Top 5 Tuesday: (Freebie) A handful of books for election day

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

This week’s topic is a Freebie — we choose our own topics! Since it’s election day today, and it’s hard to think about anything else, I thought I’d go with a list of books that all tie into voting, the presidency, or elections in some way.

Our War by Craig DiLouie
Election by Tom Perotta
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Primary Colors by Anonymous
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson

What was your freebie topic today?

4Nov2024

The Monday Check-In ~ 11/4/2024

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

This is going to be an anxiety-filled week for sure. So I’ll just share these words of wisdom from author Mary Doria Russell, always appropriate this time of year:

Bookish goodies:

Orbit Books is offering an awesome giveaway this month — enter here!

And in other bookish/reading news… I reached my Goodreads challenge goal for the year (reading a bunch of super-skinny books helped!)…

… so I decided to raise my goal and see how it goes:

Still two more months left in 2024 — plenty of time for even more books!

What did I read during the last week?

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison: Excellent vampire fiction! My review is here.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny: My 4th time reading this October gem! My original review, from the first time I read it, is here. (And yes, it’s still awesome the 4th time around)

The Art of Leaving: A Memoir by Ayelet Tsabari: I read this author’s first novel, Songs for the Broken Hearted, a few months ago, and was eager to read the memoir she published several years earlier. My review is here.

Schemes & Scandals (A Rip Through Time, #3.5) by Kelley Armstrong: A delightful novella set in the world of a favorite series. My review is here.

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin: An engaging romance between a reluctant book store owner and a bestselling romance writer. Sweet and fun. My review is here.

In between longer books, I also enjoyed a bunch of slim, beautiful, gift-worthy books:

You can read my thoughts on these books here.

Pop culture & TV:

I finished the newest season of Heartstopper! Loved it, of course. And now, we wait for the 4th and final season.

Next up, I’m eager to start season 2 of The Diplomat!

Fresh Catch:

New hardcover editions of Travis Baldree’s terrific cozy fantasies!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This books is my white whale! I’ve read half of it — twice — at two different times in my life, and for different reasons, never finished. I’m determined to read it all this time!

Now playing via audiobook:

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: My library hold for this audiobook came through right at the exact time I needed a new book to listen to! I just started on Sunday and have only listened to about 10% at this point, but so far, I like it!

Coming soon:

An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott: My newest Classics Club Spin book! The deadline to finish is December 18th, and since this is a relatively short book, I may hold off another week or two before starting.

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments — but just one at the moment! A couple of other group reads will be starting later this month.

Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse: My book group’s classic read! So much fun. Progress: 84%. Coming up this week: Chapters 21 and 22.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

3Nov2024

Audiobook Review: Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Better Than Fiction
Author: Alexa Martin
Narrators: Nicole Lewis
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: November 8, 2022
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 8 hours 47 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased (paperback); library (audiobook)
Rating:

Love isn’t always by the books in this charming romantic comedy about a bookseller discovering how to be the main character in her story.

As a self-proclaimed book hater and a firm believer that the movie is always better, Drew Young didn’t anticipate inheriting her grandma’s bookstore, the Book Nook. She’s in way over her head even before the shop’s resident book club, comprising seven of the naughtiest old ladies ever, begin to do what they do best–meddle.

Bestselling author Jasper Williams is a hopeless romantic. When he meets Drew at his Book Nook signing event, he becomes determined to show her the beauty of reading. He curates a book bucket list in exchange for her help exploring the local Denver scene for his current manuscript. From river rafting to local restaurants, Drew begins to connect with Jasper in a way she only thought happened in fiction.

When messy family ties jeopardize the future of the Book Nook, Drew is caught between a bookshelf and a hard place. She’s reminded that real life isn’t always big dreams and sweeping romance. But Jasper is the plot twist she never saw coming and he’s writing a happily ever after just for them.

When I first encountered a recommendation for Better Than Fiction a couple of years ago, my initial reaction was “hard pass”. Why would I want to read about a main character who hates books? No thanks.

