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Favorite 2020 Releases

By Brookelorren on December 29, 2020December 28, 202034 Comments

Wow! Here we are, the last Tuesday of the year. Today’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) topic is “Favorite Books of 2020,” but it’s been a tradition of mine, before I even had this blog, to put out my list of favorite books I read (for the first time) on January 1st. Especially since one year, I read my favorite book of the year on December 31st. So… I’m going to tweak the topic a bit and do Favorite 2020 Releases. And as of today I’ll read no more 2020 releases so this list doesn’t end up changing in the next three days.

This week was actually difficult! If you’ve read my monthly wrap-ups for this year, then maybe you’ve noticed that this has been an awful reading year for me. This has begun to turn around, but over the course of this year, I didn’t request a lot of ARCs and didn’t read a whole lot of new books. But these were the new releases I think stood out to me the most this year. While they are in order, it’s possible that tomorrow I might shuffle some of these around. Or put a couple different ones in.

10. The Kingdom of Back – Marie Lu. This is the story of Mozart’s sister, Nannerl. She wants to be remembered in a world where girls are supposed to grow up, get married, and be forgotten. It’s different than any of her other stories, but it has beautiful descriptions and made me tear up at the end.

9. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – Suzanne Collins. Am I the only person who gets Suzanne Collins the author mixed up with Susan Collins the legislator? Anyway, this is the story of President Snow when he was a teenager. How does a good person go bad? This book explains. It also tells the origin of the song “The Hanging Tree” which I loved.

8. Jo & Laurie – Margaret Stohl & Melissa de la Cruz. I first heard of this book when the Penguin Teen Tour, featuring Astrid Scholte, Melissa de la Cruz, and Marie Lu, came to Denver. I tried reading Little Women as a kid and got bored after the first page, so I initially wasn’t excited about this book. Then I got to read a sample of this on Bookish First and I wanted to read it. I ended up listening to it on audiobook on a road trip between my house and my in-laws in Arizona and it was good enough to make my top 10 this year.

7. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab. This book was cleverly done, and heartbreaking at times. I also enjoyed the historical aspect of this book.

6. Between Burning Worlds – Jessica C. Brody and Joanne Rendell. This year, it’s somewhat hard to tell whether a book would have done better on this list if I hadn’t read it in the middle of a pandemic. Sky Without Stars was #3 on my list of favorite 2019 releases. This book came out towards the beginning of the pandemic. I was planning on meeting Jessica Brody at The Tattered Cover towards the end of March, but the book signing was cancelled and there was a Zoom book launch I attended instead. I loved returning to this world, but it seems like reading books took longer this year than last. Including this one, which I loved.

5. The Best Laid Plans – Cameron Lund. On the other hand, I have to wonder if, looking back on 2020, I think on The Best Laid Plans so fondly because this is a feel-good book in a year that a lot of us weren’t really feeling so good. Four of the top 5 books on this list this year are pretty much that – they leave me with feel-good vibes and hope.

4. Today Tonight Tomorrow – Rachel Lynn Solomon. Oh how I loved this book! I started reading this before the pandemic started shutting everything down, and it was initially my “hot tub book.” I would go to the gym, swim, then get out of the pool and read this book. But then the pandemic closed the gym, so no hot tub. But I did make it a priority to read this book, and I loved it.

3. Skyhunter – Marie Lu. This is the only book in this year’s top five that doesn’t end on a hopeful, happy note (what do you expect, this is a Marie Lu book in the middle of a duology). Would it have ranked higher in another year? Possibly. But I’ve already pre-ordered Skyhunter 2 (even though it doesn’t have a title or a cover yet) and will do a reread before the second book comes out next September.

2. A Sky Beyond the Storm – Sabaa Tahir. I think A Sky Beyond the Storm is the perfect metaphor for 2020. It’s been horrible for so many people, but at the end of the storm, there may be some blue sky. This tetralogy had the perfect ending.

1. Chain of Gold – Cassandra Clare. In a year that I barely made my Goodreads reading goal, Chain of Gold is the only book I’ve reread already. And I’m going to read it again before March 2nd, when Chain of Iron comes out. Now, I said that Skyhunter was the only book that didn’t have a hopeful ending. If you’ve read this book, you may be thinking how was this hopeful? There was a fire, and then the epilogue… anyway, I’ve read the Shadowhunter Found Family Tree, and I know that things will work out. I love how this book ends though.

I’m so glad there’s only 10 weeks until Chain of Iron comes out. A few days ago, I started rereading The Infernal Devices, and plan to read all the Shadowhunter books and stories from Ghosts of the Shadow Market that take place between Clockwork Angel and Chain of Iron. I don’t own a copy of The Bane Chronicles or Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, which is why I won’t be reading those stories. If you’re wondering what order these stories come in, there is a Shadowhunter timeline you can use as a reference.

