July #ReadingBracket2025 romance update
This was a tough month to choose, as I read a few books by favorite authors that were all wonderful. I decided to go with You Had Me at Happy Hour because I loved the romance but also appreciated the way the two MCs disabilities were handled with compassion and care

July #ReadingBracket2025 Fiction update
The #CampLitsy25 selections for July hit it out of the park. Both Woodworking and Death of the Author were five star reads for me. Woodworking made just a little more of an impression on me, so it's my July pick, but DotA will most likely grab the bonus spot for the quarter

Completed the first four bags of this Lego masterpiece while starting this lovely audiobook memoir!
#audiocrafting #litsycrafters

Phenomenal show! Such a great adaptation of the thought-provoking novel

#stageadaptation #booktostage

July #MonthlyNonfiction2025 reads @julieclair
It was interesting that both of these books discussed the covid pandemic and its affects on the main subject. Serendipitous timing

Managed three bingos on my July #bookspinbingo card. It was a slower reading month since I went on vacation but I finished some great books!
@TheAromaofBooks

My August #bookspinbingo list is ready! @TheAromaofBooks

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! It was my first day back to work after vacation which bleh, but I had a great time away - including visits to new bookstores! Here's my #bookhaul from the trip! I tried not to go overboard but found some great deals ☺️
I also received a bookshop gift card as a birthday gift so my shelves better be ready for another big stack! 😂📚

Vacation week has been busy in a great way, but I haven't had as much time for reading. However this evening we went to a sunset music series on the beach and I was able to get a few chapters read. It was a lovely, relaxing time ☺️

Happy #5JoysFriday ☺️ @DebinHawaii
1. The birds nest under our porch hatched four little fledglings and we got to watch them grow and fly off
2. Kitty cuddles, always
3. Great discussions with #camplitsy, I enjoyed the last book and am really into the current read as well
4. We drove up to Pennsylvania yesterday, visiting my home town for a week
5. Lewis, always 💖

How did I miss that the trailer is out for this adaptation?! I'm so excited, it looks great!
https://youtu.be/QXwxIk0am8c?si=0wbl8EH25uMFYQfx

#MonthlyNonfiction2025 June reads @julieclair
Just finished one nonfiction this past month. I'm still working through Monster's Bones, it was a bit slow to start but it's picking up now. Hope to finish it this week.

Just realized I never posted my #bookspin picks for July
Excited for both! @TheAromaofBooks

Spent the weekend in Asheville and visited more bookstores! Malaprops of course, and checked out Downtown Books for the first time. They had this cute bookshelf painting on one of their doors 😻
Here's my #bookhaul 😍 The top one is my hubby's and the bottom three for me. I couldn't resist the dragon edges! 🐉

Stopped at a new-to-me used bookstore today. It was super cute and had a good selection. I loved their sandwich board sign - so true 😂

#ReadingBracket2025 Nonfiction update - first half of the year!
June's pick was Dear America, which was so moving and timely. Moving forward to the next round is Born a Crime, which was just the perfect mix of informative, funny, and passionate.

#ReadingBracket2025 Romance update - first half of the year!
I had some great reads this last quarter, including the really fun and unique time loop romance Time and Time Again. But A Shore Thing is moving onto the next round. I can't get over its charm.

#ReadingBracket2025 Fiction update - first half of the year!
June's pick was The City We Became, which I really loved, but ultimately The Measure just hit me the right way and it has stuck with me. So it is moving on to the next round

My June #BookspinBingo board. I managed one bingo, but I was so close to finishing Sorry Bro, which would have gotten me 3 more! Alas, I ran out of time. Still a good reading month!
@TheAromaofBooks

#WeirdWordWednesday @CBee
This was one that I came across and had to look up just for the pronunciation 🤔 A bit of a tongue twister!

July #Roll100 picks! A good smattering of genres 😄
@PuddleJumper

Finalized my July #bookspinbingo list in the nick of time!
@TheAromaofBooks

Violet - Spirit 💜 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Spirit (n) - the quality of courage, energy, and determination or assertiveness
Here are some favorites with characters who possess great spirit!

Happy Pride everyone! I can't believe Pride Month is already ending, June flew by 😅
But don't forget to #ReadQueerAllYear 🌈❣️

Okay this just made my day! I received my Jane Austen Lego set and I just had to put it together right away! It looks so perfect on my Austen shelf ☺️

Indigo - Serenity/Harmony 💙 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
I interpreted this prompt as characters finding serenity or peace within themselves and harmony or agreement in relationships with others 🙏🏼

Happy #5JoysFriday - and what a week it's been 🫠 @DebinHawaii

1. Evening pool time with friends
2. Temporary AC at work - FINALLY 🥵
3. I snagged the Jane Austen Lego set which I'm excited about
4. We've been watching a pair of wood-pewees build and inhabit a nest on top of one of our porch pillars. We peeked yesterday and saw a few eggs! 🪺
5. I won a storygraph giveaway! 🎉

I'm not sure which litten recommended this book but thank you! This was such a great retelling from Henry Tilney's perspective. He never struck me as a regular 'suitor' in the original and this book delves into that a bit. It was fun to witness him enjoying spending time with Catherine and teasing her, turning into a true fondness under his father's encouragement. I don't know if he would have easily found love otherwise ⬇️

I haven't read a Scalzi that didn't make me cackle with laughter and this was no exception! I really love the character of the bumbling new manager who's in over his head. The cats and the dolphins were of course wonderful but I loved the mystery and spy novel of it all as well.
I'm glad #AuthorAMonth made me finally listen to this one, I've had it for a while. Plus Wil Wheaton's narration was the cherry on top! #AAM @Soubhiville

