“Fragile morning sun sent its thin, golden fingertips dancing across a fresh blanket of snow.”
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
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“Fragile morning sun sent its thin, golden fingertips dancing across a fresh blanket of snow.”
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What we have here is a romance that starts over letter writing & turns into fake dating, so let me tell you there was no way I wasn‘t going to love this.
Add to that laugh out loud moments, literal clutch-my-heart romance, and excellent audiobook narrators, and this is coming close to topping the list of summer reads for me.
Highly recommend.
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This is my 5th time reading this book, so I don‘t think a full review is necessary. There are so many parts I still find very funny or highly emotional, even the fifth time through. And Julia Whelan‘s perfect narration just heightens all of that.
If you haven‘t read it, please do.
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Well, here comes Levenseller once again giving me exactly what I want!
She is the best at creating fun, fast, teen adventure-fantasy-romance, so if that is what you are looking for, you should read this one - and every other book of hers.
My only complaint is they kept the same audiobook narrator for this book in the series, and she is not one I enjoy listening to. So I‘d suggest reading over listening.
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I really enjoyed this standalone story in Sanderson‘s Cosmere!
The magic system is different from anything I‘ve ever read, and I‘m always so impressed how he can build such in-depth worlds, complicated magic, political intrigue, and make it incredibly easy to understand.
Excellent, as usual.
This was my July #bookspin book! @TheAromaofBooks
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This book was heavier than I expected but I really enjoyed it. You see the ending conflict coming from the beginning, but I still was invested to see how it would all play out.
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I always love Levenseller‘s books - they are nonstop action, romance, and fun.
In any other context, I would never like Alessandra or the Shadow King, but somehow, she wins me over to them both.
I partially listened to the audiobook & didn‘t care for the narrator at all, so I‘d recommend reading this one, not listening.
Great twists, amazing fashion, interesting characters - excited for book 2 that comes out tomorrow!
“They‘ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
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The first book in this series - Today Tonight Tomorrow - is my favorite teen romance, so I was very exited to see that Solomon was continuing their story.
This book follows Rowan and Neil to college, and it is a lot heavier & more emotional than the first book, which I appreciated, even if I missed the lightness of their first story.
I didn‘t love it as much as TTT, but it was a great look at what comes after the happily ever after.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
I‘d heard mixed reviews of this book, but I loved it!
I do think there were some gaps that never got filled in, but I liked the build up, the (multiple) near misses, and seeing how the romance and characters developed.
I appreciate a strong duology, but I also wish there were more in the series!
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This has always been my favorite book of the series - I can remember where I was sitting 25 years ago when I first read the ending and, for the first time I can remember, felt genuinely shocked by a twist in a story.
These are our road trip books now, so we started this one back in April as we drove home from FL and finished it on our drive back to IL from Kentucky.
Looking forward to book 4 on the next trip!
“There was never any doubt in her mind, even after all these dust-streaked mortal years, that Dacre would one day come for her.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
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I have been wanting to read this one for a while, and I‘m glad I waited until I could just jump right in to book 2 because talk about a wild ending!
This was a very fun read - I love romances that take place via letters, emails, or, in this case, enchanted typewriters, and I thought all the main & side characters were well imagined.
I‘ve heard mixed reviews on book two, but I‘m excited to jump into it & see what happens next!
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Poppy & Alex are probably the two characters that Henry has written that I relate to the least. But I still love their Harry Met Sally-esque story and getting to tag along on all of their travels.
I spent most of Julia Whelan‘s audiobook narration laughing at Poppy‘s antics or grinning at Alex‘s stoicism.
Not my favorite Henry, but one I still enjoy (re)reading.
“On vacation, you can be anyone you want.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
so-so⭐️⭐️⭐️”What evangelicals uncritically assume is ‘biblical‘ turns out to be simply Victorian.”
This look at the history of evangelicalism was interesting, and whenever Prior, who is a literally professor, digs into and assess literature to make connections, that‘s when she really shows her prowess.
The book as a whole, however, felt very disjointed to me. The introduction/first chapter was strong, but then the rest didn‘t really deliver.
so-so⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
I love Ken Follett‘s epic historical fiction books, but this was my first read of one of his spy novels.
His easy writing style & commitment to research is still evident here, but for whatever reason this 360 page book was a lot slower read for me than ones that are twice this length.
Not one I‘d turn people away from but also not one I‘d strongly recommend.
@TheAromaofBooks this was my May #doublespin!
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Expertly researched & written, I really enjoyed this! Brooks is a master at weaving a story through so many timelines - this one set in 1850, 1950, & 2019 - and five different narrators. The 5 readers who made up the audiobook were excellent, too.
I knew nothing about the history of horse racing, the horse Lexington, or all the lost stories of the Black trainers, grooms, & jockeys of the USA‘s antebellum time period.
Definitely recommend!
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This was an excellent culmination of this series. And the ending of this book. Wow. I think I‘ll be thinking about it for a long time.
I enjoyed the whole journey - I read and listened to it, and Michael Kramer is an excellent narrator.
My husband finished it not long before I did, so the “oh and then Sanderson did this!” conversations have been plentiful.
I‘ll definitely be traveling more into his Cosmere!
so-soVery fast, spicy read, & I cannot figure out why, because I like how it‘s written, I laughed out loud multiple times,but I just didn‘t care about either of these characters.It seemed like their inside thoughts in their POV chapters didn‘t match their actions - especially the male MC.He‘s so grumpy/rude all the time, but there was no crossover of like - here‘s who I really am. I do want to read her again, tho, so she must be doing something right!
“Imagine, if you will, that you are in my classroom.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
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This is a reread before the next book following Rowan and Neil comes out in a couple weeks. I love this one - it‘s a unique setup and the characters feel like real people.
I read this time anticipating the next book, which took away from it a bit, but that‘s more on me than the book itself. I still think it‘s a very top teen romance read!
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This is the second Hannah book I‘ve read, and I really enjoyed it! I know very little about the Vietnam War - which just proves one of the points Hannah explores here: the silence surrounding Vietnam and what the men & women experienced there and coming home.
At one point I was listening to the audiobook as I drove and a car with Vietnam Vet stickers pulled in front of me. That was a powerful moment.
“The walled and gated McGrath estate was a world unto itself, protected and private.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pan⭐️⭐️I wanted to like this one more than I did. I enjoy reading graphic novel nonfiction, and Radtke imparted a lot of knowledge to us, but it was too much. There was a disjointed aspect to it that made it hard for me to fully care about what she was telling me. I also hate learning about Harlow‘s monkey experiments-they always make me sick to my stomach, so that being prevalent, especially in the second half, also brought this down for me.
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Third time reading, and I still love it! My friend & I are reading a Henry book a month over the summer for our mini-book club! It‘ll be her first time reading most of them and my second or third (or 5th for Book Lovers 😅).
This isn‘t my favorite Emily Henry, but I love all her stuff so much, that that‘s not really saying much.
Julia Whelan is, as ever, an excellent narrator.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved being back in Raine‘s world in this second Redwinter book!
There are some familiar story techniques, but McDonald also manages to make it all unique at the same time. I think Raine is a great main character who seems realistic while dealing with extreme situations.
Samara MacLaren is one of my favorite audio narrators, so I recommend listening to this one.
Cannot wait for the next installment!
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Emily Henry continues to be excellent.
The banter, the realness of her characters, the heart, and the humor - it‘s all there.
Julia Whelan, as always, is a perfect audiobook reader, too.
I finished it this morning, and I think it‘ll keep me smiling all day.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This book has it all: fourth wall breaking, crude humor, motley wizard crews, and, somehow, a lot of heart. Pretty different from what I usually read, I really enjoyed this one and am glad I got it in a subscription box. It came with a keychain that said “Welcome to the Shit Show,” which really says more about it than I ever could. Joe Jameson is an excellent audiobook narrator, & I will definitely read more if it is turned into a series.
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This book was stunning. It‘s the first book that I‘ve had to make myself take breaks from because the story and characters, the brutality and reality were so pervasive that I could not stop thinking about it.
I listened to the audiobook & read hard copy and both were great reading experiences. There are *many* points of view but I felt he expertly navigated them and the way all the stories weaved together - what a masterpiece.
“She felt their eyes, all those executioners.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
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This & the first book are my favorite in the series. I love seeing how the bonds between the six main characters grow stronger in this one, the religious & political issues heighten, and the world building significantly broadens.
Perfect installment in a favorite series.
“The woman lay facedown on the floor of the hut, her long brown hair spread in bloody tangles across the dirt.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
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Perhaps the early book most connected to the ones that come later in the series, it was fun to point out all the moments of “oh that will be important!” as we did the first half of our drive home from FL to IL.
It‘s been great to revisit so many loved characters & places.
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This isn‘t my favorite in the series & I won‘t ever fully understand Kirra‘s motivations as main character, but I do love the character development that Shinn produces and how that continues with Kirra throughout the series.
A lot of the question marks from book 1 grow in this book, and though I‘ve read the series twice before, I‘m still looking forward to watching the characters learn the answers.
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We listened to this one over two days as we drove from IL to FL, and it was so fun going back to the beginning of a story I know so well. Rowling really is a master at building characters, and Jim Dale is a fantastic narrator!
bailedDNF
Really disappointed to not be finishing this book but its epic scope & length is just not something my brain is taking in right now.
I can tell it‘s very well researched & written, and Robin Miles is an excellent narrator, so it‘s not the book, it‘s me.
“The night clouds were closing in on the salt licks east of the oxbow lakes along the folds in the earth beyond the Yalobusha River.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
“The three men sat in the mansion‘s elegantly appointed study and discussed their options.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pan⭐️⭐️
I didn‘t like a second of it, but I had to finish it 😂 So it gets the 2 stars since it must have been doing something right to compel me to keep reading.
But if this hadn‘t been a book club read, I wouldn‘t have gone past the first chapter.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My third time reading one of my absolute favorite adult fantasy series, this is such a wonderful story to settle back into. I meant to read it slowly, on the side of other things, but it quickly became what I was most interested in.
I love Shinn's work so much, and wish it got more of the credit it's due.
If you like fantasy, I highly recommend.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well if I didn‘t know how to talk about book 1, I certainly don‘t know how to talk about this one.
It is truly shocking that this & the Shadow and Bone books were written by the same person. The range!
Absolutely excellent - completely unique - a bit slower moving than book 1, but I was absorbed the whole time.
It is very dark, but I cannot recommend it highly enough.
“Kardon stood at the back of the tavern, surveying the night‘s clientele, and smiled with a brutal satisfaction.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
“Alex approached Black Elm as if she were sidling up to a wild animal, cautious in her walk up the long, curving driveway, careful not to show her fear.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don‘t even know where to begin to review this book. It was dark - at times, very - and gritty, nothing like Bardugo‘s other work I‘ve read, and I loved it.
The audiobook narrators were very good, and I am so interested to see where this story goes next.
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