Another food + family title I loved in May! This takes place in northern Minnesota where Mariel runs the Lakeside Supper Club, the restaurant passed down through her family. Her husband, Ned, also grew up with the family restaurant, now grown into a large franchise. The legacy of the Lakeside is told in various timelines following Mariel, her mother Florence, and her grandmother Betty, while modern day Mariel and Ned deal with their own issues. ⬇️

On the theme of family and food, this was another title I loved. It‘s about the Palladino family, but the title is a little deceiving - the book is not just about Varina & has multiple POVs from the rest of the family including her mother & adult children. What I most loved about this was the focus on two older women (Varina & her mother) making the most of their lives, something that is usually more common with a younger woman protagonist. ⬇️

This has been patiently waiting on my shelf since January when I bought it for #auldlangspine …
I picked it up this morning and have spent the entire day reading, swept up in Sarah‘s (pronounced SAH-reh) story of food, family and finding her cultural identity. I‘ve stumbled across a few books recently that dealt with themes of family and food, how love is expressed through food and also culture. This was the perfect fit to continue those themes.⬇️

March #bookspinbingo update. I finished 11 titles.

Favorites were Spinning Silver, Songs in Ursa Major and MEM (tagged, also a March #roll100 pick) all 5 ⭐️ reads.

#bookspin was R‘Jaal‘s Resonance - Ruby Dixon is always a great read. I loved being back on the Ice Planet.

#doublespin was The Lightkeeper‘s Daughters which was in my stack from mom category.

Icebreaker was a #booktokmademedoit read for #nsr23 ⬇️

Another February #roll100 title finished in March.

In anticipation of watching Amazon Prime‘s Daisy Jones & the Six series when it released, I wanted something to get me in the mood without expressly rereading Daisy. This was just the ticket! Some similar themes here of rock ‘n roll, dealing with fame and music and art. There‘s also drugs and addiction, along with mental health all rolled into various ways these things influence people. ⬇️

This was a February #roll100 title I finished in March and had been languishing on my TBR shelf for a few years now.

I enjoyed Uprooted: I freakin‘ LOVED Spinning Silver! I loved the strong female characters here who refused to allow their circumstances to dictate who they can be. Novik masterfully creates such unique voices that I instantly knew which POV I was reading and those threads are slowly spun together into something very special.

April #bookspinbingo board is all ready to go. 🎉📚

#bookspin is The Audrey Hepburn Estate which is an ARC I won through the StoryGraph. Looks very interesting.

#doublespin is our #littensloveromance April read, By a Thread. @StayCurious

I have a few titles I have to get through this month for my next book reviews article so hopefully after those I‘ll have time for some of these other categories.

First book of March!

Released the end of February, this is technically book 1 of a new series: Ice Planet Clones. However, really this is a continuation of Dixon‘s other Ice Planet books and I do not think it would work very well as a standalone for readers who haven‘t first read at the very least the last few Icehome books. That being said, as a continuation this worked very well and I really loved R‘jaal‘s redemption in this book. ⬇️

This was my last catchup review from February I didn‘t get posted earlier this week.

An informative and interesting graphic novel about Cook‘s experience living with Borderline Personality Disorder. I enjoyed the alternating chapters of more graphic content then more text heavy descriptive content. I think that gave the reader more insight into her feelings and experiences than a regular graphic heavy version might have. ⬇️

February catchup review 4:
Spent some time with Ruby Dixon‘s Fireblood series this month. I‘ve been meaning to read these since reading “Veronica‘s Dragon” in the Icehome series.

Dixon does steamy and “alien man treats her better” really well. I always get caught up in the romance. I also love how her series give us more world building in each book so it‘s not a big dump of info in the first book, but gives you enough to stay interested.

February catchup review 3/
Henry writes great rom-coms! A fun read especially as we are still stuck in the midst of winter (hello 15” of snow yesterday). It felt lovely to escape with Poppy and Alex on their various vacations while outside it was cold, snowy and icy.

Poppy and Alex were a fun duo and I really liked how Henry weaves the threads of their past vacations through what was happening now to bring the story together at the end. 4⭐️

February catchup review 2:
This one was been on my shelf for a few years now and I‘m so glad I finally got around to it. It ended being one of my favorites this month and might even make it on the year end list I loved it so much.

It takes place during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and follows the Bright family as the lose loved ones, take in an orphaned baby, and learn to navigate the aftermath of the pandemic. It‘s harrowing and hopeful… ⬇️

February catchup review 1:
Came across this on KU when looking for health/wellness related books for an article I write for a local women‘s magazine.

I had never heard of this author before but apparently she is quite popular in the UK. Here she opens up about her own life, her battles with self-esteem, body consciousness, health and her toxic relationship with food. I found her writing to be full of sincerity and candor. ⬇️

February #bookspinbingo
2 bingos 🎉🎉🎉

Finished both my #bookspin (The Hurricane) and #doublespin which was a book off my stack from Mom: People We Meet on Vacation.

16 book read and 1 bail.

Favorites were As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow and As Bright As Heaven.

I have reviews to post yet for a few of these.

Chapter 1 #HeartstoneBuddyRead is off to a good start.

We meet some creatures & characters — mainly Aliza and Daired.

The hobgoblins throwing mud at Daired cracked me up! 😂

Also got a chuckle out of Moira (aka Mrs. Bennet) possibly having a little banshee blood in her ancestry.

We already have a few references to P&P sprinkled in which is a lot of fun. I think this author is already showing her own voice & I‘m excited to see where she goes.

Starting chapter 1 for the #Heartstonebuddyread and look 👀 there‘s a map!! More books should include maps. They are one of my favorite things 😍

My goal is to post more “as I read” observations with this one. I usually think of things on these buddy reads but then never actually create a post about them and then I forget what I wanted to say to begin with. Probably not every day… but shooting for every few days?! 🤷‍♀️🤞🏻😬

Another book I finished this week. I had a hard time rating this one because for the first half of the book I felt sort of blah about Ava‘s story. But the second half I enjoyed much more.

I liked Ava‘s thoughts on grammar and some of her pointed conversations. And her relationship with Edith seemed more interesting than her one with Julian… which makes sense once we got a bit more of Ava‘s backstory towards the end. Liked it, didn‘t love it. ⬇️

A gut wrenching, important, beautifully told story rich with so much humanity.

I absolutely loved this book! Finished it earlier this week and I‘m still thinking about it often while not really sure I have the words to fully express everything I felt and thought while reading. I will be buying my own copy eventually as I checked this one out from the library. And will be passing that copy to everyone. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Catching up on some reviews from this week‘s reading.

Finished this #littensloveromance read earlier and I really liked this one. Seems most of the group agrees from a few other reviews I‘ve seen posted so far. I will probably pick up the second book at some point.

Also, the light hitting those defined abs matches #graylilac #pantone2023 @Clwojick

#bookspinbingo board for February is ready & I updated my habit tracker bookmark with pages read each day. 🎉

#bookspin is The Hurricane for our #littensloveromance read this month. That works out nicely!

#doublespin is my Books from Mom category. She‘s borrowed me a wide variety so I‘ll see what I‘m in the mood for after finishing some library books I currently have.

Finished a mood read on KU this morning (tagged) which was fun & quick.

#auldlangspine wrap-up! I read 6 of the 20 books on @xicanti ‘s list. Of those, my absolute 5 ⭐️ cannot live without favorites were:
❤️The Charm Offensive
❤️Felix Ever After

I also gave 5 ⭐️‘s to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and loved it, but the other two were my favorites.

4⭐️‘s each go to the other three books: Battle Royal and All the Feels were fun romances I enjoyed getting swept up in. Underground Railroad I really liked also.
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Finished this one last night. One of my #roll100 picks and also my January #bookspin 🎉

This was sweet romance set in Italy. After losing her Grandmother, Natalie leaves everything and goes to Italy to restore a Villa just like they always talked about doing together. Pietro is an Italian architect and restorationist who is also part of the restoration council. He starts helping Natalie with her villa and they fall in love. ⬇️

#auldlangspine book 6 finished a couple days ago.

Another fun contemporary romance. I liked the witty banter between the two MCs & appreciated the way their attraction grew as they got to know one another better. No lust at first sight which was somewhat refreshing. The whole fanfic angle was so fun & had me laughing out loud a couple of times. I‘ve been meaning to read Spoiler Alert for awhile so this has me itching to pick that up soon.

Here‘s my #bookspin list for February.

Three holdover #auldlangspine titles I have checked out from the library.

Plus some additional books I need to read and review this month.

Filled in the rest with #roll100 spots and some categories for mood reading. Hoping to get to all of the titles listed by name and a couple others.

This is another one off @xicanti ‘s #auldlangspine list that‘s been on my TBR for quite awhile. And I am so, so very glad I picked it up this month. I‘m a sucker for a good coming of age/figuring out who you are story. Felix goes through a lot and I loved the way art played a big part in helping him work through it. I could not put this one down once I started and cried lots of happy tears at the end. All the love for this one! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Finished a couple books this week.

First was this fantasy novel which was delightful. I loved following Addie through her long invisible life. Schwab writes characters that I immediately feel could be my friends & who I instantly cheer for… Addie was no different. So far, I‘ve loved everything I‘ve read by this author, just hadn‘t made time for this one yet. I‘m really glad I finally picked this one up thanks to @xicanti ‘s #auldlangspine list.

