TJ Reads October 2025

[tjs_whatnot]

Ahhhh! So many things to share and of course, all I've got is books. 😭😭

I'll Have What He's Having by Adib Khorram ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Loved this! Such a fun read with just enough character development and changing and growing and then romance and… um, that other stuff. 🥰🥰

Beartown by Frederik Backman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

JFC but this book wrecked me. I was NOT expecting so much of what happened and especially my reactions to what happens. Frederik Backman was barely on my radar as anything besides a really funny public speaker who spoke to me on a cosmic level after watching his speech about a million times last year.

Frederik Backman on Creative Anxiety and Procrastination

And I read a really funny short story that I too felt spoke to me on a cosmic level. But Beartown… I was not prepared.

First it took me MONTHS to read because my hold at the library only gave me 14 days and it refused to be rushed, so I had to take breaks. I should have just bought it, but I'm in a buying ban and it had just started when the hold expired the first time and I just couldn't.

Anyway, about the book. It's about hockey, but it's also about so much more. It's about a small town and the people who inhabit it…all of them. And how one horrible incident can change an entire town.

And because I can’t really talk about this part anywhere else but here in my fandom spaces, I'm going to focus this review on a weird juxtaposition between this book and All For The Game that I couldn't get out of my head while reading. Yes, I know it’s hockey and not Exy, and it’s Kevin and Benji and not Kevin and Andrew, but COME ON! Kevin is SO the same person in both of these books and Benji?

I'll just give you two quotes that I think highlight the similarities: Kevin is the jewel, Benji the insurance policy.

And:
Benji has realized how similar he is to the dogs: if you make yourself useful, you get a longer leash.

And I know there are two sequels and I really do want to read them… but I'm terrified. 😭😭

The Color of Revenge: Part 4 of the Inkworld Series by Cornelia Funke ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great. Now I ship Dustfinger/Black Prince. 🤣🤣

But really, this was a really fascinating continuation of the series that I never thought I needed, but as I re-listened to Inkdeath, I can see it was sort of leaning towards not being finished. I never thought I'd care about the Inkworld without Mo, but I also didn't realize how much I would enjoy getting to know The Black Prince more and how I sort of want even more. Like pages and pages of Dustfinger, Mo and The Black Prince just being all noble and devoted and self-sacrificy to each other. ❤️❤️

Murmaration by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Wow. I'm glad this wasn't my first Klune or I'd be so lost, but also because it was like my 20th Klune, I might have already figured out some of the mystery, which made it perhaps less powerful. Still, this was in some ways a complete departure and mindfuck and in others, classic Klune.

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Connor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I think I found this delightful graphic novel to fulfill a Kindle Challenge (yes, I am that level of competitive), but I can't remember what the challenge was, but I'm glad I found it. This was a bit of a Pride and Prejudice Trans Remix, but unlike Most Ardently, it's the character of Darcy who is trans. And unlike MA, it's more loosely based on P&P, in fact, it might just be Austen in general that they are attempting here. Either way, it's delightful. ❤️

Automatic Noodle by Analee Newitz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Yep. Robots are definitely my new jam. ❤️ This was a book club book that Ididn't read at the time because it wasn't yet available at the library and because of the previously mentioned buying ban, I couldn't purchase it. Thankfully someone loaned it to me after they'd finished and discussed it.

This was such a fun read, and part of me loved that it was so short and precious, another part of me always gets irritated when someone creates this awesome world and characters and then just… sort of wastes them? IDK. I'd just like some more of all of them, please and thank you. ❤️

XOXO by Christina Lee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Another book chosen for another challenge, this time on Storygraph, The A to Z Challenge: But Make It Queer.

But I did have it saved on my Hoopla for a long time. It was a sweet college romance between a rich, closeted quarterback and a poor, out dancer who had been childhood friends à they had bonded at the children's hospital they were staying at as they both recovered from cancer treatments.

It's part of a series, but I'm not sure I care enough about opposites attract college romances. But, maybe…

John and Jackie by T.J. Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

This was a very short, very sad book about lifelong partners reliving some of their early years as they say goodbye.

Again, I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone who isn't a completist like me.

And holy moly, I can't believe that took almost a month to write up. I should probably just add November's books, but nah. That just seems like too much.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

I haven't read I Shall Never Fall in Love, but I had so much fun with Into the Tower: A Choose-Your-Own-Path Book, and I have my eyes set on Night at the Vampire Castle: A Choose-Your-Own Romance. :D

[tjs_whatnot]

Wha?!?

That's a thing?! That exists in the world?!

BRB. MUST PROCURE!!

[profiterole_reads]

Everything exists. XDDD

[tjs_whatnot]

Haha. True that.

And yes, I have already placed those in the Libby TBR pile. 😍😍

[profiterole_reads]

<3