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itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
Thexscha
@itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
60 followers 26 following 170 posts
Happily married knitting obsessed dog owner. Lepidopterophobic kamilaphile. Book hoarder. Milky tea drinker. Cheesy AF and proud of it. Takes a good 5 minutes to solve a 3x3 rubiks cube.

GNU Sir Terry Pratchett

https://linktr.ee/itspronouncedtessa
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itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 96

Stuart Neville
Blood Like Mine

app.thestorygraph.com/books/65a62d...

3 ⭐

Maybe don't print the big twist on the front cover?
(I covered it in the first image, because I'm cool like that)

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 3 ⭐ Perfectly mediocre detective thriller. Predictable, trope-y and riddled with holes, but entertaining enough to blast through. Fast-food reading. You know it does nothing and you'll be hungry for something else soon after finishing, but it's good while it's going down.
December 12, 2025 at 8:14 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 95

T.C. Parker
Consequential
Hummingbird 1.2

app.thestorygraph.com/books/c88cda...

2 ⭐

Okay, this one did pmo a little

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 2 ⭐ This is a horror magazine 500 word short story at best. Padding it with flowery and pseudo-profound drivel isn't going to change that.
December 9, 2025 at 10:47 AM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 94

Mick Herron
Slow Horses
Slough House 1

app.thestorygraph.com/books/f5caee...

5 ⭐

Spooky and full of surprisingly dynamic despondency

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ Falling in love with a spy novel was not on my 2025 book bingo card. This was so good! The people are actual people, the plot is plotting, and the Bond-vibes are barely noticeable. It's about spies, but not in an obnoxious Ludlum-y Clancy-ish LeCarré-esque way, you know? And somebody said they thought the writing was "wordy". I think "evocative" is the word they were looking for.
December 8, 2025 at 9:41 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 93

Michael Logan
World War Moo
Apocalypse Cow 2

app.thestorygraph.com/books/ad66aa...

4 ⭐

Never looking at a bunny the same way again

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 4 ⭐ A. ROMP. The humor leans a little raunchy and the response to a highly infectious disease is a little too laissez-faire in a post 2020 world, but overall: just a fun romp. And then it ends.
December 3, 2025 at 9:19 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
Beaudille - Patch 178

Why do I keep forgetting there are easier ways to get the same results? Not me struggling through the first 20 rows of this nonsense 😅

More info and previous patches: beaudille.tumblr.com

#knitting #slowcraft #madebyme #portugueseknitting #knitsky
December 2, 2025 at 1:39 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 92

T.C. Parker
To Coventry
Hummingbird 1.1

app.thestorygraph.com/books/c21c1d...

3 ⭐

Well, at least it didn't pmo

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 3 ⭐ Cute. Sophomoric, but cute. The moral stance is juvenile, the exposition is wordy and the plot is held together with spit and wishes, but that one demon lady can turn into a cat, so it balances out.
December 1, 2025 at 7:55 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 91

Sarah Pinborough
We Live Here Now

app.thestorygraph.com/books/e38567...

2 ⭐

Unhealthy relationships aren't cute

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 2 ⭐ The pseudo-intellectual nod to Edgar Allen Poe was cute, if poorly executed. And the first 120-odd pages were pretty creepy, but that's more to do with the fact I'm already afraid of the dark, rather than any powerful writing skills. I am so fully over the "unlikable upper middle class white cishet couple have marital problems - shenanigans ensue" type of story. Everybody in this book (including the flipping birds!) is secretly highly annoyed with their partner. It's boring and depressing. If the "marriage is hard work / hating your partner is completely normal" narrative has 1 hater, it's me. If it has none, I'm dead. Seek therapy. Or a good divorce lawyer. I beg you. And now I'm angry again.
December 1, 2025 at 3:03 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 90

Samantha Shannon
Among the Burning Flowers
The Roots of Chaos 0.5

app.thestorygraph.com/books/f5951c...

2.75 ⭐

2 of those solely for the pirate lesbians.

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 2.75 ⭐ What was the point of all this? Priory is 830 pages already, who cares if it's 240 longer? This book should've been an edited down extra section in Priory. It doesn't work on its own. This is just a lot of epic-fantasy-naming-itis, a lot of nobility wringing their hands while common people are wrenched limb from limb or incinerated by dragons, a lot of exposition and back story referencing, but very little actual plot.
November 28, 2025 at 9:04 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
Beaudille - Patch 177

Gah! I keep forgetting to upload these! Oops.

