Book 2 in the Frances Gorges trilogy. Full of plotting and intrigue in King James I's court. I don't think I would have enjoyed the suspense of the ending as much if I had been more familiar with the historical details.

#netgalley

I spent most of the day decorating cookies and listening to this audiobook.

This was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I have to admit that I lost track of who everyone was. I needed a family tree to refer to while I was listening.

I'm struggling to read this book. It's for book club, plus it's such a well-regarded book, otherwise I would not hesitate to bail. I'm only on p.37 and feel like nothing about it is compelling me to continue. Can anyone who has read it convince me that it's worth sticking with?

This book deals with the accidental shooting death of a child by a neighbor/relative and the aftermath for the two families involved, so it is not easy subject matter to read about/listen to. I liked this more than The Round House, which is the only other book of Erdrich's that I've read, but I think it's because I listened to the audio of this one. If I read more Erdrich, audiobook will be the format.

This was a light, entertaining, easy read, which is what I expect from this series. The mystery got started far too late in the book, and sometimes it feels like the main characters don't learn or change much, which gets a little old. I missed some of the usual fun side characters, but this had an interesting setting.

This retelling of Cinderella was amazing! I loved every bit of it.

The author, who is the editor of a very small Iowa newspaper, won a Pulitzer for editorial writing, and the book caught my attention because my mom grew up in this area of Iowa, but his writing style with the folksy tone and sentence fragments is killing me and I don't know if I can get through this book 😬

McHugh has a talent for portraying small, dying Midwestern towns as grim and a bit sinister, while capturing the humanity of the people who live there. The story felt a bit tepid, though and the suspense could have been been turned up a notch or two in the first 2/3, but not bad overall.
#librarything #earlyreviewers

This is the story of Milady de Winter, nemesis of D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. It's been a long time since I read The Three Musketeers and I don't remember much from it, but I still enjoyed this book completely.

On a side note, this style of cover seems to be a new trend, and I don't find it appealing at all. I can't quite figure out what I don't like about it, but I know I don't like it. But the book was good!

This novel is about a young Appalachian pack horse librarian in 1930s Kentucky who also has a genetic condition that causes her skin to be blue (a real condition that affected a real Appalachian family). This young woman had to endure so much grief and sorrow, but the book did end on a hopeful note.

The cat and I are spending a lazy day reading. I read this a long time ago and remember next to nothing about it, and now I'm reading it for book club. I'm about halfway done. It's an excellent book so far.

A collection of short stories featuring many unlikeable characters and the darker side of suburbia and domestic life. Lippman has a talent for making a story zig when you think it's going to zag.

I gave this until about 10% and decided it wasn't for me, so moving on. #netgalley

I'm giving this a pick because I liked it in spite quite a few flaws. I think it's the tone and setting that I liked, and I was engrossed in the story even though the mystery was pretty weak. If you read it, be prepared to skim a bit when it gets too wordy and overdoes the similes. Also be prepared to feel depressed at the end. I'm really selling this one, aren't I?

Enlightening but depressing.

Fascinating.

Fabulous characters, lively writing, excellent setting, but not enough plot. I enjoyed it up to a point but then it failed to keep my interest. #netgalley

Maybe I just didn't have a deep enough interest in the subject matter to really get into this book, but I found it rather boring and bogged down in minutiae. It is interesting to consider that Wallis was not solely responsible for the situation and maybe wasn't the manipulative schemer that she is usually portrayed as, but ultimately, I couldn't find much sympathy for either party in the affair. #netgalley

A fantastic start to a new historical mystery series. I liked the witty, clever main characters and will be interested to see how the friendship develops between this mismatched pair.

I enjoyed this book for the most part & always like Williams' writing style, but there are a couple of things about her books in general that are getting tiresome for me. The alternating timeline trend is getting really old & gimmicky for me. Also too much "I love you so I have to have your babies!" in her books especially in this one where it was dangerous & life-threatening for the character to have babies. Also some loose ends not tied up.

I learned about some people in Ohio's history that I didn't know about (in spite of living in Ohio my whole life), but this book doesn't really add anything to our understanding of history. For the most part, it's the same old same old white men and manifest destiny that was in all our history books growing up.

I read this looking for anything that I could use with the after school kids I work with at the library. It's an interesting book, but there's not much that would work in my particular program. I would love to be a 6th grader in the author's reading class!

I decided that it's a good time to start reading The Real Wallis Simpson because she is also a character in another book I'm currently reading: The Golden Hour.

I found lots of good Kindle daily deals and monthly deals today. There are two more monthly deals that I want but I'll wait a week or two on those.

