Our son was born last week and has taken up all of mommy and daddy‘s free time. Although we wouldn‘t have it any other way. We‘re both absolutely smitten with him. 🥰 Despite all the hurdles and demands of being new parents, we‘re excited for what each day brings.
I‘ll likely be a ghost on here for a while, I haven‘t done any reading since he was born. 😅 I‘ll still lurk from time to time and be back once we settle into our new normal. ❤️

My June #BookSpinBingo board! As per usual, my new #Roll100 choices are marked by dice. My #Bookspin and #DoubleSpin are marked with white feathers. Definitely won‘t get a bingo and I‘ll consider it a miracle if I get even one book finished. 😂🤣 June is going to be a busy, life changing month as we welcome a new little life into the world. 🥰

Seeing as our baby‘s due in the first week of June, I‘m pretty much reusing my entire May list for #BookSpinBingo, minus the three books I‘ve finished this month. 😅 They‘ve been replaced with my June #Roll100 choices. I know for a fact I probably won‘t make ANY headway with this list, but I still like having narrower options for what to read next on my TBR. ❤️👍❤️
Some of these I‘m already currently reading, so there‘s hope I guess. 😜

My #Roll100 picks for June! That‘s also my due month and I‘ve already fallen behind on my reading challenges, so I‘m not stressing on getting to these in a timely fashion. 😅🤣
I still love seeing the sets of pretties and finding out which books are next on my list. ❤️😍❤️

4 ⭐️s
I actually quite liked this. At first I thought the MC was going to scrape at my nerves, but honestly I ended up liking her quite a bit. I enjoyed the slight spin on the “damsel in distress” trope. I‘ll admit I started having some suspicions about what was happening towards the beginning, but the unique twists kept me guessing in the end. Much more of a calm “horror” story than I usually go for, more “campfire creepy” than all out horror.

4 ⭐️s
I thought this was a lovely little whimsical story. I adored the descriptions of the simple lives of all the little creatures. Maybe not the biggest fan of Mr. Toad… 😅

I‘m under the weather again, so my apologies for not having a more wordy review.

This was my #BookSpin for April.

1. Probably the one I‘m currently on, The Wind in the Willows. It‘s beautiful and whimsical, a perfect Spring read.
2. Yes, but usually instrumental only. I typically find music with lyrics distracts me from what I‘m reading. I love listening to movie soundtracks like Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean, and bands like Bond, Escala, Es Posthumus, Therion, etc.
#Two4Tuesday
Tagging anyone else who‘d like to answer!

I‘m a day late, but I wanted to thank all of you for making these past two years even better. Litsy is the only social media I access on the regular and I cherish all of you fellow book lovers. Here‘s to many more years of sharing that love!
❤️ 📚 📖 📚 ❤️

My #BookSpinBingo board for May! 🦋🌺⛅️
The butterflies are marking my #BookSpin (Three Coffins) and my #DoubleSpin (Red Rising). And as usual, I‘ve marked my #Roll100 choices with dice.

I‘m currently hopping between several books on this board, so we‘ll see if that‘s conducive to a bingo or not. 😅

My April #BookSpinBingo card. Didn‘t do great. Madame Bovary might end up being a DNF, but I haven‘t quite decided yet. 😅 Either way, no bingo this month.

I‘ll post my fresh May card later today. 👍❤️

We‘re very busy this weekend and I‘ve come to terms with my current energy limitations, so my goal for the #20in4 will be 20 pages a day from my current read, Wind in the Willows.

My #BookSpinBingo for May! I don‘t foresee me getting a bingo, but we‘ll see. Lots of carry over from last month. I‘m struggling to keep up with my reading nowadays and I‘m sure it‘ll only get worse once the baby‘s on the outside of my body. 🤣

Definitely falling behind on my reading and on staying up to date here on Litsy. This baby growing business is sapping me of all my energy! 😅 Since I never got around to my number 85 roll in April, I‘m carrying it over for May. My other two are (54) Bully For Brontosaurus and (96) Innocent Mage. We‘ll see how much I get through… 😬
#Roll100

4 ⭐️s
A lovely story of a year in the life of the Ingalls family. From one winter to the next, Laura tells about how the family made a life for themselves by living off the land and their homestead. It‘s quite eye-opening how hard people back in the day had to work for things we all take for granted today. I don‘t know that I would ever call it “the simple life”, but Laura and her family certainly take pride and pleasure in the little things.

1. Absolutely! 😍
2. If we‘re strictly talking about them as the main character, it‘d have to be Holden from Catcher in the Rye.

