Briana > Recent Status Updates

The narrative voice is trying to be funny while talking directly to the reader, and this is not something I generally find funny or endearing. "Well I was going to write this but I didn't! And that's funny!" I mean, not really.

Also I don't know if anyone believes a contest would let a child on the train without an adult. Clearly the prize should include a chaperone on the trip.

This book feels interminably long.

I've been reading this book for nearly three years because I keep misplacing it, but I will finish it if it's the last thing I do.

I'm about halfway through, and I think it's pretty good so far. I almost let all the negative reviews stop me from reading this, but I'm glad I didn't. I'll have to see how everything comes together (or doesn't) in the second half though.

Interesting, but it feels as if it's taking FOREVER for me to get through this. I always spent a long time wondering, "ok but why are we retelling A Tale of Two Cities" with Fae? I guess you could say "just because."

Getting more interesting as it goes along. I still think it's weird their parents let them do this.

I need to get over the premise, which is that three teens (entering their junior year?) are allowed by their parents to go off and live together in a cabin with no adults. And at least one has a crush on the other one. What could go wrong? Is this even legal?

This is certainly . . . something. Everyone sounds younger than they are. Things like "counteroffer," "deep in his cups," and "courtesan" are literally explained to the reader. Lots of anachronisms in the prose. He "tried to play it cool." Or she wants a stuffed animal at a carnvial. What am I reading??

I would be so annoyed if I were competing and half the contestants were related to the people running the contest.

I'm sorry, but none of this makes any sense, from the details (character needs to earn an "impossibly large" amount of money and then does so in about three days?) to the entire premise (protagonist doesn't remember her past, so she wanders about fighting and vaguely trying to find out, but the readers have no idea of what the purpose of anything is, so the whole plot feels meaningless).

Pretty tropey so far.

I can't read any "only girl squire" books without comparing it to Tamora Pierce, but we'll see how this goes.

I have to say I don't get the premise. The protagonist will pretend to be a rich socialite. (I don't see why it's that scandalous? She's lying to people, but that's it.) Her fooling people will somehow convince her actual rich friend's parents to let him be an artist instead of a hedge fund manager. Because it proves people can do things beyond their class. That's just ridiculous.

So far not impressed. Information randomly withheld from the reader so it's hard to follow until random snippets are dropped. Protagonist doesn't seem to be doing anything useful. I am confused there is a sequel, like the protagonist solves mysteries? She really isn't doing any solving of anything so far, just walking aimlessly around.

Reading this very slowly because I am really not invested. The protagonist keeps pontificating on why she can't take ownership of a bookstore she literally basically runs already, so obviously she's going to own the bookstore at the end. Not sure I care about the journey to get there.

I am not sure 50% of this even makes sense. And half of it's just slipped in. I missed the memo they're fae and not human? They possibly live longer than I thought? There are random things that are mentioned and never come up again? I'm so confused.

So far the writing isn't gripping me. But this might have some appeal for the people asking for "coming of age books" for adults. It seems to have the general premise of needing to pass a test to keep your magical powers that I would generally associate with YA.

Surprisingly heavy on world building for a middle grade. I'm not sure I'm following all of it, to be honest.

A lot of this doesn't actually make sense. Like the competitors have a limited amount of time to go to the market to buy tea ingredients, and the protagonist gets lost, has some adventures, gets some snacks, goes to a teahouse for tea . . . Did they have an entire day???

PSA: If you run a blog on Wordpress.com or Tumblr, they are now selling your content to AI companies to train their models on. You are automatically opted IN to this. If you don't like it, you need to go into your settings and opt OUT of your work being sold without your permission.

So the dad says he's not making enough money making umbrellas, so his solution is to make his kid drop out of school and also make umbrellas - instead of getting himself a new, profitable job and making umbrellas as his passion on the side. How is the dad not the villain of the story?

Honestly, I am not loving the narrative voice, which thinks itself very funny, but I am hoping the plot will make up for it.

Interesting so far, though there's a lot of just walking around, and I can see the author trying to go for quirky, off-beat dialog from the characters like in Wonderland, but it doesn't feel quite right.