I read this because it‘s a Stokercon nominee for best YA. This was great. Wren is at home trying to protect her family‘s farm from the blight that has taken over the surrounding farms and has turned some of the townspeople and all the woodland creatures into blighted zombies. When she can‘t reach her parents she calls her ex, Derek to come help her. Even if it fizzled just the tiniest bit in the end there were times when I was genuinely 👇🏼

@Deblovestoread thanks for picking this book. I loved this book a lot. On my own, I would never, NEVER have picked this up. I cried reading the last 75 pages. @Jerdencon sorry this is a little late. I sent it off today and they said Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Thanks for the tag @Parvez I‘m going to skip 1&2. 3- In Clive Barker‘s Weaveworld there is an orchard of peaches, where they are the juiciest and get you drunk off of happiness. It‘s located in a world woven into a carpet woven by the magic of the 4 families in hopes of escaping genocide at the hands of an angel. Unfortunately the orchard burns down when Weaveworld gets infiltrated by Immacolata, and Shadwell and the gyre gets destroyed.

The only reason I read this is because it‘s on the short list for the best YA novel at the Stoker Awards. Thank goodness it was because hearing about a remake of Carrie, something most of us has read or at least seen the movie, I was like-ehh. But Ms. Jackson makes it new and fresh. I was elated to find myself hyped while reading it, and in the end, in love with all of it. Pick!

Liz, a Black woman, goes back to her hometown for her best friend‘s wedding. While at the wedding her goddaughter goes missing in the woods. Another little Black girl in a long line of missing Black girls. So this is a low pick. I liked the last 1/4 very much, and all the characterizations of the missing girls. But sometimes I like to have to guess at what is being inferred instead of being told, told, told. Coulda used more show. Still, a pick.

I spent a week with the people of an Oregon community and I am sad now that I finished it. The writing style, you either love it or hate it. Each paragraph becomes a list and you hate it because there‘s so much or you appreciate it because it affords you an intimacy with a character, a place, a relationship. There‘s a paragraph where a dying nun lists her memories of her best friend, a crow, and it broke me for a minute. Thanks again to👇🏼

I‘ve been having such a good day today. Started this book, one that @Jas16 (hope you had or are having a great vacation!) sent me 2 weeks ago and one that just came in the mail. Thanks whoever you are! It‘s wonderful so far. Makes me want to get a book that identifies all the native plants of my state and pay closer attention to all the small town drama around me. Lol Happy Reading, Littens!

It‘s the 1800s right after the Mexican War for Independence. Beatriz, with few options for women at the time, decides to marry Rodolfo Solorzano and live with him in his hacienda in San Ysidro. He leaves her there and while he is away at the capital, she discovers all the horrors of the hacienda. Her only hope comes in from Andres, a witch/curandero/priest. This was great, the writing smooth, and I felt for Beatriz and Andres. Pick!

@Deblovestoread there are definite problems with this, seems like a Lifetime movie of the week, book. However, there came a point when I wanted and needed to know what was going on. And for that alone I give it a pick. Thanks for picking this, Debbie. On it‘s way to you tomorrow @Jerdencon

#belatedwondrouswednesday
1. Don‘t hold stuff in and stress yourself out trying not to step on people‘s toes. Why are you stressing out when they‘re being mediocre at best. AT BEST. Also the Powerball #‘s for the first week of your 21st birthday are…….lol.
2. By car. 🎵get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure in whatever comes my way…🎵
3. My parents. And when it‘s something small, I‘m that annoying guy who asks👇🏼

This book was very addictive. Yasmen and Josiah are a divorced couple doing the best they can to coparent and manage a restaurant they started when they were young and high on their love. The young love that didn‘t know the hardships and grief coming it‘s way. This was a second chance romance that raked me over the raw emotional coals. I cried a lot and appreciated Ryan trying to destigmatize therapy for men. Thank you again @Jas16 I loved it.

Hey @Jas16 I got your books and the note. I haven‘t read Ryan before so I‘m excited. Hope you have a great vacation. Thanks!

There is something to be said for having been able to escape the hellscape that is work by luxuriating in this bleak cloak of a book. Carmen and her 2 daughters are down in Mexico for work but when they go back home to New York, Carmen doesn‘t realize 1 of her daughters has brought something back with her. Gout really sows the unfairness of the world in this tale with vengeful spirits of peoples wiped out and forgotten. This is a strong pick. 💀

The only thing that doesn‘t go with the picture is what you can‘t hear-Madonna‘s Ray of Light- 🎵And I feel…….🎵 Lol I feel like dancing. They used to play Mexican music here and now it‘s 90s hits or something. Happy Reading Littens!

