I can never get centered

This made me overwhelming sad but written with so much love. I‘ve followed the author, knew about Lilt

In short Lilt was her special budgie, born tiny & unable to perch let alone fly. Multiple avian vet visits & gad knows that expense

Lilt was as healthy as anyone could make her with the best life anyone could give her

Six years, a not uncommon lifespan for a budgie

Fly high, Lilt! You fly in heaven babygirl! 🌈🦜🏵️

A little funny, a little sad.

Don't you wish it was only in fiction you can give all your attention, all your heart to a partner and they don't toss you over for the next shiny, new thing?

Yeah. 🙁

“Twisty and sexy” ?

What the hell book were you all reading? Also, nothing much about true crime.

Mostly loss, damaged hearts & sadness.

Criminally mislabeled read. Know that going in, then what do you think?

For clarity #WolfieLives! All the damaged tripod pitbulls in the shelter #Live!

Bill & Teddy‘s children live, live happy and undamaged lives. They adore their odd Irish grandmother.

They all live.
That‘s the book.

My friend & I had a similar experience. We were driving down the highway & friend thought she spotted a dead or unconscious body up this hill. Only it was just a Halloween display body so she swiped it. We figured this was perfect for a prank.

There was a dilapidated house we all called the haunted house. We put it at the top bedroom & drew a bunch of symbols we thought would seem Satanic. That night our other friends went to the house…

A rather weak pick but I gotta share. I liked the setup & the descriptions of the technological differences on Mars. She‘s a new scifi author & needs to work on varying reactions, characterization & description…but here‘s the absolute best part!! The author is a top level foodie! 🤣 So many gluttons and so much eating of cherry tarts, pastries, chocolate & hors d'oeuvres!

MARS…Planet of the Cosmic Mukbang!! 🎂🍰🍪🍩🧁🍫🍧🍮🥧🥯🥮

A painful tale, which if you did not know shows that the fashion world is exploitive, mired in mistreatment of workers, sexism & misogyny.

Sad, yes. Scary, yes. The takeaway message is we women, and YES, the non-trad American women workers are all in this together. We will support each other and guide our own the way out of this nightmare.

Killer aliens committing cattle mutilations. 😰

The author‘s epilogue expounds on how he think this is a real phenomenon.

Bad aliens!! Bad aliens!! Boo, bad aliens!! 🛸👽

Same author, different book. I made the book photo so will share in next post.

This is such a beautiful book. Shin is devastated by the death of his wife & means to die. That effort doesnt succeed for he's rescued by a killer whale.
That interaction leads to the discovery Shin can communicate with orcas as they can with him. This is a new discovery but gives Shin's life new meaning.

Yet human ships are trapping cetaceans to man marine wildlife parks. This is a life of loss for them, lost to their own families.

Read me!

First time author, not yet published. INDIE SCARIES 🙀

Excellent short stories! Some scares, some laughs, some pathos.

An author to watch (you heard it here first!)

Is it still Monday?

I lose track of days since they mostly mean little to me. I get up. I try to finish ARCs. I try not to eat. I try to drink Pedialyte & eat disgusting green/sweet baby food pouches to eat more greens. Take numerous medications on schedule. That‘s my life.

I use to hoard rosaries. Or *collect* rosaries. I‘ve no idea where they‘ve gone. I would assume I brought them from Iowa, somewhere. Once you stop praying with them, ? ⏬

I‘m going to “pick” this one but please use caution. It‘s highly disturbing. Think this: How messed up would a dark web version of “Survivor” be with creepers paying 🤑 on bets for which of your kidnapped survivors will betray their also kidnapped friends, family and lovers in order to possibly win the creeper bet on who can survive?

I should probably put a spoiler on that, would if I knew how.

The audio version takes the creeper cake. Yikes!

This was a thing. A thing, I say!

I did the audio & they were on the money here. It‘s good, it‘s scary, it‘s full of WTF details.

Just advice? Don‘t pick on strange but harmless young men…unless you wanna birth a reaper of souls. 😰😈

Our setting, more or less. I‘ve read some outstanding Scandinavian thrillers but this just isn‘t one.

