Welcome to Litsy!

Today‘s Book Nook scores to entertain myself over my quiet Easter weekend. Yin yoga this morning really helped with my dicky hip. I need to get myself sorted as I got myself a showgirl gig. It may just be the greatest achievement of my life! The Angelica Banks and Judy Blume are for my book crazy niece. I could have filled another bag but it may not have been a good look. Libraries are the best invention ever. Medicine is great but books are fab.

In a novel about a 13-year-old girl who shot her brother, you want to read about their mother‘s old flame from high school, right? If so, you‘re in luck, as the book spends the majority of the time on that relationship.

That wasn‘t the case for me, though. I felt like the character‘s motivations and connections could have been explored much further in this intricate and layered set-up.

Very hard to get through.

27.2025

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this without knowing more about the plot than the description, as it allowed me to immerse myself in the lives of these wonderful characters and follow their journeys. The narrative is heartfelt and filled with lovable characters. The conclusion of the story left me feeling peaceful for the characters, but also sad as I bid them farewell.

Full review abookandadog.com/blog/the-making-of-us

Loving my #springcardswap cards Thank you Christine for hosting- I love this so much!

This novel did not go in any of the several directions I expected it to, which was actually kind of delightful. It's a bizarre story of family systems, mourning, and discovering new ways of upholding responsibilities when the old ones no longer work. In a way, it's kind of a coming-of-age story for the painful growing up one does when our parents no longer carry us (literally and metaphorically), for whatever reason and at whatever age.

We'll see if Silo and I can make some reading progress before this one is due back at the library. I have not had near as much reading time so far this week as I would prefer. Or as Silo would prefer.

Best. Opening. Paragraph. Ever. I love it! 😹

“Calla was wearing the wrong bra. This sort of confrontation called for her sports bra, the one with the six non-nonsense hooks anchoring her down and all the sex appeal of old goulash. Instead, she was in her limpest bra, the one with the missing underwire, making her right breast pop over the cup like a gopher.”

My library literally just barely put the contact paper on when I checked this out!🫶🏼

I love that this book went in a different direction than I expected after the first few pages. What I thought was going to be a legal drama ended up being about the lives surrounding the death of a teenager at the hands of his sister. Their parents and her lawyers have history and secrets that get brought to the forefront after years of avoidance. Guilt, blame, forgiveness and characters I would never befriend but a story I could look away from.

Riveting from the word go, this book explores a family tragedy and its reverberations for each member as well as how it is intertwined with past events. I was fully engrossed and didn‘t want to stop listening.