This book ❤️ It got me through the past two weeks.

A gay romance set in New York in the 50s. There‘s fear and there‘s pining and there‘s love, so much love. I fell in love with the characters and the story. And I am usually really not fond of romance stories.

There‘s dragons and books and magic and tea but somehow I didn‘t vibe with that book. It was too much lovey-dovey and too little suspense in the plot for my liking.

It looks like I wanted to get away from this book so fast, that I brought it back to the library before I took a picture… oh, this was heavy and made me feel aggrieved. But it‘s not a bad book at all. I gave it five stars exactly because of how it was able to make me feel. But it was a hard read. Especially in times like these.

I had a proper book hungover after Bookshops and Bonedust and looking around, noticed that I have a thing for „cozy fantasies“. So I started this one. And it soon became one of those books when you count the hours until you can continue reading it. So much love for the storytelling, the world-building and the characters.

Also I am now actually considering getting a spider plant.

I liked the baking, the rest of the plot was a bit meh, though.

It took me so long to finally read these books and now I am hooked! I love the characters and the world and I want to read moremoremore!

It took me a long time to get into this but then I really wanted to know what was happening next. I can‘t help but like this series. Finished it tonight during #hyggehour

I saw so much love for this around here, so I gave it a read and I loved it! I was so invested and rooting for Margo. The characters were so deep, the narration so engaging.

This has been my 2024. I read 57 books. I dove into the year, signing up for loads of challenges. I read loads of books I woudn‘t have if not for them, but in the end it felt like a burden. So for 2025 I set myself only one challenge: to not take part in any and just read what I feel like, whenever I want to. And I am really looking forward to it.

I don‘t know if there‘s a better thing to do at New Year‘s Eve than finish a good book. I saw this around for so long, now finally gave it a go and read it in three days. This is so random and yet so warm and comfortable. Also I am craving cinnamon buns now.

And another one is finished - even though, this book will never truly be finished. I will flip through this over and over again and not only because of the recipes. I really liked her approach in explaining why you do certain things while cooking, so the reader can learn and adapt. Loved it! 5 Stars and a Cesar‘s Salad Dressing. #readouttheold

I finished another one! This was very interesting. Some things I knew already, some things I learned. Sometimes the narration was a bit too simple for my liking. But nevertheless it‘s very important that books like this are being written. And it‘s even more important that they‘re read. #ReadOutTheOld

Joining @TheAromaofBooks #Readouttheold readathon to finish all the books before the new year arrives. Read this one for a bookclub. I had a hard time getting into it and when I got in, it became very heavy.

This was a wonderful cozy book to read! I liked it a lot. It‘s also the last one I read off my #AuldLangSpine list. @JamieArc thank you very much again for providing me with good books throughout the whole year!

It took me so long to finish this book and I don‘t quite know why but it‘s somehow fitting as this is all over the place. There‘s ghosts, a magical healing touch, there‘s drug addiction and animals, there‘s a missing person case, brain diseases, a disfunctional family, a small town, and it still works. It‘s not too much.

Christmas Bookclub Meeting!

I loved The School of Essential Ingredients. And while I still also love the way Bauermeister lets charatcters unfold, this book didn‘t really get to me.

I Marie-Kondo‘ed by TBR-list. I went through every book and deleted all the ones that didn‘t make me want to read them. I‘m still at 130. But I am very excited about all of them.

Liked this a lot. Becky Chambers stories always give me that certain feeling of belonging even though it‘s a weird and foreign world.

A quick and comfortable read. Exactly what I needed. I love me some gay coming of age teenage angst

Read for a bookclub. It was horrible. Tried too hard to be funny or intelligent. Did the exact opposite.

Yep, I am still reading books off my #AuldLangSpine-list. This was last month‘s #bookspin choice and oh, how I liked it. It‘s one of those books that you count the hours that you can go back to it in the evening. I love fantasy-settings that throw you in and you have to figure out a lot for yourself. Also I liked Emily Wilde. So thank you @JamieArc for recommending me yet another gem

Another one I read in my holidays. The story of a guy who steals art all over Europe, just to put it up and admire it in his attic. It took me half the book to realise that it‘s a true story. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into this world, still it didn‘t manage to completely grip me.

Horribly behind with my reviews, so here I go. I read this in my holidays. It was a nice and fast read, though not my favourite in this series. The storyline seemed a bit easy.

Holidays means morning reading sessions.

