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Every issue I had with “Assistant to the Villain” remains, and they've multiplied. All difficulties are resolved with hugs, smiles, or kind words, mostly from the protagonist. She is again relentlessly touted as charmingly cute, rather than the annoyingly dim cardboard character the text actually portrays.

I can see people enjoying this, particularly as a comfort read bulwark against a world where being kind doesn't actually fix everything immediately. It's simply just not my kind of thing. I want to read about believable characters, in a credible setting.

Hamnet, a historical fiction about Shakespeare's son, but in reality a book about mostly about Agnes, his wife. I found it a strange book, with almost dreamlike prose and had trouble really getting into it.

I prefer more concrete narratives, and in general despise any touch of the supernatural, of which there is quite a bit of in this book. I really enjoyed O'Farrell's “The Marriage Portrait”, so I was dismayed to find that Hamnet just didn't hold my attention in the same way.

However, the last paragraphs, the last sentence, those last two words?! I got all goose bumpy in a good way!

A young woman lacking better opportunities, goes to work for the local villain.

While the writing is fine, and the premise fun, it's not as amusing as I'd hoped. It feels overly long and the romance is clumsy, relying on misunderstandings. The heroine is meant to be feistier, funnier, and more charming than she actually comes across. If the plot's turns are meant to be surprising it failed, all are telegraphed well in advance, and a certain narrative choice causes the world to feel very small.

Ends on a tiny cliff, I'll probably read the sequel.

On paper, this book was written for me. A sinister and twisty, gothic mystery set in Victorian London. A feisty — and queer — lady journalist, a clever and righteous Inspector, a soft touch of a Sergeant, all pulling together to solve some grisly murders.

I didn't like the writing style, didn't like the characters, hated the mystery, just… didn't like anything about it at all. In fact, I hated it. It received many accolades in the press, but for whatever reason (it's me, I'm the reason), this just didn't work for me.

Short story set just after Exit Strategy, showing a tiny slice of Ayda Mensah’s life as she struggles with the traumatic events she’d just lived through.

In a break from the rest of the series so far it’s seen from Mensah’s point-of-view, with Murderbot’s interactions mostly, but not exclusively, via the feed.

Though succinct, it brings added depth to the burgeoning friendship between Mensah and Murderbot. I really liked it.