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willaful

willaful

Joined April 2022

Pretty sure my last words are going to be “where did I put my Kindle?“
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Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick
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Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
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Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
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willaful
Paladin's Strength | T Kingfisher
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I liked this even more than Paladin's Grace, because the characters are such delightful gentle giants.

More at my blog: https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/05/22/tbr-challenge-paladins-strength-by-t-k...

#SeriesLove2025
#URC rodent on cover. (The main one -- this is an alternate.)

TheSpineView Fantastic! 20h
Faranae The failure of the new covers to feature the White Rat is a sin and a shame. I also didn't like that they went with “fantasy“ covers, so none of the couples look at each other, but none of the secondary characters are depicted. Earstripe is too important in Paladin's Hope to leave out if you aren't going to have Piper and Galen all over each other (but then I don't like the way Piper is drawn anyway...). 9h
willaful @Faranae Yeah, aesthetically this sucks and doesn't really give a sense of the books, but I did like seeing Clara drawn large. 8h
Faranae @willaful It's definitely nice to see Clara drawn right! Istvhan isn't as big as I imagined in my head, so I'm sticking to my own imagination and not letting this cover override it. 4h
willaful @Faranae 👍

(And people don't get why I don't want to see the Murderbot show....)
3h
27 likes5 comments
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willaful
Paladin's Strength | T Kingfisher
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There was no town. There was only the road, which was damp clay splotched with stones, like a toad's back. Perhaps the whole world was a toad. It was no stupider than anyone else's cosmology. Clara would leave the order of St. Ursa and found the order of St. Toad. They would sleep a lot. Yes. Sleeping seemed like a good commandment for the order. Sleep and hot tea. Yes.

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willaful
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Pleased with my #JumpStartSummer weekend. Despite spending 4 1/2 hours on Eurovision 🤣, I met my goals of reading Erasure and Floating Hotel, listened to a couple of hours of Great Big Beautiful Life, cleaned a bunch of short reads off my ereader and am in chapter five of Paladin's Strength. Will certainly read for at least another hour tonight, but might as well post now.

TheSpineView 👍📖📚 4d
Faranae I'd complain about my Eurovision watch group being far, far too straight and can I join yours, but I'm probably never watching again until they deal with some very obvious problems. 😬 3d
willaful @Faranae I totally get that. Mine was pretty straight too, if that's any comfort. 3d
30 likes3 comments
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willaful
Floating Hotel | Grace Curtis
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Character-driven science fiction of the kind described as cozy, notwithstanding murder and torture. The premise is great, like an old star-studied movie: a lot of people, all with their own secrets, living out interconnected stories in an hotel spaceship. The plotting isn't as well done as the prose, and I felt let down by the ending, though it does have some lovely poignancy.

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willaful
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Unless you count the Lord of the Rings as one book, which I don't really, it's probably this fanfic, which according to GoodReads has 2184 pages.

I don't even read fanfic! But this one was so popular with my family members I gave it a try. It wasn't as good as rereading The Lord of the Rings again, but it was interesting.

BookmarkTavern A unique choice! Thanks for sharing! 4d
25 likes1 stack add1 comment
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willaful
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My brain was too tired for my current book (The Floating Hotel) so I read a bunch of little free stories that were cluttering up my ereader, mostly extra epilogues to romances. I don't know why I bother, they're hardly ever worth reading, but at least I did a lot of deleting. I don't even like digital clutter!

#JumpStartSummer

Faranae My main 3 romance culprits all have worthwhile “extras“ and I feel like this has given me expectations of others' extras that will be cruelly disappointed... 4d
TheSpineView 👍🤩📖📚 4d
25 likes2 comments
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willaful
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Two very different books for May, I wonder what the next weeks will hold...

Read4life I‘m looking forward to your next pick! 🤓 3d
27 likes1 comment
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willaful
Guards! Guards! | Terry Pratchett

There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.

20 likes1 stack add
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willaful
Erasure: A Novel | Percival Everett
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I got to a good start on #JumpStartSummer by not being able to sleep last night 🙄 and finishing Erasure. (Full disclosure: I skipped most of the story-within-a-story, and feel completely justified. 😂)

This was so much more than its main plot description... bitter and satiric yes, but also very quietly human and deeply sad.

#AuthorAMonth

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willaful
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An accidental reread, but that's okay because I liked it both times. There are a few stinkers, but the general madness level is on point.

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willaful

There are a handful of supervillains who go in for the world-saving routine. It's usually an excuse--dramatic speeches, hijacking the airwaves, self-righteousness and posturing, and it's amazing how saving the world always seems to boil down to giving them personally whatever they want.

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willaful
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This is definitely interesting, but I felt a certain amount of skepticism about it as “science.“ I have a Psychology degree and not only have I seen a fair amount of what I learned in college debunked, but I also had to participate in an experiment which I found completely bogus. Nonetheless, if you accept their theories it does make sense out of a lot of otherwise inexplicable behavior. I would love to see a new update on Trump, *again*. 😫

34 likes1 comment
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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A late #BookSpinBingo entry. I wasn't going to do it this month, because I've been feeling too pressured with reading goals, but I've decided that sticking to the actual BookSpin list version will fit with what I'm trying to do.

Faranae Mr. Warren's Profession is cute if rather shaky on the historical research (and not cosy), but apparently I never reviewed it on the blog!

I hope having a few free squares helps make it less pressured!
1w
willaful @Faranae My theory is that it would be so ridiculously hard to get a blackout I won't even try. 😂 1w
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looks fantastic!! 1w
shanaqui I hope you can have some chill fun with it. 💙 1w
27 likes4 comments
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willaful

I love his YA but this didn't grab me.

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willaful
What Happens in Amsterdam | Rachel Lynn Solomon
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I enjoyed this so much! It's a trope-based romance but doesn't expect the tropes to do all the work. The characters are very real and imperfect, which just makes their tender care for each other all the more romantic. And Amsterdam sounds so amazing... can I go please?

TheBookHippie I shall go with you! 🧳 2w
shanaqui I really liked Amsterdam. When I was spending part of the year in Belgium with my wife before we moved, we'd go semi-regularly so that I could plunder the American Book Center and stock up on English-language books. The selection was always worthwhile.

(There were places to get English language books in Belgium too, but one of them downsized by a lot, and the others tended to be chains with a limited selection in English.)
2w
willaful @shanaqui My husband was there for business and really liked it too. 1w
35 likes3 comments
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willaful
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A bit like Thank You For Listening, but about podcasts rather than audiobooks. I had some niggling issues but mostly enjoyed it, and there's a nice “worm turns“ arc for the main character. The author also narrates the audiobook.

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willaful
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As an immigrant estranged from her family, Tao has gotten used to a solitary traveling life with only her mule for company. But then she starts encountering others on their own complicated journeys, and everything changes. A sweet, comfortable found family story, though it goes off the rails in the middle which stopped me from loving it as much as I might have.

#TBRTarot make your own prompt: leftover challenge read
#Roll100 Feb.

CBee I‘ve heard good things about this one! 2w
PuddleJumper ❤️❤️ 2w
38 likes2 comments
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willaful

“I would ask you to remember Tao, as one woman with power to another--the greater good much always come before the personal.“

“No,“ said Tao. Here, at last, was something she was sure off--something that she had learned in her journeys, that perhaps the High Mage had not. “You're wrong. There's no such thing as greater good--there's just good, and the more of it we can do, the better.“

CarolynM ❤️ 2w
24 likes1 comment
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willaful
Raising Steam | Terry Pratchett

I feel terrible, but I read fully half and then just couldn't go on. I was so bored! Almost every conversation was cringingly lifeless! 😩 😭

#OokBookClub

julesG You gave it your all. It's not one of his best, I'm afraid. Don't worry. We'll be reading Guards Guards in May. You can ignore Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook, it's very similar to Raising Steam. 2w
willaful I'm looking forward to Guards Guards! Couldn't get a copy of MBH anyway. :-( 2w
Faranae I've tried to get past the first chapter twice and it just... it isn't the Sir Terry I know. People tell me it gets better but... 2w
willaful @Faranae It doesn't. :-( 2w
22 likes4 comments
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willaful
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A powerful, necessary book. I appreciate that it was fairly short and easy to read, because it's such an intimidating topic.

#MonthlyNonfiction2025

julieclair Oh wow, that quote. So true. 2w
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
Paladin's Grace | T Kingfisher
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Pickpick

Kingfisher says that she wanted to write a fluffy romance, but wound up with a few too many severed heads and rotting corpses. I'd still put it in the fluffy, and formulaic category. Luckily it's also sweet, relatable and often funny, with a nice slow burn.

#SeriesLove2025

TheSpineView That face! Love it! 😍 2w
Andrew65 😂😂😂 Love this, well done 🎉🎉🎉 2w
33 likes2 comments
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willaful
Bad Reputation | Emma Barry
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A soft pick. I really enjoyed the details of intimacy coordination work and the characters reinventing themselves, but the slow burn romance fizzled out instead of blazing.

(Can't complain about three #ISpyBingo squares for my first book of the month though!)

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willaful
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Four old favs, and one I'd like to read.

#ThreeListThursday #TLT @dabbe

dabbe I've never read that one either. Love your other choices! Thanks for playing and sharing. 💜💜💜 3w
26 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Can someone remind me of the title of the book we read for #SheSaid about how neighborhoods closed down swimming pools and public areas rather then desegregating them?

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

TheBookHippie I didn‘t read with you but I think you mean this one 3w
willaful @TheBookHippie Yes, thank you!
3w
See All 7 Comments
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Nope, just looked. TheBookHippie is correct 3w
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I was just looking at the list of books removed from the military library… The Sum of Us is on the list (edited) 3w
13 likes7 comments
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willaful
Swept Away | Beth O'Leary

An adventure romance that reminded me of On The Island -- and honestly, I'm a lot older now than when I read that and I wasn't always sure my heart could take it! 😂 The adventure section is excellent but I felt the ending hit some false notes that took away from the authenticity of the rest. The audiobook is very well narrated.

julesG Agree, the ending was a bit un-O'Leary-ish. 3w
29 likes2 comments
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willaful
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A decent month, if not the best.

Read4life Getting any time to read makes every month better!! 💙📚💙 3w
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Quite a good month, even though one cover really let me down! (Into the Woods had a tent instead of a cabin, even though there are literally no tents in the story, and the MMC's painted fingernails are not depicted!)

TheAromaofBooks I frequently find myself reading about some weird I Spy prompt and thinking - Why isn't this on the cover!? 😂 3w
willaful @TheAromaofBooks SO irritating. These cartooony covers are so short (or wrong!) on detail. 3w
27 likes2 comments
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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willaful
Yield Under Great Persuasion | Alexandra Rowland

I'm an outlier but 250 pages of Talking It Out was a bit much for me.

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willaful
Service Model | Adrian Tchaikovsky

Inside his decision-making software there were two subroutines in the shape of wolves, and one insisted that he stay, and the other insisted that he could not stay. Neither of which seemed to be natural behavior for wolves, but Uncharles could only assume this was another aspect of his undiagnosed defect.

He let them fight until one ate the other.

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willaful
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Ruthiella 👏👏👏 4w
37 likes1 comment
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 4w
22 likes1 comment
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willaful
Go with the Flow | Lily Williams, Karen Schneemann
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The look on her face...so relatable.

lil1inblue This part reminded me too much of my first cycle. 😂 😲 4w
24 likes2 comments
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willaful
Things I Should Have Known | Claire LaZebnik

I'm glad this wasn't as dark as the cover suggests. Chloe, a popular high school girl, thinks her autistic older sister Ivy is yearning for a boyfriend -- but her attempts to set her up have unexpected consequences, both bad and good.

Although I don't love books about disabled people that don't center them, I did appreciate how caring and accepting Chloe is, even if she's not always wise. And I related to her a lot.

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willaful
Time Is a Mother | Ocean Vuong
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This is a section from “Reasons for Staying,“ my favorite poem from this. You can read the full poem here: https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/reasons-for-staying-vuong/

I definitely didn't get all of these poems, but even the bits and pieces I did were powerful and evocative.

#QueerBC #NationalPoetryMonth

PuddleJumper ❤️❤️ 1mo
peanutnine I felt the same way about this collection, there were some beautiful sections that really stood out as powerful 🩷 1mo
27 likes3 comments
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willaful
The Rose Code | Kate Quinn
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Exciting, engrossing historical fiction about three women who worked at Bletchley park during WWII and the impact that time -- of personal freedom on one hand and intense secrecy on the other -- impacted their lives. It is on the melodramatic side but interestingly, some of the most astonishing elements were drawn from true stories. (I was a little uncomfortable that Prince Phillip is a major character.)

One of the characters is almost (cont)

willaful certainly autistic, and though of the “savant“ variety few of us are, I was really interested in her growth and her way of finding happiness for herself that had nothing to do with what society expected of her.

#AuthorAMonth
#AllergicToChunksters
1mo
Jess861 This has been on my bookshelf forever - I need to get to it! 1mo
julieclair Great review! And I‘m totally fine with a little melodrama. 😘 4w
32 likes3 comments
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willaful
The Stable Boy | Megan Derr

I found this in my TBR for #TBRTarot. It's a fairly straight -- or rather, straightforward ;-) - retelling of “the Goose Girl,“ but about a Prince on his way to marry another Prince. A pleasant short read with no steam but some violence.

CBee Awesome 👏🏻 1mo
24 likes1 comment
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willaful
Into the Woods | Jenny Holiday
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My #DoubleSpin for April is a soft pick. It has a lot of good points and is very readable, but the romantic chemistry between the leads just didn't gel into something wonderful.

More thoughts here: https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/04/22/into-the-woods-by-jenny-holiday/

@TheAromaOfBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 1mo
26 likes1 comment
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willaful
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•favorite genres : Romance, classic/middlebrow fiction, memoir, books about being queer.

•desert island reads?: Lord of the Rings, Miss Pym Disposes

•What‘s your go-to reading snack? pecans

•Weirdest or most interesting place you‘ve read a book? The Andes mountains. My husband was so annoyed with me!

•What do you do when you‘re not reading? Housework, listen to my kid's drama, dance, garden, write political postcards, fret.

#BibliologistBio

monalyisha “Fret.” 😂 1mo
33 likes1 comment
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willaful
Into the Woods | Jenny Holiday
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This camp has *cabins* -- there is literally not a single mention of a tent in the book. So what do they put on the cover? HARUMPH!

#ISpyBingo

MemoirsForMe 🙄🙄🙄 1mo
28 likes1 comment
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willaful
Shuttle | Francis Hodgson Burnett

... he has lost his temper. He was really very fond of his temper, and rather enjoyed referring to it with tolerant regret as being a bad one and beyond his control -- with a manner which suggested that the attribute was the inevitable result of strength of character and masculine spirit. The luxury of giving way to it was a great one.

#PersephoneClub

LeahBergen Nigel. 😠 1mo
Bookbuyingaddict 😡🤯I am Nearly ready to throw this book across the room 😡 1mo
Tamra The villain I loved to hate! 😈 1mo
See All 6 Comments
CarolynM Great quote. It sums Nigel up nicely. 1mo
Cathythoughts Horrible man 😡 1mo
willaful @Bookbuyingaddict surely he is going to get Get His at some point. Hopefully death so Rosy can marry G. Selden. 😂 1mo
26 likes6 comments
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willaful
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Halp!

I read about a graphic novel here and stupidly wrote down the call number at my library without the title. Of course I couldn't find it. It's shelved in YA here and the author's last name begins with BUT. Anyone have any idea what it is?

