2 Stars
DNF 52% of The Auction and I’m still trying to figure out what book it wanted to be. The premise had potential: dark auction, dangerous men, morally questionable nonsense everywhere. Tiny problem: the women who are supposedly conditioned and brainwashed act like they just wandered out of a CW teen drama with a cupcake and a dream. The tone was all over the place.
The only character carrying this book on his shoulders was Pier, the blinde French man. Everyone else seemed trapped in an endless cycle of being aggressively horny and deeply self loathing. After a while it stopped feeling dark and started feeling like emotional treadmill cardio.
I wanted sinister tension. I got whiplash and secondhand embarrassment.
Ok, this was genuinely entertaining. I listened to the audiobook read by the author and I highly recommend going that route if you want the full experience. Nate telling these stories himself somehow makes them even funnier, like you’re trapped at a family cookout listening to the most confidently ridiculous man alive explain absolute nonsense. The stories are hilarious, outrageous, and somehow get even better the more deadpan he is about them.
4 Stars
This was such a fun read. While Leia and Han head off to Corellia with the kids, Luke and Lando are off on what basically turns into “find Lando a wife,” and honestly? It was hilarious. The whole situation felt extremely on brand for Lando and gave the story a lighter, chaotic energy I really enjoyed.
The ending absolutely drops you off a cliff hanger-style, but now I need to know what happens next. Mostly because I’m invested in the important question here: does Lando ever actually get a wife?
3 stars for Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. I really wanted to connect with this one, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. The writing has that quiet, introspective style Rooney is known for, but for me it leaned a little too far into slow and emotionally distant. I kept waiting for something to pull me in, and instead it felt like I was wandering through other people’s overthinking sessions with no map and no snacks. Not a bad book by any means, just one that didn’t click with me.
I loved the slow creep on this one.
Near the end, I was fully convinced this was about to go full The Village territory, and I was preparing myself accordingly. But then? Totally redeemed itself. The ending pulled everything back together in a way that worked for me and kept the tension humming right to the finish. Definitely one of those reads where the atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Near the end, I was fully convinced this was about to go full The Village territory, and I was preparing myself accordingly. But then? Totally redeemed itself. The ending pulled everything back together in a way that worked for me and kept the tension humming right to the finish. Definitely one of those reads where the atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting.
4 Stars
I was really hoping this second book had more of Lando Calrissian and his ongoing search for love, but fine, I’ll allow the actual plot to happen. 😄
One of my favorite parts was watching Leia Organa and Jada Mar scale down the side of a building like they accidentally wandered into Mission Impossible. Meanwhile, Han Solo runs into his cousin who is basically described as the slightly puffier edition of himself, which honestly feels extremely on brand for the Solo family tree.
This book leans more into the political tension and action than the humor, but the character moments are what kept me hooked. And yes, I’m still invested in whether Lando ever finds a wife.
4 stars for Every Exquisite Thing by Laura Steven. This was such a fun and unsettling spin on The Picture of Dorian Gray. It kept that eerie, creeping sense that something was deeply off while still feeling fresh and modern. The pacing stayed steady the whole way through, which made it really easy to stay locked into the story, and the characters actually felt like they had purpose beyond just filling space on the page. Everyone added something to the atmosphere or plot. Creepy, layered, and just the right amount of uncomfortable.
Even though this is technically a sequel to The Midnight Library, it follows a completely new character in an entirely different midnight world. This story leans hard into the question: if you could go back and relive the moments that shaped you, would you change the way you lived your life?
Wilber finds himself aboard the Midnight Train, revisiting pivotal moments from his past, the ones that built the person he became. There’s something very bittersweet about watching him sift through his regrets. Agnes, his guide through it all, absolutely stole scenes for me. Every time she called him “Old Bean,” it added this cozy warmth to a story already humming with nostalgia and second chances.
