Gabrielle > Recent Status Updates

My stank face is emerging.
To bastardize Gianmarco Soresi -- a building with a weak foundation doesn't improve by the 8th Floor.
Listen, at a baseline I'm more than ready to accept science fiction shenanigans; but this gal isn't doing me the courtesy of throwing in a proverbial flux capacitor.
Entire plotlines are hanging by frayed threads, while we weirdly over-explain certain micro-elements.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

...the bookclub bucket needs more curating. But if Kellie finished it, so can I

A steady, subtle unfolding

"While it is true that only light can drive out darkness, there are some forms of light that only darkness can reveal"

Promising, engaging, and I might prefer audiobooks from the 90's when the reading is at normal speed instead of "If you don't play this faster, you'll feel like you're having a stroke"

Can't put it down; still don't know how I feel about it

Can I finish before bookclub on Friday?

The beginning was rough; I was not struck at the right time. So glad I got back to it--at about 20% through, I was in love with this book. And now-- Oh My God.

I'm struggling, and I feel like I shouldn't be?

I love time travel
I love Alix Harrow
I love subtle and understated
"Roadside Attraction" is a perfect opening short story

Getting into a plain-old contemporary romance is iffy, IME.
But then sometimes it's woooooorrrrrrrrrrth iiiiiiiiiiiiiit

I waited for this hold for so long, and then the narrator not only has a lisp, but it's an irregular lisp. This is maddening.

I needed something *light*
Light on the suffering and death 🤣

This. writer.
There was no "getting into it" for me. She writes in a way that shortcuts right into my brain meat from page 1.
I don't know if I necessarily care what happens with the plot; this is already 5 stars purely on the talents of Tamsyn Muir & Moira Quirk

New words -- Cathexis & Cathecting

Acknowledging dysfunction doesn't discount the positive aspects

I am entirely, completely sure who the killer is. That's a bad sign.

Something about contemporary fiction that has to throw in nonsequitur mentions of masturbation (to be edgy?) grinds my gears a little bit.
I'm starting out suspect of this one. We'll see

Ohhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

We're in a complete-opposite-of-capitalist-America utopia. There's no money, there's technology but computers are made to last a lifetime, religion is expansive not oppressive, a third of NPCs are non-binary, and casual hookups are nearly de rigeuer --
and yet somehow there persists capitalistic ideas about work/productivity in the MC, and complete puritanical vibes around *talking* to a robot about the casual sex

Huh. This was in my TBR already. Don't know from when

I feel like this would work so much better as a miniseries

I don't know that I want to feel smarter than the book. It took us this far to finally get to the major plot point that we've been dancing around FOREVER.
I think fantastical elements in mundane modern settings may be a special kind of challenge to write.

I think I can finish this one.
I would rather have full flashbacks, instead of expositive semi-flashbacks, where a character relays past events in unrealistic detail thru monologue 7 to 30 years later.
Also, I'm learning I have a soft spot for just-okay books that sprinkle bits of history/genealogy/random trivia that interest me.