Welcome to Litsy!

Ugh, this one was BRUTAL! I read ahead (I know, I know 🙄) so I knew what was coming, but damn. I really enjoyed this book. The only negative was HOW many issues this book tries to get into - racism, classism, environmentalism, misogyny, pedophilia, the issues surrounding “virginity”, etc etc etc. Narrowing that scope could have helped IMO. Overall though, a really great read!
⭐️: 4/5

Wow, this book is so important. It tells the story of white and Black neighbors, how their teenagers fall in love, the ways that adults push their agendas, racism in the criminal justice system as well as society in general, not listening to young women, and more. It had a modern-day Romeo and Juliet feel to me. There are many trigger warnings for this book, just be aware.

While it took me a bit to get into, I soon became invested. I was surprised at how heavy it was, at times being a difficult &uncomfortable read, &ultimately heartbreaking. It addresses serious topics of racism, sexism, &more. As an audience, it feels like we are watching these scenes from above &the diction enhances this, even though we get glimpses of what people think, it feels disconnected to the depth of some of the situations.

I‘m having issues with Litsy. Posted last night, it didn‘t show up so I tried again. Then it was there twice. Tried to delete one post and it wouldn‘t go. Woke up this morning to find both posts gone! 🤦🏻‍♀️ This book isn‘t worth this much trouble! Short version- too much telling instead of showing, too much self-hyping. Bailed before 100 pages, which is not my norm. #doublespin

Started my #doublespin book today. January is off to a good start.

I‘m not sure what to say about this book without revealing too much. It truly was not what I expected and evoked emotions of anger and sadness that I usually do not get from reading any old book. I thought this book was about a dispute over an old oak between two neighbors yards but it‘s so much more than that. I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle one of the characters which would have been well deserved. Heart breaking story 😔

Old photo that popped up in my memories today! Thought I‘d share some cat love with you all this morning. Hope you‘re having a wonderful weekend ☺️

1. I'm good with both
2. Tagged book is still fresh in my mind!
Thanks @Kshakal @TheSpineView #two4Tuesday

This book 😢 I was not prepared to be so punched in the gut. My #bookspin for January @TheAromaofBooks

My #weekendreading plans @Andrew65

Couple books that have been on my TBR for ages! #bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler

Oh man, this was brutal. I equally loved it and wanted to punch someone.

#gratefulharvest #leaves

#Leaves
#GratefulHarvest

🍂🍁🍂🍁

I was REALLY enjoying this one… until I got to the climax, and then I was kind of frustrated with it. I‘m not going to spoil it, but I wasn‘t happy with some of the decisions the author made to end this one.

I‘m not a fan of stories that use the kitchen sink of social issues to tell a story - I‘m counting 8 right now without even tracking a list. However, I‘m give this a pick because of the emotions I felt as this story progressed and concluded. Also, I liked the narrators - I thought of them as a background doo-woop trio had the book been a musical :)

#14Books14Weeks2021 B11W11
@TheHeartlandBookFairy

A fast pace and slightly unpredictable ending make for a good - and reflective - read.

This book has broken my heart. I sobbed and felt sick with dread whilst reading it. I did not want this story to end the way it did. The inevitability is appalling. The characters are uttterly believable and grab hold of your heart to wrench its strings through the absolutely vile desires and deeds that run rampant in some. Love, trees, race and selfishness. Read this book. It will stay with me for a long time.

A book and a cider is a pretty great night for me 😂

This book starts off saying a small event takes place and that no one wanted to take sides. So immediately I was curious and concerned. Then it goes into the back story and I went from worst case scenario feelings to oh maybe it‘s not so bad to oh that‘s what it is to oh F not that to HOLY F NOOOO. A absolute gem of a story, I can not praise the author enough for toying with me so HARD! Well done ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Next up, another Christmas gift from my husband ( I‘ve been meaning to read this author forever)

This isn't a perfect book, but it gets all the stars from me. A book that I'm able to connect with, feel a range of emotions and even cry while reading is a mission accomplished. Maddening. Heartbreaking. Worthwhile reading.

I finished this one this afternoon and it just broke my heart. I know at the beginning of the book it said there was going to be a tragedy. But I wasn‘t prepared for all the heartbreaking events that took place. I was hoping and praying for a different ending. But it didn‘t happen. This was my #doublebookspin book this month.
#bookspinbingo
#botm

When a new family moves into the neighbourhood, Valerie is incensed that their newly built house is killing her oak tree but her son Xavier only has eyes for Juniper, the Whitmans‘ teen daughter...

