Book Den

Item: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold
Rating: 3
Author: Jen

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 25

2026-01-25T14:26:00.001-06:00

Hello, friends! Tell me about the weather where you are. I'm curious!! Here it is wet and cold which will probably just make for an icy day tomorrow. Schools and work are closed. If we get to keep power, it may just be a much needed rest day!

My reading took a major left turn in the last week or so. Depression had me reading nothing, and I realized I was letting my looming TBR keep me from picking up something that might help so I put the pause on what I was reading and what I was planning to read, and I picked up a couple of Star Wars books.

Posted Last Week

Review | Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Journaling Goals for 2026

Review | Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire

Finished Reading

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - on opposite sides of the war, will these friends turned foes find a way to be together, or will duty tear them—and the galaxy—apart.

Currently Reading

Quest for the Hidden City by George Mann - hyperspace prospectors, bold explorers, Jedi peacekeepers and more

Currently Watching

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Review | Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire

2026-01-21T04:00:00.001-06:00

Source: Spotify audiobook hours. This is a review of my reading experience.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold is the eleventh book in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire.

After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children, she never believed she'd find her door again, and when she did, she didn't look back. She disappeared from the school to resume her place in the Halls, never intending to return.

Years have passed. A darkness has descended on the Halls, and the living statues who populate them are dying at the hands of the already dead. The Lord and Lady who rule the land are helpless to stop the slaughter, forcing Nancy to leave the Halls again, this time on purpose, as she attempts to seek much-needed help from her former schoolmates.

But who would volunteer to quest in a world where the dead roam freely?

And why are the dead so intent on adding to their number?

I adore the Wayward Children series, and I look forward to reading the new installment every January. The Wayward Children series follows children who have gone through a fantasy portal into another world that is a better fit for them. Due to circumstances, these children are forced to return to their original world where they must cope with the heartache and loss of losing their new "home".

While Through Gates of Garnet and Gold is the eleventh book in the series, Seanan McGuire does a great job setting up the story for those who decide to jump straight into this series via this installment. I don't recommend starting here, but we are getting pretty far into the series now.

I loved getting to see some old favorite and not so favorite characters in Through the Gates of Garnet and Gold. These books and these worlds and these characters are such a precious thing.

I felt like something was missing in book #10, and I felt it again here in Through Gates of Garnet and Gold. I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's a lack of something truly new? Or things have become repetitive? I say this every time I read a new installment, but I wish this series would last forever. That being said, these are starting to fall into the 3 star range for me.

So, overall, I love this series so much and never want it to end, but I'm also ready for something more.

⭐⭐⭐★★
3/5 stars

Journaling Goals for 2026

2026-01-20T04:00:00.002-06:00

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is goals for 2026. My reading goals have been fluctuating heavily recently so I'm going to focus on my journaling goals for 2026.

Weekly Journaling

I've been journaling for years, but I've never had a goal to consistently journal. This year I'd like to journal at least weekly if not daily. I've switched the type of journal that I use, and I'm working on a new style of journaling so it's all very enjoyable at the moment.

Do you journal? What kind of journal do you use? If I reach this goal, I may treat myself to a Hobonichi Weeks next year if that fits the vibe of my journaling by the end of the year.

Stickers

I do have the goal to not be afraid to use up the stickers, but I'm also challenging myself to use my favorite stickers first. I'm not saving them for a better day, better moment, gift for someone else. Use the best ones right here, right now. (I'm loving this one.)

Junk Journaling

I'm still playing in my normal journal, and I'm trying to do more junk journaling in it this year. I'm taking little ephemera and gluing it into my journal. It brings me joy so I'm hoping to be more mindful when I'm out of the home to save little things for my journal. I haven't caught on to this habit yet.

No Work Related Stuff

I'm challenging myself to keep almost all work related stuff out of my journal. It brings me absolutely no joy to come across work things in my journal so I'm working on this. The exception will be things I do outside of working hours while on work trips.

Page Counts

This is a very loose goal as I only want to attempt this one in a way that brings me joy. I'd love to track how many pages I read a day. I don't want an exact page count, but I'd love to see something along the lines of 0-50, 51-100, 101-200, 200+. This is something I'm going to play with this year and see what's possible to track here.

Review | Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky

2026-01-19T04:00:00.009-06:00

Source: library borrow. This is a review of my reading experience.

Ironclads is the first novella in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Terrible Worlds: Revolutions series.

Scions have no limits. Scions do not die. And Scions do not disappear.

