Nonfiction
The Women's Heritage Sourcebook: Bringing Homesteading to Everyday Life, by Emma Rollin Moore
★★★
Genre: Cookbook/Reference
"This indispensable reference book is divided into three sections: food (from sourdough bread baking to pickling vegetables to fermenting kefir), herbalism (from growing an herbal garden to making skin and hair care products to foraging), and animal husbandry (from beekeeping to buying, raising, and owning chickens, cows, and pigs)." (From Goodreads)
I actually read most of this in August; I finished it the day after posting my August 2024 Reading Recap, though.
Funny story about this book. Back in 2021, I was helping out on a hobby farm just outside Harrisonburg, Virginia, and my hosts took me into the city one day to visit the farmers market and walk around this cool building filled with a bunch of boutiques (it's called Agora Downtown Market; if you're ever in the vicinity of Harrisonburg, I recommend going!). In one of the boutiques, I picked up this book and started flipping through it. I've been wanting to read it ever since then, and I finally put it on my birthday wishlist and received it this summer! I enjoyed it just as much as I thought I would from that quick flip-through three years ago, and I'm excited to try all the recipes!
Paper TBR
The Otherworld, by Abbie Emmons
★★.5
Genre: YA Romance
Disney's Tangled meets Romeo and Juliet in this YA Romance set in Washington state in 1997.
Orca Monroe is an aesthetic to aspire to.
That's the only positive note I jotted down while reading this book.
I will say, too, that the writing was beautiful, the setting was atmospheric, and the characters were well developed. Let's get into the things I didn't like as much, shall we?
1. "I'll never stop loving you" (read: feeling passion for you). Love is work. If you rely on the passion and the feelings to carry a relationship, it won't last.
2. There was definitely a touch of "born sexy yesterday" (coined by Pop Culture Detective on YouTube).
3. Love triangle with brothers is a thumbs down for me (yes, even after getting hooked on The Summer I Turned Pretty. Maybe especially since then).
4. Girl with NO romantic experience is great at kissing right away.
5. Age gap: 18-year-old girl and 28-year-old guy. The book explained it away ("love conquers all"), but I'm still not totally comfortable with it.
6. This is just a personal pet peeve (I mean, all of the above things are just pet peeves), but the word "rasp" was used as a speech tag way too often. Like, at least once per chapter.
I mean, it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed the first third of the book the most. The experience of reading this book was pleasant, but I wouldn't reread it or recommend it to a friend.
Book Club
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
★★★★.5
Genre: Historical Fiction
"In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. ... Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose." (From Goodreads)
I love this book. The writing is brilliant, the characters are complex, the setting is exquisitely rendered, and the touches of history are perfectly placed to give just enough context to this character-driven novel. This was a re-read for me; I remember being shocked at the ending the first time I read it, but I liked it better this time. Alexander Rostov is probably one of my all-time favorite fictional characters.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
This Train is Being Held, by Ismée Williams
★★★.5
Genre: YA Romance
A boy and a girl meet and form a relationship on the New York subway.
I looked up a lot of things when reading this book. In addition to keeping Google translate handy for the bits of conversation in Spanish, I watched a whole bunch of YouTube shorts on bachata. I also now know the Spanish word for m*****f*****. So that's cool. Oh, I know the Spanish word for cool now too. Joking aside, I loved how different Alex's chapters were from Isa's. I found Alex's sections hard to follow sometimes, and with the beginning of each chapter I would sometimes have to read the first paragraph or two a couple times before I was able to orient myself in the story. Overall, though, it was very easy to read (I blew through it in four days, but that's largely because I was sick when I read it and had a good excuse to curl up in bed with a book for hours at a time).
Side note: I'm not sure where the title came from? Maybe the thing at the end? And a lot of the book does take place on trains ... Idk, it's bothering me.
Mood Reads
She Started It, by Sian Gilbert
★★.5
Genre: Thriller
"For fans of Lucy Foley and Liane Moriarty, She Started It is a hot, twisty summer debut thriller about a group of young women whose Caribbean bachelorette party takes a sinister turn. It’s Lord of the Flies meets And Then There Were None ... but with Instagram and too much Prosecco." (From Goodreads)
The characters in this book made me livid. Which, I'll concede, was kind of the point. But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.
I read this because my mom mentioned it and it sounded a lot like The Guest List, so I was intrigued. The initial concept (wedding-related activities leading to murder on a secluded island) was similar, but it was very different from there. I saw a lot of the plot twists coming (although the big reveal at the end did surprise me). The four friends felt interchangeable and I often had to go back to the chapter heading to double check which character was speaking.
*SEMI-SPOILER* I don't want to read any more books where a character's art gets deliberately ruined! Looking at you, Katzenjammer. *END OF SPOILER*
The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Historical Fantasy
"In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position." (From Goodreads)
I might need to give Leigh Bardugo another try.
Years ago, I tried reading Six of Crows and just couldn't get into it. But after reading The Familiar, I'm about ready to devour Leigh Bardugo's entire backlist!
Where do I start?
It was so well written. I love the first line: "If the bread hadn't burned, this would be a very different story."
The characters were amazing. Their wants and fears were so well defined; I knew exactly what each character wanted and why, and I wanted them to get what they wanted (even Valentina). I liked that we got sections and chapters from Valentina's, Santángel's, and Luzia's POVs most often, and occasionally from other characters (I believe Hualit had a section or two), but it still felt like a fairytale.
The setting and time period were extremely well researched (just flip to the acknowledgments and take a look at the list of resources Bardugo used while writing this book!). Sixteenth century Spain is not a setting you see often in fantasy, and I loved it.
What else? The spicy pops of romance, the political intrigue (based on real history!), the magic, Santángel ... And the ending!! I'm just gobsmacked by how much I ended up enjoying this book. If you enjoy historical fantasy, you should go read this book immediately!
Shard of Glass, by Emily Deady
★★★.5
Genre: YA Fantasy
"Shard of Glass is a fantasy retelling of Cinderella. Discover a world where heroines can be both powerful and worthy of protection. If you love sweet romance, a little bit of magic, and heart-melting conversations, then this story was written for you." (From Goodreads)
This was so good! I honestly wasn't expecting much, as it was a free eBook I got in my email back in July 2023, but the writing was actually pretty good and the story was incredible! My only complaint is that it took so long to get to the ball. But the course of Ashlin's relationships, both with Prince Onric and with her stepfamily, were masterfully done. Ashlin was such a strong character, and I loved that because Cinderella is so bland in the original tale.
Some little things I liked about the story specifically:
- The nod to "Cinderella" in Ashlin's name.
- The fact that Deady cut out one of the stepsisters, since they both serve the same purpose in the story, and made Lady Cabril (Ashlin's stepmother) less outwardly cruel and more insidious; she's really a slimy character and you can see how Ashlin could have sympathy for her at times, but then she turns around and does something heartless.
- Prince Onric has siblings!
- Ashlin's skill as a seamstress is refreshing. (She has a personality! She's good at something besides cleaning!)
Murder for the Modern Girl, by Kendall Kulper
★★★.5
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy/Mystery/Romance
"A ravishing young mind reader stalks the streets at night in kitten heels, prowling for men to murder. A soft-spoken genius toils away in the city morgue, desperate to unearth the science behind his gift for shapeshifting. It’s a match made in 1928 Chicago, where gangsters run City Hall, jazz fills the air, and every good girl’s purse conceals a flask." (From Goodreads)
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