Category: Reviews

Book Questions ☕️ {Part 4}

amyofhearthridge3 Comments
Sophie Hatmaker 😅🥰🐈 soooo cute!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

{I saw some book questions on an Instagram account called PensandPoison (I like SOME of her stuff, she’s a bit too clickbait-y for me) recently and have been having a lot of fun thinking about my answers. I think she answered them using all fiction, but I’m using everything to answer! I adapted these questions for me. It is a lot of questions and as usual, I can’t have just one answer 🤣, so I’ll be breaking this up into parts! I’d love to hear your answers and I hope you may find a new favorite if you try any of these!}

Lovely collection of nature poems and essays by a wide range of women!

♥️favorite poem~ I have SO many favorites, but Wendell Berry’s collection ‘Peace of Wild Things’ is an absolute favorite. Robert MacFarlane’s The Lost Spells is a family favorite. Currently, Emily Dickinson’s ‘If I Could Stop One Heart’ poem is probably my favorite.

From Pinterest


♥️favorite first chapter ~ probably The Hobbit. 🥹😍🥰♥️

♥️favorite closing chapter ~ The Book of Revelations from The Holy Bible. Wowsers!

♥️favorite literary friendships ~ this is unbelievably hard. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, Anne and Diana, Molly and Mr. Gibson, I could go on for an hour! 😅♥️

September/autumn buddy reads! 🥰♥️

♥️favorite literary romance ~ (spoilers 😅) Anne Eliot and Captain Wentworth, Anne and Gilbert, Darcy and Elizabeth, Laura and Almanzo, Molly and Roger, I could go on and on… there are so many! These are the first that come to mind.

♥️most unforgettable scene ~ the Persuasion letter by Captain Wentworth.

♥️best narrator ~ I’m enjoying Ishmael’s POV of the whaling world in Moby Dick currently. Otherwise, I’ve loved Richard Armitage’s audiobook narration of various classics.

♥️book I wished had a sequel ~ a 5th book in The Mirror Visitor Series would be nice to tie up the ending more.

♥️book that has intimidated me the most ~ anything by George Eliot, Don Quixote, The Divine Comedy, anything Russian 😅, The Odyssey and Iliad. Lonesome Dove!

♥️hardest book I’ve ever finished ~ The Divine Comedy– woohoo! 🎉

I highly recommend this epistolary story between two cousins that has Cinderella and Beauty & the Beast vibes! Very well-written, slow paced. 🥰♥️

How about you? What are your answers to these 10 questions above? What are you currently loving reading? Any good magazines lately? I may get a subscription for Christmas and don’t know what to pick! 😅♥️🥰Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday : Book Series I Want to Catch Up On (or series you’d like to start)

amyofhearthridge4 Comments

Joining That Artsy Reader Girl here!

I didn’t realize how many series I’m in the middle of, because most of them I move through very slowly. Here’s a few of the ones I really want to prioritize and a few I want to try!

  1. Commisario Brunetti Mystery Series by Donna Leon ~ I absolutely love the characters in this police procedural series. The Venice setting is so intriguing and I’m so happy Kate Howe (favorite Booktuber and now a friend) introduced me to this series. This series has A LOT of books. FYI – the crimes are gritty and dark and these aren’t ‘politically correct’ for today’s sensibilities.
  2. Matthew Shardlake Series by C.J. Sansom ~ This historical mystery series set in Tudor England is so wonderfully rich in characters, language, and setting. Shardlake is a deep, interesting character who works as a solicitor turned investigator. Dark and a bit creepy.
  3. The Huntress Series by Carrie Cotton ~ I loved this Celtic historical world and the deep, rich characters. Took a bit to get used to the dialect and the flashbacks, but I have the second on my Kindle waiting for the mood to strike.
  4. The Hierarchy Series by James Islington ~ I really enjoyed the first two books in this Roman-inspired fantasy world. I can’t wait for the next two to be published!
  5. The Bangalore Detective Club Mystery Series by Harini Nagendra ~ I’ve only read one of these so far, but fell in love with the newlywed couple solving a mystery in 1920’s Bangalore.
  6. Northwoods Mystery Series by Annie McEwen ~ new-to-me cozy mystery series set in my home state of Wisconsin! A family that runs a small cozy resort with lakeside cabins. Characters are deeper and so loving! I’m reading the second right now, Dead, White, and Blue, and really enjoying it. I will pause and save the next two for winter as they move seasonally. 🥰
  7. Green Rider Series by Kristen Britain ~ I was loving this series following messenger Karigan G’ladheon as she navigates a lurking evil, politics, and all the interpersonal relationships. This is a medieval fantasy that I want to return to when the mood strikes.
  8. Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb ~ I so want to try this multi-series interconnected world. I’m experiencing extreme FOMO as a fantasy reader. 😂 I’m newer to high/epic fantasy and have heard this is one of the best! I’m a little worried that it’s going to be VERY violent, heavy adult content, and heartbreaking.
  9. Licanius Series James Islington ~ I’d love to read this trilogy while I wait for him to finish the Hierarchy Seties! 🤣 He also has a newer book called Scion but not sure if it is going to be a series or if it’s a standalone.
  10. The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwinne ~ I’ve heard such good things about this high/epic fantasy series from Miriam Elizabeth Reads and Paris Mae Reads, that I reallly want to try. Gwinne has more series, too, if I enjoy his stories. I anticipate these to be pretty dark and gritty, so we’ll see if this wimp can handle them. Maybe I’m coming into my epic fantasy era! 😂

What are your FAVORITE series?♥️ Or do you prefer stand-alones?

Monday Ponderings 💚📝

amyofhearthridge4 Comments

Imagine that you’ve been spending the last few minutes watching a blue jay hide a cache of seeds in a tile roof. Or imagine that yesterday, out on a walk, you passed a dog barking angrily at you. Or think about a special time when you learned to roller-skate, the first time you went to the circus, or a day when a friend moved away.

All of these events are part of life-yours and mine-and when they happen there is always something inside of me that wants to turn what I see or hear into a poem. The picture stays in my mind long after the blue jay has flown away or the dog stops barking. I begin to search for the words that will form themselves to make a picture I can share with others, the words that will re-create themselves experience for someone else.

~Myra Cohn Livingston, Poem-Making Ways to Begin Writing Poetry

I’m furiously working on our homeschool coop lessons and am LOVING this book I found for our older students. It makes me want to prioritize my poetry writing again! ♥️How’s your homeschool prep coming along? Are you all looking forward to autumn? 🍂

Happiest Monday! ☕️🌻♥️

Book Questions 📖 {Part 3}

amyofhearthridge1 Comment
Annoying side character and a bit of a slow start, but I enjoyed this cozy mystery! 🔎🕵️‍♀️🫆

{I saw some book questions on an Instagram account called PensandPoison (I like SOME of her stuff, she’s a bit too clickbait-y for me) recently and have been having a lot of fun thinking about my answers. I think she answered them using all fiction, but I’m using everything to answer! I adapted these questions for me. It is a lot of questions and as usual, I can’t have just one answer 🤣, so I’ll be breaking this up into parts! I’d love to hear your answers and I hope you may find a new favorite if you try any of these!}

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

•favorite living authors ~

Leif Enger and Gary D. Schmidt? I also love Wendell Berry’s poetry.

•books I return to again and again ~

Jane Austen, especially Persusion, Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Mansfield Park.

L.M. Montgomery’s novels are SO reread-able!

C.S. Lewis! J.R.R. Tolkien! Maud Hart Lovelace! Gladys Taber! Laura Ingalls Wilder!

•the book I’d save if I could only keep one ~

Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge ? This is a horrible question. 🤣😂😅

•the books I’d recommend to someone who wants to fall in love with literature ~

The Hobbit by J.R.R.T., Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, and The Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

•books I’ve reread the most ~

The Holy Bible, Jane Austen?, and L.M. Montgomery.

•favorite novella ~

Lady Susan by Jane Austen (not sure if novella?)

•favorite short stories ~

Ray Bradbury has amazing short stories!!!

•saddest ending ~ THOMAS HARDY novels!! 😭😭😭

•happiest ending ~

Dickens, especially, A Christmas Carol!

•favorite play ~

A Merchant of Venice? by William Shakespeare

New to me mystery series! I loved the first one!

How about you? What are your answers? 😄🌻📚☕️📖

Book Questions 📚☕️✨♥️ {Part 2}

amyofhearthridge3 Comments
So good! 😊

{I saw some book questions on an Instagram account called PensandPoison (I like SOME of her stuff, she’s a bit too clickbait-y for me) recently and have been having a lot of fun thinking about my answers. I think she answered them using all fiction, but I’m using everything to answer! I adapted these questions for me. It is a lot of questions and as usual, I can’t have just one answer 🤣, so I’ll be breaking this up into parts! I’d love to hear your answers and I hope you may find a new favorite if you try any of these!}

Part 1 HERE, if interested!

•books I wish everyone would read ~

Wives & Daughters, Sylvia’s Lovers, North & South, or Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. Really ANY of her full length novels. Her shorter things are a little hit or miss (looking at you A Dark Night’s Work 😒😅) but her novels are so good! 😊

• books I wish I had read sooner ~ Do Something Beautiful for God by Mother Teresa, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (just finished this!), A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini.

•books that changed the way I think ~ (The Holy Bible is a given here) Home Education Series by Charlotte Mason, The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge, Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. I could go on for hours.

• most beautiful prose I’ve ever read ~ currently for me, Thomas Hardy’s writing, wow! Sad stories, gorgeous writing! I read A Return of the Native last year and was blown away. This is Happiness by Niall Williams and The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy this year had BEAUTIFUL writing.

• favorite opening sentence ~ this has to go to Jane Austen’s opening for Pride & Prejudice. If you know, you know. 😅 Sarcastically funny and draws you right into the story.

• favorite endings ~ I was wracking my brain for this. I think Elizabeth Goudge’s endings are pretty great. The Lord of the Rings! I liked the sad, open-ended ending of The Mirror Visitor Series by Christelle Dabos. Although, I wouldn’t mind a 5th book, if you are reading, dear author. 😂😉🥰

• favorite literary characters~ I could probably list 100 favorites here, so I’ll just say the firsts that came to my mind! Vis from The Will of Many by James Islington, Anne Eliot from Persuason by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Gandalf, Mrs. Weasley, etc, etc, etc, etc!!!!!

•literary characters I relate to the most ~ Patricia from Pat of Silverbush by L.M. Montgomery (I struggle with change, too, Pat!😫) Emily from Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, Emily from Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace. So many more!

• favorite literary villian ~ I love to bash Mrs. Norris and the Crawfords from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice by Austen.

• favorite author ~ my top favorite (I have many) is Lucy Maud Montgomery! Thank you, Maud for your wonderful stories! ♥️

My current cozy mystery!

How about you? Have you read any of these? Agree or disagree {kindly} disagree? What are your answers here? Let’s talk books! 📚 😅♥️📚✨

Book Questions 📚 {Part 1}

amyofhearthridge9 Comments
Thrifted these recently for our homeschool! ✨😍♥️

I saw some book questions on an Instagram account called PensandPoison (I like SOME of her stuff, she’s a bit too clickbait-y for me) recently and have been having a lot of fun thinking about my answers. I think she answered them using all fiction, but I’m using everything to answer! I adapted these questions for me. It is a lot of questions and as usual, I can’t have just one answer 🤣, so I’ll be breaking this up into parts! I’d love to hear your answers and I hope you may find a new favorite if you try any of these!

Book Questions 📚✨♥️

•favorite book ~ I think besides The Holy Bible, currently my favorite books are A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge, The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Thinking about this question made me want to reread all of these! 😂

•2nd favorite set of books ~ Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery and The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge.

•3rd favorite set of books, currently ~ Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery and Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. Pat of Silverbush and Mistress Pat by LM Montgomery.

•favorite book that’s not Montgomery or Goudge 😁~ Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

•least favorite books ~ usually contemporary rom coms that I keep trying 🙃😫, most recent I really disliked/low-key hated,🤣 Love in Tandem by Becca Kinzer and Date with Danger by Jenessa Fayeth. These didn’t work for me.

•second least favorite set of books ~ I really disliked both Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier. So creepy and bleak. Not for me!

•book(s) that made me cry the most ~ I don’t cry a ton while reading, but I remember being disturbed and shaking to the point of tears by The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Labors of Hercules Beale by Gary D. Schmidt had me choked up.

•books that made me laugh the most ~ I can’t remember! 😂 Maybe I don’t read funny books? I think Jerome K. Jerome‘s Three Men in a Boat may have made me laugh and Lady Susan by Jane Austen?

•most underrated novel ~ there are SO many, but Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro comes to mind. That book stunned me and really made me think.

•most overrated novel ~ don’t come for me! 🤣 I actually like this novel for its disturbing look at twisted desires, obsession, and family dynamics, but I think Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a bit overrated. It’s pretty depressing. 😫

Want to read stack!

How about you? What are your answers to these? Have you read any of my choices? Agree or (kindly) disagree? 😁♥️📚 I’d love to hear! Happy Reading! 📖

Jane Austen July winding down… ✨♥️🌿🫖☕️

amyofhearthridge18 Comments

I have really enjoyed joining in with the annual appreciation of Miss Austen’s life and work by reading and watching various things by Austen or inspired by! I’m getting closer to finishing my reread of Sense & Sensibility. Lucy Steele is quickly becoming another all time villain in my book. Ha. I love Austen’s character studies! I’m still plugging away at Jane Austen’s Bookshelf. I identify with the author’s bookish love and really appreciate her personal stories of why and how she feels connected or on the flip side, uncomfortable with a book/author. I don’t love the modern spin author’s try to eke out of classic writers by trying to twist the little bit they know using their modern lenses. Romney sounds a touch whiny sometimes, but it’s at least limited to the hardships female authors had to face in the 18th century, which were true. She’s not, so far, trying to read into Austen or these other authors’s personal lives and make things up.

Overall, it’s a compelling read and I’m enjoying it.

Other things I read and did in honor were watch the 2020 BBC Emma adaptation. While I liked parts of it, unfortunately, it wasn’t my favorite. I reread The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which I really enjoy. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a contemporary of Miss Austen’s.

I also read Sarah E. Ladd’s The Governess of Penwythe Hall, which was so enjoyable as a Regency-era story. Georgette Heyer Regency novels (love!) and Amish Pride & Prejudice (don’t really recommend! 🤣) by Ashley Emma rounded out my Austen-inspired reading. 📖 Sigh. ☕️🫖♥️🌿✨

Someone to be looney with me! ♥️🤓

Do you enjoy Austen? What is your favorite by her? ♥️🌿✨

Top Ten Books That Live in My Head Rent Free {Classic Edition} 📚✨~ {Day 94}

amyofhearthridge20 Comments
Joining here for TTT!
  1. The Holy Bible ~ this is not always an easy book to read and I don’t understand a lot of it, but my spirit connects with it. It’s foundational to my life and faith. My favorite books are Psalms and John.♥️🙏🏻🌿
  2. The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry ~ this collection of Berry’s poetry speaks to me deeply. It makes me consider time and future generations in a huge way. It makes me think of now. It makes me consider life outside of self. Our lives have meaning for a greater purpose!
  3. Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery ~ my handle online is Amy of Hearth Ridge directly inspired by this book. There’s something to be said for hoping to be useful and a blessing to someone else in your life. How living a selfless life actually is fulfilling. Beautiful story of a daughter and father’s restored relationship bringing healing to those around them.That home keeping can be art.
  4. Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell ~ I can’t begin to tell you how much I love the characters and journeys they go through! The father-daughter, mother-daughter, father-son, and marriage relationship studies in this Victorian novel are fantastic. This is a beautiful story!
  5. Persuasion by Jane Austen ~ a lovely story of redemption and finally being able to have a voice. How one can live kindly and generously in the wake of S.S. Selfish People. 🚢
  6. Home Education by Charlotte Mason ~ late 1800’s to early 1900’s British revolutionary educational philosophy. This is so very Christ-centric and focused on the personhood of children and mothers. A beautiful life-giving read.
  7. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher ~ a lovely story of how a child can blossom under loving and listening caregivers.
  8. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury ~ a father and son meeting evil together face on! Underlying themes of temptation, fear, and growing older! I’m due for a reread!
  9. Christy by Catherine Marshall ~ beautiful story of a young teacher’s growth and learning in a rural Appalachian school. Gorgeous lessons for her as the very people she came to ‘help’ grow her so much in return. Wonderful female friendships embodied!
  10. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ the sheer bravery and strength of the early pioneers is astounding, convicting, and so inspiring! I often reevaluate my complaints after rereading this one. 😨♥️

I could have put Elizabeth Goudge on this list, Gladys Taber, Susan Branch, and many more poets! How about you? Which books do you think of over and over? ♥️✨🌿📚

Captain Blood 🏴‍☠️ {Day 90}

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Short Description: Peter Blood, an Irish physician and soldier in England in the 1680’s, is wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to indentured slavery in the Caribbean. He escapes and becomes the most feared pirate captain on the Spanish Main, but all the glory of his adventures cannot help him, for the woman he loves cannot love a thief and pirate. Even when he destroys England’s enemies, even at his most triumphant…but wait! What’s that…

~ Goodreads

Wow! I loved this story of Peter Blood, gentleman pirate! 6 stars ⭐️ from me! If you enjoy historical fiction, adventure stories, or Treasure Island, you will love this Robin Hood- like tale of loyal friendship, ingenuity, and high seas stakes. I bet it would be wonderful as an audiobook! I’ll have to see if I can find one! I definitely will be trying others of Sabatini’s books.