Sergeant Ted Regan has a problem. A son of one of the great corporate families, a Scion, has gone missing at the front. He should have been protected by his Ironclad – the lethal battle suits that make the Scions masters of war – but something has gone catastrophically wrong.

Now Regan and his men, ill equipped and demoralised, must go behind enemy lines, find the missing Scion, and uncover how his suit failed. Is there a new Ironclad-killer out there? And how are common soldiers lacking the protection afforded the rich supposed to survive the battlefield of tomorrow?

This is going to be a bit of a lackluster review, but I'm challenging myself to review all of the books that I finish this year.

I consider myself a fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky, but he has written SO MANY books. I was in the mood to pick up something short from my library and Ironclads fit the bill.

As much as I love all of the science fiction I've read from Adrian Tchaikovsky, I'm not the target audience for this. While it's a dystopian scifi, it's also very much a military scifi. I struggled to enjoy this one. Every once in a while something would peak my interest, but I wasn't really pulled into the vibe of this one. If I had cared about the characters more, I think my interest level would have been a bit higher.

I wasn't mad at this book in anyway so this isn't a negative review, but my overall feelings are quite mid. If you love tactical military stuff, this may work out much better for you.

⭐⭐⭐★★
3/5 stars

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 18

2026-01-18T19:24:00.000-06:00

Hello! This is a better late than never update post. We had a storm just before last weekend that fried our modem so I had no internet. Then I left for the week on a business trip. I'm back and our internet is back and I am catching up on all of the things!!

Read Last Week

Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐⭐⭐★★ - Review soon.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐★★ - Review soon.

Currently Reading

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey - Set in the same universe as M.R. Carey's Pandominion duology, Outlaw Planet follows a gunslinger as she saves multiple worlds.

Fire Sword and Sea by Vanessa Riley - The real Pirates of the Caribbean were Black, and women! From Vanessa Riley, acclaimed author of Queen of Exiles, comes a sweeping, immersive saga based on the life of the legendary seventeenth-century pirate Jacquotte Delehaye.

BookTube

Most Anticipated Book Releases of January 2026 | New Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Thrillers

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Best Books I Read in 2025

2026-01-06T04:30:00.004-06:00

2025 was one of the best reading years ever quality-wise. Today's Top Ten Tuesday is listed in the order I read them with my favorite book of the year at the end!

Jade City by Fonda Lee (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Shroud by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Will of the Many by James Islington (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

From the bestselling author M. R. Carey comes an utterly unique and enchantingly dark epic fantasy fable like no other.

This is the tale of Once Was Willem, who - eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England - rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham.

Pennick for all its beauty was ever a place with a dark reputation. The forests of the Chase were said to be home to nixies and boggarts, and there was a common belief, passed down through many generations, that the castle housed an unquiet ghost of terrible and malign power. These rumours I can attest were all true; indeed they fell short of the truth by a long way . . .

Let me know if you have read or plan to read any of these!

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 4

2026-01-04T04:30:00.003-06:00

Hello, long time friends! I hope you remember me! Life got really tough, and I stepped away from blogging. I have been reading, though. In a weird twist of universal balance, I had one of the best reading years ever quality-wise this past year. I also started a YouTube channel so I still had an outlet to share what I was reading.

Read Last Week

One Piece Volume 13 by Eiichiro Oda (⭐⭐⭐★★)

One Piece Volume 14 by Eiichiro Oda (⭐⭐⭐★★)

I'm re-reading the Baroque Works volumes of One Piece because it has been a while since I was reading One Piece, and I'm also getting ready for season 2 of One Piece on Netflix this Spring.

Currently Reading

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey - Set in the same universe as M.R. Carey's Pandominion duology, Outlaw Planet follows a gunslinger as she saves multiple worlds.

Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky - So far this is a lot of war stuff, but I'm looking forward to discovering the real story of this novella.

BookTube

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | July 13

2024-07-13T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hi, friends! I've been a way for a while. Mostly I was focusing on my career. I finally left my job of 16 years, and I'm in a much better place now! I've also been allowing myself to fall deeply in love with reading again. I can't wait to do some catching up and share my thoughts.

For now... here are some of my favorite 5⭐ books that I've read while I've been away:

Murder Road by Simone St. James

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Read Last Week

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager ⭐⭐⭐💫★ - This was mostly a great time. I'm going to try to start reviewing again so I can post some full thoughts.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center [dnf] - Oh, no. This was my first Katherine Center and it was not for me. I'm bummed.

Currently Reading

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - I'm trying to fill in the holes in my cosmere reading before the end of the year so I can read the fifth Stormlight Archive book with the rest of the Brando Sando reading world. Enjoying it so far!

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein - I found an amazing bookstore while I was out of town last week that was filled with works in translation. I was excited to find this, and I've already started it.

Much love to you guys. I hope you are reading something special and have an amazing week.

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | February 11

2024-02-11T07:41:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends. I'm finally crawling back out of the deep pit of Dungeons & Dragons. I haven't done much reading over the past couple of weeks because I've been consuming so much D&D content. We are still playing and having a great time. I'm finally starting to feel like I have a handle on the rules and being a DM. It's freeing up the small amount of free space that I have in my mind to read again!

My kids were on winter break from school this past week. My husband and I took a few days off from work which was nice. We took a road trip and had some good food and did some shopping. It was fun.

It's super bowl Sunday. Will you be watching? We were planning to put the game on in the background for commercials and the half time show so I may get a lot of reading done tonight.

Posted over the last two weeks

New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

On My Wishlist | Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa

On My Wishlist | In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

Finished Reading

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐💫★ - Book #9 of the Wayward Children series. I'll hopefully have some thoughts posted this week.

The Eleventh Metal by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐★★ - I'm hoping to be a Cosmere completionist by the end of the year. I don't get particularly excited about the shorts and novellas, but I'm trying to read them all.

Currently Reading

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson - I have a weird relationship with this book. This is my fourth time trying to read Elantris. It has been a struggle connecting with this one until now. I have my theories as to why, but I'm finally connecting to and loving Elantris.

Added to the TBR

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - I have such a fun friend group and we are about to do a buddy read of A Court of Thorns and Roses. I can't wait to finally be in the know about ACOTAR and have a great time with friends.

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist | In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

2024-02-07T04:00:00.001-06:00

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes is a Booker Prize nominee that is being released in the US later this month.

An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life.
Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's first life forms – what she instead finds calls into question everything we know about our own beginnings. Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space agency.
Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence, looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows how – no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope – we will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home.

In Ascension had me at "deep vent in the ocean floor". I'm here for a science fiction novel that made the long list for the Booker Prize especially if it deals with the ocean. I've seen comparisons to Jeff VandeerMeer which I find very exciting.

Are you interested in reading In Ascension?

On My Wishlist | Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa

2024-01-31T04:00:00.001-06:00

Island Witch is an adult horror novel by Amanda Jayatissa.

Inspired by Sri Lankan folklore, award-winning author Amanda Jayatissa turns her feverish, Gothic-tinged talents to late 19th century Sri Lanka where the daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal village.
Being the daughter of the village Capuwa, or demon-priest, Amara is used to keeping mostly to herself. Influenced by the new religious practices brought in by the British Colonizers, the villagers who once respected her father’s craft have turned on the family. Yet, they all still seem to call on him whenever supernatural disturbances arise.
Now someone—or something —is viciously seizing upon men in the jungle. But instead of enlisting Amara’s father’s help, the villages have accused him of carrying out the attacks himself.
As she tries to clear her father’s name, Amara finds herself haunted by dreams that eerily predict the dark forces on her island. And she can’t shake the feeling that it’s all connected to the night she was recovering from a strange illness, and woke up, scared and confused, to hear her mother’s frantic No one can find out what happened .
Lush, otherworldly, and recalling horror classics like Carrie and The Exorcist, Island Witch is a deliciously creepy and darkly feminist tale about the horrors of moral panic, the violent space between girlhood and adulthood, and what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.

Island Witch is being compared to Carrie and The Exorcist. It sounds like a scary novel of female rage that I'm here for.

Is Island Witch on your radar?

New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

2024-01-30T04:00:00.002-06:00

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023. Several of these were favorites!

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (10⭐ out of 5)

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Chlorine by Jade Song (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (⭐⭐⭐★★)

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche (⭐⭐★★★)

Below by Laurel Hightower (⭐⭐⭐⭐★)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (⭐⭐⭐★★)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (⭐⭐⭐⭐★)

Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney (⭐⭐⭐⭐★)

Camp Damascus is a horror novel by Chuck Tingle ( ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The September House by Carissa Orlando (⭐⭐⭐★★)

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 28

2024-01-28T07:16:00.002-06:00

Hello, friends! I missed posting an update last weekend because I got thoroughly sucked into the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Do you play? I'm not even sure how it happened, but my husband and three kids were suddenly wanting to play D&D with me, and none of us had ever played before. Before they could change their minds, I rushed out and bought a starter set. Even with the bare bones rules and small adventure, it was 80 pages of rules and story to learn! While this is certainly smaller than the three 300 page books you normally have to read to learn D&D (what!), it was a lot.

