okiecozyreader's reviews
1215 reviews

Adorable! The cozy romance I didn’t know I needed!

This is second in a series. I didn’t know that when I started (and it is a standalone), but if you like to read series in order, you might consider it first.

In this one, Emily goes to Ireland to be the assistant for her favorite author, Siobhan. She has read all of Siobhan’s series multiple times and has multiple copies of her books, but the last one ended 10 years ago and left the reader hanging at suspense. She wants to help the author figure out the ending and finish the series. 

Siobhan happens to own a charming bookstore where Emily will be working part of the day, where she meets grumpy Kieran, who wants to see her shipped back home.

It has all the cozy romance vibes you could want to- the bookstore, bookish people, Irish scenery, and a little heat. 

I felt like the spice was fun, and not too explicit. Maybe 🌶️🌶️ writing was just charming! 

“So what you’re saying is I’m your muscle.”
Kier poked my bicep with his finger and said, “I think of you as more the voice of reason.” P211

Unique from many bookish books, this one is about a main character (Emma) who doesn’t love working in a bookstore. Her family has owned one, and as her parents retired (basically) and her sister got married and is moving on, Emma feels dumped on by her family. She decides to go on a long break to Amherst to re-discover her inner Emmitt Dickenson.

“Emily Dickinson had never married or had children, and she’d been brilliant. She’d found peace and beauty all around her. Why couldn’t I do the same?” Ch 1

“Emily spent her time observing and contemplating things I regularly buzzed past without noticing.” Ch 11

I enjoyed a lot of the Emily Dickenson references and information in this book - the museum, quotes:

“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” Ch 1

And facts:

“Folks found drafts of her poems on the backs of old recipe cards and flour labels after her death.” Ch 14

While she is at this old house, she has a series of disasters, and she gets occasional help from Davis. I wouldn’t really call this a romance, I would classify it more as a getting reacquainted with yourself and your family, type of book. She attempts, gardening, baking and poetry writing:

“Alone, not lonely  
Enjoying a pretty day  
Learning to be fine” ch 9

I feel like this haiku she writes, represents much of her time at the house, as she contemplates her family relationships, people around her in Amherst, and what she wants to do moving forward.

I loved this information about Wuthering Heights, because I’m hoping to read it soon:
“… I read it every year when the snow begins to fall.”

I really enjoyed this middle grade book about a girl who finds a few magical creatures near her home. With some inspiration from Narnia (a winged lion who is kind), and a dangerous water nymph (who is stealing books and book memories), it kept me engaged to know what would happen next. It’s a great book for bookish people, also!

“She knows
she makes the world beautiful
when she blooms in her own time.”

Loved in her author’s note, she says “Some voices take longer to find than others. 
Until then, it’s up to us to change the way we listen.”
P312

Liked the Valentine’s Day theme, the arborist jokes and the fish. No spice. But it was all too far fetched for me (to take place over that short of a time period).

Seth is injured:
“I was still wearing the boot. “Okay, good point,” I said. “I guess I am a bit of a fall risk.”

And it’s cute how fall risk turned romantic:
“I think you are a bit of a fall risk for me.”
 I could practically feel the smile through the phone. “You’re a fall risk for me too.”

I really enjoy essay collections like those of Mary Laura Philpott; this was a similar vein. Amy mentioned that in her first book, she discussed motherhood and growing up and for this book, she thought about times in her life where she felt she took on too much. 

I enjoyed so many of the essays in this collection. A couple of them describe times in her life when she was starting out as a Broadway star’s personal assistant and later auditioning to be on a tv series. I also loved her story about how women were portrayed and talked to in YM days of our youth. It made me think about those articles and how times have changed (I remember one article where a boy mentioned he didn’t like pointy elbows on girls and I thought it was such a strange comment.) This essay made me remember how girls were brought up to try to please literally everyone.

She also discusses some difficult parenting moments - like having kids with medical conditions or college applications, where lines are hard to draw as to what parents should or shouldn’t do. 

I always love essays and memoirs read by the author, and she does read her own essays. Thank you to libro,fm and Zibby publishing for sharing audiobooks with librarians!

Also, if you have ever been the one who always feels responsible to help others, this book will speak to you!

“You are the one who can be counted on. You are happy to help. And that is why everyone but you is content with the way things are.” Introduction

“… saying no can sometimes be its own kind of bravery.” Never Give Up

“When we are in difficult seasons of life, they are hard because they are hard, not because there is something wrong with us. They are hard because they are real, not because we have make them harder on purpose. If others don’t perceive us as struggling, it’s because we’ve become quite capable of handling more than what is expected.” It Has to be You

Honestly, I didn’t know much about this book before I read it, just that it is a tough read. I’m sure I watched Jenna Bush Hager talking about it, but I forget and don’t think about things until I start books.

I would say this book is like Hunger Games in a private prison system.

Like many people have said, there are lots of characters, but really two main ones - Staxxx and Thurwar. They are both on a Chain Gang together and have had a lot of success. Rising up the highest ranks of which the winner (from prison) becomes free… by killing their opponents. 

Staxxx and Thurwar (both female competitors) are also lovers, and Staxxx also has a male lover. She is apparently, a person of love.

“She loved making people feel what they would otherwise not have access to. 
…
Chain-Gang All-Stars was her purpose on earth. It was a place to remind the world of something it had forgotten. And to fulfill that purpose, she needed Thurwar. That had been obvious from the beginning. But Staxxx, besides her purpose, was also a person.” [Salt Bath]

“This was her life. Her purpose. To sow a hard kind of love into the world. She was there to help people do the things they couldn’t do themselves.” [Sunset Harkless]

This is a story that is showing the brutality of the prison system, and most specifically, the profit prison system (that makes billions of dollars a year in our world). It considers the lives people have inside the walls, from the food they eat, to how they are treated, and the questions prisoners might ask themselves.

The story starts with several fight scenes to introduce us to the characters and see the work that has made them famous. It puts us in the action. But I felt like at times, there were scenes that took us to people we maybe didn’t need to know and it might have been nice to know Staxxx and Thurwar better.

I started this on audio and I always think Shayna Small does a fantastic job on narration. I only listened to about 15% of the book. Thank you to libro.fm for providing audio copies for librarians.

“Do you think I’m broken? Do you think I’m a person that can be in the world? Like, actually? Would I be okay out there?” [Vacation]

“It was beautiful in the horrible way that everything about Chain-Gang was.” [Babe?]

Through the lens of Staxxx and Thurwar, we see how, although they are famous, beautiful and skilled (at murdering), they do not like the system that made them.

“You’re asking if I want to kill a rapist? I do not. I’m about love. It’s y’all that are about killing.”
…
“I’ve Low Freed rapists before. Didn’t do anything for me. Didn’t save me at all. But you already know that too. If it was that easy, this world would be a different place.”
[Presser]

“I mean that all those issues that you’re talking about are symptoms of our current system. Rampant poverty, a lack of resources for people suffering from addiction and mental health issues—those are difficult problems, but ones that can be addressed. But they aren’t. Because criminalization dehumanizes individuals and implicates them rather than a society that abandons them in times of need.”
…
“Mari hadn’t wanted her father released to her, but she wished he’d grown up in a world that had loved him better.” [Interview]

“An absurd thing for the murderous state to plead for, but, as always, the massive violence of the state was “justice,” was “law and order,” and resistance to perpetual violence was an act of terror. It would have been funny if there weren’t so much blood everywhere.” [Children of Incarcerated People]

The NYC Mysterious Bookshop owner Otto Penzler writes in the introduction that every year his store gives out a holiday short story with a purchase. This year, they collected 10 stories together. 

The first two seemed based in adultery and I didn’t know if I wanted to finish, but the rest of the collection wasn’t like them. I was glad I read through them. Several were just delightful. 

I think my favorite was Here We Go A-Wassailing by Thomas Perry. It was such a clever story that kept me smiling, about a woman who brings an expensive bottle of cognac that becomes quite the gift.

I love that each of them mentions or takes place in the Mysterious Bookshop and many mention Otto. What a delight for mystery and book lovers!

Rylan and his lifelong friend Wilder had some conflict (about his life of poverty compared to Wilder’s wealth), but to make up at it, Wilder invited him to go with him to a program called SCOFF - Students Communing on French Farms for the summer. While they are there, they take turns cooking dinner and learning about French food, taking care of goats, playing games and participating in a competition against the advanced students from the previous summer.

It is a fun read about friendship and working through tough times together, and having a dad, who isn’t a great dad.

This is a fun read about a house with a lot of personality! 

Alice begins to restore an old, abandoned house and comes across some ghosts that are attached to the house. I loved the way she cared for the house and tried to help the ghosts move on, and tried to take care of the house.

“… the importance of seeing what others couldn’t see.” Ch 20

I truly loved this book. If you love nature, this is such a beautiful find. I can see why B&N named it their 2020 Book of the Year (and received about 20 other accolades). 

The author is a poet, which you can tell in her prose. Each chapter usually features a rare and unique animal (different types of birds, bugs, sea animals, etc). She gives interesting information about it, and then weaves in stories of her own childhood, adolescence and raising her own children. It’s truly beautiful how she sees the world and appreciates nature.

The book is also lovingly illustrated by Fumi Mini Nakamura. I have been captivated by her drawings and although I don’t know many of the animals, they seem accurately drawn with care.

“[The firefly] luminescence could very well be the spark that reminds us to make a most necessary turn—a shift and a swing and a switch-toward cherishing this magnificent and wondrous planet.” P160