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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

Another long travel day today, so this is going to be a very short update. I’m still enjoying Manslaughter Park, but something feels off about Tom’s character at the moment. In the scene where the will is read, Tom is acting like a total jerk. I feel like Maria and Julia were the jerks, not Tom (or Edmund, obviously). And his behavior especially doesn’t sit right with me when he’s leaning on misogynistic arguments with his sister (like she can’t possibly own a business, she needs to get married, etc.). It just doesn’t feel right. Unless maybe the author is setting him up to be the killer? That would be an interesting twist on the Sir Thomas / Tom dynamic from the original book…

I was curious about this book because 1) I love a cozy mystery, but also 2) there aren’t a ton of Mansfield Park retellings out there in the world. I think that’s because it’s generally the least liked of the Jane Austen novels. Mostly because everyone hates Fanny. She’s not my favorite Austen character, either, but I think that’s because she ends up being sort of a tool for the narrative that allowed Austen to make more direct commentary on things like class, society, and politics in Mansfield Park that in her other, more popular novels.

What’s interesting about reading this book is that, in addition to comparing it to the original, I keep comparing it to my own (unpublished) Mansfield Park retelling. I’ve been working on that book on and off for MANY years now. I think I started it back in 2009, maybe? Coincidentally, the Tom character in my book is also gay, but Yates is not his boyfriend. And I also tweaked the family tree so that my Fanny character and my Edmund character were not technically related, just raised in close proximity. But these are, I feel, the obvious choices to make when modernizing this novel.

I’ve been really wanting to get back to that story, and I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do. But first I want to finish the novel I’m currently working on. In the meantime, I’m going to go back to enjoying Manslaughter Park and trying to figure out whodunit (before Fanny does).

Not a lot of reading got done today because the day started with a very rainy holiday 5k where I set a new best time for myself!

So I ran, hung out with friends, ate a lot of delicious Christmas cookies, enjoyed two different fires in fireplaces, got to play with a cat, and went out to dinner at my in-laws’ local tavern. Basically, it was the perfect winter Sunday. Or it will be as soon as I get my pj’s on, climb into bed, and get back to the book I’m reading.

I haven’t made much progress yet, but I will say, Manslaughter Park had me hooked as soon as I read the dedication (“To all the readers who thought Fanny Price deserved better.”). I’m excited to see what this author does with this retelling.

Finished reading Full Moon Over Freedom and now I get to pick my first read for Lightfall!

It’s been a long day. After driving all morning and visiting with my in-laws. I’m finally sitting down near their Christmas tree to squeeze in a little reading before dinner.

I only brought my Kindle on this short weekend trip, so I’ve been trying to decide between heading straight to the Wanimals store and reading the holiday romance on my TBR (A Holly Jolly Ever After), or starting at the Old Tails Bookstore and going with the cozy mystery (Manslaughter Park).

I think I’m not quite ready to start another romance just yet, so I’m going with the cozy mystery! Also, who am I kidding? Of course the bookstore would be my first stop on this festive holiday visit to Old Favor Pass!

Here we go! Happy Lightfall to all who are participating in this fun readathon!