#bookmail from @WilliamMorrowBooks just in time for weekend reading! Looks great next to all my other Beatriz Williams books!

This was rather disappointing. The story could have been interesting but it dragged on far too long and character development was lacking. I don't know much about Prague, so it was interesting to learn about the city and its history.

This was interesting. I learned about women I had never heard of. I like that these women are presented with all their complications, even if that means that they don't fit our contemporary ideas of feminist icons. I could have done without the author's commentary on her feelings about each woman at the end of each chapter, but otherwise it was a worthwhile listen.

I really liked this mystery. The main character is Roxane, a female PI in Columbus, OH, and she takes a job trying to locate a witness in order to free a man who's scheduled to be executed for a murder he didn't commit. It reminded me a little of the Kinsey Millhone series, but a little darker. Still a quick, easy read, though. I will continue reading this series, although there's only 1 or 2 more books so far.

Starting a new book and have to say I'm intrigued by this introduction to the main character, who is a PI. It's a local author and setting, which is also interesting. So far, I'm getting Kinsey Millhone vibes, which is a compliment.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, especially certain parts of the ending, but the first half dragged a bit and the emotional connections between characters were not developed enough for me to really feel invested in them.

#librarythingearlyreviewers

I like how Konigsburg writes her characters, but there is quite a bit in this book that would not be considered pc today and was downright cringe-worthy at times. Like the kids' academic bowl team using a noose as their victory symbol, which made sense (I guess?) in context and was not being used in a racist way, but wow that is seriously tone deaf and inappropriate.

Yikes, a pretty significant error on the flap... This story is taking place in 1854 not 1954! At first I thought maybe it alternates between 1854 and 1954, but it alternates between 1854 and 1812. I got this in a giveaway so hopefully the copies for sale will have a corrected dust jacket 😳

But all that aside, I've enjoyed 3 chapters so far.

I'm thrilled with this #bookmail from @WilliamMorrowBooks ! I won The Summer Country from LibraryThing Early Reviewers and was expecting an arc, but they sent a finished hardcover and it's gorgeous! And I'm always excited for a Beatriz Williams book!

I'm taking a vacation day from work today and I already completed the one task that I needed to - getting a car tire fixed. It's rainy and dreary so I decided to crawl back into bed and read the rest of the day. The cat seems to approve of this plan. 😸📚🌧️

This book was very well done for the most part, although I felt that the ending dragged on longer than necessary. #netgalley #arc

There wasn't much mystery in this first book in the County Cork series, but I enjoyed the setting of Ireland, and I also liked that the main character had a background that's a little more gritty than in some cozy mysteries. I'll probably try more books in this series.

#arc #netgalley
If you are looking for a light, romantic summer read, this comes out in July. Two people meet due to an encounter with Grace Kelly during her visit to Cannes for the film festival, which is also when she meets her husband Prince Rainier.

I read it in a day and really enjoyed it, especially the slightly unconventional ending. I also love the gorgeous cover.

I started this ARC on Monday and am only about 1/3 of the way into it but it is SO GOOD! I hope the rest of it is just as good as the first part.

I listened (via Hoopla) to two books this week about women in Hollywood history and enjoyed both.

Another entertaining installment in the Burning Cove series. I really enjoy the 1930s Hollywood-adjacent setting. Plus the gorgeous cover!

Margo Manning is a wealthy teen socialite leading a crew of teen drag queens who commit elaborate heists. Margo reminds a lot of Veronica Mars. FYI, lots of sexy times in this one.

ARC from publisher via #netgalley.

This started a little slow for me and was a little choppy with all the different perspectives, but once I figured out the how the structure was built on those perspectives I appreciated it more. The story wasn't suspenseful or a thriller but there's murder and mystery and a look at 1966 Baltimore and its people. Fans of Lippman's Tess Monaghan series will recognize some characters.

I'm enjoying Laura Lippman's next book.

This was a cute teen romance, and I liked the classic movie angle. The THING that the main characters don't figure out until near the end was super obvious and it was kind of frustrating that they were so blind to it, but maybe that's part of the fun for some readers (especially those in the target age group).

Great characters, art, and message about family. Fun story but the different worlds didn't make sense to me.

I won an advance copy from the publisher in a giveaway.

The cat and I are enjoying some nonfiction this morning.

This historical mystery was so good! Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!

Kept me guessing right up to the end!

I loved playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on my family's Apple computer in the 80s, so I had to read this just for the sake of nostalgia. It's a fun adventure story for middle grades that gives us Carmen's origin story.