Time for another round of Yvonne’s Shorties! This time around a novella of a favorite series that sadly underwhelmed me completely and the first book of a Christian romance series that just wasn’t for me.

Title: Winter’s Gifts
(Rivers Of London #9.5)
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
First published: June 8th 2023
Publisher: Orion
Finished reading: January 1st 2024 
Pages: 214

“I told my mama that Jesus led me to join the FBI, and when she asked why I told her I didn’t think it was right to question the Lord.”

REVIEW

WARNING: it’s time for another unscheduled unpopular opinion stop!!

Right… I definitely didn’t expect this to happen. I usually love spending time with the Rivers Of London series, and since I missed spending time with this series I decided to pick up this novella as my first read of 2024. I was aware that this novella was going to be different; it follows FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds and takes place in the US this time around. Still, I fully expected to be able to enjoy it as I didn’t remember any negative thoughts about this character from the previous books. Now I’m wondering if I just remembered wrong, or if she is depicted in a completely different way in Winter’s Gifts… This novella ended up being a complete dumpster fire for me. I haven’t despised a main character like this in quite some time! One of my biggest pet peeves is the forceful presence of religion, and boy does this story wants you to know that Kimberley is religious! The constant repeat of religious references, the way she constantly refers to ‘her mama’ and how she looks down on others and condemns cursing… It just made me want to hit her while throwing a string of expletives at her. And then I’m not even talking about the constant repeat of the word ‘parka’; seriously, how many times to you have to refer to a coat?! There is also an overdose of acronyms that don’t seem to add anything substantial to the plot, and the way both the US setting and the characters were described just didn’t seem genuine at all. It mostly felt like the author used every cliche and stereotype in the book, and both the humor and spark of the books set in the UK was missing. True, I did like the idea of the snow monsters, but it just was all a bit too little, too late for me… Especially since there was hardly any magic going on or anything else to redeem this story. Oh yes, this novella and me most definitely didn’t get along, and I definitely won’t be reading any more Rivers Of London stories set in the US if they appear in the future.

Title: Authentically, Izzy
(Skymar #1)
Author: Pepper Basham
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: November 15th 2022
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Finished reading: January 8th 2024
Pages: 420

“There is something immediately comfortable about meeting another avid reader.”

REVIEW

WARNING: Oh boy, two unpopular opinions within the same shorties post!

I confess that I didn’t realize that Authentically, Izzy was actually Christian fiction, because I would have stayed well away otherwise. I actually made the mistake to request an ARC of book three, and then decided to read the first book as I do love a good contemporary with a bookish angle… But as soon as I saw that Christian fiction mention, I was worried. It’s no secret that books with a heavy focus on religion just aren’t for me… Still, I hoped that the bookish references and epistolary style would make up for it. Initially, things were going really well. The religion aspect wasn’t too present (in fact, this wasn’t even the reason for the lower rating!), and I quite enjoyed the unique epistolary style with the characters communicating via emails and texts. BUT. This same style started to get quite tedious over time, and I think the story would have much benefitted from a bit more switching to a more common writing style like in the last part. This wasn’t my main issue with Authentically, Izzy though. This ‘honor’ goes to both Izzy’s cousin Josephine and the appearance of one of my pet peeves: a very present love triangle. Seriously, Josephine has to be one of the most frustrating and despicable characters I’ve seen in quite some time, and she completely ruined the story for me. I can’t believe that Izzy didn’t stand up to her, and even the explanation for doing so towards the ending couldn’t redeem her for me. As for the love triangle… It’s no secret that the appearance of this trope is never a good thing for me, but in Authentically, Izzy the love triangle is particularly infuriating. Especially considering the fact that there is simply NO chemistry at all with Eli… The middle part of this story got so tedious and frustrating that I was seriously considering to just DNF. True, the final part did improve things slightly, and I did love the descriptions of Skymar. I also loved the MANY bookish references and quotes, most from books I read as well and I could recognize and relate to. The dogs were likewise an added bonus. Still, this wasn’t enough to fully redeem this story for me, and I’m seriously worried what my reaction to the third book will be now. Especially if Josephine will be as present and obnoxious as in this first book…

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