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jac | shelf shocked

@shelfshocked

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a (belated) post for our August #bookclub pick, YESTERYEAR 💁🏽‍♀️ my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💬 book club discussion: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🥗 venue: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 a huge thank you to @thewilliamfell and @thewilliamfelltavern for the incredible experience and hospitality! the perfect spot for book club (and for making your own butter 🧈), and we can’t wait to come back! by @shelfshocked
💌 postcards from autumn in the white mountains cozy reading vibes in the lobby of @thewentworthinn leaf peeping near ellis falls 🍁 live music @wildcatinntavern & trivia (we tied for 3rd!) 🥉 🚙 mt. washington summit via the auto road view of the mountains from the auto road 🏔️ lemon meringue ice cream from @trailsendicecream 🍋 an icon 🐮🎿 😛 gimme shopping in north conway 🛍️ daily stop for iced coffee & a savory pastry @autumnnomadcafe ☕️ 🥾 quick hike to diana’s baths caught 📸 more leaf peeping 🍂 last meal best meal before flying home ✈️ by @shelfshocked
there’s more to me than my TBR —> do we have anything in common? by @shelfshocked
a little peek inside our Broken Country book club meeting >> thank you to Sam & @costierabaltimore for being the best hosts, fully leaning into the theme with a special cocktail menu, and for reading our July book and sharing your thoughts with us! #justiceforfrank I must ask, if you’ve read this one, are you Team Frank or Team Gabriel? the gals & Sam 🪾Bobby’s Oak Tree brown butter washed rye pineapple shrub cherry liqueurs lemon egg white our July pick & goodie bags 💙 Blue Suede Shoes gin butterfly pea syrup cassis lime table vibes #whatsinmybag for book club- lip balm, a pen, our book, plus one to share in our impromptu book swap we made it out of the gc and, we’re onto our next read! #yesteryear by @shelfshocked
a little bit of this, a little bit of that from the first half of 2025 (in no particular order) 📖 Currently Reading: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito 📺 Currently Watching: The Gilgo Beach Killer on @peacock (Idaho student murders are up next) 🍍 Food Hyoerfixation: @fruitriot pineapple and the strawberry peach mango are the best iykyk 💬 Current Mantra: ‘one bite at a time’ and ‘don’t put it down, put it away’ 😻 Obsessed With: morning chores, intentional reading (quality > quantity), digital decluttering To the ~3.7k people who are still here after this unplanned hiatus, hi! Thanks for sticking with me. I’d love to know: what are you currently into? Share one of yours below! by @shelfshocked
⚾️🌭 boston bits 🦞🏖️ This past weekend, I visited Boston for the first time since high school (🤯). Ate a lot, laughed a lot, read a little. I finished Riley Sager’s latest, and maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I think that his books are usually the perfect summer read. They’re creepy, engrossing, and don’t make me think too too hard. 🤷🏽‍♀️ ❓Life has been LIFE-ING extra hard lately. How are you? by @shelfshocked
ⓜⓘⓝⓘ ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦⓢ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕓𝕪 𝔹.𝔸. ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕤 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Paris’ books have been historically polarizing for me, but this one falls smack dab in the middle of the road. The short chapters kept things moving, but overall the characters felt pretty dull and the bombshell reveal left me less than shell shocked. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕪𝕤 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕪 𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕪 𝕃𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This solid family drama particularly resonated with me because it focuses on the dynamic among three siblings. Lange explores themes of family, loyalty, mental illness, and capacity for change. The ending was a little treacly for my tastes but didn’t put me off of the story. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕓𝕪 𝔹𝕣𝕦𝕔𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This sweeping and intricate narrative focuses on the aftermath of Luna, the world’s first Category 6 hurricane. The storm’s mega shelter in which this story is set is the great equalizer for its inhabitants who come from all walks of life. Holsinger crafted a thought provoking book about climate change, human nature, and the power of resilience. ❓What was your most recent read, and what did you rate it? by @shelfshocked
THE QUIET TENANT by Clémence Michallon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to Vintage Books for my gifted copy! Aidan Thomas is a seemingly normal man. After his wife passes away from cancer, he takes on the role of sole caregiver for his daughter, Cecilia. No one knows or expects that Aidan has several dark skeletons in his closet, the biggest of which is Rachel, a woman he abducted and has kept imprisoned for five years. When Aidan and Cecilia are forced to move, Aidan has no choice but to take Rachel with him, complicating things for everyone involved. What a debut from Michallon! The story unfolds through the POVs of Cecilia, Rachel, and one of the local townspeople, Emily. The short, clipped chapters propelled the plot onward at a rapid pace and kept the atmosphere as taught as a high wire throughout. I was particularly swept up in Rachel’s narrative and completely absorbed all of her anxiety, desperation, and pain. Her tone reminds me of an interesting blend of Melinda from Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Susie from Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. I thought Michallon truly excelled at balancing Rachel’s expressions of trauma with her sense of detachment and dissociation both from her previous life and her current reality. I appreciated that the focus was placed on the women impacted by Aidan’s actions rather than on Aidan himself (he never gets to share his POV in the book, and it’s a powerful statement). This is a teeth-clenching, edge of your seat, keeps you up too late at night kind of story, and I dig it. ❓PULSE CHECK! How are you doing? The past three-ish weeks of work have been the busiest of the year thus far. Ya girl needs a massage, an ice bath, and a nap that’s about a month long pls. 🙏🏽 by @shelfshocked