But then, on a recent visit to the Strand bookstore in New York, I gave into temptation and picked this up:

I knew I was taking a risk with a “blind date with a book”, but it was just so cute! And naturally, once I opened the wrapping and discovered that it was a book I didn’t think I wanted to read, I was hesitant… but that’s the thing about blind dates: Sometimes, you just see it through and hope for the best!

In this case, my blind date was a surprisingly great time! (Not that I’ve really been on blind dates IRL, but we all hear the horror stories). Better Than Fiction was a joyful, fast-paced read, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.

Because I tend to read romances as audiobooks, I borrowed the audio version of this one from the library, then used my paperback to bookmark and add sticky notes to places I wanted to remember. Win-win!

Okay, so the book itself: A year after her beloved grandmother Alice’s death, Drew has put her own plans and dreams on hold to keep Alice’s legacy alive. While some of Drew’s happiest memories are of time spent in the Book Nook, it was because of Alice and the time they spent together — not from a love of the books themselves

Drew herself is not a reader — from her perspective, why spend time on made-up stories when the real world has so much beauty in it? Her passion is the outdoors and nature photography, and she was just starting to make a name for herself and build her professional career when Alice’s death derailed all her plans. Drew feels an immense responsibility to make sure the Book Nook thrives, but she’s completely cut herself off from photography and her sources of joy in order to make it happen. On top of all that, she’s still reeling from Alice’s death and suffering grief that hasn’t eased with time — and her estranged father (who’s absolutely the worst) is making everything harder for her.

Luckily, Drew has a best friend, Elsie, in her corner, and unexpectedly reunites and forms a bond with her younger half-sister Daisy, who is nothing like her father (thank goodness). And then there’s the Dirty Birds — a group of seven older women whose book group focuses on romance novels, and who like nothing more than watching over Drew and trying to “fix” her life.

When the Dirty Birds arrange for bestselling romance author Jasper Williams to stop by the Book Nook for a signing, Drew is unimpressed… until he walks in the door and they get a good look at one another. Sparks fly. And while Drew isn’t looking for love or any sort of relationship, she and Jasper hit it off and seem drawn to one another right away. They make a deal: Drew will act as tour guide for Jasper, showing him some of her favorite outdoor destinations around Colorado as background for the new book he’s working on, and he’ll put together a list of books for Drew to read, paired with outings tied to the books, to help convince her that this reading thing is worth her time.

There are complications, of course, mainly related to the fate of the Book Nook and whether Jasper has been completely honest with Drew. Drew also learns that Alice’s intentions for her may have been different than what she originally thought, throwing her life plans into serious disarray.

As expected, there’s a third act major breakup, followed by the traditional grand gesture. Honestly, for once I’d like a contemporary romance that doesn’t follow this trajectory… but we have what we have. I thought the reasons for the breakup were a bit flimsy, and could have been worked out with some straightforward communication. (Poor communications in romance novels is a big peeve for me). Still, the grand gesture moment is charming, and there’s a very nice resolution to it all.

My only other real quibble with the book (and it’s fairly minor) is the reliance on slang like “obvi” and “def” (for definitely) that pops up throughout the book as part of Drew’s first-person narration. It may work better on the page, but in the audiobook, it sounds like a jarring wrong note. (Also, in one scene, she uses the word “cosign” — twice! — to mean agreeing with something, as in “‘She’s not wrong,’ Daisy cosigns…”, and I was not a fan!)

I really enjoyed the Colorado travel aspects of the story, and only wish there had been more of this. (Drew and Jasper go on three significant outings — more would have been even better!). Ditto re the reading list. Drew describes one or two of the books Jasper gives her to read (the first one sounds a lot like Daisy Jones & The Six), but doesn’t actually name them. I would have loved seeing Drew’s Reading List as an extra at the back of the book!

Narrator Nicole Lewis does a terrific job with the audiobook, really bringing Drew’s personality to life — from her innate sparkle to her grief and struggles, it all feels real and genuine.

Overall, I really enjoyed Better Than Fiction, which just goes to show that some blind dates can defy expectations and lead to good things!

