🌸🐇 Second Sundays - April 2023 🐇🌸

Happy Second Sunday!

I'm a bit low on the batteries, so I'm afraid I don't have much of an opener for you all this time. But on the bright side that leaves more room for the good stuff! 😅

Thank you for joining me on this adventure. I hope you enjoy!

It's Camp NaNoWriMo time! 🥳 I had a strong start that's dwindled off the last few days as I haven't had as much time to write this week as expected. But I'm only five days in and I'm still plenty confident that I can meet my revision intentions by the end of the month. 🤗 I'm going for 15,000 words, which should get me over the 16% revised line. Right now I'm at 904 words and about halfway through the current chapter, which I will be sharing early with patrons before it goes up on Wattpad. I'm hoping to have that done by the end of the weekend. 🤞

I drew some book dragons!

Just a random bit of doodling that came to me, but they're whimsical and fun and I might do something more with them in the future. 😉

March was a bit of a weird reading month for me in the sense that I actually stuck to my initial reading list 🙌 but I also got another new book, Brandon Sanderson's secret project #1, Tress of the Emerald Sea (so many pretty books!) that's probably going to skew my plans for this month. 😅 So here's my updated tbr for April (and possibly going into May):

I'm six chapters into The Eye of the World and it's been a slow burn but more because I haven't had as much reading time rather than due to the story itself. The two books I read in March were the complete opposite though. I devoured both in just a few days.

The humor in the premise of this book made me pick it up right away, even though mysteries aren't typically my jam. The book is exactly what it sounds like - three main characters learning the best way to murder their employers and get away with it. There is also a fourth character in the narrator, who is so full of unique, unflinching murder puns and morbid sarcasm that added so much enjoyment to my reading experience that I was questioning my sense of humor a bit. 😅 The story is essentially "How to Get Away With Murder" meets dark academia and a dash of Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes. There is also a dictionary of definitions for the "deleting" profession, a map of the McMasters school, and a forward that is just dark humor GOLD. 🙌 The only slight issue I have is with the end of one of the character arcs - not expected and not what I would like - but without any spoilers, I will say that this issue might resolve itself in a sequel if Rupert Holmes writes another, which I certainly hope he does!

The Magician's Daughter is easily one of my favorite books of the year! 😍 It's about a young girl raised in seclusion on an island by a magician and his familiar, and what happens to the trio when they are forced to leave it and engage with the outside world and its magicians. I was getting so many "Howl's Moving Castle" vibes that I found myself very much wanting a Studio Ghibli adaptation of this book before I even finished. (Anyone know how to get in touch with Miyazaki? I seriously need this film in my life!) The relationship between the magician Rowan and his rabbit familiar Hutch, as well as the magician's "soft" magic system, reminds me so much of Howl and Calcifer. I also appreciated that the main protagonist Biddy wasn't just another "teenage girl" trope and that she had some Sophie-like depth and untapped courage. There was also a dash of "The Dark Crystal" in the magic system that gives this book an extra immediacy to the stakes, and a fun, fresh twist on Irish and Scottish folklore for even more freshness. It's a simple, well-written fantasy story that was an enjoyable breeze to read and has a top spot on my rereads list!

This is my mantra for the month: