Caturday Catch Up!

Well this week has been quite wild. For those of you living in the States you may know about the bomb cyclone that hit the Pacific Northwest and California midweek. We were hit pretty hard with wind and rain, although not as bad as a hurricane. Many people across the puget sound region lost power, and while many have gotten it back at this point, there are still 50,000+ who are still in the dark. We were one of the lucky ones who got it back after only a couple of days, but then we had a full day of cleaning up. Only one big tree in my neighborhood went down (that I’m aware of) but luckily it didn’t do any damage. But there were a lot of branches and debri that needed cleaning up, as well as throwing out all of the spoiled food.

My blog schedule was of course thrown out with the storm. I am usually pretty good about scheduling posts when I know that things might not go as planned, but I wasn’t expecting the storm to be as bad as it was, so planned posts didn’t get done. So today is my catch-up day. Being without power also meant that I was able to get a lot of reading done. So here are a few mini reviews for the books I was going to write full reviews for, and then for the ones that I finished because of the storm.

An Instruction in Shadow by Benedict Jacka

Inheritance of Magic #2

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

Confession:

I really enjoyed the second book in this urban fantasy just as much as the first. Just like in An Inheritance of Magic, Stephen is forced to work with his family and other unsavory people in order to find his missing father. I really like how Stephen is able to outsmart his enemies, and even though his magical knowledge is limited he achieves so much more than people think he is capable of. That is mostly because he keeps most of what he is able to do a secret from even his closest friends. I also really like his cat sidekick, Hobbes, who always has his back.

The thing that I like best about this series is that the magical system is quite unique, and I really like how so few people, aka the rich ones, control it for their own gains. There is a lot of intrigue and backroom deals around this magic and it is fun to see how Stephen works around this system to make his life better. The pacing in both books is a bit slow, mostly because there isn’t a whole lot of action, but the story is so compelling that you find yourself turning those pages anyways.

If you enjoy urban fantasy or you like books with fascinating and unusual magic systems, this is a series that you should give a chance.

A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick

Sidequest Row #1

Publication Date: January 2023

Confession:

Cozy fantasy can be a hit or miss thing for me, but I kept seeing such wonderful reviews for this book, that I finally decided to give it a chance, and I am so glad I did. I loved the characters and the setting and the story, although easy enough to predict was still a lot of fun to read.

I loved all of the characters in this book, but I especially loved Ambrose. He was just so grumpy, and stuck in his ways, and also so lonely even though he had a close friendship with Dawn. I also really enjoyed Eli, who was also lost and adrift in the world, really struggling to find his heart’s desire in both his occupation and his life. It was great when these two finally got together.

I loved the setting and the pacing of this book. The setting of a sort of fairytale town with all sorts of creatures living and working together was great. The pacing was steady, but had some great action scenes to break it up a bit. I also loved the potion making, I so want a potion that will give me purple dragon wings and let me fly, what fun! And Eli’s little automaton, Tom, was such an endearing and fun little character.

If you like cozy fantasy, then this is a story you should give a chance. It is full of fun characters, a romance that you will be rooting for and a nice dash of adventure. My library doesn’t yet have a copy of the second book in the series, but I will be bugging them until they do.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Publication Date: 1970

Confession:

I saw a review for this book on Wicked Witch’s Blog last month and was just amazed that I had never heard of this book. It sounded so delightful that I immediately put it on my tbr, and luckily picked it up earlier this week before the storm. It was a great way to spend an afternoon while sitting in front of the fire.

It is such shame that letter writing has fallen to the wayside these past few decades. Letters are such a nice way to chronicle someone’s life. I loved how even though most of these letters were of a business nature, they still were able to strike up a friendship among all of the people involved. I also really liked how even though Helene didn’t have that much, she was very generous with gifts to her friends in England who had even less. I also had to laugh at how cheap even rare first editions of books were back then. I know that then it seemed like a lot, but it still made me chuckle.

A very short, but very endearing little nonfiction book. If you enjoy books about books, this is one you need on your list.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Read by Patricia Santomasso

Publication Date: July 2020

Confession:

This was a fun adventure that I really enjoyed listening to. I didn’t realize that it was a middle grade book until I started it, and now I kind of wish I had known about it back when I was a school librarian. My students would have loved it.

The reader, Patricia Santomasso did a nice job narrating the story. She did at time sound older than the 14 year old Mona, but that was ok. She did a nice job with the voices for the other characters and with all of the emotions that Mona was going through.

This fairytale-esque story was great. I loved how all of the wizard’s had sort of a specific type of magic. Like Mona’s ability to manipulate and animate dough. Some were useful, some not so much. But Mona’s ability was unique and I think pretty powerful. I loved her little gingerbread man sidekick, and the sourdough starter Bob. They were nice additions to the otherwise standard fairytale characters.

The pacing was a little on the slow side, and the story got a little bogged down in the middle when Mona has to go into hiding. But it picks up in the middle and then goes along nicely to the end. I loved the writing and enjoyed learning about the world that the author created.

Another fun fairytale from the master T. Kingfisher. If you are a fan of new fairytales than this is a story not to be missed.

To those of you who made it this far, thank you! I hope to be back to my more normal review schedule this week. I hope that all of you are well and having a good caturday. The cat at the top of the post is my sweet little Jasper who kept me warm during those cold nights without power. Until next time…

Happy Reading!