Month: April 2021

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

This is a very sweet Regency fantasy. I enjoyed the system of illusion magic art (glamour) and how it was woven neatly into mostly historic Regency details. It’s very Austenesque in that it has shades of Sense and Sensibility (though Mrs. Ellsworth is more of an amalgam of Austen biddies). Jane is a likable character and her sisterly relationship rings true. There’s a bit of a love triangle, frustratingly, the resolution of which seems a bit rushed. But aside from that, it was an entertaining read with a sweet romance.

Posted April 30, 2021 by bethwyrm in Book Review / 0 Comments
Wyvern Wednesdays: April 28th

Wyvern Wednesdays: April 28th

Feeling Not great. My physical health continues to deteriorate, despite me getting gobs of sleep and doing a lot of sedentary, low-focus activities.  Worse, my mental health is falling over. I’ve been dealing with a lot of uncontrollable emotions (not fun stuff, just anxiety, guilt, shame, frustration, self-judgement) and normally I process and bounce back from those feelings pretty quickly and now I’m just…..not.  Which does not help with the stress that then triggers the physical symptoms (the pain, the weakness, the fatigue, etc.). Thankfully, I’m good at distracting myself with artsy stuff.  Thinking About How I can bring some […]

Posted April 28, 2021 by bethwyrm in Life Update / 0 Comments
Thoughts On Being Alone

Thoughts On Being Alone

I recently stumbled across my old LiveJournal account (thanks, rando who liked a post and LJ who emailed me about it!) and my post from March 2012, where I state:  So my plan is to truly enjoy being alone. Go to happy hours by myself and have fun. Travel, to the SJI and maybe even to Ireland, by myself, and have fun. Join things without the safety net of a friend or boyfriend. BE by myself, not just at home, and love it. Did I stick with this very good plan? No, no I did not.  I fell into old […]

Posted April 26, 2021 by bethwyrm in Life Update / 5 Comments
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I originally read this in summer 2014 and re-read it in anticipation of watching the new TV show based off the trilogy. I needed to finish the trilogy, but enough time had passed that I’d forgotten most of the first book. I’m delightedly surprised that my original review still stands: The protagonist is no-nonsense and practical, and it’s great fun to see her deal with many curveballs in her boldly honest way. The romance is steamy- and I don’t often say that, so here it’s a huge compliment- and not explicit at all. The are some lightly gory bits, but […]

Posted April 23, 2021 by bethwyrm in Book Review / 0 Comments
Wyvern Wednesdays: April 21st

Wyvern Wednesdays: April 21st

Feeling Many thanks to Shannon from It Starts at Midnight for making me this constant-mood gif. Thinking About I’m trying to figure out my next move with work in order to feel less helpless. My short-term disability claim was denied because I can’t “prove” I have ME/CFS until I establish care with a primary doc (June 29th), and my boss denied my request to take any of my (supposedly unlimited) paid time off because I’m ill.  I’ve been off work for 2 weeks and my health isn’t improving at all, which is scary and frustrating.  Plotting More BuJo spreads. I […]

Posted April 21, 2021 by bethwyrm in Life Update / 8 Comments
What’s Sophrona Up To?

What’s Sophrona Up To?

On April 13th, 1811, Lady Sophrona Ramsbury rode by carriage with her lady’s maid to her family home in Somerset, Tyntesfield House, to celebrate the Easter holiday together. On April 15th, she, her lady’s maid, and her youngest sister (Lady Primrose Hazelton) took a carriage to Oxford, there to stay at the White Hart in Oxford, and from there to travel to Newmarket in time for the Newmarket Races on April 17th. Sophrona attended the race as chaperone to Primrose. They were seen entering a pavilion by invitation of His Grace The Duke of Somerset, and enjoyed refreshment and pleasant […]

Posted April 19, 2021 by bethwyrm in Life Update / 0 Comments
Outlander Kitchen: To The New World and Back Again by Theresa Carle-Sanders

Outlander Kitchen: To The New World and Back Again by Theresa Carle-Sanders

Another lovely and thoughtful compilation of recipes from Carle-Sanders!  I didn’t like this one as well as the first, I think because I wanted more of the history of each dish. However, there’s a very large amount of recipes here, and they’re varied (most are veg-rich and adaptable to GF, DF, and/or vegan).  As with the first Outlander Kitchen cookbook, each is accompanied by the passage (from the Outlander series and the spinoff short stories) that inspired it. Some of these recipes are more labor intensive, reserved for entertaining and holidays, but most of them are straightforward and should be […]

Posted April 16, 2021 by bethwyrm in Book Review / 0 Comments
Wyvern Wednesdays: April 14th

Wyvern Wednesdays: April 14th

I thought I’d use Wednesdays as a brief check-in to update what I’m doing. Anyone else remember that blog trend of “Currently (reading, watching, making, etc.)”?  Feeling My whole routine is upended right now and it’s kind of cool to be getting to know my body like a whole new being right now but also….a smidge inconvenient that everything is unpredictable. Thinking About How I can get better about sticking to my prescribed schedule instead of defaulting to my hyper-focus burnout mode. Anyone have tips? Plotting My new BuJo! It arrived, and so did a bunch of my Stickii goodies […]

Posted April 14, 2021 by bethwyrm in Life Update / 2 Comments
The StoryGraph

The StoryGraph

Do you know about The StoryGraph? I keep using it, then forgetting it exists, then being charmed when I re-discover it. It’s similar to Goodreads, but created by a Black woman, not owned by our Evil Overlord Amazon, and uses algorithms to suggest books based on your reading habits and preferences.  You can ask for recommendations based on a book you loved (calculated via metrics associated with that book, such as length, plot pace as reported by readers, themes as reported by readers, etc.) or by mood (specifying what you’d like to read). ALSO you can import all your Goodreads […]

Posted April 12, 2021 by bethwyrm in Bookish Discussion / 0 Comments
The Dead and The Dark by Courtney Gould

The Dead and The Dark by Courtney Gould

I won an ARC of this book from Goodreads, and started reading it on Thursday night. I finished it Saturday morning. So that tells you a bit about how compelling of a story it is. I highly recommend it! There were several things I enjoyed about it, and only a few things that gave me pause. Since I’m a salty wee dragon, I’ll start with the things that frustrated me: There are moments in the story where the author seems to forget the physical placement of people- a character is laying down and within a few words they’re peering through […]

Posted April 9, 2021 by bethwyrm in Book Review / 2 Comments