Tag: fiction

My Monthly Wrap Up and Faves

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Hello everyone!! I want to start doing these at the end of the month. I always do one in my book journal so it makes sense for me to make one here in this space as well!

This month, I read 7 books, that were a mix of genres.

I read two nonfiction, one poetry book, two cozy mysteries, a cozy fantasy, and a middle grade. I also had on DNF, sadly.

I was able to add the nonfiction books to my nonfiction challenge goal of Nonfiction Nibbler in Shelleyrae’s Nonfiction Reading Challenge. I seem to be stuck on memoirs but that is ok, this is the most nonfiction that I have read in a while.

As for settings, I visited rural France, 1920s Montreal, California, the Hudson Valley NY, and Long Island.

Faves:

Of course it was. Magic and cats and cat rescue and Montreal and the 1920s. It was such a great book! I will be reviewing it soon.

I am a cohost with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings, who thought of the monthly bookish linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things book, not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of!

We have decided we will be featuring our favorite posts from the month here. I do read all the posts even if I don’t comment. I only like to comment from my actual laptop and not from my phone, which is a problem sometimes when I read the post on my phone. ( I am working on more time to read and comment though. )

Here are my four favorites from this past month!

A First for the Blog Marsha at Marsha in the Middle’s Wuthering Heights post. She mainly posts about her life and fashion so it was so cool to hear from her about her favorite book.

A Curated Reading List to “Savor” in 2026 I loved this list of books to read and enjoy from Paula at Between the Bookends

The Strawberry House Marg at Intrepid Reader shared her review of The Strawberry House by Rachel Burton and I have to say it sounds amazing!

From My Children’s Book Cabinet – Finchen I love when Cat shares about vintage books in her collection!


And for some non-book related faves….

Covergirl Bliss You Berry Lip Balm – if you are not really a lipstick person but still want some color, this is the answer.

My newly short(er) hair

Getting happy mail from pen pals

Homemade pancakes with fresh from the farm syrup

Spotting snow drops and rabbits on walks

Journaling

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!


Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! We had a pretty quiet week around here last week, which was nice!

Books:

Last week I read Trixie Belden, which was a blast from my past, and it was a crazy ride. I enjoyed returning to the world of Trixie and Honey!

I also read the second in the Enchanted Garden series. This series is just what I am needing right now; it is light and easy, keeps my attention, and makes me think spring with all of the garden and flower talk.

This week I am planning on starting two books, maybe three if the third in the Enchanted Garden series comes in for me at the library.

I plan on starting these The Sugar Rush by Peter Gregg, and Heidi. I am reading Heidi as a buddy read with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I am looking forward to it. I haven’t read it before! I missed this one in my childhood somehow.

Screens:

Not too much here on the tv/movie front, again. I have been going to visit my mom in the evenings, so I don’t get home until later and by the time Billy and I sit down to watch tv together we are pretty tired out. This usually means we watch a comfort show, and we are revisiting Brokenwood. I love that show so it is not a hardship.

I did post a few times last week.

Springtime Book Tag

Top Ten Tuesday: My Spring TBR

Coffee Catch Up

Also, just a reminder that Lisa and I cohost a link up, A Good Book and a Cup of Tea, for bookish links all month long. Anything book and reading goes! You can find it up in my header area.

In-Betweens:

We had a mostly quiet week last week, but we did go out yesterday to the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor. We had a great time, ate some fry bread, shopped a bit, and watched some of the dances and the grand entrance.

Today we have a birthday party for the Hurricane. She is turning three! It was supposed to be last weekend, but illness just keeps getting in the way these days. My dad and stepmom can’t make it today actually, because they have Covid!

And I will leave you with just a few photos from my roll before I leave.

And with that I will end here! I hope that you are all doing well, and that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday/Saturday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Catch up. That is what I feel like I have been doing for weeks now, catching up. On bills, on school, on therapy, on emails and phone calls, on blogging, just about anything that I need to maintain. However, today is the first day of our spring break! I am so excited – it is the reset that we need.

Today I think we are going to do some baking and independent art/project time. We are also going to start the Oregon Trail strain of sourdough that I sent away for! It is from 1847, and I just thought it was so cool that we could have this actual, physical connection to the Oregon Trail. Now, we just need to revive it, and keep it alive…. one of my projects for today and I am looking forward to it.

I don’t know what else I want to make. Chocolate chip cookies? Or sugar cookies shaped like snails? I am thinking whimsy might win. Today is supposed to be cold and snowy, so it might be a nice reminder that hopefully soon we will have good weather again.

