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Hello! I thought about using the snowy logo today because it snowed today (again) but it’s probably not snowing where you are. It’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) and I hope all is well for you today. Today we’re talking about colorful book covers. I decided to go through “My Books” in Goodreads to find them. These will be both books I have read and books I want to read.

We Jace You a Clary Xmas – Cassandra Clare. I don’t have a link to this one, but if you join her newsletter you’ll be able to get a copy. I haven’t read this one yet (I just found out about this story after Christmas) but it has a colorful “cover.” I’m not sure if it counts as a cover because it doesn’t have the title on it and it’s not an official book (although it is on Goodreads) but I’m going for it anyway.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry – Joya Goffney. This cover has some great covers. I love the yellow of her dress contrasted with the turquoise of the background. It’s so pretty.

The Promised Neverland Volume 1 – Kaiu Shirai (Author), Posuka Demizu (Illustrator). Seeing this colorful cover reminds me that I need to read the rest of this manga series. These kids look so happy–although they’re about to discover a dark and horrible secret.

Three Sides of a Heart – Various. Three Sides of a Heart is a book of short stories about love triangles. It has some great authors in it, including Veronica Roth and Sabaa Tahir. And it’s got a gorgeous colorful cover.

The Best Laid Plans – Cameron Lund. This is a sweet story about best friends who fall in love. It also has a bright yellow cover, contrasted with blue and pink.

Tweet Cute – Emma Lord. Tweet Cute is another cute story with a colorful cover. I love the blues and pinks with the bright white speech bubbles in the center.

The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren. So far, all the books I’ve highlighted with colorful covers have been YA books. This one is colorful but written for an adult audience. I got it on sale a little over a year ago, but haven’t had the chance to read it yet. But I’d like to.

Start Here – Trish Doller. I love this cover. It’s so fun and colorful! And the book is lovely too. I think I need to make sure I put Doller’s new book, Float Plan, on my summer TBR. Alas, considering it snowed today, summer still seems so far away.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea – Tahereh Mafi. Although this is a fairly simple cover, each word in the title is in a different color, so I think that fits the definition of colorful.

As Kismet Would Have It – Sandhya Menon. Why have I not read this book yet? I loved When Dimple Met Rishi, and this novella tells us what happened to them after that book ended. And it has a gorgeous, colorful cover.

So there are ten colorful book covers. What books did you pick this week? Next week, we’re going to talk about animals in books. This one might be difficult for me. I can think of two animals from the same series, but that’s about it.

Hi! March is over, which means that it’s time for another monthly wrap-up! I didn’t do one for the last two months. I thought I did one for January, but evidently not! Anyway, time to do one today.

Books Read:

I thought I didn’t do so well, and although I didn’t do great, I did manage to read 10 “books”. Two were audiobook courses (which I’m counting this year), two were short stories, and four were rereads:

• Chain of Iron – Cassandra Clare
• Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write About Anything – Dorsey Armstrong (audiobook course)
• The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
• “After the Bridge” – Cassandra Clare
• “Jocelyn’s Story” – Cassandra Clare
• City of Bones – Cassandra Clare (reread)
• City of Ashes – Cassandra Clare (reread)
• City of Glass – Cassandra Clare (reread)
• Great Heroes and Discoveries of Astronomy – Emily Levesque (audiobook course)
• City of Fallen Angels – Cassandra Clare (reread)

After reading Chain of Iron, I guess I just kept going with the Shadowhunter’s books. I was planning on rereading them this year, but I was planning on reading them later in the year.

Writing:

Writing is not going so badly right now. After reading Chain of Iron, I just had to write something to heal my heart while waiting for Chain of Thorns (I know Ms. Clare will take care of it in book 3, but I don’t want to wait with the characters in distress like that for a year–and no, I’m not going to spoil what’s going on here). I wrote the short story “Shah Mat” in response. That does contain spoilers so don’t read it if you haven’t had the chance to read Chain of Iron yet.

I decided to enter RevPit this year (again) and so I’m rewriting The Brightness of Shadow (again). After RevPit I’ll start submitting to agents again. I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year. For the first part of the month I’m revising The Brightness of Shadow, and for the second half I’ll work on Saving Adelinetta.

