Welcome to Litsy!

Hazel and Ben live in Fairfold where humans and fae live side by side and a mysterious fae boy sleeps in an impenetrable glass coffin. When someone frees the boy, Ben and Hazel and their friend Jack, a changeling, are pulled into a fae battle for power, and the secrets they keep from each other and themselves may prove deadly. Loved the main characters, the rich imagining of a town rich in fae magic, and the new love stories for both characters.

I needed a read while I wait on my next #lmpbc book. Holly Black never fails. I absolutely loved this book. 4.5/5⭐

⭐️⭐️ 2/5 didn‘t enjoy this one sadly

Such a beautiful story. The twists are well-thought-out and believable. I liked Sorrow a lot. She‘s so creepy and tragic… she reminds me of mythical figures, especially the Green Man and La Llorona. I also liked seeing the real impact of parental neglect on Ben and Hazel. The love stories aren‘t really complex, but they work well… though I must admit that there‘s one kiss that made no sense to me and that bugs me even now.

So, what does one read after reading Betty? If you‘re me, you immerse yourself in Faerieland 🧚🏻‍♀️
Thought not as good as her Folk of the Air series, this was still excellent and just the book I needed right now ♥️
ALSO! I believe this counts as a book about a #realorfictionalroyal for #booked2022 😁 Faerie kings and princes count, right? 😂

What‘s better than one read-along? TWO read-alongs! @deargeekplace is hosting a buddy read of Holly Black‘s faerie forest stand-alone The Darkest Part Of The Forest through May for #WyrdAndWonder

Full details: https://deargeekplace.com/april-showers-of-information-a-wyrd-wonder-update/

I just finished The Darkest Part of the Forest. A really good read. 4 1/2 stars #thedarkestpartoftheforest #hollyblack

This dark, modern fairytale was beautifully written and set in a world I would have loved to spend more time in. It had a diverse cast, a deeply flawed but sympathetic main character, and an LGBTQ+ side character who was not just a trope and even got his own great story arc. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book 3 of 2022

#whatareyoureadingtonight @Blueberry
Thanks @rachelsbrittain for the tag!!

Happy new year 🎉 ✨ I was reading The Darkest Part of the Forest last night, and listening to Jane, Unlimited earlier in the day. I've carried both into 2022 with me.

Finished my #bookspin for this month! I really enjoyed this one, my first Holly Black read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.7⭐️ Magic, monsters, forbidden love, curses, Fairies and changelings. Add in a sleeping curse and a glass coffin and you have one amazing story.

I loooooved this - very much up my street! I loved the world created and all the characters in it; it all just completely sucked me in. I'll 1000% be reading more by Holly Black🖤

This was really hard for me to get into, partly because I‘m not really feeling YA that much at the moment... This seems to be the younger spectrum of the genre lol 😶I did love the MC Hazel and almost all of the characters! Storyline was a bit predictable with a too neat ending. I was kind of waiting for it to end 😅 I‘m obsessed with the fae, but I preferred the faeries in her “Cruel Prince” series. Definitely a ‘borrow don‘t buy‘.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

This was good! It stands at a sort of midpoint between #TheRavenCycle and #ACoTaR , and I'm glad to have had it as my first Holly Black. It was mysterious in the best way, with novel turns and remixes on previous ideas and myths, casual #lgbt rep, and a protag I really dug. Can recommend.

A summary of the last 20 pages:

"Guys, I have a confession. This is all my fault."
"NO, I have a confession, as I reveal these secrets, you will realize it's actually all my fault."
"Ah hah! You are both wrong! It's neither of your faults... Because it's actually all MY fault!"
"Wait, does this mean it's IS actually all my fault??"
"NO!" x3

XDDD

So I've been putting off/avoiding Holly Black for Years, having confused the covers of her modern Faerie novels like Tithe and Valient for the similar-genre'd Faerie Wars/Purple Emperor series by James Hebert Brennan. I read several in that series as a kid/young teen, and didn't like them much, and so I'd get sad whenever I saw folk excited about Holly Black because I thought it wasn't for me. XD

I'm so glad I was wrong. This is delightful. 💚💜

Next up this year we have this one! A gift from @Emilymdxn 🙌 Emily has never let me down with a book rec so far so I'm excited for this one😊

Holly Black writes the most captivating, enigmatic fairies. I love the world she creates in this urban fantasy. The fairies are tricksters; cunning, dangerous, alluring, and addictive.

Do you love stories about monsters living deep in a forest? Faries and humans living alongside them?
I've loved everything I read by Holly Black so far and this was no exception! I will definitely read more from her, the stories she spins always remind me of being a child and having grown up in a small village on the edge of a forest. This book brought all those feelings back and reminded me of the stories and creatures I used to imagine.

