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ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard Return
@ahardreturn.bsky.social
220 followers 590 following 370 posts
Personal and book review blog.
(On hiatus during gardening season.🌱🪴)
A one-woman book club.
💙📚💬

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/
Reposted by Hard Return
willpassbooks.com
Last chance to vote in the Book Jacket Bracket this week!

Week 28 Theme: Other Mother's Day

4 striking covers.

Only 1 can advance.

Cast your vote before 10pm ET:

👉 bookjacketbracket.com

#booksky #art #design
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Light therapy is better on leisurely weekends!

Very much enjoying this book. Half through and I’ve chuckled out loud several times. It’s clever and fun.

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚🪐📚☕️
#Saturday #Reading #Weekend #Therapy #Literature #BookSky #Books #Love #Coffee #Weekend #TimeTravel #LitFic
My eReader lays on the corner of a laptop keyboard on the honey-toned wooden surface of my workspace. It’s surrounded by the symbols of “productivity:” a second keyboard, a little mouse, a ceramic mug of with just a splash of creamy coffee remaining. And just behind those is a rectangle of bright light, a light therapy lamp. (Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it… and even then..) The eReader has a clear case and under that a skin that is white with colorful cartoon art of berries, daisies, smileys, and rainbows. Everything is bathed in cozy light. The face of the reader shows a black and white version of the book cover for “The Ministry of Time,” by Kaliane Bradley. Dramatic block lettering stretches up a solid background. Different shades of grey suggest a variety of colors in the letters.
November 8, 2025 at 3:07 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
curiousreaderspod.bsky.social Curious Readers Podcast @curiousreaderspod.bsky.social · 7d
Day 3 of #NovellasInNovember is Turkish writer Ayşegül Savaş's WHITE ON WHITE which follows a young art history student researching gothic nudes as she moves to an unnamed city and becomes embroiled in her neighbour's dysfunctional life #BookSky #LitFic
November 8, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
curiousreaderspod.bsky.social Curious Readers Podcast @curiousreaderspod.bsky.social · 3d
Day 7 of #NovellasInNovember is Maeve Brennan's THE VISITOR, a curt little book about a young woman returning to her grandmother's home in Ireland after a prolonged absence and not quite getting the welcome she was hoping for. A fascinating read. Quite emotionally brutal in places #BookSky #LitFic
November 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
TBR
literarycolin.bsky.social Colin 📚🦔☕️🍵 @literarycolin.bsky.social · 3d
📚 Just finished Shadow Ticket, and wow, what a trip!
➡️ Up next: Tom’s Crossing

Shadow ticket is classic Pynchon chaos, and he’s clearly just having fun. It's a jazzy, Depression-era detective fever dream that’s as playfully strange as it is eerily relevant.

#booksky #litfic #pynchon
November 8, 2025 at 1:50 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
What a write-up! Top of TBR
curiousreaderspod.bsky.social Curious Readers Podcast @curiousreaderspod.bsky.social · 5d
Day 5 of #NovellasInNovember is Victoria MacKenzie's electrifying debut FOR THY GREAT PAIN HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN which centres on the spiritual journeys of anchorite and mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the English pilgrim Margery Kempe. Brief, miraculous, gorgeous prose #BookSky #LitFic
November 8, 2025 at 1:48 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
I love these. 💛
November 7, 2025 at 11:15 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Delightful. This book was fun, quirky, and heartfelt. I needed something light but still engaging for a reset. I liked this even more than Lenny Marks!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Rec:👍
💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⚡️
#BookSky #Literature #AmReading #Review #BookRec #Love #Books #Mystery #Fun #Blog #Books #Novel #LitFic
Holding an eReader in front of a plant (a Hoya tricolor). The reader has a pink skin with a pattern of red strawberries and white daisies. In black and white, it displays the cover of Kerryn Mayne’s book, “Joy Moody Is Out Of Time.” A town of three older style washing machines makes up the bottom third of the cover and the title is written as a neon shop sign above them in which the words are framed by shape of a clothes hanger and the word “time” is in black as though that words of the sign is unlit.
November 6, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Hard Return
cathypegau.bsky.social
A MURDEROUS BUSINESS, read by the incredible Quinn Riley, is available thru Spotify!
But I'm going to #giveaway a couple of codes for copies too!
Tell me your favorite sound or song that brings you joy.
On Nov. 9, I'll pick 2 winners to receive codes to redeem.
👂🏻🎧📚
#Booksky #contest #audiobook
Cover of A Murderous Business by Cathy Pegau with a faded background of the cover background. Text reads: A Murderous Business A Harriman and Mancini Mystery Read by Quinn Riley on Spotify
November 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Oops, forgot these. Tho they may go without saying on this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Recommend:👍👍👍

#BookSky #BookRec #BookReview #Reading #Books #Love #Library #Literature #HistoricalFiction #LitFic #Fiction #Novel
💙📚🖋️📚💬📚⏳💙📚📸
ahardreturn.bsky.social Hard Return @ahardreturn.bsky.social · 5d
Hard to return. Getting a copy for my own shelf.💙📚⏳📚🖋️
A triumph. Jeffers takes centuries of histories that have long been kept separate & obfuscated - she uses a single family tree to reintegrate them with context & story leaving the reader w truth. You feel this book for days.
#BookSky #BookReview
I snapped this picture of the hardback copy of “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois,” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers while returning it to the library. My left hand holds the deep orange book in front of a grey, metal book return bin. In white letters up the side of the bin is the word “ books” and partially obscured by my hand and the book are the words “return materials here” in black. The cover itself is a very orange background with title and author in white. A yellow tree with a yellow moon above are represented in abstract and silhouette.
November 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Hard to return. Getting a copy for my own shelf.💙📚⏳📚🖋️
A triumph. Jeffers takes centuries of histories that have long been kept separate & obfuscated - she uses a single family tree to reintegrate them with context & story leaving the reader w truth. You feel this book for days.
#BookSky #BookReview
I snapped this picture of the hardback copy of “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois,” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers while returning it to the library. My left hand holds the deep orange book in front of a grey, metal book return bin. In white letters up the side of the bin is the word “ books” and partially obscured by my hand and the book are the words “return materials here” in black. The cover itself is a very orange background with title and author in white. A yellow tree with a yellow moon above are represented in abstract and silhouette.
November 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Hard Return
germainehypher.bsky.social
Overall Amazon star rating: 5/5

Mark, a reader, says:
"An absolute gift for folks trapped in a chronically ill body. It is both a
companion in hard times and a call to creativity."

#creativesky #chronicillness #chronicpain #art #craft #selfhelp
💙📚 📖 🎨 🪡 🧶 🎵 ✍🏻 🎭
An image of the front cover of the book Crafting a Path Through Illness - Exploring Creativity While Chronically Ill by Germaine Hypher is surrounded by the following text: Amazon star rating: 5/5 WHAT PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING ABOUT THE BOOK Over 300 easy to navigate pages. Optional creative exercises and projects. Real life experiences from the chronic illness community. Facts, guidance, understanding and inspiration for anyone wanting to live more creatively. Mark, a reader, says: "An absolute gift for folks trapped in a chronically ill body. It is both a companion in hard times and a call to creativity."
November 2, 2025 at 11:54 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
💛💛💛
#BookSky #Novel #LitFic
parnassusbooks.bsky.social Parnassus Books @parnassusbooks.bsky.social · Jul 18
It’s Friday, and if you haven’t read this towering stack of great literature, it’s new to you! This week, Ann mixes it up a bit and responds to an op-ed by David Brooks in the NYT. Is the novel really dead? Read the article, watch Ann’s take, and let us know what you think.
New to You: Literature Isn’t Dead
YouTube video by Parnassus Books
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
A little last minute Halloweening. 🎃
Have fun tonight, #BookSky friends! I’ll be tucked up with a doing what I always do… but with candles and toasted pumpkin seeds. 😉 🕯️ #Reading

🎃🍁🍂🌱
#Halloween #JackOLantern #Holiday #Pumpkin #Books #HappyHalloween #BookReviews #TrickOrTreat
A Jack-o-lantern sits on a green, gridded patio table. A handful of textured gourds surround it. Above is the bottom of a closed, red patio umbrella. Beyond is a low country sky, open field, and a white canvas bell tent. The Jack-o-lantern is extremely simple with two punched-hole eyes and a mouth that is a simple line making a cute little side smirk. It took longer to clean the inside than to carve the pumpkin… but worth it for the roasting seeds. 😉
October 31, 2025 at 11:02 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
My partner walked in to find me sobbing while reading page 523. “Sad ending?” I held up the remaining 250 pages. “Oh.”

