Reading Update: Page 1

 

How adorable is this cover?! If I was a better planner, I would have made Cherry pie. 

Emily is the last unmarried daughter, you know what that means, dun dun dun, mom's undivided attention. And mom can't stop talking about Mark Chan. 

What's a last single daughter to do? 

Fake relationship! 

But their families are invested and with every pushed on fake date, Emily is realizing there may be more to the sweater wearing engineer. 

This sounds shenanigans cute 😍 

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau (May 7th) purchase link 

Honey Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos recipe

I added almost whole can of chipotle adobe peppers and some sauce, great sweet and spicy flavor

#TBRChallenge Review: Simple Jess

Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

She'd married well. And she'd done it to save the family another winter mouth to feed. She hadn't liked her husband all that much. But she'd been soft-spoken and loyal to him and had birthed his son. She'd minded her husband as she had her family and would have done whatever he said until the day she died. But he had died. That had changed everything. 

This month's #TBRChallenge was “With a Little Help From My Friends”, the synopsis for this made it sound like the townspeople were going to, helpfully, push Althea into a marriage and while it was a little more forceful trying to push, and not to who the two sides were pushing, Althea did get a push towards considering marriage again, so it counts, I say! 

Althea's mom died when she was a baby and her dad remarried pretty quickly, leaving Althea with her aunt and uncle. This caused Althea to grow up feeling beholden, so when the time came for marriage, she just went along with the first guy, Paisley, who could provide for her. Paisley ends up dying in the first couple years of their marriage, leaving Althea with a three year old, Baby-Paisley, and a coveted farm. Going by her own childhood, she doesn't want to marry again because that spells abandonment and she doesn't ever want Baby-Paisley to feel how she did and she wants to be in control of her life for once. This upsets the two main families on the mountain (this takes place in early 1900s Ozarks) that want to one up each other with control of the farm. One man from each side of the two families is offered up to Althea, Eben and Oather, for her to marry. 

They took him for granted. They all did, Althea realized, including herself. His value to the community continued to be errantly minimized, because Jesse himself was underestimated. He was different. He was like no one else. He was not an equal. Did that make him less? No, Althea thought to herself. Not necessarily. 

While Althea is trying to stand strong on not remarrying, she does understand that she needs some help on the farm and offers a deal to “Simple Jess”, he work for her for a few months and she'll give him her late husband's pack of hunting dogs. Jesse has always wanted dogs of his own and happily takes the deal. I went into Simple Jess honestly thinking Jesse would turn out to have dyslexia or some other specific learning disability that the author could kind of do a little cop-out to, but when Jesse was born, the cord was around his neck, causing his brain to be without oxygen for a while, leaving him with intellectual disability. As this takes place in the early 1900s, there are terms and words used that we consider slurs now, so be very aware of that if choosing to pick this up. 

When I first started this, what captured me immediately, was the heart of the story and characters. This is second in a series, you can tell Jesse's sister and her husband were the main characters from the first, but I had no trouble starting here. Jesse is not always the same as others, he takes longer to think things through and gets overwhelmed easier but what I liked was how the author also showed the values he can bring and how he can understand. As he helps Althea around the farm, readers can tell he has feelings for her, with Althea learning about him and slowly getting building blocks (he kills a deer for her, bonds with Baby-Paisley) to see him a different way. With the characters and situation, it makes sense that their romance doesn't really heat up until the latter half of the book, I'm talking around 85%. 

While I understood and thought it worked/made sense that their romance would take longer to develop, what I wasn't as into was how the middle meandered away from Althea and Jesse. If you're more of a series reader, wanting more of the setting world in your stories than a straight focus on the main couple, then you'd probably enjoy this more. If you ever watched the show The Outsiders, this had some of that hillbilly mountain people feel. There was a secondary couple, Eben and Oather's sister Mavis, that took up a good amount of the second half and you're probably not going to be a fan of Eben and enjoy him getting a HEA (he's a playboy with daddy issues who emotionally and physically hurt/s Mavis). Oather also gets his own spotlight some with the issues that could and do come with being gay in the 1900s Ozarks (there was a little speech from his dad at the end that made my eyes water and became very close to stealing the best emotional moment). 

So, while I thought the beginning was slow building heartfelt good, the middle meandered away with more focus on the setting/world-building characters, a secondary romance that I wished wasn't, and a latter second half that felt pretty rushed. However, this was different in some good ways and I think it still should hold a spot on romance lists, with the caveat of content warning outdated terms. Althea didn't learn to love Jesse in spite of but because of, Jesse's Big Gesture at the end would put a lot of other heroes to shame.

