Jess is still recovering from the injuries she received in the car crash that killed her mother when she arrives in the remote Canadian wilderness to live with her estranged father. When the unthinkable happens, she and her dad‘s dog are left to fend for themselves. I found Jess to be a compelling character and really enjoyed this fast-paced, thrilling story of survival against the odds.

This one wasn‘t for me. I‘ll admit it was a gamble reading the sequel to a book I read eons ago, but I‘m still not sure I would have liked it. It picks up with Pei and Ji Shen moving to Hong Kong and trying to make their own way just in time to get caught up in its WWII occupation by Japan. Many things happen, but the competent, if unadorned, writing lacks much urgency or emotion. As a result, it was just too easy to put down.

No time like when the month is half over to post your August #bookspin list, am I right? 🤪

It‘s special when an author can take multiple points of view, combine them with a non-linear timeline and emerge with a cohesive, satisfying, thought-provoking story. Cummins achieves that here with a story of 3 generations of Puerto Rican women struggling to understand their unique identities and learning to care for each other. A richly told story with compelling characters, this story about identity, family, and belonging is not to be missed.

I tried reading this in two different formats, and I think it‘s time to admit it‘s just not for me. This “thriller” has two first person narrators who are not particularly likable and, even worse, not particularly interesting. Any would be thrills get lost in Nina and Christian woodenly delivering unnecessarily drawn out details of a crime that seems to be created by a series of bad decisions made by them and their respective spouses. 🥱 Next!

I go back and forth on this one. On one hand, it is a little…vacuous? Most of the action takes place with Zippy, our narrator, working her dream job on the I Magnin sales floor. She and many of the supporting characters seem much younger than their ages in a way that is downright distracting. On the other hand, it‘s a book with heart. (1/2)

I really thought that I would enjoy this fictionalized account of Beryl Markham‘s life in colonized Kenya, but I read 100 pages and found myself surprisingly…bored? Even in first person narration, she‘s not really coming to life for me here. Might be a case of bad timing, but I‘m ready to move on from this one. My July #DoubleSpin

Sarah Dessen has a formula: lost, vulnerable female narrators learning how to love and be loved. The formula works so well on me. When Ruby‘s mom disappears, she finds herself living with the sister she thought had abandoned her. As she tries to settle into private school, new friendships, and an idyllic life with her sister and brother-in-law, she can‘t help but feel out of place and as if her new life is only temporary. (1/2)

Didn‘t forget my July #BookSpin list!

Somehow I ended up with copies of this book in 3 different formats but ultimately went with audio. Gabra Zackman‘s narration adds feeling and nuance to this dual timeline story of Augusta, a pharmacist who had her heart broken by her father‘s delivery boy during her youth in 1920s Brooklyn only to rediscover him when she moves into a Florida retirement community many decades later. (1/2)

I‘m bailing out of this one. The premise of the adult granddaughter of Arab immigrants finding her own voice in stand-up comedy sounded great. Unfortunately the comedy isn‘t particularly funny, she‘s got a cringey schoolgirl crush on her boss, and, when trying to learn more about her history, her grandmother gives her a journal to read that is written in third person omniscient. 🤔 Might end up fine but I‘m just not vibing with it. June #bookspin

I recommended this book to my book group because I loved it so much the first time I read it. I then reread it, petrified that I wouldn‘t love it as much as the first time. I need not have worried, I loved it *more.* This story about American missionaries in China in the early 20th century pouring out their lives in sacrifice to heal the bodies and souls of strangers on the other side of the world is balm for my own soul. (1/2)

This is a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction debut that follows the history of a family of women with the ability to reproduce the memory of things written by their pencil company‘s pencils. Amidst the turmoil of WWII and the following Chinese civil war, cousins Yun and Meng are forced to reckon with their unique power and its dangerous repercussions. (1/3)

Golden sky orb is giving light again today! This book is the story of an enslaved woman in Barbados escaping her “apprenticeship” to go on a quest to find her children who had all been sold away. Tragic but also hopeful, this immersive story captures the varied experiences of Rachel and her children in the islands and in South America, a historical time, place, and subject I have not had much opportunity to read about before. Excellent! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Almost time for June #BookSpin 🙂📚

The mysterious golden sky orb appeared, so today we‘ve got a picture of one of these here old timey paper books. This book surprised me. It‘s a set of interconnected short stories set on the islands of the VA shore, a remote place full of people living hardscrabble lives. The stories are vivid but dark, bringing their setting to life. Well-written but unremarkable, the last few took an interesting turn which made for a better than expected read.

After hapless, unmotivated Ed Kennedy interrupts a bank robbery in process, he finds his simple life interrupted by a series of cryptic messages anonymously delivered via playing cards that he must decode and deliver to strangers and friends alike. In the process his small life expands exponentially. This is a sweet story about making a difference with an unexpected end. I struggled a bit with its believability but enjoyed it regardless!

Natasha Boyd reimagines the life of Eliza Lucas, left behind by her father at 16 to manage his 3 indebted plantations. Imagining a way out of debt and out of marriage, Eliza gambles everything on a new crop, indigo. A good historical story and an easy read but Boyd‘s prose is so elementary at times that when she includes excerpts of the real Eliza‘s letters the divide between the real person and the character becomes a little too wide.

Changing it up and actually remembering to post my #bookspin list before the spin. Watch out, world. 🤪

Well-written with beautiful depictions of idyllic Dutch countryside, its deeply unlikable characters, paranoid staid Isabel and artificial encroaching Eva, made this book initially hard to get into. I saw the first “twist” coming but it‘s the second one that takes this book from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Passion, paranoia, and revenge intermingle in this story of the long shadow of history. Well done.

Now we‘re talking. Everybody seems to rave about this series, but I read book one and was underwhelmed. In book two, it really seems to hit its stride, though. The three leads get fleshed out here into richer characters, and we get to see the fierce assassin the first book promises but doesn‘t quite deliver. I won‘t say more for fear of spoilers for any other late adopters like me, but I‘m definitely looking forward to the next book! #DoubleSpin

Well, I just finished my #DoubleSpin so no time like the present to belatedly post my April #BookSpin list. In keeping with doing things kind of backwards and out of order, I think I‘ll start my actual #BookSpin book now. 🤣

I don‘t read many thrillers anymore but every once in a while one captured me. Redemption Road is a dark, multi-layered slow-burn mystery featuring a rich North Carolina setting and a cast of complex characters seeking justice, revenge, and redemption in their own ways. Hart successfully balances multiple mysteries, ask the hard questions about justice and revenge, and keeps the suspense up to the very end. Excellent!

This book overtly states from the beginning that it is not one of those transcendent “kid dying of cancer” books, and it isn‘t. Main character Greg is a hopelessly awkward not quite lovable goofball who finds his social strategy of being universally forgettable destroyed when forced by his mom to re-befriend Rachel, a girl fighting leukemia. The book is funny, honest, but also so unsentimental that the driving tragedy of it seems hollow.

Honestly this book was a bit insane, and I loved it. Romance author Jenn Lanaro finds herself at loose ends when her marriage fails. She absconds with her screen addicted children to the beach town where she grew up, determined to “win points” in the divorce. Chaos unfolds as her childhood best friend emerges from the waves and sea monsters good and bad arrive on scene. Jane does a beautiful job of marrying the honest and the absurd. ⬇️

Wrote my list weeks ago, numbers were drawn last week. Guess there‘s no time like the present to remember to actually *post* my March #bookspin list! 😆

This is a challenging read about racism, bias, and ethics featuring Ruth, an L&D nurse who, caught between her white supremacist patient‘s wishes for her not to care for their son and the baby‘s urgent need for treatment, finds herself accused in the face of the baby‘s death. Picoult explores the perspectives of Ruth, her white public defender, and the baby‘s hateful father. ⬇️

I‘m hit or miss with short stories, but I enjoyed this collection. Donoghue imagines and brings to life moments in the lives of real people from actual historical accounts. The stories were excellent and being given a window into the historical inspiration for each made them even better. Paperback shown here but I actually enjoyed the audiobook which featured different narrators for the different stories to great effect.

This is a sweet cozy fantasy about 3 seer sisters who run a tearoom where they read tea leaves for their customers. Positive the tearoom and home is their future, all 3 are surprised to find themselves called to different pursuits just when it seems they most need to be united to the job of helping elder witches find their life tasks. Leans hard on the “failure to communicate” trope but is ultimately a satisfying story about finding your own path.

Eddie is an African immigrant in London who has written a tour de force of a play about the immigrant experience but can‘t get in the door at any agencies. Hugo is a white guy feeling stifled by his future in law. When the two strike up a friendship that has Hugo posing as the playwright, will it be a success or will it spin out of control? The answer is…yes. ⬇️

Cressida, a fashion designer; her spoiled niece Violet; and Grace, the vicar‘s daughter are thrown together when Cressida‘s home and fashion house are bombed in the Blitz. The three come together with other local women to repair wedding dresses to be shared by women impacted by rations. It‘s a sweet story with a strong message of choosing to live the life you want but the focus on romance made it a bit too twee and predictable for my tastes.

My neglected Kindle got a turn with January‘s #doublespin - I thought this got off to a great start, a pitch perfect modern urban fairytale. Then it became a more pedestrian story of the early days of parenthood. Just when I thought it was about to lose me, the dark fairytale came back with a vengeance. LaValle peels back modern day New York to reveal timeless evil with a few plot twists I wasn‘t expecting. Glad I persevered for this unique read!

Almost forgot my February #BookSpin list!

Finally, my first SJM! I liked it but I didn‘t love it as much as everyone seems to. In the first 300 pages, despite mysterious killings in the castle and death defying tests for Celaena to become the king‘s champion, there seems to be no narrative urgency. Not to mention the idiosyncrasies of mentioning our heroine causing her door hinges to squeak as protection but then being surprised by everyone stopping in unannounced for pages afterward. ⬇️

Was not expecting this to be my favorite book of the month so far. This story about an autodidactic Cuddle Bunny robot bought by the mercurial Doug for his pleasure made my skin crawl from the start. Annie is intelligent but childlike as she learns, and Doug‘s jealousy and self-loathing make him casually abusive. Exploring dynamics of AI, ownership, and humanity, this book could have gone a lot of ways but I‘m glad ultimately went the way it did.

