I feel like the title of this one is super misleading - the phrase "beach read" conjures up images of sand and beach umbrellas and playing in the water... And this doesn't have any of that! But it was a delight. The premise of writing in different genres was a fun one and I thought the supporting cast was great. When is the next Emily Henry coming out?

Ready for April‘s #BookSpin! Can we all cross our fingers that 10 gets drawn? I get on a plane this month and I‘d really like to be reading “Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies” on my flight. Does that make me a bad person?!

I only listen to Gladwell for the stories now - they are always interesting. But I haven‘t really gotten much other than entertainment from his books for a while.

We don‘t actually have this snow anymore - I‘m just terribly behind on posting reviews.

A re-read to jump back in to #AgathaChristieClubR3 aka #ChristiesCapers. It was enjoyable to revisit!

Generally enjoyable but I had a hard time distinguishing the voices - Harry and Martha were hard to keep straight.

Roll 62 for #Roll100

What a riot! I loved being reunited with these fabulous ladies and getting to know them even better. Perfect light reading full of informative tips and life hacks for if you ever need to assassinate someone yourself.

My first five star read of the year! I could have read another 470 pages of this one. I loved the ending, I loved everything leading up to it and I loved every single character - even the despicable ones.

My #DoubleSpin for March

This is one of those books that you have a hard time saying you enjoyed because it's a bit like watching a car crash is slow motion. Hazell did a beautiful job of making me feel everything Piglet was feeling, I couldn't stop turning the pages on this one and it made me so hungry!

Roll 42 for #Roll100

Ooh, good picks this month for #Roll100!

No bingo for me in Feb but my optimism remains high for #bookspin in March!

I love that Victoria Christopher Murray is writing historical fiction now! This did drag in a couple of spots but I loved getting to know Fauset and so many other important historical Black literary figures. Murray brought them to such excellent light and I can‘t wait for her next historical fiction.

Packed it in on page 7 when “The bellowing meat locomotive throws its weight into the wall of constables, with as much blood as possible its only politics” was a sentence my brain had to take in.

The pacing of this book felt really off. Some parts seemed to really be drawn out while others felt more rushed. Aside from that, it's well written and has a very intriguing plot but I don't think I'll continue with the series.

Roll 82 for #Roll100

Better than the first! I really liked Georgina and her relationship with Ffion. Kinda frustrated with Leo & Ffion. But the supporting characters were great and Macintosh does a great job making the setting come to life.

Mummy-Daughter Book Club time with delicious waffles!

Predictable but still an enjoyable read. There were a few things that were hard to believe (Cecily's secret not naturally coming out for 60+ years, for one) but I really liked the characters and diving into 3 generations (sorry, I don't think Caden counts!)

This was on track to be Feeney‘s best yet. And then she just destroyed it with a lazy ending. I have no patience for a plot that wraps up the way this one did.

Not my favourite Kate Quinn but no one does historical fiction as well as she does. Mila was understandably prickly and her backstory was captivating but ultimately, the amount of violence was a bit above my threshold.

A 2024 read

This one took me a long time to get into. I liked how Fanny was a bit of a sidekick in this one but I miss Lord Harold. But Barron does an excellent job writing Jane and her wit, it's what keeps me coming back.

Maybe my favourite Alice Feeney that I've read so far? I thought she did a really nice job of planting clues on just about everyone you meet, keeping all the doors open. The resolution was satisfying, the back & forth in perspectives with the killer's stream of consciousness all worked really well for me.

I love a complicated family story and this one was great. I wanted to reach into the book and smack a few people and I wanted to reach into the book and hug other people. I can't wait for the next one from May.

A really nice end to the series. I‘ll miss these characters, especially Ava and Jennifer.

#ElinHProject

Who knows when I‘ll get to my reading wrap up in my #AlwaysFullyBooked planner and since the StoryGraph graphics are so fun….

Jan was my best #BookSpin month in AGES so I‘m running into Feb with high hopes!

Ooh, it‘s taken all my self-control not to jump right into Piglet. I am trying to finish my Jan #Roll100 books first but my resolve is waning. How did it get to be Feb so fast?!?

Meh. Magical realism just isn't my cup of tea. But I really enjoyed the characters Hart created, I liked getting to know them and liked how their stories came together.

This gave me such Rebecca vibes. It‘s so atmospheric and Hawkins unravels the story so well. It‘s a slow & steady climb to the end, which, when you get there, you don‘t see how it could have resolved any other way. I will say, I did not like the last page but it fits in perfectly with how things shake out.

So good! This almost felt like a series of disconnected fairy tales in the beginning but then settled more into a novel. Maybe it‘s the Love Actually of book bans and closet Nazis? Whatever it was, it was pretty damn good. It did drag a bit at the end, stopping it from being a five star read for me but it got close.

My January #DoubleSpin

This really hooked me early on but my interest kind of waned toward the end. Not sure if it was the book or me that was the problem. I did still enjoy it but it wasn‘t quite the page turner that it started as.

