Welcome to Litsy!

Last week they found cancer in my dad's prostate and today we're at the hospital having it removed. The doctors are hopeful that they'll be able to get out all out and that he'll be fine... but it's still a really stressful wait. 🤞 (UPDATE- SURGERY WENT WELL!)

I'm reading this thriller about an active shooter at a zoo. I'll definitely post a full review when I'm done, because the author is doing some really neat stuff.

Another excellent thriller! I started this last night and could not put it down.

After reading Fantasticland, I‘m a teeny bit obsessed with books set in theme parks and carnivals and, in this case, zoos. I felt this book so viscerally, as a mom and as a teacher. Wowza, this backlist pick was an absolute win for me. I read the entire book with a pit in my stomach and probably some elevated blood pressure. Holy crap. Five stars and a few tears from me.

Will the boychild‘s orthodontist appointment take five minutes or fifty-five minutes? Who cares?! Starting a new book while I‘m here. 🤩

For a long while, Joan has managed to balance on the balls of her feet, knees bent, skirt skimming the dirt.

#FirstLineFridays Such an intense read! My heart.

This book was suspenseful and sometimes plain scary, but the parts I loved were the main character's observations about motherhood. My son is 13, so I miss those years when he was so closely tethered to me. I spent countless afternoons with him at the zoo when he was small, so this felt close to home, making it that much scarier.

For a long while, Joan has managed to balance on the balls of her bare feet, knees bent, skirt skimming the dirt.

I'm a day late for #Firstlinefridays but after devouring the first half of this book yesterday, I wanted to share it anyways lol Happy Saturday!

A woman and her four-year-old son are trapped in a zoo during a mass shooting. I raced through this book, so the author did a good job of keeping a quick pace. The characters were interesting, if a bit two-dimensional. The ending is a bit ambiguous, but I like ambiguous endings. I would have liked more use of the setting, and the child was unbelievably precocious and immature at the same time. Overall, it was an exciting few hours of reading.

Overall I would recommend this book. Joan and her son find themselves trapped in the zoo-victims of a poorly planned plot to...? Well, honestly I'm not sure.
The relationship between Joan and Lincoln is so tender and any mother will relate to the love Joan has for her son. Her decisions, though questionable, force the reader to ask themselves what lengths they would go to save their child and what-or who-they would sacrifice to keep them safe.

I should be studying but I'd rather be reading. I can't decide which one to start.

The only reason I didn't give this a thumbs down is because it captured me enough at the beginning to finish it. But yikes, the author made what should be a fast-paced event take place over 3 hours in an almost 300 page novel. Noooo thank you. I skimmed a lot if it after the 1st half mostly because I couldn't stand the MC's stupidity.

Okay, I bailed on The Last Flight. I hardly have any time to read, so if I'm not sucked in then it gets the axe.

Next on my list to try is Fierce Kingdom! Let's hope this one is better. 🤞

This was just okay for me - it felt a bit underdeveloped and the ending was too abrupt. BUT! The relationship between the main character and her little boy was written beautifully ♥️♥️ I recommend it, but wanted more 🤷‍♀️

It's not really a sad book, but the tagged book made me bawl.

1. No trick-or-treating with friends so no creating pie charts of the candy haul. Maybe we'll try to have a virtual party to show off the kids' costumes.
2. Local produce.

#ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon

Very easy to slip into this book. And full of thrills and super fast paced. A great distracting read. I would have loved seeing a bit more use out of the zoo setting but otherwise, no real complaints

I expected this to be good and it turned out to be fantastic. I cannot praise this enough. The setting was a great choice to explore as the site for an act of domestic terror. I couldn‘t put this down and was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I powered through it in a day. If you‘re even mildly interested in this, you should go for it.

I heeded the advice from a few reviews on Litsy - do not start this unless you‘re ready to get through it in one sitting. Wow! I could not put this down, and it had my heart racing almost immediately.

Ok. My current reading pile isn't high enough... but yesterday a friend told me he bought this book. It's also on my TBR-Pile, so we'll read it toghter. But he really wanted to start today, so another current read on my list... 😂😂😂 #thriller #zoo #buddyread

🌟🌟🌟🌟
My heart was racing for the last 1/3 of this book!!!

This my first time reading a book annotated by the author. It‘s been quite ride and I‘m only 82 pages in.

Started this one yesterday, finished this morning, a well written thriller about a mother and her 4 year old son trapped in a zoo with an active shooter. The bond between mother and son is so well developed, I‘m still tearing up. Trigger warning ⚠️ this is a pulled out of the current headlines story.

