Welcome to Litsy!

Such a fantastic read about siblings navigating family dynamics, relationships, life‘s purpose, and mental health. Both full of humor and poignant sensitivity. Highly recommended on audio.

Really liked this story about the siblings and their multicultural family in New Zealand.

#MarvellousMarch @Andrew65

Omg this is such a wonderful treat of a book! Such lovely characters… it centers in the titular siblings, and extends outward to include their complicated family dynamics, their partners/ex-partners, and the life challenges they face: relationships, finances, racism, mental health, etc. I want them to adopt me.

I haven‘t experienced such uncomplicated joy and love for a novel in I don‘t know how long. I mean, I‘ve loved plenty: Turtle Diary, Saltus, Rouge, The Sentence, The Memory Police, and Disappearing Earth (to name a few). But…they‘ve all been a bit *sad* on some level. And it‘s not that the characters in Greta & Valdin don‘t struggle - with their mental health, money, racism, sexism (all the usual culprits) — because they do! 👇🏻

Fantastic book from NZ that touches on family, queerness, immigration, and being biracial all through the lens of a couple of rather lighthearted love stories.

Brother and sister Valdin & Greta navigate complicated romance while trying to stay close to their older brother and parents. She‘s looking for a woman who understands her while he pines for an ex-boyfriend in Argentina.

“Having OCD is so stupid. I wish I had something cool, like double joints or purple eyes.”

Um, excuse me…
Did Rebecca K. Reilly travel back in time specifically to enter my 9-year-old brain? 😆 As someone who has diagnosed herself with magical thinking OCD (based on nonsensical compulsions to complete certain tasks in order to avoid the death of my loved ones?), I feel this so hard. 👇🏻

This book just became available on Libby, two days before #NewZealand ends for #foodandlit for February. I won‘t be able to fit it in. Well, it will still count for #readingOceania!

 @Catsandbooks @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

Greta & Valdin are a sister and brother pair, 20-somethings, sharing an apartment in New Zealand. They‘re biracial, they‘re anxious, navigating their love lives and they care deeply for each other and their family. A large cast of family members feature prominently, each with their own backstory and ongoing drama. I don‘t know how to describe this book well enough to do it justice, other than to say I loved this endearing and quirky family.

I loved this. Effortlessly funny, thoughtful, and full of so much heart. This glorious, weird, beautifully convoluted family who lead with their hearts with stay with me for a long time.

And kudos to the cover designer. Second book in a row with a simple yet totally perfect cover. 🥰

I used to be able to listen to music with lyrics when I was reading, but my focus is stained lately, so I've been turning to instrumental tracks. I always try to pair the music to what I'm reading in some way, and my current read (tagged) needed indie tunes like some instrumental Feist (she is forever a favourite):

https://open.spotify.com/track/5qsQrSxbclGbUUX6YMrZGN?si=T-VWONvnSFOcpw8ihaUGcA

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude

Funny and smart novel about two queer siblings and their interesting family. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley.

This was as wonderful as everyone says. I very rarely laugh out loud at books. This was funny, warm, joyful and a bit melancholy occasionally to make it even more real.
Just a really lovely read.

A showstopping debut!! I absolutely loved this story about two queer siblings and their eccentric Māori-Russian-Catalonian family. It‘s laugh out loud throughout but also makes you cry and think. Reilly makes it look effortless. I loved the characters fiercely and felt so moved by the book's insights into family, parenting, queerness, and cultural identity. These wonderful weirdos will live on in my mind like real people for a long time.

My view while reading for the next little while! 😍 🐣

This was NOT a part of my reading plan for February but I innocently opened it and I‘m hooked!
Also, that glorious sun—I‘m so so happy to see it! 🌞

January #Wrapup
I am tracking how much money I save this year at the library January savings=

4.5⭐
Greta and Valdin
Doppelganger
Indian Horse
4⭐
Stone Raft
How Not To Drown In A Glass Of Water
Lies and Weddings
Built From The Fire
Hello Beautiful
Ultra Processed People
3.5⭐
The Bromance Book Club
Small Things Like These
3⭐
Bright Young Women
Lives of the Wives
1⭐ DNF
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

A smaller #libraryhaul this week which includes a few #ARC and some books for my boys. Most excited about the tagged.

4.5⭐

I loved living with this family for a while! G & V are 2 of 3 siblings. They live together and both are trying to find love while they keep connected to their unique, fun, funny, and wonderful family. They fall in and out of love and get into complex situations.They are half Romanian and half Māori they are smart, and funny and their family is a bit of a mess.
There is a character guide at the beginning but I found I didn't need it.

Reading in the car while my toddler sleeps in the backseat. This book is very funny so far. I love a sibling story, and in this one they are both queer!

I loved this one. It's about a Maori-Russian-Catalan extended family in Auckland, and I just loved all the characters and how they interacted with each other with love. This needs to a TV show so I can have more. I'll also accept a sequel.

Loved this! Greta and Valdin are twenty-something siblings negotiating life, love and their bonkers Māori/ Russian / Catalan family. It‘s weird, snarky but warm and a tiny little bit sad in places. I can see why it was your favourite book of 2023 @CarolynM and why you loved it so much too @Centique .

You‘re in for a treat Emma @Oryx (if you haven‘t already read it yet!)

#netgalley #greta&valdin Published in the UK on 8th Feb

I'm only allowing myself one book purchase* in NZ because they are so blooming expensive. But this NZ book sounds great, and looks like it has some lovely reviews on Litsy.

(*Unless I really really want another one)

#12Booksof2022. #December

I just adored this story about a complicated Māori / Russian / Catalan family living and loving in Auckland. It was my favourite book, not only of December, but of all of 2022.

I absolutely loved this charming, quirky story of twenty something siblings Greta & Valdin & their complicated Māori/Russian/Catalan family & the “four million nonsense anecdotes … life is comprised of” as they learned about themselves & about one another. I enjoyed their company so much I didn‘t want to finish reading. It may be my favourite book of the year. I can‘t thank you enough, Paula, for bringing it into my life. #kiwifiction

How I laughed!

I‘m loving this book @Centique

This was sarcastic, quirky and adorable in equal measure. Such a change for me to read a book set so definitively in my own city - it places action on specific streets, references NZ brands, uses Kiwi slang & a little Maori.
Greta and Valdin are a mid twenties, angsty, brother and sister living in central Auckland. They‘re both queer, part Maori, part Russian, and part of a chaotic and complex family.⬇️

I don‘t usually read the acknowledgements but these are brilliant. 😂😂
“Thank you to the surprisingly high number of people who have approached me to enthuse about my illustrious poetry career. I don‘t know who you have confused me for but I am happy for them, their publications and the great performance at the gallery”

Greta and Valdin was SO GREAT. This book is FUNNY and full of so many delightful tidbits especially if you love our New Zealand cities. It‘s set in Auckland and as an ex-aucklander it was so cool to read about the city I was a teenager and young adult in, in the vein of so many books I love set in say NYC or LA eg permanent record. The ambling around through the city, the sense of place, the FOOD. The quirky cast. So good. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reilly has written a rare beast, a contemporary New Zealand novel about early adulthood that is resonant, recognisable, and engaging. Tāmaki Makaurau is the living breathing heart of this story. The real achievement is how Reilly mixes some fairly searing social-political commentary, with humour and the drama of life. This is a story about family, connection, and the pressure of early adulthood to know what you are doing. It is vibrant and clever.