#auldlangspine book 3

I appreciate Whitehead‘s way of making the reader face the violence & difficult truths without having to wallow in the darkness. I thought this was well written & enjoyed the idea of a literal Underground Railroad taking Cora from one place to the next. However, I did find it harder to stay engrossed when the sections moved from Cora‘s story to one of the minor characters. 4⭐️ Overall I think I liked The Nickel Boys better.

Introducing my long awaited Etsy shop: Fable & Charm!
Pictured are some of the printable bookmarks I have including my bookshelf set scanned from my original artwork and my series tracker bookmarks. More coming soon!

Two special coupon codes for you all to show my love.
10% off any purchase: LOVELITSY10
20% off when you buy 3 or more items: 3LOVELITSY20
*Coupon codes are good until 06-02-23 so check back often for new items
fableandcharm.etsy.com

If you like baking shows or a grumpy-sunshine trope this book is a good choice. My second title finished for #auldlangspine was another fun romance.

I loved Sylvie‘s bakery, her glittery personality, and the enchanted forest speakeasy in the basement. Dominic is her rival baker and her opposite in every way… at least on the surface. It took a bit, but eventually I was so invested in their story that I had to keep reading until the end. 4⭐️

My first book finished for #auldlangspine was a really excellent start. It‘s been on my TBR for a long time so really glad @xicanti had it on her list.

I loved this!! I was so wrapped up in Dev & Charlie‘s story I stayed up much too late reading & got up early this morning to finish it. I loved the queer representation here, the platonic relationships, the themes of reality tv & how “real” it is. If you haven‘t yet, definitely pick this one up.

Finished yesterday, started back in December.

It follows Martha in a somewhat meandering but sort of linear path as she navigates her life and marriage while dealing with her mental illness. Martha is witty and sarcastic. She has family and a husband who love her. But she knows something is wrong with her and doesn‘t know how to be better. I appreciated the way the author realistically portrayed Martha navigating her mental illness. ⬇️

I finally had a chance to run to the library today and picked up this stack of #auldlangspine titles. 🎉

I think I‘m going to start with the tagged title as it is my #doublespin this month. And it‘s one from my TBR I keep almost checking out and then passing on for a different title so I think it‘s time!

So far today has been delightfully relaxing finishing #bulletjournal spreads for 2023 reading & challenges.
Top row:
* #pantone2023 I love the idea of matching books off my shelves to the colors. I‘ll write in the titles of each book under its matching color.
* Books purchased in 2023. I‘ll write those in a numbered list as I buy them.

Bottom row:
* #serieslove2023 I‘ll add more series as I go & color in each box when that book is finished.
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#newyearnewbooks thanks for the tag @MaleficentBookDragon 🎉

Choosing favorites is hard but Sigh, Gone and The Starless Sea are my top two for the year. I read both of these last January and have thought about them repeatedly all year long.

My most anticipated 2023 new release is A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. Also, her 10th anniversary rewrite of The Bone Season is coming this summer & I cannot wait to get my hands on that!

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My 2022 reading:
📚Read 173 books which is my most EVER! 🎉
That is mostly because I found Ruby Dixon‘s Ice Planet Barbarians series which I devoured & moved on to her Icehome series which I loved even more. According to StoryGraph, I read 62 books by Dixon. Those also clearly influenced my genres (SciFi Romances) & moods (adventurous & lighthearted).

114 books I read were part of a series
7 were rereads

The tagged was a favorite from December

I never got a chance to post but I did make my #bookspin list a few days ago. The past couple of weeks have been crazy with the holidays and traveling to see family both for Christmas and New Years. I‘m really glad things can get back to normal this week.

Anyway, most of this list (1-16) is #auldlangspine titles; planning to read as many as I can this month @xicanti @monalyisha

Bookspin is a #roll100 title
Doublespin is The Charm Offensive

Finished setting up my #roll100 list yesterday just in time for @PuddleJumper ‘s post this morning. I have a double list with two titles to choose from for each number.

January‘s rolls are:
96. Mary Called Magdalene 📖 Early Riser
84. It Takes a Villa 📖 Moonglow
44. Chasing Portraits 📖 The Swans of Fifth Avenue

I think Moonglow has been on my shelf the longest so I‘m going to start there. Hoping to get to at least one title each month.

Just finished the tagged for the #nsr22 Grimdark category. Absolutely loved it!! This & Hundred Thousand Kingdoms are easily my favorites for fantasy.

Anyone have a suggestion for a quick read in the Sword & Sorcery category? I‘d love to finish the fantasy section by the end of year.

For Sci-fi, I read these 2, plus a ton of Ruby Dixon‘s sci-fi romances which don‘t really seem to fit these categories. Might finish 1 more if I get a chance🤷‍♀️

#nsr22 update

Finished the mystery category with these four titles. While I really loved all of these, Murder in G Major was an unexpected favorite.