Just clunky & I'm still not sure I understand how both of the brothers met their ends, the reasoning of it. What really happened here? And (spoiler edit) was the culprit of the first murder. Why, again?

What purpose were our two lady cops Gerda & Siri to this story?

This book has apparently won some awards so I don‘t want to dissuade anyone.

Same author, different book in this series.

Cute book in a cute seaside town. Three women: One a candy maker, one a sweets baker, one a vendor of calm & cute accessories.

Accessory lady is the main character with her Chihuahua Teo. The lady Harper has a detective black lab.

Interested? GET THE BOOK!

Yikes. This was rough.
For the question: Who is the Guardian?
Yourself
Who is the Thief?
Yourself

It's all by circumstances & circumstances change, given your need.

Are you willing to do what you need to survive?
Are you willing to lie to yourself about that?
It's always about the survival of yourself & those you hold close.
Judge not...Etc etc.

I‘ve know this author for YA works but “Fallen Angels” doesn‘t really fit there. It‘s frequently challenged because of the adult-level language & realistic depiction of the Vietnam War.

I did a search, fun facts from AAVM: African American Veterans Monument (https://aavmwny.org/war/vietnam-war)

Okay yes and “fun” is rather a stretch. I‘ll have to post the full quote below BUT I would recommend this read. It‘s brutal as you‘d expect.

⤵️

This one was a fun picture to create but go with me here. The favorite criminal profiler I follow is Pat Brown. Pat Brown doesn‘t have ever in synch opinions with John Douglas so here they are in fisticuffs in front of the FBI building.

This does appear to be a criminal profiler thing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The book here is older case reviews. Pat used to teach Profiling at Excelsior which would interesting to follow along, I await her reading suggestions.

Different author, different title, same subject but likely darker if this original was a children‘s title.

You can listen to “Catz of the Undead” with your Audible account through the 9/20. My guess is this is an English indie horror as it is very, very English, characters & such.

I would caution there is ALL KINDZ of demise, including cats & zombie cats. And a very evil English witch.

Who knew squirels suffer from paranoia?

Every fall someone steals all the leaves off your tree & leaves you nothing but pumpkin spice flavor lattes? 😢

🌬️🌿🍃🍃🍃 🐿️

“Would you like to hear a scary story?”

Amend that: Would you like to hear a silly story? A vampire eats a pb&j sandwich, thinking red jam was something more palpable than strawberries. So they flee, infecting said sandwich as a jelly vampire.

So, you must cover all your jam bottles & say, NO TERRANCE!”

Other than that narrative non sequitar it‘s a cute enough story book.

New to me: I know “peanuts” as cacahuete but in Puerto Rico & Cuba it‘s maní.

The story is of the girl Coqui whose family comes to Decauter, Georgia from Havana, Cuba. She misses much of her home, especially the Maní man. BUT loves beisball too & gets to meet Hank Aaron—and a new American peanut vendor.

Here‘s one thing to remember: No matter how big the Mole‘s heart his eyesight isn‘t the best.

He almost strikes out at tee-ball until Bear umpire lends him a pair of glasses.

HOMERUN!! (Even if he ran the bases the wrong direction. 😹)

ALL the stars!!!

⭐️✨🌟✨⭐️

Everyday Bean as the main character young hedgehog who lives with her grandma.

If hedgehogs went houseplant shopping which would be the best choice?

I think we can rest our case.

Adorable! I‘d feel this same way when I was little. All the animals are my friends and I worried about them in inclement weather, only that was Iowa. Cold & snow but not wind & waves.

But here, his animal friends came inside to check on his safety too!

🐤🦦🐰🐻

I‘m having difficulty with this one. It‘s lovely with the perfect art although I‘m sure I could draw similar if I went back to drawing which I used to do but gave up when I saw I wasn‘t the best at it. I didn‘t take any art classes in high school as I thought what was more important was academics.

But I digress. The story is about the boy & his grandfather who would regularly visit Pebble Beach to each choose a pebble then paint them.

