maomi in the margins

 by Leigh Bardugo This book, Crooked Kingdom, is everything that YA novels could be. It genuinely took me through just about every single emotion a person could feel. Happiness, excitement, grief, anxiety, and just about every other emotion in between. Bardugo’s writing just held me captive for so much of this book. There were many times I did not want to put this thing down. And I don’t know if it’s just me having read so many of her books this year that I just know, but I was kind of starting to see where she’d be taking the plot, but then she’d surprise me with something I hadn’t been anticipating. Every character in this ensemble cast got a proper arc. Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias. They all grew so much over the course of this book and the last. At some point it really felt like these were people I knew, and saying goodbye to them was so bittersweet. I rarely grow to have that kind of attachment to characters, and I think it’s a testament to how well they’re al...

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for access to this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.    If I were ever asked to describe this book in as few words as possible, I would jokingly say: “it’s like a gamer’s guide to min-maxing their social interactions.” There’s a huge focus on how our words can influence different things in our life, such as our job prospects, and our pay at this prospective job.  But this book contains so much more. Dr. Bohn’s voice comes through in writing very well. there are jokes and witty sentences, but it’s all centered around the psychology and the research she’s referencing.  And speaking of references and citations, I love that there are so many citations in this book. Nowadays, it can be difficult to differentiate appealing rhetorical and storytelling devices from actual research backed science. There are so many people who just say things with their whole chest, but like… where’s your proof? Dr. Bohns has based th...

   by T. Kingfisher  I love it when the heroines are older!!! Thank you T. Kingfisher for giving us a jaded mid 30s woman who is still trying to figure things out in her career and in love and in life.  Anja is such a delightful character to follow around in this story. Having a mature female character that isn’t always leaping into trouble for no logical reason is so refreshing. And I appreciate her being a scientist as well! It really tickles my fancy when characters are centered around something and Anja is very much a character who is centered around logic. She’s always pondering what the most logical reasoning is for something or another, but it doesn't get to the point of absolute rigidity. There's a degree of flexibility to her that prevents the logic from getting in her own way. The plot line itself was quite fascinating, and it did hold my attention quite well. As mentioned before, I was listening to this book outside of doing chores and working out. Not to ...

 I cannot believe it's already October. Like what do you mean we only have a few more months before the new year? So much has already happened this year, who knows what will happen in November and December? And I know that 2027 will be just as relentless, if not more.   Speaking of time, I've been significantly more conscious about how I am choosing to spend mine. My mentor at work is always saying, "Your time is valuable. Even more so now that you're a PA." This, combined with my recent reflections on my social media usage, has resulted in me looking at the clock very often. I think this is also in part due to my phone pick-up habit. I have since relocated an old alarm clock to my desk so I can simply look up. But this past week I had a realization while I was reading Crooked Kingdom .   Time seems to slow down when I am reading. It could just be that I am a relatively fast reader, my friends from grad school will tell you so, but I like to think that...