Welcome to Litsy!

@MaleficentBookDragon thank you SO much!!!! You could have wrapped nothing in the bright and happy wrapping paper and had me at hello. LOVE the sweet tin of candy and my TBR‘s. Thank you🩷🎄💚 such a sweet treat for today!!! #jolabokoflod Thank you for hosting!!!

#recentread #retelling

Meh, it was an okay novel but nothing great. I‘ve read other books that feel similar and this one never felt particularly suspenseful or tense. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Jane moves to a new town. She meets Eddie, who is handsome, rich, and above all single. As time passes, Jane is intrigued by the legend of 'Bea' Eddie's ex-wife who died in an accident. Turns out, everyone has not so pleasing secrets.
As interesting as the premise is, the book was pretty flat. It felt a bit stretched out too. There wasn't any character development. A classic whodunnit!
3/5🌟

A tentative thumbs up. I don‘t think Brontë would approve. The characters are very different from their models, but some of the story elements align. Once divorced from the source material in my mind, I was able to enjoy this book a lot more.

Oh. Em. Gee. I typically take about five days to read a book but I finished this one in two. It gave Verity vibes. It gave suspense. It gave who the ham can you trust??! LOVED the ending. But can I say… Southern Manors sounds a little tacky?? lol

Nothing spectacular, but a decent read.
 @LiseWorks #teamcryptkeepers #finalstretchathon @StayCurious #scarathlon
#spookoween @TheSpineView

This Jane Eyre retelling is a little too straightforward for me. The things I love about the characters in the original are lost in a Pretty Woman-like poor-girl revenge story crossed with a modern thriller and populated with regional and class stereotypes. It has given me a lot to think about in regards to what elements go into a good retelling. And it's my #doublespin for October!

I almost bailed on this one, to be honest 🤷‍♀️ Then it went a totally unexpected way and I was hooked 😂 A low-ish pick, but a pick nonetheless!

I picked this audiobook because I‘m getting married next week (!) and I haven‘t had a ton of brain space recently, so I‘ve been trying to read books that are easier reads. I figured this one would be an easy page turner. It was easy to listen to and finish, so I was right with that, but unfortunately I didn‘t like it. I disliked all the characters and the Jane Eyre motif wasn‘t working for me. Anyone read this and like it?

A man who overestimates his intelligence is a man who can be easily manipulated.

Rachel Hawkins, The Wife Upstairs

fun easy read that could have been a lot shorter…still enjoyed it tho… #readinggoal #rushathon @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

“It is the absolute shittiest day for a walk.”

Pitched as a modern retelling of Jayne Eyre, it was so much more in my opinion. This was a page turner for me, so much more than I ever remember Jayne Eyre being. I was hooked by the evil characters and their dark back stories. Told through 3 POVS it was a well written, riveting and engaging read. I was left thinking WTH had I just read in all the best of ways this was a perfect thriller. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was not fully expecting that. I mean I knew, but I didn‘t know, but I did know, you know?! Wait, do you want to know too? Then you are in the right place, if you love twists & turns & unexpected secrets to pop up out of nowhere! I loved this book & could not put it down. I was shocked by how quickly things were pieced together & then shattered on the next page. Highly recommend, but beware the skeletons in the… well read & find out!

💙💙💙💙

Really straightforward Jane Eyre retelling for this era.

I have no real problems of it but I wasn‘t surprised by anything. IMO the tension wasn‘t there & the ending came on too quick after all the build up. Mediocre, but a fine palate cleanser.

Book #53
4/5
VERY loosely (from whar I can tell) inspired by Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, this one has a few surprises which, honestly, would have been more *surprising* if I hadn't read both of the aforementioned books. Still, there were a few things that I had not expected, and I would call it a worthwhile read. 😊

Book 94🎧 4.2⭐️

Fill with a ton of twists! Very solid thriller.

So much deception, but who is lying to who?

Great thriller, told from multiple perspectives

I'm not sure where the days or weeks have gone.
I'm not sure I entirely remember this book ?? ok, so I do remember most of it. It was OK. Good enough for entertaining me on walks and while babe was sleeping. However, no one seems particularly like a "good" person in this story so I really didn't care about any of them and tbh the MC seemed the most grating to me.

Maybe now just wasn‘t the time for this one. I could not get into it at all. It was boring and honestly the MC seemed whiney.

#12booksof2022

I read this right after we finished Jane Eyre for #PemberLittens

Reading them back to back was a lot of fun!

I could see what the book was trying to do in terms of moments of suspense/plot twists, however I found it to be lackluster. I recognized those moments when they came up, but felt like they were missing something. I think a lot of the tension was supposed to revolve around the main male character, but as a reader, I felt the character wasn‘t introduced well enough for the suspense/tension to be effective. It needed to be fleshed out more. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Excited to finally read this one! I‘ve seen so many good reviews for it since it came out on Book of the Month. Seems like it‘ll follow a pretty basic formula for a thriller, but I think I might need a good reliable “good story formula” to help me relax into a good read as I close off the new year 😌

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Definitely needed a book to grab me right off the bat and keep me guessing til the end. This was it!

This was a fun one to read right after we finished Jane Eyre for #Pemberlittens

There was no one to like in this retelling, but oddly that worked. I enjoyed this book a lot.

Thank you @Chrissyreadit for sending this as a swap gift over the summer!

I'm including a quote from the acknowledgements as a spoiler in the comments because I loved it, but it is a slight spoiler for this book and Jane Eyre.

Book 118

I listened to The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins. A 20-something woman with a checkered past moves to a rich area and becomes the neighborhood dog-walker. Soon she's engaged to a recent widower, whose wife's death is suspicious. The twist, though it seems obvious, is s surprise. An enjoyable listen. 3.5 ⭐️s

This one had some mixed reviews, but I found it rather entertaining. I didn't see the twists to expect. Also, having to rely mostly on #Audio lately, its been good to get lost in a book with a good narrator.

My baby, Conor being such a good boy at his Vet appointment. #DogsOfLitsy

This is my newest #AudioCommute book :) I see all the mixed reviews. Hopefully it‘s entertaining enough so far.

I really liked this book. It had a bit of a twist that I wasn‘t expecting but it was fun.

It was a fast read and definitely intriguing, but a little rushed at the end. It had a great mystery and a good twist, but felt the epilogue was a bit too much. At times the repetition was annoying instead of leading up to suspense. The revelations were subtle and that was good. I recommend it as a fluff read… not one to really analyze and think about.

@Chrissyreadit this box is great! Your cat story cracked me up! My neighbor‘s cat has been living in my backyard for 3 days because he saw a chipmunk there. They want what they want! Thank you so much.

(And I was was writing this my Daisy cat jumped up and tried to steal the stuffie 🤷‍♀️)

#spookysummerswap

This was such a thrill ride! It kept me guessing to the very last page!

Thank goodness.... this was totally meh. A bunch of southern ladies gossiping, a too naive foster care kid who's jealous of them, a mediocre murder mystery....

Nope, this was not my cup of tea. I did add a book to my total for the year and that's all I've got...

I'm not sure I'm meant for books like this... 🙄 The fact that it's a Jane Eyre retelling says a lot too, LOL... 18% in and I've already strained a muscle rolling my eyes.

Jane dog walks her way into the life of luxury when she comes across the gorgeous widow Eddie, whose wife went missing after a boating accident and is presumed dead. I give this book a pick as it was entertaining but found a few things underwhelming such as why Jane was running away from her past. In all, it‘s an entertaining story with a few twists, although predictable, it‘s still worthy of a read 🙂

This is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre set in USA. It has a few twists and turns, it was an enjoyable read, but it hasn't stayed with me.

Enjoyable modern retelling of Jane Eyre that kept my attention even though it wasn‘t hard to figure out where the story was going or what the big mystery would reveal. All of the characters were unreliable and I liked that it changed between 3 different POVs, even while the main narrator was Jane. Very entertaining! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A retelling of Jane Eyre…so good! I was immediately sucked into the story and was hooked. The characters aren‘t particularly likable, but for this story, that works.

#bookspinbingo
#pop22 - book with a quote from your favorite author on the cover
#booked2021 - make your own prompt {flowers on the cover}
#pantone2022

This was a fun one! While the pacing was off at the end and didn‘t think we needed Eddie‘s pov, I very much enjoyed this. I love me an unreliable narrator.

Definitely liked this book a lot! I was totally bought in because I knew there were going to be twists and I couldn‘t wait to see what was next and how things ended up. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @TheLudicReader for these gifts. Books came 4days after you sent email, other stuff arrived today. I didn't want to post them before, wanted to share the whole package together. But I opened books on February 14. Everything is so pretty💕❤
#LitsyLove #LitsyLoveValentinesDaySwap
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Bookgoil @rsteve388