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ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard Return
@ahardreturn.bsky.social
230 followers 750 following 430 posts
Personal and book review blog.
A one-woman book club.
💙📚💬
AI free. I do not use AI to read, post, or review books. My content is my own.

www.aHardReturn.com

I’m on NetGalley and StoryGraph, too. 💛
https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/hardreturn
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ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard Return @ahardreturn.bsky.social · Mar 1
Reading. Writing about it.
ahardreturn.com
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#BooksSky
#BookLover
#BookWorm
#Readers
Yellow toned image of a stack of books held up on an arm. Words in black text over top of it say, “Personal and book review blog. A one-woman book club.” https://ahardreturn.com/
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Pausing this for a moment bc I hate to hold up a Libby ebook if it has a line.

I love the laid back writing style in this. Story moves quickly and the voice feels very true.
💙📚💬🌈
#BookSky #Novel #LitFic #BannedBooks #Books #AmReading #BookReview #LGBTQ
Holding up a paperback copy of “Tramps Like Us” by Joe Westmoreland at my dining table. The cover has a black and white image of a 1970s city street but in blue ink. Imposed over that is an image of a shirtless man with short hair and a mustache. The man is orange with shadows and definition in red. Above him, the title is in big block letters of the same orange with red borders.
December 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Hard Return
bigbeardybooks.bsky.social
It's Monday again and today I'm reading "Utterly Lazy and Inattentive: Martin Parr in Words and Pictures" by Wendy Jones and Martin Parr

What book(s) are you reading this week?

💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR

alt text in images please
white circle in a blue background and the words "It's Monday! What are you reading?" in the circle
December 8, 2025 at 5:52 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
retired-librarian.bsky.social Retired-Librarian @retired-librarian.bsky.social · 3d
I worked with someone who started all her emails with "Greetings" so I told her it could be a trigger for people who were drafted during Viet Nam or who had family members drafted during Viet Nam and she had no idea what I was talking about.
December 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a top book of 2025 for me. WOW.

💙📚🖋️📚💬💧❄️
#BookSky #TopBooks #BookReview #BookRecs #Books #Bibliophile #Literature #LitFic #AmReading #BookLover #Snow #Water #Video
December 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Binge reading the last 100 pages of this amazeballs book.
#BookSky #BingeReading #AmReading
💙📚🖋️📚⏳
Holding up a hardcover library book in warm bedroom reading light. The book is “There Are Rivers In The Sky” by Elif Shafak and shows an image of a Mesopotamian city under a blue sky. Over the entire cover are gold metallic lines winding up like water in a river.
December 7, 2025 at 5:35 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
mkat90.bsky.social runawaymaryk @mkat90.bsky.social · 5d
Currently reading my fifth John Irving novel.

Years ago I picked up Until I Find You on a whim and I’ve been hooked on his writing ever since.

#booksky
The cover of The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (with cat and Christmas tree in the background)
December 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
I missed Mychal after leaving the gram. 💛 So glad to see them here and to be reminded of this book from childhood!!
December 5, 2025 at 4:03 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Such a great read! I did a write-up for folks who want to know why I think so. Check out my blog post and then check it out at your library! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5 Rec: 👍

💙📚💬📚🖋️💛
#BookSky #Writing #Reading #BookReview #Books #Literature #BookBlog #BookClub
December 3, 2025 at 2:36 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This read got me writing. 😉 Check out my blog post for #TheBookOfGuilt by #CatherineChidgey at the link below!

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⏳
#BookSky #Blog #BookReview #BookRecs #BookBlog #Dystopian #LitFic #Books #Reading #Novel
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
Finally! A dystopian novel for the gal who dislikes dystopian fiction.
ahardreturn.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:08 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
💙📚
#BookSky #Indie #SmallPress #Books
100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025
The idea of 100 Notable Small Press Books was born November 2024, after The New York Times’s annual 100 Notable Books list featured eighty-two books from the Big Five publishing houses (Pengu…
lithub.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:04 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This was a miss for me. I think the way it is written is very clever, but there is no real growth in my view.

