Welcome to Litsy!

Early reviews of this book were not great and I was NOT going to read it. Then #TOB25 had to go and put it in the tournament so I begrudgingly put it on hold, figuring I might still skip it. I took a little bit to settle into it (not sure I would have made it through in print with my bad attitude) and…I really liked it. Sure showed me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I liked this better than I expected. Three teenagers die under mysterious circumstances and are brought back to be part of a magical quest that affects them, their loved ones, and their town. Magic is not something I usually seek out, and this took a little bit for me to get into but I eventually did. I do feel like it was about 25% too long and the same ground could have been covered in fewer pages. Soft #ToB25 pick.

What do guitars, carousels, dryer socks, statues, and bears all have in common?

LOVE and MAGIC and MUSIC. Maybe. I think. I think the book showed different ways to love. From the NICU nurse to the writer who introduced her town to inventors of color through statues.

And love, magic, and music can be synonomous.

The writing, at times, was very lyrical. I'm afraid I will forget the characters and their adventures by next week.

There should be more celebrations of practicality and problem-solving had been her opinion. Fewer stated of murderers and the rich.

And here MO was, reconstituted like a dish of mashed potatoes from woe and mysteries most sinister.

#FeelinTheLove Day 3: There are #LoveIsBlind elements here between Daniel and Susannah as I find the latter insufferable at 200 pages in. I finished two other titles for the #ToB25 while reading this and I haven‘t even reached a third of the book - does it get better and is it worth slogging through? The characterization is on point but not in love yet with any of the characters.

Three teens return from the dead and are asked to fulfill a series of magical tasks by their music teacher in this slow burning fantasy. I really loved the familial relationships between Daniel and Carousel, Susannah and Laura and Ruth, Mo and Maryanne.

Shockingly I didn‘t hate this! I think my expectations were super low, so any enjoyment I had was a bonus. Full of strange goings-on…magical creatures and such but in our world. Heavily focused on the relationships of the 3 teenage protagonists who have died but are brought back to life by some otherworldly beings. It‘s too long but the audiobook made it manageable. And it‘s my final read for #ToB25!

I wasn‘t going to read this, but then it made the #ToB shortlist. I still wasn‘t sure but thought if I borrowed it from the library, I could bail.

I ended up really liking it and it didn‘t feel (quite) as long as it looked.

Thanks #ToB - you made me read and enjoy a fantasy book about teenagers, with ghosts, magic and weird creatures, where I didn‘t always understand what the heck was happening!

Henry liked it too! 🤪

I went back and forth between the ebook and January LaVoy's awesome narration with this one. Overall, it's a soft pick for me. I like some of the things Link does with these characters, but the novel just feels really long. My favorite thing about this novel was listening to the audiobook for how January LaVoy transitions from teen voices to kid voices to adult voices and trying to figure out what she's doing in her body to create each.

#25Alive! Day 15: I am sure there must be #LastingLove somewhere here with this kind of title. Starting this #ToB25 title today because man it is a chunkster!

This was a huge surprise hit of the #tob25 shortlist, but it is loooong! Finding out January LaVoy was the narrator pushed me to listen to 23.5 hours of audio, and I don‘t regret it.

It‘s a complicated plot involving three teens who are brought back from death through a key they‘ve found. They find themselves tugged between forces who need the key for themselves. Loved the characters and not YA at all.

Why do some books hit right? I dunno, but this one hit the right notes for me 🎶 Was it long? Yep - but I was ready for it and I was intrigued enough to settle in and enjoy the ride. It does feel like YA and I am not complaining; it had humor and teenspeak (hey I am old) and sex and crushes and twists and turns and magic with ambiguous good vs evil and I enjoyed it very much. #ToB2025 #Dec2024 Book119

Photo of Christmas 7 Fishes Stew 🌟

“It was as easy as pie. A big old slice of hypno pie with delicious whipped mesmerism on top.”

#LitPie #iLovePie #CaresBooksandPie

#PieinLitPrizeWinner 2024

Thanks so much Barbara! A perfect choice that I wouldn't have got myself as have not really seen it anywhere, but that I am very keen to read! Merry Christmas and thanks again! And thanks again Chelle for organising us! @BarbaraBB @MaleficentBookDragon

This book was a little too long and frankly I was glad to get to the end. I enjoyed a lot of it but I definitely prefer Link‘s short stories. Overall a good story and well written, but it did not need to be this long! 😆 #TOB2025

I haven‘t had nearly the reading time I want these days, but I‘m slowly making my way through this very long book. Although I really like Link‘s writing so I‘m enjoying it. #TOB2025

I am looking forward to this the more I hear that people didn‘t like it. Not sure why 🤷🏻‍♀️ Hope this approach works in my favor: Tempered Affinity? #ToBShortList

This was a very long, complicated story about coming of age. It is a fantasy that did not work for me. This was my first Kelly Link, and I will not be rushing out to read more of her sadly. 2 🌟

The happy couple 💕

Summertime with my baby Coco Bean 😍

There's a dream-like quality to this book and its prose that was just breathtaking, and also quite unsettling at many points. I think Link is really good, too, at writing young people in a way that feels alive and real. Would love to talk in depth about this book with someone smarter than me.

Next

I took off the dust jacket and now it's in storage ?
Anyway
Overall a really nice long form debut from Link; I wanted to love it a little more than I actually did though, mainly because it was Too Long. I can justify length if you're doing worldbuilding in scifi or fantasy, but this wasn't a 650 page story.
Still overall positive to it, @donut_jefa called it "casually dark", which is very accurate and very typical of Link.

Another lovely book club pick for a quadrennial event with @annamatopoetry .

Kelly Link continues to be a provocative writer, and there are many things to like in this book. I enjoyed the way intimacy of different configurations is presented. I especially loved the distinctive interiority of the characters.

It is not a perfect book, and definitely not my recommended entry to her work. But all in all, a unique and fantastic novel debut.

@Howardsimmons reading with the newest member of our household, Gracie!

She‘s about ten, ended up at the shelter when her person died. She‘s about as sweet as can be! Not the temperament we expected from a chihuahua. Just wants to cuddle and nap. 💤

First shamrock shake of the season! 😋💚💚💚

Happy Valentine's Day, littens! ❤️?❤️?

I wanted to feature this book today not only because it's red and has the word 'love' in the title ? but because my copy just arrived yesterday and I am SO PSYCHED TO READ IT! Listen to this blurb about it by Zen Cho: "pure enchantment - A tale of love, death, magic, and teenagers being teenagers, rich with fairy strangeness and told in sentences like jewels strung on a chain."

WOW! ?? I'M SO EXCITED!

#Two4Tuesday

1. We try to avoid Valentine‘s Day proper. Everything gets so busy & chaotic when everyone tries to do the same thing all at once. But I love to be gifted a dining experience. Flowers are always welcome (Valentine‘s Day or not)! And books, of course. If I‘m feeling bold, I might buy myself Kelly Link‘s debut novel, “The Book of Love” (tagged), which comes out on February 13th.

I feel like this book will be worth it once I get into it but right now it is SLOW going. I had to turn off the percentage count at the bottom of my kindle because it was going up so slowly. #netgalley

Expected publication Feb 13, 2024 • 640 pages • magical-realism • 3.5 Stars

Three teenagers, Laura, Daniel, and Mo, disappear from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, and are presumed dead. Almost a year later, they find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom. In this “afterlife” the teens find themselves being used as pawns in a supernatural power struggle. ⬇️

In crafting a modern-day mythology akin to 'American Gods,' Ms. Link achieves the challenging feat of seamlessly blending a real-world setting with a magical universe. Her work is nothing short of marvelous, capturing my attention and delighting me throughout. While acknowledging that it may not cater to everyone's taste

My local bookstore got an ARC for this one and they gave it to me!!! Loving it so far