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TheAromaofBooks
The Hound of Florence | Felix Salten
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Panpan

I actually really love the book Bambi and have read it and its sequel (Bambi's Children) several times. So I was excited to randomly come across another reprint of one of Salten's works. I had never heard of this one, although by reading GR reviews I discovered that it was apparently the (incredibly loose) inspiration for DIsney's The Shaggy Dog. Sadly, this book was a huge disappointment. First off, it's plain boring. Set during the Renaissance ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Lucas, presumably in his late teens, has been left orphaned in Vienna and yearns to get to Florence so he can become an artist. Through a bit of magic/wishing, he ends up being transformed into the dog who belongs to a rich aristocrat who is traveling to Florence. However, he's only the dog every other day. On the other days, he's himself, but the dog just disappears, which literally made no sense to me. In this way he makes his way to ⬇ 3h
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Florence in what has to be the most boring road trip to read about ever. On his dog days he's beaten and mistreated. On his human days, he's starving and cold. So it was boring AND depressing. We're told from the beginning how the spell/curse can be broken, but Lucas himself doesn't know and also weirdly doesn't seem to really care or spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. He just goes with the flow. The flow eventually gets him to⬇ 3h
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) Florence where he becomes an art student (every other day, of course). There, he falls in love with a courtesan. Which brings me to another point - this book is billed as a children's story and it is NOT remotely a children's book. Besides the animal/human cruelty, Lucas has sex a few times and then yes falls in love with a courtesan who is very proud of sleeping with rich and powerful men. In an absolutely BIZARRE scene that had NOTHING⬇ 3h
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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) to do with the rest of the story, the pimp who “discovered“ the courtesan that Lucas is in love with brings another girl to show off to some men (who are all artists/art students). She's described as “a little girl“ and “a child“ and we're told that she “might have been twelve or thirteen years of age.“ She then proceeds to strip naked and dance for the men while the pimp reminds the men of all the other “Aphrodite's favorites“ he's ⬇ 3h
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) discovered because he “never descends to common prostitutes.“ He describes her beauties and potential for being an artistic model, including pointing out her “firm little breasts.“ This scene was absolutely appalling and also literally had nothing to do with the rest of the story. I can't imagine handing this book to the middle grader it's supposedly aimed towards!

Lucas never develops as a character and wasn't particularly likable. ⬇
3h
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) This book felt like it had no point, purpose, or direction. The ending is bizarre and vague. All in all, incredibly disappointing considering how much I've enjoyed a couple of Salten's other books.

#Roll100 #GottaCatchEmAll - Artist central character @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 30/100 TBR books read @DieAReader
#ISpyBingo - &, Author in Blue Letters
#BookSpinBingo
3h
23 likes6 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
The Big Blue Soldier | Grace Livingston Hill
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Pickpick

Now that I'm down to only a handful of years to read to complete the #192025 challenge, I've turned to my shelves to see if I can fill any gaps. This slim story by Grace Livingston Hill checked of 1946, plus got an unread book off my shelf!! It's a perfect pleasant little story - Aunt Marilla is adorable - but too short to really build any kind of tension or actual romance between the two main characters. A soft pick, but one I won't reread.

Librarybelle Yay!!! 3h
merelybookish That's exciting! I am also down to a handful of years! 3h
Bookwormjillk Nice!! 3h
23 likes4 comments
review
kwmg40
Rilla of Ingleside | L.M. Montgomery
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Pickpick

The story of Anne's daughter, this novel describes in realistic detail the lives of Canadians during WWI. Despite the heavy themes, this story still has plenty of charm and humour. I especially liked reading about the 1917 federal election as we were going through the 2025 federal election.

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead #LMMReread @BarbaraJean
#52bookclub25 (Has a moon on the cover)
#gottacatchemall (Emolga: cute character) @PuddleJumper

26 likes1 stack add
review
kwmg40
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Pickpick

Nominated for the 2025 #hugoawards Best Novella, this story is about a scientist whose digitized consciousness is uploaded into a mammoth, brought back from extinction. An indubitably weird but intriguing concept.

#52bookclub25 (climate fiction)
#gottacatchemall (Goodra: character discovers they have powers) @PuddleJumper

28 likes1 stack add
review
kwmg40
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Mehso-so

This novel, a mix of horror and romance, was nominated for the 2025 #hugoawards Best Novel. This story, despite its creativity, didn't really work for me. I found it hard to relate to the main character, who is so gentle, delicate and understanding with the human she loves but otherwise happily chomps on the body parts of humans she doesn't.

