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Do overdue library books from 2023 count for my TBR 52 Book Challenge? Absolutely! Do new library books from 2024 count? Nope! Dear self, put that book back, you've got more than enough to read.

Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala (2021). TBR Book Challenge 3/52.

That "2021" is notable because that's the first book in the series and there are already FIVE books in it, which is unusually speedy for trad pub. (Must...write...faster...!) I want to read them all, but I have to restrain myself because I already have reeeeaaaally big TBR stack challenge to get through, per my earlier comment.



This is a mostly delightful food-based mystery. Yes, the food description is excellent. Yes, there are recipes in the back of the book. Because solving the mystery involves visiting different restaurants, the dishes are from a variety of different cuisines. The unraveling of the mystery itself is not very complex.

My main pet peeve: the "girl comes home from the Big City and discovers true meaning when she accepts having to stay in her small hometown" was a leetle too Hallmark Christmas Movie for me.

I enjoyed this book because of the delicious descriptions and the fun characters. If you like food-based cozy mysteries, I recommend it.
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Sisters of the Forsaken Stars, by Lina Rather (2022), 2/52 #TBR #52BookChallenge, finished at the family cabin in Wisconsin on MLK weekend.

This SF novella is all about the *aftermath* of a ship of nuns making a politically difficult, morally necessary choice to save a colony from an intentionally deadly plague, making powerful enemies, and losing a lot of people anyway. That all happened in the first book. This is very much the second book in a series (and I didn’t read the first). It is full of angst, indecision, grief, and consequences. People who enjoyed Sisters of the Vast Black might want to read this sequel to see how different characters cope afterward, and this would be a satisfying read in that way. But it really doesn’t stand on its own. I did enjoy the wonder-filled descriptions of the liveships and their biology, though!

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Abra Staffin-Wiebe

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