I love this 2nd book of the No. 2 Ladies Detective Agency even more than the first! I think I read the whole thing with a huge smile on my face. 😁

❤️

@ShyBookOwl #FirstLineFridays

I loved this just as much the second time around! Peaceful, calming, exactly the vibes I wanted to start off 2023 with! The mysteries themselves are very light compared to the thrillers I normally read, but the solving of them is always clever and entertaining. And this also includes fantastic descriptions of African landscapes. 😊💙

59% through my first re-read of the year. 😊 I originally read this in 2014 and I loved the peaceful, calming vibes. (Also loved the HBO series.)

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! 🌼 I'm keeping my 2023 reading goals simple this year. I'm de-stressing myself and reading at a slower and more relaxed pace (I've been feeling the rush to constantly finish books quickly to move onto the next new thing, and that takes away a lot of the joy of reading), and I will be doing some re-reads that I've put off for years because I thought I didn't have time. Well, now is the time. 💙

The stats are in. 😆 Not too shabby. Particularly proud of that page count!

This. Book. 🔥🔥🔥 So powerful!! A dystopian system built on racism (and that's obviously not that hard to imagine unfortunately) and the power of words as the only weapon. I loved this book!

❤️❤️❤️

A delightfully odd story about finding your place and learning to let go. Also includes ghosts. 😎

❤️❤️❤️

To be honest, the beginning was SLOW to me. I almost despaired of there being any story at all except her disappointments in the life of being a governess. But then Mr. Weston appeared. ❤️ And yeah I fell a bit in love with him too. 😊 I really related with her inner structure as she fought her growing feelings for him.

Agnes's inner dialogue is what I enjoyed most about this book.

All. The. Stars. Excellent!! Creepy (like, DARK creepy. Very dark)...but also so touching and such a hopeful ending. The pictures are an awesome addition, really draws you even further into what's going on. Also loved the focus on addiction recovery. And that a main character has faith in God and isn't made out to look like a flake. This is definitely one of my top 5 of the year.

Okay that's it, I am done. I tried. DNF at 27%. Page 167 is ENTIRELY about topsoil. 🤦‍♀️ I have no energy left for this level of tediousness.

Nope. This one was just not for me (and that's the first of the 4 of Riley Sager's books I've read so far that I've said that about). It took me a very long time to even be remotely interested in the story because every single character is unlikable...and weird (as in, the murderer could have been absolutely anyone and I wouldn't have been surprised). The ending was better than I thought it would be, considering. Still just an okay story though.

Love this quote though. And this is from a section discussing racism, which I thought was very well done.

6 months later.... 🤦‍♀️ Let me try this again. 😂 It's very...tedious. I seriously considered DNF'ing for awhile since I couldn't even bring up the desire to pick it back up in months, but I thought I'd give it ONE more shot before giving up the ghost.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. Honestly I was bored with the first half (the Paris section, and all the Bonnie Prince Charlie stuff). But the second half was SO GOOD. And the ending.... 😭😭💔

This book has a lot of good quotes in it, but I really felt this one. 💔

🙌😁

I loved most of this book: the focus on women's struggle in a male dominated career, the way grief is portrayed, the genius dog, the humor. Which really surprised me because I wasn't expecting much out of this one at all. However I did have some problem with it. Toward the end, there were several weird coincidences that made the story less believable. And also there is a heavy message of atheism.

??? "as if their previous identities had just been twenty-odd-year placeholders before they became actual people." 1000% this!!

Cover reveal!! From Riley's Instagram. Coming 6/20/23!! 😁

Cover reveal!!!! 😍 Book 6 coming 7/25/23. (Picture from Pierce Brown's Instagram.)

Maybe I didn't give it a fair enough chance. BUT I absolutely loved the 1996 movie adaptation, Mary & Tim, and this did NOT have the same vibes at ALL. I decided to quit now before I end up ruining a story I love.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves World War II fiction. It came SO close to being a 5⭐ read for me. Very well-written, very heartbreaking.

This one just left a smile on my face. ☺️ It's an odd, intriguing sci-fi but yet it's also strangely heart-warming and leaves you feeling like everything in life is connected and there's a reason for everything. I REALLY enjoyed this one!!

Still chipping away at that backlist. 😆 These are the ones I've read so far. (Not counting the Odd Thomas or Frankenstein series.)

1) I greatly appreciated the subject matter...abused women deciding to stand up for themselves. And I want to love it just based on that.
2) However, the way it's written...like minutes from a meeting, not an actual story...made it very difficult for me to get emotionally invested. I think I will enjoy the movie more as it should have that storytelling element I found missing here.

This is from the Instagram account @goodreads_reviews which showcases the best 1 star reviews. And I gotta say...I love S&S, but they're not exactly wrong. 😂😂😂

Starting this one. The movie preview for this looks AMAZING. I've had this on Kindle for awhile, but that preview really pushed me to start it next!

This was my second most anticipated release of the year, and...nope. This just did not work for me. The ending blew my mind alright, but not in a good way. While reading, I thought the rest of the book was good, not fantastic, but definitely interesting. Looking back at in light of the ending reveal though...ugh. No thanks. This story can just get itself on out of my brain now. 😑

Riley Sager announced on Instagram today the name and plot of his new book... coming out June 2023. 😁😁😁😁 Now my #1 most anticipated for next year!!

1. The entire time I was reading this I kept accidentally calling it Mudblood. 😆
2. I really enjoyed the first 80% of this. I'd give that 4⭐. Then the last 20% came along and ruined it. Awful, hopeless, depressing ending. Even though the theme is racism, I expected SOMETHING good to be shown, some clear point or hope...and there's just not. I guess the author was going for realistic, but it didn't work for me. Disappointing.

It's here!! 😁

I really want to watch the movie again now!! (Also, the ending in the movie is better. 🤷 The ending here leaves you guessing as to whether he knows... actually if I hadn't seen the movie first I would have thought he didn't...and to me, that's the best part of the whole story.) I would have rated this 4 if not for that vague ending. ⚠️ ...content warning and triggers for excessive strong language, talk of suicide, racism, brief mention of rape.

Love this. ♥️

Currently reading. I've always loved the movie, so this has been on my TBR for awhile. 57% and...OMG. 😮 So. Good.

My 30th Dean Koontz. 😁 While not one of my favorites of his, it's still very engaging. And I LOVED the character of Shepherd, a (sometimes) high functioning autistic. He really made the book for me.
(Also how do you guys like my new review pics?? I take so many pictures of the sky that I decided to use them as backgrounds. 😊)

Not a fan. For as brutal a crime as this was, it should not have been boring at all. Yet when I put it down for a few days and then picked it back up I literally had to remind myself what was going on. And now that I've finished it, it's almost like it left a bad taste in my mouth and made me question why I even read thrillers to begin with. Because there was absolutely nothing worthwhile that I felt I could take away from this. 🤷

🙌😁 My library says it's a 7 week wait. Not bad at all!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I have not read a book this powerful in a long time. I'm not usually drawn to poetry at all, but I loved her 2021 inauguration poem so I wanted to give this a try. SO glad I did. She deals with the heavy topics of COVID, racism, and white supremacy with words so raw and real that my heart was both broken and mended. I read this on a library ebook, then decided I needed to soak in these words some more so I bought a print copy today. ♥️