1. My mom's (now mine) Christmas cactus blooming a second time in 2025

2. My third betta fish in as many weeks. This one is intent on living, as opposed to the two previous little guys.

3. A new leather sunglass chain

4. A really nice day, despite the gusty winds, to run errands and sit quietly in a small library in a town half an hour away

5. A Book Circle meeting yesterday at a branch of the Ocean County Library

@DebinHawaii #5JoysFriday

Revolution tastes oddly...sweet.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Trying to get caught up on books from my mountainous TBR and huge pile of magazines.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. I bought a Twintail Halfmoon betta fish on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I think he's dying. I'll go back to the pet store and get another handsome guy.

2. I'm about to get new roof shingles and solar panels over the next few weeks

3. Other than going back to the pet store, I'll have plenty of time to read today 📚 🥰😃

4. Spring is 4 weeks away ❤️👍

5. Good reading buddies on Litsy and at the Book Circle I attend

@DebinHawaii #5JoysFriday

I usually try to power through them, but sometimes I just give up and don't read for a while.

I need to pick up the tagged book and get it finished. 🙄😏

I finished this chunkster yesterday. I have the special edition, so there's extra chapters and added materials that I need to read. But I'm done with the main story. Even though I said I might not continue reading the series, i will probably buy the next book.

I still think this book could've been trimmed significantly to make it more effective.

So, soft pick for me.

#Yarros #fantasy

1. I'm feeling well mentally, but I still have severe chronic knee pain, despite visits to 2 orthopedic doctors and bilateral knee replacement surgery 2.5 years ago.

2. I walk 2.5 miles twice a day

3. How to maintain a positive outlook. Sorry if you've already covered that. I'm new to your posts on mental health.

@Kerrbearlib #mentalhealthmonday

Still very much in Navarre with Violet, Xaden, and the rest. There are many scenes I think are very well done, and I'm invested in the characters. But I still think this book could have been trimmed by 100 pages or more. Tightening the story would have shot this chunkster from good to over the moon engaging, IMHO. Does anyone else feel that way? Or am I an outlier?

#WhereAreYouMonday

I'm about halfway through this chunkster. Although I find the main group of characters likable, I reiterate my observation from a previous post that this book could have been trimmed significantly, which would have made the plot much more riveting. The author tends to glide through her fantasy world much too slowly. I will certainly read to the end. But whether I continue reading the series is very much up in the air.
#fantasy #dragon

Right now, it's Saturday morning in my corner of the world. Why do I keep thinking 🤔 it's Sunday?

Bloody confused 😕 😳🤣

#confused

1. Still can't believe I got a tattoo about two and a half weeks ago! 😳
2. A friend gifted me the dragon when she heard I got the dragonfly tattoo and that I was also reading Fourth Wing
3. + 4. For sure, I'm getting a betta fish tattoo on my left thigh by the end of the year. Unsure about the stylized dragonfly tattoo
5. I'm so glad I have bookish friends here at Litsy and at the IRL Book Circle at the library
#5JoysofFriday. @debinhawaii

I‘m a little more than 50 pages into Fourth Wing, which hails at 541 pages. I like the characters and story well enough, I guess, but I think it could have been more tightly written and could move at a much quicker pace. On page 58, the story is still focused on the morning when Violet Sorrengail is conscripted into Riders School. Really??!! Let‘s get this story moving! Yeah, everyone‘s scared. Move on!

Of course, I'll be using a dragon bookmark wit this new read! 😁😆

I usually don't pick up books that are on the bestseller lists. I normally read indie authors and those who are considered to be mid-list authors. But this book jumped off the table near the door of the local Barnes and Noble and into my hands. What was I to do?? I broke down and bought it along with a few others to the tune of almost $75. 🙄😳😆 Ya can't let me lose in a bookstore. 😁🤣

I read this book about two weeks ago and loved it. I'll read it again within the next few months. I'm currently reading Rising Strong, also by Brene Brown. 💕😍

Thanks so much to @TheBookHippie for the great #LLSS package. I read Reichl's memoir, Save Me the Plums and look forward to reading her novel. I also look forward to reading the other books from authors I haven't read before. I love the bookmark; I can always use more as I usually have several books going at once.

