Miss Violet and the Great War by Leanna Renee Hieber

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Genre: historical
Secondary genre: paranormal/war
Format read: audiobook
CW: violence
Rep: mental health
Rating:

Leanna’s books are so hard for me to review, because I know her personally. We attend the same con, work on the same panels, chat over Twitter, and exchange the occasional letter or email. I love her personality, her vibrancy, and the messages she includes in her work.

That being said, we have vastly different storytelling styles, and while I like the broad strokes she paints, the line-by-line details aren’t really my cup of tea, mostly because I keep thinking about how I would edit the book differently (this is a hazard of being an author; it’s hard to read for pleasure without thinking about how you would change a book).

Set on the eve of the WWI, Violet represents the third generation in the Hieberverse. Her parents fought evil and won. Time for the happily ever after, right?

But since childhood Violet has been plagued by horrible nightmares of men in pits, explosions, and gunfire. It’s not until war breaks out between England and Germany, however, that she realizes these dreams are her calling: to stop the evil her parents defeated from leaking back into the land of the living, she must travel to France and the epicenter of the fighting and attempt to put it to rest once and for all.

Filled with a host of characters readers will recognize from her earlier novels, Miss Violet and the Great War is a part stand alone and part sequel. There’s no need to read the previous books, but you will get more out of this one if you are familiar with the Percy Parker series.

My biggest complaint when reading this was the winding path it took. I’m more action oriented in my books, so I thought, being a war book, this would be a lot punchier from the start. If action isn’t your thing, though, you’ll enjoy the emotional arc of this story as it works through Percy’s childhood, up through the war.

Stockings and Spells by Nancy Warren

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Genre: cozy mystery, holiday
Secondary genre: contemporary, paranormal
Format read: ebook
Series: The Vampire Knitting Club vol 5
Rating:

Okay, yes. I am behind on posting reviews.

This cozy mystery series is far from great literature. It’s predictable, the characters are odd and not always in a charming way, the writing is so-so and non cis-het-white rep is pretty much nonexistant. The main character is neither a vampire, nor a knitter.

But I still love them.

I guess you could call them a guilty pleasure read for me, since there is absolutely nothing challenging about them. I find them relaxing and I usually get through them in a couple of sittings.

But anyway. The book.

This is a Christmas story set against the backdrop of and Oxford, England craft fair. The highlight of this event is a Tolkein-like author, reclusive in the extreme, who has been convinced to speak and sign books at the college attached to the fair. But things quickly go sideways when a vendor is attacked, people start turning up dead, and the author suddenly pulls out of the event. But the busy-body group of vampire knitters are on the case, trying to find out who is behind the violence and what secret the author is trying so hard to protect.

This was my de-stress read during an anxiety-laden trip home for the holidays. I don’t sit down to binge on these books, but when I’m feeling stressed I’ll usually pick one up to give my brain a break, and they usually do the trick. So if you want to wind down before bed, this series is a good pick.

Reading List

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As promised yesterday, here is my accountability post for my reading list. If you would like to join me in this reading challenge, more information can be found here.

Below, you can see how I’m color coding, and what sorts of diversity I’m looking at. Under that are books I’ve read so far this year, and how they stack up.

Here are my reading lists. On the left are books just by Black authors. On the right I have a list of books by Black, Hispanic, Native American, Middle Eastern, Indian, and other identities of color.

I’ve already gotten a start on these lists. I was partially inspired by BookRoast’s Welcome to Hogsmead reading challenge on Youtube. She posted on June 1, and the challenge is meant to run the 22nd-28th, but several people in the comments mentioned they wanted to make it a month long readathon. I thought this sounded like a good idea (also, I don’t think I can finish even half the challenges in a week), so I made myself another list:

Items in pencil are titles I am not sure I’ll get to, or haven’t started yet. The little diamond pattern means I’ve already finished that book (I was already reading The Inventor’s Secret and The Diary of Mary Berg when the announcement was made). Out of all the books on this list, only The Inventor’s Secret doesn’t qualify for my color code. Secrets of Learning a Foreign Language technically doesn’t either, but I am still nudging it toward the more diverse books because I believe strongly that everyone should learn a foreign language, as it helps us communicate with those who are different from us, and increases our understanding and empathy for others in the world, but that’s a subject for a different blog.

If you’re joining me on this journey, please feel free to comment below, or tag me on Instagram or Twitter (@Knotmagick both places).

A Challenge

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I know, things have been quiet around here lately. Don’t worry, I have a backlog of reviews I’ll be posting next week.

But first, I wanted to invite you to join me in a challenge I set for myself.

I want to do a readalong for white people.

Before you start screaming “racist!”, hear me out:

I am white. I am aware that I have a certain amount of privilege. I am also aware that I am not doing enough to broaden my horizons and learn about the experiences of others. Until I moved to Seattle, I didn’t live in a diverse area. Diversity was a theoretical thing I saw on the internet.

So I want to invite other white people to join me in educating myself about Black and POC experiences, rather than putting the onus on individuals to educate us.

This challenge is meant to introduce baby steps to make me (us) more aware of what and how I (we) read, and to introduce a broader range of voices.

If you would like to join (be you white or otherwise, all are welcome), then here is how:

  1. Start a reading journal. I say journal, because you’re going to need some space for this. It could be digital or on paper. If you already have a reading journal, great! Skip to step 3.
  2. In that journal, write down every book you read or listen to. All book formats count.
  3. Create a color coding system, or other signifiers to show the kinds of diverse books you read. There should at least be notations for #Ownvoices Black and #Ownvoices POC books, but other flavors of diversity you might like to track: positive or #Ownvoices mental health rep, first generation [insert your country of origin here], Native voices (American, 1st Nations, Aboriginal, Ainu, or other), positive or #Ownvoices disability rep, and LGBT+ rep.
  4. Highlight books according to these labels, using up to two colors for each one. A book only counts if the label applies to the author, main character, or the main supporting character (love interest, best friend, sibling, etc).
  5. Create a reading list for yourself through the end of the year. You can read other books, but the challenge here is to try to finish this list or as much of it as possible by the end of the year. It should be challenging, but doable. Don’t make a list so long it’s going to overwhelm you. I recommend between 25-50 books.
    1. At least half this list should be #Ownvoices Black experience. The other half can be any POC representation, but must be #Ownvoices. Try to find as many intersectional represenations as possible (i.e. a disabled Hispanic main character, a trans Asian main character, etc.) *
    2. Include at least three books that are not recent releases, like books from the Harlem Renaissance, older biographies, etc. Adding nonfiction is a definite bonus.**

6. Post pictures of the three lists on social media to help keep yourself accountable (Mine are up on Instagram–@Knotmagick–and I’ll be showing them here in my next post.

I don’t have a catchy hashtag or title for this reading challenge, but feel free to tag me in your posts (same username on Twitter, too).

If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments below and I will answer. My next few posts (after my lists) will be catching up on my backlog of reviews, but I am taking more detailed notes on the books I’ve earmarked for this challenge, and I’ve already started one of them.

I know this is a small effort, and that is intentional. I want us to be more aware of ourselves and the people around us, and that is not something that happens at the drop of a hat. It means re-training your brain and your senses. Just this morning I saw a Twitter thread (by a black woman) about preventing burnout, as most white people are not trained to think about race every second of every day the way people of color are. This of this as a Couch to 5K for increasing your racial awareness. I’m also sure there are or will be similar reading challenges in the near future. If this one doesn’t appeal to you, maybe take part in one of those?

I hope you’ll join me in making small steps for change.

*I have this split into two lists for a few reasons, but I thought I would mention the most practical one up front: a lot of books by Black authors are hard to get a hold of at the moment if you are a person who relies on libraries like me. So feel free to start with other marginalizations and circle back to the Black authors as they become available. I think I went through 15 books on my list before I found one my library had available, and the King County Library System is not small. Readers in more rural areas may have more difficulty and I want this to be as accessible and as educational as possible.

**Try to make these books that you actually want to read, not just stuff you’re forcing yourself to read for the sake of education. I relate most to YA, so I’ve put a lot of that on my list. Don’t know where to start? Here are some lists I pulled from to help me find my titles:
Goodreads: Books by Black Authors
Goodreads: Multicultural Children’s Lit
Goodreads: Black Speculative Fiction
Goodreads: Masterlist of Black YA Writers
Oprah: 43 Books by Black Authors to Read in Your Lifetime
Penguin Random House: 25 Books by Contemporary Black Authors

Waterfall by Lisa T Bergen

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Genre: YA historical
Secondary genre: romance/adventure
Format read: audiobook
Series: River of Time vol. 1
CW: violence
Rating: planchet-3

My mom and I do not have similar taste in books. Her favorite author is Nora Roberts. I would gleefully fire all of her books into space. I like reading creepy books with fierce women. My mom “doesn’t get it.” If it isn’t in the mass market romance section at Half Price books, she basically doesn’t read it.

So I was shocked when she recommended a book to me that was not only young adult, but not horrible.

I used to live in Italy (Florence) so I tend to be drawn toward books set in the country, especially in the 1500-1600s (Renaissance art was my area of study).

Gabie and her younger sister, Lia, get dragged after their mother, an archaeologist, to the hills outside of Sienna to study an Etruscan burial site. While hiding from Italian authorities bent on taking over the dig, Gabie is somehow sucked back in time to the 1300s, where she’s nearly murdered, then is rescued, kidnapped and mistaken for a spy all in one go. Meanwhile, she has no idea where Lia has disappeared to. Is she sill in present day? Has she also been pulled back in time and caught in the heat of battle? Or worse?

Determined to find her sister and get home, Gabie weaves lie after lie to avoid telling her captors-turned-hosts the truth, afraid of what the consequences might be, even if someone believes her. Though these lies, she becomes swept up in the messy politics of the time and era, disrupting treaties and arranged marriages in the process.

I thought this book was great fun from a history perspective, however I did find the romance predictable and I did not like Gabie’s love interest. In my notes, I nicknamed him “Gladiator Ken,” because through about half the book that’s how much personality he had. There were actually two other people I would have preferred to see her with that were not only more dimensional as characters but less…Controlling? Bossy? Misogynistic? Annoying? Take your pick.

I’m still on the fence on whether or not I want to read the next two books. I have them saved in my Overdrive wishlist, but haven’t checked them out yet. What do you think? Have you read them?

Ghostly Tales

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Genre: classic lit
Secondary genre: paranormal
Format: hard copy
CW: mental illness/hallucinations, mentions of suicide

Authors: M.R. James, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, F. Marion Crawford, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Amelia B. Edwards.

I received this anthology as a gift, and was super excited to read it. I love classic lit, and ghost stories, and I had no idea that Elizabeth Gaskell had even written a ghost story.  I’m usually not a big fan of anthologies or short stories in general, but this one was quite a good read. I think the stories got better–and creepier–the further I got into the book. The Screaming Skull was by far my favorite.

If you’re looking for some lesser known works by some of the 19th century’s most famous writers, then this is definitely a good book to pick up–and read on a dark and stormy night by the fire, with a cup of tea and a nice fuzzy blanket. Just don’t turn out all the lights.

The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi

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Genre: YA romance
Secondary genre: Islamic/Muslim
Format: audio
Rep: Muslim, Afghani
CW: child abuse, sexism, child death, murder, victim blaming, violence
Rating: planchet-5

This Muslim version of Romeo and Juliet is an intense read from start to finish. I think I listed to it over the course of two days, and while I tried to take a break, I just couldn’t–I had to know what happened next. It’s the definition of “Well, that escalated quickly.” It starts off so sweet, with Fatima reconnecting with her childhood friend, Samiullah. When they were kids, things were easy. But now that they’re in their teens, things are much more complex.