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Reading Update: 25%

But maybe it was that she was different from them. Jesse was different, too. Maybe that was why he knew her feelings. He wished he could make it better, but he couldn't, of course. Being different just was. Not a fellow, nor a woman neither, could just stop being different. It was something that just had to be resigned to. Jesse had resigned himself, in most ways. Miss Althea would have to do it, too. 

Of course, Jesse didn't know how that was to be done. It was sort of like going to sleep, he thought. You couldn't make yourself do it and the harder that you tried the less apt you were to succeed. But somehow you'd wake up and realize that you'd been snoring away all night long and not be able to remember how it happened.

Review: The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

'We have time-travel,’ she said, like someone describing the coffee machine. ‘Welcome to the Ministry.’ 

Set some time in the not too distant future, The Ministry of Time opens up with an intriguing concept, time travel exists and the United Kingdom's government controls it. Told all from the point-of-view of a woman who previously worked in the languages department, she applies for an internal job wanting the higher pay. When the Ministry section of the government hires her to be a “bridge”, her life changes. I thought this started off strongly with an intriguing concept, The Ministry has selected people from different timelines that from recorded history, they know die in their own timeline. Our narrator's a bridge (someone who stays with the “expat” for a year to help them transition) for a Commander Graham Gore. Graham's an actual real historical figure which I thought gave this a slight fanfiction feel, to it's scifi and speculative fiction. 

Ideas have to cause problems before they cause solutions. 

It's all a little murky as to why the government has decided to pick these people and what exactly they're doing, our narrator's a company woman and doesn't question too much in the beginning. After I thought was a strong scifi start, the middle stagnated in pace and we get lost in our narrator's head for awhile. There's the transition of assimilating a man who died in 1847 to a twenty-first century London, along with the narrator's attraction to him. A lot of the attraction was already built as she's read his personal letters, knows his story, and romanticized him through this knowledge and liking a daguerreotype existing picture of him. For Graham's part, since we don't have his pov, he's a not a clear readable character; it seems he could be attracted to her but it could also be him trying to play his cards right. I've seen Outlander comparisons and I would caution reading this for the romance because you'd probably be disappointed (there were a few open door scenes but those alone do not a romance make). 

The middle also explored inherited trauma and warring with helping your country but not enabling their same made mistakes. Our narrator is the daughter of a Cambodian refugee and she carries some of her mother's trauma which creates some push and pull in “just following orders”. We get introduced to some of the other bridges and expats, with two of them, a WWI soldier and black plague survivor playing bigger secondary character roles. Through their experiences to the new world, we get some discussions on gay rights and feminism. 

The truth is, it won’t get better if you keep making the same mistakes. 

After the more sluggish middle, the latter second half picked up speed with the building spy thriller aspect and what The Ministry is actually trying to do. There are some hints sprinkled throughout that you could kind of guess where the story is going (I wasn't hundred percent correct) and we get some action and takes on climate change. When dealing with time travel, there are always going to be some holes, this had those with some of the “whys” not fully answered and the “hereness” and “thereness” not completely making sense. The romance wasn't the strongest and the thriller aspect waiting around too long to fully hit, giving some of a rushed ending feeling. The discussions and takes on racism, trauma, sexism, imperialism, and other issues had some mealy mouth, I get the narrator is working through them herself, but it left me feeling like not a lot was said when done. This was a whole bunch of elements mixed together that I'm not sure all fully got realized and created a got lost on it's way middle that really slowed the pace and dented it's impact for me.

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50%

When I was twelve years old, I’d sat at the dining table with my mother, peeling the skins off garlic for her. She was telling me about one of her sisters, who had been beautiful and married rich. They’d killed her, of course – the cadres who sacked Phnom Penh – and she mused out loud, ‘I wonder if they raped her before they shot her?’ Yes, thought twelve-year-old me seriously, I wonder if they did? And I would always be a twelve-year-old who had wondered that about her aunt at the dining table. An underrated symptom of inherited trauma is how socially awkward it is to live with.

Reading Update: 15%

 

A time travel, speculative spy thriller, workplace comedy, and so much more. How good does this sound?! 

So, yeah, time travel newly exists and five "bridges" are tasked with helping the 'expats' who were pulled from their time right before they died, with transitioning and seeing how the human body and mind handles the travel. 

Told from Commander Graham Gore's (a real historical figure) bridge, we follow along as a Victorian polar explorer and a millennial clash and come together. 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley purchase (May 7th) link

Fish Stew recipe

This is an absolute favorite of mine, make it a lot. I add more cayenne for more spice

Review: You Should Be So Lucky

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“No. Absolutely not. I’m not ghostwriting a ballplayer diary.” 

