Welcome to Litsy!

I went to my local indie with a couple books in mind, but none were on the shelves. I ended up reading a few jackets and picked two books I‘ve never heard of. House Gone Quiet is a collection of apparently “beautifully crafted” short stories if the pitches are to be believed. Shady Hollow promises to be an ultra cozy mystery and that sounds perfect right now. Everyone who made a purchase was able to choose an ARC on their way out.

February wrap-up. 12 books read.

Book 15 of the year.

I bought this book a long time ago on the recommendation of a friend of mine who also owns our local bookstore. It was a solid cozy mystery - good setting, twisty plotline, interesting characters - but sometimes it felt like the species of animal dictated the character‘s traits rather than the characters being fully fleshed out. 🤔 I‘m not sure if I‘ll continue with the series, although I‘d love to see them all on my shelf!
#ThematicCozies

This was a fun cozy mystery. I saw a review on GR that described it as “Agatha Christie if she wrote Wind In The Willows,” which pretty much nails it. I didn‘t have the murder figured out at all. I will pick up the next one in the series.

This was a sweet cozy mystery. It was fun to be part of the animals‘ woodland world, and the mystery kept me guessing. First in a series, and I will read more.

Like several other Littens, I chose this book as my January #ThematicCozies #Animal pick.

Thank you, @Chrissyreadit for sending this to me as a swap gift! 💙

#AVL25
#SeriesLove
#offtheshelf2025
#ISpyBingo
#Pantone2025 #Crocus
#LitsyAtoZ2025 #S

This was cute. I read it in two days, and it is perfect escapism—a village of anthropomorphic animals and murder. I wasn‘t sure what to expect, but overall I enjoyed it. I liked how the author (or authors, as it is two writers under on pen name) used characteristics of each animal as the basis for the characters‘ portrayal.

I‘d read the next in the series, but maybe in a little while. #Animal #ThematicCozies #NonHumanAntagonist #52BookClub25

I‘m excited to begin our year of #ThematicCozies with Shady Hollow as my January selection. A couple of you have already posted. 👍 What will everyone else be reading?

Tagging those who have already expressed interest, but all are welcome! 😀

Blending the vibes of Murder She Wrote with Beatrix Potter, and you‘ve hooked me already!

I really enjoyed this first outing - and even read books 2 & 3 this year! Not bad for someone with a penchant for not finishing series (it‘s still being written and I‘m not quite up to date yet - but I‘m still counting it as a series win)

#12booksof2024 : May

Started a new audio book today while I do some Christmas baking! This was a recommendation from someone. Excited to see where the storyline goes!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was such a cozy mystery! The quirky, unique animal characters were a fun twist on a well known genre, and I can‘t really explain it, but it‘s just the perfect book to read in November.
I didn‘t guess the killer, so that was nice, too, to have a new world built & a strong mystery.
I think I‘ll definitely read more from this series.

I liked the way the pieces of this anthropomorphic cozy mystery came together. It was also my first ever #powellsbooks purchase

Shady Hollow feels like the ultimate cozy small-town setting, with anthropomorphic animals living in near-harmony: from a coffee-shop-owning moose and bears on the police force, to a raven named Lenore who owns Nevermore Books. The twists & turns of the murder-mystery plot reveal a darker side of the idyllic town, as reporter Vera Vixen chases down leads & clues. I wanted to love this, but it fell short for me. The writing felt too simplistic ⤵️

#HauntedShelf #HexesandCrows

1.Shady Hollow (tagged) and Autumn in Sycamore Park

2. Dinner in a Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bread

3. Neighborhood Oyster Roast, Litsy Spooky Season fun

4. Pumpkin Spice

This does a good job of setting up a series and I enjoyed meeting all the creatures in this charming town. It was a pretty good mystery too and the bad creature turned out to be someone I hadn't expected.

This book is just an absolute delight. Super cozy and lovely in setting, a cracking mystery, and a wide range of characters, from keen and insightful, to friendly but mysterious, to downright ominous. The world was well-built, a cozy community that was the perfect backdrop. I feel like anyone who likes a classic mystery would enjoy this book. I‘ll definitely read more in this series.

Picking up what might be the coziest mystery in existence today for a lazy day at home. But who could resist? LOOK at that cover😍 The tag quote: “Watership Down meets Mickey Spillane…” I just cannot. I hope it lives up to itself!

Oh my goodness, @Chrissyreadit ! These #NaturalitsyMidsummerSwap surprises! Everything is perfect! Who knew there was such a thing as Bridgerton tea? Even the package is beautiful. And those note cards… each one is different! The yummy honey, gorgeous tea towel, wonderful produce bags for trips to the farmers market, and the BOOKS! How did you know I‘ve been dying to read the Sleepy Hollow series?! Many thanks, my friend. I am delighted. 💛
#NLMSS

Zootopia meets MSW‘s Cabot Cove. Newish to town, investigative journalist, Vera Vixen is on the case when a curmudgeonly local resident is found dead - drowned, stabbed & poisoned. The usually quiet town suddenly is a hotbed of gossip, rumours & danger - with several other secrets come to light. Vera is determined to get to the bottom of it - but someone is equally determined that she doesn‘t.

This was so cozy! Enjoyed my time in Shady Hollow.

#forest #storysettings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I picked this up and then promptly lost it in my TBR. A recent comment about this being a perfect cozy reminded me I already owned it and I should pick it up.

It was precisely the comfort read I needed.

Although the main characters are talking animals, it isn't a kid's story (although I just order a copy for a friend for reading aloud with her daughter). It reminds me of Looney Tunes--amusing for kids but even funnier for adults.

This was adorbs 🥰

What‘s better than a town full of talking animals? A foxy cub reporter who solves mysteries— her best friend Lenore is a raven with a bookstore 🐦‍⬛

Desk fairy & friend pictured for fun #midwintersolace #fridaynightshare #naturalitsy @AllDebooks @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88 @TheBookHippie

#Rushathon #DashingDecember #SeriesLove2023

I have had this first book in the Shady Hollow cozy mystery series in my #TBR for ages now so I am glad I finally read it. I found it cute & enjoyable once you accept that the characters are animals who live a human life in a little village with a newspaper & coffee shop. Cozy & good for this time of year or as a palate cleanser between heavier reads, I‘ll give the next in the series a try. 🦊 🐻 🐦‍⬛

Did my last “friend thing” before Christmas with brunch earlier today, so now I‘ll settle in for the next couple of days & relax & read & just hang out for the holidays.

Listened to 90-minutes-ish of my holiday audiobook while out-&-about today & grabbed a poke bowl for Christmas Eve-Eve liner/lupper. I‘m reading a few chapters of the tagged cozy as the beauty of a Kindle is the ability to read with one hand so the other can hold chopsticks!😉

#BookBinge

I haven‘t started the Shady Hollow cozy mystery series yet where the characters are woodland creatures & #NonHumanProtag (s) but it looks cute & the first couple of books are loaded on my Kindle. I am hoping to get to them this cozy fall season for my #SeriesLove2023 list. 🦊💚

A good reminder that there's a limit to how cozy a book can be when it's a murder mystery. Charming cover and woodland menagerie aside, you're still steeped in gossip, prejudice, xenophobia, infidelity, blackmail, embezzlement, classism and negative depiction of the non-monogamous. The end makes some efforts to address the downsides of small-town life, and suggests there may be improvements, but I find myself less eager to continue in the series.

So fun!

A very adorable cozy mystery set in a cute woodland village full of adorable creatures. Fun, light, cute. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It‘s really entertaining.

A sweet cosy mystery based in the neighbourhood of Shady Hollows. A good palate cleanser kind of book.
#booked2023 #setinaneighbourhood #52books23 #abookwithsecrets

This was a really fun cozy mystery that gave me Hoodwinked vibes. The animals of Shady Hollow are all in a tizzy when Otto the toad turns up murdered. Vera Vixen, a plucky reporter, is determined to solve the mystery, as long as the killer doesn't get to her first.
Looking forward to returning to this small forest town #SeriesLove2023 @Andrew65 @TheSpineView
#Booked2023 set in a neighborhood @BarbaraTheBibliophage @Cinfhen @alisiakae

Geez, what a cutie patootie of a book?!! It‘s exactly the way I like my cozy mysteries to be: smart, sweet, and full of woodland creatures. It‘s not The House in the Cerulean Sea level (can another book ever reach that status? prob not), but it definitely gives off the same vibes. Loved it! 🦊🐰🐍🐻🐸🐭🦫🐑🦝🦝🤗🤩

I read nine books in November and there were quite a few good books: City of Brass, House of Salt and Sorrows, Right Sort of Man, and the tagged book among them. Even the romance I read was a great one (A Night Like This)! But Shady Hollow was good enough that I went right out and bought the next book in the series, and I‘d recommend it to almost everyone I know — the other great reads of the months were more niche-y.

I think I made it into #AuldLangSpine! Pic of Bunny yawning for attention. “Mom, you‘re too excited! Time for bed!”

November #bookspin #recap — so far. I read The Right Sort of Man (👍🏻), City of Brass, Plaid & Plagiarism, and my #LMPBC book, House of Salt and Sorrows, & DNF‘d The Once and Future Witches. Currently reading Shady Hollow.

I stayed up until 5am reading, so I could get a good head start on #Scarathlon! 3 super short novellas, and a perfect fall cozy mystery. Shady Hollow was so fun, and I can‘t wait to read the next one. I‘m an hour or so into Desolation Canyon, so I‘m off to continue with more of that!

4*15(#teamreads)+ 45 (matching 3 photo prompts) +4670 (word search words) = 4775

#TeamSlaughter #ominousoctober #autumnAtoZ #scarathlondailyprompts

The Coziest of Cozy Mysteries

Rating: 4 Stars

Full Review & Content Breakdown: https://laurenmichelelifestyle.com/2022/07/04/shady-hollow-by-juneau-black-book-...

Absolutely loving this book! 📚also the map on the frontispiece is lovely 😻 I have multiple theories already about whodunit but need more evidence to confirm 👵🏻🧶update: my suspicions were correct! Can‘t wait to reserve the next installment 🦊

I‘m super curious about this one.

I had to put Blacktop Wasteland to the side because this one is due back to the library first! Im excited to start this one!

A classic murder mystery with a quaint little woodland village populated entirely by animals. This was such a fun read! I enjoyed the little details and the humor. Definitely going to read the next book.

Next up on Libby: a murder mystery with animals. I've been eagerly waiting for this book to be available.

A cozy mystery with a sly twist. Imagine the quaintest small country village you can. Now, populate it with animals - a moose runs the cafe, a raven owns the bookstore, and the fox Vera Vixen is the ace reporter at the local paper. One day the town curmudgeon, an old toad, is found stabbed. A murderer is on the loose in Shady Hollow, and Vera Vixen is hot on the trail!

Lots of fun! Full review here: https://tinyurl.com/3bn5n9sp

I Had to try to like this, think it‘s aimed at the over ten year olds market, yet had adult references many would miss. It‘s inconsistent, even with a suggestion to consider the characters as adults with animal traits, they also ARE animals. Why is a fox scared of a sheep, how can a bird pick up a glass bottle, they all speak perfect English, and are all the same size. They have feathers, fur, and no opposable thumbs. The style very YA