Valancy ♥️

#12booksof2024 : June

Anne of Green Gables is always going to be the first thing associated with L. M. Montgomery, but she definitely wasn‘t a one hit wonder!

Blending the vibes of Murder She Wrote with Beatrix Potter, and you‘ve hooked me already!

I really enjoyed this first outing - and even read books 2 & 3 this year! Not bad for someone with a penchant for not finishing series (it‘s still being written and I‘m not quite up to date yet - but I‘m still counting it as a series win)

#12booksof2024 : May

I don‘t really read dystopian anymore and this isn‘t the book I was wanting from this author (but today we are being optimistic that it could be the next one that she releases) but I reserved the audio and it‘s come in… so here we go I GUESS

A short story with a big impact

#12booksof2024 : April

Just finished s1 of Troppo (based on this book) I never would have picked it up to read yet the show hooked me, kept me up late on a hot summer night (not like I was going to be able to sleep anyway) & had me whispering, “just 1 more episode” entirely too many times for someone who had work in the morning. It was a slow burn solving of the deaths of two local men - with fascinating character studies of the two damaged individuals looking into it.

This book asks : could health insurance be more ethically problematic? and then does not wait for an answer! And plunges you into a reality similar to ours but with people who work as dispatchers (that is, if a procedure is going south, they kill you and you reset - naked in your bed at home).

#12booksof2024 : March

This was my second John Scalzi book - and I see more in my future!

I was so into this book that a marching band could have paraded through my apartment without me noticing…

#12daysofChristmas : February

This is my favourite Janice Hallett book and the one I‘d most recommend starting with.

2024 got off to a slow reading start for me, but this graphic novel really hit the spot with its bittersweet look at the joys and sorrows of finishing high school and getting ready for next steps. It followed a friend group that tried to carve some time out of their busy schedules to meet for a supper club - with mixed but very relatable results.

#12booksof2024 : January

My favourite Christmas present was from my Mum, I love Ken Done (half my wardrobe is dresses made from Ken Done fabrics and I have KD sheets on my bed too) - so this is all extremely 😍🤩 to me!!! (There was also a little nutcracker on the outside of the parcel that I forgot to add in - so she really hit on two things I absolutely adore)

Merry Christmas!

Some library holds that I put in so long ago that I‘d forgotten about them came through… and this was one of them! I don‘t remember why I requested it - but it was fun read (possibly would have been more fun if I‘d been to Youth Group or watched Buffy in my formative years).

The have you heard of Smash Mouth line made me laugh.

T. Kingfisher is fast becoming one of my favourite authors so I‘m super happy to finally have a copy of her latest in my hot little hands!!

Thank you so much Allissa! I‘ll save the advent calendar for next year - but will be sure to share the contents - it‘s so pretty!

Thanks for hosting #AussieSecretSanta @CarolynM !

And Merry Christmas to all!

A delightful, festive, coming of age story with so much talk about Christmas cookies that you will probably need a snack!

The first half of this book was really slow but I wanted to get to the Will Trent parts to see how he compared to the show.

And wow - how the different parts, different point of view chapters came together! I‘m not usually a thriller/suspense reader, I prefer my murder mysteries less graphically described - but I can see myself working my way slowly through this series.

Australia Post coming in clutch! #AussieSecretSanta

Love the wrapping paper @LapReader , looking forward to opening this up!!

And the Teen Fiction display also got a revamp, not colour coded but I tried to find books that I hadn‘t put on display recently…

One shelf for romance, one for mysteries, one for sci fi and fantasy…

And now I‘m back to watching the clock count down the seconds til home time…

Very quiet day at the library today… it‘s disgustingly hot outside so it‘s surprising that more people haven‘t come in, just to enjoy the AC.

Anyway, I was bored enough that a colour coded display of teen graphics felt like the thing to do 😜

I wasn‘t a particularly badge orientated girl guide - but I love the ones I have… that were lovingly sewn onto my camp blanket by my Nana.

So I‘m sure she‘s going to be so excited when I show up with my blanket and this Mickey Mouse badge that Mum gave me for my birthday (she was all - Nana will sew it on for you 😂)

Any other former Guides on Litsy?

Australian authors don‘t come much more iconic than John Marsden.

I was lucky enough to hear him speak at a few events, had a couple of books signed and grew up during his most prolific years - think I‘ve read most of them.

He‘ll be missed.

Wandered into QBD with my birthday Boost… and bumped into THIS GUY again!

I really only ventured in for my free boost (lucky they give you two days either side of your birthday to collect because my local boost was closed due to being collateral damage in a gold heist gone wrong) so I didn‘t miss out!

I‘ve had a different kind of birthday this year, my Mum needed someone to hang out with her for 24 hours after dental surgery… and we ended up going through a box of old picture books. I‘ve been daydreaming of my bananas in pyjamas books for years (I think I got them for my 2nd birthday), they really spoke to my child self who longed for cousins of a similar age to play with. I find them just as magical to flip through now.

A rather bittersweet Christmas read - with two sisters doing their best to survive life with an alcoholic and not particularly present Father. They survive on the meagre earnings from the older sisters job selling Christmas Trees and by telling each other stories of imagined other lives - like living in a cosy cottage deep in the woods. Gonna need something cheerful for my next book!

I wasn‘t expecting a sequel but I happened to spy this on display at the library and just had to bring it home with me. Details of the first volume are a bit hazy but this time Planchette the kitchen witch takes the back seat while her friends Sun and Babs take a turn as the main characters. Like last time, there are ghosts galore and a (murder) mystery (of sorts) is resolved. The vibes are good!