Do you have any good recommendations for high seas or pirate stories with a classic feel?

Happy Friday and Happy Reading! 🚢 🌊 ⚓️

Non~fiction Mood {Day 88}

amyofhearthridge7 Comments

Hi friends ~ I’ve been reading a lot of fluff (and enjoying it!) this year, probably due to our life circumstances 🤪, but a nonfiction switch has been flipped in my mood-reader brain, and so I hope to share about my favorites slowly. I’m still reading fiction, of course 😆, but I finally picked up this one which has been on my radar for long time!

The Radium Girls – I decided to read the Young Readers Edition to preview it for our homeschool. So far, it’s been super engaging and disturbing! 😳 Did you know about this part of history?

Another super disturbing and eye-opening book that my friend recommended is this one!

The Opt-Out Family ~ I can’t stop thinking about this one and I’m currently deeply evaluating 🤔 how I live with and my example to my children in using technology, specifically social media and video games. 🙃😱😩😖 Still not sure on everything, but prayerfully considering it all. I keep using Covid as an excuse for the level of media we use and I recently realized that, duh, we are going on that being like 6 1/2 years ago. 😨☠️

Do Something Beautiful for God ~ I’m a Protestant, but I value and appreciate so many of the great Catholic writers. I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by this book of daily quotes from Mother Teresa. I started it in the middle of the year last year and it has blessed and spoken to me time and time again.

How about you? Any nonfiction hitting you hard? What’s on your stack? ♥️✨

Favorite Second Quarter Reads: 📚2026📚 {Day 71}

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Favorite First Quarter Reads

Happy Saturday, folks!

June is coming to a close and with that I realized that I have another quarters reading favorites to pick! I’m grouping them by loose genre for your convenience!

♥️🌿✨CLASSICS✨🌿♥️

  1. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery ~ continues the story of Anne Shirley! Marilla and Anne have a new challenge of raising two young children of Marilla’s cousin. Davy seriously scares me! 😱 Lavender Lewis and Echo Lodge, The Mrs. Morgan Visit, Paul Irving, the freckle juice, the blue willow ware platter, Mr. Harrison and Ginger, his parrot, not to mention the Avonlea Improvement Society aka A.V.I.S! This book is one of my absolute favorites of the series!
  2. Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery ~ sequel to Pat of Silverbush. Just a delightful story of a young woman dreading change and growing up. The characters, nature, and sweet simplicity are wonderful. A wee repetitive and I don’t love love-triangles, but Judy Blum and the cats make it all worth it!
  3. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame ~ A timeless story of friendship, bravery, and how anything out of order in our lives can rule us if we aren’t careful. Looking 👀 at you, Toad. I loved listening to this (again) with my children.

♥️🌿✨CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHICAL✨🌿♥️

  1. What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Mishima Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts ~ this is an unique novel of individual stories tied together through random connections and a rather mysterious, cookie-eating, felting librarian. I love how each book helps that individual person find something they needed and how each person randomly shows up in the lives of the others in a way that really helps. Some might find this simple, but it really touched me and made me think. The light splash of magic realism was lovely, too.
  2. Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech ~ Gorgeous, heart wrenching story of a marriage, parenting, love, and contentment. Twins in a group home have had a horrible childhood and get taken in by Tiller and Sari who are disillusioned by the mundane. Dallas and Florida need a home and help the couple realize the beautiful life they truly have. The twins are shown unconditional love for the first time. They all work together to stop villainy they uncover at the children’s home!

♥️🌿✨COZY MYSTERY✨🌿♥️

1. Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave and Tower of the Five Orders by Deron R. Hicks ~ delightful adventures involving a brother and sister trying to help their father save the family publishing company! This is set between Georgia, USA and London, England! Clues, puzzles, mysterious graves, Shakespeare, bookish etc! Just so fun!

2. Gladwynne Grant Gets Her Footing and Takes the Stage by Lisa R. Howeler ~ I absolutely love Gladwynne and her grandmother! Gladwynne comes to live with her grandmother and gets a job as a reporter for the small town newspaper. The mysteries and scrapes Gladwynne finds herself in are intriguing! I love the wonderful town’s people who made these two cozies so sweet! Light faith elements. I have the third on my kindle, I can’t wait to continue!

✨🌿♥️MYSTERY/THRILLER♥️🌿✨~

1. Quietly in Their Sleep by Donna Leon ~ A great installment of this long police mystery series following Venice police detective Guido Brunetti! He follows his nose in this one and uncovers corruption in a religious order! Very creepy and I absolutely loved Guido’s family, coworkers, and the Venice setting. These are gritty with explicit crime violence, fyi.

2. The Crown Conspiracy by Connie Mann ~ I found this one free in my Audible Plus catalog! A morally gray Robin Hood art forger type 🤣, Sophie returns stolen art work to rightful owners by stealing it herself and leaving behind convincing forgeries! The money funds her and her best friend’s rescue group getting women and children out of trafficking. Sound weird? It gets even stranger! 😂 A missing royal painting shows up that has far reaching implications. Lisa and Sophie find themselves running for their lives! A secretive group of women show up to help! Charlie’s Angels anyone? 🤣🙃 This was a bit far-fetched and convoluted, but I ate the audiobook up! 😅♥️ Heavy violence, just fyi.

♥️🌿✨FANTASY/SCI-FI✨🌿♥️~

  1. Deathmark by Kate Stradling ~ Fantasy retelling of The Blue Castle! I found this so intriguing with the cleric/religious villains being extremely disturbing. This one looks kind of dark from its cover, but actually had a sweet, gentleness to story even though the characters found themselves in a difficult situation.
  2. Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine ~ Space-punk pirates running between London and colonized Mars. Great found family, autonomous, strange creatures, and more! This really worked for me! Highly recommend!
  3. Huntress by Carrie Cotten ~ This took me a minute to get into due to flashbacks and story set up, but then I loved it! Told through the eyes of Duncan and Cyrene, two opposing local leaders, one hidden from the other after treachery and betrayal, a generation removed! This was so well-written, and the Christian Faith themes, while heavier, pretty seamlessly woven in. Loved the characters, slow moving, Celtic, medieval world. No overt magic. I’m continuing the series soon with The Viking!
  4. Flame Theory by C.F.E. Black ~ Slow start to this rags to riches, high-stakes, hidden identity dragon rider school story! 😂 I really ended up loving the characters and the sacrifices one character makes for another! Friend group was so great! This has some lovely Harry Potter vibes and it was well-written and the dialogue good!

🌿♥️✨HISTORICAL✨♥️🌿~

  1. Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer ~This was an absolutely ridiculous Regency-era story that I really enjoyed! It just worked for me. Another story where the main male character is secretly a good guy, but comes across cold or indifferent. The jibes at the weathy English. “ton” and the familial relationships were great.
  2. Arabella by Georgette Heyer~ Regency-This was a delightfully silly story about an impoverished beauty who lies to two wealthy gentlemen after overhearing them disparaging her! Hilarious happenings ensue!
  3. Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley ~ Slow start, but lovely story set in the Scottish Highlands based on the life of Martha, one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ancestors. Loved the family, cozy, home-y-ness of this!

✨🌿♥️NONFICTION ♥️🌿✨~

1. Homeschooling: You’re Doing Right by Just Doing It by Ginny Yurich ~ Slow start (again) for me but I grew to love this former public school teacher’s thoughts and evidence on the benefits of homeschooling. Reassuring and encouraging!

Whew! 😅 ♥️ That’s a lot! Hopefully, you will find something for yourself or your family that you’d like to check out! Happy Reading!

June/July Journals ~ Wrap Up & Set Up 📓🖊️📝 {Day 70}

amyofhearthridge7 Comments
Sunset reflected ✨

I’m loosely participating in five? July specific Booktube Readathons! I really enjoy just marking off prompts! 📚✅

I decorated some of my July pages ahead in my to-do pocket Moleskine because there’s some travel and family stuff going on. I usually decorate this one the day of use because it’s so small, but I don’t pack all my journaling supplies when going on trips! I especially love the Jane Austen stickers I saved for the start of Jane Austen July! 😍♥️🌸

Deck-a-TBR-a-Thon! Summerween! Private Eye July! Jane Austen July! Zoom in for Prompts, if interested! 😅📚📚📚

These are some summer long prompts! I made a great dent in them in June!

Two June Read-a-Thons that I had a lot of fun with! I just read what I’m in the mood for and make them fit mostly, but I do tailor a few of my choices depending on topic. Read a couple American Revolution type books with my kids etc.

June Reading Journal pages almost full!

I purchased coffee stickers and cute yellow bakery type washi so my July theme is Yellow Coffee & Flower Shop! 🤪😅😍💛🤎💛🤎💛

VERY ambitious health/mental/spiritual/relational goals for July! 🙃😱😂

What are you creating lately? I so enjoy working in my journals.

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