After a rotten couple of days, I went to my happy place for some self-soothing. I have two preorders coming Tuesday, but I wanted the journal today. This edition of Hekate is gorgeous. The top two are Banned Books Week potentials I don‘t already own. Witchcraft is my Indie‘s challenge book for October, the Osman is self-explanatory, and This Princess was a bookseller recommendation. I‘m still sad, but now I‘m sad with new books, which is a win.

This is a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. Cute, a little spicy (open door but not explicit), with a sweet HFN. It gets bonus points for Elf, the MMC‘s dog. Big points for Elf. I adored Clara, the FMC and all of the townspeople are precious. If you like grumpy/sunshine or the softness of Hallmark Christmas movie, you‘ll probably enjoy this one. It was the book hug I needed.

TFW you‘ve had a shitty couple of days at a work conference and your current read, a rom-com, slaps you in the face with how you feel.

Rude.

My October “should read” TBR is excessive. This is a pared down version with Banned Books Week, bookspin/double spin, LTER ARCs, Nancy Drew & Encyclopedia Brown buddy reads, and my two annual October reads. We‘ll see how much I get through. I have two library books due back in less than a week and there‘s still 150+ people waiting on that Slaughter, so that one feels “now or never”, but I have 3 more books currently in progress. 😮‍💨

A little late posting my board by here it is. My #bookspin is a NetGalley ARC and #doublespin is a much anticipated October new release. The board looks very kind, so maybe I‘ll manage a #bookspinbingo even if I don‘t read a ton this month. 🤞🏻

I‘ve been at a work conference in Wrightsville Beach for the last three days, so I‘m a bit behind with turn-of-the-month. I intentionally read slower, released any stress over pub dates, and allowed myself to bail on things I wasn‘t enjoying, for the most part. So, I only finished 6 books. I‘m not sure how I feel about it, since I usually get through twice that, but it was really nice to be able to do other things without stressing over my TBR.

DELIGHTFUL! (Is that a bad thing to say about a book with a senior serial killer and a high body count?)

Fast-paced, clever, and surprisingly charming. I‘m so glad this was an Aardvark selection and even happier that I took a chance on it.

A little blah. None of these were particularly fun and a couple required more specialized knowledge, which I find unfair in a children‘s mystery collection. Adult me doesn‘t know some of this. Little me definitely would not have. Other than the drunk birds, which I found cruel, this was…fine? I don‘t mind being wrong or unable to guess the solution as long as the cases are fun. This was missing the lighthearted fun I‘ve come to expect. #ebbr

October‘s #bookspin list is complete. I‘ve opted to just do one list this year, instead of the extra Spooky Season “bonus” board I had last year. I‘ve been trying to intentionally slow my reading this month, and I‘m not sure if I want to continue the slow, less pressured pace, or if I want to get more books read. 🤔

I guess it‘s a good thing I haven‘t finished my #bookspin list for October, since I now have three more books to add. 😳

We do not care about Jimmy Kimmel. Disney is still canceled. We will be binge watching GBBO and British Sewing Bee, pretending 2025 does not exist. #wdncw

Mine is an unpopular opinion, but this did not work for me at all. The prose was tedious, repetitive, and cold. It did not pull me into the story at all. I never felt any reason to care for the characters or their romance and I could not buy into the insta-love of it all. I was hoping for a light holiday romance, and was disappointed. At least I didn‘t pay for it.

This was a delightful random pick from Libby. Mrs. Mandelbaum is a fascinating character and I appreciated not just her history, but the early history of criminal networks and law enforcement in 1800s New York. It‘s a short, easy listen, with a good narrator.

This is impossible for me to fairly rate, as I know I‘m the problem. It‘s definitely one of the more believable episodes, so I‘ll give it points for that, but I fell asleep twice. There was a lot of conveniently timed Ned intervention, and plenty of danger for all of the girls. Carson finds himself in trouble, too. George is exceptionally mean to Bess re: food at the very beginning, and I think that soured me on the whole thing. #nancydrewbr

I don‘t know which goddess Ava Morgyn struck a bargain with, but she has A Gift. This is dark and delicious, filled with magic, secrets, generational curses, and primordial goddesses. Morgyn‘s prose is sleek and sinuous, wrapping itself around you and dragging you into the depths of the story. In a dumpster fire of a world, it‘s almost a relief to be so absorbed in a book that reality ceases to exist, even if that world is dark and scary.

September‘s #bookspin bingo board. Creating these really is a bright spot in my month. Thank you Sarah!

Excited for both my #bookspin and #doublespin titles this month. I‘ve been trying to get to Poetry as Spellcasting for months and now have an excuse to make it a priority. The Ravenmaster is a book from @Mollyanna #auldlangspine2025 list and counts for my local indie‘s reading challenge prompt of nonfiction I know little about.

I only managed to finish 11 books this month. I bailed on 5, paused 2, and have 3 active current reads. On the bright side, I cleared 5 books of my NetGalley queue. The books that were good were really good, but that ones that were bad, were awful. 😭

If you‘re looking for an ego-filled memoir of an FBI agent‘s 25 year law enforcement career, along with his discovery of the usefulness of psychics and tuning into his own guides and intuition, you may enjoy this. I wanted and expected a book on the hunt for a serial killer, psychics included, not bits of that interspersed with other cases, like Michael Vick. Now I can‘t get The Lost Dogs book out of my head. Skip chapter 23 here. I skimmed it.

I cannot believe it‘s already time for a new #bookspin list. I‘m considering this a tentative list as there are a couple of titles I‘d like to get to this weekend. If I read anything from the list, I‘ll replace it with a category, either “libro fm challenge” or “feels like fall”. I‘m in the mood for a good autumnal read and I‘m open to suggestions/recommendations.
(Edited to replace book I started yesterday.)

This was a disappointing friends-to-lovers adventure. It has a The Lost City vibe, with cinematic prose, but it was predictable (and not in a good way), filled with profanity that felt forced and awkward, with characters that made irrational decisions. The MMC was also a jerk, who belittled the FMC when she called him out, so she doubts herself and excuses his behavior. The book isn‘t terrible, but it didn‘t work for me. #netgalley

Today has been a #terribletuesday (it‘s totally an Alexander Day and I‘m ready to move to Australia-IYKYK). To get me through the rest of this day, I‘m turning to a much beloved author and a favorite audiobook narrator (Simon Vance). My favorite thing about this one is all the time we get with “Mother Russia” Connie Sachs. I love Connie so much. So. Much.

With a 40% Litsy rating, I‘m clearly in the minority here but GAH! I adored this book and the characters, both the primary couple and their friends. The only people I didn‘t like are the ones I‘m not supposed to like. I laughed (so much so that I got side eye from Tash) and I cried. I identified with a lot of Eva‘s insecurities and I loved watching her and Rylie work towards their HEA. *happy sigh*

A cute cozy fantasy about a witch who works in a bookshop and who must undergo a month of heavy training to retake trials to retain her magic. It‘s got fun characters, some you love, some you love to hate. While not written with quite the same skill, if you like Sangu Mandanna‘s books, it‘s worth trying this one. Loved the audiobook narrator.

I can‘t believe I‘m saying this, but this is borderline so-so for me and I expected it to blow away the #CampLitsy competition. I‘m giving Cosby some grace to compensate for my mental state, but I‘m disappointed. It‘s dark, violent, and gritty, but unlike Blacktop Wasteland, ALL of the characters just annoy me endlessly. I wasn‘t surprised by any of the elements of the ending. They were all inevitable, not just predictable.

This was fun, even though I am clearly no good as a 10 year old detective. I solved 3 of the 10 cases. Sobol has some creative descriptions of characters, particularly the Tigers, and I found myself laughing a lot while reading.

#EBBR and my August #bookspin

We do not care that we have nothing witty to post. We are posting anyway because we have FOMO. #WDNCW

Also shout out to @TheBookHippie for her inspiring post. Burn the patriarchy down. It‘s long past time for community care and matriarchy.

This is a fun mystery with delightfully quirky characters and found family. I love the format with short chapters from each character‘s POV. The short chapters make for a quicker read, and the multiple POVs bring the characters closer to the reader. The solution was fun, too. Out today (8/19). Just a day late for the #NGG #readathon.

Lots of action in this installment of Nancy Drew's adventures! Multiple noggin‘ knockouts for more than just Nancy, a missing dancer, a crumbling “castle”, secret formulas, boat crashes, and more kidnappings than you can shake a stick at. This one was pretty fun. #nancydrewbr

I love it when an author understands the brief. This is a classic Romance novel that hits all of the genre norms, right down to the timing of the spicy scenes and the third act break up. Secrets are one of my least favorite things (JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER!) but Daria actually makes it make sense. It‘s not just thrown in for the sake of tension. I enjoyed this workplace Romance, even with its insta-lust turned almost insta-love. It was fun.

I am heartbroken. I LOVED Songbird and have been looking forward to part two of Mische and Asar‘s story for MONTHS. This was tedious and hundreds of pages longer than it needed to be. It feels like someone else wrote this book. This cannot possibly be the same author that wrote the previous Crowns of Nyaxia books. So disappointing, but based on StoryGraph/Goodreads ratings, mine is an unpopular opinion, so YMMV. I‘m just glad it‘s over.

I didn‘t make it out to a bookstore for Bookstore Romance Day, but my Aardvark box arrived with the tagged book, so I‘m counting it as my Romance day purchase. 😎

Finally remembered to start this on a Sunday. 🤭

I don‘t want to say much about this because discussion for #CampLitsy25 continues, but I went into this knowing NOTHING about it. I took one look at the cover and groaned, knowing it was going to be tedious Lit Fic that I‘d have to force my way through. Campers, you have my sincerest apologies for my attitude and doubt. This pulled me in from the second the earthquake hit and I couldn‘t put it down. It‘s raw and real, heartbreaking and brilliant.

August‘s #bookspin bingo board. Five of these books didn‘t make it onto my official TBR and there are five books on my official TBR that aren‘t on here. I didn‘t plan that well. 😂🤦🏻‍♀️😂

The #bookspin gods were kind this month, picking books that were already on my TBR for this month, one of which will take me less than an hour to read. Tea on Sunday is a birthday gift from @Mitch - she sent Yorkshire tea as well, so I have been waiting to start it on a Sunday. I‘ve forgotten for 2 months of Sundays! 🤦🏻‍♀️😂
(Pretty board to come later)

I finished 18 books in July, which is about max-capacity for me, and while my average rating for the month is, well, average for me, and there were some books I really enjoyed, July feels like it was mostly disappointing. Here‘s hoping I end August feeling better about what I‘ve read.

Oops.

I‘m clearly in a mood because this was a rare miss for me in a series that is usually impeccable. Set in Paris as Napoleon escapes Elba, it brings closure to an ongoing storyline, while having fun with some historical figures like Vidocq. The issue I have here is that there‘s a lot of angst (understandable if you‘ve read the previous books),and Harris harps on it so much that it becomes repetitive & irritating. A low pick as it‘s still a St Cyr.

“Guillam had fixed his on Smiley; and just then would have gone anywhere with him, turned any corner, in order to remain beside him and hear the story out.”

Same, Peter. Same. 💖

I am bailing on Beasts of Carnaval. I wanted to love it, switched to audio to try to force myself to love it, and am now actively avoiding reading because I don‘t want to pick it back up. So, with that, I have best #bookspin bingo board to date. 5 bingos and both my bookspin and double spin completed. At least I accomplished one thing this month. 😭

Finally have my list together for August‘s #bookspin. Not totally happy with it, but my brain is not braining and I had to throw a couple things on there when I realized that my original list duplicated titles. 🤦🏻‍♀️ There are five NetGalley titles that publish in August, a sequel I‘ve been dying to get my hands on for six months, #CampLitsy, and books I really want to read. We‘ll see how the month goes.

Once again, I would never have picked this up without #CampLitsy. The “friendship” between Erica and Abigail was deeply disturbing to me, and I came so close to bailing. It still gives me the ick. However, watching all of the characters evolve on their respective journeys was incredible. St. James writes beautifully, with depth and compassion. This feels like a big, important book that everyone should read. ⬇️

Finished with an hour to spare. This was a good Romantasy with an interesting magic system and world. I liked the characters and enjoyed the development of the romance. As with nearly every Romantasy I‘ve read, it‘s a planned duology, so it ends in a cliffhanger. I‘m getting really sick of cliffhangers, especially when there‘s no release date for book two. 🤬

#WDNCW We do not care about to do lists. Care of self is not selfish and we are going to care for ourselves by watching cartoons and snuggling on the couch with our puppy.

So mad at myself for not cracking this open the day it arrived from Aardvark. I loved this so much. It‘s just as wonderful as The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - lovely, cozy writing, lovable characters, including a zombie rooster named Roo Roo, and a story that draws you in and blocks out the real world. It‘s a warm book hug, with subtle socio-political commentary, if you pay attention.

Sorry @dabbe ! Apparently, I am incapable of following directions for this #threelistthursday #tlt I am addicted to movie scores: Pacific Rim, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and X-Men First Class are some of the best, but I had to throw in Jane Eyre, in case someone needed something a little more soothing. 😂 Cats was the first musical I fell in love with, Hamilton is amazing, and Hadestown is my latest Broadway obsession.

John le Carre is a comfort read for me and Dreamscape Audio has been releasing new recordings over the last year or two. I thought Simon Vance narrated them all, but apparently he‘s just doing the Smileys. My brain is not braining right now, so I‘m opting to ignore publication order for now (and therefore other narrators) in favor of George and Simon. 💖

Work is very work-y…
#wdncw #wedonotcare

I probably shouldn‘t mark this reread as a review, but consider this a review of the audio narrated by Simon Vance. Vance is perfect for le Carre‘s novels. This one is not as adventurous or glamorous as his more well known novels, but the author himself notes that this is closer to reality than Spy or Tinker Tailor. It‘s petty, sad, and filled with egos that desperately want to be relevant but aren‘t. Le Carre‘s writing is brilliant, as always.