#litsylove

I think this is my package from @TheBookHippie for the #LLSS exchange.

Thanks so much.

@Bookgoil @Deblovestoread

My #Litsylovesummerswap package went out today to @TheBookHippie. It should arrive on Thursday.

#LLSS #Litsylove @Bookgoil @Deblovestoread

I've received such awesome cards and goodies from the great Littens who participated in #summersolstice. Thank you, guys. The cards brightened my day when I received them.

#litsolace

To Catch a Spy by James M. Olson is my #DoubleSpin (#6) for June. I have no idea where The Vegas Flop, the book for my #BookSpin (#17), is located. Although the title is familiar... 🤔

Talk about an overwhelming TBR. 😅🤣😆

@TheAromaofBooks

Thanks to @KadaGul for her #litsolace card and goodies.

My cards will go out soon.

@TheBookHippie

My name is Abby Huxford, and in my twenty-nine years I've broken one hundred and seventeen bones.

Last I Saw Him by Arthur Herbert

#FirstLineFridays #litsylove @ShyBookOwl

I'm a bit late, but I just began the tagged book. The author writes about her time as an ambassador's wife in Madrid during Barack Obama's presidency.

#FoodandLit2024 @Catsandbooks @Texreader
##litsylove

In the movie Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise plays a recently fired, now-freelance sports agent whose success mantra becomes "Show me the money!"

#FirstLineFridays #litsylove @ShyBookOwl

✔️ My indie author friend has started writing his third book
✔️ I am gradually pulling out of a reading slump
✔️ I've scheduled a lunch date with a woman friend next week
✔️ I've written a poem this week
✔️ I plan to join a writing group soon

@debinhawaii
#fivejoysfriday
#litsylove

#wondrouswednesday ##litsylove

@eggs

1. Shortly after I started fifth grade, I went to the library with the reading list the teacher had handed out. Mr. Gesler, the librarian in the children's section, asked if he could help, so I said I needed a book to read and handed him the list. He asked what the checkmarks next to all the books on the list meant. I said that they were the books I had already read. ⬇️

1. I don't often go on picnics, but I'd take either hard-boiled eggs, deviled eggs, or an egg salad sandwich. Homemade iced tea to drink.

2. The tagged book 📖

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday #litsylove @TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65

I read about one-third of Out With the Tide (#18) and set it down. Meh. I may pick it up again in the near future. I'm about to start The Third Chapter (#4).

I've also read Nick of Time by Cathi Stoler. I'm also part way through Out of Time by the same author.

##litsylove #bookspin ##Doublespin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks @andrew65 #awesomeapril

1. I used to play the flute when I was much younger

2. Tagged book

#Two4Tuesday #LitsyLove
@TheSpineView
@DaveGreen7777

"Again?" Rob Crosley mumbled as he made his way down the steps to the beach.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

My May 2024 #BookspinBingo #Bookspin #Doublespin

I've started reading Out With the Tide and look forward to reviewing it on my blog.

The Third Chapter (I'll fix my bingo card 😆) will be a reread for me. I read it several years ago.

@TheAromaofBooks

I* Daffodils
II* The Sound of Paper
III* Visit a few state parks

@Eggs
#WondrousWendesday

My May #Bookspin list.

@TheAromaofBooks

I'm reading Winter Tales II: Women on the Art of Aging. So, I'll continue with that book and also continue Find Out Anything From Anyone, Anytime by James O. Pyle & Maryann Karinch and Go Luck Yourself by Andy Nairn. I'll also start The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud.

@Andrew65 #AwesomeApril

I've never met any authors in person. But I'm friends and talk on the phone with Garrett James, a new indie author whose books I have blurbed here on Litsy recently.

I'd love to meet Neil Gaiman. I own a few of his books, but they're still residing in my humongous TBR piles. Yeah, that's piles with an s.

I wish I could have met Nathaniel Hawthorne and Robert Louis Stevenson.

