Michelle > Recent Status Updates

“Please,” the girl said, wishing for any care or concern from her father but knowing she’d get none. His anger was all she knew of him. His violence was all she saw from him.

I've pretty into this, rooting for almost everyone, maybe everyone, and some said things have happened, including a tragic thing that is the most textbook example of irony, and not at all what I was hoping for. I do feel it's a bit repetitive and there's some fat that could be trimmed, but I'm invested.

It's fine. Interesting to compare. I just don't get Julia Quinn as someone you'd be stoked to read. YMMV and happy to see an author do well. I also read the Penelope and Colin book and it was fine. I generally like the changes the show makes.

Taking this slow. Will be happy to finish by the end of the year.

"Together these two ships, the White Lion, and the Mayflower. bridging the three continents that made America, would constitute this nation's most quintessential and perplexing elements, underpinning the grave contradictions that we have failed to overcome. ~Nikole Hannah-Jones

"Her father had punched walls, he smashed dishes, and even once his own eyeglasses, hurling them across the living room at the door. To be so angry that you'd made yourself blind."

This book keeps losing me and then totally winning me back. I really enjoyed a previous book by the author: Where the Dead Brides Gather.

"But how could you shoot a man for accepting less than what you asked for?"

Really into this and wondering where the story will go next. I'm so emotionally invested, but there's also so much to mentally explore.

Not only is it a genuinely cute Meet-Cute, not easy to replicate.

Review to come.

I'm really loving this! The themes of voyeurism, dehumanization, and toxic masculinity! And that's before the dead sister who keeps making her presence known.

This is so good! With will happen with Junie? With Caleb? With Junle and Caleb? Will the horrible people pay? Well, lol, the one did!

If this creepy MFer doesn't get his!

“I just think you deserve more than a pretty view, Delilah June. You deserve to take all the beauty of this world and hold it in your hands. You deserve to bite it like a peach and let the juice drip ’til your fingers get sticky.”

I've highlighted and annotated more than I haven't so far. So much food for thought.

"They think they know everything there is to know, just by looking at me. That's how stereotypes work."
Harriet McBryde Johnson

Maybe it's female rage, maybe it's Maybelline, but it's probably possession.

I think Junie can't see how loved she is by her whole family. I hope Violet is as real of a friend as possible.

"Grief is a grind. It is the work of breathing and waking and rising and moving through a world that feels emptier. A gaping hole has been torn into your existence, and everyone around you just walks right past it like it’s not even there."

Beyond the painful loss this couple -- exes -- suffered, I can't imagine seeing someone you love moving on and knowing you have no right to object! How tough to be noble!

I'm really enjoying this for so many reasons, even the societal changes. There are a couple really cringe lines that I feel Rowling could appreciate, but not everything can age well. However, Du Maurier has the most amazing way with words. Blue Lenses would have made a legendary Twilight Zone episode if they'd filmed it, and if the tech/CGI/make-up effects had been more advanced.

This book has so many twists and turns. My local libraries can't have this much going on. Sherry Thomas also writes romance novels, and there's at least one romance a-brewing. And she writes the Lady Sherlock series, so I guess she knows mysteries. I feel like my jaw is dropping a lot. (But I don't want to see any author referencing Harry Potter again. Ugh!)

(ARC) Very Fleetwood Mac inspired. Cubby is done dirty by her ex, Conner, who abandons their band and makes it big performing songs about Cubby being bad in bed. Might have pilfered a few songs, too. The public HATES Cubby. I'm just waiting for Cubby to realize her best friend since forever, and band mate, Darcy is the one. I'm also waiting for Cubby to Stevie Nicks it out of the park. (Pub Date: 6/9/26)