Welcome to Litsy!

“I was more afraid of the truth than the lie. The truth would change the circumstances of my life. The lie was static. The lie was peaceful. I was happy with the lie.”

#Bright #25Alive

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I was snowed in for a few days and ended up staying up until 2 am Monday reading this book. I‘ve heard this book described as bleak, dark, gritty, and depressing but I really liked it. It was depressing but I feel like it‘s an accurate depiction of generational poverty and addiction. Even though it was dark, I felt a glimmer of hope for the characters.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So good! I didn‘t love it as much as her Latest, God of the Woods, but still great. A gripping and wrenching story of a troubled female cop who is searching for her downtrodden sister. When women start showing up dead, the stakes are raised. Lovely writing and strong female characters.

I couldn‘t stop reading! I felt connected to the characters and loved the suspense. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well, this was incredibly bleak. The characters were, for the most part, unlikable. Maybe this author isn‘t for me.

👍

#BookReport 30/23

Another good week. I enjoyed all of them! The tagged one not as much as everybody else but I still had a good time with it. I think I liked Romantic Comedy more than everybody else 💛🩷 and I recommend Brother & Sister and The Night Country!

What I expected to be a thriller turned out to be much more about family and the bounds of sisterhood. Set in Philadelphia, where one of the sisters is a cop and the other a drug addict.
It‘s a good story and a good book. A light pick.

A compelling read that underscores human frailty and character flaws, the author uses Philly, PA, (the Kensington opioid area) as the setting. If you like Tana French, you‘ll love this. It‘s very well done and until the end, you‘re never sure who‘s the victim and who‘s the perpetrator…
Day 8: #JoyousJanuaryReadathon @Andrew65
Day 2: #Sharreadathon @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#Pantone2023 @Clwojick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Toss up between this one (intense, powerful, heartbreaking), Lore Olympus, and Legendborn! #AlphabetGame #LetterL @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Thanks for the tag again, @Allylu ♥️

Things have been crazy! I‘ve been watching a lot of reality tv 🫤 and reading a lot but not actually finishing any books. Thankfully this morning I was up early and picked up Long Bright River and read half of it! So good!

Wow, amazing novel about family and addiction. This is also a murder mystery and the twists threw me. Usually a novel this length takes me longer, but I couldn't put this one down.

I‘ve had this on my TBR forever, but once I started it I read it so fast to see how things turned out. I liked the dynamic between the two sisters, and the setting was strong. I‘m planning to read an earlier book by the author in February, so it will be interesting to compare her writing.

Despite the oppressive subject matter, Moore writes about a neighborhood decimated by the opioid crisis in engaging prose that is incredibly readable. The vignettes describing the character‘s harrowing and traumatic childhood are particularly important in the conversation surrounding how our environments can inform our predilections to addiction as much as our choices. A thriller with a deeper message about compassion, courage, and redemption. 4⭐️

#Beginswith #Long

#TBR 📚

Just got home and just opened my #BestOf2021Swap #BestOf2021 and I can't say THANKYOU Enough to @Avanders everything in this package is absolutely perfect. I love the books love the candle, the reading socks seem super cozy. And I will use them tomorrow. Can't wait to dig into all of the books Sanderson has been on my "Author to read eventually list" for sometime so I am very excited about that. Thank you again for everything.

#12booksof2021 #November @Andrew65
Incredible, intense, heartbreaking, uplifting. Loved this one so much.

I completed all of my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin books in 2021! Here they all are!

My favourite, and the only one that received a five star rating, was Long Bright River. In total, I had:

One 1-star book ⭐️
Seven 2-stars books ⭐️⭐️
Seven 3-stars books ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Seven 4-stars books ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One 5-star book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One DNF book

I love this challenge as it forces me to read books that I otherwise might ignore! Thank you @TheAromaofBooks 💕

November wrap up

Beasts of a Little Land ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Flicker in the Dark ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This Thing Between Us ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

From Blood and Ash ⭐️⭐️

Her Every Fear ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Moonlight Child ⭐️

The Last Laugh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Willodeen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Maid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Burntcoat ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Long Bright River ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#monthlywrapup #novemberreads

Woah. This was incredible. It seemed like it would be a procedural, but then a family story with addiction thrown in, but then it got all twisted in on itself and I was enthralled. Wonderful storytelling, fabulously flawed characters, and brilliant ending that is open but cautiously so. Thumbs up on the audio narration as well

Long Bright River proved to be less of a mystery and more of a lyrical exploration of the bonds of sisterhood, the impact of a traumatic childhood, and the ways human beings try to escape themselves. I think the author provided a compassionate look at drug addiction, humanizing those who many often fail to see empathetically. I was deeply affected by this poignant narrative and greatly impressed with Liz Moore‘s profound storytelling skills.

My list of books from my #NewYearWhoDis match, @Bookish_AF . I‘m really excited since it looks like we have similar tastes. All the ones pictured I already own (plus some), a few I‘ve loved, and one that hasn‘t even been on my radar.

The books slightly intimidate me since they are longer than I have been reading (hooray for depressive reading slumps but also trying to meet your yearly goal). I may be bad and start during my Christmas break.

This is a story of two sisters. It‘s also a story set in the parts of Philadelphia that probably get overlooked, underfunded, generally ignored. It‘s a story of addiction, sacrifice, police misconduct, and abuse.
It‘s a story about losing family, finding family in the most unlikely of places, then finding lost family again.
It was EXCELLENT. I won‘t soon forget it.

Two sisters, one is a police officer and sees what addiction does to people on the streets, the other sister is addicted and keeps her sister always on the lookout for her on the streets. Addiction not only affects the user but the family, the community and their friends. Every character in this book is needed to show how addiction is an unwanted burden on anyone that knows someone who abuses substances. Great read.

And now we enter the time of year where I go into ongoing denial about the seasons changing 😩 This book is so good, at least!

An example of the opioid crisis with elements of a mystery and thriller thrown in. This book was fabulous.

This novel looks at opioid addiction in the Kensington area of Philadelphia (about 45 minutes from me). Although I guessed whodunnit fairly early, this was a good read about how hard it can be to escape addiction.

Still resting under my “sick blanket”! Next up is another #botm thriller The Guest List; my brain can‘t handle anything too complex at the moment.

Something of a thriller crossed with literary fiction. The writing is very introspective & raw with a high emotional caliber. The pacing is a little slow, but for the most part that works for the story. It is dark & gritty & real. It can feel like a gut punch from time to time & will hit very hard for those who have experienced having a loved one struggle with addiction. Not an easy read in some ways, but worth the time.

"I wanted everything to stay as it was. I was more afraid of the truth than the lie. The truth would change the circumstances of my life. The lie was static. The lie was peaceful. I was happy with the lie."

Wow. One of my favorites for 2021. At almost 500 pages, I tore through it in 2 days! I loved the characters, the dual timelines between then and now, and the pacing was perfect. The setting- the Kensington section of Philadelphia ' was a great backdrop for this story. Many of the places mentioned were familiar to me which made this even more enjoyable. Highly recommend! 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Getting some outside reading time in today!

#currentlyreading
This has been in my TBR for awhile and I just grabbed it on a kindle deal. Excited to dive in!

Curious which river…the Delaware or the Schuylkill. If it is NE Philadelphia it would be the Delaware. I guess the only way I‘ll know is by diving in!

This was a very honest portrayal of addiction and how it impacts the family and the user. There weren‘t many happy moments or reveals in this book but it felt very realistic and the mystery element added an interesting touch that kept me reading. December 2019 #botm selection. My mom made me the amazing blanket in the back ❤️

I couldn‘t put this one down. A mystery, family and sibling relationship saga, and impact of the opioid epidemic all in one. A cop story featuring a female police officer with multiple twists and turns. Some of my favorite scenes were small moments like the protagonist‘s son‘s bday party at McDonald‘s- the one with the indoor playground. It felt so real.

This was my #bookspin and I read the entire book today. 4 stars. @TheAromaofBooks

Not too far in and I hope it starts to pick up. The narrator feels really flat and it‘s making it hard to stay interested.

None of the March #BOTM spoke to me, so I went with this member fave choice. I know Barack Obama (wish he was on Litsy!) and @MicheleinPhilly and others have given this a pick.

Outstanding! While this thriller is fast paced and plot driven, the author manages to have the characters shine through and remain front and center which is a rare and wonderful thing. The care and empathy with which Moore shares the story of a crumbling neighborhood and it‘s residents is truly remarkable. I loved this book!

I love a #readathon and even though I just finished one, with all the stormy cold weather in Texas, I love the idea of hunkering down for another. My goal is to keep reading from my #BookspinBingo card, I‘m making great progress with 2 bingos already! #FabulousFebruary @Andrew65

🎧 Libby loan

It took a bit to get into as it started a little slow but it draws you into Philly‘s opioid crisis.

The story alternates between 2 sister‘s history growing up living with their grandmother after their addict mom dies & present day where 1 sister is a beat cop & the other (an addict who gave birth to an addicted baby who‘s adopted by the beat cop) has gone missing during a serial killer‘s spree.

Good mystery/family drama ⭐️⭐️⭐️7/8

👍🏽 Obama‘s Booklist
In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds.
One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don‘t speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Trying to finish this one by Tuesday for my library's book club Zoom!

A cosy read. Thriller/crime/ dysfunctional family / well written & engaging! It‘s been cold here the last few days ... this felt like a sneaky cosy read ... not part of the plan ( a stolen book ... I snuck it in .... really enjoyed it 👍🏻❤️

Finished in bed last night. A really good read.
Although a mystery at the centre, it‘s really the story of the sisters, families and addiction.