Welcome to Litsy!

Just as delightful as many reviews promised! I‘m a bit of a curmudgeon at times, so the cover art and potential romance here made me wary. Then all the positive reviews and the inclusion of this on #ToB25 twisted my arm and I‘m so glad I gave it a shot. Authentic-feeling characters who experience grief but also joy find connection in unexpected moments and situations, during a wedding week in RI. Even if there was a tad bit of cheese, I loved it!

Finally had a chance to finish this after a hectic Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. I enjoyed this - I liked the fact that Espach takes what is essentially a rom-com/commercial fiction set up but treats it in a more contemplative way. I think appreciating Phoebe‘s “awakening” to her own power to decide, to act or influence others, is the crux of liking or disliking this. Without that some of the unrealistic elements would have put me off a little.

I really enjoyed this. I loved the characters, which initially seemed basic, but slowly became more interesting and complex. The main character‘s journey seemed authentic and I see why this has been so popular. Definitely recommend and this would be a great book club book. 5⭐️

Guys! I got 39% of the way through and this book was so depressing I couldn‘t do it. Also, I didn‘t know where the plot was going so that made me not want to finish it.

Prelude to my Top 24 (or 25) post, I actually managed to finish a photo bracket and continue to agree with my choices. BUT! The real question is… will any of my current reads knock off Make Envy Disco 🪩?! I doubt it.
BIG THANK YOU to @Catsandbooks for the bracket template.

Thank you Meg for my Christmas gifts! I openen them this evening because I‘ll be traveling from tomorrow. And I am super excited about both! The Wedding List because you raved about it (along with many others) and it‘s a #ToB book and Nobody Somebody Anybody I‘ve wanted to read that for so long! Your choices are fantastic, as always. I feel happy and grateful! 💝

I can see why this was a #GoodreadsChoiceWinner for the year! I couldn‘t stop listening to this one! The performance is great & all of these wedding people really came to life! When Phoebe leaves her suddenly empty MO home, she plans a nice last room service meal & that‘s it forever. But as the only non-invitee at the RI hotel for Gary & Lila‘s wedding, the bride won‘t let her lavish 6 day celebration be spoiled. The quick intimacy draws you in!

A surprisingly sweet dramedy about a depressed woman who finds a new outlook on life after accidentally getting entangled in a wedding.

Reflective ✨ Honesty ✨ Connection

This was amazing! Hard to put down, great characters that were unique, compelling, and fully formed. The writing was tight, well paced, and smart. So good on #audio ! Highly recommend! #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I started this while feeling a bit down and had to take a couple breaks before it really hooked me. It didn‘t start out as the light hearted read the cover suggests. A struggling woman checks into a hotel and becomes entangled in the wedding taking place on site. The interactions push her outside of her herself and her sadness but she also changes those she meets. Balancing both depth and humor this book was surprisingly delightful.

Very entertaining! I enjoyed this one a lot.

What a fantastic surprise! Thank you so much @AmyG ! I needed a pick me up and this package has delivered. Now I know what I will be reading next! Your kindness is so appreciated!

#Nov2024 recap: 11 books (yeah, only 10 showing) 3284 pages read, 38.6 hours listened.
5🌟 The Wedding People, Poor Deer, Sandwich, Anthropocene, How to Read a Book
4🌟 Time War, Engr Wife, Wild Houses, Whiteness
3🌟 Irena Rey, Great Bridge (skimmed😏)

Litfluence 45327

Loved it 🌟 and despite my last quote post, the narration is fine 🤗

#Nov2024 Book108 #ToB2025 #ToBLongList

This book is set in Newport RI and I am an avowed Newportophile. So when the narrator mispronounces a street name it is jarring! I have been jarred. 🤣
(FYI - Thames Street is not said like one says in London… it‘s (probably) sadly Americanized? The locals say the TH sound and it rhymes with “names”)

Pic of the view from the rooftop bar of the Vanderbilt Grace Hotel, and if you ever go, you‘ll love the elevator 📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Phoebe is figuratively in a bad place, yet literally in a gorgeous hotel overrun by a massive wedding. It is immediately assumed she‘s one of the “Wedding People.” Poignancy and hilarity ensue. A bit of seriousness; a bit of satire. Even the kind of awful characters were amusing. Another solid “Read With Jenna” pick!

So the other day, I was anticipating The Repeat Room would be on the long list and so I used 1 credit and then I found out it‘s not on the list so I was able to return it. Yay! (I find Jesse Ball a little bit perplexing.)
#ToB2025_LongList #Audiobook

Very similar to Backman‘s Ove, but from the POV of a middle aged woman. Phoebe is not as boring as she presents, she‘s very witty and very likeable . Heavy content, but many comedic moments that make it an easy read. Book #100 in 2024

Finished reading this before the election. I was trying to read an easy breezy novel and this fit the bill. A woman goes to a hotel to end her life and quickly becomes unexpectedly enmeshed in a week-long wedding party. This was funnier than I expected and had a great trajectory for the main character. A pleasant read with an abysmal cover.

This came recommended by one of my book group members - and they were right, I loved it! This fancy Newport boutique hotel is both the scene where one woman plans on ending her life, and where another is holding her extravagant 6 day wedding celebration. They become unexpected confidants, and change each other‘s lives. #bookspinbingo #doublespin

Thank you so much Lisa!! I can‘t wait to read these! You are the sweetest ❤️🎉🎊🎈 I came home from vacation to so many awesome birthday surprises!!

#LitsyLove

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Been in a slump. Came across this while wandering Litsy for the first time in awhile and really liked it! Licking her wounds after her husband‘s affair and subsequent divorce (and a pandemic) Phoebe books a room at a fancy Newport hotel where she plans to kill herself. Instead she connects with a bride, gets folded into to her 6-day wedding extravaganza, and finds new, more honest ways to live, and things she wants to live for.

Phoebe arrives at a Rhode Island hotel after reaching rock bottom in her life, but a wedding is happening & she‘s swept up in the chaos. The level of crassness felt unnecessary at times, but I did love the honesty of the characters. They found how freeing it was to tell the truth & the liberation was exhilarating. The chemistry between 2 of the characters (no spoilers) was electric. I liked but didn‘t love it.

TW Infertility, suicide & infidelity

Ready for November and the #bookspin challenge!

At first I thought this was yet one more book about a neurotic woman, and I‘ve read a lot of those lately. But this was actually a story of discovery as Phoebe spends one week immersed in a wedding party of people she doesn‘t know in the slightest. Her life as she knew it, changes before her very eyes as she gets to know all these strangers. Very entertaining!

Really enjoyed the first half, which was real, thoughtful and sad.
The 2nd half was cliched to me and very predictable.

I really enjoyed this novel, I liked the main character Phoebe and the entire cast of characters was fun to read.

This was such a fun read! In today‘s world I love a book that lets me escape and makes me smile & laugh. This book did that. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was good. I liked Phoebe and the way she related to the various wedding people. Her journey from despair and insecurity to optimism and confidence worked well. Her dealings with Lila, Gary, Juice, Marta, and Jim all gave her something she needed to be able to move forward but she helped each of them as well. I read some of this but mostly listened to it while I painted and the narration is well done.

#WhereAreYouMonday
I'm at a seaside hotel in Rhode Island 🥂
@Cupcake12

I'm going to read this today- between laundry, watching the Broncos, picking up groceries, and painting a #FallJamboreeDoodles doodle. Ahhh Sunday 🩷

September Reading Roundup

The Wedding People was my favorite of the month, I think it just hit me right at the right time. Murderbot is always a fun time, and Playing the Enemy was great I learned a lot from it.

Overall an okay month, I wish I had read more books I jived with. But on we go.

This one has been SO highly recommended I‘m almost scared to read it.

Audio. Though odd as audio. Phoebe went to the hotel to kill herself - husband cheated, cat died, work stinks - due to her depression and instead finds ways to live as she is dragged into a wedding party. Becomes “keeping up with the wedding people”. I like how each part of her depression she saw in somebody at the wedding people. Phoebe helping them helped her. There were some really funny moments, and others that just grab your attention.

🍁Loved the tagged book🧡
🍁I read a fair amount on my Kindle but I way prefer to hold a real book.
🍁I think it‘s a tie between thriller and contemporary fiction

🍁🍁🍁🍁Play along Littens! #wondrouswednesday 🍁🍁🍁🍁

1. Tagged book was a spur of the moment listen provided by LibroFM‘s program for librarians.
2. Audiobooks!
3. Middle grade and historical fiction

Thanks for the tag @Eggs
#wondrouswednesday

Mid-month check in! I took an audiobook break for 5 days, and it was very needed. Back at it strong today with the new Strout. Happy Fall Y‘all! 🍂🍁🎃👻

How I spent much of today.

I loved this. 5⭐️ loved this. The characters were so real. I got so attached. Sweet, touching but not saccharine or simple.

A suicidal divorcée checks into a costal hotel where all the other guests are attending the wedding. A sudden connection with the bride upends her plans and her life.

Read with Jenna‘s latest picks have been ??!

Phoebe Stone is at a breaking point. She bails on her life, leaves town, and checks into the seaside Cornwall Inn. At the hotel she is an outsider, the lone stranger in the midst of a huge wedding party. She finds herself pulled into the lives of these strangers, and discovers a freedom in her anonymity. Over the course of a week, she begins to see a new way of being. The book is introspective and surprising, with a darkly comic edge. Good audio.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up!! I really enjoyed this. TW for suicidal thoughts, miscarriages, failed IVF, cheating husbands, divorce and wedding drama. Phoebe is going to kill herself. She has flown all the way to her dream vacation hotel to do it. Only problem is Lila.. No one is going to ruin Lila's million dollar wedding. This book is darkly funny, sweet, and filled with reflection on life. You get pulled along with a mess of characters who all

'"Your husband is not going to take care of you the way you think,” Phoebe says. “Nobody can take care of you the way you need to take care of yourself. It's your job to take care of yourself like that'

Such hard truths, one I also learned after a divorce. You have to take care of you first and foremost. Maybe a little depressing but also in the end completely empowering.

Also look at this dog!!! Stuck at construction while listening.

I loved this so much more than I thought I would. It‘s been a while since a novel actually made me laugh and cry. I thought her first book was fine, but this one is just excellent; I felt Phoebe‘s struggles deeply. #botm

Thanks to #bookercat and #tulincat for helping with the photo 🐱🐱

August book bingo.

Between the title and the rom-commy sense I was getting from this one, I was planning to skip it, but I‘m so glad I didn‘t! Phoebe goes to a very fancy hotel for a particular reason after everything seems to be falling apart for her, and finds the whole hotel otherwise occupied by a wedding party. There‘s great humor here and excellent character development. I really enjoyed it and immediately told my mom to go read it.