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Hannah

@readerofmanythings

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NWOntario 🇨🇦
Current Reads (📚🎧📱) can be found on GoodReads.
#outdoorreader
#mystery
#historicalfiction
#smuttyromance

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Book Review
The Chambermaid’s Key by Genevieve Graham

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This was just so excellent! Historical fiction AND a mystery spanning almost 100 years. Rosie is a chambermaid at the newly opened Dominion Hotel in Toronto in 1929. Bridget is a building inspector in 2024 monitoring renovations at the same place.

I loved learning about little bits of Toronto history throughout the back-and-forth in the timeline. Rosie’s Grandmother was an Irish immigrant and their family lived in The Ward, a very diverse area located just south of the current location of Nathan Phillips Square. It was originally started by a freed American slave to provide a safe place for escaped slaves to live. Immigrants from all over the world made their homes in The Ward. Over time the conditions deteriorated and it became a slum with large overcrowding.

The history of The Royal York, told through the history of the Dominion Hotel was also interesting. The opulence of it. It was once the tallest building in the British Commonwealth. Every time I leave Union Station in Toronto it captures my attention.

I loved how determined Rosie was to pull herself out of poverty. She was such a strong character through many tough times. Her and Damien’s relationship was a sweet one.

It was great watching Bridget riddle out the past with the help of Matthew, a historian who works at the Toronto Archives and using this information to solve a mystery and make connections between the past and the present.

It was my very first Genevieve Graham novel, but wil not be the last.

QOTD - what first book from an author did you read that made you aware of the rest of their writing??

@gengrahamauthor

#thechambermaidskey #bookrecommendation #publiclibraryuser by @readerofmanythings

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3 days ago

Book Review
Game On by Navessa Allen
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🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Each book of this series has gotten better and better. Some books are written to just have spice, with little story and character building. Game On is not that! Both Stella and Tyler have histories that have changed them, turning them outwardly into hard people and choosing paths that others don’t understand. Both have secrets, both have darkness and only those closest to them know anything else.

Tyler is secretive, and manipulative as well as mean. Stella takes it and largely throws it back, and if this was real life instead of fiction I’d have some deeper thoughts. The enemies-to-lovers banter trope is well defined.

She gets him to forgive her brother’s $3 million gambling debt by taking it on herself. He uses her to access the upper echelons of the super rich to exact revenge on those who have done him wrong. The more they pay, the more the debt shrinks.

The dynamic between Tyler and Stella is excellently written and their banter is *chef’s kiss*. They challenge each other, and piss each other off more than anyone else. They both learn their impressions of each other and the circumstances surrounding them are not what they seemed initially.

This is not a book about people seeing the light and stopping being “bad” people and turning into “good” people (very few are generally one or the other). Neither of them really change, but they do learn and grow (with great irritation) into the partners that complement each other in all ways.

Between Angus, AJ, the tattoo (IYKYK), and watching some truly awful people get what’s coming to them, this story is well written and well narrated with parts that made me laugh, cry, sigh and maybe squeak? And all the spice you can handle.

Great narration for the audiobook.

QOTD - what do you consume most - audiobooks, ebooks or print books. For me it’s audiobooks, followed by print. I have a Kobo and do use it, but it’s just not the same for me!

@navessa.allen

#bookreview #gameonnavessaallen #audiobooklistener by @readerofmanythings

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6 days ago

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians! Today is the first day in a while that the temps stayed close to 0C all day. A heating pad, cozy blanket, two kitties and a good book made for a great afternoon.

QOTD - do you have any fall related activities, trips or traditions that you’re looking forward to?

#thechambermaidskey #canadianthanksgiving #cozyafternoon by @readerofmanythings

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6 days ago

Book Review
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Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter

You really cannot go wrong with a Karin Slaughter mystery. Andrea is an excellent character and after reading Pieces of Her years ago it was fun to see where she went from there! It is a Well-written story that jumped between the past of the early 1980s and the present. Trigger warnings for rape, sexual assault and the general stupidity of the way the world treats women who have become victims of such violence. We need to burn it ALL down.

QOTD - What is one book that you will always recommend?

@karinslaughterauthor
@libby.app

#karinslaughter #bookreview #girlforgotten #audiobook by @readerofmanythings

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14 days ago

September Wrap Up!
10 books read
6 audio
3 paperbacks
1 Ebook

There were so many good ones but one that is stuck in my head is See You At the Sunset by Susan Lee. Jia and Henry had a great story! A little found family mixed in gave it that little something extra.
@susanleewrites

QOTD - what book from September stuck with you the most?

