Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories by Young-ha Kim

Hello, everyone! I don't remember requesting this one but it showed up on my doorstep so I decided to pick it up. It's a collection of short stories so I knew I would finish it quickly even if I didn't like it.

The first story follows a murderer who ends up getting dementia years after he quits murdering.
I really enjoyed this one as it was a slow, horrifying buildup. The thought of losing your memories is terrifying. Alzheimer's creeps up on you before you know it, and its shown as such in this novella.

As for the other three short stories...I feel like I wasn't intelligent enough to understand the point of them. They were beautifully written, don't get me wrong! I just feel as if some things got lost in translation or maybe I really am just not smart enough to grasp the concept of why I was reading what I was reading.

The plot of them were decent and the characters interesting, I just...didn't get it. I don't know what else to say about it. I need a discussion group to open up so I can join and get different perspectives on this.

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee

I finally picked this one up on a trip to Barnes and Noble with my boyfriend a couple weeks ago! I went in for some books that have been on my TBR list for quite some time now and this one made the cut!

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue follows a group of three friends on a Grand Tour during the 18th century.
Henry Montague, along with his biracial friend and true love Percy, plus his sassy sister get into all kinds of trouble on their tour. It's like their last hoo-rah before they have to be adults.

Percy is to go off to law school, Monty is to take after his father running the estate, and Felicity is set to go to finishing school. None of them want what their lives are set to turn out to be.

After a petty theft happens, the trio are thrust into a world of highwaymen, pirates, sinking and dangerous islands, and a cure-all for ailments. For sheltered children, they sure do endure a lot and overcome the many obstacles thrown their way. Many a time during this book I would have thrown in the towel at some of the situations they were put in!

I loved all of the characters and the plot was wonderfully unique. I had no idea what the Grand Tour was before reading this so I actually learned something! I really like that it's an LBGTQ+ story. And the adventuring is amazing! It also covers quite a few other topics such as suicide, epilepsy, and racism and slavery to name a few. They were touched on in a nice manner in my honest opinion.

I'm not really a romance kinda gal, but this was right up my alley. Flamboyant and not ashamed of it, Monty stole the show. I loved him the most. This novel comes highly recommended from me. Click here to buy it!