Space Station Mir

 The Dry by Jane Harper (Book club read)--First of a mystery series set in Australia; solid read and fit well with the setting in a drought-struck town Never Meant to Meet You by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans (Another book club read)-- Loved this Black/Jewish friendship story and they really know what they're talking about when it comes to teaching! The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow (Yet another book club read)-- Loved, loved this magical alternate history--perfect remix of history and fairytale and feminism--over 500 pages and I did not want it to stop! I actually recommended this one so I guess I really know my own taste lol! Kat Girl by Sarah Lahey (LibraryThing review)--Another one set in Australia,  this one in Melbourne. Main character is a twice-divorced architect who is definitely autism spectrum-coded. This book gets really frank and weird and there's a lot of architecture and Monopoly but definitely an interesting read. Also, the romance is definitely secon...

 Pitch It by Evie Blum-- Kind of a weirdly suspenseful romcom but I enjoyed the perspective of a woman working in Silicon Valley,  which I don't see a lot. The business jargon was on point. The author is really talented at writing physicality too; be prepared for a lot of spicy scenes.  My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Bro di Ashton, and Jodi Meadows--I'd wanted to read this for a while (Tudor history nerd, hello!), and I just saw and loved the show on Prime and finally got the book from Kindle Unlimited.  Both are so, so good! Very tongue-in-cheek, intrusive narration, and so many riffs on Shakespeare, Tudor history, and more. Plus it's a surprise fantasy world with people who turn into animals instead of Protestants vs. Catholics--totally brilliant. Can't wait to read the rest! An Improper Situation by Sydney Jane Bailey-- On Stuff-Your-Kindle romance day, I took a chance on a lot of different books. This was the first one I tried. I really enjoyed the 19th century Sp...

Dreams of Ice and Shadow by Kathryn Troy (Frostbite Trilogy, Book #2) Release Day: July 23, 2024 It's here! I've been reading this book for so long, but it's finally out!  Since I loved Troy's book, The Shadow of Theron , and the first book in this trilogy, A Vision in Crimson , I again volunteered to be part of the "street team" for social media promotion and received a review copy of the book--in the form of an e-galley and finally an e-book. It took me so long to read because I don't like reading on my computer, but once I got the e-book, I zipped through it. This is definitely one where I recommend reading in order.  Like Troy's other books, the writing is vivid, intense, and dense with literary references. This one particularly gets to some Narnian deep cuts--"If the person who possesses the stone speaks a single magical word, known only by a select few...[they will have the power to destroy the world]." We learn this, of course, from a ...

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Stuck writing on my phone again, so we'll see what I can do. I'm going to post covers with color/color schemes I like--mainly shades of blue and teal with other colors mixed in. These were the only images I could upload from my phone--hopefully more later. 

 June was a superlative reading month for me! I spent a lot of time reading outdoors (and indoors), and I finished several books for review, book clubs, and fun! I surpassed my reading goal for the year of 42 books, and I've read 10 out of 11 books I planned to read by authors of color (though I'll have to expand the goal for 25% of however many books I end up reading). Here's to many more nights of reading this summer! Books Read in June 2024 How to Align the Stars by Amy Dressler (LibraryThing Early Reviewers)--See my review here. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn--Maybe my favorite of the Bridgerton book series so far! I really loved the romance between Eloise and Phillip, and also Eloise's vivacious character, which is a little different from the show. Can't wait to see what they do with this on screen! The Bloodstained Key by Charity Rau (LibraryThing Early Reviewers)--See my review here . The Spirit Well (Lutesong #2) by R.K. Ashwick (LibraryThing Early...

  Clean: The New Science of Skin had been on my TBR for a while, and it recently caught my eye again. This time, I immediately checked it out of the library, and I'm glad I did. It was an interesting before-bedtime read that started out in familiar (to me) territory about our society's recent obsession with skincare, then wended its way through the fascinating recent history of skincare products and soap, a bit about the ineffable nature of the human longing for (spiritual) "cleanliness" and how being "germ-free" has recently subbed in for that role for many people, and finally and most interestingly, the upcoming probiotic and prebiotic skincare market as well as the ways in which our microbiomes really do affect our skin and overall health. The microorganism stuff was the most interesting to me, as well as the validation that pretty much no skincare products or daily cleaning routines aside from handwashing are needed from a healthcare point-of-view (altho...

I'm surprised how many upcoming books I actually am aware of--a few came to mind right away, and for some I had to check Goodreads, but even though I usually read the backlist, turns out I am pretty tuned in this year! Looking forward to seeing everyone else's picks too--Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Books I'm Looking Forward To in the Second Half of 2024  Dreams of Ice and Shadow by Kathryn Troy--July 23, 2024--I've been reading the eARC slowly and helping with the social media build-up to this release for the second in the Frostbite trilogy--I just love Troy's lush, witty writing and intense characters! My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows--August 20, 2024--I've been wanting to read their irreverent alternate histories and so excited to see one coming about one of my fav women pirates, Mary Read! Until Next Summer by Ali Brady--July 9, 2024--Looks like a fun summer read, and you don't see too many novels about summer camp! The Book of Wit...