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“It was a perfect day for a family outing—until a piercing scream split the air.”

#firstlinefriday

When the author found hundreds of tracings of feet in her grandparents‘ attic she had to ask: why? The story of how Europeans, who were starving and homeless, sent patterns to America asking for shoes is moving and powerful. Her grandparents organized a relief effort touching thousands of people with their kindness. Original patterns and old photos add to the story. Two of the people they became close with went on to win the Nobel Prize.

In the back of the book he shows the kittens and dogs he made in his kiln. The amount of work he went to for this book is apparent and just makes me appreciate it all so much more. This picture book is well worth a look.

To put the cat into existing art, the author used plaster, parchment, paint, glass for stained glass and more to create his own.

The premise is simple: a cat follows a mouse into museum artwork. But Brian Lies did not rely on digital shortcuts. This is a beautiful, amazing picture book.

I‘m so disappointed in myself that I didn‘t bail on this. I didn‘t find it to be a centuries long tragic love story.
The time the main characters were together was minimal and so I couldn‘t understand their connection.
And I feel that if you use the word: existential a dozen times, it loses its weight.
I am willing to say: it‘s just me, right now, but I really don‘t think so. ☹️

Trees play a part in this middle school mystery.
“The Rowan murmurs that strange magic of trees — of lives lived so slowly, so gently.” 🌳❤️🌲
Children are sent to an isolated island to be ‘disappeared‘ … and then they unite and fight back.
Along side the fast moving dangers, she also manages to remind the reader how special the natural world is (both flora and fauna), that they should be cared for and maintained. I ❤️ Lucy. 😊

Funny toast: If the ocean was beer and I was a duck,
I‘d swim to the bottom and drink my way up.
But the ocean‘s not beer, and I‘m not a duck.
So raise your glass high and shut the f-ck up!
given by the main character.

I loved this. Dani returns to her grandfather‘s home only to find her old summer friend has become the local hockey star. No longer clumsy, short, & nerdy…he‘s a jock and hot. 🤔 Not sure if it was the small town Minnesota vibes that brought back memories or Painter‘s sense of humor but it made me laugh and smile. As soon as I was done, my husband had his hand out...and then he started laughing. So I guess that‘s two thumbs up. #catsoflitsy

On the fence about this one.
Locked room, six suspects, the king is stabbed and poisoned. (Overkill?) (Too soon?) 🤣
The six all have secrets, are unknown to each other, and I felt the authors had to obfuscate so much to propel the story forward. While I untangled the plot I had no time to like anyone much. Really doubtful that I‘ll read the sequel. Which is kinda sad.

For whatever reason, I like mysteries that involve literary references and/or refer to well known artwork. At a small town college campus, girls are being killed and posed like literary characters. While the detectives investigate, several professors try to decode the literary meaning behind the scenes. I really enjoyed this. (Besides, I had Taylor Swift floating through my head while I read…🎶 Fate of Ophelia 🎶 which made me smile.) 🤭

I learned a new word! “Rory‘s got Backpfeifengesicht. … His face is very punchable.”

Backpfeifengesicht means a face that is begging to be slapped.
News to me…but useable if I can ever pronounce it. 👋🤦‍♂️🤣

Not new, but new to me.
“With all of my heart, I believe it is true that there is a heaven for animals too.”
“You‘ll grow older, I will, too. But when you meet your friends again, they‘ll see you as they saw you then.
And you‘ll find they always knew how much they were loved…and how much they loved you.”
(I really hope so.)

So cute. ☺️
A little ghost tries to find a place of his own to haunt. It isn‘t easy!
But then, he, and his crow companion, find more than just a new home. ❤️
Loved the story and the illustrations are so expressive. 👻

“…Captain Zane rides to the top of the hill…After a moment, his horse whirls, and he jogs down to us.” 🤔
I had to look up horse movements: walk, trot, canter, gallop, lope, pace, amble, rack, tolt, (wait, there‘s more!) piaffe, passage, gait, cadence, and, jog!!! Well, I visualize and I just had an image of a horse in a tank top, shorts, and a terry cloth headband stuck in my head. Jogging. (Yes, I‘m weird) 🏃‍♀️🐎🏃‍♂️ 🤭🤣😝

While each book has a murder or missing persons, there‘s an overarching mystery that keeps me coming back. When Sophie‘s body washes ashore, Mila must return to France to care for her stepsister/best friend‘s daughter, Ani. She also takes Sophie‘s job at her stepmother‘s investigative service, leaving behind her life and fiancé back in England. Why were Sophie and her husband out sailing during a storm? So I wait for the next installment.

Light spheres could be placed in … wait for it … scones. ? 🥐 hmmm, perhaps 🤔 sconces would work better? 🤭

I think she had some really good ideas, but she told the reader instead of showing things so it was a frustrating read for me. I‘m not sure if I‘ll read the next or not.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gosh, I loved this book. Every day a father asks his son if he‘s made new friends at school. He hasn‘t…not exactly. He draws faces on balls (Roland & Barry) and his milk carton (Coco) to be his friends until he makes some. Dad asks Tomasso to bring his crew for pizza…so he does. But there is no judgment or disappointment; they eat and Tomasso introduces all his “friends”. And they both know he‘ll be fine until he makes new friends.

This is heartwarming and lovely. A little ghost lives alone in an attic until the little girl downstairs encroaches on his territory. Slowly, he comes to realize that having a friend is not so scary after all. I really liked the charcoal illustrations.

Well, the title didn‘t lie. 🤣

I‘ve read better elimination/survival novels but I always like to give Kate Alice Marshall a try.

Lord love a duck, but the trunk was heavy.

