Welcome to Litsy!

@Blerdgal_Fenix do any of these interest you for a March buddy read? I'll tag them in the comments 😁

I was very eager to read this novel: a 🚺author who writes about a 🚺 MC with a Middle Eastern/North African tone to the fantasy world…but I kept translating this into a fantasy Taliban world. I was too distracted drawing parallels between the novel and what I‘ve learned about life under Taliban rule. Still there were beautiful scenes and I should reserve judgement until I read the next in the series. 2.5/5⭐️ I‘ll be mailing this out today!

Just letting @vonnie862 know that I received her book in the mail today! Thank you!! #LMPBC #GroupT

Finished this #LMPBC book from @BookishBelle

I liked the whole idea of this book. You don't often get to read high fantasy books set in the Middle East. There were some great parts and it ended with a cliffhanger, but the majority of the book dragged for me. 2⭐️

Going out to the next person soon.
@Kimzey @Readergrrl
#GroupT. @suvata

This is between a pick and a so-so for me. I enjoyed a lot of it but got bogged down in it at times as well. That could just be my mood and work load lately. @vonnie862 This should be to you on Thursday. #lmpbc #groupt @Kimzey @Readergrrl

The UK cover of this randomly showed up on my Twitter timeline and 😍😍😍 so reading the audio to make sure it's worth international shipping

Second #BookBingo? Yes, please! Time to work on a third. Oh, and the tagged book: Loved the world-building, but the characters lacked depth. And for a novel billed as feminist, the female MC needed a LOT of saving by men. Interesting premise to the plot, pacing needed work. ⭐️⭐️⭐️#bookspin #doublespin

Homegoing is a little too heavy of a book to be reading during the Super Bowl. So I switched to fantasy... but think this one might be just as heavy 🤦‍♀️

Glad to finally be getting to this fantasy though.

Don‘t judge our very unhealthy snacks 😂

#SuperBowlReadathon

Day 3 - #coverlover #7days7covers (I forgot to post yesterday)

I love me a good fantasy cover! Haven‘t read this book yet, but just won Book 3 in a GR giveaway, so I better get reading (and find book 2)!

Not going to tag anyone today, so if you haven‘t joined in the fun you should! I looked through all my owned books!

Post a cover a day, no explanation needed, and tag someone new every day!

I have read and enjoyed all of Ausma Zehanat Khan‘s detective series and some day I will get around to giving this #fantasy series a try. I don‘t really read a lot of fantasy, but since I like her other books I‘m hopeful I‘ll like this! #LetsTravelAugust

@Mitch thank you for the second birthday package! It did arrive on time 😊. This hotel sounds fun! It‘s neat they have bookmarks for each floor. Thanks for The Bloodprint! What a pretty cover. I can‘t wait to dive in to my birthday stack 📚.

I‘m always fascinated by the different covers books have in the U.S. vs the U.K. For these two, the U.K. version is on the left. I love the U.K. version of The Bloodprint but for Convenience Store Woman I like the U.S. one best. It‘s so cute. Which is most #beautiful to you? #AMonthofSongs

Powerful women,a Middle Eastern location & a massive quest coupled with themes of slavery,religious idealism & women rights,the ingredients of a complex,swashbuckling fantasy. Enjoyed it,right up to the end, which felt like it was edited by the marketing department! I am hoping the next book does a little more showing than telling. There was a lot of stopping and explaining customs & language and it disrupted the flow for me a bit.

Friday night sorted! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

It‘s a snuggle in bed kinda night tonight. 🏯⛰🏯🏔

I know no better way to spend a Monday morning ( except if I also had doughnuts!🤣). ❤️❤️❤️

Oh WOW thank you gorgeous pen pal.. this is amazing and I‘m going to dive in very soon! You‘re very wonderful, thank you . When we got married we stayed at the Pink Flamingo in Vegas..so I‘ve got a soft spot for those leggy birds! 👍🏼❤️🙏❤️

A beautiful and surprising book! I couldn‘t put it down! I thought it was really refreshing to have a book centred around Islam written by a Muslim woman.

#Day21 is for books I #DNF which is a RARE thing for me to do but...

I think with The Bloodprint it just wasn't the right time for me to read it so I plan on going back and trying again at some point in the future. The storyline sounds so good! (My 9 month old also took a nibble of the cover 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Forever Young just... isn't my favorite.. genre of book... I tried though! I really did.

🤷🏻‍♀️

#31BookPics @howjessreads

Thank you publisher for making sure they match! #bookmail !

I read this when it came out last year and loved it. The sequel is already out in the UK and releases in the US next week. I listened to the audiobook to refresh my memory of event. I still love the story. I love Khan‘s writing style and her characters. I was not, however, a huge fan of the audiobook narrator, so I recommend reading this yourself in print.

Edited to add image

I have new reads I need to get through, but book 2 in The Khorasan Archives publishes 10/16, so I‘m listening to book 1 via audiobook to refresh my memory from last year. I loved this in print and the audiobook narrator isn‘t too bad. AZK is one of my favorite contemporary authors and I can‘t wait for The Black Khan in two weeks!
#currentlyreading

#24in48
I love AZK and not nearly enough people that I know have read any of her work, and those that have read some of it have only read her mysteries. She started a fantasy series last year and the second comes out in October. I have yet to meet a book of hers that I have not enjoyed. #undertheradar

Browsing the library‘s ebook catalogue, sipping some Yorkshire Gold with milk, eating this massive sausage croissant from Paris Baguette. All is quiet as it‘s not yet 7 and everyone else is still asleep. That‘s what happens when fatigue and being sick knocks me out at 930 at night - I‘m up at 530. At least I get the morning to myself 😂😂

It's gratifying to have a hunch about a character and see it so far pan out toward the end. I really enjoyed reading this and look forward to any future installments (impatiently).

Yay I'm so crabby and tired and in pain today that ugh blah and radda radda about sums it up. I got flipped off for doing the fucking speed limit today, guys. WTF.

Here‘s the thing about the 1st book in a planned, multi-volume epic fantasy—the author has to give you characters to care about, establish enough of the world for it to be intriguing but not give so much it slows everything down, & get the action started. This book is a good read & all the pieces are there for it to be a great read—needs a little work but I think it‘ll get there. I enjoyed it and am curious to see where it goes so I‘ll read more.

This book had a great cover. Looking forward to diving into a new world.

YOU GUYS!!!! I had a lovely DM conversation with Ausma Zehanat Khan on Twitter last week and she asked for my address. Look what she sent me! I am overwhelmed and sobbing with gratitude. She is officially my favorite author.

It‘s hard not to get caught up in the giving spirit, so we‘re hosting another giveaway on our Instagram page! Link below.

https://instagram.com/p/BdVMv7wnyk3/

Congrats on the huge milestone @Cinfhen 🎉 Putting together a #pickpanbailsoso list for the #pickpanbailsosogiveaway was surprisingly difficult. I struggled to find bails and pans on my feed. Apparently, I‘ve been kinder in my reviews than I realized. 🤣🤣

I tried so hard but I cannot get into this book! I HATE bailing on books. I think this book had so much potential too but the author just never got it there. I‘m going to put this book on my “try again later shelf”. Maybe it‘s just not our time right now. Unfortunately.

Ausma Zehanat Khan's fantasy novel (the first in a series) has a lot of potential with its parallels to the rise of Daesh/the Taliban but degenerates into a frustrating and disappointing affair with shallow world building that often lacks explanation and context and although the main characters are female, they are shallowly drawn, hopelessly gullible and prone to being captured purely so they can be rescued by male characters.

I'm bummed because I was REALLY psyched to read this... but it irritated me the more I read. Something missing in the world-building, I think. And I really didn't like the kinda-sorta romantic thing between the MC and her love interest, he was kind of an ass. I read that the author usually writes mystery and this is her first fantasy, I feel like that shows.

#bummer #highfantasy #disappointed

This tagline is everything. 👊🏼

#feminism #whorunstheworld #currentlyreading

I found a B&N gift card at our house and decided today was the day to spend it. One for each kid and three for me. The unintelligible one is the new Tortall Spy‘s Guide. Also, after this I added Grant by Chernow for my husband. Everyone in the family got something.

Taking a little break from the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, before I start the 3rd book, A Storm of Swords, so I‘m going to read this beauty of a book that I won in a giveaway (thanks @Liberty ) It sounds like it‘ll be a good one!

Just started this book, and I was all excited for it. Unfortunately, The Bloodprint isn‘t clicking for me. There are sweeping, epic moments, but they fall flat. The world seems well-developed, but the story hasn‘t invested me in the characters. The opening chapters have Arian claiming a sacred cloak, but for such an important item, it‘s guarded in the most pitiful fashion. Arian is clearly a badass warrior but the story is selling her short. #DNF

Here's my November #monthlyTBR pile. Soonish and Alibis are the last books I need to read for the 2017 #ReadHarder challenge to be complete! 🙌📚🎉

#TBR #toread #newbooks #readersgonnaread #readingdiversely #readreadread #tbrpile

I don‘t think I‘m going to finish anything else tonight, so here‘s my October wrap up. Fewer novels than I‘ve been reading, but still much better than any pre-Litsy month. 😍 The tagged book was my #bestofOctober, but Orphan X, which I‘m halfway through, needs to be included in my #Octoberfavorites, I think. 😊 #SpookyOctober #UncannyOctober

#RiotGrams, Day 28: Today's prompt is “fall colors.” 🍁🍃🍂

I'm in tears at that ending. Such a beautiful novel. I need the next book. Just read it. There's so much here - strong, independent, intelligent women, a Taliban-esque society, Magic, loyalty, friendship, betrayal, war. It's all put together with such skill that I just did not want the book to end.

I overslept, so I'm getting a late start to the #readathon. (I made kissy faces at Pilot, hence the look he's giving me 😂). #dogsoflitsy. I've got about an hour left of this book. It's so good, but as it's the first in a series, nothing is going to be resolved and I have to wait a year for book two. 😱

For #fantasyfriday, this is about as close as I get to #booksinthewild. I think I need some of those skeleton flamingos for Halloween, though. I don't want to paint mine.

#uncannyoctober #octoberlibrary17

The problem with reading a "real" book instead of an eBook is how do I keep the book open while shoveling food in my face without cracking the spine or otherwise damaging the book? The answer, especially on a Friday the 13th (traditionally bad days for me), is I don't. I'll be watching TV in my phone while I eat and reading when I'm done. *sigh*

#firstworldproblems #booknerdproblems

I have 3 books in progress and I don't want to read any of them. I just want to read this one. I've bugged the author so much, she even tagged me in a tweet. I would love to meet her IRL one day. I adore her. #fangirl #authorcrush

It's publication day for this beauty! Can't wait to figuratively sink my teeth into it!