Dark season is here. It doesn’t affect my reading habits one way or the other – I don’t read any more or less (I read most of my freetime anyway), I don’t choose my books according to season (spooky or any other seasonal theme) – I just keep on reading whatever suits my fancy at any given time. This month includes two books on ADHD as non-fiction, and The Great Gatsby as the classic I was curious about, among the usual setting of fantasy (mostly romantacy and dark academy) and mystery/crime.

• De-Witched and Season of the Witch (books 2 and 3 of the Toil and Trouble series), by Sophie H. Morgan – fun witchy romantacy-mysteries, feel good books 💜
• The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown – the long-awaited (10 years, I think Brown himself noted!) new Robert Langdon book and possibly the best one yet, or maybe it just feels like it, since it’s been 10 years since reading the previous book and way longer for the ones before, but definitely a fantastic book! It lingered with me for days (and nights) after finishing, a myriad of “what if’s” floating in my head, making me question and assess what could be and what I might believe. In the end, I am an agnostic so from my point of view, it all could be, but might not, and it really doesn’t change anything for me 😄
• Alchemy of Secrets, by Stephanie Garber – she moved from YA to adult fantasy with such eloquence and style that it took my breath away! I hope she writes more adult fantasy; maybe a sequel to this one? The ending did leave that door open.
• Petetty, by Max Seeck – the second Milo book took things highly personal for him, Milo the protagonist that is. Guaranteed quality crime, again. Excellent read!
• Aloittamista vaille täydellinen – ADHD työelämässä, by Jaana Haapaluoma-Höglund and Eve Kottonen – a book about ADHD in professional life, by ADHD people themselves. Recommended read for ADHDers and neurotypicals alike, offering (self-)recognition, understanding and assistance with ADHD issues and strenghts specifically in working life. Personal experiences are complemented by chapters by professionals specialized in neurodivergency (most on the spectrum themselves).
• Books 1-4 of the Moonlight Springs series (Starlight Antiques, Sweet Memories Bakery, Enchanted Bookshop, Painted Visions), by Lula Ward – cutesie sweet romantacy-cozy-mysteries with magic stirring and alliances forming and evolving into romance, allowing the protagonists to find themselves, their inner abilities connected to magic, and grow past trauma. The writing is a bit clumsy and repetitive, conversations often a bit redundant with same discoveries made multiple times, but I still enjoyed the stories enough to cringe and move on through the annoyances.
• Arcana Academy, by Elise Kova – a dark academy novel starting a new series. An enemies to lovers romance in a story full of secrets and betrayal, where you never know who you can trust and nothing is quite as it seems. Left of on a cliffhanger, need to wait for a year or so for the next book 😭
• Ai se olikin ADHD, by Laura Wáthen – another Finnish book about ADHD, written by an ADHD person. All about self-discovery and -understanding, aimed to help cope and deal with issues, which is the key to being able to use the strenghts and strive. Also, a lot of interesting history and facts about ADHD study and recognition in neuro-psychiatry and science.
• Holly (book 3,5 of Belladonna), by Adalyn Grace -the Christmas themed bonus book in the Belladonna series, a cozy mystery kind of gathering of all the characters from the series in a Holiday celebration. Not usually my kind of a book, but I did enjoy spending some time with the crew!
• The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald – the classic I finally decided to read since it’s referred to in so many books. It surprised me – I really enjoyed it! One of those I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate as a younger reader. Now I found a lot of profound wisdom and insight in it, even if the story itself is not exactly uplifting.
• The Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating (and Other War Crimes), by Tiffany Hunt – a truly delightful dark romantacy where every chapter title has a sideline in parenthesis (yes, I love that kind of stuff, along with footnotes and other sidenotes). Another enemies to lovers romantacy, where villainy is not black and heroism isn’t white. Second book coming in the spring – can’t hardly wait!
• The City and its Uncertain Walls, by Haruki Murakami – a bit of a disappointment this one, in my opinion. A bit of a been there read that story, the themes a bit old and already exhausted, the writing too detailed and dragging on, like Murakami tried to artificially turn a 150 page novella into a 450 page novel.

Oct 5, Reading Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets, where Langdon quotes the opening line of ”one of his favorite novels” which just so happens to be Dan Brown’s very first published book, Digital Fortress  I love finding easter eggs in books 😂

Oct 9, I loved Stephanie Garber’s Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart series – such devious mysteries with clever twists and turns – and so I jumped in excited expectation when I first saw a post about her then upcoming adult fantasy debut Alchemy of Secrets.

The book dropped into my Kindle two days ago upon publishing and immediately cut in my TBR line. The book is awesome! I can only call it fantasy noir as my head keeps creating this film noir scenery and music as I read.

Oct 24, Holiday themed books aren’t my cuppa in general, but since I so loved Adalyn Grace’s Belladonna trilogy, I couldn’t pass Holly, the bonus book 3.5. It’s a truly Christmasy story, sweet and cutesie cozy kind of mystery with plenty of Holiday spirit – among other spirits. Still not something I would read more of, but I did enjoy this story a lot 🥰 Also, the holly-garland growing throughout the book and the manga style illustrations made it a special kind of a treat!

Oct 25, If you’re gonna read a classic you’re not sure you’ll like, you might as well do it in style The Great Gatsby (by F. Scott Fitzgerald) is quoted and referred to in so many other books that I finally became curious enough to want to read it – and for me that means acquiring it in one form or another – so I bought this beautiful painted edition, and today, I read it.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book! I have a more or maybe less warranted caution for classics; so many have bored me to no end. Gatsby, I truly enjoyed. And it amused me that he had a grumpy Finnish maid-whatever 😄

“…a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.” — “The rich get richer, the poor – get children” — “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”

Oct 31, Finished Murakami’s The City and its Uncertain Walls today. It was, in a way, Norwegian Wood all over again, but twice as long and magical, though apparently the story is old (novella from 1980) and the novel here is a rework of that. Be as it may, it was too long for the story itself, and I found myself rather bored halfway through, at which point I switched to speed-reading. The story picked up again at the very end when everything became fully confusing.

So, not the best of Murakami, not even close. Lacking the intellectual intrigue while repeating themes from other books (or maybe they repeat themes from this one? whatever). Actually, there are certain topics or themes that seem to be present one way or the other in all of his books, or at least most in most or so. Parallel/intertwining universes/realities, lost love from the youth, people’s shadows or lack of or being separated from, mental issues and/or autistic traits through trauma or by birth. This book had it all, but unfortunately the execution got a bit long-winded and reading a bit tedious.

July, the summer vacation month. 4 weeks off work, and while I did a whole lot of stuff (we even had a guest for two weeks), I still found more time to read than during work days. So 16 books, a bit shy of 6000 pages. More print than digital (because more time to read during daytime since I read Kindle mostly in bed), a bit more non-fiction than average, a bit more in Finnish than average, multiple first books of a new trilogy/series. A good reading month all in all.

• Helikopterilääkäri, by Heini Harve-Rytsälä – my goddaughter-colleague (whom I don’t know, though have met maybe a few times when we were kids) is a first-responder doctor on a medical helicopter and this is her book about what it’s like. Emotional, wonderful, heart-wreching book. I look at the yellow chopper zooming accross the sky above us multiple times a day with different eyes now, silently wishing “good luck, Heini!” every time it passes, for I know she’s on board that one on her shifts.
• Enchantra, by Kaylie Smith – book 2 of the Phantasma trilogy, and kinda like more of the same, but not quite. A surprising ending, did not see THAT coming! Enjoyable, dark and sinister read.
• The Baby Dragon Cafe, by A.T. Kureshi – had to take on something lighter after those previous books and this fisrt book of a magical realism (with dragons 💜) romance series was just the thing. I loved the sweetness of the book! For once people were who they said they were and families were supportive not manipulative, and you know, a hopeful and positive story with HEA.
• Wishes Most Foul, by Emma MacDonald – dark academy with lots of magic in it. Also begins a series or maybe a trilogy, even though the book comes to a satisfying end and the next book seems to be a fully new mystery related but not dependent. Liked this one a lot.
• Ystävänä jänis, by Chloe Dalton (orig. Raising Hare) – such a heart-warming true story of Dalton raising and befriending a baby hare without trying to tame it; she strives to maintain the hare’s ability to return to the nature. And how it all changed the way Dalton looks at the world and nature.
• Servant of Earth, by Sarah Hawley – a fay story, kinda the usual where a young human girl ends up in the fay world one way or another and, well, you know. Needs to strive, conquer and become something more than mere human to survive. Book 1 of a trilogy, left me hanging for sure!
• The Rushworth Family Plot, by Claudia Gray – book 4 of the Jonathan Darcy & Miss Tilney Austen-inspired mysteries. Very Austeny, witty and enjoyable, and really: will those two ever get each other??
• Unnatural Magic, by C.M. Waggoner – we have a highly British society in a fully made up world where trolls are at the top of the food chain, and a girl whose magic it too much for the traditional men, but she doesn’t let it stop her. Also, the troll who doesn’t quite fit in, and an army deserter, and the mystery of troll killings. Curious and intriguing, verbally playful and fun.
• Miksi lakkasimme lukemasta? by Riie Heikkilä – an academic study about the reasons people (of lower classes) don’t read (so much) anymore, and/or what they DO read. Interesting sociological study, which left me thinking and even questioning some of the study which in my opinion was still a very highlevel bare scratch of the surface, so I wrote a whole blog post about it.
• The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry, by C.M. Waggoner – loosely connected to Unnatural Magic, as in the love interest of the protagonist is the daughter of the troll and the soldier from the first book. A completely stand-alone mystery, which I actually liked way more than that first book.
• The Undoing of Violet Claybourne, by Emilie Critchley – a gothicy story of tragedy, manipulation, and the need to fit in, to be accepted. Sinister and full of dark secrets and ruthless schemes, that make for a story that holds you in its grips to the very end. Yes, I enjoyed it very much.
• Karvaisia kohtaloita, by Mikael Ilves – Ilves was a veterinarian (and actually treated my grandma’s dog too and once gave a full check-up to my stuffed doggo too 😄) who saw so much that he compiled a couple books with stories of pets he treated during his career. Some of them sweet, some of them tragic (the humans!), some of them simply outrageous!
• Book Lovers, by T.B. Markinson (and Miranda MacLeod) – literary themed story about finding love and yourself. Sweet and cute with a twist or two and a HEA, but somehow the book was constructed in a way that every 20% I was wondering how the book can still go on instead of wrapping up in a chapter or two. So maybe not exactly the most thrilling of books, but nice, to use the bland word intentionally.
• When the Moon Hatched, by Sarah A. Parker – definitely thrilling, on the other hand. Also begins a trilogy, and left off on a cliffhanger. I have high hopes that I might enjoy the next book(s) even better, since this was one of those cases where I love the book while really not liking the protagonist much; she starts to unravel a bit in the end so maybe she’s less annoying in the next book.
• Upon a Frosted Star, by M.A. Kuzniar – the cursed woman and the smitten artist. Loosely based on the Swan Lake. I loved the story, the slow unraveling of the history and mystery of the swan lady, but if it had been a print book, I’d have thrown it in the end. Friggin’ ending killed me! And still I went and dowloaded another book by the same author…
• Ariadne, by Jennifer Saint – a retelling of the story of Ariadne and a bit her sister Phaedra. Of the Minotaur and Theseus, mingled in with Dionysus and a bunch of other Greek mythology. the way the stories weave into each other. Excellent book, ethereal and dreamy while full of godly mischief and tragedy.

July 6, Popping into our local bookstore yesterday I found this book, Ystävänä jänis (orig. Raising Hare) by Chloe Dalton. I have always been a huge fan of rabbits of all kinds; our home is full of them in all different forms (items, that is, not live ones; I’ve a couple live bunnies too, when I was young). Such a lovely book this is 💜🐰 a bit of an interlude between my fantasy-gorging 😄