Merry in Manhattan - Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of Merry in Manhattan to see some of the adventures Lane and Chris go on. (Even if it’s a little late… Sorry!) It’s been really fun to write so far! If you missed part one, click here.

The room was pitch black save for the shining menorah at the head table and the dozens of glow in the dark sticks, bracelets, and necklaces which the guests wore and lined the tables all in blue and white.

“This is incredible,” I said.

“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy,” he answered and passed me a bright blue cocktail rimmed with sugar.

“Definitely not.” I took a sip of the sweet drink while also eyeing the dessert table filled with sufganiyot, chocolate coins, and marzipan. It made my mouth water. “So, who are the traditional guests I need to convince that I’m your girlfriend? I need to be sure that I’m putting on a good show.”

“Well-”

“CHRIS! You made it!”

I almost covered my ears from the shriek that caused everyone in the vicinity to cringe and stop their conversations for a moment. A petite woman with curly brown hair which made her almost a foot taller bounced through the crowd and waved frantically at Chris and I. He promptly wrapped an arm around my waist with his free hand and pulled me close to his side. Her smile only faltered for a moment before returning to it’s startling sparkle which could be seen even in the dark room.

Looked liked my acting career needed to start immediately.

“Alexis, hi. I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

Alexis tossed her hair and playfully swatted at Chris’ shoulder. “Oh you did too! And who’s this?” Her smile remained bright but a thin sheen of ice clouded her eyes when she looked at me.

Huh. Well. This was interesting. People who were “traditional” needing him to have a date my ass. I could watch him squirm a bit and let this woman chase after him all night but… no new office and nothing to do the rest of the month. He’d probably find one of his other girls to tag along.

“I’m Lane,” I said and stuck my hand out for her to shake it. She took it hesitantly then I pulled mine away abruptly let it land on Chris’ arm. I clung to him like fly paper. “It’s so nice to meet you! I can’t believe Chrissy-boo hasn’t mentioned me!” I ruffled his hair for good measure and he tensed under my grip. If this was what he wanted me to do, he was going to get the whole nine yards.

“Lane… I thought we agreed you wouldn’t call me that in public,” Chris said through a grin.

I lay my head on his broad shoulder and looked at him through my lashes. “I just can’t help myself!”

Alexis waved her hand between Chris and I. “So… you’re together?”

“We don’t like to put labels on things…” Chris started to say.

“A few weeks now! And it’s been perfect,” I cooed over him.

Alexis’ smile faltered again but to her credit, she was really trying hard to not let us see. “Wow. That’s… that’s so great! Anyway, it was so good to see you. I’m gonna get a drink. Do you need a drink? I need a drink. Catch up later? Bye!”

She scampered off in the direction of the bar and I gave her a tiny wave. Once she was out of sight I pushed Chris aside. “You liar!”

Chris’ eyes went wide as he tried to keep his drink from spilling. “What?”

I put my hand on my hip. “You said you needed me because the people hosting these parties were ‘traditional.’ You just need someone to be here so that you don’t get any unwanted attention.”

Chris groaned and wrapped his free arm around my shoulders and we walked through the party. He waved and smiled to people he knew as he spoke. “She’s my best friends cousin and we run in the same circles. Especially this time of year and get invited to the same parties. I couldn’t stand another year of her chasing after me.” We pushed past a small crowd and placed our drinks on a tall table wrapped in glow sticks. Chris rested his arm on the table and leaned forward. “It’s not like you are mad about not going home because of their grand Christmas celebrations though.”

My jaw dropped. “Yes I am!”

Chris raised his brows. “And your ex has nothing to do with it?”

I stammered and took a sip of my drink. “I … what? No… how do you know about him?”

“You talk about your hometown a lot. It doesn’t take a genius to put together that Terrance wasn’t a mere acquaintance.”

I took a larger sip of the drink and set it back on the table with a clunk. I really needed to watch what I was saying around the office. “We were engaged. High school sweethearts. The whole nine yards. He does real estate there and is basically a hometown hero.”

“For selling houses?”

“For winning football state championship in high school. Apparently that qualifies him to tell people where to live now.” I traced the rim of my glass with the tip of my finger then licked the sugar off. “We’d been growing apart for awhile, especially when I was in grad school. He never wanted to come to New York and I think that was why I stayed home for so long. Anyway, we broke up and I knew it was a good time to leave. He wasn’t happy that I’d left though and said I’d fail but he’d be waiting there for me when I realized it.”

Chris grimmaced. “Ouch.”

“Yeah. He wasn’t that great of a guy it turns out. So, I was kind of looking forward to shoving my New York success in his face over Christmas.”

Chris raised his glass. “Now that’s true holiday spirit!” He dug around in his pockets until a phone appeared. He came to my side and held it in front of us. “Say cheese!” Before I could smile the photo was taken.

“What is that for?” I pulled away from him and finished my drink.

“You want revenge on your ex? Crawling back home and talking up New York won’t do it. Your family leaving on a cruise is the best thing that could have happened to you because now you can be here and showing off your life without even thinking about Terrance.”

I leaned against the table and considered this. “That doesn’t seem a bit high schoolish?”

Chris scoffed. “You really think any of us have matured past the age of 18? Besides, you know I’m right.”

I looked at the phone and cringed at the awful photo. “Fine. But we take another picture.”

We pulled in close once again and he wrapped his arm around me and just as he took the photo he kissed my cheek. Which… wasn’t awful to be honest. He had really soft lips. He posted it to his social media and a moment later I had a notification that I’d been tagged. It was a weirdly convincing image. I smiled as I looked at it.

“Why are you being so nice?” I asked.

Chris shrugged. “Christmas… well… Hanukkah spirit you can say.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Hey, you’re the one doing me a favor by keeping Alexis away.”

“And you’re giving me your office.” I put my phone away and stood up straight, ready to face the rest of the party. “So, what event do we have next?”

Chris only smiled.

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NaNoWriMo 2018 Recap

Another year, another National Novel Writing Month in the books. I won, barely making it to my 50,000 word goal. It was a bit of a different November for me. Instead of the usual starting a new book from scratch, I decided to dedicate the month to revisions for White Rose so it would be prepared for at least beta readers - if not to query - at the start of 2019.

Going into November, I was so excited. I was coming off of PitchWars, and while I didn’t get chosen, I still had such an awesome experience (and still am!) learning from other writers. I’ve gotten so much help and guidance, and in preparation for November to get into my revisions I felt like I was taking a class in first pages, structure, voice, and outlining. I took notes, filled out my spreadsheets, and went to reworking my book. I thought I was prepared.

Then the first week of November went through and I realized I wasn’t nearly as prepared as I thought. I hardly knew my characters at all! All of the scenes were still in the wrong place! Everything I wrote on the page felt wrong!

I had what I thought was this amazing spread on my Scrivener doc with notes of what I needed to fix for each scene, the old version of the scene for reference, then a blank page for the new version. That sounds prepared, right?

In a way… I guess I was. There were some changes that were great and I could tell I was going in the right direction. For the most part though, something felt off. But I couldn’t tell what it was.

I sought advice for figuring out my characters and structure and it helped for sure - but something was still wrong.

About half way through the month, I was perpetually behind. Most days I did write, but not enough to keep up with my word count goal. Once I hit a certain word count each day, I was thankful my writing session was over and closed my laptop. But then would feel guilty for not getting more done.

One day, I was listening to the Writing Excuses podcast and they were talking about writers block. They said that sometimes writers block comes from trying to fix words that were already there instead of starting over.

This was the case for me. I kept on going back to my old scenes and chapters, thinking I could just revise and tweak the parts that needed fixing - when I just needed an entire overhaul. In fact, the days when I enjoyed my book the most was when I wasn’t going back to my old work and doing something brand new. That needed to be my new approach!

Easier said than done.

It worked… for a bit.

Then, about three weeks in, I had some down-time in the middle of the day and I took a good look at my spreadsheets tracking out my scenes and the major plot points of my book. Finally - it hit me.

I’d been structuring my book wrong the whole time. I’d been ending my first act in entirely the wrong place! I played and rearranged and all of the sudden - I saw my book. Or at least the first half of it. It made so much more sense!

I put together a brand new outline, rearranged all of my scenes in Scrivener, made note of everything I was going to have to delete later (there’s a lot of it) and got to work. I made a catch up plan (I was around 10,000 words behind) and announced it on Twitter. Which, is a big key to how I was able to keep going. Having other people comment back on my tweets with words of encouragement helped me to keep going. (Thank you!) November 30th, I slid in with just over 50,000 words.

Some things that I learned over those four weeks…

I need to be willing to take the crazy risks. I get worried that if I make THE BIG CHANGE, it’ll ruin my book. But, I’ll never know where my book goes if I don’t try. A lot of times that big change I’m afraid of is actually what I need.

But, if that big change doesn’t work- that doesn’t mean my book is ruined. I can always go back to how it was before and try again.

I also need to stop putting so much pressure on myself to have my revisions done by a certain time. Having goals is awesome - but I have to learn to forgive myself if I don’t make that goal exactly. There’s no rush or time frame I have to query, be signed by an agent, or have a book deal. If I need space to figure out the structure of my book, I need to give it to myself. There’s a whole lot about this pressure I put on myself I could talk about, but that’s another topic for another time.

Ultimately though, as I always learn, I know I am capable of doing this. Of getting those words on the page and telling a story. Most Novembers, I think “what if the other years were a fluke?”, “what if I’m not capable of pounding out a story any more?”, “what if this book just is bad and I need to quit now?” Then, like most years before, I still finished.

It’s not perfect, and there’s still so much work to do. But I’m 50,000 words closer.

How did NaNoWriMo go for everyone else?

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Merry in Manhattan - Part 1

I saw this on Twitter a few days ago and I might have gotten inspired…

I’m waiting for a reverse Hallmark Christmas Movie about a small town girl who realizes her community’s politics are terrible, moves to Manhattan, gets a high pressure office job, meets a businessman, and they host a non-denominational holiday party at their penthouse.

— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) December 1, 2018

Which is great because Flash Fiction Friday has been MIA for a majority of 2018. The story I came up with with a 3-parter (maybe 4, we’ll see how it goes), the word count for each definitely go over the 1,000 word mark, but are still nice and short for you, and not quite the same as described in the tweet. However, I definitely think that city-based Christmas stories are highly underrated. Who says that small towns are the only ones who have the “real” spirit of Christmas?

“What do you mean you’re going on a cruise?” My stainless steel travel mug clattered to the ground and I stooped to retrieve it while processing Mom’s announcement.

“You know how I’ve always wanted to go on one, and the weather here is so miserable this time of year. Besides, Carla found such a great deal!” Mom’s voice was bubbly and cheerful while I crawled around my desk in search of where my mug had rolled underneath it. “Besides, just the other day you were telling me how pretty New York is at Christmas. It’s your first one in the big city and you should enjoy it!”

There it was. Of course it had rolled directly in the middle of the executive size desk where it was most difficult to reach. I put mom on speaker phone and lay on my stomach to nab the bandit coffee mug. “I know but…”

“Aw, Lane, Honey, if I knew you’d take it so hard I would have told Carol I wouldn’t go. Maybe she can get a refund…”

The disappointment in her voice was almost too much to handle. “No, Mom. It’s fine. You’ve always wanted to go on a cruise and you hate the winter so this will be perfect for you. I’ll mail you your gift before you leave and just be sure to send me a picture of you opening it Christmas morning.”

Her tone changed immediately. “Of course! And I’ll do the same. Okay sweetie, I’ll talk to you later. Lots to do! Bye!”

She disconnected the conversation and I slumped against the floor. The damn coffee mug was still out of reach. This was not a day to go without caffeine.

“Having trouble?” a male voice asked.

Damn. I should not have worn a skirt.

“I’m fine.” I bumped my head on the desk and rubbed it gingerly as I attempted to sit as elegantly as possible. While on the floor. While searching for my morning coffee.

My co-worker Chris raised a mocking eyebrow and leaned against the door frame, hands in his Armani dress pant pockets. His blonde hair was perfectly combed with a sweep that didn’t even need any gel to make it stay there.

The bastard.

“You enjoy lying on the floor?” he asked.

“When my coffee has rolled under my desk, yes, I do.” I climbed to my feet and tried have some sense of dignity.

“Want some help?”

“No.” Then I pictured my coffee mug rotting underneath my desk for the next several hours and the coffee going cold because there was no way I was getting back down there to get it. “Yes.”

Chris pushed off the door frame and got to his knees. At least the man had a great ass. Yes, I was checking it out. No, I did not feel guilty because he totally did the same to me when I was on the floor as well.

“You know I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” he said.

I was already typing away on my phone with a message to my boss to let her know I was available to work over the holidays. “Hm?”

Chris emerged from under the desk and lifted the mug triumphantly. “Your phone was on speaker. Looks like you’re spending Christmas here.”

The phone binged with an incoming message. THANKS LANE! FEEL FREE TO TAKE THE HOLIDAYS OFF THOUGH. YOU’VE EARNED IT!

I groaned. What happened to the big time city bosses who were absolute Scrooge’s and made everyone work on the holidays? Now I wouldn’t even have that to distract me from how I’d be spending Christmas alone this year. I swiped the mug out of Chris’ hand and slumped in my desk chair. “Yeah… I’ll be here.”

I went back to my phone. NO PROBLEM. LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ME!

He perched on the edge of the desk. “Don’t sound so excited about it.”

“Sorry, I was looking forward to going home.”

“You hate going home.”

“No I don’t.”

Chris picked up the tiny snow globe I used as a paperweight and shook it. “Yes you do. Leading up to Thanksgiving all you did was complain, then when you got back you kept on complaining.”

I opened my email for the day and started to click through it. “That is not true.”

Chris tossed the snow globe and caught it again. “Yes it is. It’s boring.”

Accurate.

“They have awful politics.”

Accurate.

“They’re closed minded.”

Accurate.

“And you felt suffocated there.”

Also accurate.

I looked away from the computer. “Do I really talk about my hometown that much?”

He placed the snow globe back on the desk. “You really do.”

I took a sip of coffee to hide my embarrassment. My family had lived in a small town for generations, and I never felt like I fit in there. After finishing up grad school, I took a job at a startup advertising business to save up money and make a name for myself, then stayed far longer than anticipated. Finally, I’d had enough of it all and a few months ago applied for a position in New York and was hired.

The truth of it was, moving was harder than I anticipated. New York was wonderful and all I imagined - or was sure it was if I ever had the chance to see it. Work took up most of my time and the little space in my schedule I had free, was spent in my tiny apartment with take out and Netflix. Not having any friends in the city killed one’s social life. The prospect of spending a week back home with all of the lights, carols, and snow and being with my family for a bit was something I was looking forward to.

Although, the delivery guys and I were becoming quite familiar.

I tapped on the keyboard without actually typing anything. “It’s just that Christmas is the one thing my town does right.”

“I spend Christmas in New York every year and they absolutely do it right. Way better than this little town you always moan about.”

I raised my brows. “Obviously, you’ve never watched Hallmark movies.”

Chris crossed his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I pushed the laptop aside and leaned forward. “What I mean is that Christmas is kind of a small town thing. It’s what all the movies are about. Big city girl goes back to a little village and experiences the true meaning of the holidays.”

Chris threw his head back and laughed. “That’s the biggest piece of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life.”

My jaw dropped. “It is not bullshit!”

“New York does the holidays better than anywhere else. You just have been trapped in this office too much to bother seeing it.” He gestured toward the window which, if you turned your head enough and stood in the corner you might have been able to have a glimpse of the skyline beyond the brick wall. “Look, I might have a solution.”

I sipped my coffee. “Oh really?”

“Yes, really. The thing is, I have a favor to ask of you.”

I leaned back in my chair and it was my turn to laugh. “You have a favor to ask of me? Is that why you’re being so nice today?”

“I’m always nice.”

He wasn’t.

Chris removed himself from my desk and went to the window. “The thing is, I have a few events I need to attend over the holidays and those who are hosting them are… traditional… let’s say.”

I turned my chair so I could face him. “Traditional?”

“Yes. They require my having a plus one.”

I laughed again. “You want me to be your date?”

He stuffed his hands back into his pockets. “Plus one. If those in attendance assume you are my date, I may or may not correct them.”

“And you couldn’t find any of your other bimbos to accompany you?” He was always bragging about all of the dates he’d been on each weekend, making me want to stuff my ears with cotton.

He raised a finger as to make a point. “First of all, there is no room for girl on girl hate. That’s very closed minded of you to call them bimbos.”

“I didn’t know you were so woke,” I said over my mug and crossed one leg over the other.

He raised another finger. “Second of all, you don’t do anything or meet anyone, so you aren’t in a position to be turning down invitations unless you want to become a hermit.”

“I can meet people if I -”

He raised a third finger. “And third of all, I’ll make it worth your while.”

I strummed my fingers against the coffee mug. “You’ll make it worth my while?”

Chris leaned against the window. “If you come with me to these events, you not only will learn the true spirit of Christmas in a way only New York can teach it, but I’ll also give you my office. You’ve been lusting after it ever since you came on board.”

I almost dropped my mug again. His office was one of the best in the building. Placed in a corner, windows that overlooked the whole city, and a mini bar. It was like walking into Mad Men.

“What?” I stood and joined him at the window. “Your office is huge! Why… what? Why would you do that?”

He shrugged. “Think of it as a Christmas gift.”

“And all I have to do is go to your events?”

“That’s all you have to do. Well… it wouldn’t hurt if assumptions were made about our relationship so, you might have to act a bit.”

“So I need to pretend to be your girlfriend.” It made the offer significantly less appealing.

He rocked his head back and forth. “It would be helpful.”

“And no one else can help you?”

Chris shrugged again. “Everyone else in the office is married or not interested in men.”

Another fact which was completely accurate. I sipped on my coffee and looked Chris up and down. He may have been a self centered lawyer, but he was charming enough, and attractive. More than attractive - he was downright hot. Even I couldn’t deny that. Yet, would this be something he’d lord over me for the rest of time? I didn’t want to get pulled into his shenanigans. Yet, the prospect of spending every night in December alone in my apartment while my parents and their friends were away on a cruise enjoying themselves was not something I looked forward to.

“We’ll need to have a break up plan,” I said.

“A break up plan?”

I nodded. “Once the holidays are over I have zero intentions of being your plus one to other events. When’s the last one?”

“New Years Eve.”

Of course it was.

“Fine. Once New Years is here the plan is over and you’ll have to tell all of these… acquaintances… that we’ve broken up.”

“Sure, why not? I wouldn’t want to go out with you any more anyway. This is strictly professional.”

“Thank God.”

He walked back to the door of my office and out to the hallway. “I’ll send you the details for tonight.” He called over his shoulder. “And be sure you wear something decent so you can at least pretend to be a local.”

Before I could give a reply he was already gone and down the hallway. Well… that took care of my being bored over Christmas at least. I went back to my desk and worked on catching up on everything so I’d have the weekend free. A few minutes later an email from Chris popped onto the screen.

I pinched my brows together as I read. “What the hell am I supposed to wear to a glow in the dark Hanukkah cocktail party?”

To be continued next week!

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November Reading Round Up

Thanks to NaNoWriMo and… life… I read basically nothing in November. I thought I would be able to squeeze in more but it just didn’t happen. One book I started in October then finished at the start of November. One book was one of my highly anticipated and turned out to be a temporary DNF. Then the last one was interesting but didn’t grab me enough to put down my writing and keep reading and ended up finishing at the start of December.

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (Montague Siblings #2) by Mackenzi Lee

• Genre: YA Historical/Fantasy (LGTBQIA+ rep)

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: 4 stars

Quick Summary: Felicity tries to enroll in medical school but isn’t accepted, so she seeks out a childhood friend who is engaged to her idol to obtain her education.

First off, that summary doesn’t do the plot justice at all - but it was really hard to do when I wanted to keep it to once sentence. What can you do?

I adore the first book in this duology, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue a really ridiculous amount. Monty is my precious baby. Needless to say, I was excited for the second book.

In a sense, this could be a companion novel. You may be able to read this one without reading the first and still be able to follow the plot. I don’t recommend it though because you’ll miss out on SO MUCH extra context. Which, in a way was one of the downfalls of the book. I cared about Felicity and this story because I read the first book and I already went into it caring about Felicity. This book relied on trusting that the reader already cared a bit too much. Yes, it’s a sequel, but this is also it’s own story, and it let the first book do too much of the heavy lifting.

For me, the plot didn’t really pick up until about half way through. I enjoyed it the first half, but it wasn’t spectacular. Overall, that was my feeling the whole book. It was good, I loved what it was doing, I liked the themes of feminism and identity and exploring Felicity’s asexuality, etc. But it didn’t have that little extra… spark… Gentleman’s Guide had.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, sea dragons, lady pirates, feminism, women in STEM, friendship themes, arranged marriages, historical, a hint of fantasy

Content warnings: addiction, violence, bloody wounds, medical procedures, racism, sexism

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Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)

• Genre: Adult Thriller/Mystery

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: Temporary Did Not Finish

Quick Summary: A disturbed man arrives at Strike’s office with the story of a child who was murdered he claims he witnessed, sending Cormoran and Robin on a twisting trail through Parliament.

UGH. I was so excited for this book. I loved the third Strike book, Career of Evil and it left the audience on such a cliffhanger and we had to wait TWO YEARS to find out what happened.

The resolution of said climax was handled in the prologue and it left me completely unsatisfied. But, I knew it wasn’t really resolved so I kept going. The rest of the book though?

Meh.

I honestly don’t even remember much of what happened of the little I did read. It didn’t grab me and pull me in. I’m definitely going to go back to this book, because when I talked to some friends they said they feel like all of these books are a bit slow but still end up being enjoyable. Also, I love these characters so much that I know I’ll want to read book five when it eventually comes out as well. I just have to come back to Lethal White when I have more time to focus on it.

You’ll like this book if you also enjoy: I honestly don’t know because I can’t remember what happened so far.

Content warnings: Reference to a child being murdered, PTSD, unhealthy relationships

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

• Genre: Adult Fantasy (Maybe YA… slightly unclear with this one.)

• Format: Library Hardcover

• Rating: 4 stars

Quick Summary: The daughter of a money-lender gets a reputation for turning pennies into gold and it grabs the attention of the king.

Technically I finished this in December (yesterday) but it was before this post went up so… there we go.

I liked Uprooted by the same author and with this being a retelling I was definitely intrigued. It followed the points of view of three different young women, (more were added through the book, but it mainly focused on them) which I really liked, particularly since my favorite element of Uprooted was the friendship. However, the reader never got a heads up of who’s POV we were in when, which makes it slightly confusing and takes me out of the book. After awhile I got used to it and I was able to get into the book more.

It’s a slower and quieter read, but still enjoyable. What I loved was how it truly captured the feeling of winter. If you want an atmospheric book for these cold months, this is definitely a good one! You read it and want to curl up next to the fire with some hot cocoa and a blanket.

Spinning Silver is a it slower to get into, but I’m so glad I stuck it through to the end. It really was wonderful and I loved how it all wrapped up.

You’ll Like This Book if You Also Enjoy: quieter fantasy, atmospheric books, incredibly slow burn romance, hate to love, winter, fairy tale retellings

Content Warnings: fire, death, burning, child abuse, alcohol abuse, kidnapping, demon possession, poverty

What did you read in November? Any other Cormoran Strike fans who are riding the struggle bus with this most recent installment?

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Book Recommendations- Relateable Characters

When I was looking for a topic for this week, I sought out my friends who run the Monthly Recommendations group on Goodreads to see what their topic was for the month. It was “relateable characters.” I thought that was perfect because there’s a ton of characters I’ve related to in all of the books I’ve read!

It was actually much harder than I thought it would be -especially if I wanted to have a variety of age levels and genres. A majority of the characters I’ll talk about are from young adult contemporary books. It’s not that I don’t relate to characters in other genres and age groups. I completely do! But it’s more of the “I get that emotion” or there’s moments where I relate, but for the character as a whole… not as much. Which I like. So much of reading is putting yourself in the shoes of characters who are not like you. Let’s be real, my life is nothing like most of the ones you’ll read in a fantasy. Yet, even in adult contemporary, a majority of the time my life looks nothing like theirs. Which honestly, should be a blog post in it of itself with my gripes on how adult fiction is written.

But we’ll save that for another time.

Anyways. Here is my list!

Simon from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Image found here

Simon was the first character I thought of! While I’m not a 16 year old boy who’s coming out of the closet, there’s something about him I completely connected to. The way he interacted with his friends and family, the insecurities and emotions, they were all things which were so on point not just for when I was a teenager, but even now as an adult.

Molly from The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

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In the same vein as Simon, Molly from Albertalli’s second book was relateable in a way where I could see myself as a teenager, but also as an adult. It was in a different way than Simon though because this premise was 100% me. A girl who has had a million crushes, but never actually dated anyone. This was me in high school to a “t” and it’s still me now. Her reasoning and mindset behind all of it I connected to in a way I never have been able to with other books.

Christy from the Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

My thoughts and feeling on the Christy Miller books have changed drastically since I first read them in high school. But, I can’t deny the impact these books had on me back then and all the way through college. Even as an adult when I read a book in one of the spin-off series, while I didn’t agree with a lot of directions it took, the situations the characters went through I completely connected with. I remember when I first read Summer Promise as a 13 year old, my thoughts were “did this author read my mind? This character is me exactly.”

John from I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Image Found Here

This one is a bit of a stretch considering that I’m not a teenage boy with sociopathic tendencies. However - he grew up in a morgue and I grew up in a funeral home so I was SO EXCITED to read this. Cause no one else really has much experience growing up around dead people.

Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

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My love for Fangirl knows no bounds, and so much of it is because of how much I love Cath. This is one of the first books which really put a focus on people who were “fangirls” (particularly of Harry Potter) and along with it, writers. While fan fiction was never a big part of my Harry Potter fan experience, it still took me back to those days when we were waiting for each book to be released. Then, it was also one of the first books where I connected on the level of being a writer. Most books and movies get pretty eye-rolly when they depict writers (which is weird cause it’s writers writing about ourselves?) but this one I felt really got what it’s like. Beyond that, I also connected to her thoughts and insecurities of starting college. While my experience was slightly more close to her sister’s, there were still a lot of moments where I remembered it all from my own college days.

Bridget from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

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All four of these characters are completely relateable. However, there was something about Bridget which rang true to me. Bridget is extreme, and the reasons for the directions her mind goes are completely different than mine. However, I can see so much of the same thought patterns and while I’m not as extreme as she is, I can see how I could be pushed to be so.

Elide from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas

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I had to pick one person from the Throne of Glass books! It was hard though because as much as I’d love to say I’m like Aelin or Mannon… I’m just not. Elide though, I could for sure see.

She’s one of the few characters with a disability which I actually really liked, which is really rare for me. I loved how she was small and most people tended to look her over and underestimate her abilities. Most of the time, Elide we learn does this on purpose. But, I could connect to the idea of people underestimating you at first glance. Then, we see how she totally has a sassy attitude and ends up having a lot of friends who would surprise others. A lot of “wait… THAT person is your friend? But they’re so scary!”

Elide is amazing, and I relate to her while also wanting to be more like her.

Annith from His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers

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I love all three of these ladies in His Fair Assassin, but when I read Anith’s book (the third one), I truly saw myself when it came to faith. Most books if they ever address issues of faith, a lot of times it’s a “conversion” story. Annith was a character who always had a connection to her faith for as long as she could remember, and I loved seeing that portrayed because it truly was on point for how I connected to my own religion.

Everyone in Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

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No, I could not pick only one character from this book to talk about! This is one of the few adult contemporary novels I could truly see myself and relate to. Lincoln has moved back in with his parents, isn’t dating anyone, trying to figure out his next steps and what he wants to do, and is also a complete nerd. Then, we have Beth and Jennifer and OH GOODNESS do I love their emails! They remind me of messages my friends and I send to one another. They’re complete friendship goals.

Hazel in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

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No, I never had cancer when I was a teen. However, I was in and out of the hospital all of the time as a kid and there were so many things Hazel talked about in connection with her illness that I could connect to in regards to my disability. It was one of the first books where it was honest and real about it, and I found myself nodding “YES! THIS!”

Merit from The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill

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Okay, so I might not be a vampire and in a relationship with a super sexy vampire master guy and know how to wield a sword. HOWEVER. The Chicago stuff? ON POINT. The Chicago food cravings? ACCURATE. Also, Merit started as a stubborn nerdy girl who loved to read about fairy tales. Um… that’s totally me. If I had randomly been attacked by a vampire and named sential for a vampire house, I could see myself being similar to Merit.

How about you? Which characters have you been able to find yourself relating to?

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My Holiday Romance Book Haul & 'Tis The Season-A-Thon TBR

Here in the US Thanksgiving is only 2 days away! How did this happen? I should start fasting so I have room for all of the turkey.

(Kidding… kidding…)

For me and my family, once our Thanksgiving dinner plates are empty we go into all out Christmas mode! 99.9% of the time we wait until the day after. But… I’d be lying if I said there hasn’t been the Thanksgiving night or two where we’ve decided to put the tree up while watching Miracle on 34th Street. (To be fair - that movie starts on Thanksgiving day so… it’s totally okay.)

Last Christmas, I learned I loved reading holiday romances. In fact, that was all I read. I did some re-reads of old favorites, and everything else was holiday themed. It was so fun! I absolutely love the holidays and loved having things which were fun and light to read. The holidays can be stressful enough, I don’t need heavier literature and fantasy to add to it. (Not that I don’t love dramatic/serious books. I do! Just… not in December.) If I’m crying, I want it to be because I’m happy or laughing.

So… I might have gone a tad overboard with my ebook buying for my holiday TBR. A couple of months ago I saw them popping up on Amazon and on my Twitter feeds and… well… you’ll see. On the plus side, all of these books were under $4.

What as even better, is that all of these also work for the ‘Tis the Season-a-Thon happening December 3-9!

(Yes, all of these are romance, they’re all adult, and I’m assuming they all have at least one steamy scene.)

Frozen by LA Casey

No… this book isn’t about the Disney movie. Although… a Snow Queen inspired holiday romance book actually sounds like a great idea. ::adds to my stories to write someday list::

This book is a hate-to-love holiday romance where the characters have hated each other since childhood and are now vying for the same last minute Christmas gift for their niece and nephew. The catch? There’s only one left at the toy store. So… basically it’s Jingle All the Way minus Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad and add romance.

I also can totally see myself one day being this aunt for my niece. Her saying she wants a certain toy for Christmas and I go battle it out on Christmas Eve at the toy store.

Let the Hunger Games begin!

Love Rekindled at Christmas by Evelyn Issacks, Elizabeth Kysian, Diana Lloyd, Eve Pendle, and Elizabeth Watson

Firstly - all 2018 proceeds for this book go toward Planned Parenthood.

All of these are historical romance holiday novellas about couples who may have had some steam in the past and it’s being reignited. Second chances, childhood sweethearts, being snowed in, scandals, road trips… basically everything you could possibly want in this genre of book. I’m liking the idea of novellas and short stories around the holidays because if you didn’t like one story it’s okay since it didn’t take you too much time and there’s more to follow! Also, you don’t feel as stressed out trying to finish a whole book. You can read one story and feel accomplished. No stress!

How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe

Okay… if it wasn’t for the fact that all of these authors are fabulous, the title alone sold me. I also really want to wear the cover model’s dress.

Each of these novellas are re-imaginings of classic holiday stories and they all feature dukes. So… what else do we need to know? It’s going to be amazing and probably the first book I pick up the moment I’ve finished my Thanksgiving turkey.

Joy to the Earl by Nicola Davidson

Another one where the title alone sold me on reading this book. What can I say? I love a cheesy holiday pun.

Our hero has a disability who finds out that he just so happens to have a secret inheritance. (And I’m assuming looses his shirt somewhere along the way if the cover is any indication.) Woo hoo! Merry Christmas! Apparently, he’s also a virgin which I happen to find super swoony. Most of the time you have heroes who are rouges and ladies men. Instead, it’s the woman who has the reputation. So, I find this refreshing.

Let it Snow by Jessica Calla, Jennifer Acres, Joel Bain, JP Dailing, Cindy Dorminy, Jordin Kay, KD Proctor, and Larissa Weatherall

Another anthology! This time, it’s contemporary romance and all of the novellas take place in the same town. Each story stands alone, but they do have some interweaving characters. I think it’s such a cute idea! Like Love Actually but the story lines may or may not all come together in the end.

Once Upon a Winters Eve (Spindle Cove #1.5) by Tessa Dare

I love love LOVED Tessa Dare’s first book in the Spindle Cove series, so naturally when I saw this novella was set in the same series it was an instant add to my holiday TBR.

A Christmas Brothel by Annabelle Anders, Tammy Andresen, KC Bateman, Katherine Bone, Dawn Brower, Jane Charles, Elizabeth Essex, Aileen Pish, Susan Gee Heino, Rose Gordon, Virginia Heath, Alanna Lucas, Amanda Mariel, Deb Marlowe, Nadine MIllard, Kate Pearce, Sandy Raven, and Ava Stone

I saw the title of this one and I knew I had to download it. It’s another anthology where they all take place in the same location and each story stands alone. It says it’s a set of “Canterbury Christmas Tales” which tells me that this is more medieval setting, which I think is super cool. Usually in historical romance you get regency and Victoria eras.

Also - proceeds for this book go for Toys for Tots!

What’s even better, is that most of these books will work for the challenges for the ‘Tis the Season-A-Thon hosted by some of my Booktube friends! (December 3-9) Their challenges are:

• Read a book with red/green on the cover (Love Rekindled at Christmas, A Christmas Brothel, Joy to the Earl, and How the Dukes Stole Christmas all work for this one!)

• Read a book while listening to holiday music (Which I’ll probably be doing anyways so - check!)

• Read a warm and fuzzy book (Which… is basically all of these because I’m sure every single one of these books will be warm/fuzzy/happy books)

• Read a short book - under 250 pages (Once Upon a Winter’s Eve fits this challenge!)

• Read a holiday themed book (um… that’s all of them.)

Then, their group book is Snow in Love by Melissa de la Cruz, Nic Stone, Aimee Friedman, and Kasie West which means… I went ahead and requested it from my library.

What books do you all plan on reading during the holiday season? Anyone else get completely suckered into buying any holiday romance book that has a pretty dress on the cover? (And the shirtless men too -let’s be real.) Just me?

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How to Be Productive During the Holidays

So here’s a thing: in the US, Thanksgiving is next week.

Say what?

Yeah, that was my reaction too when I looked at my calendar. I’m already behind for NaNoWriMo but felt pretty relaxed about it. “I totally have time to catch up on my word count!” Then I realized Thanksgiving was next week and all of the sudden reality hit me. My neice’s birthday was this past weekend, this upcoming weekend my family is heading out of town to celebrate my grandpa’s birthday, then BOOM! It’s Thanksgiving. Then we’ll be full swing into Christmas.

I do not have nearly as much time on my hands to catch up on my word count as I thought. On top of it there’s blog posts to write, books to read and review, presents to buy, food to cook… as much as I love the holiday season, it also can be pretty stressful and hectic.

What’s a person to do when they have a to-do list a million miles long, but in reality all they really want to do is curl up with some hot chocolate and watch Hallmark Christmas movies? Here’s some ideas:

Be Realistic

Every year for NaNoWriMo I swear I’ll get writing done on Thanksgiving. “Even for just a few minutes! I can get some words in!”

Do I get writing done on Thanksgiving?

Nope.

It’s just not a realistic goal for me. As you’re preparing for all that you need to do and determine what you can actually do. For me, that means on major holidays I’m not going to get anything extra done, so I need to work extra hard the days before so I can have fun later.

Or maybe you had a goal of reading a certain number of books in one month and you need to cut that number down. Maybe you need to cut back on the number of projects you work on through these next several weeks. Maybe it’s not realistic for EVERYONE on your gift list to receive a handmade item by you.

Work Ahead

Yes, this will require some planning. (Which is why I’m writing this post before Thanksgiving.) But once you get the leg work done, it’ll be so helpful!

For me - this meant planning out and writing all of my blog posts for the remainder of the year. Yup. I have every blog post from now through December (and even the start of January) planned. I’ll have them all written before Thanksgiving hits (if not before) save for the ones which are more time sensitive.

Example: I can’t finish my November Reading Round-Up until November is over. However, I can write each review for the books I complete right after I finish them so I’m not cramming it all in at the last minute.

This way, I don’t have anything to worry about blog-wise while I’m trying to enjoy the holiday festivities.

Be Flexible and Make Compromises

This weekend was my niece’s first birthday, which meant we were busy with presents, decorations, and spending time with friends and family. Good times were had by all! Going in, I had a plan for catching up on my writing. I got a lot done that morning, and once I got home after the party I’d get even more done. Then… friends decided to hang out more afterward and through the evening. I really wanted to go. But, I had words to write.

I ended up compromising.

I didn’t go out with my friends, but I did help watch my niece so my sister and brother-in-law could. I was able to bring my laptop and sit in the living room while my niece slept. (Or rather, played in her playpen because each time we put her down she cried.) I didn’t get quite as many words in as I planned, but I got far more than I would have if I went out.

Then this upcoming weekend, I plan on bringing my laptop with me while my family and I road trip for my grandpa’s birthday. If possible, I’ll be writing while others are driving.

Is it ideal? Nope. But, I’ll still get more done than if I were to skip those days of productivity.

Remember It Doesn’t Need to be Perfect

We get this image in our minds of the perfect holiday seasons. Nothing goes right, the tree looks just so, the presents are all wrapped in a timely fashion, and we can sip eggnog by the fire at the end of each day.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out like that. And that’s okay.

You need to learn to forgive yourself for when things aren’t completely perfect. The last sentence you wrote for your novel might not be the most brilliant piece of literature ever written. The tinsel on the Christmas tree might get clumped up a bit. You might not reach your book reading goal for the year.

All of this is okay. As long as you’re taking care of yourself, there’s a roof over your head, the kids are alive, priorities are in order, and you’re spending time with the people you care about, you’re doing a great job.

What goals do you need/want to complete the next several weeks during this busy time? What’s your action plan or any advice for people who need to get through their own to-do list?

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Self Care for NaNoWriMo

It’s been a slightly rough start for NaNoWriMo this year.

With the exception of Sunday night, I’ve hit all of my word count goals - but at the bare minimum and after a lot of procrastination and dragging of my feet. Leading up to November as I was preparing and bouncing back after PitchWars, I was excited to dive back into this book. I’ve learned I like the revision/rewriting stage because you finally start to see your hot mess of a book become something pretty and shiny that you imagined it to be.

I saw VE Schwab speak at a local book store at the start of October and I loved how she talked about the writing process. When you get a new book idea, it’s this pretty shiny perfect sphere. Then, once you start to write you’re essentially throwing that sphere as far away as possible and as you write you’re making your way to wherever you threw it. The problem is, when you’re at the start of that journey you can’t see what the sphere actually looked like any more. Then, as you continue to write and revise, you slowly make your way to the sphere and you start to see what it looks like again.

I was excited to get closer to my sphere again.

Yet, each time I sit down at my computer with my notes and preparation, my mind panics and blanks. When I do eventually get the words on the page, I’m not satisfied in the least other than hitting that word count and being glad I don’t have to write any more for the day. This then makes me even more frustrated and confused. I love this book, this story, and these characters. I was so excited to get back into it. What happened?

It all culminated Sunday evening. I’d been coming down with a cold, I’d had a rough day at work, then had to go to an event right after which was great - but also left me feeling tired and drained, and on top of it all the crimson wave had to hit me that afternoon. I started my day around 5:30am and finally arrived home at 7pm. I tried to open up my Scrivener project but as I looked at the blank screen I couldn’t will myself to put any words on it.

But, it was only the 4th day of NaNoWriMo. This is the time when I’m supposed to be pumped up and ready to go! I couldn’t be burned out yet!

Friends told me it was okay to skip a day and reminded me that I essentially did my own NaNoWriMo in August in preparation for PitchWars. Then, someone on Twitter shared about how taking care of yourself is more important than hitting your daily word count goal sometimes.

If you’re not taking care of you, NaNoWriMo isn’t going to be a great experience. You won’t like or be proud of the work you’ve done. You’ll just be tired and burnt out at the end of November. No one wants that.

Take a Break

I took the night off from writing on Sunday. I got into my PJs, watched TV, and read a book instead. I went to bed with a clearer head and feeling much more relaxed. I even fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow which rarely happens.

It’s going to be a pain to have to catch up on that word count because I know this week is going to be another busy one for me. Yet, when I got up on Monday morning and was drinking my coffee and heading out to work, the ideas started to flow again.

“What if I did this…”

“What if in this scene this happened…” “

I could do this in today’s chapter to prepare for something else in a later chapter…”

Do Something Completely Different

Most of the time on my commute to work I listen to podcasts. Usually writing and publishing based podcasts. Instead, the last couple of days, I listened to music. Your mind can’t be on writing 24/7. Sometimes you need to sit in your car and belt along with some show tunes. (Or whatever music it is that you listen to.) You can turn on the TV and watch an old favorite or start a new one. You’re allowed. It’s okay.

Write in Short Spurts

A friend of mine who is doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year texted me a picture of her coffee and laptop and talked about how she was so excited to get to writing! As a mom of two kids (both still in diapers) and watching a third kid during the day, she doesn’t have the time to sit for hours on hours to work on her book. Instead, she said that she’s keeping her laptop open and whenever she has a couple of minutes she jots down some words.

Your writing doesn’t all have to be done after you’ve spent long hours at a coffee shop with inspiration pouring out of you. Not many of us have the time or energy for that. Instead, take a few minutes here and there. It’ll make it easier to turn off your brain when you need to, and if you leave off at a spot where you’re excited to go on, it’ll motivate you to write that next time you have a short time slot.

Get A Writing Support Group

It can be other people who write, others who are participating in NaNoWriMo, or simply those who support you in your endeavor. There’s moments you need someone to give you permission to take a break, to give you a pep talk, and listen to you whine and complain about your words. (Or lack thereof.) Writing doesn’t always have to be a solitary act!

Sleep

Here in the US, NaNoWriMo falls in the middle of autumn and we’re on our way to winter. Which means it’s cold and flu season. What helps to ward that off? Sleep. If you’re not getting the rest you need, you’ll be more likely to get sick, and when you’re sick you’re not going to feel like writing. Beyond that, when you’re well rested your ideas are going to flow more and you’ll get more done.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing This

In the midst of all of the frenzy of updating your word count, participating in word sprints, and trying to figure out your next plot point, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget why you decided to do this in the first place.

Make an inspiration board of all of the things you love about your book and why you made this goal. Keep a motivational quote by your computer or wherever it is you write to help you keep going. Be like Rachel Berry in Glee when she put a star in front of her treadmill to remind herself of what she was doing all of this hard work for.

You can do this my friends, and so can I! Take a break if you need to. Find a distraction. Then it’s time to get back to work.

Here's your #NaNoWriMo Eve pep talk: If @veschwab can completely rewrite Vengeful in two months - you can get 50k words in November. (This is basically what I keep reminding myself every few minutes when I start to panic) pic.twitter.com/aJvaRRikul

— Emily - is NaNoWriMoing -Hornburg (@eehornburg) October 31, 2018

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October Reading Round Up

October was a sightly different reading month for me than usual. Other years I’m all ready for Halloween and fill up my reading list with books about monsters, the paranormal, urban fantasy books I’ve been meaning to get to, etc.

That was not the case this year for a couple of reasons.

1) Five of my auto-buy/favorite authors had new releases this month. FIVE. I didn’t even get to read all of them. (Bummer, I know.) If the staff at Barnes & Noble didn’t know me before, they sure do now because I was there at least once a week to pick up a pre-order.

2) I want to become more familiar with recent releases for adult fantasy since…. you know… that’s what I write. So, I went to the library and picked up a few. I only got to one of them, and it took me longer than usual to read. I had to renew the others.

3) KINGDOM OF ASH IS LIFE.

So. Let’s get to it, shall we?

*=affiliated link

Vengeful* (Villains #2) by VE Schwab

• Genre: Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: 5 stars

Quick Summary:  A few years after the conclusion of Vicious a new EO wants to take power in Merit.

If it wasn’t for Kingdom of Ash, this book would take the top spot for my favorite of October. Unless something drastic happens, it will definitely make the list of my favorites for 2018. I read Vicious a couple of years ago and it is my favorite VE Schwab book. When I heard she was working on a sequel, I was ridiculously excited!

I loved the new characters/villains introduced in this one, the additional depth we got for the characters we already knew, and it was beautifully crafted. I was able to see the author speak at a local store and it was so awesome to hear her talk about the process of writing this book!

You'll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy:  The first book Vicious, super villains, anti-heroes, pissed off women who want to take down the patriarchy, found family

Content Warnings: torture, violence, death (a lot of death), references to sexual assault

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The Queens of Innis Lear* by Tessa Gratton

• Genre: Adult Fantasy Retelling

• Format: Library Hardcover

• Rating: 3.5 stars

Quick Summary: A fantasy retelling of King Lear where 3 sisters fight for the crown.

King Lear is one of the Shakespeare plays I’m not familiar with other than it was a tragedy. Which means don’t get attached to anyone since they’ll probably die a terrible terrible death. I debated if I should read a plot synopsis before diving into it. I decided to just read a quick run-down of the premise.

I truly loved the concept for this book. Three women of mixed race who all could take their father’s crown after he dies. The oldest is asexual, a total bad ass, and prepared to take the throne to be king. (Yes, king. Not queen. She won’t take that s***.) The second oldest is happily married and has this super fascinating arrangement to rule at her sister’s side, has great forest/tree magic, but is also dealing with infertility. Then the youngest is close to her father, is super sweet, and is this star priestess person.

The beginning, I loved. I was interested, it pulled me in, I loved the characters. The ending was also great. It wrapped up everything well, it was intriguing, I wanted to keep going and see it all through. But the middle… meh. It was a struggle to keep going. I had a hunch that the end was going to be better, so I continued on. But that middle section definitely brought down my rating. There was so much potential though!

You'll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy:  Shakespeare, tragedy and death, stand alone fantasy novels, more pissed off women who want to take down the patriarchy, sisters, star cross lovers

Content Warnings: violence, infertility/miscarriages, a lot of death and blood

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What If It’s Us* by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

• Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance - M/M relationship

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: 4 Stars

Quick Summary:  Arthur and Ben randomly meet at a post office in New York then go on a hunt to find each other once again.

I love Becky Albertalli a ridiculous amount. (I’ve read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda at least six times.) As for Adam Silvera, I’ve read some of his books and I really appreciate him and his stories and I’m glad they exist, but they aren’t my favorite. When they teamed up to write a book together, I was cautiously excited.

There was no need for the cautious, apparently.

After how intense some of Queens of Innis Lear was, it was great to have this fun romantic book. A bit predictable, kinda corny, but I like those things. I mean, you don’t read a romantic comedy type of book because you want the end to surprise you, let’s be honest.

You'll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy:  romantic comedy, meet cutes, summer romance, M/M relationships, a lot of Hamilton fangirling, NYC

Content Warnings: not a whole lot to be honest with you. There’s some friend fight, a bit of a divorce worry, cheating, homophobia

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Kingdom of Ash* (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J Maas

• Genre: New Adult Fantasy

• Format: Hardcover

• Rating: 5 Stars

Quick Summary:  ITS THE FINAL THRONE OF GLASS BOOK WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Yes. My most anticipated book of 2018. If not for the last several years. It’s actually here and I finished it. My heart… I don’t even have words.

This book was 992 pages.

I cried for 992 pages.

I’m writing this not even 24 hours after completing the last page and I’m almost ready to start crying again. I’ve been wallowing over how the Throne of Glass series is over ever since I put it back on my shelf.

Literally my only complaint is SO MANY BATTLE SCENES. Which, I can’t even complain about because the whole thing takes place during war so… there you go. It’s just that battle scenes aren’t my particular favorite and I have a hard time focusing on them. Beyond that - I LOVED EVERYTHING. This book also had the most “classic epic fantasy” feel out of all of them.

I’m not going to go on much more (I could if I wanted to- trust me!) because if I share anything about this book, it’ll spoil the entire series for those who haven’t read it yet. If you’re a fellow Throne of Glass fan, please feel free to reach out to me and we can talk and fangirl together. As well as cry.

I will say this though: while I’m so sad that this series is over, I’m completely satisfied with how it ended. It was beautiful, and wonderful. My heart is heavy, but it is also full.

You'll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy:  Sarah J Maas’ other books, epic fantasy, war stories, bad ass queens, witches, fae, shape shifters, romance, multiple points of view

Content Warnings: on page torture/breaking of bones (this was particularly difficult for me to read), a lot of violence and death, references to past abuse, PTSD, psychological torture/manipulation, loss of loved ones

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The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky (Montague Siblings 1.5) by Mackenzi Lee

• Genre: Young Adult Historical- M/M Relationship - Short Story/Novelette

• Format: ebook

• Rating: 4 Stars

Quick Summary:  We check in on the Montague siblings and friends between The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy.

This was a freebie for those who pre-ordered The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy so sadly… I don’t have a link for you all to purchase it yourself. Hopefully it will be available for purchase at some point!

Reading TGTGL was the perfect cure for my “book hangover” after reading Kingdom of Ash. It was fun, light, and I was able to check in on some of these fabulous characters.

You'll Like This Book If You Also Enjoy:  The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, M/M relationships, navigating a new relationship, historical fiction

Content Warnings: references to homophobia, epilepsy, and past abuse

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Currently Reading:

Kings of the Wyld* (The Band #1) by Nicholas Eames

• Genre: Fantasy

• Format: Library Paperback

Quick Summary:  A former band of mercenaries reunite to save the daughter of one of their members.

I feel really bad for this book because it has to follow Kingdom of Ash. Nothing will be able to live up to that. I planned on reading a lighter book, or one of the other new releases that came out in October. However, I already had to renew this book and one other one from the library and I really need to get to it.

I’m not super hopeful about it though, because I was looking on Goodreads and apparently the author claims that the “only” way to get women in the book was to make them antagonists. This produced a lot of eye rolling from me even though he also claims that all of his characters have a lot of bad qualities. After most of the books I just finished are about pissed off women who want to take down the patriarchy… that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But, I did see that the second book’s main character is a woman so maybe it’s better than I’m anticipating.

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Paperbacks 3 for $30, available only at BN.com