Welcome to Litsy!

Usually I like family drama which means we will find unlikable characters, dysfunctional relationships with some funny parts and times to cry and be angry. Yeah, this one has everything of that but not in a good way for me. I felt disconnected with characters and maybe at the end I was interested in how everything would end, touched with the ending. But in general, I didn‘t like it🤷🏽‍♀️2.5/3⭐️

A widowed mother takes her adult children on a cruise. The 4 are not friends & seem to barely know each other. If you are a parent you will recognize the innocent and unintentional rudeness of the adult child. That will carry certain readers a far way, but it‘s not enough. The story is easy to follow with moments of interest, and sometimes even literary reach, but I cannot say it is worth the time unless you are young & have loads of it.

This is another of Reese Witherspoon ‘s book club picks - bought it at the annual Raise/A-Reader Booksale . An older woman wins a cruise with her estranged adult children. Of course everyone is unhappy, angst , secrets , alcoholism, depression etc . Pretty much all the family drama in a so-so package. I have a few days off so Breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at the Dutch Bakery and supper from the Italian Market Deli

I think I would have liked it a little better with either a different narrator to the audiobook or reading it myself. There were parts of the story that I thought were really clever.

I asked Bella to pose and she obliged. 🦮

#dogsoflitsy

I wanted to like this book, but it was hard. I couldn't get into it the first time I picked it up, but the second time, I was determined (and out of reading material). None of the characters were particularly likeable, and none were really redeemed (except for maybe Cord), but I guess that's sort of the point.
It does REALLY make me want to go on a cruise, though.

@Hooked_on_books I came across two more, including Ward‘s other book. A definite trend. I like it.

Recent acquisitions… So much for ending the year with fewer books than I started (I think I‘ll end up with only about 5 or 6 more so not a total fail?)

This is the tale of an estranged family taking a European cruise together…. Not by choice but by guilt. Each family member is troubled, and stuck in the past. This is book describes how they moved forward.So deep subject matter but I also found it funny and an enjoyable read. I also took a large family cruise with my somewhat dysfunctional family, so I could definitely relate to that part 🤣🤣🤣

This was not the fun, European vacation novel I expected. This story follows a dysfunctional family on a European cruise. I feel bad for all of the characters but also struggled to really get them. I feel like the story leaves a lot of things unfinished, which I don't love in a novel. It was fine to read but I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading it.

I listened to The Jetters while baking and decorating these sugar cookies on Sunday afternoon and I totally enjoyed every bit of it.

So good! This family drama is filled with broken but lovable people that are trying so hard to heal. I loved the setting, a once in lifetime European crisis, and the cast of characters that moves in and lot of their lives. Throw in a little artistic mystery to solve, and I‘m hooked! #BookspinBingo #MountTBR @TheAromaofBooks

I listen to the get booked podcast weekly so when Amanda went on about The Switch I thought it sounded like something that I wouldn‘t normally read but my pandemic brain said YES! And I loved that one. When she recommended this as a read alike I thought PERFECT! I guess September pandemic brain and April pandemic brain are different because I hated this one. I have nothing good to say about it.

#litsylove

I‘ve not been very active through #litsylove for the past year. It‘s been a bit of a rough time for me. But I‘m trying to get back at it. Sending out a few letters today! Thank you all so much for being so patient with me.

I hated it.

https://onthebl.org/2021/04/13/books-to-read-this-spring-2021/

Listened to this while I audio-cross-stitched and it kept me entertained.

A 71 year old mom takes her three grown children on a Mediterranean cruise. Each character has their own problems and room for growth.

I have a feeling, however, that in about the time it would take me to go on a cruise, I won't remember much about The Jetsetters.

Insomnia reading. Finished this one at 4am. It wasn‘t what I expected. It‘s basically the story of Charlotte, a 71 year old mother, and her three adult children taking a cruise that she won in a contest. I didn‘t connect with any of the characters. I was disappointed with the ending for one of the characters, Lee, the eldest daughter. On another topic, I got a new cover for my ereader 😍

We‘ve been in varying degrees of confinement since September but as of today Quebec goes into full lockdown with a curfew between 8pm-5am for at least the next 4 weeks. I‘m ready with all the absolute necessities close at hand, including my little reading buddy Rémy.

How lonely it was to have no witness to her life. No one to guard her passage into slumber, no one to know that she had made it through the night 🛳

This book is so much fun. I'd call it a beach read except they're on a cruise. A mother and her 3 adult children win a Mediterranean cruise. They are all keeping secrets from each other. Watching it all unravel is quite amusing.

#BookSpinBingo square 9
@TheAromaofBooks

I skipped this RW bookclub pick back in Jan because I wasn‘t in the mood to read of the vacation of the 1%, but I felt like I was skipping out on a homework assignment so I dove in. I was wrong, it‘s about a 71-yr old women who wins a cruise in Greece and her 3 grown children who‘s communications are via email. It‘s four good people who forgot how to listen to each other. Not great but not bad.

My current read! 😁

Super disappointed in my last two Hello Sunshine titles.
The Guest List end up being a DNF as I thought it was too slow and I got tired of waiting. Read 50%
The Jetsetters I'll graciously give 2☆, I just couldn't get into it despite all the love and long hold list at the library.
Other Hello Sunshine titles I've loved and recommeded over and over, these two just missed the mark in my opinion.

Told from multi-perspectives Jetsetters focuses on a mother‘s attempt to reunite her estranged children. Although I read it rather quickly, I spent a large portion of it deeply frustrated by Charlotte, the mother of three children who desperately need her help. I spent a lot of the book wanting to shake her and make her realize how much her kids need her and that they are hurting.

Thanks for the tags @Ruthiella @Eggs and @tournevis 🤗😘🤗

1. Tagged - Therese‘s narration was just hilarious!
2. Untamed - I think it was 50% the book and its subject and 50% my dad had the stroke that weekend.

Sorry I‘ve been absent. 24 hour bug. 🤢 Better now! 👍🏻🥰

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

If it hadn‘t been for Therese Plummer‘s narration and a difficult-to-get #readingeurope2020 country, there‘s no way I would‘ve read this. Even for your basic dysfunctional family/wacky situation book, this comes off half-cocked. Disjointed, disappointing plot - I wouldn‘t recommend the print, but Therese totally saves this from a pan with her awesome voice over work. 3⭐️ #audiobook #Malta

Kind of a slow read but weirdly quick unsettling ending

Not the light read I was expecting. I enjoyed this.

Starting this...

It‘s been a wicked long time since I read a book that I needed to just END ALREADY, but boy oh boy was I glad to finish this one. I didn‘t quit because I kept thinking that I would become (magically, miraculously) invested in even one of these characters. Nope. (Having said all this, I bow to all writers of all books, and I hold that art and skill in high regard. And, I mean, I can‘t love ALL the stories in the world, right?) #notforme #onwards

Next audio book for me!

Started The Jetsetters last night in the tub and 100 pages later realized my water was too cold to continue. Finished the book today. 4 stars, maybe 4.5, I was very transported. It reminds me of The Nest in terms of humor and family dynamics but with more likeable and sympathetic characters and a lovely Mediterranean cruise setting. #reesewitherspoonbookclub #hellosunshine #bath #catsoflitsy

Just So- so for this one. Having recently taken a Mediterranean cruise, it was entertaining to read about places I had been to, other than that the story was very thin.

I liked this book. It was a European cruise (fun) with a dysfunctional family. Who can‘t relate? However, It left me wanting more. I don‘t feel like I got a good sense of closure with the characters. I did however find myself researching Mediterranean cruises throughout the book. A girl can dream!

Just received my new book and tote bag from one of my favorite bookstores. I usually don‘t order online because I prefer to shop in person, but I‘m trying to support small businesses during this time of uncertainty.

Sadly not a fan of this one. Picked it up because it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club book but found it meh. The characters were not amazing and the plot contrived as far as I was concerned.

I love to cruise and usually enjoy tales of family dysfunction, so I was expecting for this to be right up my alley. But alas, it was a real disappointment. Each family member was more self-absorbed than the next and there was absolutely nothing I found entertaining about it. Reese missed the mark with this one, in my humble opinion of course.

This book, recommended by Reese Witherspoon, is everything! Southern family? Check. Cruising? Check. Gorgeous European destinations? Check. Family drama? Check. #hellosunshinebookclub #reesesbookclub

None of the characters of the book are particularly likable, trying not to show how their lifes are crumbling, trying to reach for help but at the same time too embarrassed to confess their lifes didn't go according to plan, no heroes here, just the definition of a adulthood. A disfunctional family trying to accept that is ok not to be perfect and they don't need to better themselves or their family members, everyone of them are just enough.

2.75⭐️ I really thought that it was an interesting concept but honestly as I read on I didn‘t like the characters at all. At least it was short #ebook #2020 #contemporary #fiction #litsyatoz #litsyatoz2020 #j #reesesbookclub

Scribd is doing a 30 day trial during the pandemic. Thank god! More audiobooks to distract my stressed mind.

What I read on Friday for #24b4monday

I loved the idea of this story. A dysfunctional, estranged family goes on a cruise. With the short chapters and varied narrators, the book moves along at a swift pace. Each character‘s story is revealed bit by bit, like the layers of an onion. Difficult topics are addressed: alcoholism, self-esteem, and suicide to name a few. All the right ingredients for a great novel, right? So what‘s the issue? For me, I really just didn‘t like the characters.

Just what I needed/ a mindless look at a dysfunctional Southern family taking a European cruise 🚢 Shallow but some heavier tides ⚓️I think you‘d like this @KarenUK #Scribd #ReadingEurope2020 #Malta Thanks for the suggestion @Riveted_Reader_Melissa 💙🎧

Halfway through the March #HelloSunshine pick 🚢⚓️🏝☀️it‘s light and fun and bonus it works for #ReadingEurope2020 #Malta 🧡Try it @Reviewsbylola it‘s a no-brainer entertaining escape #BrainCandy 🍭🍬🍭

Taking your advice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa and trying something light and fun #Scribd 🙏🏼🎧and it‘s your favorite narrator @Megabooks

Well the library decided to go ahead and buy all the books I recommended! I‘m gonna be busy!