I'm pretty sleep-deprived at the moment, but the good news is that I met some deadlines.

Emily Henry, Happy Place (2023) -- After secretly breaking off their long engagement, Harriet and Wyn are forced to pretend to be a happy couple after joining their friends on their annual group vacation.

I really enjoyed the first two Emily Henry novels I read, but I low-key hated this one. Why? There's a lot more cliché romance slop at the start -- Dark blond hair, broad shoulders, a mouth improbably soft when compared to the hard lines that make up the rest of his face -- because, I guess, our lovers are already entangled in one another at the novel's start. (In contrast, the first two Henry novels I read followed a friends-to-lovers structure and our narrator-heroines began with much more blasé tones about the romantic leads.) But, also, I couldn't quite ever make the leap of wanting our central couple to reconcile, because they both had great reasons for breaking up. They're such great reasons that the novel eventually discovers that it has painted itself into a corner, and the "solution" it ultimately finds to effect their reunion is weird and unearned and unsatisfying. Harriet's defining character trait is her unwillingness to have frank conversations or ask direct questions, which means that quite a bit of the plot involves people going to ludicrous lengths to have mistaken impressions. I am not generally bothered by plots driven by miscommunication, but Happy Place takes it to such an extreme that even I started getting restless and irritated by it. Also, Harriet's friends borderline suck? Like, this is the friend-group that makes your life worth living? Girl, no.

Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent (1998) -- Rincewind goes Down Under so that Terry Pratchett can indulge in references to 1980s Australian cinema.

This book has the reputation of being one of the Bad Discworld Novels, and it lives up to that reputation on this read. (Or re-read? I am almost sure I read this book as a child, but I have zero memory of it.) Even aside from the belabored Australia jokes, it's very boring.

Blue Prince (2025, PC) -- My Blue Prince sicko journey continues. I've opened half of the doors in the basement and just visited an old train station. I think I liked the story better when I misunderstood the motivations of Simon's mother.