Yay for more space horror!! I liked the premises of her first two books, but not so much the execution. It felt like the horror really falls apart during the climax and each book has the same group of characters. I was happy this one was a little different and read it in one sitting. I still wish the horror had hit harder. I didn‘t mind the romantic subplot in this one; it didn‘t feel as random. Hoping her next one will be even creepier! 3.5 🌟

Someone listed this as a Pride & Prejudice retelling, which was enough for me. However, I‘d say this was more of typical enemies to lovers. It felt a little too instalove and the plot on the back cover was only maybe 1/4 of the book. I didn‘t love how infertility was handled. But overall it was a fun read when I was feeling a little too stressed with grad school. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize what a quizzing glass was.

I remember trying to read lotr a long time ago and not being able to get past Bombadil. However, now is the right time because I am loving Tolkien‘s work. I found the references to Númenor during Bombadil‘s chapters to be fascinating. I love Tolkien‘s lore and history of Middle Earth the most, especially of the dwarves and men. I had fun seeing what the movies kept and what was different :) There were many scenes that had me choking up too ?

Thanks to @kelli7990 for sharing! I don‘t have much to say other than please help keep libraries an integral part of our society: petition is this link https://nwmd.social/s/copylink/5QyDZVuWfuHOxbWOmQ==/b

🇺🇦💙💛🕊️ My heart goes out to Zelensky who has stood with Ukrainians during this atrocious Russian War on Ukraine. Слава Україні!

I‘ve started a ritual of reading something relaxing before bed with a cup of chamomile and honey to help with my insomnia. This is my third time trying to enjoy the Hobbit, although I love the movies. I started this attempt with a mindset that I was reading something very cozy and ended up loving it. I even cried at the ending. I‘ve purchased lotr, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The Children of Húrin to read next ☺️ It is my Feb pick ?

Thank you @LA1 for this beautifully made #ValetineCardSwap 🥰🩷💌

Well then….I feel a little attacked but this was super fun lol. Thanks @TheBookHippie for sharing #LiterallyMyCharacter 🤩

Thank you everyone for the lovely #Valentinecardswap25!!! 💌💗📝 I sent mine out a little late but hopefully they will all be arriving very soon 😊

Thank you so much @bumpinthenight for this wonderful spooky #Valloweenswap!!! The chocolates look delicious and I‘m so excited to light the candles 🕯️ 🥀 Bleached Reminders looks like it‘s gonna be so interesting 💀 I appreciate all the goodies ☺️

My cousin, who is my book bestie ♥️📚, and I have been sending each other Valentine‘s Day book swaps for a couple years now. She‘s a really big romance fan. I finally got it wrapped up and ready to send! We painted wine bottles at my friend‘s Galentine‘s day party. I think a little sweet lemon wine + reading is the perfect way to spend the evening 🥰🍋♥️

I received my #Valloweenswap! 💀🖤♥️🥀🕷️ #Valloweenswap25

I was craving a space horror and this one was recommended frequently. I liked the premise and the psychological horror. I had a minor gripe with the characters, especially Sasha. I didn‘t like how she treated Zhang, and I thought the romance was just kinda dumb. I do wish the horror had been amped up. But it was very fast paced with constant action. I‘m excited to see what horrible scene they stumble on as they explore their final destination.

I shipped my #Valloween swap! It should be there by the 5th 😊🖤💀🥀 #valloweenswap25

I read a lot of great books in January, but Hotel Lucky Seven delivered a sharply comedic and thrilling ride 🐞 I have some great books lined up for February.

In 1935, five men set off to follow in the ill-fated footsteps of the 1905 expedition up Kangchenjunga. Little do they know the mountain is hiding a dark secret. I like historical and psychological horror but this one was a soft pick. There was just so many opportunities to make this story truly horrifying, disturbing, and unsettling but Paver chose to take a safer route. I‘m hoping her other book Dark Matter will make me afraid of the dark.

The Mantis follows the inner life of a singular assassin, Kabuto, who works for an eerie handler called The Doctor. Kabuto is a talented and ruthless hitman, but at home he‘s fearful of upsetting his wife and not being a good father. This was a mix of humor and lots of emotion, and Isaka definitely threw a gut punch at the end that left me teary eyed. While this was markedly different from the rest of the series, I devoured it in one sitting!

Ladybug is back! 🐞 What should have been a simple delivery job has turned into a crazy fight for survival in a hotel crawling with assassins. I was so happy to have another ensemble cast of hitmen with wacky names like Cola and Soda. The twists at the end were so fun with a few I didn‘t see coming. I didn‘t love this group as much as previous books, but it definitely left me craving more from Isaka‘s quirky Japanese underworld.

Three Assassins is the prequel to Bullet Train, told in three perspectives. Cicada is a knife expert, but he wants to escape his controlling handler. The Whale convinces his victims to commit suicide, but lately all 33 have been haunting him. Asagao pushes people into traffic, more phantom than real. Poor Suzuki just wants to avenge his wife who was murdered. Action packed, funny, with an ending leaving you reeling. I LOVED this installment.

For my book club we read Red Rabbit, which I would characterize as a spaghetti horror western. A ragtag group set off across the plains to collect a bounty on a witch, running into all sorts of horrors along the way. It was a bloody ride! But there‘s more at play than the group realizes. I loved the two cowboys, Ned and Moses. This is a genre I would love to read more of! The cover is also gorgeous.

My cousin (aka my book bestie) and I like to sit down and make our own book brackets each year with a theme. We send each other monthly updates as we add books, it‘s one of my favorite bookish traditions. My bracket for 2024 was a witchy theme and I‘m happy to say I LOVED Isaka‘s Assassins series and Three Assassins is my book of the year 🥂✨ I went with a pond theme for 2025! 🦢🐸 Excited for another year of books!

#StuffedStockingSwap Thank you so much for the lovely swap!!! I adored the nutcrackers on the outside and had so much fun making the Lego nutcracker with my friend 💙🩵 I‘ve been dying to read The Wind Child and was so so excited to see it in the swap! I can‘t wait to curl up with it while drinking cocoa and munching on candy canes 🥰

My #StuffedStockingSwap arrived! I‘m loving the Nutcrackers on the outside ❤️❄️⛄️🎄 @Avanders

Package sent! ❄️⛄️🎄 #StuffedStockingSwap @Avanders

🎶 Wow this is hard! I‘m a huge Red Hot Chili Pepper Fan but recently I‘ve enjoyed What You Know by Two Door Cinema
🎶 Hmmmmm, maybe the Jamie Bower and King Sugar cover of Run On (Johnny Cash). I‘m reading Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian
#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

Clearly I need to up my Thanksgiving game! There were so many foods on here I had never thought to try. I‘ve got so many ideas now! Although, the pickle dip I make for our relish tray will always be a favorite 🥒

Foods I want to try:
🧁 cranberry and orange muffins
🍎 Sausage and apple dressing
🍠 sweet potato casserole (instead of candied yams)

Among many more! Thanks @KadaGul for the tag! @dabbe

I was gonna try to resist the holiday season at least until Thanksgiving because Halloween is my favorite holiday. But the minute I walked into a store with all the holiday stuff on display, the winter coziness slammed into me and I had to embrace it. I just love winter wonderland and winter coziness. I think of it as Nutcracker season if anything else 🩰✨🐭 Time to crack out my B&N book copy of the classic ballet! 🥰 #stuffedstockingswap

This is a really dark day. I am in shock and disbelief. I cannot believe how far we have fallen. But I wanted to share something positive that did happen as a small bright spot 🏳️‍🌈♥️🏳️‍⚧️

💀#WondrousWednesday @Eggs 🩸

Thank you so much @MaleficentBookDragon for this amazing #AllHallowsReadSwap #AHRS swap!!! The little ghost is the cutest thing I‘ve ever seen, and I am so so excited to work through the sour candy 😆 I loved a previous Coates book, so I‘m pumped to try the ones you sent 🖤🧡🎃👻

My #AllHallowsReadSwap arrived!! I‘m so excited for opening day ☺️🧡🖤🎃 #AHRS

I dropped off both my #HauntedHollowSwap #HHS and my #AllHallowsReadSwap today! I didn‘t get a photo of the packages but here‘s me leaving the post office lol. They should both arrive in a couple of days 👻🎃🖤🧡🕷️

🌽 Corn maze
🍎Picking apples
🍂 Nature walk
👻 🔥 Both!!
📚 Cozy book time
🍏 Caramel apples
🫘Chili and cornbread
☕️ Apple cinnamon
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

🖤 Coffee
🖤 I like both but I lean toward green
🖤 Spooky
🖤 It depends on the book but usually tangible
🖤 Halloween hands down
🖤 Mittens
🖤 low-key group
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

I have a huge fall/halloween tbr list, but I always find it difficult to decide what I‘m in the mood to read. I happened to learn about Red Rabbit from another litten‘s post, and the premise just sounds so unique and fun. The cover is gorgeous too! The premise of Grey Dog reminds me of the case of Dudleytown, but with a queer spin. I‘ve been wanting to read more queer horror lately and anything with feminine rage. #Sundayfunday

I made this Halloween/fall bucket list a couple years ago and I was debating changing it up. But I'm curious what are everyone else‘s autumn and Halloween traditions or bucket lists they like to try to do every year? Does anyone have a spooky book-ish tradition? #halloweenbucketlist

What a lovely swap!!! I'm so excited to have some chocolate tonight, and the stickers + journal are the cutest. I think Emily Wilde‘s Encylopedia of Fairies looks like just the kind of book I would enjoy :) @kspenmoll @Chrissyreadit #FallingForFallSwap #FFFS 🧡🍂💛

#thisorthat @Yuki_Onna 🍂💀🎃🧡🖤

#WondrousWednesday Thanks for the tag!!
🍂 I only read one book in August, so that was easy 🤭
🍎 It depends on the book. Some books are better read as paperbacks and others make good audiobooks. Ebooks are more of a last resort.
🍁 Based on my Goodreads shelves, fantasy is my most read genre ✨

I think I love making collages a little too much because I couldn‘t decide and made another one lol. Spooky Season is just the best time of the year 🧡💛🖤 💀🍂 #HHS #HauntedHollowSwap

My Halloween aesthetic! I kind of go for a vintage or classic cute and spooky vibe if that makes sense. I always think the show Over the Garden Wall perfectly captures that essence. I‘m absolutely pumped for Spooky Season 👻🎃🧡🖤#HHS #HauntedHollowSwap

The image is a little blurry but shipped my #FallingForFallSwap today! It should arrive by this Friday 😊🍁🍂🧡💛♥️

Another catch up post, this time #WondrousWednesday
🍁 I very much want to see all of the remaining archaeological sites of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
🍁 I tagged Invictus! It is a time travel book where at one point they visit the Library of Alexandria 🤩
Thanks for the tag @PageShifter

I'm playing a little bit of catch-up this week, but here is my #TLT spooky reads recs:
👻 Slewfoot by Brom
👻From Below by Darcy Coates
👻 Horseman by Christina Henry

My #FallingforFallSwap from @kspenmoll arrived yesterday! I'm so excited for opening day 🍂 I plan to ship mine out this coming week.

🍂 not be able to taste
🍂 neither? lol I guess how… I would hyper fixate on the date
🍂 change the past
🍂 the love of my life (I feel like I‘ve already found my passion)
🍂 Winter, I prefer my winter wardrobe ❄️
🍂 be invisible!
@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

This one ended up being more of a soft pick for me. I really loved Tova and Marcellus; their unlikely friendship really warmed my heart. However, I really couldn‘t stand Cameron. He was such a drag to the story, and his whiny and entitled personality were the worst. I also felt weird about Ethan. I didn‘t feel like Tova ever really welcomed his advances and felt like she was a bit forced to accept the situation. It made me feel a little uneasy.

1. Read the book
2. Do laundry (I read at the laundromat)
3. Read
4. Chocolate
5. Pen
6. Ask questions
7. Be one (I‘d like to be a children‘s book author someday)
8. Fish
9. Shop online (unless it‘s for books, then in-person)
10. Both? Both. Both is good.
#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

🏎️ Towards the end of our second semester, some of my cohort started making sports bets (stress? Depression?) They would ask me for my opinion on where drivers would place in F1. I never bet personally, but my friends made some money lol.

🏁 Redline by Barlowe or Pole Position by Caffrey!
#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

Littens, I‘ve gotten myself into a reading rut where I have too many books I‘ve started or committed to reading with someone and it‘s become overwhelming. I haven‘t picked up any of the books I‘m supposed to read and instead have fallen into a reading slump. What do you do when you find yourself in this situation? I‘m curious to hear your thoughts.