What a beautiful and evocative story. If you love books from Catherine Ryan Hyde, you will enjoy this. It has a beautiful message and some poignant moments that will stay with you. I'm adding it to my favorites even though I may not give it 5 stars. It's more like a 4 star read with 5 star takeaways. The brutal scene in this was extremely hard to read, yet the aftermath had such an emotional impact on me.

What a fun and chaotic mess this was! Wealthy New York private school moms behaving badly. A series of conveniently timed "accidents" has a mom-friend group wondering who is out to get them. Everyone is crazy in this book, but one character takes the cake on psychotic behavior. I was rooting for at least someone to get out of this unscathed. The ending was fun too. You just can't underestimate anyone these days.
4.25 stars-I enjoyed it!

Loved!! I think of you're someone who has struggled with body image issues and self-deprecation this will have a bonus of not only being a sweet/fun and easy romance, but will help you appreciate the body you have been given. 4.5⭐
“Every time you have to be brave, you get to be a little braver next time. That‘s what life is for."

I love Fable for this cute little graph - it's a fun way see my reading habits so far this year!
I've tried to read a ton this summer for Summer Reading and now I'm so far behind on my favorite podcast that I'm going to switch to catching up on that these next few months.
Any other #armchairexpert fans here on Litsy?
I've read some great books this summer season but now I'm looking forward to school, autumn leaves, and sweatshirt weather. 🍁🍂🍃

Abby Jimenez is one of my go-to authors. Immediately add her book to your tbr lists. Comedy and romance have never joined together in quite the way that she writes them. Like falling head first into a movie-for-your-brain as soon as you crack open one of her books. It's not all sunshine and rainbows though. Her characters deal with very real and serious topics. Alzheimers, an abusive childhood, financial woes.
*my mustard consumption has tripled

Wow. Very good. This was so hard to read at times. I was on the edge of my sanity during the last part. Like trying to watch a scary movie while covering my eyes. Haddock was the epitome of evil. I was plotting his death the entire time. The haints were as much as a character as any of the others. I knew this had to be based on real events, which made it even more horrifying. 4.5 stars

5 stars!
This is a story about great friendship, human connection, and art. Four teenagers who shared much more than adventures and laughter and heartache. They were each other's lifelines during the most tumultuous years of their ending childhoods. It also is about Louisa, an 18 year old raised in foster care, whose entire life is changed in one night from an unexpected run in with an artist.
Beautiful. Memorable. Definitely worth reading.

It took me a while to get into this, but once Vis entered the academy I could not set this big ol' book aside. I was IN it. The world building and politics are a lot. Tons of political strategical moves coming at you from every direction. Ambition, greed, friendship, survival, resourcefulness. I loved it. I haven't felt quite so strongly about a book since Patrick Rothfuss bowled me over with The Kingkiller Chronicles. Highly recommend.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wowsers! Absolutely my favorite so far in this series. The ending is absolutely insane. This whole ride has been a slow burn, but if you stick with it there are some major paybacks. One particular scene was oh so satisfying to see play out.
(5 stars, all the stars, give me more)

I really enjoyed these two easy reads about a forty-something, overweight, and unhappy man who stumbles on a way that may help change his life. Time travel. These two books should of been combined into one, but since they are both offered on Kindle Unlimited that wasn't a big deal to me. It was refreshing to read something not in my usual genres. Exactly what I needed. Bonus was that it made me grateful that my marriage is what it is. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

That was horrifying. 😲
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Eta: last book of April
I read 21 books this month. ❤📚

Struggling with how to rate this book. It's centered around a breakup, told 90% from the male perspective and his rollercoaster journey of how he dealt w/it. The writing was great. The subject was largely uninteresting to me personally. I have read multiple books from the female perspective of a breakup, so it was nice to have this out there choosing to tell the story in a different way-I don't think most guys are as emotionally 'woke' as him🤷‍♀️

This was weird, funny, and entertaining. Basically everything you expect from the title. I'm glad I came across this, it was definitely a fun experience! Written in 2018, with 3 other books in the series, and constant crazy scenarios in which the strangest things keep happening to a guy working in a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The best part is how nonchalant this dude reacts. The imagination of the author is incredible. A wild ride!

What do you do when you have to do 2 days of prep for your 1st colonoscopy (I have family w/colon cancer and had to get it done- early detection is key!)- you read a LOT. I enjoyed this book. Not usually interested in horse racing but really liked this and the light it shines on racism. 4⭐
I also finished a James Patterson book 'The Noise' and watched season 8 of Love is Blind, and the movie It Ends With Us (the book was so much better!)

In search of another cozy-type fantasy w/humor and light romance, I came upon this. Since it was on Kindle Unlimited, I didn't realize it was over 1,000 pages until I started. It has great reviews, rated high. I thought it was more acceptable to read 1 big book than 5 (like a lot of series are nowadays.) But it didn't get to the part I wanted! I wanted so much to see Sasha in Between and see how Lorn and her figure things out! Still enjoyable. 4⭐

Good on audio! My absolute favorite scene of all time was in the senior living center bar. It was comedy gold! The conversation between the three older women that lived there and the two younger women visiting was so funny it had me laughing out loud. I'd recommend it just so you can experience that part of the book alone.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

There's so many of these fantasy/romance book series out there now and a lot of them miss the mark for me. Sometimes the world building is so chaotic and filled with unusual names and words that it's just too much. The underlying themes are usually yawningly similar.
Quicksilver worked though. It did get a bit slow in the middle, but made up for it by the end. Truly enjoyed this! So many interesting things happened. I neeeed the next book now. 5⭐

This book is one example of why I love reading so much. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly recommend

"A lack of words is not a lack of insight.”

"Pain rewrites your future, how you think you‘re going to live your life. It gives you a whole new way of looking at comfort and happiness.”

Loved this one! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

(Saving the recipe at the end, I think it would be a fun tradition to start making this Christmas cake on Christmas each year)

This is a great book if you are having trouble with your day-to-day house chores, or if you are depressed and feel like every small task is a mountain. I'm not at that stage right now. So it wasn't what I was looking for. My stuff is tucked into cupboards and closets, under beds and inside storage containers. My house is clean. It is NOT organized. I want to purge the house of everything unnecessary. This book made me feel like I'm doing great.🙈

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Maybe it's due in part that I seem unable to sleep these days, but this series has me completely under it's spell. I really love where this is taking us. It's so rare to like a 2nd book as much as the 1st.
I looked quickly through some reviews of the 3rd book and they make me sad. I should never ever look at the reviews. 🤦‍♀️ I'm invested thoroughly. I have to read it. I have hope things will turn around.

Oh this was good! Fourth Wing level good. My first 5 star read of the year. 🥰

14 books out of the 346 I read in 2024 earned my 5 star rating! Looking forward to discovering more great reads in 2025 ❤📚 Happy New Year to all you amazing Litsy people!! I've loved reading reviews and getting ideas on which books to read next. Much love and good vibes to each of you.🎉

Hadn't heard of this series until I saw the author on one of those morning shows talking about the release of the 3rd book of the series. I liked the 1st one (4 stars) and although the build up in this 2nd book was a little slow, the ending was SO so good. Such an exquisite cliffhanger!! It all had to be written the way it was for the readers to be extremely invested in the outcome of these characters. Looking forward to reading the last book. 5⭐

A fun chaotic story! There's a lot of characters to keep straight, but it wasn't a huge issue. I liked it. It mostly centers around one brownstone home in New York that is packed with stuff, family, life and one problem after another. Somehow it all works out. People step up to help each other out. Really enjoyed these eccentric characters. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ It's perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Puts you in the right frame of mind.

Very interesting and different sort of book than what I normally choose. That's what I like. Mixing things up a little. Body horror and the obsession with beauty. Very similar underlying themes to the movie that came out recently with Demi Moore 'The Substance' -yet very very different vibes. Fascinating, sad, and SO hard to put down. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

So freaking good! You ever need a good romantic comedy that reminds you of watching movies like When Harry Met Sally and its a dreary rainy weekend and all you want to do is lose yourself in the problems of characters that are so loveable and sweet and funny and you're just rooting for them to get their shit together and live happily ever after? Yes, total run on sentence with zero correct punctuation..I know. Don't care. (I adore Shep) 5 stars!!

I cannot even begin to describe the experience of reading this book. It's literally like falling into the pages headfirst and living within the words. I'm not the least bit interested in hurrying through this series. I've reached my yearly book goal. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this trilogy and I don't care to rush through even one page. 5 stars and above. Am I into pirates and ships normally? No. But I love this. What great writing.

"Refuse the anxiety. When you borrow trouble against what might be, you neglect the moment you have now to enjoy. The man who worries about what will next be happening to him loses this moment in the dread of the next, and poisons the next with pre-judgement."

I think this is going to be a great book! Sitting in a tractor this time of year during harvest gives me extra time to read between running the auger for grain carts. ???

A really good October read! Fits well with the spooky season. Enjoyed the consistent humor throughout, it kinda helped offset the terrifying parts. Just kind of sucked me in. I really didn't know where this was taking me. There's a lot of interesting things happening throughout to one of the "nice" guys. It's not usually the nice ones that get targeted.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

You have to be in the right frame of mind to delve into this chunky book. It was one of those that requires dedication and perseverance. It was rewarding, but not something I would recommend to just anyone. Ultimately I decided to give it 4 stars. The characters, their growth, the relationships..so good, but a lot of philosophy, religion, and history. *It did win the National Jewish Book Award.
I'm glad I read this, I learned so much.

I love the cover of this book. It's gorgeous. I also loved the book. The cozy magical fantasy genre is a favorite of mine. Reading books like these makes me happy. Yes, I bought this one. Just looking at the cover brings me joy!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This audiobook is stellar. I'm going to have to look up the woman who narrated this because she was perfection. Such a gift to read this story the way she did.
This was a heartbreaking and complex book. To hear such ugly racist things was hard. But this was life in 1974 in Boston. The racial divide was extreme. Mary Pat was a ballsy brave woman. The lengths she went to find out what happened to her 17 year old daughter.. wow.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I wish I knew someone else who has read this so we could talk about it! I figured this would be right up my alley being the same age as the main character. Trying to figure out peri menopause/menopause and how it will impact life. But I couldn't really relate to her mid-life sexual awakening and/or crisis. Her personality is def different from mine. I had a hard time with some of the scenarios she gets herself into. I'll give it a light pick -⭐⭐⭐

This is so fun! I know, I know...you look at the title and this cover and immediately think "nope, not for me" but read a few reviews! Just two or three. Then try it. This is getting me out of a slump. Everything I'm reading seems so similar to each other and kind of depressing. This (so far, because I just started it) is so entertaining! I'm hooked and looking forward to the ride. It's giving Hunger Games/Ready Player One vibes- in a good way.

How do you even describe the experience of reading this book? It's completely unique. Like an adult children's fantasy book all about books and authors. If you haven't heard of it, check out the book summary and read some of the reviews. This is very beloved by a lot of people. The writing style is so creative and imaginative. The creatures, book titles, and made up words are fun. It seemed a bit long, so 4 stars from me. Definitely worth reading!

Now this is how an ending should be! I'm so excited to read the next book. Wowsers. Just so dang GOOD. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not what I was expecting, but so much more. This one has a little bit of everything. Historical fiction, bit of romance, a magical bookshop...I really can't think of another book that incorporates all that in one story. I loved the growth that Martha went through. I've heard great things about the audio version, so you might want to give that a try. Although I did enjoy the reading experience very much.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So good. 🤩 The epitome of a great summer read! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The ending! I went through all that for that ending?!? 😨😩🤯

Wow this was bad! Don't try the audio version of this. The narrator for the guy has the most douche bag voice of all time. It made the atrociously unrealistic dialogue even worse. Noone would talk to each other like the characters in this book talked to each other. So dumb. Did I finish this? Yes. Once I thought of it more like a comedy than a thriller.?‍♀️I'm pretty sure we all know the color of Grace's eyes by the end. Not blue, but "blue blue"

I liked this, but it lacks...something. Something doesn't quite work. Too slow in spots. Kind of cringe-y that two brothers liked the same girl yet seemed mostly unbothered by this fact. I want to keep reading the series to see what happens.
Also, has anyone tried tearing a piece of their clothing off to bind a wound? Does it really only take a minute? Because everyone in this book seems to be able to do it way too easily and quickly. Lol
3 1/2⭐

Freida McFadden is a safe go-to for a psychological thriller type book that will almost never end how you think. Her books are so so easy to read. Too easy. Once I start, I have to keep going. I think this one is one of my favorites so far because I did find it interesting how the MC was healing after her injury. Plus, there were some pretty funny moments between brain injury patients in the rehab hospital. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This needs to be rated higher on Goodreads! Excellent book, great storyline, great strong female characters. 5 star read all around, I'm immediately invested and diving into the next book. The one great thing about not finding this earlier is that the next in the series was just released this year!

I need to get honest about what makes a book 5 star worthy for it's genre. For rom coms? Witty bantering, chemistry between characters. Who cares if it follows the same formula? So what if the characters in the story just need to tell each other the thing that's keeping them apart? You know if she explained what's on her mind he would 100% tell her if doesn't fn matter and they would live happily ever after. But that's what makes the story.

Yes! This is one of my top books of the year. All the feels of Fourth Wing, with a definite likeness to The Hunger Games. You just need to sprinkle in vampires and some crazy magic skills and you get this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm not even taking a break, I'm starting second in the series as soon as I can! I'm crossing my fingers that the series doesn't lead me towards a downward spiral of disinterest as some tend to do. I'm optimistic though. 🤞

This was an incredible book! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What I got out of this was what I was hoping for in The Priory of the Orange Tree. I was totally engrossed in the story. Such a great reading experience. There is a lot of world building but I didn't find it overwhelming or confusing. It was interesting to see it all come together. It's not a light read, there's some really tragic moments. I'm looking forward to seeing what the next book has in store.

I'm currently switching back and forth from the ebook to the audiobook of this.. and the voice the narrator uses for the 3 year old is hilarious. Over the top childish lisp. I just wish I could share a clip of it to everyone to "enjoy" ?
Eta: surprisingly good summer read, def prefer reading it over listening! It had a murder mystery vibe which I wasn't expecting..I was initially drawn to the title and cover and didn't read what it was about. 4⭐

I really enjoyed this! Great characters.❤
Reminds me of a few truths I've come to believe. 1-everyone has a story, all we see when we meet people is the tip of an iceberg
2-some people come into our lives when we need them most
3-life contains magic, mysteries that we can't explain
4-living has it's ups and downs, the bravest thing to to persevere through the dark times to get to the light

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is not my usual 5 star read. I always try to mix up my reading with some mystery/psychological thrillers so I don't get burned out with the rom coms and fantasy/magic reads. This was so hard to put down. It hooked me from the beginning with the stories behind 3 young girls under the care of their deranged foster mother. The ending, more specifically, the last chapter - was absolutely great. Recommend! Bonus is that it's in Kindle Unlimited.