Whether a bit of non-fiction or a piece of fiction, everyone has a story to tell. Whether writer, author, or neither, everyone has words to share. The Lily Cafe is a small blog, but I’d like it to be a place for anyone with a story. I can’t guarantee thousands of people will see it, but I can guarantee an audience. If you have a story you’d like to share or a guest post you’d like to write, I’d like to invite you to visit the Submit page. Sincerely, Kat
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Adventures in Ratio Baking: Learn to Love Mini Cake Tins With Me
A few months ago I found myself wandering around a craft store. I believe it was summer because my husband and kids were with me, though the three of them were wandering elsewhere. As for me? I was in the baking aisle. Of course I was in the baking aisle. I mean, I like yarn, but so do my cat and daughter. I like fake flowers, but have nowhere to put them. I like making pretty little things with vases, flowers, marbles, sand, etc., but it’s not always child-friendly. No, I can usually be found in the baking aisle. By the time summer had rolled around, I had been ratio…
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Book Review: The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
Title: The Secret Chapter Author: Genevieve Cogman Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group – Ace Publication date: January 7, 2020 Genre: Fantasy Summary: Librarian Irene is summoned to the Library and tasked with negotiating with a Fae for a very specific book needed to stabilize a world Irene has fond memories of. Accompanied by the dragon prince Kai, in human form, the two travel to the Caribbean and find themselves part of an unlikely team comprised of Fae, dragons, and a Librarian charged with stealing a painting from a museum in Vienna on yet another world. Promised anything as a reward, the group sets off to a world where supernatural beings are actively hunted and a trio of…
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Novel Excerpt: The Midnight Before Me by Elizabeth Lo
The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present author Elizabeth Lo and her debut YA Dark Fantasy novel The Midnight Before Me! Title: The Midnight Before Me Author: Elizabeth Lo Publisher: Westbrook Publishing Publication date: October 9, 2019 Genre: YA, Dark Fantasy HOW MUCH IS A LIFE WORTH? WHEN THE WORLD DEMANDS AN ANSWER WE ALL SCRAMBLE TO FIND ONE. My name is Midnight Thunder. The town crazy person; the Demon Eyes girl. The girl whose existence rests on a curse that saves her from death yet sets her on a path to an inevitable end. I live in a world full of magic: spells, curses, enchantments, and everything in between. It would be a whimsical…
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Sending My Child Back to School Makes Me Sad
This post is publishing today, which must mean my sweet little boy has gone back to Kindergarten after 3 weeks off for the winter holidays. I know many parents count down to this day, and there’s even a Christmas song that mentions parents looking forward to their kids going back to school. But I’m not one of them. Before my son started Kindergarten, I was looking at my calendar, thinking he would be off for the winter holidays for 2 weeks, which is what I had grown up with. I remember thinking 2 weeks wasn’t a long time. They would go by in the blink of an eye. I was…
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The Lily Cafe Digest #7
It’s that time again! Time for a break. Since my son will be off from school for the next 3 weeks, I’ll be taking the time off as well. Once again, this Digest comes at the start of my break, so I hope you understand why I’m not allowing comments. I don’t plan to be anywhere near WordPress for the next 2 weeks, though I’ll be around to write my upcoming posts during the third week, so I may stop in and say hi. My last break came after 9 weeks of blogging, so I was a little caught off guard when the past 3 weeks just sped by. In…
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A Year of Adventures in Ratio Baking
About a year ago, I got it into my head that I’d like a kitchen scale and I’d like to figure out ratio baking. The Husband got me a kitchen scale for Christmas, probably because I wouldn’t shut up about it, and then my brain panicked because it meant I should actually use it. I spent the first few weeks of the year thinking about it, thinking of taking the scale out of the cabinet and making something. I wasn’t quite sure of what to make, and I froze again. Then I decided I wanted cake, and the cake ratio looked simple (1:1:1:1 flour to sugar to eggs to butter)…
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The Books I Reviewed in 2019
Do note that I said reviewed in the title and not read. I did read some of the books I reviewed in January back in December of 2018 and I am still reading books (of course I am), but those reviews won’t be posted until January and February of next year. I honestly can’t remember which books I started reading this past January, so I’m forced to simply talk about the books I reviewed over the past year. The Stats in Paragraph Form Because I Prefer Words to Numbers I wish I knew how many books I have actually read this year as I’m curious to see how close I…
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Queen of the Garden of Girls, Part 17
(Chapter 7 continued) “I’ve heard you dated Bradley Hunter,” Rose said abruptly, flatly. Startled, Elaina lifted her eyes from where she was watching Clarice stick pins near her waist. “Yes, I did. For two years.” “Missed the lifestyle of the wealthy, did you?” “No,” Elaina said, almost too fast. “Not at all. I like a quiet life.” “And yet here you are, companion to my son, the heir to the largest fortune around.” “It was neither my intention nor my idea. My friends thought I needed a diversion from job hunting, so talked me into joining them yesterday. I never thought Robert would choose me.” “Yet he did.” Elaina had…
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The Bloggers I Love: Moms Edition
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been sharing some of the bloggers I adore. First I talked about the absolutely beautiful and authentic souls I’ve had the great honor to “meet” here. Then I shared some writers/authors and book reviewers I enjoy every chance I get. Now it’s time for me to share some of the mothers I enjoy reading. Unfortunately, this was a bit harder to do as mom bloggers have a tendency to vanish from the blogging world, so, even though I enjoy a number that have come and gone and come and gone again, I’ll just be sharing the ones who post more often. I Didn’t Want…
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Finding Magic in Motherhood, Part 11: I Don’t Believe in Stress
When I learned I was pregnant with my son, I was also somewhere in the middle of my seventh year of formal study in psychology (third year of graduate school). I knew the effects of a mother’s stress on a developing child. Knowing I’m generally an anxious Type A person, it was important to me that I minimize the risk of anxiety in my child. Neither my husband nor I have any known relatives who have ever been diagnosed with anxiety, so I was just keen on minimizing the risk of him developing even a normal level of anxiety. In order to keep my cortisol levels as low as possible…
