Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

This story of Dora who has lost half her soul to a fairy and as such has little emotions is captivating.  It takes place in regency times only in this version of the world; there are fairies and actual magic, and ways to go between the more mundane world and the faerie realm.  Olivia does a beautiful job of writing a fantasy that shows the struggles of women and the poor as well as the stifling nature of expectations for men and women to marry. 

Half a Soul is easy to get lost in, the characters and scenes are well-written and the ending is satisfying. This book has a complete resolution and a far-reaching epilogue.  That being said there is another book to come from this universe. When the character for the second book is introduced briefly in this book, you'll know that is who will be the main character in this upcoming book. 

This book has one of the best declarations of love that I've read in ages, I don't think it spoils the book to share it, so see it below: 

5 stars, a book worth reading! 

 

Spring Forward! The Time Change is here - #TheSundayPost

   

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

The time change is here, are you feeling a little sleepy today?  It should be an interesting week at school for all the kiddos--will the lack of sleep make them tired or wired as we adjust?  I usually wind up more wired than tired myself.  Me and the Hubs are going to be in a St. Patrick's Day parade today, we are walking in the parade with our congressman.  I volunteered during the campaign, knocking on doors and putting out signs, and mailing postcards.

Hopefully, we will have good weather and a safe day. What are your plans for today and this week? 

Here is what I'll be talking about:

 

Friday, I'm in Love! by Camryn Garrett

 

I borrowed this book from my local library's Libby App. I was looking for a book for the Kensington Book Challenge to fit the category of LGBTQIA joy. The cover exemplifies joy to me, but it was doubly nice that the story was also joyful. 

There is one POV in this book and that is our MC Mahalia, Mahalia is a high school junior who lives with her mom, works part-time, and is stressed about the SAT, going to college, and has a crush on the new girl at school--Siobahn.  So we are along for the ride as Mahalia and Siobahn begin a friendship, Mahalia's mom has surgery, and Mahalia deals with casual racism at school. There are ups and downs in the story but all the main characters have parents, no one is sexually assaulted, or kicked out by their parents because they identify as queer. The book ends with a lovely party and the song this book is titled after is used in the story to lovely effect. 

5 start for this fun fluffy first love story. 

 

Thank you NetGalley for the Latest Lynn Cahoon's Kitchen Witch Series!

 

This is the fourth book in Lynn Cahoon's delightful Kitchen Witch Cozy Mystery series. I was happy to receive an ARC from Net Galley and dive back into Mia's world. I thought this was a pretty good mystery.  This series has a substantial amount of scenes showing the day-to-day life of Mia and her catering business.  If you don't like reading about the interworking of a small business person who is also a kitchen witch, this is not the series for you.  For me, the scenes of daily life focused on the preparation and sharing of food is cozy to read.  I also find comfort in the idea of magic all around us. 

In this book, Mia has become a go-to source for Magical Springs when a mystery needs to be solved, so it is no surprise when Mahogany asks Mia to solve the death of her mother.  The police think her mother died of old age, but Mahogany is certain it is murder. Mia, of course, helps and ultimately solves the murder. Unlike many cozies, Mia doesn't confront the murderer herself in a desolate area, she calls the police. 

I was surprised at the ending point, we don't get any resolution to Mia's job situation and we don't get to see the wedding. I wonder if the next book will take place seconds after this one ends? 

My rating for this book is 4 stars. 

Thank you #NetGalley for this book! All opinions are mine! #FourCharmingSpells 

It's time for the 2023 Read-Along w/Anne! The Druid Chronicles

I started this series a few years ago and I think I only read the first couple of books. I really enjoy Atticus and his canine companion Oberon, but for whatever reason, I can't recall I got distracted and didn't finish the series. So I am excited to join Anne's Read-Along and read this series all year long. 

Hounded is a nice first book in a series. Kevin Herne blends together well-known folklore with actual history and then builds that out with his own creativity to make a world I will enjoy visiting this year. In Hounded we meet vampires, werewolves, fae queens, and other mythical gods all of who are living in the world either unseen by humans or with glamours to hide their true natures. I like that Atticus has to avoid human authorities and run his shop in addition to whatever fae-related drama he gets mixed up in as the story unfolds. 

4 stars! Already have book two downloaded and ready to go! 

 

Hello March! The Sunday Post!

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

March was supposed to come in like a Lion with four to ten inches of snow, but lucky for us, we got some rain and snow showers that didn't stick. This week temps look to be mainly in the high 30s, which is not great, but it could be worse! 

I've taken down my winter decorations and put up some fun St.Patrick's Day decor, I have some green mms left over from Christmas and am planning to make some Peanut Butter MMs cookies sometime this week. Any excuse for peanut butter cookies, right? 

How was your week? Did you watch or read anything fun?  I watched Goblin, a K-Drama this one is basically a contemporary fantasy. We also watched Vagabond, an action-packed K-Drama. And of course, we watched the latest episode of The Last of Us. 

And here are the books I'll be talking about:

ACOTAR - Beauty and The Beast

 I think I would have been better off not knowing this book is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I was too old for the Disney Princesses and not even Anna was into them when she was a kid.  In any case, I do like fantasy, especially if I can listen to it, so I borrowed this book from my library.  

This book is very popular and I think there are over 100,000 reviews on Goodreads. So do I even need to add my two cents? 

Here are my main thoughts:

1. I liked that our MC is a hunter and basically the one keeping her family alive at the beginning. She has skills and isn't afraid to work hard and she knows adversity.

2. This book is long and takes a good long while to get going. 

3. The romance fell flat for me and the actual love scenes were very fleeting.

4. My favorite characters were Lucien, Rhysand, and Feyre's sister Nesta.  

Overall I enjoyed listening to the book. I didn't really like what happens to Feyre at the end, as far as her leveling up so to speak -- I don't want to spoil anything. And I would like to know if I would get more of Lucien's POV in book two? I don't really care all that much about Feyre or Tamlin. So I'm not sure if I will read more.

I googled to double-check the spelling of Nesta's name for this post since I had only listened to the audio, and when I did the first thing listed was a  spoiler for her story. BOOO Google.

My rating is 3.5

If you have read this series, please let me know what you thought of the second book! 

 

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

 

This book was our book club pick for a fairytale retelling. It's a stand-alone fantasy book that is much shorter than fantasy books tend to be. T. Kingfisher does an excellent job of writing concisely and giving the reader a rich world to discover. I listened to the audio version of the book and found it to be easy to listen to and follow. 

The story has a satisfying resolution, and also one could see how the story could continue if T.Kingfisher had an interest in writing a second book about these characters. 

 Key elements of this book that I enjoyed:

The main character Marra, as well as potential love interest, Fenris both feel like they are destined to live a life with more suffering than happiness. 

We have a character who is capable of powerfully evil magic, but they choose not to use that evil. 

Some very creepy scenes involve something known as a tooth dancer and a landlady that has a childhood toy. Both characters and the parts they play are so creative and truly the stuff of nightmares. T. Kingfisher builds a fascinating world of a book that is an homage to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. 

4.5 stars 

This Month's Read for The Cozy Mystery Book Club

 

On YouTube on Tuesday at 6 PM Central Time Angela is hosting our monthly Cozy Mystery Book Club you can join me in the comments there. 

I'm looking forward to chatting about this cozy. I don't think we have read a book where we have a single mom of a teenager in quite a while. I enjoyed the family dynamic. Our Amateur Sleuth is a successful thriller writer so she is a very curious sleuth. In the book, she butts heads with the local sheriff that just happens to look almost identical to her main character. I loved that conceit--especially in the way Tamara Berry has Tess Harrow make notes to use what happens at the cabin in her book to overcome some writer's block.  It's the wink and a nod to us readers of cozy mysteries that amps up the fun while reading this book.

If you like humorous cozies, I recommend giving this book a read, I think you will find yourself laughing along!

4 Stars!

This is the Shortest Month, #TheSundayPost End of Feburary!

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

Wow, it's the end of February already. Fortunately for my area, we had it pretty goes on the weather front. More often than not, our temperatures were above freezing. I've been spending some of my not reading time watching K-Dramas. They are SO ENTERTAINING! I'm so glad there are tons on Netflix, so much content I get to enjoy! From what I've been watching they also have a lot of eating scenes so now I'm really excited about a restaurant that is opening near me: Korean Hot Pot and BBQ. It's a whole AYCE thing where you cook your meal yourself it looks really delicious. 

How about you? Have you ever gone to a cook-your-own food place? Do you watch K-Dramas?

Here are the books I'll be talking about this week!