Hmmm, could it perhaps be because of the body? 🤔🫣🤫

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

I love The Bakery Dragon!
Ember is too little to scare people to get their gold, but when circumstances bring the baker and Ember together, he finds that golden bread can be a treasure too.
I thought he looked adorable washing his hands in bubbles. 🥰🐉

Good start to October. Immersed in folklore, this book features haunting music, unholy bargains, a sea witch (of sorts), shapeshifters, ghosts, and children who fight evil with everything they‘ve got. Really unexpected and really enjoyable.

Salem‘s Lot-Stephen King. I was reading it in college…home for the weekend. Instead of going upstairs to my room, I slept on the couch, nearer my parents. I think my Dad said something like: bad dreams? 🤣 Yep
Bird Box-Josh Malerman. So claustrophobic with the masks
Fantasticland-Mike Bockoven. A hurricane traps people at a theme park where they fight for their lives…some of them were so beyond creepy. 😬
@dabbe

While well written and cleverly done, I found the ending out of character and unsatisfying.
But I can‘t say more without revealing the plot. 🤫😑

The last three books I‘ve read all revolve around poison. ☠️ Hmmm… 🤔 😳 😬

I loved the whole thing: the simplicity, the story, the drawing. 😊👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Silliness 😂

Just in time for Halloween! 🎃 👻🐌

It‘s 1954. A woman wakes, disoriented, on a bus with barred windows. Her ears are bleeding. She has a tag that says Dorothy but she knows she is not Dorothy. She‘s confused, but she knows that she‘s a time traveler. Unfortunately, the bus is taking her to a psychiatric hospital so telling them she‘s from another time will not go over well. I was sucked into this…but the ending was rushed, packed full of new info… I think for a sequel.
Iffy. 🤨

I generally like Megan Miranda.
Maybe the title was working subliminally on me (You Don‘t Belong Here) cuz
I had to bail. 😝😉

“It made him think, suddenly, of Nagamaki Plaza, though he wished his mind had not chosen that particular American classic as a reference point. For one thing, MacAdams was about a stone too heavy to be climbing in the ventilation.”
So. I believe this is a reference to Die Hard, in which case wouldn‘t someone fact check it to find out it is Nakatomi Plaza in the movie? 🤔 Just one of the weirdest editing things I noticed. ☹️🥺

Yes, it‘s the Orient Express. 🚂 Yes, there is murder. (Actually murders) 🫣
But this feels more like Hitchcock than Christie. 📚
I can usually pick out the bad guy but this had me shifting through characters as fast as I was flipping pages.
I really enjoyed it.

Maddie and her dogs have a lot to prove when the sheriff calls for her help to search for a lost senior named Eileen. When they hear the agitated older woman humming they break into “Come on Eileen” to let her know they are coming to help. (as one does) 😆 It‘s only natural after their success that the press and public decide to call them ‘The Midnight Runners.‘ Loved Maddie, loved her dogs, loved the eccentricity of the whole book. 👍🐕‍🦺🐾

After her husband dies, Maple is left penniless so she makes a living by creating intricate dollhouses. When she finds first client dead, she creates a dollhouse to recreate the crime scene. This is an interesting homage to Frances Glessner Lee, the mother of modern forensics because of her detailed “nutshell” dollhouse sized dioramas of unexplained deaths which were used for training homicide investigators and are also considered works of art.

One of the characters wears a T shirt that reads:
Tequila: “It might not be the answer, but it‘s worth a shot.” 🤭 🥃

Frisbee!
Best day ever at the dog park, especially when you‘re making new friends.

Read the books: enjoy Liz Danger‘s T Shirts….
Never Forget - with a picture of Pluto 1930-2006 beneath, and This is not a drill (pictured with a hammer)
And, Look both ways before you cross me
Am I easily entertained? 👍 Yep. These books definitely are entertaining. 😆

“Kitty says she never calls Faye ‘Faye,‘ she always calls her ‘Fay.‘”
“What?” “She says she always calls her ‘Fay‘ without the extra ‘e.‘”
“They sound alike, ‘e‘ or no ‘e.‘” “Kitty says Faye knows.”
Quirky, funny, murdery, spicy…so much fun.

He woke up with no eyebrows and no idea how he‘d gotten into such a position.

@ShyBookOwl

So far it‘s amusing and weird and wonderful.

I‘ve read the last two pages multiple times now … not that I think they‘re going to change … it‘s just I love one of the characters so much (the little gargoyle) and it‘s breaking my heart what‘s happening … maybe I just don‘t want to leave. It‘s going to be such a long time waiting … cliffhangers 😰🥺🫣

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Digging up a grave in a foggy, freezing cemetery at one in the morning was not how Miles wanted to spend his Thursday night.

Dahlia Lively is a Miss Marple-type character in a popular detective series. Rosalind King (60s) played the original Dahlia in the movies. Caro Hopper (40s) played Dahlia on the TV series. Posy Starling, child star, now grown up, plays Dahlia in the latest film. They should be rivals. But.
Instead, these three actresses who all have skeletons in their pasts, become unlikely friends, and team up to solve mysteries. 3rd book in this cozy series.

(Addie) “Let‘s figure out how we‘re going to get out of here.” She pointed to an air vent above them. …I could try to get it open, but I‘ll need a screwdriver first.”
(Mimi) “Well, there‘s some oranges over there, but I don‘t see any vodka.”
(Addie) “Very funny.”
(Me) Mimi is a hoot.

Two words: Secret passages.
Two more words: Septuagenarian sleuth …
And a whole bunch of words … teams up with her granddaughter to solve a murder while attending a Jazz Age theme party on Mackinac Island during a cyclone blizzard. 🥶
Great fun. 👍

You might want to read it…just to find out what they‘re up to. 🤭

This is hysterical … I love it so much. ❤️

I have no words…this is so much fun, and funny. I think kids would love this. Well, this kid did. 🤣