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LitStephanie

LitStephanie

Joined June 2020

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LitStephanie
1776 | David McCullough

I so miss Litsy! I got a new phone, and Litsy doesn't meet the latest requirements to be on the Android play store. Just got on here via the web version, but this was always a phone activity for me. Sorry to everyone who has tagged me in the past couple of months. Thanks to everyone who has hosted fun readalongs, viewing parties, and holiday activities. I hope Litsy is available on Android in the future. Tagged my current NF read.

AllDebooks That is so annoying. Litsy is the only app I regularly check on my Android phone. Good to see you back x 4mo
13 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
Killing Her Softly | Beverly Barton
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Bailedbailed

Early on, I was about to throw this book if one more recent professional acquaintance or obnoxious relative touched this woman in an unwelcome intimate matter and her response was anything other than throat punch, taser, or pepper spray. It feels gross. Because the psychological thriller premise was intriguing, I tried to skip around to at least see whodunit, but the writing is so bad, I quit.

SamAnne Ugh. Gross. 7mo
10 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
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Pickpick

This installment in the Jack Reacher series goes back to 1990 to tell a story of one of his Army MP cases, a murder he is ordered to cover up. At the same time, his mother is dying, and he and his brother are finding their own ways of coping. Well written and poignant, it provides a lot of background and insight into Reacher's early life. Helps the reader understand why he is in some ways extremely capable and in others quite helpless.

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LitStephanie
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"A person lives 60 years, does all kinds of things, knows all kinds of things, feels all kinds of things, and then it's over, like it never happened at all."
"We'll always remember her."
"No. We'll remember parts of her, the parts she chose to share, the tip of the iceberg. The rest, only she knew about. Therefore the rest already doesn't exist as of now." Dialogue between 2 brothers upon their mother's death.

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LitStephanie
Old New York | Edith Wharton
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#rereadtheclassics #whartonbuddyread
Found just what I needed at our local bookstore for September's Wharton read and October's classics read. Plus picked up Ethan Frome for my mother-in-law, who was just evacuated due to a wildfire near her home. 😟🔥

Graywacke I‘m sorry about your mom. The books are beautiful 7mo
LitStephanie @Graywacke thank you. The fire passed her cabin by and she got to go back home! 7mo
15 likes2 comments
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LitStephanie
Six of Crows | Leigh Bardugo
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Pickpick

If you like the TV show Shadow and Bone but frankly could do without the Sun Summoner stuff and the Alina-Mal-Darkling angsty love triangle, you will love this book. All the cool characters from Kaz's gang are here, and they are attempting a heist to make them rich. Great character development and lots of tense action.

julesG Definitely better than Shadow and Bone. 7mo
LitStephanie @julesG I was delighted to discover that Shadow and Bone sort of mashes two books together so I have the option of just reading about this gang. 7mo
julesG My daughter and I are hoping that the next season of the show concentrates more on the Six of Crows and their heist(s) than on the Sun Summoner. 7mo
19 likes4 comments
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LitStephanie
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Pickpick

Despite the grumpy, rude, bitter protagonist, this is a suspenseful and interesting crime thriller. I plan to read more of this series.

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LitStephanie
Ninth House | Leigh Bardugo
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Pickpick

It took me awhile to get into this, mostly because I did not like the tactic of starting it post-disaster and then going back in time to explain everything. But I kept reading, and the writing was much better about 1/5 in. It's a reimagined modern day Yale where magic and ghosts exist, and magic societies of rich, often ruthless, students and alumni hold enormous power. The Ninth House tries to keep them from abusing it. Dark, gory, scary fantasy.

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LitStephanie
Untitled | Untitled
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Bailedbailed

Not in Litsy yet. I liked another thriller from Christine Feehan. This didn't thrill me. A nurse is playing at a high stakes televised poker match while trying to decide if she should jump into a relationship with a guy she really likes but who has a dangerous job with lots of travel. I. Don't. Care. The scenes of poker games, with details of the hands, are interminable. If you really like analyzing poker, you might like it.

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LitStephanie
Hot Blooded | Lisa Jackson
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Bailedbailed

Usually I can make it to the end of a mediocre crime thriller with judicious skimming, but I just couldn't with this sophomoric murder mystery. Between cheesy, clicheic lines, poor editing of the ebook so you can't tell when a new speaker has started, and a main character who is annoyingly gullible, careless with her safety, and a bad judge of character despite being described as a very intelligent psychologist, I gave up.

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LitStephanie
Wicked Appetite | Janet Evanovich
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Pickpick

Like a silly, funny version of the 80s TV show Friday the 13th, with a guileless pastry chef who can sense magic objects helping a handsome magic detective guy, Diesel, find charms that curse people with various types of gluttony. They face off against Diesel's rogue cousin and his delusional Ren Faire sidekick, Sir Hatchelot. 😆 I highly recommend the audio version because the reader is spot on and hilarious with the voices and accents.

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LitStephanie
Wicked Appetite | Janet Evanovich
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I listened to half of this silly, funny fantasy book while doing housework yesterday, and I am here to warn you that it will make you want baked goods. 😆 The main character is a pastry chef, and she is helping track down some cursed objects that cause gluttony. Low fat vegan microwave mug cake to the rescue!

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LitStephanie
Snow: A Novel | John Banville
Pickpick

Soft pick. A parish priest is murdered in 1957 Ireland and the Catholic church naturally wants to cover it up. I don't think it's a spoiler alert to say he was a child rapist because it is pretty obvious early on, plus, well, many of them are. The detective, a bit of an outcast determined to solve the crime, is likeable, and the politics are kind of interesting, but I didn't find the story terribly memorable.

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LitStephanie
Bailedbailed

I made it to 25% and there is still no hint of what the mystery is. A mediocre travel journalist with a messy personal life has her apartment robbed while she is in it, which gives her panic attacks. She is then stuck on the first voyage of a fancy cruise ship for work, full of other desperate journalists and rich boring people. The repartee is not witty. Just not enough here to hold my interest.

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LitStephanie

"They did that sort of manly half hug thing, where you're too metrosexual for a handshake and not hip enough for a fist bump." I am not sure about this book, but I like the author's funny commentary.

Roary47 I felt the same way reading this book. 8mo
LitStephanie @Roary47 I just bailed. Did you finish it? 8mo
Roary47 @LitStephanie Yes, it was pretty expected. I didn‘t hate it and I think it got better, but I know a lot of people were very disappointed. 8mo
10 likes3 comments
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LitStephanie
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Panpan

Highly romanticized version of ranch life set in CO. Lots of casual sexism--consensual sex initiated by a woman is "taking her virtue," blatant assumption that single working mom=bad mom, and the dangerous idea that men show they are really in love by being jealous and possessive. Martin doesn't say the murder victims deserved to be beaten and strangled to death for being cheating sluts, but clearly implies their choices lead to their murders. ?

LitStephanie In fact, several characters specifically state the female murder victims didn't deserve to be murdered, which makes a reader wonder why you would even need to say that if you weren't kind of thinking it. I managed to finish because the murder mystery itself is just intriguing enough, but the writing isn't great, and I can't recommend. 10mo
paper.reveries Oh yuuuuck 🤮🤮🤮 10mo
LitStephanie @paper.reveries before I posted this review, I seriously flipped to the copyright page, wondering if I was being too hard on the book. Even though there are cell phones, I thought maybe it was at least in the early days of cell phones, but nope! Copyright 2021. 10mo
12 likes3 comments
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LitStephanie
Book of Night | Holly Black
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Pickpick

I usually despise conartist characters, but Charlie was compelled to become one and then manipulated into also becoming a thief as a child, plus she is a very relatable badass, so she gets a pass. This fantasy envisions an Earth where magic exists and people's shadows can become sentient. Charlie is trying to live the straight life as a bartender, but gets sucked back into her past life when a job to bring home a miscreant to his GF goes bad.

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LitStephanie
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"I discovered that my house actually had its site, in such a withdrawn, but forever new and unprofaned, part of the universe." I visited the tiny cabin and property (more remote than Thoreau's, actually) I once lived in last weekend, and this passage resonated with me. @AllDebooks #naturalitsy #rereadtheclassics

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LitStephanie
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AllDebooks Lol, he doesn't mince his words!! 'ambitious booby' 🤣 10mo
LitStephanie @AllDebooks he sure doesn't! Earlier, he explained how elderly people have no knowledge to offer. 😆 10mo
14 likes1 stack add2 comments
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LitStephanie
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I am enjoying the discussion of how the more luxurious the house, the more burdensome it is. People toil through a lifetime deep in debt to have a nice house, and nowadays a lot of other things, they don't really need. And the maintenance, represented by his tossing out a couple of pieces of lime because they required dusting, sucks more of our lives than it is worth. #rereadtheclassics #naturalitsy @AllDebooks

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LitStephanie
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I haven't been on here much because someone I loved died and it's hard to do all the things. But here is one of my favorite poems, which I am really feeling today. It's not in Facts about the Moon. I don't know if it is in any of her books. But it is brilliant in its brevity and universal human truth.

TheBookHippie ♥️ 10mo
Bklover I am so sorry you lost someone special to you. ❤️❤️ 10mo
Cuilin Sorry for your loss ❤️‍🩹 10mo
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SamAnne Beautiful. Let's do another beer on a patio soon. 10mo
LitStephanie @SamAnne I love that idea! 10mo
Reggie I‘m sorry. Lovely poem. 10mo
LitStephanie @Reggie thank you. It is such a beautiful poem, I wanted to spread it. 10mo
18 likes8 comments
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LitStephanie
A Gambling Man | David Baldacci
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Pickpick

Second novel in the Archer series. Good murder mystery set in a CA coastal town with some serious corruption problems. Archer goes to work for an experienced PI, travelling with a feisty, smart showgirl friend he meets on the way. I love how this series describes everyday life in late 1940s USA. It makes me realize what an embarrassment of riches most of us have in the U.S. compared to what our grandparents had.

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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Chapter 33. Ayesha opts for a depressing, existential Shakespeare quote at the mosque's youth summit. 🤦 Khalid chases her to her car and congratulates her on her fortunate engagement to him, the rich guy who will help her be more religious and quit her job to write amateur poems. Wow. Way to read your audiences, people! #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Chapter 35. 🤣🤣🤣 Is Idris anyone else's favorite character? He steals the scene every time he walks onstage. I have no doubt he will be the head of a giant tech company someday. #pemberlittens

LitStephanie Also, he is 17 and has how own business cards. Love this kid's confidence. 11mo
13 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Chapter 30. I love how the best Farzana can do toward a smile is an upturned grimace. She is so mean. Tarek is clearly up to no good, but I sympathize with his opinion of Farzana. #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
Naked in Death. J.D. Robb | Robb, J D Robb
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Pickpick

This is a good murder mystery that keeps you guessing, with a strong female protagonist. A detective investigates a series of murders of prostitutes. As she tries to work through a mess of politics to solve the case, she becomes involved with one of the main suspects, which is problematic for several reasons. Set slightly in the future but nothing too crazy except cars that can fly to get around traffic.

robinb Are you just starting with this series? If so, you‘ve got a lot to look forward to with Eve and Roarke if you stick with it. 😊 11mo
LitStephanie @robinb yes. I was just looking for a new mystery/thriller and happened upon it. Glad to hear the next books are good, too! 11mo
robinb There are currently 67 (I think). It‘s one of my favorites. Hope you‘ll continue on. 😊 11mo
Liatrek Hands down one of my favorite series❤️ I‘ve loved every book in the series and Eve and Roarke all time best fictional couple🙂 hope you enjoy 11mo
LitStephanie @Liatrek good to know! I just placed a hold for book 2. I can't believe there are 67! 11mo
17 likes5 comments
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LitStephanie
Upgrade: A Novel | Blake Crouch
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Pickpick

This book is a somewhat realistic thriller about what might happen in the not-too-distant future when gene-hacking tools are a few levels more advanced. Agent Ramsay works for a federal agency that goes after unauthorized genetic work and is infected with a massive gene upgrade. He has to run to avoid becoming a science experiment and try to stop the potentially catastrophic genetic virus developed by his own family before it's unleashed.

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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Ch 14. Jalaluddin shows us the flip side of having a traditional extended family when Ayesha confronts Hafsa. It is wonderful that Hafsa's dad gave Ayesha's mom a house and gives his children everything they could want, but now we've got a 27 year old woman covering for her irresponsible teen cousin and afraid to stop because her generous aunt and uncle might not see her as saintly anymore if they find out. And Hafsa is an entitled little sh!t.

19 likes2 comments
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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Chapter 13. Why not? How about because it is hard to imagine a more uncomfortable feeling than heart-pounding, electric (sexual, let's call it what it is) attraction at first sight while your mom and teenage brother eagerly watch? I guess that is sort of what happened with Jane and her nosy mom when Bingley first met her, but then they danced together away from prying, immediate vicinity supervision. #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
Ayesha at Last | Uzma Jalaluddin
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Chapters 11-12. So Tarek straight up tells the small mosque that they are bumping their already scheduled conference because a bigger fish came along. Anyone else started to think this guy is a little slimy and a bit too shiny? Also, Ayesha is an idiot to cover for Hafsa again! #pemberlittens

IndoorDame Yes! That line totally made me nervous that they were going to turn out to be one of those fake fronts that uses fundraisers as a scam to raise money for themselves claiming their operations costs exceed what was raised… really hoping my instincts are wrong here 🤞🏼😬 11mo
LitStephanie @IndoorDame oh yeah, that could totally be it. That Imam seems clueless about technology so probably hasn't even checked their credentials and reputation. 11mo
IndoorDame @LitStephanie Clueless about technology in the best way though! “The bird and the book” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 11mo
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LitStephanie @IndoorDame oh that was great. 11mo
Clare-Dragonfly @IndoorDame I am 💯 with you, unfortunately! Ayesha is smart, maybe she‘ll work it out? 11mo
julieclair That Imam is so endearing! I do hope the mosque is saved from bankruptcy. But like y‘all, I fear that Tarek is a bit too slimy. I don‘t trust him. And Ayesha covering for Hafsa… what is she thinking? Bad, bad decision. 11mo
StayCurious I‘m so worried about how this will all turn out! 11mo
Bluebird Totally agree! Tarek is very shady. I‘m hoping Ayesha and Khalid can save the day. And why is the mosque in such danger of closing. I thought Hafsa‘s family was ultra rich and funding it. I‘m suspecting they are in financial trouble..overspending to look good for the neighbors and it‘s gone too far. 11mo
LitStephanie @Bluebird that is a good question. Although I think Hafsa's dad said something about reducing his support, but they should not have been so reliant on one family's funding anyway. 11mo
Bluebird @LitStephanie quite true. It does seem strange that the Imam is keeping the financial difficulties quiet. You‘d think they‘d be a bit more transparent and ask all members to donate as they are able. 11mo
17 likes10 comments
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LitStephanie
November 9: A Novel | Colleen Hoover
Bailedbailed

The premise sounds interesting. Guy meets girl, she moves, they keep in contact, and he rips off her traumatic story to write a novel. But the story is about a meet-cute that goes on forever, and I just can't wait that long for the more sinister stuff.

Reggie Last year I was reading a lot of horror. When I finally read something else I thought to myself- you know what would make this better? A monster or a murder. Lol 11mo
LitStephanie @Reggie hahaha! 11mo
14 likes2 comments
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LitStephanie
Mehso-so

Oops, just realized I never posted a review after the #pemberlittens read. The prose is clever and often subtly funny, but I really had to slog through the first 2/3 of this book before I cared about ANYBODY, so it doesn't get a pick. Plus the misogyny, and I don't mean the times, I mean how Eliot describes women. The character development of Dori is my favorite part even though I despised her at first.

SamAnne I‘m still slogging through this one…. 11mo
LitStephanie @SamAnne good luck! It actually gets good toward the end, although probably not good enough to be worth the slog. 11mo
SamAnne @litstephanie yeah… and I have so many good books lined up to read right now! 11mo
See All 8 Comments
LitStephanie @SamAnne how much, percentage-wise, do you have left for Middlemarch? 11mo
SamAnne @LitStephanie a little more than a third…. 11mo
LitStephanie @SamAnne oh just quit! 🤣 11mo
SamAnne @LitStephanie @Rubyslipperreads hah! Yes….maybe DNF. But I have enjoyed the humor. But not as much as I‘m enjoying the biting humor in Birman Wood! 11mo
17 likes8 comments
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LitStephanie
Pretty Girls: A Novel | Karin Slaughter
Bailedbailed

I just couldn't get into this one. A woman's husband is murdered and she discovers he was involved with videos of women being tortured and murdered. She and her sister, the other main character, are not very likeable, and the scenes seem too drawn out and slow. It is also pretty predictable (I checked at over halfway to confirm) Maybe if I were reading it instead of listening, I could have skimmed some and made it farther, but I bailed at 20%.

SamAnne Same with this one. 12mo
10 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
The 6:20 Man: A Thriller | David Baldacci
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Pickpick

Finished in the nick of time! Suspenseful murder mystery. MC is an Army vet trying to get into finance in NYC. He gets roped into helping with an undercover investigation of the firm he works for, and people he knows keep getting murdered. I was totally wrong about who the killer was! Good voice artists.

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LitStephanie
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Chapter 59. I am really getting tired of Eliot's snide sexist remarks about women. I get that Rosamond is kind of a shallow jerk who gets all her self-worth from the admiration of men, but here, as elsewhere, she makes sweeping statements about women's inferior minds. Anyone else noticing this? Am I overreacting? #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
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Chapter 56. Caleb Garth never learns. Now he is going to hire the lazy privileged guy who already defaulted on debt guaranteed by Caleb to make a man of him. Anyone else think this sounds like a very bad business idea? #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
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Dorothea's husband wakes her in the middle of the night . . .to read him a book. Like a CHILD. I hate all the husbands in this book. #pemberlittens

Bookwormjillk The worst 13mo
LitStephanie @Bookwormjillk the wives aren't that much better. 😆 13mo
14 likes2 comments
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LitStephanie
Tell No One | Harlan Coben
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I am new to downloading audio books to my phone as I always thought it sounded like a headache, but now that I am on board am loving how you can listen while cooking, in this case vegan omelette and waffle with veg bacon. I am noticing a pattern to a lot of Coben's stories--woman does dumb illegal thing, doesn't tell her partner, and either disappears to later reappear and cause problems or stays but the secret later causes problems.

LitStephanie Here is the easy vegan omelette recipe in case anyone wants it. https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/09/vegan-omelette-for-one.html 13mo
13 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
Tell Me Lies: A Novel | Carola Lovering
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Mehso-so

About 1/3 boring, 1/3 frustrating, and 1/3 funny. I only got through it because I could do other things while listening, and the male reader is very good at putting the right amount of contempt and arrogance into Stephen's voice. Privileged Lucy goes off to college and in short order becomes anorexic and hopelessly obsessed with Stephen, a cheesy d'bag that some women find charming. Stephen has minimal, atypical attachments and emotions to the ⬇️

LitStephanie point of possible sociopathy. The book is set up in he-said, she-said alternating narrator style. Many of the Stephen chapters are hilarious because his thoughts about everything are so scathing. The book gets bogged down by the minutiae of boring teen/college dating melodrama. The author keeps telling us how smart Lucy and Stephen are but never shows it. There isn't one intellectual conversation in the book. Lucy is so pathetic I almost hate her. 13mo
11 likes1 comment
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LitStephanie
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Chapter 36. I am so looking forward to this idiot Lydgate having his silly, sexist illusions of his perfect wife shattered. The idea of Rosamond as existing only to support and please him--yuck. 🤮 #pemberlittens

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LitStephanie
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Chapter 34. I still don't like any of the characters, but at least Mrs. Cadwallader provides a little comic relief. #pemberlittens

kspenmoll Totally! 13mo
TheBookHippie 😝👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🤣💯 13mo
17 likes2 comments
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LitStephanie
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First glass of wine after Dry January, enjoying this wonderful 1990s movie version of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. So many good lines but the above is one of my favorites.

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LitStephanie
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Chapter 16. So Lydgate, new doctor in town, is kindly invited to a dinner party by the Vincys, and he decides to insult another guest, Chichely, by stating that lawyer coroners are incompetent at their jobs, then doubles down and insults post-morten medical examiners, too? Does anyone else think that is a little rude and not the best way to ingratiate yourself in a new town, LOL?

19 likes1 comment
review
LitStephanie
Don't Let Go | Harlan Coben
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Pickpick

Listened on audio on a road trip, and it kept me alert! Police officer Nap Dumas never got over the mysterious death of his twin brother and the disappearance of his high school girlfriend. He begins investigating 15 years later when a crime scene with his old girlfriend's prints pops up. It's a good mystery, although I wasn't crazy about how they had the voice actor do intense scenes.

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LitStephanie
The Bodyguard: A Novel | Katherine Center
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Pickpick

I read this in two days while recovering from a cold on the couch. It is a cute rom-com with lots of laughs about a private security agent who heads up a job protecting a movie star while he is in town. Highly recommend for a quick read.

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LitStephanie
The Bodyguard: A Novel | Katherine Center
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Just started this book, but it is already making me laugh out loud. Forget "It's not you, it's me." This girl's boyfriend just straight up tells her the problem is her: she is a workaholic, not fun, and a bad kisser. ?

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LitStephanie
Her Deadly Secrets | Laura Griffin
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Pickpick

I read this entire book and still have no idea why it is called Her Deadly Secrets. It's a pretty good murder mystery, and the main characters, a PI and the private security guy who is hired to protect her after her colleague is murdered while they are working on a case, are likeable.

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LitStephanie
In the Woods | Tana French
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Pickpick

Best book I have read all year. Haunting mystery about detectives investigating the murder of a young girl, which may or may not be related to the disappearance of two children in the same area 20 years ago. This novel is elevated from genre fiction by fresh, arresting imagery and descriptions and depth of the characters. It follows the development, and later gut wrenching dissolution, of the friendship between detectives Rob and Cassie. ⬇️

LitStephanie Truly deep friendships are so precious, and you find yourself desperately hoping they will reconcile even as it becomes increasingly clear that Rob is kind of an emotionally stunted asshole who probably doesn't deserve to have a best friend. I also like how the book shows the gamut of emotions and personal interactions as the law enforcement team works the case. I think this one will leave me thinking a long time. 1y
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LitStephanie
The Sanatorium | Sarah Pearse
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#jolabokaflodswap @MaleficentBookDragon @julieclair
Wow! I am so excited to read this scary sounding book and binge on chocolate! Might have to share with my coworkers. Thank you, Julie! The wrapping paper was beautiful, too.

julieclair Yay! Hope you enjoy the book, and I love that you‘re considering sharing the chocolate. 😀💚♥️💚 1y
LitStephanie @julieclair I may have spoken too soon. I work from home until after the first of the year, and I don't know if this chocolate is going to last until I go back to the office! 1y
julieclair LOL! What your co-workers don‘t know won‘t hurt them. 😎😘 1y
17 likes3 comments
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LitStephanie
In the Woods | Tana French
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This author has such a way with words. I love the description of a little kid who has an adult face as "bansai adult" with a voice like a heavy smoker. So funny! Loving the descriptive language in this book.

SamAnne Loved this one too. 1y
14 likes1 stack add1 comment