I’m introducing a new blog feature and link-up opportunity! Please join in!

Carol’s Captivating Character of the Month Link Up

On the last Friday of the month, I will write a post about my most captivating character of the month and create a Link Party (see link below my review)! In addition to hearing about the memorable characters that have captivated you, I also want this new project to facilitate new bookish friendships, help you find your book twin, and promote blog engagement. This link party will stay active for 30 days. In exchange for linking your post back to me, I promise to visit every blog post that links up, leave a comment, and share your post once on #bookx or #booksky.

Captivating Character Link Up Details:

1. You can use fictional or real characters/persons.
2. Link up a review that specifically highlights a captivating character or person, or write a post dedicated to your most captivating character or person of the month.
3. Please include a link back to my link-up post in your post.
4. Be kind: visit one other post in the link-up and leave a comment.

Most Captivating Characters of January

Name: Kate & Frida
Reason: friendship (epistolary), book lovers, twenty-somethings contemplating the meaning and purpose of life
Book and Author: Kate & Frida by Kim Fay (author of Love & Saffron)
Genre/Categories/Setting: Book about books, Friendship, Epistolary, Paris/Seattle, Sarajevo
More Information Here (Pub Date: 5/11/2025)

If you’ve read Love & Saffron by Kim Fay, you know the enjoyment that an epistolary format can provide! A few of my favorite reads have been epistolary.

Kate and Frida begin a correspondence when Frida (living in Paris) writes to a bookstore in Seattle requesting a book. Kate is assigned to respond, and Kate and Frida discover that they are kindred spirits in many respects. While they both love words and books, Kate wants to be a novelist, and Kate wants to be a journalist.

Immediately, we are reminded of what it’s like to be twenty-something with big dreams and wild aspirations. Through correspondence, Kate and Frida demonstrate understanding of the other and offer support and encouragement in their goals and personal lives. Based on their conversations and confessions, Kate and Frida send books to each other. You will appreciate all the book talk! It’s the loveliest long-distance friendship.

Both young women face unique, personal challenges. Kate suffers from episodes of anxiety and lacks confidence while Frida worries about her journalistic aspirations. Frida’s life takes an interesting turn as she bravely and impulsively decides to follow a guy she’s dating to Sarajevo in an attempt to find the story she’s destined to tell. The reality of the Seige of Sarajevo in the 1990s is a rude awakening for her as she fears for her life amid the violence and tragedy of the conflict. She keeps a journal which she reworks into articles in attempts to find a story to tell.

Although both young women are avid readers and foodies and have a love interest and varying levels of family drama, their friendship and their search for purpose and meaningful life work drive the narrative.

Kate and Frida are thoughtful and engaging young writers and their letters are filled with warmth, witty banter, encouragement, book talk, poignant and expressive reflections, and humor. If you’ve ever been a twenty-something or are in your twenties now, you will find much relatable content.

Kate and Frida are memorable and captivating characters and represent the best of our kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and globally conscious young adults.

Thanks #NetGalley @PutnamBooks for a complimentary eARC of #Kate&Frida upon my request. All opinions are my own. (Pub Date: 5/11/25)

Related to Sarajevo: You might enjoy Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris

Star Rating: 5 Stars

More Information Here.

Meet the Author of Kate & Frida, Kim Fay

Born in Seattle and raised all over Washington State, Kim Fay is the author of the national bestseller Love & Saffron and Edgar Award–nominated The Map of Lost Memories. A former independent bookseller, she lived for many years in Vietnam, the inspiration for Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam. Fay now lives in Los Angeles with her musician husband, Jim Vitale, and their dog, Mabel.

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You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

(I hope this works! It’s been a while since I have created a link up, so if something doesn’t work, I’ll be back to fix it!)

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“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for reading bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, teaching, and connection. Books take us to places we’ve never been, teach us about our world, and help us understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley

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