progress update

Progress Update Friday – 2/14/2025

by Stefani

It’s been a minute since I did a progress update post. I am working my way through a few things, so let’s jump right in.

Kree by Manuela Draeger

Published: October 22, 2024 by Univerity of Minnesota Press

Progress: 156 out of 280 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death

Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged post apocalyptic, post human world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.

Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.

How it’s going:

This book is very odd but I have to admit that I’m enjoying it. Before I got it I didn’t realize that this is a side novel that takes places in an established world that have had other books written in it. The author’s name is a pseudonym and is a character in one of the other novels. Which is an interesting idea. The translation also seems to replace the word “that” with “what” almost all the time. But translations can be tricky and once I realized what the intended word likely was I stopped noticing it. It’s an interesting book. It’s beautifully written, but it’s incredibly difficult to follow.

Pride’s Children: Netherworld by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Published: September 19, 2022 by Trllka Press

Progress: 20 out of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Every decision he makes from here on will hurt someone .

Is his happiness even in the equation any more?

In Book 1, Pride’s PURGATORY , rising Irish megastar Andrew O’Connell embarked on a beautiful friendship with reclusive author Dr. Kary Ashe , and committed to his stunning costar Bianca Doyle ’s directorial debut film Dodgson , a Lewis Carroll biopic.

He never imagined either would shatter the impenetrable wall he built between his professional and personal lives. His future as a leading man depends on being an bankable obsession in the lives of the women he seduces, on and off screen. But a past regret makes his gorge rise when offspring are on the way and he’s suddenly responsible for their very existence.

How it’s going:

Clearly I have a long way to go on this one, but I am excited to be back in Andrew and Kary’s world. So far this one has the same tone as the first, a narrative that carries you on a winding river journey, looking at all the passing scenery. It’s a fun ride and I am happy to be back on this boat.

Progress Update Fridays – May 31, 2024

by Stefani

Behind the Red Door by Megan Collins

Progress: 184 of 320 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

How it’s going:

I am cemented in my belief that Fern doesn’t know a single normal human being. Everyone she knows seems to be a complete psychopath who thrives on making her feel afraid. At this point Fern has become convinced that she is the girl that Astrid referred to as witnessing her kidnapping. She is attempting to track down clues to prove that fact, but also to try and unlock more memories of what happened. There have been some big revelations too, that I can’t really mention without spoiling the book. I have developed a theory about who is responsible for the kidnapping, I’ll be interested to see if I’m right. Hopefully this book has a better payoff at the end than the last one.

Area 51 by Annie Jacobsen

Progress: 74 out of 540 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

How it’s going:

This one has been slow going. I went out of town this week for a long overdue vacation with my spouse and kids. It was fantastic but also meant I couldn’t read much, and I didn’t even bring this book with me. I didn’t really want to lug a 540 page book around to hotels. So far we’ve delved into the history of Area 51, it’s original use as a testing facility for spy planes. This led to some misidentifications as UFOs, which the Air Force was more than happy to play along with. UFO rumors provided cover to what they were actually testing after all. But we’ve now also covered how the UFO rumors started to become inconvenient for the CIA and Air Force, people were making too many assumptions that the government was covering things up. And so they changed tactics and admitted that they were researching UFOs, but that most of the time there was nothing unusual after investigation. I’m interested to see where we go next.

Progress Update Friday – May 3, 2024

by Stefani

Parabellum by Greg Hickey

Progress: Page 80 of 354

Learn more about this book at Goodreads

Synopsis:

A shooting at a Chicago beach leaves several dead and dozens injured. In the year before the attack, four individuals emerge as possible suspects.

An apathetic computer programmer.
An ex-college athlete with a history of head injuries.
An Army veteran turned Chicago cop.
A despondent high school student.

One of them is the shooter. Discover who and why.

Thoughts so far:

The characters are becoming increasingly distinct through the narrative at this point. I no longer need the author to tell me which character we are following, I can tell by their voice and the circumstances who it is. Each chapter opens with a short piece on morality, or crime or the morality of crime. I am not entirely sure yet if this piece is supposed to be a part of a “manifesto” that the killer is writing, and therefore offering clues as to who it is, or if it is just a part of the narrative. We’ll see how that turns out, I am interested to see the purpose of those fascinating pieces. I still have the same suspicion on which character the shooter is, but the author is carefully laying the pieces to where it could logically be any of them. So far I am really enjoying this book.

For this week, that is all I have. It was a crazy busy week with school coming to an end, so I didn’t get a chance to start anything else and made only marginal progress on this one. Hopefully a longer update next week.

Progress Update Fridays

by Stefani

Synopsis:

A shooting at a Chicago beach leaves several dead and dozens injured. In the year before the attack, four individuals emerge as possible suspects.

An apathetic computer programmer.
An ex-college athlete with a history of head injuries.
An Army veteran turned Chicago cop.
A despondent high school student.

One of them is the shooter. Discover who and why.

Progress: Page 49 of 354

Update: This book started off a tad confusing. The premise is that a shooting happens, that’s the opening scene of the book. Then we are introduced to several characters, and the book description tells us that one of these people is our shooter. We will discover who it is along the way. But since we haven’t named these people, just descriptions (like the student, the veteran, the ex-athlete) it was a little hard to track them at first. Now that I’m learning more of their personalities I think I have it figured it out now. They have images in my head that accompany them now, so that stumbling block should be tackled. I also have a suspect in mind, but at the same time it feels like the easy answer so I suspect it is not that person. Stay tuned, we’ll find out together.

Synopsis:

It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn’t exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada’s desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government-but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades.

Myths and hypotheses about Area 51 have long abounded, thanks to the intense secrecy enveloping it. Some claim it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems, and nuclear facilities. Others believe that the lunar landing itself was filmed there. The prevalence of these rumors stems from the fact that no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside the base. Until now.

Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to nineteen men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to fifty-five additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, thirty-two of whom lived and worked there for extended periods. In Area 51, Jacobsen shows us what has really gone on in the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear weapons to building super-secret, supersonic jets to pursuing the War on Terror.

This is the first book based on interviews with eye witnesses to Area 51 history, which makes it the seminal work on the subject. Filled with formerly classified information that has never been accurately decoded for the public, Area 51 weaves the mysterious activities of the top-secret base into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.

Progress: This is a bit of a cheat, I apologize, since I haven’t actually started this book yet. But I heard a very intriguing interview with Annie Jacobsen on the Lex Friedman podcast. She was there talking about her new book, Nuclear War. Nuclear War is about what the process looks like for a nuclear bomb to be unleashed. Who makes the call? What happens then? How long does it take? What if they’re wrong? Well, I want to read Nuclear War desperately, but I don’t have a copy of it yet. So, while I wait, I am reading another of her books. Also, if you haven’t checked out the Lex Friedman podcast, I highly recommend it. He has a ton of interesting conversations with fascinating people.

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

I have a lot of in progress reading going on, so thought I would put out some of my thoughts.

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor

Goodreads

Progress: Page 46 of 310

Synopsis: 1878- The Lyceum Theatre, London. Three extraordinary people begin their life together, a life that will be full of drama, transformation, passionate and painful devotion to art and to one another. Henry Irving, the Chief, is the volcanic leading man and impresario; Ellen Terry is the most lauded and desired actress of her generation, outspoken and generous of heart; and ever following along behind them in the shadows is the unremarkable theatre manager, Bram Stoker. Fresh from life in Dublin as a clerk, Bram may seem the least colourful of the trio but he is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the London streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. But the Chief is determined that nothing will get in the way of his manager?s devotion to the Lyceum and to himself. And both men are enchanted by the beauty and boldness of the elusive Ellen. This exceptional novel explores the complexities of love that stands dangerously outside social convention, the restlessness of creativity, and the experiences that led to Dracula, the most iconic supernatural tale of all time.

Thoughts so far: It took me awhile to get on board with this story. I didn’t really enjoy the writing style and had a hard time figuring out what I was being told. But once I got past that I am quite enjoying the look at a young Bram Stoker.

Pride’s Children: Purgatory by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Goodreads

Progress: Page 52 of 490

Synopsis: WHAT YOU DO WITH AN OBSESSION COUNTS

“I, KARENNA ELIZABETH Ashe, being of sound mind, do… But that’s it, isn’t it? Being here proves I am not of sound mind…”

So begins Book 1 of the Pride’s Children trilogy: Kary immediately regrets the misplaced sense of noblesse oblige which compels her to appear, live on national television—at exorbitant personal cost.

What she cannot anticipate is an entanglement with Hollywood that may destroy her carefully-constructed solitudinarian life.

A contemporary mainstream love story, in the epic tradition of Jane Eyre, and Dorothy L. Sayers’ four-novel bond between Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, Pride’s Children starts with a very public chance encounter, and will eventually stretch over three separate continents.

Thoughts so far: This was another one that the writing style took me a little while to jump into to and I was a bit concerned that maybe the story just wasn’t for me. It didn’t take long though for me to catch up and really start to enjoy myself. I adore Andrew. He is quirky, funny, smarmy and just so much fun.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Goodreads

Progress: Page 78 of 340 pages

Synopsis: Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

Thoughts so far: This story seems strange to me so far. A double suicide, an abandoned baby, missing house residents and then suddenly it all comes together for an inheritance at the house where it all went down. It’s been okay so far, but nothing is blowing my socks off yet.

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn

Goodreads

Progress: Page 25 of 379

Synopsis: “Sharks in the Time of Saviors is the story of a family, a people, and a legend, all wrapped in one. Faith and grief, rage and love, this book pulses with all of it. Kawai Strong Washburn makes his debut with a wealth of talent and a true artist’s eye.” –Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling

In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends.

Nainoa’s family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods–a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family’s legacy.

When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawai’i–with tragic consequences–they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

Thoughts so Far: I am not sure what I think of this book so far. I keep putting it down and forgetting to pick it up again. That’s not really a good sign. Then I do pick it up and enjoy what I read. So I’m not sure what the problem is.

The Apartment by K.L. Slater

Goodreads

Progress: Page 126 of 270

Synopsis: It’s an opportunity she can’t refuse. The woman before her tried…

Freya Miller needs a miracle. In the fallout of her husband’s betrayal, she’s about to lose her family home, and with it the security she craves for her five-year-old daughter, Skye. Adrift and alone, she’s on the verge of despair until a chance meeting with the charismatic Dr Marsden changes everything. He’s seeking a new tenant for a shockingly affordable flat in a fashionable area of London.

Adder House sounds too good to be true… But Freya really can’t afford to be cynical, and Dr Marsden is adamant she and Skye will be a perfect fit with the other residents.

But Adder House has secrets. Even behind a locked front door, Freya feels as if she’s being watched: objects moving, unfamiliar smells, the blinking light of a concealed camera… and it’s not long before she begins to suspect that her dream home is hiding a nightmarish reality. Was it really chance that led her here—or something unthinkably dark?

As the truth about Adder House starts to unravel, can Freya and Skye get out—or will they be locked in forever?

Thoughts so Far: I am enjoying this book, but so far not much has happened. Freya is just barely having misgivings about the “too good to be true” apartment. I would have been having misgivings much sooner, so she’s a bit stupid. But it’s keeping my attention.

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

Providence by Max Barry

Goodreads

Progress: 142 of 320 pages

Synopsis: Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson are astronauts captaining a new and supposedly indestructible ship in humanity’s war against an alien race. Confined to the ship for years, each of them holding their own secrets, they are about to learn there are threats beyond the reach of human ingenuity–and that the true nature of reality might be the universe’s greatest mystery.

In this near future, our world is at war with another, and humanity is haunted by its one catastrophic loss–a nightmarish engagement that left a handful of survivors drifting home through space, wracked with PTSD. Public support for the war plummeted, and the military-industrial complex set its sights on a new goal: zero-casualty warfare, made possible by gleaming new ships called Providences, powered by AI.

But when the latest-launched Providence suffers a surprising attack and contact with home is severed, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson must confront the truth of the war they’re fighting, the ship that brought them there, and the cosmos beyond.

Thoughts So Far: I am LOVING this book. It has reminded me what I loved about Max Barry’s writing in Lexicon. He uses word like they contain actual power. He uses words with intent. Not a single word is wasted. And it is beautiful. I find myself losing time reading this book. I ❤ Max Barry!

The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica

Goodreads

Progress: 240 pages of 359

Synopsis: She tried to run, but she can’t escape the other Mrs….

Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.

But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.

Thoughts So Far: I keep putting this book down and then forgetting to pick it back up. As a result it’s taking me forever. Sadie is horrendously dull as a character. I get the sense that there’s more to the story with her but for now she’s boring. Camille is amazing and even Mouse is starting to interest me a little. I have a few theories about the ending right now and I hope all of them are wrong. If my theories are right it will be yet another thriller that disappoints me with the conclusion. Please let me be wrong!

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

Docile by K.M. Szpara

Published: March 3, 2020

Goodreads

Progress: 39 out of 429 pages

Synopsis: There is no consent under capitalism

Docile is a science fiction parable about love and sex, wealth and debt, abuse and power, a challenging tour de force that at turns seduces and startles.

To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents’ debts and buy your children’s future.

Elisha Wilder’s family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family’s debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him. Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family’s crowning achievement could have any negative side effects—and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it.

