In An Absent Dream

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.

---

In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire was published by Tor.com on January 8th 2019.

No trigger warnings.

Beneath the Sugar Sky

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest—not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests…

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

---

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire was published by Tor.com on January 9th 2018.

No trigger warnings.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you’ve got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretence of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

---

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire was published by Tor.com on June 13th 2017.

No trigger warnings.

Top Ten Tuesday: Five Adaptations I Still Need to See and Five I’d Love to See

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Born from a love of lists and a love of books each week there’s a new topic for bloggers to list their ‘top ten’.

Page to Screen Freebie: Five Adaptations I Still Need to See and Five I’d Love to See

Adaptations can either be hit or miss, but lately there seem to be a lot more hits than misses (or maybe I’ve just learnt to stop judging the films too harshly and accept there will be differences to the source material). I am seriously behind on the TV shows and films I need to watch, my to-watch list is almost as long as my to-read list, so for this week’s topic I’ve picked five adaptations I still need to watch and five books I’d love to see adapted one day (because let’s face it we all want to see our favourite books on the big screen).

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters that Remind Me of Myself

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Born from a love of lists and a love of books each week there’s a new topic for bloggers to list their ‘top ten’.

Top Ten Characters that Remind Me of Myself

One of the things I love about reading is how the books I pick up take me to different worlds where I can escape from my real-life problems for a couple of hours, and because I mainly read fantasy books it was a little challenging to come up with ten characters that reminded me of myself. My favourite characters risk their lives for what they believe in and honestly I don’t think I’d be able to be that brave if I was in the same situation, so while I can’t wholly relate to the ten characters I picked this week there were aspects of each of their characterisations that stuck with me.

Dreamy Book Covers Tag

When it comes to book covers I’m weak. They’re the first thing we see when looking at books and if I’m going to check out the blurb, and maybe add it to my TBR list, then there needs to be a gorgeous cover to catch my eye. This tag, where I get to talk about the prettiest book covers I have sitting on my shelves, could have been written for me.

I was tagged by Alyssa Grace at Serendipitous Reads. Thanks so much for the tag Alyssa, I loved taking part in this one almost as much as I love gorgeous book covers.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Inspirational/Thought-Provoking Book Quotes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Born from a love of lists and a love of books each week there’s a new topic for bloggers to list their ‘top ten’.

Top Ten Inspirational/Thought-Provoking Book Quotes

When it comes to my ‘favourite’ book quotes I have a lot. Some I love because they never fail to bring a smile to my face, others because they’re cute and romantic, and others because they’ve stayed with me no matter how many other books I’ve read since. The ten I picked for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic are all from that last category – quotes that have meant something to me from books I haven’t been able to forget.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Rainy Day Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Born from a love of lists and a love of books each week there’s a new topic for bloggers to list their ‘top ten’.

Top Ten Rainy Day Reads

I’m finally back to the set topics for my Top Ten Tuesday posts. Being a mood reader I’ve never given too much thought as to what kind of books I’d pick up as ‘rainy day’ reads, but thinking about it for this post the first books that came to mind were fantasy stories (of course) with immersive worlds (so you can put the rainy weather outside out of your mind). A lot of the books that made my list this week probably won’t surprise many people, because in my opinion the best ‘rainy day’ book is one that’s almost comforting to re-read.

Women’s History Month Reading Challenge Recap

Last month I took part in the Women’s History Month Reading Challenge hosted by Margaret at Weird Zeal. I’d never attempted a reading challenge before, despite wanting to, so when I was tagged in this one I figured “why not?”. It was like the universe’s way of telling me it was time to take part in a Readathon, and who am I to argue with the universe.

I didn’t manage to cross off all the squares on the board but I managed more of them than I thought I would.

I think I knew going into this challenge that I was never going to get a blackout, Classic books are not my thing at all and I rarely read Middle Grade books either, but considering I only read six books in March the fact that I crossed off thirteen squares is pretty impressive.

The Sunshine Blogger Award Part Two

I have some more nominations for the Sunshine Blogger Award sitting in my tags queue so it’s about time I got around to answering a few more of them. If you want to learn more about my general opinions on the worst books I’ve read, or the worst book-to-film adaptations I’ve seen, or get some recommendations for bookish blogs to check out then this is the post for you.

I was tagged by The Readers Bay and Destiny at Howling Libraries. Thank you both so much for your nominations, I had a lot of fun answering the questions you set and I hope you enjoy reading my answers.