Tammy > Recent Status Updates

You know, modern readers might complain that YA works from the 2010s “always feature exaggerated girl-on-girl bullying,” but speaking as someone who was still attending school during that time (and earlier, of course), that WAS reality—not just girl-on-girl bullying, but bullying, period. Anti-social behaviors were respected & rewarded. It was a crappy time. 🤪

Shut the fuck up, Mary Ann, I hate you.

Oh, wow, totally deserving of all the hype it got back in the days. Reading my library copy, but will purchase my own—so that I can reread, highlight, and annotate! (I’m that kind of reader)

Eve is promised to a man she despises. One day, she comes meets a merman named Oorin. Eve learns that he is in his Songcoming, a rite of passage in which merfolk live alone until they can find their song. Over time, they forge an unlikely bond. With her betrothed on his way to claim her, Eve must choose between a life under water where she can't breathe—and a life on land that will surely suffocate her.

Oh, LAWDY!
Finally caught up with all my Netgalley obligations. Spending the month of April finishing up all 13 books on my Currently Reading. Nobody let me start anything new! 😅

My thoughts so far…

I really don’t like to follow this character’s mind; the way she talks is rambling.

As far as the actual prose goes, it feels outdated. I don’t know how to explain it. I love reading vintage books (my guilty pleasures are Point Horrors from the ‘80s & ‘90s), and while this reads like those, I don’t like it, at all, because the setting is today.

Done! Review to follow. OH MY GOD THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD! MY HEART IS THUMPING!!!
Ignore the negative reviews, you guys; those people either forgot or didn’t realize they were reading YA, and expected Adult fiction. Different targeted demographics, different standards. This is a solid read. THE BEST PART IS THAT IT’S NOT 500 PAGES LONG FOR NO REASON (I’m looking at you, “Powerless”!).

Well, Callum is handsome and charming, which means only two things: secretly evil or will end up dead. But, that could just be my YA-addled brain talking. We’ll see!

Reading a Booktok recommendation is like playing Russian roulette…except that five out of the six chambers are loaded.

OMG WTF, am I experiencing for Mandela Effect right now?
First of all, the copy I just got in the mail has nearly 100 fewer pages (though the publication year is the same). But most damning is that the ending is totally different! I’ve read this book twice—both times in my 20s, as a fully grown adult—and can recite the original ending almost word-for-word! Online research didn’t mention any changes.

A re-read, even though I said I’ll never read it because it’s too sad (though very beautiful). 😔

Gist of the story: The gods grant immortality to the mermaid Sirena when she rescues a human man from the sea and they fall in love, but his mortality creates great conflict between love and honor when he is called to defend Greece in the Trojan War.

YOU GUYS.
This book is so good! It won’t come out until late October, but I think you’ll enjoy it.

I have a lot of thoughts. I guess I'm logging them here, so that I'd have things to refer to when the time comes to write the review.

This book is very long. Anyway, one thing that really stands out to me is how Paedyn and Kai don't really have distinct voices. They sound the same, speak the same, etc., despite being of vastly different backgrounds, along with having different personalities and life experiences.

You know, if I never have to see or hear “Ocean eyes” or “ocean-blue eyes” ever again, I’ll be okay.

Reading the ARC. It’s a timely novel. Feels like the Scott Westerfeld and Neal Schusterman Dystopians of my youth, but made for our world as it currently is and where it’s heading.

Is anyone else on Fable?
What are the pros and cons?
Should I migrate over there?

Holy shit.
Sorry, I’ve been missing in action. Will reply to everyone’s comments soon! And this book? THIS BOOK? Best read of 2026. BEST READ of 2026!!! Review to follow.

Oh, I AM ANGERED! This is going to get a two-star rating, at most. I’m shocked because Maya Banks never failed before. I am aghast, and justifiably so (you’ll see). Formal review will come once I can form coherent thoughts. I AM AGHAST.

Who needs enemies when you have a naive DIMWIT for a friend, and a hotheaded boyfriend who believes gossip? Good story, though, but I swear…dumb asses are liabilities.

“For we must lie, and pretend to act in good faith, and take the lives of men and women who are but the poorest sinners. We look like the citizens among whom we walk, but we’re not like them anymore. We’ve given up something of ourselves to gain much, and only now, as I come to the end of the road, do I feel the loss.”

”Punishment: Eyes sewn shut for a month, for we cannot covet what we cannot see.”

A shudder passes through me. The stitches are temporary, but the black thread against her white skin looks so barbaric—an accusation she cannot disguise. The fact that this woman’s trade—the needle and thread—was used against her makes it even worse.

Okay, first of all, this novel deserves MUCH BETTER than the silly cover. Like, it’s actually a solid romantic fiction, written with so much depth and heart.

The FMC? She is so strong, with a moral backbone! And so likable.

The MMC? My dude, stop saying stupid things that you immediately regret saying to your wife.

A marriage-of-convenience-that-grows-into-love is, like, catnip for me.

You know how a lot of people like the “enemies-to-lovers” trope? Not really my thing. My guilty pleasure is strangers-to-lovers. 😈

To say I am excited to start this book would be an understatement. Even though it’s only February, I’m pretty certain this is my most anticipated read of the year.

“The more the other girls teased me, the more determined I became to find things to love about the way I looked—my eyes, I told myself, were the color of prized sipping chocolate; the hue of my hair matched the gleaming obsidian rock that lined the gorges. So what if I didn’t meet their standards of what was beautiful—I had something more, the ability to slip in and out of the shadows.”

I’m not sure why other readers are gushing over the MMC’s younger brother, nor do I understand why he’s getting his own book next, because in this moment—he’s a total jackass. Like, EWWW.

So, George RR Martin said that he’s “not in the mood” to finish The Winds of Winter.

Well, the spice is plentiful, but it does nothing for me because the way it’s written is too clinical. I’ll show you what I mean (with examples of how to write good spice) in the actual review. The characters are likable, though! You’ll fall in love with them and their sense of humor, and the plot is solid. Like, you get a REAL story here with actual character developments.

The prose so old-school YA in the best way, though the book is new. Once you’ve experienced ‘80s-‘90s YA, you become spoiled.

“Down I drift until my feet sink into sand, and I don’t stop until bath-warm water is lapping around my thighs. Maybe I am still dreaming. If this were a dream, I wouldn’t have to stop. I’d wade out into the heart of the ocean and nothing would matter.”

Well, they certainly don’t write YA like this anymore. Don’t get me wrong, YA from all periods has the same themes, but how they’re executed varies. One thing about old-school YA is that they were fearless and much more audacious; authors trusted readers to understand contexts. And the thing is—when an author trusts their readers, their books aren’t afraid to get ugly.