So, May. Still only once or twice was the weather supportive of reading outside, but that’s just circumstances. While I made several book orders from Adlibris at the end of April and beginning of May, there was a week or two where I was waiting for new books to arrive, giving me the incentive to read something that’s been patiently waiting in my shelves instead (oh, I have a LOT of those, waiting for the mood to hit!). I ended up finally reading one of the great Finnish classics, Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the Northern Star), a trilogy that I happen to have as one slighlty intimidating brick tome volume (beautiful edition with prints of classic paintings for illustrations, and a fake leather binding 😄), and I really enjoyed it!

All in all I read 17 books, a total of 7362 pages. There were some real long books (like the aforementioned tome), but a few shorties in the mix too – I was kinda disappointed that the long-awaited new TJ Klune book “We Burned So Bright” was actually only 160 pages or so, making it a snack book rather than a full meal. Loved it though.

• That Time I Accidentally Took Over the Mafia, by Rebekah Sinclair – So funny, a total wild ride from start to end! Action, speed, wild chased, a surprise (or not) in the end, and of course the hot sex. Polyamourous relationship plot, with multipartner sex too – granting that there were some a bit hmm, surreal moments that kinda bypassed biology and physiology 😄
• Nocticadia, by Keri Lake – This was a bit of a slow start for me and for a while I thought it’d be a drag, but then it pulled me straight into its web and I couldn’t put it down! The entire book has a sinister and charged atmosphere, charged with secrets and evil, heightened by the romance. And an ending that leaves room for a book 2, while not exactly suggesting there will be one. So leaving one in some more suspence, sort of 😂
• Emma Watson, by Joan Aiken – A shortish novel based on the unfinished beginnings of Jane Austen’s “The Watsons”. I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I expected the book to take the original and continue from there; instead the book was built on top of it, yes, but somehow missed the Austen style and ambiance by a mile.
• That Time I Accidentally Became a Serial Killer, by Rebekah Sinclair – My least favorite of this series (three books, at least so far), mainly because I couldn’t handle the total breach of privacy (and consensuality) by the stalker, good intended as it may have been, nor the protagonist just somehow being ok by it all (with minor struggle) because the stalker was sexy – her background making it all the more unrealistic.
• That Time I Accidentally Killed the Wrong Guy, by Rebekah Sinclair – Back to a wild ride full of (a bit gortesque) humor in this book, which I again loved. An unlikely partnership, betrayal (or was it?), and plot twists that you kinda could see coming from afar, but then they hit you in the face anyway.
• Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero, by Garry Jenkins – A bit of an old bio, but a good one, in general. Just kinda funny moments reading some opinions and conclusions of a life that has been moving on for more than two decades since the book was written. Biographers of people who’re not dead yet, should really remember not to write conclusive statements about anything; it just makes the book age bad.
• The Ether Witch: The Divining of a Devil (The Ether Witch 3), by Delemhach – I had so been waiting for this! I preordered the Kindle version as soon as it was available for preorder – and was puzzled but happy when I downloaded to my Kindle immediately and not in late June. Apparently a glitch in the process, making it available immediately, but I was not sorry. Great read, great ending for Tam and Eli’s story, though a bit sad to bid goodbye to the House Witch world and characters for good (I think).
• Hidden Springs (Moonlight Springs 6), by Lula Ward – The finale for the Moonlight Springs saga, bringing toghther all the stones and resolving the threat of unraveling for good. These books seem to me like written by (or at least heavily assisted by) AI, but be that true or not, the writing is a bit clumsy and redundand, especially in the first books – it got a bit better towards the end – which bothered me to an end, but I still liked them enough to read them all.
• Books 1-3 of the Seven Suitors for Seven Witches, by Amy Boyles – Funny, witty romantacies with a bit of a mystery in each. Seven sisters who each need to marry in order to restore/save the family magic. As it happens, they all seem to (accidentally) stumble into deals with someone they deem enemy but find “true love” with in the end. Yes, enemies to lovers, kinda, but then a bit more nuanced than that. And spiced up just so, the way I like best. Currently we have three books, but I would assume there’s four more to come 😏
