Hellllooooooooo, everyone! Tomorrow is the first day of fall, and you know what that means: new book releases! (Also, today is the first day of my hall's D&D campaign, so WHOO! I was originally going to do a D&D-themed post because of that, but then I remembered what tomorrow is and so I'm delaying that plan for a while.) There aren't quite as many books on this list as there have been on previous lists, but they're all pretty promising, so it balances out, y'know?

Fall 2019 Reads!

 

1. The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett (September 10). Historical fantasy! Granted, it's billed as "meets The Last Magician," which is not what I'd call enticing . . . but the rest of the synopsis sounds great! Relic-chasing archeologists, adventurers, and a dose of creepiness . . . what more could you want?

 

2. When She Reigns by Jodi Meadows (September 10). I read the rest of this trilogy, so obviously, I need to finish it out, right? I mean, I do really like the main character's development, even if some of the side characters kinda annoy me. Also, I have been informed that this one has more dragons than ever, which is like — yes, please!

 

3. The Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas (September 10). MULAN RETELLING! The first time I watched Mulan all the way through was actually around this time last year (though I'd watched most of it several years before that), but it's amazing, and this retelling sounds even better. Possibly closer to the original story, though I could be wrong. Also, there's sneakery involved. I am always down for sneakery. And I am still very happy about the trend towards Asian fantasy that we're seeing lately.

 

4. The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah (October 29). It's sci-fi UNDER THE SEA! Featuring submarine races! Intrigue! Quests to save family members! And there's some mention of a "secretive, hotheaded companion" at the end that sounds quite promising . . . Granted, it's receiving mixed pre-reviews, so I don't want to get too excited, but I am hoping this turns out well.

 

5. Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon (October 29). I'm getting a Middle Eastern fantasy feel from this one, and I am HERE FOR IT, even if the premise is a tiny bit disturbing. But it's about sisters trying to save sisters, and that's absolutely the way to my heart. Also, we've got intrigue, and we already know how I feel about intrigue.

 

6. Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao (November 19). This one sounds suuuuuper dark, but also super cool. It sounds rather Russian in setting, which is a culture I don't really read as often as I'd like. Plus, she's tracking down her father's murderer, which usually promises a mystery (at least to some degree), and we've got a conman . . . who, ok, sounds more like the Kaz Brekker variety of conman than other varieties of conman, but still. It did have a bit of controversy around it, but that sounds like it was from people being jerks on Twitter, not from an actual problem with the book.

 

7. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (November 26). I'm still deciding how excited I am about this one. On one hand, Skyward wasn't really my favorite Sanderson novel. It was good, but it didn't have that spark. On the other hand, "not my favorite Sanderson novel" is kind of like saying that strawberry isn't my favorite ice cream flavor: it's still pretty storming delicious. So, yeah, I'll probably be picking this one up . . . and hoping really, really hard that Brandon Sanderson keeps the romance low-key or non-existent.

What books are you looking forward to this fall? Have you read any of the ones on this list already, since some of them are out already? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Fall 2018 Reads!

Hello, everyone! It's officially fall, and at least where I am, it definitely feels like the seasons have changed. And you know what that means: it's time for a new season of releases! 2018 has been a pretty great year for books overall, but I think that fall is going to be especially awesome. There are so many great books coming out; I'm going to have trouble deciding which ones to feature! (Not that I'm going to let that stop me . . .)

Fall 2018 Reads!

1. Ignite the Stars by Maura Milan (September 4). The last few sci-fi books I've read have been disappointments to some degree or another, but y'know what? That's no reason not to give Ignite the Stars a chance. It's Asian-inspired, which is pretty cool, and features a 17-year-old criminal mastermind as the protagonist, so . . . should be interesting!

2. As She Ascends by Jodi Meadows (September 11). I really enjoyed the first Fallen Isles book, even if it suffered from a lack of promised dragons. I think that As She Ascends will rectify that, though, so yay! And I'm excited to find out what happens to Mira and her friends. This isn't a top-priority book, but I'm still looking forward to it.

3. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (September 25). This one is actually the next book on my TBR (I'm reviewing it for Cedars), so y'all will get my thoughts on it pretty soon. I'm not quite sure what to expect from it? I mean, the concept sounds pretty cool, but I have exactly zero idea how it's going to play out. But it seems like it might sort of blend sci-fi and contemporary, so that's cool? I think? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

4. West by Edith Pattou (October 23). This is the sequel to East, which I read two Februaries ago. I'll probably need to reread East before I pick this up because I remember very little about it other than the fact that I enjoyed it. Reviews suggest that this one focuses on Rose and Charles after they've started a family, which should be interesting — a lot of fantasy series drop off after their protagonists are married. I'm looking forward to a bit of a different perspective. All the same . . . if Charles has been turned into the huge snake on the cover by some evil magical being, I'm going to scream.

5. The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth (October 23). So, this sounds very Narnia-ish, but with a greater focus on the after-Narnia than the in-Narnia adventure. I love the idea — over the last several years, I've become increasingly fascinated with the question of what happens after the adventure ends. Reviews are mixed, but I plan to give it a chance anyway.

6. Red as Snow by Kendra E. Ardnek (October 24). I alpha-read this one over the summer, and I can tell you that Kendra carries off her downright fascinating concept quite well. She thoroughly mixes up the plot, while keeping it recognizable for what it is. Plus, we've got a bit of a cute sibling relationship in here, so yay!

7. The Princess and the Invisible Apple Tree by Meredith Leigh Burton (October 25). Accidental murder! Reluctant sisters! Mystery! Fairy tales! What more could a girl want in a book? (Don't answer that.) Anyway. I can't wait to read this one, especially since people who have read it have said plenty of lovely things about it.

8. Blood in the Snow by Sarah Pennington (October 26). Oh, look! It's my book! Which comes out in less than a month! What the actual pumpernickel. I'm so excited, but I also have so much left to do . . .

9. For Such a Time as This by Heather L.L. FitzGerald (October 27). So we've got a retelling of Snow White . . . combined with a retelling of Esther . . . set in a Persian-inspired science fantasy world? I never saw that coming . . . but I also didn't realize until recently how much I needed it in my life, and I can't wait to see how Heather pulls it off.

10. Overpowered by Kathryn McConaughy (October 29). Here's another Snow White retelling combined with a tale from the Bible . . . but this one is actually set in Bible times, with a few hints of fantasy. I got to beta read it, and it's pretty awesome. 

11. But One Life by Wyn Estelle Owens (October 30). Yeah, if you haven't noticed by now, I'm basically posting all the Magic Mirrors books. But I'm excited for them all to some degree, so it's fine. (Also: cross-promotion.) Anyway. But One Life is another historical, though this one is straight fiction and set during the Revolutionary War. So, not my usual cup of tea, but I'm still looking forward to it. (Plus: spies! And intrigue! I'm always down for good spying antics.)

12. The Seven Drawers by Kendra E. Ardnek (October 31). And here's the last of the Magic Mirrors! I alpha-read this one, and I'm currently beta-reading it, and it's awesome. I mean, it's a Kendra book, so you know it's going to be creative — even the worst of Kendra's books are still really unusual and unique. But Seven Drawers is a particularly enjoyable concept and I can't wait until I get to read the whole book at once.

13. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (November 6)! NEW SANDERSON NEW SANDERSON NEW SANDERSON!!!!!!! Sci-fi! Sentient spaceships! Aliens! NEW SANDERSON! Yeah. I'm going to push to review this for Cedars; Cedarville needs to know more about the awesomeness that is Sanderson. (Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be another Alcatraz, though . . . it would be super awkward if my probably one-and-only Sanderson review for the newspaper is a bad one.)

14. The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman (November 29)! As if this season wasn't awesome enough — NEW INVISIBLE LIBRARY! And apparently Irene and Kai are investigating a murder mystery at a dragon-Fae-Library peace conference, which means maximum awesomeness. I want it yesterday, but as it is, it'll have to wait and be my post-finals celebration.

