Book Review | Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Posted May 12, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.

Among the hostages are not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes, wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks into months.

With the omniscience of magic realism, Ann Patchett flits in and out of the hearts and psyches of hostage and terrorist alike, and in doing so reveals a profound, shared humanity. Her voice is suitably lyrical, melodic, full of warmth and compassion.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #17: Author’s bio mentions their dog)

The Reason

It’s a reread, and the BOTM for my in-person bookclub.

The Quotes

“It was never the right time or it was always the right time, depending on how you looked at it.”

“Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. Don’t you think? It is a kind of talent in itself, to be an audience, whether you are the spectator in the gallery or you are listening to the voice of the world’s greatest soprano. Not everyone can be the artist. There have to be those who witness the art, who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see.”

“For a man to know what he has when he had it, that is what makes him a fortunate man.”

“If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else. Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.”

The Narrator(s)

Anna Fields. It was good, I find that the best narrators are the ones who make me forget I’m listening to an audiobook and just get me immersed in the story.

My Thoughts

I read this book for the first time many years ago and it has stuck with me. I didn’t remember a single detail about the story itself but I have always remembered how it made me feel. This time around I thought I was prepared for the feels, but honestly, I might have expected it but I was still not prepared for it.

A lot of the details of the story surprised me this time around, and there were parts where I wondered at how realistic a scenario like this could be. I did have to turn on my suspension of belief, but after that, focusing on the story and the characters, it was just beautiful writing. The way the author writes about the passion for music, the way passion for something brings people together, the ways people find connection with each other. I fell in love with all of it.

Reading it again objectively, I can see the flaws in the story and there are definitely parts that I don’t like and felt were unnecessary. However, it’s so easy to get lost in the story and the writing, and you can’t help but want to know more about the characters. It’s still a wonderful journey the second time around.

My Rating

4/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , ,

Book Review | Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Posted May 12, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1805—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the Republican equivalent of a Kennedy? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a brutal reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #38: Domestic fiction)

The Reason

The hype. I’m sorry, but the hype got me! I’m seeing this book everywhere, and everything people are saying about it had gotten me so intrigued!

The Quotes

“The way some women so willingly compromised every ounce of themselves in the name of building a life for themselves that they didn’t enjoy.”

“All men wanted to become legends. It was so embarrassing.”

“The goal of an influencer is not to be lovable, and it is not to be unbearable. The goal is to be both at once. In other words: addicting.”

“And please give my husband a spine. I’m tired of him needing to borrow mine.”

My Thoughts

This book has gotten me so confused I don’t know if I loved it or hated it. I don’t know what to feel about the MC, Natalie, because she’s completely unrelatable for me and sort of encompasses everything in a person I dislike – she’s entitled, inconsiderate, smug, judgmental, delusional… But at the same time, I can’t help but feel a bit of compassion for her. How scared must you be inside, to be this kind of person outside.

To be fair, she’s had people fail her as well. Her mom, her husband, her in-laws, but she could’ve made a dozen different choices at different points in her life and she just kept choosing to pretend everything was all good on the outside. And at the end of it all, none of it excuses the person she chose to be.

This book was an absolutely fascinating character study. I don’t like Natalie, I don’t relate to her, I don’t understand her, I don’t want to know her, I can’t excuse any of the things she said, or did, or believe, but I do feel sorry for her and I wonder about what goes on inside her head and why. This book doesn’t give me any of those answers and I still don’t know if I liked it, but I do think it’s very well-written and well worth the read.

My Rating

4/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review | Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

Posted May 11, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

A man must fight for his planet against impossible odds when gamers from Earth attempt to remotely annihilate it in this epic, fast-paced novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl.

All colonist Oliver Lewis ever wanted to do is run the family ranch with his sister, maybe play a gig or two with his band, and keep his family’s aging fleet of intelligent agriculture bots ticking as long as possible. As a fan of Earth television and culture, he figures it will be a good thing when the transfer gate finally opens all the way and restores instant travel and full communication between Earth and his planet, New Sonora. But there’s a complication.

Even though the settlers were promised they’d be left in peace, Earth’s government now has other plans. The colossal Apex Corporation is hired to commence an “eviction action.” But maximizing profits will always be Apex’s number one priority. Why spend money printing and deploying their own AI soldiers when they can turn it into a game? Why not charge bored Earthers for the opportunity to design their own war machines and remotely pilot them from the comfort of their own homes?

The game is called Operation Bounce House.

Oliver and his friends soon find themselves fighting for their lives against machines piloted by gamers who’ve paid a premium for the privilege. With the help of an old book from his grandfather and a bucket of rusty parts, Oliver is determined to defend the only home he’s ever known.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #6: Title starts with the letter “O”)

The Reason

I love Dungeon Crawler Carl, so of course!

The Quotes

“Don’t pass your responsibilities on to others unless absolutely necessary. Do not take on the responsibilities of others unless doing so is an act of kindness.”

“Miserable people are fond of laying blame on someone else for their problems.”

“It is the one thing I admire about humans the most: the ability to compartmentalize.”

The Narrator(s)

Travis Baldree. Jeff Hays. I don’t know what it is because so many people have said they enjoy Travis Baldree as a narrator but I have a hard time with his narration. I’ve listened to one of his Legends & Lattes books that he narrates and I enjoyed the story but I can’t pinpoint what it is about his voice that grates on me. Jeff Hays’ parts were great for me though!

My Thoughts

I got so lucky with this audiobook because I thought I was going to have to wait ages for it but it was available as a skip-the-line loan and I immediately jumped on it! It’s no Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it was still really good and I enjoyed it very much. I also think I might’ve enjoyed it more if it was narrated by someone else, I honestly don’t know why I have a problem with Baldree’s narration.

The story itself has all the elements of everything I love in the DCC series; found family – which everyone knows I love, a motley crew of very different people coming together to fight for something they were thrust into, help from somewhat artificial intelligent beings who have abilities the MCs don’t, unreasonable enemies who want ridiculous things… It’s a recipe for a great book with a great plot and great characters!

It has also made me nostalgic for the DCC world and Jeff Hays’ narration, and I’m still debating about the best time to dive back into rereading the series before starting on Book 8! Just a few days left! I might just read Book 8 immediately and then start over after!

My Rating

4/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review | Stiff by Mary Roach

Posted May 11, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Stiff by Mary Roach

Mary Roach takes the age-old question, “What happens to us after we die?” quite literally. And in Stiff, she explores the “lives” of human cadavers from the time of the ancient Egyptians all the way up to current campaigns for human composting. Along the way, she recounts with morbidly infectious glee how dead bodies are used for research ranging from car safety and plastic surgery (you’ll cancel your next collagen injection after reading this!), to the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.

Impossible (and irreverent) as it may sound, Roach has written a book about corpses that’s both lively and fresh. She traveled around the globe to conduct her forensic investigations, and her findings are wryly intelligent. While the myriad uses for cadavers recounted are often graphic, Roach imbues her subject with a sense of dignity, choosing to emphasize the oddly noble purposes corpses serve, from organ donation to lifesaving medical research.

Readers will come away convinced of the enormous debt that we, the living, owe to the study of the remains of the dead. And while it may not offer the answer to the ancient mystery we were hoping for, Stiff offers a strange sort of comfort in the knowledge that, in a sense, death isn’t necessarily the end.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

The Reason

This book has the honor of being one of the oldest books on my TBR. I bought a copy not long after it came out about 20 years ago, and I had even started reading it a few times but it never stuck. I no longer have my original copy but I have finally read it!

The Quotes

“We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget.”

“You are a person and then you cease to be a person, and a cadaver takes your place.”

