In The Solarium

💜 AHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH Ahem. Sorry about that. I have a lot of feelings about this. A lot of them are just incoherent noises about how much I freaking loved this book. It was just freaking incredible. It is a comforting, warm cup of tea cozy sci-fi. First of all, we have Sibling Dex, our non-binary Tea Monk as our main character, who is in search of something. They don’t know what more they could want when they have everything they could have ever wanted. And I think a lot of us can relate to that. And while on the journey meets Mosscap, a robot who wants to know ‘what do people need?’. They decide to travel together and learn from each other. This story may not expand a lot on the why and how their reality became the way it did, which for some might be disappointing, but worked perfectly for me. Instead, this story focused on exploring one's self value, slowing down, and learning to just simply live. Cause that’s enough. Safe to say I am eagerly waiting for book 2. 5/31/22 *

Welcome to my first WWW Wednesday! This is a meme hosted by Sam of Taking on a World of Words . A fun midweek check-in where you answer three questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you'll read next? The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke. I have been sitting on this title for ages and finally said it was time to read it. I know it's a mystery/thriller type with the possibility of some fantasy elements so I am excited to see where that goes.  Also started Circe by Madeline Miller. I have actually had this since 2018 but am just now getting round to reading it. So far so good. I am a little worried I won't love it as much as all the hype it has had.  I love Greek Mythology and there has been a massive resurgence of myth retellings in the past few years and this is one that I am not the most familiar with so I am hoping that will be to my advantage.  Ghost Music by An Yu - This was an ARC I received through NetGalley. I

3.5/5 ⭐ Marked as an LGBTQ+ romcom meets 27 dresses, Queerly Beloved, is a fun quirky read. And it does hit the mark on the 27 Dresses aspect. Not much else though. I was really looking forward to this one and while I did enjoy it, it wasn’t all that I had wanted from it. The biggest thing for me I think was that it was marketed as a rom-com but it reads way more like fiction or a personal growth novel. And if you read it for that, it makes more sense. The romance felt like it was just there. Thrown in when it could help move the plot along. As for the characters, I actually liked them. I saw potential but they were not developed at all. Joel & Damien ended up just being the token gay best friends. I would have loved to have seen more of the found family aspect and that be built upon.  All in all, it was an okay read. 5/23/22 *This review was previously posted on my Google Site.

  Hello! It is a little late but I thought I would still write up a quick monthly wrap-up for April. Its been a year already but I hope all is going well for you! As for reading, it was a relatively slow month. I traveled for a bit and was in a bit of a slump. So I technically only read three books. But I did post a review every week!  In April I read Legends & Lattes  by Travis Baldree which is a low-stakes, slice of life fantasy story. It is one of my favorite reads of the year so far and I will definitely be rereading it later on.  I also read Violets  by Kyung-sook Shin. A translation from the original Korean, follows San and explores the role and life of women in Korean Society.  And finally, I read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. The first in her well known Wayfarer series, this Space Opera is not one to miss. I fell in love with Chambers work after this one and have have start

5/5 ⭐ A collogue of mine is the one that recommended this title to me, and boy was I not disappointed. If you’ve been around, you know that I am interested in sci-fi but have struggled to get into it for one reason or another. Finding something that wasn’t overwhelming, well balanced, and interesting enough to keep me hooked is hard to find. But I found it here. Where do I even begin? The dialogue. Let’s start there. It is so hecking hilarious, slightly over the top, but it never felt ingenuine to the characters. Or just there for shock value. It made them even more realistic and lovable. And boy, did I love those characters. Meeting the crew of the Wayfarer, Ashby, Kizzy, and Jenks, to name a few, were just the freaking best. I loved the characters, all of them. But I loved their relationships with each other even more. The love they shared for one another, familial and romantic, is heartwarming and touching. And so well done, I can't put it into words. All you really need to know

4/5 ⭐ Translated from the original Korean, Violets gives the reader a look into the complexities of not only San’s life but offers a reflection on mental illness, violence, and loneliness. The novel starts with the tragic upbringing of Oh San and her dysfunctional family that one by one abandons her for their own gain. A defining moment with her only friend, Namae in the minari field they grew up near also leads to Namae distancing herself from San. Leaving her all alone. Years later she finds herself working in a flower shop with a mute boss and assertive coworker who she becomes fast friends and roommates with. This work is definitely more character-driven rather than plot-driven. This is the first work by Shin that I have read and I can understand all the hype about her distinct language. Her writing is incredible. The language is soft-spoken and subtle in its exploration of loneliness and desire for something else. Something more. Definitely more for the woman in Korean society. S

  💜 Travis Baldree’s debut fantasy novel is not one to miss. I found this title through TikTok, from a fellow librarian I follow who couldn’t recommend it enough and I finally bit the bullet and ordered myself a copy. And let me just say, one of the best purchases I made. Ever. I saw one person describe this as a cozy fantasy and I couldn’t agree more. It is everything one could want in a low-stakes, slice-of-life fantasy story. It hits all the buttons and then some. The story follows Viv, a retired orc barbarian, tired of the adventurer life and looking to settle down and open a coffee shop in a little town that had never even heard of coffee. And while at first glance it looks like this will just be another coffee shop story with a fantasy background, it’s not. It is so much more. Baldree gives us elements of found family, the importance of old friendships, and building new relationships. And oof the relationships. I loved the quality of characters Baldree gave us. There weren’t man