Morgan Rogers

4.25 stars

This was wistful and airy and really wonderful. It was a girl going through challenges and the story woven around that is phenomenal. She has a wife, she has friends, fucked up parents and it’s all messy. You get a glimpse of their messy love and life. You relish in the humanity of it all. You can’t help but love it.

It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, it became infinitely better. I found myself relating to the MC in some ways. When she felt lost not knowing what to do or how to move, I was right there with her because that’s right where I am. I felt less alone for a while.… (mehr)

audio fiction (10+ hours) - As a queer Black/mixed race astronomy PhD with an unexpected lack of job prospects, Grace Porter from Portland, Oregon (with a mother about to remarry in Florida) can't stop thinking about a Japanese-American woman Yuki from NYC she met/married one night in Las Vegas.

This is a refreshingly unconventional and also very sweet falling-in-love story (and also a getting-through-a-quarter-life-crisis-what-do-I-do-when-no-one-hires-me-after-I-finish-my-doctorate-degree story). Narration on the audio is excellent and I love Grace's romantic way of talking about the astronomy stuff, as well as Yuki's concern for all of the lonely people she shares her podcast with. The complex relationships Grace has with Yuki, family and chosen-family friends are also interesting and love-filled. The psych therapy drags a bit toward the end, but this makes the story more realistic (finding and working with a therapist is often a long process compounded by the shortage of therapists of color) and I think that's also important.

Feb 2024 bingo challenge: two word title, Black cover model, published in February, takes place in NYC (and Oregon and Florida), includes a birthday and a wedding.… (mehr)

Wow I didn't like this. I want entertained in any way and just really didn't enjoy it. I'm bored by Yuki saying Deep Thoughts and calling herself a monster. I felt like she was trying to be the emo kid when I was thirteen. Boring and unfounded. Porter isn't better, with her Issues. The overall story is quite boring, and the latter half is actual pages of conversation with a therapist. It felt like a cheap way to let people get a therapy taster, but unless the author has a psych practice, I feel weird about writing actual therapist conversations out. Nothing was a surprise. I didn't really like any of the characters. It was less of a story and more like a diary.… (mehr)