Violet - Spirit 💜 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Spirit (n) - the quality of courage, energy, and determination or assertiveness
Here are some favorites with characters who possess great spirit!

Happy Pride everyone! I can't believe Pride Month is already ending, June flew by 😅
But don't forget to #ReadQueerAllYear 🌈❣️

Okay this just made my day! I received my Jane Austen Lego set and I just had to put it together right away! It looks so perfect on my Austen shelf ☺️

Indigo - Serenity/Harmony 💙 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
I interpreted this prompt as characters finding serenity or peace within themselves and harmony or agreement in relationships with others 🙏🏼

Happy #5JoysFriday - and what a week it's been 🫠 @DebinHawaii

1. Evening pool time with friends
2. Temporary AC at work - FINALLY 🥵
3. I snagged the Jane Austen Lego set which I'm excited about
4. We've been watching a pair of wood-pewees build and inhabit a nest on top of one of our porch pillars. We peeked yesterday and saw a few eggs! 🪺
5. I won a storygraph giveaway! 🎉

I'm not sure which litten recommended this book but thank you! This was such a great retelling from Henry Tilney's perspective. He never struck me as a regular 'suitor' in the original and this book delves into that a bit. It was fun to witness him enjoying spending time with Catherine and teasing her, turning into a true fondness under his father's encouragement. I don't know if he would have easily found love otherwise ⬇️

I haven't read a Scalzi that didn't make me cackle with laughter and this was no exception! I really love the character of the bumbling new manager who's in over his head. The cats and the dolphins were of course wonderful but I loved the mystery and spy novel of it all as well.
I'm glad #AuthorAMonth made me finally listen to this one, I've had it for a while. Plus Wil Wheaton's narration was the cherry on top! #AAM @Soubhiville

Turquoise - Magic 🩵 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
The top two series are favorites, with interesting magical systems and lovely romances at the heart. Then there are FT Luken's books, which aren't a series, but all have different magical aspects. Spell Bound is my favorite but they're all great in different ways ✨

I read this with my bookclub this month. We had our meeting last night and the discussion was so fun! We all enjoyed the story. Lenna was a bit of an annoying character at times but I liked switching between her perspective and Mr Morley's. There were some twists that were well written and one we didn't see coming! It was interesting how popular seances were in the Victorian era and how they could take advantage of the grieving families

A group of bandits takes in a nun and gets more than they bargained for... This was a fast-paced story with interesting characters. I would have liked to read more of their adventures by the end, the world had a fascinating history. And the writing was funnier than I expected
#14Books14Weeks @Liz_M #QueerBC @PuddleJumper

Green - Nature 💚 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Whether it's lush descriptions of forests or travels off the beaten path, finding meaning through observing or struggling against the dangers within 🌳

Yellow - Sunshine 💛 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
These books have summer vibes, the characters having their adventures out in the sun ☀️

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
This week has been hectic and honestly a bit miserable - the AC at my work is broken and it's been almost 90 degrees this week 🥵
Joys: 1&2 - Oakley and Ben snuggles, 3 - seeing Indiana Jones in the theater with a big ol' bucket of popcorn, 4 - birds at my feeders, 5 - a cool house to come home to each evening!!

Finished in May - I found this one enjoyable. Cassie hooks up with an older woman at a bar and discovers the next morning that it was her best friend's mom. They end up sneaking around whenever they're together, which is a surprising amount considering Cassie is at college hours away lol. The most frustrating thing was the excuses they kept giving to themselves and each other that they weren't going to do anything anymore because "it's wrong" ↩️

This was a really lovely middlegrade read. Ellen is on a class trip to Barcelona. She's Jewish, she's autistic, & she has a great dad. But she feels like her best friend is pulling away from her. When they get put on different teams for a group project, she has to learn how to make new friends & set boundaries in her relationships. There's also a new classmate who uses they pronouns, who makes Ellen think outside the binary categories shes used to

Orange - Healing 🧡 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Life is hard sometimes. Here are some of my comfort reads in which the main characters go through some healing ❤️‍🩹

We all know I love a time loop romance, and this one was done beautifully! I liked how Jess was brought into the time loop scenario, & how they broke Phoebe out of her routines. The disability rep was absolutely amazing - I have EOE, which is not nearly as debilitating as IBS, but I related so hard to the struggle with food and the frustration of not knowing why your body is betraying you. Also the ending was so unique! I liked how things resolved

Absolutely loved this one! I've never really seen much of Trevor Noah's work but he had a crazy childhood & his storytelling ability was amazing. Born in South Africa during apartheid & growing up in the wake of it, he learned to adapt himself to fit in with different groups. He speaks a ton of languages & does great impressions of his friends and family. I was laughing so much throughout and yet I learned a lot about South African history as well

I didn't love this one, and the ending was a little vague for my tastes. But I did enjoy the Indigenous spirituality aspect of it. The story follows five generations of Metis women as they struggle with their heritage and generational trauma. There were so many POVs but the audiobook did make it easy to follow with a full cast of narrators. The writing itself was beautifully done
#roll100 @PuddleJumper

This was informative, interesting, and yes, hopeful. Bregman delves into human psychology and debunks the myths that perpetrate the idea that humans are inherently cruel. He explains that, without outside influence, people instinctively tend to be kind to one another.
#MonthlyNonfiction2025

Finished last month for #JaneAustenThenAndNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig
1. This was my second time reading. This time I understood all the Udolpho references and it really enforced just how popular that book was, to have so many allusions that you know the audience will understand without explanation.
2. Catherine, I love her growth, and Tilney of course
3. I like the scene on the way to Northanger when Tilney
(cont'd ↩️)

Red - Life ❤️ #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Here are a few favorites in which one of the main characters faces a major change that starts a new chapter in their life

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
This work week has been draining, I've mostly been holding on to joy from the past weekend. Lewis and I had a mini-getaway to Asheville. A friend was in an outdoor performance of The Book of Will, which was excellent & very fun! We wandered around old neighborhoods and the Botanical Gardens. We ate some delicious food and hung out with awesome people. With the city

This was such a thought-provoking read. What if one day everyone received a string that measured the length of your life? Would you look at it?
It was so interesting seeing how the ramifications of such an event could affect society, and a bit scary how accurately it portrayed the prejudice that would probably also arise.
Wonderful characters and a great premise, I couldn't put this one down!

