Rebecca's Thoughts

will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

Dune is definitely a book, and I am not sure how I feel about it. I liked it but am not completely sure I understand why people like it. I am looking forward to continuing the series but I feel no sense of urgency towards it and I don’t think I’ll finish the series any time soon. Ultimately, I think this book is ~fine~ but I am happy I read it!

and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

My Red Rising Review!

This is the last book in the original trilogy of the Red Rising series, and boy what a conclusion it is. I think if I didn’t know that there were more books following it, I’d be a little disappointed as the book just kind of ends with no real epilogue or real ending. But I still really enjoyed reading this book and following these characters as they navigate their world. I think that Darrow is a fascinating character to follow and the way he rationalizes his choices, good and bad, I think make him interesting and rarely dull.

50 times more fertile than woman), the unfair burden placed on women when it comes to preventing pregnancy (90% of the birth control market is for women), the wrongheaded stigmas around birth control for men (condoms make sex less pleasurable, vasectomies are scary and emasculating), and the counterintuitive reality that men, who are fertile 100% of the time, take little to no responsibility for preventing pregnancy. 

The result is a compelling and convincing case for placing the responsibility—and burden—of preventing unwanted pregnancies away from women and onto men.

I think that this book is a really interesting addition to the conversation around abortion and birth control. It’s a very short book but it still takes it time explaining and reasoning about the role of men in reproduction and how they should take a larger role in birth control and contraception. It is also a book with many shortfalls, it approached reproduction from a narrow cis-gendered, heterosexual, white perspective and although I think there is room for more discussion outside of this, I think the author was really only prepared and comfortable to write about this topic from a perspective that she is the most familiar and educated from. I don’t think this is inherently a bad thing, but I do think that similar conversations from varying perspectives could make this argument more inclusive and powerful. Additionally, I’m not sure I agree with every conversation happening in the book.

I respect what it is trying to do, and did enjoy looking at her perspective and views on the topic. I think this book, coming from a religious author, is important and introduces this idea to people who way be skeptical or closed off from conversations around the topic of reproduction. I don’t think this book is trying to be revolutionary with it’s ideas, rather I think that it is trying to present reproduction rights in a more presentable and accessible way to people new to this conversation. At the same time however, I think that many of the ideas presented in this book are different that the normal line of thoughts typically seen around contraception. With all of this being said, I think this book works well as a supplement to books about reproduction and shouldn’t be read in a vacuum.
At the end of the day I really enjoyed reading this book and found much of what is said to be interesting and straightforward. I think it is a great introduction to reproduction rights and works as an interesting perspective on abortion and contraception.

Audacious, handsome, and dangerously charming, Nicolas Fox is a natural con man, notorious for running elaborate scams on very high-profile people. At first he did it for the money. Now he does it for the thrill. He knows that the FBI has been hot on his trail—particularly Kate O’Hare, who has been watching his every move. For Nick, there’s no greater rush than being pursued by a beautiful woman . . . even one who aims to lock him up. But just when it seems that Nicolas Fox has been captured for good, he pulls off his greatest con of all: He convinces the FBI to offer him a job, working side by side with Special Agent Kate O’Hare.
 
Problem is, teaming up to stop a corrupt investment banker who’s hiding on a private island in Indonesia is going to test O’Hare’s patience and Fox’s skill. Not to mention the skills of their ragtag team made up of flamboyant actors, wanted wheelmen, and Kate’s dad. High-speed chases, pirates, and Toblerone bars are all in a day’s work . . . if O’Hare and Fox don’t kill each other first.

My favourite TV show ever created is White Collar, a show following con-man Neil Caffrey as he becomes an informant for the FBI’s White Collar Unit. White Collar is a TV show that I could literally watch forever and is something that I will never tire of. Despite this is am always looking for media similar to the show and encapsulates the same vibes and feelings found in White Collar. This book is one of the only pieces of media I have found that checks off all of my arbitrary boxes. This book was a ride and enjoyed every moment of it.

The banter is top tier, the chemistry of the characters is amazing, and the Oceans Eleven vibe is immaculate. I think that characters are the best part of the book and they feel very real yet oddly like TV characters. They toe this line between real and grounded yet absurd and tropey. I think that this add to the fun of the book and incredibly cheesy. Honestly this is everything I look for in a book and I can’t wait to read more of the series and follow these characters around more. This review is 100% biased, yet I fee like this book is widely appealing. It’s a “cozy mystery” but it is also wildly fun. It reads like a fun and cheesy action movie and I am all for that!

By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I am usually not a fan of historical fiction, let alone World War II books, but there was something about this one that I felt incredibly charming. There is something quite sardonic and sarcastic about this book, yet there are very small glimpses of hope scattered through out the book making it special and engaging. Additionally, the scope of this book is quite small, the big quest the hero of the book are trying to complete don’t really have any impact on the Soviet Union or World War II outside of some Colonel having a birthday cake for his daughter. I think this makes the book feel really grounded and endearing.

Its a book about the horrors of war without being gratuitous or grim. Its about family, community, and how relationships can be impacted by war. It’s a small story about people and their interactions with each other and the city they live in. This makes the book special and beautiful.

The characters are the best part of this book and they way they communicate with each other and their environments feels effortless yet very intentional. This makes the book feel grounded in reality and like the characters could be real people. The single POV of the book makes it feel like a running monologue and since we see the city from only Lev’s perspective the setting of the book feels lived in and familiar.