This was my Dungeon Master setup by Sunday morning:

I still have no idea what I'm doing, but we had a lot of fun and plan to play regularly.

All of this to say I didn't read anything at all this week that wasn't D&D related!

Posted over the last two weeks

Reviews:

I wound up dnf'ing The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 200 pages in, but maybe I'll come back to it some day. I did post some thoughts on The Priority of the Orange Tree.

Top Ten Tuesdays:

Bookish Goals for 2024

Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To

On My Wishlist:

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

Currently Reading

I'm planning to focus on finishing Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire this week and then we'll see where my mood takes me!

I hope you all have an excellent week!

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist | What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

2024-01-24T04:00:00.002-06:00

What Feasts at Night is the sequel to T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead.

The follow-up to T. Kingfisher’s bestselling gothic novella, What Moves the Dead .
Retired soldier, Alex Easton, returns in a horrifying new adventure.

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.

I loved What Moves the Dead so much and always enjoy books by T. Kingfisher. I'm looking forward to reading What Feasts at Night.

Have you read What Moves the Dead? Will you be reading What Feasts at Night?

Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To

2024-01-23T04:00:00.004-06:00

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To. Oh no - I'm going to feel so called out today! Hopefully I can get to all of these this year.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig

The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

DNF Review | The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

2024-01-18T17:00:00.001-06:00

The Priory of the Orange Tree is a fantasy novel by Samantha Shannon.

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

I only read 200 pages so these are mainly just notes for myself.

I don't think Samantha Shannon's writing is a good fit for me. I can usually switch over to an audiobook, but things are mentioned several times before we are told what they are or why things are the way they are. I think this will work for some people, but I had a constant feeling of not knowing what was going on and it was even worse on audio.

There are cool elements (like dragons) and I like the characters, but I started plotting out ways to motivate myself to finish. I would love to make it to the other side of this and know why people love it, but I'm not sure how kind it is to force another 600+ pages when my TBR is towering.

I'm sad because the cover for the prequel is beautiful, too...

Source: personal purchase. This is a review of my reading experience.

On My Wishlist | The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

2024-01-17T04:00:00.002-06:00

The Tainted Cup is the first in the new series by Robert Jackson Bennett.

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

Early reviews of The Tainted Cup have been amazing. I keep meaning to read Robert Jackson Bennett but never get around to it. Maybe this series would be the perfect place to start.

Have you read Robert Jackson Bennett before? Will you be reading The Tainted Cup?

Expected publication February 6, 2024

Bookish Goals for 2024

2024-01-16T04:00:00.006-06:00

I love the start of a new reading year. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Bookish Goals for 2024. Below are my hopes and goals for 2024.

Goodreads Challenge

This is going to be the same goal I've had since the beginning of time - 50 books. Some years I read closer to 100, some years I read closer to 50. I think roughly a book a week is a massive amount for an average adult.

Nonfiction

Last year the only nonfiction books I read were picked by my book club. I need to take my brain back.

TBR Jar

I have made a TBR jar every year for as long as I can remember. I'd love to read a lot more from my jar this year. I currently have 136 books in the jar. I have no intentions of reading them all, but I want it to be my go to for picking books this year.

Kid Lit

I didn't read much middle grade or young adult last year and I'm hoping to do much better in that area this year. I know I'm missing out on some amazing stories.

Reviews

I have fallen completely out of the habit of writing reviews. I miss it, and I'm struggling hard. This may make my reading feel like a job for a while, but I want to stop and write a review of everything I read as soon as I'm done reading it. Wish me luck.

Library

I use my library a lot for digital copies of books I own. I like being able to go back and forth between print and audio. I'd love to use my library more for new to me authors or genres and then only buy the physical book if I loved it. This is a struggle because I prefer to focus on books I own, but I'm working on it.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 14

2024-01-14T08:08:00.003-06:00

Hello, friends. I'm still in the middle of a ton of books which is fine. So far this year I'm on top of my reviews which is wonderful.

