Let’s Talk Bookish is run by Dani@Literary Lion and Rukky@Eternity Books. I’ve seen several book bloggers participating in this and it always looks like a ton of fun. When they came out with the October topics, I couldn’t resist talking about this one. Some time ago, I wrote about dropping into the middle of a book series without having read the first book, which I, sadly or funnily, need to update. One of them even turned out to be the 6th book in the series! And the most recent was the last in a series. Then there was one that was the middle book in a trilogy, so, yeah, that…
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Getting Back to Normal
Last week I was involved in an unfortunate incident. Nothing too serious as no one was really injured, but still really scary. Emotionally and mentally, I’m still recovering, and trying desperately to get back into the swing of things. I’m so very grateful for all the kind comments here and the good thoughts, and can’t tell you how much they mean to me. But, even more so, I can’t express my gratitude to the kind souls who helped out at the time enough. Everyone was helpful and supportive and I couldn’t have made it through the day without them. At a time when people would rather walk on by as fast…
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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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Stories and Writing Posts I’ve Enjoyed from the Blogging Community
The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker comes out today! It seems somehow fitting that these sea-related stories have also been posted recently, and check out three other great reviews of the book: A Pitch Black Ship by Nopoodles Fort and Light by Jennifer M. Zeiger The Bone Ships review from Devouring Books The Bone Ships review from Paul’s Picks The Bone Ships review from Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub Stories I’ve Enjoyed The Raid from A Stroke of Originality – a short story inspired by the planned raids of Area 51 The Idiom Wizard: Chapter 15 by Author A. R. Curry – a fun middle grade story. This is chapter…
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Top Ten Tuesday: (First 10) Books I Reviewed
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. I follow several book bloggers and kept seeing these lists every Tuesday, so I finally followed the link one day to find out more. They look like fun, so I decided to start doing some of them. This week’s topic is the first 10 book reviews you’ve done. Technically, I think my first book review was back in 3rd grade, but that was an awfully long time ago and I don’t even remember which book it was. I didn’t start reviewing books online until I stumbled on Goodreads in 2012. Then grad school…
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Life Between the Pages: Editing CAN Make or Break a Book, but Sometimes the Story Shines Through
I love reading self-published books. I never know exactly what I’m going to get. Sometimes it’s fairly standard for the genre; sometimes it’s unexpected. Sometimes the writing is quite conventional; sometimes it’s unusual. In general, though, I’ve found the books I don’t hate and/or abandon usually fall into one of 3 categories for me: Well edited, but the story isn’t compelling. Simply put, it’s not my cup of tea. Poorly edited, but the story or premise is fascinating. Well edited with a fascinating story. I love the books that fall into the last category. This is Seven Unholy Days by Jerry Hatchett, The Lot of a Nobody by Dave Johnston,…
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The Lily Cafe Digest, No. 1
I’ve been wanting to do a newsletter for the past year, but I’ve wanted to neither list my address nor rent a P.O. Box, so here I am, creating The Lily Cafe Digest for all of my lovely readers! This year, I’m doing a 6+1 blogging schedule of 6 weeks blogging followed by a one week break. This means there will be a new Digest every 7 weeks. Enjoy, and thank you so much for following! A Look Back The past 6 weeks have really zipped by. Sometimes I think I’d like to post more than 3 times a week, but, at the end of the day, I’m just glad…
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Life Between the Pages: The Reviews Just Won’t Stop Stacking Up
I’ve been a huge reader all my life. In high school, if people didn’t know me as the girl who played the harp, they knew me as the girl who always carried the thick books. I went everywhere with a book. I still do; there’s one book that still hangs out in my car (it’s been about 10 years). I read to my kids every single day. It’s never more than an hour total, but, over time, I do get through books at a good pace. It’s not quite the book a week it used to be, and it’s certainly nowhere near the pace many prolific book bloggers read at,…
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Book Review: Athena’s Champion by David Hair and Cath Mayo
Title: Athena’s Champion Author: David Hair and Cath Mayo Publisher: Canelo Adventure Publication date: November 8, 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Summary: Prince Odysseus of Ithaca travels with his family to Pythos to be anointed as his father’s successor. It was supposed to be simple and straightforward. However, the words that leave the Pythia’s mouth turn his world upside down, estrange his parents, and result in his expulsion from the family and his home. Now on the run to stay alive (as his line is destined for death), he ends up being blessed by Athena, becoming her newest champion and putting him in the middle of a brewing war between…
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A Bookish Transition or a Bookish Phase?
The Lily Cafe is going through a change. I can’t tell if it’s permanent or temporary, but evolution is usually inevitable. Growing up, books were some of my best friends. I could always depend on them for adventure and countless daydreams. They were a way of life for me. I needed them. That remained true until earlier this year when I entered the worst reading slump I had ever been in. For months, I hardly touched a book. I thought about them. I considered picking one and reading it. I had a few books in mind that I really wanted to read. But I didn’t. It wasn’t until August that…