#gottacatchemall (Spinda: character with distinguishing marks) @PuddleJumper

review
TheAromaofBooks
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Pickpick

Published in 1980, only four years after Belenko's escape from Russia (and well before the fall of the Berlin Wall), this book was quite fascinating. Belenko actually had more or less the ideal situation in Russia as the MiG-25 pilots were highly valued and treated well (by Soviet standards). Reading about his slow recognition of the cognitive dissonance between what he was being taught about his country vs the west and what he could actually ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) observe with his own eyes was intriguing. Thoroughly enjoyable and a reminder of what life in the Soviet was actually like.

#MonthlyNonfiction - April (358) @julieclair
#GottaCatchEmAll - Recommended by a friend @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 28/100 TBR books @DieAReader
#ISpyBingo - Airplane
#BookSpinBingo
4d
DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 4d
TieDyeDude I used to read a lot about the Cold War, though admittedly most of my reading had a Western bias. This sounds like it would be a really interesting book! 3d
TheAromaofBooks @TieDyeDude - It's a really quick read (under 300pgs), which is nice but also means that sometimes I wished I could get more details. When I was checking to see what happened to Belenko after 1980, I was surprised to find that he just passed away two years ago! 3d
54 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
Bloodsworn | Scott Reintgen
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Pickpick

Sadly, the sequel to Ashlords had even fewer phoenix-horses 😞 This book is all about the war, and while it overall did work, the ending where everyone just suddenly is going to get along despite generations of being enemies felt... unlikely lol (If we just take all the money from the rich people and give it the poor people, then everyone will be happy!!! ...riiight) But still, it was an engaging read with characters that I liked. These books ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) also had minimal romancing, which was nice. Enjoyable, but not books I'll read again.

#GottaCatchEmAll - Enemies to friends/lovers @PuddleJumper
#Read2025 - 26/100 TBR books read @DieAReader
#BookSpinBingo
4d
TheSpineView Love the cover 💙🐎 4d
DieAReader 🎉🎉🎉 4d
46 likes3 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
Miss Carter and the Ifrit | Susan Alice Kerby
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Mehso-so

This book had all the ingredients that I should enjoy, but somehow they just didn't work here. Miss Carter is a middle-aged woman, never married, who lives by herself in a small flat in London and works for the censor's office during WWII. Through a series of events, she finds herself in possession of an ifrit (i.e. genie). Part of the reason this book didn't quite work for me was that the ifrit's magic never really made sense to me. Apparently ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) he can't actually make things, just conjure them from other places? But he has to actually go in person and fetch them? Or something? And he physically flies to these places and consequently can be shot down by bullets? Or something? I was very distracted by the lack of sensible magic (you know what I mean haha) There is also a strange romance (ish) that I guess is supposed to be an acceptance of practicalities, but instead I just felt ⬇ 4d
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) bad that Miss Carter was giving up her peacefully independent life to go live with someone who more or less takes her for granted/doesn't seem to appreciate her. It was a strange vibe.

All in all, it was okay for a one-time read, but it's not a book I'm planning to keep. Right ingredients, wrong mixture.

But look at all those #ISpy prompts! 😂 - Cleaning Utensil, Cursive Font, Cat, Title/Author in Different Font, Book, Circle
4d
DieAReader Great!! 4d
Librarybelle Yay!!! 3d
50 likes5 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
Ashlords | Scott Reintgen
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Pickpick

This is one of those books where I loved the concept more than the execution. It's a great world with an intriguing idea - the existence of horse-phoenixes, whose ashes can be mixed with different elements to create a horse with different powers when it rises again in the morning. My problem: I wanted MORE about these horses, but they ended up just kind of being a tool for the story. The other issue is that this book was about a (phoenix) horse ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) race AND about the start of a war, so there were times that the plot felt a little muddled. Personally, I wanted more race and less war lol While the characters were likable and engaging, Reintgen made the unfortunate decision to make one of the POVs in second-person, which felt clunky, awkward, and kind of like he didn't have another way of writing a distinguishing voice. I am STRONGLY of the opinion that if a book is going to have more⬇ 4d
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) than two POVs, then they should be in third-person. Multiple first-person POVs (and in this case, one second-person) is confusing, and it's difficult to make them all distinguishable from one another.

Despite my complaints, I really enjoyed this one and picked up the sequel immediately.

#WickedWords - Gambling @AsYouWish
#GottaCatchEmAll - Set in the mountains @PuddleJumper
#BookSpinBingo
4d
Roary47 That cover! 😍 3d
48 likes3 comments
review
Zuhkeeyah
When the Tides Held the Moon | Venessa Vida Kelley
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Pickpick

I love when a book surprises you in the best way. This was wonderful story of finding family in an unexpected place and finding love with the impossible. There author did a great job of using a historical setting to add emphasis to the story. Also, the illustrations throughout were beautiful (drawn by the author).

#fictionaltraveler: Spanish-speaking @julieclair
#gottacatchemall: someone swims @PuddleJumper

PuddleJumper That cover is gorgeous! 6d
22 likes1 stack add1 comment