Welcome to Litsy!

“The Swallows is fast-moving, darkly humorous and at times shockingly vicious. The battle of the sexes within its pages couldn‘t be more compelling….Lutz delivers a frantic, morbidly funny story.” —BookPage

“[Lutz] takes no prisoners….She builds her plot cannily and walks a neat line between satire and realism [in a] withering portrayal of how the #MeToo movement plays out in this rarefied setting.” —Publishers Weekly

3⭐The writing is there, and the characters were compelling if not likable…for the first ½, I was fully invested to see what was going to go down because I knew what I was getting myself into what with the scandalous topics and the fact that it all felt a little much for HS kids to pull off. Past the halfway mark is where it fell apart. It became too much for me to “swallow” and overall, there is entirely too much complicity going on in this book.

What has plot holes the size of submarines, is snort-worthy funny, and also quite disgusting and maddening? This book right here. Excellent on audio, was hooked from the beginning to find out what happens and how, all while also feeling nauseated by the gross patriarchal system of this boarding school. Still thinking about it, wondering whaaaattt?? And happy I listened. It was a total fluke.

This book is HILARIOUS 😂 GREAT recommendation @Megabooks ♥️ I‘m getting “Tampa” vibes 😆 and I‘m hoping to use it for #DarkAcademia #Pop21 #Frenemies #Booked2021

Good book! Well plotted and kept me interested. Instead of just flipping through the gossip and intrigue though, it just made me sad. Maybe it hit too close to home? Or I‘m not in the mood? Or maybe I was supposed to be sad and not find it salacious. I really don‘t know. 🍒

#merryreaders #wintergames2020
#tbrread

#firstlinefridays #merryreaders #wintergames2020

THE END IS NIGH! Of 2020, that is. Which means that it's almost time for my IRL Book Club to choose our books for the coming year! Here are my top choices.

Which two would you submit?

Challenge 15 of 50: A book with a bird on the cover

Since 2020 has been the longest year in existence, I had almost forgotten I had listened to The Swallows all the way back in February. It's a great boarding school novel with a riveting and topical plot. Also, it has a bird on the cover. lol 🐦

#popsugar #readingchallenge #2020 #audio #libby #librarybook #litsyloveslibraries

"You can keep telling girls to be polite, to keep a level head and it'll all work out in the end. But don't be surprised when they figure out that you've been feeding them lies. Don't be alarmed when they grow tired of using their voices and playing by your rules. And don't be shocked when they decide that if they can't win a fair fight, they'll just have to fight dirty."

A great book to start my spooky reading season with.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

An unexpected “blowchart” pops up in the middle of the novel... after the protagonist holds an impromptu sex ed lesson with a few of her female students to drive home the fact that if they don‘t want to, they should not.

Breezing through this novel that I started in the wee hours of the morning.

I love coming upon unexpected #BookishMaps!

Starting this Lisa Lutz stand-alone novel tonight, as the rain continues to fall and the thunder rattles the windows. #LibraryLove

While this has a good empowering story of women overcoming a sexual BJ contest they weren‘t aware they were in, my rating comes from more the length and the flow of the book. The main story itself is well done with a good twist and the storytelling with multiple voices fit the book well. It was how many times we saw the same scene or the amount of extra non needed story lines there were in the book. It distracted from a very good story.

I downloaded the sample (first) chapter from Apple Books but I want to get a print copy to read. Here‘s the opening, which persuaded me that, yes, I do want to read this.

Lisa posted the infamous “blow chart” from this book in her Instagram stories today. I really love her books!! She has such great humor with wry insight. Happy valentines (late)! 😂💕

bailed at 38% (4:11:48)

spoiled teenagers performing/talking incessantly about blow jobs—no thanks!

I‘ve seen mixed reviews on this one, but I think it‘s an appropriate read for our time. This is set way before #metoo, but just because the movement didn‘t have a name or hashtag, doesn‘t mean it wasn‘t just as prevalent. I realize this is fiction, but is it really?
Also, definitely a few trigger warnings in this one.

The Swallows is impressive in many ways but mainly due to the writing skills of author Lisa Lutz. I loved the character development of Ms Witt, and also of Gemma and Linny. It was one of those storylines that make you disappointed in human kind, it is important though as girls are taken advantage of in the real world and it shouldn‘t be ignored.

One heck of a #borderline is being crossed by the kids at Stonebridge Academy. But plans are afoot, and my Saturday night will be spent with the last 100 pages to see how it all plays out! #movember #smashingthepatriarchy 👊

The escalation was a bit insane to me, but overall a really fun one. #scarathlon #teamStoker 6 points.

I love a good mystery that takes place at a fancy pants boarding school so I‘m already flying through this one. #scarathlon #teamStoker 1 point

I expected this to be deliciously sinister, phenomenally powerful. It was not. I wanted this to be deep and magnificent but all I found was a shallow pond of ordinary. The excessive cast of unrelatable and unlikable characters, stirred with alternating POVs and unnecessary details clogged up the storyline. If I hadn't liked the writing so much, The Swallows would have been swallowed up by my DNF pile.

SUPER SALE ALERT! $1.99 each. #KindleDailyDeal #KindleDeals

i had a few issues with character-overload, and believability/likeability. I kept silent-screaming “where are the adults?!?” Even the adults acted like children. But I guess a novel where the problem was solved calmly and logically wouldn‘t be a very exciting novel 😆

YES!!! This book—-wow. It was dark and quirky and powerful. The last chapter made me want to run around yelling “Smash the patriarchy!!” ✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

Loved this book and the last paragraph is the best part of the book, in my opinion. #girlpower

Multi tasking - golf, reading and hanging with my dogger #dorkie #jack

Reading with my #dorkie #Jack

Really enjoying this one so far!

Grateful that Riley Dog isn't as devious as the characters in this novel.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 A super important novel that reiterated the importance of the Me Too movement. I loved the characters and setting the author created. I loved the badassery shown by the young female characters. My English teacher heart loved the prep school setting and English teacher main character. I wish the ending had been handled differently, but that‘s my only complaint...and it‘s a tiny complaint 🤷‍♀️ A total pick in my book 👍🙌✔️🔥

As excited as I am about new Atwood today, I‘m not putting down The Swallows, and THAT says a lot about how much I‘m enjoying this book 💯

My #library #bookhaul from yesterday. My hold came in on a business management book I learned about on a webinar & my hold came back around on Ayesha at Last. Then I found The Huntress available in the new books section & pulled the tagged book out of a small box of #ARC s that one of the librarians gives me to go through. 🤗 The orange wooden dragonfly was given to me at work. It‘s from Vietnam & balances on the point on its head.

This is a conversation between a prep school student and his teacher. That reference to Gatsby speaks to my English teacher soul...cracks me up 😏 I‘m loving this book!

A tiny bit of morning reading before heading to work. I‘m about 💯 pages into this book and I‘m digging it 🌟🤓

‪Check out my latest #bookreview at LaceyDoesLit.com! @penguinrandom #books #bookworm #booknerd #reading #reader #bibliophile #ilovebooks #booklove #booklover #bookblog #bookblogger #bookish #totalbooknerd #literature #bookaddict #bookaholic #newbook #currentlyreading ‬

From the funny and dark beginning, to the perfect and bitingly ominous last three paragraphs this is a winner. Timely & appropriate, but using tropes and themes that are familiar, Lutz has given us a thriller for our day—provocative, entertaining, and haunting. One of those books that hews really close to things that could or have happened and you're better off hoping are fictional. Lutz is always very good, The Swallows is Lutz at her best.

This is my first book by Lisa Lutz, and I will *definitely* be reading more. The Swallows is SUCH an excellent boarding school novel. It's fast paced, suspenseful, and horrifying. Alternating between multiple perspectives, the book leads the reader through the characters' discovery of an insidious plot perpetrated by The Ten, the top tier of students in each class. (continued in comments)

Listened to this on audio and it was the perfect end of summer read- told from four viewpoints and based at a boarding school, the story follows a teacher new to the school and a secret student competition that comes to light when the female students start to learn how they‘ve been involved without their knowledge.

This was disappointing.

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Stopped into B&N last night and snagged these beauties! #bookhaul

While I miss Lisa‘s lighter writing (the Spellman series had me often laughing), her writing remains taut and thoughtful

I really enjoyed this darkly comic look at boarding school even though some parts of had an unfortunate ring of truth. I most related to the teacher, Ms Witt. My actions probably would have been similar to hers, for better or for worse. NSFW part of the review in a spoiler tag, but no actual spoilers.

For all you map lovers!

I‘m really enjoying this tongue-in-cheek look at prep school! Yesterday‘s book mail 📭