What is your favourite cozy read that’s already in this quest!!

I’ve somehow read seven despite not thinking myself as a cozy reader 😂 next up to get me silver is: - Legends & Lattes - A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Howl’s Moving Castle

If you think I should read something else in this quest let me know what and why!

I've had this book lightly on my radar (a couple weeks until release as of this writing) since reading the author's memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, but I was mostly curious, not exactly chomping at the bit for it. I'm certainly chomping now - I just listened to an interview of Jennette McCurdy by Alex Cooper on her podcast Call Her Daddy that has shot it right to the top of my most anticipated list.

In McCurdy's words:

"I'm really interested in themes of desire and power and the things that we desire being confused for some form of power." "underneath, [this book is] really about desire, and loneliness, and why do we desire things that might not be good for us, and why do we so desperately paw at the things that we desire even if we know deep down they're not good for us, why do we still pursue them so relentlessly, so exhaustively, at the expense of, often times, our own self esteem, our own self worth?" "I hope it sparks conversations around desire and power [...] and also loneliness."

So basically, key themes here are desire, power, and loneliness, wrapped in the package of a high school senior relentlessly pursuing her teacher despite her own internal conflict. Okay Miss McCurdy, say less. I'm there.

She shares in the interview some of her personal experiences in an inappropriate age-gap relationship (which readers of the memoir did get a look into) as well as other unhealthy relationships, and says that despite being fiction, this book is very much infuses her own self into the narrative since her writing processes her lived experience. She says it "can't not be" a personal work. Some things she spoke to in particular where I expect to find echoes of herself in the MC (Waldo):

• Going along with the discussion of desire and power and loneliness in the book, in her own experience of feeling insecure in relationships where her needs weren't being met, she says "I'd really crave sex, I'd really want sex. Sex for me was a means of finding commitment, was a misguided means of assuming I'd found commitment, a misguided means of assuming I'd found attachment, a misguided means of assuming I'd found safety, but the second that the two of us cum, it's gone. It's fucking gone."
• She says Waldo is who she wishes she could have been at 18. Bolder and braver than herself. McCurdy can say and do things through her that she may not say or do herself because fiction gives her that opportunity.

The interview is phenomenal and I'd highly recommend it especially for those who have read her memoir already. There are plenty of other great peeks into her writing process, like discussions on when this idea first originated for her and her decision on whether to include an epilogue or not. Also - she wants and plans to keep writing fiction!!

I'll be the first to admit that I've told people that a book will get better — mostly because a lot of the books I've read over the last few years have tended to meander through the first 75% of the plot only for everything to happen all at once in the last 25%.

I do try to temper expectations because I don't want anyone to waste time on a book just because I enjoyed it. If I know someone isn't enjoying a book because the first half is a slow-burn romance and the second half is all epic battles, I'll tell people it gets better in that regard.

I've seen comments that say a book will get better soon, and I've seen comments saying that certain books series get better in later books. Personally, I'm willing to endure part of a book being unappealing, but more than one book just to get to the good part? Hard pass from me.

But, as a reader and a gamer, I got thinking... are we being conditioned to be too generous with these things? The gaming industry is notorious for putting out unfinished games and patching them later, and the film industry has even dabbled with this by releasing directors cuts like the Snyder cut (ugh). We've even got a TikTok author rewriting their book to rerelease because it failed first time around (not naming names, I feel like the situation needs to fade into obscurity at this point).

So, I guess what I'm asking is; do you think there's a line where 'it gets better' doesn't cut it? Do you ever tell others that 'it gets better'? As a reader, how long are you willing to wait for it to get better before you give up? If it does get better, does it make up for it not being good from the start? And, finally, do you think this willingness to endure 'bad' books until they get better is becoming detrimental to the book industry?

Dear PB friends,

I’m looking for advice on posting measured critiques of a book in its associated forum. While I know that PB was created to foster discussion, I find myself concerned that I’m going to ruin people’s experience of the book by posting my negative-leaning opinion. Criticism, even when balanced and accurate, can feel like a wet blanket for those who are here to decompress and just enjoy a good read; I want to preserve that experience while also meeting my own need to dive into the depths. (I’m not always a depths person. Sometimes, I turn to reading to relax as well.)

There are the obvious Don’ts: no/little context, no/little rationale, namecalling, centering oneself when outside of the target audience, etc. But, in your opinion, what are the subtler Don’ts?

Help me, so I can silence the will.i.am in my head saying, “why don’t you put it on the blog.” Thanks in advance!