Thin Slices of Anxiety – Catherine Lepage
Recommended to me by a BookTuber, I thought this would be interesting. I have anxiety myself, so I thought I’d like it. I didn’t like it, and it gavce me anxiety to read. It reminds me of someone who had an art project and did a few illustrations early on, but then forgot about the whole thing until 3 days before it was due. It was like quick scribbles, and I was disappointed. 2 out of 5
Columbus Day – Craig Alanson
The Ruhar attacked on Columbus Day. They were 6 foot tall hamsters, and they took out power plants and industrial sites. The Kristang showed up, giant lizard men, and they chased the Ruhar off. Humanity signed on to be a client species of the Kristang, only to find out maybe that was a bad idea.
I really wanted to like this book, but there were enough things about it that I didn’t like, that I ended up rating it a 2 out of 5. The author makes a big deal of his military knowledge, which gets boring after a while. I don’t care what things mean, or what slang you use, you’re boring.
The other thing I hated in the book is a chrome plated beer can named Skippy. He’s a million-billion year old super intelligent AI. And he’s an asshole. That’s not just me saying it, he’s mentioned several times in the book as people thinking he’s an asshole. And I can’t stand him. Sadly, a lot of people think Skippy is the best part of the book, so I doubt the series is going to get better.
Aftercare – Tanya Chris
This is a gay male romance I picked up somewhere, probably Bookbub. It was okay. Of the 3 main characters, Aayan and his brother Saed are Indian Immigrants to the US, and Muslim, which I thought was a nice change. Most gay male romance seems to be mostly buff blond white guys.
Saed is on trial for murdering his boyfriend, who was also his submissive, despite being nowhere near the scene. Aayan finds Garrett Hillier, who was once the top murder defense laywer in the city. However, after a photo of him being a submissive leaks, Garrett goes into public defense and stays quiet.
The book’s okay, standard gay male romance. I give it a 3 out of 5 because it was forgettable. I enjoyed the POC, and I enjoyed there wasn’t guilt over the relationship, but it wasn’t a very memorable book.
Vespertine – Leta Blake & Indra Vaughn
Another gay male romance. They’re like popcorn for me. This one involves Nick as famous Nico Blue, the guitarist and song writer of Vespertine, and Jazz, Father Jasper, a Catholic priest. When they were teens, they had a relationship, which ended badly. Now Nico’s hooked on drugs and nearly overdoses. After time in rehab, he comes home to his parent’s house to recuperate. He meets up with Jazz, and as you’d expect, there’s baggage and unfinished business, so it’s a rough start. It gets better.
I liked this better than Aftercare. Most of the book is Nick and Jazz repairing where their friendship went wrong, and becoming better friends. There is a relatrionship aspect to it, but the book’s probably 70% over before they get there. It’s nice to find a book that’s not sex from the second chapter. However, the book’s only okay. Enjoyable, but doesn’t stand out, so I only give it 3 out of 5.
Interview With A Robot – Lee Bacon
This was an Audible Original and a dramatization. I’m not huge into dramatizations. It’s about a girl named Eve who looks like a 12 year old, but is an advanced AI in a robot body. She’s escaped Eden, where she grew up, and gets arrested by the New York Police when she shoplifts as part of a complicated escape plan.
It was okay, 3 out of 5, but again, I don’t love dramatizations. The person who voices Eve doesn’t sound like a girl, and some of the other voices are odd too. The story is kind of boring, and takes a long time to come to the climax and reason for Eve running away. Like, nothing is wrong for 2/3 of the audiodrama, and then there’s THE PROBLEM. I was bored for a lot of it.
The Grizzly Sisters – Cathy Bellows
This ia cute kid’s book about 2 bear sisters who don’t listen to Momma bear. My uncle mentioned it, and I got a copy to see if it was good for my niece and nephew. It’s a super cute book with lovely watercolour illustrations. I had to find it secondhand off Abe Books, but I didn’t mind.
It’s a fun little tale, with the sisters learning to be cautious. I felt it had a cute message that kids could get without being too heavy handed. 4 out of 5
Internment – Samira Ahmed
This one is 4 out of 5. It’s also very topical for 2020, as it’s set 15 minutes into the future. Layla is a typical teenager, except that she’s Muslim and Indian. Her father lost his job as a college professor because of being Muslim. There’s curfews imposed and all kinds of restrictions, and one night police come to their door. There’s a Muslim relocation act, and Layla and her family are being moved to an internment camp.
Once there, Layla chafes at being stuck in the camp, away from her Jewish boyfriend, stuck with nothing to do, and being watched all the time. She teams up with others to start protesting their internment, and to try and get the story of their life in the camp out. Slowly, protestors show up at the internment camp fence, and the administrator of the camp starts making more and more changes.
I enjoyed this one, and had the message not been so heavy handed, I would have given it 5 stars. It’s a YA book, and for whatever reason, the meanings in YA books tend to be pretty heavy handed, which makes no sense. Teens aren’t stupid.
I also didn’t like the quasi love triangle that showed up. It never went anywhere, but you can tell it was there to create a little drama. It gets resolved without any of the usual messiness, which was nice, but I was annoyed it was there at all.