“Many people will find this book disrespectful. There is nothing amusing about being dead, they will say. Ah, but there is.”

“I guess I feel the same way about being a corpse. Why lie around on your back when you can do something interesting and new, something useful?”

The Narrator(s)

Shelly Frasier. It was great, no complaints!

My Thoughts

I don’t know why it took me so long to read this book. It’s not for the lack of interest, I think, but rather taking it for granted when I had it on my shelves, and then forgetting about it when I no longer had it. I finally read it now, after so many years, because I happened to be on a nonfiction binge and it was one of the books available immediately on Libby.

As had been promised all these years, it was fascinating and I loved it! I was afraid that it might feel a little dated as I had read other more recently published books about death and dead bodies since this book was first published, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I still learned a lot of interesting information, and got quite morbidly curious about the part where she talks about cannibalism.

I don’t think I personally care what happens to my body after I die, I actually love the idea of being useful after I’m dead, but I do worry about possible cases of jumping the gun on harvesting organs from a person before they are dead. It doesn’t apply to me because I’m not a candidate for organ donation but it’s still disturbing that it has happened and can happen.

All in all, this was a great read, and would you believe it, my first Mary Roach book! She’s been a TBR author of mine for so long, I didn’t realize I haven’t actually read a single book until this one. I’m definitely looking out to read more from her.

My Rating

4/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , ,

Book Review | The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Posted May 1, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

The virus kills nine out of ten of its victims so quickly and gruesomely that even biohazard experts are terrified. It is airborne, it is extremely contagious, and it is about to burn through the suburbs of a major American city. Is there any way to stop it?

In the winter of 1989, at an Army research facility outside Washington, D.C., this doomsday scenario seemed like a real possibility. A SWAT team of soldiers and scientists wearing biohazard space suits had been organized to stop the outbreak of an exotic “hot” virus. The grim operation went on in secret for eighteen days, under dangerous conditions for which there was no precedent.

The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story in depth for the first time, giving an absolutely hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their “crashes” into the human race. From a remote jungle cave festering with deadly organisms, to an airplane over Africa that is carrying a sick passenger who dissolves into a human virus bomb, to the confines of a Biosafety Level 4 military lab where scientists risk their lives studying lethal substances that could kill them quickly and horribly, The Hot Zone describes situations that a few years ago would have been taken for science fiction. As the tropical wildernesses of the world are destroyed, previously unknown viruses that have lived undetected in the rain forest for eons are entering human populations. The appearance of AIDS is part of the pattern, and the implications for the future of the human species are terrifying.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD: TBD)

The Reason

It’s been on my TBR forever but I kept putting it off. People keep praising it though so I couldn’t put it off anymore!

The Quotes

“In biology, nothing is clear, everything is too complicated, everything is a mess, and just when you think you understand something, you peel off a layer and find deeper complications beneath. Nature is anything but simple.”

“To mess around with Ebola is an easy way to die. Better to work with something safer, such as anthrax.”

“You can’t fight off Ebola the way you fight off a cold. Ebola does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to accomplish.”

“The rain forest has its own defenses. The earth’s immune system, so to speak, has recognized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite. Perhaps AIDS is the first step in a natural process of clearance.”

The Narrator(s)

Richard M. Davidson. Really good, no notes.

My Thoughts

For some reason, I thought this was going to be a dry nonfiction read (maybe because of the cover!) but it turned out to be so well-written and reads like an actual horror/thriller novel. I had no idea Ebola and Marburg were so deadly. I knew they made you sick, of course, but I thought of them the way I would’ve thought about malaria, or dengue; dangerous and sometimes fatal but not incurable! And what a horrible way to go!

The issues with how the monkeys were handled, how information was shared, and how everything was cleaned up, have got me feeling torn because on the one hand, there were so many unethical practices, on the other, I have no idea what I would do if I was in that position. I’d probably be in denial too if I thought I had been exposed to an incurable virus that would eventually lead to a horrible, gory death for me.

