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willaful

willaful

Joined April 2022

Pretty sure my last words are going to be “where did I put my Kindle?“
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willaful
You Know Me Well | David Levithan, Nina LaCour
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Two high schoolers decide to be friends at a 2015 Pride event, a decision that will help them through a week of personal tumult. A tender, thoughtful story. I preferred the chapters from Mark's point of view, because Kate's adventures and romance seemed pretty implausible and his more grounded in reality.

Lots of queer joy, though the ending is now bittersweet. *Will* there be babies “who will only know a country where everyone can marry?“

21 likes1 comment
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willaful
Upon the Midnight Queer | 'Nathan Burgoine

I do hope my hold for this comes in in time! It's my most anticipated read because I enjoy queer retellings.

#WinterGames #XmasChaCha #EarlyBirdPoints

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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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Keeping things very open this month. Back to specific for 2025!

#BookSpin

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 21h
16 likes1 comment
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willaful
Wintergames | Litsy Litsy
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You just have to know my opinion about *everything* right?

“Die Hard“ has Christmas music and a character named Holly. Case closed.

Thanks to @dabbe for such a cute board!

dabbe Your ornament answers are ADORABLE! Thanks for sharing! 💛🧡🤎 15h
17 likes1 comment
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willaful
Any Way the Wind Blows | Rainbow Rowell
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So much prettier than the English covers...

It took me awhile to get to this, because book two of the series made my “sequels that should never have been written“ shelf. This was considerably more enjoyable, though I could've done entirely without Agatha. At least Simon and Baz are together, and finally working things out. And there's some closure for several mysteries, though a couple of questions left unanswered.

#10BeforeTheEnd

ChaoticMissAdventures ✅ great job! 2d
31 likes1 comment
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willaful
Wintergames | Litsy Litsy
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I already earned my #EarlyBirdPoints but who cares?

I don't know what the last question refers to, but I'd almost certainly pick a cottage over a mansion. I'm the one who cleans! 😂

OriginalCyn620 @willaful The last question is a reference to The Holiday, one of my favorite Christmas movies! 2d
dabbe @OriginalCyn620 @willaful Mine, too! I think I'd pick the Cotswold cottage myself! 🤩 2d
21 likes2 comments
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willaful

I really enjoyed this moving, funny look at depression and baking. The recipes are fairly elaborate and often require ingredients that are hard to get in the U.S., so I never actually tried any of them, which is probably just as well.

November 26th #DaysDevotedTo Cake

Eggs Sounds good 🍰 2d
23 likes1 comment
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willaful

Finding this an odd read. I'm not exactly bored, but there's such a remove from all the characters that I have no one to be interested in. It's like reading a moderately entertaining history book.

#DoubleSpin

PuddleJumper That's exactly why I loved it 🤣 I loved all the citations and footnotes 3d
willaful @PuddleJumper They're the most interesting part! And unfortunately rather hard to access on my Kobo. 😒 2d
PuddleJumper @willaful Ah hadn't thought how it would translate digitally. I had a paperback though it was chonky 2d
24 likes3 comments
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willaful
Escape from St Hell | Lewis Hancox
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Talk about all the feels! This had me laughing, wincing, aww-ing and cheering from one panel to the next. The use of video game imagery is very effective, especially since my own daughter often talks about “leveling up“ in her life. It's lovely to see Lewis go from trying to win stereotypical “man points“ to winning points for letting himself be himself.

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willaful

Did not occur to me that there might be long waits for this 20 year old book, so I'm pretty late starting. #DoubleSpin

Ruthiella That also still surprises me, when an older book still has a wait list at the library, though I find generally it‘s ebooks and audio mainly, not hard covers. 3d
willaful @Ruthiella Apparently they've done a show of it, so everyone's interested again. I have access to a ton of Overdrive libraries (lawfully!) and they're all booked solid. And my local library throws out print books with reckless abandon. 🤬

I finally got it from Cloud Library, which is fine, but my Kobo is not handling the footnotes well. 🤨
3d
24 likes1 stack add2 comments
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willaful
Wintergames | Litsy Litsy
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#WinterGames Team #XmasChaCha #EarlyBirdPoints

I'm actually more interested in finishing my #10BeforeTheEnd than reading holiday books, but these are what I currently have holds on.