Last Friday was actually beautiful, 68 degrees, sunny, breezy. It was perfect. It was also the first day of spring and I had to acknowledge it somehow. Something I did, just out of the blue and randomly, was cut like 5 inches off of my hair. I just felt like it was weighing me down, and I needed the freedom of a shorter cut. I need to get it sort of shaped, since now I look like Roseanna Roseanna Danna but I am still enjoying the ease of it, and the lightness. It is so bouncy and swishy!

Wyatt and I also started some seeds in honor of the first day of spring. Right now they are living in their starter cells in my office since we have a cold snap again. (It will go back and forth like this for a bit while spring and winter duke it out here in Michigan. ) I dragged out my container of seeds and we went through and chose some that we were able to actually start indoors. Some early season seeds needed direct planting and the ground was still a bit frozen so we had to wait on those. We planted way more than we are going to need: 3 types of tomatoes,  2 types of radish, beets, luffa fours, tigger melons, and orange watermelon. When the ground is soft enough, I promised Wyatt that this year would be the year he could plant watermelon and pumpkins. I am sure they will all be eaten by the squirrels and birds by fall, but we can try!

We also finished up the whole process of enrolling Wyatt in Little League teeball. He is on a special needs team with two of his friends, and is getting pretty excited! In therapy the other day, his therapist switched up her plans for the day and instead of his normal exercises and walking, she and Wyatt worked on hitting a ball off of a tee. We were both surprised at how well he did “right off the bat”. His hand-eye coordination was darn good for never doing anything like that.

His first game is in May. He gets a uniform and a photos on a baseball card and I am really looking forward to it as well.

** Ok – I stepped away for a minute and it turned into the rest of the day. So I am finishing up now. Lol **

This morning we are heading to a Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor. I went in college once, and I think it would be a great event for Wyatt to experience. They welcome everyone as a guest, and encourage cultural learning and connection. I think it is good for everyone to experience different cultures authentically and respectfully, which is what I hope Wyatt learns today from me, and I also want him to have fun as well, which I am sure he will.

After I will probably go sit with my mom for a bit, then head home for a family game night.

I also am trying to line up some activities for next week’s spring break. I want to take it easy, reset, but we also need to do some things or Wyatt will be bouncing off the walls! We just renewed our Detroit Zoo membership and our Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village membership, so either of those should work in a pinch. (although the village isn’t open yet. That will happen sometime in April.)

Annnnd I think that is it for now. I am going to get ready soon for our outing, but first I want to finish this cup of coffee.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Springtime Book Tag

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

Hello everyone! I saw this book tag on Heather at Bookables Youtube channel and it just seemed fun! I copied the questions from her YouTube channel.

Flowers: All the flowers we remember are blooming again. Pick a book that’s a fresh take on a retelling.

Heather Fawcett’s The Grace of the Wild Things. This is just such a fun, different take on Anne of Green Gables. I loved it! My review here.

Cadbury Mini Eggs: Obviously the superior springtime candy of choice. Pick a book that you consider to be a sweet treat.

Ok, I am not a super fan of Cadbury Mini Eggs. To me the springtime candy of choice is a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg or Starbust Jellybeans. For my book however, I am choosing one set somewhere that is supposed to smell like marshmallows.

This is one of my all time favorite books. I just love it! I love everything about it. I also love that my dad read it and said the main character reminded him of me! What a nice thing to say. My review here.

Allergies: Seasonal allergies often make your eyes water. Pick a book that made you cry.

This book made me a soggy tissue. I just cried and cried and cried. I loved it though. My review here.

Spring Cleaning: Out with the old and in with the new. Pick a book to unhaul.

I have had this on my shelf forever and I don’t think I am ever going to read it. It seems too sad every time I start it. I should just donate this one and free up a little space, especially since this is a chunker.

Spring Break: It’s the perfect time for an adventure. Pick a book involving a road trip.

This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it.

Rainbows: I just feel like Spring is made of freaking rainbows. Pick a book featuring an LGBTQ+ character(s).

This book is a fun read, and is perfect for spring! My review here.

Spring Awakening:. Pick a book that’s also filled with completely dysfunctional characters.

I had a hard time with this prompt. I think this one works though!

In like a lion, out like a lamb: Pick a book series that didn’t get better as it progressed.

This is a blast from my past. I loved these first books so much, and then, whoa. They went absolutely insane. If you know you know. I often don’t read all the books in a series anymore, maybe this series is the reason why?

Fun in the Sun: Tag some Friends!

If any of you want to do this feel free!

Mini Book Reviews and a DNF: La Vie, The Hounding, A Bit Much, Daisies for Innocence

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

It’s time for mini book reviews again! I like to do them in groups of three, although today I have a DNF to talk about it too.

Let’s actually start with that one.

The Hounding. I feel like this book has some really important things to say, that it addresses important themes, and is cleverly done. However, it was too grim, bleak, and at times too violent for me. As I was reading it I kept thinking it reminded me of The Virgin Suicides and of the witch hunts, and after I decided I wasn’t reading it anymore I went online to read more about it, where I learned that it has been compared to them both many times. I do think it has a lot to offer but I am not able to read it, at least right now.

La Vie. I always love a book by John Lewis-Stempel. His books are all nonfiction, generally nature nonfiction, and set in England. This one differed as it took place in rural France instead, after he and his wife decided to move there and farm for a change of pace. He was hobby farming, or more farming for the benefit of his family, instead of commercially farming and this book was very charming. It had some sad parts, but mostly happy little vignettes of their farm life in France. It reminded me of A Year in Provence but with more focus on farming and nature, obviously. And, it is another one I can count toward the nonfiction challenge! I already have a few memoirs so it doesn’t fit into a new category but as I am aiming for nonfiction nibbler I don’t need to always stick to categories.

A Bit Much. This book of poetry by Lyndsay Rush was amazing. The way I devoured this book of poetry this week! I’ve had some hard weeks, and honestly this book has helped me along, a poem here, a poem there. I shared so many with my friends as well, snapping a pic and sending it along with entreaties that they need to pick this book up. It is going on my must by list!

I had so many favorites but the standouts for me are Be St Fri Ends, Hysterical, Easy Breezy Lemon Squeezy, Cracks of Light, and Reassurances to Save for a Rainy Day.

Now I will say the same to you that I said to my besties – go find this book and read it. And follow Lyndsay Rush @maryoliversdrunkcousin on Instagram.

Daisies for Innocence. I love a good cozy mystery and I absolutely loved this one. The MC owns an aromatherapy shop, and she blends her own scents and recipes. Like The Good Witch, she has a knack or gift as well for knowing what people need, so there is a bit of a supernatural, or enchanted, element in this book too, another feature I love. And, of course, her corgi Dash. I love a corgi. It made me think of spring and flowers and walks outside, and had a good solid mystery as well. I liked it so much, I requested the second one from the library already!

And that is it from me here! Have you read any of these?

Also linking this up with the nonfiction reading challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

Hello all! February has just been a month. Yuck gray skies, cold, surrounded by illness, we got Covid – we are ready for March and hoping that it holds better things for Michigan and for us. However it did have small happy moments of joy, and those are the things that keep us all going, really, aren’t they? Moments like singing with your child while he shoots a big grin at you, your husband surprising you with your favorite chocolate bar when you are having a bad day, a phone call or a message from a friend that brightens your day. And that is how our month has been, nothing big or exciting but full of these moments. Watching the Olympics all shmooed out on the bed with family and cats and blankets, those few days where the sun peeked out and the skies were actually blue, Wyatt getting excited about the history or art lesson, opening the mailbox to find a letter inside rather than junk mail – you get the idea.

Wyatt’s birthday is Monday! I can’t believe my teeny tiny baby who was literally as big as one of our kittens when he was born is going to be 11. My silly goofy happy boy. He fills our hearts with so much good everything, everyday. We had to postpone his birthday party though unfortunately-everyone around us is sick! Hopefully they will be better by next weekend and we can celebrate with our family. This weekend the three of u will eat the cake we ordered the party, and I will just order another. And we will figure out what we are going to do. Will we brave the weather and go to the zoo? Will we brave the germs and mask up and go somewhere inside? Only time will tell!

Speaking of my Wy-guy, we signed him up for a local little league team! They have a special needs team and kiddo is now all ready to play baseball. My cousin has gloves from when her son played little league and he is also a lefty like Wyatt, so she is giving us one of his old gloves, so that is settled. I was talking to her on the phone yesterday about little league, and she asked if Wyatt had a glove yet. I was so confused. Why would Wyatt need a glove? I am not very sporty guys. Two of Wyatt’s friends from Blackbirds are on the team as well, so it will be nice to all go to the games together.

Wyatt will be having surgery again sometime during the season, but the surgeon has told us his recovery will be nothing like the previous surgery. This one will be just a few days and he won’t have any restrictions. He has to have the metal that they put in him in July taken out. That surgery will be happening at the end of April.

I have been really enjoying exchanging snail mail letters with a few different women around the country, and one woman in the Netherlands. It is always such a happy surprise to find a new letter in the mailbox! (thank you Tina for all of your letters! You have one on the way too) It was nice to sit down yesterday with a cup of tea while Wyatt was painting and write a few letters back. We had finished school and his exercises and I had completed a bunch of household tasks (litter boxes, dishes, etc) and I finally had a semi-quiet moment (there are never completely quiet moments when Wyatt is awake – he is always chattering away like a little squirrel), and it was nice. I have also received little gifts inside my letters, stickers and teas, and I need to get something to send back to everyone in my next letters. I am thinking about starting tea journal! I saw someone with one online and it is so cute. I mean, why shouldn’t I have a journal for everything? Lol. I am an archivist at heart!

I am so ready for spring everyone. Like major spring fever over here. I know that March weather is notorious for faking us out, and it is not spring weather yet – Wyatt was born on the coldest day of the winter that year – but this morning the sun is shining, and the temp is supposed to be 50 degrees and it just feels so close. Temps plunge again after this weekend but at least we have a day or two of warmer weather before it does. I am ready to see flowers and birds and to plant things, and try to tempt toads to our garden, and then for summertime fireflies at night and backyard barbecues and bonfires. I want to walk through a wood and hear the spring peepers, to watch people gather around our little free library again that has been sort of lonely little bastion of books out there in the snow all winter.

Is anyone else feeling spring fever? Or if you are in the southern hemisphere, are you ready for cooler temps?

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Wednesday Morning Coffee (Covid) Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Hello everyone!!! It’s been a minute since I posted here. If you are on my socials at all, then you already know, but that illness that Wyatt had – and passed on to us – was Covid. Ughhh. I started feeling pretty crummy Friday night, and by the time we went to bed, I had an idea that is what it was. When I got up on Saturday morning I took a test and yep, that line showed up. Billy was starting to feel sick too by this point as well.

Billy and I both immediately set up virtual doctor appointments to get on Paxlovid. I know that this is not the choice everyone would take, but we thought since we have Wyatt to take care of and we were all sick at the time, that it would be a good idea to take it. The other time we had Covid, back in like 2021ish, Billy had it in May and then Wyatt and I had it in July. Billy set up in his office when he had it that time and I solo’d it with Wyatt.

Anyway, we were both super tired for like two days, and have Paxlovid mouth which is disgusting. Wyatt rebounded quickly, but as he has a certain level of dependence on us, ended up spending a lot of time watching tv in bed with his parents as we rested. Lol. However, yesterday I felt so much better! The sun was shining, it was warm (40 degrees!), and I threw open the windows a tiny bit to air out the house, and got busy cleaning. I scrubbed down the bedrooms with bleach, washed all the bedding, scrubbed floors, just pretty much went on a crazy deep clean spree. I also decided anything that made me think of winter needed to put away. Winter decor was banished to boxes, and snowy reads put back on the shelves for another time. I moved out books that feel like spring, changed our duvet cover, and by the end of it all, the whole house felt lighter. Fresher. And I felt happier and lighter as well. I saw Mireille posted about vignettes today and I need to pop over and read her post, but that is what I was doing yesterday too. Changing my vignettes. Changing my view, and my mindset.

It is still too early here in Michigan to start seeds, I think, but I think we will give it a try. I feel like if we get some wee plantlings that there is a way we could make a makeshift greenhouse situation on our deck for Wyatt and I to tend. We need to move our thinking forward to spring. As the seasons start to shift, so do we. It is premature to think of spring being here, I live in Michigan after all. Winter could be here until April for goodness sakes. But, I am going to start thinking at least of brighter, longer days. Of more color in the world, not just the blues and grays and whites of winter. We need pink and green, yellow. We need birdsong. I think that if the weather is a little better next week Wyatt and I might take a field trip to the zoo, walk around, go into the butterfly house, watch the otters play.

We have been watching the Olympics a lot around here, and playing with our three cats, little Miso who is like the Nana for our kittens. She follows them around, just sort of watching them. They nuzzle up against her and she sort of makes a face like eww but also allows it. But when I put them in the office for the night (I don’t trust them running around the house at night yet) she sits outside the door for a bit, and in the morning she waits for them to come out, and nose boops them. I had to laugh yesterday, Mouse, our little adventurer and scamp, ran by Miso and play swatted her poofy tail, and then ran off. She was brave, that could have earned her a little hiss but it didn’t.

I haven’t wanted to read much while I have been sick, but I did receive two letters from pen pals which made me smile. Yesterday while Wyatt was painting, I wrote them back. It was so nice to have a cup of tea, and just write out letters that I will send out to two very different places, while my son happily painted next to me. Poor Billy had to go back to work yesterday, but he was working from home so that was better at least.

Today we join the world again. Wyatt goes back to therapy, and I think he will be glad to get out. I know I will be happy! I think we might try to go to the library and pick up our holds as well. And maybe I will stop at Starbucks and grab Wyatt a cookie, and a Medicine Ball for myself. Then we will come home to our house full of animals and Billy and settle in for the evening.

And I think that is it from me today! I don’t know what is in my camera roll, we will find out here together I guess!

I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile.

Mini Book Reviews: The Lady on Esplanade, Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge, While the Earth Holds Its Breath, Secret Nights and Northern Lights

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone! I try to write mini-book reviews every three or four books and it is time to share again.

The Lady on Esplanade by Karen White: I really enjoy this series! It has so much that I love all in one book, from New Orleans to hold houses and historic preservation to ghost stories and a long arcing mystery that goes back to Hurricane Katrina. This one was no exception, and really brought all of those wonderful things into play. I was even freaked out a few times! There is one aspect to this series that I don’t enjoy though, and it is the very messy romances. I really wish they would resolve because it detracts from my enjoyment of reading these. Otherwise, this series is really a lot of fun!

In the Lady on Esplanade, Nola and her crew are beginning the new endeavor of flipping murder houses, and the house they are currently working on is a doozy, and includes…a doll. You guys, I am totally creeped out by dolls! I know so many people love them but there is something so uncanny about them, and they give me the weirds. This one almost gave me nightmares! The mystery unravels slowly and I really enjoyed the very climatic ending! However, those romances..not it.

Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge by Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster: I have gushed all month over this book. It is a collection of letters between two friends, where they just chat together about their lives. Their dogs, horses, gardens, literature, children, and it was a wonderful journey through a year of their friendship. When I finished this book, I was sad. I didn’t want to leave these ladies and their stories to each other. I am so glad that our library system has access to many books by Taber, so that I can read more.

Two quotes that I loved, out of a million quotes that I loved.

“I never feel any older, that much I know. I hope I feel wiser and more tolerant and more full of loving kindness.”

“And the eye that has seen the wild dark beauty in the gaze of a fox is never going to be impressed by a diamond clip.”

While the Earth Holds Its Breath by Helen Moat: This book was pretty good, but I didn’t fall in love with it as I had imagined I would. Maybe this is because I already love winter, and I don’t need to learn how to embrace it. I did enjoy reading about Moat’s experiences, the walks she took, her travels. I think that is another thing – I expected more travel. However, a lot of this book takes place during all of the lockdowns of the pandemic, so Moat is also learning to love winter and cold and damp while having to stay close to home.

“The steaming crumble was hygge in a bowl. No self-respecting Scandinavian or Northern European would ever think of dieting in winter. Food is comfort against cold and dark.”

Secret Nights and Northern Lights by Megan Oliver: I absolutely had to read this book. I dream of a trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights one day. It just seems like one of the most magical things I could ever do. So of course I wanted to read this book set in the land of Fire and Ice!

This is a second chance romance, which was absolutely adorable. Mona and Ben have history, that goes way way back. Like all the way to kindergarten when they became friends. They bumble through trying to work together and navigating their feelings after being reunited after fourteen years, and they ultimately end up finding themselves as they learn who each grew up to be. It has cute moments, funny moments, tender moments, and yes, spicy moments. Not closed door, and there is swearing too if that bothers you. I really liked this debut romance by Oliver, and I will be looking for more in the future!

And I can add two of these to my total for the Nonfiction Book Challenge hosted by Book’d Out!

My Year in Books – Meme

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

I saw this over on Anne at Head Full of Books blog and it sounded so fun I needed to do it too!

My Year in Books

Rules?

  • Answer the questions with titles from books you read in 2025. (Some may end up being silly, others may seem overly serious.)   
  • The goal is to have fun. 
  • Participate by copying the questions below. Erasing my answers and inserting you own.  
  • Once you’ve created your post, link it below so others can see it, then visit others’ posts to see how they answered the questions.
  • Spread the word. Let’s see if we can make this a thing again this year!