Anyway, enjoy my little brain fart moment 😅

More info and previous patches: beaudille.tumblr.com

#knitting #slowcraft #madebyme #portugueseknitting #knitsky
November 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 89

T. Kingfisher
Summer in Orcus

app.thestorygraph.com/books/89e677...

5 ⭐

That time Tiffany went to Narnia

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ I know it's unfair to keep comparing people to Terry Pratchett, if they probably weren't even trying to emulate him, but then they shouldn't have written such a Pratchettarian fairytale. It's not just the number of "punes, or plays on words", it's the wry understanding of humanity, the unhinged world building and the plucky 11-year-old too. Very funny, much heart, definitely worth the read. And TIL a hoopoe is an actual bird. "Hop" in Dutch, not "hoe-poo" as my brain kept reading it.
November 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 88

C.K. McDonnell
Tales from The Stranger Times
The Stranger Times (extras)

app.thestorygraph.com/books/ef0579...

5 ⭐

Love and Death in the Time of Necessary Track Maintenance 😍

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ However great this collection is (and it's fan-bloody-tastic), I feel cheated. If anything, 'Love and Death in the Time of Necessary Track Maintenance', the best depressed human girl / oppressed troll girl meet-cute ever written, deserves its own 400 page book! It's own trilogy! Gah! (That story, among others, also featured on the Stanger Times podcast, read by Joanna Neary (S1E4). You should listen to it) If you've read The Stranger Times or need to scratch a Pratchettesque itch in general, read this. The vibe really is vibing.
November 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
When the neighbours dare to step onto their balcony during your sniffy time 😱

#doglife
November 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 87

Mike Carey
Dead Man's Boots
Felix Castor 3

app.thestorygraph.com/books/d7b508...

4.75 ⭐

How to betray friends and alienate people

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 4.75 ⭐ Very gritty, very noir, very gruff manly sarcasm. Which is all cool and whatever, but would it kill him to try to be an actual friend every once in a while? There are some almost sign-posted 'omg you idiot how are you not clocking this'-moments, but the ending isn't ever obvious. The mystery really mysteries. It does get a little Dickensian in its descriptions, but that just means more book to read.
November 20, 2025 at 7:22 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 86

T.C. Parker
Hummingbird

app.thestorygraph.com/books/4f0f1a...

3.5 ⭐

It's a bloody mess

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 3.5 ⭐ I get the point it's trying to make, but it's all a little excitable 6-year-old breathlessly recounting a terrible horror movie. "And then murder, and then werewolvrs, and then the DEVIL!" There's a lot of gore and very little character. Everybody seems flat and going through the motions. Nobody's motives are really believable and everything just sort of happens. Because plot. I like the premise. The execution (pun intended) not so much
November 14, 2025 at 9:21 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
Beaudille - Patch 176

They almost look like adorable little Christmas trees 🎄

More info and previous patches: beaudille.tumblr.com

#knitting #slowcraft #madebyme #portugueseknitting #knitsky
November 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 85

Barbara Truelove
Of Monsters and Mainframes

app.thestorygraph.com/books/53b589...

5 ⭐

Murderbot but make it campy horror

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ Immediately on the favorites list. What. A. Ride. I want a sequel, but I don't want a sequel. The story is perfect as it is, but I could live in this world forever. No notes, just gush. A bajillion out of ten, do heavily recommend.
November 9, 2025 at 8:29 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 84

C.J. Powell
I Eat Mushrooms For Breakfast

app.thestorygraph.com/books/196ba5...

4 ⭐

Unexpectedly funny and unabashedly gross, that's how I like my SciFi

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #bookreview
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 4 ⭐ Honestly very wholesome for a pretty teenage-boy-coded level of humor. I laughed, I cringed, I had a time. There are insane twist, the heavy moral is even more heavily telegraphed and near the end it gets marginally preachy, but what a ride! The definition of a ROMP.. Not even that sophomoric, ramming-the-message-home, fully plot-redundant last chapter can dampen the mood. Read it and have a blast.
November 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
This book review was too sexually violent for tiktok, apparently 👀 Read at your own risk
November 7, 2025 at 4:43 AM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - DNF 9

Simon Jimenez
The Spear Cuts Through Water

app.thestorygraph.com/books/423e81...

Paused it back in September and couldn't find it in me to pick it back up.

