Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: February 2024

I’m a little bit late with the Monthly Wrap-Up again, but thankfully still not as late as last month, lol. I’m not literally posting this on St. Patrick’s Day (unlike February’s prominent holiday). I still didn’t read as many books as I’d have liked last month, but we can’t all get what we want sometimes.

So yeah, even though my reading goal was a measly two books in February, I still didn’t make it, unfortunately. But I still read one book, so I’m still doing this!

So here’s my stats from The StoryGraph from February 2024.

February 2024 Reading

1 read 1 book and 152 pages

So, once again, there’s not a lot here, unfortunately. I only read one book, and my StoryGraph statistics reflect that.

I still have three different Moods though – Tense, Mysterious and Dark. It’s not my usual Mood graph, so that’s pretty cool. My pace was pretty medium, the book I read was sub 300 pages, and it was fiction (as seems to be the usual with me).

Still not a lot here – courtesy of my reading habits last month. But there is stuff here. The novel I read – What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher – had two genres applied to it: Horror and LGBTQIA+.

The format of this novel was digital – as in, an ebook – so the Format chart is once again wrong, as it tends to be. I rated the three and a half stars, and my reading was split between both ends of February.

The Book I Read in February

★★★✯☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah. I didn’t really do a lot of reading last month. Again, ugh. (Well, technically I read a lot of fanfiction, again, but I don’t count that here.) The only thing that I really want to do for March is read at least two books. Hopefully one book a week even, but that would be kind of a miracle. Anything’s better than the last few months.

Regarding my poor, neglected reading blog, I’m hoping to post a little better. I’m planning on posting some Tasteful Tuesdays again, hopefully starting today, I’m planning on participating in my monthly posts, and I have a St. Patrick’s Day post I’m thinking about. I’m also hoping to post a few book reviews, if I can manage to read more than one book in a month. Fingers crossed. 🤞🍀

Anyway, thank you to anyone who still checks out my blog. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Reading & Recipes #3

So, here I am! Back with another Reading & Recipes post; this time featuring contemporary fiction and cookies.

If you don’t know what Reading & Recipes is… Well, for this post, 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.

Recent Recipe: Lemon Cool Whip Cookies

This one isn’t exactly an original, but I’ve been seeing Cool Whip Cookies a bunch of places online. And the recipes are all pretty much the same, no matter where you look. So I’ll just write what I did here.

INGREDIENTS:

one box of 18.25 oz cake mix (you can use any flavor you like – I just used lemon for mine)
one 8 oz container of cool whip
one large egg
some powdered sugar, for rolling

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the cake mix, cool whip and egg together.
Form into small balls (don’t make them too big or else they might stick and not come off the pan that great – don’t do what I did, lol). Then roll in the powdered sugar.
Bake at 350°F (176°C) for 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before you remove them. Then, enjoy! (Yields around 24 to 36 cookies.)

As I mentioned above, it’s important to me that you know you can basically use any kind of cake mix that you’d like. I just decided to use lemon, ’cause lemon season is almost here, and I wanted to welcome spring. I’m planning on trying this recipe with chocolate cake mix eventually, and maybe even strawberry as well.

These cookies are soft and chewy, and the lemon flavor was sweet and strong. But not overpowering or tart. Also, make sure you roll them in powdered sugar really well as they’re pretty sticky as batter.

Recent Reads: Stars and Smoke

This smoldering enemies-to-lovers novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu puts a superstar global phenomenon and a hotshot young spy on a collision course with danger – and Cupid’s arrow – in an electric new series perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Nicola Yoon.

Meet Winter Young – International pop sensation, with a voice like velvet and looks that could kill. His star power has smashed records, selling out stadiums from LA to London. His rabid fans would move heaven and earth for even a glimpse of him – just imagine what they’d do to become his latest fling.

Meet Sydney Cossette – Part of an elite covert ops group, Sydney joined their ranks as their youngest spy with plans to become the best agent they’ve ever had. An ice queen with moves as dangerous as her comebacks, Sydney picks up languages just as quickly as she breaks hearts. She’s fiery, no-nonsense, and has zero time for romance – especially with a shameless flirt more used to serving sass than taking orders.

