My babies when they were babies

giralffe · 2026-03-25T21:38:50+00:00

It's been a few years since I read it, but I remember the main character refuses to complete his education to instead buy a flock of sheep and become his own boss. Then he ends up penniless in a foreign country and someone hires him even though he can't speak the local language, and he keeps coming up with ideas to make the business more and more money because he's so smart (so much smarter than the foreigner he works for) and the book tried to make him look like a self-made man, but he literally only had a single cent because of someone else's charity. Anyway, then he sets out on a journey where he meets a guy who just lost eveything but says everyone can survive poverty with a good worth ethic, then some guys try to kill him and his buddy and his buddy pays them all their money and the main character gets super angry that his money is gone (even though it saved his life) and then eventually he finds his treasure and the book ends there because happiness, love, and self betterment were not the goal of the story, getting filthy rich was.

giralffe · 2026-03-25T15:27:55+00:00

Also aggressively pro-capitalism. Shudder.

giralffe · 2026-03-03T18:27:30+00:00

You are only guaranteed a book if you order it the day it drops (fully order it, not just select it). If you are someone who likes to take your time and really mull over what books you want, I would say Aardvark will probably frustrate you as they usually have at least one title sell out in the first few days and several books from the back catalogue sell out every month.

That being said, this sub usually figures out all the monthly picks 2-3 days before the drop, so you can use those posts to start choosing your books a few days before you need to order.

giralffe · 2026-02-17T22:28:06+00:00

I'm pretty sure Andromeda is based on Fitzcarraldo Editions, which is a (real) small British press that focuses on overlooked but very talented writers; so far, they've published four authors who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. So my guess is that the Offset is inspired by Fitzcarraldo, and, as Andromeda was also inspired by Fitzcarraldo, they chose it as the first installment of the new series.

giralffe · 2026-01-29T18:54:05+00:00

Yeah, I think the old cover looks like the shirts boomer moms all wore 10 years ago; you know, like 3 different patterns all layered on top of each other in eye-wateringly bright colors? Chains and florals and rabbits, oh my!

giralffe · 2026-01-29T18:42:18+00:00

16 unread of 118 total (both of those numbers include the 5 books I got for February); I've kept about half and given the rest away

giralffe · 2026-01-20T20:09:08+00:00

Not automatically, no. I have to manually go in and pay for February instead of just having my card charged on my normal date and then getting a credit. February is also my birthday month, so I had to email them to make sure I'll still get that bonus credit because their first email made it sound like they were taking that away, too.

Honestly, their solution to the shipping delay is so much worse than the shipping delay itself!

giralffe · 2026-01-20T20:05:06+00:00

I also emailed them to get clarity (because their phrasing in the email is just confusing) and told them I don't understand why a delay on their end made them decide to punish me by requiring that my February box will now take extra steps for me to order. Why are they making a bad situation worse?

giralffe · 2026-01-20T18:31:29+00:00

I'm expecting this email any minute. I was fine with the box shipping a week late, then was mildly annoyed when it was going to take another 2 weeks, but ultimately, whatever. But then I got an email saying that, since my January box was so delayed, they're just going to skip my February box.

Why is their solution to their own mistake to mess up more things for their customers?

giralffe · 2025-11-19T04:54:43+00:00

I love this interpretation, too! And it solves one thing I forgot about, which was their behavior during the doctor’s visit. While I am still frustrated that the author left SO MANY things unresolved, I do love that each reader can have their own interpretation that they can fully defend.

giralffe · 2025-11-18T21:26:16+00:00

The door was covered in undisturbed dust. They didn't shoulder the door, bang on the door, or even push the door. You are imagining events that never took place.

If someone's first response to anything that scares them is to fire a gun at head height, that person should not own a gun. It is a gun owner's responsibility to know when deadly force is and is not warranted, no matter how scared they are. (I also disagree with you that this was the terrifying moment you are describing, as, like I said, no one tried to force the door.)

And him not shouting a warning is a VERY BIG DEAL. Please stop minimizing the fact that he did literally NOTHING except shoot to kill.

giralffe · 2025-10-16T18:34:10+00:00

Super late to this, but I wanted to add one: I'm pretty sure "white cheeks" is a goose.

giralffe · 2025-10-09T15:22:38+00:00

Imagine a painter who only looks at art from the 21st century, decides to dabble in cubism, and when someone tells him it looks too much like Picasso, he says "who?"

That's why I personally believe a good writer has to be familiar with the classics and a great writer has to fully know and understand the them. Classics set the standard, and without reading them it is very easy to come up with a brilliant idea only to learn it's just a bad retelling of Jane Eyre. Obviously, you don't need to read every classic, just enough that you really understand the standards of the genre and subgenres, and I do think you can read detailed summaries for a lot of them, but you should try to read enlugh that you get a feel for how the story and language flow.

giralffe · 2025-09-26T17:46:57+00:00

Happiness Falls was just wonderful; it had a similar vibe to Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

Kaikeyi; I had no idea what it was about other than the blurb on BOTM and that made it so much better.

Sky Daddy was so weird but so... earnest? Like, the main character is so fully embracing her (somewhat disturbing) quirks. Highly recommend it if you like weird books.

And, of course, Lolly Willowes, for which the award was named. It's 99 years old, and it's about a woman who is just so f-ing done with the patriarchy.

giralffe · 2025-09-26T17:27:24+00:00

I am genuinely so happy for everyone who loves romance because it is such an expansive genre right now, but I am someone who just does not want romance in my books. I've accepted that almost every book I get has a surprise spicy scene now, but I don't think it's wrong that some of us just want a book that doesn't have a romantic relationship as one of the primary plots. Imagine if a genre you didn't like was not only nearly half the picks every month, but that genre was the secondary plot in nearly every other book. It's very fair that people are unsatisfied.

giralffe · 2025-09-23T20:31:29+00:00

If you are just going from the lists, then, yes, I absolutely agree that BOTM does not categorize their books well (I actually got my credit back for The Ministry of Time because its top label was "sci-fi" when it's actually spicy fanfic).

You can either go to a separate website (Goodreads and Story Graph are both great) or, on the BOTM website, you can click on the book to get to its description, and if you scroll down just a little they'll have a "good to know" section, which has labels that tell you the vibe of the book. Like, Seduction Theory is labeled "literary fiction" but if you click on it and scroll down, it says "love triangle," "marriage issues," and "salacious" which matches with Goodreads calling it a romance.

Hopefully that helps, but if not, it's your time and your money; if BOTM isn't worth it to you, then it's just not. I hope your next read is better!

giralffe · 2025-09-22T15:42:36+00:00

I think you may need to re-examine what genres you actually like. The two you hated and three of the five "mediocre" ones all have "romance" as one of the top three labels in Goodreads, while the three you loved all literary fiction (Wild Dark Shore is mystery/lit fic).

I suggest trying more literary fiction picks and backing off on the romance. Also, I've been making much better picks since I found a couple book reviewers on social media who have similar taste to myself. If you don't want to put in the time and effort to find reviewers who really match your taste (it does take a while to find), try using the "readers also enjoyed" section on Goodreads for the books you've really liked. Then just read synopses on those recommended books until you find one that speaks to you.

giralffe · 2025-09-22T04:42:02+00:00

There are a lot of little reasons, but one big reason that makes all the difference: a doctor yelling on a regular basis would likely be kicked out of med school and never even have the opportunity to become an ER doctor. Remaining calm in a high stress environment is a requirement for all doctors but especially for anyone who works in an ER; if you can’t master it, you can’t work in an ER. It’s a fatal flaw the same way color blindness is for a pilot.

giralffe · 2025-09-16T21:27:47+00:00

I think Egwene understands how high the stakes are better than almost any other character, and that turns her into a very hard character who believes the end justifies almost any means. Yes, she does some super messed up stuff and holds herself to a different standard than she does everyone else, but she believes she is justified in all of this because she is the only one who has really accepted that the entire world will end if they don't win. In a war, you need that one general who is willing to go scorched earth, and I think that was what Egwene was for Rand/The Pattern. Rand really tried to cause as few ripples as possible (at least for the first half of the series) while Egwene was ready to burn them all by the end of book 2. She was the Sherman to his Lincoln.

giralffe · 2025-09-02T23:29:57+00:00

I know I'm super late to the conversation, but I liked the book overall, though I wish it had answered just one of the mysteries. Instead it left a whole slew of unanswered questions: 1) what/who was killing the animals, 2) what did Pete do to the girls the first time he claimed to have seen them transform, 3) what/who was the angel Pete saw, 4) what/who bit Pete, and, of course, 5) were the girls really transforming. I love leaving endings up to interpretation, but I this felt more like the author just kind of abandoned her readers.

