Welcome to Litsy!

I absolutely love this series. Milo and Meddy are the best, and I adore Clem and Georgie, and Milo‘s parents...and this installment introduces a whole new set of interesting characters. Set in a couple days leading up to Christmas, it has just enough holiday feeling to make it feel right for now.

I‘m a bit late to the party, but I‘m joining @Andrew65 and co in the #DashingDecember readathon.

I want to finish my Greenglass House series read/reread, and complete at least two bingo lines for #bookspinbingo. I‘m struggling to find time to read with holiday and family obligations (feeling a lot of pressure to make Christmas good for the kiddo), so hopefully these fairly modest goals are attainable.

This feels like the motto for 2020...

I really do love the Greenglass books by Kate Milford. I hope she comes out with more of them. I find that they tackle serious issues (adoption and all that it can mean for the adoptee) that some kids deal with on a daily basis. Milford never shies away from the hard emotions, I love that. This is an empowering book that tells a great story and provides outlets and covert advice to kids struggling. Highly recommend!

I was about 100 pages in when our house guests from hell showed up. Two boys about Jonathan's age... I have never heard so much whining, screaming, fighting, and bullying. I'm all for hands off parenting to foster independence... but I'm not for negligent parenting that causes your kiddos to be monsters. And I *hate* when kids push, punch, and make fun of my little guy just because he is more reserved and not as athletic. *Steps off soapbox* cont.

I must be on a kid lit kick (probably because I am uber stressed out and had the worst panic attack I've had in years, this morning.) I read the first of this series back in... October? November? Then tried to listen to this on audiobook loan through the library but I'm just much better at hard copy fiction. So excited to dive in!

I had no idea there was a second book, so when I stumbled across it at BN I actually squealed (which is not me at all). I read this in about three days and loved it. Easily as good as the first book.
The kid friends who got the first book from me visited yesterday. Oldest (17) told me how much she adored the book. I excused myself and returned with this one, put it in her hands, and she squealed, then started reading inmediately. Win.

"Listen. Once a little girl was playing hide-and-seek, and although she was supposed to be hiding, she found something instead."

We didn't use all of the marshmallows last night so I decided I needed to put a couple of them in my coffee with some chocolate this morning 😆🎄☕🍫⛄

And now for my favorite indoor reading spot at Casa Tubac. The only trouble with this one is how easy it is to drift off to sleep.

My favorite semi-indoors reading spot at Casa Tubac, the solarium.

"Only mostly dead....I hear you can come back from that." Princess Bride references are the best!

This is my favorite semi-outdoor reading spot at Casa Tubac. It was made for their cat, Fancy, who used to be an outside cat when they lived in Dallas. Dallas doesn't have coyotes though.

My pic doesn't do it any justice, but I think I found my perfect outside reading spot here at Casa Tubac in AZ.

"Frost was pretty much the worst. It was like a promise with nothing behind it." #FirstLine I feel ya, Milo! The snow in Austin last night barely coated the ground and was gone by 8am this morning ? At least I have this book.

A bit of an odd assortment because I couldn't pick just one 😀

#bestsequelyouread #allthebooksof2017

I loved the first book and it seemed like a good, wintery choice for today.

I'm not allowed to buy any more books this year 😉

The plot is similar to Greenglass House in that unexpected guests show up, get stranded, and are all looking for something special. What makes Ghosts different is the fascinating introduction of the concept of the Raw Nights performers, a troupe of “actors” who travel around performing and telling stories during the “raw nights” before Christmas when magic is wild. As a lover of folklore, this aspect of the story totally sucked me in.

After finishing the first book, I picked up the second immediately and devoured it in a day. This one was not quite as magical as the first, but I appreciated the expansion of the universe and folklore surrounding Greenglass House. And the mystery definitely twisted and turned! #kidlit #middlegrade #mystery

Overall, this was good, although a little too long. I love the atmosphere in both Greenglass books, and I like how a variety of complex ideas are woven together to make it more than just a simple mystery.

I have a little free time this afternoon for some reading and cat cuddles before I have to be social later 😻

I'm excited to start this one from #netgalley!

Eeeeeeeh! I'm so stoked for this one! It's gonna jump the line. #middlegrade

I love this cover! A paranormal middle grade book with secrets to discover and great characters. @HMHKids

The biggest problem with this book was finding the time to read it!! I was engaged from the start and just wanted to be able to finish it, but life kept getting in the way. It is the 2nd book in the series. I intentionally didn't read the 1st one because I wanted to see if this one could stand on it's own. It did and made me want to read the 1st one. An engaging #middlegrade mystery.

Started this #ARC and am already drawn into it. #middlegrade