kairparavel

@lady narcissa I feel pretty much the same way. So much of her story telling is poor and/or problematic but there are elements she nails, like female friendship. I really liked the bonds Nesta and co formed with one another. It's right up there with Manon and The Thirteen. I enjoyed the Velaris Hunger Games even. But yeah, the rest was meh. I guess I'm glad Rhysand didn't bite the baby out of the womb. Will I be interested in the Elain book? Unclear.

There's been a lot of swearing. I only point it out because I don't recall any curse words or at least very few in the other books. I wonder if this is some byproduct of her Crescent City series. This book has not shown any progression stylistically. Tamlin. Just you wait!

I enjoyed the books but I think Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom is actually the better of the two series. Leigh Bardugo did a great job with the heist concept and the characters are better developed. But it's just my opinion. All that said, the trailer knocked my socks off and I'm so very impatient to see it all come alive and how the two stories are brought together. No mourners, no funerals.

You know what? It's totally ok if you sit this one out.

I. Can't. Wait. Gimme ALL The Darkling.

I did not see that. My library hold came up so I'm about 10% into it. It's typical SJM so far.

I had no idea there was still more that could be squeezed out of this series. https://karenmoning.com/novels/fever-series/kingdom-of-shadow-and-light/ I stopped at the fifth book. The next two about Dani seemed a stretch and the next few even more so and yet, we have a new one in this series released this week.

It's almost seamless. He'd be a different kind of d*ck is all.

@Chataya de Fleury If you find poblanos pretty spicy then habanero peppers will murder you. They start off fruity heat then you die. You need to scroll down a bit (in the link below) to see the Scoville units. Poblanos are 1000-4000. Habaneros are 100 000-350 000. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/rating-chili-peppers-on-a-scale-of-1-to-oh-dear-god-im-on-fire/ MC's love of cooking with spicy heat has built up my tolerance the past dozen years but every once in a while I wind up in agony. He made what I didn't realize was habanero and I have no idea what else salsa a few weeks ago that was homicide on a tortilla chip.

Ooooh Hawksmoor. Sooo delicious. And Hix Chop House was also v. good. Also, congrats!

@karaddin I was hoping for some I realize this is more about my expectations and that too bad for me that the author didn't give me something I wanted. But coupled with my frustration of keeping track of everything, I am made a big whiny baby. I am certain a re-read will smooth over my pouty face but that will wait until the final book comes out, I think.

Also, 72% in I STILL HAVE NO IDEA WTF IS GOING. -- Finished. Going to marinate on it for a bit. --------- If I were to rate this book it would get 2.5-3/5 for the roughly first 75%, with a 5/5 for soup. For the next 25% 4/5 for things happening on the ship (5/5 for the POV voice, 3/5 for the action), 2/5 for things not happening on the ship, and a 1/5 for the epilogue. I enjoy books that make me think, that keep me guessing, that have me coming up with theories and cracking the mystery. This was not that book. The work of re-aligning myself each time there was a shift from past to present required entirely too much 'mapping' and trying to keep up with what was going on was without joy or anticipation. When the What is going on? overshadows the actual action on the page to the point of distraction, you end up with this book. Also I was disappointed that the one thing I was actively looking forward to never happened. It was explained but it didn't lessen my disappointment. Alecto the Ninth has a lot to answer to. I hope it does and that I don't wind up hate-reading it.

Beyond Burgers aren't bad taste-wise but they are far from the answer when you consider all the processing and pieces to glue them together whereas beef is ground cow. Period. The sodium alone is enough to give pause. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/impossible-and-beyond-how-healthy-are-these-meatless-burgers-2019081517448 I think eating an occasional beef burger is a better way all around but that's just me.

I am a little over quarter of the way through Harrow and I very much have no idea WTAF is going on. But onwards I go.

Oh, and curtido! MC has been fermenting up a storm of cabbage stuffs since stay at home orders began in March. We have a batch sauerkraut that turned out really well, and a couple of curtido and kimchi. We actually need to make some more kimchi. Other lactobacillus fermentation projects - three batches of pickles, two batches of hot peppers, one batch of sweet peppers, dilly beans, asparagus, carrots and giardiniera. Also a very impressive sourdough starter and four batches of kombucha. Our gut biomes are mighty!

Kimchi would like a word with you!

I'm patiently waiting on my Harrow loan from the library. Early on in Gideon I was very much WTF is going on here. I decided I wasn't going to worry about what I didn't get and as I moved on my enjoyment went up immensely. I was loving it by the end.

Every once in a while I will dip my toe into the PR pool. This time around it's the first book in Nalingi Singh's Guild Hunter series called Angels' Blood. I tried to read it once before but tossed it aside after a few pages. I couldn't get into it after struggling with a few chapters of a Kresley Cole book (A Hunger Like No Other).This time around it seems perfect pandemic reading. I really think my resistance stems from the contemporary urban setting. I can suspend belief for a historical book with vampires or lycan or whatever, or a contemporary YA setting. Or maybe it's the generally not to me sexy passages in these stories. I cringe a lot. Not that I could do better but that's neither here nor there. Anyways, so far so good Nalingi Singh. If this doesn't work out I'm going to seek out some Regency romance.

Indeed.

Why would he? No more Mance, no Val, no baby, no blood of king (unless yes, he takes Shireen and Maester Aemon) There's been no mention of things that would cause Jon to round them all up to send them away. But I guess it could happen.

To all you who thinkgJorah is the Jon Connington/Greyscale etc...explain how/why? PM me. I won't be able to keep up in this thread.

If Meera knew, why would she withhold that information from Bran? She had plenty of time to relay it over the course of their journey. That would be bad writing on top of bad writing.

Barristan is dead. It's been confirmed. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/01/ser-barristan-dead-thrones

So the Rhaegar the singing minstrel story was to drive home how much of not a rapist he was? After Sansa's comments in the crypts? Can we really expect non-readers to pick up on these things?

So maybe Baelish dies next week?