I enjoyed this more than any since the first book. The romance is really heating up and there is *drama*! And the solutions of the mysteries are cleverly deduced.
I'm hoping the next book will have a HEA because I'm not sure my heart can take much more!
#SeriesLove @TheSpineView @Andrew65
Fanny and Edmund are very happy that Sir Thomas is planning to sell his Antigua plantation, so the family will no longer bear the sin of being involved in the slave trade.
#Pemberlittens #JaneAustenThenAndNow
Jonathan sighed. He knew the rules of ettiquete as well as any (and better than most), but he could not see the sense of any rule that made it impolite to keep to one's own house and read one's own books.
Finally got to this, which has been on my #BookSpin list forever. It was... sort of worth it? I described it as a really good writer's worst book.
More on my blog: https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/08/22/tbr-challenge-that-scandalous-summer-b...
It hit me today that even after my sister-in-law is okay to be left alone, it'll still be another two days after that before my husband gets home. 😭
I enjoyed Blume as a child but at some point started feeling very put off by her books. This was no exception. Way too many inner monologues by very skeezy people.
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
A coming of age story in which young Frankie's life in beautiful British Columbia, and later in Europe, is disrupted several times by the fascinating, enigmatic -- evil? -- Hetty Dorval. I've read books with similar themes before but I'm not sure I've ever read one in which the narrator comes so satisfactorily into their own by the end; no matter who Hetty really is, Frankie will be the person she needs to be.
#PersephoneClub
I still had reason to be proud, to know that my family came from here, that we had history. That above all else, I was of and from this New Hampshire land. I'm trying to say what it felt like then... To have my town look at my daughter and say, *No, we will not make it a safe space for her here.* To have it say, *No, she does not belong, she is not what we believe a child should be.* I'm trying to describe the depths to which that broke my heart.
My family taught me to think of God and be very afraid. The MAD Jews taught me to look heavenward and ask the ancient, resonant question us misfits and outcasts have posed since time immemorial: What, me worry?
If like me, you grew up feeling you intimately knew movies you'd never seen, you might also enjoy these writings on MAD by authors & cartoonists. (Roz Chast & Art Spiegelman contribute short comics.) I was especially intrigued by pieces on the few women contributors and the Jewish influences on MAD, including a Talmud comparison! It needed pruning because there's a *lot* of repeated info, but overall a fun, nostalgic read.
#MonthlyNonfiction2025
A heartbreaking, harrowing memoir that often had me in tears. Abi Maxwell loves all the family history in her New Hampshire town, until she discovers that her “nice“ neighbors have no compunctions about denying the rights and needs of her transgender/autistic child.
The book piles on dramatic emphasis a bit too much, but the text never fails to respect the author's daughters identity, which I admire tremendously.
CW in comments.
(Quote from Alan Ginsberg)
A poignant article on reading when you feel helpless. I've read five of the sixth gay romances mention here and must immediately read the sixth: https://buttondown.com/theswordandthesandwich/archive/a-queer-shoulder-to-the-wh...
“Abi, it's hard for me. I'm sorry, I just can't wrap my head around it.“
“Why don't you just try,“ I said. “You know how to read. Read one fucking book, Lisa, one fucking article, and you'll see that my daughter's life depends on people putting even an ounce of effort into understanding.“
#SereneSaturdays I have several Emotional Support Sit-coms -- Community, Scrubs, the Good Place -- and this Emotional Support Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WOO6qoEcgo
It's frustrating when you use “search harder“ and actually find the book you want, but there's no way to make a post about it.
I guess it would be cheating to use this cover for an #ISpy square. 😂
Christie's spy plots and her Poirot characters really don't mix well. It's melodramatic and silly and Poirot pokes fun at that while simultaneously being melodramatic and silly himself. I was stunned this followed “Roger Ackroyd“ but it turns out she wrote the stories individually and then came up with the framing device later. #ChristieCapers
“Life has certainly been more reliable under Vetinari,“ said Mr. Potts of the Bakers Guild.
“He does have all the street-theater players and mime artists thrown into the scorpion pit,“ said Mr. Boggis of the Thieves' Guild.
“True. But let's not forget that he has his bad points, too.“
It was Angua's mind that prowled the night, not a werewolf mind. She was almost entirely sure of that. A werewolf wouldn't stop at chickens, not by a long way.
She shuddered.
Who was she kidding? It was easy to be a vegetarian by day. It was preventing yourself becoming a humanitarian at night that took the real effort.
Isn't that a gorgeous cover? Finnish, if Google translate is right.
I'm attached to the characters, but I can see a day coming when I stop reading this series. :-( This is a bit overwritten and reuses some overly familiar themes. Still a good read overall.
#SeriesLove2025
Wow it was hard to write about this book without any spoilers... I hope I pulled it off.
https://willaful.wordpress.com/2025/08/04/the-undercutting-of-rosie-and-adam-by-...
Finally, at the suggestion of a friend, I called the Disability Rights Center in our state. I spoke with a lawyer, and I learned that many aspects of my daughter's denial were likely in violation of the law.
“You get more flies with honey,“ suggested another woman I'd been put in touch with for advice.
“I don't have any more fucking honey,“ I snapped.
This is going to be an absolute heartbreaker of a read, but I love this mom. She never misgenders or deadnames her daughter, even when writing about her birth.
“Holy shit, I've never seen a bona fide god before.“
“God. Bag of dicks. Tomato, To-mah-to.“
I feel like these hybrid boards I'm using aren't working well for me, because I keep getting open spin numbers and the main reason I like #BookSpin is to really push me to read from my list. I'll probably go back to having a list of all titles and maybe a separate list for the bingo board. We'll see how this month goes. Still trying to optimize! 😂
“I want to ask if you're all right, but I also don't want to annoy you by asking if you're all right,“ she told him.
He held up his hand, a gesture that lied, that said I'm fine, when it really meant Don't look at me and Don't see me and Don't try to know me.
Two bingos, not bad. But how did a I read an English domestic classic and not fill the teacup/teapot square? There's a weirdie every month...
so-soThis definitely had its moments, especially in the development of Alec as a character and in showing his commitment to Magnus. But the prose was often so weak, and Magnus, an immortal being with centuries of wisdom and experience, came off as TSTL. I had hoped to be reminded of why I love this series but mostly I was reminded of why I stopped reading it. 😔
#AllTheStoriesAreTrue
Image from
https://www.deviantart.com/taratjah/art/Malec-591275657
Oh man, this is scarily close to an experience I've had. (1989 earthquake, anyone?) I'm not sure I can read it.
New Audible policy may hurt authors.
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/155349
How did I not read this as a little girl? It's so exactly my cup of tea, evoking memories of The Secret Garden, Sensible Kate and other beloved orphan stories. I like how Mandy starts out seeming so perfect, but we learn she has a lot of normal childish feelings and dumb ideas. 😂 And the ending is just perfect, because it addresses the unasked question of a lot of orphanage stories -- what about the other kids?
#CHILDRENSCLASSICREAD2025
rubyslippersreads, mcctrish, DebinHawaii, Daisey, MemoirsForMe, tpixie, erzascarletbookgasm, IMASLOWREADER, Soscha, DivineDiana, Cuilin, kspenmoll, TheBookHippie, PurpleyPumpkin, mrp27, merelybookish, Read4life, curiouserandcurioser, GingerAntics, Butterfinger, lil1inblue, julieclair
I love the main character of this book, but sadly the toxicity he encounters is way too familiar from my own experience as a child in the 70s, and I just can't stand reading about it.
You have always tried to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but that doesn't work when you want to obliterate yourself.
“You just said that you couldn't complain, and I thought, really? You can't find something to be mad about right now?“
“I think if I let myself get mad,“ Clay said, “I wouldn't be able to feel anything else.“
This had a lot of potential, with some lovely writing and a fun background of working in a television writers' room. But I got intensely bored with the endless sex scenes and could really have used seeing more of the characters falling in love -- especially since they have huge strikes against them. The relationship ultimately comes off as co-dependent, especially for the male main character, who gets less growth.
Sharing books sparks love and new life choices for two college students. A cute bookwormy romance, though I got tired of Ben making the same mistakes over and over again.
Possibly my most reread book ever.
“Come on, it'll be fun, and it'll get you out of the house.“
Why is being in the house always considered a bad thing? Houses are a comfort zone of Internet, sofas, cushions, toast. They're really an embarrassment of riches in a cruel, indifferent, and largely toast-less world.
Another dark yet tender fantasy from Wiswell, for the lonely monster in all of us. Who might Heracles have been if being turned monstrous by a pissed-off, impulsive Hera had only made him more empathetic to others? Someone who wears the whole Nemean lion instead of its skin...
It's maybe a bit too long and repetitive, but overall a lovely rejection of toxic masculinity and an embrace of unconditional love and forgiveness.
#BookSpin
