Jumping ahead to February‘s #literarycrew read on audio and doing bags 5 & 6 #audiolegoing

Finally started one of my Christmas books

#bookwormslimited this chapter was a joy ( although the games Laura plays between books are a bit 😳)

Truthfully when I first started this I was a bit meh, but it grew on me and by the end I was sobbing. I‘m glad the nurses of Vietnam‘s story has been told, I can‘t even imagine how brave and strong you‘d have to be to finally ask for help and then be dismissed

Breakfast in bed with my first ever KH book

How is it not Friday yet?! So there‘s wine with my book because “wishful drinking” is happening here. I read this with #littensloveromance and I quite enjoyed it - I loved the public radio theme, the banter and dialogue was great and a superior villain emerged in the story ❤️❤️ it was spicy but not formulaic so I recommend

#naturalitsywintercardswap I FINALLY got my act together and sent out all my cards - 27 people should hopefully get a card to brighten their day soonish ❤️ sorry it took me so long, between the strike and the strike after effects ( backlog) and then having to hit the ground running teaching everyday I just dropped the ball. But I wanted all the cards to get mailed together 💌💌💌 so afterschool today all cards were successfully sent on their way

I think this was on the books that feel like a hug list? I read about it somewhere and it‘s just the loveliest magical escape from reality ( ish cuz there were a few passages when I thought they could be talking about Cheetos man and his peeps)
If you like TJ Klune, girl protagonists, choosing the right thing over the easy and a bit of magic - this is a book for you ❤️❤️❤️

Audio lego -ing with bag #3 and laundry, always laundry

CA writes historical fiction, this story is set in the summer of 1939 in the Côte d‘Azure at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival. It‘s exciting and informative. I like CA best when she is retelling history, when she is just telling a story it always feels rushed. I don‘t know why she can‘t just take her time with her part of the story ( I live for the day I finish Lark Rise to Boredom) #sundaybuddyread

I know you can hear this 🎶🎶

Thursday night is the new Friday night cuz tomorrow is a PA Day 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I took the day off work and cleaned my house and had a smidge of this story left so opened a new Lego set to get to the end. What could this be? I loved listening to Meryl Streep tell the story of Tom Lake ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh how I love this book ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Andrew Pyper passed away earlier this month. I read this book so long ago, set in northern Ontario in a place very much like where my in laws cottage is located. Every year when I get to the cottage and am going into the lake for the first time I think about this book and I have to pause. That is phenomenal story writing, that it haunts me decades later

I have had so many library holds come in at once I don‘t know what to read first #thestruggleisreal I started this last night and I had no idea this was how it was going to begin 🤯 I want to stay in bed all weekend and read all my books ( the books in the background are my TBR shelf/piles and it is ridiculous)

This was the most wonderful book to read this week every night before bed ❤️❤️❤️ I loved being back in Marsyas

I figured out something while reading with the kindle app on my phone #yayme also this book is ridiculous and not wrong #noflinchinghappened

And just like that, hours and hours later, I‘m back in my regular reading spot for #hyggehour with Lark Rise to Boredom, a pink gin smash ( there is no dry January happening here) and an emptied bowl of potato chips for all of my hard work today #cheerstome

Despite owning this book in print I finally gave myself permission listen to it on audio. My Libby hold came in and today I listen while I take down Christmas. Meryl Streep is making this thankless task much more enjoyable ❤️

I finished my lego and I finished my audio book. I loved this retelling or reimagining of The Scarlet Letter especially on audio

I managed to slog through #thebros and #therearenomysteriesatudolpho but this one might end me let‘s skip 1000 words and add pictures

OMG! I am just so frustrated with Elena and her stupidity! I would totally be Sam in this narrative and that‘s not fair. One description on the book jacket says “haunting fable” and that it is

Bag #5

I‘m on page 147. This can not end well

Finally my library hold came in and I can finish #camplitsy 🤣🤣🤣

Since last night I‘ve knocked these two off 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ the third book, Winter Storms, is the weakest link. It furthers the story along a bit. But Winter Solstice has had me crying in my coffee, tea and Diet Coke! The rabbit hole was worth it ❤️❤️❤️

It feels like Sunday imo so I‘m having a little #hyggehour while my steak pie cooks ( after the last EH Winter book I‘m sure this title forebodes more turbulance for the Quinn family 😫)

Starting my first 2025 #sundaybuddyread today and loving being back in the south of France #pretendholiday

I loved Winter Street (#1 in winter series) so much that I put the next 3 on hold at the library! Luckily they all came in at once so I can binge before school starts again ❤️ this one ripped my heart out though! The Quinn family is a train wreck in #2 I‘ve been crying in my coffee as I finish this before I get on with my day. Thank god I have the next one 🤣🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ but I‘m not sure how I‘m getting anything done

I want to thank #foodandlit2024 for encouraging me to choose a book from Finland. One of my best friends growing up had a Finnish dad and a Swedish mum and I was exposed to all of the best things from each culture and continue to love Scandi style above all others. This novel is a love letter to summer and Finland told in short vignettes that flip back and forth through the main character‘s , Sophia, childhood summers with her grandma and father.

This was just the perfect Christmas story ( I read about it on a best holiday romance list) it‘s all the feels, I was laughing out loud and crying. It‘s about loss and heartbreak, found families, friendship and love. It‘s about being brave enough for all of the above. It would make a wonderful holiday movie ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Being naughty with eggnog in my coffee and avoiding all the things on my list

I‘ve struggled to get into a few audio books since I finished my last, probably because I just haven‘t had enough consecutive listening time. This one sucked me right in - I‘m ahead of myself for #literarycrew maybe that will be my vibe for 2025? 🤣🤣

#foodandlit for December is Finland not sweden 🤦🏻‍♀️ and I‘ve started this to close out the year with because I knew that when I went looking for books to read! my husband‘s family is from Sweden and we go to a Swedish fair in Toronto every year to stock up in Swedish treats for Christmas- these Polly candies were new to us. They taste like a cross between a rum ball and a milk dud. I will do better with food choices going forward

Read with #littensloveromance and it was just the BEST Christmas caper, light, funny, suspenseful with a little bit of ❤️❤️ I‘d have inhaled it if life hadn‘t been so crazy

I really love Elizabeth Strout and how she writes stories that feel like they are about real people. This book, bringing back all her Crosby, Maine characters, centres on them telling each other stories of people they know and people they don‘t, not as gossip but more bearing witness to lives lived with struggle, pain, grace and love.

This book is supposedly beloved, AR raised the bar for gothic romance when she wrote this tale about Emily, who is orphaned, imprisoned, separated from the man she loves etc….
What actually happens is crying. So much crying, weeping, sobbing. And fainting. There are no mysteries . I am grateful for #hashtagbrigade for supporting and entertaining me during this read 🤣😘

Merry Lit-mas to all who celebrate 📚📚❤️❤️

I finished this today moving my youngest home from Uni. This is the tidy storage unit holding his stuff until his next adventure. My house is not tidy 😩 I liked this audio book but I didn‘t love it

#iykyk #hashtagbrigade

#5joysfridays it‘s been a week 🤣🤣 1. I found my favourite pretzel crackers at Costco again after a too long for me hiatus 2. We move our youngest home from Uni this weekend and I have rented a storage unit and gone through multiple bins here and resorted stuff and this pile is ready to load in the car to pack him up 3. I‘m loving the #littensloveromance read this month 4. My iced peppermint mocha cold brew is life 5. I baked 1/5 cookie recipes

The holidays are almost here and I am not really ready. So I‘m hiding in a book

YA snowmageddon ‘love, actually‘ influenced story with multiple couples getting back together or finding each other in the storm of the century. Would make a great movie I think. I enjoyed some of the minor characters‘ stories much more than the main one #sundaybuddyread

This has started off with a bang ❤️❤️❤️ I love it already and I‘m going to want to inhale it #littensloveromance

Oh I loved this “book that feels like a hug” story about a children‘s book author who writes magical books about kids brave enough to make wishes. Fast forward he writes another book and turns its release into a contest that might be able to grant the wishes of grown up kids who loved his books ❤️❤️❤️

#saturdaychatterday I haven‘t had coffee yet 🤣 I‘m still lazing in bed scrolling on my phone, planning my day/weekend. I am going to bake this weekend; empire cookies, gingerbread and chocolate crackle cookies for sure. We are going to see 🎶The Sound of Music 🎶 with John‘s parents tonight. And reading 📖 what are you all up to as we get closer to Christmas and holidays ?

#5joysfridays 1. The tree was up but I finally decorated it last weekend 2. We got a lot of snow ands it‘s already almost all gone 🤦🏻‍♀️ 3. I continue to get joy from the list of books I found that feel like a hug - The Wishing Game is from that list 4. I did more art with some grade 2s and 3s that was so much fun 5. Our Honda Pilot died after 18 yrs of service - we experienced a lot of joy with it, our kids grew up while we drove it

It‘s been a Monday and a half

My take away from this book is no pill, surgery will fix your mindset about food only therapy will. If you use food to soothe/hide behind/self medicate the pill/surgery won‘t cure you. If you can‘t eat because of surgery or pills you will substitute ‘medicating‘ with another addiction. And my Lego poinsettia is officially complete