tien's reviews
3860 reviews

9 short stories all revolving around friendship and romance. What is of interest to me is the range in ages of characters; 17 yo to 49 yo. The stories varied also in setting though the common thread is there is always a bff whether they turn out to be the love interest or not, there is the building of friendship. Most of the stories are of contemporary nature but 3 are fantasy (the last one being meta which was super intriguing for me!).

This is pretty much my first Rowell (there is a short story I've read before but it is also here) so I may be interested in one or two of her books (connected to a story in this collection) but I'm not in any rush to check them out. While I enjoyed most of the stories, they're just that easy to read & relax sort of book and didn't give me a rush as such.

I won't tell you how long ago I first read Cross Stitch 🙊 Outlander - suffice to say it was many many years ago so I don't actually remember a lot of the book. As most of you will know it's a rather thick book and yet, they managed to compress and fit into a 200p graphic novel (or less if you take out the chapter breaks). I believe the main points of the story is there though there is an added dimension as this story is told not from Claire's but Murtagh. Who is Murtagh, you ask, I don't remember him at all. At all! But he is apparently Jamie Fraser's godfather and he had quite a big role in keeping this pair alive & together in this tale. So all in all, a pretty interesting perspective but I couldn't quite like the graphics themselves. I found I could barely make the distinctions between all the Scottish men! They all look the same to me except maybe for Colum but only because he suffered from a disease (actually I can't remember whether it was disease or disability but it made him distinctive in picture). And of course, there were b👀bbies everywhere you look *sighs*

A fairly short novel but fairly interesting with all the twists and turns. I didn't find it that creepy just now but I'll come back and let you know tomorrow morning if I felt creeped out later tonight when we've turned off all the lights and all the household is asleep!

The story is centred on this very old tree in our protagonist's [Martha] mormor's (Norwegian for grandmother) garden and what the tree means to the world and Martha's family. This novel has an interesting mix of ghosts, other scary paranormal creatures, witchy-ness, gods and goddess and all within the Norwegian mythology. As the weather is cool today, I had a lovely time curled up under my [safety] blanket while vicariously living through Martha facing her fears. 

Unfortunately, I'm left with questions so I'm not quite happy but maybe they'll be answered in the sequel.

 A retelling of a folktale complete with dragon, romance, and a number of amazing mythical creatures and gods and goddess. This is so very my cup of tea.

I am conscious that some people might not like the writing but for me, it is atmospheric and quite poetical. Wistful in tone and full of hope even in the depths of despair.

I love the protagonist with her courage and resilience. And so very much humble too! Despite how angry she gets sometimes, I also love that the anger didn't overflow; it was her love of family and everyone which dominated in her decision-making. There was a twist but I kind of guessed it so it didn't surprise me but I'm glad it happened that way. I need my HEA for this! 

I think I added this book to my tbr not because of the aviation theme but the barnstorming. I find the idea absolutely fascinatingly terrifying. Fascinating just as I'm fascinated about circuses and terrifying because I'm not one for any death-defying stunts. But most of all, I love the setting; post war and as women are reaching for their rights to be who they are. <i>Nothing But Sky</i> was an easy book to flop in the corner and just read of an afternoon (it's 37C outside today and I wasn't about to even put my toe out the door). The protagonist, Grace Lafferty, is ambitiously dreamy to all costs but in the end, she's opened her eyes and heart and held on to what was precious to her. There is a good balance of suspense (each time she's wing walking!), mystery, and romance.

Once upon a time, I added many many books on to my GR to-read following lists I found. This was the early days where I was so excited to have a bookworm platform on which I can add my many books and others. I really should clean this out but sometimes, my curiosity gets the better of me. For this book, it's why is it such a 'classics'? I guess I could sort of understand the interesting point the author was making but I absolutely cannot appreciate the book itself.

From author's note at the beginning of the book, he stated "ultimate role of Crash is cautionary, a warning against that brutal, erotic and overlit realm that beckons more and more persuasively to us from the margins of the technological landscape." As this book was published in the early 1970s, I guess <i>cars</i> are the height of technology with many people being obsessed over them. It hasn't changed today though we have more technological advance things to obsess over. I don't particularly mind the obsession about cars or even car crashes. I do mind the juxtaposition of car crashes and sex. This was too much for my sensibilities and that is on me. You can take this as a recommendation to read or not to read, that is up to your personal taste.