Welcome to Litsy!

So I started this and loved it! The dual narration in different eras was great, and I enjoyed reading about the 50s.
But... the last few chapters seemed rushed, like it was all tying together far too neatly. I'm still deciding my overall thoughts... but I would read more of hers.

#StorySettings #Skyscraper

Such a sweet gift at such a fun (and busy) time of the year! Graduation for our students was last Monday and the preschool graduation last night. It‘s my favorite kind of milestone!

Thanks to @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks for the teacher appreciation ❤️ hoping to post a review soon! So far, the book is fantastic!

Haven‘t posted much here lately, but read 12 books during February! This was my last read of the month, and I really liked it! The alternating POV‘s between the 50‘s and present day upped the suspense. Both MC‘s were relatable and engaging, and I loved the look into what life was like for women in NYC in the 50‘s. It was a page-turner that I finished in two sittings. I recommend this one to anyone who loves a good story.

My #bookspin for September. I always enjoy Fiona Davis‘ books. I love how she weaves a woman‘s narrative around historical events that I‘m not familiar with. She also has a way of capturing New York City in a way that makes it just as much a character as the people in her stories. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
@TheAromaofBooks

Updates for August coming soon, but this is my #bookspin list and #bookspinbingo card for September! I started off making 🏈 , but some of them looked nice and others looked deflated 🤣🤣
Tagged book is my bookspin and The Bride Test is my #doublespin.
Plan to color the helmets in when I complete a book. Gonna be a fun month!!
@TheAromaofBooks

A perfect evening... book club and sushi!!! #booknerd

Fantastic book and I love how seamlessly Davis weaves 2 different time periods together! Loved the characters and didn‘t want the story to end! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantastic book! It‘s full of history and the story between the characters does twist and turn which keeps your full attention.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read because it drew me in and kept me interested.

Grabbed this out of my ever growing TBR stack. Hoping this will pull me out of my reading funk.

Well-crafted structure but somehow the twist and the characters were just okay for me. The whole ‘spices are amazing in 1952‘ thing felt too insubstantial.

This is the Beancat enjoying the first sunlight he‘d seen in a week last Friday. Hallelujah! And the rains begin... 🤗

#fallreads #firesbegone #catsolitsy #sunlight

Love these socks and the book! Thank you so much @Mynameisacolour ! #SeptemberSwap

#3Books oops I just realized there are 4!!

Fiona is named after this author! 🖤🐈

#SetinNewYork

#bookreport #weeklyforecast #mashup Most of my reading this last week was unplanned. I enjoyed Florence Adler but the end had me going hmmmmm, really? 3 1/2🌟. The Dollhouse gave me a bingo for August #bookspin 3🌟 A Woman is No Man is brutal. My heart aches for those whose lives are so forcibly restricted and abused. Ayesha is a P&P retelling through the eyes of Muslim culture 3 1/2 🌟 My focus this week is to finish Too Much for #LMPBC.

Wild card day again! I‘ve never heard of #JasonReynolds 😱 so I‘ll go with #FionaDavis !! I love her, hence Fiona‘s name!! She just didn‘t look like a Beatriz! Yes, I‘m a nerd and talk to authors on Facebook 🤦🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

#AugustAuthors

Loved this book. It works it was between modern day New York and the past.

1. USA
2. The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis
3. Length doesn't matter but I do shy away from chuckles.

Thanks! @Allylu for the tag!

#lockdownlowdown @veritysalter

Success! This definitely helped me out of my funk! (I think the weather helped a bit too 😉)

Took a day off to enjoy this gorgeous day with the family! Skipping ahead on my #BookSpinBonanza list and trying to get out of my book funk! 💛

This book provided a great escape and was the perfect distraction. I enjoyed the format flipping back and forth between 2 periods and POVs as the story unfolds.

I quite enjoyed this historical mystery - flipping back and forth between past and present day doesn‘t always work for me but it did here. Aside from a few annoyances with Rose‘s back story (such dramatic lead up to the rather disappointing “reveal”) this sucked me right in and kept me turning the pages.

This was a very compelling historical fiction set in New York in the 1950s. Two timelines (can historical fiction even be told without 2 timelines at this point-this format is so popular). Very well done and I believe this was Fiona Davis‘s debut novel. I have more of her books on my TBR but wanted to start at the beginning. I enjoyed the unraveling mystery and the romance and visiting this cool city in the 50s. Very fun. 4⭐️

I actually really enjoyed this story! Loved the fact that it alternated between different time periods and had the perfect mix of fun, romance, and mystery. I‘ll definitely be reading more of Fiona Davis!

I liked this one fine but wasn‘t bowled over. I enjoyed the mix of history and mystery but a couple of the characters got on my nerves.
#booked2020 #hatonthecover

#thoughtfulthursday
🌝 The new year, so far, has been great! I have been keeping up with my resolutions and I hope they become habit!
🌝 I started the tagged book today, and I‘m reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and Three Women, both of which are buddy reads.
🌝 Not sure who‘s been tagged already, but if you‘d like to play, consider yourself tagged! 🤗

Wanted to like this but found it really hard to get into and just didn‘t really connect with it. Which is a shame because it‘s bang in one of my favourite eras and should be right up in my wheelhouse.

What an amazing package 📦♥️📦

Thank you so so much for all the #litsylove - it‘s a book I‘ve had my eye on for a while and the journal too is perfect. You know me well sweet friends xxxxx

I picked up this beauty in the bargain bin at Office Depot today. Who knew Office Depot even sold books?! 📖😍📚

Latest historical fiction read!

Davis had a nice novel until the last five pages when she throws it in the toilet. The ending comes quickly and suddenly. It‘s as if her editor asked her to wrap everything up with a nice bow. It was saccharine and a little vomit inducing how spoon fed it felt. Otherwise, it's a nice story combining a mystery with a touch of love and a lot of independent women searching for belonging.
https://onthebl.org/2019/10/01/the-dollhouse-by-fiona-davis

“Not scared of change, like Darby was, but scared of staying put, staying unchanged.”

One of my favorites!! 🏨📚

#Hotel
#LetsTravelAugust

Tonight‘s monthly #HughesUnitedBookClub was terrific! It was a big turnout and a fun, lively conversation that went right until the end! Just about everyone loved this book, and a nice thing about it is that we‘re close enough to #NYC for many of our members to have been there during this time. They talked about what it was like, and Davis is spot on in this novel. At least one of them even visited the Barbizon in the ‘50s!

#LitsyLovesLibraries

#BookNBrunch! Late brunch today, and it was goood. Accompaniment this hot and bright early afternoon was: pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice, and unsweetened iced tea. MMMmmm 😋! Happy reads & happy eats! 😎👌🏻

#BookNDinner! Accompaniment this hot and sunny evening: my stir-fry of broccoli florets, green beans, carrots, and bella mushrooms, sautéed in extra virgin olive oil; rotisserie chicken strips, blacks olives, mozzarella balls, and shaved parmesan and asiago cheeses. And to drink, sparkling mineral water. MMMMmmm ?! #MrBookKitchen. Happy reads & happy eats! ???

? Background music: Spotify playlist “#NYC Jazz—Jazz & Swing of Yesteryear” ?

#NewYork
#LetsTravelAugust

Love this author!!

I can‘t wait for Chelsea Girls!! ❤️ 🗽

Book 4 of #24in48

In the 50‘s the Barbizon was THE hotel for single women in the city. 60 years later it has been converted to condos but a number of the women have stayed in their home at the Barbizon all these years. When Rose, journalist and resident of 5B, encounters one of these mysterious women on the elevator she realizes there must be a story to be had and begins to dig. What she finds is a story of love, jazz music and tragedy.

I‘ve signed up for #24in48, but I think the chance of me reading for 24 hours is very slim considering I‘ll be in #NYC all of Sunday, lol. Go onward and upward anyway, I say! 😁

My 3 I‘ll be journeying through. Have you read any of them?!

Figured I'd give this a try! I've heard great things about it!

I can‘t resist a story set in 1950s NYC and my physical TBR for this genre is a rather tall stack. This was a fun read even if I did find the 2016 researcher of said story a bit annoying.

A fun twisty book. 4🌟

Surprisingly good! I‘m about 1/2 way through.. easy reading. A little history, a little mystery, intrigue.

Throughly enjoyed this story. The history of 1950‘s NYC was fascinating to me, especially the facts about the Barbizon Hotel. The characters were all likable and the format of the book (switching back and forth between 1952 and 2016 NYC) kept me hooked! Quick read, filled with mystery and romance.

“The waiter came with their food, two plates of wobbly green Jell-O mold in which slices of olives, celery, and cheese floated, garnished with lettuce and tomato.”

I can say with confidence that my face looked something like this when I read this line: 😳🤨🤢

I‘m a huge foodie, and I love the 1950‘s, but this is a huge “no” from me. 😂

Morning plans: Breakfast & check-in at the Barbizon Hotel!
🏨🛎🧳

This has to be one of my favorite things:
>When a book makes a reference to another book (even better when it‘s one I read and liked!)

I was pleasantly surprised to find out this was a historical fiction book. Not usually a genre I read, but I‘m fascinated with the stories about 1950‘s New York, and the true bits of history intertwined throughout!

“During high school she‘d preferred novels to her classmates: They were in every way easier to read.”

I can totally relate!
~
A hotel full of young, aspiring women from wealthy families, with a history of housing famous writers and actresses... sounds like a tough crowd to socialize with, if you happened to be from a small town. 😬