I DNFed this 3 years ago. I’m trying again with GraphicAudio audiobooks and it has a full cast so hopefully this will be better! 🤞🤞🤞

I don't know if its just me, but when I'm reading books I kind of just have stock characters from like tv shows and stuff that I imagine with the characters instead of trying to visualize them from character descriptions. I'm trying to do better but also I feel like this is just a skill I haven't build up and find I keep falling back on what I was doing before. If anyone has any ideas of how I can get better at this that would be great!

Hello PBees!

This past 2026 Spring Readalong, I acquired my first sparkly badge 🙌 I was very surprised to realize that the book I was dreading to read and making me wonder whether I should aim for sparkles or not, was actually my favorite book of the Readalong! It made me appreciate even more how the Readalongs can get you out of your comfort zone in a good way!

So today I want to ask you: What do you think your top for the 2026 Summer would be?

Mine is:

1. 🦁 The Lion Women of Teheran
2. 🐇 The Empress of Salt and Fortune
3. 🌊 A River Enchanted
4. ☀️ The Stranger

You can participate even if you don't plan on aiming for the sparkles! In fact, don't push yourself too much for it, the goal is to enjoy reading first of all! You can also participate if you've already acquired your sparkly badge (you drop that 👑), and mention what you thought it would be vs what it actually was!

If you are into it, I will also offer a debrief at the end of the Readalong to see how you thought it would go vs how it actually went!

PS: Doesn't Sparkle Chaser sound like a My Little Pony name? I couldn't confirm whether it was one 🤔

My feed has been filled with badge announcements today. Congratulations on your badge(s)! May I just say how much I admire everyone for getting a head start? Really, absolutely, positively could not be me.

I’m curious how everyone picked their choices for their advance reads (if this was intentional and not already a read book) and what motivated you to get started so quickly. Especially for the Pride books, I’d prefer to read in June.

Anyway. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the events and the books you read. Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈💖🏳️‍⚧️

I’m really loving the narrator’s voice in this even though there’s a “wet” sound to it I normally don’t enjoy. She reminds me of the librarians or volunteer readers who would come into my kindergarten to read to us kids when I was little. It gives a nice, warm nostalgic feel to the story that I think matches perfectly!

Sooo... When can we get our grabby grabby hands on the ARC for Dead Beat? 🤗

👀👀👀

Why did they pronounce Maraschino cherries like Mara-SKEE-no? Is that how it’s supposed to be pronounced?? 😟

For anyone eye ball reading the book, how is it spelled?

With the end of May fast approaching (how?!), it’s time for the monthly roundup post! What was everyone’s favorite May reads? What are you most looking forward to read in June?

I had a really good reading month in May. My favorite reads were Caliban’s War and This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me with runner-ups being Good People and Crying in H Mart. In June, I’m looking forward to The Raven Scholar and Abaddon’s Gate!