January Doings!

Well, we've made it through the first month of 2017! Overall, I think it's been a good start to the year. (Or, at the very least, it hasn't been terrible.) Not a lot happened, really, but that's ok- and there's still enough to make a decent Doings! post about.

Writing!

• As I mentioned earlier this month, I finished Fight Song! I haven't started editing it yet, and I'm not sure when I will, but we'll see. Since I don't think I'll be using yWriter for it, I may be able to edit on University computers, rather than having to stay tied to my laptop. I'm not sure yet. 
• I also wrote two new chapters for my new subplot in Destinies and Decisions. I haven't gotten any more than that because (A)reading, and (B)I have to figure out how to modify a particular scene in a different subplot- namely, whether or not I'm going to keep a character I added in. On one hand, I like the character, and he does contribute a bit to the plot later; on the other hand, I'm worried that he's a bit cliche, and half of his plot contributions were added so that he'd have a role to play in the story (and also to add a bit of conflict, but mostly to give him something to do). Also, if I take him out, I have to rework every. single. subplot. in the whole book, and that's mildly terrifying- but I'm not sure if having him really makes for a better story.
• I'm currently reading The Writer's Journey, which is about mythic structure and archetypes in stories. I got it out mostly because I needed to do research on character archetypes for one of my classes, but it's still fairly interesting. It also seems to draw a lot from The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which I'm probably going to read next if I have time. In any case, I think it'll be useful for my writing as well as for research.
• Um. Yeah. That's about all. But all things considered, I think it's enough.

Reading!

• So it looks like I read a ton of books this month . . . and I guess I sort of did? But not nearly as many as it looks like. Why? Well . . .
• I started out the month with Nimona, which is a somewhat weird, highly amusing graphic novel featuring a villain protagonist and a strange mix of sci-fi and medieval-fantasy stuff and . . . I don't even know how to describe it. Sometimes it was adorable; sometimes it was surprisingly dark. On the whole, though, I enjoyed it . . . and it also put me in the mood for graphic novels. So, I headed to The Silver Eye and checked the links page, and what did I find but . . .
• Inverloch, which is a fantasy webcomic about elves and wolf-people and mystery and magic and a grand quest. It's five books long, but as I read it online, I didn't really notice- except I happened to look it up on Goodreads and decided to mark that I'd read it. 
• And then I finished Inverloch and moved on to the author's next project, The Phoenix Requiem, which was . . . odd. Much creepier than Inverloch, that's for sure, and with some weird spiritual stuff, and a few scenes that were a bit . . . well. However, it, like Inverloch, was technically five books long- and I did notice that time, because it felt longer.
• In between all that, I finally finished Twinepathy by C.B. Cook. I say "finally" because I beta-read a large portion of the book, plus I read the story on C.B.'s blog until she stopped posting it. However, I ran out of time for beta-reading because other things took priority, and I didn't manage to get my hands on the book until this past Christmas, when my sister got it as a present.
• (. . . Yes, it might've been me who gave it to her. Maybe. The fact that I wanted to finish it had nothing to do with that decision. Nothing at all. Really. I just thought she'd like it, and I wanted to support my author friend. Nothing more to the story. Moving on.)
• I also read The Invisible Library which is AWESOME and AMAZING and there's a MAGIC LIBRARY and DRAGONS and STEAMPUNK and a magic library and mystery and intrigue and creepy fae villains and did I mention the MAGIC LIBRARY? (I want to work there, please and thank you very much.) And I'm pretty sure that this book was written specifically for me because it's awesome and I love it and you should all go read it now. In fact, stop reading this post, request it from your local library, and then come back. Go on. I'll wait.
• Done? Fabulous. Moving on to the rest of the month: my next amazing, awesome highlight-of-the-month read was Samara's Peril. Someday, I swear, I am going to read these books at the same time everyone else does and not procrastinate for half a year, but no luck yet- which is unfortunate, because Samara's Peril is the best book yet in the series. There's Jace stuff. And Jayrin stuff. And Marcus-and-Liam-continuing-to-be-awesome stuff. (Especially Marcus . . . he's definitely one of my favorite characters at this point.) And the battle at the end- oh stars. Jaye did an amazing job on it, that's all I'm going to say.
• Continuing the trend of recent-but-not-too recent books I hadn't read yet: on the drive from home to college, I read Fallen Star, which was an interesting story. Not my favorite, and I understand why some people have said it feels like a fanfic, but I enjoyed it all the same. I also reread the other two Goldstone Wood novellas, and let me tell you: if you haven't read Goddess Tithe since Golden Daughter came out, go fix that now. Knowing some of Sunan's history makes the story twice as awesome.
• With the return to college, I also returned to a bit of unfinished business from last semester: the Heroes of Olympus series. I only had the last three books left, and I enjoyed them all well enough, though I don't think they're my favorites. And now I'm left debating whether or not to read The Trials of Apollo, because on one hand, I've discovered I really enjoy the Percy Jackson 'verse and Rick Riordan's writing style, but on the other hand, friends have informed me that it's heavy on a certain thing which I'm not comfortable with. So, yeah. I don't know.
• Finishing up the month: I reread The Rithmatist, which my roommate gave me for Christmas (because she's awesome), and then went on a Discworld kick that lasted until yesterday and might continue if I get my holds in soon enough. Of the two new Discworld books I read: The Last Continent was ok-but-not-amazing for Discworld overall but pretty good for a Rincewind book, and Carpe Jugulum was slow-starting but pretty awesome once you got further in. And then I reread the Tiffany Aching sub-series because the next few books in the series chronologically were checked out. Sigh . . . 
• (And I think that, despite the fact that I didn't read half as much as it looks like I did, this still ended up the longest section in the entire post. Oh well.)

 Watching!

• Yep. Still watching Merlin. 
• I've finished Season One, which is good, and I just finished episode 3 of Season Two. Apparently the next episode has Lancelot in it, which is good.
• Also, the design for the Great Dragon changed slightly from the first season to the second and I greatly approve. The new design looks more . . . more real, if that makes any sense when applied to a mythical creature. Also more intimidating.
• And Merlin is slightly less of an idiot, so yay for that. Except in this last episode . . . Seriously, if you're not going to follow advice, don't follow it all the way. None of this half-and-half nonsense.
• And I'm currently alternating between liking Arthur and wanting to smack him upside the head for being a pompous idiot. 
• Actually, a fair portion of the time I spend watching Merlin goes to wanting to smack one person or another upside the head, but it's typically because the character in question is getting in the way of something else being awesome, not because he's being an idiot.

Life!

• The final 9 days of Christmas break were just as awesome as the first two weeks. Much reading, much writing, much playing of board and card games, all that good stuff. I got to go to youth group and see everyone at church again, and generally enjoyed not having any schoolwork to do.
• And then I had to pack up and go back to college. Sigh.
• Second semester is going well, though, and I'm enjoying most of my classes. I have a lot more tests and quizzes than I did last semester (a fact which pleases my roommate) but it's OK; I'm dealing with it. (I actually have a test today in Cultural Anthropology . . . which I'm feeling a bit nervous about . . . hopefully it goes ok.)
• One nice thing is that the amount of reading and projects I have to do have gone down, which means I have a bit more free time- thus why I've been able to do so much writing.
• Oh, and I got a Pinterest account, partially because I wanted a way to keep all the story ideas and inspiration in one place, partially so that my roommate could just send me whatever fandom or MBTI or such things she finds and thinks I'll like. So far, I like the site, and it is useful for both of those things. I can't go on there just any time, though, since it's so easy to lose track of time; usually I don't allow myself to get on until I've finished everything else I have to do.

February Plans!

• School as usual, naturally. I have to give a speech on the 15th, which I'm not much looking forward to, but at least my topic is interesting- that's what the character archetype research is for.
• As far as creative writing goes, I'll be spending most of the month editing. Editing what exactly I don't know for sure; it depends whether or not Fight Song demands yWriter after all and whether or not I decide to give up my Awesome Hour (the hour in between breakfast or chapel and my first class) in order to have more time to do stuff in my dorm room. It also depends whether or not I can figure out what to do with the character I mentioned earlier. I'll sort it out eventually.
• Nearly forgot- Thursday is opening night for my college's winter play: The Music Man! That's one of my favorite musicals ever, and I'm going to usher on Saturday, which means I get to see the play for free. It's going to be awesome. (And it'll probably result in my looking up the songs on YouTube afterwards and listening to them obsessively again  . . . which will end with said songs being stuck in my head for at least a week, if not longer. Not that that's a bad thing.)
• There's also a movie night coming up with the Honors organization, which should be cool . . . I missed the last one because I had work to do and other events going on. Not missing this one, though, even if it is inconveniently scheduled for a Thursday night. (Seriously, why does everything happen on a Thursday? Movie nights, hall dinners, shooting club range nights, other club and hall events . . . and the worst of it is that I have to get up early on Fridays. It's like the people organizing all this are conspiring against me so that I have to try to prioritize which friends I want to spend time with.)
• (Note if you happen to be one of those people organizing events: That was a joke. I'm not mad at you. Just mildly bewildered at why these conflicts always seem to happen on Thursdays. It's honestly getting a bit ridiculous at this point . . .)
• And that's about all I can think of. Given that it's February and February is basically the most boring month of the year (I'm sorry, but it is), I'm amazed I came up with this much.

How has your January been? Any mildly-exciting plans for February? (Or, any arguments for why February is secretly the most awesome month of the year that aren't "I live in the Southern Hemisphere and it's nice here"?) Please tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Stories I Want to Write (Sometime)

So, I sort of didn't manage to mention this earlier, but I finished Fight Song! I wrote the final words a week ago, in the not-quite-an-hour between breakfast and my first class of the day. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out; it'll need some editing, but it's not bad. I hope to start editing it around the end of the month, and I'll probably post it on here as I do.

For now, though, I'm taking some time to focus on editing Destinies and Decisions, including writing in an additional subplot at the advice of a friend. (By the by, I'm writing it on EverNote on my new phone. I love my new phone, for the record, especially since it has a keyboard large enough for me to type pretty comfortably. And EverNote has italics, which is a stupid thing to be excited about, but I used to have to write in Notepad if I wanted to write on my phone, and so there were no italics and that made it hard to write anything.) Anyway- besides working on old projects, I'm also thinking about new ones. True, I don't think I'll start a new story for a while. But the more excited I am for the story when I start it, the better it'll go. And, tonight, I thought I'd share some of my ideas with y'all.

