These reviews were written in the spaces between migraines and a fever, so they probably aren’t my best work. We did get the requisite creepy doll on the cover. We also got some items that are not strictly toys, or really toys at all. I’m actually surprised there was neither more horror nor more children’s books. Also, one author turned out to be a transphobe, but not the author I had predicted based purely on titles. The universe giveth, and the universe taketh away. Continue reading “A book with a toy on the cover”
Tag: URC
A book by an author with a plant in their name
I think this prompt was a reader suggestion to try to get more romance onto the blog, as a lot of romance authors do seem to have plants in their names. Ironically, there’s only two romances, although some of the others have romantic sub-plots. Continue reading “A book by an author with a plant in their name”
A book featuring a place you have been
Are we back to regular URC reviews? I hope so! No one appears to have pulled a stunt with an entirely fictional place on this prompt, which is surprising. I’m not sure how precise any of you were about the location, and I’m not going to worry about it. You will be delighted to find there were both books I enjoyed and books I loathed this week. Continue reading “A book featuring a place you have been”
A cosy read
Ah, cosy reading, just what we all probably need. Of course, cosy means different things to different people, within a certain range of low stakes, similar to how romance novels all agree to have at least a Happily For Now, but one person’s “romance” might be another’s “giant red flag”. Continue reading “A cosy read”
A book involving an educational institution you didn’t visit yourself
Note: I forgot to actually schedule the post, which is why it is late without a postponement post.
The original prompt for this was quite long, so I shortened it, which did increase the scope rather a lot. I really should have expected it to result in a lot of dark academia and thrillers, and somehow I entirely forgot that because I’m a sweet summer child who was thinking about all the lovely queer historicals and fantasies set in universities. Continue reading “A book involving an educational institution you didn’t visit yourself”
A book by an author who you gave up on before
Time to give authors a second chance and possibly regret it! Hopefully all of you were trying authors you felt bad about not enjoying because they are nice people, and not trying to slog through something horrible. That, or you were at least spending your less stellar reading giggling over how much I was going to snark about it. One of you did read Charles Bukowski, after all.
Also, yes, this was supposed to be last week’s post. March is fairly early for me to be falling behind instead of catching up. Let’s hope that’s not an omen for the rest of the year. Continue reading “A book by an author who you gave up on before”
A book featuring pottery
Whose fault was this prompt? Wait, I think it might have been me. The prompts that go wildly wrong are usually the ones I come up with while staring around me trying to think of ideas. Well, I say it went wildly wrong, but I didn’t have to withhold links for actual fascists, though one of them is definitely pushing his luck around here. Continue reading “A book featuring pottery”
A book with a character who is an amputee or uses a prosthesis
This was entirely inspired because I read a queer romance novel with an amputee, and I don’t think it was even mentioned in the jacket summary. It’s so rare to see people with limb difference in fiction at all that aren’t stereotypical or don’t have Magical Prosthetics, and I was very pleased with the depiction there. Challenge prompts, however, have nearly no standards, so there’s definitely some more disappointing options here. There’s also some good ones, and not every prosthetic user featured is needing one for a limb, which is also a nice bit of representation, too. And yes, glass eyes would have counted, if anyone was unsure.
Note: categories aren’t complete. It was a migraine week! I’ll try to come back and update them. Continue reading “A book with a character who is an amputee or uses a prosthesis”
A book involving a process of restoration or reconciliation
I figured I’d get a lot of romance and ecology books out of this prompt. I was wrong. I did get a few of those, but mostly I got memoirs and depressing literary fiction novels. There were also quite a few legitimately terrible books, both in the actual advice genre and in a bunch of other genres. Well, I suppose you get to enjoy my suffering, so at least someone wins this time around (you, dear reader). Continue reading “A book involving a process of restoration or reconciliation”
A book with a cover that includes an object in the title
This is yet another rather silly prompt. You can tell it was one of the last ones I wrote, when I was getting desperate for ideas. You should definitely comment with your ideas for 2024 to avoid other ridiculously vague options. Of course, you might want those, in which case you could also suggest some!
And yes, I’m aware the post is late again. I had a wee little panic attack right when I was finishing it up Sunday night and so had to finish it up later. Because again, I can’t seem to build a buffer and no the blog didn’t cause the panic; the blog is lovely and a source of sarcastic joy for me. Continue reading “A book with a cover that includes an object in the title”
What We've Been Reading 