Kiss Her Once for Me

sometimes i wish i could shut off copyeditor mode when i read because otherwise i notice shit like "webcomic episode 4" being timestamped later in the day than "webcomic episode 5" when they're clearly chronological, and then i'm mildly annoyed. but despite "messy/anxious white MC meets magical butch of asian descent" immediately reminding me of casey mcquiston's one last stop (which i started the year with), the dialogue was definitely on the better side here. i didn't even feel like shaking any of the characters by the shoulders, which probably means the miscommunication and misunderstandings common in this genre weren't as offensive as they could've been, and i thought ellie's anxieties were portrayed fairly gracefully (though some in my book club found the constantness grating).

club gripes included loose ends, angry brown tertiary characters, inheritance tax, and only surface-level mentions of korean heritage. i was stuck around the 75-80% progression mark for weeks for some reason and i wasn't really sure what that meant, besides delaying getting into the conflict pages (or prioritizing watching exciting new episodes of television, ahem arcane).

stray note: the author commissioned some gorgeous story-related art from venessa vida kelley that had us wishing that had been the cover instead.