It was... okay? I had plenty of issues with this but I was very shocked to be inspired by the non-romance portions about writing, sooooo yeah. I think I like this author? Anyhow. Easy read for tired brain.

I must be entering my trash era. This was literary cotton candy. Not a genre I even like. But I picked this out and then I read it in two days, after touching no books at all for an entire month!
I dunno, it's a pick if your brainpower is low and your attention span has died. Yay December.

Enjoyed it! Fun and disturbing and unique. #botm

This was great and it could have and should have been so much more. This should have been an epic. It should have spanned her whole lifetime.

Did not like. They were all kind of crappy to each other. So many petty grievances. Some real problems are rushed and unresolved. Their successes at the end felt unearned.

Really fun, enjoyed it a lot! Could easily become a series. #botm

Fun! Sometimes all the sci-fi terms got a little confusing, but I'm also tired and basically braindead these days so it was probably fine. A short good time!

Pretty good, a little interested in watching the show. Wanted to yell at all the dumb decisions but that's pretty typical, I always want to slap a bunch of characters in this genre 😝

A fast-paced action movie of a read! A fun, pretty straightforward sci-fi thriller with a genetic twist. Hit on a few cliches but I'm not mad.
Well written too - if you aren't interested in all the science-y details, you can for sure skim over it and still keep up with the plot no problem. It was pretty interesting though.

Good and scary! I wish there was more!

Some brilliant writing, some really insufferable writing. The Toxic Event was great. It got pretty tedious after that. Am I missing something? Probably. I don't care.

It made me think of Infinite Jest for some reason. I don't remember enough specifics to compare. It's just vibes.

Not sure this lived up to the hype for me but it was really beautifully written and I did get pretty invested in some of the character's stories. But not all.

My messy #bookspin lists @TheAromaofBooks

A good May, except I haven't finished Station Eleven because I left it behind at my mom's house and I could just 😭 I'll retrieve it over the weekend but still, I want to know what's next noooooow!

This was a "what the hell did I just read." An impulse pick, it's about a murderer, but also brainwashing, and also memory, and, like, I don't even know. Good ending though ??‍♀️

Interesting! A sci-fi tech story that felt like a light horror. Kind of quirky but on the verge of something terrible happening.
There were a few more places I felt like the story could have gone - like how the tech would have been absolutely overrun with creeps very quickly. Or how the tech could have been beneficial (or not) for people with disabilities or who are homebound. Would have made it even more interesting.
A very strange pick!

Enjoyed it!
The story itself wasn't my favorite of the Greek retellings, but the writing was good, I would absolutely read another by this author.

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks
I read one whole book last month lololol 🤣😭

Will this month be better? Who knows! I might just want to fall back on my comfort read (which happens to be a thirteen book series, so, not exactly a quick read!)

😑

In a bit of a slump this month but I finished my #bookspin
This was really good, a story about three generations starting in China during WWII and after (I didn't know very much about what went on there, heartbreaking) then in America. The first half was really excellent. The second half did drag a little. Overall a pick!

Really incredible writing, I've got to actually read some of her fiction.
Some essays resonated more than others. The one about her friend who stays with her when she (the friend) needs cancer treatment was really beautiful. And I very much appreciated the one about not wanting to have children.
I basically skimmed and skipped one that went on and on about planes, though, oops.

#bfc2002 @wanderinglynn

✅ March was a success! Did the things!
April goals:
📚 Read my bookspin
🪶 Write 40k words for Camp NaNoWriMo
🏋🏻‍♀️ Two classes/yogas a week

#bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

This month & next month 😄 No bingo still, but one day!

That classic fairytale feel 🤗
Enjoyed this a lot.
I like a slow moving fantasy so I wasn't as displeased with the pacing as some other readers, but it was very slow and repetitive - a little less crying and a little more action would have leveled this up.
Still, a pick!
And my #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Curious how this ranks in the genre, I don't usually do thrillers.
I did like the main character. And I enjoyed disliking Sophie.
I didn't like the alternating first person style. And I never really got very invested in the mystery of who did what. One of the late twists got a wow out of me, but now, twenty minutes later, I can't remember what it was.

I liked this a lot! A heartfelt history of a small group of women who made big and often unappreciated contributions to many classic Disney movies.
It had a lot of details about the technical aspects of animation and how they changed through the years, which I found surprisingly interesting.

Must have been a rough day at the book factory!

Such drama! A soap opera about three flawed and judgmental friends being terrible to each other. Well, except Ronke, she didn't deserve any of this ❤️
It was between a Pick and a So-So for me. I think I'm not super into the domestic thriller genre, and miscommunication plotlines that drag on and on annoy me.
But it was very engaging. And it made me hungry, lol

#bfc2022 @wanderinglynn
✅ Made my bookish goal. but ❎ Didn't quite hit my fitness goal. BUT I think I've turned an attitude corner - I'm looking forward to doing the yoga/HIIT classes instead of dreading them. So, same goal this month, then I'll add a little more the next. (I'm definitely getting closer to touching my toes, lol, stupid tight hamstrings!)
📚 Bookish goals - bookspin and doublespin
🧘🏻‍♀️ Fitness goals - two classes a week

Wowowow @MeganAnn What an incredible package! I am so excited to read all of these! And the treats are so cool, thank you for including the vendors, there's a bunch of new ones in there that I'm adding to my bookmarks! 😁 Really wonderful picks and so generous, thank you thank you!
And extra thanks to @chelleo on another super fun blitsy swap, I love the card and bookmark so much 🤗
#blitsyswap

#bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks
Not a bad February! Would have liked to squeeze in one more, but eh.
March has got some good ones too 😄

I liked it! I dunno, it was kinda trope-y YA girl power stuff, but I enjoyed reading it. The spirit based magic was cool and I liked all the main characters. Some things were silly but whatever, I had a good time.

