Not gonna lie, I want to plan a Read-A-Thon. Love when readers become authors who write about books & librarians and simply nail all-the-parts. Oh, and there's a romance story inside this title, too. 🤣

I mean... why can't KC write faster? Couldn't stop reading this one and finished in less than 24 hours. So, Ms Center, if you see this could you, maybe... possibly write like a book a week or something? Absolutely loved your author's note at the end as well. (Read as an ARC and highly recommend you preorder or ask your library to purchase- publishes summer 2024.)

I'm a better human being thanks to books that open my eyes to things that have never gotten my attention before. Quick, informative read! I really liked the part where she talks about having her own eyes opened to what it means to be more accessible. Something that definitely motivates me.

I really, truly thought I had one character pegged for something and it turned out not to happen. I'm glad for that but was half-way to being ready to pay myself on the back only to be let down by the fact that I was wrong. 🤷🤦 I learned a lot about Princess Diana (impersonation) and cryptocurrency so I can only imagine the author learned even more in preparing for this book.

Peculiar Treasures was my very first RJG title 16 years ago. I instantly felt like these fictional characters were friends and we were figuring out life together. How mad and simultaneously excited was I to learn that despite this being book #1 that there were 27 books before this in various series and many that have been written since that only intensifies my feelings of holding these forever friends deep in my heart...

Expand Your Horizons 2024: read a book with an animal on the cover ✔️

It took me a bit to understand the flow of the book with multiple POVs, including a perceptive, aging octopus. Brilliantly woven together.

Truth.

The perfect swoony clean romance. Both main characters had a lot to overcome but doing so together built a strong foundation for a relationship neither saw coming.

Expand Your Horizons 2024 task, a book with a one word title.

Spy thrillers aren't my go-to genre but it reads more like the National Treasure movie franchise with more dismembered body parts but predictable in... of-course-someone-will-double-cross-another.

I know cultures are way different in history but I struggle with reading societal expectations and when men don't listen to women when they say no to advances.

So so good! Could be read alone but filled with Easter eggs and nods to earlier AJ stories.

I was instantly drawn in and engaged but by half way though I had fallen asleep multiple times while reading so...

March 2024 (Bible was a 75 day read, finished in March)
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Just not my sense of humor. All centered with a movies/TV/Hollywood theme which I couldn't care less about.

Granger Community Church Bible in 75 Day Challenge
done. I've never read through the Bible cover to cover, let alone expected to keep up with the pace of this challenge. When diving into devotions or listening to sermons only small sections are discussed or mentioned and so much foreshadowing and connections are missed from other passages. Hoping to jump into a chronological Bible next. ❤️ (Hubby building me bathroom shelves)

Not at all surprised to love this story just as much as the first. Enough back story given it could be read alone, but best suited as a follow up to The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. To be surrounded by new and not-so-new-anymore friends who lead and guide from the heart, this story is one for all ages!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) x Dear Martin (Nic Stone)

Contemporary YA set in an American Muslim community told through alternating chapters and the letter style spoken word narratives from our main protagonist.

This book will be everywhere this year, put it on hold now at your library. Especially with it being a political year... so much is true about coming to terms with simply voting for the lesser of two not-so-great politicians.

Took me a bit to get into the multiple POV + forward and backward in time but once I understood the pacing, I found myself rooting for them as they discovered and healed themselves and found each other.

Grace and Box is one of my favorite picture books, encouraging imaginative play! So fun to hear and meet Kim Howard at the Indiana Library Federation Youth Services Conference yesterday. ❤️

I have learned more history in my recreational reading, through fiction and non-fiction, than I ever learned as it was force fed me all my years of public school. History books condense tid bits over and over again until you quit seeking more information and just absorb what is spoon fed through text books. Reading historical fiction, based on true events, is way more enjoyable in my opinion. I gain histories I didn't know I was...

Yikes. I was so excited to read this book but it felt more like a misnamed thesis. Maybe I just knew more than the average reader about most of the subjects mentioned and so what was pulled from each of their stories felt weighted to aim for a certain angle just for this book. I don't know. In my opinion just read a book on each person or team and leave this book for people cramming for Jeopardy or something.

February 2024
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Slow to start but the last 2/3 flew by. Only wish there was a bit more build up at the costume party towards the end. Love that many of the characters were based on or inspired by powerful and unique women in history.

Definitely a series that needs to be read in order to fully grasp what is happening but it does appear that the show is quite close to the books so far, though I appreciate the diverse casting that isn't reflective of the book.

Choose your happy. God is simply glad you are in His presence on this day of Sabbath.

A classic to most but this was my first time reading The Color Purple. It was way more complex than what I had expected- I way underestimated such a powerful story could be packed into a smaller book. The epistolary style kept the pace, even with months and years between letters once they started writing to each other on opposite sides of the world.

Such a slow, slow story but a very realistic scenario in the modern day DNA test taking Ancestry craze.

Wish the "...based on the book by..." Tagline was at the beginning and not the end of a movie. I much prefer to read then watch. This was very good!

Hubs got big brownie points today for gifting me a wall of shelves in my reading room as an early Valentine's Day gift. Mostly unpacked but lots of shifting and organizing to come. Thankful for my handy hubby. 🙌♥️🥰

Powerful middle grade. This was a buddy read with my 6th grader. Themes of bereavement, alcohol abuse, homelessness, bullying, and financial insecurity are all heavy topics but portrayed in a way that didn't sugarcoat any of it and will leave young readers to feel "seen" and "understood" but characters that may have similar circumstances to themselves.

Sigh. There is all.the.reasons. why I keep rereading these 40 some books on repeat over the years. It's simply like spending time with the best of friends in all of their highs and lows. Each time, I connect to something different and it amazes me. Can't wait for our next book club discussion of I Promise (College Years #3). ♥️

I LOVED THE OPENING CHAPTER! The rest was good too but the first chapter had my whole heart. I instantly felt a connection to the main character. The end felt rushed compared to the build up and there isn't a super clear HEA though it alludes to it.

January 2024
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Sometimes family is chosen and healing comes from the unexpected. Womens fiction at its best.

Another buddy read with my kiddo. This one reminded me a lot of The Girl's I've Been (Tess Sharp) and Nowhere Girl: A Memoir Of A Fugitive Childhood (Cheryl Diamond).

(2024) Reread in anticipation of the second book coming out in early March. I have recommended this book endlessly the last few years and for good reason.

(2018) First read as ARC. Screams to the whole world to drop everything and read this book. Awards received throughout the following year.

Holy cow. I learned so much history about my state (Indiana) that I have never, ever imagined. This book is not for everyone, it doesn't gloss over anything.

Very cute. Just short enough we could read it together in one sitting at bedtime.

Three cute novella length stories. Romance without all the open door descriptives. Perfectly trope filled.

500+ pages and just when you feel like maybe, just maybe, the pacing is going to pick up- bam. The book is over and you are expected to pick up the next doorstopper. No thanks.

Dragons are not my fictional being of choice (mermaids are), but the more I read them the less originality I find in their stories. Simply seems like they are all facing similar themes, speak similar languages, etc etc. But my kiddo was actively invested so I'll count it as a win and pray he dreams of Green Bay football and not fire holes inside dragon throats and mean boys jealous of their future leader.

Wow wow wow. None of it surprised me but I was still so captivated the whole time I was reading. I've ordered and joined several MLMs in my adulthood and had the ick feeling of asking people to join me. While I still shop my favorite monthly, it's been years since I felt the push to promote up the various pyramids. I started recommending this book to others before I even finished it.

I remember loving The Great Gatsby in high school and often tell people it was one of my favorite school reads. However, reading this adaptation makes me want to reread the original. Maybe my adult prospective changes this but I remember loving the drama of all the love triangles but this time round it felt too icky. 🤷

Set in Puerto Rico in the 1800s, this novel follows the journey of a woman sold into slavery and used as a breeding mare before being sold again to a much, much friendlier sugar cane plantation with its own flaws. Written forward and backwards in time and from varying perspectives weaves a very personal journey where all hope has been stripped away - over and over again. Not a light read but an important one.

Trigger warning: sex trafficking

Photocopied the spines of the books I read in 2023. I'd say they stacked up fairly well 😆

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December 2023
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Shared with my kiddo. She's already read all the I Survived (Tarshis) series and this fell between those and single point of view Alan Gratz in style. If I had to guess right this moment what my kiddo would do career wise based on her reading interests- it would be extreme meteorologist or storm chaser.

Hands down one of the best non-fiction reads of my year. We will start our third year of the 1,000 Hours Outside Movement next week and it has changed my family's outlook so much! Chapters are filled with research and context for getting back outside in a world where screens have replaced so much of our outdoor sensory and learning. This book is very, very marked up and will be read again because I'm sure to continue absorbing more each time.

My third time reading through this one, first with my kiddo. Written for its time, I did a fair share of helping him understand words no longer used but I think it helped keep him engaged a bit longer with each read-aloud session because he was listening for words he didn't automatically know.