Can't think of a better time to get this one off my tbr.

This was pretty predictable, and I didn't feel any of the characters were very convincing, but the plot was compelling enough to keep me turning pages. It's not a genre that usually works for me, so I guess it's fair to say it lived up to expectations.

Wow, so well done! It is bleak, mysterious, emotional, and compelling. It's feels relevant yet timeless. This novel is little, but it packs a punch on every page. It will haunt me. #Shesaid @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

This was an enjoyable read, but I didn't find it lived up to the hype. I felt that way about The Knockout Queen, too.

This was a sweet romance centered around a female bodyguard who gets assigned to a heartthrob movie star being stalked by a fan. She is forced to pretend to be his girlfriend while he stays at his family's ranch. Both bring a lot of recent baggage to the "relationship." It's fun and trope-filled, although I got a little tired of the references to the mc as "plain" and "ordinary."

I loved this book! It's the most immersed I've been in a book in a while. Like all of McConaghy's books, the setting is a character in itself, and this setting is beautiful, wild, unpredictable, and dangerous. The family dynamics and the mystery of what has happened on the island kept me wanting more. This might be my favorite of hers so far. This was May's #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I thought this book started well; it felt like an adult Nancy Drew. The last third fell apart, though. The multiple missing girl storylines never came together like I expected, and the revelation of horrible actions by multiple characters were basically forgiven with a shrug and a "guess they thought they were doing the right thing" attitude. The dialogue also began to feel forced & awkward. Disappointing overall. May's #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Knowing now what Elizabeth Packard endured, fought against, and accomplished, it is infuriating (but not surprising) that her story wasn't commonly known history. It's an incredible story about resilience and advocacy and an all-too-relevant reminder about how hard and how recently our predecessors had to fight to earn basic rights for women in our country. Great read for May's #SheSaid selection! @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Wow. What a unique and powerful story! I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the ending, but what a ride. It is, in turn, horrific and heartbreaking, infuriating, and yet so funny at times. It felt wrong to find myself laughing when the subject is so dark, but Everett writes humor well. He does it all well. This was my May #AuthorAMonth selection @Soubhiville

This one felt a little different than her other books, but it still had all the charm that I've come to expect from Henry. I've seen people compare this to Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones, and I can see why, but it still felt like an Emily Henry book, just a little heavier on plot and backstory this time. I really enjoyed it!

I read this one for the #SheSaid challenge. I'm still trying to process it and decide how I'd rate it, but what I know is it pushed me and created discomfort, so that is success. I'm glad I read it, and I'll be thinking about it for awhile. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Stopped in at our local indie to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day and snagged a couple fun reads!

This was recommended to me by a bookstore owner. She said it was the book about women in Vietnam that should have gotten the attention The Women did. It's a look at the wives of US advisors sent to Saigon in the early days of the war. The setting is vividly drawn with both time and place. The writing is beautiful in this character-driven novel that explores guilt, responsibility to others, and intervention vs interference.

I didn't realize going in this was a parody. I don't usually enjoy that genre, so that undoubtedly affects my rating. This was ok, but the over-the-top farce elements didn't work for me. Probably just a wrong-reader situation. This was my 2nd adaptation of P&P for this month's #JaneAustenThenandNow challenge. @Crinoline_Laphroaig

I loved this look at the White House Situation Room through the presidencies since its inception. This insider peek at the way each administration has utilized the room and handled crises is fascinating and sometimes disturbing.

I almost skipped April's #AuthorAMonth since I was underwhelmed by my 1st Quinn book. I remember liking The Rose Code, but nothing about it stuck with me. I didn't feel like committing to 500+ pgs for "just ok." But I'm so glad I decided to give her another try! Night Witches (Female Soviet WWII pilots), Russian lake witch lore, Nazi hunters, & an American stepmother with a mysterious past = an engrossing plot and great characters! @Soubhiville

The 3rd book in the Mr. Darcy and Ms. Tilney series revisits the characters of Jane Austen. The children of two of her famous couples investigate murders. This one is my favorite, taking us back to Rosings Park and some of Austens best characters in Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Mr. Collins, and Charlotte Collins. It also brings to life the minor characters of Colonel Fitzwilliam and Anne De Bourgh. #JaneAustenThenandNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig

I read this for a book club; otherwise, I probably wouldn't have read another Foley. This was my favorite of the 3 I've read, but I still found the writing cringy at times. She has her characters explain things that shouldn't need explaining if the story is written well enough, and some elements are pretty contrived to pull everything together. Still, there are enough plot twists/reveals to keep me wanting to read more. It was entertaining.

What a twisted story! I had no idea what I was getting into. The premise sounded like a fun mystery, and a battle between youth and age, but this sucker was messed up. I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped more than once 😂. It's a wild ride, and if you are looking for dark and irreverent, this one's for you! This was hand-sold to me in one of my favorite book stores, recommended by the owner.

1. Reread...I have no idea how many times 😂. I used to read it yearly! My viewpoint hasn't changed. I love it every time.
2. Elizabeth. She's still my girl.
3. How do I pick?! The first proposal, the meeting at Pemberly, the walk where they finally come to an understanding.
@Crinoline_Laphroaig #JaneAustenThenandNow

It never loses its shine. I have read it more times than I can count, but every time, I still feel all the feels as Elizabeth and Darcy find their way to each other. This reread was no different. #JaneAustenThenandNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig

I did not expect to like this book, but it drew me in, and by the 2nd half, I couldn't put it down! The storytelling, world building, characters, and magic all hooked me! I wasn't wild about Six of Crows, the only other one of Bardugo's I have read, but I decided to give her another try since she is our March #AuthorAMonth. I'm so glad I did! I will definitely pick up the sequel and continue with this story! @Soubhiville

I wasn't far in to the tagged book before I realized I just had to do a reread of Gatsby along with it. I can't begin to count the number of times I've read Gatsby because I used to teach it, but So We Read On made it feel like a new experience. It's part literary criticism and part author study, but it's all heart because it's written by a Fitzgerald/Gatsby scholar who adores the book. I loved it! And I loved revisiting Fitzgerald's prose ❤️

I finished this one up last weekend before my Libby loan expired. It's only my 2nd audiobook ever, and I learned nonfiction isn't going to work for me without a print copy. Keeping in mind that the mode probably affected my opinion of the book, I found this was good, but not great. The topics for each chapter are so very important, but I struggled to be engaged. It could also be that I'm just weary of intolerance and hate right now ⬇️

This book was unnecessarily long. Snow's backstory is interesting, but I think the author was trying to make him sympathetic, and I found him annoying and self consumed from the start. The book dragged on. So much could have been edited out without losing any character development or story. I found myself skimming a lot. It's definitely not on par with the original trilogy. Now, how do I tell my daughter who's been begging me to read it? 😟

I loved this book ❤️. It's a beautiful story about fathers and daughters, love and loss, choices and fate. Oh, and it has time travel 🤔😁. It's lovely, and I poured through it. This was my #Doublespin for March @TheAromaofBooks

Conversations about menopause are *finally* becoming more common, but we need more of a push in the medical community to study the effects and potential treatments for it, instead of writing off all the symptoms as "just something you have to go through." ⬇️

Coates is never an easy read, but he is worth the time. He forces me to slow down and read each word. I found the last part of the 3-part book especially eye-opening as he recounts his time in Palestine and draws parallels to colonization across time and specifically to our own storied history of oppression.

It's a story about families and all the messy and beautiful ways they are formed. This was a quick read, and while I am conflicted about India, the mc, I loved the kids and their voices. This was my March #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I liked this a lot more than Difficult Women, which I read a few years ago. I especially enjoyed her literary criticism essays. It was interesting to read this more than a decade after it was written, and it was a little heartbreaking to read her cautious optimism about the direction we were heading, knowing how far we've actually regressed since then. This my February #AuthorAMonth pick. @Soubhiville

This one was fun! I liked it as much as Pride and Premeditation. This was actually my first full audio book experience. I've done one other that I alternated with the print version. I really struggle to stay engaged in an audio version. My mind wanders. But I'm finding short bursts work better, and I definitely did better with this lighter fare. This was my 2nd adaption for February's #JaneAustenThenandNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig #Pemberlittens

The first 1/2 felt slow & unfocused, but the 2nd half was compelling. It's a campus novel, a story about friendship, and a look at the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. I enjoyed the writing and appreciated the nods to literature. If I were rating just the 2nd half, it would be 4/5 stars, but I almost abandoned it a few times, so I can't go there. Still, a strong pick! Feb's #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

This was a charming romance based loosely on Sense and Sensibility. I liked this so much more than the author's take on P&P (Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors), which I found just meh. India and Yash are such great characters. This is a fun adaptation. #pemberlittens @Crinoline_Laphroaig
#JaneAustenThenandNow

This has been hanging out on my tbr shelves for a long time, and I finally dove in. Written by a white woman who works as an antiracism educator and trainer, the book focuses on the myths and false ideologies that keep white people from being able to acknowledge their own internal racism and be able to confront and discuss racism. A lot of gut checks while reading this one as she pushes the reader into a productive and necessary discomfort!

It's a great premise for a mystery. A linguistics expert and savant when it comes to sentence diagramming and word play is recruited to help solve a child abduction case. Lo and behold, she also is still dealing with the trauma of her childhood best friend's disappearance years before. Unfortunately, the writing is not great, and the lack of quality dialogue pulled me out of the story a lot. Also, the mc's character flaws were pretty cliche.

Wow, what a gut punch 😥. This is a 5 ⭐️ read for me, but it's not an easy read by any means. The author uses dual timelines to show the lives of a group of gay men in Chicago at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the lasting trauma for those who lived through it. Yale will stay with me a long time.

Such a beautiful book ❤️ TJ Klune is all heart. It was such a joy to spend time again with the family on Marysus Island. Talia and Lucy, Sal and Chauncey...I adore them ❤️ This book is a giant hug and reminder of the beautiful people in this world. This was my February #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I had to read this in small bites, both because it can be dry in places but mostly because it's infuriating to read about how the government perpetuates the idea that our modern racial segregation of housing happened through years of defacto segregation, while ignoring the real and blatant dejure practices the government used to keep integration of housing and neighborhoods from happening. I learned that redlining is just part of the ugly story.

This could have been a strong pick, but there was too much going on. The premise and the plans for the murders are clever, if overdone. However, there are 3 storylines, each with elaborate plans for a different murder, told in excessive detail. I found it just too much and found myself doing a lot of skimming toward the end. This is somewhere between a pick and a so-so.

1. Reread - my 3rd time, and I like it better each time.
2. Elinor, although her stoicism borders on annoying at times
3. The scenes between Mr. and Mrs. Palmer are always entertaining ?
4. "I never wish to offend, but I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by my natural awkwardness." Me too, Edward, me too.
5. Neither. Too weird.
6. Dashing and flirty as long as it was equal opportunity flirting

And here's the book haul! I feel like only 9 books across 5 different book stores demonstrates an impressive level of self-control 🤷‍♀️. I'm excited to dive into these - even as my tbr shelves are currently giving me the side eye 😂 😒

Saved my favorite for last! Black Garnet Books in St Paul is a Black- woman-owned store, stocking books only by authors of color. They promote anti-racism and the uplift of marginalized peoples. I can't say enough about the welcoming atmosphere, the decor, and the 2 fantastic booksellers I met who were quick to talk with me and make recommendations. The shelves were filled with titles/authors that were brand new to me ❤️ #supportindiebookstores

One of my favorites was bookstore number 4, Big Hill Books, in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis. It's only a year and a half old, but it is stocked with an abundant and wide-ranging selection of books and merchandise. It's light and airy while still being cozy. Extra points for lots of seating options while you peruse the books! #supportindiebookstores

Bookstore number 3 was Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis. This one was packed with books and people! #supportindiebookstores

Home now from our road trip and ready to post the rest of the fantastic bookstores from our adventure! Bookstore number 2 was the combined Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore and Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis. It's a labyrinthine path through rows and rows of packed bookshelves, containing some new, but mostly used, books of both genres. It would be easy to spend hours investigating these stacks! #supportindiebookstores

Last year, for my birthday, I got my 4th round of chemo 😔. Needless to say, my birthday was a bust. This year, to make up for it, my husband took me on a bookstore tour in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. We hit 5 bookstores, including this gem: Story Line Books, housed in St. Paul's Union Depot. With a subtle train theme, the charm of the historic train station, and a wonderfully curated selection, this was a great stop! #supportindiebookstores

This was a lovely story of two British sisters who work in a book bindery and how their lives are affected during WWI. It's about family, obligation, ambitions, and class structure. I didn't love it quite as much as The Dictionary of Lost Words, but still a strong pick.

I'm getting a late start on the #JaneAustenNowAndThen reading challenge, but I'm going to dive into Sense and Sensibility today. I think I'll be reading from the Harper Muse edition with the laser cut jacket this time because it's my newest. This will be my third read of S&S. #pemberlittens @Crinoline_Laphroaig

I really enjoyed this romance. It lived up to the title with full rom-com vibes. I found Emma and Charlie to be really likable. I almost put it down early when I realized part of Charlie's storyline hit really close to home, but I'm glad I didn't.

Wow! Another book my daughter has been trying to get me to read for a long time, and damn if she wasn't right! This is not your typical YA fantasy. It has it all: history, folklore, action, and romance, all while deftly addressing racism and sexism, both historical and modern. It's simultaneously disturbing and empowering. I have book 2 waiting on a shelf, but I need a breather before going in. This was my January #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks