🌶🌶🌶🌶 I admittedly did not read Hunt on Dark Waters but was told it wasn't required? So I'm not sure if I was missing any critical backstory that would have made this more enjoyable. I was super excited for a sapphic selkie story, but this didn't quite meet the mark for me. It felt a bit shallow (get it, cause they're at sea? I'll shut up now) compared to Katee Robert's other work I've read. There was also so much repetition: oh we can't actually be falling for eachother because Lizzie is leaving/Maeve is dedicated to the rebellion; Lizzie continously "realizing" that Maeve is more capable than she anticipated; Maeve continously "realizing" that Lizzie is much sweeter than she lets on; Lizzie's indecisiveness about whether she actually wants to go home or not - it was a bit tiresome after reading the same internal debate for the third plus time in as many chapters. It felt like going in circles for two-thirds of the book and then getting a very sudden plot dump in the latter third (presumably to connect to the next piece of the series). The spice was fun and flirty and certainly spicy, but the story was just kind of okay for me. I think I just built it up in my head to be more than it was - which is more on me than anything.

Nightvale book club number 6! Do you enjoy really ambiguous endings? How about historically-adjacent stories? The suggestion of ghosts? Then might I recommend We Do Not Part by Han Kang? This story centers on Kyungha who appears to be severely depressed and/or suffering from a form of PTSD as we begin our story. Throughout we learn that her and her friend Inseon have both become deeply involved in research around the tragedy of the Jeju massacre - a real event from Korea's history - that has left them both scarred. They both share their trauma in the heart of a snowstorm as other strange happenings occur around Kyungha. I am not normally a fan of an ambiguous ending. This one was perfect. The entire story was so ephemeral and uncertain in its reality that the ambiguity of the ending was really the only way that this story could have ended that would come anywhere close to satisfying. And this one was deeply satisfying. This is not an easy read by any means, but I do recommend it.

TW: Lots of use of the f slur Nightvale bookclub number 7! They keep throwing unique titles my way. Down the Rabbit Hole is a very apt title for this book. You really do feel like you're falling deeper and deeper as the narrative continues. Tochtli is living in a dangerous situation, but doesn't quite grasp just how serious it is; and instead focuses on the events that he sees as most critical as a young boy. Tochtli is quite possibly my favorite unreliable narrator I've ever encountered. He is unreliable not because he is mentally disturbed, or because he is traumatized, or denying the truth to himself, but simply because he is a child. His point of view is skewed by the lens of youth, and while we the audience can grasp what is going on through is descriptions, he doesn't seem to quite understand the severity of his own situation. He instead is caught up in the elements that would be most important to a child: a desire for a pet (exotic nature aside), that his father (whom he deeply trusts) has lied to him, curiosity about a gun (how many times have we heard that story on the news?), loneliness... All things that would be top of mind for a kid, and that makes the mobster story that we the reader take in around Tochtli's priorities that much more unsettling. The part of this novelette that sad the oddest with me was that it feels almost happy at the end from Tochtli's point of view, and that just feels so strange because really nothing in the story is happy or uplifting, but that is the tone that we are left with - almost joyful even. That cognitive dissonance between the narration and the story was so odd and well done. Very much worth a read, especially with how short it is.