Welcome to Litsy!

Enjoying the warm sunshine and a fantastic book! I love how Cat Winters really captures a time period and creates strong female characters breaking against all barriers. Plus, this is a retelling of Hamlet! #hamlet #Shakespeare #catwinters #yalit #1920s #rebellion

1. The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters (Hamlet retelling. Ah!😆)
2. My Spring Break started today, woo!
3. Lilies but more specifically tiger lilies.
3. Chocolate eggs.
#ManicMonday #yalit #teacher @JoScho

I think this is my first official book review. I'm pretty torn about it because I think books with historical relevance or that address difficult topics are so important. This book is about the KKK in 1920's Oregon and the way it terrorized a small town. However, you know how when you're reading a book and it feels laborious? Like you're slogging through it? That was this book for me. Not much happened until the last 50 pages.

50 pages in. . . A retelling of Hamlet in 1920's Oregon. Interesting premise. So far, so good. I'm not loving the cover though.

Hamlet re-telling in 1920s Oregon where the Hamlet equivalent is a biracial girl and the Horatio equivalent is gay? SIGN. ME. UP. I couldn't put this book DOWN. There are SO MANY clever references to the source material but it remains a riveting book in its own right. Please read it.

A well researched and important historical novel (with a paranormal bent) tackling issues of racism, homophobia and a kind of everyday bigotry that is as relevant now as the 1920s setting. Whilst not quite hitting all of the spots for me I enjoyed very much and it has left me wanting to know more – always a good thing.

I love that Cat Winters takes on real life historical issues and creates her own edgy, dark, supernatural stories to go along with them. I really enjoyed the other two books I've read of hers, this one was good.. just not as good.

So I might have finished it in one go. Excellent reworking of Hamlet-set in 1920s Oregon just as the KKK is trying to gain control. I love moving through the story with the chapter titles echoing the original play, and the different ending than I expected.

We're all winding down here. One chick in bed, another listening to bedtime meditation. Looking forward to tea and starting a new book. Question: what do y'all think about a book log? We do hand made gifts every year and the cousin I got this year is a book nerd (there's a lot of us in the family) so I was thinking a book log would be a good thing for her to keep track of what she has read, what she thought, etc. Input on contents?

I borrowed this book from the library online and I am so glad I did. I am so grateful to the Big Library Read last year for introducing me to Cat Winters. Like all of her other books I've read, The Steep and Thorny Way is engaging, heartbreaking, and completely engrossing. I flew through it and I really appreciate the message that it was trying to convey. Overall, while it was not my favorite of Winters' novels, I still loved it.

Stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this tonight! This was my first introduction to the author, Cat Winters, and I really liked it! If the others are better, as one review indicated, then ... WOW!

I'm not very far into it, but I am enjoying this "blind book" pick. Especially cool is the inclusion of old photographs.

Loving the blind date with a book idea! Purchased this one based solely on the blurb and might choose to retread Hamlet before jumping into this one. Got the title off the receipt, haven't read the description yet.

This was an intense ride from start to finish. I read it in two sittings, and did not regret it. The characters were all diverse and unique, with a very atmospheric setting. Besides a few tiny parts I really liked this one! A great YA read.

Can't stop reading this book. I just want to savor every moment. Cat Winters is such a phenomenal writer.

Ending the weekend by starting one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I'm counting down the days till I get to meet Cat Winters.

Can't make the image crop correctly, but I still had to share. #hour12 #deweys24hourreadathon "I believe that love and wrong are two deeply unrelated words that should never be thrown into the same sentence together. Like dessert and broccoli."

My current Cat Winters favorite! I could not put this book down. Such a genius way to intertwine a modern retelling of Hamlet with an equally dark piece of American history.

Biracial girl in 1920s, in a story supposedly inspired by HAMLET...there was every reason for me to like this book, but the story and characters felt underdeveloped and bland. I liked IN THE SHADOWS OF THE BLACKBIRDS, but this one fell flat for me.

Next up on the TBR pile: The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters - it takes place during the Prohibition-era in Oregon and is inspired by Hamlet.

As always Winters has written a beautifully eloquent and well researched book. Her characters were well rounded and so easy to empathize with. I highly recommend all her work.

All of Cat Winters' books are incredible. Every single one. Always well written and completely addicting.