Helen > Recent Status Updates

Look, Aunty Helen’s doing a lot of Christmas reading aloud and I think it counts.

If you want a self-help book that will “help you conquer your mobile phone addiction” with a bright yellow cover (with blue and white elements!) – I recommend Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky. I found it more informative and less aggravating than this book.

And I realise that most self-help use portmanteaus to attempt to distinguish itself but; “cellucination”, “phast”, “phub”? 🤢

I've been reading the Sarah's Scribbles web comics for years. This collection has most of my favourites.

I haven’t read this book in a while; it’s not really holding up.

What I really liked was Lady LeJean, and there’s not enough of her.

Some of this felt like it was going too hard into appealling to nature (a thing is good because it is natural and nature is good).

But I enjoyed it overall.

This was cute and fun.

I do wish the new hockey team names were better. I suppose this reflects real life more, (I am endlessly vexed and perplexed that Ottawa are not the Otters) but it feel like a missed opportunity.

Much like Ottawa’s real name. {)They could have been the Sen-Otters, just put the helm onto a little semiaquatic, mammal cartoon. You could have had it all, or at least a little fun.)

I realise finding real life hockey duo equivalents to the romantic leads in books like this may only be interesting/useful/fun for me.

That said, this one has notes of Tyson Barrie/Gabriel Landeskog, perhaps with subtle hints of Tyler Seguin/Jamie Benn.

‘ Lean in and lie back.’

‘You should have got into bed.’

Holy fuck.

I get why they tried to silence SWW so hard they Streisand effect-ed themselves now.

‘I wonder, just for a moment, if Big Bird is behind this.’

This line is somehow even better in context.

I'm vacillating between four or five stars on this and I may change the rating later.

I do feel like the book lost steam towards the end.

But today I had to spend time that I will never get back turning off Gemini AI in Gmail; as it now automatically scans, reads and analyses every email, attachment and PM received. It is, of course, opt out; not opt in.

ENSHITTIFCATION IS FUCKING EVERYWHERE AND IT NEVER STOPS.

Look.

I'm not above some trashy fantasy romance. But this is too immature to be interesting and too bleak to be fun.

Most importantly, the sexual/romantic tension is non-existent.

Maggie Smith, did someone force you to write this?

If you don’t want to tell the Reader any details and keep writing around the subject, why release it to the public?

I can’t take any more of this.

K.J. CHARLES? GOTHIC MYSTERY? QUEER ROMANCE? CRIMSON PEAK? KNIVES OUT?

Possible Forbidden Rendezvous on the Misty Moors at Midnight?!

I'm probably raising my expectations to unreachable heights by getting this excited, but I can't help it.

I feel like I am being continuously scolded by flowers for straying from God.

WTH.

The mystery was pretty good.

I have nothing nice to say about the “romance” subplots, so I won’t say anything at all.

Except; ew.

I really wish that I didn't read the cannibalism/embalming chapter with breakfast this morning.

The writing was fine, but the timing was unfortunate.

Of the sapphic sci-fi Sherlock Holmes pastiches that I’ve read recently, I prefer The Tea Master and the Detective to this. Which is a bit disappointing, as that series doesn’t continue with the same sleuthing partners and this one does.

In this novella’s defence, it does pick up towards the end.

I might be willing to try another in this series, but IDK.

No; I’m not rereading Viscounts and Villainy this early.

This is a completely separate queer, speculative fiction mystery with two silhouettes on a bright orange background.

…Guys, I like this style of cover as much as the next reader, but I feel like we could use some more variety.

Just a bit. 🤏