One of the sentiments I found most interesting from the book is how viruses like Ebola and Marburg are the “predators” of humans, to cull humans when we become so overpopulated and start encroaching into animal habitats, and you know what, that’s actually really fair. We like to think we’re at the top of the food chain but we’re really not, and these tiny microscopic viruses will prove it to us any time we start thinking otherwise. I do not like the thought, but it’s what will keep me humble and wary of too much outdoor activity! I loved this book but I have decided I’m going to be a stay-at-home bookworm forever.

My Rating

5/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review | Glass Library Series by C.J. Archer

Posted May 1, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Glass Library Series by C.J. Archer

A librarian with a mysterious past, a war hero with a secret, and the heist of a magic painting. THE LIBRARIAN OF CROOKED LANE is an intriguing new fantasy from C.J. Archer, the USA Today bestselling author of the Glass and Steele series.

Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she’s descended from magicians, she’s skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she’s just an ordinary girl who loves books. She seeks the truth from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won’t be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.

War hero Gabe is gifted with wealth, a loving family, and an incredible amount of luck that saw him survive four harrowing years of a brutal war without injury. But not all injuries are visible. Burying himself in his work as a consultant for Scotland Yard, Gabe is going through the motions as he investigates the theft of a magician-made painting. But his life changes when he unwittingly gets Sylvia dismissed from her job and places her in danger.

After securing her new employment in a library housing the world’s greatest collection of books about magic, Gabe and Sylvia’s lives become intwined as they work together to find both the painting and the truth about Sylvia’s past before powerful people can stop them.

But sometimes the past is better left buried…

The Reason

The whole series was on sale in Audible and I thought I’d give it a try.

The Quotes

“A hidden passage inside a library? Have you been reading my childhood diary and discovered all my favorite things?”

“Nobody could make anyone believe something they didn’t want to, no matter how compelling.”

The Narrator(s)

Marian Hussey. She was perfect for the whole series. I enjoyed her narration immensely!

My Thoughts

Book 1 – The Librarian of Crooked Lane
Book 2 – The Medici Manuscript
Book 3 – The Untitled Books
Book 4 – The Dead Letter Delivery
Book 5 – Secrets of the Lost Ledgers
Book 6 – The Journal of a Thousand Years

I had never heard of the books nor the author, but I love bookish books and the titles of the books and series drew me in immediately. The whole series was on sale and a preliminary search of the books made me feel good about an impulse buy. I wasn’t disappointed, it was such an enjoyable series! I especially loved the pacing and the way the stories flowed from one book to the next. To the point where it makes it hard for me to talk about the books one by one (which I initially wanted to do) because I don’t remember where a plot ended and another began, so I’ll just talk about all of them as a whole.

Apparently, this series is a spin-off from the Glass and Steele series by the same author. I was initially interested in reading them too but there are 13 books in the series, and unless I get lucky with another sale, I don’t think I’ll be doing that!

As for this series, they give me dark academia meets magical fantasy meets historical romance vibes. I loved how we get to know the characters more with each book and how their relationship progressions grow naturally. There are references to things that I assumed happen in the Glass and Steele series but doesn’t leave us with questions in this series and, as far as I know, doesn’t seem to spoil the Glass and Steele series.

I listened to the whole series on audio, one right after the other, and I thought it was just the perfect series to listen to during a time where I couldn’t be a hundred percent focused. It was light-hearted and easy to follow, yet also interesting and thrilling enough to keep my attention throughout all six books. I loved the whole experience and I was transported into another world for a wonderful time.

My Rating

4/5 stars.

Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , ,

Monthly Wrap Up | April 2026

Posted May 1, 2026 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 6 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

April 2026 Wrap Up

As expected, April was another busy month and quite disorganized, to be honest. But the good news is that I’m getting more exercise; I’ve been getting up early almost every morning to run and/or go to the gym, and so far it’s sticking! Fingers crossed!

