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aurorawest · 5 months

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Reading update

The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights - 5/5 stars

Again, bought this solely for Natasha Pulley's story, The Eel Singers, which is about Thaniel and Mori from The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. It's set between Watchmaker and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. I loved it, obviously. The rest of the stories were also really good—a few of them were genuinely really disturbing.

Teacher of the Year by MA Wardell - 3.75/5 stars

This is the first book in Wardell's Teachers in Love series (the second being Mistletoe & Mishigas, which I read last week). I didn't like this one as much, though tbh I'm chalking that up to the fact that it's Wardell's first novel. He uses some very strange descriptors sometimes that really throw me off ('matte' was used once to describe dialogue, which I still can't really make sense of). I also got kind of frustrated with Marvin's freakouts over Olan's alcoholism—not really the fact that they happened, but just like...the pacing of them, I guess? After it happened once, it didn't really feel like there was any escalation of that conflict, just sort of the same conflict happening repeatedly.

That said, I did like the book! The characters are all great, and I really loved how Marvin has to take responsibility for how he can't move on from how his mother's alcoholism affected him, and how he's actually quite unfair to his mother and Olan when they both take recovery incredibly seriously. There was a nuance to that that felt really refreshing.

Fallow by Jordan L Hawk - 4.5/5 stars

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton - 3.5/5 stars

Only the Brightest Stars by Andrew Grey - 3.25/5 stars

Beautiful Undone by Melissa Polk - 3.5/5 stars

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee - 5/5 stars

Adorable book and read it made me so hungry. I need to try a mooncake next fall.

Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land by Kathleen Stokker - 5/5 stars

I've had this sitting around for a few years now and figured I should read it around Christmas. It was super interesting—not only did I learn a lot about Norwegian Christmas traditions, I actually learned a lot about American Christmas traditions. Also it gave me an idea for a Christmas ghost story/romance.

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis - 5/5 stars

This book had a dreamy quality to it that was perfect for the subject matter. This is a murder mystery and kinda/sorta a retelling of Gawain and the Green Knight...I think? It's been way too many years since I've read Gawain and the Green Knight. The premise is that all the characters of Camelot are reincarnated over and over and stuck living out their myth cycles.

Death by Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold - 5/5 stars

Soooo much yearning. Two school friends reconnect over a murder case. Both of them think they're the only one in love with the other. If you're a Freya Marske or KJ Charles fan, this is very much up your alley.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell - 4.25/5 stars

The King's Delight by Sarah Honey - DNF at pg 72

#the haunting season #the eel singers #natasha pulley #teacher of the year #ma wardell #fake dates and mooncakes #sher lee #keeping christmas: yuletide traditions in norway and the new land #kathleen stokker #the winter knight #jes battis #death by silver #melissa scott #amy griswold #reading tag

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