2Nov2024

A quartet of beautiful books: Slim volumes to enjoy (or give as gifts)

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve carved out time to savor some of the slim, gift-worthy hardcovers that I’ve treated myself to recently. All are lovely in their own way. Read on for the details… maybe you’ll find an inspiration for the upcoming holiday season!

Note 1: The physical books themselves are all so gorgeous that I’m including a little gallery at the end, to give a sense — beyond the Goodreads-featured covers — of how special they all are.

Note 2: You may notice that I didn’t provide ratings in my write-ups below… that’s because I’d give each and every one 5 glowing stars!

The Imagination Chamber: Cosmic Rays from Lyra’s Universe by Philip Pullman: The Imagination Chamber is a collection of snippets, little bits and pieces of text from the author’s imagination that float through the worlds of His Dark Materials. Some pages contain just a sentence or two; some, a few paragraphs. There’s no overarching story, just a sampling of ideas.

A daemon is not an animal, of course; a daemon is a person. A real cat, face to face with a daemon in cat form, would not be puzzled for a moment. She would see a human being.

I’ve seen some complaints from reviewers about what this book is not — it’s not a novel, or novella, or a short story. It truly is simple — just an assortment of bursts of imagination from the author’s mind, all of which tie into the series in some way. I can understand the frustration if these reviewers expected something other than what they got. As for me, I understood what to expect, and loved savoring this sampling of beautiful writing and ideas.

In Lyra’s world people got used to knowing that their daemons talked to other people’s daemons, and could perceive dislike, coldness, attraction, sympathy, etc, without their people saying a word, or while they were talking of something entirely different. Later their people might realize that (for example) they had made a lifelong enemy, or that they’d fallen in love.

Recommended for: Fans of the His Dark Materials series.

Details:
Published: 2019
Pages: 87

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke: What a surprising delight! This short, simple story is a fairy tale about a woman who finds true happiness in the forest, among the trees and animals who love her as much as she loves them. It’s odd and lovely, and the book itself is gorgeous, filled with black-and-white illustrations (by Victoria Sawdon) that add to the sense of enchantment.

Recommended for: Readers who enjoy thoughtful fairy tales, beautifully crafted illustrated stories.

Details:
Published: 2024
Pages: 64

A Few Rules for Predicting the Future by Octavia E. Butler: This slim book presents an essay (originally published in 2000) by the late, great Octavia Butler alongside absolutely gorgeous artwork (by Manzel Bowman). It’s short, succinct, and wise, and in relatively few words, conveys the author’s unique outlook.

Apollo 11 reached the moon in July 1969. I had already left home by then, and I believed I was watching humanity leave home. I assumed that we would go on to establish lunar colonies and eventually send people to Mars. We probably will do those things someday but I never imagined that it would take as long as it has. Moral: Wishful thinking is no more help in predicting the future than fear, superstition or depression.

The conclusion is especially powerful:

So why try to predict the future at all if it’s so difficult, so nearly impossible? Because making predictions is one way to give warning when we see ourselves drifting in dangerous directions. Because prediction is a useful way of pointing out safer, wiser, courses. Because, most of all, our tomorrow is the child of our today. Through thought and deed, we exert a great deal of influence over this child, even though we can’t control it absolutely. Best to think about it, though. Best to try to shape it into something good. Best to do that for any child.

Recommended for: Anyone, really — obviously for Butler fans, but more generally, for readers of speculative fiction, and anyone who appreciates smart, sharp writing paired with beautiful artwork.

Details:
Published: 2024
Pages: 56

How To Be Invisible by Kate Bush: A collection of the lyrics of the amazing Kate Bush, curated by the singer/songwriter herself. An introduction by the writer David Mitchell is a deeply personal and highly informative essay on the impact of Kate Bush’s work across the years of her career, and gives context and greater insight into many of her songs.

And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get him to swap our places
Be running up that road
Be running up that hill
Be running up that building
If I only could

The book itself presents song lyrics, organized thematically into different sections. Some of these I knew and loved; many are new to me, and I enjoyed reading the words even while realizing that without the music, I wasn’t getting the full impact. But that’s okay — the words themselves are amazing to read.