It's been a year since Mark's partner William died, a year of everything feeling dull and Mark not being able to find the energy and passion to keep writing beyond a few book reviews every now and again to keep on the books at the Chronicle. With the paper struggling, his boss comes to him and springs the idea of, normally arts and culture writer, Mark ghost writing a series of “diary” entries from New York City's new expansion team's shortstop, Eddie. The shortstop who is going through a horrible slump and went on a public tirade about being traded to the Robins. Mark agrees, with the thought that after a few articles, everyone will see what a bad idea it was, even though his access to the team will lead to an eventual magazine feature. 

Sportswriters are the reason everybody hates Eddie. Okay, Eddie’s big mouth is the reason everybody hates Eddie, but he might have been able to keep it a secret if it hadn’t been for the reporters. 

Eddie, for his part, agrees because he's trying to get back on the good side of his new team and thinks this is set-up to get a few canned lines out there and get the city back to liking him. When Mark and Eddie meet, there's an instant attraction but, as this is, 1960 and Eddie is a professional athlete, things are more than complicated, they could be dangerous. Mark's lived in a secret relationship before and doesn't want to do it again, while Eddie's aware of why he needs to keep things covert, he's optimistic enough to believe they can forge a path that works for them both. You Should Be So Lucky was a story of a jaded reporter still grieving and a baseball player that comes along at the worst time trying to chase his clouds away. 

He’s making gay jokes with a professional baseball player in his living room. He could not feel more surreal about this if he tried. 

If you're picking this up for the baseball setting, there is some feel of that, enough baseball culture to have fans of the sport get that smile over the ridiculousness of all the stats kept and speak to the feeling of why fans root and develop lifelong connections with teams and players. But, there also wasn't so much that non-sports fans will have their eyes glaze over, Eddie's slump plays a big part of the story but only snippets of games are shown and it's more about the emotional journey he's going on in his personal life. If you're picking this up for the historical feel, that's here woven throughout the whole context as the main conflict is Mark worrying about being a danger to Eddie, what would happen if their relationship was ever found out by the wrong person. Secondary characters play a big part of their world, the old-timer usual baseball beat reporter, Eddie's manager and a teammate, and friends of Mark, through each of these characters, the time period is felt in how protective they try to be for the couple. There was also, what turned out to be an emotional scene, that I felt hits hard in it's depth without beating it down, between Eddie and his mother. Eddie spends the morning telling her about Lula, about Mark helping the rookie buy suits, about the dumbest shit that could not possibly interest anyone but a mother, and she doesn’t falter, not once. It's Eddie coming out to his mother without explicit stating and it was the she doesn’t falter, not once. that will have your eyes watering. 

Maybe he doesn’t know how to untangle caring for someone with worrying that it will be their undoing. 

The story is told from both Mark and Eddie's point-of-view, but I'm going to say this is a little more Mark's story. The first half is Mark coming out from the bottom of grief and making that healing journey. The second half had more of Eddie and Mark together, with Eddie also on his personal journey of internally thinking about what it truly means to be gay, where before he knew he was gay but compartmentalized it in a way that had him not putting it in the context of his life. So, while, there is a big romance plot (there are open-door scenes but some go the fade away route before showing actual consummation), it's Mark and Eddie both taking separate personal journeys that then lead them into flowing into their romance. This seems to be how a lot of newer romances are going, and I don't know if I'm explaining right, but I personally like when there's more of a singular journey, the characters are working together in the same journey towards romance. These two are in their heads a lot and when Mark is coming to terms that he does love Eddie, he's by himself instead of having that moment with Eddie, again, making it feel like a personal journey instead of the togetherness I want in romance. 

I’m telling you, Eddie, when you look at me, it’s obvious.” 

“You only think so because you know how I feel.” 

There was a third-act break-up, where Eddie goes on his personal journey and then shows Mark how things can work, with Mark deciding that he'll do his best to show faith in Eddie's belief. This had the author's usual naturalness to writing and emotions that never fails to emotionally draw me in and there was an epilogue that summed up the story perfectly, with some grief and proven and future optimism leading these two down the HEA road. If you're looking for personal journeys that help flow two people into a working romance, with added bonus of historical feel and some baseball, then you definitely want to pick this one up.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

The MN Twins are on a 12! game winning streak, so what better book to start reading? 

Eddie is the new shortstop on the team and going through a horrible batting slump. 

Mark is going through grief he can't show after losing his partner and the last thing this usual Arts page reporter needs is to be assigned to the sports section. 

It's 1960 and these two are fighting private and public battles, all while slowly starting to give into their attraction. However, Mark doesn't want to be someone's secret again but Eddie's job as a professional athlete could make things dangerous. 

This sounds emotional while set in the world of baseball, can't wait! 

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian preorder (May 7th) link

Fajita Shrimp recipe

I'm a salsa verde freak, so I loved this one!

Review: The Amethyst Kingdom

The Amethyst Kingdom by A.K. Mulford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

She hated the very sight of him. 

The Amethyst Kingdom is book five in The Five Crowns of Okrith series and brings us the conclusion. As it's the last book, I do not suggest jumping in here, you'd be extremely lost. If you're a reader of the series, then you're probably anticipating the last kingdom crowning their ruler and the violet witch that has been plaguing Okrith through the whole series, getting her comeuppance. As has been the style of this fantasy series with humans, Fae, and witches, each book centers on characters working out a romantic relationship and here we have Lady Carys and Lord Ersan, two Fated mates who were separated when Carys saw his keeping a secret from her as lying and have spent the last couple years apart. 

Last we spoke. She hated the way he said it. He made it sound like they were old friends who'd simply lost touch and not Fated mates who were split apart in a brutal breakup by his lies. 

This pretty much starts up right where book four left off, The Eastern Court trials to pick who will wear the crown for the Eastern Kingdom are about to start. The trials work to bring Carys and Ersan together, Carys has been in the East working to stabilize their kingdom and is all but their queen already but must go through their tradition. Ersan shows up to compete in the trials, claiming he just wants the crown, even though he is a Lord in the Southern Court. As this was all told from Carys' point-of-view it was extremely hard to get to know Ersan, he's definitely more to the side in the first half. All the reader really knows is that at the bequest of her father, he never told Carys about her halfling (half human, half Fae) sister and refuses to fully explain why he, in Carys' eyes, lied to her. The first half has two of the trials performed and the lingering danger of Monroe, the violet witch, but it felt a little slow going as I knew this was the book to wrap up the whole series and the build up of Monroe finally making an appearance and pretty much zero movement on the romance front, felt glacier moving. 

That's who they'd always been to each other---swinging between light and dark, love and hate. 

The middle had Monroe getting captured, creating a very anti-climatic feeling but finally movement on the romance front with Carys and Ersan being paired up on the trials and going out on the road together. While they finally spend some time together, Ersan's character still didn't get flushed or felt out to me, as it was a constant Carys being mad that he won't tell her why he lied and him just gritting his teeth and not talking; this was the epitome of if they'd Just Talked/Big Misunderstanding. The reasoning gets more flushed out towards the end as both talk about their past selves when younger and how spoiled and self-centered they were and Carys mental health issues, struggling with depression, get worked into the reasoning but it honestly got dragged out far too long for me. 

It was time to kill that witch once and for all. 

The later second half ramps up the action when past characters all come back to the Eastern Court and Monroe makes her final move to have violet witches take the crown. It was great to see past characters, there were some battle scenes to deliver action and emotion and while initially Monroe's appearance felt anti-climatc, there was a final scene to deliver the emotions you'd want after reading five books leading up to this battle. 

His eyes dipped to her mouth. “Some might call it Fate.” 

This would probably be the one where I thought the romance was the weakest, I never felt Ersan showed up enough here, but it had multiple open door scenes in the second half if you're looking for more physical over emotional (I typically need to feel their emotional connection so I can feel the heat in their physical). The first half was pretty slow going with the trials feeling like something they didn't necessarily need to be focusing on when the big villain of the whole series, Monroe, was directly in the picture and in fact, the trials get pretty much forgotten in the end in favor of the final Monroe showdown battle. A must read if you've followed along on this journey for the battle of the Okrith kingdoms but just prepare for slower going until the final showdown.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

It's May 1st (happy May Day), it's a Wednesday (hump day), I've got a plate of brownies, and I'm starting the last book in The Five Crowns of Okrith series (I've been waiting for these two to get their HEA)! 

The trials for the Eastern Court are finally starting and exes Carys and Ersan have entered the competition. Carys wants the crown and become queen to keep her family members safe, while Ersan is hoping to cure his shattered heart after losing Carys. 

It's second chance at destined love, while the purple witch that has been gaining power since the beginning of the series, is finally making her appearance. 

This has been a great fantasy series (book 4 was my fav read of 2023!) and while I don't think you could just jump in here with book 5 (I jumped in at book 3 and didn't have too big a problem), you definitely want this series on your radar. 

The Amethyst Kingdom by A.K. Mulford pre-order (May 14th) link

Fudgy Brownies

Peanut Butter Cheesecake frosting