This week was birthday week for my oldest. We get a long weekend this weekend, and we have a winter storm coming. Some area schools are already delaying/closing in preparation. Our average snow fall here is zero. It's not even supposed to snow - just freezing rain - but I'm hoping for a snow day or two.

Posted Last Week

I posted two reviews. Is this a new me? I hope so!

Review | Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon

Review | The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Quarter of 2024

On My Wishlist | The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Finished Reading

Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon ⭐⭐⭐★★ - This series is a good escape (Review | Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon).

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - The best written worst book I've ever read. Highly recommended. (Review | The Reformatory by Tananarive Due)

Currently Reading

My TBR jar has a lot of faith in me and gave me both Children of Ruin and The Priory of the Orange Tree for this month. Both are tomes in their genres.

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire was released this past week. I'm slowly making my way through it. These books are so short in length, and I'm enjoying everything about it so far.

Added to the TBR

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire is the 9th book in the Wayward Children series. I love this series and all of their heartbreak.

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Review | The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

2024-01-11T04:00:00.007-06:00

The Reformatory is a work of literary horror fiction by Tananarive Due.

A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

I can't do this book justice so I'm not even going to try, but I do want to jot down some thoughts about The Reformatory.

First and foremost, this book is a masterpiece. Tananarive Due is an incredible writer, and this book is remarkable. If the world would allow a horror book to win all of the literary prizes, I think The Reformatory deserves all of the literary prizes.

The second point I need to make is this is a tough read. One particular chapter had me shaking so much I couldn't even type my thoughts to the friends I was reading this with. I'm not sure that's happened in any other book that I've read. This was a powerful read.

I wish I could do a deep dive into the layers of racism, injustice, grief, hauntings, friendship, family, and so much more, but this book is important to experience the way Tananarive Due intended. The book description does a great job blurbing what the book is about.

I give The Reformatory the highest of recommendations, but I also need to state there's child death, child abuse, and child sexual assault along with violence and racism and other content warnings that you may need to seek out prior to reading.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/5 stars

Source: personal purchase (audio). This is a review of my reading experience.

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On My Wishlist | The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

2024-01-10T04:00:00.018-06:00

The Tusks of Extinction is by the same author who wrote The Mountain in the Sea.

When you bring back a long-extinct species, there’s more to success than the DNA.

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again.

The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth.

Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold?

And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?

A tense eco-thriller from a new master of the genre.

The Mountain in the Sea has been in my immediate TBR stack for months now. They both sound amazing so I'd love to get to both of them this year.

Have you read anything by Ray Nayler? Is The Tusks of Extinction on your radar for this year?

Expected publication January 16, 2024

This post is being shared as part of Can't-Wait Wednesday over at Wishful Endings.

Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Quarter of 2024

2024-01-09T04:00:00.016-06:00

I had trouble narrowing this list down to 12. Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024, but I've decided to focus only on the first quarter (January - March) today.

Not a River by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott - Selva Almada is an Argentine author, and Not a River has been translated into English. This is a story of grief and friendship and it sounds like nature is an ominous character in this one. Expected publication January 1, 2024.

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire - Is my heart ready for another Wayward Children? We'll see! I love this series and each new release is a highlight of the new year. Expected publication January 9, 2024.

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer - This is survival horror about rock climbers inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident. Expected publication January 16, 2024.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler - This is by the same author that wrote The Mountain in the Sea. I don't know much about it, but I love fiction with an animal character focus. Expected publication January 16, 2024.

Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa - This is an adult horror being compared to Carrie and The Exorcist so I'm ready to be scared. Let's do this! Expected publication February 20, 2024.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall - Kate Alice Marshall is an absolute favorite author so she will land on my most anticipated lists no matter what she writes. Expected publication January 23, 2024.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - I keep missing the boat when it comes to Robert Jackson Bennett. I really want to get caught up on his other series and hopefully start this one as well.
Expected publication February 6, 2024

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher - This is the sequel to What Moves the Dead. I loved What Moves the Dead. I'm going into the sequel completely blind, and I'm so excited.
Expected publication February 13, 2024

Murder Road by Simone St. James - I really enjoy Simone St. James so I'm hoping to check out her latest thriller this year. Expected publication March 5, 2024.

We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson - This is another story of friendship and horror. Four women are investigating the murder of their friend and it sounds pretty intense. Expected publication March 5, 2024.

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes - This Booker Prize nominee is being published in the US in February. "An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life."
Expected publication February 27, 2024.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Alien worlds and alien lifeforms are some of my most favorite elements in fiction. I have the highest of hopes for Alien Clay. This is one of my most anticipated of the year. Expected publication March 28, 2024.

Review | Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon

2024-01-08T04:00:00.009-06:00

Twelve humans are left stranded on a wintry alien planet. I’m one of them. Yay, me.

In order to survive, we have to take on a symbiont that wants to rewire our bodies to live in this brutal place. I like to call it a cootie. And my cootie’s a jerk, because it also thinks I’m the mate to the biggest, surliest alien of the group.

Women of Earth are being abducted by aliens. Fortunately, they are able to flee into the arms of the sexy blue aliens of Not Hoth. So goes the series Ice Planet Barbarians. Barbarian Alien is the second book in the Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon. I had heard this series follows different main characters in each book so I was quite pleased to find the characters in book one were still present in the background of Barbarian Alien. I need to check up on my friends, you know?

Barbarian Alien follows Liz and Raahosh. Liz could use a lot more patience, but I do love love and I found them to ultimately be a sweet couple. I needed a bookish escape and the wild world of Not Hoth provided.

⭐⭐⭐★★
3/5 stars

Source: library borrow. This is a review of my reading experience.

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Recent Updates and Currently Reading | January 6

2024-01-06T07:40:00.002-06:00

Happy new year! I hope you all have had a wonderful start to the year. I've been starting new books all week, but that's fine. I'm enjoying every single one of them.

Posted Last Week

I managed to post all week! I had time off for the holidays so I was able to get a bit ahead. You will not see another week like this one until next January lol

First Book of the Year 2024

Favorite Books of 2023

On My Wishlist | This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

2023 Year-End Reading Survey

My 2023 Year-End Reading Survey

Review | And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Finished Reading

And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐⭐⭐💫★ - This is a portal fantasy, and I enjoyed it. I posted my review of And Put Away Childish Things yesterday.

Currently Reading

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due is the January readalong pick over on the Horror Spotlight discord. I'm easing into this one since the content is pretty heavy.

Yes, I'm already re-reading Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson! My local book club is reading this for January and the early buzz is so good. I love this book.

Nightmare King by Daka Hermon - Life is strange. I have no idea how Daka Hermon released a middle grade horror last year without me knowing. I downloaded it the minute I found out and started reading it. So far it's everything I want a middle grade horror to be.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is my first pull from my 2024 TBR jar! I'm really hoping to lean heavily on my jar this year. I love Steinbeck, but I've never read Of Mice and Men.

Barbarian Alien (Ice Planet Barbarians #2) by Ruby Dixon - I had an exhausting week and needed a complete escape from the heavy books I'm reading. I'm reading Tress with my husband so I couldn't reach for that one. I think Ice Planet Barbarians is a perfect choice in moments like these.

Currently Watching

I'm so happy to have a show that all 5 of us want to watch together. Two of my kids have read all of the Percy Jackson books, and I've read a few of them. We are enjoying it so far!

This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Review | And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

2024-01-05T04:20:00.001-06:00

Source: library borrow. This is a review of my reading experience.

And Put Away Childish Things is a fantasy novella from Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Harry Bodie’s been called into the delightful fantasy world of his grandmother’s beloved children’s books. It’s not delightful here at all.
All roads lead to Underhill, where it’s always winter, and never nice.
Harry Bodie has a famous grandmother, who wrote beloved children’s books set in the delightful world of Underhill. Harry himself is a failing kids’ TV presenter whose every attempt to advance his career ends in self-sabotage. His family history seems to be nothing but an impediment.
An impediment... or worse. What if Underhill is real? What if it has been waiting decades for a promised child to visit? What if it isn’t delightful at all? And what if its denizens have run out of patience and are taking matters into their own hands?

✅ Portal fantasy (and horror and scifi)
✅ Tchaikovsky spider

And Put Away Childish Things is the third novella in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Terrible Worlds: Destinations series, but each installment is a standalone story. I've read the first novella (Walking to Aldebaran) but haven't read the second one yet. My library happened to have this available when I needed a short read.

The main character Harry's grandmother was a famous children's author who wrote stories set in Underhill, and there are quite a few people who remain obsessed with his grandmother's stories. Set during the start of the pandemic, it felt like Tchaikovsky was working through a number of things with And Put Away Childish Things.

I continue to really enjoy Tchaikovsky's writing. He has written so many things that span the breadth of speculative fiction, and I intend to read them all.

⭐⭐⭐💫★
3.5/5 stars

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