I‘ve been sick all week, so I‘ve been throwing back the easy reads - mostly mysteries and romance novels. This library hold cam in at the perfect time!

Once I‘m done with Sister Holiday, though, I‘m looking for a mystery series that has a few books out already - anyone recommendations?

Other books read this week tagged in the comments.

I'm late with my March #BookSpin list, but since I haven't had time to read yet this month, I think it's okay. 😂

My most anticipated book is tagged; I LOVE the Veronica Speedwell series and the last one ended on a cliffhanger! I've already got the audiobook pre-ordered. 🥰

In February, I read 4 books, three of which ticked (4) boxes on my February Book Spin list. I'm looking forward to seeing what March brings to my TBR!

Another solid installment in the Wayward Children series!

It didn‘t have the same world building that my favorite books in the series have, but I LOVED Antsy. I also love the idea of a shop where lost things are found - kittens, socks, and maybe even children who have lost their faith in adults…

(Finished on my flight home.)

#serieslove2023
#bookspin

An early morning flight allowed me the last 40 minutes I needed to finish this audio book — but it had me crying in the last 10! Good thing I had some tissues in my carry on. 🥹

I loved this book and it was FANTASTIC on audio. The producers added small touches that made it feel like you were in the room with the narrator as she was telling her life story through short vignettes. I‘m going to miss Cara Romero!

#FoodandLit
#Bookspin

Starting this one tonight on audio! I love the way the book is written as a conversation and the narrator really brings it to life.

This book will cover two 2023 challenges:
#FoodandLit Dominican Republic
#ReadHarder2023 (BookRiot) Listen to an audiobook performed by a person of color of a book written by an author of color.

My final read of January is in the books! (Pun intended.)

This is a gorgeous graphic novel, made from a webcomic of the same name. The art is both bright and dark, playing off itself in interesting ways, and the story is compelling. I love Greek mythology and found myself asking “wait, is that REALLY what happened?!?” — as if any of it REALLY happened. 😂

I have stuck with my resolution to spend the day in pajamas reading! 😄

This was the perfect book to finish during a day like this - a book about joy and fun and how we (especially women) are taught to “mature” beyond the things that light us up, into the things that society expects of us. On that note, I‘m going to crank my kpop playlist, meal prep breakfast for the week, and then settle in with my next read. 💜

I desperately need a day to stay in my pajamas, drink some comforting warm beverages, and read! My goal is to make Sunday that day...so consider this an accountability post. 😄

I picked up the tagged book at the library today. I'm looking forward to sinking into it, as well as finishing up my current non-fiction read, tagged below.

My #BookSpin list for February is full of romance books that I bought last year and didn't have the headspace to actually read. (My friends opened an indie bookstore in September and I had to make sure they survived!!) 🥰

In January, I read four books (so far), three of which were on my January Book Spin list, so I'm feeling pretty excited for this next round!

This week‘s #SouperSunday recipe came from the NYT Cooking section - Chickpea Harissa Soup. Listened to the first few chapters of the tagged while cooking and eating…the perfect combo! 🔪😂

Credit to @TheBookHippie for inspiring my weekly meal prep plans! 🥣

Things I loved about this cozy mystery (the first in a new series): the relationships, the love potentials based on high school relationships (as someone who moved back home after being away for years after college, the re-emergence of high school drama spoke to me), and the setting.

Things I didn‘t love are in the comments and hidden, but they weren‘t enough to keep me from picking up the second book when it‘s published in July. 😄

I was inspired by @TheBookHippie ‘s meal planning post yesterday and, while I‘m not ready to plan out every meal, I am ready to plan out my Soup Sundays! Between these cookbooks, my NYT Cooking subscription, and Pinterest, I‘m more than set for a year of soup! 😄

Today‘s recipe is going to be Kimchi Soup from the tagged cookbook. 💜

I love a good cozy mystery with a foodie setting and this new series seems like it will deliver everything I like - interesting characters with engaging back stories, food to drool over, and a familiar-to-me setting of West LA. Some of the back stories seemed a little forced in the telling, but there‘s enough there to have me putting the next one in the series (to be published in June) on my ginormous TBR. 🧋

#BookSpin #DoubleSpin

Finished this audiobook while making the pictured dinner - this series never disappoints! Anytime Deanna Raybourn publishes a new volume, it draws me back to Audible so I can have all of them on one platform. 😂

Veronica is a marvelous hero and her relationship with Stoker is complicated and real, even if she does describe him as looking like a “disreputable pirate” more than once. I can‘t wait for book #8, coming in March!

I had a rough reading year in 2022, so we're starting out 2023 gentle. 😊

I'm looking forward to jumping back into #FoodandLit, Book Riot's #ReadHarder challenge, my #Outlander series read (maybe as part of #SeriesLove2023?), and #BookSpin...while also realizing that with a full time job, a part time job, and a new project, I probably won't be reading 20 books a month any time soon. 😂

Here's to being an active Litten once again! 🥂

Funny how I haven‘t posted in 9 months, yet my picture today looks eerily similar to my last. 😄 I haven‘t read a lot this year and I‘m not sure I‘m back in a groove yet, but Bo says hi. 🐾

My only plans for today. 🥰

For my #FoodandLit tour of Egypt, I read two books: the Lonely Planet guide and this amazing ride through an alternative Cairo where steam technology and magic coexist to make Egypt one of the world‘s great powers.
I love the characters in Clark‘s world (begun in two novellas before this full length novel), the world he has created, and the exploration of all kinds of power dynamics. I hope there will be more books in this universe!