DNF at 15 % - 80 pages

What's the literary equivalent of overacting?

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #DNF
Screenshot of my reason to DNF the book on The Storygraph, which reads: Did not finish: 15% Second. Person. Perspective. Absolutely not. NK Jemisin managed it (barely), but this is no Broken Earth Trilogy. It's also desperate to be profound. Everything is sweeping, steeped in lore and tradition, positively dripping with drama. I got so bored.
November 6, 2025 at 9:27 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 83

Rebecca Ross
A Fire Endless
Elements of Cadence 2

app.thestorygraph.com/books/feb552...

4 ⭐

If you skip the squelchy bits, the romantasy aspect is very bearable.

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph
Screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 4 ⭐ Cute. Adorable. A perfect fairytale, complete with A Big Message and clear goodies and baddies. Very cozy, very sweet. Maybe a little predictable here and there, but with an intricate story, a well constructed magical system and a whole lot of heart. I enjoyed myself immensely.
November 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 82

Terry Pratchett
The Truth
Discworld 25

app.thestorygraph.com/books/604baf...

5 ⭐

It shall make ye fret

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph #GNUSirTerryPratchett
The last page of the book, featuring Terry Pratchett's bio, which ends with the sentence "He died in March 2015" To which I've added: I'm never prepared for this bio. I miss the old ones, where he still lives 😭 GNU Sir Terry Pratchett Screenshot 1 of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ One of my top 5 favorite Discworld books and the reason PTerry got mildly annoyed at me. That's not the review. The review is "it's great, go read it". Back to the anecdote. A plot point in this book is that the Patrician's dog Wuffles bites somebody, leaving recognizable tooth marks. But way back in Sourcery, Wuffles is explicitly described as having no teeth. Screenshot 2 of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: My pedantic ass decided to point this out to the great man at a book signing. To which I got an over-the-glasses look, a sigh, and an "Ah, one of the alt.pratchett people." The answer to the apparent paradox was simply "different trousers of time". God, I miss him. GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
October 29, 2025 at 9:01 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
Beaudille - Patch 175

Sometimes there is very little to say about a patch. Knits and purls make pattern. That's it.

But I do like the result.

More info and previous patches: beaudille.tumblr.com

#knitting #slowcraft #madebyme #portugueseknitting #knitsky
October 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 81

M.L. Wang
Blood Over Bright Haven

app.thestorygraph.com/books/f112bc...

5 ⭐

Now *that's* how you do on-the-nose oppression olympics, goshdarnit!

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph
A screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ Doesn't fall into wishful hopecore, doesn't sugarcoat (much), doesn't flip to grimdark despair either. The magic system is new, with actual consequences for fantastical feats. And the people are messy and real. Hard to call it "fun", as such, but definitely an enjoyable read.
October 25, 2025 at 7:17 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 80

Rivers Solomon
An Unkindness of Ghosts

app.thestorygraph.com/books/c4dd9b...

2.5 ⭐

Meh

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph
A screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 2.5 ⭐ I see the vision, I get it and I had high hopes for the premise. But the execution is mediocre and very "look at me being raw and real". The plot is flimsy at best and mostly supported by a disappointing attempt at exploration of gender and sexuality. It felt clunkily tacked on, very expositional and almost voyeuristic. "Look at these people! This is who they want to have sex with! Their gender will surprise you!" Not to mention the exhausting amount of constant cruelty and over the top sexual violence. And then it just ends.
October 22, 2025 at 8:15 PM
itspronouncedtessa.bsky.social
2025 - Book 79

C.K. McDonnell
Ring the Bells
Stranger Times 5

app.thestorygraph.com/books/0d0f5d...

5 ⭐

New seasonal reread unlocked 🎄🎅

#booksky #2025ReadingChallenge #TheStorygraph
A screenshot of my review of the book on The Storygraph, which reads: 5 ⭐ Simultaneously phenomenal and unhinged and endearing. And also hateful, but only in the fact that Clint exists and is thrust upon an innocent reader. I'm clinging to the delusional hope that a certain character is actually Mrs Tachyon, as a wildly obscure Pratchett tribute/reference. That is my Christmas wish, please let me have this. This could have easily been a one afternoon breathless read, but I paced myself to be able to savor it for longer. I hate that it's over. It's going straight to the top of t he reread pile.
October 21, 2025 at 8:11 PM