Gord’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2017)

Gord’s comments from the Vampires, Weres and Fae! group.

Well that was a bit of a heavy start to a book. Lets see where this goes.

I'll be starting this one tomorrow morning

The AC is finally getting fixed today... maybe... if they can figure it out. They have it narrowed down to an electrical panel issue

In theory I could see that working if it was made correctly. What you have there sounds gross.

Yup, I'm off starting on Aug 2nd and I return on Aug 12th.

I have three weeks until my vacation. My first vacation of the year. It's the yearly anime con but honestly, this year, I'm just looking forward to week off work.

This is going to be a long week. My coworker is off all this week which means that I am by myself all week. At least I'll have some decent audiobook time which is good because I have some real chonkers on the go.

After getting my test results back and finding out my salt levels were fine was reassuring but it was also eye opening. I'm not massively going out of my way to cut my salt intake but I'm not adding additional salt to my food either. I'm also looking at things like unsalted nuts for things like snacks.

I've been making my own snack mixes for at work. The last few weeks has been a mix of unsalted peanuts, unsalted cashews, pumpkin seeds, and a bunch of Mrs Dash's spicy herb mix. This week I'm changing it up and I've got pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, unsalted cashews, and chocolate chunks.

I'm weirdly caught up on my library pile this week. Before my library run this afternoon I only have two physical books left on my table. I think I need to put some more holds in.

Grave Wrong ⭐⭐⭐
This kept popping up in my recommended feed since I started buddy reading Ellie Jordan so I finally caved and gave it a shot. After reading this volume I can say that this was meh. It wasn't a bad book, it did nothing wrong, but it also wasn't an amazing book either. It showed up, told the story it was expected to, and then went home. On paper this series sounds similar to Ellie Jordan, young female lead hunts ghosts, but the execution of the story makes them vastly different. Ellie Jordan, at least from what I've read so far, presents as very horror/mystery forward with a sprinkle of UF. This series is UF forward with a slight sprinkle of horror/mystery. This book has all the tropes and expected story beats of any UF you would read. Right down to the MC having two hot buff guys to choose from with one of them coming in the slightly more bad boy variety. Here is the positive things I can say about the book. This book was aware of the UF story beats that it needed to hit but it didn't fall into a lot of the negative ones I've seen. Yes, our female lead is a street smart toughie but she isn't that over the top bitchy to everyone around her female lead we can sometime see. We have two pieces of muscled male meat for our MC but they actually get some story outside of muscles. Also, none of them fall into the alpha male douche canoe trope either. It's a novel that has the basics done well. It just never feels like it elevates itself to anything more then just another UF novel. I don't think I'll be continuing on with this story though.

Reincarnated as a Sword (Light Novel) Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The second volume of this reread and more great adventures with Fran and Teacher. This sees them wrapping up their adventures in the opening town and them moving on to the second location. Along the way they find an undead dungeon and get a massive level up. Oh and we are introduced to Jet. Just more fun reading.

Now for the manga and comics

Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels: The Case of the Missing Marquess, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady, and The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets ⭐⭐⭐
Enola Holmes: The Graphic Novels: The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline, and The Case of Baker Street Station ⭐⭐⭐
I needed the second book for a challenge and I wasn't just going to read the second one without reading the first one. I also read some of the novels way, way back in the day. For those that don't know about Enola Holmes she is the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft. A much, much younger sister of them. She is 14 and a smart young girl but doesn't have the training of Sherlock. She solves mysteries by using women's knowledge. Things like flower language, fan language (I didn't know this was a thing but it makes sense), social standings for women, women's fashion, etc. I had fun reading this but at the same time I wasn't hyped for it either. I'm not sure if it's just the format or not. After reading this I do want to circle back and check out the novels again though.

I Married My Female Friend Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The next book in my reread of this series and now I have one more book.

Morgana and Oz, Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The next book in this Webtoon comic and we get a bunch more exposition and story. I dig where this is going and I am here for more.

My Kitten is a Picky Eater Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐
The next volume in this laid back slice of life about life with a kitty. Cute, fun, and wholesome.

Dandadan, Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I feel this volume captures the essence of Dandadan in a nutshell. You start with the conclusion of a story line that will have you reduced to tears. Then you have some over the top comedy. Followed by the sheer weirdness of the next story line where you have the aliens back looking for bananas (nope, not going to explain that one). This is everything I enjoy about this series in one volume.

What's next?
Patient Zero This is my current audiobook and oh boy I have thoughts
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, (Light Novel) Vol. 4 my next physical novel

Whoohooo

I'll try answering everyone at once.

Amy, the bay doors will be opened but when I arrive we are technically not open yet. Even with the doors open it doesn't help a whole lot. Especially with our area which is buried deep down in the back corner of the building.

Katie, outside of forklifts we don't have a lot of stuff that creates heat but we are still fully dressed with PPE on which does not help.

Cee, we have some fans but it all depends on what you are doing. For us we kind of work in a smaller area so we can set up a fan in front of us, kind of. For others though, or when we need to leave our little bubble, you are moving all around the building and there just aren't enough fans to move that much air.

It's basically just suck it up and keep working. Stay hydrated and don't die.

Just walked into work and it's definitely warmer then it is outside. Just sitting here typing this is enough for me to start sweating

I'm not looking forward to heading into work today. The AC is still dead and work is still crazy busy. Hopefully with it being a bit cooler today things will be cooler inside, maybe.

The AC died at work and it's only 24c/73f outside of a metal and concrete building where you have to wear coveralls and steel toed boots all while doing physical labor. It's just a wee bit warm

Alright, that doesn't sound to horrible, annoying maybe, but not as bad as just trying to pass it or something.

Yikes, hopefully you there is a less painful solution to everything. Get well soon

Well, I must be doing something right. This was my third weigh in today and I've dropped 7 lbs in the last couple weeks. I'm tempering my excitement as I know that loosing weight is super easy in the start but still, a win is a win.

This has been another busy week of reading for me. Apologies in advance. I found myself in a mood while typing this up. My commentary is basically "book good, me like".

Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling (Light Novel) Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐
This is a hard one to talk about as there isn't a whole lot to say. It's a light novel fantasy. You have stat points, level ups, etc. If you've read anything like this then you know what to expect. It's a solid book and a fun read.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After Wicked Fox last week I was in a bit of a funk when it came to audiobooks. I had no idea what I wanted to listen to next and nothing on my list was speaking to me. I had this one recommended to me and it sounded interesting. I'm really glad I picked this one up as it was a great read. It's a coming of age story involving magic and saving a kingdom. The MC is a young girl named Mona who has the magic ability to control bread. In her mind her magic is a minor ability, she doesn't have the same power as the great mages in the army that can hurl fireballs or call down lightning. Over the course of the book she learns that it's more about how you use the power then what the power itself really is. Like I said, it was a solid book with great characters and a great story.

Now for all the manga
Case Closed, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐
The series finally glanced off the overarching story, kind of, sort of, before completely ignoring it once again. This one had three cases in it and yeah it's what you would expect from this series. Mystery happens, Conan gets involved, all the adults look like buffoons, he solves the case. It was a fun read.

Yowamushi Pedal Omnibus, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
It's series like this that really helps me understand the "hype" around sports manga/anime. It's hard not to get sucked into the hype and the series is really good at laying stakes and setting up emotions. Without spoilers there is a race coming up and it's a rematch of the previous year. The other school is the most elite of the elite and our school is the underdog, of course. The set up doesn't end there. There are connecting story lines between some of the members on the teams. Some are friendship and the thrill of riding/competition. Then the one that is set up here is a reveal of a secret that happened during the race last year. It makes this race very personal for one of the riders and basically a grudge match. It's all tropes we recognize but the author does a great job setting them up and as the reader you are there for the excitement.

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
More slice of life about monster girls doing their thing. Fun read, looking forward to the next one.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 4—Diamond Is Unbreakable, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
With the fourth volume in this series I'm really getting a better feeling for this series. There is an overarching story but it's not really the main driver. This feels like more of an anthology series of loosely interconnected stories. That's what we get with these volumes, a series of different adventures that just happen to have the same characters and set in the same town. My personal favorite was the one involving Jotaro and Josuke are tracking down a rat that has developed a Stand. Yeah, that is the level of weird we are dealing with here. This entire franchise has always dabbled in body horror but this story really leaned into it I felt. Combine that with the sheer absurdity of what was happening and it was just a fun read.

Motherlover ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have to be really careful talking about this one as this is a new release and I don't want to spoil anything but I also want to gush a bit. This was a random snag from the library and it wasn't until later when my hype started to grow for it. I'll just get this out of the way, this was an amazing read and the kind of romance that I enjoy. It's sweet, it takes its time to unfold, neither character is perfect and have their own issues, it just works for me. Combine that with two interesting leads and this book just fires on all cylinders. I don't normally recommend a lot of books but this is one that I strongly recommend if you enjoy sapphic romances and graphic novels.

What is next?
Grave Wrong - My current audiobook and it's alright. I have thoughts, but I'll wait until I finish this before saying anything
Patient Zero - My next audiobook
Reincarnated as a Sword (Light Novel) Vol. 2 - My current physical book
After that I have a bunch more manga and comics to get through.

Happy 4th of July to everyone