North Child | 
pickI swear I keep meaning to get better about posting reviews lol! This is the most recent of the books I‘ve read so far this year (just finished it before work this morning). I give this one a solid five stars—first of the year!!
Other books I‘ve finished this year:
The Diary Keepers by Nina Siegal (4.5 ⭐️)
Fearless by Cornelia Funke (4.25⭐️)
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie (4.25⭐️)
pickThis is a book that I go back to. It was one I found in high school but such a good story that I just have to keep the-reading when in a book slump.
Actual conversation I had at work after showing a colleague these photos :
👩🏻 : I wish I could hug a polar bear
👩🏻 : I mean, it‘d kill you but…
👱🏼♀️ : what a way to go
👩🏻 : *concerned look at 👱🏼♀️*
Like, I‘m going to be thinking about this for the rest of the weekend.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/polar-bears-move-into-abandoned-ar...
Absolutely obsessed with the photographs captured of the polar bears that have claimed an abandoned weather station.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/31/polar-bears-move-into-abandoned-ar...
I'm diving into the original version of East of the Sun and West of the Moon before re-reading Edith Pattou's retelling 🐻❄️❄
Currently Reading East by Edith Patou. I have a whole other post to do about books I've been reading but this is what I'm currently on.
In personal news, Mom has had her surgery and from the sounds of it it was successful, so she's back home resting. Now she has to do her chemo and get some more scans done.
I‘m a bit late with #two4tuesday but I can‘t resist a fairy tale!
1. East of the Sun, West of the Moon
2. Once upon a time of a day after a long day at a time when I did a good morning with the coffee shop I was going through a few minutes before my coffee and my car and my back and my coffee was not a little off.
1. Paperback
2. Never had to hide. But I have read plenty in the bathtub.
3. I am grateful for my family. They have been so amazing!
Thanks for the tag @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
Happy Birthday to Me! 💌🎂 I've been wanting these for a while!
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5/5)
It‘s been many years since I‘ve read this book, and I can still see why it was a personal favorite all those years ago. This was a great story set in Norway with a twist on Beauty and the Beast and Norwegian folklore. I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints, as it added more depth to the book. I think that a book map would have been a great idea so the reader could truly understand and appreciate the journey that Rose went on.
1. The biggest change was being let go from work due to the virus and being a stay at home mom to my son's.
2. A lesson I learned is to start learning what you love about life, what actually makes you happy and surround yourself with that!
3. There was no goal this year.-read for fun.
4. Most anticipated read is tagged as well as the second one West by Edith Pattou.
@MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm since you tagged anyone I thought I'd give it a go🎆
I'm so excited for this, @wanderinglynn 📚 Thank you for hosting!
My goals for January:
📚 Do a little reading each day to keep up with my reading challenges for the year!
🐶 Walk our dog, Maggie, twice each day
👩🎨 One creative thing to take a step away from work (coloring, drawing, painting, etc)
🤸♀️ Yoga to get some stretching in!
📖 Read my Bible/a devotion each day 💗
#BFC21
pickI read this in high school and remembered loving it. Could not resist reading it again when I saw it. Loved how you feel like you are in this magical world that is set in real northern Europe
so-soThis wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't for me. If an author is going to have 5 narrative voices that all sound basically alike, I really wish they would just write the book in 3rd person. I'm usually a fan of short chapters, but this book felt choppy, with a constantly-shifting voice - some chapters were less than a page long and then HOP to the next one. It was also overly-long at almost 500 pages - parts of Rose's journey definitely dragged. ⬇️
#WeeklyForecast - Currently (re)reading Murder at the Vicarage (so fun) & the tagged book. I'm struggling with the narrative style of East, which involves about a page from one view, then a page from another view, then back to the first view, then a third, etc. Five narrators so far and none of them have had more than 3 pages of consecutive narration! Anyway, West is the sequel & I will only read it if East gets better lol Then I have a few ⬇️
panThese quotes are in order.
She actually falls in love with him without knowing a damn thing about him, let alone his name. I don‘t have space here for my full, scathing rant on this joke of a book, so here‘s the link to my Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3161371908
It‘s only a 500pg book and the MC JUST NOW realized she knows nothing about the stranger she‘s traipsing into the arctic to rescue. She lived with the “white bear” for 11 months, has been searching for him for at least one month by my loose calculations of the timeline, and has never thought “Gee, wonder what he‘s like?” It‘s like a reverse damsel in distress from the old fairytales. The damsel isn‘t allowed a personality beyond being attractive.
Aka: North Child in the UK and Australia.
So far it‘s ok, I‘m not sure yet how it won an ALA top ten YA award. It‘s a bland retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. Nothing‘s REALLY happened yet and there are 5 different POV‘s the MC, her brother, their father, the White Bear, and the Troll Queen. The last two feel forced in as an afterthought. As a spinner, I do enjoy the cultural acknowledgment of spinning and weaving, but DO something!
pickThis was so nice to reread after many many years. I forgot how much of a slow burn this book is. Yet, it is worth it because this book is just a beautiful fairytale retelling. 4 out of 5.
pickA stunning retelling of the Norwegian Fairy Tale ‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon‘. 💛 5*
pickI'd been putting this book on the back burner forever. I had read on a blog that it was a great book to read if you love Beauty and the Beast. I had never heard of the East of the Sun, and West of the Moon fairytale before. I honestly don't know why I didn't pick up this book sooner! It was really good, fast paced but for the plot it was necessary. It was a beautiful story! Highly recommend if you love Beauty and the Beast 😊
So should I post MY #BookSpin list?? Probably!! ? I have sooo been enjoying seeing everyone's lists!! So many people participating, and I love it!!
I decided to have my list mostly comprised of books from my "new arrivals" shelf, some of which, like the tagged book, have been there over two years!! ? I also threw in a few books I have been meaning to reread but never seem to get to!! Stacks are 1-10 on the left and 11-20 on the right.
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix & The Hobbit 📚
2. East by Edith Pattou. A fantastic retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon ❄
3. Meeting Max Boyle from The Voice 🎶
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain
bailedI am not having a very good luck with fairy tale retellings lately. This one started so well, progressively slowed down and got dull enough for me to drop it 187 pages in. I will be taking a break from the genre, it might not be my thing after all.
pickIt's definitely a slower pace and got a very traditional fairytale tone/writing. This was enjoyable overall. I liked the concept of the North/South/East/West born threads. I enjoyed the main characters and even though the romance wasn't built up as I would've liked, it fit the tone of the book.
I also love Tooki. Also, why did it take me to the age of 26 to read a book where someone makes a get away via a reindeer instead of horse?!
OMFG EAST IS GETTING A SEQUEL!!!
pickLoved this! Magic, superstition, love, trolls and a bit of Greek myth all rolled into a super to read little bundle. It was exactly what I needed.
I just told someone on here today how much I dislike books with a full cast. And yet, here I go. Hopefully it won't be terribly distracting. It's been on my tbr and I have laundry to fold.
pickObjectively, I am giving this book a So-So, but I also enjoyed it a lot, so I want to say Pick as well. This is a retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon that is pretty faithful to the original. I really loved the development of the Troll Kingdom. The author tells, more than shows, and she switches points of view between several characters when she really could have stuck to three.
#LitsyPartyofOne Furry Companion number two. Bosco. He is my brudder dog. I found him at the shelter when he was only a few months old. He had been found alone by a dumpster. I took my mom to see him, and we adopted him for her Birthday. He's very silly, and very loyal. He's a mix of several things, but boxer is one of them.
#LitsyPartyofOne Furry Companion number one: Gemma. She is my rescue dog. Her breed is Dachshund Pomeranian mix, which I like to call Pomeweenian :) She is a stinker, a sweetheart, and just the cutest!
#LitsyPartyofOne SO...I don't have anything super exciting to eat. I have just recently been put on a strict diet for Interstitial Cystitis. Basically, all my favorites: chocolate, tea, alcohol, etc. are off limits. I am allowed white chocolate so I whipped up some white chocolate blondies. They are very satisfying. I still miss dark chocolate.
#LitsyPartyofOne I am going to start by reading this, which has been on my TBR shelf for a while now.
