This was quite the slog, but it offers a view of history mostly through class struggle, that‘s not a lens I use as much I should.
It is kind of depressing, as it appears that the only time things get better for the non-rich is when there‘s enough violence and death to cause change, and even then the change is tiny.
3/5, it‘s a classic and I think everyone should read it, but maybe better to read when younger, & when more optimism is available

This was not as good as the first book, it really dragged in some places and rushed through other parts way too fast.
A war, an escape, more war, demons, gods, and love all mash together in a story that follows a tailor who must decide what she will sacrifice to save her country, while never examining if her country is worth saving.
2/5 stars, I‘m glad I know how the story ends, but I was not impressed and do not recommend.

This was surprisingly good. I might be biased because I am in a period of transition for my career, but I found this fascinating. I don‘t hate the narrative of a rich white guy who gives up his big money job to run a charity focused on building libraries and I enjoyed the insiders look at fundraising. I found the description of academics sadly accurate, and I can‘t believe how much money some people have. It‘s just wrong.
3/5 stars

This is such a fun book, I loved the story and the writing was mostly good. It‘s like eating a really good cookie - I want more!
Viv leaves the adventuring gigs to open a coffee shop, and stacks the deck in her favor with a magic item. She builds a new crew and a successful business but her past is coming for her and she has to make some tough choices.
4.5/5 stars Really good, but had some pacing issues.

This was well written and doesn‘t end on a cliff hanger, which I love.
In a city where dreams are harvested for magic and where to be considered corrupt is a death sentence, a priest learns that his society is built on dark and evil secrets. He must fight to keep his ideals alive while working with an ambassador from another country and keep his apprentice alive.
4/5 stars. A little long in some areas, but good writing and a very unique story.

This book started off really good, but dragged in the middle and the ending was just sort of meh. I think it‘s a fascinating concept and is a great example of what if and the general rule that all humans are evil.
In a world where Africa is the continent of advanced technology and the slave trade is reversed, follow the life of a slave girl from England.
2/5 stars parts are really well written and engaging, but a lot of the book is very slow.

This is a sweet novella about misunderstandings and how people can defy expectations. I also enjoyed the second chance for love storyline.
12 dancing princesses must deal with their father‘s extreme need to protect them, and one must try to find love when she thought she has lost all chance at it.
3.5/5 stars read for a fun retelling and for a fairy godmother who quite enjoys telling a good tale.

While I found the heavy handed social justice preaching to be a bit much, the story was interesting and the characters were a lot of fun. I read it in 1 day.
A princess leaves her royal position and decided to become a tea master in order to best serve her people. She gets involved with a refugee population and decides to bring down a corrupt noble while working to achieve her mastery.
3.5/5 read for Tea, Intrigue, & unique magic

This was a very English book about an American who significantly contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary while locked away for a murder in an insane asylum. It was an interesting read, I learned a lot about the two men who the author focuses on, who are both very unique and fascinating, but I was really intrigued with the background about making a dictionary.
3.5/5 stars, this is a good read for everyone who likes to read and write

As a librarian, I ❤️ that this book is dedicated to librarians. The combination of journal & book reviews is a fun & unique writing style.
Mor is recovering from losing her twin in an epic battle against her mother & must adapt to a new school & family. She loves SF books and eventually finds other SF lovers to bond with while trying to learn the limits of her magic.
3/5 stars. Read for 1970s SF book reviews mixed with a unique story

I had high hope for this book and I was disappointed with how much of it was commentary. I appreciated learning about historical significance of redheads and how gendered people‘s concepts of redheads are. The author does state that her book is focused on Europe, as the USA has other (racial) issues & prejudices that make it unique and outside her experience as a European.
2/5 stars read for a well written semi-history with lots of commentary

All the descriptions of the women were so sexist and the author went out of his way to describe women in that way too much and too often. Bailed after 2 chapters. Would not recommend. Too bad as the premise was interesting and it‘s rare to find a book with literary aspirations written in the first person.

This was a surprise for me, it was a very well written book with an interesting story.
Siblings must navigate growing up in the 1960s as cursed witches. As long as they don‘t have in love, they can live relatively normal lives, but as they try to avoid love, they complicate their lives.
3.5/5 beautifully written, but kind of sad.

This is a really interesting world & each book in this series is a different character, not even related from what I could tell. It‘s a unique story and the pacing is a bit varied, but very interesting.
Lucy, a member of the royal family, has secrets and her secrets are coming to ruin her and her family. Politics, magic, slavery, and possibly war are in the wind for Lucy and her “it‘s complicated” person.
3.5/5 read if you like unique dark magic

Thank you @catiewithac for this! I‘m pretty sure it‘s from you, but if it‘s not, thank you to whoever sent me this! I can‘t wait to try the tea! And it came with a yummy cookie, perfect for the flavors of the tea. I‘ve never heard of this author, but they write for The NYT, and for science magazines so I‘m excited to read this! Thank you 😊

I really liked the first half of the book, but I didn‘t like the later half. The characters didn‘t really grow into better people, but it was interesting to read about the writing process for different kinds of fiction writers.
January is dealing with grief and her disillusionment with her father. She and Gus, a flame from college, end up living next to each other and writing together.
2/5 stars, read for an interesting story about writing.

This was my first military history book and it was very good. The author did a great job explaining how different groups conquered and ruled various areas across Europe and the Near East and I learned a lot which I love. The writing is very digestible and I appreciate all of the end notes.
4/5 stars, read to better understand the fall of Rome and the endless cycle of war and conquest after the fall until the start of the Renaissance.

Some of the writing was really good, and the characters had some (uneven) development.
An unwanted son and a daughter who doesn‘t want to find her own strength must navigate in the shadows of their parents and try to understand who they can become and what price they are willing to pay. An intersection of Roman/Desert Nomad/Learned Scholars society & magic is a cool world but under explored.
2.5/5 stars, read for a military/magic/assassin story

This book is FABULOUS, so well written & beautifully illustrated.
Maika has something dangerous in her & must return to the horrendous pit of suffering run by evil nuns. She finds more than she thought, and runs into a political situation that might turn into a war. One of the kids she rescued won‘t leave her, and their cat companion helps him stay safe as Maika tries to figure out her past and the monster inside of her.
4.5/5 wonderful!

This is one of the strangest books I‘ve ever read. It‘s like a surreal book had a baby with a dimestore novel with cyberpunk grandparents.
The main character is the child of a washing machine and a mountain and he has strange brothers. He tries to be a good man, and he tries to make peoples lives better until his family starts to pull him back into death and chaos.
1.5/5, I couldn‘t stop reading it, but I wish I hadn‘t read it.

The first book in this collection is FANTASTIC, great writing great characters & a super interesting world, but the 2nd book was so confusing & I think should have been read first? The authors note did not help regarding what order to read the collection.
A human assassin and his crew must figure out how to take out a huge target in a very short amount of time with lots of complex world building.
Didn‘t finish the collection.
4/5 for 1st book

This book has a fascinating world & interesting characters, but jumped around way too much. The writing was good in some places and just meh in others.
A blacksmith‘s daughter is pulled into a world of intrigue and danger as the goblins prepare for war, the Fae court spins slowly and poisons the world, all species fall into a trap that is only the opening step for another big trap that is the first step in a complex plot.
2/5 for the writing

Mostly a good read, interesting to read about people‘s theories, but sometimes this book got way too deep into the theory. I appreciates the details of the court and politics but wanted more citations (as always). I also like that this covered from her ascension as queen to her death, as her younger life was nicely summed up but not the focus.
3/5 stars, read for an in depth history of Queen Elizabeth I, more narrative style.
I miss my Kiyo

This is the last book photo Kiyo will ever be in, yesterday we gave her a dignified death. I‘m glad it was such a good book, one of the best in the series.
To find a missing family member, Dina and Sean must host a galactic style Bachelor contest, with the goal of no more deaths and getting a ride to an inhospitable planet to attempt a rescue.
4.5/5, read for an intense magical sci-fi adventure with fun romance and stellar reality TV

The beginning got really bogged down in the whole gender identity theme, but once the story started moving, it got more interesting.
Twins are born to a brutal tyrant. One of them is a prophet, whose vision can‘t be changed and when their dictator mother starts a brutal campaign against some rebels, the siblings must decide where they stand.
2.5/5 read for a fantasy light on world building and character building and heavy on gender issues

This is a very sad book, but it‘s so well written that it was hard to put it down. It‘s really hard to read about how women are treated in the family, and more generally, but it is very well written.
It follows the family of a man who managed to keep a book store open in Kabul for years and who had big dreams for Afghanistan once the Americans came.
3/5 stars, read for a well written, enraging, and poignant story of a family in Afghanistan.