#sundayfunday @BookmarkTavern @DaveGreen7777 @wanderinglynn

1. Small town, or maybe suburbs
2. Tagged book

@TheSpineView @Andrew65 @Cinfhen

A love story with appeal to both sexes. As Long as I Breathe is such a story. James highlights characters that men and women can enjoy and see themselves in that situation. Steph Morgan is caught in an abusive relationship. Even so, she shows herself to be strong and capable as a single mom. Mason Cain seems to be what the outside world sees—a tough, tattooed ex-con. What will they go through as the jealous boyfriend goes haywire? (Some sex)

Want to read a great love story? Or give it as a gift to your significant other? Only Twice by Garrett James will fill that bill nicely.

This delightful ode to love highlights one man's life and how the simple act of telling one's story can change another person's life. The common outlook is that true love only happens once in a person's life. But is that really true? Only Twice will convince you otherwise.

Although I've read this poetry collection in the past, I've taken it off the shelf again. I'm still as enthusiastic as ever about this poet's insight and skill. After I finish this collection, I'll re-read her other collection, A Hinge of Joy. Fabulous, succinct poems.

Thank you to the folks at #athingaday for the nice and unexpected gifts. The package came two days ago. I love the pad, and I can always use more bookmarks because I usually have a lot of books going at once. 😁 😎

#gifts #package #thankyou

1. My book reviews on my blog, janecairns.com, are coming along well

2. I'd love to meet a few of the authors whose books I have reviewed. I'd ask them when they knew they wanted to be a writer and which authors they like to read.

3. I love to read indie authors and write about their books on my blog - to spread the word about their work. The tagged book is an excellent example of a great indie author.

@Eggs @Andrew65 @CoffeeandaGoodBook

Loved this one. A novel of connected short stories about James Leipfold, private investigator. The stories deal with his somewhat younger years and how he became an investigator, and how he met Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley. Nicely done.

#mysteries #privateinvestigator

This is a new author for me. This is the first book in his Leipfold Mystery series. I'm enjoying it so far. Reading this for #serieslove23 and #MarvelousMarch

@Andrew65 @DieAReader @TheSpineView

Great first book in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series. Fergusson is the priest of St. Alban's in an upstate New York town. Van Alstyne is the police chief. They team up to solve the mystery surrounding a newborn boy left at the church. Murder soon follows. As does a blossoming illicit romance between Fergusson and Van Alstyne (he's married).

I'll read more in this series.

@Andrew65 @TheSpineView #FabulousFebruary #SeriesLove2023

Thanks for the Valentine's Day card. @dabbe 💝 It really made my day. 😀

#Valentines

Great second book in the Wexford/Sloane mystery series. A strong historical mystery set in Regency London. Lord Wexford and Charlotte Sloane make a formidable, evenly matched pair. Friends of Raven and Hawk (Charlotte's wards) are a troupe of streetwise urchins who help gather information, similar to Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars.

Good characterization of both primary and secondary characters.

@Andrew65 #FabulousFebruary #SeriesLove2023

Great opener to Tom Fowler's series about CT Ferguson. CT is home from Hong Kong, where he worked as a hacker to help people emigrate from China surreptitiously.

His parents insist he do something to help people. He thinks he can be a detective based on his skills. Alice Fisher calls and CT is on his way.

Good characterization. I'll read more, including the prequel novella about CT's time in Hong Kong.

#serieslove2023 @Andrew65 @TheSpineView

Hey @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks, if you need a helping hand with book reviews for the #LitsyLove newsletter, I can chip in a review now and then, whenever you need it.

(Do you think I can find your email?! Lost in space, I guess.) 🤣😁

I finished The Drums of War by Michael Ward a few days ago. This is the third book in his Thomas Tallant series. It's a great book for lovers of historical fiction that's mixed with a little romance and a bit of mystery.

This series just keeps getting better.

#readathon #joyousjanuary #serieslove2023
@Andrew65 @TheSpineView @TheBookHippie

So sorry, @cinfhen, I need to back out of participating in #muglove23. Hopefully, I can join the action at the next mug swap. 🥺