I LOVED THIS! I read this all in one sitting because I loved it that much! I really loved all the magical parts of this book. I loved the twists and turns and how everything just fit together so perfectly. This was just a perfect book and I cant wait to read more from this author ❤

I always love Holly Black‘s faerie ya novels and this was no exception. Hazel was exactly my kind of heroine and I wish I‘d had her to read about as a teen. This was so mysterious, the world building so atmospheric. I think this might be the most interesting setting Holly Black‘s ever worked with for me.

#scarathlon2020 #teamharkness @StayCurious +16 pts

Thanks to @hermyknee I discovered one of my favorite authors Holly Black. I enjoyed this book- I liked the idea of a place that lives on the cusp of the fae and all that comes with it. It reminds me a little bit of if Stephen King wrote books involving fairies.
I almost forgot- @TheAromaofBooks this my August #bookspin

Challenge 7 of 50: A book by an author with flora or fauna in the name

I can't express how much I enjoy Holly Black's work. Especially her fairy stories and The Darkest Part of the Forest is the dark fairytale I always hoped for. I hope the continues to expand this universe.

#popsugar #readingchallenge #2020 #fairytale

#TBRPile Day 12 📚 Near the little town of Fairfold, in the darkest part of the forest, lies a glass casket. Inside the casket lies a sleeping faerie prince that none can rouse. He is the most fascinating thing Hazel and her brother Ben have ever seen. They dream of walking him - but what happens when dreams come true? In the darkest part of the forest, you must be careful what you wish for...

Took me a lot longer to read this than it should have, due to being in a weird reading mood. Nothing to do with the book at all. The book was just as wonderful as one would expect a Fae book by Holly Black to be ❤️ I loved the characters, wish that it was more than a one-shot, simply so I could spend more time with them.

My first book finished for #readyoursign
I used this for the prompt: book you thought was imaginative. I can always count on Holly Black to create a captive imaginary world!
♊️ #Gemini

Just a stunning line. Also, I adore great sibling relationships in books.

In honor of #24b4Monday , I turned my daybed into a super cozy reading nook! New duvet, new pillow shams, etc! Just sharing because I love the colors and the cozy 😂 Now, if only this room had better lighting....

The library is doing what it can with what it can. Today I am making masks & helping with curbside service. I am not entirely happy with this turn of events, but things are what they are. 📚😷

#makerspace #library #audiobook

So, I‘m going to need a guide to the interconnectedness of the Holly Black fairy-verse. 🧚🏼‍♂️

#fairy #fairytales #favorites #audiobook #libby #litsyloveslibraries

Great book

I love this world of fair folk. Another great story of an ordinary human with extraordinary strength of character, a sibling bond, and a morally gray hero.

I'm going with Pick though there are times the story is only so-so. The characters are all very interesting and the study itself is good, but it didn't quite meet expectations, especially when compared with "Tithe". I think I never felt fully emotionally invested in the outcome, which is very important to me when reading.

This made me chuckle. And she's right of course.

My mini book haul from my local indie today. Wanted to support a local business for shop small Saturday! I don‘t need any more bookmarks but I thought this one was cute!

A wood-grain Herky I found on my #audiowalk this morning! You gotta love Iowa City for all its Herky statues! 😄

When I learned this book was set in the world as The Cruel Prince (I was totally unaware this is true of most of HB‘s books) I absolutely HAD to read it. I also loved the premise, and even if the plot got a bit muddled occasionally, I still really enjoyed it. And then when I reread TCP and caught all the references back to this story—so fun!!

#LetsTravelJuly @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620
#Forest

Eh. This was all right. It just felt a little ... surface-level? None of the characters were deep enough, I wasn‘t a huge fan of the world (what is with the occasional random gruesome gore?) and the monster was not scary. I really want to love a Holly Black book as so many people do but I felt about this the way I did about Coldtown: just ok. 3/10 ⭐️

I have been bailing left and right on books lately. 100 pages in and I just didn‘t care about this one. Great idea, but not much in the execution. Another gratuitous photo of Radar. And yes, I have barely moved from this chair for my entire long weekend. 😄

1. Friday
2. Coldplay
3. Sadly working
4. Wild Fires by Ann Cleeves

#PreMondayVibes @pepsicola

My monthly reading challenge this month was a book in a favorite authors backlist. After finding out that the same author that wrote one of my favorite childhood series also wrote The Cruel Prince I knew immediately who I‘d pick. This book was good. It wasn‘t my favorite of her books. It started off great but I got lost in the middle. Overall it was good but it wasn‘t astounding. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am doing my monthly planning for April. My prompt for my reading challenge next month is a book recommendation from someone whose taste you trust. I enjoy having a bunch of options and I don‘t have many friend in my everyday life who read. So I need help. Recommend a book. It doesn‘t have to be a specific genre or anything. Just give me a book you love.

I thought this was a neat take on a story involving fairytales and magic, but set in the modern day. It's on the way to you @BookwormAHN ! #genreswappbc