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A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)

Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)

Post from the The Once and Future Witches forum

17h

Stephlove.reads

Thoughts from 40%

I don’t know if it’s all the detail but this story is just not grasping my attention like I thought it would

Stephlove.reads started reading...

17h

The Once and Future Witches

Alix E. Harrow

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in Alix E. Harrow's powerful novel of magic and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters -- James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna -- join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote -- and perhaps not even to live -- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, sapphic love, motherhood, and women's suffrage--the lost ways are calling.

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Stephlove.reads

May 20, 2025

4.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

Stephlove.reads left a rating...

Stephlove.reads

May 20, 2025

4.0

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

Stephlove.reads commented on a post

Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes, #0)

Imagireader

Unsure

I understand this is a prequel to L&L, but that had me in, like STRAIGHT away.. this one isn't grabbing as much..

Stephlove.reads finished reading and wrote a review...

Stephlove.reads

May 20, 2025

3.5

Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.0Plot: 3.0

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Katherine Center is an auto buy author for me and has been since I fell in love with Things You Save In A Fire a few years ago. This not quite the same and leans more towards the vibes of her more recent books however it does remind me of her earlier books because of the “hero” element of the story with the Coast Guard. Things I Didn’t Like - the FMC was extremely annoying in the first 50 pages. She comes across initially as a really smart woman with terrible anxiety/people pleasing issues and the conversation is NOT it. Center makes her sound very incapable and stupid during those first conversations. I know we are trying to set the scene but it was just pretty bad. However the book gets significantly better. I didn’t like how the FMC is addressing us the readers in the book. The POV never appears to officially change and I guessed that because she was probably talking to us like she would have spoken to her Day In The Life Audience but it never says that and just felt off to me. Things I Did Like - overall very funny RomCom that I really couldn’t put down once I got about 50 pages in. In fact I stayed up very late to finish it. I like how Center definitely did some serious research. It felt like I could have been in Key West and clearly learned what she could about the Coast Guard. Also the dog! George Bailey loved him as well. I also enjoyed that the book dove pretty seriously into body image issues and body positivity. Overall fun read, just not my favorite of the authors.

Stephlove.reads DNF'd a book

This Book Will Bury Me

Ashley Winstead

From the bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour comes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches. It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story. After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory... So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions. Something's not adding up, and they begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap... Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans...

Stephlove.reads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

lindseyk143

A book you didn't like?

I'm working on completing a book bingo for my local bookstore and one of the prompts is to read a book a friend didn't like. I don't have friends that read often, so I thought I'd ask here... Recommend me a book you didn't like!

Stephlove.reads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

EnchantedLibrary

Blurbs?

I’m just curious how many people read the blurbs? Or the summary on the back? I’m a go in blind kind of person. I rarely will read the blurb/summary. I like having no idea what the book is about and then figuring it out as I read it. Anyone else?

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AlysasPaiges

Thoughts from 14% (page 50)

Still early on in the book, but I like it so far! It’s another easy to read book, and it reminds me a lot of older YA books that were peak in their heyday.

Stephlove.reads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

sailorsoftgirl

Reread Recs??

For the last few years, I have spent the summer revisiting books I loved during my childhood/teen years to see if they hold up and/or if I enjoy them as much as I used to. Last year was the Princess Diaries series, the year before that was the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, and before that was the Jessica Darling series. But this year, I'm struggling to pick my reread selection. Does anyone have any suggestions? What books did you love or obsess over while growing up? I'd especially love to hear any obscure titles along the lines of "I feel like I'm the only person who ever read this" 😉 Thanks!

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Stephlove.reads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

AlysasPaiges

Edited

Is It Harder to Trust Book Reviews? Thoughts?

I feel like I used to be able to rely on reviews and book recommendations SO much more than I can now. I joined Goodreads in 2012, and back then, when a book had a 4+ star rating, there was an almost guarantee that I would at least like the book enough to finish it. Nowadays, I feel it's a 50/50 shot at best. I don't know if BookTok or the obsession with books that primarily focus on smut rather than substance has anything to do with it (don't get me wrong, I do like my smut from time to time), but I'm curious if anyone else feels similarly. One of the main reasons I love PageBound is that the platform isn't completely saturated with the same kinds of readers, and there is an opportunity to rate books on more than one aspect. I think it's great to be able to rate how much you enjoyed a book separately from its quality (which I know quality is also going to be based on opinion, but at least there is an opportunity to separate the two a little).

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