Life:

It’s so weird not having updated since the end of last year. So much has gone on.

The job that dh started in December… didn’t really work out. They lied about the benefits they offered, and he couldn’t afford to work there. So he’s working at a nonprofit radio station now, and the benefits are amazing. Plus he got a pay raise. The other people wanted him to stay, and he agreed to work part time. He feels like he’s out of his element at his new job. If you’re the praying type, please pray that God equips him to do the job.

I started trading cryptocurrency again. I used to do it several years ago, but didn’t keep at it. Maybe because I was only doing these little trades and making a few cents. Anyway, a long time ago I had mined some DOGE, a meme coin. It was worthless at the time, but a couple months ago, it shot up in value to $.08. I had tens of thousands of them. So I sold most of them bought a new laptop, and had a couple thousand left over to trade with. As of yesterday (it’s gone up in value a little since then), I’ve pretty much doubled the money I had two months ago. It’s a lot more fun when you’re watching your profits go up by $50 or so a day. If I continue to do well at this, I might finally be able to buy the DSLR camera I’ve been wanting for over a decade. And maybe pay off the car at some point.

I’m pretty excited because tomorrow we’re going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science! I haven’t been in quite a while. Both my daughter and my son wanted to go. Going to museums is so different than it used to be, because you have to buy your tickets in advance for admission at a certain time.

So that was March! How did it go for you? How has your reading been? Hope you have a great April!

Hello! As I write this, there’s snow outside up past the tops of my shoes (and up to about a foot in places) so back to the snow logo for Top Ten Tuesday (that’s today!). Even though spring starts next week. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I haven’t been doing a lot of reading lately. QuizUp ends forever on Sunday, and I’m kinda sad about it, but I’m trying to play as much as I can before it goes away forever. I spent a lot of time playing Divergent Trivia, but there are so many other great categories.

Anyway, spring is almost here and it’s time for a new TBR! I love seasonal TBR week. It’s a great time to plan ahead, and also look back. How did I do on my Winter TBR? 100%!

• Chain of Iron – Cassandra Clare
• 1920: The Year of Six Presidents – David Pietrusza
• An Affair of Poisons – Addie Thorley
• Switchback – Danika Stone
• Cinder – Marissa Meyer
• The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo
• Everything that Burns – Gita Trelease
• The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
• The Boy and His Ribbon – Pepper Winters
• Three Dark Crowns – Kendare Blake

This quarter, I’m not pre-ordering any books, which means I can clear out some of the books that have been on my TBR lottery for a while. These are the books that got chosen:

The Seekers: The Story of Man’s Continuing Quest to Understand His World – Daniel J. Boorstin. I’ve read a few of Boorstin’s books (I read The Discoverers twice and I plan on reading it again someday) and this is the only book in the Knowledge Trilogy that I haven’t read. Boorstin has a way of making subjects accessible and understandable, even if you don’t have a background in that subject. My library doesn’t have a copy, but I may end up reading this more than once, so I ordered a used copy in good condition off Amazon to read.

Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages – Gaston Dorren. After I drew this as my second book from my TBR lottery, I wondered whether I was going to draw all nonfiction books this season. These were the only nonfiction books I drew, as it turns out. As someone who loves languages and history, I think this will be an exciting book.

Malice – Pintip Dunn. If you could save millions of lives by killing one person, would you do it? This book explores that dilemma, and looks pretty exciting. I got this from Scribbler and haven’t had the chance to read it yet.

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern. I heard lots of good things about this book, so when I saw it on Amazon for $1.99, I had to pick it up. But then it sat on my TBR for quite some time. Finally I drew its number and it’s time to read it!

Here Be Dragons – Sharon Kay Penman. I’ve been learning Welsh off and on for a couple years now. This story is set in medieval Wales, and is a story involving royalty. My library has it, but it’s currently checked out. I wonder if it’s a really popular book, or if I just checked on a day someone else is interested? I heard about this book from someone at Top Ten Tuesday.