Stories I Want to Write (Sometime)

1. A story where the rebellion is actually the wrong side . . . and the characters don't realize it until it's (almost) too late. I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but rebellions and revolutions in fantasy books almost always seem to be more American than French, at least as far as I've seen. If the revolution isn't considered a good thing, that's generally because it was sparked by an outside force- generally a Dark Lord- and the main characters almost always see that it's wrong right off. But I think it would be interesting to have characters get caught up in a revolution that seems like a good idea at the start, but quickly takes a turn for the worse. How would they react? How far would they go? Would they realize what was going on? How long would they try to justify the leaders' actions? And what would they do when they couldn't justify those actions any longer, assuming they reach that point?
2. A fantasy-murder mystery with a hearty dose of political intrigue. This would undoubtedly be heavily influenced by the Queen's Thief series, since that's where I got the inspiration. Well, technically, I got the inspiration from a daydream that partially came out of the series, but still. I actually have a bit of random scribbling that could be easily turned into chapter one, if I should so desire. The main reason I haven't written this is that it would take a great deal of planning and plotting and research, all things which are more than a little bit intimidating to me right now.
3. A superhero slice-of-life story or series of one-shots. I got the idea for this last semester, I think while I was chatting with some of my friends about what superpower we'd each want . . . It would be sort of like the Teenage Superhero Society, but with more emphasis on daily life and less emphasis on Becoming Heroes and Defeating Villains- things like a telepath being lazy and using her powers to pull the bag of chips to her, or a time manipulator freezing time right before a test so he can scan his notes one more time, or a telepath wrestling with the temptation to cheat on that same test. You get the idea. Basically, I just want to write about what teenage/college-aged supers do when they're not, y'know, being heroes. The problem is that there would literally be no plot which is why I should probably just write a series of one-shots and leave it at that, but my brain generally doesn't work that way. (Actually, this could extend to urban fantasy slice-of-life in general, not just superhero, but the point remains.)
4. Evil Rapunzel. What if the witch or fairy or whoever imprisoned Rapunzel wasn't the villain? What if she had a really good reason to take Rapunzel from her parents- a reason that had to do with protecting the world? What if Rapunzel wasn't actually imprisoned as young as the story says at all; what if she was imprisoned later on, for a very legitimate reason, and the story we've all been told is something she made up? What if all that's true? And then- what happens when a well-meaning prince stops by and helps her escape?
5. A Between Two Worlds sequel focusing more on Kate's sister. I have some idea of what I'd do for this. Like Between Two Worlds itself, what I'm thinking would be drawn from random daydreams- these ones mostly based on combination between a webcomic I read a while back and Heather Dixon's Entwined- but while I know some things, I don't know enough to pull it off. Like, I know that a lot of the conflict will stem from Ella missing Kate and feeling left out of all the adventures and making a few bad choices as a result of that, and I know a considerable amount about the villain, but I still need something to tie all the pieces together. Also, it would be a rather darker story than Between Two Worlds was, so I'm not sure if I'm ready in that respect either.

What about you? What do you think of my ideas? And what are some stories you'd like to write but haven't gotten to yet? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)   

Mistcloak Tutorial

Every girl needs a good cape, right? Sure, they're not always practical for everyday wear (scratch that, they're almost never practical for everyday wear), but you never know what might happen. Yes, fair enough, I already have a cape (plus a couple capelets, which are rather more practical), but I've wanted to make a Mistcloak more or less since I discovered the series. And, as you already know if you were paying attention last October, now I have!

We Mistborn are incredibly mysterious. Also dramatic.

 Putting the cloak together wasn't that hard, just time-consuming. That said, you can probably do this in a day, if you don't start too late and don't take long breaks and don't have to take pictures every step.

Now, let's get started.

In With the New

Well, here we are: the first day of a new year. Hard to believe that 2016 is officially over- but so it is. It was a good year, and a long year, filled with new things. As a brief recap, in 2016 I managed to:

•  Write 113,241 words in various projects, including Monster in the Castle and Mechanical Heart, both of which I finished this year, and Fight Song, which is almost done, as well as various flash fiction and miscellaneous projects.
• Participate in two Camp NaNoWriMos.
• Not participate in the November NaNo for the first time in several years.
• Edit 57,389 words, mostly in Destinies and Decisions.
• Get my first-ever internship in the corporate comm department of the place my dad works, which was actually really cool and pretty enjoyable for the most part.
• Crochet a dragon (albeit a small one). 
• Buy a new Kindle (otherwise known as the Llyfrgell y Lleuad, which is Welsh for Library of the Moon)
• Participate in White Sulpher Springs Summer Staff for the second time.
• Realize that I'm not publishing anything this year . . . or probably for a while, unless I buckle down and edit a lot. Or unless a certain thing that just came up a few days ago works out . . .
• Survive my first semester of college.
• Watch the entirety of Firefly and most of the first season of Merlin.
• Make a Mistcloak (pictures and instructions coming soon, I swear!). 
• Get a new phone (which doesn't have a name yet, though the Kindle app on it is entitled "Pocket L-Space," which Discworld fans will understand and no one else will).
• Read over 133 books.

