Status Updates From One Under (Porthkennack, #9)

Yay for the understanding that not all counselors are right for everyone, and that just because a counselor wants you to do something doesn't mean you should automatically do it.

I have the suspiciousness!

Poor Hermione. Alas, we did not know ye.

I keep waiting to find a JLM book that I love as much as I loved her novella. While there’s no argument that she writes well, she does seem to have a character development / pacing issue in her longer works — at least in so far as how I react to those aspects of her writing, as a reader. There’s a disconnect that I didn’t experience with her novella. Hmph.

What the hell is it with books I’m reading lately and the leads macking on or hooking up with other people??

Losing interest in this one. The romance between the two leads is pretty stalled out at the moment, and it was never really cracking to begin with

Meh, I don't care about their romance. Mal is wibbly-wobbly in his feelings; Jory is DEVOTED not really knowing Mal. I have no emotional connection with either. I spent more time being curious about Bran: will this stiff, stoic man get a story? And then the rest of the time thinking how much I liked Kristy, a woman in the story who was superb and real. Try a different Merrow book--she really can do up a great story!

I do like Mal, though. He's everyday likeable. Props for having a tube driver job and not a super-power job or aspirations for such a career. So tired of that in books.

I'm reading this in paperback; I loved the first book in this series, I love Merrow's style, so I asked my library to buy this book and they did. I'm sad to say that I'm not able to lose myself in this story. I'm not sure what Jory and Mal see in each other and the drama/conflict is low key and uninteresting. Really slow-paced and off-target conflict, easily dismissed.