Rosh ~catching up slowly~'s Updates en-US Sat, 05 Jul 2025 12:19:35 -0700 60 Rosh ~catching up slowly~'s Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9629576531 Sat, 05 Jul 2025 12:19:35 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ started reading 'Michael Without Apology']]> /review/show/7537158474 Michael Without Apology by Catherine Ryan Hyde Rosh ~catching up slowly~ started reading Michael Without Apology by Catherine Ryan Hyde
]]> ReadStatus9629568200 Sat, 05 Jul 2025 12:17:12 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ marked as nevers-and-not-anymores 'Uncharmed']]> /review/show/7711987576 Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood Rosh ~catching up slowly~ marked as nevers-and-not-anymores Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
]]> Review7548218303 Sat, 05 Jul 2025 12:12:00 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ added 'Rewitched']]> /review/show/7548218303 Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood Rosh ~catching up slowly~ gave 1 star to Rewitched (Kindle Edition) by Lucy Jane Wood
bookshelves: netgalley, waste-of-time
In a Nutshell: A cosy fantasy with an immature lead character who never acts her age. Decent plot intent but too padded out. More of monotony than magic. This was a slogfest for me.

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Plot Preview:
Belle, a witch who hides her magical powers from the humans around her, used to enjoy working at Lunar Books, but her new boss seems intent on butchering any customer-friendly ideas under the guise of corporate efficiency. To add to her troubles, just before her thirtieth birthday, there is a summons from her coven: there will be a trial to test her worthiness, and if she fails to pass the test, her magic will be stripped away. Belle has no choice but to prove that she deserves her magic, even if it means interacting with a mentor of questionable integrity and an intrusive “watchman” sworn to protect her.
The story comes to us in Belle’s third-person perspective.


Let’s begin with a hypothetical situation. Suppose you learn that you have a secret magical talent, and someone more experienced hands you a book to help you hone your skill. You ignore the book and use your magic as you wish for personal benefit. After more than a decade, the person comes and says that your prowess is going to be tested within a few days, and if you fail, the consequences will be severe.

Question 1: What would you do?
A. Pick up the book and study as much as you can within the limited time to be well-prepared for the test?
B. Hurriedly peruse through the book for a couple of hours and try your best to wing your way through the test?
C. Ignore the book and go to the superiors *demanding* clemency, claiming that you had no idea that you would be tested?

Question 2: What would the senior who gave you the book do if they learnt that you weren’t aware of the test?
A. Offer an extension on the deadline but with a firm warning about not taking it lightly again?
B. Strip away your talent with no sympathy because you should have been prepared better?
C. Acknowledge that it was their fault for not telling you about the test (despite the fact that the book mentions it) and give you a special mentor to ace it on a future date?

If your answer is (C) for both questions, this book is for you.

My answer was not C.


While many readers don’t prefer unlikeable lead characters, I actually enjoy the complexity such characters bring to the narrative and the growth that we see in their personality as the pages go ahead. (Would ‘The Christmas Carol’ have been as impressive if Ebenezer Scrooge were a good fellow from the start?) However, there’s unlikeable, and there’s stupid! Belle firmly falls in the second category.

Belle is a paradox: entitled and wishy-washy at once. She has the tendency of being aggressive with some people without justification, and she also allows others to walk over her. She’s opinionated, but is also wary of other’s opinions. Can’t forget the biggest contradiction, which tears a big fat hole in the base premise: Belle is a book lover but she doesn’t even read the book gifted to her about her magical talents. (Why on earth would a bibliophile not read a book about magic!?!??)

It is next to impossible to accept that Belle is thirty! 🙄 At no point in the narrative does she behave in a mature, adult manner. Her only reaction towards issues is to throw a tantrum and either cry or yell about the unfairness of the situation. (Yeah, right! Welcome to adulthood, Belle!) I can’t even say that she behaved like a teen because my teen has more common sense and self-respect in her fingernail than Belle has in her entire body. No matter how the protagonist is, you should be able to root for them. But if I were in the panel that was testing Belle, I would have taken the opposing side because I found all the arguments against Belle legitimate.

