Trish > Recent Status Updates

Take some time to enjoy it with loved ones, relax, eat well.

Who knew this would be pretty much the usual cozy murder mystery.

The ship is "drunk". *lol*

If I understand correctly, this is a mix between Murder, She Wrote and Altered Carbon, mostly.

Yeah, OK, I'll admit it: I'm only reading this because it's short and give me one of those challenge badge thingies. 🙈

Spent the last three days first seeing a comedy show and then going to two Christmas markets, the absolute highlight of which was the one in the Ravenna gorge!

I bought this for myself on St. Nicholas' Day. I won't have the time or energy to make anything from this book this year but I do have fantastic ideas for 2026 and wanted to have an early start. ;P

Definitely a beautifully done book - and along with Chicago, New York City looks rather perfect during the Advent. :D

OK, apparently, these are all stories where the library was THE place to go to help with a problem (like learning new skills so you can leave your old, depressing job). My question is: why did we need fictional stories about this when there are so many touching real-life stories?!

OK, apparently, these are all stories where the library was THE place to go to help with a problem (like learning new skills so you can leave your old, depressing job). My question is: why did we need fictional stories about this when there are so many touching real-life stories?!

Perfect for the Advent, this wonderfully represented the cozy season.



I wish we had snow like the little mice had! *lol* But there's more:

When the snows are lying deep,
When the field has gone to sleep,
When the blackthorn turns to white,
And frosty stars bejewel the night,
When summer streams are turned to ice,
A Snow Ball warms the hearts of mice.

I really like the riddles so far. :D

Hello Winter, hello Advent! ⛄ ❄

A happy, albeit belated, Thanksgiving!







Some pretty bad issues got resolved on Wednesday, just in time for this holiday. Thus, I decided to celebrate and spent the day out.

Wonderful atmosphere in the Rainfall Market so far! I'm getting Miyazaki vibes which are sending chills down my spine (in a good way)!

Ha! The book has a book about the Rainfall Market in it with reference to its author that could very well been a reference to the actual author. Very meta. :D

It's very nice so far!

I'm slow and this one hasn't sucked me in like previous IA books but I do like the worldbuilding though I had to switch off my critical thinking twice (and it bothers me that I even noticed *lol*).

🎃👻🐈‍⬛ HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🐈‍⬛👻🎃







More pictures to be uploaded tonight.

The 3rd story, Bridge Street, is interesting because it was inspired by the author's grandmother - the title refers to a location in Cowpe (Lancashire).

It's a ghost story, again, but this time with children! *cue ominous music* I swear, horror sories and movies aren't half as creepy when there aren't any kids. ;P Anyway, I liked how this one wasn't just about the creep factor but also about loss and grief.

The Second Witness was a ghost story set in 1870 completed with a haunted country house and a psychic investigator. It also had an element reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe: a mysterious knocking sound where there could / should be none. *cackles*

OK that "prank" was really horrible but also the PERFECT start to the book. I wonder where we'll end up being in the end (the "haunted house", sorta) because it could be on the station or the camp on the abandoned planet. In any case, the atmosphere - while not as good as in Dead Silence - is very good!

Setup: rich kid feels like she has to make a difference in the world. So she becomes a psychologist, ending up working for a med-tech firm (not owned by her family). Apparently, she fucks up. We don't yet know what happened but it makes her a target, so she leaves to join an exploration crew to treat ERS. That's the term for a space-induced mental sickness.

Right now, she's setting up shop on an abandoned planet.

My god, this book really isn't good.

Not only is the protagonist a disgusting, ungrateful self-loather who has this maniacal desire to bad-mouth everyone and everything older than herself, every second thought of hers is "wine", which effectively makes her an alcoholic - but that's absolutely "normal" of course. Uhm, sure - if we finally acknowledge that way too many people need alcohol way too much & way too often.

Sorry, but did the MC just get all indignant and call her mother out for having a painting up that shows a wedding just because the people depicted in it belonged to the confederacy?! I don't get it. Is this supposed to ring alarm bells?

So far, I'm thoroughly disappointed by the atmosphere. The only good bit is the vultures. Hopefully, it will improve.

I was right. *sighs* How the protagonist didn't see this coming ... *facepalm* But hey, at least a certain something turned out to have been just the way I had hoped. ;)

I also like the reveal for what induced at least most of the behaviors. Now it's a race though ... or maybe it's the MC deluding herself. One more reveal left to go and I bet that will show us if there's a way out.

LFG!!!

Ooohhh, she had escaped (we see parts of what happened in retrospect) but now she has to go back! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Girl, only if you're suicidal! That is horror movie rule #1!

Also, I don't buy Max's nice-guy routine. Something's up.

The first story, The Doll House, was nicely atmospheric. An expedition to the South Pole, family left behind in England, the titular doll house ... and a bit of magic that can only be found during the Witching Hour. ;)

I liked it quite a bit though I don't quite understand how the doll house could have re-written things so entirely at the end. Hm.

OK so I get that the MC is severely traumatized by her childhood experience but some of her behaviorisms are a bit too OTT for me, personally. I wanna smack and shake her! *lol*

Equally, I can't wait for at least two of her crew to die horribly (the hysterical uber-religious communications gal and the greedy sexist pilot). That is, IF they actually die, I'm still not sure what happened on the ghostship.