Ruthiella I wish you luck! 🤞 1mo
ChaoticMissAdventures Oh I don't read many YA graphic novels, but honestly take the slip to your library. I can tell you that librarians (and booksellers) LOVE a challenge like this. When I was a bookseller this sort of thing made my day (as long as he person wasn't annoyed with me that I didn't know what they were talking about) 1mo
willaful @ChaoticMissAdventures That's a good idea. I couldn't find a call # search but that doesn't mean they don't have one. 1mo
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willaful @ChaoticMissAdventures Alas, they couldn't help. 1mo
ChaoticMissAdventures @willaful that is so bizarre they wouldn't know the book with their own call number. I checked my library today and my YA GN call numbers are under the title so not much help there. 1mo
willaful @ChaoticMissAdventures The call numbers for fiction are very basic, not identifying. Huh, I wonder if it was title, not author? That might be easier to find. (edited) 1mo
15 likes6 comments
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willaful
Rule of Wolves | Leigh Bardugo
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This was a *lot* -- and kind of tough to read during this time when real life is the same. But Bardugo did a beautiful job of tying all the series' loose ends together for a very satisfying conclusion. Her plotting is so clever! I'm surprised to see that others think another book was being set up, but I certainly won't complain if it happens.

#AllergicToChunksters
#SeriesLove2025

TheSpineView Fantastic! 1mo
julieclair Great review. 1mo
29 likes2 comments
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willaful
Past Present Future | Rachel Lynn Solomon

Unlike others, I liked this more than the first book, probably because I find YA about type A students kind of tiresome. Also, it's so relatable in its depiction of the highs and lows of beginning college. I really liked how it interrogated what the HEA looks like for a very young couple, with honestly and hopefulness.

More at my blog: https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/04/16/tbr-challenge-past-present-future-by-r...

#SeriesLove

TheSpineView Fantastic!📖📚🌞 1mo
23 likes1 comment
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willaful
It Pays to Be Good | Noel Streatfeild
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A darker, more cynical version of one of Streatfeild's “shoes“ stories, in which an exceptionally beautiful girl achieves success and adoration without having a spark of human kindness in her soul. The title is a biting commentary on what society values in women. A pick because it's entertaining and has a fascinating “illicit“ relationship in it, but be warned, it's deeply sad.

#BookSpin
@TheAromaOfBooks

LeahBergen I have this waiting on my shelves 👍 1mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 1mo
30 likes2 comments
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willaful
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1. Six of Crows & its sequel, The Prospects by KT Hoffman, Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (again!) About the characters and the insights for all of these.

2. There are 11 I bothered to note down. I'm regretful about Compound Fracture, which has such an interesting main character. The others I was just meh about.

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willaful
The shuttle | Frances Hodgson Burnett
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1. That's the one financial thing my husband deals with and he got it done promptly. We've already gotten refunds.

2. Revitalization.

TheSpineView Kudos to your hubby! Thanks for playing! 1mo
25 likes1 comment
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willaful
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An enjoyable memoir/literary dive about the ways that reading Jane Austen helped the author mature, discover his core values, and find happiness. I was a bit put off by his gender essentialism at first, which seemed to belittle Austen even as he was trying to praise her, but as he grew up in the pages, the book grew on me. Not sure I'll ever agree with him on Mr. Woodhouse though. 😉

#PemberLittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow

Crinoline_Laphroaig I forgot what he said about Mr Woodhouse. It's been awhile since I read. 1mo
willaful @Crinoline_Laphroaig He thought he was kind and loving. I think he's utterly self-centered, in a way I understand but find very hard to live with. 1mo
38 likes2 comments
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willaful
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A few pics from my recent vacation. I am, of course, reading in that hammock. 😁

LeahBergen Lovely!! 1mo
Deblovestoread Nice! 1mo
dabbe 🤩😍🤩 1mo
Ruthiella Fantastic pics! 🌴📚🌴 1mo
36 likes4 comments
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willaful
Past Present Future | Rachel Lynn Solomon

Today I'm partially in Manhattan, partially in Boston, and occasionally in Seattle, navigating the complexities of the first year of college and long-distance love.

#whereareyoumonday

@Cupcake12