A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions

REVIEW: I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (nonfiction book) by Hu Anyan, translated by Jack Hargreaves

2026-07-13T01:46:46.591-05:00

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is basically a work-related memoir. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This starts off with an in-depth look at a couple of the author's work experiences, first working the night shift at a vast logistics warehouse, and then working as a courier delivering parcels in Beijing. After that, the author went backwards in time in order to cover basically every one of his work experiences from his school days onward, including working at restaurants, working at a bike shop, and owning his own clothing store, before finally catching up with the experiences that started the volume off.

I didn't know anything about this book before going into it. This is one of those cases where I was hooked by the title and cover. The first part of the book was more what I expected I might get, based on the title. I definitely did not expect the author to cover his entire life's work experiences, so I floundered a bit there, not sure where the author was ultimately planning to go with the book.

The author ended up talking about his personal philosophies about work (which, unfortunately, didn't interest me much), as well as his gradual development of fairly severe social anxiety. By the end, I felt like I had a decent grasp of what sort of person the author was, but very little idea of what his day-to-day life was like beyond work.

The book starts with a translator's note that I later found myself wishing had been more than just a couple pages. For example, the translator talked about the concept of "neighborhoods" in cities in Beijing, but I also found myself wishing that this section had contextualized Hu Anyan's work experiences more. I could and did compare the author's accounts to my own work experiences (more differences than similarities), but I had no idea how his work experiences might compare to those of others throughout China. Heck, I'd have loved to know a little more about how his experiences compared in those working similar jobs in other areas of the world.

All in all, this was an interesting enough book that occasionally got to the point of outstaying its welcome.

REVIEW: Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video Game Industry (nonfiction book) written by Mary Kenney, illustrated by Salini Perera

2026-07-13T01:01:09.399-05:00

Gamer Girls is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review:

In addition to the 25 women that this book covered in more depth, there were also short "side quest" sections that mentioned additional women. This covered several women I already knew something about (Robert Williams, Jane Jensen, and, in a "side quest" section, Christine Love), but also many, many that I'd never heard of before.

This was an engaging read, but also a little depressing, since it seemed like most of the women mentioned ended up leaving the video game industry for one reason or another, some more quickly than others.

I was delighted at the mention of otome game history and the Nancy Drew games. I think I've seen mentions of the Nancy Drew games in other video game history books I've read, but this is the first time I've encountered anything that talked about otome game history.

I didn't count how many women were actually mentioned in this, but, if you counted the "side quests" it was definitely more than 25. That said, some of the women mentioned in those "side quests" weren't actually involved in video game development but rather more broadly game development - the precursor to Monopoly, and Jenga, for example.

All in all, a good read that touched on aspects of video game history I haven't seen mentioned in some of the other video game history books I've read.

REVIEW: Platform Decay (book) by Martha Wells

2026-07-13T00:41:46.479-05:00

Platform Decay is the 8th entry in the Murderbot Diaries series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this latest entry in the series, Murderbot is leading a rescue mission into corporate territory, with Three acting as a distraction. The mission isn't taking place on a planet, but considering the size of the station (a massive ring that encircles the decaying remains of a planet), it might as well be on a planet, and Murderbot isn't happy about the difficulties this causes. Honestly, Murderbot isn't happy about a lot in this particular book.

One of the things that struck me about the beginning of this book was how "off" Murderbot seemed, which I should have learned, by now, means that it's dealing with a lot of stress and emotions. Similar to previous entries in this series that have taken a little while to clue readers in on the full scope of whatever is going on, it takes a while before readers learn exactly who Murderbot is trying to rescue and how this situation came about in the first place.

I enjoyed this, although not as much as some of the previous entries in the series. Part of the issue is that I have been waiting for what feels like ages for Murderbot to finally be stationed on ART and dealing regularly with ART's crew only to, once again, get something else. Any Murderbot is better than no Murderbot, for sure, but...yeah.

This has no ART and also not much in the way of quiet, stress-free downtime in which Murderbot can just sit and watch serials. It does, however, feature Murderbot dealing with several children, including one who spends a good chunk of time clinging to Murderbot while it tries and fails to think of a way to gently remove it. There was something oddly adorable about that.

REVIEW: Home Office Romance (manga) by Kintetsu Yamada, translated by Matt Treyvaud

2026-07-13T00:16:30.922-05:00

Home Office Romance is a contemporary romance one-shot manga. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is technically set during pandemic lockdown times, but there's no sense of strict restrictions and very little talk of the pandemic itself - the time period is mostly just an excuse for Nokoru to suddenly be asked to work from home and for Natsu to find herself stuck in Japan, unable to go on digs due to travel restrictions.

