommunication moments in this book, due to the secrecy of the fake-dating plot and Han's autism, but the payoff feels worth the frustration. Now very tempted to break my 'no-YA novels' rule to finally read 'The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School'.

 I received this digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
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