Thoughts on LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are still fine considering the dumpster fire we’re living in. But we’re not here to talk about that. It’s the last Wednesday of April, so you know what that means… book review time! I cheated a little. I picked a book by an author whose work I’m fond of, so I went in with the assumption that I would enjoy the book. It’s fluffy gay stuff wrapped up in a supernatural cozy mystery. Of course I’m into it. Love at Second Sight by F. T. Lukens was released yesterday (the 29th) by Margaret K. McElderry Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

Love at Second Sight follows Cam, a regular teenage human boy, who just wants to spend the new school year hanging out with his bestie Al, who happens to be a witch, and moon over his crush, Mateo (a werewolf). And most of all, he wants to stay hidden in the background. An unfortunate spectacle in the hallway ruins any chance Cam has of a normal year. He has an obviously supernatural episode that can only mean one thing: he’s clairvoyant. On top of bringing him some seriously unwanted attention, the vision he has is one of blood and death. Was it real? Who’s the girl? If it hasn’t happened yet, is there any way to stop it? Along the way, Cam collects a ragtag group of supernatural friends who might help or might hinder his investigation. The only thing for certain is he’s not alone and there’s no disappearing into the background for Cam.

The plot was great, if a little predictable. Some of the clues were a little heavy handed, like they didn’t want to be overlooked. But it was fun and had everything you can really ask for from a cozy mystery meets teen supernatural fantasy. Uncontrolled powers. The encourager of all the mystery shenanigans. That weird teenage compulsion to not involve the adults. It’s adorable. My only real problem with the book is the pacing. It starts out super slow for the first three quarters of the book, then everything is kind of crammed into the last quarter. There’s not even much character development early on. Some stuff happens then everything stagnates for far too long before things start happening again. The action could definitely have been woven throughout the story better.

The characters are where this book really shines. They’re all super relatable. It’s a fun group with someone for everyone to adore. Cam is the typical teen trying to find his place in the world. When it turns out he’s special but he doesn’t know what to do about it and his support system fails him, he chooses to let new people into his life even though it’s risky. Al grows a lot. Mateo proves that even seemingly perfect people need help. Gemma is nuts and I love her. Reese is probably my favorite, but I wish he could have had a bit more to do. Kaci starts as the mean girl, but abruptly changes into the spacey friend which could have been handled better. But overall, I loved everyone.

The writing was cute. There are a lot of references and current slang that will surely date the book in a few years (some of it is already dated), but I enjoy that kind of writing some times. Especially when I’m looking for something that I can look back on for nostalgia purposes.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Love at Second Sight. It’s not my favorite book by Lukens, but it’s not something I feel was a waste of time. It was cute and that’s all I was hoping for.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Probably closer to 3.75. If you’re not familiar with the author, I’d definitely recommend one of their other books first.

Who’s The Useless Eater?

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’m feeling very ranty. Well, it’s Monday as I’m writing this, so hopefully I’m feeling better on Wednesday, but I doubt it. Why am I angry, you ask? (I know you didn’t ask, but let’s pretend you did). The current administration. Why else? I mean… you saw what RFK Jr. said about Autistic kids, right? Sure, he tried to frame it as caring because he’s going to figure out the causes of Autism and fix everything. By September. My dude… how much of your brain did that worm eat? Low blow. I know. I’m trying my best to be civil here. Anyway! In case you missed it, these are the exact words he said regarding children with Autism:

“These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

If this is what the administration thinks about Autistic people, it’s what they think about all disabled people. It’s what they even think of you two, Hot Wheels (Abbott) and Musk. You’re not special to them. But I digress. This statement that RFK Jr. made is nothing new or original. It’s part of the ableism that’s so deeply ingrained in our society that people openly agree with this bullshit. If you’re not capable of being worked to death by your rich overlords, then you’re just a burden on society and your community and your family. You’re what the Nazis called a “useless eater” which meant you were a “life unworthy of life.” It doesn’t matter that nature or God or whatever you believe in fucked up your genes and made you this way (or that you were involved in an accident or just got old or any other number of things), it’s somehow your fault and you should suffer and anguish over being such a burden. It sounds stupid when I put it like that, right? And yet even disabled people themselves are trained to believe this nonsense. I struggle with it a lot. I know others who do too. But to have a government openly spew this vitriol is deeply concerning.

When you think about the Holocaust (at least I hope you stop and remember it from time to time), if you’re like me, your first thought is of the atrocities that happened to Jews. But in 1939 (approximately two years before Nazis started mass murdering Jews), Nazis implemented the Euthanasia Program which became Aktion T4. In the beginning, they required all doctors/clinics/hospitals/etc. to report any children (newborns to age 3) who showed signs of mental and physical deficits, then the Nazis would encourage the families to turn these babies and toddlers over to special institutions for care. What was the care they offered? A gas chamber. The age gradually increased to 17, then Aktion T4 was implemented which broadened the scope of the Euthanasia Program to include adults in both public and private institutions. This phase of the program is estimated to have taken 70,000 lives. However, the program kept going in secret after Hitler publicly ordered its halt. It expanded to include people who were simply too old and bombing victims and more. They stopped using gas chambers, opting instead for overdoses and the like. But it kept going throughout the war and conservative estimates are that 250,000 people were murdered because they were deemed to be burdens on society. And I’m not even going to get into the horrible experiments that the Nazis did on disabled people. But I truly believe this is where we’re currently heading under this administration. It starts out with innocent enough statements and promises of help and it turns into “let’s murder all the cripples!”. Then things just get worse from there for everybody else.

And none of this is to say America has been innocent of shit like that. We have our own Eugenics movement, which we’re honestly still struggling with in a lot of ways. Murder has been part of it. Forced sterilizations. A push toward the “perfect” family, but only if it’s a mommy, daddy, and 2.5 kids. Etc. Yeah. It’s not a great part of history for us either. I don’t know why we’re letting it get a foothold in our government once again. Okay. I know why (because rich dumbasses just want to make more money for themselves without paying taxes and poor dumbasses believed the hype and decided the rich ones could run our country), but I don’t know WHY… you know? These are openly horrible people. Racist. Sexist. Ableist. Transphobic. Homophobic. Only keep the poor around to work themselves to death in their factories (jobs… whatever) for money they’ll never have time to enjoy (if they even make enough to cover basics). Cry and throw tantrums when anyone even suggests they pay their fair share in taxes. But sure. They have your best interests at heart.

Personally, I’m not convinced that cripples are the useless eaters in this country. Politicians make ridiculous amounts of money for no reason. They don’t even work most of the year unless you count schmoozing and going to fancy dinners and golfing every weekend on the taxpayers dime. They never come to any agreements. They dig us further and further into debt, then blame the few social programs we have so it seems like cripples and regular old people are to blame. Instead, they could take pay cuts, make the billionaires pay their fair share, and eliminate a crapton of the national debt in the process. The fact that they all suck at their jobs and don’t do anything remotely productive kind of makes them sound like the useless eaters and wastes of space, but what do I know? I’m just a scumbag cripple who’s a burden on society.

And now I’m getting uncivilized, so I’ll stop there. I’ll be back next week with the regularly scheduled book review!

Benadryl…

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I intended to write a random post, but allergies and some extra hurtyness (nothing out of the normal range, just a bit on the high side of normal for some unknown reason) has me feeling blah. So, I’ll ramble about something next week (feel free to send me ideas).

Tattoo Ideas

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are okay, I guess. Trump’s America is hitting super close to home (like next door kind of close) and I hate it. But there’s nothing I can do, so I’m trying to think about better things. Dad and I were chatting (I don’t even remember about what) and he mentioned piercings, but I don’t want any piercings (on other people they’re great, just not a me thing), so we somehow got onto tattoos from there. Anyway, I always told myself I’d get a tattoo when I got published for the first time (anything, not just a novel), but I never did. Then it became “I’ll do it when I get my first full length book published.” We’ll see if that ever happens. Now, maybe it will just be an “if I survive the dumpster fire that is the current administration” reward. Despite never doing it, I still have ideas, so I thought I’d share them with you. We should all take some time to think of something happy.

1. The kanji for sakura (cherry blossom) with some cherry blossoms. Something relatively small. I don’t really have much in the way of an actual design. I’d just let the artist come up with something.

2. A Sailor Saturn inspired image designed by my little sis (Jenae). It would probably need tweaked by the tattoo artist, so I might be better off finding someone who specializes in anime tattoos (they do exist), but this is all just daydreaming, so it doesn’t matter right now.

3. A Sailor Uranus inspired image designed by my little sis (Jenae). There are also versions for Pluto and Neptune if I get crazy.

I also wouldn’t mind something Gambit/Rogue related. But no idea what. What kind of tattoos would you want to get? Are you a planner or someone who randomly picks something? Someone who needs their tattoos to be meaningful or someone who just likes pretty things? As usual, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments and questions here or on my social media pages!

Doggo Doctor Appreciation Post

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are about the same as usual. Took Mardi to get her yearly check up and shots. Other than being dramatic and whining about everything (if the van stopped at a light she cried, if the doctor’s parrot moved she barked, etc.), she was good. She’s a little chunkster (gained almost a pound). But she’s healthy and everyone thinks she’s so cute. Try to take a ball away from her and see how quickly she turns into a murderous demon dog, but I admit she’s still cute when she does. Anyway, this is just a quick post to say how awesome Dr. Thomas and everyone at Rodeo Drive Veterinary Hospital are!

Pretty sure most (if not all) of our animals have been to see Dr. Thomas throughout the years. She’s knowledgeable and kind and a fabulous doctor. All of her people are wonderful as well. Judy and Kandy are always cheerful and helpful. Michele is patient and always takes the time to answer any medication or procedure questions. Shauna is great and always answers my emails if we have random unurgent questions. And they all genuinely care about the animals they take care of. We never feel rushed or like they aren’t listening. It’s a great place with amazing people. So, if any of you are reading this, thank you from me and Dad and Mardi and Sophia and Bonnie!

Thoughts on ONE SHARP STITCH

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are okay other than Sophia having a severely sprained back. Pupper parent life is at it again, but at least there wasn’t an anal blood crime scene this time. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of March! It’s book review time! I went back to the cozy mystery genre this month. One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter is the first in a new series. It was released yesterday (the 25th) from Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

One Sharp Stitch follows Shelby Phillips as she returns home to sort her life out after being laid off and manage her mother’s needlepoint store while her parents go on a road trip. Her strained relationship with her seemingly perfect sister doesn’t equal a particularly pleasant homecoming. Throw in the murder of an old school acquaintance and things get even more complicated. Can Shelby solve her own problems, let alone a murder? She’s sure going to try.

The plot is pretty standard, but with some family drama thrown in for fun. There’s a love interest, an annoyed police chief who isn’t quite as useless as she thinks he is, and a blossoming friendship that is definitely the shenanigans-encouraging bestie. There’s a lot of talking, but not a lot of going out and actually investigating, so the story moves slowly. The actual clues kind of just fall into Shelby’s lap. I’m fine with that, but I admit it’s not as engaging as other series with similar crafting themes. However, there are some nice twists that made me second guess myself for a couple of pages before going back to my main suspect (which was the correct one).

As far as the characters go, I liked them. At the least, they have potential. Shelby and her family are fairly fleshed out. As is the chief. Most of the other side characters are pretty flat, but they each have potential to be more in future books. I found Shelby’s and her sister’s aversion to their parent’s fun weird and annoying. So what if they wear matching shirts and stop at all the corny roadside attractions and take silly pictures? It’s not cringe if they’re enjoying themselves. So, I got a little tired of the teenager-esque “ew my parents still have fun” attitude from a couple of 30+ year olds, but that’s a me thing. Otherwise, the characters were interesting enough to keep me entertained when the plot dragged.

The writing was unobtrusive and nothing special. Sometimes, themed cozies can get carried away with all the technical jargon relating to the topic (needlepoint in this case) because the author wants to prove they know what they’re talking about, but this one doesn’t do that. There’s a nice balance of technical terms and explanations of those terms without feeling like the author is craftersplaining (like mansplaining, but crafters instead of men).

Ultimately, I enjoyed One Sharp Stitch. It has some issues, but nothing major. Most first books in a series have issues that either get better or worse as the series continues, so I’m willing to give this series another shot. I’ll keep an eye out for book two.

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re into cozy mysteries or cross stitching, it’s definitely worth a look.

Garden of Eatin’

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are fine so far. As promised, I have pictures of Dad’s hydroponics garden! The bigger plants off to the right are herbs he started in a tiny countertop version he bought. The dill is being ridiculous and showing off, but we don’t really know what to make with it aside from pickles and fish. So if you have a dill recipe, feel free to share it! The smaller plants are various lettuces, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, and probably stuff I’m forgetting. He’s thinking about adding tomatoes and peppers in the future. They’d have to be grown in buckets and need another light, but the pump should be able to handle them. So, yeah. Our spare bedroom is a garden now. Also, bonus pupper pics. Mardi needs a bath and Bonnie runs from the camera. Sophia is absent because she’s in her kennel since we weren’t supervising everyone (yes, she still randomly pees in the house). Anyway, I’ll be back next week with the usual book review!

Women Authors

~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are usual. I was going to show pictures of Dad’s hydroponics system and plants, but he’s busy and can’t take pictures right now, so I’ll do that next week. Today, since it’s women’s history month, I’ll share some books by women authors that I enjoy. I’ll try not to use repeats from recent posts. In no particular order, books by women!

1. The Library of Legends by Janie Chang. This is my current for fun book, but I’m about 75% of the way through and really liking it.

2. Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime by Leonie Swann. It’s the second book in a cozy mystery series, but I think it’s better than the first book.

3. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. An old book, but a lovely read.

4. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. A strange combination of horror and sci-fi and life in general that I found lovely.

What are some books by women that you recommend? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or questions here or on my social media pages!

Tell Me Something Good

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I’m tired. Allergies suck. Life is a dystopian hellscape. It seems like every time I wake up, something new and worse is happening. And there are still people who are too… I don’t know if they’re stupid, oblivious, stubborn, obsessed, or what… to acknowledge that this is all stuff that’s been done before and is a harbinger of all the bad things (unless you’re a rich, straight, probably white, cis-dude). And to top it all off, we’re on the wrong side of history this time. Anyway, I’m stressed. I’m tired. I panic check my benefits every day just to make sure the Doggies (DOGE) haven’t randomly cut them off. I have more trouble than usual sleeping. My tachycardia is back to acting up once or twice a week instead of once or twice a month. I expect our Social Security payments to stop and am delightfully surprised when they do show up. I’m waiting for them to officially get rid of Section 504 so they can go after the ADA next. I’m angry on behalf of the people who are already being affected (immigrants, trans, women, etc.). I constantly have to remind myself to unclench my jaw. And I’ve been this way since November. So yeah, I’m fucking tired.

Instead of ranting more, I want you to tell me something good. It doesn’t matter how big or small. Don’t try to tell me my fears are unfounded or that I’m overreacting. Don’t try to turn this into a political debate. Just tell me something good that has happened to you recently. I want to know there are still good things going on in this world, no matter how small.

Thoughts on GRIM

~ shawnaborman ~ 5 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are still very much dystopian, but I’m trying hard not to dwell on it all. So, let’s focus on the fact that it’s the last Wednesday of February instead! You know what that means… book review time! This month, I decided to try a little horror (not that I needed it with the state of everything, but yeah). Grim by David Cinnella is being released via The Book Whisperer today (the 26th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

Grim follows Gabe Matthews from childhood into those angsty teenage years. As a young boy, he loses his father, but discovers a secret silent friend dressed in black robes and carrying a scythe. The problem is that no one else can see this being. At 17, his mother is diagnosed with cancer. In a desperate attempt to save her, Gabe makes a deal with his friend. But can Gabe pull off his end of the bargain and save both his mother and himself?

The plot. It’s a pretty standard “deal with Death” scenario. Gabe’s a momma’s boy and doesn’t have the coping skills to deal with her potential death. He’s a bullied outcast in a small town. So, he talks to his Grim Reaper friend and ends up making a deal that doesn’t go as planned. There’s nothing new or surprising about it. Some of it doesn’t really make sense. Gabe’s leap to “I must murder people” instead of “I have to temporarily take over this dude’s job” when he sees the contract is weird, but I put it off to the whole being a teenager thing. The contract itself is pretty straightforward, so the ending felt like a giant leap. I mean… you wrote the contract. You can’t just randomly add something to it in order to create a plot twist. It feels like author interference rather than a natural progression of the story and that’s not good. It knocked the plot from a solid standard but not bad, down to mediocre.

The characters were mostly fine. I didn’t really connect to Gabe because he was pretty stupid for a supposedly smart kid. I had no idea where his anger at his stepdad came from. Basically, there were far too many things that I had to attribute to his being a teenager rather than being shown why he was the way he was. It was all very surface level. His stepdad was awkward but nice enough. Mom was the perfectly imperfect mother in the hopes that the reader would empathize with Gabe’s plight. Everyone played the role they were made for without much work to flesh them out. They were solidly standard which isn’t bad, it’s just not memorable. And that’s fine.

I’m going to be honest. I finished this book about a week ago and I don’t remember much about it. I remember the parts that didn’t quite make sense and the general story, but nothing really sticks out. Which means I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. Nothing about the writing sticks out. I’ll forget it entirely in a few days. A lot of books are like that.

Ultimately, Grim is a thing that exists. It’s neither good nor bad enough to hate. It just is. I’m not going to go looking for more books by Cinnella, but I won’t actively avoid his stuff.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Actually, 2 and a half. I don’t think you’re missing anything if you skip it, but it’s not something I’ll tell you not to read. Unless you take issue with the whole “killing off/harming a woman simply to motivate the hero/villain” trope. Then you should probably steer clear of this one.