Sorcery of Thorns – Margaret Rogerson. This book features sorcerers and libraries? Count me in! I got this book for Christmas a while ago, but I haven’t had the chance to read it yet.

A Splendid Ruin – Megan Chance. This book takes place in San Francisco shortly after the big earthquake. I’m looking forward to diving into the world as it was over 100 years ago. I got this book for free from Amazon as part of their First Reads program, which allows Prime members to get a free new book every month.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 – Richard Paul Evans. This book has been on my TBR for a very long time. It’s got bad guys, a teen with magical electrical powers, and a group of teens that work together. Looking forward to reading this.

Kingdom Cold – Brittni Chenelle. This book has such a beautiful cover! It’s got a princess, a bad guy, murder… it looks interesting. Even better, I got this book on sale. I’ll probably want to read this book early in the spring, because it looks like a book I might want to read on a cold day.

The Tuscan Child – Rhys Bowen. One of the things that got me interested in The Tuscan Child was that I lived in Italy for three years. I lived in Naples, so I was much farther south, but I’m looking forward to traveling there virtually. In my opinion, Italy is a great place to visit, but I’m glad I don’t live there anymore.

So those are the books I hope to read this spring! Hopefully it will not be snowing when I write my summer TBR! I’m looking to warm summer days and walks to the park where I don’t have to wear boots!

What’s on your TBR this week? Is your TBR a to-do list, or merely a suggestion?

Hello! Is it just me, or are these bears just too darned happy to have 2020 stamped on their feet? Or perhaps they’re happy because there’s less than a month left in the year. Anyway, November is over, so it’s time for the monthly wrap-up.

Books Read:

I actually increased the amount of books I read this month! Yes! I read 9 books. I have ten books left to complete the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I’m 1 book behind schedule, but I’ve got a couple short stories I can read if I need to. Goodreads also includes video classes I don’t include here (I just finished Renaissance: The Transformation of the West) and I’m almost done with a book I’m reading with my boy for school (a reread for me) so I should be able to pull this off.

• Talon – Julie Kagawa
• The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater
• Rogue Princess – B.R. Meyers
• Keeper – Kim Chance
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
• Call of the Raven – Wilbur Smith
• Slingshot – Mercedes Helnwein
• 1434 – Gavin Menzies
• “Booked For Christmas” – Lily Menon

No rereads this month, I was focused on NaNoWriMo.

Writing:

November means NaNoWriMo, and I won! My book this year was one I initially thought about summer 2019. It’s supposed to be a duology, but we’ll see. I hit “book 2” territory at around 45k words. Depending on how many words I add in rewrites, it could turn out to be one book with two halves. I intend on finishing both parts before doing rewrites.

Then there’s this thing I did, which I waited a year to do:

Yep. I sent out my first query. For my NaNoWriMo book. On December 1st. It was my NaNoWriMo book from 2 years ago, but still. Let the rejections roll in!

Life:

Classes are almost over for coop for the year! I just have one more class to plan for, which will be a party (via Zoom). I think we’ll play Jeopardy!, listen to a song (where the students have to pick out all the words they hear, it’s in the language they’re learning). My German students can all play Pictionary, so we’ll probably do that too. A couple of my Spanish students can’t draw on the Whiteboard, so we can’t do it in that class. It shouldn’t be too difficult to plan for (well, Jeopardy takes a while to set up, but at least I created the board for a previous lesson).

Technically, I started this on December 2nd, but I started taking a course called How Digital Technology Shapes Us, and so far, it’s been very interesting. I finished the first two lectures and it’s gotten me to think: is digital technology making it harder to focus? Sometimes I have trouble clearing my head so I can focus on my books, for example. Twitter is one of those sites that I find myself wandering over to and wasting time with. I don’t know if this will work or not, but I’ve decided to try minimizing my Internet browser when I’m not using it. Out of sight, out of mind, right? We’ll see how that works.

Thanksgiving was quiet. Just me and my husband and the kids. We’re all staying healthy, which is good. I decided to try to make gifts for some of my family members. I finished a scarf, originally intended for my daughter when her favorite color was purple (it’s not anymore) and that’s going to my sister-in-law. After I finish this scarf for my daughter (maroon), if I have time I’ll make one for my brother. So I may end up knitting a lot. I want to make a sweater too, for myself, but after Christmas.

And then there’s this Sherb from Animal Crossing:

So adorable! I wants him! If I make it sometime next year, it’d be for my boy, but he’s so cute!

If I make all these things, it’ll take a lot of time. I can listen to audiobooks while I’m doing this, or watch video classes, or maybe Survivor. Or maybe even Christmas movies!

Oh, and this technically happened on December 2 too, but this is exciting news: my dh had a really good job interview! He’ll have another interview later this week with the owner; if the owner likes him, he’s got the job! It’s for a very small chain (5) of urgent care offices. People aren’t going to stop going to urgent care any time soon, especially with covid around. It’ll probably pay $20k less than my dh’s last job, but it pays more than unemployment or Walmart. And unemployment (even extended unemployment) is almost gone anyway. So hopefully I’ll have some good news for you in next month’s wrap-up.

So that was November! Did you have a good month? Hope you end this year on a good note. It’s technically the end of the decade, even though people tend to celebrate the ten’s digit changing as the decade-ender.

Have you ever read a book that left you speechless? I finished Skyhunter late Friday night and it did just that. In fact, here’s what I wrote on Twitter shortly after finishing:

I’ve had a couple days to think about the book, but it still leaves me a little speechless. It was a great book, but the ending… well, it’s a Marie Lu ending, so there’s going to be a twist, and you’ll be left wanting more. And no, I won’t tell you the twist. You just need to read it for yourself.

The Basics

Talin is a striker for the tiny country of Mara. She fled with her mother to the country when she was a small child, after the Karensa Federation attacked them and forced them to flee. Even though she’s one of the country’s elite fighters, she doesn’t get the respect that other people who aren’t former refugees do. Her mother isn’t even allowed to live inside the city.

Red is a defector from the Karensan military. The Marans plan on executing him, but Talin stops it. She sees something in him that others don’t see. That begins their partnership.

In the meantime, Talin, Red, and her friends must find a way to defend their country from Karensa. Will they be able to stop them against impossible odds? You’ll just have to read the book to find out.

Themes

There’s a couple themes that stuck out to me in this book. The first, most obvious, is–how to support a country that doesn’t support you back? A lot of people these days have felt this way. Talin believes in the idea of Mara and fights for it, but she is treated unfairly.

One of the sub-plots of this story is that of Talin and her mother. The book is dedicated to Marie Lu’s mother, “survivor and superwoman, the inspiration behind Talin’s mother and everything I do.” Talin’s mom is quite amazing, and the way Ms. Lu describes their home outside the city, I can just imagine Talin’s mom living there, yet supporting a country that doesn’t treat her equal to everyone else.

Another theme that we’ve seen this year is how societies decay. This is a society thousands of years in the future (I imagine this could be part of the Luniverse, but it doesn’t matter; it’s likely Earth millennia from now), and there is decay evident from the past:

You would be surprised at how quickly a society can fall and forget itself, how they can regress from a period of enlightenment into one of darkness.

Skyhunter, p. 364

I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt as if this world we live in has regressed this year with the Coronavirus and everything. It’s like so many things we used to take for granted are unavailable right now.

Talin/Red

One of the things many Marie Lu books are famous for are her fabulous ships. The Talin/Red ship looks like it might be going somewhere, but it’s a very sloooooooow burn. Just kiss already! But they do start out as enemies, so it’s going to be a long process.

So, I Liked Everything

Well, the ending does make me want book 2 right away. Can I pre-order it yet? Sadly, it doesn’t even have a title yet. But I really want it.

The book has some great writing. There’s a major twist at the end, some huge revelations, and did I mention the ending left you wanting more? It didn’t leave me upset, because like Laia says in An Ember in the Ashes, “as long as there is life, there is hope.”

I loved this book, and it might just be a contender for my favorite book of the year.

The Physical Book is Beautiful!

