Heather's bookshelf: read en-US Thu, 07 Aug 2025 11:18:25 -0700 60 Heather's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey, #1)]]> 192893 212 Dorothy L. Sayers 0061043575 Heather 5 mystery, own-it
Update 2022: I liked it a lot more this time around. I caught more of the jokes and could appreciate the understated characterization more.

Update 2024: these books just keep getting better and better. The characterization is understated and builds very nicely over the series.

Update 2024 (2): these books are amazing]]> 3.86 1923 Whose Body? (Lord Peter Wimsey, #1)
author: Dorothy L. Sayers
name: Heather
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/07
date added: 2025/08/07
shelves: mystery, own-it
review:
I had pretty high expectations going into this series, but the first volume was pretty disappointing. It wasn't as insightfully characterized as Agatha Christie, it wasn't all that witty, and it wasn't very suspenseful. I'll probably try at least one more, just in case my impressions were thrown off by a dull audiobook narrator.

Update 2022: I liked it a lot more this time around. I caught more of the jokes and could appreciate the understated characterization more.

Update 2024: these books just keep getting better and better. The characterization is understated and builds very nicely over the series.

Update 2024 (2): these books are amazing
]]> <![CDATA[Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)]]> 192888 288 Dorothy L. Sayers 0061043532 Heather 5 3.98 1926 Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)
author: Dorothy L. Sayers
name: Heather
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1926
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/15
date added: 2025/08/07
shelves: own-it, mystery, english-country-house, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co: The Early Years]]> 220714031 240 Anna Buruma 0300274300 Heather 5 fashion, historical, own-it 5.00 Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co: The Early Years
author: Anna Buruma
name: Heather
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/06
date added: 2025/08/06
shelves: fashion, historical, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Miss Amelia's List (Elemental Masters #17)]]> 209721933 The seventeenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows Amelia Stonehold and Serena Meleva as they navigate property acquisition, marriage proposals, and other ancient horrors in Regency England, but with the help of elemental magic

The year is 1815, and an American, Miss Amelia Stonehold, has arrived in the Devon town of Axminster, accompanied by her "cousin" Serena Meleva. She’s brought with her a list to tick off: find a property, investigate the neighbors, bargain for and purchase the property, staff the property and...possibly...find a husband.

But Amelia soon finds herself contending with some decidedly off-list trouble, including the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower, whose eyes are fixed on her fortune. Little does Amelia know that his plans for her wealth extend far beyond refurbishing his own crumbing estate — they include the hidden Roman temple of Glykon, where something very old, very angry, and very dangerous still lurks. But Roughtower isn’t prepared to reckon with the fact that neither Amelia nor Serena are pushovers. And he certainly isn’t ready for the revelation that he has an Earth Master and a Fire Mage on his hands — or that one of them is a shapeshifter.]]> 338 Mercedes Lackey 0756419107 Heather 4 4.07 2024 Miss Amelia's List (Elemental Masters #17)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/06
date added: 2025/08/06
shelves: fairy-tales, fantasy, i-want-to-create, want-to-buy
review:

]]> Don't Let the Forest In 200982373 Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.

Kill for him.

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality―Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.

But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork―whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.

Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster―Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...]]> 336 C.G. Drews 1250895669 Heather 0 forest-witch, to-read 4.10 2024 Don't Let the Forest In
author: C.G. Drews
name: Heather
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/04
shelves: forest-witch, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley (Elemental Masters, #16)]]> 57641305 The sixteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows sharpshooter Annie Oakley as she tours Europe and discovers untapped powers.

Annie Oakley has always suspected there is something "uncanny" about herself, but has never been able to put a name to it. But when Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show goes on tour through Germany, Bill temporarily hires a new sharpshooter to be part of his "World Wide Congress of Rough Riders": a woman named Giselle, who also happens to be an Elemental Master of Air. Alongside this new performer, Annie discovers that she and her husband, Frank, are not simply master marksman, but also magicians of rare ability.

As they travel and perform, Annie must use her newfound knowledge and rare skill to combat creatures of the night scattered across the countryside, who threaten both the performers and the locals. Annie's got her gun, and it's filled with silver bullets.]]> 288 Mercedes Lackey 075641217X Heather 4 3.60 2022 The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley (Elemental Masters, #16)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/04
date added: 2025/08/04
shelves: fairy-tales, fantasy, historical, victoriana, own-it, i-want-to-create
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jolene (Elemental Masters, #15)]]> 52878264
Anna May Jones is the daughter of a coal miner. When her father succumbs to Black Lung, the coal company wastes no time in turning the family out of their home. In desperation, Anna May's mother sends her to live with her Aunt Jinny, a witchy-woman and an Elemental Master, in a holler outside of Ducktown.

As she settles into her new life, Anna May finds herself falling for a stonemason with such a talent for stonecarving that people come all the way from Memphis to commission statues and tombstones from him. But he's not content with his current skill—he wants to learn to carve stone so well it looks real.

When the stonemason disappears on a quest to fulfill his ambition, it is up to Anna May to follow and find him, armed with the new abilities Aunt Jinny has taught her. To save the man she loves, Anna May must journey into the mountain—and confront the horrors that lurk in the darkness of the mine.]]> 320 Mercedes Lackey 0756412145 Heather 5 3.84 2020 Jolene (Elemental Masters, #15)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/04
date added: 2025/08/04
shelves: fairy-tales, fantasy, historical, i-want-to-be-a-witch, own-it, i-want-to-create, forest-witch, gentle, book-quilt, gardening
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From a High Tower (Elemental Masters, #10)]]> 23398881 From a High Tower is the newest adventure in Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series.
When a man is caught stealing from a walled garden owned by a strange woman, he bargains away his youngest daughter in return for food for his family. The woman, rumored to be a witch, takes the golden-haired child and locks her away in a high tower. Sixteen years later, Giselle has lived an isolated life, but her adoptive mother has trained her in Air magic, and Giselle must use her new skills to keep herself and her new friends safe...]]> 328 Mercedes Lackey 0756408989 Heather 4 fantasy, fairy-tales, own-it 3.88 2015 From a High Tower (Elemental Masters, #10)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/04
date added: 2025/08/04
shelves: fantasy, fairy-tales, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Home from the Sea (Elemental Masters, #7)]]> 12974280 311 Mercedes Lackey 0756407273 Heather 5 3.83 2012 Home from the Sea (Elemental Masters, #7)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/02
date added: 2025/08/02
shelves: fairy-tales, kick-ass-women, own-it, i-want-to-be-a-witch, dark-fairy-tale, i-want-to-create, book-quilt
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Blood Red (Elemental Masters, #9)]]> 18693942
For like her fellow Earth Masters of the Schwarzwald Lodge, Rosa is not a healer. Instead, her talents lead her on the more violent path of protection and defense— “cleansing” the Earth and protecting its gentle fae creatures from those evil beings who seek to do them harm.

And so Rosa becomes the first woman Hunt Master and the scourge of evil creatures, with a deadly specialty in werewolves and all shape­shifters.

While visiting with a Fire Master—a friend of her mentor from the Schwarzwald Lodge— Rosa meets a pair of Elemental Magicians from Hungary who have come looking for help. They suspect that there is a dark power responsible for a string of murders happening in the remote countryside of Transylvania, but they have no proof. Rosa agrees to help them, but there is a catch: one of the two men asking for aid is a hereditary werewolf.

Rosa has been taught that there are three kinds of werewolves. There are those, like the one that had murdered her teacher, who transform themselves by use of dark magic, and also those who have been infected by the bite of these magical werewolves—these poor victims have no control over their transforma­tive powers. Yet, there is a third kind: those who have been born with the ability to trans­form at will. Some insist that certain of these hereditary werewolves are benign. But Rosa has never encountered a benign werewolf!

Can she trust this Hungarian werewolf? Or is the Hunter destined to become the Hunted?]]> 312 Mercedes Lackey 0756408970 Heather 5 3.83 2014 Blood Red (Elemental Masters, #9)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/02
date added: 2025/08/02
shelves: fairy-tales, i-want-to-be-a-witch, dark-fairy-tale, forest-witch, english-country-house, book-quilt
review:

]]> Steel's Edge (The Edge, #4) 12119496 The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…

Charlotte de Ney is as noble as they come, a blueblood straight out of the Weird. But even though she possesses rare magical healing abilities, her life has brought her nothing but pain. After her marriage crumbles, she flees to the Edge to build a new home for herself. Until Richard Mar is brought to her for treatment, and Charlotte’s life is turned upside down once again.

Richard is a swordsman without peer, future head of his large and rambunctious Edger clan—and he’s on a clandestine quest to wipe out slavers trafficking humans in the Weird. So when his presence leads his very dangerous enemies to Charlotte, she vows to help Richard destroy them. The slavers’ operation, however, goes deeper than Richard knows, and even working together, Charlotte and Richard may not survive...]]> 388 Ilona Andrews 1937007820 Heather 5 urban-fantasy 4.15 2012 Steel's Edge (The Edge, #4)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Heather
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/08/02
date added: 2025/08/02
shelves: urban-fantasy
review:

]]> Fairy Tale Fashion 26196600
Dress plays a crucial role in fairy tales, signaling the status, wealth, or vanity of particular characters, and symbolizing their transformation. Fairy tales often provide  little information beyond what is necessary to a plot, but clothing and accessories are frequently vividly described, enhancing the sense of wonder integral to the genre. Cinderella’s glass slipper is perhaps the most famous example, but it is one of many enchanted or emblematic pieces of dress that populate these tales.
                                                                                                                                   
This is the first book to examine the history, significance, and imagery of classic fairy tales through the lens of high fashion. A comprehensive introduction to the topic of fairy tales and dress is followed by a series of short essays on thirteen “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Fairies,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Snow White,” “Rapunzel,” “Furrypelts,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Swan Maidens,” Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Generously illustrated, these stories are creatively and imaginatively linked to examples of clothing by Comme des Garc¸ons, Dolce and Gabbana, Charles James, and Alexander McQueen, among many others.

Published in association with The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

Exhibition The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York
(01/15/16–04/16/16)]]> 276 Colleen Hill 0300218028 Heather 4 4.03 2016 Fairy Tale Fashion
author: Colleen Hill
name: Heather
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/02
date added: 2025/08/02
shelves: fairy-tales, fashion, want-to-buy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fashion in the Fairy Tale Tradition: What Cinderella Wore]]> 42746054 316 Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario 3319911007 Heather 4 4.43 2018 Fashion in the Fairy Tale Tradition: What Cinderella Wore
author: Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario
name: Heather
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/08/02
date added: 2025/08/02
shelves: fairy-tales, fantasy, fashion, want-to-buy
review:

]]> Minor Mage 52369824
He only knew three spells, and one of them was to control his allergy to armadillo dander. His attempts to summon elementals resulted in nosebleeds, and there is nothing more embarrassing than having your elemental leave the circle to get you a tissue, pat you comfortingly, and then disappear in a puff of magic. The armadillo had about wet himself laughing.

He was a very minor mage.

Unfortunately, he was all they had.]]> 176 T. Kingfisher Heather 0 4.20 2019 Minor Mage
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/30
shelves: own-it, own-it-not-yet-read, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jackalope Wives and Other Stories]]> 35058181 Jackalope Wives", "The Tomato Thief", "Pocosin", and many others. By turns funny, lyrical, angry and beautiful, this anthology includes two all-new stories, "Origin Story" and "Let Pass the Horses Black", appearing for the first time in print.

Content:
- The Kingfisher & the Jackalope (2017)
- Godmother (2014)
- Jackalope Wives (2017)
- Wooden Feathers (2017)
- Editing (2013)
- Bird Bones (2015)
- That Time with Bob and the Unicorn (2016)
- Razorback (2017)
- The Dryad's Shoe (2014)
- Let Pass the Horses Black (2017)
- Telling the Bees (2015)
- The Tomato Thief (2017)
- Origin Story (2017)
- Pocosin (2017)
- It Was a Day (2013)
- Acknowledgments (2017)

]]> 240 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 4.49 2017 Jackalope Wives and Other Stories
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/30
date added: 2025/07/30
shelves: fairy-tales, own-it, dark-fairy-tale, poetry, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Just Ella (The Palace Chronicles, #1)]]> 162719 Being a princess isn't all that...

You've heard the fairy tale: a glass slipper, Prince Charming, happily ever after...

Welcome to reality: royal genealogy lessons, needlepoint, acting like "a proper lady," and—worst of all—a prince who is not the least bit interesting, and certainly not charming.

As soon-to-be princess Ella deals with her new-found status, she comes to realize she is not "your majesty" material. But breaking off a royal engagement is no easy feat, especially when you're crushing on another boy in the palace... For Ella to escape, it will take intelligence, determination, and spunk—and no ladylike behavior allowed.]]> 240 Margaret Peterson Haddix 1416936491 Heather 2 3.76 1999 Just Ella (The Palace Chronicles, #1)
author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
name: Heather
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at: 2025/07/30
date added: 2025/07/30
shelves: kick-ass-women, fairy-tales, ya
review:
Some books you reread as an adult, and love all the more. Some . . . you don't.
]]> <![CDATA[The Door in the Hedge and Other Stories]]> 36147284 From ensorcelled princesses to a frog that speaks, an enchanting collection of fairy tales from the Newbery Medal–winning author.

The last mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. There is nothing to show a boundary, at least on the mortal side of it; and if any ordinary human creature ever saw a faerie—or at any rate recognized one—it was never mentioned; but the existence of the boundary and of faeries beyond it is never in doubt either.

So begins “The Stolen Princess,” the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. “The Princess and the Frog” concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. “The Hunting of the Hind” tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every night.]]> 228 Robin McKinley Heather 5 4.05 1981 The Door in the Hedge and Other Stories
author: Robin McKinley
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1981
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/30
date added: 2025/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Maiden, Mother, Crone: A Collection]]> 173404091
This beautiful volume contains the award-winning novellas A Pocketful of Crows, The Blue Salt Road and Orfeia. Fully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, with a brand new introduction by the author and three original short stories, this is a landmark collection which gloriously reimagines traditional British folktales into a timely, relevant and powerful new stories.]]> 592 Joanne Harris 1399614002 Heather 4 own-it 4.01 Maiden, Mother, Crone: A Collection
author: Joanne Harris
name: Heather
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/29
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast]]> 41424
Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage.

When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"

Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple, Beauty and the Beast.]]> 256 Robin McKinley 0064404773 Heather 5 fairy-tales, ya, own-it 4.05 1978 Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
author: Robin McKinley
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/29
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fairy-tales, ya, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Swan (Fairy Tales, #2)]]> 176796
Yet though Odile is terrified of him, she has learned far more than her father, the baron, intended to teach her—both of the magical arts and of Von Rothbart’s idiosyncratic nature. And both as a woman and the guardian of his swan flock, her heart goes out to each and every young maiden ensorcelled by her vindictive father.

And then the noblest of Von Rothbart’s enchanted flock, the Princess Odette, finds the courage to confront her captor, wresting from him a pact which could lead to freedom for herself and all the swan-maidens. Knowing Von Rothbart will use all of his magical cunning to avoid honoring this pact, will Odile have the strength to face him in a final magical confrontation which, if she fails, will lead to her death and the murder of all in her flock?]]> 416 Mercedes Lackey 0886778905 Heather 4 3.86 1999 The Black Swan (Fairy Tales, #2)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/29
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fairy-tales, own-it, dark-fairy-tale
review:

]]> The Raven and the Reindeer 28963596
A strange, sly retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s "Snow Queen," by T. Kingfisher, author of "Bryony and Roses" and "The Seventh Bride."]]> 226 T. Kingfisher Heather 4 fairy-tales, own-it 4.22 2016 The Raven and the Reindeer
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/04
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fairy-tales, own-it
review:

]]> Bryony and Roses 25566132
But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard?

Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she—or the Beast—are swallowed by them.
]]> 224 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 4.07 2015 Bryony and Roses
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fairy-tales, gardening, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)]]> 201967303
Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed.

Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts. . .]]> 446 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 own-it 4.15 2023 Paladin's Faith (The Saint of Steel, #4)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)]]> 59109627
Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…]]> 300 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 fantasy, own-it 4.14 2021 Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel, #3)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/03
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel, #2)]]> 57119466
When their paths cross at the point of a sword, Istvhan and Clara will be pitched headlong into each other’s quests, facing off against enemies both living and dead. But Clara has a secret that could jeopardize the growing trust between them, a secret that will lead them to the gladiatorial pits of a corrupt city, and beyond...]]> 445 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 fantasy, own-it 4.20 2021 Paladin's Strength (The Saint of Steel, #2)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/07/29
shelves: fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> The Telling 59921
Intrigued by their beliefs, Sutty joins them on a sacred pilgrimage into the mountains...and into the dangerous terrain of her own heart, mind, and soul.]]> 231 Ursula K. Le Guin 0441011233 Heather 5 sci-fi, want-to-buy 3.97 2000 The Telling
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/28
date added: 2025/07/28
shelves: sci-fi, want-to-buy
review:

]]> Rose Daughter 8089
Twenty years ago, Robin McKinley dazzled readers with the power of her novel Beauty. Now this extraordinarily gifted novelist returns to the story of Beauty and the Beast with a fresh perspective, ingenuity, and mature insight. With Rose Daughter, she presents her finest and most deeply felt work--a compelling, richly imagined, and haunting exploration of the transformative power of love.]]> 304 Robin McKinley 0441005837 Heather 5 3.78 1997 Rose Daughter
author: Robin McKinley
name: Heather
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/28
date added: 2025/07/28
shelves: kick-ass-women, fairy-tales, own-it, mythopoeic-award
review:
This book is a Platonic ideal of a fairy tale retelling. Thoughtful details, a realistic world, whimsical names, and characters that leap off the page.
]]> Or What You Will 45046576 Among Others, an utterly original novel about how stories are brought forth.

He has been too many things to count. He has been a dragon with a boy on his back. He has been a scholar, a warrior, a lover, and a thief. He has been dream and dreamer. He has been a god.

But “he” is in fact nothing more than a spark of idea, a character in the mind of Sylvia Harrison, 73, award-winning author of thirty novels over forty years. He has played a part in most of those novels, and in the recesses of her mind, Sylvia has conversed with him for years.

But Sylvia won't live forever, any more than any human does. And he's trapped inside her cave of bone, her hollow of skull. When she dies, so will he.

Now Sylvia is starting a new novel, a fantasy for adult readers, set in Thalia, the Florence-resembling imaginary city that was the setting for a successful YA trilogy she published decades before. Of course he's got a part in it. But he also has a notion. He thinks he knows how he and Sylvia can step off the wheel of mortality altogether. All he has to do is convince her.]]> 320 Jo Walton 1250308992 Heather 5 3.76 2020 Or What You Will
author: Jo Walton
name: Heather
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/28
date added: 2025/07/28
shelves: mythopoeic-award, own-it, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gates of Sleep (Elemental Masters, #2)]]> 176876
But though Marina's life seemed idyllic, her existence was riddled with mysteries. Why, for example, had she never seen her parents, or been to Oakhurst, her family's ancestral manor? And why hadn't her real parents, also Elemental Masters, trained her themselves? That there was a secret about all this she had known from the time she had begun to question the world around her. Yet try as she might, she could get no clues out of her guardians.

But Marina would have answers to her questions all too soon. For with the sudden death of her birth parents, Marina met her new guardian- her father's eldest sister Arachne. Aunt Arachne exuded a dark magical aura unlike anything Marina had encountered, a stifling evil that seemed to threaten Marina's very spirit. Slowly Marina realized that her aunt was the embodiment of the danger her parents had been hiding her from in the backwoods of Cornwall. But could Marina unravel the secrets of her life in time to save herself from the evil that had been seeking her for nearly eighteen years?]]> 446 Mercedes Lackey 0756401011 Heather 5 3.85 2002 The Gates of Sleep (Elemental Masters, #2)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: fairy-tales, own-it, i-want-to-be-a-witch, pre-raphaelite, i-want-to-create, dark-fairy-tale, english-country-house, book-quilt
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Phoenix and Ashes (Elemental Masters, #3)]]> 13987 Mercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series recasts familiar fairy tales in a richly-imagined alternate Victorian world

Eleanor Robinson’s life had shattered when Father volunteered for the Great War, leaving her alone with a woman he had just married. Then the letter came that told of her father’s death in the trenches and though Eleanor thought things couldn’t get any worse, her life took an even more bizarre turn.

Dragged to the hearth by her stepmother Alison, Eleanor was forced to endure a painful and frightening ritual during which the smallest finger of her left hand was severed and buried beneath a hearthstone. For her stepmother was an Elemental Master of Earth who practiced the darker blood-fueled arts. Alison had bound Eleanor to the hearth with a spell that prevented her from leaving home, caused her to fade from people’s memories, and made her into a virtual slave.

Months faded into years for Eleanor, and still the war raged. There were times she felt she was losing her mind—times she seemed to see faces in the hearth fire.

Reginald Fenyx was a pilot. He lived to fly, and whenever he returned home on break from Oxford, the youngsters of the town would turn out to see him lift his aeroplane—a frail ship of canvas and sticks—into the sky and soar through the clouds.

During the war, Reggie had become an acclaimed air ace, for he was an Elemental Master of Air. His Air Elementals had protected him until the fateful day when he had met another of his kind aloft, and nearly died. When he returned home, Reggie was a broken man plagued by shell shock, his Elemental powers vanished.

Eleanor and Reginald were two souls scourged by war and evil magic. Could they find the strength to help one another rise from the ashes of their destruction?]]> 468 Mercedes Lackey 0756402727 Heather 5 4.03 2004 Phoenix and Ashes (Elemental Masters, #3)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: fairy-tales, own-it, i-want-to-be-a-witch, dark-fairy-tale, english-country-house, book-quilt
review:

]]> Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit 6340340 The bestselling author of the Valdemar novels pens a classic tale about King Arthur's legendary queen.

Gwenhwyfar moves in a world where gods walk among their pagan worshipers, where nebulous visions warn of future perils, and where there are two paths for a woman: the path of the Blessing or the rarer path of the Warrior. Gwenhwyfar chooses the latter, giving up the power that she is born into. Yet the daughter of a King is never truly free to follow her own calling. Acting as the son her father never had, when called upon to serve another purpose by the Ladies of the Well, she bows to circumstances to become Arthur's Queen only to find herself facing temptation and treachery, intrigue and betrayal, but also love and redemption.



]]> 404 Mercedes Lackey 0756405858 Heather 5 3.76 2009 Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: own-it, fantasy, mythology, kick-ass-women
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)]]> 58132544
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.]]> 480 Rebecca Ross 0063055988 Heather 4 fairy-tales, i-want-to-create 4.06 2022 A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Heather
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: fairy-tales, i-want-to-create
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Poisoner's Ring (A Rip Through Time, #2)]]> 61885093 Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell―even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body―and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.

Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.]]> 341 Kelley Armstrong 1250820030 Heather 4 historical, mystery, sci-fi 4.05 2023 The Poisoner's Ring (A Rip Through Time, #2)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: historical, mystery, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Disturbing the Dead (A Rip Through Time, #3)]]> 195790745 Disturbing the Dead is the latest in a unique series with one foot in the 1890s and the other in the present day. The A Rip Through Time crime novels are a genre-blending, atmospheric romp from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends―and feelings―in this century.

So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.]]> 337 Kelley Armstrong 125032128X Heather 4 historical, mystery, sci-fi 4.20 2024 Disturbing the Dead (A Rip Through Time, #3)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Heather
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/26
date added: 2025/07/26
shelves: historical, mystery, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time, #1)]]> 58724944 A modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona's body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it's too late.

