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Flamingo
Flamingo: An exquisite and heartbreaking novel of kindness, loneliness, hope and love | Rachel Elliott
27 posts | 16 read | 34 to read
A novel of love, homelessness, and learning to be fearless In the garden, there were three flamingos. Not real flamingos, but real emblems, real gateways to a time when life was impossibly good. They were mascots, symbols of hope. Something for a boy to confide in. First, there were the flamingos. And then there were two families. Sherry and Leslie and their daughters, Rae and Pauline - and Eve and her son Daniel. Sherry loves her husband, Leslie. She also loves Eve. It couldn't have been a happier summer. But then Eve left and everything went grey. Now Daniel is all grown-up and broken. And when he turns up at Sherry's door, it's almost as if they've all come home again. But there's still one missing. Where is Eve? And what, exactly, is her story? FLAMINGO is a novel about the power of love, welcome and acceptance. It's a celebration of kindness, of tenderness. Set in 2018 and the 80s, it's a song for the broken-hearted and the big-hearted, and is, ultimately, a novel grown from gratitude, and a book full of wild hope.
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ChaoticMissAdventures
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Excited for my #10BeforeTheEnd - 5 books that are longest on my bookshelves and 5 books that are newly published (Bellies is 2023, but the other 4 pub'd in 2024)

All of these are books I am excited about but I keep getting distracted from, so going to prioritize them the next 10 weeks.

Join me in picking out 10 books you want to read before the end of the year! Encouraging people to get to those books you have meant to pick up!

Suet624 Great idea. Sadly, I have no follow through. Good luck to all! 3w
Meshell1313 Ooh great idea! Love it! And you got this! 📚📚📚 3w
tpixie Great selection! 3w
Ruthiella Nice mix of older and newer titles! 👍 3w
BookmarkTavern I loved the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi so much! 💙 3w
29 likes5 comments
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Jas16
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Pickpick

One beautiful summer Eve and her son, Daniel,live next door to Sherry, Leslie, and their daughters and they both find something vital in the relationships they forge. Years later while struggling Daniel seeks out the former neighbors and the time in his life that felt the most secure. A lovely story filled with complicated relationships and empathy. #24in2024

ChaoticMissAdventures This has been festering on my shelf for literally years! This might be the push to get me to pick it up! 2mo
squirrelbrain Great review - I loved this! Definitely pick it up @ChaoticMissAdventures 2mo
sarahbarnes I loved this one, too! I finally read it after having my copy for awhile. 2mo
37 likes3 comments
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CoffeeNBooks
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Saturday morning #coffeeandabook.
Looking forward to finishing this one today.

Aims42 What a pretty Saturday morning picture! Love it 🩷🦩☕️ 6mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 😍 6mo
68 likes2 comments
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CoffeeNBooks
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Saturday morning #coffeeandabook
#BookSpin pick

Captivatedbybooks How‘s that coffee? Is it strong? 6mo
CoffeeNBooks @Captivatedbybooks Bones coffee is my absolute favorite, and I love almost all of the flavors! It's a medium roast coffee, so not too strong, but you can make it stronger if you like. It's not strong like a dark roast, though. 6mo
Mollyanna Holy Canoli is one of my favorites of the Bones coffees. Enjoy! 6mo
curiouserandcurioser @CoffeeNBooks this is my sons favorite coffee flavor! I love Bones:) 6mo
65 likes4 comments
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Itchyfeetreader
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Pickpick

Gosh - this book gave so much. Wonderful complex parent / child relationships. Characters with flaws that never default to stereotypes / cliches. Despair but also hope. I really loved it. A brilliant reminder that everyone has their own story. I loved and was almost a 5 star but for annoying punctuation and a desperate desire to see and know more of Leslie who I loved. I‘m also claiming it for a #pantone2023 for #pinkcosmos

Ruthiella Looking forward to this one. I have it on my kindle. 👍 2y
TrishB I loved this one too. 2y
44 likes1 stack add2 comments
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CoffeeNBooks
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Thank you for the birthday bookmail Soubhi! I'm looking forward to reading both of these!! Thank you for thinking of me on my birthday! 💙
@Soubhiville

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🎈🎊🎉📚❤️ 2y
Soubhiville Happy belated! I hope you‘ll enjoy them. 2y
65 likes2 comments
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BarbaraBB
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#12BooksOf2022

Based on its cover I‘d never had expected this book to be so dark. But it is. At times. And I loved it. My favorite read of November.

