Happy New Year! It's 2021!

Happy New Year! 2020 is finally over, and 2021 is here. We’re not back to blogging just yet, but we’ll see you later in the month. Have a great day!

Break Notice...

It's that time of year again when we take an extended break from blogging. We'll still be around on Instagram, Twitter, goodreads, and on the blog to answer any comments. See you all in the New Year!

The Cookie Book Tag (Round 3)

 

It's December 25th, so Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a great day. The year is almost over, and today we're going to do a book tag. It has been a year to the day since Adri and I participated in the Cookie Book Tag for the second time. And today, we're going to do it again to see how our answers do and don't differ. Before we begin, here are the more technical details about the tag.

The Cookie Book Tag was created by Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked. And you can check out the original tag post here: Sorry, I’m Booked, The Cookie Book Tag.

The rules…

• Link back to the person who tagged you + the creator of this tag 
• Pick a book that corresponds with the cookies theme 
• Have fun 
• Tag 1-3 people

Chocolate Chip: A Classic Book That You Love or Really Enjoyed (interpret classic how you want, it can be a classic written 100 years ago or 20 years ago)

Breana: It may be 10 years shy of 20 years, but I'm going to go with Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. It came out in 2010, and it's one of my all-time favorite novels. It's also one of the first general fantasy books I picked up around the time my reading tastes were changing.

Adri: I have a Barnes & Noble edition, which includes The Invisible Man and The Time Machine. I finished reading The Time Machine around two years ago. This year, I just now completed The Invisible Man. It was a wild story. 

Thin Mints: A Fandom That You Really Want to ‘Join’ AND/OR a Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read (your source(s) of a book being hyped can be from anywhere)

Breana: I'm still waiting for A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney. The Nightmare-Verse is currently one of my favorite series, and I can't wait to get my hands on the conclusion to the story.

Adri: The Shadows by Alex North has been out for some time, but I was never really sure if I wanted to read it. However, when I saw an interview with the author from BookBub--which mentioned lucid dreaming--I became intrigued. And now I want to read it. 

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Breana: I have two choices for this one: Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Jun Mochizuki. I've really been enjoying Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas. It's one of my favorite takes on vampires, and the world building for the series is just fantastic. I've also read two of Garcia's books so far (Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic), and I've enjoyed both of them. There are a number of other books by the author that are still on my TBR list. 

Adri: My choice is the late Mary Higgins Clarke. I've already read Remember Me, but we have quite a few of her books around the house. I've been meaning to read them but never got around to it. I look forward to when I can get my hands on them.

Samoas/ Caramel DeLites: An Emotional Rollercoaster (this cookie was hard … so any book that made you feel more than one emotion, strongly. The choice of emotions is up to you)

Breana: I know Jelly by Clare Rees doesn't come out until May next year, but I had so many feelings while reading this book. My review will explain it, but it won't be up on the blog until its closer to the release date.  

Adri: Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett. As I said before, one look at the description will tell you why.

Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story OR Vice Versa, Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover

Breana: I really liked the first cover for The Sisters of Straygarden Place, and the second one is just fine. The story though is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Adri: I don't dislike the cover for Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold. I feel like in contrast to its simplicity, the contents of the book are definitely more interesting. 

Tagalongs/ Peanut Butter Patties: A Book That Wasn’t What You Expected (good, bad, or just different, interpret how you wish)

Breana: Deal With The Devil by Kit Rocha was surprising in a good way, and it renewed my interest in post-apocalyptic stories.

Adri: The Complete Book of Fashion Illustration by Sharon Lee Tate and Mona Shafer Edwards. There were no preview images when I purchased this book, and I looked really hard for them too. Since it was a used book, I really didn't know what I would get. However, I've come to love it and have been using it to practice a different art style from my usual. 

Snickerdoodles: A Book You May Never Stop Rereading/ Loving

Breana: I have two for this one. The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. In terms of series conclusions, this book is one of my top favorites. The same could also be said about Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy.

Adri: I will never stop rereading Victorian Fashions & Costumes From Harper's Bazar 1867-1898 edited by and with an introduction by Stella Blum. Note: the cover is in shambles..... **Update: the cover fell off while writing this....***

Bonus: Choose a cookie I didn’t list and make up a question!

Our question from 2018: Monster Cookies have bold flavors and a long and varied list of ingredients such as M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, and even sometimes raisins. It’s like a handful of cookie types mashed into one monster of a cookie. So… Monster cookie: name a book with a bold and whimsical title or a book title with four or more words.

Breana: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark.

Adri: Dreamscapes Creating Magical Angel, Faery & Mermaid worlds with Watercolor by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

That's about it for today. We tag you to do the cookie book tag to see how your answers differ (if you've done it before). If you're curious about our original take on the tag and our second try at it visit the post HERE and HERE. 

Short Stories I Read In November

Today, I’m here to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in November. This post is appearing earlier this month, since I will mostly be away from the blog toward the latter half of December.

An Egg Before It Is Broken by Miyuki Jane Pinckard (Strange Horizons; November 9, 2020)

An Egg Before It Is Broken was the first story I read in November, and it was a nice bit of light reading. Recently, I’ve enjoyed stories where a character reminisces about some event in the past, and that’s essentially what this story was about. It was a scene, a moment in time, and it was written excellently. Also there were soft-boiled eggs.

Judge Dee and the Limits of the Law by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, November 11, 2020)

In October, I read a story by Lavie Tidhar called Juvenilia. In searching for more work by this author last month, I came across Judge Dee and the Limits of the Law. Recently, there have been a slew of vampire novels, and I’m not mad at the trend—especially if it keeps giving gems like Judge Dee and the Limits of the Law. This was such a fantastic vampire story. I loved the characters, and at times the story had a mystery novel feel to it along the same lines of Sherlock Holms—while part of it also felt like an origin story as well. The two characters, Judge Dee and Jonathan, kind of gave off a feel that reminded me of the dynamic between Holms and Watson. I gotta be honest, it was great. Besides the characters, the story was easy enough to get into, and the case Judge Dee and Jonathan took on kept me reading till the end. As the synopsis says “No vampire is ever innocent.” The limits of the laws vampires had to abide by were pretty clear, and it was interesting to see how Judge Dee applied them while making his verdicts. All-in-all, this was an enjoyable story to read.

From Around The Web…

• Our Opinions Are Correct Episode #70
• Writing Horses: Setting the Magic (Judith Tarr; Tor.com, November 16, 2020)
• Evoking The Gothic: The House That Anxiety Built (Meghan Ball; Uncanny; Issue Thirty-Seven, November/December 2020)
• Gingerbread Bricks, Cherry-Stealing Cats, and Other Culinary Disasters (Patricia A McKillip; Tor.com, November 25, 2020)

Music Monday (143): Holiday Edition

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: We've been sharing holiday music throughout the month. That being said, it's the Monday before Christmas, so it's time for the holiday edition of Music Monday.

Some of the holiday music I've been listening to this year includes A Hand For Mrs. Claus by Idina Menzel featuring Ariana Grande and Last Christmas by Wham!.

 

Andrea: This week, I'm listening to Christmas Prayer by Gloria Gaynor. Have a great week all!

Adri: I've been listening to a variety of music as always. Today, I'm listening to Ain't A Lonely Christmas Song by Tayla Parx.

 

What holiday music are you listening to?