Robin's Updates en-US Sun, 06 Jul 2025 17:23:10 -0700 60 Robin's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review5302221325 Sun, 06 Jul 2025 17:23:10 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin added 'Tress of the Emerald Sea']]> /review/show/5302221325 Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson Robin gave 5 stars to Tress of the Emerald Sea (ebook) by Brandon Sanderson
bookshelves: 2023-reads, 4-5-stars, awesome-audio, books-of-my-heart, chick-i-want-to-hang-out-with, cool-creatures, fantastic-fantasy, sci-fi, space-opera, ya
Reread

This was another 5 star listen for me and the Graphic Audio version made a wonderful book even better.

I enjoyed this book even more the second time around. Like most of Sanderson's works there are little hints and digs throughout the story that you don't really get unless you have finished it at least once. I have enjoyed every reread of his books I've done and over the years that has been a lot.

I loved that in this a girl gets to be the one who needs to wander off and save the Prince (Duke to be) in this scenario. She gets help from her parents instead of running off on her own, she does crazy things like stops to think a few things through with some common sense, before running off. It was so nice for a change to not be frustrated with all the stupid decisions a character makes.

There are still some frustrations throughout the story, but I'm frustrated along with Tress not because of Tress.
Do you know how many grand romances would have been shortened if the hero had thought, "You know, maybe I should ask her if she likes me first?"

You do not have to have read a single Sanderson book to enjoy this story. It stands on it's own quite well. Highly recommended as an entry point for those thinking of trying him out. (see full review below)

My final wish to you all is that you find your perfect glove too.

Original Review

This review was originally posted on

If you didn't hear, Brandon Sanderson secretly wrote four books in the Cosmere during the no traveling portion of Covid.  He then decided to publish them himself and announced it to the fans in the form of a kickstarter if you wanted in AND so many of us did.  It is the most successful kickstarter to date.  Tress of the Emerald Sea is the first book to be published out of the four stand alone novels set in the Cosmere.  Hoid is the narrator and sometimes star of the book which focuses on a the son of a Duke and the Girl that went off to save him from a Sorceress.

Let's just say I'm a huge Brandon Sanderson fan and I give fair warning that I'm probably not as impartial when it comes to his work. One day, Sanderson will write Hoid's origin story and this is a way to toy with his voice.  Let's talk about the world that Tress is in first because the one thing Sanderson does maybe better than anyone else is worldbuilding.  Tress lives on the planet with twelve moons that rain spores, each moon a different kind of spore and therefor there are twelve different seas of spores that ships can sail through.  You may be scratching your head on how that works but trust me it does and Sanderson explains how in his storytelling fashion.
The locals worshipped those twelve moons as gods, which we can all agree is far more ridiculous than whatever it is you worship.

Because this is told in Hoid's voice some of the time, we get the whimsical way he blends the talents of whit into the story. Tress is a window washer that befriended the Duke's son as he was pretending to be the gardener's son.  They tell stories to one another and have built something.  When his father discovers how close they are,  he and Charley head off on a tour of Islands to find him a wife.  Charley is determined to make it back to Tress and will sabotage all of the set ups with eligible maidens to get back to her.  That is until he is taken for ransom by the Sorceress of the black sea, the most dangerous of all the seas.  Not deterred, well maybe a little deterred at first, Tress will set off to save the man she loves.

I had so much fun with this book.  Tress is fantastic in the way she approaches almost everything.  She is clever, clear headed and sometimes even stops to think before doing something dangerous and ridiculous instead of running in headstrong with no plan whatsoever.
Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.

This is a swashbuckling tale on the weirdest Oceans I've ever thought of.  There are pirates, a talking rat, a dragon, a witch and much more.  Not only is Hoid the narrator we even get to see him not at his best as he has been cursed.  It also wouldn't be a Sanderson tale if we didn't get a few cameos from other characters in the Cosmere.  One of our favorite body part buying Kandra's makes an appearance and there is even a reference to Death with nails in his eyes.  Which makes me wonder why in Harmony's sake are they on Tress's planet.

This is very much an adventure.  I would even say if you have never read a Sanderson book, this is a great stand alone story.  Sure you won't know some of the bigger picture implications Tress of the Emerald Sea has in the grand scheme of the Cosmere, but it will give you an idea of the interesting world building and magic systems Sanderson is capable of writing.

 
Narration:
Michael Kramer IS the narrator for the Cosmere and again he brings his fantastic voice to Sanderson's vision.  All I can say is he is one of the best narrators ever and I love the story he tells with Tress of the Emerald Sea.  I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.  I would like to note that the audio for this will not be available through Audible (reasons).  But do not fear - if you didn't join the kickstarter it will be available through Speechify, Soundcloud and Spotify.

Listen to a clip ]]> Rating874490318 Sat, 05 Jul 2025 15:59:00 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin (Bridge Four) liked a review]]> /
Robin (Bridge Four) liked Kam's review of The House Saphir:
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
"A faux petty witch obsessed with serial killers and ghosts. A histrionic ghost (but really aren’t all ghosts like this). A mysterious Count who lives in a haunted mansion with a gory family history. I love a gothic mood piece. This novel was a mix of horror and paranormal, I had chills reading this at night knowing an omnipresent ghost stalked the characters at night. Le Bleu was everywhere and no one could be trusted. I vaguely knew the story of Bluebeard but ended up doing a deep dive after finishing this book because I loved the lore. An all too familiar story of men made monsters, luring women with promises of romance and luxuries.

As far as the characters and relatioships,

Armand: I wish the book gave more time to Armand and Mallory’s relationship to make the romance subplot more believable. It went from 0 to 100 with minimal foundation for the attraction to build.

Anaiis:
Anaiis seems to serve two purposes: 1. to juxtapose how “not like other girls” Mallory is 2. to set the stage for what I am assuming will be a duology.

Speaking of duology, the story randomly drops monsters and monster hunters that really do not serve a purpose to the overall story, more of a prelude to the sequel? It seemed like an odd interlude.

This was my first Marissa Meyer book and overall I enjoyed it. I know Meyer does retellings on traditional folklore and this novel was exactly that. 3.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review."
]]> ReadStatus9623280544 Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:30:54 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin started reading 'Tress of the Emerald Sea']]> /review/show/5302221325 Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson Robin started reading Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
]]> ReadStatus9617492651 Wed, 02 Jul 2025 07:29:11 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin is currently reading 'The Knight and the Moth']]> /review/show/7703488837 The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig Robin is currently reading The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
]]> Review7696584548 Mon, 30 Jun 2025 03:01:15 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin added 'The Undermining of Twyla and Frank']]> /review/show/7696584548 The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen Robin gave 4 stars to The Undermining of Twyla and Frank (Audible Audio) by Megan Bannen
bookshelves: 2025-reads, 4-5-stars, book-boyfriend-material, books-of-my-heart, chick-i-want-to-hang-out-with, cool-creatures, sexy, uf-pnr, womens-pnr
This review was originally posted on

I remember when I was in my twenties, I thought fifty was old and I imagined grey hair and Wilford Brimley as the posterchild of what that looked like. Now that I'm much closer to fifty all of those notions seem silly.  I'm close to being in the best shape of my life, in a great place in my career, financially stable and have time to do activities with my husband that we love.  Fifties look so different now that I'm knocking on the door to it.  I was so happy that both Twyla and Frank, the main characters in The Undermining of Twyla and Frank, the second book in the Hart and Mercy series are firmly in their fifties and still living super full lives and are about to have a second chance at love.

Welcome to the town of Eternity where there are portals into the Mist and the land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.  Frank has spent his entire career being a Tanrian Marshall and patrolling the dangerous land to make sure nothing escaped back into Eternity.  When Twyla's husband died, he recommended Twyla, his then neighbor, to become a Marshall and his partner.  That was eight years ago and the two have an easy banter and fun working relationship and friendship.  They are best friends and easy confidants, so much so everyone in Eternity believes them to be more.  No one was more surprised than Twyla when a professor shows up after she and Frank find a baby dragon and shows an interest in Twyla, moving her and Frank very outside of their comfort zone.

I appreciated that this was a love story of two people in their fifties, who had first marriages, raised their kids and now are empty nesters thinking about what they want for themselves.  I totally connected with Twyla, who was a mother and often thought of what she was supposed to be doing for others.  It is hard to move from that to thinking about what you want and putting yourself first.  Twyla also has a bit of baggage from the way her marriage was.  She made choices, not realizing what they meant at the time and she wants to make sure her daughter doesn't make the same mistakes she did.  I loved that Frank knew her so well.  His first marriage didn't work out but he seems like such a good man who constantly tries to be there for Twyla and her family.  He was fine in the friend zone when he thought Twyla would never want someone after her husband, when he finds out she is entertaining thoughts of dating the professor he needs to decide if he is going to carry his torch forever, or is he going to risk everything they are for more.

