In the end I enjoyed the premise and loved the trial scenes, but this book just meanders and so much of it contemplates religion and I just 🥱... but, overall, glad I read it & can cross this off my list of classics tbr 🎉

PERHAPS NOT everyone's cup of tea but I really did enjoy this immensely. Bride got me out of a reading slump. Now that I am finished, I am experiencing a severe book hangover and miss this story 😔. My 30th book of the year and second five-star.

New favorite book dedication just dropped

"This ain't The Brothers Karamazov, we don't need the family tree!" funny shout-out to the other book that I am reading (and reading and reading) in this hilarious paranormal romance that I am enjoying immensely

#pemberlittens

Quick read ... and there's a lot going on here. I liked a lot about this book but didn't connect w the writing. My standards for feminist ya may be a bit high bc I read Anatomy & Immortality recently, perhaps why this is a "good, not great" for me.

I did love the typewriter thing w this duology (me trying not to spoil anything), and I liked how that dynamic changed in the second book. But I just otherwise found this book terribly boring and listened to the last 20% on 1.75x speed... not my fav, but I know that some of y'all loved this story, and I could see why that is as well. It just wasn't a fav for me. Full disclosure, I've been in a bit of a reading slump..

I didn't love this at first, but it grew on me. The last hour or so of audio was extremely engaging and I can't wait to see where the duology goes. Fortunately I have Ruthless Vows up next 🤓

Read this if you know these 9 seasons by heart and want to learn the behind-the-scenes of one of the greatest comedic shows. It's a fun read and focuses on the interesting episodes and off-screen information. I enjoyed the heck out of it. ❤️

I read this quickly and mostly enjoyed it. But I'll defend my rating by saying that it's not the use of various mental health issues to propel a thriller that bothers me – that can be incredible. It's the reliance on dumb tropes to do so that really grinded my gears. Not for me y'all. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, though.

I am reading it with my girlfriend ... I'm excited to hear someone else's take on this because I found it fascinating and philosophical - but so, so dark.

This is my first experience with studying my own generation retrospectively, so please congratulate me on officially being Old 😌. I loved every minute of this book, it brought me back to mid-2000s Tampa Bay & some of the most fun times of my life. 🤘

A great place-setter for the series & I can't wait to watch the show. If this book kept up the fast-paced sci fi writing in Part 1 it would have been a five-star read for me, but it lost that energy and I gave it 3.75. I am undecided whether I will continue w/the silo saga.

I loved this cliffhanger ending so much that I will definitely continue with this series. I was immersed in this fun "romance" about a magical community college that deals with some heavier topics below the surface. And the cover is just perfect.

I wanted more from this gothic murder mystery! There are several very dark scenes here, but I never felt particularly connected to the narrative and thought the story was shallow. This will be a DNF series for me.

Loved this Egyptian historical fantasy with dark magic undertones. I will definitely continue this series. Would recommend when you are in the mood for something dense & immersive.

"He was a study of secrets and academic pursuit, the mark of an explorer."

I adore this gothic feminist historical fiction duology with an alchemical bent. Anatomy is a beautiful book & this follow-up was done extremely well. They incorporate science and horror delightfully, and I would definitely want any YA readers in my life to have them - and would also recommend to adults who can see some of a strong feminist dark and twisty science girly in themselves.

It took me awhile to gather the threads of this story together, yet I couldn't look away. I'm a sucker for retellings of the same events from different perspectives. I pictured Neda so differently from Ajay's descriptions that I didn't recognize her character in Part 2. By the time that there was a Sunny chapter, I had been thinking to myself - "we better hear from Sunny next." I got this so well & found it excellent.

This sequel of What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher's novella retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, goes in a slightly different direction, but brings back a great cast of characters and maintains the same mystical gothic overtones. I really enjoy this creepy little series & this author's books overall. I listened to the audio and what a treat this was during all of my little tasks. Y'all are going to love this one.

Jumping in on this because I can't resist sharing my bookish bicep! 🥰🥰 @BookmarkTavern #sundayfunday

My initial reaction was "wait, is this a fantasy novel about drug dealers," but by 80% I was actually really enjoying myself. This is a fun world to spend 500 or so pages in and I will def return for the sequel.

Finished this last night & it was a trip. This is a red and black dreamscape, maybe the nightmare version, and evokes a mid-eighties vibe. Like I feel like this is best enjoyed in a black bathtub overflowing with bubbles while cackling into a glass of champagne. Which is to say, I loved it.

By the epilogue, I was fully nodding along. I like reading about sociology because I walk away with the feeling that things that I thought were outside of the norms are pretty standard -- like seeking fulfillment from more than just a romantic source, and not placing the full burden of your emotions on any one individual. There's a lot of good stuff here about the legal barriers in non-marital relationships, too. Overall, a good read.

As a day one Instagram caption Caroline Calloway fan, I had to read this. It was unhinged and delightful; I loved it.

Finished this & sending it out tomorrow! @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks @BarkingMadRead

"And, above all, do not be so ashamed of yourself, for that is at the root of it all."

The title is a little incongruous with the project (not really about cults) and the organization has room for improvement, but I can look past those things. Because I laughed. A lot. Out loud. And thought, "yeah it's cool that she wrote this so that some people who read it learn about this stuff." Would highly recommend for those that like a good life-with-the-mentals memoir!

Sometimes you need fantasy to help understand reality, because we cannot imagine such a fantastic time. I learned about WW1 because Katherine Arden taught me about the Fiddler, and the warm hands of ghosts.

And yeah, I'll remember this story for the rest of my life. So, five stars.

"I'm not suicidal, but I'm also not particularly psyched" ??

4.5 ⭐ from me - a nearly perfect environmental novel/mystery that is just beautiful. Charlotte McConaghy novels are an auto-read for me at this point.

121 books this year and Light Bringer won my #ReadingBracket2023 . I did not separate fiction and nonfiction, but I have been keeping up with this all year 🤗

The cover says it all - birding, from the approach of one's own home (or neighborhood). I am a true novice, but very interested, and found this so-so. I did get some great stuff, such as new apps that will be extremely helpful in my birding journey, but this isn't the most engaging science writing.

I love Murderbot and the 7th & newest installment is no exception.

This is the cutest story. I got into it and listened to the Spotify playlist while reading on Kindle with my Christmas tree in the background -- would highly recommend with a glass of wine. I am not a normal romance reader, but maybe I should be because I just previously listened to a 28-hour high fantasy audiobook and found this delightful as a follow-up?

A quite complex plot is delivered in a comprehensible way through a great mc. (I say that, but I did look up the ending on Reddit to make sure that I understood it, so ...) Think Ancient Rome but also powerful magic but also a military institute school situation but also a cool dog. The beauty of this book is alllll of the plotting, politics, various conspiracies, hazy characters that we only know as much about as Vis does (not much.) &Great audio

Whew, it's been a great book year! I will probably add a couple of books to my current 117 before it's over 😂. I think that my favorite of the year is Light Bringer by Pierce Brown. I am reading The Will of the Many currently, and it might be second! Then there's Yellowface, The Guest, Babel, A Day of Fallen Night, the Britney Spears book, Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, Gideon the Ninth, the list goes on ... !

Moshe Kasher wrote a funny and intelligent book that taught me way more than anticipated. I personally loved that a stand-up comic joked in his memoir that the most narcissistic thing a person can do is stand-up comedy, other than writing a memoir. I learned a lot about these subcultures and really appreciated Moshe's lessons. A fun book.

I'm a huge fan of celeb memoirs, Rainn Wilson, and The Office, but this was just a so-so book for me.

I was intrigued by the idea of a graphic memoir, and I found the use of the Chinese Zodiac to explain Ai Weiwei's life through imagery successful ... but man, there's a lot going on here. I am familiar with the artist so I didn't learn a whole lot about his work, but I did learn things about Chinese culture that I did not know. Overall a very cool project.

Beautiful cover and interesting premise -- Neferura is the daughter of the best-known female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Discussion topics are provided for book clubs, and author q and a.

I adored the setting, historical references, and variations of female power, but would have preferred less palace intrigue and more Ancient Egypt. I geeked out more about the history provided at the end than much of the story. And I found Neferura naive throughout.

This is such a beautiful book, the cover really doesn't do justice to some of the images inside. It delves into the craft of globe-making from the perspective of one company, and the journey that they went on to build these beautiful spheres.

This is the story of Medusa, in all of its mythological complexity. It also delves into Athena's motivation for cursing her with a head of snakes, Perseus's motivation for beheading her, and what happened to her head following said event, which some readers seem to take exception to because those parts aren't about Medusa ... but they do enrich this story. My favorite part was the chapter told by snakes 🤘

A smart book about the art world that makes you contemplate what part of an artist's life is performance and the strangeness of our society. I got a little pandemic ptsd due to the covid scenes, but there were some really interesting moments and in the end I liked this book.

Ok I'm with y'all on this one 🥹🥹

Starting my Thanksgiving five hours of cooking with what I hope to be a wonderful accompaniment 💯, and various wines -- today should be a good day! Happy Turkey Day everyone, hope your tables are full 🍽️💕💖

Finished this today for #lmpbc and will send it out shortly! I hope that you guys end up liking the story more than I, but it was fun to mark this up and get one of these #botm books off of my backlog! @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks @BarkingMadRead

I've been shouting from the rooftops about Fourth Wing with the rest of y'all, but Rebecca Yarros lost me in the sequel. Just go ahead and tell me the next time you want $30 Rebecca because these are beautiful, but I'm no longer invested 😩😆

Finally picking this up after sitting on my shelves forever. I'm excited to mark this all up with @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks & @BarkingMadRead ! #lmpbc #botmbacklog 😊

I put this on my TBR ages ago because I am generally a person who could have better boundaries, but this book isn't just for people who struggle with them.

I think that anyone who has relationships -- personal, professional, via social media, could learn something from this book that would help them improve and maintain them.

The author Nedra Glover Tawwab does the audio herself, and she's amazing.

Not for me