Holidays ❤️

Bookmail for my holidays! Late Show has been on my tbr for ages - and it‘s this month‘s #bookspin choice. I also started to read Eve as ebook but thought it‘s one if those books that are better read as a real book :)

Another garden book! It is just the wrong time of the year to read this books as I want to sow all the seed but my pots are empty… I liked it as much as I liked Adams first book. This was also last months #bookspin

Enjoying the last warm rays of sunshine in my garden with this. A feel-good-story with a garden. Not too heavy, not too deep. Exactly what I needed this week. #bookspin from two months ago, I think. Still catching up.

Catching up on all my challenges. This one was for #foodandlit Jamaica. Poems just always get me when they‘re this raw.

(longer explanation in the comments 👇🏻. Short version is this:) I wanted to try New Adult for a while. So I gave this m/m-college-sports-romance a go. Good points: I liked the setting and the dynamics. Bad points: The language felt overly cheesy at times and the sex scenes were quite unrealistic. But nonetheless, I am glad that I read it. Soft pick.

Another bookclub-read I had a really hard time getting into. It started to pick up with 50 pages to go… 🤦‍♀️

This was a hard one. I only read it because it was for my bookclub and I knew that there will be Tapas at the end of it 😋

Once I started I couldn‘t stop. Now I am very interested what everybody else at #camplitsy thinks about it.

This should have been a fast and easy read. But then the Olympics happened, I worked for 7 days straight and I fell into a hole named fan-fiction. So this took me way longer than it should have. Felt like the storyline was a bit blunt. Soft pick.

Jumped on the #naturalitsy train again and this was a good one. Very interesting and well narrated (even though at times it felt as if he tried a bit too hard to be funny). I will definitely look at the sky more closely now. Clouds are fascinating. I might also re-read this with a pen and paper and not right before my bedtime as I fear I have already forgotten half of all the interesting facts.

No, YOU got all teary eyed reading about three unlike teenagers experiencing a solar eclipse… oh man, this was so wonderful and quiet in a very non-dramatic way, I loved it very much. Thank you, @JamieArc for putting it on your #ALSpine-List. #bookspin

It‘s my pick for this month‘s #foodandlit Turkey. Also no cooked meal but my new favourite snack: salty, roasted chickpeas :) The book is YA and while I love the idea, it felt a bit too preachy for me.

My #bookspin for June. An interesting concept but for me this was way too long.

I have to skip July in #camplitsy as I really should start with the tagged book for my irl bookclub. I have been putting it off for ages, even bought a copy in my new favourite edition but ugh, I have a hard time getting into it…

After I loved Clear so much, I picked this up. It starts just as beautiful but then it didn‘t hold my fascination until the end. It‘s still a soft pick with an interesting and beautifully written story.

I now have read all the three books I have packed for my five-days-holiday 🙈 Audiobook on my phone it is for tonight.

A woman who doesn‘t want to accept what society in Iceland in the 60s wants her to be. A man who doesn‘t want to be different just because he‘s gay.

This book has heavy undertones but it still manages to have a tenderness, that‘s delightful. Read for this month‘s #foodandlit

Next #camplitsy book! And what a book it was. My feelings changed every few pages and I can‘t really put into words whether really liked it or not (apart from all the food and all the cooking).

An interesting book. I didn‘t conntect with any of the protagonists, but kids being made influencers by their parents is a subject I never really thought about. This book threw me into googling a lot of stuff. It‘s a fascinating but sad world.

Very late to the party and it also took me very long to finish this book. It was April‘s #doublespin. I liked the characters but the story itself could have been a bit deeper for my liking.

How is it that every time I post a #bookspin-List I want to start with: „How is it [insert month] already?“ But seriously, how is it June already?!? @TheAromaofBooks

A book for when you need something light. Something with normal people with nothing really happening but still engaging enough for you to keep on reading. Now that I‘m finished, I kind of miss going back to this family tonight.

Library haul! I cannot remember the last time I did a proper one for myself. One for #camplitsy, one for an IRL bookclub and one because I loved the first #camplitsy so much. I am very excited ☺️

What a wonderful book! I won‘t say too much as I dug in too early in the first #camplitsy read. But I just couldn‘t stop. And it‘s once again a book I never would have picked up myself but now will stay with me for a long time.

I flew through this book (hehe pun!) while travelling to Malmö for Eurovision. It‘s for this month‘s #foodandlit Spain. Written by a spanish author, it tells the story of an archeologist who moves from Barcelona to London to find her luck and ends up in a bookstore. It has a very cozy atmosphere in this rainy London but I guess not much of the story will stick with me.