Emanuel > Recent Status Updates

This is the second book from a favourite author I'm struggling with. The chaos of it all is supposed to be charming but it's annoying, the Italian landscape overshadows the many, many characters and so far there is no plot to keep me interested.

I never would have thought I'd struggle this much with a Steven Rowley book, but here we are. The flashbacks I get but the change in the MC and the narrative is throwing me off a bit. I'm sure it'll all make sense at the end but yeah, I'm struggling to maintain interest.

Mixed feelings about this so far. I'm not sure what it wants to be and even though the writing and the humour are definitely there, I don't think they've made me 100% hooked on this yet.

"Nobody falls in love in a diner, accompanied by the smell of fake maple syrup and the chatter of tired prostitutes. And maybe Patrick hasn't, either. Maybe it happened weeks ago, and he's only noticing now. There's nothing new in his heart, but now it has a name."

Oh, man this is just the cutest, I might officially be in the mood for love...

"Patrick's had enough wine to find all of this very amusing, or maybe he's relieved, so he laughs a little, and Nathaliel smiles up at him—the real deal, both sides of his mouth and everything. Patrick's just drunk enough to admit to himself that he'd do practically anything to guarantee a steady supply of those smiles. Appealing."

I soo needed this sweet, cute, cosy read. It keeps getting better!

This is turning out to be the perfect read after a 'heavy' book: sweet and swoony and British-ly funny at times, with the right amount of steam, it is exactly what I needed!

"[...] Dickie could only yelp and laugh and lie back and let his body — his poor body! which had lived for so many years like an unloved dog chained in a basement — succumb to pleasure. It was like feeling the sun on his skin for the first time, like bathing in sunlight, being fucked by sunlight, [...]; and he would wonder, [...] why anyone ever did anything other than have sex."

Don't know, Dickie. I wonder too.

I need to stop reading cos I can see what Dickie is about to do and I'm embarrassed and scared for him cos he's the worst sort of person to want this but the best person to deserve it.

Ok, can someone please tell me what the hell is happening with this book? I've been reading it for days, I've gone through three POVs, we've gone back in time for the loooongest flashback ever and I'm still at 50%! And don't get me started about the lack of punctuation in the Imelda chapter, took my OCD two days to calm down.

There is something comforting about these stories but I find them very easy to forget and with little emotional impact. The illustrations are cute though, so...

I don't know if I can accurately describe how sick this book is, and not in a good way. It's making me physically uncomfortable reading some of the more intimate and experimental(?) bits of some of the most detested and vile characters I've read in a while.

So you're telling me that a socially awkward construct and an emotionally fragile transport bot are just chilling in a spaceship, watching tv shows and winding each other up? Now that's the kind of AI I want in my life!

Ok, I take it back. Now that the romance has finally entered the room, it has me swooning all over these two! I hope it only gets better from here on cos I'm starting to enjoy this.

I don't think I've ever skipped so many pages this early in a book. If it wasn't for the genuinely funny moments, this would be in the DNF shelf by now.

There's something very comforting about the stories, nothing special I'd day but I find them very sweet in their normal-ness.

I'm reading this and I enjoy it and I appreciate the references to different times and how was like being gay in 70s and 80's New York but all I'm thinking is, damn! my sex life is so boring lol :(

People are dying and going back in time willy nilly now, I'm just here for the vibes now, I'm done trying to follow the timelines.

When I tell you my mind is hurting... I'm going back and forth in the chapters to try and piece everything together but I don't think it's working. And all this before we even get to 50%?!

I'm not sure what happened, but I went from wanting to DNF this to being completely absorbed by it. There's something about putting humans and humanoids together that has me hooked.

I'm only reading this cos someone at a Heated Rivalry book club told me I really had to read "that scene" but man, the immaturity and the unnecessary drama are just so annoying and formulaic:

"'Exactly I liked it a lot, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sitting here thinking it means more than it does.' Please tell me it means more."

"'What the hell, dude?
What?
Why not just wear a t-shirt that says Harris is into you?
Oh, come on. He's a hockey player. He doesn't pick up on stuff like that.
He's smart!'
She made a face that said is he, though?"

I've got a couple of issues with this book so far but I gotta say, lines like these make me laugh and they remind me how genuinely funny these books can be.

I, who have never been known as particularly, patient, almost want to put this in fast forward! I have so many questions that if this ends without answering at least the basic ones, I'll be very disappointed.

I really need to stop reading books about young boys falling in love with their best (boy) friends until they both realise what it means and their friends start making fun of them and they turn on each other 🥹

"I bury my face in my hands and ask God, ask whoever's listening: wash this out of me. Swallow it up and wash it away."

There is something about people actually being their boroughs defending New York, that takes superhero to a whole new level. I have no idea what to expect or where this is going or how it'll end but I am soo here for it.

"I had no idea your kind had advanced to the point of using energized abstract macroconstructs in combat. Who expects microbes to go nuclear? That was when I knew the time for stealth head past."

Now read that again 🤯 It's a perfect description of this story and this world - worlds? - and I've given up resisting it and now I am so here for it!

I am so baffled and intrigued by this book so far. He's Manhattan and she's Queens? As in the boroughs?! I can't decide if I'm into the whole hero- saving-my-city trope or if I'm put off by New York being under attack by a monster with tendrils. From another New York dimension!

I am consumed by this book, I can't put it down. It's got all the right elements of eerie and a bit spooky but also a sense of dread and mystery and isolation, but with a family in its core and secrets and maybe ghosts? Oh, and penguins and seals. I need this on my TV screen soon!