I found this book, and Marcellus the octopus, completely charming ❤️

My second Abby Jimenez, and a second pick for me. As I've said, romances are very hit and miss for me. I need interesting characters, chemistry, and snappy dialogue. I feel like those things are in short supply in the majority of romance books lately. But this one was cute and had those elements - also the cringe factor was tolerable 😂. I definitely enjoyed it.

I liked it - didn't love it. While I appreciate the author bringing needed attention to the women who served in Vietnam, it lacks depth. She rushes from tragic plot point to tragic plot point, seeming to believe that's all her readers are here for now. I felt the same about The Four Winds. It seems to have become her formula, and it makes her writing predictable and manipulative, as she tries for a tearjerker.
April #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I am drawn to stories of messy family dynamics, especially a good sibling story, and this one fit the bill. The small town setting and a likable main character also made this a pick for me. This was my April #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Such a strange premise, but very readable. The plot moves quickly, using alternating chapters with flashbacks to get the backstory. Lots of disturbing images and plot points as the mc wrestles with morality vs keeping her son alive.

I enjoyed this one, and although I found it compulsively readable, I also found it predictable. The author telegraphed the "bad guy" and made it obvious from the first time we meet them, even if it's not clear exactly how they are involved. Also, I found the ending really unsatisfying for reasons I can't share without giving spoilers. A soft pick.

Osman really knocked this one out of the park! This is the 4th in the Thursday Murder Club series, and it's hands-down the best one. After reading reviews saying it made them cry, I suspected what was going to happen, but Osman wrote about it so beautifully, I still cried. I am sorry to read he's taking a break from the series. I will miss Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, Ron, and the rest of the crew. This was my March #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

This one's been languishing on my bookshelf for years. I finally read it when it popped up March's #Bookspin. I found it underwhelming and the ideas mostly obvious. @TheAromaofBooks

The newest installment in the adventures of Veronica and Stoker - this one has all the banter and the adventure one expects plus shades of a good Frankensteinesque story. It was a fun read as usual!

Catching up posting March reads today! This was the only Jane Harper I hadn't read, so it was my #AuthorAMonth selection for March. It had all the atmospheric qualities that Harper's books usually have, this one's landscape being remote, barren, hot, dry, and unforgiving. The characters were well drawn, and the mystery was engaging as usual. @Soubhiville

I really enjoyed the mc and her adventures in the faierie realm. Her single-mindedness makes for awkward relationships with the humans around her. I loved Wendel Brambleby and his interactions with Emily as well!

I read this one in February and March with the #SheSaid group. This collection of essays was powerful. Thanks @Riveted_Reader_Melissa for this selection!

I don't think I've ever experienced a book that in spite of having such bad writing, kept me turning the pages 😳. Weak sentence construction, filled with cliches, cringy dialogue, and highly predictable thanks to the author signaling plot twists early...and yet I poured through it in a night. I am at a loss to explain it 😂.

Such a beautiful story of families and all their complicated messiness. I loved these characters. Also, outdoor reading in February?! What a weird, but beautiful winter weekend.

Sometimes, a 2 star read, sometimes a 5, I'm still trying to figure out how to feel about this fever dream of a book. The plot seems to struggle with a massive identity crisis; however, there was a lot to love. This was my February #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I've heard mixed reviews on this one, but I found it lovely. The daughter/mother relationships, the quiet, beautiful love story of Lara and Joe, contrasted with the story she tells her daughters of her summer at Tom Lake when she dated a now-famous actor, Peter Duke, worked on many levels. This is my 5th Ann Patchett and my 2nd favorite, behind The Dutch House. This was my #Doublespin for February @TheAromaofBooks

This book was unlike anything I've read before, and through much of it, I wasn't sure if it would be a pick for me or not. But it kept me coming back, and there were moments of greatness. This was my first Lauren Groff, and I read it for my February ##AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

This was a cute take on a modern retelling of P&P. I've heard the webseries is really cute too.

A murder-mystery within a murder-mystery and both of them compelling in themselves. I loved this one! It is unique and clever!

The raw look at marriage and parenthood really hit home for me with this one. It's a beast, but I found it compelling and readable. It will be one of my favorites of the year. I forgot to add that this was my #Bookspin for January @TheAromaofBooks

This beautiful book. I was worried for the first 100 pages that this wouldn't live up to the hype and wouldn't be nearly as good as Deacon King Kong, but McBride did not let me down. This was superb writing and plotting. The characters are incredibly rich, and the storytelling is masterful. This will definitely be one of my favorites of the year, maybe of all-time.

Number 3 in the Thursday Murder Club is my favorite so far. I just love the cast of characters and the snarky humor, combined with a good mystery and so much heart ❤️ This is my January ##Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I found this one to be a slog.

A friend/colleague went on a romance binge before Christmas and was handing me her finished ones at a rate of about one per day 😂. I told her I have a love/hate relationship with romance, so I don't read them as often, and it will take a while to get through. This was the 1st of approx 20 she's given me, and I picked a great one to start with! I loved it! The mc's were likable, & the alternating chapters between present and past worked well!

I beat my PR for the 2nd year in a row! This fall, my reading slowed way down for a few months, but I guess I was already up from last year at that point, so I still came out ahead. It was a year of some powerful books mixed with some light-hearted, escapist reads. It's a reminder that there's a book for every season in life ❤️📚.

The 5th in the Muderbot series (and the first full-length book of the series) found Murderbot reuniting with ART! I was happy to see the author bring ART back although this one got a little slow and redundant in places. This series may be better suited for novellas.

This ended up being my last finished book of 2023, and what a book to end on! It is definitely one of the best books I read in 2023! Also, I'm showing off the blanket my daughter made me for Christmas ❤️

I'm going to try to finish up the 5th in the Murderbot series tonight, and tomorrow, I'm starting The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. I've been looking forward to the McBride for a while now. It should be a good way to start 2024! #lastfirst @BookNAround

I really enjoyed this one. The author does a fantastic job setting up the context for life at sea in the 1740s. He also brings to life the men at the heart of the story and vividly details the hardships they faced as sailors and then as castaways. My only criticism is with the marketing blurbs that make the court-martial trial out to be a significant part of the book. It is not. This was my December #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Everything Ward writes is masterful, and this was no exception. Her writing is simultaneously lyrical and heartbreaking. Sing, Unburied, Sing still ranks as her best in my book, but this is another powerful offering.

Number 12 in the series was another slow burn for the first half, but the payoff in the last part was worth it.

Maybe I'll return to this someday, but I'm abandoning it for now. At nearly 50% in, I just didn't care enough to pick it back up, and I didn't want to slog through this as my last read of the year when better books are waiting. This was my December #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

@TheBookHippie Thank you so much for my ##jolabokaflodswap package! I'm excited to dive into both the book and the chocolate drink. Merry Christmas Eve 🎄 @MaleficentBookDragon Thank you so much for hosting.

@TieDyeDude Thank you so very much for this #Yuleswap package! I love everything! Sorry for the delay in posting. I opened it yesterday morning, and then the day got away from me. I can't wait for tonight when I'll get the simmer pot going, put on these amazingly comfortable slipper socks, and dive into one of these books. I'm excited for both, so I'm not sure which I'll start with. @BookwormAHN @wanderinglynn thank you so much for hosting ❤️

This is another one straight out of the Hallmark Movie Plot Factory, so it's filled with people on the cusp of big life decisions, old crushes reuniting, celebrity falls for "regular girl," and above all, the miscommunication trope in abundance. But like the good Hallmark movies, it's charming & lovely. I loved the representation in this of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim practices and their holidays. This post catches me up posting finished books.

This one was lovely and my favorite of the holiday books I have read this year! Of course, it's set in a bookshop, so that already wins points 😂. The characters were charming, the sister dynamics were great, and the developing relationship between Carmen and her nieces and nephew (especially Phoebe) was heartwarming. Mr. McCready's storyline was a great touch, and his character is lovable.

This one is somewhere between a so-so and a pan. I definitely did some skimming in last 1/4 of the book because I just didn't care about the characters or the outcome anymore. It's a little convoluted, and the "plot twist" toward the end was really predictable. @TheAromaofBooks this was actually my November #Doublespin, but I finished it a few days into December.

I liked this one a lot more than the other holiday books I've been reading. While there is definitely romance in it, this is really a story about family and sisterhood, both biological and womankind. The dynamics among the three sisters felt believable, and the community in which they live was inspiring. Great atmosphere as well.

Another not-bad Christmas read. It was cute. It was fine. Some cute banter. Great Christmassy atmosphere. Just not enough to pull this distracted brain into their world. If you like Hallmark movies (and, yes, I do, so don't come for me 😂), this might be a romcom for you.

Time to catch up on my reads over the past 4 weeks. I continue in a bit of a slump. I thought lighthearted books were the ticket while dealing with some heavy stuff, but I think now it was a mistake. The fluff isn't engaging me and making me want to get back to the books. I plan on picking up some more substantial reads when we are on winter break in a couple weeks. We'll see if that's the ticket. This was cute and I liked it, but didn't love it.

@BookwormAHN and @wanderinglynn My #YuleSwap package arrived last week, and my match's is now sent.
@MaleficentBookDragon My match's #JolabokaflodSwap23 package has been sent.
Thank you all for spreading joy by organizing these swaps! 😊🤗

This was fantastic! Three storylines eventually align in a story filled with magic, mystery, adventure, and deceit. This was November's #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I am so glad any time I stumble upon a new series that I love ❤️. This is the 2nd book in the Thursday Murder Club series, and it was just as charming as the first. The characters and their dynamics together are so lovable, and the mystery is always satisfying (although I did correctly call this one early). I already picked up the next 2 books!
And this post catches me up on my finished reads over the last five or six weeks ✔️.

This is such a powerful and beautiful story. My daughters bought it for me, thinking it would be a light-hearted distraction read. It was much darker than I expected, but the characters are so very endearing. Nurse Ratched is hilarious. I didn't love it as much as House in the Cerulean Sea, but it was definitely worth the read.

This was a fascinating topic and seems well researched, but it was badly written. The continual use of 2nd person pov to talk directly to the reader is annoying. It is filled with the author's asides and random comments that feel more like a social media post or blog. The writing style is just immature and tries to be too "hip." It also gets very tedious when she includes long tangents about some loosely-connected historical aspect of the time. ⬇️

I enjoyed this one, and reading about the background of the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall made for a fun setting surrounding a dark topic. I am surprised I had never heard about The Big Apple Bomber and his 16-year string of bombings. This was my October #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I loved this one. It's set in small town Iowa, so I definitely connected with the atmosphere, and I'm always a sucker for a story revolving around books and their power to connect people. It's a soft, sweet story about the love of people, communities, and reading ❤️. This was my October #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Now, this was definitely the fun romp that I needed! I have seen people rave about this series, and I now see why. If you love history, and the idea of a new twist on time travel appeals to you, check out this quirky book. It's definitely a series I will continue.

I finally finished this one for #SheSaid. I can't say I loved it because I often had to make myself pick it back up, but parts of it were definitely thought provoking. It may have been a "right book - wrong time" issue as well. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

This was the most atmospheric book I've read in a long time. I'm a fan of stories where the setting is a character in itself, and this book took that idea to the next level. This was my Halloween read, and it fit the bill perfectly!