Tag: orilium

Orilium Spring Equinox (aka April) Reading Wrap-Up

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

April turned out to be a BIG reading month. I finished SEVEN books and (temporarily?) DNFed one!

Orilium Spring Equinox Reading

Here’s a recap of everything I read in April:

  • It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey — I really enjoyed this cute rom com set in the Pacific Northwest.
  • The Homecoming War by Addie Woolridge — If you need a book for an ambitious bookworm tween or teen in your life, get them this one. It’s so adorable that I wanted to hug the book when I was done.
  • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett — I love a good Sherlock / Watson character dynamic, and this one was perfect, especially because the super smart and slightly unhinged detective is a woman. Bonus points for really cool world-building, an engaging mystery plot, and great ensemble cast. I’ll definitely be reading more by this author.
  • Unclaimed by Courtney Milan — I really liked the premise of this book, so I skipped book one and jumped straight to book two. I know I’ll eventually go back and read the others because I love Courtney Milan’s books, and this one (as expected) did not disappoint.
  • Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong — This one, on the other hand, surprised me in a good way. I wasn’t expecting much from it because I haven’t read anything else by this author, and I found myself eager to get back to it. That may have had something to do with the audiobook narrator being very good, but I liked this enough that I think I’ll read the next one when it comes out.
  • A Game of Hearts and Heists by Ruby Roe — If you want more spicy lesbian romance in your life, definitely do not skip this series. I wasn’t quite buying the “enemies” part of the enemies to lovers trope, but found the world-building intriguing.
  • End Credits by Patty Lin — I listened to this one on audiobook (read by the author) because a friend recommended it. I found the parts about connecting with your creativity and pursing the things you’re passionate about to be really good.
  • A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen — I stalled out at about halfway through this one after hitting over half the boxes on my bingo card. I’m counting it for the readathon, but I’m not sure if I’m going to finish it. I think I’m just not that into Vikings? Possibly, the problem started when the heroine doesn’t tell the hero what really happened on her wedding night, even though the oath she had to swear had a loophole big enough to sail one of those drakkars through. When she didn’t spot that immediately, I kinda lost interest in her as a character.

If you’ve read A Fate Inked in Blood and think I should keep going, definitely let me know. I am willing to be convinced.

I’m really hoping now that Fairyloot has spun off a Romantasy specific subscription box the adult selections will be a little less romance heavy. This is such a weird thing for me to say, given that I really enjoy sci-fi and fantasy with romance. But, their romance-heavy fantasy selections all seem to feel just a smidge above YA to me. The ones that are actually adult (The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, Babel, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, Emily Wilde, Spells for Forgetting, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, etc.) are the ones I’ve enjoyed the most.

Book Overload — A mid-month check-in

~ EMM

To give you a sense of how my reading is going this month, here are some numbers:

  • Books carried over from previous months = 3
  • Books started this month = 3
  • Books finished this month = 2
  • Current number of books in progress = 4

Do I have more in-progress books now than I did at the start of this month? Yes.

Have I finished reading everything on my Orilium TBR? No.

Status of my Orilium Spring Equinox TBR

In fact, I haven’t even started the Psionics & Divination read (A Fate Inked in Blood) yet! I meant to start that one in the first week of this month so that I could be sure to have plenty of time to finish, but plans changed. I can’t remember my reasoning now, but I’m sure it made sense at the time.

Seriously, everything feels backward and wrong on so many levels this month. Why would reading be any different?

Is some celestial object in retrograde or something? BRB. *Goes to Google.*

Yes. It appears that is in fact the case. Well, there you go. That makes me feel a little better, I guess.

A Game of Hearts and Heists (my Art of Illusions reading assignment) is one of the books I started reading already. But I had to put it aside so I could read (and hopefully finish) The Tainted Cup before my Camp Book Club discussion this coming Friday. The good news is that I am really enjoying The Tainted Cup and find myself excited to get back to it every time I have to put it down to do something else.

After I finish The Tainted Cup, I plan to start A Fate Inked in Blood (finally!) and get back to A Game of Hearts and Heists. There are still two weeks left in the month, so I think I have time to finish all three of those books.

As for the two books I’ve already finished this month, they were both contemporary romance reads. The first was It Happened One Summer, and the second was The Homecoming War. Both were really fun books that I tore through and didn’t want to put down. I sighed happy sighs when I finished them. Highly recommend both if you like contemporary romance.

How is your reading going this month? Are you off to an equally awkward start? Or have you already finished your TBR?

Picking a Book for Inscription

~ EMM

If you remember, there was one open slot in my Orilium Spring Equinox TBR. I needed to pick a book for Inscription. I was going to put this off until I had at least one of the other two books on my TBR read. But, for reasons explained below, I decided to go ahead and do the selection now.

My long-awaited library hold for The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett became available to borrow, so I convinced my Camp Book Club friends that it should be our book pick for April. This automatically added this book to my April TBR.

Then, I remembered that I planned to give my niece a (signed) copy of my friend Addie Woolridge’s latest book, The Homecoming War, for her upcoming birthday. I got myself a copy at the same time that I bought one for my niece, but my TBR has been packed, and I haven’t gotten around to reading it, yet. Another non-Orilium Readathon book added to my April TBR.

At that point, I figured I should just make these options number one and number two for the Inscription draw. But, in order to determine which one would officially make it into my Orilium TBR, I needed a third book.

For my third pick, I added a (relatively short) contemporary romance novel. Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny by Rebekah Weatherspoon surfaced from the depths of my Kindle when I was trying to think of romance books I knew that had a very specific hero-heroine dynamic. I’d actually forgotten that I purchased this book on Kindle back in 2020! So, that book became Inscription option number three.

I used a random number generator to pick one (rather than slips of paper). The result?

The Homecoming War by Addie Woolridge won! Yay!

My Orilium Readathon Spring Equinox TBR

I still need to read The Tainted Cup. So, technically, there is also a fourth book on my April TBR. Fingers crossed I can finish all these by the end of this month!

It’s Orilium Spring Equinox TBR Time!

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

It’s that time of year again! Time to head back to the Orilium Academy for the Spring Equinox Magical Readathon!

I have four subjects I know I need to complete if I want to take another shot at advancing my Story Weaver calling from Novice to Apprentice. If you remember what happened last year, I completed the Spring session, and then failed to finish all the prompts I needed to complete in Autumn.

  • Lore: “The Legend of Dia” — This is an Orilium lore short story, and I’m pretty excited that just by reading it I fulfill one of the prompts for this readathon! Woohoo!
  • Inscription: TBD — For this prompt I need to take the titles of three books, write them on scraps of paper, scramble them up, and then pick one at random. I think I am going to do this closer to when I am ready to actually read for this prompt, which probably won’t be until after I read the books for the other two prompts. That way, I can pick three short reads if I’m running out of time. (I’ll do a blog post mid-month to update on progress and tell you what I picked for this.)
  • Art of Illusions: A Game of Hearts and Heists by Ruby Roe — I chose this because, for the prompt, the title needs to include the word “game” or “play.” This works perfectly and also happens to be a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while.
  • Psionics & Divination: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen — The prompt for this one involves creating a book bingo card. I created the book bingo card first (see below), and basically put together what I felt was a sort of generic romantasy book bingo card (feel free to borrow if you want, and tag me on Instagram if you use it). Then I waited to see what the book club pick was for my guild (the Mind Walkers). I’m thrilled that this book got the most votes because it is one of my Fairyloot hardcovers, and I needed to work one of those in somewhere anyway if I want to stay on track with my 2024 reading goals.

Since I only have four subjects (and one of them has a super easy prompt), I’m thinking that I might also try to complete the Lore side-quest. Or at least, I’ll get it started, even if I don’t finish all of it in April, since there are no deadlines for the side-quests.

However, I’m also starting a new writing project in April. So, I may be happy to have a light reading month. We’ll see how I’m feeling once I get started on my first two selections.

Are you participating in this readathon? What are you planning to read in April?

Reading Goals for 2024

~ EMM

Last year, I decided to give myself only one goal: read through my Fairyloot hardcover backlog. Specifically, I picked nine books I wanted to either finish or DNF and donate by the end of 2023. I didn’t accomplish that goal, but I did get pretty close. Seven out of nine isn’t bad.

More importantly, upon MUCH reflection, I don’t regret giving myself that goal. It was something that I really wanted to make sure happened. And it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t made it a priority. Because of that, I am inclined to set myself a similar goal for 2024. The problem is, I also find myself tempted to expand the assignment just a bit.

I am resisting the urge to make multiple goals and trying to stick to just one, since that worked so well last year. To account for the fact that there are more than just hardcovers that I’ve been meaning to read for what feels like forever, I have decided to take a “24 for 24” approach this year.

There are there categories of books that tend to linger unread on my TBR:

  • General non-fiction
  • Tomes (books over 500 pages)
  • Hardcovers

I REALLY want to get to them, but I keep picking up short, mostly fiction, ebooks instead. So, to accomplish my (very flexible) “24 for 24” challenge, I need to read:

  • at least 6 general non-fiction books (Note: memoir, self-help, business, or writing craft books don’t count)
  • at least 6 tomes (books over 500 pages long)
  • at least 12 books from my physical TBR pile (ex: Fairyloot hardcovers)

The only rule is: no double dipping. In other words, a non-fiction book over 500 pages can only be counted in one category, not both.

What I read in each of those categories can be whatever I’m feeling like. I don’t have to read anything in any specific month. Though, I do plant to get started on this challenge early in the year and not leave it all to the last minute.

I have some ideas about what I’d like to read, and I made myself a little Goodreads shelf to keep track of what’s sounding good to me. I’ll probably shift things on an off that shelf as I go through the year.

I set up some pages in my 2024 Hobonichi Cousin to track my reading. I’m repurposing several pages and pasting over content on several others to create a sort of reading journal for myself in the back of this planner.

A little creative use of washi tape and stickers allowed me to turn two pages that already had twelve boxes on them (for journaling prompts or something? I can’t remember…) into pages where I can track the books I’m reading for my “24 for 24” challenge. One is going to be dedicated to Fairyloot hardcovers. The other is going to be for the tomes and non-fiction books.

I labeled both with the months of the year before I decided that I wasn’t going to try force myself to do one a month. I’ll probably end up covering over those labels with the printout of the book cover for the book I read. You might also have noticed the printout of this year’s Adventure in Aeldia prompts next to the Fairyloot hardcover tracker page. I’m planning on participating again this year, but I’m NOT planning on giving myself the additional requirement of having to read a Fairyloot hardcover in order to fulfill the prompt.

Since we’re on the topic of Aeldia, the journey this year starts in a dungeon. My character is in the dungeon because she over-promised and under-delivered. Don’t ask how or why. She doesn’t want to talk about it. 🙂

It’s going to be all right, though. She has already attempted escape by relying on her wits (reading an audiobook). But, because she is extra, and she’d rather not have to remove a complex lock enchantment to complete her escape (start/continue a series that intimidates you), she is going to also see if she can escape by relying on her strength (reading a physical book). What can I say? She likes options. If strength doesn’t work (I don’t finish a physical book before the end of the month), then she’ll be able to fall back on wits. No harm, no foul.

So, that’s my plan for reading in 2024. I’ll try to remember to do a mid-year check-in with some photos of my planner pages so you can see how things are progressing.

On the Eighth Day of Lightfall (Readathon)

~ EMM

Apologies for the short (and slightly subdued) post tonight. I didn’t get as much writing done today as I’d hoped, and I also didn’t do any reading. We’re less than a week out from the shortest day of the year, and I am feeling it today. I am both extremely ready for the solstice (in terms of craving more daylight hours), and absolutely not ready at all (in terms of what I need to get done before then).

As much as I want to just say “F*** it,” and spend the rest of the weekend reading, I am probably not going to visit any other stores (aka finish another book) before the readathon ends tomorrow night. So, I think I’m going to spend the rest of my time hanging out at the Rich Pigeon Pub.

In other words, I’m not going to start any more books on my Lightfall TBR. Instead, it’s time to go back to reading This Golden Flame, which I temporarily abandoned so I could participate in this readathon. But not tonight, because it’s bedtime. Since I need a book to read on my Kindle before bed, I think I’m going to start reading Paladin’s Hope tonight. It’s not a good fit for any of the remaining Lightfall reading prompts, but it is the next book I need to read.

I keep tweaking my end of the year TBR as we get closer and closer to the end of the month. We’re halfway at this point, and I’m having to cut it back to bare bones. There are four books that I really want to finish reading. Two to complete my 2023 reading goal, and two for a buddy read that weren’t even on my original list.

That’s four books totaling just over 1500 pages. The math on that works out to about 100 pages per day on average. Plus I need to edit the rest of my novel.

Don’t mind me while I quietly freak out… Next year, could someone please remind me to just chill? I think that’s going to have to be my only goal for 2024. Just chill.

On the Seventh Day of Lightfall (Readathon)

~ EMM

I decided to do a little doodling on my Old Favour Passport. I’m creating a different doodle for each shop with the intention of making them look sort of like stamps. The first one I did was a little cat reading a book for Old Tails Bookstore. Then I realized that, with all the visiting I did last weekend, I think I can officially check off the only non-reading prompt (reach out to someone during this festive season). That is for the Rich Pigeon Pub, so I added a pigeon with a top hat doodle in the next circle. (The Pub counts for the loyalty card, right?)

Anyway, if you look closely, you can see that I’ve started sketching out my doodle for Wallice’s Wonderful Winter Wanimals. I’m trying to make the four Ws into something that looks a little like a snowflake. But I’m not going to finish it until after I finish reading A Holly Jolly Ever After.

That probably will be very soon, considering that I devoured nearly this entire book in less than 24 hours. And it’s not exactly short (428 pages!). I’m really enjoying it so far. I love the two main characters, and it’s a scorching read, as expected. The entire concept of this Christmas town in Vermont where they film holiday movies for the “Hope Channel,” combined with the film crew and their adult filmmaking background, is just perfect. I love it so much. And the ex-boy-band heroes in these novels are just chef’s kiss cinnamon rolls.

I predict I’ll be done with this book by breakfast tomorrow, if not sooner. Which is a good thing, because wanting to just keep reading has been a major distraction to me getting much work done today. I really needed this reading break to recover after the usual stress plus side-helping of unexpected drama that accompanied this year’s NaNoWriMo. But I also need to finish this book and get it to my trusted alpha readers before Christmas. So, tomorrow, after I’m done reading A Holly Jolly Ever After, it’s time to get back to it.

We’ll see if I can squeeze in one more book this weekend before the readathon ends, but I’m not even sure where I want to go from here… I don’t really have enough time to finish a tome like Bloodmarked or Sword Catcher. I may have to go with my pick for Occult Premonitions. I’ll make that decision tomorrow. For tonight, it’s time to get back to Christmas Notch.

On the Sixth Day of Lightfall (Readathon)

~ EMM

I did not end up staying up late last night finishing Manslaughter Park, but I did finish reading it this morning. And… I was RIGHT about whodunit! Ha! It was a very satisfying conclusion, and not just because I guessed correctly. I had lots of thoughts about it during my run today. I think I basically drafted an entire review in my head. But I didn’t write it down and after lunch and a shower, I completely forgot about it. I will now attempt to recreate my thoughts.

I really enjoyed this adaptation. When I read the author’s note at the end, I realized something more about what it was that drew me to Mansfield Park when I initially read it. I really like a story featuring a character with a strong moral code. It doesn’t even really matter what it is, so long as they are consistently driven by it. I equally enjoy paladins and mercenaries, mobsters and military. I like it even better when that character’s moral code and worldview are challenged and they have to decide how they are going to behave in the face of that. For a recent example, take Some Desperate Glory, which I loved.

I think this is also why I don’t like polemics. I want to see the character struggling on the page. I don’t want to be lectured and told how the author wants me to think about the moral or ethical dilemma.

And this is why I like Mansfield Park. Fanny Price is very driven by her morals. She makes decisions that I might not make in her place, because she insists on sticking to her moral code, even when it’s uncomfortable for her. And this adaptation kept that aspect of the story in place beautifully.

Now that I’m done at Old Tails Bookstore, stop one on my Old Favour Pass journey, it’s time to wander over to Wallice’s Wonderful Winter Wanimals to visit the winged winter stoats! In other words, I’ve started A Holly Jolly Ever After. Nothing like a little Christmas smut to get you in the mood for the holidays!

So far, the first few chapters have reminded me how much I enjoyed A Merry Little Meet Cute, and also how much I have completely forgotten most of the details of that story. This starts off very much like a continuation from that book. More than I think you usually get from the standard connected-but-stand-alone contemporary romance novels. I think I’m going to be okay not remembering stuff from the first book, but I also think it might be fun to read them back to back. Something I might consider for next year, if there is a new release in this series and I’m feeling up for a re-read.

Oh, hey! It just hit me that I finished reading my first book for the Lightfall Readathon! I think that means I get a stamp on my punch card! Fun! I’m going to go do that now while I’m waiting for my lemon bars to finish baking. (What? Who’s stress baking? Certainly not me…)

Last thing before I go, if you’re looking for some fantasy new releases to add to your TBR, I’m participating in this 12 Days of Fantasy book sale that starts today. Check it out if you’re interested.

On the Fifth Day of Lightfall (Readathon)

~ EMM

Today was another LONG day of adulting with not a lot of writing. Sigh.

It started in the dark, but the sunrise was pretty great…

sunrise on the ferry

I had to head over to one of the other islands for an annual doctor exam, but the inter-island ferry commute and waiting around allowed me lots of time to read Manslaughter Park! Reading also helped distract me from my irrational doctor visit anxiety. I’m now about two thirds through the book, and I think I know whodunit. I’ve had a suspicion about one character since the beginning (I’ll put my guess at the end of this post since it may be a spoiler). I’m kind of hoping I’m right, because I think that would be an excellent twist.

But, now that I’m done running errands and checking things off my to-do list, I want to try to get at least a little writing / editing done before I collapse into bed and get back to reading. Given where I’m at in the story, tonight may end up being a “bad decisions book club” night where I stay up WAY too late just so I can finish the book.

In other news, I’ve been very preoccupied with organizing the chaos that is currently inhabiting my brain. This is requiring a pinch of journaling, a growing to-do list that needs sorting, and a lot of thinking about how I want to structure my planning system for 2024. I think I have the start of a plan, but it’s not quite fully baked yet. So, I’ll save that for a future blogmas post.

And speaking of baking… I have a somewhat ambitious holiday recipe I want to try. The baking supplies I needed arrived today, so now I can actually get started on this project. The recipe involves multiple steps that need to happen over the course of several days. I’d like to wait to do the baking part over the weekend, so I need to have a look at the instructions again and figure out when I need to get started. Pictures, process, and results to be documented in a future post…

Now, what I really want to do is get back to reading so I can see if my guess is right. But first, a little writing and some dinner prep.

Potential spoiler is in white text below… Stop reading now if you don’t want to know my guess for whodunit. (Alternatively, highlight the text on the next line if you want to know.)

I think Edmond is the killer.

On the Fourth Day of Lightfall (Readathon)

~ EMM

Today has been a busy day, packed with catching up on everything I neglected while I was gone for the weekend. I made a little more progress with Manslaughter Park this morning, and I’m about to read a bit more before I go to sleep. But, other than that, I haven’t had much time for reading today.

I’m beginning to wonder when the Crawfords are going to show up, and what role they are going to play. I have a hunch that they are going to arrive within the next few chapters, and I suspect they are going to probably be debt collectors. A couple of chapters ago, Lizzie Bennett (who happens to be Sir Thomas’s lawyer), said the debt collectors were on their way and would likely take up residence until they were paid.