I don’t always gush about how beautiful a book is in real life, but Skyhunter is beautiful! Macmillan sent me a finished copy (I got it with Bookish First points) and I had to take pictures of it:

This is a book that you’ll want in hardback. Or you can get it in hardback and Kindle versions like I am.

ARC Versus Finished Copy

As a member of the Skyhunter Street Team, I started reading the Advanced Reader Copy, but since I was sent a finished copy, I finished reading that. There are some big changes between the ARC and the finished copy. One of the big changes in the text is that the side character Rooke changes to Adena in the finished copy. There are some other changes I noted–the finished copy is definitely better.

Conclusion

I put a lot of pressure on Skyhunter. I expected it to be an amazing book, and it didn’t disappoint. Although like many books this year, I wasn’t able to finish it in one day, I really loved it. It will definitely get a reread before Skyhunter 2 comes out, and this series will probably become a regular reread of mine. It comes out on Tuesday, which gives you about one day left to pre-order it. I highly recommend you do. If you pre-order it, make sure you enter the pre-order campaign to get the bookmark.

Hello! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! I really need to get back into doing other posts, but these are always fun. Today we’re going to talk about books that make me smile. Books can bring happiness for so many reasons.

I haven’t read Into the Hollow by Lynn Vroman for quite a while, but it’s a book that makes me smile when I think about. I just love this story about a girl and a boy with a crappy family life that find each other and love.

I think there may be a trend for stories this week: books that I wouldn’t mind reading again.

Another amazing book that makes me smile is Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon. I just love how these two rivals realize–at the last possible moment–how they care about each other. It’s just so sweet!

When Dimple Met Rishi is a book that makes me happy as soon as I look at the cover. The story is adorable too. I’m so glad that Sandhya Menon was the speaker at the 2019 Colorado Teen Literature Conference. I read this book prior to going. I’ve read more of her books since, and she’s such a wonderful person and so are her books!

Another book that makes me smile is Chain of Gold. Actually, all the Shadowhunters books make me smile, but this is the most recent one I’ve read. I can’t wait to read Chain of Iron (out March 2).

As a writer (of both fanction and original worlds) I can’t help but identify with Cath from Fangirl. Although I’m not quite as socially inept to avoid asking someone where the cafeteria is for weeks (I’d probably look up a map on the internet).

Summer Days and Summer Nights is another book that makes me smile. Summer is my favorite time of year, and I still have fond memories of reading this book in a hot car while my boy was in Vacation Bible School a few years ago. This is another book I hope to read again, hopefully this summer.

I’m starting to see another thing that a lot of these books that make me smile have in common: most of them happen during the summer. Alex, Approximately is another book that makes me smile that occurs during the summer. It’s just a happy time of year for me.

There’s some sadness to Start Here, but thinking about the book makes me smile. While I don’t think I’d want to take a sailing trip like these ladies do (too much work), I wouldn’t mind taking a motorboat on a trip like theirs. And like several of the other books here, this one happens in the summer.

Enchantée is another book that makes me smile. I love the characters in this book and I love the setting. Sadly, the sequel isn’t coming out on Bastille day like it originally was, but I’m excited that there’s going to be a sequel.

Another book series that makes me smile is Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. I think what makes this book so smile-worthy is its main character, a naive kitsune. It’s another sweet book, with magical creatures and a journey to go along with it.

So what books make you smile? I hope we get to discover lots of new favorites this week. With all the sadness in the world right now, we need a smile every once in a while.

Next week we’re going to talk about book events I’d love to go to someday! I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with 10, but I’ll try. See you then!

Hello! I missed last week’s Top Ten Tuesday (was on vacation) but we got back yesterday. Today’s topic is “Authors I’ve read the most books by.” I don’t know if I can be accurate with this one. I obviously can get a lot of the authors I’ve read lots of books by, but will I get all of the ones? I don’t know. But I’ll do my best, and will at least include most of the authors I’ve read a lot of books by. I’m going to include novellas too, but I will only count a book once if I read it in another language. And I might miss some.

Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (>25 books) –

I literally have no clue how many books I’ve read by this duo. I’m sure I’ve read all of the Dragonlance books (there’s about 100 of them, but they didn’t write all of them), plus I’ve read the Darksword trilogy. I named my kids after characters in the Dragonlance books. So I can safely say she’s up there in the amount of books I’ve read.

Marie Lu (23 books and short stories, I think?) –

• Legend series (4 books, 3 graphic novels, 1 prequel, 2 novellas)
• Batman: Nightwalker (1 book, 1 graphic novel)
• The Young Elites (3 books)
• Warcross (2 books)
• The Kingdom of Back
• The Evertree
• Short stories in:
  • Hope Nation
  • Slasher Girls and Monster Boys
  • A Tyranny of Petticoats
  • New York Times

Cassandra Clare (18 books) –

• The Mortal Instruments (6 books)
• The Infernal Devices (3 books)
• The Dark Artifices (3 books)
• Chain of Gold
• The Bane Chronicles
• Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
• The Shadowhunter’s Codex
• Ghosts of the Shadow Market
• Short story from Summer Days and Summer Nights

Veronica Roth (11 books) –

• Divergent (4 books and 2 short stories)
• Carve the Mark (2 books)
• The End and Other Beginnings
• Chosen Ones
• “Ark”

“Inertia” was a part of Summer Days and Summer Nights, but since it’s also in The End and Other Beginnings, I’m only counting it once.

Sarah J. Maas (10 books) –

• Throne of Glass (7 books)
• A Court of Thorns and Roses (3 books)

That’s all I’ve read from her so far (still not sure whether I’m going to read the Crescent City books), but her series tend to run on the very long side.

Joel C. Rosenberg (9 books) –

• The Last Jihad (5 books)
• The Twelfth Imam (3 books)
• The First Hostage

Laura Ingalls Wilder (9 books) –

She wrote the Little House on the Prairie series. Checking Goodreads, there are actually a few books in this series that I didn’t know about until today, but I haven’t read them.

Leigh Bardugo (9 books) –

• Shadow and Bone (3 books)
• Six of Crows (2 books)
• King of Scars
• Ninth House
• Short story from Summer Days and Summer Nights

L.M. Montgomery (8 books, I think) –

I’ve only read her work from the Anne of Green Gables series, but I think that’s 8 books. My grandma had a box set, and I remember three boxes with 3 books each. I’d have to go find the boxes to be sure, but there is a collection of short stories; perhaps I read that too.

Francine Pascal (?) –

I don’t know if she counts because I’m pretty sure she didn’t write all those books by herself. But I did read lots of the Sweet Valley High books, as well as a lot of the Sweet Valley University books, so I figured I should add them in here.

So who have you read the most books by? Was it difficult to figure out for some authors?

Hello! Can you believe it’s Tuesday again? I know I haven’t posted much, and I feel bad about that, but for some reason, I seem to be just as busy as before, even though I’m not going anywhere. I do go for a walk every day. Anyway, it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Today we’re going over Ten Signs You’re a Book Lover. Let’s start!

1. You take a book everywhere you go. I know this describes me. Okay, I don’t take a book with me on my daily coronavirus walk to the park, but most of the time I’m listening to an audiobook, so I guess that counts.

2. Your Amazon gift card balance is $42.09 – In case you need to buy an emergency book. I always maintain a gift card balance on my Amazon account. You never know when a book is going to go on sale and you need to have money right away for a book. Since I can’t count on always having money in my bank account, it’s good that I always have money lying around in Amazon gift cards.

3. Your Goodreads TBR is 317 books long. So many books, so little time, right?

4. Authors are like rock stars to you. Who’s the most famous person in America right now? I don’t know. But I do know some of the most popular books right now. To my credit, I did refrain from screaming or fainting when I met Marie Lu earlier this month.

5. Coronavirus? There’s a stay-at-home order right now? I have plenty of books to keep my company. I hardly even notice that I’m supposed to be staying at home, because this is where all my friends are anyway.

6. You count down the days to book releases like some people count down the days to movie releases. I know, as an example, that The Chosen Ones releases in 7 days (!!!). Or that the release date of Skyhunter was moved up from October 6th to September 29th. I’ve gone to sleep before on a Monday evening in order to set my alarm clock so I could download a Kindle book release at 12 AM EST and pull an all-nighter reading. The next Marvel or Star Wars movie? Pfft. I don’t even know what they are.

7. Your Best Friends are Fictional Characters. Sometimes fictional characters feel so real, they’re like people you know.

8. You Read the Book Instead of Watching the Movie. 99% of the time, the book is better than the movie anyway, right?

9. You Know a Bunch of Random Facts. I know, for example, that the Hancock building in Chicago has 100 floors. How do I know this? I read it in Divergent. And then I looked it up.

10. Your Web Browser Always Has Book-Related Tabs Up. Some of the tabs I always have open are Amazon.com, Goodreads, That Artsy Reader Girl’s web site, and my library’s web page.

So that’s 10! What did you say today? Next week, I’m going to talk about the books I bought because I saw them on sale!

Hello again! It’s Tuesday again, and I hope you’re doing okay. It’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl), which means it’s time to talk about books! Today is a genre freebie. Last time we did one, I talked about fantasy books, so today we’re going to talk about something slightly different: speculative fiction with history in them. There are a lot of books with a historical feel to them, but a lot less that you can pinpoint to a specific location and time (or era).

Yesterday I did a review of the final book in the Shadow of the Fox series, Night of the Dragon. This book, although set in a mythical world, has a lot of Japanese history integrated into it. I’m reading a 1970 edition of Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times right now, and there’s a lot in that book that I recognized in this series. Plus, these books are a lot more fun.

I recently finished 11/22/63 on audiobook, and I loved it. One of the things I loved about the book was how the main character goes back in time and describes how things were back then. Now, I probably wouldn’t want to go back and live there, but it would be fun to visit for a while.

Feel like taking a trip back to merry old England around Victorian times instead? A Treason of Thorns also takes place in a fictional world, but it has the feel of going back a hundred years or so and stepping into a place that feels like England.

Maybe Edwardian England is more your speed. Chain of Gold takes place in London during this time. You can visit real places in this book, but you’ll also get to hang out with warlocks and other magical creatures.

Perhaps you prefer Paris during the world’s fair, strolling the streets and visiting the newly constructed Eiffel tower. You can visit there in Sensational, where there’s a murder mystery afoot and the main character uses her magical powers to help solve it. Be sure to read the first book in this duology, Spectacle, first. That takes place in Paris a couple years prior.

Austria is such a nice place to visit in the mid-1800s. I don’t think I’d want to live there, but you can safely visit by reading Marie Lu’s The Kingdom of Back. Bonus: you get to spend time with Nannerl and Wolfgang Mozart, peek into their lives as musical prodigies, and visit their magical kingdom.

Most Arthurian tales have a little bit of magic in them, and The Guinevere Deception is no exception. With this book, you can travel back in time to Medieval England and experience a little magic at the same time.

Did vampires inhabit New Orleans in the late 1800s? I don’t know, but if you’d like to take a trip there to find out, Renée Ahdieh’s The Beautiful can take you there. There aren’t too many vampires in this particular book, but it will give you the feeling of stepping off the boat in this unfamiliar land. Because face it, even if you live in New Orleans today, the past is like a foreign country.

We haven’t been to Medieval Russia yet. The Bear and the Nightingale takes you back to a time before the tsars. This story is full of creatures from Russian folklore. Brrrr! Russia is a cold place now, and during the Little Ice Age, it was a lot colder! You can take the journey here with this book.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November! If you’d like to read more about Guy Fawkes and his revolution (with magic!) you can check out Fawkes. In this alternate version of English history, people wear masks that help them conduct various kinds of magic.

So that’s 10! If you like virtually time-traveling (as I do) I hope you like these. Can’t wait to see what everybody else came up with this week. Next week, we’re going to talk about Ten Signs You’re a Book Lover. See you then!

Hello! Time for another book tag! I was tagged by Elley Otter to do this delicious book tag. It was originally started on Instagram, but Paperfury adapted it for us bloggers. And since this is a Paperfury creation, we gotta put the u in flavour, right? Here are the desserts of choice today:

1. Chocolate Cake (a dark book you absolutely love)

At this point, it’s hard to believe that I read this book in 2018. I’m definitely going to have to read the Ember In the Ashes series again before Ember 4 comes out. Next year, let’s hope? That’s what Goodreads says at the moment. I know Ms. Tahir is working hard on this, and I’m sure the wait will be worth it.

2. Vanilla Cake (a light read)

I haven’t read The Kiss Quotient since 2018 either. Maybe I should just call this the throwback Cake Flavor tag. Despite the math talk (I know talk about quotients and derivatives give you all the feels) it’s a very fun, light read. In fact, I read this shortly after I read the three published Ember in the Ashes books because I had had enough dark books for a little while and I needed a palate cleanser.

3. Red Velvet (a book that gave you mixed emotions)

Now I’m sure I must be digging into Grandma’s recipe box for these cake answers. But I have a lot of mixed emotions about the Divergent series. On the one hand, I absolutely LOVE this series and have read it so many times… in Spanish and German even! I’m doing a reread this year if all goes according to plan. But… chapter 50 of Allegient and beyond is dead to me. It got me into fanfiction the ending upset me so much. But… fanfiction got me into writing original fiction. So it makes sense that I’m conflicted over this book.

4. Cheesecake (a book you would recommend to anyone)

We’re still going with the “Books I read in 2018” theme. It’s hard to recommend a book that I’d recommend to anyone because everybody has such varied tastes. Enchantée has magic, historical France, a story that kept me wondering what was going to happen well into the book… so I suppose that it would make a good choice for many people.

5. Coffee Cake (a book you started but never finished)

I’m not a DNF a book person. And to be honest, I’m still reading this book. But I still haven’t finished the unabridged version of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. My Kindle says I still have 92 hours and 43 minutes left of reading time in this book. By contrast, Les Misérables has an audiobook run time of about 60 hours. And I’m 9% of the way through the book already. So I haven’t finished it, although I still plan to.

6. Carrot Cake (a book with great writing)

We’re now on book six of this dessert extravaganza and there’s one thing all these books have in common still (that’s not food related): I read all of these books in 2018 (although not necessarily finished: see above). Strange the Dreamer has beautiful writing.

7. Tiramisu (a book that left you wanting more)

Finally! A book I didn’t read in 2018! I read Sky Without Stars last year, and I just have to say… is it March 24th yet? Because I can’t believe I have to wait more than two full months to read the sequel to this book, Between Burning Worlds! J’adore this book and I want the ending! I found out Jessica Brody is coming to the Tattered Cover on March 25th, and I’m so excited. I’m going to have to go, even though it means my husband will have to pick up my boy from D&D that night.

8. Cupcakes (series with 4+ books)

Joel C. Rosenberg’s The Last Jihad series is five books long. So this one counts. Like a dummy, the first book I read in this series was book 5. It absolutely blew me away. So when I realized there were four other books in this series and I read from book 1, I was underwhelmed. It was good, but I learned from this experience that an author often gets more amazing as they write more books.

9. Fruit Cake (book that wasn’t what you anticipated)

So how can I do a book tag without including a Marie Lu book? If you’ve been to this blog more than a couple of times then you probably know that I love her books. I’ve read pretty much every book and story of hers that I know of, including her middle grade book The Evertree and even the short story she posted in the New York Times last year. The Kingdom of Back is a little like what you’d get if you crossed her short story “The Journey” with The Young Elites and added some Brothers Grimm. There weren’t any real ships or fight scenes. It was still good, just different than what I was expecting.

10. Lamington (Favorite Australian book)

The cover to Four Dead Queens absolutely blew me away, and I had to pre-order this book. Astrid Scholte’s book kept me up late and I’ve pre-ordered the audiobook of The Vanishing Deep already (because it’s a March 3 release, competing with Chain of Gold and The Kingdom of Back). But I loved this book, and we’ll see whether this book or her new release becomes my favorite Australian book in a couple of months.

I’m full now! If you’d like to do this delectable book tag, I pick you! If you do decide to do this one, please send me a note so I can see what kinds of book yumminess you came up with!