Lots of pages. Lots of processing breaks. This book is really something. 💛
💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⏳ #BookSky #Reading #LitFic #Historical #Books #Literature #Fiction #BookReview #Love
“The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers lays on a striped woven rug. It’s many stripes of bold colors run horizontally beneath the book and complement its deep orange cover. The title and author are a crisp contrasting white over an abstract rendering of a yellow tree and either the sun or the moon above it. (I think it’s the moon.)
October 31, 2025 at 6:41 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This was a fantastic read. 👍

💙📚💬📚🐟🌊
#BookSky #BookReview #LondonReview #AboutBooks #AmReading #Love #History #Colonization #Water #BookLover #Recommend #Read
My copy of the October 23 issue of the London Review of Books lays on a messy kitchen table. I’ve pushed the camera in tight from above to hide some of that. Lol I’ve also held the review with the cover folded down at an angle to show the title of the publication as well as the title and author of the review I’m posting about. That is “Fish in the Wrong Place” by Oliver Cussen. The paper sits on a beige linen tablecloth and across a couple of tan, cloth placemats. A round wood revolving tray sits close by with Pothos propagations on it in a cobalt blue vessel. The leaves fill the top of frame close to camera. Strong morning light makes deep colors and deeper shadows in the image.
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Taking my time with this novel. Not only is it a longer read, it’s a dense, meaningful one.

💙📚💬📚🖋️📚⏳
#BookSky #Literature #Fiction #Novel #Monday #AmReading #Books #Love #Review #BookRecs #LitFic
I hold up a hardcover library book that Im reading under a reading lamp so it is brightly lit from above. The book is “The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. It has a solid orange cover with and abstract tree and sun or moon in yellow. Words are in white over top of them.
October 28, 2025 at 12:06 AM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
A little #Friday celebration! I have 200 #followers?!? As an anon account, that sticks to books (trending or not), with no other socials? I’m tickled that 200 folks want to hang out with me. Thank you!!!💛

(see Alt for more)

💙📚💬🦋
#BookSky #Books #JeffGoldblum #TGIF #Reading #Love #Reviews #Blog #TY
A fun photo of the back of my eReader. I am holding it up with my left hand. The reader has a clear case with glitter on it. A collage of stickers covers the back. Pinks and peach stickers with green fronds of foliage make up a background of color for some fun stickers. In the top left is a large sticker that says “See Cece Run” in maroon letters - a reference to a favorite and oft-quoted show in my house, New Girl. Next to that in top right is a sticker with a photo of Nick Miller from the same show making a classic, scowling face for that character. In the show this is called his “turtle face.” Below that is a sticker of a yellow book titled “Reading Makes Me Happy” and below that, in the bottom right, is a sticker with a racoon on an open trash can that’s on fire. The words around it are “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” lol And lastly, in the bottom left is a sticker of Jeff Goldblum’s face. I’ve got one on both of my eReaders because he’s the weirdest, coolest celebrity on whom I have the weirdest, coolest crush. In the background, though blurry, is an image in a dramatic gold frame. It’s Goodblum depicted as a saint in a renaissance painting, the robes, the gold halo behind his head, and holding up his hand in benediction. He wears his chunky glasses though and the large, gold medallion on his chest is imprinted with a dinosaur. Very tiny on the chain is a fly. This is not the only Jeff art in my home, haha. I may not share my personal details or my face on this account (or any account), but I wanted to share something weird and personal because being connected to you all here on BlueSky is really cool. Cool like Jeff Goldblum. 😂
October 24, 2025 at 9:18 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This looks promising!
bluebookclub.bsky.social Bluesky Bookclub @bluebookclub.bsky.social · 17d
That’s enough interest for me - we’re doing it!! Changed the account name and everything.

The book prompts have been fun, but I think the account has gotten a bit stale and I’m no longer having fun with it, so it will be fun to try something new.

Follow along for book club!!

📚💙 #boosky 💙📚
bluebookclub.bsky.social Bluesky Bookclub @bluebookclub.bsky.social · 17d
Would anyone be interested in a monthly Bluesky book club?

📚💙 #booksky 💙📚
October 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
For me, a good story doesn’t hit unless the wordsmithing is there. Ng’s composition is always there for me.

