Chira > Recent Status Updates

I feel like I'm constantly math lady meme because the ages and years seem to conflict every time something gets brought up, like I am literally pausing and counting on my fingers in my car

YOU CANT GET FOUR MICHELIN STARS ITS IMPOSSIBLE THERE AREN'T THAT MANY 3 STAR RESTAURANTS EVERYONE STOP

this is probably the wrong thing to think in regards to the protagonist in a cooking competition but god I hope she doesn't win

I'm usually not that sensitive to second-hand embarrassment in books, but either this is just teeming with it or it's a flavor that gets under my skin because I can hardly listen to this for more than 45 minutes a day

Hmmm. I didn't know that I had a pet peeve about perpetuating misconceptions based on tiktok videos in books, but appears that I do. YOU DON'T NEED TO SHAVE YOUR TEETH DOWN FOR VENEERS. VENEERS AREN'T CROWNS AREN'T ACTUAL TEETH

"I'm nothing if not a problem solver" said by a woman who hasn't had her own money for a month after her purse got stolen

T. Kingfisher's trademark grounded normal protagonist, except this time by way of Maomao Apothecary Diaries

"part of the british empire up until the 1500s" <-- talking about a tiny country between France and Belgium

blinks, opens mouth, closes mouth

this is after there's been a project on its "role in wwii" as if its placement wouldn't have meant it was absolutely DEVASTATED by wwi so said role would've been "not much because it's recovering from being trenches"

calling anything in SF a "rowhouse" makes me rear back in rejection, but especially "hundred year old rowhouse with views across the bay" nope does not exist

oh so this is just "teaching at boarding school except some of the classes are magic" The Book

begging people to not call everything that takes place in a school and aimed at adult readers "dark academia" this is NOT.

I'M SO TIRED how does no one know who pulled the trigger of this gun when he was right there and he spoke and was close enough she could smell his breath and it's definitely a witch they all knew. that was a useless two chapters worth of obfuscation

anyway I have an audio arc of this, time to regret choices I guess

oops I got an arc that is an actual sequel-sequel and not a "sequel in a second book in a romance series" sequel so I guess it's back to the first book

This is as a treat for me, I have another book publishing first but SCREW IT I WANNA READ THIS

holy shit this narrator is acting his HEART out

but also I'm reminded why I'm very careful about reading books by cis men - cringing at every single description of a female character

did I request the audiobook so I could know the pronunciations? yes. is the audiobook great? also yes. have I been shouting BABY BOY BABY when maia shows up? yes.

This is the most nitpicky thing but if this girl is 29 in (presumably) 2023, then it was 2008 when she was 14 and "the computer first entered her home" and 1) that's wild 2) why is it beige 3) why is it dial up in 2008

The blanket over the tower to block the modem sounds is so real but also extremely 2003 and earlier

love how you can always tell when something set in silicon valley has no actual authorial experience in silicon valley

thank FUCK I'm done with the "woe is me loneliness is my destiny, it's genetic" whiny boy section (despite the fact that he has plenty of friends???), Mei's section is already waaaaaaay better

The way I'm so tired of reading about whiny men

I was hoping the audiobook would be a more fun way, since I've heard Things about the narration style, but the narrator is the type I like the least: all male voices are #DEEP and all female voices are #NASAL, and the nonbinary character gets such vocal fry it honestly sounds like the narrator is hurting himself. none of them fit the characters and it's driving me up the wall

Xian being the prince of Wuyue after finishing Song to Drown Rivers (which deals with the conflict between Wu and Yue and their eventual combination): ah, I'm reading these in chronological order

Remember how I said I had no evidence of the origins of this book? Thank you to the afterword for any piece I could hope for

some books you just know /exactly/ where the inspiration came from and I have no evidence to support this but intrinsically know the path for this book (The Terror --> polar fandom --> self-insert AO3 fics about a little meow meow --> this book) like I feel it in my BONES

The last act of this is all revelations and I am RIVETED; I keep sitting in my car after parking to keep listening, oops

How has actually nothing happened

This book is the epitome of telling instead of showing, and then telling over and over again in case you missed it the first time. Also legit the reason Ruying starts to trust Antony is because he's a sad street kid (who...killed his family for a chance at being a prince) and suddenly she's like "oh okay he is totally on my side and telling the truth about not wanting genocide"