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This series has been such a joy! I do think the first book is the best, but I am so sad that the story is over. I could have followed Emily, Wendell, and, of course, Shadow all over Faerie forever.
The audiobook narrator, Ell Potter, is also so excellent that I‘m planning to look up other books she‘s narrated just to keep listening to her.
Highly recommend this series!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“‘I am a Christian,‘ I concluded, ‘because the story of Jesus is still the story I‘m willing to risk being wrong about.‘”
This is a reread, and while it didn‘t feel as profound as the first time I read it, I still found so much to sit with & think through here. Her section about Paul I found especially thought provoking.
Rachel Held Evans no longer being with us & giving her voice and Christ-centered perspective feels so unfair.

⭐️⭐️💫
I don‘t know what to say about this book. I was really looking forward to it, and so many of the reviews are beyond glowing, but it ended up being a big letdown for me.
I never had any real connection to either main character, the plot and relationship felt disjointed, and while I liked the vulnerability portrayed, it did seem like every vulnerable moment was just a vehicle to get to another spicy scene, and that got real old.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Really lovely prequel novella about some of Langston‘s side characters in her other works. As nearly always with novellas, I wish it had been longer, but she is still able to get you to fall in love with these characters quickly, and I loved seeing where Raymond & Rosalie began.
Continuing to be a big Erin Langston fan!

⭐️⭐️
I would like to start by saying that I hate this title *so* very much 😂 I wish I had judged the book by its title because this was not the best.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this did not hit the same. The middle was so long & boring, and that was the whole time the two main characters were together, so that wasn‘t great.
I will read the next book in the series to see Simon‘s story, but my expectations are tempered.

⭐️⭐️⭐️Beautifully written, but rough content. I like when books are told from multiple points of view, & Hart does an amazing job connecting the Weyward women across different timelines.I thought all three audiobook narrators also did a great job, and I wish that these same stories could‘ve been told just with less violence against all the women in these stories. Genre-wise this is more literary fiction than fantasy,& that wasn‘t what I expected.

November #Bookspin!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This book was just good to read.
It is light and happy, all the characters are immensely likeable, and there is so much emotional introspection from all five of the "main" people, it's just enjoyable.
There is also a focus on male friendship and found family that is rarely shown, and of true family loving each other while fundamentally, though not purposely, misunderstanding each other.
If you need a fun, happy break, I recommend this!

⭐️⭐️
I didn‘t love this one. If it hadn‘t been a book club pick, I don‘t know if I would have finished it.
Two pros is that it‘s a short read & the audiobook narrator is excellent.
A couple cons are it‘s a (loose) Jane Eyre retelling and I don‘t love Jane Eyre, and the author doesn‘t use quotation marks. So I‘m also glad I mostly listened to it for that reason, too.

“Space is cruel to the human body.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

For quite a bit of this book, I liked it more than the first, but then I got about 3/4 of the way through & I was just annoyed & it felt like it was going so slowly. But by the end, I was sad that my time with these characters was over!
So if nothing else, Broadbent certainly made a world that I felt very present in. And even though I felt so weird about this book by the end, I do think I would be interested in reading the others in this world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After loving The Spellshop earlier this year, I was looking forward to this next cozy fantasy by Durst, and while I don't think it's at Spellshop level, it was still very enjoyable.
It took me a little longer to get into this one & connect with the characters, but once I did, I liked being with them. There is a lot in here about second chances and feeling comfortable with who's around you.
The setting Durst created was truly magical.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not my favorite in the Thursday Murder Series, which is a bummer because the others really all have felt like favorites.
Osman has his excellent prose, the characters have their funny mannerisms & ways of looking at the world, and the mystery is twisty enough to keep me guessing.
So, I‘m not sure what didn‘t hit that same place for me as past books. One I‘d still recommend, but just not my favorite from a really excellent series.

Sharon McMahon always says, “listening to understand doesn‘t mean that you agree.”
And this book, which she picked for her current book club, has been such a good exercise in that for me. I learned a lot.
Do I agree with her decisions? Usually, no. But now I do understand them better.
More than anything, the fact that Justice Barrett was a law professor is so clear. The way she explained terms and gives examples in real cases is so helpful.

Shinn‘s Twelve Houses series is one of my very favorite fantasy series, and there has always been an information gap - what happened to Kirra & Donnal on Dorrin Island? And now, so many years later, we finally know! I was so excited to hear about this book coming out.
Most of my enjoyment of this novella came from just being back with characters & in a world I know so well. I do wish it had been longer & given them more space to work things out.

I would not have picked it up if it weren‘t for my book club,but I loved it. I thought it was so well crafted! I mostly listened to the audiobook (excellently narrated by Saskia Maarleveld), & even though the story jumps narrators and timelines, I never had an issue keeping track of where we were. There were definitely some gut wrenching moments, so I don‘t think I would give this a blanket recommendation to everyone, but it was very, very good.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is my second Erin Langston book in pretty quick succession, and I am thrilled to have a new historical romance author to be obsessed with.
I loved the interactions with the children, especially - even if not really true to how 4 & 2 year olds speak, I loved the emotion of it. And maybe they did talk like that in 1819. How would I know?
Definitely planning to read all her work.
Such a good find!

October #BookSpin!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was aggressively hilarious and perhaps the best example of dry, rude British humor I‘ve ever read.
Knightley had me looking up vocab words, laughing often, and slowly falling in love with these characters.
For something that started as Hermione/Draco fanfic, this still felt like a realized world, unique magic system, and fully new characters.
I cannot wait for book 2 😍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a fun, quick book, and I enjoyed the Hunger Games-esque competition - the addition of them living in the house together was a fun touch, though I did expect the tension of that to last longer.
The last half I read very quickly, and I‘m glad the second book is out, so I don‘t have to wait too long to see what happens next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My hopes were very high for this book, and it absolutely did not disappoint.
Magical, fantastical, romantic, and so cozy, I loved every minute. I bought the hardcopy, but I exclusively listened to the audiobook because MacLaren is one of my favorite readers.
This book has a lot to say about what makes us valuable or worthy and how important our found families are, and it was such a pocket of peace. I highly recommend it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I think fiction set during The Troubles is fascinating, &I learned a lot in this book, but it is a hard one to rate and review - it never really takes its foot off the gas. By that I don‘t mean that it‘s plot heavy, because it really isn‘t, but there just is not a lot of rest or relief for our characters. You do get a bittersweet, mildly hopeful ending, so you can picture Maeve building a wonderful life, but it was pretty bleak overall.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was exactly what I was looking for right now.
Full up of so much yearning & tension, most memorably as they were typesetting (not a euphemism), I was swooning at my desk.
Some spice, a supportive family, women pushing beyond their small boxes…what more could you need?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I didn‘t love this as much as the first book but it was still a joy to be back with Emily & Wendell as they traipsed around Europe & Faerie.
The audiobook again was a highlight as well as some cameos from book 1 (I‘m looking at you, Poe). Looking forward to book 3!

⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wanted to quit this book throughout the whole first half - and if I wasn‘t reading it with other people, I would have - but it definitely got better at the 50% mark & then I really enjoyed it until the end.
So, I don‘t know, I guess 3 stars 😅🤷🏻‍♀️

September #BookSpin!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Well, it took me 19 days, but I loved every minute! This was such an incredible continuation of the series, and it set us up for what is going to have to be a crazy culmination in book 5.
There were genuine laughs and genuine tears. Always so glad to be in the Cosmere.

This is a collection of essays, sermons, & talks that Rohr gave in 1990.
My book group picked this before we really understood what it was, so part of this is just on unmet expectations and not as much what is talked about. I generally agree with Rohr's ideas and genuinely enjoyed the exegetical sermon moments we got, but I wish there had been more of that & more cohesion overall.
Also the quote on the front is completely misleading 👎

⭐️⭐️⭐️ In a weird-for-me twist, the romance was actually my least favorite part of this. I thought Jensen did a great job creating the setting, bringing in & fleshing out the Norse gods & culture, and giving readers an easy way to understand all the people & connections.
The romance felt very fast, which doesn‘t usually bother me, and forced, so I didn‘t connect with it as much.
I‘m glad I finally read this & I‘ll definitely read book two!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I don‘t know why it took me so long to read this book,so I am very glad that the library chose it for our book club, because I absolutely loved it! It is kind of slow moving, but it always had my attention. A lot of that has to do with the writing, but also the audiobook narrator was fantastic.So, I don‘t know why it took me so long to read it, but I‘m glad that it did because the next two are already out, and I can‘t wait to read them!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Like almost always with a Beth O‘Leary book this ended up being different from what I anticipated.
And, like almost always with a Beth O‘Leary book, I loved it.
She is excellent at setting up crazy situations that then lead to you learning about & loving the characters and seeing them as real people.

