Emmaline Savidge > Recent Status Updates

I really liked the POV shift so that we could better understand Paloma, but the cheating/secret child reveal is a big ol nope for me. It’s not that we can’t explore the idea but I think it’s important to think about how this feeds into broader narratives about bi women being cheaters. It just feels like the author needed to have a deeper reason to justify Paloma leaving and didn’t think if it was logical.

“This was Jace’s place of business, and it was da bomb.”
Mmmmmm no. We’re off to a bad start y’all, this might be a cringe read.

Too many POVs! This kinda mystery is more effective when you’ve got a primary lead and they’re investigating all the suspects.

Hey why are we misgendering a trans man?? There are some trans people who are fine with using diff pronouns for their pretransition self but opinions are pretty split. Opting to use a person’s current pronouns is the best move. Just a real mess when you’re writing about otherizing trans folks.

A BUTTERY HANDJOB???!!! I’m sorry that’s UTI city.

This is already bonkers. A professor X school for queer Dexters????? Just insane and I’m ready to go on a ride.

Ok I love when Vikas narrates a noir mystery like the Evander Mills books, but I cannot handle him reading sex scenes. It just sets off my cringe alarm.

Truly horrifying that this author can talk about the horrors experienced by the Hmong and then in the next breath villainize the Palestinians. When she wrote about these people being ripped from their homes and being force to march for days all I could think about was the Nakba. Pretty fucking gross on the part of this author.

We live in a hellish cycle of the same racist nonsense. In the 80’s people believe the Hmong are killing pets and in the 2020’s people blame the Haitians. There’s always an other to stoke fear against.

Alright this author is going way to easy on these doctors. Like they’re blatantly racist. Saying an ethnic group are terrible patients for whom the best treatment is a bullet to the brain is indefensible. This is not a story of culture clash like the author wants to suggest, this is about an oppressed ethnic group and a racist system.

IM SORRY WERE REFERENCING HILLBILLY ELEGY POSITIVELY???? Even back in 2018 there were critiques from actual Appalachians about Vance’s BS. Like come on what are we doing referencing book that hates the poor that is written by one of America’s leading bigots.

Kill me we’re doing nudge theory. This is gonna be some Silicon Valley nonsense ain’t it. Dolly I’m sure you’re perfectly nice, I just hate the man doing the foreword to your book. He’s got crypto Silicon Valley bro energy.

Wait wait wait what do you mean this book is set in the 90’s??? That means the grandma character is the same age as my parents or younger. She’s supposed to be in her 70’s with a teenage granddaughter. So this book is set in like 2040? Idk why this feels weird to me 🤷‍♀️

It’s so funny to me that I’m finding the bug/worm horror element so disgusting that it made eating after reading hard. I spent a year doing cadaver dissections and could easily eat a full meal afterwards. What I’m saying is there’s a reason I didn’t go into entomology. I’ll take human gore any day over maggots 🤮

Why are we revealing stuff about the Vassals now???? This concept is so cool why was this not the b-plot?????

This series is a ton of fun but TBH I don’t think we’ll reach the highs of book one. The Tristan/Mark relationship is just so strong, whereas the Isolde/Tristan and Isolde/Mark couples are weak.

Describing a white woman as having dark coloring is bonkers. Using dark as a foil to words like delicate and fair is a big ol yikes. I don’t think it was the authors intention but there’s some not great race stuff there.

TBH this is just kinda a boring slog. If I wasn’t reading this for book club I’d DNF. It feels like we used the guise of cozy fantasy to sell this book but aren’t actually invested in it.

Mmmmmm wrong move plot wise. JT’s fam shouldn’t have been asked to help, they should have heard about what was going on and offered to help. Hot take a child shouldn’t have to ask their parents to care about them and what they’re passionate about.

Yeah nah this ain’t a good reason. These parents suck ass. I wish we had a JT found family plot

All the emails are very fun but tbh I do not care abt this romance or plot.

We’re trying real hard to do some political/religious world building but the problem is that it doesn’t feel logical. I just don’t understand why these women who are basically superpowered poison testers are viewed negatively in society. Also if they’re of value to the aristocracy why aren’t all children being tested? This would be a badge of honor not a stigmatizing identity.

This book is set in the early 1900’s why is the FMC talking like a millennial. Describing someone as a jerk has immediately pulled me out.

Shattuck-Saint Mary name drop!?!

So weird that this book uses the name real names of NHL teams but calls the Russian hockey the RHL instead of the KHL.

I went detective mode and apparently this is Parson/OC fanfic. Wild. I love me some Parson, but this version of him has no bite. If you’re gonna make fic don’t scrub the most compelling aspect of a character’s personality.

Ok I’m like 90% sure that this is Ransom/Holster fanfic but for some reason Holster basically has Parson’s backstory. IS THIS PARSON/HOLSTER FIC???

This may be the most fanficy book I’ve ever read in my life. I think part of the problem is that the series that this is fanfic of is one of my favorites of all time and handles basically the same topics much better. God I should really do a check please reread

Amir is too good for this man

These characters are both so stupid it’s causing me physical pain.