pickFinally read my #FoodAndLit #Nicaragua pick (Also a September #BookSpin).
Based on the history of Juana the Mad, this novel is full of obsession, betrayal, ambition, and inappropriate relationships. But it was a good (if infuriating) read to end the year on.
pickSorry that I am continuing with my late book reviews but this a closure I must do, even if I finish it first week of January 2026. If I want to improve this task next year, I must complete it now, this one. I‘m a finisher in my races…so I will do in this task📚💪
July 2025 Book #1 second book in this first trilogy. Liked it not loved it. New family dynamics , more secrets are revealed and the story in general in so interesting⬇️
In Castillo in the very south of Spain, 'a tumbling little village built on an outcrop of rock in the midst of a pebbly delta'.
#whereareyouMonday
@Cupcake12
..
pickThis book won both a Newbery Honor and was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor, which is how it got on our book club‘s radar. We all learned some new-to-us history and appreciated the scope of the book. It moves through several generations of a family, taking place in four different countries and with four different protagonists. Lots to take in!
This was my April #BookSpin pick.
pickI almost DNFed this one because it dragged in the middle, but I persisted, and I think that was the right choice. This scratched the itch for contemplative literary fiction that I've had after immersing myself in horror for a couple of months. It deals with familial relationships and the ways that we can manipulate others to meet our own needs and distract from our sense of mortality and/or feelings of powerlessness. So, uncomfortable but good.
so-soWhen Daniel finds a hidden book in a mysterious library, he begins to unravel a mystery that involves burned books, a vanished author, a crumbling mansion, history of the Spanish Civil War, & his own romance.
Fantastic book about the power of stories to shape our lives, gorgeous imagery, & an engaging mystery. But it also felt like it was doing too much sometimes. & the tension was really unrelenting. I had to step away several times. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
pickThis book deals with the Spanish Revolution. But told from another point of view than we're used to. We're starting in an all-female prison, getting to know Hortensia and the other imprisoned women. We're following them through the years of war, unrest and rebellion until the 50ties under Franco. The book is based on interviews with survivors and eye-witnesses, what gives the whole book another dimension. It's unsettling and real.
pickA library book club pick and one which reminds me why I belong to book groups.
I've read one other by Allende which was also a book club pick!
This was an interesting story, good character relationships and historically important. I appreciated finding out about the Spanish civil war and subsequent emigration.
I do find it's told rather than shown which made some of it feel forced along.
pickApril 2025 Book #2
This book starts so good with a crime scene. It is graphic during the crime description and it the victim/trope of crime could be a trigger for some readers. I like the plot, characters and development. However, I think it was unnecessarily long. The location, weather (rain) descriptions are extremely long😳It could be edited. But in general I liked it and I already read book 2. 3.5/3.8⭐️
