August 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
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I live in the Amish belt and know the stance on war is clear but I hadn't ever considered the draft playing into it. There was a section of a character who conscientiously objected the war/draft and was then stoned & attacked for doing so by complete strangers further emphasizes the hate to those not willing to serve. That was eye opening but even more so was that they never called the police or took him to a hospital but rather,...

What in the world? I've seen the Disney movie once, when I was a child but thought I should read the classic as an adult. So weird. Wonder if the manuscript was submitted today if it would even make it out of the publisher slush pile.

While I didn't read the first 22 books in the series, it was easy to tell this wasn't the first. A lot of it read as if ways to remind a reader of a previous storyline when bringing characters in and out of the Elm Creek Compound. This was told as a dual timeline between 1933 and 2004 reminiscing about the largest quilt contest ever recorded for the Chicago World's Fair and two sisters who worked together on their entry.

This book could be triggering to those that struggle to read medical content, including sickness & birth. The entire story takes place over the course of 3 days and reads a lot like Call The Midwife but in a hospital setting. Societal norms not so distant in our history.

This one took me a bit to get through, but digesting it in sections left time to process and make connections multiple times with each of my kids, even the one who is 10 (not quite a teen). I definitely earmarked some sections to re-read in the next few years. While not all the research is their own, between the stories shared and how they correlate to each model the format of this book reminded me a lot of Brene Brown.

sigh. perfection. again. circle stories aren't as prevalent in adult titles as they are in children's stories and this one was done beautifully. I also felt some ties to The Princess Bride (found family, other words for love, etc) and I appreciated it even more having just read The Art Thief because owning art, and appreciating art in a shared space is expressed at length and it gave me a great readers perspective while enjoying this book as well.

A bit slow towards the last third with an abrupt end around where my knowledge of her starts, so I guess I need book #2 Home Work next.

I dislike her mother. Not as much as Judy Garland's mother or Jennette McCurdy's mother, but I do dislike her.

Picked it up because it had a mermaid on the cover, but kept reading and then listening when all the French was slowing my pace, because it was the Little Mermaid meets Cinderella mash-up that I didn't know I needed. Filled with fae, war, wealthy ship family dynamics, and a love triangle it was everything I didn't know I'd enjoy wrapped up in a historical fantasy. Sigh. I'm sad it's over but so thankful for the epilogue.

Annabel Monaghan is quickly becoming a favorite author, I love that she writes rom-coms that I can so easily visualize in my head with great characters and side characters, easy banter, and new tropes while also keeping classy with what is left unsaid in the bedroom.

Netgally ARC
publishes January 2026

I could relate to so much of this and saw many parallels to my daughters friend groups growing up as well. When my best friend moved away in late elementary school I never did find another best friend outside of my sister (in adulthood) and my husband but rather had wonderful friend groups that I still enjoy today.

In the 1960s girls whose families couldn't afford them, felt they were making bad decisions, were pregnant, etc were sometimes sent to the Good Shepherd School in New York under the care of nuns who abused their power in some of the worst possible ways. Based on very real history in America and the evidence of 1.5-4 million women who lost their children to unauthorized, irregular, or forced adoption between 1946-1969, according to NY Times.

Netgally ARC
Expected publication September 9, 2025

This middle grade graphic novel took me way back to the middle school note sharing days of trying to fit in. I can only imagine how much more complex it is now with technology. Anyway, a diverse group of friends/frenemies navigating societal expectations at home and at school, including leaving admiration notes to yourself in effort to be more liked. Not a far fetched idea, but it backfires.

Netgally ARC
Expected publication September 2, 2025

I enjoyed the original as a young reader, and again as an adult, along with the movie, so getting a glimpse of yet another artistic medium as a graphic novel was a treat! The pen and watercolors add so much to the living water narrative of the story. Graphic novels do condense the original work, but adapters, who also love the original, take care to incorporate details into the art. Well done!

July 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
#2025SpineStack
#MaggiesSpineStacks
#StorygraphStats

July 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
#2025SpineStack
#MaggiesSpineStacks
#StorygraphStats

July 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
#2025SpineStack
#MaggiesSpineStacks
#StorygraphStats

Third/final Peapod Farm middle grade graphic novel.
ARC from Netgally
Publishes August 2025

Excellent blended family narrative with city life/country farm, Christmas/Hanukkah, growing up, crushes, sister/step sister/place dynamics.

So bizarre, the idea of consuming knowledge through eating the brains of others and when "redemption" is given then surviving off books, maps, and other printed material as a source of food. Definitely a unique science fiction read, one where you see many parallels in how we parent and protect at all costs.

Had I not read a half dozen books set in/around Afghanistan & India prisons I don't think I would have been able to get through this book of essays. But because I have I could picture these women, living out sentences that are not earned, in conditions inhumane, but still with a drive to find joy in the relationships they are building with one another despite their realities. I especially enjoyed the parts...

I know a family like the Breitweisers, the mother/son dynamic specifically. I could imagine Stephane & his mother's relationship so vividly while reading, her desire to protect her son at all costs. Anyway, The Art Thief is well researched and a fast paced narrative non-fiction/biography of 200+ art heists by a collector who just wanted to live surrounded by the art he enjoyed.

Fast paced, as expected from Tess Sharpe, where there is zero build up just page 1 and in the thick of the story with the racing heart and it doesn't slow down until the very end.

"Autism's Lost Girls and Women have Long been overlooked, unrecognized, underdiagnosed, and left off the spectrum." This book explains how it happened and is a call to action to correct it, but a Cognitive Neuroscientist that says she was part of the problem and how she intents to improve research in the future. This book actually had me thinking about adults in my life and wondering if their tendencies are also attributed to undiagnosed...

I absolutely loved the premise and the banter but the descriptive love scenes were too much and took away from the way the characters really worked well together and made it all about their physical connection and downplayed their character and relationship development that was well written.

I'll be honest, at first I didn't like any of the characters at all but as you get to know each of them and where they are coming from and the hurt they've experienced it all makes sense how they interact with one another. The ending makes this question if it's autobiographical fiction, which makes it even more interesting. I'll definitely be coming back for more Hannah Orenstein.

Informative but I prefer my non-fiction more narrative style.

Netgally ARC
The themes of grief in this book (friends moving, parent, grandparent, and spouse bereavement are very prevalent and well done but I related to the missing connection between myself and my teenager who is so busy doing all the things that I grieve the time we once had together. No matter if you read this book for the retelling, or for diversity, or just because it's a graphic novel I think there is something inside it for everyone.

I don't expect less from TJR but this was another fantastic book, and a nail biter to the very end. So good.

Flying isn't a possibility right now so reading with my feet off the ground while spending an afternoon via a hammock seems like the next best choice.

The ending felt too rushed and the fantasy side of it is all at the end and disproportionate from the first half of the book. I don't know, just felt unbalanced- I loved the first half and then it all just became too much for a middle grade book. Either be fantasy or be a relatable family/friends/growing up storyline just not both. Faes and wishing wells and Modern Family & Friends references in the same book are just too different.

I went into this book without even having read the synopsis. I thought it was going to be a light read based on the cover but it was a gut-punch instead. One of the main characters, that has their own POV chapters has early onset dementia and it's heart breaking to read their confusion and then alternating between his wife and daughter's prospective as well while they are watching the decline.

I don't think I've read any other books that were set around not only the fighting and revolution but also while smallpox was also raging and how communities were trying to get ahead of it. Although this book was middle grade it did not gloss over the brutality of the disease in any way. This book would be an excellent addition to any history lesson set around the 1770s.

Modern day 'You've Got Mail' vibes but when the guy manages a romance bookstore and she manages a literary fiction bookstore and they are competing for a management position when they are forced to merge.

Amazing. Looped together to be informative, but with a wonderful narrative to keep it interesting.

June 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
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Mystery elements didn't start until halfway though the book. The first half felt like a direct copy of "Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing" (Emily Lynn Paulson) but I guess that's the reality of all MLMs.

Some historical overlap that I first learned about while reading Killers Of The Moon Flower (David Grann) but with classic Lisa Wingate dual timelines perfection.

As an accessibility advocate, anything that can help me broaden my perspective to include more and more people is a good thing. I learned a lot in this book about varying types of wheelchair users, and the lack of universal design in so many items available on the market today. We, humans, can do better. I think, like mental health, speaking about and to benefit all accessibility, too, can lose its taboo.

Why do I keep thinking about the whole concept of rewriting history or deleting it as a new thing? It's not. What we are spoonfed as public school students, in condensed paragraphs expected to give a truthful take on history is more wrong than right. I'm going to keep reading non-fiction about the world I live in and the people who surround me until I'm dead and I'll be better for it. Wow.

I knew nothing of Hick, unlike many of the topics/people Sarah Miller writes about. So this was all so new information and I enjoyed how it was written intermixed with commentary verses straight epistolary style.

The title drew me in and when I went to pull it from the shelf I realized I have read so many books from this section of the library, all with such different titles that I knew I needed a new Goodreads Tag so I've added Social Sciences Equality, because despite reading so many, little has changed but each empowers me to be more bold in my existence and desire to see more for future generations.

I hadn't ever given much thought to the passengers and crew of the Carpathia, the ship that heard Titanic's distress calls, and at much risk to themselves rushed to help. This book is historical fiction, but a lot of work went into the storyline and it contains real people know to surround the story and events, including mistaken identities when there were multiple passengers with the same names, and burials at sea for those rescued but that...

Extremely predictable until the very, very end and then an unreliable narrator enters the scene.

This was a great pallet cleanser audiobook between some heavier non-fiction books. It wraps up nicely so not sure where the series is going, but maybe just new characters in new settings/National parks? I have had Grand Teton National Park on my someday list but hopefully I can get there sooner and enjoy all the park has to offer after the vivid imagery described in this book.

Some are definitely more interesting than others and from history to current events (Gabby Petito 2022) these stories all have the National Parks, Monuments, and public lands in common. The closest to me was the story of the 6 year old boy that was swallowed into a hole at the Indiana Dunes yet lived after being buried alive.

Some real world information mixed in with some magical realism topped with overreaching government officials.

2025 Expand Your Horizons Task - a book by author Walter Farley. This was the first in a series and was honestly so, so good. I really wasn't expecting that but the plot is fast and keeps you interested from beginning to end, suitable for any age.

Despite this completely wrong cover the story inside is good. The main character Haidie is 14 throughout the book and has disguised herself as a boy in an effort to travel west with her younger brother in search of their father after their older brother places them in an orphanage. Her character has short hair and her attire both aid in her boy-ish appearance. This could easily be enjoyed by teen readers as well.

Fun but a little cheesy from an adult perspective. Good lessons on the lasting impact of marginalizing others.

May 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
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