This was a fun book.  The dragons are cute and it was so much fun that one of them imprinted on Frank.  I thought it was easy to understand how the the relationship between Frank and Twyla fell into such a comfortable rhythm.  I liked the interactions they had both with different family and friends as they try to figure out the relationship between them.  The world is really cool too.  Tanria is like the old west, modern technology doesn't work there and you have to use things that were around when the old gods were trapped there.  There are new gods and lore behind them too.  You never know when one of them is going to show up to 'help' you in your life.  The mystery of the death of another Marshal was interesting but I had my suspicions of the culprit early on and was right, still one of the more interesting villain speeches I've read.

Overall this story really worked for me and I liked the shift of the romance to couple not in their twenties.  It adds some additional depth to the series and I'm glad Megan Bannen took a little risk to tell this love story.

Narration:

Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None

Nicol Zanzarella is a new to me narrator.  She did a good job with the story and I enjoyed her portrayal of both Twyla and Frank.  A few of the side characters had some odd voices, specifically Rosie who sounded more like a man.  Still for most of the book it was easy to tell who was who and she had a lot of fun with some of the singing phrases.

Listen to a clip:  ]]> ReadStatus9604801238 Sun, 29 Jun 2025 09:56:04 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin wants to read 'The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam']]> /review/show/7694459561 The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen Robin wants to read The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen
]]> Review7689012086 Fri, 27 Jun 2025 07:21:25 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin added 'The Spellshop']]> /review/show/7689012086 The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst Robin gave 4 stars to The Spellshop (Audible Audio) by Sarah Beth Durst
bookshelves: 2025-reads, 4-5-stars, books-of-my-heart, cool-creatures, fantastic-fantasy, romantasy
This review was originally posted on

I saw the cover on The Spellshop awhile ago and was intrigued but I've had very hit and miss experiences with Cozy Fantasy.  I was pleasantly surprised that this first book in the Spellshop series had a cute premise, a cool world and a group of characters that were cute and quirky.

Keila has lived a very shelter life. As a librarian in the Empire's service, she lives in a little book cubicle she overtook and does everything in the library.  She is a great protector of the books.  So when unrest and revolution came she was ready.  With some of the most informative and dangerous books from the library, she escaped to the small island she left as a child.  Hiding from the revolutionaries, she is ready to try and build a life in a small cottage with her trustee assistant who just happens to be a sentient spider plant.

First, I applaud the author for thinking up a pretty unconventional sidekick and all the strange things that entails.  She made a plant practically cuddly, for me that is not an easy task.  Keila also had a lot of growing to do.  As a booktrovert talking to people and having them in her space is not something she is comfortable with.  Plus, she stole rescued some books from the empire full of spells that are illegal for regular people to perform.  She is a little terrified that someone will stumble on them and figure that out so she abruptly dismisses the cutest and most eligible man on the island a few times.

There is a small romance happening.  Right away it is clear that Larren is completely interested in Keila and remembers her from childhood.  He is a bit of a beta boy and slightly a doormat from time to time.  He was slightly broken and you could tell he was desperately seeking someone/something to love.  While a bit cute at times, it wasn't the most developed relationship as I thought he let Keila walk all over him more than once.  But he did have a herd of Merhorses and that aspect of the story was fun.

The overall story and plot is cute as Keila tried to reinvigorate the island that has fallen into disrepair due to a magic imbalance.  I enjoyed how much she and Cas (the Spiderplant) loved doing research and trying to improvise on some spells so they wouldn't seem so showy and Keila could try to sell them as home remedies.  Sometimes there were some unexpected yet funny results.

Definitely one of the better Cozy romances that I've read and a good entry point for the genre if you'd like to try it out.
“She didn’t really know anything about running a shop or magic or jam… But I do know books - and that meant there was nothing she couldn’t know, eventually. That was magic in and of itself.”


Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None

Caitlin Davies is a pro at narration and it shows.  The performance was easy and flowing with good pacing.  She is a solid narrator and a good selection for this book.

Listen to a clip:  ]]> Review7677251267 Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:39:01 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin added 'All Superheroes Need PR: Supers in the City']]> /review/show/7677251267 All Superheroes Need PR by Elizabeth Stephens Robin gave 3 stars to All Superheroes Need PR: Supers in the City (Audible Audio) by Elizabeth Stephens
bookshelves: 2025-reads, books-of-my-heart, chocolate-pms-day-reads, sexy, uf-pnr, supers, sci-fi
This review was originally posted on

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 hearts

Imagine a deep voice proclaiming "In a world where forty-eight aliens fell to earth Superman style, emerging from pods as children, a balance of heroes and villains has been organized.  Team hero has hired a little known PR team to rebrand one of the forty-eight from terrorizing Pyro into a new Hero, The Wyvern.  But in order to keep him on team good he has a few stipulations, he wants the head of the PR team to be his Louis Lane."  That is the premise behind All Superheroes Need PR the first book in the new Supers in the City series.

Vanessa has a small but mighty PR firm and she has placed a bid to be the new force behind Pyro's rebranding.  But when the meeting with the Super doesn't go well, she assumes all the work put into this campaign was for nothing.  That shifts when the contract is hers with just a few stipulations.  She will be the liaison between Pyro and public as well as any day to day.  She never thought at the time that what he was really angling for was for her to play the Louis Lane to his Clark Kent.  Vanessa has not had a lot of success with dating so maybe this will be great to fake date the superhero.  That will help the rebranding go more smoothly...right?  We all know what fake dating leads to here, and while it might be fake for Vanessa it is not fake for The Wyvern aka Roland.

It took me a little time to get into this story.  Vanessa is so timid, shy and came across as weak in the beginning of the book.  It was hard to buy into how she would have built a successful business on her own when she struggled to have a conversation outside of her family and immediate friend group.  When we first meet Roland he too comes across as a jerk. While later we understand the visceral reaction he has to Vanessa, at the time he just seems a little mean.  It isn't until I got a peak into Vanessa's past and she and Roland actually have a conversation that I started to have a better time in the story.

Vanessa's adopted family was great and I loved how protective her brothers were of her.  It was cute the way they all tried to protect her from the big bad superhero.  The way they were willing to charge with her into danger also just really cool.  I enjoyed how the parents kept the family close with weekend brunches and family dinners.  Her mother was a force to be reckoned with the and swear jar was a fun touch.

The premise of this story ended up being very cool and different.  There are reasons that alien children were sent to earth and when Roland finds his key and his purpose he will have to decide where his loyalties lie - to the home world that sent him there and the other alien children, or to the woman that he longs to protect.  Because Roland wants it to be clear he is not a hero, but he will be Vanessa's hero.

The beginning was a little struggle to get into as I didn't connect with Vanessa right away.  I also sometimes find that when you complain in books about social issues such as under representation of colored female authors or characters, make the majority of the side characters trans or gay and make a point of pointing out all the injustices in the world to some of those people, I, as a straight white woman, feel a little attacked.  Those feelings really takes me out of the story if it doesn't seem like something that is natural to flow of the story.  Sometimes it feels like a checklist publishers put in that your story has to have 5 of these features.  There are ways to do this that don't take the reader out of the story; Craig Shaeffer does this really well with his Trans and alternate lifestyle characters.

This was a cute superhero love story when it focused on the story.  There is a bit of insta-love but I accepted it in the context of what Vanessa ended up being to Roland.  Very interesting concept to Superheroes and Villains basically being part of a corporation, getting regular paychecks and endorsement deals.  I will definitely check out the next book in the series as overall I enjoy this world and some of the morally ambiguous heroes in it.

Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None

Dara Brown and Sean Bassett are both new to me narrators.  I thought they did a good job with the story narrators.  Sean has a really deep voice that seemed to fit the Wyvern well and how I would expect him to sound.  Dara brought some of Vanessa's vulnerabilities to life and helped make it easy to understand her.  I enjoyed both PoV narrations and how they performed all of the characters.

Listen to a clip:  ]]> ReadStatus9582948359 Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:34:44 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin wants to read 'Lights Out']]> /review/show/7679209174 Lights Out by Navessa Allen Robin wants to read Lights Out by Navessa Allen
]]> ReadStatus9582942164 Mon, 23 Jun 2025 17:32:49 -0700 <![CDATA[Robin wants to read 'Quicksilver']]> /review/show/7679204939 Quicksilver by Callie Hart Robin wants to read Quicksilver by Callie Hart
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