Weekly Wrap-Up: 12/8 – 12/14

It’s a new week, and before we can move on to the next one, we gotta wrap up the last one! I’m a little later than I usually am, but… eh, it’s not that bad.

Last week wasn’t bad at all. My novel reading wasn’t the best, but my blogging was pretty good, even if it was constrained to a couple of days. I wish my posting could have been more spread out, but considering I did four posts and am nearly caught up to my book reviews, I can’t complain.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get on with the Weekly Wrap-Up!

Tuesday 12/9: What Stalks the Deep Review / Top Ten Tuesday

Last Tuesday, I finally posted my review for What Stalks the Deep. It’s really been a long time coming, honestly. And with the posting of it, I’m officially caught up on my October book reviews! Yay!

Anyway, What Stalks the Deep is the third installment of T. Kingfisher’s Sworn Solider series of novellas. And I thought it was pretty good. I’m not sure if I liked What Stalks the Deep as much as the first book, but I definitely prefer it to book two. I gave it ★★★★☆.

I also did another post last Tuesday. It’s been quite a while since I double posted, but I also wanted to participate in Top Ten Tuesday this past week.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. The prompt for last week was Books Set in Snowy Places.

Sunday 12/14: Penric’s Demon & Penric and the Shaman Reviews / Bewitching Book Covers

On Sunday, I posted another book review. Well, I suppose I should say “reviews” instead as I actually evaluated two books. Or novellas, technically. Whatever, semantics.

So yeah, the two books I reviewed were the first two novellas in the Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold: Penric’s Demon and Penric and the Shaman. I enjoyed both of them, though I preferred the first book over the second a little. I gave Penric’s Demon ★★★★☆ and Penric and the Shaman ★★★✯☆.

I also double posted a second time last week on Sunday. It’s been a few since the last time I did a Bewitching Book Covers, so I thought another one was in order.

Bewitching Book Covers (formerly known as Majestic Mondays and Tasteful Tuesdays), is when I gush over a book cover that I like as well as analyze it (sometimes). I also typically give the book covers funny rating systems – not the usual blank out of five stars kind of thing.

Books I Read Last Week

Wrapping It All Up

So yeah, that was this past week, at least in regards to books and blogging. I would’ve liked to have read more, but I’m mostly satisfied with how everything ended up going. I hope that this coming week is a little better, though.

Concerning posts for next week, I definitely want to get out my reading wrap-up for November 2025. It’s halfway through the month now, and getting increasingly more ridiculous the longer I go without posting it. (I just wanted to get out my reviews for the books I read first, though, okay?) I also want to participate in a couple of my usual weekly posts, as well as my favorite monthly post. And last, but certainly not least, I’d like to do another book review. I’ve got one last one in the tank and it needs to go out!

For books, I want to read at least one new book, and I’d also like it to be from my To Be Read Stuff, as that’s been languishing for a while. Right now I’m thinking Water Moon by Samantha Sotti Yambao, but that could absolutely change. Then… I’m not sure. I’d like to start up the Dresden Files again and do Dresden December like I talked about last month, but I’m not sure if I’m feeling it anymore. Maybe the time has already passed? I dunno – I sure hope not!

The problem is I also recently acquired A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, and now I’m kind of really interested in that and possibly it’s sequels, depending on how I like it. It’s also a much shorter series, both in book and page length per book. So yeah, what I’m basically saying is: Who knows what’s next for my reading?

Regarding stuff outside of books and blogging, I’m just kind of hanging out – mostly with my spouse. We’ve mostly been watching YouTube in our spare time lately, though sometimes other stuff around the house as well. We’ve also been eating more at home, which I’m happy about. Things in our lives are finally starting to go back to as close as normal as they can get.

Anyway, as always thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Bewitching Book Covers: For Whom the Belle Tolls

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone has had a good weekend. It’s only been three weeks this time since I’ve posted one of these! Yay!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bewitching Book Covers (formerly Tasteful Tuesdays, and before that, Majestic Mondays), is a series where I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This week, the book cover that I’m highlighting is For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn!

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn

SERIES: Hells Belles #1

LENGTH: 628 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Saga Press

RELEASE DATE: 6 May 2025

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

They told her to go to Hell.

She’ll go on her own terms.

Lily is less than thrilled about her arrival to the Afterlife, but what awaits her is more fantastical than she ever could have imagined. Deities wait in line at the coffee shop. Fae flit between realms. Souls find ways to make death a beginning.

As Lily explores everything the Afterlife has to offer, she finds herself drawn to a place most people would rather avoid at all costs: Hell.

What she discovers there subverts everything she’s ever learned, and Lily realizes the demons working at the gate to guide souls need help—badly. Armed with years of customer service experience and pent-up sarcasm, Lily carves out a place for herself among the demons, confronting, sassing, and aiding the spectrum of humanity to redefine justice and redemption.

A chance meeting with Bel, a demon general with a distractingly sexy voice, sparks an immediate and deeply healing friendship. However, the undeniable heat between them simmers, and it’s only a matter of time before it combusts.

Meanwhile, something stirs beyond the boundaries of their world, threatening to destroy everything they’ve ever known and everything that could be… unless they fight like Hell to stop it.

Book Cover Rating: 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔 • 5 ringing bells

For Whom the Belle Tolls has one of the most gorgeous book covers that I’ve seen in a while. So many things about it – the color, the font, the art itself – are just beautiful. So of course I have to gush about it.

First off, as I just mentioned, the colors are awesome. I am of the mind that you can make most color combinations work, but you can usually never go wrong with purple and orange and gold. And the cover doesn’t.

Secondly, I adore the title font. Many covers usually have typefaces that don’t look all that unique, but this book is one of those that does the opposite. Not only does it simultaneously stand out and match the rest of the cover art at the same time, but it looks like it has its own identity. The W, two Os, and S in Whom and Tolls are particularly prominent.

And last but not least, the artwork itself is fantastic. I’m a sucker for flowers, and the book cover art features gorgeous purple lilies on the top and bottom borders. I also love the golden gate that they’re twisted around, as well as the sparks and mist swirling around. What a great cover!

So yeah, here’s yet another beautiful book cover. What do you think about this cover art? Have you read For Whom the Belle Tolls? If you have, what did you think of it?

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading, and I hope that you have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar