February Is Fantasy Month: Favorite Romance Tropes

Hello all! With Valentine's Day just behind us, I think it's safe to say that many of us have romance on the brain. So, what better time than now to talk about some of my favorite romance tropes? And to link in with February is Fantasy Month again, for every trope, I'm going to include a few fantasy book recommendations that I think really showcase what I'm talking about.

Favorite Romance Tropes

1. Slow Burn. I think my love for this trope is well-established — the surest way to make me enjoy a romance is to make it a good slow-burn, where the question isn't isn't "Will they or won't they?" but rather "How long will it take both of them to realize what's going on?" After all, half the joy of a slow burn is spotting it long before the characters do and then making much of hand-touches and smiles and definitely-not-dates. Whether this takes place over the course of a series or in a single book, I'm certain to enjoy it.
   If you want to read this, try . . . For a single-book slow-burn, I happen to be very fond of my most recent release, Song of the Selkies. Not only does it have a proper "crockpot romance" (which is to say, everything is lovely and tender and there's pining), it comes with bonus Faramir and Eowyn vibes. That said, I would also classify Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones as this type of romance — even though the book is short, the love story is drawn out and clever readers see the romance coming long before the characters will admit it. And for a series-long slow-burn, there's W.R. Gingell's City Between.
2. Princess and Rogue Parings. This is a another trope that I've mentioned loving plenty of times and that I enjoy writing as much as I enjoy reading. Happily, this dynamic shows up fairly frequently: a man — perhaps an actual rogue, perhaps just someone with roguish traits — who's been living only for himself meets a woman caught up in what everyone else needs (or expects) her to be. As a result, he finds a reason to be selfless, and she has a chance to be seen and loved solely for herself. And for the reader, that means we get two characters who probably play off each other in really fun ways, probably a healthy dose of snark, and a redemption arc. Plus, it frequently overlaps with the Ladykiller in Love trope, in which a guy known for liking the ladies in general, but not getting permanently attached to any of them, finds himself head-over-heels in love — probably with the one woman who'd never fall for his usual advances. What more could a girl want?
   If you want to read this, try . . . So many good choices — though some of my favorites examples of this trope are actually in movies, not books (and not always fantasy movies either). But probably my favorite bookish example (aside from Howl) is found in   Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Bard Eanrin may not be a rogue, but he shares most of the essential characteristics, and Starflower certainly fits the princess profile . . . and their relationship is one of my favorite aspects both of this book and the series as a whole. I also love the way this plays out in books 3 and 4 of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and you'll also find it in a lot of H.L Burke's Supervillain Rehabilitation/Romance Project books. (I'm pretty sure Accidentally a Superhero would be the best example, but I haven't read that one yet.)
3. Friends to Lovers. This frequently overlaps with the slow-burn trope, but there's just something lovely about seeing a pair of friends turn into something more, or in reading an established romance where it's clear that the couple cared about each other as friends long before they even thought about kissing. I especially love the childhood-friends-to-lovers variant and the idea that these two characters have always been and always will be by each other's sides.
   If you want to read this, try . . . If you want the childhood friends version of this, pick up Lady Dragon, Tela Du  or Snowfield Palace, both by Kendra E. Ardnek. (It's also in the backstory for Through a Shattered Glass, just saying . . .) On the other hand, if you'd like a version that overlaps with the next trope on this list, you'll probably be very pleased with the romance in the DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul, which has a lovely antagonists-to-friends-to-lovers-to-happily-married-couple sequence over the course of books two through five.
4. Antagonists to Lovers. This is more commonly known as enemies to lovers, but I'm using the broader term of "antagonists" because the category of books I'm describing includes everything from legitimate, blades-at-the-throats enemies to people who are more just . . . rivals, or who annoy each other until they start to see things differently. In any case, the journey as couples in this trope come to see from one another's perspectives, sympathize with someone they disliked, and usually find some kind of redemption in the process is just so lovely to read . . . and the fact that the characters usually have a lot of deliciously snarky and charged interactions, as well as begrudgingly tender moments, doesn't hurt either.
   If you want to read this, try . . . For actual enemies to lovers, you can't go wrong with An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson or Gothel and the Maiden Prince by W.R. Gingell. On the other hand, if you're looking for characters who are merely antagonistic, but not necessarily outright enemies, pick up A Thieving Curse by Selina R. Gonzalez or Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer.
5. Married Adventure Couples. Does this count as a romance trope? I don't know, but I absolutely love when a fictional couple gets married and then continues having adventures and being awesome, with the added benefit of being secure in their relationship so they know they already have each other's backs and becoming a fabulous battle couple (if they aren't that already). It's both a nice change of pace from the drama of pre-marriage couples and a reminder that "happily ever after" doesn't mean nothing interesting ever happens again.
   If you want to read this, try . . . As already mentioned, this appears in the last two books in the DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul. It's also heavily present from book 4 onward in Kendra E. Ardnek's Bookania Quests series — and, conveniently, book 4 is one of the series entry points. Unfortunately, I can't think of many other examples — if you know of any, make sure you let me know!

What are your favorite romance tropes? What are your favorite books including those tropes? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

October 2022 Doings!

Hello hello hello! You may notice that, unlike a lot of my posts lately, October Doings is going up on the early side. For one thing, today is actually closer to the end of October than next Friday will be . . . but also, next Friday is going to be taken up with a blog tour, so here we are! While we only have a few weeks to cover, they've been a busy few weeks, so let's get going.

Writing!

• So, the good news is that BDPI #4 is still coming along pretty smoothly. I'm averaging a little over a chapter a week, which is a slower pace than some of my books, but still respectable, especially considering that a lot of my weekends this month have been occupied with non-writing activities.
• The other good news is that I got to participate in a short story writing challenge on another site and got my piece in on time. It's a story that I've had in my head in various forms for a while, based on a few of my favorite Celtic songs. I misremembered the deadline as being a week later than it actually was, so the writing ended up being done in a rush, and I didn't get as much time to edit as I wanted, but it did get done, and I'm pleased with the result. I may go back and polish it and see if I can submit it somewhere at some point.
• The bad news is that Through a Shattered Glass edits and formatting are coming . . . slowly. I finished another round of edits, but still need to do a little more polishing before I can switch to a formatted document. That's another project I'd been planning to do on weekends that didn't work out. I also worked on some of the interior graphics for the book, though nothing is finalized yet.
• I've done a little bit of D&D writing, though not a ton. Nothing much to report there.

Reading!

• Another slow reading month, though I did get some good books in. I finished rereading Veiled Rose, which meant rediscovering one of my favorite Goldstone Wood quotes — I had forgotten which book it was in. That quote is, of course, this one:

"Maybe it does have a happy ending. At least, when it's actually complete. I mean, this part of it is sad. But maybe something good will come from it still? I suppose you have to read all the legends together to know for sure, but I don't know all of them. This one is sad, but there might be a story out there somewhere to make it happy."

• Very much in the vein of the "old stories" quote from The Lord of the Rings that I love so much. Anyway, after Veiled Rose moved onto Moonblood, which is one of my favorite Goldstone Wood books, so that was a delight. I did not, however, continue my reread further, as I had library books that were coming due soon.
• Those library reads that I turned to next were Delicious in Dungeon #10 and Diana Wynne Jones's The Time of the Ghost. The new installment of Delicious in Dungeon was quite good, and I liked it almost as much as I did the early books at the start of the series. We also got some backstory on the conflict, which was fun. The Time of the Ghost was rather dark (especially for a Jones book), and not my favorite of her works, but it was still a fascinating, twisty read. I also spent most of the book thinking I knew a major spoiler for it, and then discovered at the end that I had either misheard or misremembered said spoiler, so that was an interesting experience.
• My other new read of the month was an ARC of H.L. Burke's upcoming novel, A Superhero for Christmas. I'll have a Friday 5s post about it next week, so I won't go far into my thoughts, but I will say that Burke has yet to disappoint me with any of her superhero books.
• I finished out the month by jumping into another reread, this time of the League of Princes series by Christopher Healy (which is not, in fact, called the Hero's Guide series, no matter how much I try to call it that). A friend of mine on another site was reading (or rereading?) them and posting quotes, and it made me want to revisit them, which was definitely a good choice, even if getting back into the first one took a bit. I finished the first book, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, and I'm currently reading book two.

Watching!

• So, after years of seeing other people reference and obsess over it, I've finally watched Over the Garden Wall! Or, you know, I'm in the process of watching it, with the goal of finishing it by the end of October. I'm enjoying it, though so far, I don't love it to the same degree that others seem to. It's a fun show with an excellent edge of creepiness. Also, Beatrice is kind of a mood, not going to lie.
• I will note that, despite the fact that I'm not a superfan or anything, I sorta want to do a genderswapped Wirt cosplay simply because I want to have his cloak (or a real life version of it, you know) for myself. It looks so fun and comfy! Quite frankly, if I find the money for good materials, I would probably wear it for more than just cosplay.
• Otherwise, I'm still watching a little Fullmetal Alchemist here and and a little Critical Role there and a lot of short-form YouTube content and not much else. I've been tired lately, which means it takes me longer to get in the zone of writing, which means I have less time to chill afterwards . . . plus, I'm not really enjoying the current Critical Role arc, and that was the primary thing I was getting excited about watching for a long while.

Life!

• There's no doubt about the highlight of the month — it was, without a doubt, the day that Wyn Owens and I met up at the Renaissance Festival! We had a grand time wandering the village, visiting the shops, enjoying delicious food (including crepes! I love crepes so much), chatting about our writing (and getting excited when we encountered anything that reminded us of our characters), and watching three different jousting events. We even coordinated costumes so we could attend as Ailsa and Siobhra from Wyn's The Dark King's Curse! (After all, if you already have the outfits, it would be a shame not to wear them together.)
• So, yes. It was a lovely day, and I also think that particular Ren Faire is one of the better ones I've visited. It's definitely my favorite setup — quite large, and situated in an area with lots of trees — and the joust was tied with Ohio's in terms of quality. Ohio's seemed a little more authentic, but this one was more dramatic and managed to work in a storyline without it seeming terribly forced. I was sad that neither of the knights I was rooting for won, though.
• Outside of the Ren Faire, I actually had something going on almost every weekend this month aside from the first weekend (when the remnants of Hurricane Ian meant everyone was hiding inside for the most part). The weekend before the Ren Faire, my family went to a fall party held by our next-door neighbors, which was nice. I don't really know most of our neighbors aside from two couples, but the event and the food were good. And the weekend after, a couple from our Bible study had a bonfire at their house, so we went to that. It was lightly attended, but the families who were there were some of the ones we're closer to, and there was plenty of hot apple cider, so that was fun.
• (I also have an event this weekend — my church is doing Trunk or Treat, and I'm running a trunk, so the Interdimensional Curiosity Shoppe will return, with some adjustments. But that obviously hasn't happened yet, so I can't say much else about it.)
• Things at work have been picking up with fall events and the approach of Advent, specifically the Advent newsletter. It's not unmanageable, but it's definitely keeping me busy! I was pleased that people actually sent me the majority of newsletter pieces well in advance of the deadline, rather than a day or two before the deadline, so that's making things much less stressful.
• And on the food front, our Bible study is currently studying Ezekiel, so I tried my hand at making Ezekiel bread. It turned out pretty well, even if it did overflow my pans — it's a very dense, cakey bread, but it has a good taste. I don't think I'd want to eat nothing but that for a year and a half, but at the same time . . . y'know, there are worse things to have to eat for that long.
• Finally, for those curious . . . no, I still haven't finished my scarf. I'm working on it. There were just multiple weeks when I missed a time when I normally would've worked on it. At this point, I will be happy to get it done by the end of the year.

November Plans

• First and foremost: I am not doing NaNoWriMo. Besides the fact that I'm not in the place for a mad-rush writing marathon right now, I've been moving away from the NaNoWriMo organization as a whole. While it was a great help and a lot of fun during a particular season of my life, I don't care for a lot of the new aspects they've added since the site change, and more importantly, I don't agree with many of their recent policies. So, no NaNoWriMo.
• My October writing goals will carry over into November, as I continue to draft BDPI #4 and prepare Through a Shattered Glass for publication in December. My new aim is to have TaSG be ARC-ready by midway through the month, which I don't think is unreasonable, especially if I can find a good point in BDPI #4 to switch to having TaSG be my weeknight project and BDPI #4 as my weekend work.
• At work, I expect a busy month — it's the start of the holiday season, after all. I don't think it'll be too bad, though, barring calamity. And I do enjoy all the holiday design projects, especially the church Christmas card!
• Outside of writing and work, I don't have a ton of plans other than Thanksgiving, when my sister and one of her friends will be home on break. I think we'll be getting together with our Bible study for that as usual, which I'm looking forward to. (I may already be trying to decide what to make. My sister has requested pumpkin bread because I forgot to give her the extra loaf I made when I visited back in September . . . but also, pie. It's a tough decision.)
• Finally, on the reading front, I'll probably be flipping between books for review and trying to finish up at least some of my rereads and reading goals before the year ends, assuming I don't get too distracted by mood reads. We'll see what happens.

How was your October? Any exciting plans for November? Did you go to any Ren Faires this fall? Have you watched Over the Garden Wall? Are there any characters you want to cosplay just because you think their outfit looks fun? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

September 2022 Doings!

Hello, all! So, this post is going up a week later than usual due to the Silmaril Awards and the Sweet Vendetta Blues tour, but that's fine. We're only a week into October. No biggie. Anyway, September was a pretty busy month, with a lot of exciting stuff going on, so let's not delay — time to get to the Doings!

Writing!

• The big news of the month, is of course, that Through a Shattered Glass has a preorder and a release date! (And also a Goodreads page.) In case you missed the big announcement, the book will release on December 23. But if you want to get your hands on it sooner and you are able to post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or social media or a blog, you can request an ARC.
• Through a Shattered Glass is part of the Broken Mirrors Arista Challenge release group, and I highly recommend you go check out the other books in the release as well. They all sound quite delightful. (And I'm not just saying that because I'm a beta reader on two of them.)
• The other big event was the 2022 Silmaril Awards. I hosted the Most Faithful Friends category this year, which was quite delightful and a big change from the Magnificent Dragons and Marvelous Rulers categories I've hosted in the past. We had a lot of truly excellent ceremonies, and I highly recommend you go read through them (or catch any you've missed).
• Otherwise? I have, happily, gotten un-stalled on most of my writing projects. I'm currently on Chapter 11 of Bastian Dennel, PI #4, which isn't quite where I'd like to be but is still good progress, all things considered. I was also able to finally jump back into Through a Shattered Glass edits and work on applying beta feedback. I'm currently working on either the last or second to last round of edits before I move to formatting, so that's good.
• The one area that hasn't gotten a lot of attention has been D&D writing, since my group hasn't met much this month. But I've kept up with what I needed week to week, so we're still doing ok there.

Reading!

• This has been a rather slow reading month. How to Invent Everything took a long while to finish and left me in a bit of . . . not exactly in a slump, but not in a great mood, reading-wise. It wasn't a bad book, and it stuck its concept pretty well. It just kinda dragged after a while, reading it straight through.
• I've already reviewed Sweet Vendetta Blues here on the blog, of course. It was quite good, though I think it could've used a little more polish. I am a sucker for a good found family story, and this is no exception.
• After that, I ended up rereading The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie because the Silmaril Awards had them on my mind. These were on my favorites list when I was younger, and they were just as I remembered them, so that was nice. They were also a nice change of pace after a lot of darker or heavier reads.
• Sticking with the reread theme, I started a reread of the Tales of Goldstone Wood by picking up Heartless. This was partially motivated by the fact that Rose Red was a finalist in my category for the Silmaril Awards, but it was also something I'd been meaning to do ever since I got ahold of a paperback copy of the book. I'm happy to say that I love Heartless as much as I ever did (which is to say, it shows no indication of being knocked out of tied-first-place), and I'm currently working through Veiled Rose, which is . . . a bit slower going.  It is not my favorite book in the series, even if I do love both Leo and Rose Red. But it's going.
• Of course, it would probably be going faster if I hadn't gotten distracted by reading Randall Munroe's new release, What If? 2. This is the follow-up to What If?, one of my favorite nonfiction books, and it's the same concept — seriously (and somewhat sarcastically) answering ridiculous science-related hypothetical questions, such as, for example, what if you tried to make a lava lamp out of actual lava? It's great.
• Oh, and I'm still following Dracula Daily, and this month's installments have been giving me Ideas (besides being very good and very feels-inducing).

Watching!

• My watchlist this month has been a little of this and a little of that and not much of anything in particular — if anything, it's been mostly short-form YouTube content that I'm watching because I'm tired and procrastinating, and if a video is four minutes long, I can easily say "just one (more)." You know how it is.
• Probably the most noteworthy thing I watched all month was the other version of The Parent Trap. The 1961s version of Parent Trap is one of my favorite non-spec-fic movies, but I'd never seen the 1998 version, as I am Highly Skeptical of remakes of perfectly good movies. I still prefer the original, but the 1998 one does have its good points.

Life!

• Well, this month has been a lot. Or it feels like it, anyway.
• The highlight of September was a trip back up to Ohio to attend the wedding of one of my closest friends. It was a fun trip and a lovely wedding, and I enjoyed the opportunity to see quite a few of my college friends in person. While I hadn't met her now-husband prior to the wedding, he seemed very nice, and I could tell that they're good for each other.
• Plus, I drove up a day early so I could spend a day with my sister at her college. Conveniently, she didn't have class that day, so we got to go out for lunch and ice cream (at Young's Dairy, naturally), and we spent a lot of the rest of the day playing board games with various of her friends. That was a very good day.
• That said, the drive to Ohio was the longest distance I'd driven solo, and I don't think there was a single day of the trip on which I spent less than three hours in the car. So, much as I enjoyed it, it was kind of exhausting.
• Outside of travel, work has kept me plenty busy with Big Events either happening this month or coming up next month, along with the normal assortment of tasks that kept getting squished into short weeks. I'm not complaining, mind you. I would rather be busy than bored. I'm just tired, and the arrival of colder winds and rain is not helping that.
• Getting back to a more cheerful note: I finally tried making cheese bread! The specific recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction, and it's a sort of twisted loaf absolutely STUFFED with cheese. I've been wanting to try it for absolute ages, and the result was so tasty!
• I also made chicken potholders as a wedding gift for the aforementioned friend (don't worry; she's already aware of them), and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of them, though, which is unfortunate. I did not finish the scarf I've been working on, but I am closer, so . . . there's that?

October Plans

• On the writing front, I'll probably spend most of October bouncing back and forth between drafting BDPI #4 and editing and formatting Through a Shattered Glass. At minimum, I want to have ARCs ready to go by the end of the month (or sooner); ideally, I'd like to be almost or fully print-ready. (And if I'm not, I'd better have a full or nearly-full draft of BDPI#4 to show for it.)
• I'm also making plans for some fall fun, namely a visit to the Renaissance Festival with a writer friend. I'm very much looking forward to that, and I'm hoping that the weather will allow for coordinating costumes.
• On the work front, I image that things will continue to be busy. Hopefully not quite as busy as this month, but . . . I don't see it slowing down much.
• I still want to finish that scarf. I'm so close, and if I finish this month, I can move straight into holiday gift projects. Whatever those end up being. (I'm already done with the biggest gift item, which I am so pleased about.) I know there'll be something, though, because there always is.
• Reading will probably be a mix of continuing ongoing rereads and mood reading (because stress), but I do have an ARC of A Superhero for Christmas that I need to pick up. It's a little early for Christmas reads, admittedly, especially for someone with a strict no-Christmas-music-before-Thanksgiving policy, but maybe it'll make for a good transition into holiday prep at work? I don't know.

How was your September? Any exciting plans for October? Did you follow the Silmaril Awards (and if so, were you excited about the winners)? Will you be going to (or have you gone to) any Ren Fests this fall? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

I have mixed feelings about a lot of recent trends in fantasy and speculative fiction . . . but one trend that I absolutely love is the move towards settings based in locations and cultures other than medieval, Edwardian, or Victorian European ones (specifically those from northern and western Europe). While I will always appreciate the classics when they're well done, it's nice to get some variety. And since I've never actually compiled a list of my favorite non-European fantasy stories, I thought I should remedy that this week! Not all of these are recent releases — actually, most of them have been out for a while, since I'm SUPER behind on any recent books that I didn't agree to review — but they're well-loved by me and well worth a read!

(Please note that I'm not including any urban/contemporary fantasy on this list — while my love of the City Between and Dragons in Our Midst series is deep and well-documented, these genres aren't as overwhelmingly Europe-based as many other fantasy genres are.)

 

Non-European Fantasy Favorites

1. The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. I debated a lot about whether or not I could include this series because, you know, it's heavily inspired by ancient Greece (with a side trip in one book to ancient Persia), and Greece is technically European? But it's very much not your standard medieval European fantasy, and that's evident in everything from the lore and mythology to the food to the architecture to the landscape to the language and names. It's so great.
Bonus Greek-inspired fantasy recommendation: Coiled by H.L. Burke.

2. Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I would like to be very clear that the only reason this isn't first on the list is that it's the seventh book in the series — it's a gorgeous Asian-inspired fantasy epic (and, realistically, you could pick it up without having read any of the other Goldstone Wood novels, though there are certain elements whose significance you might not pick up on). As in the Queen's Thief books, this isn't just a standard fantasy novel with an "exotic" aesthetic tacked on — the location informs the culture, which informs the characters and storyline, and everything just comes together so well.
Bonus Asian-inspired fantasy recommendation: The Dragon's Flower by Wyn Estelle Owens

3. The Books of the Infinite trilogy by R. J. Larson. Arguably the least like traditional European fantasy out of everything on this list and everything that I considered putting on this list, the Books of the Infinite take place in a world much like Israel and its neighbors in the second half of the Old Testament. It's a story of prophets and kings, of signs and miracles and mercy and judgment, and it's generally well worth a read.
Bonus Biblical fantasy recommendation: Overpowered by Kathryn McConaughy

4. Horseman by Kyle Robert Shultz. This Wild West-inspired tale takes place in Shultz's Afterverse, and while I don't love it quite as much as the original Beaumont and Beasley series, it's still a lot of fun. You've got classic Wild West and fantasy tropes, plus the kind of colorful assortment of characters you can only get in this type of setting, plus reimaginings of American folklore — it's great.
Bonus Wild West fantasy recommendation: Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale

5. Jackaby by William Ritter. Storms, I haven't read these books in ages, though the last one has been on my mind lately because of some of the myths and folklore I've been reading. Anyway, this historical fantasy-mystery series is set somewhere in New England in the late 1800s — the author doesn't specify which state, which I can't entirely blame him for. And it does feel pretty American, particularly leaning on the idea of America at the time as a blending of people (and, in this case, magical beings) immigrated from other cultures and countries.
Bonus American fantasy-mystery recommendation: The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman

What are your favorite non-European fantasy reads, whether recent or not? Please tell me in the comments; I can always use more recs!
Thanks for reading!

 

Five Favorite Fae Tales

 Hello, everyone! It's no secret that I love a good fae/fair folk story, whether it takes the form of a fairy tale retold, an urban fantasy escapade (or mystery), or a classic fantasy adventure. There's just so much to enjoy, from the intrigues of the fae courts to the eccentricities and strong personalities of the fair folk themselves to the dynamics between fae and humans. And because I've been reading quite a few of these kind of stories lately, I thought that I'd take this week to spotlight some of my favorite novels featuring the fair folk. (Also, I haven't done a "favorite ____ books" post in a long time, and I figured it was as good a time as any to remedy that.)

Favorite Fae Tales

1. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson. Is it weird that my favorite fair folk story is one that, in many ways, deconstructs the fae and reveals the hollowness of their courts and revelry? Maybe, but this is a delicious story anyway (which I really should reread sometime soon). I love the author's take on the fae (wild and beautiful and powerful, but crippled in their inability to create) and the seasonal courts, and I love the characters, human and fae alike.
2. The City Between series by W.R. Gingell. I just shared all the reasons I love the City Between books a couple weeks ago, so I won't repeat myself too much . . . but this series is awesome, full of magnificently dangerous fae and other Behindkind. The interactions between the fae worlds of Behind and Between and the human world are one of the places where the series really shines, though.
3. The Dark King's Curse by Wyn Estelle Owens. Though the fae in this book are far less other than in some stories on this list, it's still an excellent take on the fair folk and the seasonal courts. More importantly, it includes Laisren, who's probably on my top ten list (if not my top five list) for all-time favorite fae characters!
4. The Masked City and The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman. I probably could've just included the whole Invisible Library series on this list, but I decided to limit myself to the two books that best showcase the fae of this series. The Invisible Library fae are creatures of chaos, driven by narrative; they shape themselves to an archetypal form and manipulate the world around them to suit the story they wish to tell. I would argue that they're one of the most dangerous versions of the fae on this list — true, Behindkind may be more deadly, but Invisible Library fae are harder to resist. That said, they're also one of the most fascinating fae types I've encountered . . .
5. Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I was going to narrow this one down to specific books as well (probably Starflower and Shadow Hand), but some of my favorite faerie-central scenes are in other books (notably Moonblood), so . . . yeah. While not always as fae/faerie-centric as some of the books on this list, Goldstone Wood (and, in particular, one faerie cat-bard) is the series that first raised my interest in fae and the fair folk. And I love the author's take on the Wood and the faerie demesnes, which are often as alive and as strong of characters as the faerie folk who dwell in them.

What are your favorite stories of fae and the fair folk? I'd love to get some new recommendations! Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

My Favorite Twelve Dancing Princesses Retelling (One Week Until THE MIDNIGHT SHOW!)

Hello, everyone! There's just a week and a day left before The Midnight Show releases into the world, and only a few days before the Tattered Slippers tour starts! Who else is excited besides me? On that topic, I have a bonus announcement that I think is really cool. Do you like signed books? Do you like signed books that don't cost extra money and don't require you to drive hours to crowded places in order to meet the author? If so, you'll be happy to know that if you buy a physical copy of The Midnight Show on release weekend (the 29th through the 31st) and send me some kind of proof of purchase, I'll mail you a signed bookplate to go in the book. Boom! You now have a signed book. (Please note — I'm still figuring out if I can do this outside the US or not, mostly because I'm getting mixed messages about whether or not I can actually send mail to people outside the US yet, because COVID. If you live outside the US and know the answer to "Can someone in the United States send mail to your country and have it arrive before 2025," feel free to let me know!)

Anyway. Moving on to the actual post. As y'all probably are aware at this point, the Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my favorite fairytales ever, both to retell myself and to read retellings of. And, to celebrate the upcoming release tour (and my new book), I thought I'd spotlight some of my favorite currently-published retellings in today's post. Some of these you may be pretty familiar with already — I talk about them a lot — but others are more low-key.

Favorite Twelve Dancing Princesses Retellings!

1. Entwined by Heather Dixon. This should surprise absolutely no one who's been following me for a while; Entwined is both my favorite 12DP retelling and one of my favorite fairy tale retellings in general. A focus on familial relationships, multiple sweet romances, a gorgeous hidden underworld, a dark tale woven through with light humor, a deliciously creepy villain with indisputable style — I've said this all before; it's everything I could want in a Twelve Dancing Princesses story. One thing I particularly like is that, despite the fact that this has probably the most romance out of any of the books on this list, it's one of the two in which it's most evident that it's familial love, not romantic love, that saves the day.
2. A Branch of Silver, a Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. This is a pretty loose retelling, but it's still wonderful and gorgeous. It's one of the darker books in this list, but at the same time, there's such a marvelous light to it (just as there is in all of the Goldstone Wood books). Again, the emphasis, in the end, comes out to sisterly love and loyalty — in fact, this is almost a nomance, there's so little actual romantic stuff in it. And the curse and its breaking are so dark and magnificent and mysterious — it's amazing. (Also: if you haven't read Goldstone Wood, you can still read this book! It's not part of the series, just the same world. There are things you'll recognize if you've read the stories, but none of the recognizances is essential to the story.)
3. The City Beyond the Glass by Suzannah Rowntree. I actually featured this book on another list very recently: my favorite historical fantasy books. Technically, in terms of how much I like them, this and the next book on the list are about equal . . . but I'm putting this one higher for allegorical significance and writing quality. The City Beyond the Glass takes the two themes most often hit on by 12DP retellings — desire for freedom and love of family — and spins them out to explore them to their fullest extent. The result is an excellent story with a main character willing to do anything for her sisters (whether or not they want her to do it) and a subtle (or possibly not-so-subtle, depending) allegory. Props also go to the Glass Doge, the story's villain, for being pretty dang creepy, even if he doesn't have the style of some of the other 12DP villains.
4. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. This is the classic 12DP retelling in my mind, mostly because it's the first one I read. The story may not have the dark beauty or pack the emotional or spiritual punch as some of the others do, but it and its sequels are still pretty high up on my favorite fairy tale retellings list. Again, we have the sisterly loyalty and protectiveness, and we also have Galen, who I still think is pretty cool. I also appreciate the fact that it's something pretty unassuming that is instrumental in saving the day in this story. (Also, it's one of the only 12DP retellings I've found that really capitalizes on the potential of the meeting between the male lead and the old woman on the road! So that's cool.)
5. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Mariller. First of all: kudos to the author of this book for not going the route of pretty much everyone else and making the dancing pavilion either secretly or overtly horrible. I love the creepiness potential in the pavilion and the different ways people approach that creepiness, but it's nice to see something different, y'know? To have it be somewhere that the sisters want to go and choose to go and that isn't trying to trap and/or kill them. While there are definitely some things that I think could be better (by which I mean that Tatiana is kind of an idiot at times and Jenica has her turn holding the idiot ball as well), there's still a lot to enjoy in this story.

What's your favorite Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling? Are you excited about the Tattered Slippers release tour? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Books Full of Delicious: The Pie Book Tag!

Hey'a, everyone! It's the day after Thanksgiving, and we all know what that means — well, we know three things specifically. First: it's the first day on which you can reasonably play Christmas music in public. Second: it's the first day of holiday sales (or "sales," depending on where you shop). Third: it's the day on which, if you're lucky, you get to eat an abundance of leftover pie! I covered the first a couple years ago, and I'm taking care of the second over on Light and Shadows. That just leaves the third . . . which I'm taking care of with the Pie Book Tag, created by Emma over at Awkwordly Emma! I love this tag, since it basically combines two of my favorite things, and I'm super excited to go through it!

The Pie Book Tag!

Caramel Apple: A book that reminds you of fall!

For some reason, Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren feels like a very fall-ish book. Something about the emphasis on change and transition and tension between past and present and future makes me think autumn. 

 Pumpkin: A book with a great family (biological or found).

Here's a series that I don't talk about half as much as I used to (or as much as it deserves): The Legends of Karac Tor series by D. Barkley Briggs! This series starts strong with a pair of brothers who accidentally end up in another world, and eventually, their other brothers and father get in on the adventure as well. (And there's another significant family who comes up later, so that's great.) I really wish there were more books like this in many ways.

 

French Silk: A book that's easy to read or rich with descriptions.

Speaking of books I don't talk about as much as I used to: Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (aka one of my favorite books and authors of all time) fits perfectly in this category! The way Anne Elisabeth describes the characters and the setting is one of my favorite things — she has a knack for just the right words and language to make everything unfold gradually and beautifully and to let you know clearly what's going on while still keeping the mysterious fairyland feel.

 

Key Lime: A summery sweet book 

This was surprisingly hard to pick something for . . . but I think I have to go with The Paper Magician and its sequels. They're light and fun, with clever magic and fairly sweet (if occasionally frustrating) romance.

 

Blueberry-Peach: A book with a perfect pairing.

Shoot. This is hard to pick. Ummmmm . . . let's go with Lady Dragon, Tela Du, which involves two of my favorite ships, Reutra and Amberite. Admittedly, it's Amberite in one of its sadder chapters, but still. And, as I'm currently alpha-reading Love and Memory, the sequel to this book, I'm experiencing all the feels regarding both ships. It's a problem.

 

Oreo: A book that reminds you of your childhood.

I still love a lot of my late-childhood favorites, so I have a lot to choose from . . . but I'm going with one I don't talk about as much, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. This is an autobiography about a pre-WWII vet in the Yorkshire region of England, and it's just a delight to read. The author interacted with a lot of colorful characters, both in terms of his patients and his patients' owners. This is one of the last books my dad read to me, so rereading it reminds me of being younger and sitting curled up in my favorite chair and listening to the stories.

 

Lemon Chess: A book with a very Southern setting.

Hello, Raven Cycle! I don't read a lot of books set in the South (mostly because I don't read many books set on Earth, period, and those that are set there, sort of, tend to be alternate Earths and take place in England or some such). But The Raven Cycle is very Virginian, which means I have a special kind of affection for it.

As a runner-up in this category, I have to mention the Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rodgers, which is a fantasy set in a world that feels like colonial America in the deep South, with settlers and swamps and 'gators and so forth. It's intensely underrated, and I highly recommend it.

 

Dark chocolate orange: A book with a bittersweet ending.

Here's another two-for-one deal: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull, both for its own sake and as a representative of the whole Beyonders series. I mean, technically most fantasy books have bittersweet endings, but this one sticks out to me for reasons that I can't entirely explain. 

And that's it! Do you agree with my choices? What books would you put for each category? Please tell me in the comments, or feel free to pick up the tag for yourself. (Just make sure you link back to Emma's post.) 

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Favorite Long Books

Hello, friends! For this week, I decided to borrow a topic from Top Ten Tuesdays and talk about my favorite long books. (I almost did a "Thoughts on Miraculous Ladybug" post, but I've only finished Season One, so I'm going to wait on that until I hit the end of the released episodes.) So, long books it is! As a qualification, I'm only featuring one book or series per author — so, if I want to mention all the books in a particular series as one unit, I'll do that, but I won't mention multiple single books by one author.

That said, I realized something while picking out books for this post: I my perception of what books are long or short is sometimes kinda weird. There were several books that I looked up thinking that they were super long . . . only to realize that they were a mere 300-odd pages. (For example: The Night Circus.) And then other books, I don't remember as being long at all, but they're definitely hefty enough that other people have called them intimidating. (For example: Before She Ascends.) It's weird. I'm weird. But we all knew that, right?

Favorite Long Books

1. All the Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson (1007, 1087, and 1248 pages). We all know I love these books. I actually get excited about how long they are because I think they're so awesome. Is anyone surprised by this? No. Honestly, Brandon Sanderson could release a book three times as long as one of these and I'd still devour it. His books are just that awesome — which is why they're so long, because anything shorter would explode.

2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1216 pages). I feel mildly guilty because I haven't managed to reread this yet, even though I meant to at the beginning of the year . . . The problem is, this is a long book with long chapters, and it's not at all suited to reading in bits and snippets between classes and before bed, which is when I do most of my school-year reading. So, yeah. I still love LOTR, even with how long it is, but just because I love long books doesn't mean they aren't still sometimes daunting even to me.

3. A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (606 pages). Here's a book and author I haven't raved about in far too long! (Mostly because I also haven't read them in far too long.) Picking between this and Golden Daughter was tough — I love A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold; it's a wonderful take on one of my favorite fairy tales, and it features some delightful creepiness in certain parts. However, Golden Daughter is one of my favorite of Stengl's books. That said, Golden Daughter doesn't feel long. A Branch of Silver does, though not in a bad way. So, A Branch of Silver takes the top spot on this list!

4. All the Illuminae Files books by Amie Kaufman (602, 659, and 615 pages). These fall in the category of "Long books that don't feel long," mostly because of their unusual format. They're written as a compilation of bite-sized transcripts, chat logs, emails, files, and occasional word-art-y AIDAN internal logs. Multiple times, I was surprised by how much of these books I'd read at once (especially late at night . . . oops). I mean, you know they're long when you're reading them because so much happens . . . but it's a very different experience from reading lengthy chapters one after another.

5. The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson (519 pages). Here's another book that I don't talk about enough and need to reread (especially because of some info that I found out a few weeks ago and still periodically get excited over). I think Warden feels a little longer than it actually is simply because of the depth of the emotion in it. That's not to say that it doesn't have exciting parts, but it isn't an Illuminae book that you can devour fifty or a hundred pages of in a relatively short time. Warden requires more time and processing, much like Lord of the Rings does — though it's certainly worth that extra effort.

6. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag (668 pages). Ah, Plenilune. This is a magnificent book, full of intrigue, excitement, drama, action, heroics, emotion, mystery, and marvels. It's also a pretty long book full of names and places, only a quarter of which I actually remembered or could connect to the people they belonged to. Honestly, I think the volume of names I needed to remember was 90% of what makes this book seem as long as it is. The other 10% is that it is actually a long book that involves a great many things happening in a very richly described world. So, yeah. Excellent read, but when I reread it, I may have to take notes on who's who and where's what.

7. Winter by Marissa Meyer (827 pages). We'll end with a book that, like the Illuminae Files, doesn't actually feel as long as it is. This is probably because it features near-constant action of some kind and doesn't involve a great deal of emotional downtime (that I remember) or three thousand names to keep track of. (That's not to say that emotional downtime or large character counts are bad things, just that they make books feel their length.) I know a lot of people weren't crazy about Winter but I honestly enjoyed it — and not just because I love the titular character and her stoicly snarky guard-love-interest. The book as a whole is fun and exciting and, I think, a good conclusion to the series.

So, there you have it: my favorite long reads. What about you? Do you enjoy long books? If so, what are your favorites? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

Self-Published Favorites

Hey'a, all! As you may or may not know, Indie e-Con is coming up fast— the scavenger hunt and Facebook party are tomorrow, and then the con proper begins the Monday after! For those who aren't aware, Indie e-Con is basically an online convention of indie and self-published authors and readers. Authors post about their experiences and advice, and there are contests, critique opportunities, free stuff . . . it's awesome. And because of Indie e-Con (and a helpful comment from my sister), I decided that this would be a good time to spotlight some of my favorite self- and indie-published books.

Self-Published Favorites

1. Samara's Peril by Jaye L. Knight. Ask most fans in the Christian-self-publishing circle about their favorite books and the Ilyon Chronicles will probably pop up somewhere on the list. I'm not quite as obsessed as some of them are, but, y'all, Samara's Peril is good. The character development is great (and pushed us past one of the things that kept me from loving other books in the series quite as much as I might have), the conflicts span the scale from small to epic, we learn stuff about a certain character's history that made me so happy . . . Plus, Samara's Peril contains, in my opinion, the best-handled Christ figure in Christian fantasy since Aslan and Narnia, along with one of the best extended battle sequences I've read outside of a Sanderson novel. Basically, it hits all the right buttons for me to count this my favorite self-published book I've ever read.

2. Lady Dragon, Tela Du by Kendra E. Ardnek. Y'all knew this one was coming; I've certainly talked about it enough. There's no Second Book Syndrome here, just a straight-up awesome plot, a pair of main characters who I love both as a couple and in their own rights (snarky practicality+dependable dreamer+childhood best friend romance= happy Sarah), an excellent villain with an equally excellent arc, and an emphasis on family. Oh, and a complete lack of unrealistic warrior prodigies, which is just icing on the cake. (As a bonus: Kendra's upcoming book, Worth of King, is just as good, or very nearly so, even though it has a very different feel. It comes out in August and I can't wait.)

3. Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag. This is a heavy book, both physically and emotionally. However, the weight doesn't make it less awesome. The writing style is the type of beautiful you usually don't find in modern books, a type of beautiful that can only come from an author who's willing to take her time with a story (and expects her readers to do the same). Yet despite a relatively slow pace (think The Lord of the Rings for comparison), the story never sags or grows dull but holds your interest all the way through. Granted, names and battles are sometimes confusing and overwhelming, and I got lost once or twice— the main reason this isn't second or even first on my list. But for the patient reader, this is a delight. Also, it has a Dammerung. Dammerung is awesome. I don't even know how to describe him without giving away too much, so I won't try, but yeah. He's one of the best parts of the book. Read it and you'll get what I mean.

4. Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I'm not sure if this quite counts as self-published? I mean, yes, Anne Elisabeth published it herself, but she also created her own small publishing house that publishes other people's books, so . . . yeah. That's the only reason why this isn't at the top of the list, because in terms of how much I love this book, well, let's put it this way: Tales of Goldstone Wood is one of my favorite series in the world. It's on par with The Lord of the Rings and most of Brandon Sanderson's work— honestly, it probably ranks slightly higher than a lot of Sanderson novels. And Golden Daughter is one of my two favorites in Goldstone Wood. It's just so unique, from the plot (twisty and unpredictable) to the setting (magical and magnificent and based on ancient Asia!) to the characters (Sairu is a contradictory delight). It balances humor with heartbreak, pain with promise. It answers questions and asks new ones. It's everything I love about Goldstone Wood wrapped up in one book.

5. The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Schultz. And now for something completely different . . . The Beast of Talesend is a short, steampunky spin on one of my favorite fairy tales featuring a detective main character who makes his living debunking magic . . . at least until he's magically transformed into a monster. (Not a spoiler; it says so in the blurb.) It's not an epic tale by any means, but it still grabs your attention and doesn't let go 'til the end. It also has a healthy dose of humor, especially in terms of character banter, and a pair of awesome brothers whose relationship is one of my favorite bits of the book.

6. An Earthly King by Hazel West. Clean, solid urban fantasy is hard to find (I should know; I've looked), which is one of the many reasons why I love An Earthly King. The fact that the fantasy bit is primarily based on Celtic/Irish mythology just makes it even better, and it has a really nice blend of the urban and fantasy elements (as opposed to the first book, which felt more heavily fantasy). Plus, we've got fun brotherly relationships (both between actual brothers and between friends-so-close-they're-almost-brothers) and an actual mystery what is this.

7. Magician's Trial by H.L. Burke. I officially need to learn to reserve judgment on any self-published trilogy or series until after I read the second book because something along the lines of the following consistently happens:

Friends: SARAH THIS BOOK AND SERIES ARE GOOD YOU SHOULD READ THEM!
Me: Ok! *reads book one* Oh. That was pretty good. Not amazing, but not bad either. 
Friends: THEY'RE SO GOOD.
Me: Uh-huh. *procrastinates on book two*
Me: *finally reads book two*
Me: What the pumpernickel, that was SO GOOD.
Friends: WE TOLD YOU SO.

And, yes, I may be referring particularly to one specific friend who does this a lot, but, yeah. Basically, that's what happened with the Spellsmith and Carver series. The first and third books are good, but the second is the absolute best. Steampunk mystery is right up my alley (especially when it's an actual mystery), and this involves a magnificent blend of science (specifically engineering) and magic that I really enjoyed.

8. The Sky Riders by Christopher Hopper. We can't have a favorite-self-published-books post without a mention of one of the books and authors that first drew my attention to self-publishing in the first place and gave me one of my first experiences with steampunk. I gave this book five stars the first time I read it— looking back, I'm not sure I would do the same now. (I was a proofie on it, so there might be some sentimental attachment going on.) However, it's still a good book with an exciting plot and a fascinating world. My only real caution is that it ends on a cliffhanger and the second book is, well, nowhere in sight. Ah well.
 
What are your favorite self-published books? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Five Something Somethings Cover Reveal

Hey'a, everyone! No, I'm not back yet, but I'm super excited that, through the magic of scheduled posts, I still get to take part in the cover reveal for the next Five Something Somethings contest!  For those who don't know: this is a contest hosted by Rooglewood Press in which contestants write a novella retelling a particular fairy tale. Five winners get published in an anthology, which is sometimes just good bragging rights but can also help to jumpstart an aspiring author's career. For more information, if you're interested, you can check out the contest page.

Anyway, back to the new cover. I've been looking forward to this moment for literally two years, ever since Anne Elisabeth announced that there would be another contest after the Five Magic Spindles one- and then had to postpone the contest because she was (A)busy with other projects and (B)pregnant. Naturally, I was disappointed . . . but also still excited enough to take a guess at what fairytale it would be and write a steampunk Rapunzel retelling that would fit the contest so I'd potentially have something ready when the time came. And was my prediction right? Well, there's really only one way to tell you . . . time to reveal the cover.

. . . Aaaaaand I guessed wrong. It's not Rapunzel; it's Snow White, which means I'll have to go back to the drawing board and come up with some new ideas. Even so, the cover is absolutely gorgeous, don't you all agree? I think it's my favorite of the Five Something Somethings covers. Like the other covers, it was designed by Julia Popova, who's clearly outdone herself this time! The cover model and photographer is Wynter Clark (who has an awesome name and impressive skills, to get a shot of herself that looks good enough to put on a book cover).

What do you think of the cover? Do you plan to participate in the contest? Please tell me in the comments (even though I won't be able to respond until I come off of hiatus)!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

End-of-Year Book Freak Out "Tag"

Allo, everyone! As you might recall, back in July, I did the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag as a way to sum up the first half of my reading year. And now that the reading year is (more or less) at a close, I decided to do the tag again- but with slightly modified questions.

1. Best book you've read in the second half of 2016:
Normally this would be a hard question to answer, but most of my top choices were actually sequels, and therefore fit better in the next question. So, I'm going to go with a classic- no, I mean really a classic- and say The Odyssey, which I read for Western Literature this year and absolutely loved.

Yes, it's long. Yes, it's in poetry (at least, it is if you get the best version). Yes, it can be difficult to understand at times (though it's really not that hard- I found it easier than Beowulf and even some Tolkien). Read it anyway. It's a classic and a foundation of the epic genre for a reason.

Another pretty awesome book, though perhaps not the absolute best I've read: The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. (Because time-traveling pirates, that's why.)

  

2. Best sequel you've read in the second half of 2016:
And here we have the rest of my best-of list, pretty much! In reading order, we have:

Lady Dragon, Tela Du by Kendra E. Ardnek- I reviewed this on my blog a while back, but in summary: though this is the second book in the series, it's about five times better than Water Princess, Fire Prince, I love the characters (except Karyn, who I have complicated feelings about), and there are some pretty awesome plot twists in there.

Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson and company- This collection of short stories by various Rabbit Room authors is a wonderful companion to the Wingfeather Saga. It's focused mainly on the past of Aerwiar and the colorful characters who inhabit it, but a few stories run parallel to or after the main series.

Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter- while this really wasn't what I was expecting in certain respects, it was pretty awesome, and I always enjoy more of Jackaby and Abigail and Jenny. With this story, the stakes rise, mysteries are made clear (though not too many, or else we wouldn't have another book after this), and characters (notably Jenny) grow. Is it as good as the first book? I can't say; it depends how you compare the two. But I still enjoyed it.

 

Beyond the Gateway by Bryan Davis- I wasn't awestruck by Reapers, the first in the series, but Beyond the Gateway was pretty great. The murky world finally gets some light, the stakes rise as questions are answered and new questions become evident, and Shanghai gets to shine now that she and Singapore aren't competing for the spotlight. Also, some of the twists are pretty impressive. Just sayin'.

 

Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson- It's not a book roundup without some Sanderson! This is another collection of novellas, short stories, and other miscellaneous materials from the Cosmere, most of which have been previously published elsewhere but not all of which I actually got to read before now. The highlight of the anthology was Edgedancer, which is about Lift from The Stormlight Archive, but Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell was a close second. Very frontier-fantasy, very exciting, very awesome. 

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to: 
All the books on my Fall 2016 Reads post except for The Secret Horses of Briar Hill would qualify- I haven't managed to get to any of them yet besides the one. I also haven't quite gotten to Fallen Star, Anne Elisabeth Stengl's latest release, yet, but as it's on Kindle, I may end up saving that one for a bit. I haven't decided yet.

4. Most anticipated release for next year: 
Is this even a question? Oathbringer, book three in the Stormlight Archive, releases next year and I can hardly wait! Based on the State of the Sanderson report, I'm thinking it'll come in the fall, though a release date proper isn't available yet. Neither is a cover. (I would like both now, please.)

Almost as exciting as new Stormlight: Megan Whalen Turner has a new Queen's Thief book coming out! In May! And it's going to be awesome! And this one has a cover and a title and everything and I'm so excited!

I'm also mildly terrified of this book, though, because it seems to be about the Medes more than Eugenides and his countries, and I'm not sure what I think about that. And I want to like it and I'm sure I will like it, but I'm not sure if it's going to be a The Thief or The King of Attolia-type liking, where I read it the first time and I love it, or if it's going to be a Queen of Attolia-type liking, where I read it the first time and don't know what to do with it and then I reread it, know what's going on well enough that I can pick up on it when it happens, and like it better. I don't know. Maybe I'm just panicking over nothing. That happens sometimes.   

5. Biggest disappointment:

This might come as a shock to y'all- it certainly surprised me- but White Sand, the new graphic novel by Brandon Sanderson, just was not what I was expecting or what I wanted. Part of the problem is the format; the graphic novel doesn't let you get inside a character's head half as well as print does, and so the story loses a lot of its magic that way. The other part of the problem . . . well, I'm not sure what it is, but the fact that I have very high expectations for anything Sanderson at this point probably doesn't help.


6. Biggest surprise:
I can't think of a single book that qualifies better for this than any others, but a few of my top picks for the category:

The Beyonders trilogy by Brandon Mull- I'd seen this series around Goodreads for about a year before I finally picked it up- dubiously- on the recommendation of a friend of mine. Though the initial synopsis made me think that the book was probably trying so hard to be original that it went straight to cheesy, the story turned out to be pretty good, and the worldbuilding in particular is better than in a lot of other books I've read.

The Lost Letters of Pergamum by Bruce W. Longenecker- this was another read for a class, a historical fiction set during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian. Though it did occasionally fall into the occasional info-dump, it was a surprisingly interesting read, and I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope- this was recommended to me by the same person who suggested the Beyonders books, and I honestly need to trust him a little more by prioritizing his recommendations when he gives them. I'm not sure what I expected from The Prisoner of Zenda, but it wasn't what I got: an engaging, exciting, dramatic, and romantic old-fashioned adventure full of intrigue and drama. On the whole, it was an excellent story, exactly what I didn't realize I wanted at the time.

7. Favorite new-to-you author:
Maybe a surprise, since he hasn't come up on this tag yet, but Rick Riordan. My roommate convinced me to read the Percy Jackson series, and I, on a temporary Greek kick, said that I would- finally. I finished the first series and I'm about halfway through Heroes of Olympus. First series was better, so far- though certain characters in the second series are pretty awesome. And there was a giant mechanical dragon in The Lost Hero, so I'm all for that.

8. Newest fictional crush/ship:
Favorite ship is a tie between Reutra and Amberite, both from Lady Dragon, Tela Du. Reutra- Rueben and Petra- is just adorable; there aren't nearly enough childhood-friendship-turned-to-romance stories in fantasy. And Amberite- Amber and Granite- is sweet as well, but it also makes me sad; Granite and Amber truly do love each other, but Amber has found something she loves more, and in doing so, she's doomed them both. Newest fictional crush . . . don't really have one? As per the usual, everyone who I might crush on ends up with a very definite love interest by the end of the book, if it isn't obvious from the start, so I don't even bother.

9. Newest favorite character:
. . . I'm going to pretend there's an s on the end of character, because storms, no, I can't pick just one.  A few favorites who I've met over the last six months include:

• Ferrin, Jasher, and Drake from the Beyonders trilogy
• Caprion and Burn from the Cat's Eye Chronicles
• Percy Jackson from the series bearing his name, as well as possibly Piper and Leo from the Heroes of Olympus series- haven't decided about them yet, but I'm pretty sure at least one of them will end up making the favorites list. Also, from the same series . . . I really like Hermes. Maybe he's not always the greatest parent, but I don't know; I like him anyway.
• Silence from Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, because she's storming awesome. (Not Lift-style awesome; the other kind of awesome.)    

10. A book that made you cry:
Um . . . I'm coming up empty on this one. As I've stated before, I don't generally cry over books.


11. A book that made you happy:

Absolutely the Enchanted Forest Chronicles- the first two in particular. They're wonderfully quick, fun reads with a nice mix of humor, magic, and whimsy. (Also, they have dragons. You can't argue with that.)


Another book that I just read a couple days ago which would also qualify:

Paper Crowns by Mirriam Neal, which I got for Christmas, wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still a delightful little story with a fairy-tale feel to it. Also, Halcyon is absolutely awesome and reminded me a bit of Bard Eanrin at times, so- yeah. It made me smile- and, in more than a few cases, giggle.

12. Favorite book to film adaptation you've seen this half of the year:
Um. Let's see . . . OH! Merlin probably counts as book-to-film, right? Even it's technically a medieval-legends-to-TV-show adaptation? And even if it kind of doesn't pay a great deal of attention to the original legends anyway? It's a great show, at least so far as I've watched. (I mean, yes, I still have to finish the first season, but I figure it probably just gets better from here? Particularly as Merlin can't possibly become less of an idiot than he is at the beginning of the show, and if I like it even when he's being stupid, I'll probably enjoy it more when he knows what he's doing.)

13. Favorite post(s) you've done this half of the year:
I still really like the Fairy Tale Retellings That Need to Be a Thing post that I did back in September, and the Character Christmas Tag makes me a bit happier than it possibly should. I'm also very pleased with I Wonder . . . and Why I Love My WIP.


14. Most beautiful book you've bought/received this half of the year:
Cover-wise, I think it's a tie between these two:

Anyone want to help break the tie? Which do you think is a prettier cover?

Content-wise, there's no question: The Wingfeather Tales takes the prize.

15. Any other books you want to babble about for any other reason?
Just a few books that are on my TBR-soon list, even though they've been out for a while:

Samara's Peril by Jaye L. Knight (yes, I know, it was featured on my mid-year roundup too; shame on me; I'm just mildly scared of having my heart shattered into a hundred small pieces, because The King's Scrolls hurt very much)

Twinepathy by C.B. Cook (which I beta-read the first half of, actually, but had to stop on because of time commitments)

Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag (which I just got for Christmas)

What are some of your favorite books, characters, and other bookish things from this past year? Any other recent releases that I need to make sure I have on my TBR list? Please tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)