Reviews and Comments

So overall, I found this to be a fun little read. One of my kids read it for book club and wanted me to read it, so here we are!

The author's note in the beginning irked me a little bit, because why is there a need to express that your animal story is not like other ones because your animals are not stand-ins for humans? The dog doesn't ever reference using his sense of smell, knows what rectangles are, knows what all the animals are called that he interacts with, and knows what tourist means. I don't have an issue with that, but when you knock on other books for using animals as stand-ins, I feel you should put more effort into it. This is a kid's book, there's no need for it.

Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. The animals have all formed a community around each other to keep everyone apprised of changes to their park and to keep everyone safe. They're living their lives assuming the park is all there is and never leaving even to see where the humans go when they leave. That is, until some goats come to the park and blow their world open.

I was quite surprised at the turns that happen and was not really expecting the ending. I can totally see why this was picked for a book club read and why my daughter enjoyed it so much. But I had a hard time not nitpicking little things after that author's note. It had really good community vibes (unless you were a duck) and all the animals care for each other, and I did have to chuckle a bit through the book. It's one that I would say kids would definitely enjoy, but adults may have a bit of a harder time with just overthinking it.

I had a hard time getting through this book. At first, I thought it was the audiobook, so I switched to the physical copy. And that was heavily needed, because every chapter was from a different character, and I had to constantly reference the "family tree" in the beginning to track how this person was related to the story. And I put family tree in quotes, because it includes coworkers and friends as well, which added to the confusion. Carly is the main recurring character, but there's not enough seen from her actual perspective to really connect with her.

I enjoyed the aspects of seeing how immigration challenged the different characters in different ways and how they managed to handle it, but it just felt too diluted with so many people.

This one was a book that focused heavily on the traumas inflicted upon a family throughout generations. There is a heavy emphasis on community and families coming together to support each other during really tough times, even with their own internal complexities. This was not an easy read due to the events that happen (biggest TW for me would be: sa of a minor, domestic abuse), but it shows the resilience of Black women who have had to deal with so much just to be able to survive.

The book can be a little difficult to follow at times due to the chapters jumping between timelines. I listened to the audio book, but saw that the physical copy has a family tree in the beginning, so if that's something that you have a hard time with, I would definitely recommend reading instead of listening to this one. I had to backtrack a lot in the beginning until I got familiar with all the characters.

If you're a fan of the podcast, this will be right up your alley. Instead of following Cecil this time, you follow Jackie, the pawn shop owner, and Diane, the single mother of a shape-shifting kid, as they wind up trying to solve the same case of the mysterious man in the tan jacket.

The audiobook has the same narrator as the podcast, so you get the same voice and weird emphasis that adds to the story. I'm sure the book is ok on its own, but it always helps to have that extra oomph of vocal goodies. It is a little rough in the beginning as you're getting background on two different people, but they do come together more as the book goes on.

If you have not listened to the podcast, I would recommend giving an episode or two a listen to see if it's something you might find enjoyable because overall it is a little off-kilter.

I love when publishers drop the ball and the cover doesn't match. Nash has blonde hair in the book, but they gave him black hair on the cover.

So this book was ok. It's toted as a personal finance motivational tool. And it is. But only like, 25% of it. The rest is basically a memoir about what was going on in her life that impacted her financial decisions. It has that lovely, classic line of "just quit drinking take-out coffee and you'll end up debt free!", which is always annoying, but she at least goes into other things, like how she decided what was worth spending her money on still, and what needed to be bought used instead of new when the time came. If you're mostly just wanting to see her tips for how to declutter and prioritize your savings, just skip to the end of the book. You get a little more detailing in the book, but you can get a clear enough idea on what to do by just reading her tips.

This was a rather fascinating dive into tv sitcom history, queer history, and how modern media has been able to help sway public perceptions. I didn't watch the referenced shows growing up, so it was really interesting to see how show creators and actors were able to toe the line to get what was considered controversial material onto the air. It also gives you a little hope with how tumultuous things are in the world right now by showing that it's really not a new trend at all and was honestly expected. If you're at all interested in tv history helping the main population to be more accepting of queer folks, this would be a great read.

The start of the book was a little slow with the introduction of multiple POVs. I did find some of the POVs more interesting so some dragged even worse. That's one of the main reasons I couldn't give this 5 stars.

This book was not an easy read, but it was a good read. It has a lot of heavy topics between British Muslims dealing with racism and seeing how a young boy was radicalized to join IS. The family dynamics throughout are a major point, with the characters having to decide what they're willing or able to forgive while tackling their own demons. The characters felt real with all their flaws and characteristics.

The ending was absolutely insane. This book obviously has a lot of dark themes that run throughout, so I would recommend just making sure you're in a good mindset before picking it up.

I liked Liz's attitude through this. Definitely felt too similar to the first book but with way less plot. But Liz made up for that a bit.

Aehako is the best. That's all.

But also, I really liked Kira. Her fears based on health concerns was legitimate and not falsely added on to try to tack on drama. I laughed so hard many times through this one. The courting gift had me wheezing every time it was brought up.

This was a very sweet story and I really appreciated that Ruby didn't just skip over the details like Harlow's translator that was embedded into her ear. This one lacked on the spice because there was not resonating at the get-go and Aehako actually courted and wooed Kira. I really enjoyed this one.