So there’s my top ten list of 2020 releases. There are a couple books I’d really like to include, and might have, had I written this list on another day.

What books did you come up with? I have a feeling I’m going to have to expand my TBR this week!

Next week we’re going to talk about my “Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021.” I may end up having to cut that “first half of” out of my list though. I only have one unread book on Netgalley right now. I stopped requesting books because I was having a hard time reading so many books.

Books I Hope to Buy with Santa’s Gift Cards

By Brookelorren on December 22, 2020December 14, 202024 Comments

Hello! ::waves:: It’s Tuesday again, and of course that means it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Can you believe that Christmas is Friday? I don’t know about you, but it’s been a trying year for me. It’s starting to get better though.

Today’s topic is supposed to be “Books I Hope Santa Brings.” Since Santa is magical, I suppose he could bring me the books on today’s list, but I don’t think he will. I buy most of my books with gift cards as pre-orders; as a result, I don’t think I’ll get any books this year ::gasp::. What I do hope I get, however, is gift cards, which can be used to buy any of the books listed below.

Skyhunter 2 – Marie Lu. This book doesn’t have a title, and it’s not ready to read yet, but I pre-ordered this book today. It’s out September 28, 2021. Santa’d have to be really magical to bring me this one.

Make Up Break Up – Lily Menon. I’ve read the ARC already but am thinking about pre-ordering the hardback. Swoon Squad members who pre-order this book get to be the first to hear a preview of the next Lily Menon book (I can’t even tell you the title yet!). Plus I love to support great authors.

Chain of Iron – Cassandra Clare. I have read the extended excerpt of this one (available on Riveted if you’re interested), and I must read more! One of the great things about this book is that there’s such a wide variety of characters that there’s a ship for everyone in here. I happen to love Jordelia but there’s something for almost everyone (as a quick skim of the topic on AO3 will show).

Once Upon a Broken Heart – Stephanie Garber. Oh no. Stephanie Garber’s new book, Once Upon a Broken Heart, comes out September 28th as well (along with Skyhunter 2). This one takes place in the Caraval universe with different characters.

Everything That Burns – Gita Trelease. I’m rereading Enchantée this month, and I just love Camille (pronounced Ca-MEE, rhymes with the French word fille, according to the author, I asked)! I have the ARC for Everything That Burns and will probably read it at the beginning of January. This is such a good series I wouldn’t mind owning the real copies instead of the ARCs.

The Heart Principle – Helen Hoang. The Heart Principle doesn’t come out until next August, but this is another book I’d like to read someday. Right now the hardback is selling for $26, which is way too much for me to spend on a book. There’s always the library, although I’m pretty sure it will go down in price.

Winds of Winter – George RR Martin. I have a much better chance of Santa bringing me the unfinished Skyhunter 2 than he is of bringing me Winds of Winter. But I hope to buy this book with a gift card–someday. I mentioned the book in my 2018 Christmas wish list. Two years later, its status is still the same.

Broken Wish – Julie C. Dao. Before I cancelled my Audible membership, I was really hoping to get an audiobook copy of Broken Wish. Unfortunately, it’s not available on audiobook, only Kindle and hardback. This is the only book on today’s list I could actually get under my tree, although I probably won’t.

Red Tigress – Amelie Wen Zhao. The only copy of Blood Heir (the first book in this series) I read was the early ARC that was pulled. I don’t know if there were any significant changes made after that point, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. This is another March 2 release (along with Chain of Iron).

Sword Catcher – Cassandra Clare. I almost forgot about Cassandra Clare’s adult debut! Sword Catcher is supposed to be published in 2021, but it doesn’t have a date yet and you can’t pre-order it. It will be interesting to see what her adult books look like.

That’s 10! Do you often get books under your tree? Or are you like me, who pre-orders so many books that it’s really difficult for Santa (or your relatives) to know what to get you, so you hope for gift cards instead?

Next week is supposed to be “Favorite Books of 2020.” Even before I started this blog, I had an annual list called “Favorite Books I Read for the First Time in 20XX” list, that I always (with the exception of 1 year) release on January 1st. So I won’t be doing that. I will either do a “Favorite 2020 releases” list, or I’ll switch the order around and do the “Most Anticipated Releases of 2021” list. I don’t know yet though. I’ll see you then!

Fireblood

By Brookelorren on December 18, 2020December 18, 20201 Comment

I recently read Fireblood by Elly Blake. It’s been nearly two years since I read the first book, Frostblood. I liked the story, but I wasn’t enamored with the book (probably because I listened to the audiobook and I didn’t care for the narrator). I read a physical copy of Fireblood so I wouldn’t have those problems.

