Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

Did I need to buy a book? Absolutely not. Did I enjoy every minute of inhaling this one over the course of a day? Uh-huh. Apparently, I’m making a habit of acquiring new books on Wednesdays and finishing them on Thursdays.

Nora is a wonderful head to live in both because of how painfully familiar her experiences are and for how she manages to navigate them. It’s a really crushing and overwhelming feeling to have when you want desperately to be near and do a thing only to discover that either the path toward that goal is extraordinarily less glamorous than you could ever hope to endure or that maybe the reality of that goal isn’t worth struggling toward in the first place.

Robinson captures this very specific despair really, really well. I appreciate how deftly she weaves Nora’s depression into the mix, all inevitable after feeling so stuck and sensing she oughtn’t feel that way. It’s a trap set for herself and the story does really excellent things to show how she manages to get out of that trap — but not, of course, without some major hijinks.

I enjoyed the setting and the cast a lot and the specifics of her jobs and ambitions and confusion. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read that I’m super happy to have picked up.

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace

I remembered why I started following this author on Twitter, which was because of an essay that spoke so painfully to my soul that it’s why I’ve started questioning if I’m aro spec as well. http://nicolekornherstace.com/2021/10/24/some-words-for-aceweek/

This book is like ripping open your chest to release a howl from the depths of your own bleeding heart fueled entirely by rage. In a lot of ways, it’s almost too exhausting to read, but in others, Kornher-Stace reveals an incredibly deft hand in storytelling because while the dystopian future it predicts feels all-too-real and inevitable, it’s also colorfully, vividly drawn, and fascinatingly revealed to make the whole journey, from intro to cosmically unsatisfying conclusion, a worthwhile read.

The author has singlehandedly made me realize something I’d already told myself I knew, but certainly didn’t practice in my writing. Write like you’re writing fanfiction, like your readers don’t need their hands held and that they will jump on details and gobble them up in tiny bits to understand your story better as long as the story itself is compelling enough.

The story also does a cool thing with its protagonist (who is aggressive, panicky, antisocial, and all sorts of ~undesirable traits in a female) where Mal has an obsession with “22” a superhero-operative whose image has been monetized into celebrity status in order to help sell the war the corporations in control of the country are sustaining but never once is that obsession even touching romance, let alone sex. She literally dreams about hanging out with him. Doing things with him, helping him, etc. It was just very cool and like nothing I’ve ever read before.