Recent Updates and Currently Reading | May 21

Hello, my dear reader friends! I hope you are having an excellent weekend. This update is going to cover two weeks, but honestly - I don't have much to report! Last weekend was my birthday/mother's day weekend so I didn't have a chance to get online to post updates.

Things have been so stressful at work - we are restructuring yet again and probably not for the last time - so I just haven't had enough mental power to read when I get home.

This morning my son woke up super sick so I've been with him in the emergency room. I'm getting this update out late - but I didn't want another week to go by! But that's where I am and how things are going. I'm hoping to spend some time later today reading blogs and reviews and posting some of my own! We were supposed to go watch Guardians 3 today, but life had other plans as it often does.

Posted Last Week

Book Review | In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune ⭐⭐⭐★★

Books I Recommend to Others the Most

On My Wishlist | At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche

Finished Reading

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - Hopefully I'll have my review for this one out tomorrow. Recommended!

Currently Reading

Infinitey Gate by M.R. Carey - I'm still very much enjoying this one.

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Rieche - I needed an escape! I was in the mood for a book like Piranesi - a world I could get lost in, and I thought this might fit the bill. So far - I'm a happy reader! It's weird which is just what I wanted.

Added to the TBR

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin - I forgot to mention in my last update post that my pre-order of The Ferryman arrived. I don't have any immediate plans to read it, but I'm looking forward to getting to it eventually.

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Rieche - Just after posting my Wednesday wishlist post, this book arrived in the mail! So thank you very much to Atria for sending me a copy! It releases in July, but I've already picked it up.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist | At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche

Wednesdays are for wishlists and books I am anxiously awaiting.

One of the books I am most curious about and anxious to check out is At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche. First of all, it's a debut. But Arianna Reiche is being compared to Iain Reid and Jeff VanderMeer. I'm so intrigued! It sounds like it's going to be a weird horror, and I'm absolutely anxious to give it a try.

In this haunting debut novel—perfect for fans of Iain Reid, Jeff VanderMeer, and Julia Armfield—a loyal employee at a collapsing theme park questions the recent death of a celebrity visitor, the arrival of strange new guests, her boyfriend’s erratic behavior, and ultimately her own sanity.

Delphi has spent years working at a vast and iconic theme park in California after fleeing her childhood trauma in her rural hometown. But after the disturbing death of a beloved Hollywood starlet on the park grounds, Delphi is tasked with shuttering The Park for good.

Meanwhile, two siblings with ties to The Park exchange letters, trying to understand why people who work there have been disappearing. Before long, they learn that there’s a reason no one is meant to see behind The Park’s curtain.

What happens when The Park empties out? And what happens when Delphi, who seems remarkably at one with The Park, is finally forced to leave?

At once a novel about the uncanny valley, death cults, optical illusions, and the enduring power of fantasy, Reiche’s debut is a mind-bending teacup ride through an eerily familiar landscape, where the key to it all is what happens At the End of Every Day.

Expected publication: July 4, 2023 by Atria Books

Books I Recommend to Others the Most

I'm so excited about today's Top Ten Tuesday topic! I love recommendations lists. Below are books that I tend to recommend often for one reason or another!

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma

The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

Chlorine by Jade Song

Review | In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

Source: review copy provided by publisher. This is a review of my reading experience.

In the Lives of Puppets is the latest fantasy novel from T.J. Klune.

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

Author TJ Klune invites you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.

My three star rating for In the Lives of Puppets hurts a bit. This really is a wonderful book, but my overall feelings land me somewhere in the middle.

I'll start off with some of the great things about In the Lives of Puppets. I love T.J. Klune's writing, and I love his messages on hope and kindness and just seeing the world through a Klune lens. In the Lives of Puppets reminded me of the Rampart trilogy (Book of Koli) by M.R. Carey in many ways. They are both about humanity, the destruction of humanity, Artificial Intelligence, and the world after AI. I loved and cared for the characters in In the Lives of Puppets - both human and AI. The world Klune created was fascinating, and I was in love with the first half of the book.

Now for the parts that didn't work as well for me. At the halfway part, In the Lives of Puppets went the way of Fairy Tale by Stephen King. To this day, I still haven't finished reading Fairy Tale. I have such a hard time reorienting myself when there is a complete change of setting and plot. It really bogs the book down and makes it a slog for me. I did eventually get 100% reinvested, but then I had to suffer my least favorite trope of all tropes. So this was a mixed reading experience for me.

Even when In the Lives of Puppets wasn't working for me, the beauty of it all was still there. I can see why people are head over heels for this story. I loved these characters. I won't forget any of them. I also loved Klune's thoughts on AI. There were just too many times I felt like I was having to push through.

⭐⭐⭐★★

3/5 stars

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Recent Updates and Currently Reading | May 7

Hello, friends! We had a big storm come through this weekend. I got to spend most of my Saturday just watching baseball and reading. It was so lovely. My 16 year old is done with his college classes for the school year so we celebrated with a movie night. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. Tell me what you are up to!

Currently Reading

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey - I just love M.R. Carey, and this book is no exception. It's a chunky multiverse scifi, and it's not breaking my brain at all. I'm so happy.

Added to the TBR

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher - Speaking of authors that I love - T. Kingfisher. Few books make me as happy as a T. Kingfisher book does right now. "Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways." OMG, perfect. Thank you, Tor Books!

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.