Category: updates

Countdown to Winter Solstice

~ EMM

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I am excited to start transitioning into the cozy reading phase of my year, and I want to try something I’ve always wanted to do but have always been too intimidated to attempt. Blogmas!

In case you are unfamiliar with this concept, it’s basically some format of a post a day during the month of December. Some people do an abbreviated “12 days of Blogmas” version. Others go one a day for the whole month. And I think some only do a countdown to Christmas.

I’ve decided to do a countdown to the Winter Solstice. As someone who lives in the upper northwest corner of the US, it gets pretty dark in the winter months and the days get really short. Counting down to the shortest day of the year has become something of a thing for me. And celebrating that we’ve made it and turned the corner to the other (brighter) side and longer days ahead is something I enjoy.

My plan is to celebrate and share my cozy winter reading with a post a day through the 21st. I may keep going after that, depending on how much I’m enjoying this. Or I may slip back into a less frequent posting schedule. We’ll see.

Currently reading

Yesterday, I finished the book I’d been reading on Kindle. The day before that I finished the audiobook I’ve been listening to. And I left the hardcover I just started reading (This Golden Flame) at home (because I’m away for the weekend at a writing retreat). So, I’m between books at the moment.

I have several options from my end of year TBR that I could start as my next Kindle read, but I haven’t decided which one to pick. Here are the books I’m considering:

What do you think? Which one should I read next? Let me know in the comments or vote below.

Now, I’m off to do some writing and then go for a run. More fun tomorrow, including which of these options I picked to read next!

Celebrating Lightfall! (aka Magical Readathon time!)

~ EMM

As soon as I’m finished writing the draft of this novel, I want to bury myself in books and just read non-stop until the end of the year.

Realistically, I know that I’m not actually going to be done after I finish this draft, but I think I can manage to carve out at least one week to celebrate Lightfall (aka participate in another Orilium Magical Readathon). It sounds like EXACTLY what I need.

So, even though I should be writing right now. I’m taking a moment to consider my Lightfall TBR.

The reading prompts are given by store you may want to visit in Old Favour Pass. You can visit as many or few of them as you like.

Here’s what I’ve added so far…

I am probably not going to have time to visit every store during this eleven day readathon, but I sure am going to try!

The Old Tails Bookstore — Book you wanted to read this year but had not had the chance yet.

For this one, I’m picking something that is a genuine WANT to read and not something I feel like I NEED to read. (Let’s just put aside the million reasons I feel like I need to read something. Getting into that would require an entire post. Maybe I should dive into that at some point, but not today.)

You probably would not be surprised to hear that this task was harder than it should have been for me. Ultimately, I picked Manslaughter Park, which is a Jane Austen murder mystery retelling. This is one I have had my eye on since it was very first announced. It was released in June (!), and I still haven’t gotten around to reading it, yet.

Smith & Friends & Sons Arcane Goods & Such — Last book you added to your want to read list (not counting books not published yet).

Phew. An easy one. Or so I thought until I looked at the number of pages.

As I’m writing this, the currently available book that I most recently added to my TBR is the most recent FairyLoot special edition hardcover, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare.

Would you believe I’ve never read a Cassandra Claire book? I’ve added several to my TBR over the years. I think I may have even purchased one or two. But I’ve not ready any of them. So, this would be my first Cassandra Clare book. But, folks, it’s over 600 pages! That might really make it hard to read anything else during this readathon.

Wallice’s Wonderful Winter Wanimals — Snow or ice on the cover.

This one is easy. Definitely going to have to be A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone. I will be stopping to see the winged winter stoats at WWWW for sure!

Shank & Shawl Legitimate Retailer — Steal a book from someone else’s TBR.

Bring on your TBRs, people! I haven’t seen many Lightfall TBRs posted, yet. So, I may skip this store unless I find something good to borrow from someone else’s list. Alternatively… I may use this as a way to sneak in my buddy read book for December (once we figure out what that’s going to be). Now there’s an idea…

Owlcat Craft Cafe — Listen to audiobook whilst crafting (or craft in the title)

So many options! I may change my mind later, but I’ve been trying to get to Bloodmarked for a while now. So much so that I considered it for The Old Tails Bookstore prompt. But, then I saw this prompt, and it’s a much better fit here. I listened to the first book on audio and that worked well for me. So, I think I’m going to grab Bloodmarked on audio from the library and listen to it while I (finally) finish my Star Wars cross stitch bookmarks.

Occult Premonitions — Prompt based on a random tarot card.

Judgement is the card I got from the random card generator. This card felt eerily familiar until I remembered it was Justice not Judgement that I got for the Autumn Equinox TBR.

It took me a minute to get past the giant angel and the naked dead rising from their graves to notice that there’s a sea and some mountains there. Scrolling through the book covers on my the top of my TBR, Shanghai Immortal jumped out at me. Something about that cover felt right for the vibe of this card. So I’m going with that one.

And bonus points if you noticed that several of these books are NOT on my end of the year TBR. I will have an update on how that’s going at the end of next week. I am hoping to finish a few more books before the month is over. But if I want to do that, I need to get back to writing the novel and not this blog post.

While I finish this draft, let me know in the comments if you’re participating in this readathon and, if so, where to find your TBR!

A Planner Update for the Planners

~ EMM

Back at the start of the year, I mentioned I was planning on using two planners this year. One was a Passion Planner weekly for managing my writing goals that I also planned to use as a reading journal. The other was going to be my free-form bullet journal which would be where I kept track of my daily to-do lists and household admin tasks.

How it started…

That set-up lasted about six months.

Can you guess what caused my system to fail?

If you guessed the Passion Planner, then you probably have been reading this blog for a while. You may even have said to yourself, back when you read that post at the start of the year and saw that I was making another attempt at using the Passion Planner this year, “Good luck with that!”

If you did, give yourself a prize. You were correct. The Passion Planner didn’t work for me. Again.

Never have I really wanted a planner to work so much before. I mean, that cover is SO CUTE! And the whole set-up is all about achieving your goals! How much more “me” can you get?

I think the problem is that I just hate using multiple planners. I need ONE that does everything. That means monthly, weekly, and daily views. Plus some blank pages for random stuff I need to keep track of.

The twist is, around the same time that I came to that conclusion, I realized that bullet journaling wasn’t really working for me, either.

I started bullet journaling because of the flexibility. It allowed me to have any kind of view that I wanted. I just needed to create it on the page. But, the more I found what worked for me, the more I got sick of creating the framework for each day or week or month. And because I had to create everything as I went along, I never had a good place to park future tasks and milestones as I planned out projects. I just couldn’t get that whole “future log” thing to work for me. Every time I made one, I would completely forget it existed.

Frustrated and annoyed, I went in search of “the perfect planner.” Which, just to be clear, I know does not exist.

I ended up buying a Hobonichi Cousin Avec to try using for the second half of 2023. It’s not perfect, but it does have monthly, weekly, and daily pages.

How it’s going…

Then I pulled the reading journal pages out of the back of my Passion Planner and made them into a little booklet so I could continue using them.

So far, this has been working pretty well. I still hate having the reading journal stuff separate, but at least now I can tuck them into my planner and pretend it’s all the same notebook. But next year, I want to incorporate the reading journal stuff into my daily planner.

The big thing I’m struggling with is STILL future planning. But now it’s not because I don’t have a place for it. I think I’m realizing that not having a place for it meant it wasn’t getting done effectively.

As an example, I like to plan quarterly and refine that plan monthly. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good space in my Hobonichi for noodling out my quarterly goals and associated projects. Maybe it’s just because this is the half-year version of the planner, but there aren’t a lot of blank pages at the back.

For Q4 of 2023, I did all my goals brainstorming and associated project planning in Obsidian (which I’m just starting to mess around with). Once I had that all sorted out, I transferred my October goals onto the monthly calendar in my planner, and then started adding milestones and weekly plans to the monthly, weekly, and daily calendar pages. But I kept November and December in Obsidian. This way, I could tweak my plans based on how October went before finalizing my November goals, projects, and tasks and putting all that into my planner.

Will this bring me planner peace?

This new system is working well enough that I bought the full year Cousin for 2024. Aside from slapping some stickers on the front, I haven’t started to set it up, yet. I think I’ll wait until at least mid-December to start messing with that.

If you like, I’ll do another post at the end of the year to walk through my new setup once it’s ready to go. But next up will be my October reading recap. Did I finish everything on my list? Stay tuned to find out.

End of the Year Reading Plans

~ EMM

I have a LOT of writing that needs to get done before the end of the year, but there are also a lot of books that I want to read (aka: the story of my life). If I can manage to get back into that “deep work” groove I had going back in April, this won’t be a problem. But I have been really struggling to resurrect whatever it was I was doing before.

October has (so far) been a better reading month than September. But I’ve only finished two books so far this month. I have another three in progress, but I’m only making slow progress because I’m still spending too much time messing around on the internet when I could be chilling with a book.

I need to get my focus back on track because I have eighteen (!!!) books that I’d like to try to read (or DNF) before the end of December. Here’s what’s on my list:

I have put these in a reading order that I may or may not stick to once I get started. In general, the list alternates between Kindle and paper reads. There’s a reason for that. My plan is to always be reading one hardcover and one Kindle book because I read on my ereader before bed when I don’t want to be bothered by having a reading light, and I have a growing stack of hardcovers I need to get through if I want to justify keeping my book box subscription.

What’s left on my October TBR:

  • Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie — This is one of my Fairy Loot hardcover editions from back when I was subscribed to their YA box. It’s also one of the nine books I wanted to either read or DNF and donate this year. This one is up next because it fits the October prompt for the Adventure in Aeldia route I want to take (book with a map). Ideally, I’ll have it finished (or DNFed) by the end of October.
  • The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia — This is a short story written by an author whose books I enjoy. I saw it on the Amazon Prime reads monthly email (I think) and grabbed it. This one has a bit of a horror vibe according to the blurb. It seemed seasonally appropriate, so I think this will be what I pick up after I finish my current Kindle read (A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking).
  • A Holly Jolly Diwali by Sonya Lalli — Since The Lover is only about forty pages long, I picked another seasonally appropriate book on my Kindle to read after that while I finish up Bone Crier’s Moon. I was searching for A Holly Jolly Ever After (more on that one below) at my library and stumbled on this one. It looked cute, so I thought I’d check it out as well.

What I have planned for November reading:

  • This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria — Another one of my Fairy Loot YA hardcovers that was on my “read or DNF and donate” list for this year. This one was a good fit for the November Adventure in Aeldia prompt (book at risk of an unhaul), so I’m planning on reading it in November.
  • Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend — I’m late to the party on this one, I think, but I have a young reader in my life who loves magic schools as much as I do. She’s probably a little too young still for the Scholomance Series, so I’m planning on getting her the box set of this series for her upcoming birthday. But I want to read at least the first book in the series before I do. So I got this on Kindle from my library and plan to read it after I finish A Holly Jolly Diwali.
  • The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi — Another Fairy Loot hardcover, but this time an adult fantasy novel by an author I know I like. I’m really hoping I have time to read this in November, because December is looking a bit packed…
  • Jade War by Fonda Lee — This one will probably take me most of whatever is left of November to finish, based on my experience with Jade City. But that’s fine. I’m really excited to continue with this series, and November is NaNoWriMo. So, I’m perfectly happy to have a slow read to enjoy while I’m trying to write almost two thousand words per day.
  • The Homecoming War by Addie Woolridge — I am so excited to read my friend Addie’s first YA contemporary romance! I plan to gift a copy of this to my Jenny-Han-loving tween niece and want to be able to gush about how awesome it is with her when she reads it.

And my December reading plans:

  • Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez — This is the last of my Fairy Loot YA hardcovers, and the last one on my list of “read or DNF and donate.” I’m planning on reading it for my December Adventure in Aeldia prompt (owl or cat on the cover).
  • Full Moon Over Freedom by Angelina M. Lopez — I’m slotting this contemporary romance in to read on Kindle after I finish Jade War in case I need a lighter and faster read. Plus it sounds like it’s got some witchy vibes, so I want to try to read it during witchy season (aka fall), if possible.
  • Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao — This is also a Fairy Loot hardcover, and one that I started earlier this year but had to put down to read other things. I enjoyed the first chapter, though, so I’m hoping to get back to it as soon as I finish Woven in Moonlight.
  • A Game of Hearts and Heists by Ruby Roe — This one is a Kindle book I pre-ordered but haven’t gotten around to reading yet. It looks like a really good fantasy romance, and I’ve been hearing some positive buzz about it. So I’m excited to read this after I finish Full Moon Over Freedom.
  • Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares — This is the next Fairy Loot adult fantasy hardcover on my list. If I don’t finish it before the end of the year, it will just end up on my “read or DNF and donate” list for 2024. And I’m hoping to keep that list as short as possible.
  • Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher — I started this book and put it down, then my hold expired at the library, and it got returned. I’m hoping I can get it back on my Kindle and finish it before the end of the year.
  • Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong — Same as Sun of Blood and Ruin, this is a Fairy Loot adult fantasy hardcover that I want to try to finish before the end of this year.
  • A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone — I had to throw at least one Christmas novel on the list, and this is the follow up to what turned out to be a book I recommended the heck out of last year after reading it (A Merry Little Meet Cute). Really looking forward to this!
  • Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun — This is the last of the Fairy Loot adult fantasy hardcovers that are on my list to read this year. If I can get this one read as well, I’ll be almost completely caught up with my subscription!
  • Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett — I have wanted to read this book for a while now because I really liked her other mystery series, but I keep forgetting it’s on my Kindle. So I am officially adding it to my end of year TBR.

You may have noticed that this list doesn’t leave a lot of room for spontaneity. I know. It’s true. If it wasn’t for trying to catch up on my Fairy Loot subscription, it wouldn’t be that bad. The problem is, I really need to figure out if I should continue my subscription into next year or not.

I thought that reading all the really old YA box stuff would be good enough. But all that did was clear off some shelf space for the new books coming in. Meanwhile, I’m really enjoying all the adult fantasy books I’ve been receiving. At least the ones I’ve managed to read so far. Some of them have been serious contenders for top five favorite books I’ve read this year.

That would suggest I should continue with the adult fantasy book box subscription. But, I’m not sure. I am REALLY struggling to fit reading actual paper books into my life. E-books are just so much easier. But for the ones I’ve read and loved this year, I’m really happy I have the hardcover special edition.

I think I need to get a better sense for how many of the books I’ve received this year are “hits” for me vs. “misses.” To do that, I need to get through more of the ones that I received so far this year.

My hypothesis is that trying to stay off the internet during the day will really help my effort to read more of these hardcovers. So, I’m going to pull the plug on the distractions and try this little end of the year reading experiment. Starting this week!

Updates to come on that. But first, I think I need to do a post on what’s changed in my planner system. Every time I link to that 2023 reading goals post I cringe because I’m reminded that the Passion Planner plus BuJo setup for this year did not work for me (again). Except this time, it wasn’t just the Passion Planner. I’ve ditched both the Passion Planner and my bullet journal! (I know. Shocking!) I have been experimenting with an entirely new planner system since July, and I’ve yet to mention anything about it.

But this post is already way too long to be getting into that now. I’m going to leave you on that cliff-hanger, but stay tuned for a planner update soon. Plus my October reading wrap-up. (Will I finish everything?) And progress reports on this end of the year reading plan.

Until next time, happy reading!

What I’ve been reading

~ EMM

In my last inbox/outbox post, I was surprised to learn that I’d nearly hit my Goodreads annual reading goal of 52 books, and it wasn’t quite mid-year. Well, now July has ended, and I still haven’t hit my goal. So, I guess you could say that my pace of reading has slowed down a bit.

When last we checked in, I was at 42 books read. I am now up to 48 books read.Which means, assuming I can manage my August Orilium Autumn Equinox TBR, I should definitely surpass the 52 book mark this month.

Here’s what I’ve read since my last update.

Witch King by Martha Wells took me an unexpectedly long time to finish. It was a true epic fantasy novel, and as such, dense with world-building that made me have to slow my reading pace. I didn’t mind, though, because I really loved the characters.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco also took me a long time to finish, but for almost the opposite reason. In this case, I found that I didn’t like the main character, and I felt like the author was holding back explaining the world (maybe in an attempt to add tension?), and that just didn’t work for me. I liked the book enough to finish it, but probably won’t be reading the rest of the series. (Unfortunate, because I really wanted to like it!)

I listened to You Will Find Your People by Lane Moore on audiobook. The subtitle for this book is “How to Make Meaningful Friendships as an Adult,” and though I got a lot out of this one, it’s a little light on the “how to” part promised in the subtitle. That said, there’s a lot of good stuff in here about friendships that really resonated with me, so much so that I may eventually buy a copy for reference when this comes out in paperback.

I finally read A Sinister Revenge (Veronica Speedwell #8) by Deanna Raybourn. This was another fun addition to the series. The mystery plot in this one was well done and kept me on my toes with interesting twists through the end.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton was a weird but entertaining read. If you can get past the flying houses, this is a very good historical romance featuring high society not-so-secret pirates (who fly houses and steal from their peers?). The humor is very dry and very self-aware, which was a delight. And Ned (the hero) was giving me excellent Flynn Rider vibes. I guess the takeaway is, just don’t ask too many questions or press too hard on that whole pirate thing. If you like historical romance and can take the somewhat nonsensical world-building at face value, then you will probably enjoy this book.

Speaking of pirates, my favorite book I read this month was The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it was exactly the “getting the band back together” and “one last job” sort of adventure that I love, with added bonus points for the middle-aged pirate captain / mom. Blame it on Sarah Connor, but I’m kind of a sucker for the badass mom kicking ass to protect the ones she loves. For more like this, see also a book I read and loved earlier this year, The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliot, and also the Queens of Renthia series by Sarah Beth Durst. (Note: I say this as a happily childless person.)

Now, I’m off to tackle that Orilium TBR. As the Wisteria Society would say, “Tally ho.” Or as Veronica would say, “Excelsior!”

Orilium Autumn Equinox Readathon TBR

~ EMM ~ 2 Comments

August is almost here! Which means that it’s time for the Orilium Autumn Equinox!

(It also means that it’s nearly time for back-to-school sales on stationery… but that’s not what this blog post is about… so I’m going to ignore that temptation for the moment and get back to the topic of this post… Readathon Time!)

During this session at the Orilium Academy, I will be working to level-up in my chosen calling of Story Weaver. To do that, I need to achieve the following grades in the follow subjects.

  • Ordinary in Inscription
  • Qualified in Psionics & Divination
  • Distinguished in Lore

To achieve Ordinary I have to read one book based on the Ordinary level prompt for that class. For Qualified I have to read two books based on the corresponding prompts for that class. And Distinguished is three books. So, I have the moderately-challenging task of reading six books in the month of August!

Here’s what’s on my TBR:

Inscription

To achieve Ordinary in Inscription, I need to read a book from my end of the year TBR. I am going to pick something from my FairyLoot hoard for this one. I’m keeping a few of them to fill the final prompts for the Adventure in Aeldia quest. I’ve decided that I want to try for an Owlcat. In case you’re curious, here’s how that’s been going for me so far…

I was going to pick The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi because it’s the shortest of the bunch, and I don’t want to get bogged down in a long physical book and risk not finishing the rest of my TBR. But, I’m already planning on reading a gothic horror novel for a different prompt, so I think I’m going to try the second shortest, which is one of the more recent additions to the stack, Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao.

Psionics & Divination

The first prompt for Psionics & Divination is a little complicated. For “Introduction to Tarot” I had to pick a card using the random tarot card generator linked from the video. Then I had to pick a book that had one of the symbols on the card in the title or on the cover. I got Justice which has a crown, a sword, scales, and maybe also a throne. I have a few options that might work for this one, but right now I’m thinking I might try to FINALLY finish the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake. I only have the last book, Five Dark Fates, left to read, and it has swords (and maybe a crown?) on the cover.

The second prompt for Psionics & Divination is “Reading the Future,” or read a book set in the future. For this one I’m going to read The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. This is one of the books that was nominated for the Nebula award for best novel, and it sounds really good.

Lore

Then, I have three prompts I need to complete for Lore. The first is “Tale of the Guide,” or read a book recommended by a bookseller. For this prompt, I went to the Powell’s Staff Picks page and scrolled through the list to see what jumped out at me. I’ve been meaning to read Jade City by Fonda Lee for a while now. According to Amazon, I purchased the book for Kindle in December of 2017. It’s probably about time I get around to reading it, huh? Especially if it’s a bookseller pick.

The second Lore prompt is “Cursed Cloaks,” or read a book with clothing on the cover. I haven’t found any books on my TBR with clothing not on a person on the cover. So, I’m going with A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin. It has an illustrated cover that feels like it’s featuring the (historical) clothing more than the people. So, I’m going with that one.

The final Lore prompt is the most difficult of the bunch for me. It is “The Underworld 101,” or read a horror book. I don’t like horror. But one of the Hugo nominees for best novel is a gothic horror, and it’s written by an author I like. So, I am going to try The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia for this prompt.

Here’s what my reading journal spread looks like for this readathon.

Now, there’s also this impling summoning quest that I would like to do as part of this readathon. But the 6 books I need to read for my Story Weaver calling already represent 2553 pages of reading (or about 82 pages per day on average).

The impling summoning quest, assuming you can find one book that satisfies all the prompts, requires reading at least another 400 pages. But, if I do decide to take on one more book for this quest, I think Alisha Rai’s Partners in Crime will satisfy all the prompts (between 400 and 450 pages, one letter appears only twice, released this year or last year, blue on the cover, read from this author before). I just need to start reading it at night (which is the final prompt). I’m hoping that, because it’s a contemporary romance, it will be a fast read, and I can squeeze it in with the rest of my TBR.

Are you participating in the Orilium Autumn Equinox readathon? Are any of these books on your TBR? Let me know what you think about my selections in the comments.

I’ve been reading a LOT

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

I just updated Goodreads to mark the book I finished reading as complete, and I noticed this:

42 of 52 books completed and it’s only mid-June!

We’re not even through June, and I only need to read 10 more books before I hit my annual Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 52 books (or a book a week, on average)! I was so surprised by that stat that I had to double check it against my reading tracker spreadsheet, just to be sure. But, yup. It’s right. I’ve read 42 books so far this year!

This, of course, makes my competitive, goal-oriented brain immediately perk up and think, “Ooooh! Do you think we can make it to 52 before the end of the month?!”

To which I have to say, “Down, brain. Chill.”

And then, of course, quietly start doing the math on how many more days, how many books I have in progress, etc., etc.

Is it possible? Yes. Maybe.

Would I get anything else done in the meantime? No. Maybe?? I don’t know. Probably not.

Let’s break it down, shall we?

This isn’t really an “inbox / outbox” post, but since I think the last recap I did was after the Orilium Spring Equinox Readathon, I might as well start with a brief recap. I read five books in May and another six so far in June.

What I’ve read in May and June

Of those, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting (historical romance), The Keeper’s Six (fantasy novella), and After Hours on Milagro Street (contemporary romance) were probably my top three faves of the bunch. I also really liked Georgie, All Along (another contemporary romance), but since I *just* finished that one, there may be some recency bias influencing my feelings on that one.

I also have another six books (all non-fiction) that I’ve started, but haven’t finished, yet. Most of those are slower reads, so I doubt I’ll finish all of them before the end of June. But I might finish a few of them.

What I don’t have in-progress right now are any other fiction books. So, let’s take a look at the ones that are currently jostling for the top position on my TBR.

Top of my TBR

I will probably pick up Witch King by Martha Wells next, since that’s a buddy read book I need to finish before next week. I also want to read Kingdom of the Wicked, since that’s the FairyLoot hardcover I planned to read this month for the Adventure in Aeldia reading challenge.

But A Sinister Revenge has been at the top of my TBR for a while, and it keeps getting pushed out of the top slot by other books taking higher priority for a variety of reasons. And I got my hands on an early copy of A Lady’s Guide to Scandal (the next book by the author of A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting), which I would love to read before it officially releases on 6 July. Both of those are very tempting distractions from my “required” reading for this month.

Not to mention, after I finished reading (and really enjoying) The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott, I went searching on my Kindle for the other books of hers that I know are on there, but that I haven’t read yet. She has a new series I’m really excited about, but there’s also this other recent novella, Servant Mage, that I haven’t read, yet. And, Sea of Tranquility keeps coming up as something I would probably really like, so I’ve bumped that one back up to the top of my TBR as well. Both of those are short books that might be fast reads I could easily squeeze in before the end of June.

That said, I really don’t think I’m going to push it. I do, in fact, have other projects that require my attention this month. And I highly doubt I’m going to read ten books in ten days. But who knows? Maybe June will be an epic reading month, and I’ll hit my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal before we’re even halfway through the year!

Friday Reads — Inbox/Outbox

~ EMM

I finished reading Poster Girl by Veronica Roth, and I liked it more than I thought I would. I got real burnt out on dystopian novels back during their height of popularity. To the point where I ‘ve been pretty much avoiding them since then. But this was a nice addition to the genre. I can’t say much without spoiling it, but I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story. And I always enjoy it when characters are struggling with moral issues. So I enjoyed this.

I started reading The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. I’m past the 50-page decision point and still going, even though I don’t really like the main character, or the detailed descriptions of what everyone is wearing. I kind of wish this story was adult instead of YA so that we could get into the political stuff a little more. But I’m still reading it.

I also started reading The Murder of Mr. Wickham, which is basically Jane Austen fan fiction. I have a ton of respect for how much work the author put into figuring out how old the characters of Jane Austen’s novels would have been in relation to each other, and how they could have been connected, just so that she could get them all into a house party together. I’m not very far into it yet (Mr. Wickham is still alive), but so far it seems like the characters from the novels just aren’t quite behaving the way I would expect them to behave, which is frustrating.

My Reading Project (aka TBR) for May

~ EMM

I’m still working on my April reading wrap-up post. I read a LOT in April, so it’s taking a while. In the meantime, I already have my May TBR figured out. So I thought I’d share that today.

You may remember that my one reading goal for this year was to read through (or DNF and donate) my FairyLoot special edition hardcover backlog. I’ve been chipping away at it over the past few months. BUT I’ve mostly been reading the new stuff and ignoring the ancient stack of YA books from before I switched to the adult subscription. And those are the ones I’m supposed to be reading by the end of this year.

So this month, it’s time to make a dent in that stack.

Stacked in increasing order of page count (shortest on top).

I stacked them according to page count, and yes, I know Poster Girl is technically an adult fantasy not a YA, but I’m including it here because it’s the last of the adult fantasy books I received last year that I haven’t read yet…

My plan is to start at the top of this stack (least number of pages) and work my way down. I’m going to use the “Nancy Pearl Rule of 50” for DNFing. Because I’m under fifty, that means that, after fifty pages, if I’m not into the book, I’m going to DNF and move on. If I’m on the fence, I may be generous and give it 100 pages before deciding to give up on it.

Here are my predictions about which ones I’m going to like and which ones I will likely end up DNFing:

  • Poster Girl by Veronica Roth — I never made it through the Divergent series, nor was I tempted to pick up any of her other books, so I have very low expectations about this book. However, it’s also very short. So I will probably end up reading it to the end.
  • The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller — The premise is mildly interesting. I just really hope it’s not written in first person present tense (<– that goes for all of these). If it is, it may be my first DNF.
  • Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez — This is possibly the only book in this stack that I wanted to read, so odds are good I’ll finish it.
  • This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria — I never heard of this book before receiving it, and I’ve heard nothing about it since then. The average rating on Goodreads is…not great. So, this one may end up being a DNF. We’ll see, though. I can sometimes be a very contrary reader. I like things that aren’t popular, and vice versa. So, maybe this will pleasantly surprise me.
  • Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco — I’m here for all the Italian magic, so I really want to like this one. My fingers are crossed that this will be good.
  • Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie — I have no thoughts on this one except that it is pretty long for a first book in a YA fantasy series. It’s really going to have to grab me in the first fifty pages to make me want to stick with it.
  • These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong — Another long one. The premise seems like something I might like. I’d say that I’m pretty likely to finish this one, even if it’s not my favorite.

One thing that I will also predict (and this goes for any of the ones that are first books in a series, which are almost all of them), is that, even if I don’t DNF, I’m not going to continue with the series. I’m really going to have to fall in love for that kind of commitment. There are just too many other books that I want to read.

Okay, what predictions do you have about what I’m going to like and not like in this stack? Let me know in the comments.

Orilium Spring Equinox TBR

~ EMM

I know we’re already a week into April, and I’m only now sorting out my TBR for the Orilium Spring Equinox, but I’m still participating! It took me a while to get myself organized because I was visiting friends and family last week, and I didn’t have any time for reading. But I’m back now, and I’ve got my plan together, so it’s time to hit the books!

Before I get into my TBR for April’s readathon, let’s recap how my “Year in Aeldia” is going…

You may remember that I decided to use this Magical Readathon challenge to work my way through my backlog of Fairyloot special edition hardcovers. So far, I’m doing pretty well. I just finished the March prompt to read a book over 500 pages. Yes, I technically finished reading it in April, but I’m still counting it because my end of March travel plans messed up my schedule more than I anticipated.

Now that that’s done, I can officially start the April readathon!

I decided to focus on the subjects I need to advance to the next level in my Story Weaver calling. Mostly this decision was based on the fact that I’m starting late, and I only need four courses for that calling.

Here’s what’s on my TBR:

  • Art of Illusion –> match clothes color to cover color –> This is a pretty flexible prompt, and I want to get in at least one Fairyloot hardcover this month. So, I’m going with Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. The dust jacket on my copy is cream, but I prefer to read without the dust jacket. The naked hardcover is purple, which is a bit harder to match given that my wardrobe is mostly grey and black. But I do have one purple long sleeve shirt and one purple t-shirt I can wear while reading this book. If I’m feeling extra, I’ll try to find an appropriately cream colored sweater to wear over my purple shirt (you know, like a dust jacket, get it?).
  • Inscription –> book from your highest shelf –> The highest shelf on my bookcase is reserved my favorite books, and I don’t really want to do a re-read of any of those, so I’m interpreting this prompt as the book I most recently hauled, which was an option given in the video that went over all the prompts. I just downloaded Even Though We Knew the End by C. L. Polk to buddy read with friends, so that’s going to be my book for this course.
  • Lore –> book with a map –> I was a little worried about this one because I feel like a lot of books that have maps are also tomes, and I don’t have time for another tome this month. After browsing the first pages of several books on my Kindle, I realized that This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede, which has been hanging out near the top of my TBR for a while now, has a map!
  • Psionics & Divination –> book with clouds on the cover or in the title –> The most recent addition to the Lady Sherlock series is one of my highly anticipated 2023 releases. It just came out in March, and it has clouds on the cover! So, I’ll be reading A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas for this course.

If I have time, I may try to squeeze in a few other courses to see if I can qualify for any of the other callings in August. I have several books I’d like to read this month that didn’t make it onto my official TBR. Almost all of them will fit with a prompt for one of the other subjects. Either that, or I’m going to at least start the Alchemy side quest. It’s just a matter of how much time I have for reading in April.

Are you participating in the Orilium Readathon this month? Either way, let me know in the comments what you’re reading in April!