Well, there you have it! Twice as many seasonal reads as I normally have, and a whole lot of awesome! I'm going to have a busy fall, let me tell you. And now, you tell me: what books are you most excited for this fall? My TBR may be big, but it always has room to grow.

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

End-of-Year Book Freakout "Tag" 2017

2017 is nearly at an end, y'all . . . and that means it's time for the second half of my "Best of" book roundup! Once again, I'm using my modified End-of-Year Book Freakout tag because that's a lot more fun than just trying to compile a list of X favorites (and low-key angsting about how to pick one book over another because they're ALL awesome, just in different ways and yeah). So, let's go!

1. Best book you've read in the second half of 2017:

I've read a lot of good books this half of the year . . . but since this is the best book, not the best sequel, I'm going to say that this is a tie between two:

Before She Ignites is pretty unusual for the fantasy genre, particularly YA fantasy. Most of it takes place in a prison. There's not a lot of action and quite a lot of political maneuvering. A few characters have special powers, but those aren't the focus. It's not set in a facsimile of Medieval Europe but rather in a country reminiscent of some of the Pacific Islands. The main character is the Chosen One, in a sense, but that's almost an arbitrary title, and she's really an ordinary girl in an extraordinary position. And the book actually touches on some pretty serious real issues and, in my opinion, handles them well. Plus, there's dragons. What more could you want?

Weave a Circle Round is another rather unusual book, one that involves time travel and stories and a personification of the eternal conflict between Reason and Chaos. I'm very fond of the last bit. Any story with a personification of chaos is practically guaranteed to be awesome. This is Kari Maaren's first novel, but she's the author/artist of two of my favorite webcomics, West of Bathurst and It Never Rains. True to the form established in those stories, Weave a Circle Round begins as almost magical realism or very odd contemporary, with all the strangeness probably explainable by natural causes or unreliable senses . . . but then the time travel kicks in. Also as usual, the protagonist of Weave a Circle Round tends to, as the author puts it, "muddle through" her adventure, which, honestly, is what I'd probably do in her place and is quite relatable on the whole.

Also, while it's not quite as high on the list, I'd like to mention Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World, Bryan Davis's latest release. It's middle-grade, but super fun and pretty unique for a superhero novel.

2. Best sequel you've read in the second half of 2017:

I think we all know what I'm going to say here:

I'm technically still reading Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson's latest release, but it's easily shaping up to be not just one of the best sequels of the year but one of the best books overall. We've got answers, we've got new questions, we've got increased conflict both external and internal, we've got spren both awesome (allo, Syl and Pattern!) and creepy . . .  And we've got Dalinar flashbacks, which is interesting, to say the least. Dalinar was very different in his youth from the man we know now. Also, Shallan is awesome even if she's making me a bit nervous currently. Just sayin'.

Of course, there are a few other sequels that are well worth mentioning. In order of publication:

Thick as Thieves had a distinct lack of Eugenides but managed to be awesome anyway. Plus it's a Persia-esque setting, which is pretty unique.

And The Dire King was a magnificent finale to the series- epic, thrilling, feels-heavy but not lacking in the usual Jackaby humor, with an ending that's just- I can't even. I can't.

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to: 

There are a few more of these than I'd like . . . college life is not exactly what you'd call convenient for keeping up with new releases unless you're willing to spend a small fortune every month and have a lot of storage space. That said, at the top of the list is:

The Lost Plot! The latest Invisible Library book! It's out, it's out, it's ouuuuuuuttttttt! (And I didn't realize it until earlier this week!) And I need it yesterday!

Of course, there's a few others that I'm also looking forward to. For example:

The Empty Grave is the latest and last in the Lockwood and Co. series, and while I nearly gave up on it after The Hollow Boy, The Creeping Shadow convinced me to see the series through to the end.

An Enchantment of Ravens sounds like a unique fantasy story; a bit heavier on the romance than I think I usually read, but still fun, and it's gotten great reviews from a lot of my friends.