One character says to Belle at one point in the narrative: "You sure have a lot to say for someone who doesn't really know that they're talking about." That sums up the main problem. And as a major chunk of the book aims to make us support Belle’s quest of saving her magic, I simply couldn’t enjoy the story.

It's not like Belle was the only problem area of this book.

😒 It is mostly repetitive and boring in execution.

😒 The pacing is terribly slow.

😒 Barely any scene development, with most of the progression happening only through conversations.

😒 A pile of descriptions (beautifully written in many cases) and hardly any story. If I had to crunch the plot to its bare essentials, the book would last just fifty pages or so.

😒 The lacklustre worldbuilding that doesn’t even explain how the interconnection between witches and “non-wicches” came to be. (On an aside, can someone please explain to me why witch and “wicche” couldn’t be spelt the same way though they mean the same thing and are probably pronounced the same way? What new fantastical nonsense is this?!)

😒 The budding relationship – I just didn’t see the connect! Why was the poor fellow so interested in a girl who didn’t ever speak a kind word to him? (To be fair, the romance is just a minor subplot and doesn’t steal away focus from the core story, which I appreciate.)

😒 It doesn’t take a genius to see how the story will end. So guessable!

😒 Oh, and a womb, aka the uterus, isn’t round like a bowl. 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️ It is shaped like an inverted pear. Issued in public interest!


On the positive side,

🥰 The cover: perfect for the genre

🥰 I do like the idea of seeing a protagonist who hasn’t figured out everything even at thirty. Even though I found her mostly annoying, this factor was refreshing.

🥰 Nice to see an older mentor instead of seeing a typical young guy who ends up being the romantic interest.

🥰 Ariadne, Belle’s human roommate. A bit overenthusiastic but still a delightful character.

🥰 A couple of the reveals in the climax.


As is clear, the skew of my feedback is heavily tilted towards the negative, and the five positives are for relatively minor reasons. Nothing about the book feels like it was written for adults. In fact, it seems childish even if read as a NA novel. The core content is so diluted that it could have worked far better as a 100-page novella.

This is the debut book by an established influencer. I wish I had known this before. Nothing against her, but influencer books tend to have bloated ratings because of their fan base. As someone from an older generation, I do not get this new trend of online influencers and don’t follow anyone in this category. I avoid books about and by influencers, so this entered my TBR only by fluke.

Sorry, but I cannot recommend this. YMMV. So please read other reviews and take a better-informed call.

1.5 stars.


My thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Ace for making the DRC of “Rewitched” a ‘Read Now’ title on NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

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|| || || || || || ]]> ReadStatus9629350072 Sat, 05 Jul 2025 11:12:13 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ marked as freebie-deal-buys 'Please Return to the Lands of Luxury']]> /review/show/7711834821 Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton Rosh ~catching up slowly~ marked as freebie-deal-buys Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton
]]> Review7709693667 Fri, 04 Jul 2025 13:31:39 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ added 'Boobies']]> /review/show/7709693667 Boobies by Nancy Vo Rosh ~catching up slowly~ gave 3 stars to Boobies (Hardcover) by Nancy Vo
bookshelves: 3-stars
In a Nutshell: A cheeky little nonfiction picture book about boobies. Not the avian variety but the mammalian kind. A good introductory book on external mammary anatomy. Though I admit I wanted to read about the avian boobies.

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“You have just opened a book about boobies.” 👀

From the cover, I honestly thought this book would be about the blue-footed booby! (I should have paid more attention to the placement of the two O’s! 🤭) But the book turned out to be about the other boobies – a surprise.

Some of the jokes would be lost on readers who are unaware of the bird species known as “booby.”



But this nature lover always found the bird’s name hilarious and hence I was thrilled to find a picture book about the bird. I am still unsure if I am happy or not about the unexpected direction this book went in.

The content begins with the bird but soon moves to mammalian mammary glands, covering various subtopics such as who has mammary glands, how many glands, and so on. (Of course, it always calls them “boobies”, but I’m feeling stupid typing “boobies” so many times! 😆) Basically, the book covers all things mammary for major mammals, including humans. I think the inclusion of whales would have made this properly comprehensive.

