Reviews and Comments

2.5? I think? Man, this is a weird one. Half of the book is all about the kids being guilt tripped into selling Misty to a couple of random movie makers in order to be able to fund their uncle’s college tuition. It’s bizarre, because the whole thing is justified as a “well, now the children of the world will be able to enjoy Misty” when Misty herself, who is repeatedly described as being perfectly happy on the ranch, probably wouldn’t be keen on leaving her island home to get flown off to a city. It’s just sad.

The whole deal with Sea Star is fun, though I don’t quite agree with Grandpa’s sentiment that it’s better to let a very young foal starve for two days than risk it developing behavioral problems by being bottle fed.

As cozy and enjoyable as the ones before it, but I just continue to wish that the mystery itself was less predictable. The outcome is exactly what you think it is, and it’s even worse off when you find out that the culprit made an error so obvious that it’s almost insulting.

But like, the mystery itself isn’t really why I’m here. The vibes continue to be the draw, and they succeed.

Call this more of a 3.5. The writing itself is gorgeous, and the setting described beautifully. I do think it’s a little disappointing that the book is more about the Phantom than Misty herself, but that’s what sequels are for, I suppose.

This is also a book from the 40’s with some of the social attitudes of the time coating it over in an unseemly film of grease. I’m not a big fan of how Maureen gets continually shoved to the side, and the whole practice of pony penning is a whole other ethical can of worms I’d rather not get into here.

But like, for what it is, it’s fun.

Maintains the sweet n’ cozy charm of the first Shady Hollow book, but lacks a bit in the mystery’s construction with an obvious framework/culprit. Vera must have the luck of the gods on her side with how she keeps stumbling on clue after clue.

The second installment of this lovely mlm established relationship series felt more like a serialized radio drama episode and less like a fully realized novella. That’s not a bad thing, and I quite enjoyed my time, it just came off as less structure than the first one

Sadly, I didn’t feel as charmed with this one as I did with Klune’s previous books. This was compelling, but it had that air of being through the editor one too many times. I have to wonder what the previous version that he “felt the world wasn’t ready for” was like…

Really short n’ sweet little novella of a rough and tumble big guy constable getting with a mild mannered psychic to solve a missing child mystery. Made for a gentle listen that didn’t overstay its welcome.

Glad I finally read this one! On the whole really enjoyed it. Lovely prose. Could have really done without the abhorrent antisemitism though.

Loved the concept, but the story kept hitting the same plot beats. I liked it overall, but it still felt a little disappointing coming off of the first Wayfarer book.

While the prose itself is gorgeous, the plot progression seems lost. I love the concept of a nihilist outlook on what makes a ‘good death’ to these foxes, but it’s not explored nearly as much as I was hoping it would.

Honestly, go for fox & the hound first.

Hey, don’t judge me. I like a fun low stakes YA summer fun novel just as much as the next guy. And like! It IS fun. This made for a fun morning, a month-long fling between some guy and a nonbinary merperson.

There are some quotes here that got my eyebrows up. Probably the most egregious offense was a moment where a character blows up at another for ‘not listening’ when said character never bothered to communicate in the first place.

But like. It’s cheesy. It’s silly. The mer culture is butter on bread surface level. But that’s the fun of it. I had fun!

I really needed a fun little sci-fi road trip story, and this delivered quite well! The characters are all quite likable, and the world building with such a diverse array of alien species made for a lot of fun scenarios.

There is a romance later on that comes seemingly out of nowhere, and I wasn’t a big fan of how Ohan’s they/them pronouns are treated as a symptom of a disease. It kind of nearly crosses the border into demonizing plurality, but I know for sure that wasn’t the author’s intention.

Absolute banger of a horror novel, and that’s coming from someone who didn’t grow up in what I know is an all-too-familiar traumatic environment for a lot of folks.

Feels like it could have used an epilogue though, to be honest. The ending is a bit abrupt.

God I love this one so much. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to read something cover to cover, but this is one of the rare ones that keeps me pushing through the eye strain. A severely underrated classic in its simplicity.

Always love seeing more work from this author, though I think I personally prefer the first in this series. The writing itself is great, engaging and tight, but the overarching plot fell a bit flat for me. It feels like there was a lot of struggle in getting certain story beats to mesh together.

It was a fun time though! Just not necessarily a repeat.