Books

Book 1,072: Sense and Second-Degree Murder (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #2) – Tirzah Price

Book cover of "Sense and Second-Degree Murder"In for a penny, in for a pound, right? After reading Pride and Premeditation, I figured I should go ahead and read Sense and Second-Degree Murder before conquering Manslaughter Park and I’m glad I did. Although they’re not intricately tied together there are definitely mentions of Lizzie in this book and I’m part of the way into the third and Lizzie, Darcy and Charlotte actually make an appearance and the Dashwoods are mentioned.

For the most part, I enjoyed this adaptation of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Price did an excellent job with sticking to the core character traits of Marianne and Elinor, and even gave Margaret a bigger role which I could appreciate as I always forget there’s a third sister. If there’s one thing I didn’t like about the adaptation it was that Colonel Brandon became Mr. Brandon. And it made sense for the story, but EVERY time I read it I was like “Bah! What is this nonsense?!”

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Books

Book 1,065: Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1) – Tirzah Price

Book cover of "Pride & Premeditation"I had no intentions of reading this book (or the entire series) even though I’m already looking ahead to Manslaughter Park, the adaptation of Mansfield Park I’ve decided to read this year.

HOWEVER, the cruise we went on in early March had an honest-to-god library. Like an entire room with books you could take out and read on the ship and we just happened to sit right beside this and it was too much of a coincidence to NOT read it.

I stuck to my plans and finished up two ARC’s prior to starting, but the second I started I flew through this one thanks to my familiarity with the source material and Price’s great adaptation.

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Book 1,063: The Spellshop – Sarah Beth Durst

Book cover of "The Spellshop"When the publisher reached out about this one they referred to it as “cottage core fantasy” and I was like OMFG I am here for this.* One of my favorite game streamers does cottage core Minecraft and I may have been watching it at the time. This was back in January of 2024 (SHAME ON ME I KNOW) and after a wild year last year I finally picked this one up and it was lovely.

The Spellshop is the tale of Kiela, a librarian from the capital city, who flees to her home island with a sentient spider plant and then causes all sorts of good unintended consequences as she adapts to small town life again. It’s a slow-burn romance set in a light fantasy in which I genuinely forgot on some occasions until someone’s blue skin tone or antlers were mentioned or magic.

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Books

Book 1,053: Hotel du Lac – Anita Brookner

What an interesting novel. I had no idea what to expect going into this. I knew it was famous, I knew it was Brookner’s most famous novel and I knew it won the year I was born. That’s about it.

I picked it up almost a decade ago because I knew it was a Booker Prize winner and at the time I had intentions of reading the full list. And, while I still may read the full list, there are no pressures or time constraints. That being said I’m starting to pare down my physical book collection and I’m sure I’ll be reading more and more as I have plenty physical books.

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Book 1,031: Speak of the Devil – Rose Wilding

OMFG. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to read this. I accepted an ARC ages ago from the publisher, but then school and life got in the way and I blew past the publication date.* Then there were so many MM Holiday Romances I just had to read, and this is where we ended up me reading it in January 2024, six months after publication, and then finally getting the review posted almost a year to the date after publication (six months after I read it but back-scheduling). OH, THE SHAME.

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