Welcome to Litsy!

Did May feel extra-long to anyone else?

Idle Grounds was my favorite! Sneaky & feverish.

Nettle & Bone is a *magical* listen.

I Hope This Finds You Well was a delightful change of pace.

Unraveling, though a reread, was spun as well as I remembered. Fascinating & timely, in a world that desperately needs more climate justice.

Marmalade is great in small spoonfuls. Dip in & out.

My heart is still recovering from Juno Loves Legs. It‘s visceral.

Marra, who is not-quite-a-nun & barely a princess, learns that her eldest sister was killed by her husband, the prince. Her middle sister is now married to the same man, crowned king; she stays pregnant to keep him from beating her — or at least hold him back a bit. Marra vows to save her sister, loosening the political noose around her neck, by killing the monster. She assembles a band of not-so-merry, magical misfits to aid her in her quest.👇🏻

#Read2025

Finished yesterday for #Roll100 (#90 Any Backlist) & as a prompt for my #OUABC 2025 40 Book Challenge (Any Hugo Award Winner). I loved this one! T. Kingfisher writes fun characters & found family with a sly dark humor. All the characters in Marta‘s ragtag group were endearing & I enjoyed this fantasy paranormal fairytale. Looking forward to working my way through the rest of the author‘s backlist. Pretty sure it will be a 2025 fave.🖤

#ChatterDay vibe is mellow. Having a bit of an asthma/allergy flare up which is messing with my eyes. I did make a stop at the monthly makers market by my house & got some cards, postcard & such.

Now at the coffeeshop with a piece of coffee cake & my usual dirty chai. Starting this book for March as it fills a reading challenge prompt & is my #Roll100 March #90 “Any Backlist” prompt. Still need to run a few errands then home to rest my eyes.👀

This is the book I got when I went to Wijaya House for the first time. My book club is reading it next month!
🌈📚

Well written. The main character spoke like a teenager but was supposed to be 30. Other than that, fun characters, classic hero‘s journey adventure. Inspired me to try more fantasy.

LOVED this one! So glad boyf got it for me for Jolabokaflod. I‘m honestly a little mad I hadn‘t picked it up before then! After three great books from T Kingfisher, safe to say they‘re a solid new favorite.

#wintergames #xmaschacha #adventathon #cozychristmas #12booksofchristmas

Jolabokaflod is a tradition I‘ve started doing with my partner, and we get to do it for the first time together this year. :) It reminds me of my family‘s tradition growing up, where Xmas Eve we‘d get to open one present that always had a book and pj‘s. The pj‘s continue (ours are stuck in the mail rn) and I‘m happy to bring books back into the equation too. #xmaschacha #wintergames2024 #wg2024

A fun short book. Has some really interesting concepts that I haven‘t seen before, turns the fairy godmother trope on its head. Good for a light fantasy read.

This quote from T. Kingfisher's “Nettle & Bone“—“Nothing is fair, except that we try to make it so. That's the point of humans, maybe, to fix things the gods hadn't managed“—really spoke to me. I've often felt life, in general, is unfair. Some are handed fortunes, while others face hardship simply due to birth, time, or place. As humans, our best effort is to level the playing field and fight for the marginalized.

Witchy vibes for October! I will admit that I was a bit annoyed we had to have a big strong man in this lovely story of women adventuring to save one of their sisters. I loved the characters here, even MC Marra who often felt a bit juvenile for 30, but her lifestyle explained this. The animals really made the book the demon hen, bone dog and little Finder chick. What a fun cast. A quick and easy read that has .e reaching for the book each day!

Loving this dark fairytale about a princess who takes a journey with a witch and dog made of bones to kill her sister‘s mean prince husband. If you love fairytales this is for you!

I have fallen into a bit of a reading slump. Hoping finishing up the reading room with a fresh coat of paint and a new velvet chair pulls me out of it!

I finished “A Wizard‘s Guide to Defensive Baking“” last and I am starting Nettle & Bone.

“A Wizard‘s Guide to Defensive Baking“ has malicious gingerbread! #fallreads #baking

A modern day fairytale complete with princesses and a castle. Our heroine, Marra is the youngest of 3 siblings. She discovered her sister is married to the evil prince who is abusive. Marra sets out to kill the prince. She finds friends along the way who will assist. It‘s a book for those who really wish to clean their palate and reset their mind. 4.75/5

Book mail!

Not only was this a great story, look how beautiful the cover under the dust jacket and the end papers are!

This is a modern fairytale, not a retelling but Kingfisher‘s own creation. Characters I couldn‘t help rooting for, including a dog that the main character Marra crafted from bones and wire. I loved that there were also chickens who played a part!

The mark of a great story is when I can‘t stop thinking about it when I have to step away. 💚

The #bookspin draws were completely in my favor this month, as my bookclub‘s topic is Hocus Pocus and these two fit perfectly! Thank you @TheAromaofBooks 🙂📚🩷 I hope I can start them in the next couple days.

I needed an easy read & this fitted the bill perfectly. A fantasy that reads like a modern fairytale with found family & great side characters. Marra is the youngest princess of the Harbour Kingdom. Her oldest sister is promised to the Prince of a more powerful neighbour kingdom. When her sister dies Marra suspects something is terribly wrong. This is lighter and faster moving than it might sound. Sweet with some bone magic & a few ghosts.

Took a little walk. Had a free small drink coupon, so I got a mocha with an extra shot. Also having a carmeliscious cake bite 😋 Love the print with the bone dog on the endpapers!

Caught up with grad school enough to spend some time with a library book. Happy National Cold Brew Day!

4.5 ⭐ Mara is the last sister in a royal family. Both of her older sisters have had to marry a prince in a neighboring kingdom for protection of their kingdom. Mara is sent to a nunnery, not to become a nun but to be protected. To make sure she has no children, takes no husband , and is there in case the prince needs a third wife. Mara spends 15 years in the nunnery living her life, waiting for something. Her first sister died

What happens when the fairytale turns bad? When the Princess is a victim of domestic violence from her husband the Prince? What if you are Marra and have already lost one sister and your last remaining sibling is walking the very same path?

As you sit with Maara as she builds her bone dog, meets a grave witch, reunites with her fairy godmother and enters the goblin market, it's impossible to not get wrapped up in this fantasy land.

For how many years have I wanted to read this book? Ever since I finished my first Kingfisher book. I'm happy I finally managed to read it, thanks to #DoubleSpin & @TheAromaofBooks
Surprisingly, it took quite a while for me to get into the story. Only when the Dust Wife appeared, I slowly started to come to terms with this book. But after that I was all in. I started to love the characters, liked the world and the feminist plot. And the sidekicks.

#12Booksof2023

Starting a day late…the tagged book was the third book I read in January & from the first page I suspected it would be one of my favorite books of the year. When I met the demon possessed chicken, I was sure of it. Everything about this book is a delight. My favorite book in January is also one of my 2023 Top Ten.

Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 —so fun seeing everyone‘s picks and finding new books to read.

Time to put on the winter tires so I'll dig in to my next read while I wait

My next two reads: horror and, well, partly horror, of a very different kind. As Claire G Coleman says, all Aboriginal fiction is apocalyptic.

It‘s a tteokbokki & makkoli kind of a night, with NETTLE & BONE for entertainment. The book‘s great so far, but I think I‘m gonna end up reading it too slowly. I‘ve got so many other things going on all of a sudden. Like, last night I watched A HAUNTING IN VENICE in company, and today I laid a laminate floor. Both things took a goodly stretch of time. 🤷‍♀️

I do love her books! Imaginative, lighter hearted than many such fractured fairy sorts of stories, filled with weird and wonderful and awful characters.

🎉🎉🎉

Love. This. Book.

This is one of my favorite books of the year!!! Thrilled to see this announcement on Tor Books‘ Instagram.

This book was just so much fun! Mixing fantasy with horror, this book swept me into its world. The characters had me laughing out loud. The writing style is superb and filled with hilarious quips during gruesome scenes. I truly enjoyed every second! 5 stars! #scarathlon #creepinitreal #cir

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love having such a big backlist of stuff to slowly work through with t kingfisher. I found the characters totally loveable and bizzarre. Not too long either which was great. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.6⭐️ This was an amazing story with great characters and a strong FMC. The world building is good but I wouldn‘t have minded a little more detail. Speaking of extra detail, would have loved to have a little bit more information and interaction with the villain. All in all, thoroughly enjoyed. This was also my #BooksSpin for August #BookSpinBingo.

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If you like your fairy tales a bit dark, whimsical and twisty with a side of humor, this is your pick. Some very good elements here with magic, although I found the quest a bit boring at times, which left me putting the book aside.
The characters were fine, the world needed to be explored more deeply for me to get a good handle on it. would have liked more scenes like the goblin market with more magical beings like the toothetaker.

Well THAT'S a new favourite. I'm grateful to the book community members who read this before me and, having thought it would be adventure romp with supernatural animal sidekicks, cautioned future readers it was considerably darker than expected. This braced me for the dark bits and made all the funny bits a delightful surprise. The same humour as A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking shines through, with a strong thread of feminist commentary. 1/2

🤣🤣🐓

HA! 💀🦴🙎🏼‍♂️

Everyone's a critic. 😂🐤

It's a LOT. 🫠😵‍💫

OMG, information management= info organizer = herding dog.
Info herding dog.
My personality is border collie?! 🤯 🤦🏼‍♂️

Sinister Minas Tirith vibes ...

☠️🐶 Even skeleton dogs are OBVIOUSLY good bois. ☺️

Democratically suspicious goats. 😏🐐

A 30 year old princess who has spent half her life in a convent finally comes to the realisation that the Prince her sister is married to, is abusing her (and likely murdered her eldest sister before marrying the middle sister) and that no one is going to do anything to stop him because of the *political ramifications* so begins her quest to kill him - and what a delightful adventure we go on to make that happen!

Loved this!

A Hugo Best Novel nominee, this story provides an interesting take on the fairy godmother character. I always enjoy books by T. Kingfisher, a.k.a. Ursula Vernon.

First book finished for #RushAthon! @DieAReader @Andrew65 @GHABI4ROSES

#hugoawards #hugo2023
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

So here is my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin for the August 2023 round of #BookSpinBingo 😊 Nettle and Bone has been on my TBR list for quite some time, while A Promise of Fire was picked on a whim. Here‘s to a good reading month… Happy reading, everyone!

Agnes and the dust witch make for such a fun duo definitely don‘t want to end up on their bad side.