Back to work after summer holidays, and free weekends and even though I wrote a fairytale of my own (The Tale of the Twisted Tree), and did a bit of painting (Swan in Snowfall, Watching the World Burn, Hummingbird on Full Moon), I somehow ended up reading 17 books, just shy of 6000 pages. So, quite some reads to cover here, better get started:

• Glorious Rivals (book 2 of The Grandest Game trilogy), by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – so much expected, only to (obviously) leave me on another cliffhanger in the end 😅 Such delicious suspence! Devious and clever, and now I’ll just have to wait a year for the finale.
• A Curse of Crows, by Lauren Dedroog – first book of the A Curse of Crows and Serpents duology and I totally, fully enjoyed the book! The surprises, the secrets, the masks and facades, the fragile and sweet relationship between the protagonist and her love interest, but not void of banter and fun. Book 2 coming in the autumn.
• George Michael: Elämäkerta (orig. The Life), by Emily Herbert – kinda like a book to read while waiting for an order to arrive 😄 Tragic life, but as a read, the book was mediocre.
• The Enchanted Greenhouse, by Sarah Beth Durst – back to the world of the Spellshop, connected while not. Took me a while to get into the story, but then it flew and I totally loved it.
• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inkeeping, by Sangu Mandanna – so not disappointing! Wonderful, whimsical, heartwarming – a lovestory but also so much more. A story about finding your way Home.
• The Glimmer Falls trilogy (A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon, A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch, A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire), by Sarah Hawley – surprisingly substantial examples of the genre of steamy(ish) romantacy. Mysteries, family issues, and personal growth.
• The Library at Hellebore, by Cassandra Khaw – uh, I’d rather forget that I read the book. The sole purpose of the book was to showcase gore and disgusting stuff. So much so that I simply grew numb. Thin plot to support the, uh, gore.
• Koira, joka pelastaa kissoja and Ginny, suurkaupungin enkeli (orig. The Dog Who Rescues Cats, and The Blessing of the Animals), by Philip Gonzales – my palate cleaners after Hellebore, sweet sweet true story that restores one’s faith in humanity. Or doganity. Or both.
• Regency Secrets, books 1-3 (The Persephone Code, The Elgin Conspiracy, The Wordsworth Key), by Julia Golding – a bit of a Veronica Speedwell meets Robert Langdon but in the Regency era. I loved Dora and Jacob, and can’t hardly wait for book 4 (coming in November).
• The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, by Roshani Chokshi – a dreamy, ethereal tale with the kind of uglyish undertone as is common for fairytales. Magic is insinuated, but never proven, leaving the reader forever guessing what is “real” and what simply the perception or fancy of the storyteller(s). I loved it.
• Neverthorn, by Shannon Mayer – some good ole dark academy, book 1 of a duology, and gah I need to wait for a year for book 2! Actually adults (if young), and a proper plot with deception, surprises, and some bits of romance. Oh, and gotta love the frucking potty mouth rune gag!
• The Baby Dragon Bakery (book 2 of The Baby Dragon Cafe), by A.T. Kureshi – Firends to lovers is not my thing I guess. Too much of this being too scared of ruining things to talk. I mean, I get it, but one pining already is ruining it. So when things start happening, maybe, um, talk? Also, I may be too old for 24yo immaturity (esp. the girl; the guy had shit parents so kinda excused). So, no, I didn’t enjoy this like I did the first book. Maybe book 3 with the enemies to lovers trope is more to my fancies again, I hope, bc I love this baby draggo world.

Aug 11, Every now and then you (or at least I) stumble upon the most bizzarre (I’d like to say disturbing but that would be dishonest and not quite right since I’m not actually DISTURBED at all) thing you’ve read since the previous most bizzarre thing you’ve read since… you know…

Right now that most recent most bizzarre thing is the book I just started: The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw (pic on the left), which is the most bizzare thing since I read Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham (pic on the right) several years ago.

And by bizzarre, I don’t by any means mean bad or not good or not likeable – on the contrary. It’s good to get your mind twisted a bit now and then. So, high expectations for Hellebore – I certainly enjoyed Winterset Hollow!

Aug 16, Update: I’m a bit disappointed. The Library at Hellebore is definitely gory and then some, prolly to the point where it should be disgusting and disturbing – and I’m sure it would be if it was a movie, for the thing is that my brain does not visualize words to a level that would make anything vivid enough to truly bother me.

I find myself more like bored. Kinda like excessive chase or sex scenes bore me. Really, anything that becomes repetitive and goes on too long. The gore upon gore being most of the storyline, paired with complicated interrelational musings(also not something I endure wel), the actual plot seems thin at best, spun for the sole puprpose of offering a stage for the gruesome characters to be gruesome.

Aug 17, So, as a palate cleaner I wanted to read something heartwarming and grounding, which led me to finally reading the two books about Ginny the dog who rescues cats (The Dog Who Rescues Cats, and The Blessing of the Animals, by Philip Gonzales) which I have in Finnish because they used to belong to my grandma. I remember her talking about them and discovered that I actually gave her the other one back in !999, but just hadn’t gotten around to reading them yet. Now I did, and what a wonderful trip that was! Exactly the kind of story I needed, reminding me that there IS love and beauty in this real world ❣️