⬇️

When I started this I assumed it was bout a new kid at school being bullied; It‘s not.

Santi is spending summer with his abuela (grandmother) who‘s a Spanish speaker. Santi‘s first language was English & he feels less Colombian since his Spanish is poor. He‘s doing immersion with abuela but often hesitant to “speak up.”

This shows dual languages so would be great for those working on their Spanish comprehension.

!Es un libro tan excelente!

Too cute for words! 🐭🐢

Here‘s the tale: Tortoise & Mouse are best friends & share a burrow. When their burrow floods tortoise digs them a new burrow…only more & more friends come needing a place to stay.

Here‘s the long list: Rabbit, Spotted Skunk, the Mole Skinks, Wolf Spider, Cricket, Frog, the Moth clan, Scarab Beetle, Snake & Fly.

Happy home, right? Only Mouse is nowhere to be seen so Tortoise is heartbroken. 💧😔💧

👇

The pic is the book I read that‘s not in our system yet. The Doxie is named Duke & Duke wears a bow tie

The series features a detail-oriented wedding planner that comes back to her hometown Carlyle Cove, Maine to help her elderly aunt run her cafe. Their regular coffee drinker is retired detective Elinor Brooks & her detective emeritus Duke. The upcoming first in series is The Polaroid Murder by Vivian Keyes. You can catch the ARC on Booksprout.

Avi‘s mother is a mad scientist with great but often amiss ideas. Today, too much dirty laundry. Why wash clothes when you can make at time machine to travel back two weeks & swap them out? Great idea! 💡

Into an updated washing time machine that takes you back not two weeks but to the Cretacious?

That misaccomplished how to scare off the T-Rex that wants to eat you? Rather surreptitious the dinosaur is scared off by the smell of your t-shirt?

Another Book Drop children‘s recommendation, featuring the “Forest Inventors”, Honey Bunny the rabbit & Muk Muk the moose. Honey is cute & sweet, Muk Muk is a more measured creator. If you can‘t guess the fellow forest dwellers are their clients.

Their first book presents their Triple-Decker Hunger Wrecker which is…tater tot french fry medley stacked on a hot dog, cheese-bean taco, PB& J, pizza & spaghetti meatballs on marbled cupcake frosting.

Another Book Drop suggestion for young readers. This is the 8th in the series. The interlocutor covers his face as he ever stumbles into humiliating trips & other experiences

In JJ‘s water park he earns name & imfanity as “Widdle Baby.” The rides include a lazy river floaty ride, journey into an ice cube, swimming with puppies & getting flushed down a toilet

This makes the experience sounds fun until Wittle Baby gets rescued by a rogue 🧜🏼‍♀️

I‘m not sure how I started reading these other than Book Drop, again.

In this particular series the musical instruments themselves go to Band Camp. Fairly silly. Book 3, the instruments get bullied by cooler instruments & participate in the Camp talent show, only…their talent skills tend to be lacking. I‘ve already checked out volumes 2 & 3, being as I‘m a completist.

Let‘s see where they go. It‘s gentle humor for gentle readers.

Another Book Drop recommendation. This is volume 12 in the series. Mindy Kim is Korean & that‘s a major element of her identity. Her father has recently married Julie then came baby brother Charlie.

Their first family vacation is to Jeju, a volcanic island in South Korea. The thing Mindy most wants to see is Hallasan or English Mount Halla.

After a setback baby fart from Charlie all is well again. Pic here is with a hareubang, “grandfather.”

Gorgeous book that I‘d get for my kid had I any. There are fold out flaps that prevent my efforts to take great photos sadly. Educational too!Bioluminescious, fluorescence, unihemispheric—which new to me is what sleeping whales do.

All the stars I have to give. ✨⭐️🌟⭐️✨

A delightful book for children. Might as well start teaching them early what castings are and why they‘re so beneficial in our gardens.

Worms aren‘t scary or ugly. I have no trouble saving them from pavement fry after a hard rain.

