Welcome to Litsy!

Gideon the Ninth vibes in a whodunnit set in an imperial court of intrigue with psychics.

Charm is the emperor‘s mistress, given Orchard House to run as a gentleman‘s club and brothel. Before he dies, he gives her the order to figure out who murdered him and kill any of his sons who wanted his throne.

Meanwhile, Charm has to protect her boneghosts and appease the new emperor and his mad brothers, all with her own splintered personality.

This was okay. Very long and very confusing. Didn‘t really care for it but glad to have it off the list!

#magicalmonsters #scarathlon #littenlisten #fangtasticreadathon #rushathon #31by31 #spookoween #falling4books #bookspin #20in4 #finalstretchreadathon

I was intrigued for the first half or so. Then it started to feel draggy, and I just wanted to finish. The endless misogyny.

I appreciate what the author was doing here, and the magic system was interesting. I'm just tired lol.

If you're considering reading this, I highly recommend checking the TWs first. It is so much nonstop trauma and darkness.

I wanted to like this one much more than I did. Almost from the first page there was a disconnect between the story & the world—never adequately explained &, therefore, more of a distraction than interesting setting—in which the story was taking place. It just didn‘t come together even as the author had some interesting things to say about trauma, survival, & more. I think mine is an unpopular opinion, however, as reviews are generally good.

Book mail!!! And it‘s just in time for a storm system that COULD bring 5-8 inches of snow OR a lot of rain OR a snow/rain mix OR whatever it is the clouds decide to throw at us—forecasters really aren‘t sure about this one beyond saying we are expecting a lot of precipitation of one type or another tomorrow. 🤷‍♀️ At least I‘m prepared!

🌧️❄️🌬️☁️🫖🍵📖🏠❄️🌨️🌧️

3½✨. 🎧
I really liked the idea of this one. The Bone Orchard and Charm with her bone Ghosts. The politics and the interesting world Mueller created.
BUT it was hard work.... I get why so many people DNF it.

👇🏻👇🏻 Continue below 👇🏻👇🏻

Not off to the best start for #FabulousFebruary.
But today I managed to listen to a good chunk of my Audiobooks while doing food prep for the week.

I'll start a new book tomorrow morning and catch up on my page count during the week.
@Andrew65

I have no idea what this book is about, but I love the cover. So I'm gonna just buy it and see if I like it

#CoverLove 😍

I'm 100+ pages in and nothing in this book makes much sense. Perhaps by the end the author will explain her world and mythologies, but so far too much has been left unexplained and I keep dreading trying to read it.

So, I'm doing something I normally don't do and I'm bailing on it for better reads. 😁

Received to review! This one makes the reader do a lot of work; it did pay off in the end, but I wasn't sure during the journey.

And this gives me my third #BookSpinBingo line. I still hope to get a 4th, 5th and 6th line tomorrow (by finishing Nemesis Games, reading the whole of Strange Practice, and then if I can reading the Becky Chambers)... but I feel I've done pretty great.

Originally received this to review, but I think it's out now? Argh, self. Anyway, I'm just starting to get stuck into it and figure out the world; it definitely expects you to piece things together yourself, which is always fun.

My friend from my writers‘ group, Sara A. Mueller, is a Tor author now! She read to us from this story while we critiqued it a few years ago. I‘m thrilled thrilled thrilled to pieces that I can share it with you! It‘s an otherworldly murder mystery with lots of unique magic and political intrigue. The main character duplicates herself with her own magic, constructing bone ghosts to store her knowledge and they all work in her bordello.

Received this book in the mail yesterday. It's fantasy and the cover completely squicks me out. But the premise has me very interested. Charm is a witch and a prisoner and a madam and a mistress to the king. And she is charged with finding out which of the king's sons murdered him. Do that and she gets her freedom. #bookmail

Just watched this fabulous reading by and interview with Sara, looks like the replay is still up!

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/virtual-event---sara-a-/1

Sara is part of my writer's group back home so I was lucky enough to hear her read chapters of this book while in progress, but I left before I could hear the ending. I pre-ordered and can't wait till it's delivered!!

DNF at 40%

It just wasn't for me. I wanted to like this book but I found myself losing interest and easily distracted by other things.