Suet624 Well of course I need to stack it. 2y
Andrew65 No you‘d never get dark from that cover. 2y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 You do 🤍 2y
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Cathythoughts I really enjoyed this too. 2y
Megabooks Thank you so much for sending this. I loved it too. 🫶🏻 2y
BarbaraBB @Cathythoughts @Megabooks It was such a surprising good read 2y
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

It‘s clear Elliott is a psychologist because her characters‘ reactions to their childhoods make so much sense. I really enjoyed this heartwarming novel. Ty @BarbaraBB 💜

Daniel‘s mom was on the run for most of his childhood, but he had a brief bit of stability with a great neighbor family. When Daniel is reeling from loss and ends up living on the street, he decides to pay that family a visit. Meanwhile the neighbor‘s daughter has her own issues.

Ruthiella I‘ve been meaning to read this ever since @squirrelbrain gave it a positive review! So little time, so many books… 2y
TrishB Loved this one ❤️ 2y
ChaoticMissAdventures This has been on my list since it was long listed for the women 's prize back in March! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and thanks for the reminder. 2y
BarbaraBB Glad you enjoyed it! 2y
Cinfhen I tried this earlier in the year and I wasn‘t feeling it - maybe I need to try again because so many people loved it 2y
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AnneCecilie
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#12Booksof2022 day 5

May was another amazing reading month for me, with several great reads, but I think this is my favorite.

This book took me completely by surprise in a positive way. And contrary to what the cover might suggest, this is not a fluffy read. I loved the father son relationship that formed between Daniel and the father next door.

TrishB Loved this one too ❤️ 2y
Andrew65 Looks a great read. 2y
squirrelbrain One of my favourites too! 2y
50 likes3 comments
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Megabooks
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@BarbaraBB thank you so much for the thoughtful gifts dear friend!! I waited until today because they are the only surprises I got this year and such wonderful ones. 🫶🏻 The Tokyo Express edition is gorgeous, and my mom wants to read it too. So excited for the Shamsie since I want to tackle her backlist next year, but Flamingo is up after Ocean State. Merry Christmas!! I hope you are all having a wonderful time skiing. 🎄💕⛷️

squirrelbrain Lovely! Flamingo was one of my favourites of the year. 💕 2y
sarahbarnes Can‘t wait to read 🦩. 2y
BarbaraBB I am so happy I chose well! I guess you‘ll love Flamingo too and I hope your mom will enjoy Tokyo Express too! Merry Christmas dear friend ❤️ 2y
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Megabooks @squirrelbrain I‘m so excited for it! 2y
Megabooks @sarahbarnes me too! I‘ve had a lot of trouble finding it in the US. 2y
mhillis Merry Christmas! Tokyo Express was one of my favorite reads this year!! 2y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB you did choose very well!! Merry Christmas dear friend! 2y
Megabooks @mhillis awesome! I love Japanese lit, so I‘m very excited! 2y
Megabooks @mhillis and Merry Christmas to you!! 🎄 2y
78 likes9 comments
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AnneCecilie
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#AdventRecommends December 7th

Another book from this year‘s Woman‘s Prize for Fiction Longlist that I wouldn‘t have read of it wasn‘t for the prize.

About a troubled mother son relationship, but most importantly it‘s about the father son relationship between a young kid and his neighbor.

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BarbaraBB
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Pickpick

I LOVED this book. Although the cover isn‘t that ugly it doesn‘t do the book justice. It‘s much more than that. Those characters. All of them so lovely. I can‘t say it any other way. There‘s not much of a plot yet the interaction between those loving individuals was all I needed!

Thanks for this wonderful gift Helen! 💝

TrishB I loved this 😁 and then read her others! 2y
BarbaraBB @TrishB Are they as good? 2y
KarenUK I have this on order! No I‘m even more excited! 2y
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AnneCecilie @TrishB Anything in her backlist you would recommend? 2y
squirrelbrain I‘m so glad you loved it! I‘ve read two others since (one a gift from @TrishB !) and they are also very good, but this is still my favourite. 2y
Librariana This is the first time I'm hearing about this book, but all the comments here made me curious! 😁 The Litsy synopsis is also quite intriguing and now I'm just gonna need to add it to the TBR. #stacked 2y
TrishB @AnneCecilie @squirrelbrain like Helen I enjoyed both the others, though probably this one slightly more. 2y
Megabooks This has been on my TBR forever, but the US release date kept getting pushed back and it is still quite expensive! I am definitely keeping my eyes on BD though. So glad you liked it!! Sometimes we just need a lovely book. 💜💜 2y
BarbaraBB @Megabooks I‘ll send you mine! I‘ve been thinking about🎄 🎁 💚 2y
Megabooks That would be a lovely Christmas present! Thank you!! 😘💜🎄 2y
CarolynM Stacked🙂 2y
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BarbaraBB
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#WeeklyForecast 46/22

I immediately added one of my birthday gifts to my weekly forecast (the tagged one, thank you @squirrelbrain ❤️) and I also hope to read the Beasty Boys book, a gift by you Cindy! With that one I can finish #pop22! But first, I am in the middle of Evelyn Hardcastle and thoroughly enjoying it!

RaeLovesToRead Love love LOVE Evelyn Hardcastle! 2y
TrishB I really enjoyed Flamingo 😁 2y
squirrelbrain I have Evelyn Hardcastle on my shelf so I‘d be interested to hear your final thoughts…. Hope you enjoy Flamingo! 🦩 2y
Cinfhen Enjoy!!! 2y
68 likes4 comments
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Curvybookgirl
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Pickpick

I have to confess I didn‘t think I would enjoy this book at all so I borrowed it from the library assuming it would be returned unfinished. How wrong was I?? I loved it!! I didn‘t want to put it down. I‘m so glad I picked it up. Great story and great characters. A very well written book

TrishB Loved this one 👍🏻 2y
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JillR
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Pickpick

What a lovely, gentle, sad and funny book. I made the mistake of finishing it on the train, there were tears. We meet Daniel as a young boy, anxious and stressed by his transient life with his young mother Eve. They fall into friendship with new neighbours and they have hopes for the future, then suddenly it‘s over again, they‘re moving on. We meet Daniel again then at 40 and, well, no spoilers so I‘ll leave it there, but please read this!

JillR @squirrelbrain I picked this up on your recommendation, loved it as you can see, thank you! 2y
squirrelbrain Oh, I‘m so glad you loved it! Bad move to read it on the train though…😬 2y
JillR @squirrelbrain getting to emotional parts of books often seems to coincide with me being on public transport 🤦‍♀️ 2y
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AnneCecilie This book caught me by surprise and I totally loved it 2y
BarbaraBB A lovely and intriguing review 🤍 2y
JillR @AnneCecilie me too 😊 2y
JillR @BarbaraBB it really was a lovely book 2y
39 likes7 comments
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AnneCecilie
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#AlphabetGame #LetterF

A read that completely surprised me when I read it earlier this year.

TheAromaofBooks Nice!! 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for playing!! 2y
Cathythoughts I enjoyed this one too 👍🏻♥️ 2y
39 likes3 comments
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Cathythoughts
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Pickpick

This is the only book I‘ve managed to finish in the last while. I started off loving it‘s fun and poignancy , but it didn‘t keep my full interest. I did want to see how it ended though , and it was a quick read . I felt the characters were only beginning to be developed. I‘d say between a pick and a so-so.

TrishB Lovely pic ❤️ I really enjoyed this one though and it made me buy all her others! 2y
Cathythoughts @TrishB I did enjoy it , I just have mixed feelings about it. , and I did see another of hers listed on the back page .. but I felt I wasn‘t ready for another .. she has a very particular kind of style (edited) 2y
TrishB Yes, she definitely does and her others are very similar. 2y
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MicheleinPhilly
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Pickpick

This one, however, made my heart sing. A deeply affecting portrait of what constitutes a family, those we‘re born into as well as those we choose. I loved it. ❤️

squirrelbrain I loved this one too, unexpectedly as I‘d not heard of it before the #womensprize 2y
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Cathythoughts
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#Weeklyforecast ( a day early)

I started this Flamingo last night ♥️💔 loving it to pieces. 💗

We have a one granddaughters communion today, and the other granddaughters christening next weekend. One of my daughters is home for the these occasions… so life is full on with plans and meet ups. So I‘ll be missing for a couple of weeks … Happy reading friends. Chat soon X

Hi Cindy 😘

LeahBergen You certainly ARE busy right now but it all sounds wonderful. 🥰🥰 2y
CarolynM Sounds like a busy, but lovely, couple of weeks. Enjoy your family time💕 2y
Chrissyreadit Sounds like a perfect time! 2y
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youneverarrived Enjoy your family time Cathy 💕 2y
Tamra Wow, you are “booked!” Enjoy! 😊 2y
MaureenMc Joy-filled times! 💜 2y
Megabooks This is on my TBR! Good to see you Cathy! 💜💜 2y
Megabooks Enjoy your family time 💕💕 2y
batsy This is the best kind of busy 🙂 Enjoy your time with loved ones 💖 2y
Cinfhen Enjoy family time!!!! That‘s the BEST reason to be MIA XXX 2y
Cathythoughts Thanks everyone for your lovely comments 😘😘😘 2y
Centique Enjoy your busy family time Cathy! 💕 2y
66 likes12 comments
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MicheleinPhilly
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Self care Sunday.

TrishB I really enjoyed this one. Have a good day ❤️ 2y
squirrelbrain I loved this one too - enjoy! 2y
Nute That‘s what I‘m trying to do today. A self care day of nothing but relaxation. No one else around here seems to be on the same agenda!😶 Enjoy your day, Michele!😊 (edited) 2y
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Megabooks This is on my TBR! Hope you had a good day. 💜 2y
Cathythoughts I‘m looking forward to this one 👍🏻 enjoy. (edited) 2y
batsy Pickles 😍 2y
66 likes6 comments
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AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

Honestly, I thought this book was going to be fluffy, but boy was I surprised.

A book about family and what constitutes a family, about belonging, about the importance of spending time with each other.

Every review I‘ve read/ heard seems to be focusing on the lesbian relationship between the mothers in this book, but for me that‘s a small part of this.

For me the book is about Daniel and the importance the neighboring family Marsh will have

AnneCecilie in/ on his life, and especially the father Leslie. 3y
squirrelbrain This is one of my favourites of the year so far. 3y
TrishB Don‘t think I thought twice about the 2 mothers relationship, certainly not the most important to me! 3y
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AnneCecilie
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From the bath, Daniel can hear his mum singing along to ‘Like a Virgin‘, which is a song by a woman called Madonna. He knows this song because it‘s on the radio all the time, and he also knows that a virgin is like snow that no one has walked on yet, this is what his mum told him when he asked, just think of snow, she said. So every time he hears this song he imagines boots stepping into snow, and this image makes him feel good and relaxed, so he

AnneCecilie sings along, lets his voice go high and squeaky then very low, and his mum always laughs, and all this means that he really loves Madonna. 3y
Nebklvr Me too 3y
45 likes2 comments
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Cinfhen
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BarbaraBB Looking forward to your thoughts on Flamingo! Everyone is raving about it! 3y
TheLudicReader Oh no, you dnf The Paper Palace. I loved that book. 😂 3y
Cinfhen I couldn‘t get pass how awful EVERY adult was @TheLudicReader it was disturbing to me 😢 3y
TheLudicReader Totally fair comment, @Cinfhen 3y
53 likes4 comments
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TrishB
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Pickpick

Loved it ❤️ a happy, sad read, where you get a bit of heart ache for all the characters.
Just wanted to keep on reading it.
Not ground breaking, but an enjoyable read.

charl08 Sounds good! 3y
Lindy Is this one on the Women‘s Prize longlist? 3y
TrishB @charl08 it was 👍🏻 3y
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TrishB @Lindy yes 👍🏻 3y
squirrelbrain Exactly how I felt Trish - the ‘not ground-breaking‘ bit is why I haven‘t rated it higher on my longlist. It‘s still top half though. Glad you enjoyed it too! 3y
TrishB @squirrelbrain I haven‘t read as many of you but I would be surprised if it won. But it is a lovely read and I gave recommended to my IRL book readers who wait for suggestions! 3y
Megabooks Definitely have to pick this up from BD. Thanksgiving for the tag! 3y
82 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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TrishB
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I‘m loving this so far ♥️ just so tired after long day can hardly keep my eyes open! About half way through.

LeahBergen I hate it when I really want to read but keep nodding off. 😆 3y
Megabooks I wish this were out in the US. Considering BD. 🤔 tag me if/when you review please! 3y
Cathythoughts Sounds good , and I love the cover. Oh dear… I may have to invest 👍 3y
TrishB @LeahBergen I did drop off last night! 3y
TrishB @Megabooks @Cathythoughts I really enjoyed it ♥️ 3y
98 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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TrishB
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#weeklyforecast
Currently reading All Things Cease to Appear, loving it so far!
The others were Mother‘s Day pressies today so may go to the top of the pile!

Megabooks Fantastic! So glad you are enjoying All Things. 3y
Cinfhen Flamingos is such a fun cover 🦩 3y
BarbaraBB I am glad to you‘re enjoying the Brundage. I did too. And Flamjngo keeps calling my attention too. 3y
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Cathythoughts I have Flamingos stacked already … looking forward to your thoughts 👍❤️ 3y
TrishB @Cinfhen it definitely is! 3y
squirrelbrain Ooh, you got Flamingo! Enjoy…. 3y
TrishB @Cathythoughts hoping to get to this week! 3y
TrishB @Megabooks @BarbaraBB it definitely keeps you hooked! 3y
TrishB @squirrelbrain hints obviously worked! 3y
78 likes9 comments
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squirrelbrain
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Pickpick

Loved this book about two families who find love and meaning with each other in the 1980s, but are torn apart again. We look back from 2018 to see the effect on everyone, and what happens when they meet again.

I really couldn‘t put this down and inhaled it in two sittings - all of the characters were beautifully drawn and your heart aches for all of them in different ways; it‘s one of those happy-sad books.

Book 8 of the #womensprize longlist.

squirrelbrain I will say, however, that Whilst it‘s one of my favourites this year, I‘m not sure it‘s groundbreaking or ‘quirky‘ enough to make the shortlist @TrishB @Ruthiella It‘s almost a slightly ‘softer‘ Sorrow and Bliss. 3y
TrishB This one is definitely calling to me! 3y
TrishB Henry makes a great model 🐶♥️ 3y
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squirrelbrain He‘s very tired @TrishB - he‘s been busy today, some gardening and then helping to pack for his first ever camping trip next week! 3y
TrishB Aww that‘s going to be so cool ❤️ 3y
Ruthiella Thanks for tagging me! I love an immersive read, and this sounds like it will fit the bill! 👍 3y
squirrelbrain It‘s certainly that @Ruthiella - you really care for the characters and want to know how life turns out for them. 3y
Megabooks I want to read this but it‘s not out in the US yet. Great review!! 3y
BarbaraBB Great review! Stacked 3y
squirrelbrain It only came out in the UK about a month ago @Megabooks - hopefully you‘ll be able to read it soon. 🦩 3y
Caroline2 Sounds great. Stacked!! 👍 3y
Cathythoughts Great review! Stacked 3y
CarolynM Sounds great. Stacked 3y
78 likes4 stack adds13 comments