Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Relationship Freebie. Specifically, it’s about picking a relationship type and choosing characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.
The one that I decided to go with was Pets I’d Like to Take for Myself. Because I like a challenge. Let’s do this! I had to go waayyy back on the books I’ve read in my lifetime for some of these – like 15+ years guys!
Charlie Bone series: The Flames! I love Aries, Leo and Sagittarius so much! When I was in middle school/junior high I wanted to have these three colorful magic cats so badly. (I still want them, lol.)
The Scorpio Races: This might not be the answer you expect in the book about horses – but Puffin. The sweet little barn cat.
Beautiful Darkness: It’s been awhile, but I’m pretty sure this is the one with Lucille Ball the Cat in it? I love her, btw.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands: I picked this one over the first one, because not only does it have Shadow the Magical and Loyal Dog in it, but it also has Orga the Magical and Sassy Kitty.
The Dresden Files: Harry’s cat, Mister, as well as his dog, Moose.
Hounded: I didn’t much care for this book, but one thing I adored was Atticus’ perfect doggo, Oberon.
The Lost Story: Skya has a magical red crow named Aurora. I want a magical red crow named Aurora, and I’m not even that into birds.
The Ghostkeeper: There’s a cute ghost cat named Muffin in this graphic novel that likes knocking things over. Enough said.
A Dog’s Life: I read this one a long time ago. But I still remember clearly how much I wished I could find Squirrel in real life and give her a home. (I’m so happy she ultimately got a happy ending.)
Warrior Cats: The cats. All of them. There’s room in my heart for everyone (except the villains, but even then…) I promise!
Happy Thursday everybody! How’s everyone’s May been going? What books have you been reading lately? Any with green covers?
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.
March has one birthstone – Emerald. Which means books with green covers!
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!
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
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.
It’s been… a while. Sorry. Winter is sometimes a hard season for me. But this year, my spouse and I have both been dealing with some stress, and I’ve also just been dealing with a lot of different stuff. That, and I also haven’t felt like reading books lately. So I’m still in a bit of a reading slump.
But Valentine’s Day is like right here, and I should’ve posted January 2024’s Monthly Reading Wrap-Up last week, so I’m posting it right now. I didn’t do much novel reading last month, but I did read, so I’m doing this.
So here’s my stats from The StoryGraph from January 2024.
January 2024 Reading
I read 1 book and 339 pages
So, there’s not a lot here, unfortunately. It’s better than December 2023, as I actually finished a freaking book, but I still only read one book. And my StoryGraph statistics reflect that.
I still have three different Moods though – Adventurous, Mysterious and Funny. My pace was pretty medium, the book I read was between 300 and 499 pages and the book I read 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 – Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett – had two genres applied to it: Fantasy and Historical.
The format of this novel was print, as in, a physical copy as opposed to an ebook. I rated the book four stars but I didn’t do any reading until the end of January.
So yeah. I didn’t really do a lot of reading last month, unfortunately. (Well, technically I read a lot of fanfiction, but I don’t count that here.) The only thing that I really want to do for February is read at least two books. Anything’s better than last month.
Regarding my poor, neglected reading blog, I’m hoping to post a little better. I don’t really have any specific posts in mind for the rest of February at the moment – save one or two – but I am planning on posting a few.
Anyway, thank you to anyone who still checks out my blog. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
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).
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!
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.
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.
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!
This is a few days later than I wanted to post this, but I was still recovering from being sick earlier this week. And I was busy. But it’s here now – the first post about anticipated books in 2024!
It’s the first quarter of 2024 now, so it’s time to do that thing I’ve done every quarteragain. I’m gonna go over the books that are coming out over the next three months that interest me the most. And they’re pretty much only gonna be science fiction and fantasy. Because that’s mostly what I read.
This time I have five books that I’m interested in. We’ll see how many of them I end up reading though, lol. Hopefully all of them!
RELEASING: January 16th
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.
RELEASING: January 30th
The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.
RELEASING: February 13th
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.
RELEASING: February 13th
During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale.
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
RELEASING: March 19th
L.M. Sagas’ debut, Cascade Failure, is a highly commercial, sci-fi adventure blending J. S. Dewes’ Divide series with the commercial fan appeal of The Expanse and the cozy SF of Becky Chambers. It features a fierce, messy, chaotic space fam, vibrant worlds, and an exploration of the many ways to be – and not to be – human.
There are only three real powers in the Spiral: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union’s labor’s leverage. Between them the Guild tries to keep everyone’s hands above the table. It ain’t easy.
Branded a Guild deserter, Jal “accidentally” lands a ride on Guild ship. Helmed by an AI, with a ship’s engineer/medic who doesn’t see much of a difference between the two jobs, and a “don’t make me shoot you” XO, the Guild crew of the Ambit is a little… different.
They’re also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. The Trust has plans. This isn’t the first dead planet, and it’s not going to be the last.
Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it.
So yeah, these are my anticipated reads for the beginning of 2024. So far. We’ll see if anything changes, or I change my mind or something.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day/night! I know I haven’t been posting a lot lately, and I’m sorry.
