“How the hell did we survive this long? she asked herself. How did our ancestors survive the broken hearts of children gone? Parents murdered? We have lived with losing loved ones for century after century. And we still have babies and keep loving. This love will break my heart.” This book is suspenseful, heartbreaking, and powerful. A story about #MMIW and the bystander effect. “It is a present-day, on-the-edge-of-trauma reality.”

I‘m a tea girl and this is my favorite chilly day tea.
#DaysDevotedTo
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

It has been a week y‘all. Find the comfort and joy where you can. Consider yourself tagged. We need all the joy we can find.
Thanks for the tag @Sace
@DebinHawaii

I read this way back when it was first released. But someone lost my original copy. My daughter already bought us tickets for the movie. She‘s really excited for our mother-daughter date. But I think a reread is in order. And it gave me an excuse to buy this beautiful edition as a replacement.

I haven‘t participated in a swap in forever. I need something fun right now. Thanks @bookish_wookish I‘m excited to spread a little joy. And candy!

This one has been sitting on my TBR for a very long time. It was so overhyped and that usually leads to disappointment. I had no desire to be disappointed. Surprisingly, I loved it. But I think it helped that the quiet country girl inside me found it very relatable. “I have to do life alone. But I knew this. I've known a long time that people don't stay."

When I am having one of those days and I need to laugh a little, David Sedaris is my go to author. I appreciate the heck out of him for always putting a smile in my heart.
#DaysDevotedTo @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Everything you want in a post apocalyptic thriller. People are the only monsters that scare me. This feels a lot like Cormac McCarthy‘s The Road. It is Blake Crouch‘s debut novel, so it was missing a bit of finesse. The ending felt a little blunt, but I understand where he was going with it. I loved it anyway.

When I want a creepy bedtime story, Riley Sager never disappoints. This isn‘t my favourite of his, but it was still hard to put down. It landed on my face twice, because it kept me up past my bedtime, two nights in a row. Now I have to find something to keep me up tonight…. 4/5

I‘m having trouble putting this down. I started it last night and fell asleep with the kobo in my hand. So I took it down to my gym and read it during my rests between sets. Now if I can just find a way to keep my husband busy, I might get to read it all today. 🤞

Today‘s mood. Why, yes, I do like it darker. This is the perfect music for this book.

“We aren‘t just a person, we aren‘t just a gender, we aren‘t just an age, we aren‘t just a nationality, we aren‘t just a species. The walls between us are imaginary. The thoughts we have that our ours are gloriously unique but also gloriously in the same continuing spectrum.”
Not my favourite Matt Haig, but still worth the read.

This reads like a diary of memories that you might find while combing through your grandparent‘s attic. It‘s set in a very rural part of Cape Breton, in the 1950‘s. It was such a time of transition, I found myself asking how could all of this be happening while there were jet planes flying overhead. It‘s full of humorous little stories that feel like a comforting hug. It‘s not a great literary work, but it was a little taste of home. I needed it.

I was so busy last week, I missed The Giller shortlist announcement. I‘m just catching up today. They all sound great this year. I have added them to my stack.
https://gillerprize.ca/2024-finalists/

They really have to stop trying to rush me out of spooky season!
#zombies
#wickedwhispers
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I loved it! Not the best in the series, but I still loved getting lost in the magic for awhile. Also contains many #spells
#wickedwhispers
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

These books just happen to have my favorite pack of werewolves. And yes the first one isn‘t the same size as the rest. By a lot. And it absolutely drives me insane. #howl #wickedwhispers
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Gothic mystery and romance. Hazel wants to be a surgeon. Jack is a resurrection man. There are lots of #cadavers in this series.
#wickedwhispers
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I didn‘t forget the first few days, I was just away visiting my Dad. Not a good start for me though. lol But here I am. Nancy was the first to come to mind when I saw #disguise
#wickedwhispers @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Rainy Friday mood. Chocolate chai in the cup. I have at least an hour before someone is going to bother me. I‘m going to get lost in this.

How did I miss this?! I had no idea there was another book. I guess that‘s what I get for not visiting Litsy enough. Hubby saw it and surprised me with it today. He added a candle and some chocolate. And it‘s going to rain tomorrow. I might just have to drop everything else.

An absolute masterpiece. I have read Huckleberry Finn countless times. I was a little worried about anyone taking this on. But it‘s absolutely brilliant. The stories mesh like pieces of a puzzle that have always belonged together, but took awhile to find each other. I think Mark Twain would approve. It‘s beautifully done.

I like Rainbow Rowell. Her characters, and their lives, are always so real. And her romance isn‘t smarmy. Someone called it nostalgia romance and I think that‘s perfect. It‘s a slow burn, but it fits the narrative. It made me feel some things.

“For all the women in my life who make up my Briar Club, the ones who bring each other food and wine and counsel whenever it‘s needed. The ones who wouldn‘t bat an eyelash at a corpse on the floor. You know who you are.” Kate Quinn never disappoints.

I have been building myself a little craft nook. But shelves need books. So I put my physical TBR here. It looks smaller than I expected. Lol Now I don‘t want to finish. I just want to read.

The Giller longlist is here. I haven‘t read any of them yet. But there are a few that will be making it to my TBR….
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/giller-prize?ref=PRHA54C460E88C9&linkid=PRHA54...

I haven‘t been on Litsy much. Life got away from me for a bit. I‘ve been so busy. But the weekend looks pretty good. So I came here looking for a #readathon. Littens never let me down. No real goals. Just hoping to get in a lot of reading with some of my people.
@TheSpineView

I don‘t know how, but the last book was the best book in the trilogy. They just kept getting better. “In the end, justice is not about punishment; it's about finding peace and closure.” I‘m not sure about peace, but the closure was as good as it could be. I know there is another one out now, just waiting. I love these characters, so I‘m not sad about it.

Well, that was unexpected. And so good! I wanted to throw it against the wall so many times, but I also couldn‘t put it down long enough to do that. I think this might have been better than the first one. Iles has no problem killing characters that you think he can‘t possibly kill. I think I need a little break from the crazy racism before I read the next one. Something light and fluffy.

Chick lit beach read. Kevin Kwan does soapy so well. It‘s a great in between read. It‘s not too deep and you don‘t have to think very hard, but he‘s always entertaining.

There was a woman in the bookstore today, pretending to listen to her husband. She was standing there all dreamy like, petting the books. And she wasn‘t me. But she was my people. I haven‘t been to the bookstore in months and months. Or at least weeks and weeks. But traffic was so bad, hubby suggested I stop on the way home. These are murder prevention books.

TJ Kline. I never care what it‘s about, I know I will love it. He writes about humanity in all of its unique horrible loveliness. And how we all get to choose who we want to be. Always with accurate, positive queer representation.
“Memory, Victor. There is power to memory. It's tied to the head and… heart but in the end, if there is a war between the two, the heart usually wins out, even to its own detriment."

This was so good! Very Little House on the Prairie for grownups. Based on the true story of the author‘s great-great-grandmother and set in the south before and after the civil war.

Happy Pride!
https://gailcarriger.com/2020/06/01/30-days-of-queer-reads-for-readingpride/?fbc...

“The first thing you need to know is that monsters are real. They're all around us, whether we can see them or not.”
Inspired by Mary Shelly‘s Frankenstein. It‘s a great spin, with some good twisty bits.
“What's eugenics?" Iris asked.
"It's the scientific study of heredity and breeding and how to improve the human race by making everyone white and smart," Vi explained.
Julia laughed. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

Kate Quinn is an auto buy for me. But I had never heard of Jamie Chang before, so I was a little worried. They flowed really well together though. Great character development and wonderful story building. Not as good as Kate Quinn alone. But still 4 ⭐️.

"...if you accept everything you perceive in the world around you to be a projection of your own mind, it's up to you to avoid making up enemies and difficulties and reasons for suffering. Stop making things bad when they're really not.'
You were right @TrishB I did need this one. lol It was really good.

This one was gothic and twisty, but a little slow. Like a good sorbet. A palate cleanser between better books.

I loved it! Always sarcastic and funny, but never predictable. And he will kill everyone you love to make the story better.

'But don't ye see? We don't get broken. We're made broken. We are not whole alone. But if we're blessed, if we're brave, we might find those few whose edges fit against our own. Like pieces of the same puzzle or shards of the same shattered blade. Those people who, in their own broken way, make our broken edge complete.”

“Women can be heroes, too.” If you need a book for International Woman‘s Day, this is the one. The story of Frankie, a trauma nurse in Vietnam. The first half is her service. “You survived a day at a time, however you could.” The second half is what happens after she returns home. “There were no women in Vietnam.” A little sad and a lot frustrating. But really good.

“Someday I'll take the time to figure out why I like you so much, why you amuse me, why you intrigue me, why you're so desirable. Tonight, I'm just happy you're here to save me from being alone…” Weird. That‘s how I feel about book 30. I don‘t know why I keep reading them. Not a bad cliff hanger this time though, so I guess I‘ll be reading 31, too. lol

“… history is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave…” Wow. That was a dark ride. The Booker winner never disappoints me. I also tend to have a thing for Irish authors. A dystopian nightmare, set in Ireland, with a toleration government, though it could have been anywhere. And anywhere today. The main character made me so very angry I might never recover. It‘s phenomenal!

Historical fiction is always my favourite. I stayed up much too late, more than one night, with this one. Inspired by real life events recorded in the diary of midwife Martha Ballard, the great aunt of Clara Barton. A phenomenal, captivating tale of a family, a community, a mysterous murder, and a multitude of babies, set in a tiny town in Maine, in the 1700s. My first Ariel Lawhon, but it won‘t be my last.

A work of art. The smooth sensuality of glossy paper. The way she conveyed emotions with the placement of the words on the page. A story about grief and resilience. “Decades of saving. A life spent saving, waiting for the right time, for the right moment. A moment that never arrived, continually delayed, postponed. Because we assume there will always be another time, another moment. Why do we wait?” My number one for #CanadaReads2024.

I wasn't expecting to like this one. But I do. I don't know why they marketed it as short stories. It's more like pieces of a life. It's not a memoir, but it reads like one. It's about a girl struggling to find herself and her place in the world. It's very raw and real. There‘s a lot of trauma in this one. It‘s not my favorite from the shortlist, but it‘s pretty close. #CanadReads2024

We are having a snow day. I have already shoveled all the things twice. It‘s so quiet. Snow quiet is the best quiet. And knit pjs are everything. I‘m halfway through this most surprising Canada Reads choice. And my verdict so far is: vapid. I‘m not even sure how this fits. It‘s a boring and extremely predictable hallmark movie. Some people must like these things. Read what you love. But I am not those people. I am going to try finish it.

I wanted to love this one. I should have loved this one. But I didn‘t. The fist 1/3 was great. Then part 2 happened and it went all Lord of the Flies. But without the good parts. She really lost me. When I finally got to the last 1/3, it improved again, but I wasn‘t interested anymore. It had so much promise. Maybe I was expecting too much. I thought it might be my favorite. It left me disappointed.
#CanadaReads2024

Finished my first book on the #CanadaReads stack. I really liked it. It was a little dark. But it‘s ultimately a story about grief. Interspersed with Cree stories and culture. Overcoming pain with the power of love and sisterhood. It‘s beautifully told. And might be hard to top.

It‘s a yucky kinda stormy here today. Lots of wind and freezing rain. This is the Canada Reads book I‘m looking forward to the most, so what better day to start. With some Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon tea.
#JoyousJanuary @Andrew65

This was a gift from my daughter. It was a good chick lit read. One of those books that good to read between heavier more serious books.
One book down for #JoyousJanuary.
@Andrew65