September flew by and I can’t believe it’s come and gone. It was a busy, busy, busy month for me with both my birthday as well as my partner’s…plus a bajillion other people we know and love. So we had a lot going on this month for social things. We had a great birthday party though, and had such a blast celebrating with our loved ones. I am really excited for things to (hopefully) settle down now that…
SPOOKY SEASON IS UPON US!! I, for one, am so grateful for the fall to be here so I can enjoy reading and a cup of tea. The changing leaves, pumpkin spice everything, and more. I am absolutely here for it. I’m also diving into the tradition of spooky movies as I try to watch a bunch and grow my appreciation of horror as a whole. So 31 Days of Halloween is being kicked off and I’ll be sharing my complete list of films with y’all soon.
In professional-related news, here’s a little roundup of some exciting things:
- Animal Rescue Friends: Learning New Tricks will be out in ONE MONTH!!!!! You can still preorder it and make sure you get a copy on release day.
- Speaking of that, we’re doing a launch party. It’ll be at Another Story in Toronto on Tuesday, November 7 at 7:00pm. You can find all the details on my APPEARANCES page.
Hopefully I’ll have a few more updates to share soon, although I feel like I’m always saying that. Publishing forever moves at a snail’s pace…until it doesn’t. So for now, we’ll move on and check out some of the TV I watched last month.
TV:
- Love & Death
- The Challenge S31-32
- The Great British Bake-Off S13
I really enjoyed Love & Death, but as my partner pointed out–it didn’t need to be as many episodes as it was. I think they were trying to build nuance in the story and give Candy some goodwill from the viewers. Overall, I still liked it and thought the performances were great. And then other than that, I continue to be watching a lot of reality TV. September was cozy with Great British Bake-Off and reliable with my personal fave, The Challenge.
And then on the literary side of things, I read some books! A slightly smaller selection than last time but a pretty good bunch. So here’s what I read:
BOOKS:
- One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston – I had no idea the plot of this book before diving into it and was floored when it took the turn it took. But this is all to say that it was unexpected but absolutely delightful…and once I was on board, it was full steam ahead! Which…as far as train metaphors goes, is all I’ve really got since there’s not really subway specific ones (that I know about).
- In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
- Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake – An engaging and exciting new YA series. It’s filled with great characters that you’re rooting for as well as twists and turns that kept me turning the page over and over again. The worldbuilding is fantastic (I even noticed a few Three Dark Crowns Easter eggs…) and further solidifies Blake as a fantasy author to continue to keep an exciting eye on. If I can say anything else to entice readers to this new book, I’ll say that this feels like a modern successor to Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness series, and a bit of C.S. Pacat’s Dark Rise.
- A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher – A perfect, fantastic book to kick off spooky season with. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favourite authors and this is the perfect blend of Just Like Home and Mexican Gothic.
- Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
- The Council of Frogs by Matt Emmons
- Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki – Another modern masterpiece from the Tamaki’s. Brilliant and beautiful.
- Shiny Misfits by Maysoon Zayid and Shadia Amin
T. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favourite authors—as stated above—so I’ve been working on devour most of their bibliography but decided to make sure I put in some time on graphic novels too. The Council of Frogs is excellent and completely worth checking out. Matt Emmons is a treasure with incredible ideas and a great art style. I highly recommend it! But as always, you can find my full reading list on Goodreads.
And that’s it for my latest round-up. I was thinking about postponing this for a week since I’m sure some other things will get announced this week but hey, that’s more updates for next month. Until then…