When a major crime boss gifts his daughter a private concert with Winter for her birthday, Sydney and Winter’s lives suddenly collide. Tasked with infiltrating the crime organization’s inner circle, Sydney is assigned as Winter’s bodyguard with Winter tapped to join her on the mission of a lifetime as a new spy recruit. Sydney may be the only person alive impervious to Winter’s charms, but as their mission brings them closer, she’s forced to admit that there’s more to Winter Young than just a handsome face…

Technically, I’m still reading this book – I’m only about 30% of the way through it, actually. This one’s been a bit slow going for me. I found the idea interesting, as well as a departure from Lu’s typical sci-fi, but it’s been difficult for me to get into, not to mention it isn’t what I usually read. I’m on the fence about DNF-ing it, so we’ll see what happens.

I’m not really gonna get into it, but this book has some of the same problems I had with the author’s Legend series. Mostly related to my suspension of disbelief. This book also has another big problem, however: I’m finding it kinda boring so far. But, like I said, we’ll see.

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

Thank you as always for reading, and I hope you all have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher | Book Review

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

SERIES: Sworn Soldier #2

LENGTH: 151 pages

GENRES: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Nightfire

RELEASE DATE: 13 February 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Alex Easton, retired soldier, returns in this novella-length sequel to the bestselling What Moves The Dead.

When Easton travels to Gallacia as a favor to Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence.

The locals whisper of a strange breath-stealing being from Gallacian folklore that has taken up residence in Easton’s home . . . and in their dreams.

My Review

Soldier’s heart doesn’t know the difference between terrible things. Fungus or cannon fire, it’s all just the war.

Though not as good as its predecessor, What Feasts at Night is still a great follow-up to What Moves the Dead. Unlike the latter, it isn’t a retelling of a classic story, but an original story.

I still enjoyed reading about Easton and Angus and Ms. Potter, as well as the new major characters. Angus and Ms. Potter especially – their little romance is still absolutely adorable. But I felt that this book was missing… something that was prevalent in the first book.

I believe it had to do with the novel’s atmosphere. When reading What Moves the Dead, I could feel the story slipping downhill. Weird things kept happening and kept getting worse and worse, and you knew it was building up to something terrible. But here, in the sequel, there isn’t really any of that same pervasive horrific tone. Sure bad things happen – but never to the degree of book one.

And I didn’t really like the monster twist in What Feasts at Night. The fungi thing that the first novel had going for it was interesting and sinister. But the creature in the second book was more… supernatural in nature. And I didn’t really like that. I wanted it to be another mushroom monster – heck our marvelous mycologist Ms. Potter was even here and she found a strange fungus she hadn’t seen before. I thought it was all building up to another fungus thing, and then it didn’t.

So yeah, the lack of more creepy mushroom stuff disappointed me, and colored my perception of the book, unfortunately. Which is why I didn’t rate it as highly as I did the first one. I just didn’t enjoy it as much; it also felt slower than book one. And those of you who have been reading my posts for a while know how I love a good, fast-paced romp.

But I still recommend What Feasts at Night to fans of What Moves the Dead, as well as other works of T. Kingfisher. It’s a fine, well written book, and even though I criticized the decision not to have another horrifying mushroom adventure, I did still enjoy the monster we got. Just… not as much. (Also, we got to visit Gallacia for the duration of the story and got to learn more about it in a natural way, which I really loved.)

My Favorite Quotes

May he shit pinecones in hell.

“You know,” I said to Angus, “we could still be in Paris right now.”

“I didn’t force you to come,” he said.

“You blackmailed me.”

“I most certainly did not.”

“There was guilt. I distinctly remember guilt being involved.”

If this was a fairy tale, it was the kind where everyone gets eaten as a cautionary tale about straying into the woods, not the sentimental kind that ends with a wedding and the words, “And if they have not since died, they are living there still.”

You really don’t want to drink our wine. We export it because we don’t want to drink it either.

Tomorrow, in my experience, is only worth worrying about when there’s something you can do about it.

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

Birthstone Book Covers: February 2024

It’s still February! So it’s not too late to participate in this post without missing a month. That’s right people, I definitely didn’t forget to show off some purple books this month or anything!

Leslie @ Books Are the New Black created a fun monthly post called Birthstone Book Covers. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title.

February has one birthstone – Amythest.

Rules:
📚 Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black ) and link back to her so she can check out your post.
📚 Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
📚 HAVE FUN!
📚 Nominate people if you want!

**A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking** **by T. Kingfisher**

**Beautiful Creatures** **by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl**

**Assistant to the Villain** **by Hannah Nicole Maehrer**

**Hooky: Volume #3** **by Miriam Bonastre Tur**

**The Glass Scientists: Volume #1** **by S.H. Cotugno**

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett | Book Review

“Lost is a kingdom with many paths, but they all end at the same place. Do you know where?”

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

SERIES: Emily Wilde #2

LENGTH: 339 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Del Rey

RELEASE DATE: 16 January 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than brilliant and unbearably handsome. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.

My Review

Assassins are a monstrous breed. Either they attack when you are at your worst, or they are having a go at you on your birthday. I have never known a more dishonourable profession.

Sooo… This review has been a long time coming. I’ve still been in a terrible reading slump, though, and it’s been really sucky. Sorry. But you’re not here to read my excuses – you’re here to read my review for Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands.

This book was good, though I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first Emily Wilde book. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because I wasn’t really into the secondary plot. This particular part of the story isn’t mentioned in the summary, but it’s a huge part of the novel: what happened to the dryadologist Danielle de Grey.

I just didn’t find de Grey interesting. Like, at all. I never really cared about her past exploits or what might have happened to her, but Emily talked about it nonstop for long sections of her narration. And I wasn’t really into it.

The thing I found myself more invested in was what the synopsis advertises: saving Brambleby and finding the door to his realm. And I also (wrongly) assumed from this that we’d spend most of the book in faerie, but that didn’t end up happening, so I was a bit disappointed about that. I’m hoping that’s book three, then.

I really liked the characters, however. Emily and Wendell’s continuing romance and banter was still absolutely stellar, and I really enjoyed the new main characters introduced. It was nice to see more of Emily’s family in her niece Ariadne, and more about how things are with the faerie department in Cambridge, which we didn’t see at all in the previous installment. Professor Rose was also an interesting addition, and I really enjoyed reading about the slowly developing friendship between him and Emily.

So yeah, all in all, I really liked this book though it wasn’t quite on par with Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. I still highly recommend it to fans of the first book, though! And to fans of faerie stories similar to the works of Holly Black.

Favorite Quotes

“Can’t you sense what enchantments are stored in the stones?” I demanded.

“No!”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Then why do you keep on breaking them?”

“Because you told me to, you lunatic!

Rose asked me why I was not more surprised by your feat. He does not understand you as I do, Em, but as you seem to consider him a friend now, I told him the truth: in order to be surprised, I could not have known already that you are capable of anything.

I leaned close, breathing in the smell of his hair— the salt of sweat; smoke from the fire; and the distant smell of green leaves that never left him.

“My answer is yes,” I whispered in his ear.

He winced. “Yes, this is an inconvenience—but I feel much better than I did. It’s clearly the sort of poison meant to confuse my magic, but these”—he glanced about the compartment—“effects should fade soon enough.”

“That’s remarkably unspecific.”

“I’m sorry. I have never been poisoned before, so I find the symptoms difficult to predict.

MY LINKS:

Goodreads

Instagram

Reading & Recipes #2

Sooo… It’s been awhile. I know I kind of did this post for the first time right before Christmas and then left you guys hanging. Sorry.

But I’m finally back with another Reading & Recipes. For this post, 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.

Recent Recipe: Stir Fry w/ Udon

Unlike the recipe in my last post, this one is entirely a Mar original. Stir fry isn’t something that I really grew up with, until high school when my dad started making it with rice. I love rice, but I love noodles even more, so use them instead.

Stuff I Put In It:

2 pkgs Kame udon noodles
1 pkg beef stew meat
2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 broccoli florets
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper

I put this stuff in my stir fry this time, though it always varies. One time I did beef and shrimp, another I did beef, chicken and pork, and one time I did beef on its own. You can really put anything you want in it, even tofu if you want a vegetarian option.

You don’t even have to use udon if you don’t want to. Like I said, my dad uses rice. Either white or brown works great. But if you want to use noodles but not udon, a variety are available. You can use hokkien noodles, soba noodles or Thai ribbon noodles.

What I Put In the Sauce I Stir Fry it In:

Soy sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Sesame oil
Ginger (ground)
Garlic powder
A pinch of salt
A dash of sugar

I don’t bother to measure my amounts for my stir fry sauce. I just keep adding stuff I like, until I have a flavor I like. I typically use a lot of sesame oil and ginger though. You can pretty much put whatever you want in the sauce though.

How I Cook It:

Turn the surface heating on high
Put on the wok (I don’t have an electric wok – if you do, DO NOT put in on the burner!)
Pour in the sauce after it heats up
Put in your meat / seafood / tofu first
After they’re mostly cooked, put in your vegetables (if you’re using any)
Add the noodles last, mix them in and cook them for two minutes
Take stir fry off heating and ladle into portions

Like everything else, this can be super varied. You can really put in whatever you want to stir fry, and you can prepare it how you want. You could even cook it over a skillet or pan fry it, and it works pretty well (this is what I did before I got a wok).

Recent Read: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures… and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.

And she also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

This has been my most anticipated read of 2024 so far, and it hasn’t disappointed. I love Emily and Brambleby, and I love their banter. I love the world that Heather Fawcett has created.

I know that the year has just started, but I think this is going to be one of my highest rated books over 2024. Of course, I’m also still excited about what other novels might be coming out soon, as well.

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

Thank you as always for reading, and I hope you all have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 2/2

It’s been quite some time since I’ve participated in this post. Like a couple of months kind of some time. But I’m eager to get back to it. So let’s jump right in!

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

They had tried to destroy the Will, but that proved to be beyond their power. So they broke it, in two ways. It was broken physically, torn apart, with the fragments of heavy parchment scattered across both space and time. It was bro- ken in spirit because not one clause of it had been fulfilled.

Can you guess the book? Here’s another one (or two) if you can’t guess…

Still not know what it is? Look at these gorgeous pics of books while you think about it…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… Mister Monday by Garth Nix!

(Were you able to guess it?)

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

SERIES: Keys to the Kingdom (Book #1)

LENGTH: 384 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Scholastic

RELEASE DATE: 28 December 2003

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Seven days. Seven keys. Seven virtues. Seven sins. One mysterious house is the doorway to a very mysterious world — where one boy is about to venture and unlock a number of fantastical secrets.

This is another thrilling, triumphantly imaginative series from Garth Nix, the best-selling author of The Seventh Tower, Sabriel, Lirael, Frogkisser, and the Troubletwisters series.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re most excited about?

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

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/22 – 1/29

I’m a(n unintentional) day late, but I was busy preparing for a medical procedure today and it… kinda slipped my mind. Sorry. Anyway, let’s get to the weekly wrap-up.

This past week was… pretty underwhelming regarding my blog. But it was better than the weeks preceding it, so I’m counting it as a win. I’m planning (hoping) to do better this week.

But yeah. Let’s get on to the post.

Friday 1/26: Spell the Month in Books

Last Friday, I participated in Spell the Month in Books for January. For later than I probably should’ve, and definitely far later than I had intended to. But I finally did it.

Spell the Month in Books is a really fun monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks.

Spell the Month in Books: January 2024

Monday 1/29: Birthstone Book Covers

Yesterday, I finally, finally posted my contribution to Birthstone Book Covers for January 2024. Yet another post that I had intended to participate in earlier this month, but never got around to for various reasons.

Birthstone Book Covers is a really fun monthly post that’s created and hosted by Leslie @ Books Are the New Black. January’s birthstone is garnet, so red book covers were all front and center.

Birthstone Book Covers: January 2024

Books I’ve This Past Week

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

So yeah, last week wasn’t up to par either. But I really feel like I’m starting to get back into the groove again. I even started, and am definitely planning on finishing, a book a day or so ago.

But just because I kind of, sort of, maybe stopped reading House of Earth and Blood after the first few pages, doesn’t mean I DNF-ed it. I stopped it so early not cuz I didn’t like it. That’s not the case at all – I was super stressed out last week because of the work stuff combined with thinking about the medical thing I had today. And an 800+ page book was just too much for me last week. And this week.

Yesterday, however, I started reading a new release and sequel that I was really excited about: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. I really enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries when I read it a couple of months ago, and absolutely couldn’t wait for the second book. And I’m really enjoying EWMOTO so far. I’m about a third of the way through and am planning on finishing it by tomorrow night.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

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

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/2 – 1/21

Whoa. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve last done this post. Sorry about that. But I think I’ve had good reason, honestly.

I haven’t posted as much as I’ve wanted to this month, or as much as I’ve felt that I should be posting. So I would’ve had like one (or two) posts to highlight from the past week that I did. And I really didn’t feel like it was enough to do a Weekly Wrap-Up for. It seemed a bit overkill to me.

But now I’ve done four posts since, and I feel that’s more than enough to talk about, so here’s another one of these posts! Let’s get to it!

Friday 1/5: December 2023 Monthly Reading Wrap-Up

Three-ish weeks ago, on the first Friday of the year, I got around to posting my December 2023 Reading Wrap-Up. It was a sad, sad post to be sure – mostly because the only books I tried to read last month, I DNF-ed. But I posted the wrap-up nonetheless.

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: December 2023

Thursday 1/11: My Most Anticipated Reads for 2024 (Part 1)

Around ten or so days ago, on Thursday the 11th, I finally posted my most anticipated book releases for January, February and March of this year. I had about five books on it, as seems to be the usual for me.

And of course, I’ll be back with three more of these types of posts this year, spanning three month intervals, since this is a quarterly post. So I’ll see everyone back in April with another one!

My Most Anticipated SFF Reads of 2024: Jan, Feb, & Mar

Wednesday 1/17: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

This past Wednesday, I participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in months. Literally forever. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: House of Flame and Shadow

Friday 1/19: 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

On Friday, I finally, finally got around to posting my yearly reading wrap-up for 2023. It took me literally forever to get around to it, I know, but I finally did it! And I thought that it turned out pretty dang good, myself. My StoryGraph stats from last year are now there, deconstructed for all to see if you like.

2023 Reading: Another Year of Books

Books I’ve Read in the Last Weeks

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

Annnd… that’s it. I haven’t been as active as I’ve wanted to be on the blog, nor have I been reading books like I’ve also wanted, but I’m gonna change that ASAP. Cuz I love reading, and I love talking about the novels that I read, and I haven’t been doing that.

One thing that I have been glad that I’ve been doing as of late, is cooking. I’ve been making dinner most nights every week for the last couple, and I’m really happy with it. I love cooking – and baking – not just because I find it enjoyable, but because it brings back memories of the one who taught me to do both growing up (particularly breakfast), who is sadly no longer here. So it’s also an activity that I do to honor this person too, I guess.

So yeah, I definitely plan on continuing my cooking and baking. That’s a big part of the reason why I created the Reading & Recipes post that I need to get back to. Because I want to talk about what I’ve been cooking lately, too.

Back to the blog, I’m planning on finishing House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas this week, and to hopefully have a review out at the end of this coming weekend or next week. After that, and if I enjoy the book, then I’m going to continue the series. After that, I want to read the Emily Wilde sequel (or maybe I’ll read it in between the Crescent City books), and then I’ll read something else.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who continues to read my posts here. I hope you all have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar