Oooooh I liked this way more than People We Meet on Vacation.😍

Damn near perfect, fluffy sweet romance with just enough heat and a lot of funny. Emily Henry is SO GOOD at that combination. I liked the swipes at hallmark-movie romance while also being a hallmark-movie romance and I loved the main couple. Could have done without some of the melodrama that seemed like a bit of a stretch, but otherwise this was delightful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leslie, I ❤️ this #RecipeSwap package so much!

Excited to read this book, love the bookmarks and of course the chocolate, but I can‘t wait to make your recipe!

Thank you so much, and thanks for hosting, @BennettBookworm ❤️

This may be the first time ever I have actually read my BOTM in the month I got it. Of course, I also listened to 90% of it on the library copy I snagged day 1, but those are just details.

I loved this book! Atmospheric and gothically creepy, well-written with two POV characters that I couldn‘t get enough of. Ignore the comparisons to Mexican Gothic and Rebecca—there are elements of both, but this book is glorious on its own. ⬇️⬇️

Having loved Ariadne, I fully expected to love Saint‘s take on three of the women impacted by the events surrounding the Trojan War—I was not disappointed.

Excellent writing and heartbreaking stories… I cried more than once (not afraid to admit once was when Patroclus rode out in Achilles‘ armor, but I am a Song of Achilles super fan, so…).

Not sure about the title choice, since Elektra is not any more central than Cassandra or Clytemnestra⬇️

I‘m still doing this Booktok/KU thing, but I make myself read an actual planned book or one I own before I start a new one. Discipline!

This one wasn‘t a total dumpster fire. The writing wasn‘t terrible, but it was not super deep and I‘ve definitely read spicier books. It was quick and entertaining enough (love just about any vampire story) and I may even read more in this little series.

⭐️⭐️1/2

I am happy to report that the book I purchased mainly for the pretty cover (checks Goodreads) fully FIVE years ago has made the cut: it‘s good enough it will stay on my forever shelf and not be donated.

I do love historical fiction with alternating POVs and this one is written so beautifully. I loved the story, I loved that Perry is doing a lot of different things with it, and I absolutely adored every single character.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

@Readergrrl this was a fantastic choice for #LMPBC!

Beautifully written, sweet, magical, and heartbreaking (in the best way), this was a lovely slow read. ❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

In case you were wondering, I still haven‘t learned my lesson with spicy BookTok and our KU subscription has not expired. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This time I was not tempted in the least to read the next book, though, so… progress? 😂

⭐️⭐️

This was a wonderful reread… I love the soap opera feel and the scandal, and Austen‘s vicious wit. So much fun! As others have said, I would have liked a novel-length version of this story, but I enjoy it for what it is—Jane was brilliant from a young age!

I do believe I may finally watch Love and Friendship.

Thanks to all of the #PemberLittens who read along, posted, commented, and just made this the usual delightful experience!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#PemberLittens Dramatic conclusion!

Mrs. J is now forbidden even to write to Lady Susan, on pain of her husband moving her to the country permanently, so the bitchy BFFs can now only hope that he dies soon, along with Mrs. Mainwaring, so Susan can have her man. Reginald retreats home, to the delight of his mom/sister, Susan drags Frederica to town intent on marrying her to Sir James, but ends up marrying him herself for lack of better options. ⬇️

#PemberLittens

Today‘s dramatic Lady Susan action:

Susan is in town, carrying on her affair with married Mr. Mainwaring and plotting to put off her marriage to Reginald by pretending she has some honor (she doesn‘t). Reginald comes to town anyway, and Mrs. Johnson fails to distract him so Susan/Mainwaring can get it on. MRS. Mainwaring shows up and has a chat with Reginald & gouty Mr. Johnson. Reginald ends it, Susan fails to fool him again.😒

It seems like each time I finish a Bridgerton novel it becomes my new favorite Bridgerton novel… not sure how long that could possibly hold up. 😅

So satisfying to finally get Penelope‘s book! I mean there‘s Colin, too, but Penelope! Just delightfully romantic and funny, and appropriately steamy when it needed to be. A perfect weekend binge read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today in #PemberLittens Lady Susan:

Lady Susan writes to Mrs. Johnson to gloat about her manipulation of the situation at Churchhill and to make plans for a return to town, as she‘s still determined to make Frederica marry Sir James. Mrs. Johnson thinks Susan should marry Reginald (a fate his sister is dreading) while she can, and is happy to have Susan come deal with Mainwaring, though Susan is forbidden to be at Alicia‘s house by her husband.😂

🥱

Another contemporary thriller full of horrible people being horrible, with an over-the-top plot twist. I liked the setting and the concept, but it was still fairly predictable (despite that twist) and I only genuinely cared what happened to about 3 people.

I‘ve had my BOTM copy since April 2020 😳 but listened to the audio. Good narration for the most part, but I wasn‘t such a fan of the male narrator.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#PemberLittens:

Oh you thought Reginald was leaving? Nope!

Mrs. Vernon has to immediately write her mom with the bad news that Reginald is once again under Lady Susan‘s spell and has been manipulated into believing no one (including her daughter) truly knows or understands Susan. Susan does her level best to gaslight Mrs. Vernon over to her side (spoiler: it doesn‘t work). Sir James happily takes his leave, Frederica is still sad, Mrs. V is 😒.

This was a read for one of my postal book clubs…the print copy could not keep my interest more than a few pages at a time. Audio to the rescue!

I just read Four Winds earlier this year & wasn‘t sure I could handle another sad Depression-era story, but there was enough light amongst all the sadness & cruel men to keep me going. I knew nothing about turpentine farming, so that was interesting. Good writing, & the end wasn‘t a gut punch.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

#PemberLittens, today in Lady Susan:

Susan is bitching again to the BFF, this time because her daughter has the audacity to continue to refuse to marry the weirdo she groomed for her. She‘s absolutely astounded to find that Reginald actually listened to Frederica and then took her side in the matter. They fight, and miracle of miracles, the spell is broken for Reginald and he‘s heading out, after begging his elated sister to help Frederica.

@LeslieO my #RecipeSwap package has arrived safely! 😃

Had to catch up with two chapters tonight, but Lucy Worsley‘s writing is a delight. ❤️

#PemberLittens

In today‘s #PemberLittens installment:

Lady Susan writes to her BFF to bitch about her daughter, who she clearly cannot stand,& Frederica‘s refusal to marry Sir James. She‘s hoping to orchestrate a town meeting for the two of them when she can afford it…

But then Sir James just shows up (uninvited) and decides to stay a few days (uninvited). The De Courcys are all astonishment, Frederica is appalled/terrified, & Lady S is on damage control.

I‘m today‘s #PemberLittens letters:

Mrs. Vernon continues to worry that Reginald is in Lady Susan‘s snare. Susan is seriously displeased when her teenage daughter tries to run away from boarding school rather than marry one of her mom‘s boyfriends. School won‘t take her back, & Susan is now displeased to have to live with her daughter, & does her best to make all hate Frederica. Mrs. V thinks she‘s ok for having been neglected her whole life.

(Post 2 of 2)

So, naturally I immediately read the second one. 😏

Guess what? Also badly written, only now the ‘plot‘ is all over the place and in parts directly contradicts the first book, and the main character is even more ridiculous and insufferable. It does have a new (plentiful) crop of sex scenes, so there‘s that.

It took me 5 hours total to read both of these books, and I will probably read the last one when it comes out.😂

⭐️⭐️

(Post 1 of 2)

I was persuaded to get a tiktok account by the same daughter who required a Kindle Unlimited sub, & this has created the perfect storm for me reading some trashy books.😬

So this is Peter Pan, but it‘s also a ‘reverse harem‘ as they say, so Peter & the lost boys clearly did grow up.😳

Y‘all know I‘m not opposed to a smutty book, but this is just really badly written, has almost no plot, & the main character is insufferable.

⭐️⭐️

Whoopsie… finished this one last night and forgot to post about it.

I really liked the haunted house story-within-the-story better than the current-day events of the book. It has some genuinely creepy parts and I couldn‘t stop listening to this book once I got going. It feels like the author tried to do a bit too much and some plot lines are weak or confusing. The ending was… not great.

Still waiting for the title to make sense. 🤔

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

In today‘s #PemberLittens letters:

Lady Susan writes to her BFF to let her know she‘s now got three men in play: Mr. De Courcy is besotted, but she‘s more into married Mr. Manwaring, and keeping Sir James as a spare.

Then, the De Courcy‘s have a collective freak out over how dumb/lovestruck Reginald is. Sister and mom are concerned, dad spells out his disapproval. Reginald isn‘t planning to marry her, but says everyone has Lady Susan ALL WRONG!

This is a very basic, goofy historical romance—it‘s predictable and not steamy in the least, but it‘s funny, lighthearted and was a great distraction from the news last night that makes me want to BURN SOMETHING DOWN.

I will absolutely watch the movie this summer. Have you seen the cast?! 😍

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/mr-malcolms-list-cast-plot-release-date-fre...

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Also my #DoubleSpin (already). 🙌🏼

In today‘s #PemberLittens Lady Susan correspondence:

Mrs. Vernon, having met in the flesh the dangerous creature known as Lady Susan, warns her soon-to-inherit brother in advance that she‘s a tricky one, but her warnings are for naught when her brother meets LS, sees she‘s hot, and ceases to be a rational creature.

Susan talks some crap with her mean girl BFF Alicia about everyone (including her daughter) that they are currently manipulating.

Must. Stop. Falling. For. Booktok. Thirst. Traps. 😅

The romance is forbidden, you have to totally suspend disbelief or risk damaging your eyesight with all of the eyerolling, and the main dude‘s name is freaking Pike 😖, but it was steamy enough and I read it in one day.

🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#PemberLittens

In today‘s letters, we meet Lady Susan: a recently widowed, shameless flirt who has outstayed her welcome with friends, can‘t wait to offload her poor daughter, and has invited herself to the home of her brother-in-law, whose wife she has disparaged in the past. Mr. De Courcy, brother of Susan‘s sister-in-law, is on his way to check out ‘the most accomplished coquette in England‘ for himself.

I ❤️ how snarky Jane could be!

A closer look at the jewelry from the Beltane kit, plus this gorgeous besom, bath salts I will be using tonight (the other ones are for full moon), and the lovely Beltane spell jar. 😍

Thank you again, Kelly! You knocked it out of the park for #BeltaneBox!

Thank you so much for this lovely #BeltaneBox package, Kelly! I love everything in it, and I‘m super excited to finally have all of Maia Toll‘s -ary books.

I‘m going to need a second photo to show all of the lovely stuff in the Beltane kit on the left. ❤️

Beltane blessings to those who celebrate! ❤️

I‘m looking forward to everyone‘s #BeltaneBox posts today. 🌸 🐝 🍃

(This is a previous year image, but WitchyTips on IG always comes through with fun stuff for sabbats… this year they have some low energy Beltane ideas that I‘m definitely feeling today).

April was a super reading month for me, no doubt helped by that weeklong, birthday staycation where I basically read and binged book-related shows (Sanditon, Bridgerton, Outlander, plus Divergent series and Fifty Shades series again FOR NO GOOD REASON).😅

Anyway! I read 20 books total plus 5 short stories and got six bingos. 😯

My favorites were Sea of Tranquility and the The Bone Clocks, but I really enjoyed most of the others, too!

It‘s day 1 of our #PemberLittens buddy read of Lady Susan!

Austen likely wrote this epistolary when she was 19, and never submitted it for publishing during her lifetime.

Mentioning the movie adaptation, called Love & Friendship apparently just to confuse us, as I may use pictures from it in my daily summaries.

Also shown, Lady Vernon & Her Daughter, a retelling I have yet to read that attempts the story with Austen‘s more mature prose style.🤔

This was a good one! A fast ride, sufficiently creepy and just a well-done thriller. Loved all of the different POVs and how it kept me guessing and very invested.

Side note: I‘ve had my BOTM copy on my shelf for a couple of years, but 100% listened to the audio instead because it‘s read by the 9th Doctor.😘

My #MurderMystery for #Booked2022.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My #BookSpin and #BookSpinBingo list for May. 🌸

Finally finished my #AuthorAMonth book! Not my favorite John Boyne, but I enjoyed his fictionalization of the murder and subsequent escape attempt. I read Thunderstruck a few years ago, and I think that‘s about enough of the Crippens for me. 😅

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

For such a mid-length novel, this one seems to go on and on…

I really liked the bookshop stuff and the literary references. I was slightly annoyed by the predictable, unrealistic storyline and the clunky writing style. I could not stand the selfish, shallow main character. I stuck with it, but didn‘t love it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not the twitter thread I needed when I‘ve been distracted by short stories all month and I‘m trying to finish 3 more big books by the end of April…

But the responses are filling up my reading list!

https://twitter.com/bookishseawitch/status/1519692127801860096?s=21&t=5YGfprjubF...

Successful adulting today: I sent all 3 (LOL) of this month‘s #LMPBC books on to the next person, sent out my #RecipeSwap package AND I even managed to take a picture!

This was a NetGalley audio, but I can‘t make myself blog about it.

The writing isn‘t horrible & the idea was good.

HOWEVER:

-ridiculously verbose, with back/side stories nobody needs & too many descriptions of clothing & cars.

-annoyingly sexist. Misogyny from a female author is even more gross.

-struggles to stick with a cohesive plot, spends too much time fawning over rich people stuff

-unnecessary insta-love

-dreadful narration

⭐️⭐️

⬇️

@kellyann28 my #BeltaneBox has arrived!

Thank you ❤️

As a Tudor nerd/fascinated fan of the trainwreck that was Henry VIII, I knew how this was going to go and going to end for Queen Katherine, but I was still all about Weir‘s novelization. Somewhat slow and dry at times, but the author obviously knows the facts and enjoyed filling in the details. Overall, I was just angry and sad for the lack of agency/blind faith Kate had.

Also, I really don‘t like this cover, but I digress.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I didn‘t plan to read all of these short stories this month, but a new horror story from one of my favorites? Ok!

This one has slasher references, creepy car Christine-vibes, blood, and rage. Somewhat lighthearted, but with the pervasive creeping dread I‘ve come to expect from this author. I continue to love how well SGJ writes female characters.

Read on Tor:

https://www.tor.com/2022/04/20/men-women-and-chainsaws-stephen-graham-jones/

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a delightful retelling! A farewell love/hate letter from one of the brides of Dracula to the monster himself. Fast-paced and well-written, dark, sexy, and brutal, just the way a Dracula story should be.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn‘t expect to love this book as much as I did, but wow, what a fantastic debut novel. Really solid writing, great handling of some seriously big stuff (broken families, abuse, murder, suicide, rape, teen pregnancy, animal death), and truly fascinating characters. Not really the mystery/thriller I assumed it would be, but more of a quiet, heartbreaking story about what comes after some painful endings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Kent Haruf was a wonderful writer. This is the 3rd Haruf that I‘ve read (2nd of the Plainsong trilogy), and I‘m again blown away by the quiet, simple beauty of the characters and the authentic feel of the rural/small town settings. Dipping in and out of the lives of several residents of Holt, Colorado, Eventide gives us more time with some familiar Plainsong characters as well as some new folks. Equal parts heartbreaking and joyful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The #buddyread schedule for our May #PemberLittens Austen selection is above.

I decided to follow the sections @SerialReader uses in the app… if you don‘t have a copy of Lady Susan and want to join us, I highly recommend the app—it‘s a great way to read classics for free, and if you read LS on it, you‘ll already be following the schedule above.

Thanks to all who responded with input! Tagging those I *think* plan to join, but all are welcome!

Our May/June #PemberLittens book by another author will be Anne Brontë‘s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

I‘ve read this in the last few years (LOVED it — it‘s my second favorite Brontë sister book), so I‘m hoping someone else would be willing to lead/host the readalong? Please comment if so!

The book has 53 chapters, so would lend itself well to a slow chapter-a-day buddy read, but of course that‘s up to the host. ?

⬇️

Our #PemberLittens May/June book about Jane is Jane Austen at Home by the amazing Lucy Worsley.

@jenniferw88 has graciously offered to host and I‘m taking her up on that!

Tagging those who have previously expressed interest in reading this one, but all are welcome. Please comment below if you‘d like to be added to Jenny‘s tag list for this book.

Jenny, can you please tag everyone when you have a schedule worked out? 😘