Anyway, this manga is told from the POV of Nokoru, an exhausted and overworked systems engineer. When his company tells him he needs to start working from home, he's faced with the realization that he's spent so little time at his place that, even after living there a year, most of his stuff is still in boxes. He does his best to make his home, now his new work space, more livable, even going so far as to create an Angkor Wat-like paradise on his balcony.

It's during this time of working from home that Nokoru meets his neighbor, Natsu, a grad student in archaeology. Nokoru soon finds himself thinking about Natsu a lot, looking forward to opportunities to talk to her and spend time with her, and trying, in his awkward way, to figure out if she's as interested in him as he is in her.

Oof, I loved this! Nokoru was very serious, prone to overthinking, and very analytical in his approach to everything. Meanwhile, Natsu was more relaxed, although she had some worries of her own. She tended to be bolder, for example, initiating their first kiss.

I had avoided this volume for a while because the description made it sound like more of a pandemic story than it actually was. Nokoru and Natsu's developing romance was such a delight to read, thankfully, that I found myself going back and rereading it immediately after finishing it. You could see the exhaustion gradually melting from Nokoru's eyes as his relationship with Natsu deepened and he began rethinking his priorities.

One of my favorite bits involved Nokoru trying to figure out how to arrange a date with Natsu without getting in the way of her studies or research. The result was PreliminaryProposal.xlsx, simultaneously the nerdiest and most adorable thing ever.

And it certainly didn't hurt that the art was great, too. Man, this makes me want to dig up my Sweat & Soap volumes and finally finish that series. Yamada's romances are so good!

Extras:

Translation notes and an afterword by the author that talks a bit about the creation of the volume.

REVIEW: This Inevitable Ruin (book) by Matt Dinniman

2026-07-12T23:34:58.830-05:00

This Inevitable Ruin is the 7th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, it's time for the 9th floor, the Faction Wars, in which the Syndicate corporations and governments can take direct part in the game, fighting against each other and conscripting crawlers to their teams. This time around, however, both the crawlers and the NPCs have their own armies and have a chance at winning as well.

This is guaranteed to be a book of gut-wrenching and emotional developments, as Carl finally gets the opportunity to meet former Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook authors (although he still can't talk about the book, which leads to some confusing moments for his fellow crawlers), and Katia and Donut must finally deal with the consequences of those warnings on the Enchanted Crown of the Sepsis Whore.

As good as some developments in this book were, this is probably my least favorite in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series thus far. I read this series for the individual characters and their journeys, the creative floor setups, Carl's (and others') ingenuity, and the chance to one day hopefully see Carl and Donut take the entire World Crawl system down. Unfortunately, the first half (large chunk? I didn't keep track of when, exactly, things went a bit more back to "normal") of this book was more of a war novel, with lots of troop movement information and larger actions that Carl and Donut weren't necessarily directly involved in. Thankfully, the "war novel" aspects did eventually let up some, allowing the book to get back to the stuff I cared about more, but it was the closest I've come to finding anything in this series to be a true slog.

In one of the earlier books, Carl got a peek at what battles can look like on the later floors, and it was such a titanic clash of combatants that he had a hard time imagining ever getting to that point himself. I'm somewhat concerned that, as the in-game fights get bigger and the scope of everything gets broader, the series will start to lose the charm and fun of the earlier books. Plus, there's the issue of just how dark Dinniman is going to go. I don't really want to see both Carl and Donut die, but I also don't want to see them become broken shells of their former selves like several other surviving former crawlers we've seen.

Crossing my fingers for the next book.

REVIEW: Down a Dark Hall (book) by Lois Duncan

2026-07-06T00:09:02.534-05:00

Down a Dark Hall is YA horror. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

Kit is about to go to an exclusive boarding school, Blackwood School for Girls. Ordinarily, she would have been excited, but she'd found out that her friend Tracy hadn't been accepted and had been dreading going ever since.

The school, which used to be a private residence, is impressive-looking, but Kit can't help but think of the word "evil" when she sees it. There's just something about it. She's one of the first arrivals, so she hopes that it'll feel more welcoming once the other girls are there. It's a shock when she learns that there are only three other students besides her: Sandy, who Kit instantly bonds with, and Ruth and Lynda, who'd previously gone to school together.

What makes the four of them so special that only they were accepted to this school? It's only the first of many questions Kit has about the school as more and more strange things happen.

I Know What You Did Last Summer may be Duncan's better known work, but I thought that this was a better book overall. I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere, and, while the ghost bits weren't unexpected, things did go in a different direction than I expected.

I didn't have the musical knowledge necessary to guess which composers Duncan might have been referencing, but I did have a few guesses as to authors, which added to the overall horror of the story.

One thing I should note: Kit had a crush on her piano teacher, who seemed to be developing feelings for her in turn. He was the youngest of the teachers, but still, he was an adult and her teacher, so there were a few red flags there. However, nothing ever happened between them.

REVIEW: Hit and Run (book) by R.L. Stine

2026-07-05T23:30:45.232-05:00

Hit and Run is YA horror originally published in 1992. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

This stars a group of teens: Cassie (a girl who has a sorta kinda crush on Scott, although she hates the way his laugh sounds), Scott (an all-around kind of guy, more of a follower than a leader), Eddie (timid, poor, and often picked on), and Winks (a prankster).

The group decides to go practice driving - illegally, since none of them have their licenses, but they figure it should be fine since they've picked a fairly empty stretch of road. It goes mostly okay until Eddie is behind the wheel and Winks pulls a mean prank on him, making him think something is in the road. The experience is clearly upsetting for Eddie, and yet it's Eddie who, not too much later, suggests that they all go out and practice again. It seems he wants to prove that he wasn't too scared that one time, although he does make Winks promise to behave himself.

When Eddie takes his turn driving, however, he really does hit someone this time. They drag the man to the side of the road and try to pretend it never happened, but then everybody but Scott starts to getting calls and messages, apparently from the dead man. Has he come back to get revenge, or is there something else going on?

Stine's efforts to hide the truth weren't very effective - I didn't guess how things were done (because who would do that, it was insane!), but it wasn't hard to tell who was likely behind it all.

Man, literally all the guys in this book were horrible human beings. Their "pranks" were all more examples of a gruesome lack of empathy than anything actually funny.

This was like I Know What You Did Last Summer, but with extra jerkishness. Also, this really did feel enough like Lois Duncan's book that I felt like R.L. Stine should have credited her as an influence.

REVIEW: Sōseki Nasume's I Am a Cat: The Manga Edition (manga) retold and illustrated by Chiroru Kobato, translated by Zack Davisson

2026-07-05T22:33:29.168-05:00

This is a manga adaptation of Sōseki Nasume's I Am a Cat, originally serialized between 1905 and 1906. I bought my copy new.

This review includes spoilers.

Review:

The whole thing is told from the point-of-view of an unnamed cat, who was found as a kitten and taken in by a teacher named Kushami. The cat observes the various goings on of Kushami's household. There's Meitei, a friend of Kushami's who likes to make things up just to see if Kushami will believe him. There's Mizushima Kangetsu, a former pupil of Kushami's, who has supposedly caught the eye of Kaneda Tomiko, the stuck up daughter of a businessman. Tomiko's mother has a nose so large that Kushami has nicknamed her Lady Nose.

The situation between Kangetsu, Tomiko, and Tomiko's parents is a bit of a mess, with Tomiko's mother only willing to accept Kangetsu as Tomiko's husband if he gets his doctorate. Meanwhile, Kangetsu is cheerfully dragging his feet. There is much joking about Tomiko's mother's large nose (and efforts to convince Kangetsu not to marry Tomiko, since her nose may eventually grow to match), not that Kangetsu seems all that interested in Tomiko in the first place.

I haven't read the original novel. From what I can tell online, it's considered a classic and is a satirical work that pokes fun at the lives of middle-class Japanese people during the Meiji era.

Unfortunately, Tuttle Publishing just let the work stand on its own, with no additional translator's notes or cultural notes. Just based on what I've read about the original novel on Wikipedia, I think this was a mistake. An additional section contextualizing the work and explaining certain sections would have been helpful.

Taken on its own, it's a manga with passable art (although the cat occasionally has legs short enough that he looked a bit like a Munchkin breed), a mildly ridiculous and also kind of boring story, and a few weirdly tragic moments. While the humans are off joking about noses and talking about marriage, one cat passes away from a sudden illness, and the POV cat gets drunk and drowns to death.

I suppose I like cats too much, and reading this for the cats is a bit like reading, say, Animal Farm for the animals. At any rate, I wasn't left with an urge to try the original book.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 9) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-07-05T21:39:24.824-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

This is the final volume. Although it does continue things on from the previous volume and wrap up a few loose ends, it feels a lot like a "bonus stories" volume.

First, Briddy and Amon are on their child-free vacation when they meet Ronan Kingsford, a cheerful noble who absolutely cannot take a hint. Amon is instantly jealous. Then there's a chapter on Anish and Tillai, as they start to want to play away from their parents' watchful eyes a bit more (with Amon once again feeling somewhat jealous, this time of his own children).

Then it's time for a flashback to when the Emperor first met Briddy's mother, and the time they spent together before Trije (still worried that his brother might become the next Emperor instead of him) agreed to leave Briddy's mother behind and marry someone more suitable. Then we get a Lucy POV section, as she gradually warms up to Lart over the years and falls in love with him. Then we check in to see how Adellai is doing in exile.

The volume wraps up with a light party scene in which Amon once again tries his best to keep Briddy's attention on him.

I actually think jealousy storylines can be fun, depending on how they're handled and as long as they're sparingly used. Amon getting his hackles up around Ronan was kind of amusing, since it was more Amon having an issue with the incredibly dense Ronan than him having an issue with Briddy talking to Ronan. But then there were scenes, multiple scenes, in which Amon was jealous of his own kids.

Look, I get it, having kids changes things and shifts priorities. It's ok for Amon to want some alone time with Briddy, and the volume played it all for laughs. That said, they're kids. I'm not really a fan of the whole "grown men jealous of their own kids" bit. It could have been worse - I have a family member whose husband (now ex-husband, thank goodness) was jealous of the attention she gave their sick child, and Amon was at least able to get his head out of his butt enough to keep an eye on his kids and want to keep them safe. But it still irked me that Amon literally spent days in his kitten form just so that he could get more of Briddy's attention, while she presumably was left doing most of the parenting on her own.

The flashback with Briddy's parents helped to sort of clear up some questions I still had about them (I do wish Briddy's mom had chosen to move on rather than pine for a man she knew would never come back for her).

It was a little weird to see Adellai so sane after she spent all those volumes very much not. I suppose the series never fully disproved my idea that that key was part of what made her go crazy, but it didn't confirm it either.

All in all, this final volume was so-so. It definitely wrapped everything up, but I wish a few things had been done better.

Extras:

Several pages of "congratulations on finishing the series" artwork by people who I'm assuming were assistants working with Yeoseulki.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 8) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-07-05T20:55:05.954-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Now it's time for the final conflict against Barahan, complete with sacrifices and sadness.

Even though I knew that things would probably be resolved in a positive way, this was definitely a more emotional volume, with both Briddy and Amon making sacrifices that they weren't necessarily guaranteed to recover from.

I was a little confused about the boy, Louis. Were we supposed to know him? Was he in some way related to Joseph?

And why would anyone in their right mind ask a human to babysit some divine beasts when there are literally adult divine beasts who could have been asked to take on the task instead? I get that it gave the author a chance to inject some humor into the volume, but it really didn't make sense to me.

One more volume left. Although things feel pretty wrapped up already, it'll be nice to get a little more closure with all the characters.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 7) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-07-05T20:36:36.615-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Briddy realizes that Adellai has found the descendant of Barahan and must be stopped, but Lart convinces her to let him try to appeal to her first. Unfortunately for him, Adellai is pretty deeply messed up by this point, and Joseph is beginning to be more directly influenced by Barahan (yes, the literal god).

We've now started the big confrontation that this series has been building up to for a while, and a metric crap-ton of things happen at once. Amon basically has to be everywhere, while simultaneously bleeding all over the place.

How did Briddy get that sword?? It basically appeared out of thin air, so, magic, I guess?

This volume was a lot messier than I expected it to be. Between Adellai, Barahan, and Philip, the villains were just piling up.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 6) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-07-01T23:48:59.702-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

There's a party to celebrate peace with the divine beasts, so Amon learns etiquette and dancing. It'll be a masquerade party, supposedly so that humans and divine beasts can mingle with less awkwardness - I assume the divine beasts, at least will know exactly who's human and who isn't, so I guess this is probably more for the human attendees than anything.

In addition to the party, we get more of Briddy's visions about Rafiyan (the goddess who was supposedly killed by a black divine beast, but who actually wasn't) and Barahan (the god who was jealous of Rafiyan's powers).

Lots of forward movement in this volume, with enough time left in the series to actually deal with it all. All of Briddy's dream stuff is finally coming together, and yay, Amon finally proposes to Briddy!

I loved getting to see all the divine beasts we'd previously only seen in cat form in their human forms. Shanti was kind of a himbo.

The key that Adellai was given in the previous volume seems to be connected to Barahan's sword, so I wonder if the key is part of what turned Adellai from ambitious and driven to outright crazy?

REVIEW: We Are Definitely Human (book) by X. Fang

2026-07-01T23:27:09.469-05:00

We Are Definitely Human is a children's picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Mr. Li is woken up one night by the sound of a crash near his house. When he goes outside to investigate, he finds three blue beings who claim they are Europeans whose car broke down. Mr. Li, being a kind human, gives the strangers a place to stay for the night until the stores open in the morning and they can get supplies to fix their car.

Ok, this was delightful. The cover and title indicated that this would probably be a funny book, and it definitely was. There were some great moments as the "Europeans" did their best to fit in.

This was also a really sweet book on the whole, with an example of a small, rural town that is kind and welcoming towards some strangers in need. Even if these strangers are a little stranger than usual.

The last page was perfect and had me laughing. I don't have a child to read this to, but I suspect kids would enjoy this. This adult certainly did.

REVIEW: Cozy Days: The Art of Iraville (nonfiction book) by Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde

2026-06-30T23:59:14.677-05:00

Cozy Days: The Art of Iraville is an art book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I'm not sure I'd ever seen this artist's work prior to getting this art book. What led to me picking it up was the lovely landscape on the cover. Those are the kinds of colors I tend to gravitate towards when I'm picking out yarn, too.

This book includes several galleries of Iraville's artwork (organized into five sections: people, landscapes, animals, buildings, and plants) with chapters on her workspace, tips, painting process, and the steps for how she makes her own watercolors and watercolor sketchbooks in between. There's also some peeks into her sketchbooks, and information about how she creates homemade paper stretchers.

I never got very far on working with watercolor, and also never really had the patience to properly work in layers. It always impresses me what people who actually know what they're doing can accomplish. This artist's illustrations of people tended to look mysterious and a little haunting, but I particularly loved her landscapes and animals.

"Cozy" is definitely the right word for the bulk of Iraville's artwork. I really enjoyed looking through this. Her "how to" sections were a little daunting - they had step-by-step instructions and pictures, but I'd probably still need to watch videos before I felt at all confident trying any of it myself. Still, the sketchbook part has me tempted, if only because it'd be cool to sew together my own book and probably (?) wouldn't require me to get much in the way of supplies just to try it out.

REVIEW: Super Mario Manga Mania (manga) story and art by Yukio Sawada, translated by Caleb Cook

2026-06-30T23:25:13.429-05:00

Super Mario Manga Mania is a tie-in manga based on various Mario games. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This features a selection of stories from the long-running Super Mario-kun manga. They each tie in with various Mario games, including Paper Mario, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. So...basically a whole manga's worth of stories based on games I've never played.

That said, there were footnotes that explained the basic stories of the games, so I wasn't totally lost, although I might possibly have appreciated the volume more if I'd actually played any of the games referenced.

The Mario of this manga was a little gremlin of a guy who was only willing to do things if there was some benefit for him (although he wasn't meant to be a bad guy, just kind of childish, which makes sense since the manga is aimed primarily at kids). The stories were decent enough, although I didn't find them particularly memorable, and the humor was so-so. The art was good - all the characters were recognizable, and the action was easy to follow.

The final story in the volume was a bit more somber and personal, touching on Sawada's difficulties with having to produce funny stories for the series even while his own father became sick and passed away. I can only imagine how hard it must be to still do creative work, especially comedic creative work, when life is trying to flatten you.

Extras:

Several comments throughout from Yukio Sawada.

REVIEW: Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia: The Official Guide to the First 30 Years, 1985-2015 (nonfiction book) translated by William Flanagan and Zack Davisson

2026-06-30T17:17:09.127-05:00

Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book covers 17 Super Mario games in depth, each section including the game's basic story, features, playable characters, allies, enemies, an overview of all worlds and courses, info on items and obstacles, and a list of some memorable moments and some helpful gameplay tips and techniques. The end of the book includes a lengthy timeline of all games from 1984-2015 with some sort of connection to Mario (even if it's just via Donkey Kong, or a brief cameo in the artwork somewhere). There are also full-page columns throughout on topics like spin-off games, remakes, anniversary events, and more.

