One more thing about this book, I really appreciated how the platonic love story between Daphne and Ashley was just as important to the story and character development as the romantic love story, very refreshing and well done. So I guess the author is forgiven for all the hair-behind-ear tucking. 🤣

Is it just me or are sex scenes in novels awkward to listen to in audio books in a way they aren't awkward to read in print? Anyway this was a cute little rompy story that I mostly enjoyed. Tiresome and repetitive imagery at times (Miles must have tucked locks of Daphne's hair behind her ear a hundred times 🙄), but overall a good read for the end of summer.

Our concept of well-being must move from the individual to the global in every sense of that word.

"We are afraid of dying alone, but no one really knows lonely better than a married woman sitting next to her silent husband." Ooooooooooofff. I'm not sure about my feelings on this book, but the author does know how to cut to the bone on this subject.

This book is what would happen if The Corrections and Atlas Shrugged had a book baby. It works disturbingly well.

A surprising amount of Henry Kissinger.

I picked up this book last Fall at this coffee shop we have in Denver called The Bardo, and I found this postcard tucked inside. It is from when the book was published in 1998, postmarked from Anaheim and announcing the release of that dumbo ornament... I just love finding old ephemera in used books, it's my favorite thing! And incidentally this appears to be a first edition printing of this book, what a good used book find! 💜

This is a pick for me, but I have to admit not enjoying it nearly as much as the other books by this author. I did not like the audible narration, so perhaps I would have enjoyed it more in print format. For some reason the love story just didn't hit the mark for me and I think the entire novel could have done without it.

I enjoyed all the characters in this book so much, and having seen up close single mothers dealing with similar issues with agents of the state, baby daddies and other family seemingly determined to upgrade a difficult situation to a tortuous one, it was nice to read a story where the young mother wins.

This was a weird and engrossing tale, the dynamics between characters was fascinating and right now this audiobook is included with my Audible membership!

I enjoyed this novel immensely, books by this author are always such learning experiences for me, which I always appreciate.

HMPH.

I didn‘t feel like this novel was very deep or anything, it didn‘t really address any of the enduring questions on being a human in the world, but I will say this: there is a scene towards the end that had me just crying with laughter and that is enough for me! The main character is genuinely amusing and I liked her, I hope this one gets made into a tv show I think it would work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Y‘all listen UP!! Do not sleep on this one, I only just finished the prologue but I am thinking about playing hooky from work to listen to it all day long.

What a strange and beautiful novel! I found this to be a challenging read, I read it in audio format with an A++++ narration by Arian Moayed. Intensely readable, with characters that are easy to love. This was outside my usual reading comfort zone, I‘m so glad to have not passed this one up, I just loved it. 💜

The second book in the trilogy, much less bodice ripping, more just violent! But I enjoyed it, moving on to the third!

I enjoyed this novel!! I see echoes of Scarlett O‘Hara in the main character (although Scarlett was never such a psychopath as Beatrice of Wideacre), but I have a real soft spot for unlikeable female characters, so it‘s definitely not for everyone. Still, to me it was a classic and enjoyable bodice ripper, best paired with 🍷and your favorite 📳. 😉🤣

I am out of Audible credits, this entire trilogy is free right now with my membership and it is Springtime in the Rocky Mountains, which means I have a lot of walking to do!! I must say I have rarely giggled so much, this is obviously a novel not to be taken as seriously as some seem to have done. Yes, the main character is a wicked slut…. I love her and I can‘t wait to hear all she gets up to 🤭😂

I loved this book, but I can also understand some of the criticisms of it. It sometimes felt a bit crowded and meandering and in thinking about it this morning there are things that I‘m still not sure why they were included, so I‘m looking forward to talking about it at book club, but overall it is a lovely book about the fragility of life and friendship.

I have around 100 more pages and it‘s my bedtime but I know I‘ll be staying up late to finish it and this is making me cry…

Scottish love, intrigue, Russia and some bonus E.S.P. because WHY NOT!? 💜

“From the first time I met them, they‘ve been on the knives,” he said, using the Russian expression for people who shared a dislike for each other.

I just LOVE this expression and plan to incorporate it into my life. I‘m on the knives with all kinds of people, it shouldn‘t be hard. 🤣

This is really a very sweet story. It also made me think about how much more common “open adoption” is these days (lots on this topic in my last book “Relinquished”) and how maybe it‘s not so much because it‘s the right thing to do, but also because it‘s just not optional anymore. With DNA testing the truth will out, anyone keeping an adoption a secret is sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Also, I would like to learn to make Cecily‘s 15 layer cake!

While I don‘t have a personal connection to the topic, having read “The Girls Who Went Away” many years ago, I was interested to read this book about adoption post Roe. I was surprised to learn just how rare it is for mothers to make this choice. While being meticulously researched, this is a deeply compassionate, diverse and objective portrait of adoption told from the perspective of birth mothers, often in their own words.

Who hasn‘t been invited to a “party” and “invited” to buy a lot of crap from a “friend”??

Jane Marie is doing the Lord‘s own work in shining a light on the deceptive practices of these companies that rely on the vulnerability of (mostly) women while they are robbing them blind.

Read the book, and may we all collectively cast out these vipers from our midst and put our energy into giving women and families real opportunities. 💜

Very excited for this one! I‘m a huge fan of the pod cast and the author in general, I pre-ordered and it showed up on my Audible account today!!

It takes until chapter 8 or so to figure out how this is a sequel to The Winter Sea (and an irritably long time to get to the sexy Scottishness of it all) but now I‘m there and enjoying the next journey in this trilogy.

“Sir, I‘m not fixing cutlets. I‘m neutralizing an invasive.” -Angie Armstrong

I don‘t know why I can‘t stop laughing at this 😂

Much junk food was devoured along with this deliciously readable novel! I‘ve ordered the next two in the trilogy and look forward to them!

An enjoyable little fairy tale… and when Bryan Dick reads a story y‘all know I‘m 🎧🌽

✅ Young and handsome Scottish man
✅ Smart and sassy lady
✅ Old castle ruins
✅ A mysterious mystery

Oh yeah Litsers… we are getting COZY! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿☕️

For my birthday this year I bought myself a trip to Scotland!!!!!!!!!! I‘m going with my sister and I asked her to put some local bookshops on the itinerary! I am over the moon at the prospect of observing and listening to Scottish men in their native habitat. Now, what do you all think the odds are of meeting Bryan Dick while I‘m there? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🍆🥰😅

Let‘s hear it for big thick Scottish…… books. 😂😈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I didn‘t enjoy it as much as the author‘s first novel, but it was nevertheless an enjoyable book.

This author‘s last novel is one of my all time favorites, I am SO excited to start this one!! 💜

How to even put into words how much I loved this book, it is going on the Very Important Books Shelf (I know you all know what I‘m talking about.) If you haven‘t read this trilogy for god‘s sake, give yourself the gift of a long, cold Winter weekend, you will not regret it. 💜💜💜⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The vodianoy only hissed, mouth opening wide. Vasya did not recoil, but reached out a scraped hand and touched his warty face. She said, “Listen to me and be at peace, river king.”

Vasya coming into her full powers. I am weeping, this book is so beautiful and it‘s the last one and what will I do when it ends???? 😭😭😭

I loved this novel, I‘m so glad to have read it, and I‘m glad to have read it now, as a seasoned adult. I‘m sure had I read it in high school I would have been impatient with Lily and her seemingly ridiculous choices. I was always too full of assurance and hard edges when I was young to be able to find the softer sweetness of this novel. Cheers to skipping the classics until we are classics ourselves!! 🥂

“This was a relief to Mrs. Peniston, who could give herself up to her own symptoms, and Lily was advised to go and lie down,her aunt‘s panacea for all physical and moral disorders.”

This is my feeling as well, and I‘ll tell you it is a SHAME how much this treatment has fallen out of fashion.

This is probably my favorite book of 2023, finished just under the wire!! It has an unconventional structure which I loved but may be challenging at times. At first I thought it was about a house, but having finished I now realize it‘s really about the land, the creatures (including humans) who call it home, and the cold harshness that defines nature in the dark heart of the New England forests.

While I did enjoy the story, I found the writing not for me, with stilted dialogue between characters and the author constantly telling the reader things we already know.

I am going to finish this book and haven‘t decided if it‘s a pick but I just have to say it‘s annoying how the Anna character is so naive as if a yankee in the 1940s would have never heard of a racism. The shock she‘s always expressing is grating. It also has stupid errors like Anna describing her mother as having “manic depressive psychosis”, this is not a term that was being used at the time, as just one example.

I am devouring this book, it is so beautifully written! A theme so far is characters who are willing to let others live in loneliness and rejection for their own comfort, but it‘s written so soulfully that nobody is a villain, just humans, breaking each other‘s hearts as we all do so well. Merry Christmas.

I already have two paper format books I‘m trying to get to, but I‘m cleaning and baking bread today and I like to do that in the company of an audiobook, so I started this one. It‘s good so far! That there is an orange spice bread 🍞

Cupid spin me a fairy tale…make it a cold, dark and scary one. Make the love story a complicated and beautiful disaster fit for long and cold nights. 💘😇❄️

This book has been on my TBR shelf for a shamefully long time, so when it was recommended by a guest on Ezra Klein‘s podcast recently I decided it was time!

You think this book is going to be fluffy and silly and humorous until you find yourself recognizing parts of your own life in it and crying.

I doubt many men have read this book, my own husband would never deign to read anything like it, but more should. I‘m glad I gave in to the hype, it‘s worth it. 💜

He thought about the people who designed these dresses; how, like bomb manufacturers or pornography stars, they had to remain vague about the way they made their livings.

Calvin

This book is giving me eye rolls but also lots of chortles and so far the chortles are outweighing the eye rolls 😏

She looked down on him like a battlefield medic assessing whether or not he was worth saving.

Elizabeth Zott 🤘🤘🤘