At the moment, I'm not certain what 2017 will bring, but I'm pretty sure it'll involve fewer totally new things (though there might be just as many changes as the last two years have contained). A few things that I hope to do:

• Finish, edit, and post Fight Song. Obviously. As I stated yesterday, the draft is close to completion. Not sure how editing will go, but it should be more straightforward than most of my current editing projects. Speaking of which . . .
• Finish editing Destinies and Decisions, Between Two Worlds, or both. Both would be awesome. I don't think it'll happen. I'll be pretty happy if I just finish one of them. But, hey, you know what they say: shoot for the moon and you'll land among the stars.
• Complete at least one Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm not sure if I'll manage both; it depends what April looks like. But I definitely want to try to do July, even if it's only a small goal. (Actually, small goals or otherwise going rebel is kind of my tradition for July . . . not so much for April, but I'll do what I gotta do.)
• Continue to exercise regularly. One of my classes this past semester required me to exercise 4-5 times a week, which was actually kind of awesome. I'd like to keep it up if I can . . . though it might be harder this semester, since exercising means braving the cold to get to the gym.
• Learn some kind of self-defense. My college actually offers a "self defense for beginners" program through the gym, so I'd like to take part in that. I can't do it this year because it's at the same time as my Bible Study, but maybe next year . . .
• Survive my next two semesters of college. Obviously. But it's worth saying anyway.
• Try tabletop RPGs. I said this last year too, and I almost managed . . . but I couldn't find a group. I know at least one person who might be interested in starting one, though, so if I can find enough people and someone to be the GM . . . 
• Actually learn one of the things I say I want to teach myself. I keep thinking "Hey, I should try to learn how to-" fill in a variety of things: play some kind of instrument, speak another language (or even just better German- or even just with a variety of accents), do various survival-skill-ish things, computer skills, lockpicking (for story research only, I swear), and so on. Maybe this year I'll actually follow through and do the thing.

What about you? How was your 2016? What are your plans, hopes, and goals for 2017? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)   

December Doings!

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! It's hard to believe that another year is at an end- but, hey, I managed to keep up with my Doings posts the whole time, so at least I know all the months existed. December was a busy month, which means a long post- so let's get started, shall we?

Writing!

• Still working on Fight Song.
• It's almost done, though! Like, I have maybe one or two scenes left before the climax! So if all goes to plan, I'll have it done before I go back to Cedarville!
• Um. Yeah. That's about it.

Reading!

• So I don't know if you can tell or not, but December has been the best reading month I've had since August. AUGUST. There's seventeen books up there, plus at least four rereads that aren't pictured.
• The first half of the month- by which I mean the part when I was at college- was taken up by the Percy Jackson series, plus the first two Heroes of Olympus. I've enjoyed both series on the whole; they're surprisingly good. I'm looking forward to reading The Mark of Athena, but I won't do that until I go back to college.
• I read three books on the way home: a reread of Reapers, then Beyond the Gateway, and finally The Prisoner of Zenda. All were quite good; the two new ones were both better than I expected.
• And then, upon my arrival home, I found both White Sand and Ghostly Echoes waiting for me! White Sand was, as I mentioned yesterday, disappointing. Ghostly Echoes was decidedly not, and was one of the highlights of the month, after . . .
• Arcanum Unbounded! Which I already talked about yesterday, so I won't repeat myself, but it's basically awesome.
• The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, the next book on my list, was . . . interesting. Sort of historical fantasy, but it left me wondering a lot of things, and I'm not sure how much of it was even real, so . . . mixed feelings there.
• Then comes Christmas! I only read three Christmas-related books all month, and two weren't technically books, I suppose- they were holiday drabbles from the Raven Cycle world. But Behold the Lamb of God is an Advent storybook/devotional thing, which I enjoyed.
• Also, the night before Christmas, I started thinking about the Mistborn Wax and Wayne series, and how good those were, and how I wanted to reread them after having read some theories elsewhere that explained a link between them and Secret History that I hadn't noticed . . . and then I found Shadows of Self under the Christmas tree. Obviously that was a sign that I was supposed to follow through on my impulse, so I reread those three books and enjoyed them even more than I did the first time.
• And we come to the final book pictured: Paper Crowns, which was, as I mentioned yesterday, quite a fun little read- perhaps not quite as good as I hoped, but still very enjoyable.
• One other not-pictured book: my family is currently listening to The Scarlet Pimpernel as an audiobook. I'm enjoying it- I guessed the identity of the titular character correctly, which makes me happy- but I wonder a bit if the author was being paid by the word, because there seems to be a lot of repeated description.

Watching!

• This month was pretty low in the watching category. My roommate and I, despite our plans, only managed one or two more episodes of Merlin, which means we still have two left before we finish Season One. I hoped to have the first season finished with the semester, but oh well . . .
• However, part of the reason we didn't get at least one more episode in is probably that we also watched How to Train Your Dragon with another girl from our hall. I've watched HtTYD before, of course, but, hey, I'm always down for dragons.
• That ends the semester . . . but not the movie-watching. During a stop at my grandpa's house on my way home from college, my family watched Home Alone, which I'd never seen before. It was amusing- not my favorite Christmas movie, but amusing.
• And on Christmas Day, we rewatched A Charlie Brown Christmas, as you can probably guess from the picture above. So that was fun.

 Life!

• Yes, that is a dragon on top of a stack of Christmas presents. Yes, it is adorable. Yes, I will explain it . . . soon.
• Christmas, of course, took up most of the month- even if it didn't quite feel like Christmas for much of the month. True, my roommate and I had decorated our dorm room with candy canes and stockings and lights and a miniature Christmas tree. True, the SSC was full of Christmas trees and fake snow and holiday music. True, there was at least one Christmas party or event every week. Even so, it didn't really feel like the holidays until I got home.
• Of course, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying the season with Christmas music and the aforementioned Christmas parties and events. I made it to five different events, all of which were really fun: a Christmas brunch and white elephant gift exchange held by the heads of my major, my Comp professor's Christmas open house (at which I got to meet her kids, who are adorable), the Community Christmas Concert (which was pretty awesome, though Christmas Chapel the day before was better), Campus Christmas night (featuring midnight breakfast and various musicians in the dining hall), and the Honors Christmas Party (which introduced me to a new version of a white elephant gift exchange). 
• And after the Honors party, Christmas was temporarily semi-forgotten to make way for final exams, which went well on the whole. I only had three exams, plus I had to turn in my final portfolio for Composition (a process which involved about twice as many walks to and from my professor's office than it should've). My hardest exam was on Friday, which was good- that was the only one I had a study group for, and we had the study guide finished a week in advance, so I was able to spend the next week studying. 
• And then- then my family was waiting for me in the SSC to take me home!
• Well, with one stop- we spent Saturday at my grandpa's house, which I enjoyed. Normally I would've seen Grandpa a few times this fall, so getting to see him now helped make up for that.
• And then we came home and I had absolutely nothing to do except read and write and make last-minute Christmas preparations and it was glorious.
• As for Christmas itself- well, our church had a candlelight Christmas Eve service, which was lovely. Then Christmas Day was fairly quiet: just the four of us, eggs and biscuits for breakfast, present-opening, Christmas dinner, and the aforementioned movie. I won't go over all the presents I got, but- the dragon I showed you earlier? My little sister made that for me, and instead of putting it under the tree, she hid it and sent me on a treasure-hunt to find it, so that was lovely. (The dragon's name, by the way, is now Eirwen, meaning "white snow," which seemed a properly Christmas-y name to me, and also fits with my Berstru Tales lore, in which purple dragons are ice dragons.)
• Oh, and sort of for Christmas I got a new phone- my parents paid for part of it as a Christmas gift, and I paid for the rest. It's exciting, but also slightly terrifying, as I don't know the new phone yet like I knew my old phone (which was aggravating enough even as it actually did work that I unofficially named it Rand al'Thor- no offense, fellow WoT fans, but he spent most of the first three books getting on my nerves). But I'm figuring it out, and I have all my information transferred, so that's good. (I also downloaded EverNote on both my phone and computer, so I get to learn how to use that now. It seems fairly easy so far . . .) I still need to get both a case and possibly a name for the phone- I generally don't name electronics, but phones sometimes seem to develop a bit of personality.
• And now it's New Year's Eve and I'm preparing to ring in the new year with friends from Bible Study (hopefully there will be board games involved; I know there'll be food), and I am quite happy right now.

January Plans!

• There should be a Looking Forward-Looking Back post going up tomorrow, so a lot of my long-term goals and plans will be featured there. However, highlight on the plans for the coming month:
• I have another week of break left (roughly) before I tackle my second semester of college. Hopefully this one will go as well as my first one did.
• As I mentioned earlier, I hope to finish Fight Song before I go back to college. Once I do that, I'll have to figure out another writing project . . . I'll probably work on editing Dreams and Dragons and Between Two Worlds for a while, then pull Fight Song into edits once there's been time enough to create distance. Once edits start, though, I'll hopefully be posting chapters on here. As for new stories, well, I have a few potential projects, and we'll see what happens.
• And, honestly, if I've not started season two of Merlin by the end of the month, I will be quite put out. Even if my roommate and I just watch one episode every weekend, we should be able to get that far.
• Aaaaand I need to start looking into scholarships for my second year of college now, probably. Won't that be fun . . . I'm not complaining; I like it when people give me money to learn, and I'm quite willing to put in the work to get them to give me money. It's just time-consuming, is all. 

How was your December? What are your plans for January? How are you celebrating New Year's Eve? Please tell me in the comments!
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)
            

Merry Christmas!

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

-John 1:9-12

Merry Christmas, everyone!
And may we always remember the Light that we celebrate on this day!

Random Fridays: Christmas Traditions

Hosted by Awkwordly Emma

Christmas traditions. They can be big or small, something your family's done for generations or something your parents decided to start up when you were small. They can make perfect sense, or they can be totally out there. They can make or break a holiday, depending how closely you keep them. Sometimes they drive you crazy, but you know the holiday wouldn't be the same without them.

And today, with Christmas only a day away, I'm joining up with Random Fridays (for the first time in forever!) to share some of mine.