I only managed one title in the horror categories, Bunny for a thriller which I very much enjoyed. I generally don‘t read a lot of horror books though so this was always going to be a hard one. And most of year I turned towards feel good romance titles instead.

Catching up on some #nsr22 updates!

Finished the tagged book at the end of November to complete the romance category. It was a low pick… it wasn‘t as dark as I thought it would be and while I wanted to find out how it ended, it was just sort of forgettable afterwards.

I actually read a TON of romance this year so I probably could have filled some of these categories several times over.

Favorites were Love Con & Perks of Loving a Wallflower 💖

😍 this excellent #auldlangspine list from @xicanti 🎉
I haven‘t read a single book off this list yet, but several are on my TBR. There‘s also several new to me titles that look fascinating including the tagged book.

The tagged + The Archive of Alternate Endings are the two new titles I‘m most excited about. Hoping for some Xmas book money to order them. Everything else pictured my library has. The rest on the list aren‘t available to me now. ⬇️

I‘m a sucker for urban fantasy & really enjoyed this different take on vampires. I loved how Moreno-Garcia plays with the common myths assigning different parts to different types of vampires in her world. I thought the idea that they evolved into different subspecies with various characteristics from various parts of the world was well thought out & executed. Aztecs + vampires 😍

I also enjoyed the noir feel and the various viewpoints …⬇️

I can‘t believe this was Jemisin‘s debut! I can see the early threads of her Broken Earth series in this one — the writing style and the way she weaves different characters and pieces together in a way that gives you a hint of what‘s coming while still leaving space for surprises. Loved this world and the gods and Yeine. I‘m excited to see where she takes this in book 2!

5⭐️ finished just in time to add it to my #AuldLangSpine list @monalyisha

Just got home from voting! It was super busy and in my rush to get out of the way of the line of people coming in I didn‘t get a picture there… instead you get me with my voted sticker in front of the bookshelf. 📚 Lots of people in line and they already ran out of paper ballots twice today!!

Anyways, I know I‘ve been a little absent here lately due to lots of life things going on, but I have been reading and will post some reviews soon.

#bookspinbingo board for July 🎉 2 bingos

📕📗Read my #bookspin The Duke Heist
& #doublespin Excellent Women for #pemberlittens + The Watsons
📘Also read the tagged book for #authoramonth which I really enjoyed
📚Finished the last of the Ice Planet Barbarians & Icehome series currently out💖
😍 Boyfriend Material for #littensloveromance
🌌 Chilling Effect for #roll100 & #nsr22
📚 The Guncle & The Dead Romantics: both great picks from the library

I made my #bookspin list last week but never got around to posting so here it is.

#bookspin is Uprooted for #authoramonth
#doublespin is a #roll100 book

Current read: tagged book in the Hollows series. This is my last reread before I move onto the newest books 🎉

Also looking forward to reading Go Hex Yourself for #littensloveromance and Where the Crawdads Sing which my mother-in-law gave me.

The Duke Heist is book 1 in the Wild Wynchsters series. I previously read & loved book 2 (The Perks of Loving a Wallflower) and had to go back and read the first.

Chloe Wynchester is the family leader who is invisible to everyone but her siblings. She accidentally kidnaps the Duke of Faircliffe in her quest to find their stolen painting. I loved the way these two start to really see each other as the story moves forward & they fall in love.
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Today‘s #bookmail brought to you by The Ripped Bodice

Go Hex Yourself for #littensloveromance
Nobody‘s Princess is a new release, signed by the author!
Witch Trial is 2nd in a cozy mystery series. Loved the 1st, Witch Hunt.

I added a blind date to my cart for fun. “Nothing says first date like going to rescue a dude from the Alaskan wilderness and then getting chased by evil bad guys while also trying to survive ‘cause it‘s Alaska.” Reveal ⬇️

My finished June #bookspinbingo board.

Spent more time with Ruby Dixon‘s Ice Planet Barbarians and Icehome series. So much fun!

Also grabbed the tagged book from the library. Charley Davidson 2 for #seriesread2022

#bookspin was National Velvet which was very good, but not quite as horsey as I expected. Loved the Brown family though.

Finished Jane Austen at Home for #pemberlittens, also my May #doublespin

Favorite was Lore Olympus 5💖
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I made my #bookspin list last week but forgot to post it. So here is also with with my #bookspinbingo board.

#bookspin is a romance book
#doublespin is Excellent Women for the #pemberlittens & I‘m planning to read The Watsons as well.

Left room for lots of mood reading and probably continuing the Icehome series by Ruby Dixon on KU. Also joining #littensloveromance in reading Boyfriend Material 💙 Lastly, spots for #roll100 & #authoramonth books