I’d actually bought copies for myself and for my daughter a few years ago, but after a quick initial glance, put in on my shelf until “later”… which is finally now. In a wonderful case of serendipity, the author notes at the end of the Susanna Clarke book credit Kate Bush’s music as inspiration**, and that drove me to return to How To Be Invisible and finally take the time to savor it. (I haven’t read every single page yet — after the intro, I paged through and read lyrics randomly, and plan to keep the book on my reading table, to further explore at a leisurely pace.)

Recommended for: Kate Bush fans, of course, but also those who may only know her work in passing and are open to a deeper dive.

Details:
Published: 2018
Pages: 194

A gallery of images of these amazing books:

**She mentions several of my favorites, including Under Ice:

It’s wonderful
Everywhere
So white
The river has frozen over
Not a soul
On the ice
Only me
Skating fast
I’m speeding past trees leaving
Little lines
In the ice
Cutting out
Little lines
In the ice, splitting
Splitting sound
Silver heels spitting
Spitting snow
There’s something moving under
Under the ice
Moving under ice
Through water
Trying to get out of the cold water
It’s me
Something, someone — help them
It’s meSave

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1Nov2024

Book Review: The Art of Leaving: A Memoir by Ayelet Tsabari

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Art of Leaving: A Memoir
Author: Ayelet Tsabari
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: February 1, 2019
Length: 317 pages
Genre: Memoir
Source: Library
Rating:

An unforgettable memoir about a young woman who tries to outrun loss, but eventually finds a way home.

Ayelet Tsabari was 21 years old the first time she left Tel Aviv with no plans to return. Restless after two turbulent mandatory years in the Israel Defense Forces, Tsabari longed to get away. It was not the never-ending conflict that drove her, but the grief that had shaken the foundations of her home. The loss of Tsabari’s beloved father in years past had left her alienated and exiled within her own large Yemeni family and at odds with her Mizrahi identity. By leaving, she would be free to reinvent herself and to rewrite her own story.

For nearly a decade, Tsabari travelled, through India, Europe, the US and Canada, as though her life might go stagnant without perpetual motion. She moved fast and often because—as in the Intifada—it was safer to keep going than to stand still. Soon the act of leaving—jobs, friends and relationships—came to feel most like home.

But a series of dramatic events forced Tsabari to examine her choices and her feelings of longing and displacement. By periodically returning to Israel, Tsabari began to examine her Jewish-Yemeni background and the Mizrahi identity she had once rejected, as well as unearthing a family history that had been untold for years. What she found resonated deeply with her own immigrant experience and struggles with new motherhood.

Beautifully written, frank and poignant, The Art of Leaving is a courageous coming-of-age story that reflects on identity and belonging and that explores themes of family and home—both inherited and chosen.

I read Ayelet Tsabari’s beautiful first novel, Songs for the Brokenhearted, just a few months ago, and loved it. I haven’t been able to get that book out of my mind, and decided to give the author’s memoir a try as well.

In The Art of Leaving, the author shares moving stories from her life, from the loss of her father when she was just ten years old, through her years of wandering and distance as a young adult, and finally, her reconnecting with her roots, her family origins, and a side of herself that finds peace in staying put.

Leaving is the only thing I know how to do. That seemed to be the one stable thing in my life, the ritual of picking up, throwing out or giving away the little I have, packing and taking off. That was what home had become for me.

After the tragedy of her father’s death, Ayelet seemed to internalize the idea of leaving before being hurt, never truly connecting in relationships, never staying in one place for very long, skimming the surface of her own life. She leaves her family and home in Israel to travel, and spends years away, living on beaches in India and Thailand with whomever she happens to befriend, seeing life through a weed and acid haze, not particularly present or invested in much of anything.

Eventually, she finds a way back to her family, learns more about their shared history than what was known previously, and starts to reinvest in connecting with her Yemenite/Mizrachi heritage — the foods, spices, music, and language of her youth and her family’s past.