#septemberreadingwrapup #inconcievable by @readerofmanythings

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17 days ago

Book Review
Love Wants Us to Win by Jacquelyn Middleton

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Georgie and Oliver are adorable. They felt very real to me, maybe because of the Toronto setting. Growing up in Southern Ontario in the 1990’s I can clearly picture so many of the references in the book. MuchMusic, Speaker’s Corners, Maple Leaf Gardens, references to the SkyDome and the Blue Jays World Series wins, Eaton’s and the CNE scored major nostalgia points for me.

It’s fun to read about introducing people to all sorts of Canadian foods, but Beaver Tails/Elephant Ears are gross. I have also carried that tradition forward with also strongly disliking the famous Thunder Bay Persians too. However, you can never go wrong with poutine.

Watching them come together and figure out how their lives intertwine as well as how they remain as individuals was so well written, and I loved how it all wrapped up in the end.

QOTD - what’s a nostalgia read for you?

Thank you @jaxmiddleton_author and @lovenotes.pr for the chance to review this ARC!!

#bookreview #canadianromanceauthor #lovewantsustowin by @readerofmanythings

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19 days ago

September’s challenge was to read 4 different genres. I read a collection of essays on the climate crisis, and covered fantasy, romance and a mystery.

QOTD - what genre(s) do you read the most? Mine generally rotate between mysteries, historical fiction and romance with all sorts of sub-genres mixed in.

#fourgenrechallenge #readerofmanythings by @readerofmanythings

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19 days ago

If you can smell this picture…well iykyk

Picked up a few used copies of Nancy Drew at my local public library’s used book sale. The Haunted Showboat (number 35) is first up and I don’t think I’ve read this one before.

I do love the dynamic of Nancy, Bess and George. This edition was published in 1957, and smells just like it too

QOTD - other than old books, what are some of your favourite smells? For me it’s sawdust.

#nancydrewmysteries #mysteryreader by @readerofmanythings

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20 days ago

Book Review

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Audiobook narrated by Rob Reiner
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Loved it! But this is no surprise. I could recite most of the dialogue verbatim along with the story. The narration by Rob Reiner was excellent, but made me sad. Fezzik will always be my favourite, and my girlhood crush on Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin continues ☺️

QOTD - what’s a favourite movie/book combination from your childhood?

#theprincessbridebook #bookreviewer #hellomynameis by @readerofmanythings

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25 days ago

Book Review
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The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

This series has come to an end! Such a bittersweet feeling knowing you’ve read the last in a series. Maisie has become a regular in my book rotation. The very first book took place around WWI and the 18th and final ended in the immediate aftermath of WWII. I started book one in January of 2024.

We get to watch Maisie grow, change, learn, experience every emotion possible and still find her way through even the most devastating of circumstances. We followed her through England, France, Germany, Spain and Canada, with a steady stream of family and friends appearing in each story.

I will miss her!

QOTD - Do you have a series or a character that you were sad to see come to an end??

#maisiedobbs #jacquelinewinspear #historicalmystery by @readerofmanythings

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a month ago

Book Review

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A Place of Secrets by Shane Peacock

I picked this up at a used book sale at my local public library. The “Northern Gothic Mystery” was what caught my attention. This is book 2 of a series which I didn’t realize until I started reading it. Generally I don’t think it took too much away from this story, just a few events and details mentioned that I had no reference for. Will probably try to track down the first out of curiosity.

Well written mystery. I loved the winter weather and the way the author used it to paint a sort of picture of a time and place.

It took a bit for me to get going with this one, I put it down and few times before making it through, but it picked up and I really liked how it wrapped up. Great little twist!

QOTD - for me, Northern Gothic Mystery hit all the right targets to grab me. What sorts of descriptors pull you towards a certain book?

#aplaceofsecretsbook #shanepeacockauthor #bookreview #northerngothicmystery by @readerofmanythings

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a month ago

Three new books for me!

Not Too Late - Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
A book of essays edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua (this feeds my university climate research nerd brain!)
@rebeccasolnit
@thelmalutun

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear is the 18th and FINAL Maisie Dobbs novel. I am so sad to see this series come to an end for me!

Love Wants Us to Win by Jacquelyn Middleton
I am lucky enough to receive a copy of the ARC!
Thanks @jaxmiddleton_author and @lovenotes.pr for this ☺️

QOTD - what are you looking forward most this fall? I love the cooler weather!

#currentreads #arcreader #ebook #audiobook #printbook by @readerofmanythings

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9

a month ago