Aidan Wayne

I enjoyed this book. I read the last several chapters without pause. However, I understand those who had trouble with it. It is very... Deliberate.

One might even venture to say much of it is over-stated - and in fact, Shade comments on the repetition in one of those later chapters. The carefulness is the comfort part of this hurt/comfort trope, and it works well, but it will read as tedious to some. That's fine - not every book is for every reader. There's nothing wrong with that.

I generally prefer a faster-paced story. The cause of Jason's damage is never overtly stated, and IMHO it doesn't tie in all that well with the acceptance of AI Companions, and AI personhood in general; it wasn't necessary for the romance. (But it could have been dropped in here and there had there been less verbose carefulness. And I would have loved it in that case.)… (more)

With the important caveat that I am hardly the demographic for a YA novel, I still enjoyed this, particularly the second half. For me, the first half was three stars (average YA though eloquently inclusive, which is wonderful) and the second half was five stars (yay action). Four stars overall. There is a lot to love about this story, from the casually accepted Trans character Darren, to how delightfully that compares with the acceptance of Vlad when we've been taught for decades that vampires are always scary. There is an easy gentleness to everything leading up to the confrontations, neatly leading us to accept everything else.

If you enjoy fantasy and love and young adult lit, this story is for you.

My online library had it in Kindle digital format, and that edition is very well edited. I spied three typos, which is very good. Plus, the author is great at prose and dialogue!… (more)

This was a pretty short story but it was still really sweet. I enjoyed the setting - theatre allows for an environment that can bring very different people together naturally, but I also enjoyed that it was set during the rehearsal stage and between a backstage rigger and a performer. It felt fresh and cute to contrast John's steady professionalism and personal worries with Bao's showiness and vivacity. I would have liked a longer story so they could have been fleshed out more, but still worth your time if you are looking for a cute, quick read!… (more)