It was good ??

While I did love The House in the Cerulean Sea a tad more, this book did not disappoint. TJ Klune has a way with words and the imagery created is magic. I so loved all the children and their unique outlook of the world. The story was uplifting, funny, charming, and full of hope.

I read this for a bookclub, and it was not for me. The story follows the life of Isaac Dahl. This book isn’t that long, but the titular character’s life is (as promised) very long. The problem is, I never cared about the characters. They felt stiff. This felt like more of a catalog of events over time. Everything felt like an observation rather than emotion and personality driving action. I appreciate the LGBTQ representation in the first person protagonist but never really got into this audiobook I borrowed via Libby.

Very interesting book. It talks about how a girl names Sophie finds out sh is an elf, and is brought to a place called the Lost Cities. She finds out that she has multiple abilities and she gets kidnapped by a band of rebels called the Neverseen ( though she doesn't know they are called the Neverseen yet). Her human parents' memories of her get erased because the elves are super secretive against the humans because the humans betrayed them. She starts school called Foxfire (yes, a fungus) and the first friend she makes is named Dex Dizznee. The Neverseen also kidnapps him, because he just so happens to be in the cave with her when she gets abducted. 10/10 story.

It was a great book about children working together and it is part of a siris

?Now To Forever (Life on the Ledge Duet #2)? By Ashley Manley After twenty years of running from her past, Scotty, a reclusive crematorium owner, is forced to face the heartbreak she’s tried to bury. When an unexpected inheritance and the sudden return of the man who once shattered her heart upend her quiet life, she must choose between the safety of solitude and the possibility of a second chance at love. True healing, she discovers, might require more than just a change of scenery, it may demand the courage to let someone in. I absolutely loved Forever and Back, the first book in this duet, so I was thrilled to get early access to Scotty’s story! Scotty, June’s quirky, strong-willed, reclusive best friend, was such an intriguing character, and this book dives deep into her complexity. Haunted by a traumatic past she’s never truly faced, Scotty’s journey is raw and emotional. She can be polarizing at times, and I occasionally found her choices frustrating, at times even a bit immature for a 42-year-old, but her character arc is undeniably powerful. The growth she experiences is both moving and hard-earned. While this book may initially read like a romance, it crosses into literary fiction territory, exploring heavy themes and deep emotional layers. Despite her flaws, you can’t help but root for Scotty and hope she finds her way. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I love Ashley Manley’s writing style and humor with her characters. She writes such layered characters that are vulnerable, flawed, and real. This can be read as a stand-alone, but it is helpful to have some background knowledge of Scotty that you get in the first book of this Life on the Ledge duet series. I highly recommend reading both of these books! Do check your content warnings. Scotty uses very colorful, explicit language if you are sensitive to that. ?? Thank you to Ashley Manley for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. Now to Forever published 7/1/25. ?? Rating: ????????

We loved this intro to Shakespearean England and the time of Queen Elizabeth I! We blazed through it.

3.75 rounded up. This was not my favorite Magic Treehouse adventure. It felt a bit hokey. My 4yo had a lot of questions about smoking (cultural Native American representation).

A beautiful book- After finishing, I recommended to my best friend who read it and loved it as well. Matt Haig can take something outlandishly fantastical and weave it into a storyline so believable and inspiring that you start look look for glimpses of that similar magic in your everyday life. A true delight!

I actually read 8-10, and the hour cont is a rough guess.