By the sea, there is a restaurant. A restaurant where you can say a final goodbye to a lost loved one, through a remembrance meal.

This style of Japanese fabulism, examining the interconnected nature of food, family, memory, & grief is fast becoming a favorite. Connected short stories, plus recipes, show different griefs & the closure we need. I would have read 600 more pages of this. ❤️ & I want to cook something of my grandma‘s now.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Tagging another book by the same author, as this one isn‘t in the database!

Here‘s my #ThematicCozies pick for February, Romance! @julieclair

Darwin‘s pet boutique gets some extra help from her ability to psychically connect w/ the pets. And she really has to stretch herself when her new friend is murdered, & the only witness was his dog.

I liked the twist of the psychic powers, but ultimately the rest of this kind of fell apart. Flat characters, instalove, & a final reveal that just left me frustrated & confused. Definitely not going to pursue this series. 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑

#WeeklyForecast

Going Postal is up next! Woo! ✉️💨

#BookReport

I absolutely loved revisiting the world of Oz, and I‘m so excited for the next one. Ozma of Oz is one of my favorites. 💚

I am so ready for February‘s #Roll100 picks! 💕

The Winds Twelve Quarters by Ursula K Le Guin
Gwenhwyfar by Mercedes Lackey
Calamity Jane by James McLaird

@PuddleJumper

I am… having a difficult time right now. So let‘s share some of your favorite comforting reads.

This one, with Mark‘s perseverance, the story‘s respect for science & scientists, the whole community coming together to rescue him, the sheer unending hope. I actually found a substack that‘s releasing this one in chronological order, so I‘ve jumped in! 🧡

#SundayFunday I hope you are all doing well, and don‘t forget to tag me! 💛

Lily‘s whirlwind romance & happily ever after become much more complicated when she learns about Ryle‘s temper.

I am all for a book that gets people talking about & bringing awareness to difficult topics, as this turned out for my book club. But the characters all felt flat, Lily‘s letters about a past relationship really interrupted the narrative flow, & there was too much telling, not enough showing. 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

Felicity‘s in the middle of catering a dramatic wedding, when one of the wedding party is found murdered. W/ her best friend a suspect, & the return of her long absent father, Felicity‘s life is in turmoil.

This was a cute sequel. I loved the use of the baked goods, the family drama was interesting, but I don‘t think the final reveal was set up enough, & this relied a bit too much on rabbit ex machina for me. Do want to try the recipes!🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

Ensign Dahl is newly assigned to the starship Intrepid. When he gets there, he learns that ensigns die on away missions. A lot. What he discovers will change everything about his world.

This was so meta, I strained my eyes rolling them. I also laughed harder than I have in a while, so 🤷🏼‍♀️. This poked loving fun at sci fi tv, but also turned into a moving story about taking control of your own destiny. The codas did feel unnecessary.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

After Tip runs away from the witch who raised him, he teams up w/ the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, & new friends to save the Emerald City from an army of revolters.

I forgot just how silly this one is! My dislike of General Jinjur & her army & the revolution storyline is mostly outweighed by my love for the Woggle-Bug‘s jokes, the Gump, & the Sawhorse! & I love the reactions to Ozma‘s reveal. & so much new world building!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

A pawnshop where clients can exchange their regrets. A missing father. & a visitor from another world. Hana‘s world gets turned upside down.

I‘ve seen this described as Studio Ghibli vibes, which is true! & it‘s also a moving story about letting our fears control us, & the purpose of regret & acknowledging our choices. & a sweet love story. I just wish we could have spent more time in the locations, especially the Library of the Lost!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

#WeeklyForecast

Bad news… I requested an ARC and got approved for it, and it‘s is the sequel to something I haven‘t read.

Good news… I apparently own a physical copy of book one, so I‘m diving into An Accident of Stars as soon as I finish the Land of Oz! 😂

#BookReport

Finished some great books this past week, and finally get to start the Oz book where we meet a few of my favorite characters! 💚

Lieutenant Kerensky is Miles O‘Brien, and I will not be taking criticism. 😂

#LitsySciFiBookClub

I was originally going to tag The Hunger Games, but then I remembered how much I enjoyed this book when I read it! It‘s always encouraging to read about the strength of a community coming together against a rising fascist power.

#SundayFunday Hope you all are staying safe and healthy, and don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

Trixie & the BobWhites are at it again when sheep thieves are targeting the Belden‘s Uncle Andrew‘s farm!

We get to see the gang investigate another high stakes mystery, meet some new kids, some development on young love, & a dramatic rescue! More importantly, we get to see Trixie fail in her investigations, & then pick herself back up, apologize for her assumptions, & try, try again. It‘s always great to see failure treated as natural.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

A diverse (in genre type and representation) collection of short stories.

Anthologies are pretty hit and miss for me, but there wasn‘t a story I disliked here. I did have my favorites, Meet Cute made me laugh & Why I Learned to Cook made me cry at work 😅. The narrators all fit the tone of their stories pretty well, and the stories were a good representation of the authors. Now I‘ve got a couple new authors to check out! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Finally used that Christmas Barnes and Noble gift card! ❤️🎁❤️

Emma Woodhouse‘s favorite pastime is to arrange the love lives of the people around her. What could possibly go wrong?

I wanted to enjoys this as P&P was foundational in my decision to pursue an English degree, but god I did not like Emma or Knightley. 😅 There‘s also not a lot that happens, plot wise. And, more importantly for me, I did not feel invested in literally any of these romances. On to Persuasion! 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

Usually, I not a huge fan of crab. But wow this turned out beautifully! #DinnerBytheBook

A fascinating work exploring the queens of Medieval England from Matilda of Flanders through to Elizabeth of York.

Very interesting! Dense, and I would have appreciated it more dipping in and out instead of reading it straight through. The best part though is the conclusion which examines the historical queens through the fictional lenses of Beowulf and Mallory‘s Arthurian saga. 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

Lily‘s high school year is greatly complicated by McCarthyism, developing feelings for a new friend, & a desire to shoot for the stars.

This was a hard listen, but fantastic. High school stories are always tricky for me, but this was beautifully done. Lily‘s strength of character dealing w/ homophobia, her father getting investigated for links to communism, & a toxic friendship was amazing. Wasn‘t a fan of the time skip @ the end. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Semiramis was born a commoner in a village in Assyria. Through her own ambition & machinations, she eventually becomes Queen of Assyria.

Casati‘s luxurious scene setting was present throughout the novel & her character work remains unparalleled.We see the evolution of her from an abandoned orphan to the most powerful woman. I did want to see more, & see Semiramis‘s control when she was on the throne, not just leading up to it. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

#WeeklyForecast

I am so looking forward to starting Fresh Ink! It‘s been on my TBR for years, and @shortsarahrose ‘s recommendation through #AuldLangSpine is just the push I needed! I‘m also really enjoying Telegraph Club!

#BookReport

I am enjoying Babylonia so much! ❤️

The 2nd Raiders of Arcana book is just as fun a historical treasure hunting romp as the 1st!

Have I already read this book? Yes. Did I request this arc entirely for Picard‘s narration? Also yes. She does a fantastic job giving each character such a strong individual voice that I know whose POV we‘re in w/out any other clues. & the emotion she conveys throughout is amazing. I‘m ready to seek out books she‘s narrated w/out any more info.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

This is the first book I mostly read in 2025! It‘s an adorable middle grade fantasy retelling of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. I‘d highly recommend it for anyone who likes fairy tale retellings and tales of girls taking control of their own stories.

#SundayFunday Have a wonderful day, and don‘t forget to tag me!

Look what came in the mail today! Such a cute decal! 💖

One of my favorite #ThreeListThursday lists so far! It was a delight to look through all these books from my childhood!

Favorites include A Wizard of Earthsea, Howl‘s Moving Castle, and A Wrinkle in Time! ❤️

#TLT @dabbe

Years after his family is split up, Jun decides to take control of his destiny & fight in the competition to be the next Guardian. The stakes of the fights turns out to be more dire when a war mongering general wants to take control.

Intense! A little info dump heavy at times, a lot of violence, & an unresolved ending, but also an intriguing examination of propaganda, the monetization of violence, w/ really interesting characters!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

This vodka cream sauce turned out absolutely delicious! #DinnerByTheBook

An in depth, pre-Snowden journalistic investigation into the world of whistleblowers and data leakers.

This was a tough read to get into. Interesting, but dry and dense. Every chapter is also an interweaving of multiple people‘s stories. Pair all that with intentional misgendering and deadnaming of Chelsea Manning and glossing over Julian Assange‘s sexual assault allegations, this is not a book I need to keep or revisit. 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

@Princess-Kingofkings thank you so much for the wonderful gift! I adore the book, and I haven‘t tried the sugar cookie Reese‘s cups, so I‘m so excited to try them! ❤️💚❤️💚

And thank you again to @bookish_wookish for hosting this lovely swap! #LCS #LittleChristmasSwap

Polly, in an effort to save her brother & their inn, dresses as a man & joins the army. She discovers that everything, from her friends in the army to the war itself aren‘t quite what they seem.

I apparently need to reread a lot of these. I really appreciate the satire of nationalism (proud of being proud🇺🇸) organized religion, & gender more than the 1st time I read it. I do think there were too many characters to keep track of.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

#WeeklyForecast

Almost done with the #OokBOokClub book, and I‘ve got two ARCs coming up this week that I‘m really excited about!

#BookReport

Ended 2024 and started 2025 with some great reads!

The newest installment in the Wayward Children series, and immediately up in my top three favorites of the whole series!

#12BooksOf2024 Thanks for hosting such a fun way to share and reminisce about my favorite reads over the last year! Here‘s to many more amazing books in 2025! @Andrew65

I am so looking forward to starting my #ARC of the tagged book!

But also! Lucy Holland has started talking about her third book, Of Splendid Song, over on Bluesky and I am practically vibrating with excitement, hoping it releases this year! 🤞🏻🤞🏻

#SundayFunday Happy new year! And don‘t forget to tag me in your posts!

This queer historical retelling of The Selkie Wife manages to combine a sweet sapphic love story while also examining the horrors intrinsic to stealing a selkie‘s skin to get a wife. And the audiobook narrator was the perfect voice for this!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Ella, living in her stepmother‘s cellar, & Belle, searching for a way to save her father find themselves magically swapped into each other‘s stories.

This was really adorable! The bones of each fairy tale were there, but they way they got reinterpreted was so interesting! & the final twist was really well done! None of these characters acted as young as they were supposed to be, but otherwise this was a lovely middle grade retelling! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

This was a lovely little cozy story about magic and teaching and building community.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

December‘s #MonthlyRoundup was full of amazing reads for #WinterGames2024 !

The score of a lifetime, & it will take a rag tag group racing against a powerful company to get there first.

There was a lot I liked. Found family, space heists, wide expansive worlds, corporations are the bad guys. But we didn‘t actually get to the heist, it felt like we only got the first half of the story, the romance felt forced, & I‘m not a big fan of futuristic sci fi that tells me that fatness shouldn‘t exist. 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

I forgot to post yesterday!

Think The Mummy and Road to El Dorado had a baby! This was a fun treasure hunt novel with a plucky female protagonist, the ruggedly handsome mapmaker who helps her, and a hidden city with untold treasures.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

So, the boxty on the griddle is a little too salty for me. 🤣 But I‘m always down for any recipe that‘s mostly potato cooked in bacon grease. #DinnerByTheBook

2025 here we come!😬#BookSpinBingo #BingoBoard

#BookSpin This Machine Kills Secrets, #DoubleSpin NetGalley

#Roll100 Queen‘s Consort, This Machine Kills Secrets, Grace of Kings

#OokBOokClub Going Postal

#BobWhiteBuddies The Happy Valley Mystery

#BeyondTheYellowBrickRoad The Land of Oz

#QueerBC Last Night at the Telegraph Club (an #AuldLangSpine read!)

#ThematicCozies Karma‘s a Bitch

#LitsySciFiBookClub Redshirts

#AuldLangSpine Fresh Ink

I listened to this audiobook back in August for The Sealey Challenge, and I feel like this collection of poetry fundamentally changed me as a person. I immediately bought a physical copy, and it will be a regular reread for me for years to come.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Happy end of #WinterGames2024 ! And wow! I did so much better this half!

17,885 points! Woohoo for #HolidayBookDragons ! And shout out to The Nightmare Before Kissmas for giving me over 370 instances of the word Christmas! 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you all for a lovely month! And happy new year!

As part of my New Year‘s Resolution to read a quarter of the books I own but haven‘t read, I‘ve created myself this bingo board!

With the understanding that I am not allowing myself to buy a new book until I have a bingo! I‘ll be using the hashtag #UnstackMyShelf if anybody wants to use this.

@PuddleJumper ‘s #NoBuy2023 challenge was an enormous inspiration for this!