Happy Pride Month!! 🌈
@PuddleJumper had the great idea to rec some books for each color of the pride flag!
Here are some favorites for Hot Pink - Sex 🩷💖
These books feature characters that start a relationship based on sex, which eventually turns into something more 😘
#PrideRec2025 #QueerBC

My June #Bookspin picks - any #roll100 book and Dear America for nonfiction
@TheAromaofBooks

May nonfiction #ReadingBracket2025
This one was a winner, no contest

May romance #ReadingBracket2025
I really enjoyed this one! Need some time and space to decide which one is moving forward to the next round though

May fiction #ReadingBracket2025
A great bookclub discussion book! And it made me cry 😭

No bingos this month! May was a bit slumpy for me - five of these books are sitting half finished in my currently reading list 🤷🏼‍♀️ I hope to finish them eventually but looking forward to a fresh start for June!
#BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#MonthlyNonfiction2025 reads @julieclair
Three great books finished in May

#Bibliophile #LostInTitle #FoundInTitle
I missed yesterday so here's a twofer 😉
I love this series, I haven't read this one yet, I need to catch up

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1. Spent Saturday outside while we had decent weather, reading & hanging out with Sally ?☀️
2. Rearranged my bookshelves! I love looking at them now
3. Arthur wanted to "help" with the organization ?
4. It's been a rainy week, perfect for cat snuggles ?
5. A pair of Eastern Wood-Pewees have been hanging out by the back windows & I spotted a nest above a light fixture with little babies! Can't wait to watch them grow!

Made a good start on my #14books14weeks stack! @Liz_M
I finished this the other day and I enjoyed it even more than the first in the series! I absolutely loved Nik and Carlos' meet-cute, when he saves her from the crowds after a proposal gone wrong at a baseball game. They had such a cute rapport, my only wish is that they didn't have such a silly third act breakup. Such a fun summer read! ☀️
#roll100 @PuddleJumper

#Bibliophile #Heist
Loved this series, each book had another magical heist. This one was my fave

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

My June #Bookspin list is ready! ☺️
@TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo

#Bibliophile #BigSecret 🤫

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#WondrousWednesday

1. I quite like my name, Sara, but if I had to choose something else it would probably be Isabelle. It's the name I used in French class in highschool

2. I had a turtle named Pistachio growing up. Now I have my cats: Oakley, Camo, Arthur, and Ben

3. Algernon! From the Importance of Being Earnest

Thanks for the tag @Eggs ☺️

From the very beginning Trista is very clear that she does not want to be a mom. With the way things are going the only "happy ending" that I can see happening is them getting together & raising the baby together. And that makes me feel icky. I don't like the idea of her suddenly changing her perspective on motherhood just cause she gets to witness a loving family. I guess I should have realized what I was getting into with a surrogacy romance but

This was a really insightful discussion about disability and how most of society expects the disabled to use technology to become "normal" instead of changing our expectations and the world to better serve them.
Each topic was approached in a lighthearted manner, while also calling out the ableist biases typically involved. It definitely brought some things to my attention.
This was my May #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks and #roll100 @PuddleJumper

Read last month for #riseupreads @Catsandbooks
I really liked the lyricism of this story and how the folklore tales were used as metaphors for dealing with mental health struggles. Just a beautiful book!
This was also my #doublespin for April @TheAromaofBooks

Listened to this one for #riseupreads - soft pick
There were parts I really enjoyed (like the world building) and parts that got on my nerves (like Hani's annoying gumiho friend) but overall it was just so slow moving. I needed the pace to pick up a bit. The ending intrigued me though so I will pick up the sequel when it comes out
@Catsandbooks

Final check-in for the #JumpStartSummer readathon
I forgot to keep track of my hours and I didn't finish any books lol 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I'm still pleased with what I did read this weekend! I made a bunch of progress in a few books and I was able to relax and enjoy the summer weather. So all in all a success ☺️
@TheSpineView

#Bibliophile #NatureVibes 🍂

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Okay part 2 of my shelfies. This is my new shelf packed full, except for the very bottom level. And I hung this cute poster from the Charlotte Book Crawl 🦉

I finally reorganized my bookshelves this weekend! I pretty much filled up my new shelf (will post separately in a bit) and left all my pretties & favorite genres on the built-in 😍
And look how much extra space I have for more books!! 📚 😆

#Bibliophile #ProtagWPet
One of the main characters in each of the books of this series owns a cat! And two of them are featured on the back covers 😻

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

My June #Roll100 picks @PuddleJumper
I've been listening to Six of Crows on and off since March and it's the second time it's been rolled so I think it's a sign to finally finish it 😅

#Bibliophile #Monsters
Absolutely loved the conclusion of this duology, think Hunger Games + Mexican mythology

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#Bibliophile #LostRoyalty
Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia 👑

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#Bibliophile #AllTheRomance
A small section of the romance books on my shelves 💕

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs