A last minute revamp of my #bookspin especially for Pride month. The books marked with an asterix are ones that were already on the list. @TheAromaofBooks

Sigh, I actually thought I had a real chance at a BINGO for a moment there...

#ISpyBingo

“I hear girls like bad boys. I hope that's true,“ Jared said. “Because, baby, I'm bad at practically everything.“

I loved this! It's incredibly clever, a brilliant use of the epistolary format, but also with heart and depth.

I recommend the audiobook, especially if you're in the States, because the American edition of the book has changed out a lot of the British slang. (Needlessly and quite destructively, especially given the author's intent.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4

I bet 80% of us choose ABBA. 😁 I love this song because it's so fun, and it's on “Just Dance,“ and every time I hear it I think of the opening of a favorite episode of “Community.“ IYKYK.

My reading #GuiltyPleasure is the “Harlequin Presents“ line and this was the closest book I could find that related. One reviewer says it's really an HP in historical clothes.

#TitlesAndTunes
@BarbaraBB

#bookspin for June @TheAromaofBooks

Wow, I actually got a bingo! Using Queer Ducks for “queer rep“ was inspired, I think. 😂

Now I need someone to pick a book for me! This board is a decent representation of what I like to read.

#lgbtqbookbingo #lgbtq2023 @kenyazero

I like this cover much better than the standard YA one. Though it's maybe a little middle-grade in feel?

Such a gut punch of a book. I both desperately want to read the next one, and am kind of afraid to. Especially since there are two more before--I can only hope--evil is vanquished and romances have happy endings.

This was my #backlistreadathon author, but I only got to the one. Still have 3 short prequels though.

#BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks

“Escapism isn't good or bad of itself. What is important is what you are escaping from and where you are escaping to.“

This is a very absorbing story, but within an intriguing framing device about possible or metaphorical reincarnation is... a retelling of Mansfield Park, of all things. And since it seems to exist primarily to make the original good guys less annoying and the bad guys less appealing, it's more like fan fiction than anything else.

Argh, I forgot that I can't stand angsty realistic teen fiction. I have an adult child so I've lived through this twice already. Also, I hate how the narrator keeps talking about his mom “letting herself go.“ DNF for my #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

My #bookspin for May is a title by Brennan, which I put on my list because I just loved this book to pieces. Any suggestions for my next one? I like romance in my books, whenever possible. 😁

Okay, this method does not work. 😂

To listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzToUPIiV9w

This is a favorite from my youth, and since it's kind of bittersweet, I decided to take the prompt in a less literal and more bittersweet direction.

#TitlesAndTunes #IslandVibe @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

May #bookspin list. Technically I haven't finished Ocean's Echo but I crossed it off because I'm sure I will. (Or if I DNF it, I'd still cross it off, come to think of it. 😁)

I forgot to give a report! I'd previously tried & DNF'd both my books this month, so I'm really glad I tried again & enjoyed them. I also read This is How You Lose the Time War, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches & This Rough Magic from my list.

@TheAromaofBooks

This is mostly books from my print/library pile. I reserve the right to DNF and replace anything. 😎

For #20in4, my goal is 20 chapters of this, since it's also my #doublespin book. @Andrew65

#ThingsInCommon Boats. @Clwojick #RandomClassic @TheAromaofBooks

This was an intense, fantastical survival story and I think possibly also the longest shaggy dog story ever written. Except the point was never to be funny.

#ThingsInCommon @thearomaofbooks

I'm glad #bookspin and @robinb got me to finally finish this because it really is a quietly lovely book. I wish everyone feeling at a crossroads in their lives got such a chance to contemplate life while finding a new family. (And by everyone, I especially mean me.)

Two very different school experiences, for sure. But both charming in their own ways.

#ThingsInCommon

''She adores your books,' declared Minta, scanning the closely-written pages. 'She absolutely dotes on Steven--with a 'v'.' If she dotes so devotedly, you would think she could spell his name.'

'No, I wouldn't, really,' replied the author. 'I had a letter the other day from a girl who said she loved Mark.'“

#CampLitsy23 sounds so fun! My nominations:

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
Bootstrapped by Alissa Quart
Gigi, Listening by Chantel Guertin
Undercooked by Dan Ahdoot
Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu
Jane and Edward by Melodie Edwards

weirdly, pretty much every 2023 book I found on my TBR was published in March. 🧐

@Megabooks @Squirrelbrain @barbarabb

“Their daughter was born in 1937; they called her Susan after Richard's mother. Wanda had not intended to have a child, but she behaved quite well about it...“

I'm hoping at some point I will irritate someone enough they'll tell me how to make the covers tilt. 😂 #ThingsInCommon

A reread for me and I still love it so much. I particularly love having taken the time to reread a chunkster and not think about the number of books I might have been reading in that time. Quality over quantity for the win!

Wow.

Wow.

There are enemies-to-lovers romances and then there is... this.

Wow.

Just so warm and soft, but with enough conflict to keep things interesting. Finished it with a big smile on my face.

#ISpyBingo Something Pink

A long, sprawling, very emotional read that had me so anxious I had to look up the ending. And I still might not have gotten through it if it weren't for the author's adorable Irish accent. Poor Rachel was once again put through the wringer and even though it ends well, it's painful to reflect on all that was lost.

Very sensitive readers should check trigger warnings on this one.

Ack! I keep getting fatal errors trying to see my activity. 💔

#ThingsInCommon I like how these fantasy covers sort of mirror each other, in different time periods.

This is a slight collection of ephemera that only big fans of “The Queens Thief“ series can enjoy. I've read the series three times, and I still had to look characters up and didn't always grasp the significance of the vignettes. I was about equal parts happy, sad, and confused.

What a fascinating publication history. The older editions all feature ominous castles, with or without a half-dressed woman running; the newer refer to it as a beloved modern classic. You'd probably be fairly happy whichever you were looking for.

I suspect this was the template for all the Elizabeth Peters standalones I loved as a teen. Suspenseful and romantic, but the heroines have brains and agency, even in their nightwear.

#ThingsInCommon

Let's have another whack at this... still not perfect, but getting there.

#ThingsInCommon

I obviously don't quite have the hang of pic-collage yet, but it's a start. 😁

#BookSpin

@TheAromaofBooks

#ThingsInCommon #LGBTQBookBingo square: baking.

A “gay AF“ baker with no filters and a confused farmer/artist so full of secrets he rarely talks make an unexpectedly sweet couple. I really liked both characters.

A sofa! I'm nowhere near a bingo, but much closer than I've gotten previously. #ISpyBingo

This was a rather fun oldie, if a romance between a 22-year-old woman and her 37-year-old boss doesn't throw you. 😳 I enjoyed how their anger at each other shifted into a form of subtle flirting. Too much playing hot-and-cold from the MMC though.

I read the #FurrowedMiddlebrow edition, but I must confess to preferring the Greyladies cover.

A very enjoyable read right until the end, which 1) had several worrying loose ends and 2) had no payoff at all for the MMC being unfair to the FMC, aside from the requisite HEA. Romance readers beware! There's also somewhat less interesting period detail than in the other Scarlett books.

In addition to my #BookSpin (Lost in a Good Book) and Double Spin (Midnight Pals #1) reads, I finished The Undertaking of Heart and Mercy and Poppies for England by Noel Streatfeild this month. Can't wait to see the new numbers!

@TheAromaofBooks

#ISpyBingo “sword.“

This went in a very different direction than the opening set it up for, which I think was a weird editorial choice, but I still enjoyed it very much. A quest with very high stakes, a lovable group of oddballs, each powerful in their own odd ways, and a touch of romance, which always makes a book better IMO. 😁

Started this last night which was a huge mistake, because I couldn't put it down. 🥱 Sorry, all the other books I was reading! #WhimsicalReads

(I do hope this doesn't turn into a “dig two graves“ sort of story. I want the villain to get what's coming to him!)

#TransRightsReadathon #MarchISpyBingo (purple swim trunks) #LGBTQBookBingo (not your usual genre.) I'm not big on realistic, issues-oriented children's fiction, but Obie really does have a wonderful arc in this and I loved the ending. Also, it's really a pleasant change to see Asian parents and grandparents who don't fit the standard characterizations. Obie's Korean family members are very loving, supportive, and low-pressure.

I'm glad #BookSpin pushed me to read this because it was hilarious. Literary allusions and bad puns seem to be exactly my cup of tea.

@TheAromaOfBooks

“I'm Phodder,“ said the driver. “My associate here is Kannon.“

Kind of an excruciating but lovely read. I was expecting the end, but not how beautifully the author would pull it off.

March #ISpyBingo, cover with a beach on it.

I just knew a book with a cover this detailed would have something for me! March #ISpyBingo, a snake. In the grass, I might add!

Not one of my favorites by Charles but definitely an enjoyable, suspenseful, angsty read, with a great sense of time and place.

@TheAromaofBooks

“It is out dearest wish to see you girls both settled before the Lord comes to call us. And with my poor old stomach, that could happen any day.“ This was a new hell: a fusion of spinsterhood with the troubles of digestion: “The next time I suffer an evacuation of that magnitude...“

So... the new Goodreads is basically just a rip-off of Litsy's style, no?

“Cassandra's happiest moments had been passed in the company of excellent women.“

A hat-tip to Barbara Pym? But Cassandra uses it with no sense of irony -- to her, excellent women bring “the deep, joyful, and satisfying feeling brought by good feminine companionship.“ A much pleasanter metric than their usefulness to men.

#Pemberlittens

Oooo, quite an ominous ending to yesterday's chapter. And because of the book's structure, it might be two days before we get to what happens next. 😨

My third read (!) and I think I like it more every time I read it. I chose this for the “hero pose“ square because the leaning hero is such a fav with romance readers. 😁

Rain is The Heartbreak Diet by Thorina Rose and Half of a Face is A Damaged Trust by Amanda Carpenter. (Annoying that both main characters are photographers and no cover included a camera!)

#ISpyBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Engrossing story about two theatrical families putting on a show in post-WWII England. There are two romance going on but it's really more about the theater experience and how everyone in the family is part of it, which is great fun to read about. Dancing Shoes, my favorite Steatfeild, is fairly obviously a reworking of this book, but it's different enough to not make this annoying to read.