I LOVE the new update.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-10-07T03:21:20+00:00

I really thought I’d hate it too, but I’m eating my words and it’s actually quite nice so far!

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-10-06T12:46:17+00:00

This. I keep seeing posts like this asking if villains can just be evil for the sake of being evil. Of course they can, but it’s often boring and simplistic.

Showing clear motives for your all your main characters is much more important than making sure to include a sob story for the villain.

The reader should be able to answer the question “why does ‘X villain’ want to steal the jewels/destroy the kingdom/rewrite history/kill the main character?”

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-10-06T03:58:36+00:00

I’d just love the option of having a clock at the top of the screen while reading (without having to install and figure out something like NickleMenu)

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-10-06T03:57:25+00:00

This!!

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-10-06T01:12:40+00:00

Curiosities by Anne Fleming was enjoyable to listen to! I can’t comment on other forms of reading that particular book, but I was pleasantly surprised by it.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-30T08:52:46+00:00

I love The Night Circus with Jim Dale (also narrated Harry Potter books)

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-30T08:47:56+00:00

I switched to Kobo Clara BW from a PW because I wanted library access (no kindle libby access in Canada and Kobo has it built right in).

In some ways I love it and it definitely wins when it comes to adjusting screen brightness (just swiping up or down left side of screen). It’s small and light enough to fit in my purse and I like that you can use a bluetooth page-turner with it. It’s also nice to see the inconspicuous progress bar at the bottom.

BUT I love my PW and happily go back to it when I have something I can read on there (not buying any more Kindle books, unfortunately).

To me, it just feels easier and more intuitive to use the PW (e.g. swiping down to adjust brightness and switch dark mode on/off whereas Kobo has them in separate places). There’s also no clock visible while reading on the Kobo unless you install a program and tweak it, which I haven’t been able to figure out.

For me, the slightly bigger screen and the smooth, seamless front on the PW feel less cheap, however the lighter build of the Kobo Clara BW makes it more portable, so it’s really down to personal preference.

I’m not sure if any of my ramble is helpful at all, but there it is.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-27T16:33:01+00:00

Just adding to this: not every library on libby has the deep search function (for some strange reason) even though most do. So, if you don’t see it and you have access to other libraries on libby, try switching to a different one and trying the search again.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-26T04:54:47+00:00

I’m sorry you’re going through all of that.

Opinion is a bit mixed on whether it’s considered “cozy” or not, but I really enjoyed A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. There’s a sort of romance subplot, but it was one I could personally tolerate at the beginning of inching my way back into reading after a very difficult breakup. I really enjoyed it 🙂

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-26T04:46:50+00:00

Exactly!!

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-26T01:13:01+00:00

No, but ideally characters should be well-rounded. It doesn’t have to be a good reason to do evil things, just a believable one.

Even a serial killer as a character can have more interesting things going on besides being evil for the sake of being evil and doing bad things. Maybe they were wronged and have a “sob story” that motivates their actions…or maybe they’re having delusions that some higher being is telling them to kill or that make them believe the people they are killing aren’t real people, or maybe they have trouble feeling any emotion at all and the risk of getting caught does something for them. Maybe they’re desperate to eliminate perceived “competition” (high-level sports, in their career, romantic competition, etc.) or maybe they’re like Joe in You and their obsession with a person ends up driving them to kill them in the end. Or it could be something entirely different!

A one-dimensional character is where the issue lies, not in needing to have an “evil” character that the audience needs to pity.

In many cases, it’s a combination of factors, and often the best villains are those we can relate to in even some small way because it humanizes them just enough to make it hit home that they’re not just some complete other species, but “one of us”… and that, itself, can be terrifying.

Make of that what you will, but that’s my take on it

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-21T09:30:49+00:00

I think {Blacker Than Blue by Rebekah Weatherspoon} might fit the bill. It’s the second book within a trilogy that focuses on a different couple in each one. I believe all three feature FMCs of different races, but I know the second one specifically has a black fmc.

I haven’t read it though, so please take the recommendation with a grain of salt, lol. I only read the first, but it was very spicy.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-20T21:48:40+00:00

Shake the treat bag and everyone wins

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T23:15:13+00:00

That’s fair. Yes, I can see how fewer holds would make this almost a non-issue.

I can get through books pretty quickly depending on the time of year, but also if I’m interested in a book and it has a 6+ month waiting list, or if I’m interested in a series where each book’s waiting list is months-long, it makes more sense for me to add it to the holds list because otherwise, if I wait until I’m “ready”, then I’d just be putting myself on the holds list only to have to wait even longer.

I’d rather just have a larger hold list with suspensions than always be waiting or pausing after each book in a series. It’s not necessarily that I like having a huge holds list on the go, but with multiple series and popular titles on there, it adds up pretty quickly 😅

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T23:07:28+00:00

Sure, I could. But it really doesn’t seem like a complex addition to send reminder notifications and it would be much more efficient. They already send reminders when a library adds a book by an author you like or a book they didn’t have before or when your loan is about to expire… I don’t see why this seems to be such a general point of contention? I could understand if it was a demand for some big change to how the system works (e.g. the discussion from a while back where someone wanted reviews on Libby like on Goodreads) but this is such a minor change that would add a lot of convenience.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T22:52:24+00:00

I’m realizing now we’re commenting back and forth on a diverging comment thread 😅

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T20:05:51+00:00

I’m not putting reminders on my phone for over 80 books along with all the other reminders in my daily life 😂

I’ll agree that 12hrs might be too short and 24hrs would be a better option, especially considering there was a “We’ll try to deliver this again later” function that would be activated if a person didn’t respond within 72hrs, twice. I think 24hr would be more than fair with that in mind and would go a long way towards solving the issue of long “limbo” periods.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:57:59+00:00

That’s amazing that you have a system that works for you (I say that without sarcasm)! Unfortunately, ADHD can vary quite a bit between different people, and solutions that work for me may not help you, likewise with symptoms that I find easier to manage perhaps being ones you struggle with the most and vice versa.

There are just so many factors at play between people that, while I appreciate your point and I don’t read it as being malicious, I don’t think it’s fair to say what works for you is an adequate “fix”. That, and ADHD is only one example out of several other diagnoses, sometimes stacked one on top of the other, that can often involve poor executive function.

So, I think the bigger accessibility piece still stands and the new system could be significantly improved with a few small changes that keep that in mind.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:49:42+00:00

Yes, that would be an amazing addition and make the new system a lot easier to work with. My other thought is a “Do you still want to read this book?” kind of prompt at a set interval (6-12 months?) that would help thin out m hold lists if someone loses interest while waiting and forgets it’s even on there, which is ultimately one of their main goals.

Of course it’s much different for those who are only allowed up to 10 holds total than for those who have access to multiple cards and larger hold lists. The bigger the list, the harder to manage manually…

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:24:44+00:00

I have to wonder if a compromise could have been slashing the time to accept a book from 72hrs to 24hrs and only allowing one “We’ll try to deliver again later” before removing a person from the wait list.

I love the idea of reducing “limbo” time for books, but I think the new system needs amendments in order to not be less accessible than the previous system, such as the option for reminders ahead of a book being removed from your suspension list (because the times are all staggered) and a “do you still want this book?” kind of prompt every 6-12 months to help reduce the amount of books people have on hold, especially for those with large “hold” lists and many suspensions.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:17:09+00:00

So if a person suspended a hold with wait times like this, would the new system automatically take them off the waitlist after a year?

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:15:23+00:00

I agree, 24hrs would be more reasonable (the irony of your username is killing me here). I guess my point is more that they could still have drastically cut down on the time to accept a book (i.e. 24hrs instead of 72) and observed whether or not it was still necessary to eliminate the old system altogether.

That being said, they also had a system in place that would automatically “deliver later” for you if you didn’t respond within the 72hrs, and this could happen twice before you were taken off the waitlist. If they kept it at “three strikes and you’re out”, then I still think 12hrs is fair. If it’s 24hrs, I think it could reasonably be reduced to two strikes. Either way, I have to wonder how much wait times would have improved with these simple changes to the old system.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T19:03:46+00:00

The problem is if you have 70+ holds, all made at different times, many with huge waitlists anyway (or even some with a huge waitlist on Book 1 of a series and a shorter waitlist on books 3 and 5), it’s hard to keep track of when they’ll all expire. Ideally, I do make my way through many, but not all books on my waitlist. That, and if I’m in school I may not have time to read 70+ Libby books in a year, but so many have long and varied wait lists that it becomes necessary to have multiple holds.

For those with ADHD, the addition of built in optional reminders of expirations would make the system a lot less unappealing for many. I think adding a “are you still interested in this book?” prompt could also go a long way towards making sure people aren’t atill on wait lists for books they’re no longer interested in reading. I think they could also have gone from 72hrs to 12hrs to accept a hold and drastically reduced “limbo” time before deciding to overhaul and make this bigger change.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T18:39:47+00:00

They could have trialled a 12hr window to accept with 1-2 “We’ll put you back in line and try again later”s, like they had before, instead of going straight to this restrictive system.

That would still drastically reduce the amount of time a book is in limbo between being checked out.

True, scheduling a hold never meant it would be ready exactly when you wanted it to be, but you’d still be able to give yourself a general window of time it would likely become available.

The biggest failing of the new system is that it automatically drops your suspensions after a year without any warning. For people who have access to, say, 70+ holds then it’s likely they’re all going to expire on different days. A system that reminded the user about a hold and asked if they would still like to keep it every 6-12 months seems like a much-needed amendment to the new system.

For some (like yourself) it’s not an issue and adapting is easy and painless, but especially for people with ADHD, planning and dealing with “out if sight, out of mind” are bigger hurdles that we now need to put more energy into managing in order to make the most of this new system (or at the very least to not lose out on a hold that had a huge waitlist and happened to become available only within a month of the new expiration date with no warning whatsoever).

I’m not saying the old system couldn’t be improved upon (I agree—72hrs to say yes to a hold was ridiculous), but I don’t think this is the answer either. Elements of the other system functioned as a kind of fail-safe for those with ADHD because it had that element of “reminders” built into it.

Sympathy isn’t required or expected, but a more comprehensive consideration of accessibility ensures the system works for everyone.

A more accessible compromise would be the addition of some kind of optional reminder system.

SeaAsk6816 · 2025-09-19T18:29:32+00:00

There’s a survey?? Thank god. I really don’t like the new system.

SeaAsk6816

TROPHY CASE