The Cookie Book Tag (Round 2)

It's December 25th, so Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a great day with family and or friends. The year is almost over, and today we're going to do a book tag. It has been over a year since Adri and I first participated in the Cookie Book Tag. 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: I actually have two answers for this one. This year I finally read Dracula by Bram Stoker and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. They're currently two of my favorite classic novels.

Adri: Oh that's an easy one. My answer is Remember Me by Marry Higgins Clarke. It was just lying on one of my mom's bookshelves, and I thought to myself "Why haven't I read that?". So I did, and I loved it. 

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 not looking to join a fandom, but I have a couple of books that I want to read: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow and Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. 

Adri: I don't really have an answer for this question, because the hyped book I was looking forward to is the one I'm currently reading. It's called You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy. 

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Breana: I think the fact that I've read Katherine Arden's middle grade series and fantasy trilogy says a lot about how much of a fan of her work I am. So there's that.

Adri: I have a trio of authors to talk about. I got started with Stephanie Burgis's work after reading the Kat, Incorrigible series and have been interested ever since. Then there's Tony DiTerlizzi who wrote one of my favorite series: The Search for WondLa trilogy. And finally Sandra Burke, who has written several books on fashion, from illustration to business.  I can't get enough of Burke's books.

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: The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos had so many twists and turns, and that ending gets me every time. 

Adri: If I told you how I felt about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, it would be a spoiler.

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

Breana: In 2019, I didn't really pay attention to book covers like that. I mainly read what I wanted to read.

Adri: Out of everything I read recently, I have yet to encounter this problem.

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

Breana: A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney. I went in with no expectations, and it ended up being one of my favorite sequels of 2019.

Adri: Plus Style by Suzan Nanfeldt. Since it's an older book, I really wasn't expecting anything other than basic styling advice. However I did learn some things from it that I hadn't thought of.

Snickerdoodles: A Book You May Never Stop Rereading/ Loving

Breana: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is such a fantastic story. I reread it earlier in 2019, and I still appreciate it just as much as when I first read it four years ago. 

Adri: My answer for this one is The Theory of Fashion Design by Helen L. Brockman. It was published in 1965, and I actually haven't finished reading it. However it's everything I'm looking for about dresses, and though it is outdated I will always reread it.

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: Down Among the Sticks and Bones, A Dream So Dark, The Winter of the Witch.

Adri: The Princess Who Flew With Dragons.

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), and if you're curious about our original take on the tag visit the post HERE. 

Break Notice

2019 is almost over, and so it’s time for our annual (and extended) break from blogging. All the posts that appear after this one have been scheduled in advance. We’ll still be around (kind of) on social media like twitter, Instagram, and goodreads. We’ll also be here to answer blog comments. See you all in the New Year!

Music Monday (99) The Christmas Edition: Queen, Mariah Carey, and Ella Fitzgerald

   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 

Christmas is right around the corner, so it's finally time for our Christmas edition of Music Monday.

Breana: This year I tried to listen to some different Christmas music besides my usual favorites. So my pick this week is Thank God It's Christmas by Queen. I really like this one. Plus you can never go wrong with music by Queen. 

Adri: First of all, I know we've already done All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey, but she released a new music video for it. So...

My second pick is Sleigh Ride by Ella Fitzgerald. I can't get enough of this song! 

What are some of your favorite holiday songs?

My Favorite Books of 2019

Since the year is almost over, it’s finally time to start discussing all of my favorite things from 2019. Today, I’m going to be talking about the books I read and enjoyed.

New (to me) series & Noteworthy sequels 

2019 was a great year for sequels. A lot of the series I was looking forward to continuing turned out to have great follow-ups. I also got into some new series, and I finally read some of the novellas that had been on my TBR list for a couple of years.

• A Dream So Dark by L.L. McKinney
• A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos translated by Hildegarde Serle
• The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos translated by Hildegarde Serle
• The Wayward Children series (Every Heart A Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Beneath the Sugar Sky, In An Absent Dream) by Seanan McGuire
• Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
• Dead Voices by Katherine Arden
• Word to the Wise by Jenn McKinlay
• The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
• It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor
• Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor
• The Girl With the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis
• The Girl Who Flew With Dragons by Stephanie Burgis
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 
• Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
• Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

Standalone novels & Nonfiction + the lone reread 

There were also a number of standalone novels I read this year. There are only a couple of books that came out in 2019 on this part of my list, mainly because in the latter half of the year I started to focus more on the backlist titles I wanted to read.

• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
• Well Met by Jen DeLuca
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World by Andrew Jotischky & Caroline Hull
• Fashioning Fashion, European Dress in Detail 1700-1915 by Sharon Sadako Takeda & Kaye Durland Spilker 
• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones

What are some of the books you read and enjoyed in 2019? (They don’t have to be new releases.) Let us know about some of your favorites in the comments down below.

Review: In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

Title: In an Absent Dream
Series: Wayward Children #4
Author: Seanan McGuire
Source/Format: Borrowed from the library; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; January 8, 2019

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well...

Lundy was a character who I always thought of as interesting, even though she only appeared in Every Heart A Doorway. I liked what I saw of her character. So it was nice to get a story from her perspective. In the same vein as Down Among the Sticks and Bones, In an Absent Dream is a prequel story. It told Lundy’s backstory including her adventure behind the door that opened for her: in a world called the Goblin Market. The story was big on being “sure” about many things, with wanting to live in whatever fantasy world that wanted you being one of them—which is a question that most of the characters of the Wayward Children series are eventually asked. It was also about following the rules as well as the consequences of breaking them. The Goblin Market—which is a pretty accurate descriptor for the kind of place Lundy went—was a market, and it was a land ruled by fair value. So even in the Goblin Market there were still rules. It was also uniquely different from some of the other worlds visited in prior books—not just in terms of the landscape and the permanent residents—but for how people, like Lundy, who went there could go back several times before being "sure" had lasting effects. I also liked all the characters who were introduced in In an Absent Dream. They were as interesting as the world they inhabited. All of it made for an entertaining story.

All in all, I enjoyed In an Absent Dream. It satisfied my curiosity about Lundy’s character and the Goblin Market. Now more than ever, I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.