Made it to the Post Office without getting attacked by a bird! #aussiesecretsanta

It‘s definitely starting to feel like Christmas now that I‘ve wrapped my first gift up! ☺️

Second day back at work after 5 glorious weeks off…

Yesterday I got swooped not once BUT TWICE by a myna bird - fully smacked into the back of my head (perhaps my mistake was returning to work after lunch?) - freaked me out (I‘ve seen Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds) and today I pulled books for a Christmas display and started making this paper chain.

It‘s summer and I‘m over the weather already 🫣🥵

Each time I finish an Animorphs book - I marvel at how the stakes have once again risen - AND BOY DID THINGS ESCALATE in this one - with Jake falling into a yeerk pool and getting taken over by a high ranking yeerk. With literally everything on the line - from his own autonomy to his friends safety and the future of all humans… will his friends be able to outsmart the yeerk inside their dear friend and group leader?

Just for you @Rissreads 😉 #aussiesecretsanta

The MSW vibes are strong in this one with Vera finding herself smack bang in the middle of a very strange case - a wife claiming that her husband has been murdered… but he‘s standing right next to her, looking rather alarmed. While most seem content to believe that Dorothy has had a break with reality - Vera feels that something is not quite right & investigates. I listened to this in a day, couldn‘t wait to see if I was right about what happened!

This has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for longer than anticipated, I somehow missed that it was the sequel to Sheets - so backtracked to read that first and then… kind of forgot about this! Oops! But it‘s never too late to read a gorgeous graphic novel on a Saturday night.

This book does a beautiful job of showing how it‘s not always easy to be yourself (especially when you are in Year 8) - but that it‘s well worth the effort.

🤭

Gothic thriller or weird girl horror? This story started off unsettling & maintained that atmosphere throughout

It starts with an abrupt move to a dilapidated country house after an unexplained but obviously quite serious incident at the girls school

I really appreciated Stella‘s (mum) chapters as they offered new information & made me look at rest in a different light

Overall this was weird but compelling enough that I had to see it through

R.A. Spratt‘s books make me laugh snort like no other - so as soon as I knew there was a new Nanny Piggins book out in the world - it was in my hands and I was heading home to read it.

Ridiculous in all the best ways - I absolutely loved reading about Sarah Piggins early years on the farm and at the circus, where she became the worlds greatest flying pig - before she left it all behind to become a Nanny.

Oops, failed the “just going in for a look” test at the bookstore… but I didn‘t know there was a new Nanny Piggins book out in the world. No one makes me laugh out loud like R.A. Spratt!

The jump scare this man gave me while I was doing field research for #aussiesecretsanta today 😅

AND YET STILL NO RELEASE DATE FOR DARKBANE?!?!

It‘s been 22 years between books 🥺

And this looks good - don‘t get me wrong… but I honestly hope this is a standalone. ALSO could she just finish the Legendsong trilogy pleaseeeeeee

I‘m losing track of how many times Mercy has been kidnapped! This time there is a fairy queen after her for an artefact she thinks is in Mercy‘s possession but there‘s also danger for Samuel - whose suicide attempt leaves his wolf in control - danger for Adam - with challenges to his pack leadership and attempts at undermining his relationship with Mercy… all in all another great audiobook!

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Picks up from where book 1 left off with the aftermath of the anonymous letter delivered to Larkin, escalating in a body found in an IKEA bag in the subway with a creepy Victorian era style mourning portrait tucked into a pocket.

Larkin links this body to one of his unsolved cases which allows him to seek the expertise of Detective Ira Doyle again.

🖤 how their relationship develops - they are so gentle with each other & their various traumas

🤭

It‘s aesthetically pleasing to have read 124 books in 2024 🥳

So do I take the rest of the year off? (I mean, I have a 16 hour flight ahead of me - so the chances are high that at least one more book is getting read.)

A cold case detective with an unusual memory condition catches a case that is less cold than expected. I devoured this on the plane - and I‘m honestly sad that past me exercised restraint and didn‘t buy the whole series upfront because now I‘m going to have to wait until I get home and I can load the rest onto my kindle.

Finally saw some cute postcards - and just in time since i‘m off to the airport very soon 🥹

Gonna have to think of some fun things to do when I get home to ease my post holiday blues! Looking at the weather report, summer weather is testing the waters… so maybe a beach day?

🧛

This really nailed that creeping dread aesthetic - I didn‘t quite manage to work it all out before the reveal, I was on the money for parts of it and anxiously in the dark for the rest.

I was super chuffed to see my beloved DWJ‘s Chrestomanci series get a passing mention too!

Can‘t believe I‘m in the final days of my great Canadian adventure already 🤔 time truely does fly when you are having fun!

This book is nice and twisty - I‘m looking forward to untwisting it!

After almost a year of anticipation and planning a holiday around a concert… it‘s HAPPENED! I had so much fun at Toronto‘s night 3 of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour. I‘ve never heard such loud and prolonged screaming 🤪 (or paid quite that much for a bottle of water) but it was all such a blast! From making the friendship bracelets and trading them in line to the bathroom to singing along with all the songs - a night to remember!

This had moments of great potential but Ben was something of a wet blanket the entire time and Ezra, while sweet didn‘t have enough personality to be a particularly interesting character.

Listened to the audio and got a little lost with the changing character points of view. Had some beautiful turns of phrase but ultimately felt like listening to a movie script more than anything else which isn‘t my jam.

Tense times for Mercy - but as always she manages to get herself in and out of trouble.

A low angst grumpy/sunshine romance that grows between neighbours over Christmas decorating. Just the ticket for my first festive book of the season.

Last year I didn‘t read as many Christmassy books as I‘d hoped so past me set some reminders. I‘m already behind schedule 🤣 but I have just started The Geek Who Saved Christmas and it‘s a delight.