This was such a disappointment! "Steamy sapphic hallmark christmas movie romance" sounded right up my alley but sadly this one fell flat. Everything felt wooden and clunky, from the over the top plot contrivances to the side characters to the sex scenes. Never thought I'd ding a book with a hot lumberjane love interest but alas, here we are. Hoping for more (and better written) queer holiday romances in the future!

Got some quality time in with my newest reading partner tonight and finished this super cute contemporary YA romance about a homeschooled genius whose parents task her with getting out of her comfort zone at Shakespeare camp before they let her go abroad for college. I loved Beatrice and watching her grow was so heartwarming!

The concept - a centuries-old teenage ghost narrates the winter that George Sand and Chopin spend in Mallorca in the 1830s - was promising and the writing itself is lovely but I found myself bored more often than not.

We got a new rescue pup! This is Tulip, we've had her for a week now and she is just the sweetest girl🌷💕

It's definitely been an adjustment going from one dog to two but they're getting along so well I can't complain!

I wish this had been a straight up women's fiction novel because the "author returns to her quirky hometown to reclaim her writing mojo while she helps her ailing mother with a Shakespeare festival" concept is solid but unfortunately the focus in this book is spread so thin that all the plot threads lack impact but the romance suffers most.

Out 6/28 ?

The perfect vacation pool day - plenty of shade for my pasty self, seventy degrees, warm water, and a book 😎

There were some pacing things that could have been ironed out a bit better but overall this was an engaging, funny, incredibly queer YA contemporary mystery/romance that I really enjoyed!

Got my favorite model to help me with this post 🐶💕

Neema Avashia has written a really engaging collection of essays that detail her personal experiences growing up queer and Indian in West Virginia in the 80s and 90s while touching on universal themes of identity building and defining home. Definitely recommend!

This was just okay for me. I had enjoyed A Spindle Splintered but this sequel fell flat. The new characters didn't feel very fleshed out, even for a novella, and some of the super meta discussion towards the end was a little much for my taste. Still a fun tongue-in-cheek feminist take on fairy tales this time with bonus Hot Evil Queen so I didn't have a bad time reading it, I just didn't love it.

Out on 6/14 🪞

Another day, another bunch of library holds to take home!

Spent a lot of my day off today reading this powerful memoir-in-essays about the author's journey through transitioning and what presenting as a man but being the "natural mother" of his son has been like. The timeline of some of the essays can be a bit disjointed but the writing style is lovely and the addition of photos and scans of documents make for a great reading experience.

There was a lot to love about this book (two bi main characters! crimes! a prickly heroine paired with a charming hero! praise kink! fucking with the aristocracy!) but the poor pacing of the plot (particularly in the middle section) left me feeling a bit disengaged overall.

Unwinding after a long Saturday shift with my favorite reading partner and this super cute graphic novel!

Bon and Razzmatazz are a beast (excuse me, troll variant) and a fairy who both find the same baby abandoned in the woods and decide to raise her together in the human world. Very quick, sweet read with a great art style 🧚

Nothing says "day off" like reading at the gas station while you get your car inspection sticker ✌️

I never seem to leave a late shift at the library without a stack of new checkouts! Excited to start some of these this weekend 📚

I've been in a bit of a reading slump and this was the perfect book to break me out of it. As always, I liked some stories better than others (Catherynne M Valente's and Ellen Klages's were particular favorites) but it was overall a very strong, creative collection of stories about love and time travel.

Bonus: most of the stories were queer romances which I didn't know going in and was very happy to discover!

Listen nobody said the staff recommendation cards had to sound professional 😅

I'm back! Nothing like a cup of tea and a new book to take a little bit of the edge off Monday morning ☕

An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel and a cool take on the Hades/Persephone myth. Can't wait for volume two!

This was a delightful, fun, and steamy queer romance! All the characters felt like fleshed out three dimensional people and I appreciated the balance between Delilah and Claire's romance and their other interpersonal relationships/issues.

I didn't think the timeline of events was super realistic for everything that takes place but I loved everything else about the story! Including this cover, isn't it great? 😍

Out February 22 📸

Back on litsy to gush about my best friend's book finally being out in the world 💕

If a heartwarming Below Deck-inspired women's fiction/romance hybrid that focuses on family, love, and finding joy in the face of grief sounds good to you then you'll want to get your hands on this one!

After having to bail on The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune (wasn't holding my attention) I turned to the other superhero fare in my #staycationstack and devoured this series about Kate Bishop! Idk what they'll do with her in the movies but I hope she's characterized like this, these were a lot of fun.

My husband accidentally taught the pup this couch maneuver and now it's her favorite place to be for maximum sunbathing/neighborhood watching 😆

I appreciated the candor and the darkly humorous tone of this short memoir (book two of my #staycationstack) but I didn't think it was great. It was very obvious she was suffering from PPD but she only mentions it once right at the end. She thanks her therapist in the acknowledgments but doesn't talk about the therapy process in the book. I think that would have been really valuable information to include that might help another postpartum parent.

Book one of my #staycationstack down, and my first cozy mystery! Unfortunately I didn't love it. I thought the concept was good and loved the diversity aspect but I never felt like I connected with anyone. Everybody seems to brush off death and trauma in a really cavalier way and it didn't sit right with me or make anyone feel like a fleshed out character. But again, baby's first cozy, maybe that's common in the genre and I just don't know enough.

Think I've got a big enough staycation stack? 😜

Some sunny days call for patio reading, others are 90+ degrees and call for reading on the couch in the air conditioning. Luckily I have the best possible company for the second kind today!

I liked this one but didn't love it, unfortunately. Teddy was so helpless at the beginning which is the point, but was incredibly frustrating to read. If I hadn't already heard it got better after a bit I probably would've DNFed. Her relationship with Everett is cute though and I liked the You've Got Mail vibes they had going on. Out June 15 💌

I should have DNF'd this - I only pressed on because it was an ARC but it wasn't worth it. All the characters (with the exception of Deb) are toxic people that I just didn't care about. I found the double whammy of the POV shift and the present/past timeline structure confusing, especially because Dylan and Addie's voices aren't that different. Some heavy topics are dealt with in some not-great ways, and the ending was a rush to wrap things up.

My mom gave me this mug as a belated birthday present and while I like to think it's not true she's probably not wrong 😆

Working my way through my #netgalley shelf and wishing I could stay home like this all day and read to catch up on it.

It took me a little while to really get into the swing of the story but I ended up falling in love with August and Jane and the whole wonderful queer found family cast of secondary characters. I think some people who loved the straight-up contemporary romance of RWRB might have trouble with the speculative time slip element of this one but I personally love a time travel shenanigan (thank you, college Doctor Who phase).

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this latest offering from Christina Lauren (In A Holidaze really didn't do it for me). The premise of a soulmate-finding DNA dating service was fun and interesting and I liked all the characters, even if it took Jess and River a little while to grow on me. They had well-written chemistry though, and I was charmed by all the secondary characters in Jess's life.

Perfect weather for the bonus day of this three day weekend! Madeline doesn't want to share the picnic blanket with me as I read but she's on high alert to protect us from any squirrels or birds who get too close.

I'm loving this arc from Christina Lauren! The DNA soulmate service is such a fun concept and I like both Jess and River as characters so far.

This was a fun murder mystery with a great premise: a struggling romantic suspense author is overheard talking about her latest book in Panera and gets mistaken for a killer-for-hire! Hijinks ensue, murder happens, and Finlay has to solve everything in order to keep writing her next book. I had a few complaints but I did like the book overall and would probably read the next one whenever it comes out.

This was such a good contemporary romance! I was glad to see a protagonist with Tourette's (excellent rep according to one of my best friends who also has it) and I thought the character development for both Hollyn and Jasper was really well done. The book probably could have been a little shorter but I was all in for the fake dating-adjacent arrangement, the characters, and their sweet (and very steamy!) chemistry.

I picked this up both because I liked Sarah Hogle's last book and because I am a sucker for the grumpy one loving the sunshine one and it did not disappoint! The slow burn, the forced proximity, the fun writing style, and the wonderful character growth were all done so well. There were a few scenes/subplots that probably could've been dropped but overall it made me feel like I had gotten a warm hug by the end and that's all I can really ask for.

At first I was bummed about the rainy day we had today (that might be snow overnight? I'm over you, March) but the gloomy atmosphere after work turned out to be the perfect ambience for this fairy tale of a novella. I was utterly confused at first but fell into the story relatively quickly, and I think Nghi Vo has a gift for wonderful prose. I never felt truly immersed in the story's world but I still liked it and will read more from this author.

Cover? So fun. Premise - fake engaged plus cooking competition plus #ownvoices? Sign me up! Execution? Ugh.

The leads were cute but there were way too many side plots and characters, none of which felt real. This book did not need to be 350 pages - a lot of dead weight could have been cut for a stronger, more character-driven story.

Also, Nadim's foot fetish really threw me for a loop in this relatively non-spicy book so. There's that too.

Tea and a TBR stack: what will get me through the rest of the workweek edition 😆

Fake dating is my kryptonite, so I obviously enjoyed many of the tropey shenanigans here, but I wanted to like the book as a whole more than I actually did. Daisy's characterization felt at times a little too ~nerdy and quirky and not like other girls~ and some of the obstacles thrown in her and Liam's way (especially towards the end) were over the top in an unbelievable way rather than in a fun romance way. Out March 16.

I thought So You Want to Talk About Race was excellent so of course I had to pick up Ijeoma Oluo's latest. This was a well-researched and well-written book about a tough subject - the negative consequences of white male supremacy in this country. Oluo has a great accessible and authoritative writing voice and while the subject matter makes this no easy read, she made it very readable.

I liked this superhero flavored tale of friendship and figuring out who you are and what you stand for! The plot lost some steam in the middle but overall I enjoyed spending time with Jamie and Zoe and wanted to figure out their mysterious origin stories right along with them.

So I've seen this talked about like it's a frothy romance and let me tell you, it is not. There is a romantic element to it with the getting to know her Vegas wife thing but this is squarely a contemporary coming-of-age-at-28 story about a queer biracial woman who pushed herself nonstop to get her PhD and now doesn't know what to do next. It deals with some heavy topics, and the prose is beautiful if a little much with the poetics sometimes.

This was a really good collection of short stories, even if I did think the novella was the weakest of the bunch. Thematically it was timely and interesting but structurally I was more impressed by her shorter pieces.

Allie Brosh has had a lot happen to her since Hyperbole and a Half so this book was often darker and more introspective. But I liked it! She still had plenty of stories and illustrations that made me laugh out loud (the way she captures that derpy dog expression kills me every time) and I could appreciate her struggles even if I haven't been through the same things.

Eh, this standalone entry in the series was just okay at best. I may or may not come back to the series as she adds to it, I loved the first few but the last couple have felt like a step down to me. At least it was a quick read!

Sadly I didn't end up liking this one. She does the same concept much better in The Guest List, honestly. Here the time dragged and basically all the POVs sounded the same and I only wanted to know who did it so I could be done with the book.

But look how cute my reading partner is! She's still getting used to us/the house but we've spent the last few mornings chilling like this after my husband leaves for work so I think she's settling in okay.

We adopted a rescue dog yesterday!! She's still very anxious in the house so she's not quite photogenic yet but this moment of zen totally makes up for the tough night of sleep last night. Using my extra morning time to try to read and relax with this sweet girl, hope she gets used to this part of the routine quickly!

Cute concept - Victorian era bodyguard romance between a widowed scientist who runs a secret female science society and the man assigned to protect her - but overall pretty poor execution. The romance itself was good, but the external plot was underdeveloped and there were too many side characters that didn't add much to the story. It's supposed to be first in a series but I can't think of a single other character I want to know more about.

This was a decent YA mystery but nowhere near as gripping or urgent-feeling as her first book. I liked the characters and wanted to find out the answers to the mysteries in their family's past but I never found myself truly wrapped up in the plot.

I definitely enjoyed the author's first book about Broadway, Razzle Dazzle, more - it felt more narratively driven and tightly edited. This one focused on the 90s as well as a bit on 2001 and the impacts of 9/11 on Broadway. Overall it felt like it meandered too long between a smaller amount of information in the same amount of space as the first book and I didn't feel as engaged the whole time.