Jennifer N. > Recent Status Updates

this one took me a while to get into because of all the new characters, but by the halfway point, i ADORED the main cast. Xiri and Phan-tu, Gella and Axel, all their personalities and baggage intersect so wonderfully and the greater conflict was so fascinating. a happy ending for Xiri and Phan-tu (for now) but tragedy for Axel and Gella. I'm excited to see them again later in Phase II!

i love this concept so so much. the cast is so great. the beginning when the lore/world is being established and the fights are my favorite parts. the cast is great, even when their strong personalities clash. some of the longer chapters dragged for me this time around, but im so excited to read book 2 and hopefully meet more cities and see the world open up.

These books are such a good time! The plot is twisty turny but still takes a back seat to the group's shenanigans and interpersonal dynamics. Despite the fun and ridiculousness, it makes the moments of emotion & vulnerability hit so much harder. Everything w/ Ibrahim really broke my heart. I love Joyce so much. I love the wack dynamic between Chris and Donna (and Patrice). Love Bogdan and Steven getting more time.

not the cozy witchy fantasy i thought i was getting into. definitely more horror vibes. the horrors of abusive men and the patriarchy. and the witchy powers very minimal. the writing was really beautiful, and i can appreciate the themes, and strength and resilience of the characters in all that they endured.

1st impression - beautiful writing!! <3 2nd impression - my sense of whimsy is not enough to appreciate this story. 3rd impression - what is even happening anymore?

what if alice in wonderland was inspired by japanese aesthetics and folklore? that would be this book. great concept, unfortunately characters not very compelling and the very abrupt pacing made the story confusing. not satisfied by the ending.

i am not the target demographic for this book, and that probably contributes overall to why it was so hard to get through this. just way too many characters, and trying to knock home too many life lessons at once. like i love star wars for that, and the messaging probably works for middle grade readers but i was just bored.

this was such a FANTASTIC audiobook!! incredible performance by erin yvette - so soft and light at the beginning, then becoming darker and tense and then just ending in tragedy. they gave me kevmo zink only to rip him away from me!!! fascinating exploration of the path of the open hand. tough to see marda being so easily manipulated by the mother, and yana being so close to getting out before being pulled back in.

really great atmospheric read, so much sensory detail getting plunged into Lakshmi's life in Jaipur and her plans to do well for herself. navigating the society and everyone's aspiration and motivations, said and unsaid, was so well done. the fraught relationship with Radha was really great, so human - to love someone who is young and naive, and want what's best for them even if it feels like a betrayal.

honestly really fun! i love the development Andy gets, and the layers that are explored in being closeted and queer in a time when that wasn't accepted - the desire for family, wrestling with acceptance from yourself vs peers vs society, finding and keeping safe spaces, celebrating community vs prioritizing safety. very twisty turny and had me guessing up to the end! excited to read more in the series!

i didn't think i was gonna make my goal for the year but here we are - #42!! this was so so sweet and tbh i almost like this little crew more than L&L! Somehow the most reserved characters can also by the most interesting. So curious about Zyll and Astryx's backstories. I ADORE the cover. I loved Fern's journey, trying to figure out what she wants though she doesn't even know that's the Q she's trying to answer.

lourna dee top 10 most complex characters in star wars?? it was so interesting to see her backstory fully fleshed out, all the crazy stuff she's been through/done and how it's shaped her. how justice, loyalty, innocence, vengeance shape her and how deep down there's still goodness there. the full audiodrama was excellently done!! can't wait to see what she's up to in phase 3.

this was incredible. the mythology, the genre-bending, the enduring power of fairytales. just astounding. fairytale, historical fiction, scifi fantasy, mystery, war novel, unrequited romance. each character had such different journeys - i love zeno and omeir in their gentleness, i sympathize with seymour's desire to take meaningful climate action, i admire anna and konstance for their curiosity and courage.

oof more devastation. tbh didnt care at all about the plot, but was LIVING for Kantam's backstory - so fascinating, and their reunion with yoda was the BEST. god i love master-padawan relationships. i also love reath and ram's brother dynamic, the blossoming romance between zeen and lula, and reath's new approach to crushes LMAO. but heartbreaking to see reath become knighted only for cohmac to leave. f'd up. wtf.

way more of an engaging read than test of courage - i truly don't remember most of that one. but really great to pick up with these characters again and see imri come into his abilities and grow in confidence. these poor kids are going through too much too young. vern needs a break! and oh it's gonna be bad when she learns about stellan. curious to see where avon ends up and if she ever learns the truth about her mom

god what a devastating book. marchion ro won that one i'm afraid. a horrible symbol of his determination to spread darkness. so many good jedi died - burry's master! ORLA!! STELLAN!!! avar & elzar are just gonna be grieving for forever now. and when VERN finds out!! marc thompson killed the read - whatever the force sucking monsters are that were smuggled onto starlight were TERRIFYING. so many POVs too many emotions

a strange little book. a lot of knives out vibes - an eclectic group of personalities coming together to solve a mysterious "murder". def took me way longer to finish than it should have. but the way the clues came together was fun, and trying to figure out the family tree was interesting. i did enjoy the skip through time at the end to see how everyone found happiness at the end, a much needed happy ending.

so so good. def a favorite read of the year. beautiful writing, great characters, great exploration of grief, loss, love and messy relationships. grief takes so many forms and it's different for everyone. truly had me tearing up several times. the omniscient style took some getting used to, but worked really well here. loved the road trip vibes and the multimedia inserts.

a relatively breezy read but lowkey boring? felt like nothing happened until like 70% through. syl was a very frustrating character, her perspective was sooo repetitive, but it was refreshing to see the jedi through her eyes. vern too, girl's got a lot to work through. wanna see where the Path leads her and where chauncey and nan end up. keeping an eye on stellan. gimme more reath cohmac avar and elzar crumbs!!!

jumped around btwn characters just a bit too much, and unfortunately im just not invested. lore getting a bit too far out for me with the nuclear stuff? glad to see the rich a-hole get that ending, and abraham made a good attempt at a heroic sacrifice. good to see gus and visily still hanging in there, tho i was sure visily was a goner in the subway. literally don't care about eph, sorry. probs won't do book 3.

finally finished. the premise sounded really great, but over slow pacing + setting that got boring quickly + unlikeable mc + repetitive red flags made this really hard to get through. magic system was cool but very confusing and i didnt even really try to understand it. was pleasantly surprised by the happy ending. wish i knew more underworld/hell lore, maybe then it wouldve been more interesting.

A very good conclusion! Thinking back on what happened, this was a LONG book, considering the time skip, which was navigated well. The world-building is immersive (love any historic SF mention), the historical rep and commentary is so well done. Jane and Katherine are such great protagonists, and a great cast of supporting characters. Refreshing ending too with them not settling down for a HEA. Good spooky szn read!

very very creepy and unnerving, at times very graphic too. audiobook was great. loved the premise and the lore. characters were kinda flat but im definitely rooting for vasily and gus to make it out of this. at the end was like damn, it was 3 of you against the master, what did you THINK was gonna happen???

read in one day during our 2025 book club retreat! the perfect book for it too. loved all the characters and shenanigans and personalities. so many unexpected bodies lol. each member of TTMC has a strength and weaknesses and are great characters. there's the fun shenanigans, but tempered wonderfully by the very real worries about getting old and losing loved ones. looking forward to reading more!

can definitely see why this is a classic. will admit, it was harder to parse the language/writing than I was expecting but the audiobook really helped. also didn't get the title until about halfway through lol. lots of fun characters, lots of drama. some unexpectedly witty/wry moments and lines that i would underline/highlight in a physical book. stuck the happy ending!

god what a cool premise for a historical fiction story, and the depths of the writing and plot still resonate so strongly. all of the injustices, the trauma, the systematic oppression. a great cast of characters, great representation. really glad i revisited and very excited to read book 2

damn. i read like 3/7 of this book in one day so im not gonna remember a lot but this one was pretty brutal. so much death and trauma for everyone. the lucia mar reveal was f'd. the faction games mechanics made the pace nonstop. loved loved seeing the former cookbook authors meet carl irl!! im really gonna miss katia in the next book tho. best decision to give carl long hair and a giggly meatball pet. so many plots!

Really really sweet sequel, and loved how the epilogue ties into L&L (they're married!!!)!! really lovely bunch of characters and fun nods to the trappings of idealized bookstore life, dusted with just a hint of rough and tumble adventure. love the friendships and bittersweet relationships, but it all worked out in the end. very heartwarming!

Emily Henry chemistry meets The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The MC's chemistry was delicious, as always, just wish there was MORE of it, since Margaret's story was like 1/3 of the story. We love a man who's down BAD though. Was definitely imagining ROTS Hayden Christensen and Emma Roberts in a fancast lol.

honestly insane. i havent read a book with an unreliable narrator in a long time and this was a trip. incredibly self-centered, big main character energy, even for an MC. the obsession/idolization of her teen years did not fade. she made a lot of CRAZY choices in the name of finding peace - going into the woods, random accusations. i liked 0 of the characters. and the epilogue was like wtf.

read this for KQED's climate book club! so so so cool seeing how many different ways people across the state are getting involved in climate action - across ecosystems, across issues, across fields. from reducing co2 to mitigation and adaptation efforts. from research to grassroots advocacy to conservation. really inspiring and hopeful. taking notes on orgs for my job search lol.