Sometimes, you just gotta buckle down and do the work. 💙

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords @CBee

When Lily arrives in the afterlife she finds that nothing is what she expected. The demons are hot, Hell is for Justice, & she enjoys working the Hellp Desk

If you haven‘t watched Jaysea‘s TikTok series that inspired this book, I recommend it! This book is the prequel, telling of Lily‘s journey, & her discovering the joys of the afterlife. A little long, & a little more sex, but full of heart & tears & an afterlife I could get behind.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Tanith‘s job as a ride conductor becomes much more complicated w/ drug deals between cast members, management union busting, & oh yes, somebody is killing the other park employees.

Everything just felt so rushed. I liked the idea of poking fun at big amusement parks, mixed w/ a fairy tale themed serial killer, & the art was good & felt on brand, but we didn‘t get time to get to know anyone, & the ending wasn‘t set up enough for me. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

Celeste is trying to escape the poverty of her home town. Dominic is trying to survive manipulative parents & a controlling boyfriend. & their ship is also transporting alien remains. Only, the aliens aren‘t as dead as they thought.

Loved the 2 MCs though their voices were too similar for both to be 1st person, & it had a slow start for a novella. But also fun world building in a short time, great side characters, & a hook of an ending!🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

#WeeklyForecast

My hold on The Witch and the Vampire came in and I‘m super excited!

#BookReport

Lost of fun reads this past week!

After the averted end of the world, Greta is tasked w/ a road trip w/ an angel & a demon to see if they can work together w/out having allergic reactions. Too bad this trip coincides w/ an attempted coup of the New York undead mob.

I‘m torn. This fixed 1 of my major problems w/ book 3, but also went straight back to Greta & The Boys. I found the mystery fascinating, the side characters charming, but the ending a bit abrupt & too open.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

I listened to this on audiobook, and while I really enjoyed the story, boy this sucker is long! 😂

#SundayFunday Have a marvelous day, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

Thousands of years into our future, an AI bonds w/ a young boy who is only trying to survive in his small town w/ his brother. & then the local wizard tries to force a specific story into happening.

I LOVE stealthy retellings. Arthurian characters get thrown into a blender w/ post apocalyptic science fantasy elements + your basic quest storyline. The pacing got a little wonky in the middle, but I loved Ariel & all the side characters.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

🎶 We couldn't be luckier, I couldn't be happier🎶

💚🩷💚🩷

#BookAdaptations #SLC #SLCLitsy

New Alix E Harrow book! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

#CoverReveal

I‘ve got my choices together for #14books14weeks ! This includes all of my gifts from past Litsy swaps that I haven‘t read yet (I know 🫣) and my four most recent purchases from 2024.

We‘ll see how this goes! @LizM

It‘s raining outside, I‘ve got hot chocolate, the blanket right out of the dryer, and a lovely book. It‘s a perfect afternoon.

Do I have 10 different rain related words saved in my notes app? No comment.

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords @CBee

The story of the highs and lows of the four March daughters: Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy.

I‘m still not sure how I made it out of an English degree without reading this, but I‘m kind of glad I came to it later. I don‘t think I would have appreciated the relationships between the sisters, or what we see of the March parents as much. There‘s a bit too much moralizing & women‘s duty is marriage/babies/emotional labor, but it is of it‘s time.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

In her efforts to escape a controlling uncle, Emilie accidentally stows away on a ship traveling through aetheric currents to the Hollow World. The discoveries made there will change everything.

2 novels, both wonderful reads! Emilie is an engaging protagonist & realistically young, & I love her growth especially in book 2. The side characters were fun, & the world building was fantastic. Very similar vibes to the movie Treasure Planet.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Arthurian retelling?!? 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

What happens when a miserable farm wife gains access to a wizard‘s books of magics & thinks “why not”? Chaos. & then add a sassy familiar, the goblin market getting introduced to capitalism, & a talking plant.

