Valkyrie Cursed

Book Review: Valkyrie Cursed, by Rosie Wylor-Owen

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I picked up an ARC of Rosie Wylor-Owen‘s Valkyrie Cursed through Booksprout.
valkyrie cursed

Rowan McQuaid should be dead.

Valkyries don’t survive vampire bites. But after releasing a tomb full of rabid vampires, Rowan is still breathing. Her survival means one thing: somehow, she is immune.

When witches are slaughtered in their homes, Rowan discovers the vampires are hell-bent on killing the descendants of those who imprisoned them. And every drop of blood spilled is on her hands.

Forced to team up with the mysterious vampire Nate Hallewell, Rowan must find and stop the rogue vampires before they kill every witch in south east England.

my review

I thought this was quite entertaining, but nothing extraordinary. A perfect middle of the road read. I liked Rowan, Nate and crew. I appreciated the slow-slow burn of the maybe-future-relationship. The book is easily readable and I don’t remember any big editing mishaps.

But I also didn’t think the world particularly well developed. I, for example, couldn’t really pick out the lines between some of the species. What made a witch and a valkyrie different, for example, other than culture? How aware was the rest of the world of paranormals? I have no idea, etc. Nor did I think Rowan’s the family history adequately utilized. Though I did recognize that her and her brother’s situation mirrored Nate and his cousin’s.

All in all, I like it. I’d read another. But I’m not running out to buy it. (Well, I don’t think a next exists yet. But you get the idea.)

valkyrie cursed

ever strange

Book Review: Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods

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I picked up a copy of Ever Strange, by Alisa Woods, as an Amazon freebie last September. ever strange

An incubus FBI agent, a billionaire witch, and someone spiking street drugs with deadly magick.

Zane Walker’s undercover in Chicago’s deadliest drug cartel—and his magic is as dirty as the enhancers they peddle. When a beautiful witch storms in, making demands she thinks she can back up with magick, he’s forced into a split-second choice… and his monster rages out.

Ever Strange’s father was murdered. They made it look like an overdose, but Asher Strange, world-renown med-magick researcher, would never take tawdry magick enhancers. But before she can get an autopsy, her father’s body disappears… and being one of the richest witches in the city means she will get answers.

Someone’s putting deadly magick into street drugs… and it’s killing people all over the city. Zane’s magick is monstrous, and Ever’s power brings out his beast. But she insists on finding her father; and keeping her safe has suddenly become his job—on top of stopping an epidemic of overdoses that just might be cover for a serial killer. Together, they work to stop the dark magick that’s stalking the streets of Chicago… and try to keep their own secrets from consuming them both.

my review

I thought this an amusing, if shallowly developed, story. I picked it up because the blurb inferred that the male character used sex magic and the female one was a billionaire. I thought that subverted the norm, where woman are usually associated with sex and men with financial power. The book didn’t really utilize it in any significant way though. The characters were actually pretty standard. She was plucky and, yes, rich, (but still somehow innocent and down to earth, of course) and he was extremely dangerous, dark and brooding (but not actually the psychopathic killer people think him, of course).

But I did like both characters. After the initial introduction we see a softer side of Zane that I appreciated. No alpha-asshole here! And Ever saved the day with her skill more than once. So, no wilting violets either. And the whole thing is easily readable with no contrived misunderstandings or too-stupid-to-live drama to complicate things. But the plot is pretty thin, the world basically sketched out, and and the whole thing more more fluff than depth. But I’d read the next book if it was put in front of me.

ever strange

a month in picturs april

A Month In Pictures

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I found a fun thing today that I thought I’d try. Scrolling Twitter, I came across a post by Nell Iris in which she chronicled her month in 10 pictures. And I loved the idea.

It made me realize that I don’t put a lot of my life, outside of books, here on the blog, and made me wonder what I’d find if I looked back through a month of my own pictures. Like most people, my phone is full of candid shots I snap throughout the day. None of them were taken with an eye to publishing. (I didn’t even have the idea of this post yet.) But, seeing them might say a bit about me. So, here it goes.

What I found, unsurprisingly, was lots and lots of book pictures. I’m just gonna skip those. If you want to see them glance to the right or hop on over to either of my Instagram pages (@See_Sadie_Read or @Sadiesspotlight) they’ll all be there. Outside books, it was a month of cakes, nature, and dogs. And who can complain about that, really?

The month started with a picture of my almost finished new kitchen. I could rant frustratedly for an hour here, but I’ll hold myself back. Let’s just leave it at the project took significantly longer than projected and was full of complications. The last of which is that we can’t find anyone without a 3-4 MONTH wait to finish the plaster and paint! And please don’t even ask why the plaster wasn’t done before the cabinets went in. But the kitchen is complete otherwise. And we love our crazy blue countertops.

I took this picture April 9th, to send to my sister who lives out of state and therefore can’t just come over and see it.

We then spent the weekend out in woods. We have access to ~26 acres outside the city where we can go hike and bask in nature for a little while.

These pictures are taken in pretty close to the same spot, one facing north and the other south-ish. I’ve taken a picture over the bluff (toward Pelican Island Nature Preserve) pretty much every weekend for months. It’s amazing how much it changes from week to week. The whole forest, actually, not just the island.

Sadie got vaccinated

On the 16th I did something really exciting. I got my first Covid Vaccine shot. I was initially scheduled for the Johnson & Johnson single shot. But they ended up canceling the appointment and I rescheduled for the Moderna. So, I’m halfway there, folks.

And look, you even get a rare picture of me. I’d make excuses for my unfixed hair and lack of makeup. But I don’t wear makeup or do my hair (beyond a brush) normally. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve had hair that wasn’t in a pixie style in years. And only because it’s a covid-do. I’ve not been for a haircut since before quarantine started. So, this is me on any regular day.

We then spent the weekend out in the woods again, where the dogs (Motoko and Batou) were exceptionally cute. I got some great snaps of them and my husband. But I’ve cropped him out, since he wouldn’t appreciate being splashed on the internet. He’s shy that way. And you can also see, as always, there are books about, even in the woods.

I was also interested to see all the different kinds of wild flowers starting to peak out. I photographed some of them with the intent to google and see what they are. (Not good at identifying flowers, me.) But I never actually got around to it. Anyone have any ideas?

And then I ended the month with two unrelated cake encounters. My mother-in-law frequently sends boxes of treats to my children. It’s a thing. Included this last time was a Swizzels Parma Violets Cupcake Kit. This is not really something I want in my cupboard, but oh well. Eventually, I decided the solution was just to make the darned thing and then it would be gone. And since I have a friend who is getting back into cake decorating, and I’d just been talking to her about it, I decided to try my hand at actually decorating them, instead of just slabbing the icing on. The results were OK for a newbie, I think.

swizzlw sweets parma violet cup cakes

But I got really lucky a few days later when the same friend who’d prompted me to try my hand at decorating gave me a cake she’d decorated. You seeeeeee, one has to decorate a cake to practice. But one doesn’t actually need to be eating all the cakes they practice on. Lucky me!

Renee's cake

Her cake is admittedly better than mine. But then, she’s not a beginner either. And it tasted good too. No cake mixes in her cabinets. Again, lucky us!

So that’s all folks. That’s my month of April in 14 pictures. I had fun with it. I think I’ll do it again next month. I’d like to say I’ll make it a monthly thing. But, honestly, I’m not good about sticking to such commitments. So, instead I’ll say, it’s going to be my goal to do a month in pictures at the end of each month. What do you think?