My library system is hitting it out of the park with this year‘s Community Read selections. Art Club is the MG pick and it is delightful! The artwork is colorful and fun. I love the story of kids forming an art club, exploring different styles of art, and proving to school administration and the community how art is important, too.

This is the picture book selection for my library‘s Community Read. It is adorable and I want a physical copy for my own shelves. I love the watercolor artwork and how the illustrations are all done inside watercolor dots. It‘s a great story about harnessing creativity. The whole thing just makes me happy.

A soft pick, this is book 2 in a 5 book series. I really like Wheatley‘s style, but the book is sooooooooo slow. Why she‘s stretching this story into 5 books is beyond me. I really feel like this would be better as a couple of chapters rather than 300 pages. I‘ll keep going, because I like the writing, characters, and overall story. Plus, I already own the rest of the series. 😂
This is also my February #doublespin.

Today was a good day. I went to my local indie to pick up hard copies of the last two audiobooks I listened to, got recommendations from one of my favorite booksellers, and got to hear an award winning illustrator talk about his craft and read the tagged picture book that he illustrated. Went to get 2 books, came home with 7. #bookmath

I read more nonfiction than usual in February and much of it was heavy. I did not finish my current read like I had wanted to and am already stressed about meeting my March obligations. I truly love the Litsy community but I do sometimes miss the days when I didn‘t get swept up in all the books and buddy reads. I was lucky to finish more than 20 books a year, but there was so much less stress. 😩

On a much lighter note than my most recent reads…my #bookspin and #doublespin books for March. Thankfully, both of these are already on my March TBR!

This deserves more space than Litsy provides. This offers more nuance on Israel and the October 7th Hamas attack than I‘ve seen previously, without both-siding genocide. I appreciate the discussion of language, terminology, and how those are interpreted. Beinart does a great job weaving Jewish theology into his arguments and I am grateful for the insight he provides. Thank you @JamieArc for the recommendation.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸

I enjoyed this. It‘s part travelogue and part history of witch hunts/persecution of predominantly women in both Europe and the US. Sollée is a practicing witch, so there are mentions of supernatural experiences she has in some of the places she visits. I liked hearing about her experiences, but it might not be for everyone. ??‍♀️

I have so much I want to say about this, but I‘m alternating between rage and grief, so I‘ll settle for this. Part memoir, part history, part journalistic reporting on current events, this is a concise damnation of Western imperialism, particularly the pervasive Islamophobia and unwavering support for genocide. If it doesn‘t make you mad, you aren‘t paying attention. Free Palestine. 🇵🇸

I‘m really hoping that the #bookspin gods are kind to me and pick books that are already on my March TBR. Between library books with due dates that can‘t be extended, books clubs/buddy reads, NetGalley books that publish this month, and my library system‘s annual Community Reads program, my schedule is already packed. In fact, looking at this makes me so stressed, I may bail on everything and just watch Netflix. 😂

The Finlay Donovan books are ridiculously fun escapism, reminiscent of Janet Evanovitch‘s Stephanie Plum series. The story is far-fetched, with awkward situations and plenty of laughs. The audiobook is brilliantly narrated by Angela Dawe. My only quibble is that I hate even the slightest hint of a love triangle and Finlay‘s law student versus detective dilemma makes me want to scream. 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

I can‘t believe it‘s almost March. One good thing about categories instead of titles is that it makes creating my #bookspin list a little easier and faster.

Congrats on the new house, Sarah!

It‘s been ages since I picked up one of Penny Reid‘s books and I‘m so glad I grabbed this one.It‘s set in her Knitting in the City series world, featuring the adult children of that series‘s main characters. This book is a sexy, funny, heartwarming tear-jerker, with the requisite HFN, authentic representation of Bipolar 1, and it reminded me of why I fell in love with her books in the first place.

I‘m on the fence with this one. I‘m all for a good f*ck the patriarchy, capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and ableism are bad, kind of book. But there‘s so much repetition here and a ton of anger (justified, but unfocused) that the book itself is exhausting and draining, which seems to defeat the purpose. A low pick. I like the idea of the book better than the execution. #shesaid

Excited for today‘s #bookmail. 😍 It‘s fun to get new books from new-to-me indie booksellers, especially Indigenous books from Indigenous-owned booksellers.

I feel like I read a different book than other reviewers. I forced my way through this ARC and that‘s 5 hours of my life I‘ll never get back. I did not like the authors writing style at all. There was no flow to the prose. The narrative is clunky, dialogue is awkward, and the solution is unsatisfying.

Following in the steps of @TheBookHippie I searched Pinterest for Literally My Character, but I‘m a Gemini and make my own rules, so I picked the first 8 instead of the first six. Also, replace “cat” with “dog” on the middle one.

I am so torn. I got this ARC through LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewers program and I have a 100% review percentage. I saw other reviews that promise gets better, but (a) it took 60 pages for someone to die, (b) it took 30 pages for her to stop calling the authors by their full names (“Dorothy L Sayers” instead of “Dorothy”), and (c) I really dislike her writing style. Do I review based on what I‘ve read or suffer through it? 😭

I‘m listening to this on audio for #shesaid, so I don‘t have the exact quote, but can someone tell me - do they truly no longer have nap time or recess in elementary school? I remember nap time in Kindergarten and we had recess throughout elementary school. (Also, the audio is fine, but I think I‘m going to need my own print copy!)

Adding another book to my already packed February TBR because I got a free copy of the first book in Wheatley‘s new series. She printed a set of paperbacks with an error in the blurb (it mentions wolves and she removed the wolves from the final version of the book) and she offered them to her fan group subscribers. Yay for free books!

I am on a roll of bails lately. I‘ve scrapped at least three books in the last two weeks, maybe more. Natasha is tired of my nonsense and we‘re both hoping this one sticks.

This was an interesting, if dry, look at the initial creation of the polygraph, early cases, and how lie detection devices have evolved. It is also a tale of injustice, of guilty people going free and innocent people being executed, based on a device proven inaccurate. The polygraph won't die, but people do because of it. I found this to be heartbreaking and anger-inducing. It's one more example of how the justice system in the US is unjust.

DELIGHTFUL! I can‘t believe I never read these as a kid. I adore the format - short stories with the solution to the mysteries at the end, giving you time to puzzle out the solution, if you can. This was a lot of fun. #EBBR

I think this has to be one of my favorites. Plenty of eye-rolling moments and a few laughs. As always, it requires a suspension of disbelief to get past all the coincidences and I‘m going to leave myself notes under a spoiler tag for #nancydrewbr discussion. We got more Hannah, and more Carson Drew and the boyfriends than usual and the boys were delightful. Definitely entertaining and worth the time spent reading.

You know it‘s going to be a good Nancy Drew when this is the opening illustration. 🤣🤣

#nancydrewbr

If this is her debut, it‘s clear we can expect great things from Neena Viel. It is unlike anything else I can remember reading. It‘s dark, creepy, horrific, and filled with raw emotion. The supernatural element is wild, but makes complete sense. The writing is compelling, vivid, and hard to put down. It‘s violent and gross, at times, but underpinning the whole thing is the fragile but unbreakable bond between siblings. Out tomorrow.

My #bookspinbingo board for February. Off to check due dates to set my priorities and then get reading!

The #bookspin gods were not especially kind to me, but one of the books on my TBR does count for #4 - The StoryGraph Reads the World challenge, so I can‘t be too mad. Assuming, of course, that a book I started last month but am only 22% of the way through counts for this month‘s bookspin??
#doublespin is an add to my TBR and I think I‘ll have some tough decisions about which book clubs or library books go unread. 😮‍💨

A little overwhelmed by my February TBR and am really hoping the bookspin gods are kind to me and pick books that are already on my must read list. Part of the challenge is I need to switch two of the books I started last month from audio to print because I still want to read them but they are not working for m on audio. I have less time for print than audio. 😩

I didn‘t quite make the release date, but this first in a two-book minimum series was fun. Camden Gardner gets the lead on a case for PAR. It‘s a team of misfits and brainiacs, people who‘ve made big political missteps in the FBI, and are relegated to obscurity. Now though, they have a big case hunting a killer hunting serial killers. Their futures are all on the line. Lots of action, great characters, and some clever cat-and-mouse chases.

I‘m calling it for January. 11 books read, 4 DNF, and 5 books still in progress. I did not manage Bingo, but I did read both my #bookspin and #doublespin titles. The Songbird & the Heart of Stone was my favorite, but I read a lot of good books this month. I didn‘t hate anything I finished, which is a success in my book!

I don‘t think I can add anything to what has already been said about this collection of brief essays on writing, racism, reparations, and apartheid. It is short and powerful. I knew some of the history, but not all of it. I appreciated the push to read books by oppressed people, not their allies or their oppressors. I loved that he was honest about his perspective and opinion changes in the face of new/more information.

New #bookmail! I needed children‘s books for a couple of reading challenges and these will work perfectly. 🥰

I finally started on my reread of this novel. I first read it in high school - we got extra credit if we read the unabridged version and I flew through the entire thing on Spring Break. Several years ago, I bought this translation for the cover and then bought a second copy so I wouldn‘t have to flip back and forth to the end notes. 😂 #READLESMIS

February #bookspin list is ready! I finished both my #bookspin and #doublespin books in January, which i think it a first for me! And I only need one more book to get a #bookspin bingo. Here‘s hoping i can do the same in February! As before, several are just categories or challenge titles, not actual book titles, since I need the flexibility for mood reading.

I didn‘t get to this in December, but I needed something to read so I didn‘t break my StoryGraph streak and it had to be on my phone because Natasha was in my lap. This was a cute, fast read. I‘m kind of surprised by the low ratings. It‘s not high literature by any means, but how can you not love a short story that takes place in a repurposed wiener mobile?

This is a fun rom-com/murder mystery. There are a couple of spicy scenes, and the whole thing is ridiculous. It‘s silly, escapist fiction. It‘s a good light-hearted read and I enjoyed it enough to willingly read another book by this author.

Switched from the ARC to audiobook, then stopped at 23%, jumped to the end to get the solve. I can‘t stand messy main characters with drug or alcohol addictions. It‘s too “Girl on the Train” for me and it distracts from the murder mystery. I don‘t care and I don‘t want to listen to the whining or will I/won‘t I cave to pills. I want the hunt for the true killer and the search for the missing girl.

There was entirely too much golf in this one, but other than that, I found it enjoyable. We got all the big characters except Hannah, including a lot of face time for Carson Drew. Lots of red herrings, too, which was also fun. #nancydrewbr

Because it‘s Nancy Drew, I should have this finished by tomorrow but it‘s taking me a little longer to read because I have a new distraction. I‘m not going to make my other reading deadlines. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Litsy, may I introduce you to Natasha? She is very anti-photo right now, but pro-belly rub, so it‘s a delicate balance. (Strategically placed book photo for propriety 😂)

This is a really good intro to EMDR. It provides details on what trauma therapy is, how it works, what to expect from the process, and how to find the right therapist for you. If you‘ve started EMDR therapy and are struggling with elements of the process, this also provides encouragement. I liked how this had both perspectives from a patient and a therapist.

I love the Crowns of Nyaxia series. I have not found another Romantasy author that I enjoy nearly as much as Carissa Broadbent. The writing is fluid and engaging. I adored Mische in the first two books and I love her even more now. I cannot wait for the next book and the conclusion of her story with Asar. I really hope we get more of Luce, as well. This is also my January #doublespin

A woman's body is found in the Thames and she appears to be mixed up in a German spy ring. Major Ramsey is forced to call on Ellie's expertise when her uncle is unavailable. This is a decent historical mystery/espionage novel. I do still really love Ellie, her family, and Major Ramsey. However, the love triangle subtext is annoying. I'll keep going with the series, but I hope this nonsense of Felix vs Major Ramsey gets settled in book 3.

It‘s so nice to have a core of characters comprised of older people. There‘s no alcoholic 30 year old police detective who conveniently forgets her cellphone when confronting a bad guy. Instead, our main characters reside in a retirement village. They‘ve got complex back stories, and they are all clever and honestly, just delightful. The mystery is great, the characters are wonderful, and I can‘t wait to dig into the next one.

There‘s a lot of really interesting info here, not just about the killer, but about early neurological and behavioral sciences. I found a lot of the science and detailed legal proceedings fascinating. My main issue is that much of this reads as almost a love letter to Edward Rulloff, as though the author fell victim herself to his charms. You lose sight of the victims in the quest for understanding Rulloff‘s motivations.

This is probably a bit more than I can get through, but I have a couple extra days off work, so maybe? NetGalley due dates and library due dates create a little stress, but I am really going to try to just use this as a general guide and not kick myself if I miss pub dates or have to return books unread.

The first #bookspin bingo board of 2025!

January‘s #bookspin is a category - The Storygraph‘s Genre Challenge and I‘m choosing Phoebe and Her Unicorn as my selection for prompt #6: A Graphic Novel by a Woman or Nonbinary Person. #Doublespin is The Songbird and the Heart of Stone. I‘ve been on the fence about starting this one because the next book isn‘t out yet and I KNOW I will want it as soon as I‘m done with this one. Bingo board to come later. 🤩

Utterly ridiculous, but also a delightfully fun, madcap start to a series co-written with Lee Goldberg. If you like Evanovich‘s Stephanie Plum novels, you‘ll appreciate the charming insanity of Kate and Nick. Thanks for the #auldlangspine recommendation @Mollyanna 💖

For the first time in forever, I am not carrying over a book from the previous year, so while I wait for bookspin numbers to guide my choices, I let my spin the wheel app pick my first #AuldLangSpine2025 book.