Joe Kessler > Recent Status Updates

Oh, Kip.

"Our gazes lock together. His, a hot blaze against my face and my lips, sends a shudder down my spine without my permission."

Okay, so a couple quick questions. Are your lips not a part of your face? And do you often shudder... with permission?

More audiobook complaints. Why is one reader doing a Scottish accent for this character, when the other reader gives him an Irish accent? This production is ass.

I just.... Narratively, I don't understand why she lost her memories at all if she's able to still meet her old friends and hear about her past from them without any issues.

One bed *eyeroll*

I was in the car for this earlier and not able to jot down exactly where, but I swear one of the audiobook readers has now said both "bared" for "barred" and "trials" for "trails." Shame on the producers for not catching that.

There are like zero stakes so far in this book. That's not a problem in cozy fantasy, but it's sort of a killer in YA like this.

Don't care about this other POV, sorry.

'I... I don't know what to say. When my wife died l.... I imagine I felt much as you do now."

No?? Buddy, I would hope you felt sadder when your wife died than when Ace just lost the unicorn friend she met literally yesterday, magic bond be damned. Come on now.

There's also a Bat and a Bats (short for Bathsheba), but at least the one is named after the other. No excuse for having both a Hugh (first name) and a Hughes (last name) in the book.

!!!!

Boo, 8-year time jump.

Why would you name one character Hugh and another one Hughes??

Okay, so.... what's the rest of the book about?

Of course that's who the king is. Who else could it be?

"He propped open the book on the steering wheel, tore off a page corner to chew, and made another effort to read it." I'm sorry, WHAT?

This early part has really strong The Wounded Land vibes.

ooooooooooooooh shit! (in a good way)

I do not like these meta "storyteller" intrusions. That might honestly end up making the difference between a 4 and a 5 star for me, since I'm really enjoying the rest of it.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I visited Wales in the fifties, the 1950s, that is?"

"Yes."

"Did I? I must remember to stop repeating myself. Did I tell you about the time I visited Wales in the fifties?"

"Big corporations aren't always the bad guys, but it's a sensible way to bet."

We're really cheerfully referencing Harry Potter in a 2025 book about being chronically online? That's a choice, alright.

"There was the smell that damp earth gave off immediately after a rainstorm and the air was pure and clean." -- Petrichor spotted in Doctor Who, circa 1992.

Also there is definitely OT3 fanfic out there about Pali/Fitzroy/Kip, isn't there? Like I don't necessarily ship it in canon, but I am sure that someone in the fandom has taken it upon themselves to resolve the tension that way.

Oh thank goodness she learns that Cliopher is Kip before the book ends. That would have been one dramatic irony too many to just leave that hanging for us.

“The man I turned into a table reverted after a couple of hours, none the worse for wear.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOO, no.

She had never been able to say yes to him. Nor had she ever been able to say no. And so they had danced around each other, him with ever more extravagant declarations, she with ever more elaborate prevarications, until that moment in the forest when the protections surged up and separated them and Pali, stepping towards Fitzroy to find herself abruptly on another world, had finally known the answer in her heart.

Oh this might actually be a one-star

This is a two-star through and through, but I'm determined to see it out.

Intrigued by the premise, but this main character is really obnoxious so far.