Turquoise - Magic 🩵 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
The top two series are favorites, with interesting magical systems and lovely romances at the heart. Then there are FT Luken's books, which aren't a series, but all have different magical aspects. Spell Bound is my favorite but they're all great in different ways ✨

I read this with my bookclub this month. We had our meeting last night and the discussion was so fun! We all enjoyed the story. Lenna was a bit of an annoying character at times but I liked switching between her perspective and Mr Morley's. There were some twists that were well written and one we didn't see coming! It was interesting how popular seances were in the Victorian era and how they could take advantage of the grieving families

A group of bandits takes in a nun and gets more than they bargained for... This was a fast-paced story with interesting characters. I would have liked to read more of their adventures by the end, the world had a fascinating history. And the writing was funnier than I expected
#14Books14Weeks @Liz_M #QueerBC @PuddleJumper

Green - Nature 💚 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Whether it's lush descriptions of forests or travels off the beaten path, finding meaning through observing or struggling against the dangers within 🌳

Yellow - Sunshine 💛 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
These books have summer vibes, the characters having their adventures out in the sun ☀️

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
This week has been hectic and honestly a bit miserable - the AC at my work is broken and it's been almost 90 degrees this week 🥵
Joys: 1&2 - Oakley and Ben snuggles, 3 - seeing Indiana Jones in the theater with a big ol' bucket of popcorn, 4 - birds at my feeders, 5 - a cool house to come home to each evening!!

Finished in May - I found this one enjoyable. Cassie hooks up with an older woman at a bar and discovers the next morning that it was her best friend's mom. They end up sneaking around whenever they're together, which is a surprising amount considering Cassie is at college hours away lol. The most frustrating thing was the excuses they kept giving to themselves and each other that they weren't going to do anything anymore because "it's wrong" ↩️

This was a really lovely middlegrade read. Ellen is on a class trip to Barcelona. She's Jewish, she's autistic, & she has a great dad. But she feels like her best friend is pulling away from her. When they get put on different teams for a group project, she has to learn how to make new friends & set boundaries in her relationships. There's also a new classmate who uses they pronouns, who makes Ellen think outside the binary categories shes used to

Orange - Healing 🧡 #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Life is hard sometimes. Here are some of my comfort reads in which the main characters go through some healing ❤️‍🩹

We all know I love a time loop romance, and this one was done beautifully! I liked how Jess was brought into the time loop scenario, & how they broke Phoebe out of her routines. The disability rep was absolutely amazing - I have EOE, which is not nearly as debilitating as IBS, but I related so hard to the struggle with food and the frustration of not knowing why your body is betraying you. Also the ending was so unique! I liked how things resolved

Absolutely loved this one! I've never really seen much of Trevor Noah's work but he had a crazy childhood & his storytelling ability was amazing. Born in South Africa during apartheid & growing up in the wake of it, he learned to adapt himself to fit in with different groups. He speaks a ton of languages & does great impressions of his friends and family. I was laughing so much throughout and yet I learned a lot about South African history as well

I didn't love this one, and the ending was a little vague for my tastes. But I did enjoy the Indigenous spirituality aspect of it. The story follows five generations of Metis women as they struggle with their heritage and generational trauma. There were so many POVs but the audiobook did make it easy to follow with a full cast of narrators. The writing itself was beautifully done
#roll100 @PuddleJumper

This was informative, interesting, and yes, hopeful. Bregman delves into human psychology and debunks the myths that perpetrate the idea that humans are inherently cruel. He explains that, without outside influence, people instinctively tend to be kind to one another.
#MonthlyNonfiction2025

Finished last month for #JaneAustenThenAndNow @Crinoline_Laphroaig
1. This was my second time reading. This time I understood all the Udolpho references and it really enforced just how popular that book was, to have so many allusions that you know the audience will understand without explanation.
2. Catherine, I love her growth, and Tilney of course
3. I like the scene on the way to Northanger when Tilney
(cont'd ↩️)

Red - Life ❤️ #PrideRec2025 @PuddleJumper
Here are a few favorites in which one of the main characters faces a major change that starts a new chapter in their life

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
This work week has been draining, I've mostly been holding on to joy from the past weekend. Lewis and I had a mini-getaway to Asheville. A friend was in an outdoor performance of The Book of Will, which was excellent & very fun! We wandered around old neighborhoods and the Botanical Gardens. We ate some delicious food and hung out with awesome people. With the city

This was such a thought-provoking read. What if one day everyone received a string that measured the length of your life? Would you look at it?
It was so interesting seeing how the ramifications of such an event could affect society, and a bit scary how accurately it portrayed the prejudice that would probably also arise.
Wonderful characters and a great premise, I couldn't put this one down!

Happy Pride Month!! 🌈
@PuddleJumper had the great idea to rec some books for each color of the pride flag!
Here are some favorites for Hot Pink - Sex 🩷💖
These books feature characters that start a relationship based on sex, which eventually turns into something more 😘
#PrideRec2025 #QueerBC

My June #Bookspin picks - any #roll100 book and Dear America for nonfiction
@TheAromaofBooks

May nonfiction #ReadingBracket2025
This one was a winner, no contest

May romance #ReadingBracket2025
I really enjoyed this one! Need some time and space to decide which one is moving forward to the next round though

May fiction #ReadingBracket2025
A great bookclub discussion book! And it made me cry 😭