This queer historical retelling of The Selkie Wife manages to combine a sweet sapphic love story while also examining the horrors intrinsic to stealing a selkie‘s skin to get a wife. And the audiobook narrator was the perfect voice for this!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Ella, living in her stepmother‘s cellar, & Belle, searching for a way to save her father find themselves magically swapped into each other‘s stories.

This was really adorable! The bones of each fairy tale were there, but they way they got reinterpreted was so interesting! & the final twist was really well done! None of these characters acted as young as they were supposed to be, but otherwise this was a lovely middle grade retelling! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

This was a lovely little cozy story about magic and teaching and building community.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

December‘s #MonthlyRoundup was full of amazing reads for #WinterGames2024 !

The score of a lifetime, & it will take a rag tag group racing against a powerful company to get there first.

There was a lot I liked. Found family, space heists, wide expansive worlds, corporations are the bad guys. But we didn‘t actually get to the heist, it felt like we only got the first half of the story, the romance felt forced, & I‘m not a big fan of futuristic sci fi that tells me that fatness shouldn‘t exist. 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

I forgot to post yesterday!

Think The Mummy and Road to El Dorado had a baby! This was a fun treasure hunt novel with a plucky female protagonist, the ruggedly handsome mapmaker who helps her, and a hidden city with untold treasures.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

So, the boxty on the griddle is a little too salty for me. 🤣 But I‘m always down for any recipe that‘s mostly potato cooked in bacon grease. #DinnerByTheBook

2025 here we come!😬#BookSpinBingo #BingoBoard

#BookSpin This Machine Kills Secrets, #DoubleSpin NetGalley

#Roll100 Queen‘s Consort, This Machine Kills Secrets, Grace of Kings

#OokBOokClub Going Postal

#BobWhiteBuddies The Happy Valley Mystery

#BeyondTheYellowBrickRoad The Land of Oz

#QueerBC Last Night at the Telegraph Club (an #AuldLangSpine read!)

#ThematicCozies Karma‘s a Bitch

#LitsySciFiBookClub Redshirts

#AuldLangSpine Fresh Ink

I listened to this audiobook back in August for The Sealey Challenge, and I feel like this collection of poetry fundamentally changed me as a person. I immediately bought a physical copy, and it will be a regular reread for me for years to come.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Happy end of #WinterGames2024 ! And wow! I did so much better this half!

17,885 points! Woohoo for #HolidayBookDragons ! And shout out to The Nightmare Before Kissmas for giving me over 370 instances of the word Christmas! 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you all for a lovely month! And happy new year!

As part of my New Year‘s Resolution to read a quarter of the books I own but haven‘t read, I‘ve created myself this bingo board!

With the understanding that I am not allowing myself to buy a new book until I have a bingo! I‘ll be using the hashtag #UnstackMyShelf if anybody wants to use this.

@PuddleJumper ‘s #NoBuy2023 challenge was an enormous inspiration for this!

Happy New Year everybody! May your coming year be filled with good reads, good friends, and good food. 💖

I‘m really excited about these goals for my reading for 2025!

I‘m always a sucker for any story asking what happens to the children of portal fantasy stories when they return home, and this book I read in July did a fabulous job!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Thanks to @TheSpineView for the tag!

1. A few! I‘m going to read 1/4 of the physical books I own, read more poetry, and get caught up on my NetGalley backlog (if I sound confident enough, it‘ll happen, right? 😅)
2. Babylonia by Costanza Casati, the tagged book (I adored her Clytemnestra retelling)

#Two4Tuesday

Nadya, born in Russia, adopted to Colorado, falls into a pond & discovers a city beneath The Lake of giant turtles, river songs, talking foxes, & love.

I haven‘t fallen in love w/ a character this quickly in this series since Lundy. I loved Nadya‘s curiosity, her determination, her comfort in her own body even w/ the lack of an arm. & the world! I wanted to sink down into this Drowned World. Immediately want to reread the whole series! 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Former child superhero Velveteen is sucked back into the world of heroics when she discovers that the corporation that owns most heroes in North America is not what it appears to be.

A combo of the previous 2 volumes, & a fascinating look into a world where corporations own superheroes & all the horror that comes w/ that. Loved Veleveteen & all her friends, & the nods to superhero media. A little let down on the villain, but loved it!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

A magical realism story of Orquídea Divina fleeing Ecuador and her grandchildren discovering her secrets. Two timelines, with magic, secrets, mysteries, generational trauma, and a resolution that left me gasping! Undoubtedly, my favorite read of June.

And the audiobook was, pun intended, divine.

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Got my read for #ThematicCozies all ready! I‘m going to use this challenge to try and make a little dent in my unread kindle books!

@julieclair

I‘m so excited for the first picks for #Roll100 ! Got a couple chunky ones here, so we‘ll see how it goes! 😁

@PuddleJumper

#WeeklyForecast

I am sooo not ready for 2025! 🤣🤣 But I am so ready to start my first #Roll100 read of the new year!

#BookReport

I really loved all of the books I finished this week!

Milo‘s Christmas vacation at his adopted parents‘ inn is interrupted when a bunch of new guests show up w/ secrets. It‘s up to him & Meddy to solve the mystery.

This was delightful! The gorgeous descriptions of the inn & the windows, a snowed in mystery, using TRRPGs to tell the story, all while grappling w/ really tough topics like Milo‘s desire to know more about his birth family while still loving his adoptive parents. & the twist!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

A lovely, cozy middle grade story about a magical puzzle house and the family that returns to it!

I loved so much about this one! I read it to my nibling, and I loved the casual introduction of non-binary pronouns, the lovely family relationships, even with a grandmother who has disappeared into her grief.

And it‘s got such a cute cover! #12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Apparently, I don‘t have work New Year‘s Eve this year! Surprise! 😅

Who wants to join me for a last minute day long #Readathon before we ring in the New Year?

#TheEleventhHour

Out of the 1,060 books I own, I have not read 198 of them. So, one of my New Year‘s resolutions is to read a quarter of my unread books! That rounds up to 50.

We‘ll see how this goes. 😅

#SundayFunday Hope you‘re all having a safe and happy weekend, and don‘t forget to tag me!

A fantastic urban fantasy story drawing inspiration from Lipan Apache legends! With an asexual protagonist, strong family relationships, and a fantastic narrator for the audiobook, this was easily my favorite read of April!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

Shout out to @julesG for pointing out I had space for a little table next to the chair!

Now I‘ve got a little rolling library cart! It doesn‘t really roll on the carpet, but it looks super cute and makes me very happy. ❤️

Listen, if I close my eyes and pretend I don‘t see 2025, can I have 2024 for just a little bit longer? 🤣🤣🤣

#BookSpingBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag! I was at work all day! 📮 And I got to chat with a friend about our buddy read for January!

Now I‘m curled up under blanket and cat, reading an ARC and feeling very cozy indeed.

#SaturdayChatterday @AllDebooks

Sorry What Feasts At Night, but this historical fantasy queer retelling of The Wild Hunt was my favorite read of March!

With a lush historical setting, Lucy Holland is one of my few auto buy authors!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

When it is storming and windy and hailing outside, all soup is Christmas soup. #AudioCooking

Thank you @TheAromaofBooks for the lovely card and the amazing sticker! I can‘t wait to continue this adventure with all our #BobWhiteBuddies !

A Japanese translated fabulist tale of a hole in the wall diner that doubles as a detective agency: seeking out that formative meal from your past that you long to recreate.

An absolutely charming tale, with a loving father and daughter relationship, and food in every chapter that made my mouth water!

#12BooksOf2024 @Andrew65

For PR damage control, Prince Coal of Christmas finds himself engaged to his best friend, a Princess of Easter. A wrench in the works appears in the visiting Halloween Prince who is distractingly hot.

Was this cheesy & campy? Yes. But it was also very sweet. I did feel like it tried to do too much in such a short time w/ the romance & holiday Game of Thrones level politics, but the characters were all
engaging. Even a misguided Santa.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Dorothy is swept by a tornado from her home to the magical land of Oz. What follows is a series of adventures where she makes friends & learns the way home.

It was very sweet to revisit this. I had forgotten just how serial this story is, w/ all the little adventures. & sometimes, I want the simplistic fairy tale of good vs bad. & I loved how every chapter we see the Scarecrow be smart, the Tin Man be kind, & the Lion be courageous.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

My first post for #12BooksOf2024 ! I really loved this queer retelling of the Fall of the House of Usher!

It was so creepy and the horror was so well done, and I loved all the characters! @Andrew65

Merry Christmas! & congratulations on finishing #Adventathon ! It has been a joy to see all of your posts, even the less than stellar reads.😂

What book do you recommend from your reads over the past three weeks?

I really love Custodians of Wonder! A combo travel memoir & anthropological record of dying traditions around the world, it was fascinating & hard to put down.

Thank you for joining me this year, & I hope your holiday season is joyous!

What a perfectly lovely #Jolabokaflod present this Christmas Eve! Thanks you so much @Jadams89 and give your cat scritches from me!

Many, many thanks again to @MaleficentBookDragon for setting up such a wonderful swap!

The fall of Troy told by the women most impacted: Andromache, Helen, Cassandra, and Rhea.

Intense! & also part 2 of a duology!😅 I was familiar enough with Troy to know the general set up, so I didn‘t really feel lost jumping in the middle. Everyone‘s stories balanced nicely, & there was an element of hope throughout, even as you know the tragedy that is coming. Also, always love a Greek retelling that validates my Paris sucks belief.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Next up, we have the great Sir Patrick Stewart!

And the cookies for the family Christmas cookie exchange later tonight! #AudioBaking

#HolidayBookDragons #WinterGames2024 @LiseWorks

One of my favorite Christmas traditions! How many audio copies of A Christmas Carol can I get through before Christmas Day? #AudioBaking

This year, we are starting with Levar Burton‘s edition! #HolidayBookDragons #WinterGames2024 @LiseWorks

If you read The Little Book of Hygge, but still want some tips on finding joy in your work, then this is the book for you!

This was an extraordinarily well researched little book about finding joy and purpose in work, and what you can do if you find yourself in a situation where you can‘t. Some of the financial advice skirted a little too close to “millennials and their iced coffee” for me, but I appreciated the general advice. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

I didn‘t know there was going to be a fourth one! For some reason, I thought it was just going to be a trilogy!

#CoverReveal

#WeeklyForecast

I am so excited to get to our #QueerBC holiday bonus read! ❤️🖤❤️🖤

#BookReport

Finished some really interesting books this week!

Look what arrived just in time for Christmas?! 😁 #OokBOokClub

While ruminating on the grief of losing her mother to cancer, Jennifer Love Hewitt shares her tips for bringing magic into her life.

I‘m glad I got declined for the ebook of this, because it does feel a little hokey. But Hewitt‘s grief for her mother, the joy & love she finds in her children & husband are so sincere, that I found myself smiling along w/ her as she talked about creating Moon Water & decorating for every holiday she can.🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Life is tough for Ben, returning to Salt Lake City, after a divorce & leaving his teaching position, to help his father run their board game shop. Things only get trickier when a shady game collector ends up dead on their doorstep.

This was cute, but what I liked most about it was my love for all the real locations, (also the BYU shade😅). The pace felt too slow, & Ben was not an engaging narrator. I did like the 2ndary characters!🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

Reading this book on Christmas Eve has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. My dad would read it to me when I was a kid.

It‘s a beautiful little story, and I love it, and the movie adaptation. 🩵

#SundayFunday Have a wonderful day, and don‘t forget to tag me!

I am so sorry, Mercedes. But it‘s me, not you.

I‘ve been picking this up every night for almost two weeks, and I make it five or ten pages before getting bored.

Okay, so it‘s a little bit you, but I think I‘m going to have to file this as a #NotRightNow and try again later. 😅