Many of the chapters in The Art of Leaving were published as essays elsewhere first; perhaps for that reason, the whole doesn’t necessarily feel cohesive in tone, and the book doesn’t entirely follow a chronological flow. Memories pop up in different times and in different ways; a chapter about life with her newborn daughter may suddenly give way to a story about her parents’ courtship.

I was less interested in the descriptions of her wanderings, the drugs, the beaches, the aimlessness. For me, stories of friendships made and abandoned along the way were much more compelling, and the chapters and scenes set within her family’s homes, showing their traditions and culture, were the best part of the book.

A chapter about cooking with her mother is a stand-out, but throughout the book, I found descriptions of experiences, places, and people that evoked a tangible sense of the author’s life in those moments.

The Art of Leaving is well-written and open-hearted. The author shares her thoughts and feelings on a deep level. I’m glad to have read it, although I have to say that it did not resonate as strongly for me as Songs for the Broken-Hearted (although that may have a lot to do with the fact that I’m a fiction reader through and through, and novels always have the biggest impact on me as a reader).

Readers who enjoy memoirs as a gateway into another person’s life and experiences will find a lot to appreciate in The Art of Leaving.

31Oct2024

Novella review: Schemes & Scandals (A Rip Through Time, #3.5) by Kelley Armstrong

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Schemes & Scandals
Series: A Rip Through Time, #3.5
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Publication date: October 31, 2024
Length: 176 pages
Genre: Historical fiction / mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

It’s Mallory Atkinson’s first Christmas in Scotland. Victorian Scotland, that is. Also, as the twenty-first-century detective learns, Christmas really isn’t a thing in Victorian Scotland. It’s all about Hogmanay. But her boss, Dr. Duncan Gray, treats her to an early gift of tickets to the event of the season: a Charles Dickens reading. There, they bump into Lady Inglis—the lovely widow who has sent Gray sexy letters trying to entice him back to her bed.

Lady Inglis introduces Mallory to Dickens—the meeting of a lifetime—but in return she wants their help. She’s being blackmailed. Someone stole letters she wrote to another lover and is threatening to publish them.

Mallory isn’t sure what to make of Lady Inglis, but no woman deserves that, so she insists on taking the case with or without Gray’s help. Growing tension between them soon tells Mallory that Gray is hiding a secret of his own. She has until Hogmanay to uncover the blackmailer…and, hopefully, to put things right with Gray so they can enjoy the holiday together.

Schemes & Scandals is a holiday treat that ties in perfectly with the A Rip Through Time series. In the series, 21st century detective Mallory ends up falling through time into Victorian Edinburgh, where she inhabits the body of a beautiful but nasty housemaid. (Trust me, it makes sense if you read the series from the beginning).

Here, following the 3rd full novel in the series, Mallory is well-established within the Gray household, working as an assistant to undertaker/scientist Duncan Gray, who has a side gig consulting with the police force. Duncan and his sister Isla know the truth about Mallory, and value her modern knowledge of forensics and police procedures as they apply science to Victorian crime scenes.

In Schemes & Scandals, Mallory and Duncan agree to help thwart a blackmailer who threatens a former lover of Duncan’s. The case is clever, and provides plenty of opportunities for Mallory to explore new aspects of Edinburgh society.

As a novella, Schemes & Scandals must fit a full detective story into a condensed amount of pages, and it succeeds admirably. The mystery/crime story is lots of fun — and since this novella is holiday-themed, the mood stays mostly upbeat, without endangering our heroes or involving them in anything too sinister.

The Christmas and Hogmanay elements are nice touches, and the encounter with Charles Dickens is a highlight — especially seeing Mallory’s expectations bumping up against the reality of a sold-out Victorian-era author appearance.

I am treated — if that’s the word — to the most gonzo reading a A Christmas Carol ever.

Schemes & Scandals is a great addition to a terrific series. I suppose someone could pick up this novella as a stand-alone and enjoy it, but they’d be missing a ton of context and character development. My recommendation? Start at the very beginning, with A Rip Through Time. Trust me — you won’t want to stop.

30Oct2024

Book Review: So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: So Thirsty
Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 10, 2024
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Purchased
Rating:

A woman must learn to take life by the throat after a night out leads to irrevocable changes in this juicy, thrilling novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such Sharp Teeth and Black Sheep.

Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life.

Her husband surprises her with a birthday weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi.

Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.

The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.

Rachel Harrison’s books are always a (gruesome) treat, and So Thirsty is an absolute gem. This book lets us know right up front — hey, it’s on the cover! — that this is a vampire story. But the how and why of it all are just so perfectly developed that it’s not at all what you’d expect.

If there is a happy medium between being a resigned, mildly depressed thirty-six-year-old woman with a thankless job and cheating husband, and being an immortal vampire indulging her lust for blood and sex and her desire for love and excitement, it sure would be nice to find it.

We start with Sloane, a woman in her mid-30s, whose life is snug, secure, and unsatisfying. She’s committed to her multi-step daily skin routine, but the signs of aging keep creeping in anyway. Her husband Joel is a cheater, but she chooses not to confront him, preferring to avoid having to actually so something about it. When Joel sends her off on a surprise birthday weekend with her best friend Naomi, she’s startled and a bit disconcerted that he planned this for her… and rightfully suspicious that he has ulterior motives. (Note to cheaters: Don’t forget about that doorbell camera!)

Naomi arrives at their ultra-posh lakeside resort and immediately shakes things up. They’ve been best friends since their teens, but their lives have taken very different directions since then. Naomi works for an up-and-coming rockstar — who is also her boyfriend — and she’s impulsive, glamorous, and impatient with Sloane’s safe (boring) life. This is not the Sloane she once knew, and she wants to force her out of her complacency.

She does so by taking Sloane to a party with strangers they’ve just met. Behind the gates of their remote mansion, the strangers are welcoming and wild. Sloane fears they’ve stumbled into an orgy; Naomi urges her to unwind and let things happen. One of the men in particular seems to have an intense, instant connection to Sloane, but she’s skittish and reluctant to risk the safety of her cocooned life, no matter how much temptation is staring her in the face. However, all choice is soon taken from both Sloane and Naomi, as a terrifying moment leads to their transformation and the start of a new life for both women.

As I mentioned earlier, the fact that Sloane and Naomi become vampires isn’t particularly surprising, given the cover and blurb. What makes this interesting is their response and experiences. The need for blood is described as an intense thirst, and the thirst represents not just the literal requirement for blood as a life-sustaining substance, but all the elements missing from Sloane’s former life — the passion for excitement, taking risks, grabbing all that life has to offer. The thirst is what Sloane will need to both embrace and control if she’s to have any sort of future at all, and to do so, she’ll have to break down the careful barriers she’s put up over the years.

I loved the insights into both Sloane and Naomi as individuals, as well as their shared dynamic. Their bond is threatened to the point of almost breaking, but ultimately it’s their love for one another that keeps them going, even in the worst of moments.

My main quibble with So Thirsty is that the vampires they encounter are introduced as a group, and there isn’t all that much to differentiate one from another. Beyond that, a few seem a bit too stereotypically vampire-y — are they intentionally aping a vampire vibe, or is this just who they are? (And also, I could definitely have done without the orgy… )

Quibbles aside, I thought the complicated relationship between Sloane and Naomi was particularly well done. Their shared history means they know each other better than anyone else, but also leads to possibly unreasonable expectations. They each want the other to pursue better options and live their best lives — but their perspectives on what that might look like aren’t actually in sync.

Does that sound less bloody than what you’d expect in a vampire novel? Never fear! Those looking for classic horror elements won’t be disappointed — yes, there’s introspection and a focus on relationships, but there’s also plenty of blood and gore. Really, lots and lots of blood and gore. Violent incidents are used to startling, scary effect, and there are a few characters met along the way who are simply terrifying.

So Thirsty is a totally absorbing read, and such a blast for readers (like me) who’ve read tons of vampire stories already, and are hungry (thirsty?!) for a new twist. So Thirsty is not quite as great as Such Sharp Teeth or Cackle, but I still enjoyed it immensely. A bloody good read for these creepy days of late October!

29Oct2024

Halloween posts for Tuesday!

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Lately, I’ve been bouncing back and forth for my Tuesday posts, alternating between the Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Tuesday memes, depending on their topics for the week. This week, both are Halloween themed… so I’m doing them both!!

First up… it’s Top Ten Tuesday:

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a Halloween freebie! For my Halloween post, I’m going to focus on horror novels on my to-read list (updated for 2024). I’ve done this topic a few times in the past several years, and given the state of my TBR list, it’s time to do it again.

Noted with shame: Some of these books were on my Halloween horror TBR list last year! So, you know, I’m not exactly great at following through…

Still, here are a bunch I really do want to get to… including a few upcoming 2025 new books.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Dread Nation by Justine Ireland
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
The Return by Rachel Harrison
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker
Overgrowth by Mira Grant (upcoming 2025 new release)
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (upcoming 2025 new release)
My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie (upcoming 2025 new release)

Are any of these on your TBR too? Which ones look best to you? And if you’ve read any, let me know what you thought!

Next, let’s take a look at this week’s Top 5 Tuesday:

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

This week’s topic is Top 5 books to recommend for Halloween, and the prompt is: It’s trick or treat time — are you going to tell us your best scary books or cutesy Halloween tales?

My picks are mainly ghost stories, plus a funny/clever fantasy that I reread every October!

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The Uninvited by Cat Winters (review)
The Veil by Rachel Harrison (review)
Thornhill by Pam Smy (review)
I’ll be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong (review)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (review) — I’m reading this one again right now! Such a fun annual tradition.

What books do you recommend for Halloween? I love a good ghost story — do you have any favorites? Save

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In case it’s not obvious, I’ll probably be spending my Halloween with my nose in a book! Wishing you all a happy Halloween, whatever you’ll be doing!Save

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28Oct2024

The Monday Check-In ~ 10/28/2024

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

Not too much to report! Busy workweek, but I did manage to squeeze in a dinner out with a friend passing through town, and even grabbed some good outdoors time thanks to a gorgeous sunshiney day over the weekend.

What did I read during the last week?

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman: Finished reading last week, but just posted a review, here.

Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith: My book group’s October read. I liked the book, and really enjoyed our book group discussion with the author. My review is here.

Lil’s Bus Trip by Judy Leigh: Such a sweet, enjoyable audiobook. My review is here.

Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we finished our group read of this fascinating history book! It’s an excellent resource for getting a different, unusual view of the women involved in the Jacobite rebellions. We have a chat scheduled with the author next month, and it should be terrific.

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison: Finished late Sunday. So good! Review to follow later this week.

In other reading:

I read a really creepy short story after seeing it on a list via Reactor (here). The October Game by Ray Bradbury is weird and disturbing… perfect for the lead-up to Halloween! Originally published in 1948 in Weird Tales, it seems to be available for free reading online through a variety of sources. I found a PDF version here. (I also ended up reading the Seanan McGuire story on the list — good and spooky!)

Pop culture & TV:

I binge-watched Nobody Wants This on Netflix this week, and loved it! Now we wait for season 2…

Other than that, I’ve been catching up on my half-hour comedies that have just started new seasons (Ghosts, What We Do in the Shadows, Abbott Elementary) — always a good time.

Fresh Catch:

Two slim but lovely hardcovers arrived this week:

So excited for both of these!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Schemes & Scandals (A Rip Through Time, #3.5) by Kelley Armstrong: A new novella set in the world of a terrific timeslip series. Really good so far!

Now playing via audiobook:

In New York earlier this fall, I stopped by The Strand bookstore and picked up a “blind date with a book” on a whim… and it ended up being Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin. The packaging is so adorable that I’m hesitant to take it apart — but meanwhile, the library had the audiobook available as an instant borrow, so I thought I’d give it a whirl!

Coming soon:

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments:

Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse: My book group’s classic read! So much fun. Progress: 77%. Coming up this week: Chapters 19 and 20.
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny: My annual October tradition. The book has a chapter per day for each day of the month. Progress: 81%

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

26Oct2024

Audiobook Review: Lil’s Bus Trip by Judy Leigh

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Lil’s Bus Trip
Author: Judy Leigh
Narrator: Julie Mullen
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: August 26, 2021
Print length: 350 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 36 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Five French Hens and The Old Girls’ Network comes a story of the journey of a lifetime across Europe in pursuit of memories, love, and new adventures. It’s always a good time for a road trip…

When 82-year-old Lil decides to book herself, her 65-year-old daughter, Cassie, and her friend Maggie on a bus trip across Europe, she hopes for a little adventure to counteract the monotony of life.

Along with three members of the Salterley Tennis Club and the Jolly Weaver football team, whose ideas of a good time are rather different to Lil’s and strikingly at odds with each other’s, the merry band of travellers set out on their great adventure.

From moving moments on the beaches of Normandy, outrageous adventures in Amsterdam, to the beauty of Bruges and gastronomic delights of France, the holiday is just the tonic Lil, Maggie and Cassie needed.

And as the time approaches for them to head home, Lil makes an unexpected discovery – even in her advancing years, men are like buses – there isn’t one for ages then two come along at once. Is Lil ready to share her golden years, and can the ladies embrace the fresh starts that the trip has given them. Or is it just too late to change…

Judy Leigh’s books can be counted on to provide cheery scenarios, heart-warming encounters, and memorable (and often feisty) older women as the main characters — and Lil’s Bus Trip is yet another terrific listening experience!

Lil’s life is perfectly nice, if not exceptionally exciting. She lives in a pleasant senior community, has good friends, and is very close to her daughter Cassie, whom she’s raised on her own after becoming unexpectedly pregnant as an unwed teen. But couldn’t they both use a little adventure for a change?

When a friend from the local pub decides to organize and lead a European road trip, Lil decides it’s just what she and Cassie need. What’s more, Lil’s best friend and next-door neighbor Maggie is slowly suffocating from neglect, as her husband mainly ignores her and sits watching TV all day, so Lil practically forces her along as well. Joining them on their trip are a group of younger folks from a local football team, the pub owner and his elderly father, and a trio of snobs from the tennis club who insist they’re only interested in culture and intellectual pursuits.

As the trip gets underway, the group gets to experience both serious moments — such as the beaches of Normandy — as well as silly mishaps… like what happens when the three oldest members of the group order a brownie to go with their coffee in an Amsterdam coffeeshop.

There’s actually not a ton of plot to describe, other than the highlights of the road trip itself. And yet, there’s something so warm and delightful about this audiobook. I was apprehensive at the beginning about there being so many characters, but ultimately, the twelve people on the mini-bus are each developed over the course of the story, so that by the end, it feels like we’ve been hanging out with a group of our own friends.

The adventures on the road are lots of fun, and there are more serious moments too, as the various characters have opportunities to rethink their lives back home and come to terms with what they want (or don’t want). For Lil especially, it’s a chance to look back at a life lived on her own terms, but often lived alone, and consider whether it’s too late to take a chance on loving someone new.

The audiobook narrator rises to the challenge of voicing the twelve travelers, and bringing them all to distinct life… along with several other memorable people they meet along the way. For me, a jarring note was that the narrator adds in the vocal effects described… so if it’s stated that a character laughs, the narrator laughs… or coughs… or takes a deep breath. I find this approach a bit annoying, but I’m sure some listeners like that sort of thing. (Also, Cassie is a singer, and when she performs in the book, the narrator sings Cassie’s songs, rather than just reading the words. Again, whether you’ll enjoy this is a matter of taste and preference. She does a perfectly respectable job with the singing, but it’s not my cup of tea.)

Still, audio/narration preferences aside, I did really have a great time with this sweet story. Listening to Lil’s Bus Trip is the audiobook equivalent of a warm blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. It’s comforting and pleasant, not particularly dramatic, but so easy to sink into and enjoy.

This is now my 4th book by Judy Leigh, and it won’t be my last! Fortunately, she has a good-sized backlist for me to dig into while waiting for her next new release!