Such fun! You can tell this is a writer raised on Terry Pratchett. There‘s humor & a moving story of a woman deciding what she‘s worth. I wish the side characters hadn‘t been so 1 dimensional, & too many threads left unresolved. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

#WeeklyForecast

I‘ve enjoyed everything I‘ve read by Robin Sloan so far, so I can‘t wait to start Moonbound!

#BookReport

I had completely forgotten about my preorder of For Whom the Belle Tolls, so of course I had to start it as soon as I could! 😆

I am loving Mrs March in the tagged book! She‘s so gentle with her daughters, but firm when she needs to be!

#SundayFunday Hope you all have a wonderful day, and don‘t forget to tag me!

Fiction and non fiction collected from Marina Keegan‘s published works after her untimely death.

This was lovely. Her nonfiction essays were stronger for me, and I desperately wish more of her poetry was included. Her voice is compassionate and attentive. And I wish we could have seen what she would have done. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

What would you do if you knew how much time you have left?

This is less a time management self help book, and more of a philosophical examination of how we prioritize our time, and how we‘ll never actually achieve perfection so it‘s okay to let some things go. Lots of good advice, and I will be buying a copy to mark up, but it didn‘t need to be as long as it was. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView !

1. Finished two arcs this week!
2. Got a new preorder book I can‘t wait to start!
3. Bought tickets to Hadestown for when I visit London this summer!
4. I discovered my badass magical powers as a cleric in our DnD campaign!
5. Got the nibling for the evening, so it‘s time for cookies and reading!

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

I‘ve been a fan of Jaysea‘s Hells Belles TikTok series for years, so you can bet I preordered this as soon as she announced it! #TikTokFind

Danika has a lot on her plate between doing tarot readings & working for her mother‘s detective agency. She finally gets to use her skills when a classmate disappears, & she gets to lead her 1st case.

Such fun! A strong narrative voice for Danika, pacing was mostly good (if a bit slow in the middle), & I loved all the characters. The final reveal didn‘t feel as set up as I wanted, but would definitely read a whole series of Danika! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

After Yeva kills her 1st dragon, she is sent to the capital of the Empire to train as a guildknight. Eventually, the Emperor commands her to a nearby country w/ rumors of dragons. But the rumors, & the country itself, are not what they seem.

Yang‘s world building always captivates me. & the queer normative cultures are amazing. This is a lovely, quick tale of finding where one belongs, discovering what duty really means, & finding love.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Intent on finding the group responsible for the creation of the wraiths, thread cutter Io partners w/ an unlikely ally to hunt down this conspiracy & stop them from killing any more.

I liked this one a bit better. Better pacing, fascinating & even more expansive world building, & less focus on the destined romance. But I really wish we could have seen more into the relationship of the 3 sisters, & the ending really disappointed me. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

#WeeklyForecast

Up next I‘ve got a book about one of my favorite indie bookstores! The King‘s English in Salt Lake City, Utah!

#BookReport

I‘m already halfway through my #QueerBC book for this month!

Literally any of the feasts in the Redwall series. Jacques always manages to make everything sound so delicious I feel like if I take a deep enough breath I could smell everything.

#SundayFunday Have a safe and happy day, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

Stasia has spent her whole life warning the people around her that she‘s an alien & that an invasion is coming. & then the first signal is received. Everyone will have to believe her now.

So interesting! Grant does such an amazing job making me love characters, even the advance spy of a race coming to destroy humanity. There were a couple pacing issues, but the horror was so well done, & the ending took me completely by surprise!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

I was ready for spring, not over 80 degrees heat. 😂 #BookSpinBingo #BingoBoard

#BookSpin Wonderland, #DoubleSpin Tale of Kore

#Roll100 The Opposite of Loneliness, The King‘s English, Rising Strong

#OokBOokClub Men at Arms

#BobWhiteBuddies Mystery on Cobbett‘s Island

#BeyondTheYellowBrickRoad The Emerald City of Oz

#QueerBC Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame

#ThematicCozies A Botanist‘s Guide to Rituals and Revenge

So many great and fun books this month! And I actually did pretty well keeping up with my NetGalley ARCs! #MonthlyRoundup

Happy Dracula Day everybody! Anybody else participating in #DraculaDaily this year?