Christmas Traditions

1. Advent. Maybe you remember that last year I posted a series of poems as part of the Advent celebration- four weeks of daily devotions and candle-lighting. This isn't a "just us" tradition (though it's not a common one either), but it's still one of my favorites. In the midst of all the bustle and celebration, it provides a much-needed reminder of why we celebrate. Without it, Christmas doesn't feel complete.
2. Ladylocks with Grandpa. For those who don't know: ladylocks are similar in concept to eclairs or cannoli: a pastry tube filled with sweetness. Ladylocks have a lighter, airier pastry than either eclairs or cannoli, though, and they're filled with frosting rather than cream or cheese, and topped in powdered sugar. They aren't an every-year tradition, though; they're time-consuming to make, and the recipe makes several dozen. So, we only get these when Grandpa comes for Christmas. It's still a fun tradition (and one of my favorite treats).
3. Pizza and Christmas Lights on Christmas Eve. Before you ask: I have no idea why we have pizza on Christmas Eve. It's just what we've always done: before whatever Christmas Eve service we're attending to, we go out for pizza. Then, after the service, we drive around town and look at all the Christmas decorations lighting up people's yards. Occasionally this turns into seeing how many reindeer we can count (less so now than when we were younger). Here in New York, this tradition is a little harder to keep, since not as many people decorate outside. We still do our best, though.
4. No Rush for Presents! I imagine this isn't so unusual among my readership, but it's still worth mentioning. After breakfast and the final Advent, we open presents- but one at a time, taking turns. Having done this all my life, I was slightly bewildered that others didn't do the same. Not only does this method make the gifts last longer, but it means we can take more pictures to capture the memories. It also makes giving more fun, since you can see the receiver's reaction better.
5. Dressing up for Christmas Morning. Another thing that I never realized most people did: open presents in pajamas. We've always dressed up in Christmas colors as if we're going to church, and I love that; it makes the day feel more special. When my sister and I were younger, we had matching dresses, but now . . . it's a bit harder, seeing as we've grown up a bit and can't even find dresses that look nice and fit well anymore. Occasionally we still manage- I think we might this year- but for the most part we all just wear something that's red and white (or maybe green) and looks nice and call it good.

What are some of your Christmas traditions? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

The Christmas Character Tag!

Hello, everyone! Less than a week remains before Christmas, there's carols playing all around and presents beneath the tree, and the Advent devotionals and storybooks are drawing their ways towards the climax. Yes, the holiday spirit is definitely in full swing- something that always puts me in the mood to write Christmas-themed fluff-fic. Unfortunately, I can't sort out Christmas songs and characters into a writeable plot, and Fight Song is taking top priority at the moment for actual writing. So instead I'm creating the Christmas Character Tag in order to indulge my desires for fluff without having to come up with an actual story. Others equally taken by the season are more than welcome to join in.

Of course, since it's my tag, it's my rules, and here's how this is going to work:
1. Acknowledge the person who tagged you. Thanking them is nice, but not necessary. You can be annoyed at them if you like. (Though, if you're annoyed, why are you doing the tag anyway?)
2. Pick your characters. I advise having several, though not too many. They can all be from the same story, or they can be from different stories. If they're from different stories, make sure to specify who's from the same story.
3. Answer the questions. This should be self-explanatory.
4. Tag people. If you want. Don't tag more people than you have characters in the tag. If you don't want to tag anyone, you can do that too.
5. Listen to your favorite Christmas song. Because putting the effort in to write a post deserves a reward, my friend!

I'm going to be answering with the main characters from my Fairy Tale Retellings series, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that I haven't written much of anything about them since February or March-ish. So, our cast for the tag consists of adopted sisters Ivy Jade, Poppy, and Pansy, as well as Prince Hayden of Aldurna, Aethan Falleth, and Jason Silver.

And now for the questions:

1. If any of your characters are from Earth: what are some of their Christmas traditions? If your characters aren't from Earth: does their world have an equivalent to Christmas, and if so, how do they celebrate it?
 None of my characters are from Earth (though, for the rest of the questions, we're pretending that they are, or that they at least know about and celebrate Christmas). However, equivalents to Christmas do exist in the various countries of that world, and celebrations vary from one place to another. Specifically:

• Ivy, Poppy, and Pansy are all from Keltia, which has a twelve-day midwinter festival culminating on the shortest day of the year. The festival celebrates the triumph of life and light over death and darkness, and like Christmas in our world, evergreen decorations and abundant sweet treats are common. However, like most Keltian holidays, there's a much greater focus on dances- whether that's traditional jigs and reels at various parties and socials during those twelve days or the symbolic dance of the final day in which whole towns participate.
• Jason is from Morovia, which shares Keltia's midwinter festival and many of the same traditions, but in Morovia, there's much less focus on dancing, and much more on gift-giving. Each of the festival's twelve days is dedicated to giving to a certain person or group. However, as often as not Jason finds himself outside his home country during the festival because of his duties- and if he happens to be in the right part of Keltia, he'll just slip in to join Poppy's celebrations.
• Hayden and Aethan are both from Aldurna, the only one of the five nations to not join in the midwinter festival. Their winter holiday, which is held later in the year, is focused much more on thankfulness to and worship of Adonai (God). Though the holiday itself only lasts one day, it's preceded by three weeks of preparation, much like the tradition of Advent in our world. The climatic day begins with a special church service, followed by a feast in the midafternoon and social gatherings in the evening. Despite the comparative solemnity of the Alduran celebration, it's still much more festive and relaxed than their culture the rest of the year, which might be why Aethan says it's the only time of year when he actually enjoys life in his home country.   

        

2. Which of your characters gets the most into Christmas? The least? Who gets annoyed at the commercialization, and who doesn't care because it's CHRISTMAS?
Poppy is by far the most excited about Christmas, and she'll sweep everyone around her up in her exuberance. Hayden is the least excited- not that he dislikes the holiday, but he generally doesn't get worked up about holidays. He and Pansy are also the most bothered by commercialization.
 
3. All the characters try to decorate a Christmas tree together. What happens?
Poppy and Ivy do most everything; they have the process down so well by now that it seems like a dance. Aethan cut down the tree, though, and he does the top branches that Poppy and Ivy can't reach. Pansy strings popcorn and cranberries and hangs up the stockings and sets up the nativity on the mantel. Jason mostly watches and makes sarcastic comments and teases Poppy and Ivy about their lack of height, but allows Poppy to bother him into doing the lights. Hayden, a firm believer in not having too many cooks in the kitchen, generally doesn't join in.
 
4. What's each character's favorite Christmas song?
Poppy and Ivy both sing "Feliz Navidad" and "Deck the Halls" about two dozen times each during the Christmas season, but Poppy also loves "Christmas in Killarney" (mostly because it's so fun to dance to), while Ivy prefers songs like "Sleigh Ride." Pansy's favorite by far is "Mary, Did You Know?" Hayden enjoys "O Come O Come Emmanuel." Aethan likes "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (though lately he's been playing "All I Want for Christmas Is You" a lot . . . particularly when he knows Pansy can hear it). Jason, for his part, isn't one for Christmas music, but he'll tolerate whatever's playing.


5. Can your characters agree on a Christmas movie to watch together? What happens if they try? Speaking of which, who cries at Christmas movies? Anyone?  
Hahaha, no. Not all six. Not completely. What begins with six people wanting to watch six different movies ends with one of two situations:

• Poppy, Ivy, and Jason are watching a Christmas comedy (which one depends whether Poppy or Ivy gave in first on their pick); they throw Jason out halfway through because he won't stop making sarcastic comments about the characters and plot. Aethan would've been fine with joining in the comedy, but Pansy wants to watch Miracle on 34th Street, so they're watching that. Hayden has to go find other friends with whom to watch It's a Wonderful Life or else wait for Pansy to be done with Miracle.
• Poppy, Ivy, and Aethan all somehow agree on White Christmas. Depending how late it is, they all end up singing along with some of the catchier and more upbeat songs (never the titular one, though, unless it's really, really late). Hayden, Jason, and Pansy either watch A Christmas Carol or else watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and save A Christmas Carol for when Aethan can join them.  

Of course if they all started watching movies earlier, they could all watch together and just take turns picking the movie every night- though Pansy and Hayden would still sit out some of the comedies (because of strong second-hand embarrassment and a different sense of humor than the movie is meant for, respectively). But because they don't start soon enough, they have to split up so everyone can see the movies they like best.
  
6. Your characters are going to a White Elephant Gift Exchange; what kind of gift does each one bring? 
Poppy comes up with something clever, but still nice, probably involving food. Ivy just goes the easy route and brings a mug and hot chocolate. Pansy either asks Poppy to come up with something for her or sits the game out. Hayden goes the even-easier route and picks up a gift card for either Chick-fil-a or ice cream, but he does the box-within-a-box-within-a-box trick (with a few more layers) to show that he tried. Aethan finds something silly, but not mean- if anyone brings a literal white elephant of any kind, it'll be him. And Jason looks for something as ridiculous as possible; forget the consequences.


7. What's each character's favorite Christmas treat?
Ivy loves peppermint bark and always makes it herself. Poppy doesn't have a favorite, per se, but she is very fond of molasses cookies. Pansy's preference is Russian teacakes and biscotti with hot chocolate. Aethan's treat of choice is ladylocks, but he can compromise on chocolate-dipped macaroons. Hayden isn't one for sweets, but he, like Pansy, enjoys biscotti as well (though he eats it with coffee, not hot chocolate). And Jason, for his part, has to be restrained from sneakily eating all the toffee.


8. Who among your characters likes eggnog? Who thinks it's disgusting?
Poppy heartily dislikes eggnog. Hayden doesn't hate it, but doesn't much care for it either. Ivy and Pansy will drink a little bit if it's there, but don't like large quantities. Aethan and Jason both enjoy it very much, and both will drink the alcoholic version as well as the nonalcoholic.
  
9. Who's meeting who under the mistletoe? Who's catching those people and teasing them about it forever?
Aethan would like to meet Pansy under the mistletoe, but knows she won't let him kiss her until after they're married. Poppy doesn't seek out the mistletoe, but if she happens to run into a certain Keltian prince (not a main character yet) underneath it . . . well, she doesn't mind a kiss or two. Hayden studiously avoids the mistletoe; he currently has no time for or inclination towards that sort of thing, and Jason teases him enough about his love life (or lack thereof) as it is.
 

10. Who makes all the Christmas cookies and other treats?
Poppy generally bakes for at least three days straight during the Christmas season, making not just cookies but also other treats both sweet and savory. Ivy and Pansy help as needed, but Poppy does the most- which is fine, since she loves baking.
   
11. Who stays (or used to stay) up late waiting for Santa? 
Of the characters included in this tag, Ivy kept staying up late for that purpose the longest. Pansy figured out first that Santa wasn't real, but would stay up with the sisters who did believe in order to keep them company, and because she thought that staying up late was exciting and romantic- she still does.


12. What would each character say Christmas isn't Christmas without?
For this one, I'm going to ask the characters directly, so we can get it in their own words:
Poppy: Family- and food. You can't have Christmas without plenty of food.
Ivy: I agree with Poppy about family, but I love the holiday dances as well.
Pansy: I think you can guess what I'd say . . . Poppy's right; family is the most important part.
Hayden: No Christmas is complete without a Christmas Eve candlelight service and a Christmas morning service as well.
Aethan: Holiday parties- I'm not particular what kind, but 'tis the season to celebrate as much as possible!
Jason: Eh . . . snow, I guess? It's the one day of the year when it isn't a pain. 

Finally, we tag people! As usual, picking up this tag isn't mandatory . . . but I would love to see your answers. I tag:

• Deborah O'Carroll
• Emmarayne Redding
• Anyone who's making any variety of chocolate-chip or oatmeal cookies for Christmas this year.
• Anyone who wants to do this tag.

And here's a clean copy of the questions:
1. If any of your characters are from Earth: what are some of their Christmas traditions? If your characters aren't from Earth: does their world have an equivalent to Christmas, and if so, how do they celebrate it?
2. Which of your characters gets the most into Christmas? The least? Who gets annoyed at the commercialization, and who doesn't care because it's CHRISTMAS?
3. All the characters try to decorate a Christmas tree together. What happens?
4. What's each character's favorite Christmas song?
5. Can your characters agree on a Christmas movie to watch together? What happens if they try?
6. Your characters are going to a White Elephant Gift Exchange; what kind of gift does each one bring? (Or, because I had a different question here originally and forgot to change it before it started circulating, if you prefer you can answer: "Speaking of which, who cries at Christmas movies?")
7. What's each character's favorite Christmas treat?
8. Who among your characters likes eggnog? Who thinks it's disgusting?
9. Who's meeting who under the mistletoe? Who's catching those people and teasing them about it forever?
10. Who makes all the Christmas cookies and other treats? Who eats all the Christmas cookies?
11. Who stays (or used to stay) up late waiting for Santa? 
12. What would each character say Christmas isn't Christmas without?

Thanks, everyone, for reading! I hope you enjoyed this!
Merry Christmas!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Winter 2016-2017 Reads

Hello, everyone! It's the last day of my semester . . . and also the day of my last and hardest exam in any class. (If you're reading this before noon: prayers would be very appreciated, thanks.) But we're not here to talk about that- we're here to talk about the new season of books that is coming upon us! True, winter won't come 'round for another five days- but on campus, there's snow enough for January. So, let's get to it!

Winter 2016-2017 Reads

1. Fallen Star by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (December 16).
A new release from Anne Elisabeth Stengl is always exciting, whether it's a full novel or, as in the case of Fallen Star, a novella/short story. And apparently this story focuses on Beana- though she'll likely be going by another name here, which should be fun. I'm curious whether this will be before or after Veiled Rose and Moonblood. I'm hoping before, so we'll get to learn about her past . . . but after will be interesting as well. Certain sources have also suggested that it's going to be free on Amazon today, though as of the writing of this post, I'm not 100% certain of that.

2. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (January 17).
Ok, so I'm not sure what my thoughts are on Veronica Roth at this point. I wasn't a fan of Allegiant, but I liked the rest of the Divergent series (well, mostly the first book, but the second wasn't terrible), and I enjoy her writing style. And the concept sounds like it has potential, so I'll give this a try if I can. 

3. Heartstone by Elle Katharine White (January 17). 
I heard about this one from Cait Grace's 2017 Reads List, and I'm not sure what to think. On one hand- Pride and Prejudice and dragons are both awesome on their own, so putting them together should be magnificently spectacular, right? On the other hand, with great potential for awesome comes equally great potential for failure, and I can think of several ways this could fall flat. We'll just have to wait and see what happens . . . 

4. King's Blood by Jill Williamson (January 31).
I finally read King's Folly last spring, and enjoyed it enough that I'm looking forward to King's Blood. If Blood follows the same tendencies as Folly, this won't be a book for under-sixteen-year-olds, but it should still be pretty epic, and will hopefully feature just as much or more of the mystery and political intrigue of the first.

5. Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer (January 31).
Wires and Nerve marks the second time that an author whose books I love has released a new story in graphic novel, rather than standard novel, format- good thing I'm already interested in the style, or else I might be worried. I think Wires and Nerve should be fun, even if Iko isn't my favorite of the TLC crew. (Anyone else really want more stories about Thorne and Cress and their adventures? Anyone? Just me? Ok.) I'm definitely looking forward to reading it, graphic novel or no. 

6. Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas (February 21). 
Ok, can we all take a minute to appreciate the astounding amount of awesomeness that this book promises? To start off, we have a scientist protagonist (yay!). Second, it's fantasy- always awesome, and when you mix science and fantasy you quite often end up with steampunk. Third, political intrigue. Have I mentioned how much I love political intrigue? It's so exciting! Fourth and finally- it's a murder mystery, and if there's one thing that I love more than fantasy-with-political-intrigue, it's a good, solid fantasy-mystery. And if Long May She Reign can deliver all that, well- it's going to be one amazing book.

 

7. Saturdays at Sea by Jessica Day George (February 21). 
Confession time: I still haven't read Fridays With the Wizard, and my memory's a bit foggy on the contents of the first three books, which means I'll either need to reread those before I read Fridays and Saturdays, or else I'll have to get my sister to remind me of the important bits, depending how much time I have. But Saturdays sounds like it'll be fun, and it's not often that you get a high-seas fantasy adventure. And, of course, there's griffons. Griffons make everything better.

What books are you looking forward to this winter? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)