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#22booksin22
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TheAromaofBooks
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#BookReport is a little weak this week 😂 As anticipated, orchard work is going a bit crazy, plus my niece is in town (staying at my parents') for only two weeks so my days off have been full of family shenanigans. I DNF'd two of my Kindle books for the #22booksin22 challenge - I may have to check and see, but I'm pretty sure I've DNF'd almost all my books for this challenge so far, which means I was really bad at picking out free Kindle books ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) circa 2016 😆

I also finished the Percy Jackson series!! Another series actually COMPLETED for #SeriesRead2022 instead of started!! I did enjoy these books, but not enough to jump right into the spinoff series. Maybe someday. Or not lol

Currently, I'm reading five books at a chapter-a-day-ish pace, which hogs up a lot of my daily reading time. I'm also reading the tagged book, which is a bit odd but not bad. Today, husband and I are ⬇
2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) both recovering from insanely busy work-weeks, so I'm planning to get in some reading time and hopefully a nap!! It's been SO HOT all week, plus random thunderstorms all over the place, and I'm definitely ready for a little rest time. Supper is already in the crockpot, so the rest of this day is set up for CHILL 😂

@Cinfhen @jb72 @TheSpineView
2y
ShelleyBooksie Hope you get some relaxation in :) 2y
See All 9 Comments
TheAromaofBooks @ShelleyBooksie - Thank you!!! So far, so good! 😁 2y
Cinfhen Hahaha 🤣 My track record with those free kindle books isn‘t very good either 😆 2y
Cinfhen Windowsill is looking more manageable than I imagined 💗🙌🏻 2y
jb72 😂 hey at least the DNF books are now off the list! And that‘s a step in the right direction. It‘s been raining here in KY like a monsoon. Many places are flooded. 2y
TheSpineView Way to go! 2y
TheAromaofBooks @jb72 - I'm honestly sometimes excited about DNFs - off the list with a lot less fuss 😂 We are getting the northern edge of your Kentucky storms here in central Ohio - hopefully you aren't in any of the major flooding areas. Friends of ours have relatives in those areas who have lost everything - SO scary! 2y
60 likes9 comments
review
jb72
Bewitched and Betrothed | Juliet Blackwell
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Pickpick

#22booksin22 #readmyroom

This is such a fun series! Lily comes through again. She really is such a likable character and she‘s gaining confidence.

Another owned book off my list! I forgot to make my #bookspin list for July and also the #BFC2022 challenge. I‘ve fallen off and crashed the wagon. But next month my plan is to get back at it. This year has had its challenges so I‘m going to make the best of the rest of 2022. 💜😊 📚

DieAReader Totally agree with 2022 @jb72 I think my wagon caught🔥at midnight🤦🏻‍♀️🤪 Everything is out of sorts here & not looking much better for the remainder of the year🤦🏻‍♀️🔥 2y
jb72 @DieAReader I fully understand! I‘m determined to make the best of the rest of the year. At the top of the list is to get back to reading more regularly. I really enjoy reading or audio crafting so I want to make it a priority. Also I‘m here to help you if you need anything. 😉 2y
wanderinglynn It has been a challenging year! And it‘s always good to reset once in while. 🙌🏻 2y
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TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and reorganize priorities a little!! 2y
bthegood A reset is always good - and the beauty is that there is no limit on the number of resets you can use in a day/week/month/year - 🤗 2y
jb72 @bthegood It‘s a good thing our resets are unlimited. Every day is a new day to begin again! 2y
bthegood @jb72 👍 2y
26 likes7 comments
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TheAromaofBooks
By Your Side | Kasie West
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With all the #BookSpin excitement yesterday I neglected to post my #BookReport ! A pretty meh reading week for me, a combination of house projects, racing cars on the PlayStation, and getting sucked in to a terrible paranormal romance series on Kindle Unlimited 😂 I did read the tagged book, finished the Jane Austen at Home buddy read, and also read The League of Gentlewomen Witches, which for some reason isn't in my picture. I also DNFd an ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) old Kindle book - I'm not doing great at staying on top of my #22booksin22 challenge, which I'm using to read the 22 oldest books on my Kindle, but I'm slowly chipping away at them... mostly by bailing on them 😆 1st of the month meant starting a lot of chapter-a-day reads, so I seem to have a half-dozen books on the go again!!
@Cinfhen @jb72
2y
jb72 Hey DNFing them gets them off the TBR! 2y
Cinfhen Absolutely!!! #AllHailTheBail 🙌🏻🤩😁 2y
57 likes4 comments
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TheAromaofBooks
Something Wilder | Christina Lauren
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So I actually had a pretty good reading week, although I'm behind on reviews!! I finished Magic for Marigold, Book Lovers, and Something Wilder, as well as two of my chapter-a-day reads, Gone With the Wind and Kon-Tiki. I bailed on one of my #22booksin22 Kindle reads (The Missing) because it was just plain ridiculous. I also read the first chapter or so of Book of Night and decided to send it back to the library because (a) it wasn't clicking for⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) for me and (b) I found out that it has a cliffhanger ending and is going to be the first book in a series so no, thank you haha Reviews for Something Wilder and Kon-Tiki to come soon, but today is a very beautiful/productive day here at home (Bathroom progress! Garden progress! YAY!) so it will have to wait for later! @Cinfhen @jb72 2y
jb72 Great job! 2y
thereadingpal great job! 2y
Cinfhen Yay for home project progress!!! And for clearing some room on the windowsill xxxx 2y
65 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
jb72
Pet Sematary | Stephen King
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Pickpick

#readmyroom #22booksin2022 #22booksin22

Finally decided to get this one finished. I do own a copy of this book, and I did purchase the audiobook too. Michael C. Hall was the narrator (excellent). My favorite character was Judd. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

ElizaMarie ooo I love that you finally got to this one! Its one of my favorites :) 2y
Crazeedi Thank you for the postcard! I'm still here, trying to get back in the swing. I will write soon, spent last week putting in my garden 2y
jb72 @ElizaMarie I really enjoyed the story. I‘d say it‘s one of my favorites now too next to IT. Judd was such a good character and it was so sad when Norma died. 2y
jb72 @Crazeedi No worries! I hope your garden is doing good. 2y
25 likes4 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
Only the Truth | Adam Croft
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Bailedbailed

Normally I wouldn't review a bail like this, but since it was one of my #22booksin22 for @jb72 's challenge, I thought I would mention it. This one has been on my Kindle since February 2017. Dan is traveling for work, as he always does, and is banging the hotel receptionist, as he apparently also always does (no matter where the hotel is). He comes back from supper to find his wife, who was supposedly at home 70 miles away, dead in the shower. ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Instead of calling the police like a normal human being, Dan assumes that the police would blame him yadda yadda so he takes off. As he is getting in his car, the receptionist jumps in with him. He confesses to her what is going on and she's like “yeah you're right, we gotta get out of here! I'll come, too!!“ And right there, within the first 50 pages of the book, I was already pretty much checked out, because this story already didn't ⬇ 2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) make much sense. Over the next few chapters, Jess is magically calm and in control - Dan comments on it CONSTANTLY how he's panicking but Jess just “knows what to do“ (which definitely isn't SUSPICIOUS, right DAN?!). The foreshadowing was incredibly heavy and clunky, but I found myself doubting it, because what could Jess's motive possibly be?? She just met Dan two days before and never met his wife, right?? There was this weird ⬇ 2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) flashback thing going on where we see parts of Dan's childhood where he was living in an orphanage run by nuns who were, of course, abusive, as all nuns are, right? It also makes perfect sense that nuns would be in charge of an all-boy orphanage where the boys live until they're 16. It also makes perfect sense that the nuns would regularly be visited by a random man who has no particular connection to the church that I could determine ⬇ 2y
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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) and apparently just shows up to rape boys?? The nuns are cool with it?? When Dan fights back and the police get called in, the boys are like “oh this random dude who visits the nuns is obviously a Very Good Guy so we just need you to behave yourself and be grateful that you aren't on the streets, why would we call Child Protective Services or look into this at all?“ What!?!?!? This entire childhood flashback story literally also made no ⬇ 2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) sense and was driving me absolutely crazy.

For someone who wasn't going to talk about this book I am really rambling on. If you want to know the spoiler ending, because I skipped to the end, I'll post it below. However, I didn't find the flashback conclusion so I still have no idea why it was remotely relevant or necessary to the rest of the story, and I didn't care enough to try to find those particularly passages lol
(edited) 2y
TheAromaofBooks Guys, obviously Jess was abused by her stepdad when she was young and she's also a psychopath who literally burned down her house with mom and stepdad inside of it to kill them and now gets jobs at random hotels around England and has sex with guys who are married to “test“ them and then destroys their lives!! It makes perfect sense that to “punish“ Dan (a stranger) she would lure his wife to the hotel and murder her! Way to score one against ⬇ 2y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) against the patriarchy, Jess!!! I just...?!!??!!? How does that remotely make sense!?!?!?!? And even setting that aside, how did she know Dan was going to do a runner?? The entire rest of this “ruining his life“ thing hinges on him running out and jumping in his car and taking off - NOT logical behavior! Yet that's what she “planned“ to have happen!??! I just couldn't read this book any more because my eyes were rolling too hard 😂 2y
MicheleinPhilly This review is golden. 😂 2y
jb72 Loved the review! 2y
TrishB Brilliant 😁 2y
Clare-Dragonfly Oh my goodness 😂😂😂 2y
TheAromaofBooks @MicheleinPhilly @jb72 @TrishB @Clare-Dragonfly - Thank you for enjoying this one... once I got started I apparently had a lot more rage bottled up than I anticipated! 😂 2y
Laughterhp Hahaha oh my goodness 🤣🤣 2y
bthegood The best recap of a bailed book EVER!! Thank you for making me smile this morning - make a great day 🌞 2y
TheAromaofBooks @Laughterhp @bthegood - I got a little carried away 😂 2y
robinb So…did you like it?? 😆 2y
TheAromaofBooks @robinb - Well, it wasn't my favorite read of the month 😂 2y
robinb @TheAromaofBooks 😂😂😂 2y
53 likes18 comments
review
Bookworm54
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Pickpick

I listened to this one on audiobook so it took me a while.
It was predictable, but still really enjoyable, relatable, and an interesting premise. I liked that there were others like her mentioned too.

There was a teeny bit where they called someone else Nora by mistake (a couple of times!) and I am not sure if that was a typo or the narrator, but aside from that I enjoyed listening to this one! :)

#22Booksin22

julieclair I agree about liking that there were others like her. That added depth to the premise 3y
jb72 I enjoyed this book too. 3y
51 likes2 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
I'll Take Forever | Barbara McMahon
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Panpan

It's been quite a while since I've rated a book as a pan, but this one was pretty bad haha Although I will admit that I softened to it a little when I found out it was published in 1988, making some of the themes a little more palatable. A lot has changed in 30+ years! However, that doesn't stop this one from being basically unbelievable, with a federal agent staying with a civilian as a cover story so he can find out who/where illegal marijuana ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) is being growing in the area. There were multiple instances where Kyle assumes that Jenny is going to do his cooking/cleaning/laundry as well that I just found super distasteful - I do the cooking/cleaning/laundry in our household, but I'm in a committed relationship with a husband who does his part to keep our household running smoothly as well, unlike Kyle who is basically just mooching around. Jenny was borderline stupid. She's also ⬇ 3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) a widow at age 25 because her husband died in a car wreck a year earlier - but don't worry, we're told repeatedly that Jenny is “over“ her husband's death/he's part of her past/she doesn't really feel sad about it any more. After a year?? I wasn't expecting her to be in some kind of deep depression, but her attitude towards her dead husband (we're reassured he was awesome and they had an awesome life) did not feel very realistic. I'm not⬇ 3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) exactly sure why she needed to be a widow anyway. Finally, I get that marijuana was viewed differently in the 80s, but I do know people who use it recreationally and it has not led them to try “hard“ drugs and none of them have died. The sentence “I've met old alcoholics but never old drug users“ really just... I don't even know where to start with that, other than to say I do know some old marijuana smokers 😂 ANYWAY this book was ⬇ 3y
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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) super short so I skimmed through to the end. Another old Kindle book that may not have been worth the free price I paid for it!!

#22booksin22 @jb72
#MtTBR
#BookSpinBingo
#ThingsInCommon @Clwojick
#AwesomeApril - 664/1200pgs @Andrew65
3y
Andrew65 Oh dear! 😔 3y
Andrew65 Always a risk with free books but have go some more excellent reads this way. 3y
Clwojick 😅Those free books always get me too…. #CantStopWontStop 3y
TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65 @Clwojick - The problem is I get just enough good ones to keep me adding more to my collection! 😂 3y
Andrew65 @TheAromaofBooks who can say no to free books! @Clwojick 3y
TheLudicReader I ❤️ this review. Marijuana as the reason for an undercover sting is the best. 3y
52 likes10 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
The Riddle of the Sands | Erskine Childers
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Pickpick

This is a really hard one to rate because I read it as an ebook, and the publishers of said ebook didn't bother to keep any of the charts/maps that were in the original book and that the author CONSTANTLY referred to (“as you can see from the attached chart...“ No, actually, I CANNOT see from the attached chart because IT IS NO LONGER THERE!), which honestly did make it difficult to follow the story. Huge parts of the plot are dependent on the ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) characters making their way through specific narrow channels and tidal flats, and conclusions are based on how close certain islands are to this or that, etc. Originally published in 1903, although this is considered a thriller, it wasn't the type that keeps you on the edge of your seat, as for a lot of the book the two main characters aren't even sure exactly what they are looking for or even if there is anything to be found! Still, I ⬇ 3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) did enjoy this one - it rather gave me Swallows & Amazons vibes as there is a great deal of time spent talking about ropes and sails and tides - but I would only recommend this one if you can find the needed charts (I tried to find them online but it was very difficult to match them up, and one that I found clearly labeled for this book had NOTHING to do with this book, which definitely added to the confusion) or if you're particularly ⬇ 3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) interested in English/German relationships around 1900 haha A fun read and interesting for historical value, but not one I see myself revisiting.

#22booksin22 (March) @jb72 - this one was unread on my Kindle since 11/5/16!
#MtTBR
#WickedWords - Ship @AsYouWish
#BookSpinBingo
3y
See All 8 Comments
jb72 Wow….great job! You know it‘s 2022 you‘d think ebooks would be digitally perfect today. That is one of the things that really annoy me. I recently couldn‘t read a cookbook because all the measurements weren‘t there. 3y
TheAromaofBooks @jb72 - Oh my gosh, that's so annoying! This book referred to the charts and maps probably once or twice a chapter, so the lack of them was beyond just “I wish I had a map“ to “the map is a critical part of the story“. I have no idea why so many ebooks only upload text and zero images. 3y
Yuki_Onna Will gladly try to mail you the maps, if you like!
I have the German edition, but maybe they'll help nevertheless?
As I have spent many holidays on the East Frisian Islands, where much of the book takes place, I felt compelled to get my own copy of the book although I'm not that interested in spy stories... The book seems to be recommended lit for holiday guests and islanders in East Frisia, so... 💁‍♀️😊
3y
TheAromaofBooks @Yuki_Onna - Thank you so much for your offer!! You don't have to send them, though - the only way I will reread this one is if I find a physical copy with the maps where they belong!! 😂 That is so cool that you have visited the East Frisian Islands, though! It would be awesome to really get a sense of the distance and atmosphere. 3y
Yuki_Onna I spend many holidays as a child/teen on either Borkum, Norderney, Langeoog or Wangerooge... 😁 The seven islands are tiny - in average about 3 miles long... The feeling could be likened a bit to Cape Cod.
Spent all summer holidays since 2019 (due to Covid we had to stay in Germany) on Langeoog as well... The link shows the bookstore there where I bought my copy of the book, btw. ... 😊
https://www.litsy.com/web/book/657530/Buchhandlung-Krebs
(edited) 3y
63 likes8 comments
blurb
TheAromaofBooks
Thunderhead | Neal Shusterman
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Somehow, the windowsill is now FULL! I have a lot going on in April apparently! Part of what is happening is that I have become entangled in multiple series so several of these books are the "next up" for those. A couple are new arrivals from the library, this month's #Roll100 books, and a few other challenge reads. I also had three Cinderella variations on my TBR so we will see if I get to any of those for April's #fairytalereadingchallenge ⬇️

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Several of these are staying in the windowsill until I complete another series or two. The Ace of Hearts and Engaging Mr. Darcy both start new series that my sister loaned me; Magic Bites, Stay With Me, Cinder, and the Jill Shalvis book all start new series as well, so I am not picking any of those up until I check off a series, as I am somehow already in the midst of six! 😂

The windowsill doesn't even include my chapter-a-day books ⬇
3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) of which I now have five - I'm continuing North & South and The Other Bennet Sister for the #PemberLittens, a nonfiction book called London Under, Kilmeny of the Orchard for this month's #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead, The Riddle of the Sands for #22booksin22 (I started this one but even though I want to finish it, it just wasn't particularly exciting, so I switched it to chapter-a-day about 2/3 through the book lol) and my April #BookSpin 3y
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) which has turned out to be Gone With the Wind - a book I've never read (also have not seen the movie) so I literally am going in completely blind. It's absolutely HUGE so I am going to stick with a chapter a day until I get a feel for it! The tagged book (and book three in the series) finally came in the mail yesterday so I dived right in and am super excited to see where the story goes. Somehow, I'm going to try to connect as many of ⬇ 3y
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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) of these as I can with the #ThingsInCommon challenge, so we will see where April leads! I shouldn't have any trouble finding something to read, though! 😂

@Cinfhen and @Bookzombie since you said you enjoyed seeing the windowsill LOL
3y
ElizaMarie I love how you lay them out! 3y
Cinfhen I read Gone With the Wind a few years back….it‘s SUCH A CHUNKSTER but I‘d like it 3y
Cinfhen That windowsill has not an inch of space 😍🤣😂😂 3y
Bookzombie I do enjoy seeing your windowsill! It looks like it exploded with books this month. 😄 Do you like audiobooks? I listened to the Percy Jackson books and enjoyed them on audio. It‘s been years since I read GWTW. As a kid, I loved the movie. 3y
TheAromaofBooks @ElizaMarie - It has really helped me stay on track seeing my month's “goal books“ in one place and watching the pile (theoretically) shrink!! 3y
TheAromaofBooks @Cinfhen - I'm enjoying Gone With the Wind much more than I thought I was going to, so we will see how it progresses! And yes, the windowsill is COMPLETELY full! It's out of control!! 😂 3y
TheAromaofBooks @Bookzombie - I should perhaps try audiobooks again as it has been a long time (think: walkman days LOL) In general, I have trouble with auditory learning and tend to miss things when my brain gets sidetracked!! 😂 3y
Bookzombie @TheAromaofBooks I understand. I can‘t do all books on audio and sometimes I have to backtrack because I realize I have got sidetracked. 😏 3y
86 likes12 comments