Karen Toonen
@ktoonen.bsky.social
Book Pusher (Librarian); Lover of Story (esp Audio); Puppy Mommy; Respect Existence or Expect Resistance! 🤨 (she/her)
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Taking an anti-vaccination stances against a treatment that saves the life of ONE IN FIVE HUNDRED KIDS and has no verified deaths involving healthy recipients is not just anti-science and anti-logic, it's evil. I have studied this disease too extensively to soften that word.
It's just evil.
It's just evil.
February 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Taking an anti-vaccination stances against a treatment that saves the life of ONE IN FIVE HUNDRED KIDS and has no verified deaths involving healthy recipients is not just anti-science and anti-logic, it's evil. I have studied this disease too extensively to soften that word.
It's just evil.
It's just evil.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
As it's Ms. Bev's birthday—which should be a #Romancelandia national holiday—here's a few of my favorite Ms. Bev heroines!
Billie, Destiny's Surrender
Teresa, Wild Sweet Love
Maggie, Night Hawk
Jessi Rose, The Taming of Jessi Rose
Kate, Topaz
Spring, Wild Rain
Loreli, A Chance at Love
Viveca, Vivid
Billie, Destiny's Surrender
Teresa, Wild Sweet Love
Maggie, Night Hawk
Jessi Rose, The Taming of Jessi Rose
Kate, Topaz
Spring, Wild Rain
Loreli, A Chance at Love
Viveca, Vivid
February 15, 2026 at 7:51 PM
As it's Ms. Bev's birthday—which should be a #Romancelandia national holiday—here's a few of my favorite Ms. Bev heroines!
Billie, Destiny's Surrender
Teresa, Wild Sweet Love
Maggie, Night Hawk
Jessi Rose, The Taming of Jessi Rose
Kate, Topaz
Spring, Wild Rain
Loreli, A Chance at Love
Viveca, Vivid
Billie, Destiny's Surrender
Teresa, Wild Sweet Love
Maggie, Night Hawk
Jessi Rose, The Taming of Jessi Rose
Kate, Topaz
Spring, Wild Rain
Loreli, A Chance at Love
Viveca, Vivid
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Happy Valentine's Day, Romancelandia. Keep offering the world love in all its forms and identities. And don't forget to love on yourself.
February 14, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Happy Valentine's Day, Romancelandia. Keep offering the world love in all its forms and identities. And don't forget to love on yourself.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Measles can kill.
It can disable.
It can wipe out your immune system memory.
It can leave children blind and deaf.
It’s almost entirely preventable.
The vaccine was a breakthrough that saved lives.
What’s happening now is an unspeakable and unnecessary tragedy
It can disable.
It can wipe out your immune system memory.
It can leave children blind and deaf.
It’s almost entirely preventable.
The vaccine was a breakthrough that saved lives.
What’s happening now is an unspeakable and unnecessary tragedy
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
www.theatlantic.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Measles can kill.
It can disable.
It can wipe out your immune system memory.
It can leave children blind and deaf.
It’s almost entirely preventable.
The vaccine was a breakthrough that saved lives.
What’s happening now is an unspeakable and unnecessary tragedy
It can disable.
It can wipe out your immune system memory.
It can leave children blind and deaf.
It’s almost entirely preventable.
The vaccine was a breakthrough that saved lives.
What’s happening now is an unspeakable and unnecessary tragedy
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Tyrants overthrown: 0
January 31, 2026 at 5:35 AM
Tyrants overthrown: 0
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Hey, guess what?
Smart Bitches is 21 years old today! 🍾🥂
So we're giving away custom champagne flutes because obviously.
Happy anniversary to us!
Smart Bitches is 21 years old today! 🍾🥂
So we're giving away custom champagne flutes because obviously.
Happy anniversary to us!
Cheers! Happy 21st Anniversary, Smart Bitches! - Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
smartbitchestrashybooks.com
January 31, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Hey, guess what?
Smart Bitches is 21 years old today! 🍾🥂
So we're giving away custom champagne flutes because obviously.
Happy anniversary to us!
Smart Bitches is 21 years old today! 🍾🥂
So we're giving away custom champagne flutes because obviously.
Happy anniversary to us!
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Join us for our first meeting of a brand new Genre Study! We'll kick off a two-year study of Genre Blends on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 2-4 p.m. at the Elmhurst Public Library. For more info, including how to RSVP, visit arrtreads.org/event/genre-...
January 31, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Join us for our first meeting of a brand new Genre Study! We'll kick off a two-year study of Genre Blends on Thursday, Feb. 5, from 2-4 p.m. at the Elmhurst Public Library. For more info, including how to RSVP, visit arrtreads.org/event/genre-...
Reposted by Karen Toonen
January 30, 2026 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Karen Toonen
There are two Americas. Pick your side wisely. One ideology always loses.
January 25, 2026 at 3:20 AM
There are two Americas. Pick your side wisely. One ideology always loses.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Hey Boston area!!! It's me @paultremblay.bsky.social @johnlangan.bsky.social @catvalente.bsky.social & @ericlarocca.bsky.social on 1/31 @copperdogbooks.bsky.social! We are raising money for the @sjacksonawards.bsky.social. $5 suggested donation.
Join us. Details: copperdogbooks.com/event/2026-0...
Join us. Details: copperdogbooks.com/event/2026-0...
January 13, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Hey Boston area!!! It's me @paultremblay.bsky.social @johnlangan.bsky.social @catvalente.bsky.social & @ericlarocca.bsky.social on 1/31 @copperdogbooks.bsky.social! We are raising money for the @sjacksonawards.bsky.social. $5 suggested donation.
Join us. Details: copperdogbooks.com/event/2026-0...
Join us. Details: copperdogbooks.com/event/2026-0...
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Books don't tell readers who they personally are or who they are supposed to be. They do show readers a variety of characters. Implicit in that is this: "Here are some ways of being." Kids books aren't altering your kid to be someone new. They are simply showing them parts of humanity.
January 10, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Books don't tell readers who they personally are or who they are supposed to be. They do show readers a variety of characters. Implicit in that is this: "Here are some ways of being." Kids books aren't altering your kid to be someone new. They are simply showing them parts of humanity.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
📣FREE RESOURCE ALERT🎉For the entire month of January our latest issue of BOOKLIST will be FREE & OPEN TO ALL! Spotlighting readers' advisory, book discussions, & early reading it has everything you need to plan, program, and prepare for 2026! Train staff, teach students, and read now: bit.ly/452A0vp
January 9, 2026 at 5:05 PM
📣FREE RESOURCE ALERT🎉For the entire month of January our latest issue of BOOKLIST will be FREE & OPEN TO ALL! Spotlighting readers' advisory, book discussions, & early reading it has everything you need to plan, program, and prepare for 2026! Train staff, teach students, and read now: bit.ly/452A0vp
Reposted by Karen Toonen
I've seen people say that the officer who murdered Nicole Good should be charged with murder, and to that I add that every officer who kept medics from arriving, who barred doctors from helping should also be charged under conspiracy doctrine.
January 9, 2026 at 12:58 AM
I've seen people say that the officer who murdered Nicole Good should be charged with murder, and to that I add that every officer who kept medics from arriving, who barred doctors from helping should also be charged under conspiracy doctrine.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Black people five years ago: you know, they can kill anyone they want to out there
Everybody today: hot damn, did you know they can kill anyone they want to out there?
Everybody today: hot damn, did you know they can kill anyone they want to out there?
January 8, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Black people five years ago: you know, they can kill anyone they want to out there
Everybody today: hot damn, did you know they can kill anyone they want to out there?
Everybody today: hot damn, did you know they can kill anyone they want to out there?
Audio fans: I enjoyed this book. Check out the sale!
Sharing this again in case you've missed it. Mongrels audiobook is on sale. I grabbed it for a re-read in the new year.
@libro.fm
@sgj.bsky.social
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
@libro.fm
@sgj.bsky.social
libro.fm/audiobooks/9...
Mongrels Audiobook on Libro.fm
Nominated for both the Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Awards, and a Best of 2016 selection of Tor.com and Book Riot, acclaimed horror writer Stephen Graham Jones' (The Only Good Indians and My Heart ...
libro.fm
December 27, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Audio fans: I enjoyed this book. Check out the sale!
Reposted by Karen Toonen
If you’re in the UK & are so inclined, from Dec 25 to Jan 5 you can get the Kindle edition of THE RIVER HAS ROOTS for 99p as part of their 12 Days of Kindle event! This means in the UK you can also get that price matched at other etailers, like Kobo! Merry Christmas!
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
The River Has Roots ebook by Amal El-Mohtar - Rakuten Kobo
Read "The River Has Roots The Sweeping, Magical Solo Debut by the Best-Selling Co-Author of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR" by Amal El-Mohtar available from Rakuten Kobo. Follow the river Liss to t...
www.kobo.com
December 25, 2025 at 6:25 PM
If you’re in the UK & are so inclined, from Dec 25 to Jan 5 you can get the Kindle edition of THE RIVER HAS ROOTS for 99p as part of their 12 Days of Kindle event! This means in the UK you can also get that price matched at other etailers, like Kobo! Merry Christmas!
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/...
Reposted by Karen Toonen
"'Isn’t it wonderful?' says Uncle Billy. 'Mary did it, George, Mary did it.'"
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 25, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"'Isn’t it wonderful?' says Uncle Billy. 'Mary did it, George, Mary did it.'"
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing a text, writing an email, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing since the dawn of time.
December 23, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing a text, writing an email, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing since the dawn of time.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
As many of us begin Christmas meal prep, allow me to share the advice that my ER nurse sister puts in the chat every year:
A dropped knife has no handle. Jump away. Let it fall. You can pick it up and wash it.
A dropped knife has no handle. Jump away. Let it fall. You can pick it up and wash it.
December 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
As many of us begin Christmas meal prep, allow me to share the advice that my ER nurse sister puts in the chat every year:
A dropped knife has no handle. Jump away. Let it fall. You can pick it up and wash it.
A dropped knife has no handle. Jump away. Let it fall. You can pick it up and wash it.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
No one ever tells me these things, so I just discovered that the Kindle ebook of first Coop heist novel, THE EVERYTHING BOX, is on sale for a lousy $.99. You can't even buy a three-legged hamster for $.99, so get a bunch of my books instead. 🐹
www.amazon.com/Everything-B...
www.amazon.com/Everything-B...
December 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
No one ever tells me these things, so I just discovered that the Kindle ebook of first Coop heist novel, THE EVERYTHING BOX, is on sale for a lousy $.99. You can't even buy a three-legged hamster for $.99, so get a bunch of my books instead. 🐹
www.amazon.com/Everything-B...
www.amazon.com/Everything-B...
Reposted by Karen Toonen
In the new year, I'll be hosting a read-a-long of my bestselling trans Regency romance A GENTLEMAN'S GENTLEMAN. Read it again or for the first time, everyone is welcome.
Sign up: buttondown.com/a-gentlemans...
Sign up: buttondown.com/a-gentlemans...
November 18, 2025 at 1:16 PM
In the new year, I'll be hosting a read-a-long of my bestselling trans Regency romance A GENTLEMAN'S GENTLEMAN. Read it again or for the first time, everyone is welcome.
Sign up: buttondown.com/a-gentlemans...
Sign up: buttondown.com/a-gentlemans...
Reposted by Karen Toonen
I don't give a single solitary fuck about what happens to Bill Clinton, specifically, but I also want to go on record as saying there is no one, famous or a personal friend, who I hold so dear that if they were a rapist, I would not want that news coming out. Name, shame, prosecute. ALL. OF. THEM.
December 20, 2025 at 5:23 AM
I don't give a single solitary fuck about what happens to Bill Clinton, specifically, but I also want to go on record as saying there is no one, famous or a personal friend, who I hold so dear that if they were a rapist, I would not want that news coming out. Name, shame, prosecute. ALL. OF. THEM.
Reposted by Karen Toonen
When library funding goes up, crime tends to go down
Want Safer Neighborhoods? Invest in Libraries
When library funding goes up, crime tends to go down
buff.ly
December 20, 2025 at 1:01 PM
When library funding goes up, crime tends to go down
Reposted by Karen Toonen
Since yesterday, many people have DM’d to say that they were strongly affected by my essay & wished they could share it.
So I've revised, expanded, & posted it for free on both Substack & Patreon.
Please feel free to share.
www.patreon.com/posts/this-i...
catvalente.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...
So I've revised, expanded, & posted it for free on both Substack & Patreon.
Please feel free to share.
www.patreon.com/posts/this-i...
catvalente.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...
December 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Since yesterday, many people have DM’d to say that they were strongly affected by my essay & wished they could share it.
So I've revised, expanded, & posted it for free on both Substack & Patreon.
Please feel free to share.
www.patreon.com/posts/this-i...
catvalente.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...
So I've revised, expanded, & posted it for free on both Substack & Patreon.
Please feel free to share.
www.patreon.com/posts/this-i...
catvalente.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...