Anyone feel the same? Or differently?

⭐️⭐️.5/5 Rec: 👎
💙📚🖋️📚💬📖

#BookSky #Memoir #BookReview #BookRec #Books #MondayReading #Reading #Abuse #Trauma #Literature #Family
I hold up a hardback book in my living room. Lamp, television, and other living room things are seen around it. The book is “A Silent Treatment” by Jeannie Vanasco. Its cover looks like the back side of an aged, browned envelope with the flap slightly lifted.
December 1, 2025 at 10:21 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Do you have book recommendations for middle and elementary school kids?

It’s time for holiday shopping and this Auntie doesn’t know where to start!!

💙📚🖋️📚💬📚🎄🎅
#BookSky #YouthFiction #KidLit #Fiction #Literature #ChildrensBooks #BookRecs #Reviews #Books #Gifts #Shopping #Holiday #TBR #Kids
A pink, vintage ornament hangs in green Christmas tree foliage. White strand lights glow around it in an off focus way.
November 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TDR
idabeware.blacksky.app Spooky Electric 🦀🌊 👻 @idabeware.blacksky.app · 16d
Now reading Mexican Gothic 💙📚
Book cover Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia
November 25, 2025 at 2:25 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Holy moly. What a great read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5 Rec: 👍

Dystopian but not overly so. Mystery. Thriller. I can’t say much more bc I hate even teeny spoilers. It’s so, so good.

💙📚⏳📚🖋️📚⚡️📚💬
#BookSky #Books #Reviews #TBR #BookRec #LitFic #Reading #Fiction #Literature #Love #Thriller #Mystery
ahardreturn.bsky.social Hard Return @ahardreturn.bsky.social · 16d
Just over halfway. How am I not seeing this book everywhere?! So glad my #library displayed it bc this was a book I picked up for the cover.

💙📚🖋️📚⏳📚
#BookSky #Dystopian #Fiction #LitFic #Literature #Mystery #Literature #AmReading #MondayRead #Books #BookRec #Review #Love #Reading
My left hand holds a hardcover library copy of “The Book of Guilt” by Catherine Chidgey. Morning light on a bedroom wall and household clutter peeks behind the book. The cover itself mostly blue sky with green sumner clouds. At bottom is green grass rolling down to the right at a soft decline. A blonde haired boy lays on the grass with the top of his head toward us, booted feet and knobby knees to the sky and askew. He could be cloud gazing and wiggling as kids do or in a kind of somersault down the incline. Above and across the sky, the title is written in a coordinating blue and looks like it was written with a brush.
November 25, 2025 at 12:18 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR all of them. 😂
bigbeardybooks.bsky.social Stephen Baird @bigbeardybooks.bsky.social · 17d
It's Monday again and today I'm still reading "Severed Streets" by Paul Cornell

What book(s) are you reading this week?

💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads #TBR

alt text in images please
white circle in a blue background and the words "It's Monday! What are you reading?" in the circle
November 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
cfpharmd.bsky.social Kim Novak - The Reading Rx @cfpharmd.bsky.social · 17d
Finishing up the last few pages of Ordinary Soil by Alex Woodard. Then we’ll see where my mood lands.
Ordinary Soil by Alex Woodard
November 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
simontull.bsky.social Simon Tull @simontull.bsky.social · 16d
A nice light start to my weekly reading
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian - marine lewycka
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Just over halfway. How am I not seeing this book everywhere?! So glad my #library displayed it bc this was a book I picked up for the cover.

💙📚🖋️📚⏳📚
#BookSky #Dystopian #Fiction #LitFic #Literature #Mystery #Literature #AmReading #MondayRead #Books #BookRec #Review #Love #Reading
My left hand holds a hardcover library copy of “The Book of Guilt” by Catherine Chidgey. Morning light on a bedroom wall and household clutter peeks behind the book. The cover itself mostly blue sky with green sumner clouds. At bottom is green grass rolling down to the right at a soft decline. A blonde haired boy lays on the grass with the top of his head toward us, booted feet and knobby knees to the sky and askew. He could be cloud gazing and wiggling as kids do or in a kind of somersault down the incline. Above and across the sky, the title is written in a coordinating blue and looks like it was written with a brush.
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Hard Return
jimc5.bsky.social
I’ve read 6 (so far). Better than 5 last year. At this rate, eventually, I’ll have a year when I read them all.

#BookSky

apps.npr.org/best-books/?...
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
apps.npr.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Absolutely recommend this book! A fab story of childhood, mystery, murder that immerses the reader in indigenous culture, religion, and history.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Rec:👍👍👍

💙📚⏳📚🖋️📚💬

#BookSky #Literature #Fiction #Mystery #Novel #LitFic #Books #Review #AmReading #Love #HistoricalFiction #BookReview #BookRec
A paperback library book sits on a white, cube shelf. It is “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich. It leans against a prayer plant with deep green leaves painted with bright red veins. “Shelfy” items are seen around it. A frame sits against the wall behind, more library books and a pink ball of yarn with circular needles in it are seen on the shelf below. The book cover itself is white. A woman stands on the left half of the image, ankles together and arms tight to her sides. Long black hair blows straight out to the right across the cover. Every part of her from one eyebrow down is obscured by a bright red color that imitates fabric. It also trails straight out from her body across the cover filling most of the image. Title and author are in black and white across the red.
November 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Wow!
incworks.bsky.social INCWorks @incworks.bsky.social · 19d
Several new spreads in my Reading Journal. A couple of which were the 'Oops! Forgot to include the book cover, again' sort, so I had to jury rig stuff. Btw, is it 'jury rig' or 'jerry rig'? 🤔

#booksky
November 22, 2025 at 4:14 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Half through “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich. This is my first of her books and I’m a fan so far!

💙📚🖋️📚💬
#BookSky #Indigenous #Stories #Novel #Historical #Literature #Fiction #Mystery #Books #AmReading #BookRec #Review #Love #Friday #TGIF #WeekendReading
A paperback, library copy of “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich lays on the edge of a round coffee table. I snapped the photo from directly above. Closer to camera at top of image are deep green leaves of a polka dot Begonia, they have large white spots as the name suggests. The table is a walnut tone and in the bottom right corner a snatch of orange floral carpet is furthest from camera. The book cover itself is white. A woman stands on the left half of the image, ankles together and arms tight to her sides. Long black hair blows straight out to the right across the cover. Every part of her from one eyebrow down is obscured by a bright red color that imitates fabric. It also trails straight out from her body across the cover filling most of the image. Title and author are in black and white across the red.
November 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
😂
November 21, 2025 at 1:35 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
I’m glad I finished this!! The last quarter picked up such a momentum my heart was racing in the final pages.

The way Murray uses the literary toolbox (foreshadowing, symbolism, metaphor, etc) are just masterful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rec: 👍

💙📚🖋️📚💬📚🌱
#BookSky #BookReview #Love #Reading #LitFic #Literature
My eReader lays in a white countertop with grey marbling. Bright, white sun sprays across the screen through a water glass (well, a jar) next to it. The reader has a skin that is white with a floral wallpaper style print featuring blue-ish foliage and pink roses. The face of the reader shows a blank and white rendering of the book cover for “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray. Simple block letters name the title and the author. Between them, center of screen is a drawing of a bee, flying or falling at a downward angle. Trailing from his stinger in cursive script is “a novel.”
November 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Hard Return
chucktingle.bsky.social
favorite one of these author scam emails i have gotten lately was on last tuesday the subject was 'readers arent noticing lucky day' and i thought 'i dont know about that, robot, it was nominated for a goodreads award today what else do you want from me?'
scalzi.com John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 23d
Spammers attempting to convince one to use their "author services" via negging don't work when one's most recent book is a New York Times bestseller
"Did Amazon lock your book in the basement or did Jeff Bezos just ghost you?"
November 17, 2025 at 6:05 PM