goatsrsexy's reviews
580 reviews

Fine for what it was but the first one was better 

I loved this book! I love seeing representation of the less known Jewish languages so I was thrilled to see Ladino used here, and I also just love a Jewish story like I was always happy that Alex Stern is Jewish (and those books also include some Ladino) but the familiar gives us so much more!

I'm honestly not a big fan of historical fiction or fantasy, but funnily enough I tend to enjoy historical fantasy. I think that urban fantasy works better for me, and then the magical realism elements add enough intrigue to historical fiction to make it more interesting for me, so it just works.

This book takes place during the Spanish Inquisition and it gets very dark in some places, it's a heavy story and definitely takes a bit to get into. I did find myself wishing that there was more focus on character development in the first half, but by the time I actually finished the book I felt satisfied.

I'm definitely a big fan of Leigh Bardugos work, especially her adult books, I'm really excited to see what she does next.

I haven't read any of Anna Dorns other books, but if they're anything like Perfume and Pain, I think she's going to be added to my small list of favourite authors. (Alongside Mona Awad, Leigh Bardugo, and Eva Ibbotson she'll be in great company).

Supposedly an ode to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction, my only experience with the genre is from this novel, so far, so I don't really know how it stands up in that regard. But wow I loved this book so much, it really scratched an itch in my brain... I found myself reading super slowly and reading other books in between chapters because I didn't want it to end.

The story is about an LA author who is just a mess. Alcoholic drug addict, keeps getting cancelled online because she has no filter, obsessed with dating and just falling apart in so many ways, but I loved her so much. Its honestly probably a red flag how much I love this kind of 'unlikeable female character'. I wish I had no morals or shame so I could also be an awful mess of a person who just does and says whatever she wants. But luckily for everyone, I'll have to stick to reading about it instead.

The great thing about this book though, is that under the surface it was lot more than just a satirical look at Hollywood and Queer culture and Lesbian Pulp... It had a lot of heart and ultimately was the story of a woman with a lot of problems learning how to get better and to like herself. I loved the chaotic vibe of this book but I also loved the calm, feel-good, and tranquil ending.

If this book sounds up your alley at all based on my review I definitely recommend picking up a copy when it's out May 21, or you can pre-order it like I'm about to,(because I read this digitally but I NEED to own it). Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster Canada for the Netgalley arc, without which I may not have read this fantastic book!

I enjoyed this book for the first 30% or so but then the couple in it kinda started to give me the ick, and then it just felt way too long. All in all it was fine but not something I'd care to revisit

Thank you Simon&Schuster Canada for the advanced copy of this book!

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie was a super cute romcom, and just what I needed honestly to get me out of the reading slump I've been in. The main character, Emily, is a writer and I always find it interesting to get insight into the publishing industry through stuff like that.

I also found Emily extremely relatable, she's in her early 30s and in some ways she feels on the verge of elderly while in other ways she feels like she's behind or not a 'real adult'. She even has a judgmental sister, and honestly the resolution of the conflict with her sister helped me understand my own sister a little better. So like I said, very relatable.

The book is about Emily getting set up to date Mark by her mom, who seems absolutely obsessed to get them together so they decide to just tell their parents they went on a few dates to get them off their backs, but in j as you can imagine it quickly becomes more complicated and as they spend time together they actually start to fall for each other.

This book was sweet and had a lot of charm and relatability that I think people will love! My only real issue with it was when Marks POV randomly came in near the end of the book. I've said before I'm not a fan of dual POV romances, but especially in this book it felt super unnecessary and one of his chapters even kinda recounted what already happened in the book as if we didn't already read about it from Emily's perspective.

Marks POV aside, this was still a well written and super engaging romcom. Of course I also love that it was Canadian. If you're a fan of the genre I can't imagine you not enjoying it, so I would definitely recommend!

This was a pretty decent YA fantasy, this isn't really my genre as I'm not a fantasy fan but I enjoyed it for what it was. It was definitely not an original plot, but not everything has to be. It reminded me quite a bit of the For The Wolf/Throne duology. 

I definitely felt that the last quarter of the book had the strongest writing and I thought the ending was quite pretty. I definitely think readers of YA fantasy in general will enjoy this one, but I'm not sure it's adding anything unique to the genre.

Shanghailanders by Julie Min was a really interesting piece of literary fiction. It starts in 2040 and throughout the book goes backwards in time, ending in 2014. It follows a family, three daughters and their parents, who live in Shanghai. Parts of the story are told from each of their perspectives and there are also a few chapters from the perspective of other people in their life, like people who have worked for them.

I'm not sure I've ever read a story told this way, and it definitely is an interesting way to see who these people are. We initially see them as they are, in their present day (our near future) and slowly go back in time little by little exploring small snippets of their lives and see the things that shaped them. It's especially interesting with the daughters, since they are just coming into adulthood at the beginning of the book which means we see a lot of their childhood, some of which took place during covid which I found interesting although it is not a main plot point by any means, it's just mentioned offhandedly.

While Shanghailanders does take place in the near future, don't expect a SciFi type of story. This is a very character driven novel that explores the complexities of familial relationships in a pretty melancholy way. It was overall a really great story and I'm definitely interested to read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the advanced copy.

Very interesting that this is the start of a trilogy within a series. It's my first time reading the series all the way through so my opinion on this arc remains to be seen

I just found it so boring

This was my third book by Edward Ashton (I think I've read all his books), and definitely my favourite. He definitely has a unique way of mixing a light hearted and comedic vibe into a story about pretty serious things.

I really loved Mal and seeing him discover a world he'd never paid any attention to until he had to. I was engaged the whole time and never really knew what was coming next! 

I think that fans of Becky Chambers will really enjoy this book! I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does next!

Netgalley arc was provided by St Martin's Press