Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop

"Tangled Webs" is another book by Anne Bishop in the Black Jewels universe. This is considered a one off story in the universe but no where near as intense as the original trilogy. We learn more about Surreal and her life after she found her family, and Jaenelle and Marian decided to create a spook house for the landen's (non-blood people).

There is a little bit of everything that I love in this story. Saetan. Jaenelle being mischievous, and Jaenelle and Daemon together. Books. Book stores. Lucivar. Marian getting mad. And the list goes on.

Anne Bishop

The targeted invitations and people getting caught in a real spook house was written very well. I'm an easy scare, and I was terrified a lot of the time during this. My favorite part of the book; however, was Lucivar and a glimpse at his true potential.

It is so easy to get lost in this world, and I am so thankful I have so many more books to go. Four out of five stars for this book. "The Invisible Ring" is up next in the series. Bishop also has her newest book in this series coming out this Wednesday! I cannot wait to get current.

Hex Hall Series by Rachel Hawkins

Since February 20, 2020, I have finished nine books. Here's a little review about three of them. In February, I read book two in the Hex Hall series called "Demonglass". It continued the Sophie's story outside of school and over the summer with her vampire friend in England as the story develops with Archer Cross. Sophie struggles with trying to figure out if he is fighting for good or evil. Sophie gets to know her dad and what it means to be a demon in the modern world. I

I like author Rachel Hawkin's writing. She developed the story and the characters well; however, I felt as though she didn't leave enough time for the big reveal and wrap up. Both of her books felt rushed at the end. This scored a four out of five stars; however, the more I think about it, I wonder if that was just a touch too high.

"Spell Bound" is the final book in the Hex Hall trilogy. The tension has never been greater as Sophie discovers who she really is, how things turn out with Cal and the continued confusion where Archer Cross is concerned. Sophie not only battles for her school, but for all prodigium. Scoring another four out of five stars, I was glad to have read this series. My concerns in regards for the first two books were the same. The ending was rushed and could have used more fleshing out.

In my search for Hex Hall books, my Libby App suggested "School Spirits" by Rachel Hawkins. This is in Sophie and the prodigium world; however, the protagonist is Sophie's long lost cousin (on her mother's side), 15 year old Izzy Brannick.

I only rated this story 3.5 out of five stars. Not because it was bad, but mostly because I don't feel as though this story line was complete. Izzy is a monster hunter as every Brannick woman was before her. After her sister goes missing, she gets enrolled into public school and is on a case to solve a ghost problem. It certainly has a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel to it; however, it is uniquely its own.

Rachel Hawkins

The story line between Izzy and Dex was interesting and left me wanting more. The fact that Izzy's sister was missing at the beginning of the book and remains missing at the end of the book leaves this story very incomplete.

I don't know why the series was ditched, because I certainly would have read more. These were books 37, 39, and 41 for the year. More to come on the others soon. I also have one or two others from Rachel Hawkins outside of the Hex Hall world that I am looking forward to checking out ("Prince Charming" and "Her Royal Highness").

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

Although I have only given this read a three out of five stars, it does not mean that I didn't enjoy it, and it does not mean that I didn't learn from in. "The Four Tendancies" by Gretchen Rubin really breaks down her personality groups in more depth than in her book "Better than Before."

As I read this book, I realized that without question, I am an upholder. I meet both inner and outer expectations with pride. I love lists and completing them. I love challenging myself to see how much I can accomplish in one day.

With this book, I focused more on my own tendency and how they all work together. I did find a lot of overlap and some areas that had the same exact stories from a previous book. I totally get overlapping work; however, for some reason the repeat story got under my skin.

I appreciate the opportunity I had to learn about myself and how (and why) I interact with myself, my friends, and in my career. I will probably pick up Rubin's "The Happiness Project" eventually; however, for now, I think I need a little break. Interesting book. Worth the read.

I'm curious though... which tendency do you think fits you and why?

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

I have never been a HUGE fan of Alice in Wonderland. I liked the cartoon well enough and didn't like either of the Johnny Depp versions of the story. I'm a little shocked that I haven't read the original story; however, I have the basics down.

"Heartless" by Marissa Meyer was recommended by my friend Melissa and I decided to give it a try. This is an Alice in Wonderland retelling focusing on the Queen of Heart's origin story. I've had this book in my home library for a long time and kept postponing reading it (no reason in particular). After I failed to bring this book with me to the United Kingdom, I decided that there was no better time to read it than February, the month of hearts and love. Isn't it ironic... don't you think?

The first few chapters were quite slow; however, I liked how Meyer incorporated baking into the story. Catherine (eventual Queen of Hearts) was instantly relatable and I loved her relationship with Mary Ann. Her parents pissed me off and the King of Hearts is insanely pitiful. The story was slow until Jest entered the picture and I shipped him and Catherine SO hard.

Marissa Meyer

I knew something massive needed to happen to get Catherine to the Queen of Hearts we all know; however, how it happened was swift and without remorse and it shook me. I didn't think Meyer was going to be able to get Catherine to the Queen of Hearts level; however, she did it brilliantly.