August #BookSpin List!

@TheAromaofBooks

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This was pretty middle of the road for me: I‘m not mad I read it, but I wouldn‘t read it again.
I chose this wholly for the beautiful cover - and I do feel like that captures the feel of the book, but it felt a little disjointed throughout, especially the middle section.
A (mostly) cozy read, but not my favorite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the acknowledgments, Durst says she wanted to write a book that felt like drinking hot chocolate and then says, “We‘ve all been through a lot over the past few years. This book is my gift to anyone who wants to escape and sink into a world filled with kindness and enchantment.”
And those two ideas really show exactly what she‘s done here. I loved every cozy page of this and am looking forward to reading more from this author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I saw so many reviews describe this book as hard to get into or having so much info dumping about the subject matter and the time period, but I did not experience any of that!
I was drawn in right from the start, and I enjoyed the whole thing. I really liked the two main characters plus all the side characters that are pulled into Matti & Luca‘s story, and I think this could be my favorite book by Marske so far.

“Matti laid his fingers on the polished edge of the bar‘s wooden surface and forced himself to stop counting sheep.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Overall, this was good work, and if the time period or subject matter is interesting to you, then I think this is a great one to read.
There was not a lot of information about specific patients because so much from the facility was either destroyed or never really kept in the first place, so this was mostly a look at the facility itself and the people who worked there, some of whom are still alive and who Hylton was able to interview herself.

“Waking was floating to the surface of a soft world of water, not what Kai had expected.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved this duology. I am such a fan of Rebecca Ross‘s writing, and I thought it was the best use of multiple POVs that I‘ve read in a while.
I think I‘ll remember the characters and the magic for a while, but I may remember the isle forever.
Really just lovely books.

⭐️⭐️
I wanted to love this one. And honestly for the first half(ish) I really did - I laughed out loud so much, I loved all the humorist & travelogue pieces, and he is an excellent audiobook narrator.
But he is SO heavy handed with SO MUCH politics - all of which I agreed with but it just kept feeling out of place & in the wrong tone compared to the start of the book. So by the end I was so annoyed with it, I was just waiting for it to end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had so many full-smile moments while reading this book. From the relationship between the main characters, yes, but also the family & friend relationships highlighted, too. I think Borison did a great job fleshing out all the people & all the connections.
This is my first of hers I‘ve read, but it‘s making me want to go back to her other work. And I‘ll definitely read Jackson‘s book when it‘s out next winter 🥰

July #bookspin list!
@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really liked this - a slow burn of a book that settled around you so completely, and by the end it felt fully real while still being fully fantastical.
Ross is so creative, her magic unique, her characters realistic, and her sense of place - which is really what excels here - wholly realized.
Looking forward to book 2!

I enjoyed this! Set 20 years after the big battle against a big evil, the book series you would usually read, this looks at how the heroes are holding things together and, spoiler alert, they aren‘t. Evil is moving again, but they are 20 years older & trying to figure out what to do in a “fight” without the clear purpose of their past. You get flashbacks to understand the main characters and also The Nine, who are the original group of heroes.

“It was safest to cross the ocean at night, when the moon and stars shone on the water.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had to come back to this one after reading Guillory‘s newest since the main characters there were side characters here :)
I enjoyed this one more on the reread than I originally did when I read it 3 years ago, and I‘ve just really liked being back in her words again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don‘t remember the last time I had my heart squeezed this hard.
Graphic novels are such a beautiful medium, & this was expertly done.

“His story had not begun in a tavern, but Alf had ended up in one anyway.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

I have been reading contemporary romance for 5 years now (hey, one good thing from spring 2020 🫠) and Jasmine Guillory‘s books have been there with me from the beginning. Reading this felt like returning to a conversation with a friend who I trust to take me on a banter-filled, snack-laden, spicy journey through the ups and downs of relationships. Guillory‘s first queer romance, this was exactly what I wanted right now. She‘s a must-read for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Solomon is one of my favorite romance authors, and I really enjoyed her newest book!
I‘ve spent some time in Amsterdam, and this was such a love letter to that city, where Solomon now lives, too.
I didn‘t love the final conflict, even though I knew it was coming, but I did like the second chance romance & the marriage of convenience tropes.
Definitely one I‘d recommend for a spicy romance read!