I have a book deadline in a week, and the last two weeks have been absolutely crazy with things very unrelated to books. *stares into the void* *screeches slightly*
Since the only things left in my brain right now are commas and prayers and decisions about whether or not a scene needs to be rewritten, I thought a struggle meme dump was appropriate. 😉
Send prayers and chocolate! And if I don’t blog for a while, you know why. 😩😭😂
Are you ready?
To see the cover for our Valentine’s Day anthology?
Ready,
Set,
Here you go!
A Very Bookish Romance, coming January 2024 from authors Sarah Holman, Kellyn Roth, J. Grace Pennington, Abigayle Claire, and myself. I had so much fun creating this cover, and I can’t wait for you to experience our stories. ❤
Today is the last day to get a copy of A Very Bookish Easter, so be sure to snag one on Amazon.
Last week, J and I visited Bookmans, aka reader wonderland, aka budget-friendly haul time. 😍
I spent most of my time in the middle-grade section (of course), but luckily for me teen fiction and religious fiction were right around the corner, so I barely had to navigate the maze of shelves to find exactly what I wanted.
Train I Ride by Paul Mosier looked like something I’d be highly interested in, so after some Goodreads scouting, I added it to my stack.
Shuri by Nic Stone… well, let’s just say I’m a huge Wakanda fan, and I want to experience more of this gorgeous world and characters. 😍
Two books by Eoin Colfer? Yep, they both looked interesting in their own right, but I also really enjoyed his standalone Airman, so I picked up The Supernaturalist and Half Moon Investigations.
Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer is an interesting but rather sordid concept but I know she will handle it with her signature grace and hope.
My poor bookshelves, but my happy heart. 😉
In honor of the gorgeous, helpful progress my beta-readers are making, I thought it was high time for another excerpt from my upcoming novel, “If the Stars Awaken”.
Remember, this is an uncorrected draft. 😉 Enjoy!
Soft afternoon light danced across the cobblestones as the tree leaves parted and pushed together in the wind.
Marinne studied their patterns as she strolled down the winding garden paths, rocking Leif in her arms. Their guard trailed behind, looking mildly out of place in the relaxed environment. She smiled as she thought of how she had asked for a rotation to give more of them breaks from council meetings or riot patrol.
When she reached her favorite bench, softly shadowed and hidden by a large tree, Marinne sat down and picked up a nearby fallen leaf. She held it up to show Leif, and he zeroed in on it, eyes nearly crossing. Her laughter flit through the garden like a hummingbird and rested in her voice as she explained, “This, little one, is a leaf. It feeds and beautifies the whole tree, and together the leaves provide shade to all.”
“You are teaching him beautiful truth, m’lady,” the head gardener said, walking by with his ladder.
Marinne flushed, embarrassed he had caught her.
“I’m sorry, m’lady, I spoke out of turn,” the gardener said, hoisting up his ladder and continuing down the path.
“No, I thank you. I talk to my child a lot, and sometimes I don’t know if the words are of any use.”
The gardener stopped and looked around, his turn to be startled. She glanced down at Leif. “He’s only just begun to be able to see beyond his own nose.”
The gardener set down his faded wood ladder and leaned on it. The color had faded from his hair and clothes as well, but his eyes were deep with years spent taming and cultivating life. “Ah, but he has a lot to know of this great and terrible world. And who better to teach him than his own mother. He may not know the meaning of your words, m’lady, but he already knows and loves your voice.”
“You are very kind. Thank you for your words,” Marinne smiled down at Leif and nestled his forehead against her shoulder.
Copyright 2023 Kate Willis
This tag looked like so much fun when E.G. Bella did it, that I decided to scare up some answers and intensely nerdy gifs. 😉
Special thanks to the original creator, Naty’s Bookshelf.
And away we go!
I found Remarkables by Margaret Peterson Haddix at the library then thought it was so good I bought myself a copy, so it totally counts, right?!
The Herbwitch’s Apprentice by Ireen Chau was a gift for my birthday this year, and I’m absolutely in love with it. 😍😍👏
Evangelists in Chains by Elisabeth Wagler gave me respect for a movement in church history and strengthened my faith. It’s one I still think about.
Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder is such a beautiful, whimsical book. There isn’t magic in it, per se, but there are some mysterious elements. 😉
Matched by Ally Condie is one of the sweetest romances tied to a fabulous coming of age storyline and dystopian world. 😍🥰
I don’t read steamy as a general rule, but I do have a couple with heavier romance than others.
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott, in lovely dark orange hardcover. 😉
Twinepathy by C.B. Cook just gives me all the happy nerd feels and several of the characters are pretty funny. 👏👏
Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton healed something inside of me and made me laugh, cry, and imagine beautiful things. 😭❤️🩹
Son by Lois Lowry. What in the world was that second half. *stares in disliking body horror*
Oo, I didn’t think I’d have an answer for this then spied Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and knew. Wouldn’t it be glorious?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak gives the best rainy day vibes, but I’d likely gravitate toward an Agatha Christie mystery.
There you go! What’s on your bookshelf?
I found a new show. A pretty clean detective procedural with a period piece setting, an upstanding, Catholic main character, a slowburn romance, and multiple seasons already out. Absolutely up my alley. 👏
I quit this show after the first handful of episodes.
I found another show. Another pretty clean detective procedural, though this one is modern and secular with a main character who sleeps around, darker crimes, and episodes still coming out weekly. A mixed bag for me, though the characters are quite loveable.
I’m still watching this one.
At first glance, this seems turned on its head. Why continue a secular show and skip the good, clean one?
The first one was actually worse for me. Each episode was designed to challenge the main character’s strong faith with morally gray situations that at first were interesting then grew to making fun of him and making him look like the story’s bigot. It felt icky for me to watch and a quick peek at the wiki for the show told me this continued. It didn’t sit right with me to continue watching it.
The second show makes no secret about what it’s like. Characters do what’s right in their own eyes, and it’s all seen as fine. But this one feels different to me. I can go, “okay, I don’t believe this is good but I know people live like this” and skip a scene or two without feeling like my faith or a character I relate to’s is being attacked.
So that’s the story of a show I quit and a show I continued.
I have this problem with sequels.
The problem is that I forget to read them.
Maybe too many have disappointed me, perhaps I secretly love standalones, or maybe I prefer when an ending is just a little open-ended.
That’s probably the reason I have trouble writing sequels too…
Hmmm.
How do you feel about sequels?
Happy 4th of May, aka May the Fourth Be With You, aka Star Wars Day. 😉
My Rose Tico (aka THE COOLEST) Funko pop says hello. 😉
In honor of good sci-fi, I thought I’d share some favorite books that take me to infinity and beyond, both in the galaxy and in their philosophical themes…
While this one is a short story, it packs a punch full of heart, cute moments, and some fabulous world-building. Definitely recommended if you need a short read, and the companion story is just as great. 😉
So… I haven’t actually read the Lunar Chronicles (yet), but this spin-off duology caught my eye, and I fell completely in love. Intriguing storyline, gorgeous illustrations, and questions of humanity that sci-fi is especially qualified to ask… I’m sure I’ll appreciate it even more once I read the rest of the books. 😉
Reading this book was just like watching an episode of my favorite sci-fi show, and I especially enjoyed how much character development and moral dilemmas it sent the Doctor through. *laughs evilly in fan of sci-fi themes*
Between the main books and the supplemental stories, there are now 8 books in this series, so I had to pick the one that split my brain open the most. Y’ALL. I’ve loved this series from back when it was just going to be the one book, and I’m loving the coming-of-age vibes of the continuing series. Definitely go read these.
Again, another (fabulous–which apparently is my word today) series, so I chose a favorite. (It was hard because there are so many cool ones.) But talk about philosophical themes… O.o. The author uses our love and familiarity with these characters to bring out some really interesting, twisty storylines.
There you are! Those are just some of my favorite sci-fi books for Star Wars Day. Do you have any recs to share?
April flew by a little bit slower than I wanted it to (because I was chomping at the bit to get to send my book off to beta-readers, which I did yesterday, eeee), but I managed to get in some fabulous reading and writing (and ice cream).
I read a total of eight and a half books (sucksinbreath ihavenoideahow butihadfun), and it was quite fun. I’ve been loving passing on favorites to my younger sisters then fangirling over text together.
Just for fun, here’s some stats:
Notable reads: Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton surprised me with its sweet plot and unique worldbuilding. The Herbwitch’s Apprentice by Ireen Chau (one of the books I got for my birthday, actually) was ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, and mynewfavoritething, and the second book is coming in the mail right now, and it sent me into an epic reading slump with its goodness, and ahhhhh.
(Look at that cutie. 💜)
Besides the title reveal for “If the Stars Awaken” (formerly Awake) and the short story I shared last week, I’ve actually been secretly working on a thing. It’s mostly consisted of learning how to plot a series, plotting said series (at least the first two books), realizing one of my plots was wrong and abandoning it, but starting on the other one and loving it to pieces.
Here’s all I can tell you… I’m writing SCI-FI. (*dances in a happy Wall-E circle* *cringes at how bad I am at worldbuilding*) I’m bouncing between having delusional confidence that I’m just going to write this and have a ton of fun and indulging in self-doubt and perfectionism, but what else is new? 😉
Here’s the sneakest of peeks…
Mwaha.
The temps here are bumping up against 100F, so J and I tried out a local ice cream shop, and y’all, it’s the most adorable thing! I had a really good monster cookie cone. (Because Oreo ice cream is life.)
How was your April?
I thought it would be super fun to (last minute) join this month’s Spell the Month in Books challenge (hosted by Reviews from the Stacks), but this time I decided to go with books I’ve read on or associate with my Kindle. 😉
Unique main character, fascinating, dystopian.
Retelling, second-chance romance, underrated author.
Fabulous series opener, unique, Biblical references.
Adorable, all the Christmas vibes, new edition incoming.
Final in a trilogy, FEELS, amazing.
It was very fun and surprisingly hard finding these, especially one for the letter “I”. 😉 Have you read any of these?
Once Upon An Ordinary 