I LOVED this book. Five out of five stars. Highly recommend to all that like/love the world of Alice. If you're "eh" about it, it's still a good story. If you're my Alice, I've tried a few times and you've passed so I will leave it be.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

"The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas was an intimidating Classic to face. As my first classic of the year, I decided to go all in with this monstrosity. I felt very timid turning to the first of nearly 1100 pages. The nautical terminology and the heavily used French words slowed me down and I had no idea how I was going to keep up. However, once I really got into the story, I couldn't put this down.

This was a BBC (Badassery Book Club) read for Alice and I. I think we started our plan as a 3 month read, dropped it to two, and then settled on six weeks. I might have finished in 16 days. For my safety, I wouldn't say where she is at other than the fact that she is keeping to planned reading nicely. I have lots to catch up on in the interim anyway!

Alexandre Dumas

I went into Count blind as I had never seen the movie or knew anything about the plot. I really enjoyed the story that way because I had no idea what was coming next. The first time I noticed one of Dantes' costumes, all the pieces started coming together beautifully. I cannot wait to read more of his stuff. 

What this a long book? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to others? I've already recommended it to two people. Would I read it again? Undoubtedly. My Good Reads rating is five stars out of five. This was an epic adventure that ticked all of the boxes for me. There was love (mad/passionate, unrequited) and loss, devotion and betrayal, self discovery, regret, revenge, redemption, and by the end, hope.

The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell

I picked this book up on a whim a few months back wanting to get more books on writing. As I've discussed earlier, I've found most of these books to be trash, so I am always skeptical. I am so thankful I picked this book up! It was my intention of only reading 10 pages of this book a day, but the truth is, I found that it was hard to put it down. Easily five stars out of five.

You know something is decent when you can get at least one piece of good advice from it; however, I was getting something great every few days. The first 80 percent of the book goes into details on writing your novel and the final 20 percent talks about agents, editors, and publishers. I found this last part the most fascinating as this part of the book industry has always been a little hazy to me. Sure, I'm not at the point yet of looking for an agent, but I now have a list of guidelines to go off so that I will know when the time is right to start searching.

"Writing is, ultimately, a matter of cheeks on chair and words on page. You must develop a certain amount of discipline and as much of a schedule as you can." (Bell, 247)

James Scott Bell

How true is that! You'll never write your book if you don't sit down and right. You'll never get better if you don't practice. I have found that scheduling works really well for me, because if I make a plan, I really intend to follow through with it. This past week, after a nice discussion with a friend about how to better manage my time, I realized I could still do everything, I was just making excuses to not novel write. I have the idea. I want to do it. But I wasn't. Well, that has officially changed. For now, I'm only writing for 30 minutes a day, but:




- I have a designated time to write.
- If my husband is home I will put my airpods in and listen to instrumental music (mainly the LOTR soundtrack).
- I write in the dark with only the light of my laptop on.
- I put my phone on silent and turn my wifi off so I'm not even tempted to browse the internet
- I set my timer
- I write.

Nothing is overly difficult. I never regret doing it after the 30 minutes are over. I do; however, already look forward to the days where I shut my alarm off after thirty minutes and keep writing. Once novel writing daily becomes an everyday habit, I have a feeling the time will continue to expand. And that is exciting.

No matter what I do, I plan to: "Respect the craft of writing. Be in awe when you sit down at the keyboard or with a pen. Write hard, write with passion, because that is what you do. Don't waste any time dissing other writers or whining about how tough things are." (Bell, 258)

Let's get to work.

Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop

Considered book five; however, I read Dreams Made Flesh, a collection of four short stories in the Black Jewels world as soon as I finished the original trilogy. Overall, the collection received a five out of five stars rating. I'll talk briefly about each from least favorite to favorite.

In last place is the first and shortest story in the collection, "Weaver of Dreams". What I liked about this story is that it very much an origins. It tells about how the original webs and winds were created. As cool as the story was, it was very short and I didn't feel any massive emotional connection.

In third place is "Zuulaman" which focuses on a time in Saetan's past where he basically goes unspeakably dark. This was the second shortest story and the third in the book. This was both a hard story to read and completely captivating. Anne Bishop does an amazing job at making me hate his wife Hekatah on pretty much every level. I like that you find out about Zuulaman in the previous story and then in the final story you see how Daemon is his father's mirror and is absolutely capable of the same thing.

Anne Bishop

In second place is "Kaeleer's Heart." If you're a die hard Jaenelle and Daemon shipper (which I am, too in most ways) then this is the story for you. It's the final short story in the collection and continues after the end of the third book in the trilogy. This talks about Jaenelle's recovery, the twilight's dawn jewel, and the relationship between her and Daemon. There's also some drama in town that really reveals how much like his father Daemon really is.

My first place winner is "The Prince of Ebon Rih" which is the story of the Warlord Prince, Lucivar Yaslana and the hearth witch, Marian. I remember being shocked in the trilogy that Lucivar was married and out of all possible short stories, this is the one I was most interested in. Well, this one, and a story about Surreal. But alas, that story is in my next book! Lucivar comes into this story with a lot of anger and a lot to learn. Marian comes in very damaged. I love the story of her growth and seeing the arch of where this story started to where it ended. It was the longest, and my most favorite.

Overall, each story was very well done and expanded this world to a point where I cannot wait for more. Lucky for me, the next book, Tangled Webs is sitting right next to me.

Happy Reading!