Review: The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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This was a fun book about court intrigue and magic. Luiza is a maid in a poor aristocratic families home. Her parents are dead and her only family is her Aunt who is the mistress to a very powerful man. Luiza has a secrets. Not only can she preform little miracles she is also Jewish. Both a dangerous things in Catholic Spain. Things start to change for Luiza when her mistress notices her magic and gets involved in a plan to earn the favor of Antonio Perez and the King of Spain himself. She just has to survive. Make sure that her miracles are seen as coming from God and that no one finds out about her Jewish blood. She meets Santangel, an immortal being to her Aunt’s lover who is to teach her to control her powers.

I do love Leigh Bardugo’s writing. Luiza is strong as I believe anyone has to be in her position. Constantly having to make herself smaller to go unnoticed but also never forgetting who she is. Santangel at first is weary as anyone would be who has lived as long as he has as a slave basically. He has to obey but the more he gets to know Luiza more of his humanity starts to return. It has became a worn trope that the protagonist must enter a dangerous contest to that threatens their life but if they win they get a prize but what can you do. Either than that, I really like this book and I’m okay that it’s a standalone novel. Not every story need to be told over multiple books.

Review: Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki, translated by Eriko Sugita and read by Keith Szarabajka

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Every now and then, usually in the Spring when I have that itch to Spring clean and try as many new things as I can cram into my waking hours, I want to pick up a book on minimalism. The idea that you should have only the possessions you need, or at least the fewest possessions you can get by with, is nothing new. And even though I don’t really want to live a minimalist life, I am always a little curious. Fumio Sasaki has so few possessions, it takes him thirty minutes to move apartments. I look around my apartment and get an overwhelming feeling of not even knowing where to start if I wanted to move. So, as appealing as it sounds to be able to pick up and go at the drop of a hat instead of spending a month to pack up my place, what I realized when I was reading this wasn’t that I want to be able just abandon all my things and live with a toothbrush, a bowl, a cup, a spoon, my cat, his bowls, and his litter box (until I teach him to use a toilet, of course). What I want is to have more emotional space in my life. I would like some room, metaphorical but also physical, to grow.

In the end, this is what I take from minimalism. The Marie Kondo idea that if it doesn’t spark joy, I don’t need to keep it. I don’t need to keep something I am not using and don’t love, even if it was a gift. I don’t need to keep a piece of clothing, even if it will be cute once I lose another ten pounds. I don’t need to keep yarn I no longer love. And, gasp, I don’t need to keep books I know I’ll never (re-)read. That, in itself, is a daunting project. But, it is also exciting. I could have shelf space. Shelf space for new books that I am excited to read. Or, shelf space for something else. Who knows what’s out there?

This book (essay?) was short and it was okay. It wasn’t overly groundbreaking. The writing was economical and there were no turns of phrase that caught me and had me thinking days later. I have been thinking about the concepts of minimalism, but there’s a good chance I would have been anyway since I made a massive Spring cleaning list. So, in the end, this book gets a 6/10. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but I also wouldn’t not recommend it.

Review: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, narrated by Jennifer Lim

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Oh, my god, this was so good, y’all. Just, so so good. So, this is the story of two families whose lives collide with each other. Set in 1997, the Richardsons have four kids and live in a nice house in the lovely suburb of Cleveland, Shaker Heights. Mia Warren, a single mother and artist, moves to town with her daughter Pearl and rents an apartment from Mrs.Richardson. One of the Richardson children, Moody, rides his bike to the house because he is curious about the new tenants and that starts this story of friendship, growth, self-discovery, betrayal, and love. The main complication of the story comes when the Richardsons attend a party of a family friend celebrating the birthday of their child, whose adoption is about to be finalized. Lexie, the oldest Richardson child, mentions the baby to Mia, who has become the Richardson’s part-time housekeeper and cook. Mia realizes that this baby is the daughter of someone she met at a different part-time job. Bebe, the baby’s mother and a Chinese immigrant, surrendered the child to a fire station in the midst of post-partum depression and hopelessness. Since getting back on her feet, she’s been trying to find the little girl.

The resulting public revelation and custody trial sets fire to the community. Family members disagree, everything is heated, and Mrs. Richardson uncovers Mia’s involvement and takes it personally. She sets out to discover everything she can about Mia. The results are painful, beautiful, and deeply touching.

I was taken in by this novel. The characters felt real; you could see how their choices had led them to where they were and how they gloried and chafed against their results and consequences. I felt for all of them, even when what they did made me angry or deeply uncomfortable. The court case that ran through part of the story made clear how complex family situations can be. Issues of maternal support, child welfare, and race all interconnected in a way that made for no easy answers.

This book was so good and I can’t believe it took me so long to get to it. I know it is now also a TV show, so I might have to watch it and see how it compares. But the book on its own is enough. If you’ve not read it, get out there and give it a try. The audiobook was read by Jennifer Lim and she brought the characters to life. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Quick Review: All the Feels by Olivia Dade

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This book absolutely is full of feels. This is a sequel to Spoiler Alert and, in the tradition of romance novels, it follows two characters introduced and/or mentioned in the previous book.

Alex Woodroe is a star of the hit TV show Gods of the Gates and Lauren Clegg is the unfortunate person hired to be his minder by the show’s production company after he gets in a bar fight as the filming of the final season wraps up. Alex is full of energy and a troublemaker, but Lauren gets the sense almost immediately that her cousin (A producer/director on the show) has overblown the situation and not gotten to the bottom of what really happened. But, who is she to look an easy paycheck in the mouth? She’s recently quit her job as an ER therapist and a little break from that world will help her plan her next move.

The two of them develop a friendship over the course of time spanning between when filming ends and the big con for the franchise begins. And, as we know from Spoiler Alert, Alex sets his life, and Lauren’s, on fire.

Y’all, this was so good. I was bereft when I finished it. I jumped from show to book to podcast to show trying to find anything that could fill the void after I was finished. Alex and Lauren have a fun dynamic. They both have really satisfying arcs, dealing with trauma and growing. I cried. I laughed. I fanned myself when the romance finally got spicy. Olivia Dade does some really fun things playing with fan fiction/romance tropes and tags and it had me giggling. Or saying, “Aww!” Or just plain screaming. (I’d apologize to my neighbors, but they watch a lot of sports so I feel like we’re even.)

10/10, this. It is narrated by Kelsey Navarro and I loved the choices she made with the characters.

Quick Review: House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

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Bryce, Hunt and crew final or at least I think final adventure as they work together to rid themselves of the Asteri. On a whole this was an enjoyable series. Nothing ground breaking but fun. It started a bit slow and it could have had a few more spicy scenes but other than that it was a satisfying way to end. I did appreciate the little crossover with Maas’ ACOTAR series. I’m not sure if it was really that necessary that so much of the first act walking cave for Bryce to get some exposition As much as I like Nesta and Azriel but it could have been condense. I also could have done without Ithan’s story line. Another storyline that could have been condensed. Anyhoo. I few minor complaints in otherwise a good series. Entertaining and fun.