StayCurious I always like your graphics 3d
22 likes1 comment
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willaful
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It's always risky to make me think of another book. 🤨 This seemed to really want to be Red, White & Royal Blue plus holiday Green. And in some ways it worked; the prose is sparkling and engaging.

But the worldbuilding was both nonsensical and alienating for me, which made it hard to fully commit to and enjoy the story -- especially a queer story that's supposed to be about joy. True queer joy felt lacking. A fun read but I wanted more.

#QueerBC

PuddleJumper That's a shame 3d
24 likes1 comment
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willaful
Wintergames | Litsy Litsy
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I chose a picture that looks a little more like my usual holiday weather. 😂

You can answer what's true, what you'd prefer, or both! My answers below.

#WinterGames Team #XmasChaCha #Earlybird

willaful -- Our Fall and Winters are rainy but oddly enough, our holidays tend to be bright and sunny. Very useful when we had outdoor Thanksgiving during lockdown!

-- Pretty much secular, though we do sing the Hanukkah prayers.

-- Depends. We'll sometimes visit family. My husband and daughter used to visit my in-laws in Montana sometimes, but I never dared face the cold.

-- Christmas and Hanukkah.
4d
StayCurious I love this - thank you for posting! 3d
24 likes2 comments
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willaful
The Shadow and the Star | Laura Kinsale
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20 years ago or so, I woke in the night with a crushing chest pain. My husband called an ambulance and because we had a young child, couldn't come with me. In the panic, neither of us thought to supply me with a book.

I was fine, but I was there for hours, getting tests and just lying there with nothing. What kept me from going completely mad was my obsession with this book, which I was able to “read“ from memory.

dabbe 🧡🤎💛 4d
LeahBergen That‘s amazing! 😮 4d
Bookwormjillk Wow, what a story! 4d
BookmarkTavern Wow! Thank you for sharing such a powerful story! 4d
willaful @BookmarkTavern Thanks. ☺️ 4d
20 likes5 comments
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willaful
The Examiner | Janice Hallett
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A story so twisty, I had to restart it as soon as I finished. Excellent audio, highly recommended.

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willaful
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“Get a girl some chocolates, feed her for a day. Get a girl a book, and you haven't fed her at all. #Don'tEatBooks “

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willaful
Untitled | Untitled
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A recent game of “Garticphone“ which is a drawing version of the old game of “telephone.“ This kept the theme remarkably well, aside from completely losing the audiobook. Will it make you laugh, or scream? 🙀

CSeydel Oh how fun! We have a tabletop version of this game - it‘s called “Scribblish” 6d
willaful @CSeydel We play online with a bunch of old friends; it started during lockdown and those of us who are medically vulnerable still enjoy it. 5d
21 likes2 comments
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willaful

Jason hated it when girls cried. Renee has thought it was cute when he'd told her that on their third date. It hasn't occurred to her then to wonder how many girls had cried in front of him, and why.

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willaful
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When I was little, I was known as “The turkey girl.“ because that's all I ever wanted to eat when we went out. Preferably turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, but hot turkey sandwich would do.

If you ask my husband his favorite food, he responds “Thanksgiving.“

We were truly a match made in heaven. 😁

dabbe Your husband (and you) are adorable. 🤩 Thanks for playing and sharing! 🧡🤎💛 7d
23 likes1 comment
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willaful
Little Stranger | Sarah Waters
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Oooo, so dark and creepy! It starts off cozy and then turns on you. A very disturbing read that has many possible interpretations.

#BookSpin #BacklistReadathon #10BeforeTheEnd Number 3

TheBookHippie She writes so well!!! 1w
ChaoticMissAdventures I love Sarah Waters! If you don't follow YouTuber Simon Savage he is interviewing her in January and having a read along of a couple of her books. Glad you enjoyed this one ✅ 1w
See All 7 Comments
Ruthiella I absolutely love the ending in this book- so many ways to interpret it. 1w
willaful @Ruthiella The last line is incredible! 1w
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 1w
Kimzey Spoooky photo! Love it! 2d
34 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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willaful
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Fun collection of short comics to read in small sections.

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willaful
Secrets of the Suburbs | Alisa Schindler
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Are we in #1 or #4?

Bookwormjillk 😂 depends on the mood 2w
CarolynM You mean they‘re mutually exclusive? 😆 1w
willaful @CarolynM Some of us are excellent multi-taskers. 😁 1w
24 likes3 comments
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willaful
Little Stranger | Sarah Waters
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I was a little intimidated by this but was immediately engrossed. Might help that it was inspired by one of my favorite books (though not a retelling, I don't think.)

#10BeforeTheEnd #BookSpin

Ruthiella What‘s the book that inspired it? 2w
willaful The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. 2w
29 likes2 comments
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willaful

“Why is it all Mr. Dibbler's films are set against the background of a world gone mad?“ said the dwarf.

Sol's eyes narrowed “Because Mr. Dibbler,“ he growled, “is a very observant man.“

Ruthiella Love Pratchett. ❤️ 2w
willaful @Ruthiella He's always so right on the money. 2w
25 likes2 comments
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willaful
Untitled | Untitled
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Reminds me of one of my old fav cartoons: a man is reading in a hammock, and books are flying towards him while he swats them with a fly swatter and yells “wait your turn!“

dabbe 😂😂😂 2w
38 likes1 comment
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willaful
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julesG 🤣🤣🤣 2w
22 likes1 comment
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willaful
Today Tonight Tomorrow | Rachel Lynn Solomon
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Another down for #10BeforeTheEnd ! Gee, that only leaves 8. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I previously bailed on this but for some reason was really interested in trying the sequel, so gave it another go. I still found the narrator on the irritating/immature side, particularly her views on romance novels -- which I *love*, but don't over-idealize. But the love interest is super sweet and the scavenger hunt throughout Seattle is a lot of fun.

willaful My husband and I once did a “Wizard of the Pigeons“ tour of Seattle and I can see doing that again with this book. (Though not everything will still be there, of course. 🙁 ) 2w
ChaoticMissAdventures ✅ way to get through it! Hopefully this will kick off better reading. 2w
32 likes2 comments
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willaful

Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It‘s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It‘s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you‘ve got about a hundred years here. There‘s only one rule that I know of, babies—:

God damn it, you‘ve got to be kind.

TieDyeDude 2w
Ruthiella My favorite quote from Vonnegut. 2w
Leftcoastzen Miss him❤️ 2w
willaful @Leftcoastzen sigh, yeah. 2w
28 likes4 comments
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willaful
Untitled | Untitled
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1. Hmmm. Dots are cuter, but then I'm cut off from pride flags.

2. This is a given. I'm always reading library books!

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 2w
29 likes1 comment
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willaful
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The only thing I didn't like about this book was that I wanted even more. It's so interesting to learn about the progress of Sarah Andersen as an artist and a person. I was amused that she saw herself as moving away from “relatability“ in her recent work, because it's still her hallmark for me, even when the main character has bat wings.

(The image isn't from this book, btw, but it illustrates what I wanted to say perfectly.)

24 likes1 stack add
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willaful
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It was nice to have three serious contenders for this week! The other two were The Talk by Darrin Bell and Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday.

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willaful

We need this book now more than ever, and it and 9 others are available as free ebooks at https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-ten-free-ebooks-for-getting-free

Free for 2 weeks. You do need to make an account, but don't have to give them a credit card or any info other than a name and email.

Lcsmcat Thanks for sharing. 3w
lil1inblue 🖤🖤🖤 3w
Faranae I think the giveaway got spread or more popular than usual, their site is *struggling* today. 3w
26 likes3 comments
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willaful
Canadian Boyfriend | Jenny Holiday

Really liked this contemporary romance. There were a couple of plot points that made me go “hmmm“ at first and then it turned out they really added to the story.

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willaful
Daydream: A Novel | Hannah Grace
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I'm finding this a very calm, easy read which is just perfect for today.

I like that Halle is mentioned as being a larger size than the other girls she knows and absolutely nothing is made of this. It's just a fact that comes up when she needs to borrow clothes.

#ComfortReadathon @BookwormAHN

BookwormAHN Love it 🤎 3w
30 likes1 comment
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willaful
Untitled | Untitled
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I have a bad feeling about where my book is heading... 😬

DogMomIrene 🤞🏼😬 4w
Ruthiella When I encounter that in a book, sometimes I will flip ahead, find out what happened and the go back and read the middle. 4w
29 likes2 comments
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willaful

Later on me and Charlie recited our Torah for him, but we did it the way Cab Calloway would, including the Hi-De Ho's.

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willaful
The Talk | Darrin Bell
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A beautifully realized graphic memoir about growing up biracial/Black in America. Bell has always turned his struggles and insights into powerful words and pictures, thereby also earning a living and a Pulitzer prize. But as his baby son gets older, he has to reckon with everything he's learned in order to prepare him for what he'll face. Very touching and meaningful.

#NFNovember

Aimeesue I thought this was very well done 4w
30 likes1 comment
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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(Ugh. I know this board is hideous but I'm too tired to redo it.)

Books with an * are also on my #10BeforeTheEnd list.

But it's also my last month of free KU so I may just mood read, who knows. 😂

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looks great!! 4w
Teresereading Love Greengage Summer 4w
22 likes2 comments
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willaful

She hadn't had a chance to work through the pros and cons, or check it for safety from every angle. For heaven's sake, she hadn't even written it down and nothing *counted* until you wrote it down, which meant that Dani was currently engaged in the highly dangerous practice of loving Zaf without a permit.

21 likes1 stack add
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willaful
Untitled | Untitled
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#31By31 Readathon: 34 books read!

#BacklistReadathon: read 1 book by Jackilyn Johnson, and 2 and 1 DNF by T. Kingfisher.

#TBRTarot Less than 100 pages: How to Make Friends with a Ghost

DogMomIrene Way to go! That‘s a lot of books 🙌🏼 4w
TheAromaofBooks Yay!!! Fantastic month!! 4w
willaful @DogMomIrene I know! Sometimes it's fun to go nuts for a while. 😁 4w
DogMomIrene @willaful Nuts, but clearly methodical 😂 Love it! 4w
Catsandbooks Amazing! 👏🏼 🎃 4w
24 likes5 comments
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willaful
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#HauntedShelf #FrightClub total points: 20756!

Thanks to @Jadams89 for being our group leader and @PuddleJumper for doing such great organizing in such a short time!

LiseWorks Wow, you did good 1mo
Jadams89 Great job!! Thanks for playing!! 4w
PuddleJumper Great month! 4w
dabbe #woohooyou! 🧡🍁💛 4w
19 likes4 comments
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willaful
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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My November #BookSpin list. This includes quite a few of my #10BeforeTheEnd books, so I hope I can get four of those read.

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 4w
19 likes1 comment
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willaful
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Read4life 🧡🎃🧡 1mo
21 likes1 comment
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willaful
Twisted Ones | T Kingfisher

Perfectly fine horror, just not my cuppa.

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willaful
Small Spaces | Katherine Arden

Possibly the scariest book I read this month. Definitely the scariest cover!

#HauntedShelf #FrightClub #31By31 Book #33
#Spookoween #HalloweenAtoZReadathon

TheSpineView 👍👏📖🌞 1mo
21 likes1 stack add1 comment
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willaful
Rules for Ghosting: A Novel | Shelly Jay Shore
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I loved this complicated queer romance about grief, identity, Jewishness, family of all kinds, and showing love even after death. It's not at all spooky or scary, but very warm and tender

#HauntedShelf #FrightClub #31By31 book 33!
#Spookoween #HalloweenAtoZReadathon Letter R

Catsandbooks 👏🏼👻🧡 1mo
26 likes1 comment
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willaful
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My kind of pumpkin.

#Spookoween

TheSpineView Cute! 🖤🎃🖤 1mo
Ruthiella 🎃🎃🎃 1mo
Seabreeze_Reader 🧡🎃👍 1mo
LeahBergen So cute! 1mo
dabbe 🖤🧡🖤 1mo
33 likes5 comments
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willaful
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1. I was in a fun musical version of “Dune,“ so I'm going to wear my fremen costume. Will probably be the closest I've ever gotten to recognizable cultural relevance for Halloween. 😂

2. A Sorceress Comes to Call was very creepy but balanced with positivity, so more up my alley than total horror.

TheSpineView 🖤🎃🧡 Thanks for playing! 1mo
19 likes1 comment
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willaful
The Screaming | Jack Kilborn
TheSpineView 👍🤩📖 1mo
dabbe 🤩😂🤩 1mo
18 likes2 comments
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willaful
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Man, I don't even know about this book. I love when I relate to what I'm reading, but it's like this somehow listened to all my hard emotions of the past 4 years and just vomited them onto pages. The main character even has my nickname, just to wig me out more.

#HauntedShelf #FrightClub #31By31 Book 30
#Spookoween #HalloweenAtoZReadathon Letter T #Witchathon

TheSpineView That's creepy 😳 1mo
Catsandbooks 👏🏼👻🧡 1mo
25 likes2 comments