Listening to Lindy West roast the hit movies of my young adulthood was hilarious. I often found myself cackling, regardless of whether I‘d actually seen the movie in question or not. 100% recommend listening to the audiobook. West narrates and it‘s that much funnier for it. My first read for #auldlangspine - thanks @thebacklistbook 🙂

Got off to a rolling start with #bookspin for the year by bailing out of this book (and so also the series) after only 60 pages. So much multi POV angst and so little action. I read YA because it tends to hook me sooner and read faster but this was not doing the job. I‘m sad the second book didn‘t live up to the promise of The Beautiful, but other than that, I think I‘m good with moving on from this series.

Jane Flanagan returns home to Maine to lick her wounds after steamrolling her life and career while under the influence. There she reckons with her mom‘s recent death, her family‘s legacy of alcoholism, and the unexpected history of a house she “adopted” as a teen. There is a lot going on in this book between Jane‘s story, diversions into indigenous history, and first person deep dives into historical characters with connections to the house. ⬇️

Once a builder and a family man, Tom Lowe Jr finds himself approaching rock bottom after falling from a roof. Unable to work, Tom lost his wife and his son as he spiraled into addiction and has crash landed in subsidized housing feeling angry and useless. When the bottom rises up to meet him, Tom…bounces. With his eyes opened to the people around him, he begins to learn to play the hand he was dealt. ⬇️

I got a bookish planner for Christmas that has one perfect blank lined page for each month to use for my #bookspin list. It‘s like it was meant to be. I‘m all listed and ready for January‘s spin!

Finished this book on Christmas Eve and it was a good end of year book. It is a gently told story of Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey who seems to passively greet most of the happenings in her life, both good and bad. While she can be frustrating at times, I think that‘s because Toibin draws her so realistically, flaws and all. His writing is utterly absorbing and made Eilis‘s experience very vivid. I think the sequel will find its way onto my TBR!

Infamous hitmen Charlie and Eli Sisters have been sent by the Commodore to dispatch one Hermann Kermit Warm, but on the way Eli begins to have an existential crisis. Finding himself with empathy for his bum horse, Tub, and a growing conviction that he might better enjoy life as a shopkeeper, Eli considers retirement. An unexpected final reckoning might make the choice for him. Richly drawn characters and a dose of dark humor make this one shine.

Made quick work of my December #bookspin pick by…not finishing it. I knew this was headed for the DNF pile when I had to look up 10 words in the first few pages, and the unstable mother displayed a penchant for speaking in Shakespeare quotes. I have nothing against learning new words, but it felt very much like a book that was going to prioritize style over story, and I just don‘t have the energy for that kind of thing right now. Next!

Evie Porter, professional imposter and con artist finds herself on a job that feels different than those that came before. When it starts to unravel, she has to cook up a scheme not just to save the job but also herself. This is a fun, twisty thriller that weaves around in the time of Evie‘s employ for the shady Mr. Smith and kept me guessing all the while. Recommended!

I really enjoyed this book about intrepid Jean Paget who leads a group of imprisoned women around wartime Malaya, comes into some money, and makes a life for herself in Australia. This is a quiet love story, but mostly Jean‘s story, and you can‘t help but root for this practical, can-do character who in building a life for herself also builds a town for her life.

I missed a tag from @Sace last week, so it‘s #SundayFunday today instead. In a brick & mortar store, I‘m definitely a browser. My immediate area is sadly bereft of indie bookstores so whenever I‘m out vacationing in the world, I try to patronize the indies I don‘t have and will pick up whatever sounds good or they recommend. I actually picked up a copy of Orbital from a store rec early this year before it started getting all its award attention!

Excited to be participating in #AuldLangSpine this for the first time. I usually miss the sign ups and then get all jealous of everybody and their fun lists, but I have a fun list of my own this year from @thebacklistbook ! I think this may be the nudge I need to finally start reading the Throne of Glass series. I‘ll have to start with # 1 but hopefully will make my way to # 3 later in 2025! ⬇️

It has definitely been the autumn of the audio YA. I promise I‘ve read some books written for grown-ups, too. 😆 I LOVED this one. Emoni is a strong, well-written character - a single teen mom trying to figure out her future. I loved her voice and her journey of following her dreams, however difficult, and learning how to balance them with her reality. Highly recommended!

I‘m not sure how this happened, but it appears it‘s already time for the final #bookspin list of the year. I love using this one to get “surprised” by my own TBR pile so it‘s no big shock that I‘ve read most of my picks this year. Hoping for another 2 good ones to wrap up the year. Thanks again to @TheAromaofBooks for hosting! 😀

Separated from his mother and twin brother in childhood, Li Jun and his father are exiled from a land where martial arts are restricted to a land filled with schools who hope to win glory by training the Guardian of the Scroll, the best martial artist in the country. Jun defies his father to compete and finds himself entangled in power struggles beyond his imagining. This is a good if unevenly paced start to a new series. Hits shelves Jan 2025.