Spell the Month in Books: January 2024

Guess who’s been alternately sick and burnt out this month! (Me! I’m right here – it’s me!)

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I started participating in it a few months ago.

January is unfortunately one of my least favorite times of the year, if not my least favorite altogether. It just doesn’t have a lot going for it, in my opinion. It’s obscenely cold 🥶 , gloomy ☁️ , and it’s usually icy 🧊 instead of snowy ☃️. It’s the best time of year for cuddles 🥰 though – and hot chocolate ☕ – and I’ve been cooking 🍳 a lot, so that’s been fun.

Anyway, it’s time to spell January in book titles!

J

Jane Eyre

AUTHOR: Charlotte Brontë

RELEASE DATE: 1847

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Determined to make her heroine “as poor and plain as myself,” Charlotte Brontë made a daring choice for her 1847 novel. Jane Eyre possesses neither the great beauty nor entrancing charm that her fictional predecessors used to make their way in the world. Instead, Jane relies upon her powers of diligence and perception, conducting herself with dignity animated by passion.

The instant and lasting success of Jane Eyre proved Brontë’s instincts correct. Readers of her era and ever after have taken the impoverished orphan girl into their hearts, following her from the custody of cruel relatives to a dangerously oppressive boarding school and onward through a troubled career as a governess. Jane’s first assignment at Thorn field, where the proud and cynical master of the house harbors a scandalous secret, draws readers ever deeper into a compelling exploration of the mysteries of the human heart.

A banquet of food for thought, this many-faceted tale invites a splendid variety of interpretations. The heroine’s insistence upon emotional equality with her lover suggests a feminist viewpoint, while her solitary status invokes a consideration of the problems of growing up as a social outsider. Some regard Jane’s attempts to reconcile her need for love with her search for moral rectitude as the story’s primary message, and lovers of gothic romance find the tale’s social and religious aspects secondary to its gripping elements of mystery and horror. This classic of English literature truly features something for every reader.

A

Among the Beasts and Briars

AUTHOR: Ashley Poston

RELEASE DATE: 20 October 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Ashley Poston, acclaimed author of Heart of Iron, returns with a dark, lush fairy tale-inspired fantasy for fans of Sara Raasch and Susan Dennard.

Cerys is safe in the Kingdom of Aloriya. Here there are no droughts, disease, or famine, and peace is everlasting. It has been this way for hundreds of years, since the first king made a bargain with the Lady who ruled the forest that borders the kingdom. But as Aloriya prospered, the woods grew dark, cursed, and forbidden.

Cerys knows this all too well: When she was young, she barely escaped as the woods killed her friends and her mother. Now Cerys carries a small bit of the curse–the magic–in her blood, a reminder of the day she lost everything.

As a new queen is crowned, however, things long hidden in the woods descend on the kingdom itself. Cerys is forced on the run, her only companions a small and irritating fox from the royal garden and the magic in her veins. It’s up to her to find the legendary Lady of the Wilds and beg for a way to save her home.

But the road is darker and more dangerous than she knows, and as secrets from the past are uncovered amid the teeth and roots of the forest, it’s going to take everything she has just to survive.

N

Neverwhere

AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman

RELEASE DATE: 1996

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

U

Unraveller

AUTHOR: Frances Hardinge

RELEASE DATE: 10 January 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously – including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion, and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything – and everyone – around him…

My review of Unraveller

A

All Systems Red

AUTHOR: Martha Wells

RELEASE DATE: 2 May 2017

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

My review of the first six installments of the Murderbot Diaries

R

Red Queen

AUTHOR: Victoria Aveyard

RELEASE DATE: 10 February 2015

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Start at the beginning with RED QUEEN, the first book in the thrilling #1 New York Times bestselling series

Red Queen, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Aveyard, is a sweeping tale of power, intrigue, and betrayal, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series.

Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood–those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard–a growing Red rebellion–even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.

One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

Y

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

AUTHOR: Brandon Sanderson

RELEASE DATE: 1 July 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

#1 New York Times Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings us a gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different worlds must compromise and work together to save their worlds from ruin.

Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each other’s communities from certain disaster?

My review of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

What books have you been reading lately? Have you been reading any with an autumnal theme? What have you thought of them?

Thanks again for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

2023 Reading: Another Year of Books

I read so many books in 2023 I almost can’t believe it. Like, I’ve never, ever read so many books in one year in my entire life. 65 books people! SIXTY. FIVE.