The other good news is that I actually managed to get a lot of books read because of all the exercising, through audiobooks! Out of the 15 books I read this month, 14 were audiobooks! That would be sad except that I know I’d have read significantly fewer books this month if it weren’t for the audiobooks, so you know what? I’ll focus on the good and be grateful for them!

Still, I do miss the printed books and I’ll try to make time for focused reading in May.

My April 2026 TBR Intentions

I played it safe and only listed three, and finished them all! Yay!

  1. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
  2. Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett
  3. Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett

Books Read in April 2026

  1. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
  2. Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett
  3. Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett
  4. Radium Girls by Kate Moore
  5. Into the Wild by Job Krakauer
  6. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
  7. The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer
  8. The Medici Manuscript by C.J. Archer
  9. The Untitled Books by C.J. Archer
  10. The Dead Letter Delivery by C.J. Archer
  11. Secrets of the Lost Ledgers by C.J. Archer
  12. The Journal of A Thousand Years by C.J. Archer
  13. Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
  14. Educated by Tara Westover
  15. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Notable Book(s) This Month

The nonfiction were the standouts this month!

The Radium Girls and Educated had me feeling all kinds of feelings. For different reasons, of course. The Radium Girls was devastating on a “where-is-the-humanity?!” level, but Educated touched me on a personal level.

The Hot Zone was very good too, in a scary, horrifying way. I learned more than I wanted to about the terrifying and painful ways we puny humans can die, and I don’t know what to do with this.

I’ve been on such a nonfiction binge though, which is great. There are still so many books on my 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge TBR, and I’m adding more every day!

May 2026 TBR Intentions

Okay soooooooo…. Book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, A Parade of Horribles, is coming out on May 12th! I have already pre-ordered it and I am very excited to read it, but not before rereading Books 1 through 7 again… Which means the series is probably going to take up my whole month, or I have to be more patient and space them out while I read other books in between, or I have to forget about rereading the previous books and just read Book 8.

I haven’t decided! But I do have to read the other books below as well, for bookclub obligations and other reasons!

  1. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
  2. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
  3. Stiff by Mary Roach
  4. Rage Becomes Her by Soraya Chemaly

How was your month in April? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful May with lots of great books!

Tags: , , ,

Book Review | Educated by Tara Westover

Posted April 29, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Educated by Tara Westover

Tara Westover grew up preparing for the End of Days, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip as if with blood. She spent her summers bottling peaches and her winters rotating emergency supplies, hoping that when the World of Men failed, her family would continue on, unaffected.

She hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in doctors or hospitals. According to the state and federal government, she didn’t exist.

As she grew older, her father became more radical, and her brother, more violent. At sixteen Tara decided to educate herself. Her struggle for knowledge would take her far from her Idaho mountains, over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d travelled too far. If there was still a way home.

EDUCATED is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with the severing of the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has, from her singular experience, crafted a universal coming-of-age story, one that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers – the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #18: Provokes strong emotion)

The Reason

This has been on my TBR forever and it recently went on sale in Audible. The audiobook is narrated by Julia Whelan, whom I love, and so solidified my reason for buying and reading the book!

The Quotes

“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.”

“My life was narrated for me by others. Their voices were forceful, emphatic, absolute. It had never occurred to me that my voice might be as strong as theirs.”

“It’s strange how you give the people you love so much power over you.”

“Whomever you become, whatever you make yourself into, that is who you always were.”

“An education is not so much about making a living as making a person.”

The Narrator(s)

Julia Whelan. The GOAT! She can do no wrong in my eyes(ears)!

My Thoughts

I finished this book just before bedtime and was unable to sleep the rest of the night because I was so worked up and emotional about it. I did not expect to relate so hard with the author because we have pretty much nothing in common, but all that control and abuse disguised as familial love is unfortunately all too familiar to me. So is the difficulty in leaving and letting go, dealing with lies spread about you, and despite all of that, the yearning for change, love, and acceptance anyway.