Interesting blend of western & fantasy, good world building & believable characters.
Izzy‘s parents left her in the Territory, their price to the person called the Devil. When she‘s 16, she‘s free and chooses to become the Left Hand. The devil apprentices her to a man who rides the road to learn about her new job and her new powers. She must stop a new evil and learn who she is.
3/5 stars, read for realistic trails with magic & legends

The 1st half of this book was hard to read & hard to follow, but the 2nd half was good. Starts with an overview of the history of Texas, then dives hard & deep into the slave state that was created by white settlers who had made agreements with Mexico they didn‘t honor and who lost the Alamo in their fight to keep slavery. The most interesting part was the fight over who controlled the Alamo in more modern times and it‘s symbolic growth. 2/5 stars

A unique world, the steampunk is more of a setting than a major theme which I liked, but the romance developed waaaaay to fast.
A young prostitute gets involved with complicated politics and danger when a former sex slave is dumped on the door of the house. The prostitutes work with a Marshal and his deputy to stop evil plots and free sex slaves.
3/5 read for an interesting story with F/F romance and good representation

This is an adorable collection of short stories told mostly without words. My favorite is the one with GhostRider.
A not-cat travels the marvel universe causing trouble and meeting marvel characters.
3/5 stars, very cute, short, read. Read if you like cats and marvel

To be fair, this is not a book I would ever read on my own #litsylovewritenbooks. I found the story to be boring, full of details about pregnancy and digs at Harvard that the author didn‘t find ironic (she hates Harvard but mentions she went to Harvard every chapter. She could have stopped name dropping at any time). Yay ? for the author for finding her son to be magical, but I did not enjoy this at all and would never recommend it to anyone

This was a fun read, although the author does a horrible job with why her “brilliant” religions expert character couldn‘t figure out something very basic. I‘m mad that the series appears to be forever unfinished.
In a world where gods & genetic modification are banned, and caste & race are regulated, an expert and a super soldier must race to solve murders.
4/5 interesting book with hints of Sherlock Holmes and paranoia surrounding governments.

I did not like this one anywhere near as much as the first one, but it was an interesting read. The main character is kind of stupid, which irritates me, but her love interest has an interesting backstory and her parents are really interesting.
Looks are deceiving as Julia takes what some might consider desperate steps to escape her parents and marries a man whom she is convinced is not as bad as rumors make him out to be.
2/5 stars

I don‘t think this was as well written as other books in the series, but I really enjoyed the development of the world when it comes to magic and artifacts.
Murders are happening in a grisly way, and Mercy‘s unique magic is going to help them catch the killer - if she can survive what her magic does to her. We learn why Zee came out to what was the middle of nowhere.
3.5/5 read for a dark addition to the series, and learn more about Zee and Tad

This was a book that was real enough to be sad, but ended happily. I loved all the descriptions of fashion and horses.
Evie comes to London to find a husband and make a future for her sisters and has a daring plan to use her riding skills and her meeting with a daring fashion designer will change her ideas of how to build a better future.
4/5 stars, read if you enjoy historical romance and love fashion.

While not as good as some of the other books in the series, this is still a good book. I like the building of the Fae tales and powers.
When a shapeless power can take over the people it bites, it‘s up to Mercy to use her resistance to magic and her growing knowledge of the Fae to protect her family and her city.
3.5/5 read if you love the series and if you want a dark Fae story

This adorable comic book is from one of my favorite web comics, and it was adorable! I don‘t think the author every got an ISBN for it, as he did a self printing sort of thing, but it‘s adorable!
Pixie and Brutus (from Pet_Foolery) must adventure into the forest to find a missing gnome from their garden and work with their friends to convince the squirrel queen to give him back.
3.5/5 stars - read for light happy fun with cute animals

I wanted to like this book, I loved The Eight, but it was just so not interesting. The characters were not interesting and did not seem to have any realism to them, I honestly don‘t even remember any of their names.
The daughter of the main modern character in The Eight must deal with the start of the Game, figure out who is on what side, and avoid the collision of history that complicates her family.
1/5 stars - I can‘t recommend reading this

This is an adorable, light, wordless read. The story follows a young Korgi and his friend on an adventure, which leads to some monsters, but it‘s not scary and it‘s not bloody. I enjoyed the black and white drawing style - and the cute doggies!
3/5 - read for a cute and beautifully drawn story of friendship and community

I loved this book-the writing is ok, super cool story & the world building was great!
An island in the style of Jurassic Park, but for fantasy lovers, has been taken over in what the billionaire owner calls a coup. Can a team of highly trained mercenaries and a PhD in comparative literature survive the fantastic creatures, deadly puzzles, & totally immersed workers to open the island again?
4/5 stars, I was this island to be real!

I love learning from what I read, although learning about Title V did not make me happy. I had no idea that the Republican Party forced censorship onto the reading materials sent to servicemen overseas, and made it more difficult for service people to vote, because they wanted to try to stop people from voting for FDR. I guess more people should know this history so we stop repeating the mistakes of the past

Another work read - not my favorite. Really interesting ideas, but the presentation of the ideas made it hard for me to understand the logic behind them. Too many personal stories and no in text citations.
I think race as caste is a correct idea, and the author provides arresting stories about what experiences people of the different race/castes experience but I don‘t understand the entire concept.
2/5 read for a better view on racism in the USA

This book was interesting and I learned a lot about the beginnings of #geology and poor William Smith, but it never told me how the map changed the world. I found the first part of the book much better than the later half, and it was really interesting to learn about the debtors prison system, but I don‘t understand why the map was so important.
1.5/5 stars, long winded tangents ruin this book.

A very cute read, and a fun world.
Mika is a real witch, and when her social media presence brings her to the attention of a group charged with caring for three young witches, she is convinced to teach the girls. Relationship drama, cute dog, and a grumpy male librarian make this fun, and the unexpected (to me) plot twist makes a good ending.
3.5/5 stars, read for fun and entertaining witchy light romance. Nice blend of family and romantic love

I was very disappointed with this book, the choices of the main character didn‘t make any sense given her background and experiences.
Immanuel is raised in a strict religious community, where women are barely allowed to read and there are multiple wives for religious leaders. Her mother was murdered as a witch and she is accused of following in her footsteps. Will she save her community?
1/5 stars, poorly plotted and bad character development

This was the 4th book in the series, and I appreciate that the author decided to show the bad side of the fabulous Raje family, and I appreciate the lessons that Vansh had to learn.
Naina & Vansh must work together to gain money for their various projects after Vansh‘s older brother publicly dumped Naina. Naina must deal with the trauma of her past & Vansh must grow into his new role.
A fun read, not too light, but a good happy ending. 3/5 stars

Hello group! @jessinikkip @RinaBrahmbhattBarot @HeathHof
Which of these looks most interesting to you all? I am happy with any of these.

This was a fun read, I liked the setting and the characters. I didn‘t realize it was a Disney owned publisher, but once the author started making allusions to the movie, I checked because I was worried that the author would get sued.
Isabella has to tame the beast - a spoiled rich kid who signed a contract to write a book for her company - and gets to live in his mansion while helping him. Love blooms, and opportunities arrive.
3/5 stars

This book, which is a novel within a mystery & two love stories, is entitled S.. 2 college students use the novel to communicate, writing in the margins & leaving emphera throughout the novel.
The book was interesting, the novel was boring. I enjoyed the story of the students and the mysteries but wished that there has been more from the college students. All the little pieces of paper & things are cool but irritating to keep in order.
3/5 stars

This book started slow for me, but got really good towards the end. I thought the villain was interesting if not well developed and I think the author did a great job of showing how teenage hormones are a terrible distraction.
Abby decides to help her adoptive parents solve the murder of young ladies on the marriage mart and meets an alluring girl from Faerie who helps her overcome crippling social anxiety and solve the murders.
4.5/5 stars