Anne says to just have fun and not take these too seriously so that is my plan!

Questions:


In high school I was: Greenwild (Pari Thomson)


People might be surprised: What Moves the Dead (T. Kingfisher)

I will never be: The God of the Woods (Liz Moore)


My fantasy job is: The Baby Dragon Cafe (A. T. Qureshi)


At the end of a long day I need: Goblin Mode (McKayla Coyle)


I hate it: [when people don’t] Play Nice (Rachel Harrison)


Wish I had:  The Jewel of the Isle (Kerry Rea)


My family reunions are: A Fellowship of Games and Fables (J. Penner)


At a party you’d find me:  In the Company of Witches (Auralee Wallace)

I’ve never been to: Watership Down (Richard Adams)


A happy day includes: Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries (Tonya Kappes) (lol – not the burglaries part really, obviously)


Motto I live by: Home Before Dark (Riley Sager)


On my bucket list is: [learning] How to Talk to Your Succulent (Zoe Persico)


In my next life, I want to have: A Fellowship of Librarians and Dragons (J. Penner]

Mini Book Reviews: The Bewitching, Dinner For Vampires, and Moon of the Crusted Snow

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

Hello everyone! It has been forever since I did any book reviews, and I think I skipped over some books. Oh well I guess. This review has the last book I read in 2025, and the first two that I finished in 2026. Let’s start with that last book of 2025, The Bewitching.

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”

This book snuck in at the last minute, and made it right onto my favorites list. It was amazing. I was deep into the story reading one night during a wild storm – rain that pelted the house so hard that even Miso, who was curled up on my legs, jerked her head back and flattened her ears, and the wind whipped by so fast and furious that the windows rattled. And I am not exaggerating! The night otherwise was quiet, it was later in the evening and Wyatt was asleep and Billy was downstairs playing video games. I had the house to myself, along with the book and the storm. I probably should have gone to bed, but I kept reading during that storm and I was freaked out.

This book is filled with an overwhelming sense of foreboding. The story is told through three different points of view, from different times in history – the early 1900s on a farm in Mexico, 1930s New England, and 1990s New England. I love this multilayered approach to the story, and how we can learn from previous generations. It is hard for me to say which timeline and story that I liked best, because I loved them all, although the early 1900s storyline of Alba was a bit slower and took me longer to get hooked. I loved this book and I am so glad that I own it!

This book does have some trigger warnings, so look them up if needed.

I was looking for an audiobook to listen to when I ran into this one on Libby. I had just watched A Biltmore Christmas starring Bethany Joy Lenz, so she was fresh in my mind. I loved the cover, so Sweet Valley High, and I did like the series One Tree Hill, for at least the first two seasons. So, I went for it.

I am glad that I did! This book is read by Lenz herself, which made it all the more real, hearing her story in her own words and voice. Becoming part of this cult was a slow roll, a creeping insidious happening, one that would be hard to see coming until it was too late. It was couched in love bombing and isolation, preying upon people looking for connection, to others and to Christ. However, what happens is much more than that. It was also about total control to the organization, of resources and time and most of all the people. It was struggle, but Lenz was able to escape and tell her story, and I am so glad that she has since found happiness and independence.

And, yay – I am checking off the television category of the Nonfiction Reading Challenge with this one!

This book had been on my TBR forever, and I am so happy that I finally read it. It is a short book, a quick read, but not a fluffy one. It is bleak, yet also hopeful. I have never read a dystopian novel like this one, that at its center you really could feel the heart of the characters.

When the lights go out in a small northern Anishinaabe community in Canada, nobody worries at first. This happens all the time. However, as the days turn into a week, and they don’t hear anything from the South about what is going on, things begin to seem a bit more dire. Food supplies begin to dwindle, they must conserve all of their resources, and most importantly, work together and look out for each other. This is their way. Community. They care for each other. They share. They collaborate and help. They endure. They remember the old ways, they remember their culture. They gone through other “end of the world” events before as a people, and have survived. When they were sent from their homes to an unfamiliar land, when their children were rounded up and sent to residential schools – these also were end of the world events. And still, here they are.

However, the world begins to creep in, and threatens the community.

A sense of dread and doom lays heavy over this book, it is bleak, and scary to consider such isolation and lack of resources. Yet there is also that feeling of something more.

I could talk forever about this one, but I don’t want to give too much away. It is a short book and I don’t want to ruin anyone’s reading experience with spoilers. However, if you have been sleeping on reading this, I absolutely recommend it.