The way the author articulated her experiences and her feelings about them was matter-of-fact and direct, yet at the same time felt raw and emotional. Perhaps I was projecting as well, but either way, it got me reflecting on my own experiences and wanting to articulate them too.

I love that education is the key to her liberation, and I love that it was her curiosity and love of learning that led her on the path to higher education. I am inspired by her courage in going to university when she barely had a high school education, and forging ahead even when she felt stupid after making a huge faux pas out of ignorance.

It took me such a long time to finally read this book but I’m glad I did. All the praise for it is well deserved. It’s a powerful story with a powerful message and I’m sure I’ll come back to it again one day.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review | Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Posted April 27, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he’s pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―”for the algorithm”―Misha discovers that it’s not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what’s right―before it’s too late.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD: TBD)

The Reason

A bookclub friend recommended this book and author very highly, and I finally got around to reading it!

The Quotes

“On a long enough timeline, endings are inevitable. Tragedy is inevitable. Fortunately, so is joy.”

“It’s not just about telling queer stories… It’s about telling all kinds of queer stories. Yes, there can be tragedy and death and darkness. There’s an important place for that. But don’t forget about queer beauty and queer catharsis and queer joy. Every gay character doesn’t need to die in the first scene, or in a third act blaze of glory to save everyone else. Support queer heroes, not just on screen, but off screen, too.”

“This is how scary stories work, how horror works. We’re all still here, safe and alive. We’ve had that primal rush and exercised those muscles to remind us death is eventually coming for everyone, but not today.”

The Narrator(s)

André Santana, Charlie Jane Anders, CJ Leede, Georgia Bird, Liz Kerin, Mara Wilson, Mark Oshiro, Sarah Gailey, Stephen Graham Jones, T. Kingfisher, TJ Klune. I loved the narration and it all felt very seamless.

My Thoughts

I pretty much went into this blind and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was! It came highly recommended but I had no idea what to expect because the author has written several books with risque titles and while I was open to trying new things, I was also prepared for maybe some NSFW content within the story.

It turned out to be quite an interesting sci-fi futuristic horror story, and I absolutely loved how creative it was! I also love the commentaries about how queer characters should be represented more without needing queerness to be a part of their identity in the stories, and the one about why we love horror stories and how they often serve as cautionary tales to make sense of why certain bad things happen.

It was all very thoughtful and well-written, humorous and yet also thrilling. I got really anxious near the end. There was also a reference to Camp Damascus, another book written by the author which I haven’t read but is on my TBR. He’s got a couple of other books with “normal” titles I’d like to read, but if I’m feeling brave enough I might try his risque titles one day.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review | Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Posted April 27, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel.

The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #3: Written without quotation marks)

The Reason

I’d been wanting to read this for a while but never got around to it. I saw that it fit one of the prompts for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge, so I decided to finally read it.

The Quotes

“Today we queried, questioned, and inquired. Promise me that come tomorrow, we will not stop asking why.”

“The Council is wrong. Yet, observe that none of us will risk telling it so, for fear of the consequences.”

“Any one of us could have come up with such a sentence. We are, when it comes right down to it, all of us: mere monkeys at typewriters.”

My Thoughts

This book surprised me; I thought it was middle-grade, and it sort of is suitable for younger readers, but it was deeper and darker than I expected. I thought it was going to be a fun and light-hearted take on the idea of letters falling off the alphabet and only being able to use the letters that were left, but it turned out to be quite a serious exploration on the absurdity of going along with ridiculous ideas because people are too afraid to fight back. The result of losing your “voice”, losing the ability to communicate clearly, because of those missing letters, is such a strong metaphor for being censored and silenced by the powers that be. It’s very well-written and such a powerful story, especially for impressionable young readers, and I wish I had read this book a long time ago!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , , ,