Susan’s Book Blog

 In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune Available April 25, 2023 ✨4 stars out of 5✨ When I started this, I knew next to nothing of what it was about other than having heard vague rumblings about it being a Pinocchio retelling? All I knew: TJ Klune wrote it, which means I want to read it.  Initially, the story/plot wasn’t that interesting to me but I immediately loved the characters with my whole heart. I fell in love with them and they kept me coming back. By the climax of the book, I was fully invested and eagerly awaiting the emotional wallop that Klune has become so masterful at delivering.  Victor, a lonely scavenger, his elderly father Gio, a guileless anxiety-ridden roomba named Rambo and a sociopathic medical robot are the main cast in this little fairytale. And like most fairy tales it is melancholy but hopeful and has important lessons. It is filled with Klune’s signature humor and pathos. It is poignant, thoughtful, charming, hilarious, insightful and WEIRD. It is ...

  Winter's Orbit   by Everina Maxwell Paperback pub date Dec 28, 2021 Outer space empires, alien cultures, political strife and machinations. This has been described as a "space opera" and to me it is equal parts Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Dune, and Red White and Royal Blue. I love how this book starts: with Prince Kiem being informed by the Emperor that he will be participating in an arranged marriage in order to fulfill a treaty promise with another plant of the empire. He's a lesser royal who up until now has been enjoying a carefree lifestyle. Now he must buckle down and do his duty. Which he does, to his credit, with little complaint.  His new partner is a quiet, reticent man named Jainan who has recently been widowed. Jainan is hesitant to cause any disruption in the prince's life, and Kiem feels bad for Jainan for being forced to remarry so soon after his previous partner's death. So they are both walking on eggshells around one another...