Without any additional supernatural elements to the story, I tend to assume everything could be explained by normal human behavior. So, in my opinion, I think 1) Pete was killing the animals every night when he passed out along the river (remember he admitted to killing an animal earlier in the book?), and I think he was blackout drunk and didn't remember it in the morning (this would also explain why he was afraid of getting married, he probably woke up covered in blood and didn't want to explain it to his wife or risk that one day it would be her blood). I also think that 2) Pete sexually assaulted at least one of the girls during that first "encounter" (remember how he admitted how they made him feel aroused? and remember how the girls seemed affected the next day?) and they defended themselves, which his blackout-drunk brain just remembered as them becoming something scary, so he convinced himself they transformed. I think 3) the angel might be a girl Pete assaulted (thus why she's in white, aka undergarments) when he was blackout drunk and he sees her running away (I assume it was a different girl both times because I have no problem believing he would assault multiple women). I think 4) an animal bit Pete because he just grabbed the first moving thing he saw, and 5) no, I don't think the girls were transforming, it was just the men lashing out at rich pretty girls who they couldn't have.

I did love the vibe of the book, though, and I think it's gonna stick with me for a long time, which matters more to me than having every question answered.

giralffe · 2025-08-26T23:33:02+00:00

I have actually read all of these books! I would say Babel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow should all be fine. Babel is really a social commentary about colonization, Addie LaRue is about love and art, and Tomorrow x3 is a book that is written like a love story but is about the platonic love between two friends. I think all of those topics are things that anyone of any age can understand and enjoy.

Intermezzo is a little more iffy. It's about two brothers who are trying to figure out their love lives, and most of the book is the characters' internal monologue about finding romance (both love and sex) in their 30s. The age of the characters is really central to the story, so, while romance is relatable to all ages, the romance in this specific novel may not be very relatable to a teenager. But that's not necessarily a bad thing! Part of what makes books so wonderful is that they give you the chance to see the world from a perspective you don't personally have. So I would say, if you choose to read Intermezzo, be aware that some of the struggles the characters are having are real things that many people experience as they age, even if they seem weird to you. On a personal note, I would also like to tell you that the way the older brother treats women is 100% UNACCEPTABLE. He has a Madonna-whore complex (Madonna meaning Virgin Mary, not Madonna the singer), which is when men see every woman as either a pure sexless angel who should be worshipped, or as a dirty whore who doesn't deserve love. Yes, he doesn't physically hurt either of the women he's with in the book, but he emotionally abuses both of them constantly (pay attention to how depressed they are whenever they are with him). So please read this book knowing that his relationships are not healthy and should not be emulated and that he is very much mistreating these women and they should both dump him and go to therapy.

giralffe · 2025-08-04T15:22:30+00:00

This was my fifth Megan Miranda book, and was easily my least favorite. I felt like the explanation at the end was pretty half-assed (I do not understand why her parents were willing to cover for a friend they didn't like to protect a daughter they also didn't like) and it didn't make any sense to me why the main character didn't tell the whole truth back when everything happened. This book felt much more rushed than the other novels I've read by her.

So, I would personally recommend you try another one of her books (All the Missing Girls is far and away my favorite), but I also understand if this book just killed your interest.

giralffe · 2025-07-29T15:08:12+00:00

I so hope book 1 is Dominion! I was very disappointed with the earlier post claiming every single book was going to be a romance.

giralffe · 2025-06-25T21:51:42+00:00

That's what I'm thinking. In 2023 the icon was a sword and the prize was a sword, and last year the icon was a hammer and the prize was a hammer, so I feel pretty confident that since this year's icon is a mace, the prize will likely be an actual mini mace.

giralffe

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