“Whodunnit?” meets insightful race/gender/generation commentary. Loved.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rec:👍

💙📚💬📚🖋️
#BookSky #AmReading #BookRec #Review #Novel #LitFic #Literature #Love #Books #BookReview
Thumbnail of the book cover for Celeste Ng’s book, “Everything I Never Told You.” The cover is a photograph image of a woman swimming or floating on dark, blue water. Taking from directly above, she’s in a deep green/blue bathing suit, facing down into the water with legs straight out behind her and arms out to the side and above her shoulders like a breast stroked. She is directed horizontally across the cover moving to the left. The title and name of the author are written in white and look like erratic scribbling. Down the right side runs a teal banner that reads “The New York Times Bestseller.”
October 22, 2025 at 10:56 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
This is my new favorite thing. 💙📚

#BookSky #BookJacketBracket #Books
willpassbooks.com Will Pass @willpassbooks.com · May 21
I run the world’s first beauty contest for books.

Each week, four covers enter. You vote. One ascends.

Weekly winners face off in a spring championship.

Only one will reach the Shelf of Immortality.

This is the Book Jacket Bracket.

Vote now 👉 bookjacketbracket.com

#booksky #books #art
Book Jacket Bracket – Weekly Book Cover Tournament
A reader-powered book cover tournament. You vote for your favorite. The winner ascends. Celebrate design. Discover new books. Help worthy stories rise.
bookjacketbracket.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Since I don’t buy books often, and rarely buy them new, I enjoy dressing up my eReader. These will be a fun addition!

💙📚💬📚🍄🍁🐢📺

www.etsy.com/shop/Jennife... for the original mushroom art.

#BookSky #eReader #Books #Stickers #Art #NewGirl #Kindle #Etsy #BookCover #CottageCore #Cute #Cozy #Love
Two stickers with darling original art in a very fairy tale style lay on a honey color wood table. One is a ghost with a red, speckled mushroom top on its head. It is surrounded by little red spotted mushrooms, stars and a crescent moon. The other is an open book. It’s has forest floor plants and cutesy mushrooms growing from the open pages. Both items came from the shop at this link. I’m not affiliated, just happy with the product. https://www.etsy.com/shop/JenniferDixonArt Three stickers lay on a honey colored wood table. They are all references from the TV show “New Girl” of which I’m a big fan. The top sticker is white with a black line drawing of the logo on Jess Day’s t shirt in the beginning of the show. It reads “Ms. Day’s JAM-borée, Sixth Grade Class, 2009” The bottom left sticker is a photo of the character, Nick making a grouchy face and hunching his shoulders. It shows his head neck and shoulders before cutting off. The last sticker simply reads “See CeCe Run” in chunky maroon font.
October 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
His Monday post is the best place to feed your TBR list imo. 💛
bigbeardybooks.bsky.social Stephen Baird @bigbeardybooks.bsky.social · 22d
It's Monday again and today I'm reading Hagtale by Sally O'Reilly

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
October 20, 2025 at 3:19 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
Parking lot reading today. How excited was I to realize there is a #CelesteNg book I haven’t read?!
The answer is “all.”

I was ALL the excited.

💙📚💬📚🖋️🍁🍂☕️

#BookSky #Autumn #AmReading #Monday #Morning #Books #BookRec #Review #Love #Park #ReadInPublic #Coffee #View #BookLover
I hold my eReader up to an open car window with my left hand. The reader takes up the bottom left corner of the image. It has a hippie style floral skin on it with some tiny dog stickers in the bottom corner that are line drawings. The screen, in greyscale, shows the cover of Celeste Ng’s “Everything I Never Told You.” The cover is made up of an image of a woman floating or swimming horizontally across the cover. She’s seen from above in dark water. The title and author are written in white, very scrawled writing. Behind and around the eReader is the view from my car. The black window casing and rear view mirror frame a view of morning sunlight through fall trees in early turning colors. Neon yellow-green leaves mostly with grape vine wrapping a giant trunk in fiery red. Dark branches in silhouette against the bright sun - all of this is out of focus around the eReader.
October 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM
ahardreturn.bsky.social
‘Define’ myself? Meh, but here are my 8 fav authors. Make that 9. 😉

John Steinbeck
David Wroblewski
Barbara Kingsolver
Nan Shepherd
Rohinton Mistry
Amor Towles
Wendell Berry
Claire Keegan
Toni Morrison

(I lied. Dumas, Dickens, and Allende for a top 12.)
💙📚💬📚
#BookSky #Authors #Favorites #Books
October 19, 2025 at 11:51 PM