THE MIDNIGHT FEAST by Lucy Foley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for my digital advance reader copy. The Manor, the newest luxury resort destination, has just opened in the seaside town of Tome, and is somewhat at odds with its more blue collar surroundings. The guests (who have all paid a hefty price tag) are excited to attend the opening weekend, while the locals feel more resentful of the Manor’s ownership, who seem to be hellbent on manicuring the property to within an inch of its life with a complete disregard for local traditions, customs, and lore. Amidst this tension, a fire starts on the property, and someone turns up dead. Now, local authorities are left to piece together the timeline of events and determine what or who is responsible. Y’all, this may be my favorite Lucy Foley to date. After being somewhat disappointed by The Paris Apartment, I’m pretty excited to share that The Midnight Feast immediately captivated me and kept me hooked until the very last page. The story, similar to Foley’s previous novels, is told in alternating POVs. Interspersed among the chapters are excerpts from a diary detailing events set in the past. I would say that this one is a little bit of a slower burn because there’s a lot of setup, however I found all of it to be interesting. I loved the atmosphere of this one. Foley really fleshed out the setting and made it easy to imagine. I enjoyed reading about the dynamic between the upscale ownership of The Manor, and all of the various townspeople. I loved the inclusion of local lore and the sinister story of The Birds. Writing this review is one of those situations where I feel that I liked a book so much that I can’t really say anything of value in attempting to complement it (why is it so much easier to talk about the books I didn’t like?). Foley outdid herself! THE MIDNIGHT FEAST is available from @williammorrowbooks on June 18th! ❓What’s your favorite midnight (or late night snack)? Popcorn would probably be my pick. 🍿 by @shelfshocked
THE LAST DAYS OF THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS by Sarah Tomlinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to Flatiron Books for my gifted copy! Mari is a ghostwriter and manages to land the biggest job of her career. Her new assignment is to write Anke’s memoir. Anke is famed for her association with the rock band The Midnight Ramblers, having famously been married to one member, Mal, before his untimely death, before dating the two other members. Anke proves to be a tough nut to crack and the details she reveals are pretty sparse. It’s up to Mari to try to get Anke to open up about herself and to talk about the night that Mal died. I so wanted to love this one. It had great atmosphere, and I enjoyed learning about ghostwriting. I’m also such a sucker for books set in Hollywood and was seriously hoping for some Daisy Jones-esque magic, but unfortunately there was little to be found. A fantastic setting and interesting characters are completely bogged down by a slow moving and repetitive plot. By the time we find out what really happened to Mal on the night he died, I was past the point of really caring and just wanted to see how things would end. The potency of this story felt severely diluted, even hobbled by the pacing. There were also times where I was somewhat confused about what was happening, especially with Mari’s sister, V. This is Tomlinson’s debut, and I truly did enjoy her writing and characters. I’ll definitely give her another shot if she releases something in the future, but this one wasn’t quite there for me. ❓Tell me something fun or out of the ordinary you’ve done lately! Last week, my sister and I had a whole date day in DC. We went to a few museums and had such a wonderful time at @stregisdc for their Cherry Blossom Afternoon Tea. 🌸🫖 by @shelfshocked
| #APIBookstagramTour 2024 hosted by @booknerdkat | 𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝟙𝟜 | don’t forget to check out my tour partner, @bookedinsaigon too! 🇵🇭 Volunteering for this tour in honor of #AAPIheritagemonth really got me thinking about how my understanding of my Filipino heritage has changed as I have grown older. My father’s family comes from Italy, though they’ve been in the US for many generations, while my mother moved here from the Philippines in her 20s. Growing up as a first gen US citizen on my mom’s side came with perks and challenges. At any given family holiday, you’re likely to find lumpia and ensaymada next to stuffed shells and cavatappi next to cheeseburgers and hotdogs. My mom showed us her culture through cooking and told us plenty of stories about growing up in the Philippines. On the other hand, perhaps out of a desire to assimilate or maybe for personal reasons, my mother never taught us Tagalog, and she never really emphasized my Filipino heritage. Being part Asian wasn’t something I felt I connected with growing up beyond the basic fact that my mom is from there. Now, as an adult, I try to find space to celebrate this unique and special part of myself and to connect with the history, food, and language unique to the Philippines. Representation in literature isn’t something that ever crossed my mind pre-COVID tbh, but I truly find joy in reading books by authors like @mpmthewriter, @jesseqsutanto, and @jenniferhillierbooks. ❓Food is such a huge part of Filipino culture. What’s a food or dish that you associate strongly with your own heritage? If I have to choose Filipino foods, I’d pick sinigang, chicken adobo, lumpia, anything ube, and my childhood favorite- kutsinta! There’s plenty more to list because honestly it’s all delicious. by @shelfshocked
HESTER by Laurie Lico Albanese ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted finished copy! Hester is the fictionalized account of the woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne. Isobel leaves everything she knows behind her in Scotland and journeys to Salem with her new husband. Although she is initially excited for a fresh start, she struggles to find her place in a town where everyone seems to know everything about everybody. In steps Nathaniel Hathorne, an artist like Isobel herself. What unspools between them is forbidden and passionate, and the repercussions are dire. Let me start out by saying that historical fiction isn’t usually my jam, but Isobel Gowdie and her story had me absolutely spellbound! I was cheering for Isobel so hard through all of her romantic woes and her difficulties in making herself known as a talented designer and seamstress. This is not one to be missed. AND now I want to go back and reread The Scarlet Letter. ❓What’s your favorite flower? by @shelfshocked

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