I know for a fact that my family had a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was growing up, and I think we might have had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although I'm not 100% sure about that. After that, that was pretty much the end of my direct experience with Nintendo and its games until I picked up a Nintendo Switch during the pandemic.

This had a lot more detail crammed into it than I expected, and even with the large page-size, all those tiny pictures and text could be a bit overwhelming. I read the entries for the first few games that I had memories of playing more thoroughly than a lot of the later ones.

I found myself unreasonably angry on behalf of my child self while reading the "helpful hints & techniques" section for the first Super Mario Bros. game. Child Me would have really appreciated those tips, darn it, and now it's well past the time I can make use of any of them.

The Super Mario Bros. 2 (called Super Mario USA in Japan) section was a weird reading experience. The images of the vegetables, particularly the turnips, instantly gave me flashbacks of playing the game, which I'd previously completely forgotten about.

All in all, this was an interesting enough read, although it felt more like a combination of an ad and game guide than an encyclopedia. Its focus is on Japanese and US release info (the timeline is organized according to US release dates if the game was released in both US and Japan), so if you're interested in release info in other areas of the world you're out of luck.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 5) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-06-30T16:35:01.581-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Adellai's attempt to have Briddy killed may have painted her into a corner. She wasn't successful, the Dehill siblings are found out and confess, and they could soon provide proof of Adellai's involvement. She does her best to clean up her mess, but things still aren't going well for her, and now the people around her (Philip, Joseph, etc.) could all potentially lead to her downfall. Meanwhile, Joseph has finally started demonstrating some freaky powers.

Wow, several characters make some really bone-headed decisions in this volume. Why? Why would you directly confront someone who you know is almost certainly crazy??

Briddy is becoming a bit more ruthless in her defense of those she loves, so that's something.

On a random note, I'm glad that the translator has finally started using "a royal" instead of "a royalty." That always irked me in previous volumes.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 4) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Teava, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-06-30T16:12:04.259-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Amon goes to the Emperor and essentially arranges to be engaged to Briddy, not that she knows (he doesn't want her to be forced into it, which...okay...but it'd be nice for her to be part of the convo). Lart, who is now completely all in on Lucy, figures that this will help make things more peaceful when he's the Emperor. Meanwhile, Adellai is becoming more and more unhinged. She finds Joseph, a descendant of Barahan, and, with Philip's help (which I'm much more suspicious about than she is), arranges to magically control him. Then she makes an attempt on Briddy's life while Briddy is on a trip away from Amon's protection.

We have another Barahan-related dream in this volume. This one makes it look like the black divine beast didn't actually kill the goddess who looks suspiciously like Briddy, but was instead just there at the time of her death. A mystery... We also get a flashback to the Emperor's relationship with Briddy's mom (how in the hell did he manage to live with her for a year without anybody making him go back home??).

Philip doesn't seem like the type to tie himself too firmly to someone as obviously crazed as Adellai, but I suppose we'll see.

Lart was so awful as a kid, but now I really like how supportive he is of Lucy in the face of other nobles' rudeness.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 3) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Teava, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-06-30T15:44:33.471-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Briddy still thinks Amon has a crush on Lucy, but she feels better about pursuing him now, after learning that Lucy prefers Lart. Meanwhile, Adellai is making her own moves in the background, with the goal of eventually taking the throne herself, with the Emperor's blessing. What Adellai doesn't realize is that the Emperor is simultaneously pursuing a more peaceful path forward with the divine beasts, hoping that Briddy being on friendly terms with Amon is the key there. Meanwhile, Philip is back and nosing around Briddy.

Ugh, I'm so easy. My heart turned to mush when Amon said Briddy "hunted" and caught him during the hunt portion of this volume. It seems like everyone knows that Amon is in love with Briddy but Briddy herself.

Lart is a giant dork ("oh Lucy, we can have one of your family's mares breed with my might steed" - dude). I'm iffy about the political stuff and Briddy's dreams about all that past stuff with the gods, but the romance aspects of this series are cute.

REVIEW: The A.I. Who Loved Me (book) by Alyssa Cole

2026-06-01T02:27:44.642-05:00

The A.I. Who Loved Me is sci-fi romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Trinity Jordan is a data analyst for the Hive (a massive futuristic employer that also seems to have a company town kind of situation going on), on leave while she recovers from a traumatic incident that left her with a knee injury, a spotty memory, and occasional panic attacks. She keeps busy by acting as a HiveDrive conductor (a person who remotely drives seemingly driverless cars) and spending time with her two best friends, Ru and Yana. She has zero interest in getting into a relationship with anyone...or so she thinks, right up until she meets her neighbor Dr. Zhang's nephew, Li Wei, who's visiting while he recovers from a traumatic incident of his own.

Li Wei is hot, frequently shirtless, and has issues with social interaction. There's also something about him that Trinity finds oddly reassuring. When Dr. Zhang has a medical emergency, Trinity takes it upon herself to check up on Li Wei...who is not, actually, a flesh-and-blood human but rather a highly advanced AI.

There were more highly advanced AI and robots in this than just Li Wei - T.I.M., Dr. Zhang's cat, featured fairly prominently, and Penny, the home artificial intelligence personal assistant for Trinity's apartment complex, was delightful. There were also some intriguing (and horrifying) sci-fi world-building details here and there, although this primarily took place in an apartment complex that, apart from Penny, didn't feel all that different from what you might encounter in contemporary-set fiction.

Human-AI/robot romance can occasionally feel a bit icky with respect to consent. Without getting too spoilery, Cole managed to avoid that issue with some aspects of Li Wei's programming and origins.

For the most part, I enjoyed this, even as the last part of it gave me emotional whiplash. It read like Cole maybe intended to continue it on as a series, likely with various side characters getting starring roles and their own romances. I'd definitely be interested in reading more.

REVIEW: Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction (nonfiction book) by Gabrielle Moss

2026-06-01T01:45:39.098-05:00

Paperback Crush is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I read this primarily for the nostalgic feelings, and it delivered.

Moss takes a broad look at '80s and '90s YA fiction, mostly the stuff that only ever got cheap paperback releases, organizing the book approximately according to topic trends (romance, friendship, family, school, jobs, "issue" books, supernatural horror, and more). There are a few author interviews, as well as some more in-depth mentions of certain publishers or imprints, and sections on topics such as cover art creation. The book's tone is breezy and conversational - this is an easy and fun read illustrated with lots of cover art.

This was simultaneously a trip down memory lane and a lesson in the vast amounts of YA lit I tended to avoid when I was a teen (a lot of the realistic fiction stuff, soapy family dramas, etc.). This book probably covered more authors and specific works I'd never read than stuff I had, and yet the bulk of it somehow got me right in the nostalgia anyway. Maybe it was all that cover art? And man, the cover of the book itself certainly tries to check as many boxes as it can: the font, the frame, gymnastics and ice skating posters, a group of girls (in which "diversity" = one is blonde, one is a brunette, one maybe has red hair, and all three are white), random ballet shoes, and an even more random actual horse poking its head into the bedroom.

There's a lot of affection for '80s and '90s YA fiction here, but also criticism (issues with diverse representation, approaches to serious topics that were either sensationalized or overly sanitized, etc.), which Moss would often address by discussing some of the exceptions to the rule as well as the more blatant missteps.

I go through occasional periods of wanting to do some nostalgia-inspired reading, and this book may have brought on another bout. In addition to being reminded of some of my teen faves likes Christopher Pike and Lurlene McDaniel (gah, for shame, I know), I found out about a lot of authors and particular works that probably would have drawn Teen Me had I known about them.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 2) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Teava, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-05-26T01:12:35.659-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

The characters are aged up near the start of this volume - according to the profiles in the previous volume, Amon is now about 18 and Briddy is about 20. Briddy has gradually gained more of her father's favor, much to his wife and Adellai's displeasure. Lart, meanwhile, feels like he's losing out on the royal heir front. He's trying to gain control over his temper, both to do better as his father's son and because he's developed a crush on Lucy, Briddy's lady-in-waiting.

Meanwhile, Briddy thinks Amon has a crush on Lucy, and she's upset about it but blind enough to her own feelings that she's unsure why.

Okay, I'm getting more into this series now.

Adellai is still a schemer who sucks, but I'm guessing Lart will redeem himself at some point and marry Lucy.

Now we've got a bit of jealousy on Briddy's side, but because she's the shining heroine, she isn't horrible towards Lucy because of it. And what can I say, I kind of enjoy the "Idiots in Love" trope. While it remains to be seen whether Amon will become annoyingly jealous and overbearing later on in the series, for now I like that he wants to support Briddy and help her overcome the lingering fears she still has due to the abuse she suffered in the past.

