Jacob Proffitt > Recent Status Updates

Sanity check/AITA. Is it normal to expect someone to have liked at least one of my reviews before sending me a friend request? In the two months I felt swamped, I got 27 friend requests. Less than six had ever liked a review of mine. Are my expectations simply too high? Should I accept all these people as friends? Why or why not?!? (spoiler: I already chose, but I want to check my thought process)

Influenza A kicked my shins in the last two weeks. And trying to track back reviews, replies, and all that jazz isn't going to happen. But I should be back, now, so here's to discussions going forward!

I'm noticing that I'm not getting notifications (email or website) for comments on my reviews. I don't know when this broke, but forgive me if it look like I'm ignoring your concise and insightful comments. I checked all the relevant settings and they're all unchanged. I even checked the review-specific setting on the one or two I caught and it's set to notify. Just. No notification...

Sigh. I hate how out-of-touch I fall while traveling. Sure, it's halfway around the world, but could I really not check in on GR even once? Nope. Not even. It makes me feel disconnected. And this time, I don't even have a book I finished along the way...

I may be sparse on GR for a week or two. We're headed back to the US for a funeral and some business.

So we're in Kochi, India, in a hotel while we search for a house. So I'm not back, back, but I'm a little less gone that I have been the last week.

I know my activity has died off a bit and will continue to stay lacking as well. We're moving to Kochi, India and that's pretty much taking all my energy.

Will likely miss things the next couple of days while we're traveling to India. I'll be honest here, I mostly just wanted to type that sentence...

Goodreads friends who happen to be in India! I'm in Kerala province for two weeks for work. I'm fairly tightly scheduled, but I can probably slip my leash for a dinner or something if you pop me a DM. Kochi is gorgeous. I'm just saying.

So I want to tap the collective wisdom of my GR friends but 420 characters? Yeah, that's not going to cut it. Thing is, I can't think of any better way to do this. So I suspect I'll continue in comments on this general post and ask that you give it (them) a read. And pop your two cents in if you will.

Maddie is really pathetic. She's horrible at her job, she doesn't bother teaching her dog not to be a giant pain, and she's an awful tenant dribbling money over the whole month while she has the money in the bank. It's stupid and its annoying and I'll be shocked if this isn't a DNF before I'm done with the first third.

First (and Last) Christmas Date: Holy crap was this bad. Stupid on every level and in every detail. Tag is a macho idiot with the brains of fungus. Juliet is one of those doormats whose every thought is how to make others feel better. And don't get me started on not knowing what a kimono is and other authorial intrusions. 0 stars.

Christmas Every Day: Missing faith problem, but likeable characters. Psycho ex was a bit much and the drama a little high, but still a nice story. 4 stars.

Holiday Bucket List: Started off rocky. Celeste has a giant negative motivation and Mike seemed kind of pathetic. Was surprised when Eden turned that on its head and then I loved it more than a little. 4½ stars.

Truth or Dare: I don't buy the actual background, but I don't care. I loved these two and their bond was great. Exactly how you do a short romance. 5 stars.

The Last Christmas: Meredith and Eric are both idiots. Who serves divorce papers without at least suggesting marriage counselling? Or having a conversation? 1 star.

Forgotten Kisses: Madison is an idiot and doesn't deserve nice things. Caleb is a forgettable non-entity. 1 star

How to Train Your Hellhound
A reverse-caper story? Is that a thing?

Convention Shock
Kind of a romp, but then, it is located at a sci-fi convention. Loved Leah the barbarian security staffer.

Welcome to the Collective
A fun character story. We get more about Peter, the IT guy, and the library itself. I love the exploration here and the worldbuilding.

Zombies Don't Play Baseball
Good start. Love Dean and the chemistry is excellent. Nice actiony meet-cute and I love how she saves the books while he fights the baddies. Really hope we have more Dean coming.

The Science of Sentiment by Aubrey Mace
This might be a good story. Or it might be crap. I can't tell because even at the end, we don't know why the idiot Kevin broke up with her before. He didn't atone or apologize or anything. He just kissed her and she succumbed. I take it back, this is a crap story with a spineless heroine who falls for a glib charmer with hot lips.

Picture Perfect by Heather B. Moore
Oh! I've read this before. Wish I'd written about it. I agree with my previous three stars. Drew is a bit immature and the timing of things was manipulated by the author. But a fun story and I liked both the protagonists and the friends/beach setup.

The Best Laid Plans by Sarah M. Eden
Madison is a melodramatic, avoidy, negatively motivated jerk. Derek deserves better. Why is he giving her the time of day?!? And nobody bothers to point out that she's doing to him what she fears he'd do to her? She's the monster that she throws in his face! How is this not obvious to literally everybody she's whining to?!? Do stars have polarity? Can I give -5 stars?

Dancing at the Flea Market by Heather Justesen
Carter is a trope—feeling like he's cheating on his dead wife is never going to be a draw for me. It takes the sym out of sympathetic because it means he's toying with someone for completely made-up reasons. Figure yourself out before drawing someone else into your stupidity, man. I liked Mara but Carter blows this down to 2½ stars.

Chasing Tess by Annette Lyon
This story could define my "missing faith" tag. After three years (with promise of marriage) and they aren't living together. That's is odd. That they only remember kissing and romantic crap only makes sense if you're religious. In which case, why are they waiting? Then again, they are both idiots. She's a doormat and he's thoughtlessly selfish. Half a star and that only out of pity.

In Moonlight Kiss by Josi S. Kilpack
Excellent start for an anthology/collection. Hit all the right notes, and in an amazingly short space. Noticeably bad copyediting is the only drawback (all of them verb repeats separated by another word). 5 stars.

Interference: Action sci-fi with a central romance front and center. The romance is fast and relies a lot on very self-possessed people knowing what they want when it appears, but I'm willing to let it work because the rest of the story supported it enough and the pace was excitingly relentless. Well done. I'd fade from the five star afterglow to a more-reasonable 4 but likely rate at five on personal grounds.

Finally found out about the past (at 38%). And the pace is picking up. So persistence is being rewarded, but it's still a bit dull.