My Thoughts So Far: I was drawn in by the tagline, hoping for a dystopian sci-fi that examines the worst possible consequences of our society’s debt addiction and the gap between those in debt and the wealthy. But I am getting the feeling that this is just going to be a gay 50 Shades of Grey. Which is fine, if it’s good. I don’t mind a good slavefic erotica. But it wouldn’t be what I thought I was getting.

The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica

Published: February 18, 2020

Goodreads

Progress: 40 out of 405 pages

Synopsis: She tried to run, but she can’t escape the other Mrs….

Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.

But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.

My Thoughts So Far: This took me a little bit to get into, but I think I have now. We were just introduced to Camille and I think I’m going to love her. But I may have figured out part of the mystery already. I hope not because I might need a break from mystery/thrillers if that happens.

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

The Body Double by Emily Beyda

Goodreads

Progress: Page 125 out of 293

Synopsis: A dark, glittering debut novel, The Body Double is the suspenseful story of a young woman who is recruited by a stranger to give up her old life and identity to impersonate a reclusive Hollywood star.

A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld. A nervous breakdown has forced Rosanna out of the public eye, and she needs a look-alike to take her place in the tabloid media circus of Hollywood. Overseen by Max, who hired her for the job, our narrator spends her days locked up in a small apartment in the hills watching hidden camera footage of Rosanna, wearing Rosanna’s clothes, eating the food Rosanna likes, practicing her mannerisms, learning to become Rosanna in every way. But as she makes her public debut as Rosanna, dining at elegant restaurants, shopping in stylish boutiques, and finally risking a dinner party with Rosanna’s true inner circle, alarming questions begin to arise. What really caused Rosanna’s mental collapse? Will she ever return? And is Max truly her ally, or something more sinister? With echoes of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, The Body Double is a fabulously plotted noir about fame, beauty, and the darkness of Hollywood. 

My Thoughts So Far: So far I am really liking this book. I like Max, I find him just the right amounts of charming and secretive. The narrator is a good conduit to this story so far. But I feel like I have already figured it out. I don’t know that this is how it happens, but spoiler alert anyway! Max is the only person who knows why Roseanna has been missing for over a year. When asked about it he gets really squirrel-y. I suspect that Max stalked and killed Roseanna (or maybe they were involved and she broke it off) and is trying to replace her and cover it up with a double.

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Goodreads

Progress: 10 hours 12 minutes of 13 hours, 57 minutes

Synopsis: In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren’t finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.

Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing—a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.

But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil’s Bible. The text of the Devil’s Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell … and Earth.

My Thoughts So Far: I think I might be in love with this book so far. I love Claire, I have cried for her in this. I love Brevity. I love Leto and I have cried for him too. It is also making me side eye all of those never finished manuscripts I have on my computer.

Reading Progress Updates

by Stefani

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Goodreads

Progress: 3 hours 5 minutes of 13 hours, 49 minutes

Synopsis: Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the ’90s about a women’s book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia’s life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they’re more likely to discuss the FBI’s recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club’s meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he’s a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she–and her book club–are the only people standing between the monster they’ve invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

Thoughts so far: I waited for this audiobook for almost two months and so far it was worth the wait. The narrator is wonderful and feels like a complete embodiment of the narrating character. We’ve met the suspicious James and I am beginning to think that Patricia is much too naive. Though I hope we’ll get to some action soon, the minutiae of Patricia’s day to day is getting a little dull.

After She Wrote Him by Sulari Gentill

Goodreads

Progress: 100 out of 194 pages

Synopsis: If you get lost in a book, be sure you can find your way back . . .

Madeleine d’Leon doesn’t know where Edward came from. He is simply a character in her next book. But as she writes, he becomes all she can think about. His charm, his dark hair, his pen scratching out his latest literary novel . . .

Edward McGinnity can’t get Madeleine out of his mind–softly smiling, infectiously enthusiastic, and perfectly damaged. She will be the ideal heroine for his next book.

But who is the author and who is the creation? And as the lines start to blur, who is affected when a killer finally takes flesh?

After She Wrote Him is a wildly inventive twist on the murder mystery that takes readers on a journey filled with passion, obsession, and the emptiness left behind when the real world starts to fall away. 

Thoughts so far: I can’t even begin to describe how fascinating I find this book. The two characters are so intertwined that I have legitimately no idea who the author is and who the character is. Is Madeline writing a story about Ned who is writing a novel about her? Or is Ned writing a story about Madeline who is writing a novel about him? The fact that I can’t tell speaks to the skill of the writer.