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Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding
source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own
Review: This was a really cute read! It’s kind of enemies to friends to lovers, though enemies is a pretty strong word. Really, Teddy and Romeo work together but they both have wrong impressions of the other. When they are pushed together on a work project, spending all that time together makes them realize they actually like each other a lot. There’s a woman who might invest in the company they work for and she puts Teddy and Romeo through a few tests before she agrees or not. Yeah…it’s kind of messed up. If this was real life, I would hope that nobody would do that to a person. It’s a great way for the two to get closer in the book though. This is a relatively low-heat romance too, if that’s more your speed!
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
source: library copy; all opinions are my own
Review: I’m doing the #readchristie2021 where you read a different Agatha Christie novel every month based on various prompts. In January, I read The Mysterious Affair at Styles with an Instagram group. It’s the first Hercule Poirot novel, whom I love and I’d never read it, so that was fun. It was a good mystery overall, though it was definitely not my favorite. You can tell that Christie gets better as time goes on. At any rate, I’ve been wanting to read more Christie so this challenge is great for that. I’d recommend if you want to be introduced to Poirot or just want some early Christie in your life.
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory by Julia Shaw
source: personal copy; all opinions are my own
Review: This was the choice for my book club in January. It’s something you don’t necessarily fly through, but it’s definitely a fascinating book. In case you couldn’t tell – it’s nonfiction and it’s all about our memories and how they really aren’t that great. It was eye-opening, but it was also a little scary. People can be given false memories – even some slightly traumatic ones. Eyewitness testimony isn’t great – and people have a difficult time telling the difference between people of a different race. Basically, the whole white people think all black people look the same. It’s true for other races too though – not just white people. Kind of scary when you think about the justice system, isn’t it?
The Memory Illusion is hard to read, but it’s also very interesting. It’s science, but Shaw writes in a way that the average person can understand. Definitely a book good for discussion!
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Now it’s time for some reviews I’ve already posted-
The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
The Sea in Winter is a beautifully written middle grade novel. I actually read the entire book in a day, and I will admit it had me tearing up in parts. It’s an emotional book but one that I think many should read, especially those in the target age group of 8-12 years old.
Check out my full review
All the Lives I Want: Essays about My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers by Alana Massey
There’s a part in the book where Massey says she dislikes magazines that say a woman “got her body back” after having a baby. No, she didn’t. We got her body back. I thought the way she explained this was really eye-opening.
Check out my full review
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
I really loved the struggle between faith and feelings, and that Christina Lauren didn’t turn religion into the bad guy. It might be against the “rules” to act on feelings of same-sex attraction, but that doesn’t mean that everyone believes that or feels the same way. Not everything is black or white when it comes to feelings, and it doesn’t have to be when it comes to faith or religion either.
Check out my full review
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
This is the third book in The Diviners series and it’s just as good as the rest. Hopefully I’ll find time to read the fourth and final book soon. This is a YA series but I think adults would enjoy it too as it leans toward the older end in terms of characters and content.
Check out my full review
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
The Black Flamingo is a YA novel written in verse and it takes place in England. The book follows Michael, who is mixed-race and gay. These are just aspects of who he is, but they are important aspects. While it was nice to see the book go from young Michael to college aged Michael, I will admit that the book picked up more for me once he was older.
Check out my full review
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
Beastly Bones is the second book in the Jackaby series. The series takes place in 1892 New England and follows the perspective of Abigail Rook. She is employed by R.F. Jackaby, a private detective of sorts. This book takes them away from the city and into a mystery that might involve dinosaurs. These books remind me of Sherlock Holmes in terms of Jackaby being like Sherlock and Abigail being his Watson. The big difference is that Jackaby is a private detective of the supernatural.
Check out my full review
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Before I let you go, I’m hosting a giveaway for Black History Month on Instagram if you’d like to enter. It’s U.S. only and ends this Saturday, February 13–
View this post on Instagram
An interesting selection, thanks for sharing
You’ve reminded me It’s been ages since I’ve read Christie — and how much I enjoyed her books!
