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Wow, reading the GR synopsis made me realize that my 1931 edition is LITERALLY an entirely different story from the later version! Maybe that's because this one didn't have a super cohesive mystery. It's mostly Nancy and her friends riding around mountains getting almost eaten by wild animals 😂 I was cracking up at the way some of the situations resolved themselves at the end (wife of husband with amnesia perfectly happy he's coming home with a ⬇

The Lucy Stone books always make me feel like I‘ve plopped right down into the middle of her life. This one centers around the town‘s upcoming St. Patrick‘s Day Parade, and includes work problems, a death in the family, possible corruption, a potential long-lost relative, and of course, a murder. Very entertaining!
#SeasonalCozies #ReadTheUSA2024 @aperfectmjk

Not the tagged book, but by the same author. This horse story has languished on my shelves for decades, and I'm not sure why I've never read it. Published (and set) during the Korean War, a young man leaves for the armed forces. His younger brother, who has a club foot and is ineligible to fight, stays behind and raises the colt they're convinced can be a champion harness racer. While fairly typical horse book fare, I still really enjoyed this ⬇

I complained about this book at length on Goodreads, and on my blog. Short version: Emma Gatewood was amazing. Ben Montgomery's writing sucked, and the entire rhythm of this book made no sense. What I actually need are Emma's diaries.

#BookSpin - February
#ReadtheUSA2024 - Maine
#GottaCatchEmAll - Nature Featured Prominently @PuddleJumper
#BookSpinBingo

I had some trouble rating this book because the book itself can't quite seem to decide what it wants to be. It‘s also not exactly a novel, but somewhere in between. A novel with some thriller aspects. A slow-paced suspense with a lot of backstory. A spy story not about the spy at all. A missing person case with a long explanation as to why the detective takes on missing person cases. Something like that. The point is, I really enjoyed it. But⬇

I originally read these back in the early 90s when they were being published and I was close to the same age as the middle grade protagonists. Libby has been living with her aunt and uncle since her mother passed away, but now her dad, a steamboat captain on the Mississippi in 1857, thinks she is old enough to come live with him again. Libby learns about the evils of slavery (a topic she's never thought deeply about) and finds out that the cabin ⬇

This was a sweet YA romance, lots of high school angst and drama, and a bit cheesy at times, but still a fun read. The main character, Mim, has a super-elevated sense of smell, and can actually smell people‘s emotions. She and her mother come from a long line of aromateurs - “love witches” who make elixirs that can open the path to love. Listening to Mim describe the scent various emotions was interesting!
A fun #SundayBuddyRead selection!

I had mixed feelings about this one. Overall, it was engaging and interesting, but the pacing felt off sometimes. I also didn't care for the ending exactly (spoiler below). The author also seemed to feel like he had to mention that climate change is killing everyone on basically every page. Okay, I get it already. Sheesh. Still a fun thriller and I can see myself trying Crouch again sometime. Soft pick.

Sometimes the problem with a book is your expectations going into it. The blurb made this book sound thriller-y. It's not. Ally DOES find out that her whole past is different from what she thought, but we know right away why, who, and how. This is really a book about her adjusting to that and working through the complications of knowing she's been lied to for so long. I liked Ally and felt like she was realistic. Her mom, however. Oof. Soft pick.

100% stacked this book originally because of that fabulous cover. Gifted to me back in 2022 for a Swoonathon Swap by @Nessavamusic it only took me two years to read it, so not bad! 😂 I really liked the characters and world-building in this one, the group of badass magical sisters - great fun. I did read the next few books in the series, but didn't like them quite as well. It felt like they got more focused on the spice and less focused on ⬇