Renegades is the latest book from Marissa Meyer. From the reviews and excerpts I've read, I'm not expecting to like this as much as I do The Lunar Chronicles, but it should still be pretty cool.

4. Most anticipated release for next year:

Brandon Sanderson is releasing another YA novel! It's called Skyward and is apparently a sci-fi take on the "boy and his dragon" storyline, involving mysterious aliens, a girl who wants to be a pilot, and a sentient (or, at least, soul-bearing) spaceship. Sanderson says that it's not in the Cosmere or Reckoners universes, but that it is in the continuity of something else he's written. So, that means it could be connected to Alcatraz, the Legion books, Perfect State, Snapshot, or The Rithmatist. I'm not sure which it'll be, but my money's on Perfect State, since the premise of that universe allows for near-infinite genres and storylines.

A few other books I'm excited for:

Ink, Iron, and Glass I mentioned in my Winter 2017-18 Reads post, but if you missed that: it's steampunk, involves writers who can bring their worlds to life, and generally sounds pretty awesome.

The Penderwicks at Last is the final book in a series I've been reading for a while now. It's contemporary, but I love it anyway, and while I'm sad the series is almost over, I'm excited to see how it ends.

And, finally, Fawkes is historical fantasy and should be pretty exciting. Plus, while I haven't read anything by Nadine Brandes yet, I've heard she's a very good author.

5. Biggest disappointment:

Shadow Run was undoubtedly the biggest disappointment of the entire year. I was promised Firefly and a very cool premise. Instead, I got the biggest mess of cliches I'd read in a long while and a romance that completely overshadowed the actual plot. Yeah. I'm still bitter, if you can't tell.

6. Biggest surprise:

I don't normally read contemporary; quite honestly, I associate it with romantic fluff, overblown teenage angst, boy/friendship drama, and questionable content. So, while I enjoy John Green from vlogbrothers and such, I was a bit nervous when I ended up reading Turtles All the Way Down so I could review it for my college newspaper. Yet this book is honestly one of the better ones I've read this year; it's powerful and poignant and philosophical, and, yes, there's angst and drama, but it's well done, and the story touches that deeper Reality which is so vibrant in the good spec-fic I love. Plus, there's a refreshing lack of romantic fluff (even less than in most fantasy novels) and, other than one scene, not a lot of questionable content either.

7. Favorite new-to-you author:

I'm going to go with Kyle Robert Schultz, author of The Beast of Talesend and the rest of the Beaumont and Beasley books. I've only read the first of these books, but it was wonderful and mysterious and steampunky and a brilliant mix of fairy tale and original material and yeah. I want to read the rest of the series yesterday.

8. Newest fictional crush/ship:

Um. I don't really have any new crushes or ships that I feel strongly about? So instead I'm just going to say that Charlie and Abigail from Jackaby are still one of the best things ever, as is Shadolin Shallan x Adolin) from the Stormlight Archive. (Shaladin shippers, I refer you to literally every interaction between Shallan and Adolin in Part 1 of Oathbringer.) Also, I knew (spoiler for Ghostly Echoes + The Dire King) Jackaby and Jenny were a thing, but I didn't realize just how much I like them as a thing until I read The Dire King.

9. Newest favorite characters:

Oooooh. Definitely new people here.

• Nick, Cordelia, and Crispin from The Beast of Talesend are absolutely perfect and I love their personalities and character dynamics and interactions and YES.
• Cuerva Lachance from Weave a Circle Round is . . . I don't even know how to properly describe her. She's mysterious and enigmatic and strange and amusing and terrifying and does things because they're impossible and might be one of my favorite parts of the book.  
• I rediscovered how awesome Ransom from C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy is. I have some friends who really like him, and yeah, I can see why. I'm also 99.9% certain that he's based off Tolkien, so . . . yeah.
• Eddie, Damocles, and Gilbert from Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World are all also awesome in their own way: Eddie's super relatable for a 12-year-old boy, Damocles is . . . he's a character and I sometimes don't quite know what to do with him, but he's interesting and I love him, and Gilbert is just fun. So, yeah.

I feel like I should have someone from Harry Potter on here, since I finally started reading the series? But while I do quite like certain characters (*cough*everyWeasleyeveryes*cough*andalsoHagrid*cough*), I'm not sure if they make the top list? Plus I read so many AU and headcanon sort of things on Pinterest that I don't always know what in my head is real about the characters and what's just something that someone else came up with. It's a problem. 

10. A book that made you cry:

No crying, but while reading The Dire King, the conclusion to the Jackaby series, I did much "Nonononono"-ing. Also some quiet screaming, not-so-quiet keening, and possibly a bit of whimpering. The book killed me with feels, basically. I'm still not over it.

11. A book that made you happy:

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans is absolutely adorable, ok? It's got a precocious young girl and a crotchety old lady dragon and a lovely mixing of magic and reality and just makes my heart happy in general. The rest of the series is good too, but the first book is undoubtedly the best.

12. Favorite book to film adaptation you've seen this half of the year:

Um. I rewatched the LOTR extended editions. Does that count?

13. Favorite post(s) you've done this half of the year:

I really enjoyed finally writing my Plantser's Guide to Worldbuilding! Also, I wrote a thing. It involves food, love, and magic, and what else do you really need in life?

14. Most beautiful book you've bought/received this half of the year:

I'm going to take a moment to gush again about the prettiness of the new version of Do You Take This Quest? Story-wise, it's still not my favorite of the Bookania Quests, but the cover is my favorite; I love the purple and the watercolor feel and the softness and it just makes me happy for some reason.

15. Any other books you want to babble about for any other reason?

As per the usual, a few books that I still need to read even though they're no longer really recent releases:

Exiles by Jaye L. Knight remains on my TBR list, despite the fact that I've owned the book since September. I hope to fix that by the end of break, though. And eventually I need to break this wait-forever-to-read-Ilyon streak that I have going.

 The Last Magician came out in July, but I haven't been able to get ahold of it until now because libraries are uncooperative. Also, college. I checked it out from the library yesterday; hopefully I'll manage to read it before break ends.

I still haven't read The Lord of Chaos or any other Wheel of Time books, despite the fact that I own significantly more of them. In my defense, they're long and not half as exciting as Sanderson, and therefore I have to work myself up to them.

Also, I finally got ahold of the whole Spellsmith and Carver series, including an actual physical copy of the first book, so I really want to read those . . . I just have to find the right time, when another book isn't higher priority.

And there you have it! Feel free to borrow this tag for your own end-of-year posts or to answer in comments any of the questions that piqued your interest. I'd love to hear what you've been reading lately!

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 

October 2017 Doings!

Oh, look! It's November, the best month of the year! (Well, one of the best months, anyway. April and September are pretty nice too.) October, though? October can be great, but sometimes— this past October, for instance— it can be a pretty mixed bag. Don't get the wrong idea; it wasn't a bad month . . . but it was a pretty tiring one.

Writing!

• The thing about college . . . if I don't have either a deadline or a challenge to meet, I don't write. I want to write. I carry my notebook around in hopes that I will write. But things that don't have deadlines, or that have very distant deadlines, tend to get pushed to the side in favor of everything that's due this week. And I apparently have a knack for taking on projects that end up more complicated or time-consuming than they're supposed to be, which doesn't help matters at all.
• That said, I managed to edit the first two and a half chapters of Blood in the Snow during the first half of October. 4K words down; probably-25K words to go . . . (Well, actually a little less at the time I write this, but that's November news.)

Reading!

• My reading for October has been mostly dominated by C.S. Lewis's books— which is a good thing! I started the month by rereading The Silver Chair so I could give a presentation for it in one of my classes. Then I also reread Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra for the same reason. I haven't read the Space Trilogy in years— not since I was in my fairly early teens and mildly obsessed with Dekker's Circle Trilogy. As you might expect, I didn't really get it the first time, although I did enjoy it. I liked it even more this time around, and I actually look forward to reading That Hideous Strength as soon as I have time. I actually think I prefer Out of the Silent Planet to Perelandra, although most people seem to like Perelandra better. I can understand why; Perelandra is an amazing book; it's theologically rich, with a fascinating concept, deep themes, and a surprisingly high-stakes conflict. I know and appreciate all that, and I do genuinely love the book; it's become one of my favorites. However, I also like stories and exploring new worlds and new peoples, and Out of the Silent Planet gives me a little more of that and a little less theological argument, and so I suppose it's just easier for me to enjoy. And I feel quite uncultured and unspiritual for saying so, but it's the truth all the same.
• I also took my first step into Lewis's nonfiction this month with Mere Christianity and quite enjoyed that as well. Lewis covers a surprisingly broad range of topics, he explains them well, and he presents his message in a friendly, familiar style that makes even complex concepts understandable and enjoyable to read about. At times while reading the book, I felt as if I were sitting with Lewis and a few friends beside the fire on an autumn evening, each of us with a cup of tea and Lewis with his pipe, listening to Lewis talk. Other times, mostly when Lewis made a particularly dry and sarcastic comment, or when he covered an especially difficult concept, I felt like I was sitting in a really good lecture by my favorite philosophy-and-Bible professor. Both are good things. The content of the book, of course, was top-notch. I could probably write a whole post, or a whole series of posts, just going over different insights that stood out to me.
• My only non-Lewis book this month was Before She Ignites, which I read and reviewed for my college newspaper. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the book! A lot of really hyped mainline fantasy and sci-fi ends up disappointing me because of content or overwhelming romance or annoying characters. But Before She Ignites had surprisingly little romance and plenty of intrigue, diversity, mystery, drama, and worldbuilding, along with great characters and excellent handling of real issues. There weren't as many dragons as I expected, but I'm ok with that. And, ok, yes, the main character could be a touch naive and helpless at times, but she made sense and grew past those things, so it was all good, and I would definitely recommend the book.

Watching!

• Still watching Fairy Tale. My opinions on the show haven't really changed much, although I enjoy it more and more as I watch it, become increasingly attached to the characters, and get used to how the episodes generally play out. And apparently we're about a fifth of the way through, according to my roommate, so we might finish by the end of the school year. We'll see.
• However, I have rather mixed feelings about the last two arcs. The first one was Erza's backstory, which is good- Erza is one of my favorite characters, she has an interesting past, and it was an exciting storyline- but at the same time, it was kind of depressing in parts and featured altogether too much of the "No! I must do this alone! I must sacrifice myself to save you!" variety of dramatics. Then the second arc involved one of my least favorite characters getting a his well-deserved punishment, plus lots of cool magic, a super fun teamup on the part of Loke and Lucy (who I ship very hard, by the way), and a focus on one of my favorite minor characters whose name I don't know how to spell. On the other hand, it also involved betrayal and characters turning other characters against each other, so . . . yeah. That happened.
• As for the arc we're currently in, I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I met Wendy (one of my roommate's favorite characters) and quite like her. All things considered, she's one of the more accurate depictions of a 12-year-old that I've encountered in fiction.
• So, yeah. I haven't really watched anything besides Fairy Tale, but I haven't had much time to. We'll see whether or not that changes next month.

Life!

• Basically, October has mostly consisted of running around, trying to do all the things, because right around Fall Break is generally when professors decide to throw everything at you. In the course of four weeks, I've presented on two C.S. Lewis books, written two book responses and one report, edited a group essay, taken my first English exam, created, perfected, and presented my professional portfolio, and created various and sundry design projects for Visual Rhetoric. On the upside, that's roughly half, possibly two thirds, of my big projects for the year out of the way. On the downside, I don't feel any less busy now.
• Oh, and on top of all that, I also wrote my first book review for my college newspaper and took my first photo assignment! I covered the Women's Ultimate Frisbee team practice, which I figured would be pretty fun. While I have no interest in sports, I have friends on the team, and I've had success with action photography in the past. Then my dad pointed out that the lens I had on campus wasn't exactly ideal . . . but I got the shots I needed and had a good time doing it, so it's fine.
• Fun or not, though, I was more than ready for Fall Break when it came around. I went home with my roommaate again, and we spent the first two days of break crafting our costumes, which I posted about on Tuesday, and eating yummy homemade food (like sausage potato chowder and legit homemade donuts). Then, on Saturday, we went to her grandparents' house to celebrate her grandmother's birthday, which was fun and involved fireworks and more delicious food (namely apple and pecan pie- I've been craving pecan pie for literally a year now and I finally got some and it made me happy). And if I seem a little food-obsessed . . . well, my college's cafeteria is in the country's top ten for a reason, but it still gets old after a while, especially when they keep serving my least favorite things and never seem to have my favorites. Plus, as I mentioned, pie. And donuts. Both homemade. Those deserve as many mentions as I can give them, arguably.
• On the other side of the spectrum: I'm still doing Martial Arts and very much enjoying it. It's actually a really great stress reliever, which I didn't expect. I mean, it's hard and tiring and sometimes I wonder if I'm doing anything right and if I'm ever going to actually improve, and I never can get my stance quite right for my forms. But at the same time, martial arts force me to slow down a little, to think a little more about what I'm doing, and it makes me feel like I've accomplished something (which is invaluable when I spend so much time working on long projects). So, yeah. No matter how busy I get in the next few months, I'm not quitting this.
• Speaking of stress relievers: my church's Bible Study has finally started up again! We're going through 1, 2, and 3 John, and I think it'll be interesting. We have an actual book this year, as opposed to just talking through a chapter or two a week, so we'll see how that works out. I'm excited to be back, though. Even though we lost a few people from last year, it's a great group and we also have good (if sometimes weird) discussions.

November Plans!

• It's NaNoWriMo! I'm going Rebel this year and not starting a new novel. Instead, I'm rewriting Blood in the Snow so I can submit it to Rooglewood Press in December. Not only do I think this will be a more achievable goal for this year, it's more practical. I need to get this done soon; I don't need to start another novel, especially since I have so many already that need edited. For maximum effectiveness, minimal stress, and easy conversion to NaNo-winner-dom, I'm actually tracking and recording my time spent rewriting, rather than my words. (Well, I'm still tracking my words, but I'm not recording them on the NaNo site.) My official goal is to spend 25 hours rewriting this month. My hope is that a time-based goal will help me keep writing even when I would normally allow myself to stop on days when the words flow well, but will also keep me from getting too stressed when I'm stuck and can't accomplish as much as I want. Also, I don't actually know how long Blood in the Snow is, so I don't want to set a word-based goal and then have it not be enough.
• Of course, besides big writing projects, I also have final projects in most of my classes. Most of those aren't due until December, of course, but I need to start them sooner rather than later. The exception is my final project for my portfolio class, which is basically a series of mock interviews, and which is happening this week and next week. I've finished my phone interviews— huzzah!— and those actually went fairly well. Now all I have to do is survive the face-to-face ones . . .
• Because of NaNoWriMo and the start of final projects, regular blog posts may or may not go on hiatus during this month. That said, I also may or may not post occasional NaNoWriMo updates, potentially featuring snippets, so . . . yeah. I'm not sure you're really missing out.
• I'm also starting work on Christmas presents already. I'm a firm believer in keeping holidays separate, even if certain people who I know occasionally try to start Christmas music in September. However, Christmas presents I'll start thinking about as early as I please. There's no reason to restrict giving to one season, and when you handmake gifts, you can't always wait until after Thanksgiving to begin. That's just a recipe for stress, even if you can make a hat in about a week.
• Of course, Thanksgiving is only three weeks away, which means the certain people don't have long to wait before I'll gladly join in on the Christmas music . . . and which means I get to go home! I don't want to say I can hardly wait, because that implies a conscious eagerness, and often I'm too busy to think about how much I want to be home— which is a good thing, don't get me wrong. If I spent all my time thinking about how I'm not home, I'd be miserable. Besides, I like being at Cedarville and spending time with friends and going to class and all that. But at the same time . . . I miss home, and I miss my family, and I want to be back.
• Other than that, I don't have any real plans for November . . . but I don't exactly need other plans either; I have plenty to keep me busy.

How was your October? Do you have any plans for November? Are you doing NaNoWriMo, and if so, what's your project? When do you think you can start the Christmas season? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
 -Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)
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Fall 2017 Reads (So Much Awesome!)

Hey'a, everyone! Normally, I would do this post a week from now, especially since next Friday actually falls on the first day of fall. However, next week I have other plans, so instead we get to explore next season's new books a week early. It's a sacrifice, I know, but one we all must make. Or, I must make, anyway. You're perfectly free to ignore this post until next Friday, but I do hope you won't, because I am super excited for some of these reads. Also, there's a lot of books to look forward to for what seems like the first time in absolute ages and it's quite wonderful.

Fall 2017 Reads

1. Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows (September 12)

Yes, yes, yes, this and the next one are technically already out. I'm only three days late, though, so we'll let it slide. Anyway- this is the only book on this list that I'm completely unfamiliar with beyond what's on Goodreads. It sounds like it has a lot of potential for awesome (and dragons, which are basically the same thing), but also a lot of potential to be just plain bad. We'll see which turns out to be the truth.

2. The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud (September 12)

I didn't know I could be this excited for a Lockwood and Co. book, but after the ending of that last one- I need this as soon as possible, please. It sounds like it's going to be an incredible conclusion. Plus, I have theories about what's going on and I want to know if I'm right or not and yeah. It's going to be great. Or I hope it will be, anyway.

3. Lightporter by C.B. Cook (September ??) 

So, Goodreads just says that this one is coming out in September, so I wondered if it was already released? But it's not on Amazon, so I guess not. I've already read Lightporter (yay, beta-ing), so now I'm mostly just excited for everyone else to read it. If only we had an official release date . . .

4. Wanted: A Superhero to Save the World by Bryan Davis (October 1?) 

Again, I don't know what exactly is going on with the release date here, because Goodreads says October 1, but the blog tour is next week? I guess maybe the blog tour is just super early? I don't know. But I've already read this one too- just finished it, in fact!- and it's decidedly awesome. Again, I can't wait until others read it too so I can talk about it with them.

5. White Sands Volume 2 by Brandon Sanderson (November 14)

Arguably the book I'm least excited for out of all of these- which is kind of ironic, since it's by one of my top three favorite authors. I didn't care for the first White Sands book, and I don't have high hopes for this one either. However, I feel obligated to read it, because it's Cosmere and it has Khriss in it and potentially clues about who-knows what. At least since it's a graphic novel, it won't take super long to read. And who knows, this one might be better than the first.

6. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (November 14)

AHHHHHH IT'S ALMOST HERE! Only two more months! Two more months! If I really wanted to, I could have started reading this a couple weeks ago, since Tor.com is giving us a preview, posting a chapter or two every so often, but I feel like that'll just drive me crazier. I want to get this book and be able to dive into it and not come out for hours. (So, I either have to read it over Thanksgiving break or clear a Saturday of schoolwork and other activities . . . doable either way.) But I want more of Kaladin and Shallan and Syl and Pattern and Dalinar's history and Szeth's development and Wit being Wit and people maybe answering some questions and probably raising more questions than they answer and just everything. 

7. Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maarten (November 28) 

I'm not quite sure what to expect from this, but based on some of the author's tweets/Facebook messages/comments-under-comics, I think it's time travel, which sounds pretty awesome, and urban fantasy, which I'm always looking for more of. This is technically Kari Maarten's debut, but I already know a little about her style from her webcomics- which, for the record, are quite awesome and mind-twisty and kind of weird. If Weave a Circle Round is anything like those comics, it's going to be absolutely awesome. 

What Fall 2017 reads are you looking forward to? Did I miss any on this list? Please tell me in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)