Books about winter always draw my attention because I love the season even though most hate it. This provides some good ideas and tips for enjoying the winter season more no matter where you are as well as examines how other countries (Iceland for example) survive & thrive during it and what they can help teach us about life in winter. I really enjoyed the bits about how other cultures/countries view & live during winter.

Entertaining sci-fi ish horror novella. Can an AI robot be possessed by evil? The characters are about to find out. Set during Halloween, an agoraphobic husband and his pregnant wife have invited some of her friends over to their smart house. The husband decides that perhaps they should meet William…and the story goes from there. Best to read in one sitting. Low pick. Enjoyed it while I read it but it‘s not a favorite.

This author just isn‘t for me. This is the third book I‘ve read from them and the third pan. I just don‘t get on with the writing style. It‘s frustratingly repetitive and while the topic was interesting I feel like it suffered because of the writing. Needed a few more edits to tighten it up in places and to stop explaining the same things over and over again. Could‘ve been half the size without the repetition. #MCBC pick for January.

Really enjoyed this! So glad to be back in the Xuya Universe. This novella was a little more confusing than previous ones I‘ve read. But ultimately I did enjoy the overall story. Makes me want to go hunt down the others I haven‘t read yet and dive into them immediately. Give it a shot if you like sapphic sci-fi featuring Chinese and Vietnamese inspired galactic empires rather than Western based. Highly recommend.

Rather enjoyed this! Locked room mystery you can read in one sitting. I‘ve enjoyed Japanese mysteries in the past and now I can add this to their ranks. Don‘t want to say much because it‘s so short. Recommend for those that enjoy locked room mysteries but want something different from an English manor house. This was my #bookspin pick @TheAromaofBooks

Giving this another shot! Fell off on everything last year but I‘m hoping the break did me some good and that I‘ll be able to keep up this year. Combo of library books, #roll100 titles, book club books and some “free” spaces where I get to choose a book I got for Christmas.

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #bookspinbingo

My first #bookspin and #doublespin of the year! Of course it would be the two chunkiest books I stuck on the list. Ah well. Maybe this is the kick in the butt I need to actually finish Fourth Wing. I‘ve started it half a dozen times but keep putting it down. Kate Morton isn‘t usually my thing, but this one has me intrigued so I thought I‘d give it a shot. @TheAromaofBooks

Ugh. It‘s been a day. All I want to do now I curl up with a stack of books and not emerge until I absolutely have to. Starting with finishing this cozy. It‘s entertaining so far, but I‘m pretty sure I‘ve figured out who the killer is 9 chapters in. I usually never figure it out so I‘m curious to see if I‘m right. Murder, She Wrote on the TV, a fuzzy blanket on my lap and an even fuzzier dog at my feet. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Only have about 4,905 points so far for #magicalmonsters but I also haven‘t been the best about keeping track of time during readathons. Too much to keep track of that way so I gave up halfway through. Been a busy month so far so maybe I‘ll be able to make up for my lack of points the second half of the month. #scarathlon @Laughterhp

Plans for todays readathon #Fridaythe13th is to make a dent in/maybe finish one or both of these. The Girls Who Fought Crime is under 200 pages so that‘s the more likely of the two to get finished. I‘ve started Everybody In My Family Has Killed Someone but I‘m not that far into it yet. @BookwormAHN #magicalmonsters

Stack for #OutstandingOctober this is definitely ambitious but I hope to get through as many of these as I can. The stack is so big because I‘m not sure what exactly I‘ll feel like picking up but these are all possibilities. Seems like I‘m forever trying to get through library books so I can read the books I actually own 😅 #magicalmonsters @Andrew65

My plan for the #popupsaturday weekend readathon is to try to get through this chunker. I‘m over 100 pages in so far and have 300 something left to go. So if I can finish it I would be thrilled. I‘ve got a concert Sunday night so we‘ll see if that actually happens but work is going to be pretty slow tomorrow so perhaps I can sneak a few pages in there.

#scarathlon #magicalmonsters

Not for me. A murder mystery at a magical school but each chapter follows a different student written by a different author as they try to discover what happened. I love the idea, love some of the characters we‘ve met because they have such interesting powers, but it‘s just not executed well. Over 100 pages in and I‘m not attached to anyone since you only meet each student once and some characters are extremely stereotypical and over the top. ⬇️

I haven‘t gone to bed yet so even though it‘s after midnight I‘m still counting “today” as the 5th. It‘s not the 6th until I go to bed 🤪 Anyway, the photo prompt today was #blood and I immediately thought of this book. Forever languishing on my TBR even though I‘ve heard good things! Fingers crossed I can get to it soon…

#magicalmonsters #scarathlonphotochallenge #scarathlon

I wasn‘t sure how I was going to feel about this one. But I actually really liked it! Not as scary as I was hoping but it was still a rather enjoyable read. I really loved the ending which brought the book up for me. This is more so a story about two friends, one selfish and one stubborn, with occult trappings than it is a horror. The backdrop of Mexico in the 90s with characters working in the film industry was also really cool to read.

Does this book have an intriguing synopsis? Yes.

Did I initially get it purely because of the cover? Also yes.

Now the trick is to get around to reading it…

#scarathlonphotochallenge #magicalmonsters #bones

It was hard to narrow down my spooky season TBR to just 20, but we eventually got there. Can‘t wait to see which numbers get chosen this time 👻 #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

This is one of my favorite book covers. It‘s been a while since I read the book and remember having lukewarm feelings about it, but couldn‘t let it go because that cover! I may give it a reread and see how I feel now about it. You can‘t really tell but all the black leaves and such are actually raised on the jacket. This is one of my favorite used bookstore finds.

#scarathlon #black #magicalmonsters #scarathlonphotochallenge

This was a very different sort of haunted house book. Where the people in it actually want to be haunted. This is a very interesting look at grief and loss and what life is like in the aftermath. I loved the ongoing conversations surrounding death and how life is for the living…but is it?Very thought provoking and worth the read. The short stories included at the end were also really well done.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It started off so well and I was really enjoying it! Then it kind of lost me. The ending also wasn‘t my favorite. It was…fine? But it was almost too twisty for me and by that point I wasn‘t invested in the story anymore. Some character decisions confused me and I wish there was more resolution with the whole Detective Vick thing. Overall it was entertaining and I know a lot of people will really enjoy this.

1. Live where there‘s lots of rain and they‘re some of my favorite days to spend reading.
2. Fantasy
3. Autumn/Halloween
4. Yes
5. USA 😖
6. I‘m a huge LOTR nerd, mom to two rescue doggos, introvert and avid music listener/concert goer. Don‘t know what else to share really. I‘m not very exciting 😅

#scarathlon #magicalmonsters

My #bookspin and #doublespin for September. I‘m a little wary of the Riley Sager. It came in on Lucky Day at work so I thought I‘d give it a shot and see what I think but I‘m keeping my expectations low. Fingers crossed these both go well! @TheAromaofBooks

I‘m hoping to get through as many of these library books as I can this month for the #SummerEndReadathon. They all just show up at once! @TheSpineView

Step 1 in getting ready for fall: Re-do my bookcase with fall/spooky TBR books. This doesn‘t show a 4th shelf full of books nor the stack I have in my side room with other potential spooky season reading candidates. Can‘t wait to get started on some of these and decrease my owned TBR.

I am so excited for September and the cooler weather it brings. Hopefully with it will come more reading time. In any case, here‘s my #bookspin list for the month. Got a mix of library and owned books. I feel like I‘ve been trying to get through all my library books for months now and still haven‘t quite managed it 😅 @TheAromaofBooks

Clearly “taking it easy” is something I don‘t know how to do. My goal for #20in4 is to get through as many of these as possible while working two out of the four readathon days and while having my brother visit😅 My library recently lowered the renewal limit so I need to get through these ASAP. @Andrew65

Sigh. Made an online appointment for an oil change. Showed up and found out that their online appointment system doesn‘t actually work and that there was no record of my booking. So my half hour oil change has turned into an hour and a half because of the amount of people here 😪 At least I brought a book. Though at the rate I‘m getting through this I should have brought two!

Great British Bake Off but make it murdery. Very quick read and relatively entertaining. I think fans of Bake Off would enjoy this more than murder mystery fans. There are some good plot pieces but I think the book was too short to really give them any sort of weight. Feels a little more like a cozy mystery than anything else. Overall not amazing, but entertaining for a lazy day. Low Pick.

Beautiful art style and love the mythology coming into play here. But for being the first volume, it feels like I was dropped into the middle of volume 2 or 3. A lot of plot points weren‘t really explained. There‘s cool side characters, but they‘re just there. No info given about them at all. Overall great premise, but ended up being really confused and feeling like I‘ve missed several volumes leading up to this.

Long time no post 😅 I‘m still alive.Took an unintended social media break. I‘ve been reading, just haven‘t had energy to post on here. In any case I‘m hoping to get back to posting on here now that my life has calmed down a bit. I really need to get caught up with all the #bookspin #roll100 #tbrtarot reads I‘ve been going through 😅 But first it‘s back to the garden with me. Enjoy this picture of Delilah whose favorite place to sit is the dirt.

A little late posting my stack but I guess better late than never? My goal for the #MarvellousMarch readathon is to get through as many of these as I can. Some of these are library books, some are for #TBRTarot, some for #Bookspin but I‘ve started all and gotten into them at varying degrees. Life has been rough and my ability to focus even more so. So here‘s hoping that I can focus well enough to get through at least a couple of these @Andrew65

Question for those that have read this…does it get better? I‘m about 100 pages into it and I just…don‘t…care? It‘s not really grabbing me and I‘m not sure whether it‘s worth it to keep going or to just DNF it and move on to something else.

How is it already February? I‘m still mentally in January. We can‘t have already gone through a full month of the new year already! In any case, here‘s my February #bookspin list. Fingers crossed the bookspin Gods are kind! @TheAromaofBooks

Now that it‘s my day off, I can finally start the #JoyousJanuary Readathon! My goal is to finish A Haunted History of Invisible Women which I‘m halfway through at the moment. Start and finish both The Cottage Fairy Companion and My Hygge Home and finally to make a decent dent into my #bookspin pick Theft of Swords. It‘s a chonker, but technically it‘s two books in one so…if I get halfway through book one I‘ll be happy. @Andrew65 @TheAromaofBooks

This was so fascinating! Not only is it an excellent look at cemeteries in America, but a look back at parts of our history that gets overlooked. Cemeteries can inform us of our past & the treatment of others more than you would think. Melville provides a lot of food for thought regarding the things we as a country/society are still reckoning with today that are often reflected in our cemeteries. I need to get my own copy!

I‘m a sucker for anything that remotely resembles And Then There Were None, even though I‘ve been severely disappointed in the past. I was utterly surprised by how much I enjoyed this! Even with the unlikeable characters that usually kills thrillers for me, this was compulsively readable and I got invested quickly. I‘m not sure how I feel about the ending, but it was a good time getting there!

This was fine. Not mind blowing but entertaining for what it is. Though it would have been better if I hadn‘t read the synopsis since it gives away a major plot point that I think would have made me more invested in the mystery if I hadn‘t known about it. If you like classic crime and manor mysteries full of unlikeable rich people with a murderous holiday twist, you‘d probably enjoy this one.

This was surprisingly entertaining! Narrated by the murderer and the police trying to catch them, this was a rather fun and murderous holiday read. This was written in the 70s and I‘m not sure that some of the comments or depictions of certain characters has aged well. But overall I didn‘t see the ending coming and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. This is my #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

My January #bookspin list! Fingers crossed I do better at actually reading my #bookspin and #doublespin books in 2023 than I did this year 😅 I don‘t really know what I‘m in the mood for, so I chose a random array of recently acquired books, book box books and titles that just jumped out at me after perusing my shelves. Fingers crossed January will be off to a good start! @TheAromaofBooks

My first three picks for #roll100 😁 I didn‘t really know what to pick up come January, and now I‘ve got 3 perfect options to get started with. A steampunk fantasy, a revenge sci-fi and a historical supernatural mystery. Looks like I‘ve got my work cut out for me. @PuddleJumper

For today‘s #WinterReadathonDailyChallenge I present to you Delilah and the legs of Rufus 🤣 This was the best picture I managed to get. Rufus was too content being curled up with me while I read the tagged book to even look at the camera, and Delilah couldn‘t be bothered to wake up 🤷🏼‍♀️ I‘ll see if I can get a better one tomorrow. They‘re both rescues! Delilah is a lab/hound mix and Rufus is a retriever/shepherd mix…we think. #WinterReadathon

Had an unexpected snow day today. I thought I‘d take advantage of my sudden day off by getting some reading time in. Made some progress in the tagged book before the dogs decided that I‘d been staring at the book and not them for far too long. #WinterReadathonDailyChallenge #WinterReadathon

Here‘s what I‘ve got for the #WinterReadathon this time around! I‘m trying to wean myself off of books from the library in order to get through books I actually own. These have been languishing on my shelves for a while now waiting for the winter season and now their time has come! Some are Christmas themed, most are just set during Winter/in snowy places. We‘ll see how many I get through!

It‘s the most wonderful time of the year! Spooky season 😈 Though I find myself woefully unprepared in most aspects of my life, I am not lacking in things to read for the season! This is just my #bookspinbingo list, but there are others aside from these that I have my eye on. Fingers crossed I can get through a good chunk of these this month! @TheAromaofBooks

Here we are with yet another month of library books. Eventually I will read books I own again…just not this month…and probably next month 😅 #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I can see the appeal of this. It reads quick and it has the creep factor. But it really missed the mark for me. This is basically a supernatural retelling of the actual true crime case of Elisa Lam and the similarities between that and this book are too close for comfort for me 👇🏻

New favorite! As someone who got a very America centric education regarding WWII, I enjoyed this immensely. Giving personal stories of those that survived The Blitz, depicting life while at war, providing glimpses into the life and family of Churchill, it made this book difficult to put down. It still includes major events involving Britain and Germany, but it focuses on the human element that is so easily missed when looking back at history.

Alright I‘m calling it. I‘ve made it 60% through this and I have no desire to continue. The beginning had me but now…I‘m bored. It reads quickly but I don‘t feel compelled to pick it up. It‘s unfortunate because I really loved the previous books I‘ve read by this author! But this is really underwhelming and just not working for me. I might try to get it from the library again in the future and finish it…but for right now it‘s a DNF.

I promise I‘m still alive! Just been busy with work and not doing as much reading as I‘d like. In any case, here‘s my #bookspinbingo list for June! @TheAromaofBooks

Life has been busy. Almost forgot to post my #bookspinbingo list. Again, more library books this month. Eventually I will read the books I own…just not this month 😅 @TheAromaofBooks