This graphic novel was my first read of 2022 AND my first #BookSpin of the year. I loved the idea of a secret society of badass women scientists, recruited in college to do amazing things, and I really hope there is a sequel. This is going straight to the local LFL in hopes a young woman picks it up. 🥰

My February #BookSpin list!

I read 7 off my list in January, including my Book Spin, and I‘m working on my 8th today. 😄

Numbers 16-20 are all “Library Book.” 🥰

I love the Raje family and I thought that this would be my favorite of the trilogy (a fourth book comes out this year) because of the yoga and political campaign plots (two things very much in my wheelhouse) but it fell a little short of expectations. That being said, it was still excellent and I love the characters even more — a perfect snowy day read cuddled with Bo under the electric blanket. 🥰

We‘re expecting another good snow dump starting tomorrow, so my husband and I ran all our preparation errands this morning and I‘m now settling down with this stack of #WeekendReading possibilities. 😄 We have a long weekend here, so I‘ve got two full days and this evening to make a dent.

The tagged book is up first!

My #WeekendReading plans, while waiting for the snow to melt so I can run some errands tomorrow. I didn‘t go to bed until 1 am this morning, wanting to get to the halfway point!

We got a good ol‘ snowstorm today, so I‘ve settled in with a warm (decaf) coffee, a fuzzy blanket, and the first book in my #Outlander2022 read. ☕️

A friend of mine gave me books 2-5 last year, so my goal is to read one a month in 2022 to catch up on the series. I‘m only to chapter 3 and I‘m already obsessed with Gabaldon‘s writing. 🥰

I‘m going to give #BookSpin another go this year! Here‘s my list. Numbers 16-20 are all “Library Book.” 🥰

Here is my Holiday Haul! 😍

I think my last book of 2021 will be the tagged, and my first book of 2022 will be The Curie Society. (I like my rituals on New Year‘s Day, so a graphic novel will be the perfect pop of reading.)

Tomorrow will be full of traveling between my husband‘s family & mine, so today I stayed home to bake, do laundry, and read the tagged book.

I love Christina Lauren‘s stories; they do such a good job of making you root for the characters. I want to be friends with these families and spend time in Park City with them over the holidays. ❤️🎄🎅🏻

📸 is a holiday tradition — grandma‘s banana bread for tomorrow morning.

I read the first story in this collection this evening: Tessa Dare‘s “Meet Me in Mayfair.” Dare is a favorite regency romance writer and this story didn‘t disappoint…I loved the relationship that the two characters built over the course of an evening spent walking through London. The author did an excellent job building a believable connection in a short time!
#FestivePhotoChallenge Mistletoe #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers

My other book this weekend was this 🔥🔥🔥🔥Christmas romance that I downloaded on a whim. It was SO MUCH STEAMIER than I was expecting but — I‘m not mad about it.
I love a good Grumpy Bear meets Cheer Bear story line and I especially loved the fact that it was the female lead who carried the bah humbug attitude. I just wish I could see her window dressings IRL!
#WinterGames2021 #FestivePhotoChallenge Santa‘s Little Helpers

Oof! This week was a whirlwind and I didn‘t get much reading done until I canceled all my weekend plans and decorated/read instead. 😅 #NoRegrets
I loved our #TeamGameSleighers team read! I wasn‘t going to pick it up — I‘m not a huge fan of the twin swap trope as I am actually married to a twin and find it hard to believe, lol — but I got invested in all of the characters quickly AND I‘m a sucker for a reality baking show plot. ❤️
#WinterGames2021

Another short holiday story and my answers to the #WinterGames2021 Week 1 Challenge!

1. @SeaToSkyes
2. @Laughterhp
3. @sebrittainclark
4. @StayCurious
5. @peanutnine
6. @PuddleJumper
7. @PageShifter
8. @MatchlessMarie
9. @audraelizabeth
10. @DebinHawaii

This short story didn‘t really do anything for me, although I‘ve liked Rowell‘s work in the past. Maybe it‘s too early for me to want COVID in my stories…. 😬

Another short holiday story; I‘ve tagged the author‘s novel.
I read this while my husband and I drove to Columbus for a short anniversary weekend away. 😍 Walking around the shopping center last night, we admired the lights & listened to the Silver Bells on the horse drawn carriages. #FestivePhotoChallenge
I love stories set in reality television; I would read this story as a full novel so I could learn more about the characters. #WinterGames2021

My second holiday read for #WinterGames2021, with a cherry rugelach background for the #FestivePhotoChallenge prompt.

I love a “misunderstanding in childhood leads to adult rivalry leads to love” trope as much as anyone, but there were pieces of this that fell flat for me. It also had ZERO chemistry on the page between the love interests, which was disappointing. I did like the Jewish traditions and Yiddish that were sprinkled in though!

This short story isn‘t in the database, so I‘m tagging a novel by the author instead. This was short, but not necessarily sweet; it‘ll have you wanting to hug the people in your life who work to make the holidays special. 🎁
My Nespresso advent calendar and the book cover will have to do for the “Red & Green” prompt of the #FestivePhotoChallenge for #WinterGames2021 because we haven‘t decorated yet. 😂
Go #TeamGameSleighers!

Here is an early December TBR for #WinterGames pre-game points! Not pictured is the third in the Arden trilogy because I‘ll need to pick it up, probably at the library. 🌲#TeamGameSleighers

I can‘t adequately describe this book. It‘s totally bananapants (the multiverse, a long-standing impasse between good vs. evil, and paranormal creatures all factor heavily in the plot) while also being very grounded in reality (police shootings, protests, and fear of “others” also make appearances). There are no neat bows wrapped around the end, which makes sense as this is the first in a promised series. Who KNOWS where book two might take us?!

This book was really good, but the narrator made it AMAZING.

Hearing the Ojibwe words and the (not over the top) accents for each character really brought the book to life for me. I loved learning about the tribe‘s traditions and how they are currently practiced even as the community deals with a very timely issue (drug manufacturing & distribution). It felt like fiction that was VERY informed by real lives and real situations.

I was SO EXCITED that my hold for this came in on time to be my Halloween read! 👻

This one is a ghost story with “Get Out” (the movie) vibes. I love Tiffany Jackson‘s story telling and her first foray into horror did not disappoint. The story touches on addiction, anxiety, gentrification, and so much more. I suggest reading before the sun goes down if you prefer your horror “lite,” especially if you live in an older house. 🙈

The first of two spooky books I read this weekend!

I loved the characters, the setting, and the atmosphere of this book. The wrap up wasn‘t quite as satisfying as I would have liked, but not in a “left me hanging” way, just in an “oh, that‘s how we‘re ending it, huh?” way. 😂 I‘d still recommend to anyone looking for a YA book with light horror though! 🧟‍♀️

Today‘s weather has been so perfect that I‘ve hung my hammock on my porch to get some research reading done. 😄 It‘s stayed in the upper 70s just about all day.

#litsysummercamp

1. My ⛺️! I‘ve had it for over 10 years, but I‘ve only recently jumped back into the hobby.
2. Camp Dharma 🧘🏻‍♀️
3. I love the tagged graphic novel series. ❤️
4. I‘m trying to read at least one business book a week, so we‘ll say this week‘s book (tagged below), plus two more for funsies. 😄

#LitsySummerCamp

On June 20th, I launched a Burnout Recovery Coaching program, geared specifically towards folx who work in political spaces. I started reading this book the day I launched and I‘m now really looking forward to doing an Instagram story tomorrow about my own why — about how helping political people stay happy and centered is my way of contributing to ALL the political causes that I feel strongly about…I want to help the people who help people. ✌🏻

PLEASE GIVE ME ALL THE FOOD COMPETITION ROMANCES TO DEVOUR WHILE I SIT BY THE PUBLIC POOL!

This plot point seems to be everywhere recently and I am here for it. The characters were as sweet as the baked goods they made for their show and I would ABSOLUTELY read a sequel, whether it followed the same characters or just the same show. 🧁❤️🧁

I didn‘t take a photo of the book, so here‘s a shot of Bo, my dark side doggo. 😂

The book was a perfect mix of the darker side of fairy tales and Eldritch creatures, with a dash of other horror stories to round it out. There‘s a spooky house, TWO creepy grandmothers, and a town of folx who may or may not own pitchforks. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Y‘ALL. I want to wrap these characters in bubble wrap and never let anything (else) bad happen to them ever again. But I also want more books and that might be boring reading. 🤔

This book was everything I hoped it would be — a queer political thriller in space — and more. Totally worth the months long wait for my library hold.

CW in comments with spoiler tag.

I am so stoked to finally have this book in my hands!

Breaking it open while I break in the “reading pool” that I bought at Target this week. It‘s hot here in WV and so far this has been an EXCELLENT idea. 🥵

I read this all in one day, but I didn‘t really love it, so here‘s a picture from the spontaneous lake trip we took yesterday instead. 😂

I am all in for an unlikeable character or two (even if it‘s the MC), but to be quite honest, I‘m not sure why I felt invested in reading this until the end. I guess it was more about wanting to know what happened (in the past) intellectually than truly caring about what happened to the characters. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was too tired to finish the last 60 pages last night, but as soon as I woke up this morning, I was ON IT.

Nalini Singh writes AMAZING mystery thrillers. If you like unreliable narrators, Stepford neighborhoods, and cold cases, I definitely recommend this one.

I've had some major upheaval in the last few months. Nothing devastating, but enough to need a reset. As a result, I am giving myself a “summer sabbatical“ through July (and maybe August)-- no obligations, just digging into what actually brings me joy.

With this in mind, I will not be posting #IntegrateYourShelf prompts for July (apologies to anyone who was looking for them in June), but I will be giving July's #BookSpin a go! August TBD...