Sometimes I do forget that the teens I worked with are now in their twenties and have a whole life bc they just didn't get that much older in my head. It also doesn't feel like it's been ten years, when in fact it has been 10 years. 🫠

To be fair, all except one of the teens I worked with in my weekly girl* group are parents now, and a few of them became mothers before they turned 16. But even the ones who moved on to find jobs and y'know, turn 21 first, are parents now. It's actually a surreal feeling to see these whole adults.

I thought you might ☺️😘

Also if I could make 1 universal decision right now, it would be that all job politicians had to live off of minimum wage for the duration of their term, had to give up all other side jobs & hustles permanently & wouldn't be allowed to take anything from anyone. Lobbyists shouldn't exist anywhere.

267. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
Absolutely understand the hype for this book & I'm very happy we finally have a German translation as well. For me personally the first half of was a bit too chaotic, but it's still a strong debut taking on many important issues.

256. Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby
Not sure what to say about this. American right-wing extremism isn't exactly the same as ours but the similarities are there & while I learned a lot about these personalities, the core issues & trajectories in this book weren't new to me. So idk. Interesting.

255. Gruselige Weihnacht Überall
This is another installment in the never-ending German Three Investigators series & an advent special. The story didn't fit the title though & while I like the cases centered around theft, I was expecting something completely different & was disappointed in the end.

254. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This one didn't work for me. I'm usually a fan of the author's work & writing style, but I got lost on this one, esp in the first half. Atmosphere & feeling were there, but I didn't know where we were going & didn't love the romantic parts.

253. First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison
I was glued to the pages of this one & enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad someone got therapy in addition to the HEA. The family dynamics were done well, the romance worked for me & the ending fit the MCs very well. It was actual *fun*, even with the heavy topics.

252. Pretty Girl County by Lakita Wilson
This is a great YA book for fans of Joya Goffney & Kristina Forest. I really enjoyed this one, loved the conversations about friendship, family & community, plus relatable messiness of the MCs. The romantic arc was a bit chaotic for my taste, but still good.

251. Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond
A queer finding-yourself story with a romantic subplot set in the 2010s. This was an interesting throwback & sweet in places, but the writing style & wordy descriptions didn't work well for me. The romantic subplot fell flat, mostly bc the LI was barely on page.

I'm also 1 book away from finishing By the 100s & The Last Ten Years. 2 books away from being done with The Even Bigger Rainbow & Translations. I'm hoping to get those done & also complete Challenge Yourself by the end of the year bc that's basically all the other bingos I started in 2025.

OLIVIA! It's perfect and I adore everything about it!!

Yeah, definitely feels like that.

And I can be really really sad and disappointed to see ppl with platforms who I thought might know better or care more to be asking everyone to vote vote vote anyways. Just... Yeah.

Fucking sucks and I think I'm allowed to be sad about it. Like every year.

I can be angry, sad & really fucking disappointed about it all & refuse to vote for a goddamn thing, bc I shouldn't have to wade through a sea of white & a fuckton of bigotry to find the books I might've wanted to vote for if things were different.

I personally can be happy for marginalized ppl to be nominated in an award that gets eyes on their books & money in their pockets.

While simultaneously being absolutely livid about how very clearly other marginalized ppl were thrown under the bus for it without ppl with platforms giving a fuck.