I enjoyed this enough but was super distracted by the "rebranding" of Kelowna as a big city with a significant Bengali population? The tallest office building in Kelowna is 23 stories. So I don't know how Cynthia got an office on the 30th floor of a glass skyscraper. And the 2021 Census had 120 people of Bengali descent in Kelowna. So... Stuff like that just really puts me off.

While I did think the pacing in this one was off, I think it might be my favourite of the series so far. The last 1/3 or so felt rushed - and I would have like a little more time with Bart's return, Kelley's crisis, and the wedding. I really liked Margaret in this installment and the growth that Jennifer, Ava, and Kevin showed was really lovely to read. I don't think we've seen the end of Jennifer's problems, though.

#ElinHProject

I didn't like this one quite as much as I liked Winter Street. Mitzi really got on my nerves and Ava's love triangle felt too similar to last year's story but with the gentlemen swapped. But I did really enjoy Margaret & Drake's romance and while I wouldn't say I enjoyed Jennifer's storyline, it was one of the more compelling arcs. I am eager to pick up the next one so that I can see what happens there and what happens with Bart.

#ElinHProject

I wanted more. I know we're getting more soon but the next instalment picks up a year later! There was a lot of time spent setting the scene, which was great but it felt like that came at the expense of giving us more of the plot. I loved Kevin & Isabelle's story, I cheered when Ava dropped Nathaniel, I wanted to punch Patrick in the face, and Mitzi was the least likeable character I've seen from Elin H. so far.

#ElinHProject

What a fun Christmas romp! I love a locked room mystery and one with humour? Sign me up for more. I need to read Ally Carter's backlist ASAP.

Oh, there were parts of this that hit a little too close to home... But it also gave me some interesting perspective I didn't have before, which made it a really compelling read. A great way to start 2025.

I‘m excited to start this yearlong adventure in classical music. Thank you, @Librarybelle for putting it on my radar!

I'm always so cautious when I pick up a romance because I HATE when the inevitable breakup happens because two adults lack basic communication skills. So I went into this carefully but was pleasantly surprised at how this unfolded. It had a great cast of characters, really put me in the Christmas mood, and I loved the little tongue-in-cheek references to living in a Hallmark movie.

Cute and I liked how it was structured but this may be the end of the line for me for Benjamin Stevenson. He‘s starting to feel a bit like a one-trick pony.

Getting my #AlwaysFullyBooked reading planner set up for 2025. Irrationally pleased with my star rating system legend. This is the first year I‘ve used quotes!

My list AND I are ready for 2025 #BookSpin.

I‘m taking a bit of a different approach this year and including some of my other reading projects in my list. This should help me make steady progress on those projects AND see more Book Spin Bingo success.

Woo hoo!! First roll of the year! Bring it on, #Roll100. I am ready for you (she says over optimistically)

Between the holidays and some health struggles with our senior pup, my reading has not gone the way I‘d hoped this month. I have a tonne of half-finished books and a stack of library books languishing. So my goal is just to read! Ideally, I‘ll get two of my three library books read and finish up a couple of my in-progress reads. And as always, I want to read something I‘m super excited about on New Year‘s Day.

Thanks for hosting, @Andrew65

I didn‘t make great progress on the series I‘m trying to get through in 2024 so most of these are not new series I‘m wanting to dive into. Here‘s to better progress in the new year for #SeriesLove2025!

I‘m ready for #Roll100 in 2025!

I have four chunks with 25 titles in each - gifts, BOTM/Aardvark, eBooks and paper. I had a really hard time whittling the list down so I‘m pretty excited for the upcoming year!!

I‘m not usually a short story fan but if Amor Towles is writing it, I‘m reading it. Some were excellent. Some were pretty good. Definitely one of the better short story collections I‘ve read and it was great to visit Eve again.

It‘s no Thursday Murder Club but it‘s not bad. The characters all felt a little one-dimensional with the same character trait being brought up over and over, which is what made this a so-so for me. It‘s zanier than TMC, which will work for some people but didn‘t pull me in enough to keep going with the series.

I expected more of a traditional mystery/thriller but I don‘t think that‘s a good representation. It‘s a bit dense and can get quite heavy (a child dies - we learn that very early on and the book unravels how we got there.) It feels more about class and agency than what happens to the child. It‘s interesting just not what I expected.

This was an interesting story but I was irked that Michael referred to Stéphane Breitwieser as Breitwieser and everyone else, including his mother, got the last name treatment but Breitwieser's girlfriend & coconspirator was referred to only by her first name. It's so disrespectful and shows such disdain for a woman when she gets the first name treatment but men do not.

I‘m ready to not read a single book from my #BookSpin list in December!

Utterly predictable but fun to see Molly and friends at Christmastime.

This is a good book but not a good book for me. It explores some really heavy topics - medically assisted dying (known as MAID in Canada) along with depression - and with all the heaviness of the real world these last few months, I need light in my fiction. It did lead to some good conversation in #mummydaughterbookclub, though.