Welcome to Litsy!

Alice has to juggle a protective mother, Nightmarish creatures from Wonderland only she can fight, promises to friends, & a recently poisoned mentor who needs a hidden artifact to be cured. But no big, right?

I enjoyed this a lot. I liked Alice as a character. I liked the balancing act between real life & the mystical forces she fights. But I felt really unsatisfied with the ending, & there wasn‘t a lot of character depth beyond Alice.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

I am finding myself really empathizing with Alice‘s feelings of having everything on her shoulders and everything is her responsibility in A Blade So Black right now.

#SundayFunday Have a great day, and don‘t forget to tag me in your answers!

This was a fantastic alice in wonderland retelling. With a black protagonist, this weaves in real danger black people are facing now with the magical kind of danger that is slinking out from wonderland - nightmares, and only alice can kill them, while trying to keep it all a secret from her overprotective mother. Fabulous narration, looking forward to book 2. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An interesting Alice in Wonderland retelling ♠️
#OminousOctober #Black @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#Two4Tuesday

1. In movies, I prefer super powers but in books I think magic is more interesting.

2. I don‘t know about the best, but one of the most recent ones I‘ve read with magic in it is the tagged book.

Homage to Alice in Wonderland w/nods to Buffy &Sailor Moon. Monsters dubbed “Nightmares” -manifestations of trauma- spill over from Wonderland &can only be killed by humans. Alice is found by Addison Hatta &trained to do just that, while also trying to be a good friend and daughter.

Her white BFF Courtney tries, but can‘t relate to her struggles in Wonderland or in the real world after the death of black teen Breonne.

Male characters are 1D tho.

Started this today 🎧 and it kept me entertained through 9 treadmill miles that I didn‘t really want to do after shoveling out ❄️😂🏃‍♀️

Your package safely arrived today, Lynn! What exciting bookmail for the weekend! 🎉🎉🎉 Thank you so very much! ❤📖❤ Chaplin was also very excited when I opened the package - he loves book mail almost as much as I do! 😁😸

@wanderinglynn #bookmail #catsoflitsy #littenkitten #chaplin

I don't know what it is about Alice in Wonderland, but I find retellings of it to be such fun. This one in particular includes a butt-kicking Alice, which made me happy. The pacing was off for me, though, especially when it came to balancing action-filled fight scenes and story development, but I liked it well enough to want to check out the second one.

@TheDaysGoBy Thank you so much for the beautiful book! I‘ve had this on my TBR forever and I am so excited to get started on it! I‘ll be taking the chocolate in to work tomorrow!

Many thanks as well to @MaleficentBookDragon for putting together such a wonderful swap for Christmas! ❤️ Happy holidays everybody and merry #JolabokaflodSwap ! 🖤📕🖤

This is between a pan and so-so. I‘m giving it a so-so because I appreciate what the author attempted to do. But it‘s not my cup of tea. I‘m not a big fan of retellings or reimaginings in the first place. And this one had issues with the plot, world-building, and character development. The writing was just okay. I ended up skimming the last 1/3 of the book.

Book 6 for #Screamathon + diversify your horror shelf
Book 6 for #SpookOWeen readathon

#two4tuesday

1. Tagged. I finished my last audiobook & haven‘t found another one to start yet.

2. I‘m not a fan of retellings/reimagining, & yet this one is turning out to be better than most. I like the whole Buffy meets Wonderland vibe. That being said, it‘s very YA. Do we really need a freakin‘ love🔺in every YA book? Clearly, I am not the demographic (#toomiddleaged). I predict I will rate it 3⭐️ unless it does something super dumb.

#TBRPile 📚 “Alice couldn‘t cry. She couldn‘t scream. All she could do was run.”

#2021Book75
I've never really liked Alice in Wonderland, but for some reason, I have loved pretty much every adaptation of the story that I've read. And this one might be one of my new favorite versions. It's modern, gritty, diverse, and focuses more on the importance of family and friendship than romantic relationships. So even if you're not a fan of Alice in Wonderland, you'll still likely enjoy this book.

Just received my next #LMPBC. Looks like it‘s going to be a good one… so I started right out of the package. 🤷‍♀️

This series is set in the nightmare-verse where, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer fashion, a girl named Alice fights monsters called nightmares. There‘s one book left in the trilogy, which is inspired by Alice‘s Adventures in Wonderland.

#PersonVsNightmare #ConflictedWorlds

A perfect day to get a #VeryMerryUnbirthday box! Thank you so much Shelley! 😘💜💜💜 And yes, why I did open it sitting in my car in the post office parking lot. 😆

It‘s perfect and much needed after this long week. And this tea tin! I do love a good English tea but this tin is awesome! Plus, I was just going to buy a new journal—this one will work great! I love it all!

And I‘m so happy it‘s almost the weekend so I can dive into the book.

Loved it! I felt engaged since the first page and I didn‘t want it to end! I wished that there could have been a little more story featuring Alice‘s Dreamwalker training. 4⭐️

This is an Alice in Wonderland inspired series where the main character fights monsters. There‘s one more in the series still to come.

#PersonVsSupernatural #ConflictedWorlds

Just got your book, @peanutnine and @persephone1408 ! Can‘t wait to start reading!

#GroupThree @Tattooedteacher

I liked this spin on Alice in Wonderland. It's a modern, darker, creepier version of the fantasy. I won't give too much away, as this was my #LMPBC #groupB pick. I meant to send this out yesterday but the day got away from me. It will be on its way to you @persephone1408 first thing in the morning
@Tattooedteacher @Zoe-h @suvata

13 hours read so far for the #20in4 readathon. I'll get a few more hours in tonight, especially now that I have Ben as my cuddle buddy 😻
#catsoflitsy @Andrew65

Meh, it wasn‘t for me. I won‘t be reading the next one.

Alice in Wonderland is not my favorite but I couldn‘t resist this cover. The book is described as Alice in Wonderland + Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For me, Buffy comes through stronger. Alice is a teenager in Atlanta who ends up fighting creatures called Nightmares while trying not to get in too much trouble with her mom. The audiobook was fun. This ends on a cliffhanger so I‘ll have to see where the series goes!

Just finished! And really liked it! Woot! 21 books in the first 21 (and a half) days of the 21st year of the 21st century! I love being a nerd. 🤣 #howjessreads2021

At the beginning I found this retelling quite boring but then it was pure action. I like the concepts of nightmare and dreamwalkers which have some psychological elements to explain what was happening. I think the end was perfect to continue the story. However, in some parts I found the story almost like middle grade one than YA, but that‘s my opinion. Author‘s acknowledgment was so emotional! Definitely I will continue this story. 3.4⭐️

An action-packed, Alice meets Buffy, YA adaptation. And of course it ends on a cliffhanger. ♥️♠️♦️♣️
#FairytaleReadingChallenge @Charityann

#fairytalereadingchallenge @Charityann

I really enjoyed this diverse, action-packed, darker retelling of Alice in Wonderland. The idea of the nightmares was a great touch and I loved the Gothic Tweedles. 😀

This book ends on a cliffhanger though, so I'll have to get my hands on the second one asap.

Awesome

I am always so grateful for fantasy books that feature POC as the MC. I wish more books like this were around when I was a kid. I enjoyed the characters and the story but there were some YA elements that bugged me but that was more from me being a mom now 😊 I‘m looking forward to reading the next books in the series. Also, I ❤️ this cover so much!

Sadly I remember being called that in Highshcool for the things I loved. I asked my son and he said yeah he had been called a version of this too. I hope one day people can love what they love and not be judge or name called ❤️

Currently I‘m reading 4 books. I‘m hoping to finish the top two today and then focus on the other two this weekend. A Blade So Black and Truly Devious are my audiobook reads and Blackhearts I own a physical copy. Truelif3 I have a eARC on my Kindle.

What are you reading? #currentlyreading

Muchness: the part of you that believes in yourself even when the rest of you doesn't.

Curioser and curioser... This was such an interesting take on Wonderland. I loved Alice. She is smart, funny and brave. The Wonderland crew: Hatta, Maddi, Duchess and the rest are all uniquely quirky. Wonderland itself it stunning in McKinney‘s descriptive prose. I read this in one day and immediately ordered the sequel. The only thing that makes me sad is I have to wait until next March for the final installment in the trilogy.

For #blackoutTuesday and #blackpublishingpower I went and splurged on a trilogy. Books 1 and 2 are out now, but I‘ll have to wait til April 2021 for book 3.

Most of the new/newer titles were sold out so I will have to try again for those later.

Plus I supported indies by using Bookshop.org.

👌🏾👍🏾

As I was saving things to my Scribd list (unsurprisingly over 400 items in a just a few weeks), I realized I somehow left this title off of my favorites of 2019 post. I love darker retelling of classics (I‘ll take “Return to Oz” over “The Wizard of Oz” any day) and this one didn‘t disappoint, with a very strong heroine and a Wonderland that was unsettling enough to make the stakes feel real. I need to move the sequel higher up on my TBR.

@TheAromaofBooks here are my April #bookspin choices. I‘m just replacing the ones I‘ve read with new from my TBR. I‘m having a hard time getting into A Blade So Black - has anyone else read it?

Favorite tea ✔️ Favorite bookmark ✔️ Yet another Alice in Wonderland retelling ✔️

I read all the Alice rewrites:) A book probably best borrowed from the library. I‘m curious how it all ends. But not enough to buy it for my collection.

The husband tried to prevent me from taking his spot on the couch when he went to the bathroom by taking my book with him. Little did he realize I had another one within arms reach. 😂

Curiouser and curiouser. This story is a great take on Alice in Wonderland. It does leave a lot of unanswered questions, so you have to read the next installment, but it is very imaginative like Alice should be. The characters are entertaining and well fleshed out. There is a lot of action and heroic fight scenes with creatively realized nightmarish creatures. I appreciate Alice's story within the story.

I read this one for #booked2019 for the #pocmcparanormal prompt. I love Alice in Wonderland and thought this was a great modern day retelling of the original. I thought the characters and plot were really fun and exciting and the way that they incorporated bits of the original were really interesting. This reminded me a little bit of The Mortal Instruments series, which I also love. I thought this was a really fun and exciting book!

Sigh, has anyone read this book? I‘m about halfway through and I‘m just struggling to turn this on and listen.

It‘s just so YA! And I don‘t really care about Alice‘s journey unfortunately.

This was supposed to be my book for POC Main Character paranormal read for #Booked2019 but I don‘t know if I have another 5 hours in me.

Is this book worth it? If not, suggestions welcome (not YA).

#TeamSlaughter #scarathlon
@Clwojick
#ChillingPhotoChallenge

Forgot to post this yesterday. Alice is a kick ass teenager that battles monstrous creatures in a dream realm known as wonderland. But when a creature starts to show up in her world it changes all the rules. I finished this just in time yesterday for the sequel to show up at my doorstep.

Last night, my Mom and I went to our local Independent Bookstore, Tattered Cover‘s, Private shopping event for their members and I came away with a great and diverse range of books. Now to figure out where to start.

OMG fun read. I give it 8 out of 10. Wish I had this as Commuter read but sitting a salon chair for 5+ hours allows you to focus on the task at hand. I will say, this should have been on my fall commuting list because the next installment comes in Sept 2019. So now I have to wait a little bit to find out what happens next. They got me curiouser and curiouser.... #femalelead #poc #fantasy #wonderland