Welcome to Litsy!

This was almost entirely awesome. Great writing, good plot, memorable characters, all with a generous dash of quirkiness, dark humour & a little bit of (not sure what the word is for living/ghost relations!) romance! Loved the charismatic Bridie and her maid, Cora. Loved villain Gideon - so awful! I loved Bad Dorcas, boo! Hiss! And how could I not loved Ruby Doyle?! Fun, engaging read - I'd LOVE a sequel! Only negative was violent attack on MC.

#weekendreads Finished Things in Jars for #trappedinaspookyhouse (and September #bookspin). It took me a bit to get into the authors style and the Victorian setting, but by the end I was really impressed with how the plot threads wove together and events played out. It wasn‘t much of a “mystery” - the reader knows exactly what happened from page one - but that doesn‘t detract from the suspense. 4⭐️

Starting Ordinary Grace for my live book club …

My wholly spontaneous Jess Kidd-athon continues! 😁
This was an excellent October read (and the audiobook has a top-notch narrator, too): it's a female detective story with possibly mythical creatures and an absolute boat-load of Victorian macabre.
I adored Bridie Devine and was somewhat more surprised to find I had a soft spot for the ghost of a heavyweight boxer: that's the power of fiction, I suppose.

So, leaving Middlemarch aside for the moment, who thinks I can finish the last EIGHT books before Labor Day? 😬

Too much working + too many book club reads this summer.

#14books14weeks

Three more days of reading by the sea in cyprus- if only life was always like this! Started this book by Jess Kidd yesterday and am enjoying it lots so far- i think I need to read all her books, as I‘ve also loved the Night Ship a lot!

#Roll100

I am pretty excited about my May selections. I haven‘t been great at getting to my #Roll100 picks the last couple of months so we will see if May is any better.

I liked the quirky characters in this gothic detective story as well as the depiction of 1800‘s London and the way Kidd blended fact with fiction, reality with fantasy. I wasn‘t bothered by the creepy, gruesome elements (though I wouldn‘t read it while eating lunch). However, I did occasionally find myself losing the thread of the story and wishing the writing was tightened up a bit. Still, I enjoyed it.

Well if I‘d had a clue what this book was about, I would have stacked it for a October-Halloweeny read. Instead the cover (it‘s beautiful) had me thinking of a sunny snow-covered day. I liked badass Bridie Devine sleuthing in the not for the faint-of-heart macabre 1800s medical backrooms. Also, Ruby Doyle may be my new favorite ghost

"London is like a difficult surgical patient; however cautious the incision, anything and everything is liable to burst out."

Going to read a bit before bed. Starting this book that I've been looking forward to reading.

Gothic, creepy, weird. A feisty heroine. Ghosts. Odd sea creatures and a shouldn‘t-be-believable love story that somehow feels just right. After a slow start I ended up loving this strange story.

Got this in the mail yesterday - I can't wait to read l of your comments! Thanks for a great #lmpbc, ladies! @DanaManiac @TheBookKeepers @kellyann28

3 ⭐️
~ This story is very unique, with so many imaginative elements. I particularly liked being introduced to Ruby and Cora.
~ Although I did not exactly enjoy the story because of some of the gruesome parts, I felt compelled to continue reading in order to find out how things would resolve.

What a great round of #LMPBC !! This will be in the mail at the end of the week!

The plot was good but it got lost in the massive amount of prose. I wanted to just get on with the story already. I didn't need 15 different words to describe the Themes. I also liked the characters especially Bridie but again I got too much descriptive prose. Normally I enjoy the detail but it was way over done. 3.5ish ⭐

#Scarathon2021 @Clwojick #TeamSlaughter #SpookOween #Necronomathon @Patchshank #Wickedathon @StayCurious

I really enjoyed this book! If anyone else has read it, did you get thrown off a bit towards the end? I‘m trying not to spoil anything.

@DanaManiac @Johanna414 @kellyann28 #lmpbc I just finished this up (a little late due to house buying & adulting things). I‘ll mail it out tomorrow!

#FallTreasures #Day19 #DNF

According to Goodreads, I started reading this book in March 2020 and made it to 13% before losing interest. Clearly something else began to distract me around that time….😉 I will definitely get back to this eventually, but for now it languishes along with my other unread #BOTM books.

I really enjoyed this book! It is pretty dark and quite violent at times, so I can see where that would be off-putting to others. The grittier the better for me 😂🖤 I'll get this mailed next week! #LMPBC @Johanna414 @TheBookKeepers @DanaManiac

Started this one today. The writing threw me a little at first but now I'm into it! 💙 #LMPBC @TheBookKeepers @Johanna414 @DanaManiac

It came today! 💙 #LMPBC @Johanna414 @DanaManiac @TheBookKeepers

Very good!

