This was a hard read.  Surreal, set in a labyrinth, it is a lonely story with deep and dark themes of trust--the trust you place and misplace in others and the trust one has in ones own perception of and hold on reality.  It is a haunting and complex story, allowing for layered interpretation and reflection on classic philosophical quandaries, like the brain in a vat.  But  also, if you have lost touch with reality, how do you know what and who to trust as a touchstone to return?   And once you find your way back, what impact does that experience, that trauma, or having lost yourself mean for your ability to function and your ability to trust?   I'm not sure if I can recommend it.  While reading it, I just thought it was super weird and pointless, but after finishing it, it has stayed with me and I reflect on it as a metaphor, rather than a narrative.  For now I am going to say it is 
​Not Not Recommended.

This was a pretty dense biography with quite a lot of information and background, not all of which was interesting, so there were some parts that droned on a bit, reading more like a list of facts in a history book than biography, but there were other parts that were really enthralling.  Even though I have read a number of books about her and her associates (particularly Lorena Hickok and Pauli Murray) in recent years, I still found that this book had new information for me.  From that perspective, I think it was well worth reading as such a great example of leadership by someone stepping into who considered herself unsuited to that role. 
​Recommend.

A highly produced love story about two podcasters working together on a project, this was a strong enough story to keep my interest, but not strong enough to recommend.

​Not not recommended.

It is rare that it takes me more than two weeks to finish a book, but I really struggled through this one--it felt more like a slog.  It is a monstrosity of a book, about 850 pages or 25 hours, which cannot be sped up at the rate I am used to while being able to follow the story.  Even listening much slower than I am used to, I found the story unduly complicated and wordy, filling space that neither contributed to plot, character development, or was particularly beautiful to listen to.  It sometimes felt like it was writing a long saga for the sole purposes of writing an epic narrative, rather than to convey a story.  There are times when I am so immersed in a fantasy world that I like the unnecessary descriptors, but in this case I really just kept getting bogged down by it, wanting the story to hurry up and do something.  As a result, it ended up being something that could only hold my attention span for short periods of time--and I often fell asleep while listening, so I had to got back and listen again, which just made it take so much longer than usual.  The tension in the sexual relationship was so drawn out as to exhaust me and by the time the relationship progressed, I had no emotional investment in it anymore and the violence in general was just not for me.

Do not recommend.

I have liked a lot of Olivia Dade's work, but this just didn't quite live up.  It is a series of three short stories.  I found them to be a bit hollow, with the character development--something I think she does well in her full length books--is sacrificed here for length.  
​Not recommended.

This was the long-awaiting and much acclaimed new "romance" released by Casey McQuinston, who wrote the really fun Red, White, and Royal Blue.  Despite a lot of hype, I was disappointed in this one.  It is being touted as YA and it is certainly a romance with a sort-of love triangle, I felt like the content was oversimplified for a good YA.  It did not feel like there were layers or lessons to search for.  It was all just very superficial.  I was really disappointed.  
​Not recommended.

This was an unexpectedly fun little romance that I quite enjoyed while I was needing a break from The Priory of the Orange Grove, which is along and tedious.  This, however, was not.  It moved along at a great clip in a variation of "let's pretend to be lovers for fill-in-the-blank-reason." But in this case, the fill-in-the-blank is a reality tv show competition to design cosplay, so that part of the premise was novel and interesting.  

Recommend.