Because this is the second book in a trilogy, there are probably spoilers for the first book. You can read my review for book 1 here.

Ruby is an anomaly at the frost court. If she didn’t have the favor of the king, Arcus–King Arkanus–she wouldn’t be there at all. Even so, she feels out of place. So when she gets the chance to see the fire kingdom, Sudesia, she takes it. Especially since the fire nation might be the key to destroying the Minax, which is now wreaking havoc in the countryside.

Of course, things aren’t quite as simple as Ruby would hope them to be. There’s trouble at home, Tempesia, there’s trouble in Sudesia, and–there may be a love triangle in this book.

I enjoyed this book and immediately added Nightblood to my TBR lottery. It’s hard to tell whether I liked this book better because I wasn’t listening to the audiobook or whether the book was better, but there was a lot going on in this book from start to finish. And now I want to find out how this ends–because while Ruby meets her goals for this book, there’s another difficulty that arises that she’ll need another book for.

Fireblood is an excellent sequel to Frostblood. It was well-written, had excitement throughout, and I cared about the main character, Ruby. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, Nightblood, although I’ll probably wait until I draw its number in the TBR lottery before I read it, since there’s so many other books I also want to read on that list.

Winter 2020-21 TBR

By Brookelorren on December 15, 2020December 14, 202021 Comments

Hello! Today is Tuesday, and it’s also one of my favorite TTTs: the quarterly seasonal TBR. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and it gives us a chance to find out what books other people are interested in.

This week, we’re going to talk about what our reading plans are for this winter. Most of my choices on this TBR were picked from a list that I call the “TBR Lottery.” I make a list of books I’m interested in reading, and I use a random number generator to pick my books.

First, here’s what was on my Fall TBR. I had been doing terribly on my TBR this year, but for the first time since my Fall 2019 TBR, I read ALL the books on my list! They were:

Skyhunter – Marie Lu
Keeper – Kim Chance
The First Hostage – Joel C. Rosenberg
Mirror Gate – Jeff Wheeler
A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
A Sky Beyond the Storm – Sabaa Tahir
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab
The Red Scrolls of Magic – Cassandra Clare
Talon – Julie Kagawa

I even read a couple other books on top of these!

Anyway, here is the list of books I hope to read this winter:

I’m so looking forward to Chain of Iron, the next book in The Last Hours Trilogy! This last week I’ve been writing Jordelia fics. I wrote one where Cordelia and James go for a walk and get stuck in a snowstorm. So there’s my Christmas story. For a little story, it took a lot of research! Then I wrote another one. Anyway, I did read the extended excerpt, but I can’t wait to reread the whole thing. Plus I’m reading Chain of Gold, but I’m not counting it here because it’s a reread.

According to my calculations, Chain of Iron takes place at the end of 1903 and into 1904. This next book goes forward a little in time. 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents sounds interesting. I first heard about it a long time ago and then forgot the title. But then I remembered the title and it ended up on my TBR lottery.

Although the title An Affair of Poisons isn’t really my favorite, the plot looks interesting. I also like historical novels, and this one has a bit of magic as well. This was another winner of the TBR lottery this season.

I’ve been interested in reading Switchback since I was not approved for the ARC on Netgalley. When I drew this book in the TBR lottery, I realized that my library didn’t have this. So I requested them to buy it, and they agreed! I had been looking for this book to go on sale on the Kindle, but it hasn’t yet.

I bought the entire Lunar Chronicles series for $2.99 each two years ago on Cyber Monday. Even though I’ve repeatedly said I wanted to read this book, I never got around to it. Fortunately, I drew its number and I’m reading Cinder in the next few months.

The Language of Thorns is a collection of short stories set in the Grishaverse. It sounds like a lot of fun. My library has several copies. Right now they’re only available for curbside pickup, so like Switchback, I’ll have to plan ahead and request this one about a week ahead of time so it’ll be ready when I can read it.

Everything that Burns (AKA Liberté) was supposed to come out on Bastille day this year (which would have been awesomely symbolic), but got pushed back to this winter. I was lucky enough to get an ARC for this. I’m currently reading Enchantée again before reading this. I’m loving this magical book all over again and am excited for its sequel!

Every once in a while, I start collecting books from an author I’ve never read. That’s the case with Kristin Hannah. I got The Great Alone on sale a couple years ago (who can pass up a $1.99 book if it looks like something they’d want to read?) and then I needed to use my Audible credits before I cancelled my membership for a while, so I pre-ordered The Four Winds. It’s set during the Great Depression, and sounds so interesting. Which makes me think that maybe I should write a fictional story (very) loosely based on my grandma’s life.

Six of the books on this list today have been on the TBR lottery since I first put it together more than a year ago (I’ve read about half of the original list). I’ve been interested in The Boy and His Ribbon for a while, and finally I picked it. Sure, I could just pick it, but there’s tons of other books I want to read as well. There’s 72 books on the TBR lottery right now, although 11 of them are either on today’s list or I read them after finishing my Fall TBR. It’s so hard to choose!

Three Dark Crowns is another book that’s been on my TBR forever and I finally picked it. Then I’ll just have to read the other four books in this series. Hopefully, if I can keep up a decent reading pace, it won’t take me another full year to get to the second book in this series.

So there’s my list. What books do you hope to read this winter? Do you like making seasonal TBRs? Has your reading been down this year too?

Next week, we’re supposed to talk about “Books I Hope Santa Brings.” I probably won’t get any books for Christmas since, after joining the book community, I’ve started pre-ordering almost all my must-have books, but I’ll probably get some gift cards (which is how I purchase almost all my books). So I’ll probably tweak the topic some. See you then!

Wintry Books

By Brookelorren on December 8, 2020December 7, 202036 Comments

Brrrr! I’ve been wearing my winter jacket around when I go places, and though it’s not officially winter yet, it sure feels like it. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a Holiday/Seasonal freebie, so I decided to talk about wintry and Christmasy books. Last year, we did a TTT on Holiday Reads, so I’m going to broaden the topic out a little bit so I can include a wider variety of books. Plus, we’ve had a whole year to find new books!

“Booked for Christmas” is Lily Menon’s Christmas novella! Lily Menon is a pen name that Sandhya Menon writes her adult books under. This one is not for kids. This is the story about a novelist and her harshest book critic. It would make a great Hallmark movie. If you can’t get your hands on her upcoming book Make Up Break Up, at least you can get this one! It’s only $.99 on Amazon.

The Bear and the Nightingale is a book that definitely gives off those wintry vibes. I need to add The Girl in the Tower to my winter TBR lottery because I haven’t read it yet, and I think the only time I really want to read it is in the winter or spring (when it’s still cold). It’s set in a magical, medieval-ish Russia, which is a plus for me.

For me, the Christmas season is fairly short, and I don’t have time to read a lot of novels most of the time. Besides, there aren’t a ton of holiday novels, even though there are some. This is one of the reason why Christmas novellas and short stories are so great. Rainbow Rowell’s Almost Midnight contains two short stories: “Midnights,” which is a beautiful story that follows two people for several New Year’s Eves in a row, and “Kindred Spirits,” a story about people waiting in line for a Star Wars movie (I can’t remember which one).

This book is good to check out of the library, but I don’t recommend buying it. “Midnights” appears in My True Love Gave to Me (a great anthology which is checked in at my library and I might borrow just to read this story), and “Kindred Spirits” can be purchased on the Kindle for $2.99. Since this little book is almost the same price as the others, if you’re buying, spend a few dollars more for the extra stories.

The Christmas Pact was originally an Audible Original that came out last year, and it’s now available on Kindle or paperback as well. It’s a cute story about two people who work at the same company and have similar names: one is Kennedy Riley, the other Riley Kennedy. When they get some emails mixed up, they become enemies. But… they don’t stay that way. Read this one before the 25th if you’re trying to get into the Christmasy mood.

Some of you may know I do this thing I call the TBR lottery: a list of all the books I’d like to read but can’t decide between. They’re all numbered, and I draw a random number to pick my next book. I typically rewrite the list twice a year, because I don’t want to read a cold-weather book in the middle of the summer. The Great Alone is set in Alaska, and it seems like it would be a cold weather book for me. Which makes it harder to win the TBR lottery. But I hope to read it someday.

Wintersong is another one of those books that leaves my TBR lottery list in the summer. Even the cover is icy. Brrrr!

Kingdom Cold has gotten mixed reviews, but this is another book on my TBR lottery that only is there during the cold months. I can’t imagine reading a book like this in the middle of August.

I have not read the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer picture book, but I have seen the TV show many times. Poor Rudolph is bullied (and Santa condones it!), at least in the TV show. Fortunately, he gets to be a hero in the end.

I did not like the narration to Frostblood, however, I liked the book enough that its sequel, Fireblood, made it to my TBR lottery, and I just finished it. I definitely like the print version better. Anyway, this book takes place in an icy land, which makes winter the perfect time to read this.

You might think a book with a tent on the cover might be better for summer reading, but not this one. Safe Harbour is a book about a girl who lives in her tent while waiting for her dad to show up… but as the days grow colder, he never does. Did Dad ghost her? What happened? It does have a satisfying ending though.

So there are some wintry books if you’re looking for something Christmasy, or something to read after the holidays while the snow still blankets the ground.

Next week is one of my favorite Top Ten Tuesdays: the seasonal TBR! I love to make these, I love to try to read everything on the list, and I love to see what other people are going to be reading. Not that I need to find new books–my TBR lottery page is bursting! But I like to find new books anyway.

A Sky Beyond the Storm

By Brookelorren on December 5, 2020December 5, 2020Leave a Comment

The long wait for Sabaa Tahir’s A Sky Beyond the Storm has ended! If you enjoyed the other books in her An Ember in the Ashes series, then you don’t want to miss this finale. This is definitely one of my favorite books this year. Expect to see it on my top 10 list coming January 1st.

Because this review is of the fourth book in a tetralogy, it may contain spoilers from previous books.

At the beginning of this book, it seems like almost all is lost. Cities have been decimated, plus the Nightbringer received all the pieces of the star. Keris Veturius has outplayed the Blood Shrike at almost every turn. Laia found and then lost her mother again. And Elias has taken on the role of the Soul Catcher and seems to have discarded his humanity. Is all lost?

Laia is convinced she needs to take down the Nightbringer. The Blood Shrike feels she needs to protect her nephew, the new Emperor, at all costs. Much of this book covers their journeys. Since this is a book, it’s going to get worse before anything gets better. We also see the Soul Catcher and The Nightbringer as they go through their journeys. And one chapter from Keris’s point of view.

This book was so good. It wraps up the past with a beautiful red bow. All the prophecies we’ve seen will make sense. I did cry–for maybe the last 50 pages? But in the end, I was satisfying. It brought joy instead of the desire to throw my book across the room or write fix-it fanfiction. Yes, Ms. Tahir has taken us on a long journey and destroyed our favorite characters–but there is a Sky Beyond the Storm.

A Sky Beyond the Storm is full of lifelike characters. The villains aren’t just cookie-cutter evil people who give monologues–they have a past, hurts, and people that loved them. There are so many memorable quotes in here, I’m looking for the next Top Ten Tuesday where the topic is book quotes. I started writing in my book journal again, where I write down quotes, and I’m so glad I did this for this book.

This was one of the highlights in my reading year. In a year where I’ve been struggling to complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge, I finished this 500-page book in three days. If you’ve read the first three books in this series and loved them, I recommend finishing the series. If you haven’t started, now’s a good time to start.

If you’re interested in my other reviews in this series, they are here:

Books I Want to Read Again

By Brookelorren on December 1, 2020November 30, 202024 Comments

You know the saddest thing about having so many great books to choose from? Sometimes you don’t take the time to reread some of them. At least, that’s what I think. Today is Tuesday, and that’s what Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is talking about today. I actually do reread books, and often have a reread and a new book going on at the same time. These are some books I plan to reread. Some of them soon, some of them in the far off… distant future.

All That Glitters – Gita Trealease. This book will always be Enchantée to me, I’m afraid. I temporarily stopped rereads for NaNoWriMo, but this is the book I plan to reread in December. J’adore this book! I was fortunate enough to be approved for the ARC of Everything that Burns, the sequel, and I’m so looking forward to it! I really think the first book needs a reread first though.

Chain of Gold – Cassandra Clare. There’s something about the Shadowhunters books that give them rereadability. I’ve already reread Chain of Gold once, last summer but I hope to reread this again in January before Chain of Iron comes out. I absolutely adore Jordelia! I love the variety of characters, and how there’s a ship for everybody. I may end up rereading more Shadowhunters books next year, but I haven’t decided yet.

Legend Tetralogy + Short Stories – Marie Lu. I haven’t reread the complete Legend Tetralogy since Rebel came out. I’ve learned, in my enthusiasm for certain books, that sometimes there’s too much of a good thing. So I’ve started limiting the rereads of my favorites to every other year (generally after I reread them multiple times in a year). Anyway, I still have some fanfiction in the Luniverse to write, and I do have to do the occasional reread in this series to do a good job. Plus I love the story.

On a related note, someone left a comment Sunday on my Legend fanfic “Republican Phenoms” saying they were disappointed that there wasn’t more to the story. They said they had read it a year before and were rereading it. It is such a good feeling to know someone liked your story enough to reread it! I want to do a sequel, but haven’t yet because of how difficult it would be to plan.

Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth. I love this duology! I learned from Divergent not to reread a book too often; I didn’t reread this book in 2020, so I figure I’m safe to read this book again in 2021. I have no definite plans to reread it next year, but I do know that this duology and I have another appointment in the future. I’m sure I’ll read Roth’s Divergent too, just not next year. I reread them this year.

Alex, Approximately – Jenn Bennett. Some books leave me with a happy feeling and a strong urge to reread it. I think Alex, Approximately falls into that category. It has such summery vibes to it. I don’t know if I’ll get to it next summer, but we’ll see.

The Immortal Nicholas – Glenn Beck. I probably won’t reread this book this year, but I do plan to someday. This is supposed to be a realistic story of Santa Claus that brings Jesus into the picture, and it delivered. It also has Krampus as a sympathetic but misunderstood character. The first time I read the book I read this book I ugly cried so much during the last part of the book. The second time I didn’t, but I had read it the previous Christmas. So I’ll probably give it another year before reading it again so it has more emotional impact.

The Discoverers – Daniel J. Boorstin. I don’t know what it is about The Discoverers that makes me love it so much. It’s over 1000 pages and covers history from ancient to recent times. Maybe it’s the way the author describes things, maybe it’s the topics he chooses to zero in on; I’ll probably read this again someday.

The Cruel Prince – Holly Black. I have the entire trilogy to this series (not the prequel). I purchased the hardback to The Cruel Prince after borrowing it from the library, so I’ve never actually read my copy. But this book is one that needs a reread at some point.

Into the Hollow – Lynn Vroman. I loved this book, and find it a little sad that after two years, it still only has 47 ratings on Goodreads. I guess it just shows you that there are some undiscovered gems out there that just don’t get enough marketing dollars. Whenever I think of this book it makes me want to smile, so I suppose I’ll reread it at some point.

My True Love Gave to Me – Various. This is a book of Christmas stories that I loved. They weren’t all my favorites, but overall, this anthology put a smile on my face. One of my favorite stories from this anthology was Rainbow Rowell’s “Midnights.” I probably won’t reread it this Christmas either, but this will get a Christmas reread at some point in the future.

So what about you? Do you ever get an irresistable tug towards a certain book you’ve read in the past that you absolutely MUST reread again (and again)? Or do you figure that life is too short to reread books? Next week we’re going to talk about the holidays! I don’t know if any of these books will show up again, but we’ll see. There’s a couple I’m excited to talk about, and I’m looking to see your favorite wintry books!

My “A Sky Beyond the Storm” Prediction

By Brookelorren on November 30, 2020November 30, 2020Leave a Comment

Is anybody else excited about A Sky Beyond the Storm like I am? I’m so glad I buy my books with Amazon gift cards, because nobody in our house has worked since April, and I wouldn’t be able to afford it now.

Anyway, the Kindle edition drops in a little less than 1 hour and 40 minutes. I’m getting the hardback, so I’ll have to wait a bit. It was shipped via Amazon, so it could arrive any time between morning and afternoon. I teach until 3 tomorrow, and then I have a class planning meeting for next semester after that, so I won’t get to dive in until early afternoon anyway.

I reread the books this fall, and came up with a theory of how it will end, based on my reread and the cover to this book. Or at least one aspect of the ending. I don’t know if I’m right or not, but I’m going to put it here. I’m going to make the text color the same as the background in the unlikely event that I’m right. I’ll update this after I read the book with whether I was right or not. You can highlight it to see my thoughts.

So here’s my theory about Laia and Elias:

You know how in the past, there was more than one Soul Catcher? My theory is that Laia will become a Soul Catcher and she will live with Elias as an additional Soul Catcher and live happily ever after.

I’m guessing lots of other people will die (including Helene, based on something Cain said to her), and there may be other Soul Catchers, but after much death and tears, the good people will win the war.

The book is 528 pages, so it might take a few days to find out whether I’m right or not, but whether I am or not, I’m sure it’s going to be an amazing–and heartbreaking–book.

What I’ve Learned From Six NaNoWriMos

By Brookelorren on November 30, 2020November 30, 2020Leave a Comment

It’s November 30th again, and if you’re like me and participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), hopefully you’re finishing up your 50,000 words you need for the win. If not, you’re still a winner in a way, because you tried! This was my sixth NaNoWriMo, and each year, I learned something new. So if you didn’t get to 50k, that’s okay! Here’s what I learned in six years of NaNoWriMos (and four wins).

2014

I won my first NaNoWriMo! It was my second fanfiction novel and fourth longer work overall (the first three I think are technically novellas). Even though it’s published on Archive of Our Own to this day, it’s probably terrible. But you know what? I finished. After wanting to write since elementary school, I had never written a story of this length before.

2015 – First “Failure”

This year, I attempted to write original fiction (as opposed to fanfiction). I didn’t have a plan, only got past the magical 1,666 words on three days, only wrote 7,652 words total, and stopped writing on day 8. Even though I didn’t win, that’s okay! I’m not really a pantser.

2016 – Second “Failure”

This year, I made it a whole seven days before giving up, but I wrote more on each typical day. Writing the story was like pulling teeth though. I wrote a little over 10,000 words though.

That January, I had started writing a fanfic called Like Normal People. I wrote 13 chapters, stopped when we moved, and then forgot about it. I didn’t write for nearly the entire year.

2017

I didn’t even attempt NaNoWriMo. I don’t think I wrote any fiction that entire year. I’m not 100% sure though, but at this point I didn’t know if I was capable of writing an actual full-length novel. My dreams of being a writer shriveled up.

It’s funny though, because even though I didn’t write fiction, that didn’t mean I didn’t write. I wrote journal entries (lots of these). Blog posts. At some point very early in 2018, I realized that I was writing, even though I wasn’t writing for publication. If I was going to write anyway, why not write towards my dream?

2018

2018 was a very productive year, even though I was working “part time,” which often amounted to between 30 and 36 hours a week. Way more than I wanted to be writing. A very lovely person commented on Like Normal People, hoping I’d finish it. This was at the same time that I felt compelled to write Saving Adelinetta, which is still only 2/3rds done but is partially published on AO3. I wrote five short stories, one of them which was “Happy Birthday,” and two novellas.

I wrote the fanfic “Happy Birthday” on April 22. That summer, I was planning on writing a story for NaNoWriMo again. It was going to be based on the English civil war, but with a Russian feel to it. In August, I had a vision to change the characters from my story “Happy Birthday,” add elves and magic, and turn it into a full length novel. This became my second NaNoWriMo win. I ended up incorporating the original story I was going to write into the backstory for what is now THE BRIGHTNESS OF SHADOW, which I’m going to start querying tomorrow.

2019

After the previous year, I knew to plan more thoroughly for NaNoWriMo. I wrote a fanfic novel earlier in the year and then won NaNoWriMo with my… still untitled book. Yes, I wrote the 50,000 words I needed for my 3rd win, but the story seemed to go off the rails. I love the characters and the idea of this story, it just wasn’t well thought out enough. But you know what? I learned that I could write another original novel this year. And someday, I hope to go back and rewrite this story, with more planning.

2020

I started planning THE BALLAD OF COCONUTS AND SNAKES in the summer of 2019. This was the first book I wrote a query to before starting the book. I had no idea how I was going to write the book at the time, because the original query had amorphous ideas of a guy being held by a god on a desert island and being rescued by a girl (I had to edit this to avoid spoilers), but I had a general idea of how this would turn out before the month began. And this became my fourth NaNoWriMo win.

I’m not sure if this will be a single book or a duology. It has a natural breaking point in the middle, but I’m an underwriter and at this point, I’m not sure it will be long enough to make two books. Since I know the basics of the entire twoish-book story, I’m going to go ahead and write the first draft of both halves of the book and then just edit what I think will be book 1 before querying. And I think this one will reach the query stage too.

So that’s been my NaNoWriMo journey so far. If you’ve won this year, wonderful! But if you gave up, or didn’t make it to 50k, that’s okay too. We’re all growing in our writing journey and if you didn’t do it this year, or aren’t happy with your story, try again next year! The more you write, the more confidence you have that you’ll be able to do it again. At one point, I never thought I’d be able to write a novel at all, even though I desperately wanted to.

Thankfulness (Covid Edition)

By Brookelorren on November 24, 2020November 23, 20209 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, and time for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Sorry I didn’t post last week, I so wanted to post about the pets and kids that I named after book characters, but I was so darned busy. Maybe I’ll use it next freebie week. Anyway, this week is Thanksgiving in the US. Some people have suggested cancelling Thanksgiving, but I don’t think you can cancel it any more than you can cancel your birthday. You can choose to go to work, cross out the word “Thanksgiving” on your calendar, and eat hamburgers instead of turkey on that day, but that doesn’t change the day. Besides, it’s good to be thankful.

So this week we’re posting about things we’re thankful for. This year it might be more difficult. Last year I posted about more bookish things, so this year I’ll post about more 2020 related things. Some of them are still a little bookish.

Financial Miracles. This has actually happened to me twice in approximately the last month. And these aren’t isolated incidents either.

So about a month ago, I needed to pay for my sponsor child. We started sponsoring him last year, when money was (relatively) okay. If I would have paid the bill, we would have been left with about $7 in the bank account. I paid it anyway, because we could survive on $7 until the next unemployment check came in. Two days later, we got a check in the mail: my mom had sent us $1000 because she didn’t want us buying groceries with a credit card.

Last week, it happened again. We usually make a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. It costs $25 to pack a shoebox online. I’ve been wanting a nice DSLR camera for about 10 years now; I’ve been trying to save up for one with my Zazzle money, but it always seems like my boy needs school books or something. Anyway, I felt that I needed to spend some of my savings on making a box for a kid, and a day later, I got a check for $95 (it’s the money I get teaching for half a semester).

Health. I think this is one thing we often take for granted, but not so much this year. My family has (so far) escaped the coronavirus plague. I like to think that I selfishly wear a mask whenever I leave my house (I consider it a selfish, yet harmless to others act because even though other people benefit, I’m protecting myself), but there are some people that do everything right and still get sick. And even though I bought masks in January, I didn’t start wearing them until March 20th.

I Didn’t Give Marie Lu Coronavirus. This seems like a weird thing to be thankful for, but here’s the story for this. The Penguin Teen Tour came to Denver on March 5. I was already starting to get concerned about the coronavirus. About my only precaution at the time was I wasn’t touching door handles. Anyway, the next day I felt a little nauseous. Even though nausea isn’t a symptom of coronavirus, my writer brain starts thinking “what if I got people there sick yesterday?” Because there was a huge crowd there. Fortunately, the book signing was not a super-spreader event. Two weeks later, there had only been a total of 363 cases and 4 deaths in my state (those were the days, right?).

I’m Completing My Legend Set! Some of you may know that I love the Legend series by Marie Lu. One thing I didn’t have was the short story “Life After Legend.” I had read it (I went out and bought the Warcross paperback edition specifically for that), but I really wanted the original booklet. It came out before I started book blogging and pre-ordering books by my favorite authors. Anyway, last week someone posted about how they had a difficult bookish wish. I posted that I had a difficult bookish wish too. My friend Mary on Twitter asked me what my bookish wish was, and when I said it was “Life After Legend,” she said she had a copy to give to me.

It gets better. I’ve been looking for “Life After Legend” on eBay periodically for a couple years now. I never find it. After I posted on Twitter about my bookish wish, I checked eBay again. No, they didn’t have “Life After Legend,” but they did have a physical copy of “Life Before Legend.” I didn’t even know that was a thing except as a Kindle book. So I picked that up and it’s sitting on my bed right now.

The End to my Reading Slump? If you’ve seen my seasonal TBRs and Monthly Wrap-Ups this year, you know that my reading has been horrible this year. I went from reading 11 books in January to six books last month. Six. I’ve already read seven books this month! My fall TBR is finished with the exception of A Sky Beyond the Storm (which doesn’t come out until next week). Now if I could only start blogging more.

Online Teaching is a Success? I teach Spanish and German to homeschoolers. When they said they were going to move all classes online this year, I was skeptical. I had never taught anything online before. Well, it turns out that it’s so easy to teach online! It allows me to put in all these pretty pictures and stuff. Part of it sucks because class prep takes forever, and sometimes the kids have their cameras off and I feel like I’m talking to myself, but it’s been working out. Right now we’re supposed to return to in-person instruction next year (don’t know if that will actually happen), but I’ve already requested a TV for the class, because it’s so helpful for me to put all the information on the screen.

No Coop This Week! I know I just said that online teaching is going well, but it’s also a lot of work. This week is fall break, I have two weeks after that, and then I can relax. If I was smart, I’d start class prep for next week, so I’m not in a rush Sunday and Monday next week.

37,470. That’s the number of words I’ve written in NaNoWriMo (so far). And I haven’t written today. I have a post scheduled for November 30th about this, but there were two years that I failed NaNoWriMo, and one year I didn’t write at all. So I’m thankful that I’m on track to win again.

Photo by Neil Cummings. Creative Commons License

It’s Time to Query! Every year, agents always say never to query your NaNoWriMo letter on December 1st. So last year, what did I say? “It’d be funny to start querying my NaNoWriMo novel on December 1st.” And so, I am. I have two queries ready, I plan to send out five.

The reason why they tell people not to query their NaNoWriMo books on December 1st is because they don’t want people hitting 50k on November 30th, winning NaNoWriMo, and sending out their unedited first draft the next day. The NaNoWriMo novel I’m planning on sending out was finished sometime in January of 2019, and I’m on my seventh draft.

Pandemics Don’t Last Forever. I think some people have a hard time understanding this one. I’ve heard people say “I won’t leave my house until there’s a vaccine!” As if they still plan on holing up in their houses in 2050 when nobody’s even contracted the virus in over a decade (they were saying this before scientists even knew if a vaccine was possible or not).

People aren’t still afraid of the 1918 H1N1 virus, are they? With that particular strain of the virus, people could be healthy at breakfast and drop dead by lunchtime. I’ve had multiple people say to me “but H1N1 is still around!” H1N1 is a particular description of what the virus looks like. There’s multiple H1N1 virii, just like there’s more than one coronavirus. The particular strain of H1N1-1918 is no longer out killing people. And the coronavirus that’s ravaging the world right now will simply be a memory in a couple years.

And I’m very thankful about that.

Next week, we’re going to talk about books I want to read again. I’m often rereading books and typically have one book I’m rereading (although right now because of NaNoWriMo I’m not). See you then!