I'm not really sure how to review this one... I enjoyed it, but I didn't necessarily love it as much as I had hoped. I liked the main story, but there were a few aspects I wasn't totally thrilled with.
@kellyann28 @TheBookKeepers @DanaManiac I will get this in the mail sometime in the next week - i need to look and double check who I'm supposed to send it to lol
#lmpbc

Started this today and I'm enjoying it, so I think I'll use it for my #lmpbc pick this month 😊
@DanaManiac @kellyann28 @TheBookKeepers

Audiobook pick:
Dark and gritty story, but the writing was beautifully descriptive. The narrator did a great job on this one. She really brought the book to life.

What a lovely cover. 1/3 thru my bookclub selection. Anyone else read it? I think I‘m liking it but a little uncertain.

Enjoyable mystery about a lost child and the edge of humanity. Loved the reader on audio.

Its Mr Bs subscription day... always a pleasure to get the personally selected surprise book each month in the post... this month - a female Victorian detective story.. They must sense I need a 'ripping yarn' to help me with my wandering concentration this week! 👍🏼

I think I'm having a reading crisis. I really want to read my current book which is the tagged book. I also however want to start the Shadow and Bone series after seeing the trailer for the show. I also was to continue the Veronica Speedwell series. The new book comes out in a few days and I'm 3 books behind. On top of all that, I want read the sequel to From Blood and Ash. I have a headache🤦‍♀️.

I am really enjoying using my tbr wheel of fortune. I am so overwhelmed with how many books I have not read that are sitting on my shelves that I have a hard time deciding what to read next. This takes all the pressure off. This book also helps me get another off my #botm pile.

Does anyone else use Bookly to record their reading?

Fabulous and a fun read! I'm reaching out of my comfort zone this year and found this fiction selection randomly. Perfect mix of mystery, murder, and myth!

A kidnap mystery with magical realism under tones and an amazing MC. I wish for a series featuring the kookie Birdie.

Ready for the Bookly Read-a-thon.
Anyone else use the Bookly App to track reading 📚?

Picked this one up today from the Library. It has been on my hold list for a while and FINALLY here. Hope it's good!

“This woman was made of boot polish, and pipe smoke, clean cloth and north wind.”

Um, did you guys know this is like a really good book? As I get further in my MotM backlog, I'm more and more tempted to renew my subscription.

This book was filled with lots of my favorites - a kick-ass heroine, a charming ghost, and fantastic beasts. However, it fell a little too far over the line into creepy, gross, and horror for me to fall in love. I finished it, but had some rather disturbing nightmares while doing so.

With fantastical elements and an air of mystery, Kidd brings a different kind of Victorian London to life. Bridie Devine is a a peculiar MC, whose scientific upbringing helps her solve odd cases, like the sudden disappearance of a mysterious child of a baronet, a secret child. At times absolutely bizarre, this is definitely not a fast read. Yet, I think it‘s the obscureness of the subject matter that kept me reading. A pick, though a soft pick.

Finished this fab book over the weekend - a Victorian crime thriller with brilliant characters and lots of intrigue. I really enjoyed this, so will be going back to this author again - would love to see more books following the same character actually.

Delightfully weird. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book—mystery, history and magic.

I finished this one on audio but didn‘t particularly like it, even though it had a lot of my favourite things: Victorian London, curiosities, mystery ...

Cozy day 😍

I am a huge fan of Jess Kidd. Her writing is nothing less than magical.

From the publisher:
“London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from her last job and with her reputation in tatters, a remarkable puzzle has come her way. Christabel Berwick has been kidnapped. But Christabel is no ordinary child. She is not supposed to exist.”

This books only saving grace is the authors descriptive and unique style of writing. This book was very good at the beginning, and it was good at the end. The middle was very, very hard for me to get through. If it hadn‘t been a book that I purchased, I probably would have bailed. I had to continuously look up the definitions of words, as this author used to vocabulary that I am not at all familiar with. Perhaps it is because she is from London

This was an interesting read. While I was drawn in enough to finish it, I was also confused a lot. I struggled a little remembering the different characters. Odd, but good, book. It‘s a solid 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ from me!

This was a fun book, full of strange oddities and interesting developments that happened throughout. This book didn't always keep.my attention and I am sure there was a part in the middle that I missed completely and was still able to understand the ending. Maybe I should have read this one. The ending made sense and I liked it overall.

#TeamSlaughter @Clwojick 15pts. Yay! Two books completed!

I am.up.to 70% finished with this Audiobook and it's wonderful. I am loving the characters and the plot it's a good combination of both and it keeps the reader engaged.

Going to go take a crack at Final Girls now

It's October! Off to the races! I've started reading the tagged book, it's wonderful so far. There is a ghost with moving tattoos, a detective who can see the dead and a child that has been kidnapped because of her magical abilities.

So far, interesting.
#TeamSlaughter