I honestly don’t have much to say, surprisingly. Except for how sorry I am that this post is over two weeks late. Yeah, as we all know, my posting hasn’t been all that great lately. (Read: terrible.)

Anyway, I’m trying to get back into it. I’ve started a new planner. Not only that, but it’s a daily planner with daily time slots in it, as opposed to the kind I’ve been using until now that didn’t have time slots. I’m really hoping it’ll increase my productivity and motivation this year. Fingers crossed it helps. 🤞🍀

Anyway, I’ve rambled on long enough. Let’s get into the post. Here’s all my reading statistics from The StoryGraph for 2023.

A Year in Review

I read 65 books and 23,833 pages

😐 MOODS 😐

It was a rollercoaster of reading for me last year, cuz I went through a bunch of kinds of moods. (Eleven to be exact.) Adventurous was uncontestedly the largest Mood on the pie chart, but Mysterious and Emotional weren’t ones to sneeze at either. Lighthearted, Funny and Dark make up about a quarter of the graph together, but then the Moods get much, much smaller.

👢 PACE 👢

For 2023, the majority of the books that I read were medium paced (50%!). Fast paced is right on mediums tail, however, with 42% of the graph to itself. Slow is lagging very far behind with 8%, which isn’t a surprise. Since I don’t like slower paced books and all that.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER 🔢

Most of the books I read last year were between 300 and 499 pages (49%). After that there’s 300 pages or less books with 31%. I didn’t read too many really long novels last year, so they’re at the end with 20%.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION 📖

During 2023, nearly all of the novels that I read were fiction. I actually think that I only read one nonfiction book last year – I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy.

🎭 GENRES 🎭

I read from so many different Genres from last year that I don’t really want to talk about them. But I will. A little bit. Fantasy, to no one’s surprise, is the Genre that I read from the most. It looks like I read around 55 books or so that were Fantasy. YA is next with around 15 titles, and Romance and Science Fiction are right behind it, boasting about 10 books each. Annnd after that it just starts to get way too small.

📄 FORMAT 📄

Listen – I know this chart is wrong, you know this chart is wrong. Let’s just move on from this one, okay?

✍️ MOST READ AUTHORS ✍️

This is one that doesn’t normally appear on my monthly wrap-ups. Actually, I don’t think Most Read Authors has ever appeared on one at all. For whatever reason, in 2023 I chose not to add this particular stat to my wrap-ups. I think it was because I’d only ever read multiple books from one or two different authors a month and didn’t really find it necessary to post about it. But when you look at it from a year’s perspective, it’s an entirely different story. So I thought I’d post it in my yearly wrap-up. You can see which authors I read a lot of last year.

📈📉 NUMBER OF BOOKS AND PAGES 📈📉

This graph looks a little different than it usually does. That’s because, since this is over the entirety of 2023, it’s tracking the number of books read as well. So there are two different lines here. It’s interesting to see the correlation between the novels read compared to the pages read, as well as when they were read. My highest spike of reading activity was in the last quarter of the year, during October and November where I read 13 and 10 books, respectively. The lowest that wasn’t December was during June where I think I only read 2 books. The page count and the number of books also correlate the least during July.

⭐ STAR RATINGS ⭐

My median rating for the novels I read in 2023 is 3.9, which I’m mostly happy with. It’s almost 4 stars, which means I enjoyed more books overall than I hated. Actually, I think that’s why it’s so close – because I rated over a quarter of what I read 4 stars, and a decent chunk 4.5 and 5 stars.

Wrapping Up 2023

During 2023, I read the most books that I ever had in a year. I feel very proud of myself, and it really makes me feel positive about my reading speed and my desire to do… stuff. Like, guys, my reading goal last year was 20 books. I tripled it!

I’m also not sure if I’ll ever do it again, so I’m really happy that I managed to do it last year. It’s not that I think I couldn’t ever do it again either – I know that I could. It’s just that stuff is gonna change this year and I’m going to be busier. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure that I burned out with reading novels last year because I was reading so much – well that and combined with the insanity of the holidays. But still, I don’t really want to feel obligated to do something I love.

Which is why I’m going to take it easier this year, and I’m not planning to set a reading goal. I know that I’m going to read a lot of books, anyway. Plus, I’m still gonna try for a book review a week, which means I’ll be reading a book a week.

But yeah, I think that’s it for this wrap-up. How many books did you guys read in 2023? How many pages? What did you think about the books you read, overall?

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Reading & Recipes #1: Spritz Cookies w/ The Way of Kings

Let me tell you something you don’t know about me: I love baking – and cooking in general. So I thought that I could combine it with some of my other loves, reading and blogging. (Also: double post!)

Before I continue though, I have to say that this post is slightly inspired by something I’ve seen YouTuber Cindy Pham do on her channel a couple of times. It’s called Cook & Book and she cooks herself dinner while talking about books she read recently and what she thought of them.

But Reading & Recipes is a little bit different. For one thing, there’s a huge difference in presentation between a video and a blog post. So for this thing, I’m going to be posting a recipe I used recently along with a picture of the finished product, as well as discussing a book I was reading the same day a little bit. Annnd that’s it, that’s pretty much the post.

So, I’ll stop blabbering and get on with it.

Recent Recipe: Spritz Cookies

The spritz cookies that I made last week. I used the tree shape and the snowflake shape, and decorated them with red and green sugar. :) — **The** ***spritz cookies*** **that I made last week. I used the tree shape and the snowflake shape, and decorated them with red and green sugar. 🙂**

Confession(s): Even though I really enjoy baking, I’m not a genius. Nor do I have the will or the desire to spend time testing recipes (particularly baking ones) dozens of times. So I sought out Sally’s Baking Recipes and found this recipe. This is also my first time making Spritz Cookies, so I haven’t messed around with it or modified the recipe to my tastes yet, so the one I used was exactly the same.

And, I gotta say, this recipe is pretty awesome. The only thing that I’d really change is add waaayy less almond extract (like to about 1/8 of a teaspoon). I can’t stand it when sugar cookies taste too almondy. I’d also take the cookies out of the oven a minute or two early, cuz I like my sugar cookies nice and soft.

But yeah, other than my highly specific nitpicks, three cookies turned out very well. I’ll definitely be making them again!

Recent Read: The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — **The Way of Kings** **by Brandon Sanderson**

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

So… Here’s the thing. I’m pretty sure – like 98% sure – that I’m gonna DNF this book. I just… don’t care for it for whatever reason. I don’t know what it is about some 800+ page books, but I just can’t get into them sometimes.

And the amount of scenes that use telling instead of showing grated on my nerves a little bit. That, and I really wasn’t too interested in the individual character plots. I don’t know, it was a bunch of little things, plus the fact that I’m having trouble getting into the book, plus the length of the novel. So I think I’m going to stop.

I really, really wanted to like this book. And I have oodles of respect for Brandon Sanderson. But I don’t think me and the Stormlight Archive were meant to be. Maybe someday I’ll try Mistborn…

So what books have you been reading lately? What have you thought of them? What’s your favorite meal or dessert? How about cookies, specifically?

Thank you as always for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic day/night! Happy Holidays, as well, to anyone who celebrates!

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: December 2023

Guess who crashed yet again last night? …Me. It was me. (I really should stop doing that.)

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I started participating in it a few months ago. It’s typically a Saturday post (as I might have mentioned above), but let’s all agree the Mar had a busy day yesterday and maybe, accidentally fell asleep before they could post.

It’s finally December, the heart of the holiday season and the end of the year. Baking intensifies 🍪 and Christmas decorations are everywhere 🔔 and trees are up🎄and snow is sometimes on the ground ❄️⛄- not to mention gifts 🎁🌟 and friendship.

But yeah, let’s get to spelling December with books.

D

Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, The

AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken

RELEASE DATE: 5 September 2017

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The first in a “devious and delightful” new series by Alexandra Bracken, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Darkest Minds, soon to be a major motion picture.

“I would say it’s a pleasure to meet thee, Prosperity Oceanus Redding, but truly, I only anticipate the delights of destroying thy happiness?”

Prosper is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history – that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper’s great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made-and then broke-a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, eight-hundred-year-old Alastor isn’t exactly the forgiving type.

The fiend has reawakened with one purpose – to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his afterlife without a side of eternal servitude, thanks.

But with the help of his long-lost uncle, Barnabas, and his daughter, Nell, a witch-in-training, it seems like Prosper has at least a fighting chance of ridding himself of Alastor before the demon escapes and wreaks havoc on his family.

Little does Prosper know, the malefactor’s control over his body grows stronger with each passing night and there’s a lot Alastor isn’t telling his dim-witted (but admittedly strong-willed) human host?

From #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexandra Bracken comes a tale of betrayal and revenge, of old hurts passed down from generation to generation. Can you ever fully right a wrong, ever truly escape your history? Or will Prosper and Alastor be doomed to repeat it?

My review of The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding

E

Evermore

AUTHOR: Alyson Noël

RELEASE DATE: 3 February 2009

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Don’t miss Evermore, the first book in Alyson Noël’s #1 New York Times bestselling The Immortals series. Enter an enchanting new world where true love never dies…

After a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people’s auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone’s entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school―but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He’s the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head―wielding a magic so intense, it’s as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she’s left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is―or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she’s falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.

C

Curse for True Love, A

AUTHOR: Stephanie Garber

RELEASE DATE: 24 October 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after…

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle.

But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out.

But first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test.

My review of A Curse for True Love

E

Erased

AUTHOR: Kei Sanbe

RELEASE DATE: 21 February 2017

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Twenty-nine-year-old Satoru Fujinuma is floundering through life. Amid his daily drudgery, he finds himself in the grip of an incredible, inexplicable, and uncontrollable phenomenon that rewinds time, a condition that seems to only make his drab life worse. But then, one day, everything changes. A terrible incident forever changes Satoru’s life as he knows it…and with it, comes a “Revival” that sends Satoru eighteen years into the past! In the body of his boyhood self, Satoru encounters sights he never imagined he would see again–the smile of his mother, alive and well, his old friends, and Kayo Hinazuki, the girl who was kidnapped and murdered when he was a boy the first time around. To return to the present and prevent the tragedy that brought him back to his childhood in the first place, Satoru begins plotting a way to change Hinazuki’s fate…But up against the clock and a faceless evil, does eleven-year-old Satoru even stand a chance?

M

Mooncakes

AUTHOR: Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu (Illustrator)

RELEASE DATE: 15 October 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any townhome. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

My review of Mooncakes

B

Book Thief, The

AUTHOR: Markus Zusak

RELEASE DATE: 18 December 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME

The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times.

When Death has a story to tell, you listen.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

E

Everlost

AUTHOR: Neal Shusterman

RELEASE DATE: 1 October 2006

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident…

…but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to get either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no onger exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.

When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost kids, Nick feels like he he’s found a home, but allie isn’t satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the “Criminal Art” of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost.

In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between.

R

Ruin and Rising

AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo

RELEASE DATE: 17 June 2014

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Enter the Grishaverse with Book Three of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. The nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

The Darkling rules from his shadow throne while a weakened Alina Starkov recovers from their battle under the dubious protection of the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Now her hopes lie with the magic of a long-vanished ancient creature and the chance that an outlaw prince still survives.

What books have you been reading lately? Have you been reading any with an autumnal theme? What have you thought of them?

Thanks again for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Books I’m Thankful For: Leven Thumps

Sooo… I’ve been unexpectedly MIA this week. I’m sorry about that, I got a little stressed out with the holiday coming up (Thanksgiving) and it triggered a flare up. So I was out of action for part of the week, unfortunately. And the time I did have was spent cleaning and prepping for Thanksgiving or doing family stuff. So yeah, those are my excuses for not posting basically at all this week.

But I’m rectifying it now. This is my Thanksgiving post, Books I’m Thankful For, and it’s something that I started last year. Speaking of which, my BITF post of 2022 was a soliloquy about the series that got me into reading – The Magic Treehouse series. This year I’m gonna do something slightly less impactful but no less thankful for – the Leven Thumps series by Robert Skye.

My journey with this series began in 2006 on my birthday. I got the first book Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo as one of my birthday gifts. (The other one was another book, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is. I guess that shows which book ended up being more important to me, lol.) I read it, fell in love with the sketch style art within, and was frothing at the mouth for more.

Then, mere weeks later I saw the sequel, Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret, at Borders and immediately picked it up. And thus, I was hooked on the series. I then waited every year for each release, eagerly anticipating the next three books. And I was never disappointed.

These books were here with their weird plots and great humor whenever I needed to be cheered up, and they fostered a unique brand of creativity within me, encouraging me to think outside the box when coming up with ideas. I read and reread these novels so many times I’ve lost count. I also buddy read them with at least one friend, and we adored them. The story, the world, the characters – all of it.

This is a series that will always be in my heart, and I absolutely have to give a hearty recommendation for. They have weird but unique plots, imaginative rich worlds, and are generally just fun. I’ll always remember Leven and his friends’ adventures very, very fondly. I’m so thankful for this series I don’t have enough words.

(Before I close off, I will say that these books are definitely not perfect. The world building has a ton of issues, but I liked the writing and most of everything else so I was kind of able to turn off my brain and enjoy it. Plus, I was like 10 or 11 when I first read it, and I honestly didn’t care that much about any of that stuff until several years later in college. I just wanted to enjoy the story and characters. I will say, though, that there were some plot points and character motivations that were that were never addressed properly by series end, which I did find a little irritating.)

(This is also definitely geared towards kids and I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed this too much as an adult, had I read it for the first time now. The protagonists aren’t very active in the first book, which is also a problem, but I kind of let the magic and whimsy carry me through that one. (Also, Leven’s powers are poorly defined and never mean or amount to anything in the first couple of books, unless the plot needed something to happen and this has always bothered me.) (Book four is the best, BTW.))

So yeah, I know it’s extraordinarily late, but Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🥧 to everyone and anyone who celebrates it! I hope you all enjoyed good food with the ones you love.

What books are you thankful for? What are your favorite novels?

Thank you for reading. I’m always so thankful that anyone reads or follows my little blog at all. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: November 2023

Guess who crashed again last night?

So yeah, it’s November! Yay! The month where fall intensifies 🍂 and the holiday season begins 🎶 and everyone is cooking 🥘 up a storm whether it’s for Thanksgiving 🦃 or baking something 🥧.

Without further ado, let’s spell November with book titles!

N

Nightbane

AUTHOR: Alex Aster

RELEASE DATE: 7 November 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The seductive and action-packed follow-up to Alex Aster’s instant #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and internationally bestselling novel, Lightlark.

Isla Crown has secured the love of two powerful rulers and broken the curses that plagued the six realms for centuries, but few know the true origins of her powers. Now, in the wake of a crushing betrayal, Isla finds herself hungry for distraction, preferring to frequent Lightlark’s seductive haunts instead of embracing her duties as the newly crowned leader of two separate realms. Worse, her fellow rulers haven’t ceded victory quietly, and there are others in Isla’s midst who don’t believe her ascent to power was earned. As certain death races toward Lightlark and secrets from the past begin to unravel, Isla must weigh her responsibility to her people against the whims of the most dangerous traitor of all: her heart.

Alex Aster’s intricate world expands after the riveting culmination of the Centennial games, delving more deeply into Isla’s memories of her past, as her future hurtles toward two possible fates.

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Once Upon a Broken Heart

AUTHOR: Stephanie Garber

RELEASE DATE: 28 September 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Once Upon a Broken Heart marks the launch of a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after from Stephanie Garber, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval.

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings…until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game — and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

My review of Once Upon a Broken Heart

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The Village Healer's Book of Cures by Jennifer Sherman Roberts

Village Healer’s Book of Cures, The

AUTHOR: Jennifer Sherman Roberts

RELEASE DATE: 1 November 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In seventeenth-century England, a female healer enflames the fury of a witchfinder in this propulsive novel about murder, revenge, and the dangerous power of knowledge.

Mary Fawcett refines the healing recipes she’s inherited from generations of women before her―an uncanny and moral calling to empathize with the sick. When witchfinder Matthew Hopkins arrives in her small village, stoking the fires of hate, he sees not healing but the devil at work. Mary’s benevolent skills have now cast her and her young brother under suspicion of witchery.

Soon, the husband of one of Mary’s patients is found murdered, his body carved with strange symbols. For Hopkins, it’s further evidence of dark arts. When the whispering village turns against her, Mary dares to trust a stranger: an enigmatic alchemist, scarred body and soul, who knows the dead man’s secrets.

As Hopkins’s fervor escalates, Mary must outsmart the devil himself to save her life and the lives of those she loves. Unfolding the true potential of her gifts could make Mary a more empowered adversary than a witchfinder ever feared.

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Exit Strategy

AUTHOR: Martha Wells

RELEASE DATE: 2 October 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?

My review of The Murderbot Diaries

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Masters of Death

AUTHOR: Olivie Blake

RELEASE DATE: 8 August 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.

My review of Masters of Death

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Blood & Honey

AUTHOR: Shelby Mahurin

RELEASE DATE: 1 September 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The hotly anticipated sequel to the New York Times and IndieBound bestseller Serpent & Dove—packed with even steamier romance and darker magic—is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.

To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.

My review of Blood & Honey

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Ella Enchanted

AUTHOR: Gail Carson Levine

RELEASE DATE: 30 April 1997

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

This beloved Newbery Honor-winning story about a feisty heroine is sure to enchant readers new and old.

At her birth, Ella of Frell receives a foolish fairy’s gift—the “gift” of obedience. Ella must obey any order, whether it’s to hop on one foot for a day and a half, or to chop off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not accept her fate…

Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse forever.

A tween favorite for 25 years—now shared with today’s young readers by moms, teachers, and other adults who remember the pleasure of discovering this fun fairy-tale retelling themselves!

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The Ruthless Lady's Guide the Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, The

AUTHOR: C.M. Waggoner

RELEASE DATE: 12 January 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Sparks fly in this enchanting fantasy novel from the author of Unnatural Magic when a down-and-out fire witch and a young gentlewoman join forces against a deadly conspiracy.

Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt–again. Then she sees the “wanted” sign, seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance, prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.

Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.

What books have you been reading lately? Have you been reading any with an autumnal theme? What have you thought of them?

Thanks again for reading, and have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

52 Books in 43 Weeks

So, so many books. 📚😍 And not so little time. ⏳😁

I actually can’t believe it – I’ve never, ever, read this amount of books in a year. Within a year, seeing as 2023 isn’t quite over yet.

But somehow, whether it be interest or willpower or something else, I’ve managed to find time to read this many books. I’m so happy!

And seeing as there’s still like 9 weeks left, here’s hoping that I’ll read a bunch more! Maybe not 52 novels… but a sizable amount! 🥂🍻

I know this is a weird post, and that it’s entirely out of the blue, but I’m just so excited. And I’ve been this excited since I noticed the numbers a couple of days ago. Like I may have mentioned: This has never happened for me before.

So yeah, apologies for the short and weird blog post, but I just had to share the news! (And I wanted to do something a little different today/this Friday and I couldn’t really think of anything else, lol.)

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night! 🌞🌜

See ya ~Mar

One Year of Book Blogging

So, the day has finally come. It’s finally been a year since my first post here on my little reading blog.

Happy 1st Birthday to the blog, I guess! 🎉🎁🎈🎂

It feels like so little time, yet so much time has passed simultaneously. I can’t believe it’s really already been an entire year. So many things have changed since the last October 18th, the least of which being it was on a Tuesday last year. So many things are different… yet so many are still the same.

I’m honestly struggling a bit on what to say here. I just can’t think of much, unfortunately. I don’t know why.

Well actually, there is definitely one thing that I know I want to say.

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed or read my blog posts. Even if it was just one book review – thank you from the bottom of my heart! It means more than you know. I don’t know how many of you are real or robot (or some kind of scam), but seeing any and all notifications always makes my days a tiny bit brighter.

I guess the only other thing I can think of to say is, here’s to another year of books and book reviews! The second of many, hopefully. 🍻🥂

As always, thank you again so much for reading, and I hope you all have an absolutely perfect day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: October 2023

I actually managed to do this post on the correct day this month. Hooray!

Anyway, let’s spell October with book titles! This month, seeing as it’s spooky season, I decided to pick books that are creepy or unsettling to some degree. Or have vampires 🦇 or werewolves 🐺 or witches 🧹 (and probably also happen to be a supernatural romance). And I’ve actually read all of these! (I like scary stories. 😱 And ghost stories. 👻 And supernatural stories. 🎃)

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The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn

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Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

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Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer — (I swear *Eighth Grade Bites* is the title – for whatever reason the publisher puts the titles of this series on the backs of the books.)

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What books did you choose to spell September with? Did we choose any of the same ones? Have you read any of the books I chose?

As always, thank you to anyone who read and enjoyed my post. I hope anyone and everyone has a really good day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: September 2023

Sooo… This was supposed to be out yesterday, but my dumbass crashed before I could put my finishing touches on it. Hee hee. Whoops. But I’m posting it now – just several hours later than the end of Saturday.

It’s probably obvious from my featured image, but the post is Spell the Month in Books. Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I started participating in it last month. It’s typically a Saturday post (as I might have mentioned above), but let’s all agree the Mar had a busy day yesterday and maybe, accidentally fell asleep before they could post.

Anyway, let’s spell September with book titles!