💝🪱

You can see Richard Lasher‘s car & the dirt bike he was able to flee the approaching ash cloud on.

I was alive when St Helen‘s happened but was too young & too far away from WA to remember. I wish the book would have gone right to covering the event & not the years before background & its players.

I do remember the elderly man that refused to heed warnings & condemned 16 cats to eruption death. You also get perished dogs & horses. Humans too. 💧

Not the best book on the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks but still a decent fictionalized read

The tale ended up dragging on too long with characters you don‘t much care about but the details on the time period were the best part: coming WWI with evil German u-boot Deutschland (Maybe GERMAN SHARKS! 😟), scandalous flapper bobs, scary polio epidemic, etc etc

It is much layed out like what Jaws is with ppl panicking & killing any shark they find…

Horror galore!! 😰

This starts out as you would expect; a group of kids head out on a back-to-nature camping trip. One of the guys is into a silly Bigfoot Hunters show he‘s teased ruthlessly by his friend over. In the crew is a big party-drinker & a very fake Native American for chicks guy. Only things go sideways; when you think all is lost they are saved by the Bigfoot Hunter guys for…reasons. 👀

Here‘s the bigger shock: Bigfoots with rabies.

Wow. I couldn‘t get the pic centered correctly but here‘s the closing:

The world needs you.

You belong.

Recommended by The Book Drop for *everyone*.

If you‘re a school librarian add this to your catalogue.

⭐️✨🌟✨⭐️

Now this one is specifically about the Fourth of July & makes a point of being inclusive.

Also going with your family to watch the fireworks together in a community spirit so that‘s nice. 🇺🇸

Also a The Book Drop recommendation.

Very sparse text. What lovely lights you can see in the summertime. Green gold white in county fairs, carnivals. Nothing on fireworks on Independence Day/Fourth of July which doesn‘t always bring happy thoughts for those it rang hollow for. Shauntay Grant teaches creative writing at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia so Canadian not from the US.

Perfect for children drawn to pretty, colorful drawings.

Another recommendation from The Book Drop.

A caution: DO NOT do an image search for said monster. The Montauk Monster is apparently a real cryptid in the area. The images are real but not a cryptid. Can I stop there?

I‘m not native to the NY area so this is new to me. Can we do Chessie or Bigfoot next? Okay, we‘re doing Bigfoot next🤞🏼

This volume gets gory, I‘m fine as it‘s fiction but animal experimentation that I‘m a big NO on.

Fun throwaway scary if you‘re in the mood though.

Cute book for kiddies which could have gone sad “peddlers don‘t have homes” but with friends & ingenuity you‘ve won 🏆

I‘m reading through suggested books for little one readers by The Book Drop.

Anyone else? I wish I could afford to do the adult book category suggestions. I‘m limited to Middle Grade, 13+, graphic novel & a puzzle. Partner is angry about the puzzle, I should probably downgrade.

Just above. Too many words to not need to edit it down.

Incredibly informative & perfect for a preteen & older@to learn about how marine researchers work and learn their craft.

Realize that secret turtle life is full of hazards & of a nest of 100s only a small number of sea turtles get to survive to the ocean & from the predators of the babies there.

It's also sad so many sea turtle species are currently critically endangered or threatened.

Learn, youngs. Not all you learn is good news though.

This is gonna be a 1136 page thrill ride. 😒

Hey, let's go to outer space! That'd be fun, right?!
No, you lunatic. Space is the setting for horror in space. Such as here.

Your main character is trying to hide out from authorities due to her activism so she takes a cush if boring job hauling cryogenic bodies.

How scary could that be? They're dead, right?
RIGHT?! 😟

Sadly this is the closest Gencraft could get to this image: “Setting is a forest in the Pacific Northwest. A human cult chases after a weightlifter in purple Zubaz pants. A fortune teller holds a crystal ball and a dowsing rod. A little Bigfoot girl is wearing a dress and bows in her fur and she stands in front of a human tent and eating candy. A enormous octopus has his tentacles coming out of a nearby body of water. | This is a funny picture.”