Celebrating One Year On Substack🎉
An exclusive discount offer, plus weekly reads & links
Hello! Happy Sunday reading friends! I’ve got quite a bit to share in today’s newsletter so let’s get to it. First, I’ve officially been writing on Substack for one year🎉 I love it here and I’m so grateful to all of my subscribers. Writing about books is where I started my book recommendation journey way back in 2016 and I had no idea then just how amazing that journey would be. Finding my way back to writing on Substack has reignited my creativity and given me a place to experiment and connect with even more readers! I have so many ideas for future newsletter content and think you will love the variety of book recommendations and reviews, reading advice/tips, links (so many links:) and more I’ve got planned.
With that being said, I want to celebrate my first year on Substack by offering free subscribers a special offer - 10% off of paid subscriptions FOREVER!
A paid subscription gets you ALL of my content including:
A paid subscription will not only help support my writing and the continuation of Itsbooktalk & More, it will also go towards paying for my subscriptions to various publications (eg The NY Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair) so I can bring you exclusive paywalled links.
2-3 weekly posts of book recommendations, reviews, lists, links, audio additions + full access to the archive
Full access to weekly community Threads (and past ones) which will feature group reading, watching, listening recommendations, favorite products, fun Q & A’s and more
Monthly Reflections - a monthly wrap up of all the books I read ranked in order of enjoyment and with star ratings (including my DNF’s- books I didn’t finish), audio of my “extra” thoughts on a book or 2, highlights of my month, things I loved and of course, links
What I read this week…
It All Comes Down To This by Terese Anne Fowler 🎧 4.25 ⭐️ - The audio narration absolutely elevated this family drama story. Would make a great summer read and perfect for those looking for stories with older characters. A nice combination of literary writing (ie highlightable sentences) with a faster pace and structure (alternating perspectives) that kept me invested in the characters
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann 🎧- a book I think every single book lover will love, full cast narration on the audio was excellent
The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean - This buzzy new release about a teenage girl who disappeared two years ago and is found is a premise that’s right up my alley. What I liked: main detective Chelsea, the burning question of what happened two years ago, who took Ellie and how did she just miraculously show back up, the alternating perspectives mostly worked for me - the story alternates between Ellie, Chelsea, and others. What I didn’t like: the audio narration- there are several narrators and none of them worked for me. I found the person narrating Ellie made her come across as abrasive and unlikeable which ended up making me feel annoyed with her when I should’ve felt empathetic. I also found certain parts of Chelsea’s sections repetitive. For me, the farther I got in the story, the less I cared about what happened and why. Overall this was an average read for me and I’d recommend print over the audio
Links I Enjoyed
Mystery Writers of America Celebrates 2024 Edgar Award Winners
The best books of the 21st century (so far)
Everything We Know About Wayfair’s 2024 Way Day Sale
The darker side of paradise: psych thrillers set on private islands
The most beautiful libraries in the world
4 tips for dealing with a ferocious allergy season
97 salad recipes because 100 would be too many
24 crazy author facts you need to know
Happy Anniversary 🥂
I really enjoyed Ellie Black in print and found our interview with the author quite compelling. Her deep, personal insight into trauma itself and the relationship with professionals and supporters surrounding the patient, made this an even more immersive reading experience for me.
Me again, my previous “how to navigate” you your subscribed content , is there a way to read previous posts of just it? I’m less interested in the threads . Your Patreon subscription was very easy to go back to each episode. Thanks, Rose