Adding a few of these to my TBR list!
You read some great books! I love reading about the memory and how it works as well.
So many good ones here! Autoboyography sounds fun, and The Sea in Winter sounds so sweet!
Visiting from #happynow. The first one seems up my alley–a fun chick lit type read! Otherwise I enjoy a good cozy mystery. I’m impressed by your reading prowess!
I just added The Sea In Winter and The Black Flamingo to my to read list. I really enjoy novels set in verse.
Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love sounds right up my alley! Enemies to lovers books are my guilty pleasure, lol.
Very interested in a lot of these!!
I want to read an Agatha Christie. I have Death on the Nile so I hope to read it at some point!
A great looking list – I know a lot of people have loved Autoboyography!
Thank you for sharing! Curious about Ted Spenser for sure.
Great giveaway!
oh the agatha christie challenge sounds fun! The Mysterious Affair is on my list, good to know it wasn’t your favourite. i’ve only read two of her books and loved them both.
The Sea in Winter looks adorable!
I loved The Black Flamingo.
I finally picked up Autoboyography only to realize I couldn’t get into it! I think my timing was just off, but I’ll definitely try again soon. All The Lives I Want was already on my TBR but your review definitely gave me even more to look forward to!
Jackaby! I liked the first one when I read it a few years back but never read the rest (if there’s more than 2?). I’m going to follow you on Instagram and checkout the giveaway too!
I’ve only read one Christina Lauren book, don’t plan to read more, but my god does she have a lot of books.
Agatha Christie is my favorite mystery author! I am glad you read one of her books 🙂
One cannot go wrong with Agatha. Fantastic books!
The Memory Illusion sounds like just the type of nonfiction sciency book that I’ll enjoy – thanks for featuring it!
I have heard good things about Beastly Bones. I really ought to read more Agatha!
I wrote a whole YA manuscript based on what I read in The Memory Illusion! (One of these days I’ll make my way back to it and get it in actual submission form.) I found that book utterly fascinating. And, yes, a little scary.
I don’t usually read essay collections but All the Lives I Want looks good!
I’ve been reading Agatha Christie as part of a book group I’m in and really like her Poirot books.
Autoboyography is a favorite of mine. I appreciated the way the authors handled the religion side of it.
I read my first Christina Lauren book in December (I think?) and it was In A Holidaze. I really liked it and want to read more from them.
I love the variety of books here. I’ve been wanting to read more Christie too so I’ll be looking forward to more of your reviews of her books as you do the Christie challenge.
Sounds like several good reads, especially YA. I’ll have to save this post for when my daughter is looking for a new read again. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your month!
I’ve never read a book by Christina Lauren and I keep hearing such great things about her books!
I love all the different genres you have!
I am going to add the Diviners books to my list. I like that there is 3 out! Thanks for sharing your list 🙂
The Agatha Christie challenge sounds like so much fun! I haven’t read her books in so long, but it would be so much fun to go back to them.
The Teddy Spenser book looks really good! The book you’re giving away is one that I just received from an order for my school library. Can’t wait for my students to be back in person and able to check it out.
Loved this post! I love agatha christie but have yet to read the very first one, the mysterious affair styles! I adored the black flamingo in january and it became one of my favourite reads of last month. And I really need to start reading the diviners series.
I only recently discovered Christina Lauren when I read In a Holidaze a few months ago, but Autoboyography sounds like something I would really enjoy. I hated pretty much every book I had to read in high school except And Then There Were None, and I’ve always wanted to read more Agatha Christie but I just haven’t gotten to it.
You read a great variety over the last month and that’s great. The memory book intrigues me and I see three that I have on my wish list and loved four of those, too.
Fun seeing your list, Lauren!
I’ve only read one Agatha Christie book and should really look into picking up another. Hope you have a good week!
Great selection! I adore Autoboyography and hope to read The Diviners series soon 🙂
The Sea in Winter sounds perfect for me. I love emotional reads and I believe it’s by a Native American author which is nice. I need to read Jackaby one of these days because I love Sherlockesque books/retellings.