Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
American Road Trip is a 1000-piece puzzle from TDC Puzzles. It is a shaped puzzle depicting the 48 contiguous states with images of things that are associated with each state.
This is a random cut puzzle with a matte finish. I found the quality to be quite good and enjoyed the puzzling experience. It came with a poster that was as big as the actual puzzle!
Cozy Front Porch is a 750-piece puzzle from Ravensburger. I got it from the puzzle box in Elizabethtown. It’s not my favorite type of puzzle to do, but I knew the quality would be good and that it would probably be a good puzzling experience. I do like the color palette of this image a lot, and I would call the experience satisfying.
Town Park is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs.
This is my second Olivia Gibbs puzzle. I find her artwork so appealing, and I got this with a bunch of other Ceaco puzzles that were on sale on Amazon recently. Such a sweet image.
Moonlit Blossoms is a 1000-piece puzzle, and the brand is listed on Amazon as PICKFORU. It was my first puzzle on the new puzzle board that I just got. It’s so pretty!
It does have a lot of dark areas, however. I probably wouldn’t have chosen it if I didn’t know it had letters on the back so I could do it in sections.
I got the Playboda puzzle board that I have been seeing all over TikTok and so far I love it! It is made for a 1500-piece puzzle so it will hold the larger 1000-piece puzzles I sometimes run across. It rotates, which is awesome, and it fits on the little table I have in the living room so now I can puzzle in front of the TV.
It has a black neoprene pad that you can put over your puzzle while it is in progress to protect it from pets and other hazards. It also includes four drawers to use as sorting trays.
Koala House Party is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo, and the artist is Uta Krogmann. I know some people don’t like glossy pieces, but I don’t mind them. I really enjoyed this one!
What I’m Reading Now
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes DuMez – I am just a few chapters in and I am totally engrossed in this book.
Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins – I just got this one on my Libby app; haven’t started it yet.
What I Recently Finished:
The Sister Effect by Susan Mallery – I gave this one five stars. It was so well-done.
The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton – I gave this one two stars, which is pretty rare for me. I did finish it, but it just wasn’t my favorite style of writing.
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center – This was an enjoyable book about two writers writing and falling in love. Very good.
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle – Another five star book. I loved the premise and I didn’t guess the twist, which doesn’t happen very often.
The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery – This was a good read.
Toxic Prey by John Sandford – Yet another five star rating – I have hardly given any this year and now I have three in one month! This is listed as #34 in the Lucas Davenport series. Goodreads also has it filed as #3 in the Letty Davenport series since it includes her as well (she is Lucas’s daughter.) I flew through this one.
What I’ve Added to my TBR List:
Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey – This is #17 in the Elemental Masters series
Nashville Dreams by Pamela M. Kelley
If you’re on Goodreads, feel free to add me as a friend. I’m always looking for new recommendations!
I did these two puzzles one day apart. I got them both for free from a local puzzle box and they are from different brands, but when I looked closely at the boxes, I discovered they are from the same artist – Nancy Wernersbach. I thought that was a neat coincidence!
The Ravensburger puzzle had one piece missing and it was the largest 300-piece puzzle I have seen so far. The pieces were so big!
Shopping for the Garden from Bits and Pieces, 300 pieces
Santorini Sunset from Ravensburger, 300 pieces
Super fun and easy puzzle! Second time doing this one, this time with a friend.
Go Camping! is a 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs.
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is a 1000-piece puzzle from Eurographics. The image is from a painting by Georges Seurat.
This was by far one of the hardest puzzles I have ever done! I chose it for a puzzle game I am doing that asked for a fine art puzzle. This image has always been my favorite painting, and I have even seen the original in person at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In addition to the pointillism painting style making it difficult, the loose fit of the pieces and the pieces all being the same shape increases the challenge by an exponential amount.
I had it almost done when a friend came over, so she helped me put in the last twenty or so pieces. So glad to have it done!