  • How to Fake It with a Fae – The eldest witch who believes that she’s really not a witch at all since she appears to have no magic, gets accidentally bound into a magical engagement with the fae king living in the spooky castle at the edges of the village. One who’s out to get the Thornrose family for reasons of his own.
  • How to Outwit a Wizard – He cheated on her in high school, breaking her heart. Or did he? He became a playboy, or so it would seem, but it’s more complicated than that. Good intentions and roads to hell and all that unravel in this one where the second daughter is reunited with her high school boyfriend as a means to an end. Just that the end may be different than planned.
  • How to Negotiate With a Nightmare – The third sister is hellbent on getting out of any marriages, yet finds herself married to the Nightmare King in a snap of fingers, finding her own happy ever after in an unlikely place, with an unlikely husband. Is it a nightmare or a dream come true?
• Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the Northern Star, full trilogy), by Väinö Linna – A epos of love and war and social and political struggles of a country being born. The story follows the family of Jussi, the servant who becomes a crofter, dreaming of owning the land some day, and the village he lives in. It spans over several decades, staring in the late 1800’s where Finland is an (autonomous) part of Russia, flowing through the declaration of independence, the civil war that followed, and the first decades of a country trying to resolve the political division of people to reds and whites, all the way to the end of the WWII. The story colors the outlines of history, approaching it all from the very heart of issues: the class divide, the wish to have a better life, the oppression inside the country, explaining why we are now who we are and why certain attitudes and structures exist. Excellent read. Hands down. Something for every Finn to read.
• We Burned So Bright, by TJ Klune – A short novel, or a long novella. A beautiful story about life with all its colors. Sorrow, regret, pain, unspoken and carried alone while together. Joy, love, happiness, a past and a future that won’t be. Absolution at the end of the world.
• Strange Familiars (The Seamere College 1), by Keshe Chow – It’s a world where magic powers everything, but no one can use it for free, as it’s harvested, controlled, and distributed by corporations, and corporations mean greed, even at the expense of human lives. Gwendolynne and Harrisford come from the very opposite ends of society, are sworn enemies fighting for the first place in a graduating class, but that naturally is a fertile breeding ground for romance, and when they are sort of accidentally thrown together to investigate the magical anomalies, they find a magic of their own. And then things go kinda haywire and there’s not even a peep about the second book anywhere yet 😭
• Impractical Magic (Oak Haven Witches 1), by Emily Grimoire – Cozy mystery where the home and an entire existance of the witches of Oak Haven is under threat. Three sisters who lost their Papa in the previous attack a good ten years before, leaving the family broken, the middle child having left and sworn off magic altogether, with a guilt that is or isn’t entirely warranted. She returns, there’s the old “will they or will they not” best friend, and there’s the “oh for fuck’s sake, pull your head out of your ass already” frustration for the reader. All in all, lovely sweet read.
• Thistlemarsh, by Moorea Corrigan – One of the best reads of this year, this is a fairy tale much the likes of Emily Wilde’s adventures. Mouse finds herself in an impossible situation, the inadvertedly freed fae sees an opportunity, it is supposed to be a win-win, and in the end it is, but first it’s all turned upside down because the unsuspected Fae King is full of surprises. Simply superb!
• Jingle Spells (Oak Haven Witches 2), by Emily Grimoire – Christmas time in Oak Haven, old rituals leave the witches vulnerable and old enemies take advantage. Delilah, the oldest of the sisters, is the protagonist of this book, returing from her globe trotting of the past year to help save her home and perhaps find love, while at it.

May 3, I was so excited to read Emma Watson (by Joan Aiken), the finished story of Jane Austen’s The Watsons, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. The book started where The Watsons left off, which in itself is sort of ok, but seeing as the original is just some 50 pages of a rather unknown beginnngs of a story, I would’ve expected it to be included in this book. Aiken did do a relatively good job of recounting the events of the original, but I can’t help but feel the original set of characters fell short and lacking of their depth in this book.

The narrative of Emma Watson was not exactly what I’d call Austen-y, especially not the latter half. It was a bit all over the place, characters were too many and flitting through, events that Austen would have made the center of the story, were delivered with a sentence or two, after the fact. This book was a hoolabaloo of events and everything rolled too fast for anything to have real weight. It wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t what I expected and not really faithful to Austen at all. Pity.

May 9, So, this Accidentally series by Rebekah Sinclair. I loved the first one (That Time I Accidentally Took Over the Mafia), well for the most part anyway. It was a wild ride! As is the third book, That Time I Accidentally Killed the Wrong Guy). Both have longer sex scenes than I generally have patience for, but still, fun and quirky in a delightful way, and the polyamory of the first book totally was the cherry on top of the cake (disregarding the last bit where science and biology were totally ignored).

The middle book, though. The “legally blonde” that everyone gushes about. That Time I Accidentally Became a Serial Killer. I loved to hate it and hated to love it, and was not able to rate it, because while kinda sorta awesome, the invasion of privacy and integrity and the Stockholm Syndrome of sorts totally icked me out. Creeped me and disgusted me. Everyone for their own, I figure, but still, the non-consent from the start was too much. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

May 20, I used to read a lot of historical fiction when I was young. Then I kinda burned out on it. It’s still not a favorite (and political history even less so), but I have a generally relatively well-hidden socio-political bone, that finds certain works of historical fiction extremely nourishing.

Like Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Under the Northern Star) by Väinö Linna. A Finnish classic for sure, but simply an epic saga of how Finland as it is today, was born. The story brings reasons, causations, and people to life and to light in an excellent manner, in a way no school history book or class ever could. It’s not just a story, it holds the seeds of our current society and how and why it all unfolded as it did, in its pages.

I loved Linna’s classic Tuntematon sotilas (Unknown Soldiers) as a teen, but apparently had to live to be 50 before having the courage to tackle this opus of 1200 pages (it’s a trilogy, but I just so happen to have it in a single bind, making it an intimidating tome 😄), and now this experience is prompting me to start reading the Hovimäki series, which I kinda inherited from my grandma (minus book 5 – for some reason that is missing 🤨 need to hunt it down). It takes the reader even further down in Finnish history.

There’s still too much going on in my life, too much stress, too many things. I escape into books as much as I can, and my one week vacation obviously offered much opportunity for that, though there was a lot going on during that time too. So anyhow, 18 books, 6604 pages, a lot of excellent books in Febuary💜

• Cat Dragon (Tangleroot Valley book 1), by Samantha Birch – A truly delightful whimsy cozy mystery romantacy adventure with witches and wizards and magical beasts, especially the awesome cat dragons, those designated familiars of the magic users. Eagerly waiting for book 2 (which won’t be until November).
• Enchanting the Fae Queen (Queens of Villainy 2), by Stephainie Burgis – Enchanting second book of the whimsical, magical trilogy where magical queens battle against the emperor who wants to sweep magic and magical beings out of the realm and rule over everyone.
• The Chatelaine, by Kate Heartfield – Magical historical realism, or historical fantasy or something. but we plunge straight into the middle ages of Europe, where the king of France is conniving with the chatelaine of Hell (which is a beast more than a place), but a slighted widow (or is she?) has other ideas.
• The Murder at World’s End (Stockinham & Pike 1), by Ross Montgomery – Fun, witty, twisty, the mystery keeps you guessing till the very end. Excellent detective story, entertaining characters, a totally enjoyable read.
• The Valkyrie, by Kate Heartfield – A retelling of a Nordic/European mythology story with the expected love, deception, greed, trickery of wicked gods and goddesses, wars, and persistance. Good reading.
• Dangerous Damsels trilogy (The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, The League of Gentlewomen Witches, The Sercret Service of Tea and Treason), by India Holton – Whimsical satire of the Victorian society, literature, and clichés. Three different romances, with separate mysteries, but never fear – the characters move through the trilogy, so you’ll be among friends (and known foes) the entire ride. And what a wild ride it is!
• Orphia and Eurydicius, by Elyse John – More mythology retelling, Greek this time. A compelling weaving of Orphia’s journey and the uncinditional love of Eurydicius, of prophesies and gods, and how it is our choices that make our life and death. In the end, prophesies only show the result of those choices, but the journey to those results is our own.
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë – Finally a Brontë book I actually enjoyed. More Austeny than the other books (that I’ve read), with actual action and characters more regular and relatable. I guess, less Gothic.
• Into the Midnight Wood, by Alexandra McCollum – Absolutely wonderful, sweet, loveable 💜 Finding oneself, one’s worth, and a love so hidden you didn’t realize it until it bit you in the ass. Queer characters, and the struggle against boxes and labels.
• The Baby Dragon Bookshop (The Baby Dragon 3), by Aamna Qureshi – Enemies to lovers, romance with (baby) dragons and chimeras, competition and undeniable passion, family messiness and love that is both healthy and not. I quite enjoy the world and the characters, and while I might not label these as excellent, I know I will return to these friends again in the opening story of the Dragon Racers trilogy (coming out in August).
• Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett – Excellent magical realism/fantasy in historical Montreal, heartwarming and fully enjoyable story about prejudices and surprises, a bit of magical warfare and war against magic users, of cats and love.
• Moonlight Inn (Moonlight Springs 5), by Lula Ward – The writing of this series is getting better, though the storylines remain a bit thin, but I enjoy these enough to want to see all stones united and Moonlight Springs saved and finally rid of its nasty enemy. Book 6 will be out in May; I’m pretty sure these are quite AI generated, or at least written with a lot of AI assistance.
• An Arcane Inheritance, by Kamilah Cole – Another excellent read, this dark academy story where nothing is as it seems, magic is hoarded while hidden, and love is strong enough to conquer the evil. Loved this book!
• Hiiriä ja ihmisiä (Of Mice and Men), by John Steinbeck – A snack of a book, read in Finnish as I happen to have this in Finnish. I remember loving East of Eden as teen, but haven’t read any other Steinbeck since, and won’t really after this again. Not my cuppa. Crude and brutish, realism at its worst 😄
• The Sea Witch (Salt & Sorcery 1), by Eva Leigh – Oh, when will book 2 be out, when?! The piratees of the Caribbean – a ship full of women, some of who are witches, some not – who aren’t exactly like all other pirates. The British Navy officer caught in the middle of things, finding that true nobility lies not where he thought it did. And of course there’s the fated love. And the cliffhanger ending!
• Mika Waltari – Mielikuvituksen jättiläinen, by Ritva Haavikko – an academicy collection of analyses, articles and essays about Mika Waltari’s (one of the greatest Finnish authors of all time) works and of him as an author and play/screen play writer, dissecting his career and author person from multiple points of view.

Feb 14, Victorian England. Society ladies, just not that society. I mean, yes, that society, but not. Because while pirates, witches and suches may enjoy their afternoon tea like any civilized people, they don’t exactly have the time nor the interest in balls and marrying their daughters off. Well, except for relieving the hosts of their valuables and encouraging their daughters to NOT do the right thing – I mean, doing the right thing would totally ruin the family reputation!

It’s a world where wrong is right, up is down, every statement is an oxymoron, and what I say is definately not what I mean, but God forbid you go out without a parasol and get freckles! A satire of the Victorian society, where trading barbs concealed as polite conversation is down to art and being set as the target for assassination (by an honorary aunt) is the height of accomplishment.

Oh, but did I even mention? Of course there’s magic! I mean, how else would the pirate battle houses fly around and about? But withches certainly DO NOT exist, but if they did, they would be the sworn enemies of those scoundrel pirates, duh! But we all know animosity is the best breeding ground for romance, and an inn ALWAYS has only one room left.

Add the regency romance twist – of COURSE our heroins are obsessed with literature; after all, one of them is most certainly the granddaughter of Branwell Brontë (or it might’ve been Darwin, but brooding poets ARE more romantic). And what can cause more delightful friction between people than differing opinions about Wordsworth and Byron?

Hilarious, delightful, just a touch steamy! Let me introduce my latest find of absolute joy: the Dangerous Damsels series, by India Holton.

Feb 17, Out of anything (by any) Brontë I’ve read, I have enjoyed The Tenant of Wildfell (by Anne Brontë) Hall the best. By which I mean, of course, this is the first book of theirs I’ve enjoyed reading, to begin with. It’s not boring, nor outrageous or insane, but more like austenish, I suppose. Though still dwelling more on the ugly side of life than Austen, but still.

I can understand why it didn’t catch the same fame as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, in their outrageous insanity (latter) and miserable peculiarity (former), it being simply a story of rather ordinary life and love. I can relate to Helen, I can be outraged by the cruelty of Arthur, I can root for Helen’s happy ending and for Arthur’s demise. I’m not dusgusted or bored, I see a life, a story with possibilities.

And I do so like a happy ending,

So much going on this January, didn’t have as much time to read as I would’ve liked. Still, I ended up finishing 12 books. You can see from the format chart that I read way more digital than print, implicating that I had more time to read on the go than at home (usually those are pretty balanced out). I hope life slows down a bit again – reading time is not only desired for the reason of reading, but it’s my highly important me-time, downtime, battery charging time. Anyway, this is what my reading year began with:

• The Burning Witch 3, by Delemhach – the (latter half of the) final book of Kat’s adventures, but hey! The saga continues in…
• …The Ether Witch trilogy books 1 & 2, by Delemhach – where we get to travel with Tam into new adventures with danger and love, and Tam finding his true power. I absolutely love the Ashowan family and can’t wait to get my hands on book 3 (but haven’t seen any release date estimates yet, unfortunately)
• Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, by Delemhach – the bonus materials book I got mainly for the sake of the map, but I also enjoyed the short stories in it. Just a booklet really, but a delightful one!
• Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald – this one started off rather blah, but the second half was quite enjoyable, especially with the polyamory that is so rare in lit
• Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page, by Brad Tolinsky – a rather intriguing and well-constructed book about the legendary musician, concentrating on the rock star side of things
• Postmortem of a Poem (Autopsy of a Fairytale 6), by Nicole Scarano – another supernatural murder mystery with Bel and Eamon et al. I really do love it how the personal relationships with their highs and lows are such a natural and important part of the stories. And, there’s more books to come (at the end of this year)
• Witches of Dubious Origin, by Jenn McKinley – I loved the story, though it had it’s draggy moments before the action really caught up.
• Fear the Flames (Fear the Flames 1), by Olivia Rose Darling – an excellent romantacy with magic and dragons, and love and deception, and taking back what’s yours.
• Dream On, Ramona Riley, by Ashely Herring Blake – LGBT romance for a change, with all the necessary improbabilities and misunderstandings and all that. Sweet story.
• My Friends, by Fredrik Backman – people from the underbelly of society, neurodivergence and trauma, violent childhoods and abusive adults, but most of all friendship and love. Backman totally gets what it is to be human.
• Wrath of the Dragons (Fear the Flames 2), by Olivia Rose Darling – Ellowen and Cayden prepare for war, determined to put the world to its rights

Jan 6, Yesterday I was reading The Ether Witch 1 (Delemhach) when once again I thought I’d love to have a map of that world, so I went to search online. What I found was a companion book: Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, with short stories, portraits and other imagery, little details, and those maps.

Not available in Kindle, though, only in Campfire, and had a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out (I mean, just my own hassle, nothing complicated about it really), and it was well worth it and the few bucks for the booklet 💜 Didn’t read the stories yet, though, but I’ll get to them once I’m done with the Ether Witches.

Jan 6, Trial books aren’t really my thing, though at least the actual trials played a relatively small part in Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald. Still, the first half of the book almost had me DNF:ing it, until it redeemed itself when the tormented martyr of a protagonist finally caved in and stopped pushing everyone away and I actually enjoyed the second half – especially the polyamory bit. Such a rarity in literature.

Jan 25, I’m half-way through Fredrik Backman’s My Friends, and while the language stuffs (where do these people live where even the police asks people if they speak the language?), I’m loving it, like I’ve loved all of his books.  It’s just so sweet, so lovely 💜 Not your action and adventure book, but a book about humans, humanity, friendship, loss and grief – the big feelings. The thing is that Backman really GETS human emotions. So relatable.