Set during the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the teens must not only determine what their feelings are for each other, but also how to handle them when they are from distinctly different classes and tribes, and the new regime won’t let them be together. Not only that, but their own families are determined to keep them apart. Fatima in particular, as the lower class and female in this equation, becomes the target of harassment and violence, even from her own mother.

It takes a lot of spoons to finish this book, no lie. But if you can manage it? It is so worth the read. If you need a spoiler, keep reading below the cut.

 

 

 

If “Afghani Romeo and Juliet” has you worried, it’s okay: No one commits suicide, and they get their HEA.

The Bell Witch: An American Haunting

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Genre: Paranormal fiction
Secondary genre: historical
Format: audio
CW: child molestation, cruelty to animals, racism, victim blaming, pedophilia
Rating: planchet-3

A word of warning about this book: While inspired by historical events, this is a novel. However, not everyone seems to realize this. My library listed it as nonfiction in Overdrive, it’s listed as both fiction and nonfiction on Goodreads, and the introduction makes it sound like nonfiction. I finally visited the author’s website for confirmation that yes, it is indeed a novel.

Needless to say, my expectations when I started reading were quite different from what I actually got. If I’d been expecting fiction, I might have rated this as 4 stars, but I doubt it, just because of that long list of content warnings. There were a few points where I wanted to throw my phone across the room due to the content.

If you aren’t familiar with the Bell Witch, take a moment to go look up the Wiki. I’ll wait.

The  novel is from an outsider’s perspective, that of a man come to investigate the haunting. Honestly, if I were going to write the book, I would have made it from Betsy’s POV, but the detached outsider looking in is a hallmark of the era; so many books were written this way that it adds to the feel that this is an actual account of the mysterious events.

While it was well written and the author did a good job of making it feel like a historical account, I can’t say this is high on my recommendations list. Why does it always come down to pedophilia?

Ghosts Among Us by James Van Praagh

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Genre: nonfiction
Secondary genre: paranormal/spiritual
Format: paperback
Rating: planchet

I don’t even want to admit how long this book has been on my TBR. I think I got it in college, or sometime shortly thereafter, and just never got around to it. In my defense, it’s a brick, well over 1,000 pages, and weighs more than most of my textbooks at the time. And it’s in paperback. I wouldn’t want to meet a hard bound edition in a dark alley, is all I’m saying.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I like a good ghost story, but I have to say this book left me fairly luke-warm. I didn’t realize going in, but apparently the author is a tv psychic from the 90s who later worked on The Ghost Whisperer tv show as a consultant. In my opinion, that makes him an unreliable narrator; still, I’m now for reading ghost books just for entertainment, so I plowed on.

This book contains literally hundreds of stories taken from around the US, with a few international stories thrown in. If you’re looking for diversity, however, this book ain’t it. It’s pretty evident from the narration that all the stories come from white people, with maybe two exceptions.

There were some good, creepy tales in this book, but there were also a lot of redundant ones.

In addition to ghosts, this book also covers things like orbs, aliens, and elementals, with a lot of pseudo-science thrown in. There were entire chapters I skipped because they just weren’t my cup of tea (I don’t do aliens outside of Doctor Who. Period).

I have definitely read better ghost books, so if you’re looking for a creepy midnight read, or more information on the theory behind ghosts and hauntings, give this one a pass. There are better books to be had.

No Idle Hands by Anne L MacDonald

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Genre: nonfiction
Secondary genre: social history
Format: ebook
Rating: planchet-5

This is easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year (Yeah, I know, it’s a short list. Don’t judge).

MacDonald looks at the history of knitting in America, starting with the colonial period. It was educational and entertaining, and while ebooks are my least favorite format, I devoured this book, highlighted all over it, and then ordered a physical copy so I could transfer my notes to post-its and add them in.

There were so many interesting stories, from women knitting for soldiers during the American Revolution, to WWI prison inmates who were supposed to be knitting for soldiers making themselves a rope out of Red Cross yarn and escaping.

I’m half tempted to re-read it already.