Welcome to Litsy!

These are my picks for #BOTM and #Aardvark The God of the Woods won #BOTM's book of the year award and I liked almost all of #Aardvark's choices. It was hard just picking three. What did y'all pick?

Great story that keeps you hooked until the very end. An excellent finish reveals everything to the reader that was hiding in plain sight.

In 1975 Barbara vanishes from the summer camp on her family‘s property.In 1961 her brother disappeared in the same woods&was never found.Told through the eyes of several mostly female characters&jumping back&forth in time could have been confusing but is done so well that it adds to the suspense.I love that Moore wrote both an engaging story with an unexpected (sad) ending&created characters the reader can relate to.Her criticism of sexism

I never considered bailing on the book, so I have to give it three stars, but the ending has made it a super low pick for me. There were parts of the narrative never resolved, I couldn't stand the Jutya storyline (why are women cops always written so poorly?) and while the pacing was good and the dueling timelines ratcheted up tension, the ending fell so flat as to nearly ruin the good parts of the book.

Thanks, I hated it! Maybe my timing is off, but reading about a bunch of snobby elites blame everyone around them and hating on women was not helping this week 🫠
The #literallymycharacter challenge was fun though, thanks @TheBookHippie even the Amazon ads (not pictured) were entertaining and pretty accurate tbh! I AM a sleepy insomniac judgy hot mess who's glued to her phone/camera.

I hope you‘re getting what you want from this life, too 🏕️🛶🌲

WOAH NELLY!! This was an intricately-woven mystery that had me guessing til the very end. Really satisfying and really clever. The author set a hard task for herself with bouncing back and forth amongst sooo many timelines, but it totally worked. The hype is real!!!

5🌟/5🌟
This book was awesome! So worth the read.

Oh my god this book was so good?? Like stayed up way too late last night finishing it even though I had to be in office today good??? Excellent atmosphere, mystery, characters, the whole shebang. Easy 5 stars!!

After like 6 months my hold finally came in!!!

I devoured this book in 2 days: My fast reading via the audiobook definitely helped me to keep track of events as the many points of view and a dual timeline could have otherwise been confusing. However the story pacing really ratcheted up the tension. The end was a bit of a letdown, but it was well worth the journey. So may great characters! A young boy disappears in 1961, never to be found. His sibling disappears 14 years later…. 😱

Thanks to library holds I‘m finally getting to read some of last year‘s top books. This one was maybe a bit over complicated but definitely worthy of the hype. At first I struggled a little because there were so many characters to keep up with and two timelines, but it all came together well. I liked that almost all of the POV characters were women, especially Judyta and Louise.

I enjoyed this mystery about two missing children years apart from the same camp. Lots of interesting characters and the setting was perfect and atmospheric! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was so good! What a fantastic story about a train wreck of a family

This was quite the story! Somewhat hard to follow as an audiobook given all the characters and the back and forth timelines, nevertheless it kept my attention and made me need to know what really happened with all these characters. You‘ve got two children, years apart, going missing at the same camp…what could have happened? I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Finally started one of my Christmas books

I for the most part liked this one & the audio was decent. There is a lot going on in this book with dual timelines & lots of characters. I think the only thing that made me not love it was the ending. I was a little frustrated & had so many questions. Not sure if that is the author‘s style or intention. It was a little frustrating, I‘ll put my irritations/questions in the comments

Years after the disappearance of one camper, a summer camp faces another disappearance with chilling parallels.

Survival ✨ Shadowy ✨ Layered

Really liked this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Centered around the disappearance(s) of the Van Laar kids, this is very much a sprawling slow burn of a 70s Adirondack summer. Pay close attention, especially at the beginning. There are a lot of well-fleshed characters, and you need to keep the info straight. I had to take a few notes, but it was worth it. Though I thought one thread was unnecessary, this is otherwise nearly perfect. Brilliant title!
Lives up to the hype, IMO.

It‘s so cold here today, so it seems like the perfect time to finally start this one. Summer camp is warm, right?

Overall, I enjoyed this one… this slow burn of a book was set at a summer camp and had a plethora of characters that added many facets to the plot! Can‘t wait to discuss it at book club next week!

It's summer in the Adirondacks
#whereareyouMonday
@Cupcake12

I enjoyed this; it had sort of a Twin Peaks vibe to it, and some good plot twists. I thought the ending was completely unbelievable, though.

2.7⭐️ I am so glad that people enjoyed this book, I just was not one of them. This was supposed to be a Thriller and I wan not only, not thrilled, I was bored. There was also just so much going on in the book with the multiple POVs and all the multiple time lines. This was my #HomeTownBookClub pick for January.

It‘s raining out. I‘ve made my cup of tea and let‘s settle in and get this book read! No distractions. I feel like I‘ve been distracted by other books (and my phone) so I‘m going to focus and finally get this book finished! It‘s a perfect day for it right? ☔️

I liked this one - it took a hot second for me to get into it, since there are so many characters and timelines. And it was too long. But it kept me wanting to read, with a few surprises thrown in, too! (3)
⭐️: 3.75/5

The bed is empty.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

My second favorite of 2024! Only lost to Wedding People by a speck. Highly recommend the audiobook.

Excellent historical mystery that truly kept me guessing! #wickedwords : Survivor @AsYouWish

Just an appreciation post for this bookmark. There are a few more like this and I need to go back and buy all of them. They‘re beautiful 🥰

My first read of the new year and I thought it was good. Part family saga and part missing person mystery, I found it to be a page turner (short chapters helped) despite the length and multitude of characters.

Happy Birthday ! 🎉🎁 #49bdaygiveaway

3✨ The mystery was intriguing enough to keep going. I was struggling with this story because of the multitude of characters, the various timelines, and it wasn‘t really a thriller in my book. This story I read with my #htbookclub that we all pretty much agreed that it was not the book for us.

Right?! If my son was missing I wouldn‘t sleep until he was found. Why is he so unconcerned? 🤔

Slow burn but worth it. I thought in might get a little confused with all the characters but I didn‘t. It added to the story and made you really wonder what happened. Dual timelines and multiple POVs were also easy to follow. Very well written and I loved how it ended and wrapped everything up. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Intriguing, mysterious and interesting mystery that has many different POVs & multiple timelines. Has Small amount of language & as far as I remember no sexual contact, closed door or anything really. There is a twist that is a really good twist and one you didn‘t see coming, but makes sense when you find it out. I did not like the ending though🤨Recommend to anyone who likes twists and turn mysteries. 🙂📚🎉☕️
#LitsyReads #Bookstagram

This is a genre-bending book that combines a mystery/thriller with literary historical fiction. There were many perspectives to keep track of and several different time periods. I thought it was more complicated than it had to be, but I enjoyed it. The characters will stick with me, although I don't count it as the stunning literary marvel it is hyped up to be; it is a good book.

Fantastic! Moore has managed to make me want to stop everything to read her book yet again; such an amazing storyteller! Dark, mysterious, and twisty with characters that are complicated and authentic-everything you want in a thriller! If this is on your TBR, move it up! If it isn‘t and you like thrillers, add it now 🙂

Had a tough time even finding this one for my next book club…

Excited to start this today…I never felt like I could get to it last year because I was consistently chasing challenge reads. It‘s my January #bookspin pick.

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

This was an incredibly moving mystery. Loved how it highlighted women‘s movement into becoming more than a wife; and it‘s those women who are the ultimate heroes of this tale that spans generations. #botm
Book 1 of 2025

This novel takes us from the 1950s-1975 at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains where the daughter of the wealthy family that owns the camp goes missing. Every character has flaws, a few of them behave reprehensibly, and a few deserve redemption. And if you've ever experienced the wonders and perils of summer camp, on that alone, this book is worth the read.

Yeah! My January #bookspin and #doublespin picks!

Excited about these two! Thank you for hosting, @TheAromaofBooks

Alright. Mixed reviews for this one. But I love Liz Moore so I‘m jumping into this one. Another one where I‘m thrilled the publisher spent time on the insides of the book.

#12Booksof2024

Favorite book in August was one that‘s made its way onto almost all (if not all) the end of year “best books” lists for 2024. I raced through this one and was surprised by how much I liked it. Really well constructed thriller with good writing, interesting & compelling characters, and a tangled bundle of secrets. Definitely an entertaining read.

@Andrew65

I didn‘t read much the first half of the year but the second half was better. I hope I can hit 50-60 books in 2025. I try not to feel bad when I see so many people read 100+ books in a year.