Me, My Shelf, & I > Recent Status Updates

While I do like this and think that it's written in an engaging way, it definitely shows its age when it's talking about things like floppy discs and explaining what Google and PayPal are...

So the book universe and our world are the same? Jack the Ripper is a constant between the two? I'm so confused about the cutesy coffee shop vibes and now this.

"Coins came in four shapes and four different metals in Eyam. Rae couldn’t remember what the other shapes and metals were, but a thousand sounded like a pile of cash."
Very info-dump on the world-building, but the details aren't important nor interesting. I'm getting bad vibes on how much I'll ultimately like this one. 😮‍💨

Hmmmm. Not sure how I'm feeling about this. It's not doing anything wrong, but so far it's just your standard, white dude, modern/urban Fantasy, wish fulfillment type of book.

End of chapter 1 and so far I think this entire chapter should be cut. Several of the pieces of information were already repeated in a redundant fashion within the same scene, and all of them could easily be delivered in a non-obtrusive way, naturally, through dialogue/reactions/narration.
LLE should've started with her inside the book and not in our world.

"Villainous characters had epic highs, epic lows, and epic loves. The Emperor loved like an apocalypse."

"Fear, because there is nothing more dangerous than mortal men who believe that they are entitled to the world and more."
I really hate this sudden tonal shift, execution, and surface level engagement with the topic. It came out of nowhere, kinda undermined some of the elements already set up, and also perpetuated the belief that rapists are strangers (only 7% are strangers)

I am disappointed to say that I'm finding the world-building nonsensical and the prose feels YA and I'm not enjoying the hand-holding elements.
But, um, the cover's really fun at least? So there's that, I guess.

So I just remembered this is supposed to be an Adult book and now I'm feeling a little less generous toward it. I'd fully forgotten and thought it was YA.
And just now there was some very heavy-handed foreshadowing and handholding explanations for the reader that I just don't expect from an Adult novel. Which has kinda killed my vibes.

" Tear tracks run through her face’s layer of BB cream in zigzag patterns, and her black mascara has been smudged in circles around her eyes. He finds, amusedly, that she reminds him of a panda.
"An emotionally perturbed panda who has witnessed two drownings."

"Corporate jobs do have a tendency to suck the life from people."

Really enjoying this a lot so far. It's very engaging, if sometimes leaning a little toward evolutionary biology and bioessentialism.

"He had no idea how stupid I was; part of me wanted to prove it."

"Her pearls clutched their throats."