Newsletter here: https://draculadaily.substack.com/

Audio dramatization here: https://pod.link/1679833472

W/ old friends coming for a visit, Trixie & the other BobWhites get swept up in the glamour of NYC, a strange statue, & a mysterious poem hinting at a great treasure.

Much bigger stakes in this one, & Trixie‘s recklessness reaches a new high. I really liked how integral Dan was at the end. Loved the intro of Dr Joe, & poor Ms Trask having to corral a bunch of headstrong kids while dealing w/ her own problems.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

Goat cheese, arugula, and heirloom tomatoes oh my! #DinnerByTheBook

I definitely need to work on my pie dough! 😂

Philip of France & Richard the Lionheart discover a mutual spark of attraction @ the same time Phillip is establishing his reign & Richard is dealing w/ a controlling father & an imprisoned mother.

Interesting characters & good scene setting, but 2 problems for me. I wasn‘t invested in the romance, & I‘m not usually into books that reimagine established historical figures so much. W/ a different background, I would have liked it better.🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

Out running errands and showing support to my #LocalLibrary ! ❤️❤️❤️

A Ghanaian concept, the word is expanded into the proverb “se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi.”

Sankofa is the understanding that only by knowing your (personal, cultural, national) history can you know your current self, and know how to become better.

The concept feels particularly relevant right now.

#WeirdWordWednesday #WeirdWords

Willa‘s peace is interrupted when her ex-fiancée & his new partner move into town & open a business near hers. Things get worse when he becomes the prime suspect when a journalist is murdered.

Enjoyed this 1 better than the last! Plenty of suspects, a clever twist, Willa‘s investigating w/ her Team Cheese, & a bunch of recipes that I want to try! Moss does such a great job making all the suspects valid. & Willa‘s friendships are so fun!?????

Dorothy again finds herself traveling through fairy lands & meets a variety of characters on her way to Princess Ozma‘s birthday party.

Baum has such a way with creating unique, beautifully absurd characters. We get to meet Polychrome, Button Bright, & the Shaggy Man! & one of my favorites Johnny Dooit. Button Bright may be silly, but it strikes me that if more people were willing to admit they didn‘t know something, we‘d be better off.🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

#WeeklyForecast

I‘m so excited to get to Seanan McGuire‘s newest book under the Mira Grant pen name!

#BookReport

I‘ve deleted most of my social media related apps off my phone, and if I get the urge to log into something and doom scroll, I‘ve opened up my kindle app instead. Which is resulting in more ebooks getting finished! 😂

A series of short stories examining loss, grief, & queer existence.

Such an interesting collection! A variety of genres, all ranging in tone from a slight edge of unease to outright horror. Olguín has a remarkable ability to make me feel on edge throughout each story. There were a couple that felt too unresolved. And a couple I didn‘t like. But the last two stories were remarkable. Would make a great audiobook.?????

Had to share a picture, because I love all the extra artwork shared throughout this trilogy!

#SundayFunday

“To the gremlin girls,
I would like to tell you something inspiring,
but the truth is,
when life closes a door for us,
it doesn‘t always open a window.
The good news is:
that‘s what bricks are for.”

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

Margaret Owen is quickly making herself an auto buy author for me!

#SundayFunday Happy last Sunday of April, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

Had to work today, but did my due diligence for #IndieBookstoreDay by placing an order for a couple preorders! 💸

#IndependentBookstoreDay

A group believes that Ankh-Morpork would be better w/ a king in charge. & how do you get a king? Summon a dragon to be heroically defeated by a “lost heir” of course. Only, nothing about this goes the way you‘d think.

God I love Lady Sybil so much! I want to be her when I grow up. This one is more focused on poking fun at the tropes of high fantasy at the time, & it does it so well, while giving me some of my favorite characters.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

I am so ready for spring and flowers and reading outside in the sun! #BookSpinBingo

I‘m going to use an ARC for May‘s #ThematicCozies theme of Flowers and Plants!

This is a cute series and I can‘t wait to dive into the next one!