Tagging anyone else with a love for anti-heroes!
#Two4Tuesday

4 ⭐️s
This was definitely an eye opener to the birthing possibilities that the West tends to be ignorant of. I‘m excited and feel much more empowered to bring my child into this world. One of my favorite quotes that I‘ll be pinning up in the birth room was “Let your monkey do it.” Letting the instinctual, animal part of your brain push aside the thinking part is an important skill in this process.
Yes, that‘s my big ol‘ belly in the background. 🥰

1. Not usually on purpose. Unless they‘re part of an unfinished series, then I typically like to wait until I have them all before I start. 😅
2. Hmm… maybe five years? I‘m not really sure… I don‘t do a good job of keeping track of when I got a book. 😬
Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author 🤗
Tagging anyone else who hoards books! 😜
#Two4Tuesday

3 ⭐️s
I was hoping to like this book more than I did…
Characters were a bit cardboard-like. There were a fair amount of parts where action happens “off screen” and we‘re told about it after the fact. The book could have been cut in half and still be a comprehensible story, and I actually PREFER long books. The lack of responsible, critical thinking from any adult character was headache inducing. Might continue the series, but not anytime soon.

Another great one my mom sent me from Facebook. 🤣😂🤣 I knew I had to share it with you guys.

Honestly I‘ve done quite well this year and haven‘t bought any new books yet. I‘ve been whittling down my Mount TBR instead. 👍

I‘ll be keeping my reading goals fairly conservative this month. We‘re doing some major “nesting” around the house this week so I know my reading time will be sparse. 😅

I‘m shooting for the (hopefully) attainable goal of reading for at least one hour every day, maybe two hours on the weekends.

#AwesomeApril

1. Thameron. His frustrations with the hypocrisy of the religion he devoted his youth to, his rebellion followed by hitting rock bottom, and then his “rise” to power all make for the most interesting character setup in the book. I‘m curious to see what sort of “Master of Evil” he becomes.
2. A lot more agency given to the female characters. Like I said in my review, it feels like that‘s the plan, but we‘ll see.
#Two4Tuesday
Tagging everyone! ❤️

3.5 ⭐️s
Not a terrible fantasy novel, but not great either. Still, it kept me reading and coming back to it, so it gets the extra half a star. Quite a few characters to keep track of, but ever since reading WoT, that doesn‘t faze me. I would, however, like to see the characters have more depth to them. The female characters tend to be a little weak for my tastes, but it feels like Smith has a plan to utilize them more in the future.

I didn‘t realize I skipped posting my March goals! 🤦‍♀️ Ah well, back in the saddle for April!

Trying to keep it simple this month. After I get home from work, I don‘t much feel like doing a whole lot. I‘ve noticed I‘ve started favoring foods high in carbs and need to try and train myself to reach for something other than cookies at snack time. 😅 I‘m excited about all my choices for my reading challenges, so that goal should be fairly easy. ❤️

My April #BookSpinBingo board! I‘ve been carrying over the unread books from previous boards and just realized today how many books I have on here that count as MG and YA. 😅 I‘ve marked my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin with tulips and my #Roll100 picks with dice. Hoping for a bingo, but we‘ll see.

No bingos again for my March #BookSpinBingo. This month was a real struggle for me. Either didn‘t feel like reading or didn‘t have the time. Still managed to get both my #DoubleSpin and #Bookspin off the board. Still hoping some warmer weather comes through. It‘s either raining or freezing so I can‘t read outside. 😭

1. Tulips are my absolute favorite spring flower, and a contender for favorite flower overall. My paternal great grandfather always grew tons of them.
2. The Secret Garden.
#Two4Tuesday
Tagging anyone that wants to play along! ❤️🌷❤️

Lol, definitely didn‘t make my 20 hour goal for the March #20in4! 🤣
Life was hectic this past weekend so I knew I probably would get a low number, but I at least thought I‘d hit double digits!

3 ⭐️s
I didn‘t quite know what to expect going into this one, but I‘m glad because I don‘t think I would have given it a chance if I‘d known more details.
I try to expose myself to different belief systems and accept that not everyone believes the same things, nor should we. Therefore it‘s typically difficult for me to read things proclaiming a belief system trumps others in the “good” category. More often than not, this account rubbed me the ⬇️

My #BookSpinBingo list for April! I‘m hoping it starts acting more like Spring around here soon… I‘m sick of the cold and want to be able to mess around in my garden!!

Probably only going to attempt the 20 hours goal for the March #20in4. My weekend is going to be pretty busy, so I‘m not going to be too hard on myself if I don‘t make it. 😅

My April 2022 #Roll100 lineup! I‘m very excited @PuddleJumper decided to roll three numbers this month. 😍 Also very excited to get to these three.

49: Madame Bovary
85: Mexican Gothic
100: Inkheart

A day late with this one. 😅
1. Desperation. It sparked my love for Stephen King books.
2. No, I don‘t necessarily think they‘re better or worse, but I do tend to gravitate more towards books with more than one word in the title. 🤷‍♀️
#Two4Tuesday

I did better on my 2nd half of the #MarvelousMarch Readathon. I got further in the three nonfiction books I‘m reading even though I added The Master of Evil to break it all up a bit. I‘m enjoying the Ina May book much more now that I‘m into the practical advice/tips bit. End of the Spear is probably one I‘ll finish, but not one that I‘ll enjoy enough to keep afterwards. The Master of Evil is fast paced with short chapters and is enjoyable so far.

A roughly midweek check-in for the #MarvellousMarch readathon. I‘m struggling with getting motivated for reading time this week. I think one of my mistakes was putting ALL nonfiction books on my TBR for the week. 😅 Already bailed on Into the Wild and waffling between doing the same with End of the Spear. I can‘t seem to want to pick up the other two again even though I was enjoying them. Maybe March just isn‘t a good reading month for me. 🤷‍♀️

Nope, nope, NOPE!
What a spoiled, ignorant, hypocritical fool. I‘m sorry for his family and that he had to choose the dumbest way to pursue a dream that was completely realistic. You can denounce how most of society lives and forge your own path, just be fucking SMART about it!

I know kids in Scouts that have more sense than this guy.

At least it‘s another off my TBR. It‘s also my March #BookSpin.

These will be what I bounce in between during the #MarvellousMarch Readathon. Starting early with Into the Wild tonight. My goals are to read it and End of the Spear by the 20th and make decent progress on the other two.

4 ⭐️s
I really enjoyed this story, especially Jacob‘s later years. It‘s not a happy tale through most of it, but little snippets of the better parts of humanity shine through and give the reader a breather. The idea that staying on a circus with sadistic, abusive “leaders” that didn‘t always pay you was better than leaving to look for something else during The Great Depression is mind blowing. I truly loved the ending. Rosie is the best character!

5 ⭐️s
We get to see things from Ax‘s perspective. He‘s homesick and struggling with where his allegiances are. Andalite law states it‘s illegal to share Andalite secrets with alien species. Ax‘s older brother broke that law by bestowing the ability to morph to the human Animorphs. The rest of the team is growing frustrated and are hurt by Ax‘s inability to fully trust them. Ax has a heavy choice to make: betray his people or his friends?

Totally forgot to post my #WondrousWednesday answers til today. 😅
1. I‘m definitely a sucker for the multiple POV.
2. Not a full book, unfortunately.
3. I make a monthly list and attempt to read the books that fit my Litsy challenges. Then I may mood read, but still choosing from the set list. Otherwise when it‘s time to choose my next read, I‘d end up staring too long at my shelves mentally arguing with myself. 🤣

My #BookSpinBingo board for March! Water for Elephants is both my #DoubleSpin and a #Roll100 choice, which is perfect because it‘s what I already chose to read currently. 🤣 Into the Wild is my #BookSpin. Not sure which line I‘ll focus on for a bingo, might just be another sporadic month. 🤷‍♀️ Either way, I‘m looking forward to it.

My final #BookSpinBingo board for February. So close to a bingo, but I selected The Selfish Gene as what I would focus on to fulfill that particular spot and I couldn‘t get through it in time. Definitely should have chosen a novel if my goal was to buzz through something. Still managed to read all of both my spins and my #Roll100 choices. 🤘😆🤘 Maybe someday I‘ll get lucky enough that they‘ll line up together into a bingo!🤞😅

We‘ll be visiting family again this weekend so I think I‘m going to try and keep my goals reasonable for the #20in4 Readathon. Planning on going for 20 hours which, according to my Bookly app, should get The Selfish Gene finished and hopefully give me time to start another book. We‘ll see. 😅👍
Good luck with your goals everyone!

My March #BookSpinBingo list! 😍
I‘ve been continuing my habit of carrying over any books I didn‘t finish from the previous month and sprinkling in new ones in the emptied spots.

I absolutely cannot wait for Spring!!! ❤️🥰❤️

I didn‘t realize how many of my #Roll100 books were ones that have been adapted into movies. 🤣😂 These I haven‘t seen though, so it‘ll be fun going into them with no expectations.

Very excited to read these two for March!

1. K.A. Applegate 😅
2. Outside when weather permits. I absolutely cannot wait for warmer weather! ☀️📚🌱🌳
3. YES! I especially love the “choose your own goals” styled ones.

Tagging anyone who hasn‘t played yet!
#WondrousWednesday

Met all my goals for the #FabulousFebruaryReadathon!
All great reads. Just barely keeping on track with my yearly reading goal, but still optimistic I‘ll be able to stay on top of it.

5 ⭐️s
This one resonated with me on so many levels. I‘ve struggled with my mixed emotions of the man that was my step-grandfather, the man who abused me the way so many in this book were abused. Alex felt like she was speaking both to me and for me, my own thoughts often articulated on the pages. I will cherish this book for the rest of my life. It has made me feel seen and like I‘m not alone. One of the most powerful stories I have ever read. ❤️

My #WeekendReading plans. I‘m sure I‘ll be able to finish The Fact of A Body and the next Animorphs, but I‘ll probably only get so far into The Selfish Gene by the end of the weekend. We shall see!

This one is hitting me hard. My own personal life experience makes this a much more emotional read than I think it would have been otherwise. I‘ve had to substitute another book for my “take to work read” so I don‘t break down while on the clock. Not sure I‘ll be able to finish this as quickly as I thought. Still, I feel it‘s already having a very cathartic effect on me and I‘m glad it came into my life despite the resurgence of dark memories.