Cannot BELIEVE I am working on a reading journal for ***2025*** That's not a real date!!!! @PuddleJumper is responsible for most of my challenges this year, although @lauredhel is also doing some work 😂 This year: #ISpyBingo #100YearsofBooks (and finishing @Librarybelle 's #192025 ), #Pantone2025 #Roll100 #GottaCatchEmAll and #BookChain
Not pictured - #ReadtheUSA #WickedWords @AsYouWish #FourFoursin25 @lauredhel #FictionalTraveler @julieclair ⬇
so-soFour novellas in one by four different authors.
Making Spirits Bright - 1*, absolutely dreadful. Besides the story making 0% sense, the entire plot of a rich woman just deciding she wishes she had a kid or two and immediately just running out to try and rush through an adoption felt honestly icky, like kids were a commodity that she could just go out and buy on a whim like a puppy. It was weird. But maybe I'm sensitive to it because my youngest ⬇
pickThis is what I'm looking for in holiday romance!! Cheesy, predictable, but still loads of fun with likable characters and storylines that actually make sense!! 😂 I'm a HUGE sucker for marriage of convenience stories, and this one played out pretty well. Super cute, and I'm planning to read the next book this week!!
#WinterGames #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks
panIf I had to choose one word for how I felt while reading this series of books, I think it would be “baffled.“ These characters constantly made decisions that made no sense. The narrative frequently made no sense. The motivations made pretty much no sense. A few samples: two grown adults have a “cheesecake fight“ in the kitchen ruining the desert and dinner party they're attending (after the FMC starts EATING IT WITH HER BARE HANDS?!); two people ⬇
pickFive years ago a high school senior disappeared. Although her body was never found, police decided that she was murdered by her boyfriend, who committed suicide a few days later. However, Pip - who is now a high school senior herself - has never believed that the boyfriend was the murderer. With the help of the boyfriend's younger brother, she sets out to reexamine the evidence. I really liked the format of this book, with parts of it Pip's notes⬇
pickAnother soft pick. This one starts strong with 12-year-old Naomi discovering that her dad is actually a serial killer and rescuing his latest victim. It's super creepy. Adult Namoi has changed her last name and tried to put her past behind her. She's a successful and somehow stupidly rich photographer and purchases a very rundown but beautiful old house in Washington state. That's where this book got muddled. I actually didn't mind the ⬇
pickSince I actually finished this 700pg book, you would think that I would have strong feelings about it. But I weirdly don't. There's a lot here that I enjoyed. It's a time-travel book, which isn't always my thing, but it's handled here in a way that actually did (mostly) make sense to me. I actually enjoyed the format, which is a mixture of journal entries from various characters, plus other documents, notes, transcripts, etc.
This book was ⬇
My #SeasonalCozies pick for May is The Cornish Wedding Murder, because our wedding anniversary takes place in May, and we will be visiting Cornwall! 💍👰🤵♂️🇬🇧
@OriginalCyn620 and @CoffeeNBooks have already posted their Mother‘s Day themed picks, and @Read4life is continuing with the Calendar Murder Mystery series. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else will be reading!
DebinHawaii, BookmarkTavern, kspenmoll, teariffic.books, Graciouswarriorprincess, mhillis, Gissy, BethM, Librarybelle, thebacklistbook, Crinoline_Laphroaig, mcipher, Chrissyreadit, Avanders, PathfinderNicole, ElizaMarie, sblbooks, Allylu, BrandedKristen, mom_of_4, JessieKB
#LittenDetectives : we‘re two weeks away from our next #NancyDrewBR discussion!
Questions will be posted on the 15th!
In the meantime, @lauraisntwilder shared info on a video game based on last month‘s book on Shadow Ranch: https://store.steampowered.com/app/572740/Nancy_Drew_The_Secret_of_Shadow_Ranch/
rubyslippersreads, DebinHawaii, DGRachel, BarkingMadRead, Jennifer3, kspenmoll, TheBookHippie, PurpleyPumpkin, MariaW, CogsOfEncouragement, catiewithac, AnneCecilie, Born.A.Reader, mrp27, Deblovestoread, Bookwormjillk, Read4life, StayCurious, bookandbedandtea, Laughterhp, Bren912, kwmg40, jlhammar, CSeydel, Ruthiella, inthegreensandblues, dabbe, Enchanted_Bibliophile, Allylu, TheAromaofBooks, Charityann, Roary47, Pageturner1, KristiAhlers, peanutnine, PageShifter, AmandaBlaze, julieclair
so-soI ended up feeling pretty ambivalent towards my pick for this month's #ReadorDonate challenge. There are a lot of positive reviews for this one, but I found the pacing to be slow and never particularly warmed towards the characters. I never felt a sense of urgency, or like time was running out or that something bad was going to happen. Just... oh, your husband isn't who you thought he was. I guess we should find who he really was. Oh. Awkward. ⬇
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
#BobWhiteBuddies
#OokBookClub @julesG
#ChristieCapers and #NancyDrewBR @librarybelle
#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead @BarbaraJean
#IDLR @StayCurious @LiseWorks
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
and the much-beloved #HashtagBrigade @BarkingMadRead despite dragging me through books I loved to hate to read 😂 2w