Welcome to Litsy!

Time sure is flying! Here‘s my #BookSpin list for May.
Cheers to our amazing host @TheAromaofBooks
🤗🎰

This cozy fantasy romance follows a plant witch trying to repay her parents' debts and save her town and the heir to the very family threatening her future who runs away to work at her greenhouse. Just pure sweetness. I loved the nonbinary representation and the explorations of different kinds of magic.

I thought the characters in this were realistically written, real feelings, real dialogue - I felt so involved in their lives I found it hard to put down. Obviously Mike & Ben weren‘t the best suited but I think some relationships are like this 🤷‍♀️ and it was depicted beautifully- I loved the way we got to see glimpses of their past & the way we sometimes have to infer reasons for the way the characters are, we are trusted as readers. 🤍

funny to read this in the middle seat of a packed flight shuttling a Methodist church group. Smart AND fun, a rare feat for a novel these days!! Clearly a debut (stilted dialogue, esp early on), but delivers on its impressive ambitions. What I took away from this is that motherhood, like all expectations of womanhood, simultaneously dehumanizes and humanizes. The only way women become people is by giving ourselves over to the care of another.

I'm an outlier but 250 pages of Talking It Out was a bit much for me.

The transliteration in this book of poetry can be #difficult at first, but it is well worth the effort. It's an inventive, unique exploration of the trans experience.

#dynamicds
@eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I‘m always up for a Jane Austen retelling, and this one is an #lgbtq+ retelling of Emma. It‘s my pick for #readordonate for May!

This character study set in a small town is both devastating and hopeful. It is a quiet read, one giving the reader access to the secrets and sorrows of the lives of those living in Dalton. Full review at http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2024/10/review-road-to-dalton-by-shannon-bowring...

A queer retelling of Emma with a Bridgerton flair and solid historical references (Dido Belle, Anne Lister). Ellie is very close to her neighbor Georgiana (who prefers to dress in a masculine style and is known as George). We also look at her cousin Charlotte and how differently she is treated due to her mixed race heritage.
I enjoyed this, the fashions, the depictions of beautiful historical spaces (Vauxhall Gardens and Temple of the Muses).