That said, the execution of the content is a bit disjointed. In the quest to be broad in scope, the book jumps from topic to topic without exploring anything in detail. The end result is hence somewhat flat. Several important points are indicated but not openly mentioned. For instance, one page contains the illustrations of breasts in various shapes and sizes, with the text indicating that breasts aren’t standard in appearance. The sketches include a hairy male chest (took me ages to figure out why those “breasts” were so hairy!) and missing breasts with mastectomy scars (a great idea, but not at all obvious to the typical reader, especially as most people don’t know what mastectomy scars actually look like.) There is also no detailing on why male and female breasts differ.

The text content per page keeps varying. Some pages have minimal lines while others go a bit scientific in their explanation. The language is mostly age-appropriate (except for the tougher anatomical terms), aiming at kids in the 8+ age range who might just have started discovering changes in their bodies. The content is witty and educational.

The illustrations are good, but not to my artistic taste. The blurb describes the style as “stencil art in retro palette”, so I guess I am not a fan of retro colours. The sketches ranged from realistic (like the beautiful graphic of a Black woman nursing her baby) to somewhat abstract (like the above-mentioned page full of boobs in multiple colours that aren’t always in skin tone.)

Overall, this is an udderly informative book, though I am unsure about whom to recommend it to, considering the muddled execution. It might work as a good starting point for middle-graders on this part of mammalian anatomy.

3 stars.


This was a library read, picked up only because of my fondness for boobies… of the avian kind. Here are two beautiful boobies for you!


Pic courtesy: World Wildlife Fund.

Fun fact: The bright blue of the blue-footed booby's feet comes from its diet of fresh fish. The brighter the blue, the healthier the bird.

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|| || || || || || ]]> Review7654006413 Fri, 04 Jul 2025 13:20:01 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ added 'Sentence: Stories']]> /review/show/7654006413 Sentence by Mikhail Iossel Rosh ~catching up slowly~ gave 2 stars to Sentence: Stories (Paperback) by Mikhail Iossel
bookshelves: 2-stars, anthology-collections, netgalley
In a Nutshell: A literary collection of one-sentence stories. Not microfiction, unlike what I had assumed. Stretches the meaning of the word ‘sentence’. Hence this didn’t work that well for me, though I appreciate the creativity.

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This book contains 38 entries, each written in a single sentence. In my ignorance, I thought these would be microfiction stories conveying everything in a sentence. This is right and wrong. Every entry has just one sentence, true. But the sentence spans many lines, and often, even many pages.

The collection doesn’t have a fictional feel to it as the entries are based on the authors’ musings and memories of his native Soviet Union and his observations on general human behaviour. The author had emigrated from Soviet Union to USA at the age of thirty, so his reminiscences of his earlier life are from an adult perspective and not necessarily full of nostalgic longing like some people’s fond memories of their home town would be.

A few of the “sentences” truly tested my patience and comprehension. The very first entry is 25 pages long. 25 pages of just one sentence! Creative but also taxing to focus on, all the more as you see just one endless chunky paragraph page after page. Just in case you are wondering how exactly one sentence can extend to 25 pages… there are loads of ellipses, comma splices, and parenthetical interjections in addition to the grammatically correct dependent clauses. These lengthier entries feel like you are listening to someone’s ramblings about something from their past: it might contain interesting moments but overall, it is one messy, unstructured narration.

Some entries are really deep and introspective, but some go too philosophical. Philosophy doesn’t ever work for me, so this further increased my disconnect from this collection.

I attempted to follow my usual method of rating the entries individually, but after just a few pages, I realised that I simply wasn’t able to concentrate on the longer “sentences”. I kept zoning out after every few lines. Only five stories made an impact on me: Road Long, Rain, Birds, Finishing Sentence, and Worded World. Not surprisingly, all of these were relatively minuscule.

Perhaps those who enjoyed Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand would love to give this a try. I still remember how lengthy her sentences were. In fact, one paragraph was nothing but an extended sentence of 1000+ words. (I stopped counting after 1000.) This book isn’t as poetically written as Tomb of Sand, but it is just as meandering.

Not my cup of tea. I appreciate the imaginativeness of this endeavour, but the execution would probably work better with those who enjoy stream-of-consciousness style writing.

2 stars.


My thanks to Literary Press Group of Canada and Linda Leith Publishing for providing the DRC of “Sentence” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book .Sorry this didn’t work out better.

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]]> Comment292386090 Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:55:41 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ commented on Rosh ~catching up slowly~'s review of When the Day Comes]]> /review/show/4625418590 Rosh ~catching up slowly~'s review of When the Day Comes (Timeless #1)
by Gabrielle Meyer

Darla wrote: "I may be late to the party, but better late than never. Have been immersed in this time slip tale from the first chapter. How interesting to live 50/50 between two worlds. So glad her mother is als..."

Thanks much, Darla! 'Better late than never' is the best approach. Looking forward to your post-read thoughts! 🤍 ]]> ReadStatus9622637178 Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:11:46 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ started reading 'Rewitched']]> /review/show/7548218303 Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood Rosh ~catching up slowly~ started reading Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
]]> Review7405830873 Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:09:43 -0700 <![CDATA[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ added 'Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop']]> /review/show/7405830873 Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop by Jaimie Admans Rosh ~catching up slowly~ gave 2 stars to Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop (Ever After Street, #5) by Jaimie Admans
bookshelves: 2-stars, netgalley
In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance-drama with a Little Mermaid twist. The fifth book of the Ever After Street series, and can be read as a standalone. It had a few charming moments, but didn’t work too well for me, partly due to my reading preferences and partly because of the lacklustre characters and romance. My least favourite of all the books I have read by this author so far. This is an outlier review.

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Plot Preview:
Thirty-eight-year-old Mickey runs a quaint curiosity shop on the charming Ever After Street. Lately, the number of customers and sales has dwindled, but she has hopes that her beloved curios will find a new home someday. Until Ren walks in with his no-filter attitude and points out all the reasons Mickey’s shop is a mess. Ren’s teenage daughter Ava is much friendlier to Mickey, though she too has her share of sass.
When Ava discovers a secret diary in one of Mickey’s treasures, both are convinced that it must have been written by a mermaid. But the more pragmatic Ren is obviously sceptical. As they explore the mystery together, the trio discovers learns some important life lessons.
The story comes to us in Mickey’s first-person perspective.


Though not an avid romance reader, I have read quite a few Jaimie Admans novels for their gorgeous settings, lovely meet-cutes, and adorable (and realistically vulnerable) MMCs. Not a single Admans book has failed to impress me. Until this one. I never thought I would be so disconnected from an Admans story, but I suppose even favourite authors can end up disappointing us at times. I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it the way I had anticipated.


Bookish Yays:
🎵 The Little Mermaid connection: This story isn't a retelling, but many scenes are loosely derived from the Disney version. There are also some glimpses of the original Andersen story. No complaints on this point. I am not a fan of the original fairy tale, but I liked this ode to it.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
🧜‍♀️ Mickey: Has her charms, especially the way she lives life on her own terms, but is also too impractical and impulsive, all the more for an indie business owner. She never behaves as per her age. Her repeated declarations about Ren’s attractiveness and about how he alone made her realise the shortcomings of her shop further prove her naïveté.

🧜‍♀️ Ren: I connected better with Ren than with Mickey because he was more practical in his thinking. Some reviewers have called him ‘grumpy’ to Mickey’s ‘sunshine’, but I find him level-headed as he uses his common sense no matter the circumstances. (Gimme a man with common sense any day over brawny hotties!) Unfortunately, his attitude especially at the start of the book, is a huge turn-off.

🧜‍♀️ Ava: For a thirteen-year-old, she is mostly okay except in the crucial scene in the final quarter where she seems to misbehave just to set the foundation of a third-act breakup. Also, I don’t like the way she complains about her own dad to Mickey, an absolute stranger.

🧜‍♀️ The secret diary: I relished the story in this diary and even more, the resolution of the mystery. I also love that it sounded like a diary instead of like a novel. What I don’t like is the reaction of Mickey and Ava to the diary, with their immediately jumping to the conclusion that it might be written by a mermaid. How come neither of them even wondered how a mermaid had access to writing equipment, or even how a “mermaid” would know how to *write* English? Ren seemed to be the only fellow thinking clearly.

🧜‍♀️ Pet peeve: I hate it when characters take the entire novel to read a newly-discovered diary/journal. But I also appreciate that the reason for this is clarified (for once!) in this book.

🧜‍♀️ The Curiosity Shop: I love the shop’s name ‘The Mermaid's Treasure Trove’ and its intent, but not how Mickey manages it. I wish we would have had a chance to explore some more curios beyond the dragon fruit table.

🧜‍♀️ The themes: Some good themes in this book include knowing yourself, handling grief, relationship breakups, single parenting, and understanding the importance of organising even when your heart isn't into it. These are quite decently handled, even if I didn’t understand why Mickey kept calling her ex “my ex” even in her first-person inner monologues. The only theme I didn’t like (probably because it went firmly against my grounded Capricorn head) was the championing of being free-spirited and believing in (English-writing) mermaids if needed. Errmm…. okay! 👀

🧜‍♀️ The series continuity: Every book in the Ever After Street series can be read as a standalone. However, considering that all the books are set on the same shopping street, the characters from the earlier books always make an appearance in subsequent stories. This is usually one of my favourite aspects: meeting the older favourites. However, in this book, the earlier characters are mostly in the background with no talking scenes. The only one who gets enough page space is Lissa, who is the lead of the next book.


Bookish Nays:
🐡 The romance: I just didn’t see the connect between the lead pair, which is all the more disappointing for a Jaimie Admans book. Mickey and Ren have nothing in common; one is super-organised, and the other is chaos. Ren even criticises Mickey’s approach to life, and yet, within six short weeks, he is declaring undying love. It is all so abrupt and unconvincing. Further, there’s not much romance-y romance, with a major chunk of the book feeling more like general contemporary fiction. Heck, I even missed the Admans’ ubiquitous touchy-feely stuff, which is a miracle in itself as I am absolutely not into anything touchy-feely!

🐡 The Parenting Trap: This is the first time (as far as I know) this author’s book has a single parent as a main character. It’s not a trope I am fond of, as it usually involves the same done-to-death ingredients: painful breakup, annoying/uncaring ex, troubled child, magical recovery after the new relationship. This book follows the formula to the T. But it has one thing that didn’t sit well by me: Ava and Mickey always gang up together while Ren is forced to give up on his (much more logical) reservations and succumb to their demands. There are also scenes where Mickey suggests that Ava not reveal some things to Ren. As a parent myself, I get annoyed by such tactics, especially as Ren isn’t even a bad father.

🐡 The third act breakup: I hardly ever mention this trope in my romance-genre reviews as I consider this reveal a major spoiler. However, this time, I cannot help myself. This scene is easily the weakest point of the whole book, making no sense at all and turning away from the characters’ established personality. I’d rather not have a third-act breakup in a book, but if it has to be written, it should feel genuine, not formulaic. I wish this tiresome trope would be retired. Isn't there any way to end a romance novel without resorting to a breakup in the penultimate few chapters?


All in all, perhaps this book was a tad too whimsical for me. (I am not the kind to get gooey-eyed about mermaids.) But I would have still taken this in my stride had the connection between the lead pair been strong. If I cannot root for a couple to come together even in a romance, there’s no way to save the experience.

Many of the reasons for my dissatisfaction stem from personal preferences, so they hopefully won't affect other readers as much. The ratings anyway confirm that I am very much an outlier. I think this story would work better for those who have a more imaginative and spontaneous mindset.

The 2025 series jinx continues with this book. I have enjoyed all the other books of the series, so this experience is a shocker to me. With just one more book to go, I hope Lissa’s story helps me say goodbye to Ever After Street with a teary smile instead of only tears.

Recommended only to staunch Jaimie Admans fans and Ever After Street fans. If you want to begin your Jaimie Admans journey, please try the earlier novels of this series, each of which is a standalone.

2 stars.


My thanks to Boldwood Books for a complimentary copy of 'Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop' via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

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