If you‘re thinking Halloween is too far away and you need a quick creep me out, check out the new episode of the No Sleep Podcast. The theme of the night was carnivals and the stories didn‘t disappoint. The 2nd story is gonna stick with me for awhile. https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s19/19x08

This tale starts with a detective that gets approached by a young boy, asking him to kill his stepfather. Khaw uses her very healthy vocabulary to draw this tale of a hard boiled detective mystery surrounding a cosmic infestation. I dug this. It was 100 pages and got me through laundry in a blink of an eye. Lots of eyes. Eyes in the neck, on the arms, everywhere. 👁️👁️👁️

Lol, I love this book so much. Every queer person has these moments when we‘re younger where something happens and a bell rings that nobody but you can hear telling you that something is different for you than how other people perceive and experience something. In Maia‘s case, it was eir gender. This was deeply personal, has these jarring moments of gender dysphoria, but then has these really cute moments of humor. This book is an important pick!

Aww, I loved this. It‘s a MG GN about Aster and his magical family. Everyone in his family has magic. The boys become shapeshifters and the girls become witches. But what happens when Aster, in his heart of hearts, knows he‘s a witch? This was so smart. Especially when we find out who the villain or villains are. I was grateful to get this from Libby. Thanks to all the people posting recs for the trans readathon. 🏳️‍⚧️

This book contains 30 essays, about a 3rd from the editor herself, on the joy that comes from being trans, non-binary, and intersex. I found this very affecting and illuminating. I‘m not familiar with non-binary and intersex and some of the most fascinating essays came from them. One was about Non-B parenting, one was a trans man being voted prom-king. One was a trans woman being part of the sisterhood on a woman‘s roller derby team. All great.

I really liked this. This is a romance between a Trans woman, April French, and new to town, Daniel Martin who meet at the local Bdsm/kink club. Which at first I had no idea all the terms being thrown around but found it all very interesting, educational, and emotional. At first there was a lot of check marking between the couple and it almost became tedious until you realize the world would be better off with such communication and consent. Pick!

I‘m really liking this so far.

This was lovely and touching. After reading all the stellar comments by friends on the death of an author, university gardener May Attaway starts to evaluate her introverted life and along with a carry on named Grendel she will visit her 4 friends. There is some etymology, some mythology, and some great observations in here. If you liked the first half of The Overstory, you‘ll love this. This will be on its way to you tomorrow @Jerdencon

Lol. Shout out to Heironymous Bosch‘s Christ in Limbo for the bottom left photo.

I loved this book. It‘s a pandemic story a couple years after the coronavirus when the new PVG virus comes. We follow 3 women and the effect the PVG virus takes on their lives and the roles they‘re meant to take in a new world. A new world created by those from the darkness between the stars. This was gross, fascinating and cosmically creative while not being afraid to be politically and socially aware. I just wanted 300 more pages. Pick!

Just got to part 2 and this is cosmic, feminist, and fantastic so far!!! There is brain licking in here and Snyder‘s gift is to make the whole thing sexy with a touch of romance. Good for her!

Thank you @Michael_Gee for picking this! I loved it. A story about stories. About the love young gays envision for themselves. About first loves, and the marks that get left, and how we carry those with us and forward. This was great. Very inventive. It‘ll be in the mail later today.

Here‘s my #independentwomen collage. Mostly it‘s authors. There‘s Chitra Divakaruni, Julia Alvarez, Ana Castillo, Octavia Butler, and of course, Michelle Obama. There is no group photo of the authors from Our Women On the Ground but I think about those women a lot. In the middle is my Tía Estella who passed away this past New Year‘s Eve. She was huge in our family. She was someone you‘d definitely want around in a zombie apocalypse.

@Rissreads Thanks so much for sending me this book this X-mad. I really liked this book. We follow Josephine in this modern world where witches are real and to prove you‘re not one you get married and live the life the good creator wants you to have by providing for your man and family. Lol. Women who are not married by age 28 are required to register with the state and have someone monitor them. I appreciated what Giddings does in here. Pick!

When I was in my early 20s, I lived with my best friend at the time, Nakia. She loved this moment in a Woman‘s Worth that showed Black love that she said we never really got to see. So anytime I read moments like this I think about that video and Nakia. Just fyi these parents in this book are an interracial couple. It‘s still wonderful.

Not gonna lie, I hate read the first 80 pages of this Persephone-Hades retelling, it was a little repetitive and didn‘t delve deep into anything, until, UNTIL, we got to the sex. Which was, holy moly, fire. Which the first bout was about 20 pages. It almost reads like a bad Tyler Perry movie but the sex, which makes up a good 1/3 of this book, and a Dionysius side story that got me in the feels, make this a pick. @Bookzombie thanks for this!

Have you ever gone to Target and loaded up your basket and within an hour put everything back? Or even worse just left the cart full and walked out of the store? That dissatisfaction, disillusionment of what not knowing what you want and what you don‘t know you need is the itchy thread in all 8 of the short stories in here. The language was vibrant and the stories, very creative. I can‘t wait to see what she writes next. All the 🍊s!!!

@julieclair @Jerdencon @Deblovestoread these are my picks for Group Spring. Let me know what ya‘ll think.

Besides my LMPBC books every book I‘ve read this month has been off of Libby. I started Bad Cree one day and then the next day all 4 of the others came in and I just kept seeing 14 days count down. The theme song in my head has been The Heat is On by Glenn Fry. The pressure!!! Lol also top right guy is because The Heat Is On has a catchy sax lick like most 80‘s songs do and who can think about 80‘s sax without thinking about Lost Boys Sax Guy?👇🏼

I am not one for action movies until I‘m with friends and they put one on and on the inside I‘m pouting because it‘s not horror until the movie starts and then I‘m like- this was really good. Same thing here. 3 different situations all linked together set against the backdrop of a post apocalyptic pandemic. You‘re not getting feelings and flowers here, you‘re getting blood and guts and propulsion to read on. Pick!

Omg this book is wild. Not even halfway through and there are these acts and reveals of violence that have me doing my best Home Alone Kevin face. 😱Wild.

If anyone tells you they saw the end coming, they‘re lying. Lol. Vera gets a call from her dying mother asking her to come home. Home to the house where her father killed all those people in the basement. The house that has a shed where an “artist” is trying to commune with the feel of the house for art‘s sake. The home that might be haunted. This was good. Gailey really does some creepy stuff coupled with intense familial relationships. Pick!

With her one novel, Mariana can call herself a titan of horror. I need to stop saying authors remind me of Barker. There has to be a word for one who lays it all bare-the violence, the sexual, the sensual, the political, the dark. This is an epic story of a cult and their medium who is trying to procure a safe future for his son before he dies and they exploit the son. Argentina and it‘s politics are in every breath of this story. Sooooo good.

Lol, starting Part II of this book and this is the epigraph, which is rather fitting for this book.

This was Nightmare on Elm Street meets the Rez. McKenzie starts having nightmares having to do with the death of her sister Sabrina and is called back to her home where she grew up to figure it all out. This was great for the most part. Some fantastic stuff about families and eerie images. It‘s just the MC has this, martyr may not be the best word but it‘s the only one I can think of, martyr thing going on that almost devolves this story into 👇🏼

@Marmie7 Thanks for picking this book. Besides the last 1/5th slowing down I thought it was great. @Michael_Gee sorry it‘s late but it‘ll be in the mail to you Monday. @shortsarahrose thanks again for the bookmark. He‘s been with me through all the this year‘s reads so far. Every time I start a new book I ask myself where‘s Steve. @Centique Pew won‘t stop talking to me. In this dystopian future where this religious cult has killed billions of 👇🏼

@sprainedbrain Oh-‘Em-Gee this book!!! Lolol I have never felt so jerked around by a book. I really wish there was a 3/4ths hand gesture on our Litsy rating system. Our group picks this round have been so all over the place, wild. @Bookzombie this will be in the mail to you this morning. Can‘t wait to see what your book holds.

It‘s not like I have to read 2 LMPBC books before the 1st. This is your fault Litsy. This was a great YA/MG story about Mac and his friends who come across blackened out words in their books for an English assignment in 6th grade. This was great on showing kids the seemingly simple things you can do to make change, that they‘re not alone and that sometimes, they are the ones to teach us, and even maybe one day, save us. Good stuff!

Marci is clearly the Hermione of this trio. Lol. One of the words blacked out in the book about the Holocaust they are reading in sixth grade is the word “breasts.” She goes in to explain how the patriarchy affects women and girls but also dumbs down the expectations of men and boys on the next page. This book is really smart.

I only listened to this because Grady Hendrix references it in How to Sell a Haunted House. Oof. I shouldn‘t be crying while gaming but here we are.

I loved this book. Louise gets a call saying both her parents are dead and she has to return home, where her and her estranged brother Mark will have to get the home ready to be sold. Maybe it or something in the house doesn‘t want to be sold. Grady mixes comedy, horror, and heart in this tale about the families we have. The secrets they keep. The stuff no one wants to talk about and maybe the different versions of the truth we all have. 👇🏼

I felt like I was in a relationship with this book of 8 short stories. The last story is about a goodbye and ending of sorts while realizing there is still beauty in the world and I‘m crying because I felt like the book in the gentlest of ways also broke up with me. All of these stories had a female protagonist. Most if not all were lesbian. All were fantastic. Harlan really loves a fairytale mashup. Just so effing good. There is one about 👇🏼

This is how I feel just having read this short 28 page story. Esther and Cora are on their first vacation together as a couple and Cora is cool enough to let Esther spend 2 days at the Library of Congress looking through boxes of correspondence and works of her favorite gothic writer, Anais Casey. Harlan builds this universe by providing passages from some of Casey‘s books, letters to and from friends and family, end even passages from 👇🏼

Abby is on her way to meet friends at a horror convention when she encounters a snow storm and the big rig in front of her goes over the side of a bridge in the dark. She decides to climb down to see if she can help and things get scary. This was great. This was like a little nesting doll of horror. When you think she cannot put anything else in here she does and it‘s wonderful. Surprise after surprise in 122 pages. Pick!

@Lauranahe Thanks for putting this on my radar. Couple of things about this book. I could not eat while reading this book. It was gross. Be thankful I left off the photos of the wrist rash and decomposing zombie on the collage. That bucket of popcorn is what I wanted to throw at the movie of this book in my head. At every possible fork in the road, the wrong path was taken. Almost comically. Murders at one of the most dangerous buildings in 👇🏼