Starting this one today, but I‘m already freaking out, maybe I should have stayed with my historical romance binge 😱. Love 💕 Dragon 🐉 fruit refreshers 🤩

I believe it‘s 300° with the heat index, so I‘m audiobooking indoors while I eat lunch at work. I really liked this story. The suspense kept me wanting to listen on my commute to and from work. In the end, it makes you think about choices we make, what drives people to behave the way they do under stress. Gunmen on the loose at the close of day at the zoo, perfect summer read!

Couldn‘t put it down. Holy cow.

This book about a shooting at a zoo was gripping, and scarily resonating in light of so many mass shootings. I found it horrifying, realistic, and gut-wrenching, and it made me question what I would do in a similar situation.

I ordered this used and when I got it realized it has all the author post its from Pagehabit. Pretty cool! I never ordered from them but was always curious about the notes.

I loved reading this story until I didn‘t anymore. It counts for my reading goal, but that‘s about it.

I really enjoyed this one. For me, there was just the right amount of tension. The active shooter situation unfolds in real time, and the reader gets to experience the frustration of hiding with a child and no reliable way to know what is happening and if help is on the way. I have worked in one zoo and my husband still does (at a different one). I was pleasantly surprised to have no major quibbles with the way the zoo was portrayed. 🌟🌟🌟1/2

#currentlyreading This is a page turner!

This is an INTENSE read! I‘ve cleared my schedule for the next couple of hours. I need to know what happens ASAP! #fiercekingdom

This book was STRESSFUL!! You definitely shouldn't start it if you can't finish it in one sitting.

If I hadn‘t been interrupted by social obligations, I would have finished this book in one sitting! It was fast-paced, it was engaging, and it made my heart race in all the right ways. I think the fact that this book is about a mother trying to protect her four year old son made it resonate with me more, since I have my own four year old boy at home. An enjoyable read if you‘re looking for a quick thriller.
#LitsyAtoZ @BookishMarginalia

Reading in bed and cuddling with #NelsonKitty. A good way to spend a day off 😊 #catsoflitsy #BotMTBR

I think I‘m going to continue with this. Not because I feel like “oooooh this is good I have to find out what happens”, but because I feel more like it‘s a train wreck that I can‘t look away from. It‘s not the writing, they writing is good for the most part. It‘s the story. The story is severely lacking, but I really want to know where the hell the author is going with this mess.

Started this one last night. Only about 50 pages in and it‘s not terrible, but I hope it gets better.

My mom anxiety won‘t allow me to read this book yet, but I heard it‘s pretty good! #kindledeal

I finished this earlier today and am still not sure how I feel about it. I was expecting a suspenseful procedural about a heinous crime. What I got instead was a rich psychological study of a world that a mother co-creates and co-inhabits with her young child. A world that she tries to hold together under extreme duress. It felt both fascinating and indulgent. Does anyone know how this story ends?

I think that the fact that it took me a day and a half to read this says alot. It started off a little shaky- I struggled to connect with Joan or Lincoln but it really picked up. I did find some of the storylines around the shooters a little loose and could have been tighter and Lincoln for the most part was quite irritating. Still a great read though

Looking forward to getting into my new read 🤓📚

Bought these goodies at the Civic Center Block Party today! Paperpacks were $7 and hardcovers were $10. It‘s not that cheap, but cheap for SF! And, all proceeds went to SF Public Library. 😃😃😃

So I've been to the zoo with my toddler twice since I've read this book, and it continues to haunt me 😖 i keep looking for exits and was pleased to find potential escape routes that i might could pull off if i brought the baby carrier 😮 anyhow, i rarely reflect on books this often in such a short period but this one really hit home. #mommyreads #thriller

Lunch reading from yesterday!

I saw plenty of bad reviews on this book so I was very hesitant to start it but it wasnt that bad. A bit predictable, but it kept my interest and was a fast read. The book focuses on the now all too common problem of mass shootings and shows what people are capable of when put into that situation.

#bookstack #julytbr #ambitious

Recommended today on my blog. Great summer read.

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/fierce-kingdom-gin-phillips/

This is exciting @Mommamanzi Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips is one of my recent faves :)

🌟🌟
I wanted to like this, it had an intriguing premise and the first 80 pages or so were good enough, but I ended up really disliking it and found it boring. (Full review on Goodreads)

Trying to catch up on my #BOTM backlist
I‘ve been subscribed since Jan 2017 and have way too many unread picks.

Pet sitting adventure of the day - Hoping the fur babies nap long enough to get some reading accomplished.