Visiting Detroit for a friend‘s wedding and, of course, had to pop into a bookstore! This place had so many books and very reasonably priced. I refrained from buying anything since I didn‘t have space in my purse and didn‘t want to carry anything around for the rest of the wedding day.
May #BOTM picks are really not exciting me…debating whether to skip or choose the book that sounded the most up my alley (tagged).
What is everyone else doing?
My sister @Saknicole made this amazing reel on her bookstagram (library_of_hobbits), inspired by how my relationship with my husband started as the #roommatestolovers trope. She is so talented using Canva!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrpqKpOtG47/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
pickThis was my most recent #couplebookclub read with my (now!) husband. At first I found the main character‘s teacher-speak quite annoying (I know a lot of teachers and most don‘t use the same language with their students as other adults), but the way the story unravels is quite clever and really keeps the pages turning wanting to know what would happen next. The science is mostly accessible and you really grow to care for the two MCs. 4.5 💫
so-soVery hit and miss on this collection. There were some interesting insights, but I definitely found myself skimming/skipping over essays that focused on shows I haven‘t watched or disliked. The most interesting essay was one about the contradictions of Joan Rivers as a comic and pop culture figure. I appreciated her more general insights on the changing format of television compared to extended explorations of Lost, Buffy, and Breaking Bad.
pickIt took me 2 years to finish The Priory of the Orange Tree, but I had a strict 3 week limit to listen to the audio of this from Libby that I pushed to the final moment. Like Priory, it was just too long (38 hours on audio!) and followed too many characters. Again there were romances that seemed to come out of nowhere and the dragon stuff still confused me (what are their motivations?!). Tuva and the Priory were my favorite character/setting.
so-soThis was my first Sanderson, but I worry it was a bad place to start. I didn‘t realize this was his first published novel, but I think you can really tell with the inconsistent plotting. The idea of the world is pretty interesting (magical kingdom experiences a cataclysm and becomes a place of exile for diseased people). Two of the MCs (though extremely Mary Sue-ish) are well drawn. But it‘s just way too long and the villain is pretty lame.
pickA good wrap to this trilogy. The first 3rd of the book which includes the trip to Paris and eventual reunion of two particular characters were the best part of this book. The middle 3/5 of the book was just way too long. Too many fight scenes and demon nonsense. I really couldn‘t care less about the Belial/Lilith plots; the best stuff focuses on the character relationships. Grace sucks (it has to be said).
Infernal Devices > The Last Hours
pickListened on audio - I‘ll be honest I zoned out and wasn‘t paying super close attention to the mystery aspect. I thought the main character was kind of annoying but I am interested in continuing the series since it ended with a decent twist. I rated it 3.75 stars at the time, so must have enjoyed it more than I can remember at this point. This was borrowed from Libby, and I would def recommend to #borrownotbuy.
pick@EloisaJames regency romances are always reliable with a good amount of longing slow burn (even if the timeline is a bit too quick) and sexy times. I binged over a few days as a palate cleanser, borrowed from Hoopla. I might pick up with one of the others in this series that follows a different sister at some point. Enjoyable but not super memorable.
pickI haven‘t posted a review in 2 months! Going to catch up with some short but sweet reviews throughout the weekend.
I actually listened to this one on Libby. I reread Ninth House before digging into the second. I still am kind of meh on this series (very much a #borrownotbuy for me). My main problem with the series is I don‘t care much for the main character, so it‘s really the side characters (Dawes!) that keep me wanting to continue.
Hey Litsy fam! I have been super disconnected this past month or so.
The good news is I got married on 3/23/23! The bad news is general life craziness (including a lot of wedding related responsibilities) put me in a major reading slump. I only finished 3 books in March :/ but I‘m slowly building up towards my normal reading load in April.
Will be getting more active on Litsy this week, but in the meantime enjoy this pic with @Saknicole !
I have had the worst reading slump in forever this past month! I‘ve only finished two books so far (hoping to finish at least one more tonight after work).
Hopefully I can get back on track in April. I chose the tagged for my #BOTM, since I actually won Adelaide from a Goodreads giveaway.
Joining in late for #IndependentWomen! I unfortunately didn‘t get to reading the tagged book (Feb was a terrible reading month for me).
Posting a pic from my bachelorette party a couple weeks ago - I have to say, building a strong group of female friends has been such an important part of my late 20s and really value those relationships as I‘ve matured into my 30s.
I‘ve been continuously adding to my Girl Power playlist on Spotify for years:
Back to using all my unread #BOTM books for my #BookSpinBingo.
#Bookspin: The Silence of the Girls
#DoubleSpin: The Giver of Stars
I was a bit optimistic in thinking I would finish Chain of Thorns before the end of the month, but my reading got off track in the latter half of February. So I did not finish my #BookSpin (Anne of Manhattan) or #DoubleSpin (Chain of Thorns). Hopping for better success in March!
pickThis is a hard book for me to review. As the child of a Colombian immigrant, and someone who has spent more time in Colombia traveling than anywhere else, I appreciated the realistic but loving depiction of the country. This slim story incorporates themes of immigration, family separation and reunion, and the elusive American Dream. However, as much as I was emotionally moved at times, I also felt very frustrated by some of the plot contrivances.
pickI finished both of the new issues of Saga during February. So far, these have been a huge improvement over the installments that were released in 2022, which I overall did not love.
I‘m enjoying seeing Hazel and Squire grow and mature, as well as the adult characters‘ continued struggles, and I‘m looking forward to seeing where the plot seems like it is going in this story arc.
February was not a great reading month. Between my bachelorette party, coming down with food poisoning, and a shorter than average month, it was never going to be great.
I finished 6 titles total; two of those were the new issues of Saga and one was a
I was off Litsy all weekend due to being sick with food poisoning, but gonna catch up on some scrolling through my feed today.
I was pleasantly surprised to see an email in my inbox that the March picks were up! I debated adding on something, but decided to hold off.
On Saturday, my friends (including @hclaird ) hosted a bachelorette party for me. The theme was all purple and the the background of this pic includes a piece of the decorations I kept. During the day we had some extra time in between activities, so I had time to go to the bookstore with @Saknicole and @Bummler and picked up this stack. Bottom 3 from my local used bookstore and the Penguin cloth bound was from B&N.
Cannot wait for March!!
The series adaptation of Daisy Jones comes out March 3rd, and Shadow & Bone season 2 comes out March 16th. Then March 23rd my fiancé and I are getting married!
so-soWho knew it was possible to write such a boring book about one of the most fascinating rock bands of all time creating one of the most successful albums of all time?
If you‘re interested in the technical minutiae of sound engineering/music production, then you might enjoy this. But the unnecessary tangents about Caillat‘s dating life, humblebragging about his daughter, and frankly unbelievable recall of conversations contribute to its failure.
Happy V-Day! Thankful my SO comes home from work tonight, so we‘ll get to celebrate together 💞
Recent acquisitions…
Six of Crows duology from my local used bookstore Title Wave.
Boys in the Boat and Walden (only 10 cents each!) from a local thrift store Bishops Attic.
Clockwork Angel (I hate these covers but this copy was like new!), A Tale of Two Cities, and (yes…another copy of) Walden from Goodwill.
#bookhaul
I am using this new shelf in our spare room to offload books from my overflowing main bookshelves. Decided to fill with all my #BOTM books. Only the bottom right shelf has non-BOTM books.
February #BookspinBingo card set up!
Tried to focus on romance from my #TBR for #Loveathon2023.
BookSpin: Anne of Manhattan
DoubleSpin: Chain of Thorns (currently reading!)
January reading stats via Storygraph. I finished 7 books, 3 of which I already owned. A big goal for 2023 is to actually read more books I own from my physical and kindle TBR.
Tagged book was my highest rated read (4.5 ⭐️) and Saint was second highest (4⭐️), but overall kind of a meh month.
January #BookSpinBingo card - I almost completed one bingo line, but didn‘t quite get there. I finished my #Doublespin (Upgrade), but didn‘t quite finish Infinite Country. It‘s hitting a bit too close to home for me, so I‘m gonna need to take that one slow, even though it‘s very short.
Excited to post my February card soon; since I‘m participating in #Loveathon, it‘s going to be full of romance from my #TBR!
Decided to skip this month. I was curious about Georgie, but it‘s currently available for free on Hoopla, and there weren‘t any other options I was too excited for.
Also due to a shipping error, BOTM had to send me a new January box, so I am still waiting for Age of Vice to arrive.
pickLight pick - a bit underwhelmed by this one. Crouch (like Andy Weir) has a talent for explaining complex scientific ideas in a way non-science people can understand. Unfortunately, I think this was his least successful book (following Dark Matter, which I thought was brilliant, and Recursion, also very good). The premise of upgrading human genes to create a superhuman was interesting enough but the character motivations were not conveyed as well.
panNope, this was god awful. The Cutting Edge premise described in the blurb amounts to 2 training scenes total that don‘t happen until 50% in and is quickly abandoned. Dialogue was so cringey and the sex scenes gratuitous. The epilogue betrays what little character development occurs. Only reason I didn‘t DNF is it felt wasteful since I purchased the Kindle version.
1 ⭐️ for the cute cover and .5 ⭐️ for getting me to hate read the entire thing.
👀 coming soon…
Side note, still haven‘t received my January box due to a USPS delivery error, so they had to send me a new box, which is still not set to deliver until Feb 6-8 at the earliest. 🫤
New teaser trailer AND “Regret Me” single released! I need the full soundtrack, like, right now.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/W0ywkDC9rEo
Regret Me: https://open.spotify.com/track/5a8U9oin9Xh6kM5B2EsONK?si=sYKnWz1URCCOfI9E12t4_Q
pickThe subtitle A LOVE STORY says it all. This slim novel (
My fiancé and I have been trying to do more reading rather than tv watching at night. I read about 50 pages last night. Hoping to finish this before the end of the week.
Anyone else appreciating the Storygraph app update? So many great improvements to the user interface and dark mode looks damn good!
Even though I‘m not planning on abandoning Goodreads entirely (it‘s conveniently tied to my Kindle/Amazon account and allows me to see what more of my IRL friends are reading), I‘m so glad there is a (superior, imo) alternative now!
You can add me @Kimberlone (same username) if you want to connect on Storygraph!
I made an Instagram reel featuring all of the Goodreads giveaways I‘ve won that I want to try to read in 2023!
You can view and follow my #bookstagram
@ readerlykimberly
pickLight pick. I was really intrigued by the mysterious religious cult investigation plot line, but it ended up being a total dud! While I love all the main characters, the introduction of Moriarty‘s estranged daughter didn‘t really add anything for me. The relationship development between the main characters was a strength, especially Charlotte & Lord Ingram. The ending saved the plot for me, and after reading the blurb for the next, I am excited!
Morning plans…I have a LOT of housework to do today, but I‘ve already done some errands out of the house, so I don‘t feel too bad about taking a coffee/musubi/new book break!
Oops…I went to Target yesterday and couldn‘t resist. Now I need to carefully remove those awful stickers!
I always listen at least 1.2x speed, but occasionally crank it to 1.5x. My fiancé can‘t follow anything above 1.1x, so I‘ll slow it down if we are listening to something together.
At night I often will throw on the sleep timer for 10-15 min or end of chapter and let myself doze off to narration.
My fiancé and I do a few long road trips to go camping every summer and we always pick out an audiobook to listen to. We‘ve been through several SKs.
Did anyone check their #AudibleStats? Will be posting some more highlights for me…
pickInteresting premise: main character is the titular former “poster girl” of this society‘s previous dystopian government (1984 + iPhones), living in a prison ghetto with other adults who were part of the ruling class and given the opportunity for freedom if she can right a wrong from the past.
The ending was a bit anticlimactic for me, despite several twists. Overall effect felt closer to Divergent than The Handmaid‘s Tale.
Light pick - 3.5 ⭐️
pickI had a slow start to January reading, but I finished 2 books this past weekend; Saint is my first finished book of 2023.
I really enjoyed Young‘s Fable duology, so I was excited for this prequel.
Similar magic/fantasy/pirate elements as is present in Fable. The main characters were well drawn, but there was no clear antagonist. Female MC Isolde escapes and is on the run from her mother, but that conflict is completely off page.
Better late than never…
Here‘s my #BookspinBingo card. #Bookspin is Infinite Country and #Doublespin is Upgrade.
My top 22 reads in 2022! Although my overall average rating was only 3.7, I still read a lot of amazing books this year.
Not only was Sea of Tranquility my favorite book I read in 2022, but I also think it was one of the best new releases of 2022. Other worthy 2022 fiction releases include: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Lessons in Chemistry, The Candy House, Trust, and The Diamond Eye.
#top22of22
Finally getting around to compiling my 2022 reading wrap-up. I posted a bunch of stats from Goodreads and Storygraph on Jan. 1st, but I wanted to make a cuter graphic highlighting some major stats.
Top 22 in 2022 coming next!
*This is my first attempt at making graphics in Canva for my Bookstagram! I think it turned out cute :)
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}