Welcome to Litsy!

Lunch today was my slightly delayed Momos & a few other Indian/Napalese dishes for my review of the tagged book (see tagged book post before this one) for #FoodAndLit #Nepal

I tried:
-Momo-dumplings of ground chicken, greens & spices & tangy tomato dipping sauce
-Himalayan naan-stuffed with spinach & shredded chicken tikka
Sides of dal (Nepali yellow lentils in ginger, garlic & tomatoes), Himalayan Mash Potato (curry & peas), raita & rice.😋

#Read2025

Finished this past week for February!s #FoodAndLit #Nepal I ended up really liking it. About a journalist going after a story that requires her to summit Manaslu, the 8th highest peak in the world. Mountain climbing fascinates me probably because I am clumsy, not good in cold, scared of heights, can‘t breathe as it is (let alone at high altitudes) & could never do it & it gives me high anxiety which actually works with a thriller.😱😉⬇️

#OneWordTitle

#AboutABook

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“So often fatigue – mental or physical – will stop you from caring…The moment you stop caring is the moment you‘ve lost your ability to climb.”

Especially when there‘s a killer on the mountain…

#Snowstorm

#StorySettings

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Boring at times- I enjoyed the parts about mountaineering.

#NewYearNewBooks Day21 #InvolvesExtremeWeather I think this one meets this criteria. I haven‘t read it yet

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I rather enjoyed this thriller about a struggling journalist who is promised an exclusive interview with Charles McVeigh, upon summiting Manaslu at the completion of his project. As Climbing site succinctly summarizes, “the final stage of his “Fourteen Clean” project, which involves climbing all the 8,000-meter peaks without bottled oxygen, in alpine style, in a single calendar year.“ This is a thriller. I had to remind myself ot this (CONT)

IMO, the combo of snow or blinding blizzards with mystery/thriller plots is usually a winner! Really enjoyed this edge-of-your-seat novel.

#LetItSnow

#DecemberDreams

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This book about a woman hiking in the Himalayas while a killer is on the loose was a great way to pass the time.

Raining so hard I got chased off my covered porch. Gotta protect those library books!

When you live in Florida, a book set in the mountains of Nepal is refreshing. Is there a serial killer targeting folks as they climb a famous mountain?

“Every breath you take-I‘ll be watching you” 🎶🎼
Murder on the Mountain😱💀

#EveryBreathYouTake #VolumesAndVocals

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This had a lot going for it (an 8000+ meter mountain that isn't Everest; a variety of mountaineers, guides, sherpas, journalists, and support staff from different backgrounds; descriptive writing) but it ultimately fell short for me. Cecily's paranoia turned out to be justified except she focused on everyone EXCEPT the person who was so obviously creepy and suspicious! It made it hard for me to trust her or the story. Spoiler quibble in comments.

I won't get much time to read this today because we brought friends with us but I'm starting this today and I'm in my #happyplace 💛🌲

#pantone2023 #summersong #graylilac @Clwojick

Meh, this was okay. I finished it only because I wanted to see what happened, but goodness it dragged! I wouldn‘t really call it a thriller, as the “thrills” didn‘t even happen until maybe the last fourth of the book. #doublespin for March though 🤷‍♀️😂

Such a fresh idea! When people keep dying while trying to climb one of the highest mountains in the world-is it just part of the risk or is there a murderer on the loose? This was a solid thriller, had some pacing issues but the unique setting and good writing made up for them. My first read of hers but it won‘t be the last! #BookspinBingo #BOTM @TheAromaofBooks #Pantone2023 @Clwojick

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5/5)

“Breathless” started off slow, but it finally picked up about 1/3 of the way in. I unfortunately guessed who the killer was at the very beginning, and I was even able to predict some of the plot twists. I did enjoy the suspense that built up towards the end of the book, and Cecily‘s character arc. However, I was disappointed by the sudden ending and wished there was an epilogue, so ultimately that left me feeling unsatisfied.

I‘ve never wanted to climb a mountain, and after reading this, I‘m comfortable with that decision! 😂 Cecily, an adventure journalist known for her failure at mountain climbing, is invited on a mission with a climbing legend-in-the-making. She wonders why she is chosen as part of the team alongside much more experienced climbers. Things start going bad even before heading up the mountain, and soon it becomes clear that a killer is on the loose.

Love a cold and snowy book when it‘s cold and snowy outside. I inherited a love of mountain climbing books from my mother. She loved her Sherpas. I also love outdoor adventure thrillers. So 4⭐️s for me #BOTM

And it‘s my #bookspin

I was hoping one of my holiday choices would be a #bookspin or #doublespin but no luck. But I am looking forward to these two.

Breathless was an excellent thriller that set high on a mountain. The mountain climbing stuff was really interesting, I leaned quite a bit (including that mountain climbing is not for me lol).

After a reading slump I was excited to start this unique thriller! Icy mountain-climbing plus a possible murderer on the loose sounds thrilling enough, but the pacing was much too slow and the culprit was too obvious. The action doesn‘t start until 75% and I knew who it was from the beginning. I loved learning about climbing though, and the author has a cool YouTube channel with footage of her own Manaslu summit I recommend watching! #botm #pop22

This was a low pick for me. I‘m kind of over thrillers, but decided to give this one a try.

Cecily is given the opportunity of a lifetime, climb a mountain over 8,000 meters with a team. If she summits, she gets an interview that will help her journalism career. But there is a killer on the mountain. I wasn‘t expecting who the killer was and the twists were good.

#Booked2022 - about an expedition
#NoShameReadathon - thriller

There was never a chance that I was going to *not* pick up this book - all I needed was "murder while mountaineering?" and I was in. Unfortunately the writing was disappointing and I saw the ending coming a mile (or 8000 feet?) away. Read this for the high-altitude danger vibes but not for the writing.

This novel is really between a puck and so-so. It was a little plodding and repetitive in the chapters leading up to the ending. It was not the mountaineering that weighed it down but the problems with people dying…but the ending was good and exciting. If I had read this quicker I might have enjoyed it more. Still glad I finished!

1. 🏔🌬🦙🧗‍♂️💀🇳🇵📓⛺️. 2. I would love a sequel to The Maid. 3. Black Cake ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨@eggs #wondrouswednesday @NatalieR @JenReadsAlot @ClairesReads sorry I‘m late it‘s Thursday. Thanks for tagging me @Sparklemn

This was just "ehhh" for me until the end. I think the concept was great but it was drawn out too long.

I'm a sucker for any summit adventure stories and this one took it to a whole new level. The thriller aspect was not only the potential murderer on the mountain but also surviving the elements on one of the world's tallest mountains. The fact that the author has been to the summit herself added so much detail to the experience I could imagine myself there. A great suspenseful read that kept me up late to know what would happen.

I may be in the minority here but I really liked this novel. I thought it was a nice change up from the usual domestic thrillers BOTM offers. A group of hikers, including journalist Cecily Wong, are determined to summit Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain peak with famed mountaineer, Charles McVeigh. When one of the group is found dead, it becomes evident that the mountain may not be the greatest danger they face. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#MarvelousMay
Finished: Book Lovers and Maybe Not
Started: BreathLess

I loved this novel! The author‘s own experience of climbing Manislu in Nepal adds so much detail without getting too technical. Murder is horrible, but how much worse is it on the world‘s eighth tallest mountain? Cecily is inexplicably invited to join the Manislu expedition, and ends up solving the mystery. I did not see the ending coming. Chilling, pun intended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought this book was wonderful. It takes place almost entirely during a mountain climbing expedition. I love reading about experiences and places I will probably never visit.
I loved every minute of it. Cecily and the other members of her expedition were interesting characters. I was kept guessing the whole way through.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book didn‘t do it for me…at all. I felt like everything was just happening way too slow for my liking, and I couldn‘t understand all the technical mountaineering terms. There wasn‘t a lot of suspenseful moments that kept my attention, and I figured from the beginning who the killer on the mountain was.

My review: ⭐️⭐️

It took me a long time to read this and I think that's because it never really captured my attention. The mountaineering context is a refreshing change from conventional dead-girl murder mysteries, and the structure of the narrative is clever. Unfortunately for me, the characters were pretty flat, and while it was well-paced, the unravelling of the crimes felt a bit hysterical.

“Where better for a killer to hide, than somewhere already know as the death zone?”
Page-turning thrill ride. I loved every page of this one!

I have a decades long May obsession (books, documentaries, movie -including foreign) on those who attempt and sometimes succeed at submitting plateaus nearly 5 miles above sea level. In the aftermath of the Mt Everest tragedy of 1996 along with the Three Cups of Tea controversy, it became apparent that climbers, if a family, might be a tad dysfunctional. With that, this fictional thriller almost seems plausible.

This pulled me in right away. I thought it was suspenseful from the start. I like thrillers as well as mountain-climbing stories, though I‘m not sure I‘ve ever read a fictional mountain climbing story – they can be suspenseful and exciting all on their own without adding a murder mystery in! I did pick out someone as suspicious early on in the book. No surprise to read that the author has climbed this particular mountain in the story herself.

#BlueBoxDay 🙂

11 books read this month. Breathless was my favorite, although Kingdoms of Savannah was a close second. In my 2022 reading bracket it is just edged out by Empire of the Vampire for the top read so far. Both are excellent books.

Trying out #botm ! #bookofthemonth #breathless #amymcculloch #thesilentpatient #alexmichaelides #bookclub

Excited for this BOTM 🎉🎉📚

Excited for this month‘s BOTM picks! #botm

Love an outdoor, adventure-gone-wrong thriller! I did not even look at the add ons. I only have one credit left till renewal. I think my one year membership lasted 7 months! #BOTM #Bookmailisthebestmail

So many great #botm choices this month!!! I also wanted The Change and Siren Queen, but alas...my limit was three.
I've got Siren Queen on hold at the library 😁

The first thing that drew me to this book is the cover, it's very eye-catching. The MC, Cecily, is easy to root for as she inexperienced but not completely naïve. The pace was almost perfect, it did falter in a couple of places, however, the author always managed to bring it round, & the conclusion was great - nail-bitingly tense. 4🌟

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Penguin Michael Joseph UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC. #NetGalley