Jaime Leigh > Recent Status Updates

This is really dragging. I could definitely have been shorter. Starting to feel more like Pride and Prejudice in an exhausting way. And there's still three hours left...

This has big Pride and Prejudice vibes but unlike that book I actually like this one

Just now getting back to this

I'm sorry to say that I'm DNFing this one. It has been almost three hours of a 12 hr long audiobook and all of the characters are incredibly frustrating, the plot is dragging to the point where I'm not looking forward to picking this book back up, and even though I know it gets better later on I'm not going to get there.

It was a slow start but I'm actually loving this. The pacing is great. The writing is beautiful and not too complex but also not shallow. I could see this being a beautiful read a loud for an older child. I also thought the inserted stories would slow the pacing down but they only add more to the story. It's reminding me of my storytelling course from college and I'm really liking it a lot.

When I started reading this book, I immediately thought "this reminds me of the Starless Sea." I got nervous because not only did I not like that book but I had zero idea what happened in it. I understand the plot in this, but like that book, it has proven itself to be whimsical nonsense coated in hyper quotable sentences and "morally impactful" messages about life that just don't resonate in context.

Also, can we please all agree that Hana's dad is the absolute worst?

Someone else mentioned this in their review but there are some parts of this that are dark - like forcibly tattooing a baby's future on their whole body or them not having one and then getting taken away to be buried alive and become undead children/monsters. That is some dark stuff, but it's so not congruent with the rest of the tone of the book that it feels incredibly strange on off-putting.

I'm sorry but how are you BOTH dumbstruck that the evil people who always manage to exact their revenge exacted their revenge on the dude you asked to do something he knew and you BOTH knew would lead to the evil people coming after him????

This is the least earned, most uncomfortable sex scene I've read in a long time. Oophf.

I really like the writing so far. It reminds me of my college storytelling class.

Wait so you're telling me we took a detour from the action to sit in a convince store and then tell a different story about a lady giving birth in an elevator???
I'm so confused about this writing and pacing. It's less a story and more little disjointed vignettes.

You know a really good way to build tension? Stop in the middle and pivot to something totally different with zero urgency

I think it's the writing and not the narration but there is 0 tension in the "tense" scenes. Everything is both whimsical and also so, so flat. These characters feel like they were written by Libravox.

*movie narrator voice*
It was at this moment she new she wasn't going to like this.

There's a distinct pattern in how this is written
1. Problem is presented
2. They have to go to a mysterious place
3. Place is described and human makes some comment about his world
4. There's some brief meditation on humanity
5. They find the next piece to the mother puzzle which no one is thrilled to talk to them about
6. Drama ensues as new place and problem are presented.
Getting repetitive & hard to unnotice

Another one that's been on my TBR for a while. So far I'm liking it a lot.

Hana feels incredibly stiff and flat. Even the audiobook narration is pretty monotone. I hope she opens up as time goes on.

This is definitely a book you have to read with your full brain on. Took me a bit to figure out the thing with Ramesh.

This kind of give me Emily St. John Mandel vibes and I'm liking it. Very contemplative and slow, which I can see people not liking. But it's forcing me to read slower.

Turns out everyone is dead so they can come back as zombies and although I am really loving the characters and the writing style, I am the least zombie loving person you could know. So a DNF unfortunately.

I'm not kidding when I'm saying they are killing off like half this kids families o.o

Very rarely do I read books set in the Appalachians. Cool

Dannnnggg. O.o. It has been two minutes and this gals whole family is dead and she's got depression for real.
The author is not messing around.

This has been on my TBR for years. Finally giving it a try.

In which I will remind everyone that just dumping someone's ashes in the middle of a public park is super illegal