Welcome to Litsy!

Received my Book Riot #GetTBR recommendations. I‘m a little annoyed because they didn‘t send me a reminder email to update my requests and I was on vacation, so I didn‘t update what I was looking for.

I‘m not disappointed with these recs and the 2 bonus recs! It‘s just going to make me already miss Hawaii. They look like they‘ll be good summer reads though.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this book about a boy who‘s a “Terror” because he‘s born with a bird in his chest so he needs to keep it hidden. This was a good coming of age novel - it kind of gave me Perks of Being a Wallflower vibes but for me, this was better.
This was a #gettbr recommendation

I really enjoyed this book! It was one my #GetTBR book recs! The fantasy elements, world building, characters and story were all great. My only issue, which I didn‘t realize was a YA novel was the “love triangle” and that she seemed to rely on everyone else so much. It just irked me.

#Booked2022 - mythology retelling (says based on ancient Chinese mythology)
#pop22 - I might use this for duology (2nd book not out yet though)

A heartfelt memoir about growing up in a Muslim household as a queer non-binary person. Amrou truly loves their parents and they love them, but their culture makes their coming out really difficult for all of them. Hearing how they grow and about their self discovery is both heartbreaking and inspiring. Things that will stick with me: their love for their mother, music, and their drag family.
#getTBR
Content Warnings in spoilers⬇️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I weirdly enjoyed this book about a mother who believes she‘s turning into dog. I‘m not a mother but found a lot of this relatable and/or echoing my anxieties over becoming a mother. I liked that it wasn‘t all focused on drudgery but had times of complete joy too. This was definitely surrealist and became more absurd as the book went on. I do recommend for people who like this sort of book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was the perfect weekend read - something that was engrossing and a fast read. A 25 year old guy wakes up to find that a terrible crime has occurred in the house. It‘s a bit dark and gory, but I don‘t want to say too much more because I think it‘s best to know very little ahead of time. I recommend for a medium paced thriller.
This was a #gettbr recommendation.

Received my quarterly Book Riot recommendations today!

The tagged book is a romance set on Hawaii (to get me psyched up for my trip)
The gorgeous cover is a fantasy debut inspired by Chinese mythology and the Lotus Palace is a historical romance/mystery.

#GetTBR

Super behind on reviews.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The story was interesting and had a great mix of sci-fi and magic. However, I would have been okay never reading it.

Also, I did my normal speed up to 1.75x and the narrator sounded like a robot.. so I could only listen when doing very specific things.

#noshamereadathon - Space opera
This was my last recommendation from #BookRiot #GetTBR

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The prose is pretty matter of fact but effective. There‘s a lot here about modern women in society and motherhood. Not being a mother (or from Korea for that matter), I still identified pretty strongly with this book. The ending was perfect. I definitely recommend!

This was a #gettbr recommendation.

Folklorn was recommended by my #tailoredbookrecommendations by #bookriot.

Unfortunately I didn‘t love it… I struggled to keep reading at some points, as I found Elsa‘s low points repetitive and self destructive. The family dynamic here is really dark with an abusive dad and possibly addicted brother and it‘s unclear what the MC‘s mental health status is.

The connections drawn between Korean folklore and Elsa‘s family kept me going, but ⬇️