Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Narrated by Stephanie Gonzalez with additional cast in certain sections. I thought this would multi perspective based on the casting, but it was mainly Carrie Soto’s perspective. As usual, TJR crafted a character novel which was emotional yet not too heavy. Carrie Soto is very ambitious and not a friendly person at the start. However, she is rootable and I really liked her relationship with her father. There is a bit more romance here which I didn’t mind as it was more about Carrie’s complicated self- acceptance journey. Narration was very good though the main narrator’s Australian and British accents were so-so. All in all, another good one from TJR.

1.25x. April 29-May 2, 2024.

Beware of Chicken 1 by Casualfarmer

Narrated by Travis Baldree. I did a mix of audiobook only, ebook only, and immersive reading. This was suppose to be my bedtime listen. It was until I got so invested on a Friday night that I stayed up late reading some of it. As usual Baldree’s narration is great. The book itself is a slice of life, cozy fantasy which has satire and jokes about the Chinese fantasy genre xianxia. It is also an isekai novel which is an anime genre where someone from our world enters a fantasy world. Both the author and the protagonist are from Ontario. This made all the Canadian references really fun. I found this series through Reddit. I don’t think I could recommend it a lot of people because it’s quite niche in some ways but I liked it a lot. It’s written well with interesting characters and world building. It moved along at a good pace. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next installments.

1.25x-1.5x and 2.5x for immersive. April 28-May 4, 2024.

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

I really liked Cain’s first book Quiet. It was a manifesto for all the introverts in the West. This book was more of a reflective view on how longing and sorrow are part of life. Like Cain, I am an introvert who has reflected a lot on emotions and related topics. I did like some reflections but it did not feel as cohesive as Quiet. For me, it was a bit preaching to the chore and it did not offer anything too much to develop my sense of these things. I still gave it an above average rating because I think this sort of thinking should be more in the mainstream.

1.25x. April 27-May 5, 2024.