Extras:

Character profiles for Adellai and Lart.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 1) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Teava, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

2026-05-26T00:41:10.216-05:00

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

A young girl named Blondina who was raised in poverty learns that her father is the Emperor of Ates. This only improves her life in terms of food and shelter - otherwise, her father and siblings seem to hate her. Her only friends are her lady-in-waiting and a talking cat she comes across, named Amon, who turns out to actually be a young Divine Leopard.

First off, Blondina is a horrible name. Amon uses her nickname, Briddy, so that's what I'm going with from here on out too.

The politics in this is somewhat confusing. The Emperor wants a golden-haired, golden-eyed girl so that he can use her to somehow subjugate the Divine Leopards, with whom the humans currently have an uneasy truce. Because both humans and Divine Leopards are for some reason against black Divine Leopards??

Briddy gets along with Amon so quickly and easily that it seems possible that she's still the girl of legend that her father is looking for, despite having silver eyes rather than golden.

Briddy's new siblings suck - Lart is a bully with no control over his emotions, and Adellai is a little schemer. Amon is super flirty, considering he's only 9 years old, and he seems to be a fairly manipulative and jealous type, which could turn out to be a big issue once the romance storyline really gets going.

The artwork is decent, though, and Amon in his cat form is very cute.

Extras:

Character profiles for Briddy and Amon.

REVIEW: Grave Message (book) by Mary Jennifer Payne

2026-05-26T00:02:46.388-05:00

Grave Message is a YA mystery. I bought my copy new.

Review:

It's been exactly a year since Jaylin's best friend, Fatima, was hit by a car and killed. Jaylin's intending to go home and study, like she does pretty much all the time now, when she suddenly gets a text...from Fatima. She assumes it's some kind of sick prank, but then whoever it is texts again. They seem to know things only Fatima would know, and they want her to find out the truth about the night Fatima died.

Another Orca book intended for reluctant readers.

This was very brief and a little too simple. It could have been even simpler if the texts had just told Jaylin exactly what to do right from the start, or even just right after she visited her and Fatima's favorite spot.

There's a part early on that reveals that Jaylin has dyslexia and that she hasn't told her boyfriend about it. Absolutely nothing comes of this.

I liked the emotional aspects - Jaylin and Fatima's friendship, dealing with grief, the bit with Ann - but I wish there'd been more to this.

REVIEW: Bury Your Gays (book) by Chuck Tingle

2026-05-25T23:39:59.421-05:00

Bury Your Gays is horror. I bought my copy new.

This review includes slight spoilers.

Review:

Most would call Misha a successful screenwriter. He just got an Oscar nomination for a live action short film of his, and he has a popular long-running streaming series. Things are different now than when he was a kid, watching his favorite TV show and seeing the queer subtext he knew was there get stomped out. He has a wonderful boyfriend, and he's spent his whole career making the kind of queer movies and shows he'd have liked to see when he was younger.

Unfortunately, Hollywood is ruled by numbers and greed, and the numbers are telling his studio's board that it would be best if he either cut the romance brewing between the two female main characters in his show, or only allow them to kiss if one of them then gets killed off. Misha has no intention of choosing either option, although this will likely lead to a legal battle between him and his studio.

It's horrible, infuriating, and stressful. Then events rapidly recalibrate what Misha defines as "stressful." He witnesses a man being killed by a falling piano only a few feet away. He's approached by what he initially thinks is a fan cosplaying as one of the creepy monsters he once wrote...but the makeup and special effects are a little too good. Then things happen that couldn't possibly be set up by even a handful of rabid fans.

The monsters were wonderfully creepy (I particularly loved the lamb), but the horror here turned out to be a lot more than a few eldritch horrors run amok. As Misha tried to figure out how to keep himself and his friends from being killed by monsters and curses that he himself wrote, there were flashbacks that showed the inspiration for the current-day horrors in Misha's past. The bit with Uncle Keith, while completely bloodless, was so intense I had to take a break partway through. And this is in a book that features a literal on-page torture scene. (I had to take a break during that scene too. Yeesh.)

I figured out some of what was going on with the monsters fairly early on, but that in no way ruined things for me, because my mind didn't make the full leap to the ice cold motivation behind everything, and just how far it went.

I got a kick out of the way Tingle essentially weaponized asexual invisibility - three cheers for Tara! Zeke, on the other hand, seemed a little too perfect and just...there. But that's a fairly nitpicky complaint about a book that I, on the whole, really enjoyed.