This was the appropriately named brewery in Charlotte, NC that I hung out at yesterday!
This was the appropriately named brewery in Charlotte, NC that I hung out at yesterday!
In Charlotte, NC for a work trip this week, and yesterday I spent some time at a local brewery with the book I brought. Book accompanied by a yummy pretzel and tasty Plum-Rosemary-Orange Sour Ale. I was impressed, you can really taste the rosemary in this drink!
Side note: any Charlotte/Raleigh Littens around? I have one more day here (I have to drive back to Raleigh tomorrow from Charlotte) and would love a good bookstore recommendation!
This sequel really lived up to expectations! It is everything you could want from the cozy academia fantasy romance corner. Even though it leans into the cozy genre, there are still serious stakes for Emily & Wendell. Emily is following up her encyclopedia with a a mapbook of the Otherlands, and Wendell tries to return this kingdom while avoiding his stepmother‘s assassins. The faerie world is broadened and endearing new characters introduced.
Sneaking in some reading this morning before I jump into chores for most of the day. Hoping to finish this book today!
I have been so pleased with this sequel; fans of Encyclopedia of Faeries will love this one too!
I kept seeing this series hyped for romantasy readers and thought I‘d give it a chance. It was free on Kindle Unlimited, so I signed up for a free trial to try it out. It wasn‘t any worse than the average romantasy (it felt very ACOTAR meets Hunger Games), but I found its utter mediocrity and tropey-ness to be a turn off. I skimmed A LOT to finish this one, and won‘t be continuing with the sequel, despite a vague interest in knowing the ending.
Turned in my winter reading challenge bingo card to the local library today; I got 6 entries to the final giveaway, 2 coupons for a personal pizza, and 3 cute stickers (I declined the bookmarks because I already have far too many), but resisted checking out any physical books, since my physical and Kindle TBR are already overflowing.
Limited work this week due to spring break. I had a dentist appointment at 8 am, now biding the time for a bit at a local cafe, so that I can hit up the nearby library when it opens at 10 am.
Impromptu bookstore popup at a local brewery! I resisted buying anything, but they had a lot of Alaskana options, as well as popular bestsellers.
An unfortunately disappointing finale to the trilogy. I absolutely love Olivie Blake‘s writing style and characterization (which is still highlighted in this book), but the plot was basically incomprehensible to me. I honestly couldn‘t describe what happened outside of a few set piece scenes and character deaths. I‘ll credit my lack of comprehension partially to distracted audiobook listening, but I didn‘t have that problem w/the first 2 books.
March #BookspinBingo card. My #Bookspin is Two Twisted Crowns and #Doublespin is Ask Again, Yes.
Overall, a good reading month. I finished 8 books, and have two in-progress carrying over to March. Higher than average ratings for me, which means I read a lot of good books in February! My top read of February is the tagged; I finished it in 2 days and immediately started the sequel. According to Goodreads and Storygraph, I am 6 books ahead on my 2024 reading goal (75 books).
Technically The Fragile Threads of Power and The Atlas Complex are still in-progress, but I am marking them off because I don‘t plan on including them on the March bingo card. No bingos, but I did clear all the free spaces (I always leave those to account for my mood reading tendencies).
Now off to plan for March #BookspinBingo!
I‘ve enjoyed all the entries in this historical romance series (I feel like Mimi Matthew‘s is becoming an auto-read author for me). This one especially nailed all of the romance tropes it includes (childhood friends > lovers > enemies > lovers), by actually making the scenario feel realistic based on the characters‘ circumstances and the timeline of their relationship.
Holly was my favorite character from King‘s The Outsider, so I‘ve been looking forward to reading her stand-alone since it was announced. I haven‘t read the Mr. Mercedes series, although I‘m interested now to go back to the start of her story. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I kind of feel like giving away who the serial killers were right at the beginning took away some of the suspense. Didn‘t care at all for the heavy handed COVID commentary
I‘ve been really underwhelmed with the BOTM picks recently, so I was excited to see several interesting options for March! I ended up choosing A Fate Inked in Blood, but I almost picked Annie Bot. If I see good feedback on that one, I might add on later.
The BOTY winner and other finalists were really not my jam this year (plus I‘d already read 2 of them), but I feel like Shark Heart is one I might actually enjoy.
Trying to post more regularly on my bookstagram. I love this sweatshirt I received as a gift from my SIL. It‘s my favorite reading outfit! I also have a lot of reviews overdue to post on Litsy!
If you want to follow me on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/readerlykimberly?igsh=ZW9keXpreTVpZW0y&utm_source=qr
Thoughts on this year‘s BOTY finalists?
I had a lot of issues with the content and execution of Weyward, and I thought The Wishing Game was very mediocre with juvenile writing (despite a promising premise). Really surprised that they were voted that highly. Not interested in the romance or mystery/thriller options, so I guess I‘ll be choosing Shark Heart.
It‘s only appropriate that I should be settling in for a quiet Valentine‘s night in with a sweet historical romance. Unfortunately, my husband headed back to his work yesterday (he has a 2 week on, week off schedule), but at least I have a swoon worthy duke to spend my solo evening with 😉.
Side note: the page turner remote that @Saknicole gave me for Christmas has completely revolutionized my Kindle/iPad reading!
Does it count as a Target run if you *don‘t* get sucked into the book section? A pleasant surprise for me is that these books ended up being BOGO 50% off at checkout, so I got to feel less guilty!
Happy V Day, Littens!
🩷💖💗💓💞💕💘
Shelves and drywall patching are done and arranged for now. So happy that at least a portion of my books are now on display! Decided to focus these shelves mainly on my nicer hardcovers.
Still need to figure out shelving in our office for all of my paperbacks (10 boxes worth 😬 packed away), but that‘s a project for another week. We also want to display some of our framed artwork around the shelves on this wall.
Enjoy the #bookhusband cameo!
I made all the snacks (not pictured: nachos and second round of wings still currently in the oven) and now I get to enjoy the game (i.e. read my book) until the half-time show (who else is excited to see Usher?!).
Ignore the book boxes I emptied yesterday when filling out living room shelves.
Just finished my re-read of this series in anticipation of finally reading The Fragile Threads of Power. While it can be a common fantasy series pitfall, I really appreciate how Schwab uses the increasing lengths to deepen the character development, expand the world building, and add complexity to the continuing plot. Each book still tells a distinctive story that builds upon the overarching narrative. I ❤️ Kell, Lila, Rhy, Alucard, and Holland.
Shelves are partially filled. My husband has to finish the drywall patching before I can finish the top shelf.
I will probably also be reorganizing the bottom shelf, moving most of the fiction hardbacks to the top, where I am also going to display my non-fiction and then fill in the bottom with more fantasy books to go along with the HP collection.
Will be happy when this project is done, so we can push the couch back towards the wall.
Status update on my husband installing shelves in our living room! I can‘t wait to fill these with books!
The plan is to use these living room shelves for my nicer hardcovers. We still have to figure out shelving for the rest of my books; there are still 15 boxes worth packed up since our move back in October!
I was out of state attending a wedding last weekend, so finally getting to post my February #bookspin board.
BookSpin: The Family
DoubleSpin: The Fragile Threads of Power
Proud of my strong start to reading in January! Apparently I am already 4 books ahead on my 2024 reading challenge (set for 75 books).
I did a lot of escapist/destress reading this month due to a lot of anxiety around work (today is actually my last day at the job I have done for 9 years 😳), and am now looking to be fun-employed for a few weeks before I start a new position.
My top book of January was Bright Young Women!
I fell in love with Rebecca Ross as an author last year when I discovered A River Enchanted and Divine Rivals, and wanted to explore more of her back catalog (found on Hoopla).
This ended up being a light pick (3.5 ⭐️). Ross has a beautiful writing style that really brings forth the magic of the worlds she creates. Overall, though, this ended up being a somewhat generic (but above average) YA fantasy romance.
I recommend to #BorrowNotBuy!
If I was rating just on the merit of the bold, stylized illustrations, this graphic novel would get 5 ⭐️, but I found the approach to the narrative was really lacking.
I would have preferred a more even split between the biographical elements and the imaginary Glass Town. The silliness of the Glass Town characters‘ exploits took away too much from the reality of the Brontës‘ early lives. Maybe because the book‘s aimed at a young audience?
3 ⭐️
This book was so close to perfect for me (rated 5 ⭐️ on GR and 4.75 on SG). Directly inspired by the Ted Bundy case, specifically the sorority house attack in Florida, one of his final crimes. The books centers on two characters (Pamela, the sorority president, and Ruth, a victim from Seattle) and moves back and forth in time. What this book does differently from other true crime inspired novels is breaking down the media mythologizing of…👇🏼
If I hadn‘t used an Audible credit, I would‘ve DNF‘d this, but I felt obligated to finish. The premise sounded pretty interesting (alternate history in which women have the power to turn into dragons) in theory, but the execution did not live up to expectations. Sort of a coming of age story, but the overall theme is just Patriarchy = BAD. The level of suspension of disbelief needed to accept the society-level ignorance/amnesia is laughable.
Light pick (3.5 ⭐️) The premise is perfection (reclusive author of an extremely popular children‘s book series comes out of hiding to hold a Wonka-esque competition for his most rabid fans to win the only copy of his next book), but the boring Mary Sue main character with the predictably traumatic backstory (that isn‘t even that traumatic) really brought down the vibe for me. Overall I liked it, but totally understand the mixed reviews.
Is this a pretty obvious Hunger Games/Red Queen YA dystopian ripoff? No doubt. Did I still have a fun time reading it and enjoying the very slow burn romance? For sure. Light pick (3.5 ⭐️) that I would recommend if you enjoyed the YA dystopian era of the early 2010s, but it‘s not doing anything original and of course ends on a cliffhanger since it‘s the first in a duology. If you know what you‘re getting into and that sounds appealing, go for it.
I rated this 2 ⭐️ on GR and 2.5 on SG. This was just not it. I really enjoyed Nancy Mitford‘s Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate, so I was really interested in learning more about her and her family, whom many of the characters in her autobiographical novels are based on. Read like a narrative Wikipedia article. It was impossible to root for any of the characters: Nancy is so passive & woe-is-me, while Diana and Unity are straight up Nazis.
I meant to post this last week when they arrived in the mail, but….it finally happened…I preordered the same book twice 🤦🏽♀️
My husband opened the packages and was totally “WTF, Kimberly?!”
Thankfully I have a sister that already owns the first two in this series in hardback, so the extra copy will end up going to her.
2023 is the last year I‘m going to be paying for an Audible subscription. I have so many un-listened-to audiobooks already in my library, plus access to Hoopla and Libby libraries, I know I won‘t miss getting new books from Audible.
These stats are still always fun to see!
I randomly picked this up on a kindle deal, but I would definitely recommend it as a borrow not buy situation. Other than the section about The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I didn‘t really learn that much substantive about the teen shows featured. For the shows that were included, it didn‘t really feel like the comprehensive “teen show deep-dive” that I was expecting going in. Ending with Glee as the last chapter felt very arbitrary.
This is definitely your run-of-the mill regency romance. No spice at all, just a very brief kissing scene at the very end; it‘s definitely a slow-burn romance, and the banter between the love interests is well-done. Not quite enemies to lovers, as the love interests pretty quickly get over their initial conflict and become friendly before it develops into more. I appreciated the FMC‘s single-minded commitment to providing for her sisters.
Finally, here‘s my 23 in ‘23! I made this graphic to go with a yearly wrap-up post for my bookstagram. I post reviews much more frequently on Litsy still, but please give my bookstagram a follow if you are interested in more lengthy reviews and regular story updates.
My Instagram handle is @ readerlykimberly
Final #WinterGames points total: 70,750 points
During the second half of the month I logged a lot of extra points from the week 3 word game and compiling my final word search and bingo totals.
Another fun year on the books! Thanks for @Clwojick for hosting again and @Roary47 for being the #GingerbreadGems team leader!
I love that The Storygraph tells you these less common stats!
I think my average time to finish was disproportionately affected by one audiobook that I started in 2022 but didn‘t finish until 2023.
I like these extra blurbs that The Storygraph adds to their reading wrap up!
Love the graphic that The Storygraph generated this year!
No big reading resolutions this year. Going to keep my goal to 75 books since that is what felt comfortable this year, and I‘ll feel extra accomplished if I get closer to 100. I do want to read more nonfiction, and of course read more from my already owned TBR. I still haven‘t set up my books yet in our new house, so that is a goal I want to work on when my husband is back from work.
*according to GR. I plan on posting my Storygraph stats tomorrow. They are a lot more accurate, since it differentiates better on ratings and pages read vs. minutes listened.
I generally am pretty stingy w/giving out 4 & 5 ⭐️ ratings, so I‘m not surprised my average is around 3.5.
While I definitely did read quite a few 500+ page books, I guess some of the shorter ones (thinking the new Saga issues) must have pulled the average length down.
My final Goodreads stats for 2023!
A couple database discrepancies meant my GR and Storygraph stats don‘t align perfectly; I actually finished a couple more total titles. I did have to reduce my original goal of 100 to something more achievable.
Life was good in 2023 (got married and bought our first home together!), but it did get in the way of reading. I had a major reading slump in the spring/early summer that got me off track.
Happy new years! Had to borrow this cute graphic I saw on Instagram 🎆🎇🪩🎊🎉🥂