For me it's the new Six of Crows book coming out in June!

I've run across this a few times in some books, and now again in The Decagon House Murders where the author will name a place or thing, but blank it out like S__ Town, C__ Club, O__ University, etc.

I know it's just a stylistic choice, but I kind of hate it? I think it makes the story lose a sense of place, and it reminds me that I'm reading a book in a weird and unpleasant way, rather than let me get wrapped up in the story.

What are some writing style trends that make your eye twitch?

Do you know how a river forms?

Perhaps you have heard that it begins as a small stream in a cold and distant mountain, a trickle of melting snow and splash of rain that slowly carves its way down steep slopes, connecting with other rivulets, growing, leaping, bounding as it cascades down the mountainside and into the land below, sculpting tree and rock with its powerful currents until it unites, at last, with the sea.

I would have flowed forever, one with the universe that was one with me, but the song of humanity called to me.

I had not understood that once I left my origins, I could never return. That when I severed myself from that which made me, it would be forever. You might wonder what a mother is to a river, whether a river can have a home. Only when I left did I know that i had lost my family, and myself.

This combination of Vaishnavi Patel's gorgeous prose and Sneha Mathan's gentle narration make the story feel like it's being told with the safety and comfort of a crackling fire nearby, keeping shadows at bay, told with words that hold magic and summon something other to their sound, things that are always present but make themselves more known when lips breathe life into their names and coax their eyes toward the movement. These words have a presence.