Philly Shopper

Not the usual Grady Hendrix tale

Revisado: 03-21-25

This was a great story. I couldn’t put it down. It takes us back to an “unwed mothers” home in the late ’60s. I loved it, and at the same time, it was hard to read as a woman living in post-Roe America. There’s a lot that may be triggering, and the book does not contain Mr. Hendrix’s usual humor.

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Fun, well written LitRPG

Revisado: 03-04-25

The author, works the gaming aspect in seamlessly. The characters are entertaining, there’s lots of humor. The hero is relatable. Powerful female elves. Lovable oafs. Orcs. It has everything. And if you’ve never listened to Jeff Hays read a book, I mean he’s just the best. And in this case he’s joined by a couple of other pros who add to the overall entertainment. There are sound effects, but they’re not distracting. They add to the story. Just very well done.

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Amazing narrator for a great story

Revisado: 12-17-24

Don’t worry about the future; Lily ad-Alice the space kitty has your back. Fun story about a cat with a serious mission who also wants friends and to eat anything but ration paste. Excellent world building. Wraps in a lot of cultural aspects. Clever story, but never cutesy. Lily is a hero, a warrior, an innovator, but never stops being a cat. Eva Kaminsky was an amazing narrator, bringing a score of characters to life.

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Fun, creative story

Revisado: 07-02-24

I liked the writing very much, with the exception of the MC’s need to evaluate every woman as a potential sex partner. 🙄 But it was very creative. Good characters. Interesting plot. Narration was excellent except that Mr. Marsters mispronounces a number of words, for example, chitinous, over and over, which is grating. It would be nice if editors had pointed it out and looped those portions. Also, if breathing noise bothers you, steer clear. Every inhale is quite noticeable.

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Just OK

Revisado: 01-29-24

I love The Librarians TV show, so I was excited to see the books. This book had a good storyline, but for my taste spent way too much time on Flynn and not enough on the rest of the cast. He’s once again falling in love with a woman he meets on a quest, which is always cringy. Also eyerolling was the unfortunate exoticization of Arab and Persian people and culture, particularly the woman he falls for. The writer tried to incorporate some of the personality from the TV show characters, which was good. The narrator did her darndest to capture their energy in the way she spoke their lines. She did an amazing Cassandra. The book overall felt like what it is, a quickly churned out piece to cash in on a popular show. I can’t blame the author; that was the assignment. Loving the franchise, which is also admittedly schlocky, I was hoping for more.

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Unfortunate attitudes

Revisado: 01-02-23

NOTE: If depictions of domestic violence upset you, definitely skip this book. The DV is intense.

I had read another of Ms. Weatherley’s books, and it was a fun little detective story. This one mostly was, too, but the level of ignorance about a few things was so jarring that it ruined the book for me.

First, disability. A disabled character says she would be better off dead. Her life is described as Purgatory. Reminds me of when the CDC said COVID was going much better because only elderly and disabled people were dying. Disabled people’s lives have value. This book elbows us conspiratorially and says that of course they don’t.

Second, sex work. There’s a whole lot of sex work in the world and a fair amount in this book. And it’s important to note that there are a whole lot more customers of this service than purveyors. Various characters in this book shame the customers and think that doxxing or blackmailing them is amusing and fine to do.

Last, BDSM. 99.9% of the kink referred to in the book is consensual, as it should always be, and the .1% that wasn’t consensual was handled appropriately. But the book again and again refers to BDSM participants as “perverts,” “depraved,” “sordid,” etc.

It implies that people who enjoy BDSM would of course kill others or cover up killings to protect their “dirty secrets.” The book supports the idea that consenting adults who participate in BDSM should lose custody of their kids and should be blackmailed and doxxed.

It’s a shame that the author did not do some research or examine her own biases. It ruined the book for me.

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Stunning

Revisado: 12-29-22

This is a book about a pandemic, and so there is a lot about illness and death and how society copes with those on a large scale and as individuals. It is beautifully creative and helped me resolve some of the feelings I have about the last few years under Covid. It is also very much about climate change, family discord and love. I completely recommend it, with the caveat that it may be too much for people who are grieving lost loved ones.

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So much fun

Revisado: 11-30-22

I didn’t know what to expect from this book, but it was a funny, creative tale, beautifully narrated.

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Had to give up

Revisado: 11-21-22

So, I know that this is about a family of survivalists caught in a zombie apocalypse, and so I tried to take the slurs, the nonstop fatphobia and the casual homophobia in stride, given the context. The writing is funny, the story is good, but the gross ignorance meter pegged for me when the narrator said that it was “a waste” that one of the characters was a lesbian because she was pretty. Enough.

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So good.

Revisado: 10-27-22

I love detective stories, particularly UK detective stories. However, I usually end up rolling my eyes at the clichés, the unlikely scenarios, the sexism, the racism, grisly details … None of that occurred in this book. It’s well written, it’s gripping, and I finished it in almost one sitting. I’m so looking forward to the rest of the series.

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