Read November 24-27
Rated 4/5 ⭐️
Book 50/60

This takes place in the well respected town of Oak Knoll. Widowed Valerie and her son, Xavier have lived a quiet and happy life there for years. But new construction brings unwanted upheaval and questionable new neighbors. This book felt like a play. There was a narrator who would pop in, foreshadowing gloom and doom. It was built into parts that felt like acts. A harrowing tale, this attempts to shed light on our misconceptions about each other.

"She hated that the progress toward that post-racial future she and her husband and others like them had fervently fostered was now being reversed. Why couldn't we see one another as simply human and pull together, for goodness' sake? The planet was dying while people fought over things like who was most American-or who was American at all."

So true! ?

I had this book on hold for sooooo long I forgot all about it until it finally came in! Now I'm excited to read it all over again! 😂🤣 Happy Monday, littens! 💕📚

This was a great book, I wasn't sure what to expect as the story centres around an amazing tree needing to be cut down as it got damaged when a family did renovations to their property before they moved in. It deals with racism, young love and family problems. I really did not expect that ending, it made me cry!

Start here, please, in communion with one another despite our differences, recognizing that without start there is no end 🌳💔

This is a great read of two neighbors that start out as friends until a tree dies and the teenagers fall in love. I loved the characters and the story, but the writing style was a little weird. It's written in the third person and there are times that the detailed description of certain events are like a book report, or notes that the author forgot to edit out.

A modern day Romeo and Juliet.

My goals for #SuperSeptember readathon...
1. Read the pictured stack.
2. Finish current kindle read.
Keeping the goals super simple.
@Andrew65

1. I keep some I will definitely read again and others pass on.
2. There are many! But I would love to have A Girl Made of Air by Nadia Hetherington and Eight Detectives by Slex Pavesi

@TheSpineView #TwoforTuesdayGiveaway

Thanks for the tag @EadieB

I began this today, not very far in at the moment! #currentreaf

Gosh this book has great intentions but to me it really fell short of the mark. I know the author wanted to highlight the injustices of racism but instead she created a wholly unrealistic teenage boy who seems to deserve our sympathy because he's the "good" kind of Black kid. It felt icky.

#pop20 #bookwithathreewordtitle #litsyatoz @BookishMarginalia

First up - I can‘t believe the same author wrote Z: Zelda Fitzgerald! This is so different! It‘s had mixed reviews, and I can definitely see the concerns raised. Saying that, I did enjoy it and I thought she handled the issues well. Hugely sad and equally enraging, I think it‘s a good and thought-provoking story.

I ended up finishing this book on the last day of August instead. It was a book that had me reading nonstop for many hours. I think it was well-written. It was told from the point of view of the Greek chorus of neighbors, not any of the main characters, which was sort of interesting.

Here is my #bookspinbingo list for September, @TheAromaofBooks ! I had lots of fun with it in August- I read 11 books even though they weren‘t my bookspin or double spin choices aaaaand I didn‘t make any bingos... 🤷🏻‍♀️ But it was still fun! This month, maybe I‘ll make some bingos! I left 20-25 free for books that come up; I didn‘t do that last month but I bet it‘ll make it easier. Excited for Wednesday so I can create my bingo board! 😋

Got up early for work. Finishing up A Good Neighborhood

#mbcreadathon #mbcgiveaway2

In another author‘s hands, this could have been a beautiful book. Unfortunately Fowler‘s characters are more caricatures. The white male ubervillian, the ditzy rich white mom, the smart black mom, the black honor student...

While her story definitely drives home a point (an important white/black point in the South for sure), it is too heavy handed to be a pick!

#bookspinBINGO blackout!! 🥳

#awesomeaugust goal met 9/9 books!! 🎉

This book was DEEP!Such a page turner.I read some reviews that stated this book didn‘t go anywhere.I disagree! It has so many layers and touched on just about every issue that our country is currently struggling with.I loved the narrative form it was written in. And this is yet another book I‘d give more than a 5 rating to If I could.I‘m on a roll!

My updated #BookspinBingo board with my #b4bookspin! Three to go!! The finish line is in sight! 🏁

@TheAromaofBooks

Heavy-handed. Slow. Uneven pace. You aren't missing anything.

This book was so gripping! I felt very connected to Valerie‘s love of nature and this story shows how one decision can spill the dominoes everywhere. #BLM #family #ecology #fathers

I really wanted to love this story. I admire what the author was attempting to convey with the narrative but it just didn‘t work for me. It was such a slow burn that I put it aside for quite awhile and then decided to just dig in and get to what I was thinking was going to be an exhilarating ending (isn‘t that what the omniscient narrator was promising)? Instead I just ended up sad and annoyed. Overall it was well written but not for me. 🌟🌟🌟

Still nothing has happened so I went to look at the synopsis and some reviews. It‘s supposed to “explore the effects of class, race and heartrending star-crosses love” and so far I‘ve gotten none of that. DNF.

Some spoilers in the comments. ⬇️