And that's my #doublespin 😁 @TheAromaofBooks

Impulse-bought this and so glad I did! A complicated and interesting short. You know the two characters are different races but you don't know who's white and who's Black.
The introduction really hits you with it: "When [Toni Morrison] called 'Recitatif' an 'experiment' she meant it. The subject of the experiment is the reader."
And "... most attempts to answer it tend to reveal more about the reader than the character."
⬇️⬇️⬇️

Got your package @MeganAnn 🥳🥳🥳 Can't wait to open!
#blitsyswap #bhms @Chelleo

This was really good! I liked it more than I thought I would. Well written and very creepy.

#readspooky2022

Really fascinating story. Ona was incredible. And it's a very different and important angle on the Washingtons than the usual.

Heavy stuff for such a tiny book! A must-read.

My #bookspin for February 😄

#bookspin #doublespin list for February!

I'm giving myself two blocks for books that are over 400 pages. I am slow and tired.

Read both spins for January plus a couple others, pretty pleased!

@TheAromaofBooks

#bfc2022
✅ Goals achieved!
February goals set!
📚 Read my bookspin and this month's readspooky pick
🏋🏻‍♀️ Two yogas a week (Working toward touching my toes, I can't do it!)

@wanderinglynn

Amaze amaze amaze!
Loved this. The science went waaaay over my head and I didn't always find the main character likeable, but I loved everything about his interactions with Rocky. This was a lot of fun, tense, but hopeful.

🤣🤣🤣 I am having a cheesy good time with this book so far. Kind of just what the doctor ordered during this sad winter of plague.

It's unpopular opinion time, I guess.
I will say that the ending very much worked for me!
The writing was really lovely at times, but overdone and repetitive.
I did like Addie, though she was frustrating. For someone so desperate to live freely, she doesn't actually do much and isn't as curious about the world as she says. The limits of the curse make it hard, but still.
Didn't like Henry at all.
I see why it's so loved but it was a slog for me.

Pretty cool news!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/politics/maya-angelou-quarter-issued/index.html

A lot of great spooky imagery and atmosphere! I always enjoy a horror that starts out with a slow burn and then goes explosively off the rails.

There were things about the setting that didn't make any sense, though. Maybe it should have been set in a different time period.

Overall good for it's YA horror genre, not quite for me, but still fun.

An entertaining pick for #readspooky2022, looking forward to the rest of the year! 👻 @teebe

This gets a Wow. I'll be thinking about these characters for a long time. And even the narrator, who I really disliked for most of the book.
This group of women and their children are victims of absolutely horrifying crimes, and with so much heart and love and rage and even humor, they discuss what they must do next.
Has this ever been adapted into a play? I think it would be amazing.

(So glad this was my #bookspin book! @TheAromaofBooks)

#bfc2022 A late joiner! Because I used to walk at least two miles a day, but I huff and puff just walking up my block's hill now. Thanks, work-from-home!
My friend gifted me some goth-themed virtual fitness classes, so, that's as good a place to start as any!

Keeping it super simple
📚 Bookish goal: read my bookspin
🚶🏻‍♀️Fitness goal: One goth yoga class per week

Thanks for letting me join @wanderinglynn 😄

#littlechristmasswap #lcs
Thanks @guinsgirlreads haha you got me again! Too funny 😆
I'm very excited to read this book, I love a good satire and this looks hilarious! And I'm gonna have to share this adorable Rudolph with my nephews 🥰
Happy little Christmas!
And thanks to @bookish_wookish for hosting! What's better than a new book and a chocolate, lol

This was really good, I actually wanted it to be longer! I kind of wish we got more of the women's POVs instead of Achilles's, since this was more about Briseis/the fate of the women than about him. Really good anyhow, though, would read more from this author for sure.

12,226 points this week!

I'm bummed that I wasn't a more active participant this year, but Winter Games still brought me some of that holiday cheer I would have missed otherwise 🎄And I did enjoy the hell out of the word games 😄

2022 bookish resolution - 50 books! A little more than I read this year but less than I've read other years. A nice round number 😆

#wintergames #teamgamesleighers @StayCurious

Pretty good! A uniquely quiet look at a zombie apocalypse survivor. There were some things I wanted to know more about. But overall enjoyable.

And that's that, last read of 2021. Did not achieve my Goodreads goal at all, gonna set it to something much easier for 22 😝

TBR read for more points, too, yay!

#bookspin list (and a crooked blank bingo board) for January!! A few have been on my #tbr for the whole year. Or more. So, yeah, let's get reading! 😁
@TheAromaofBooks

Thanks for the tag, @MeganAnn 😄
If I had to pick 21 top books it would be half of all the books I read this year, though! Not my reading-est year!
So here's my top five, chosen because I either couldn't put them down or because I've thought about them frequently since finishing.
Peace out, 2021! 🥂 No resolutions or declarations for 2022 here, I'm hoping to just sneak in and out unnoticed and unscathed. 2023, though, watch out 😆😂🤣