]]> 342 Kelley Armstrong 1250820006 Heather 4 historical, mystery 3.97 2022 A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time, #1)
author: Kelley Armstrong
name: Heather
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/18
date added: 2025/07/18
shelves: historical, mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps, Volume 1]]> 13530283
“Hilarious…Rodi’s title is a tribute. He’s angry that the Austen craze has defanged a novelist who’s ‘wicked, arch, and utterly merciless. She skewers the pompous, the pious, and the libidinous with the animal glee of a natural-born sadist’…Like Rodi, I believe Austen deserves to join the grand pantheon of gadflies: Voltaire and Swift, Twain and Mencken.” Lev Raphael, The Huffington Post]]> 424 Robert Rodi 0983484465 Heather 5 literary, own-it 3.88 Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps, Volume 1
author: Robert Rodi
name: Heather
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/16
date added: 2025/07/18
shelves: literary, own-it
review:
Highly entertaining, even when I strongly disagreed with the author. Like many people, I have a lot more sympathy for Fanny than he did. I also think Rodi really missed the boat on Henry. The man couldn't stay faithful for three months, when he still had something to prove. His own sister openly admits he'd take mistresses. I don't condemn him utterly, but he'd make Fanny miserable. And then her entire family, and his, would blame her for failing to reform him, or failing to hold his attention. They already do, without her even marrying him. Imagine how much worse that would be for her if they were married? And how much the gossip and scorn would hurt her.
]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Key (The Place, #1; Callahan's Series, #8)]]> 218676
The universe is in desperate peril. Due to a cluster of freakish phenomena, the United States' own defense system has become a perfect doomsday machine, threatening the entire universe. And only one man can save everything-as-we-know-it from annihilation.

Unfortunately, he's not available.

So the job falls instead to bar owner Jake Stonebender, his wife, Zoey, and superintelligent toddler, Erin.

Not to mention two dozen busloads of ex-hippies and freaks, Robert Heinlein's wandering cat, a whorehouse parrot, and misunderstood genius-inventor Nikola Tesla, who is in fact alive and well....]]> 335 Spider Robinson 0553580604 Heather 4 own-it, sci-fi 4.07 2000 Callahan's Key (The Place, #1; Callahan's Series, #8)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/18
date added: 2025/07/18
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Con (The Place, #2; Callahan's Series, #9)]]> 218670
Over time, the twice-transplanted patrons of Callahan’s Place attracted a collection of local zanies so quintessentially Key West pixilated that they made the New York originals seem, well, almost normal. The elfin little Key deer, for instance--with a stevedore’s mouth; or the merman with eczema; or Robert Heinlein’s teleporting cat.

For ten slow, merry years, life was good. The sun shone, the coffee dripped, the breeze blew just strongly enough to dissipate the smell of the puns, and little supergenius Erin grew to the verge of adolescence. Then disaster struck.

Through the gate one sunny day came a malevolent, moronic, mastodon of a Mafioso named Tony Donuts Jr., or Little Nuts (don’t ask). He’d decided to resurrect the classic protection racket in Key West--and guess which tavern he picked to hit first? Then, thanks to very poor accessorizing (she chose the wrong belt--and no, we’re not going to explain that one), Jake’s wife, Zoey, suddenly found herself in a place with no light, no heat, and no air. And no way home. The urgent question was where--precisely where--but that turned out to be a problem so complex that even the entire gang, equipped with teleportation, time travel, and telepathic syntony (you can look it up) might not be able to crack it in time.

And while all this was going on, Death himself walked into The Place. But this time he would not leave alone. . . .
]]> 286 Spider Robinson 0765341654 Heather 5 own-it, sci-fi 4.04 2003 Callahan's Con (The Place, #2; Callahan's Series, #9)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/18
date added: 2025/07/18
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Legacy (Mary's Place, #2; Callahan's, #7)]]> 218684 214 Spider Robinson 0812550358 Heather 5 own-it, sci-fi 4.16 1996 Callahan's Legacy (Mary's Place, #2; Callahan's, #7)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/16
date added: 2025/07/16
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:

]]> Square³ 58243480
We think a lot of things. It was perhaps inevitable that some of them would turn out to be wrong.

When the great incursion occurred, no one was prepared. How could they have been? Of all the things physicists had predicted, "the fabric of reality might rip open and giant monsters could come pouring through" had not made the list. But somehow, on a fine morning in May, that was precisely what happened.

For sisters Susan and Katharine Black, the day of the incursion was the day they lost everything. Their home, their parents, their sense of normalcy...and each other, because when the rift opened, Susan was on one side and Katharine was on the other, and each sister was stranded in a separate form of reality. For Susan, it was science and study and the struggle to solve the mystery of the altered physics inside the zones transformed by the incursion. For Katharine, it was monsters and mayhem and the fight to stay alive in a world unlike the world of her birth.

The world has changed. The laws of physics have changed. The girls have changed. And the one universal truth of all states of changed matter is that nothing can be completely restored to what it was originally, no matter how much you might wish it could be.

Nothing goes back.]]> 144 Mira Grant 1645240533 Heather 4 own-it, sci-fi 3.75 2021 Square³
author: Mira Grant
name: Heather
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/16
date added: 2025/07/16
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:

]]> A Sorceress Comes to Call 195790847 A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.]]> 321 T. Kingfisher 1250244072 Heather 5 4.05 2024 A Sorceress Comes to Call
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/16
date added: 2025/07/16
shelves: dark-fairy-tale, fairy-tales, i-want-to-create, own-it
review:

]]> Bayou Moon (The Edge, #2) 7130616
Cerise Mar and her unruly clan are cash poor but land rich, claiming a large swathe of the Mire, the Edge swamplands between the state of Louisiana and the Weird. When her parents vanish, her clan’s long-time rivals are suspect number one.

But all is not as it seems. Two nations of the Weird are waging a cold war fought by feint and espionage, and their conflict is about to spill over into the Edge—and Cerise’s life . William, a changeling soldier who left behind the politics of the Weird, has been forced back into service to track down a rival nation’s spymaster.

When William’s and Cerise’s missions lead them to cross paths, sparks fly—but they’ll have to work together if they want to succeed…and survive.]]> 447 Ilona Andrews 0441019455 Heather 4 4.07 2010 Bayou Moon (The Edge, #2)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Heather
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/15
date added: 2025/07/15
shelves: own-it, fairy-tales, urban-fantasy
review:

]]> Runemarks (Runemarks, #1) 633446
Seven o’clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. . . . Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith’s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, fairies, goblins, magic, glamours – all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The “ruinmark” she was born with on her palm proves it – and makes the other villagers fearful that she is a witch (though helpful in dealing with the goblins-in-the-cellar problem). But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy’s mark not as a defect, but as a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap of forbidden magic One-Eye can teach her if she is to survive that destiny.]]> 528 Joanne Harris 0385611307 Heather 0 3.75 2007 Runemarks (Runemarks, #1)
author: Joanne Harris
name: Heather
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/13
shelves: highly-recommended, mystery, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Drowned Country (The Greenhollow Duology, #2)]]> 49928905
Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea—a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him.]]> 157 Emily Tesh 125075660X Heather 5 3.94 2020 Drowned Country (The Greenhollow Duology, #2)
author: Emily Tesh
name: Heather
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/13
date added: 2025/07/13
shelves: fantasy, forest-witch, old-gods
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Winter Lost (Mercy Thompson, #14; Mercy Thompson World, #20)]]> 201182779 Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must stop a disaster of world-shattering proportions in this exhilarating entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable.

My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It’s a hard job, and it doesn’t leave much room for side quests. Which is why when I needed to travel to Montana to help my brother, I intended to go by myself.

But I’m not alone anymore.

Together, Adam and I find ourselves trapped with strangers in a lodge in the heart of the wilderness, in the teeth of a storm of legendary power, only to discover my brother’s issues are a tiny part of a problem much bigger than we could have imagined. Arcane and ancient magics are at work that could, unless we are very careful, bring about the end of the world. . . .]]> 416 Patricia Briggs 0593439007 Heather 5 4.35 2024 Winter Lost (Mercy Thompson, #14; Mercy Thompson World, #20)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/13
date added: 2025/07/13
shelves: urban-fantasy, want-to-buy, tweed-and-cables, old-gods
review:

]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 Heather 5 4.22 2018 Circe
author: Madeline Miller
name: Heather
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/16
date added: 2025/07/12
shelves: mythology, kick-ass-women, i-want-to-be-a-witch, mythopoeic-award, own-it, old-gods
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Callahan Touch (Mary's Place, #1; Callahan's, #6)]]> 218696 228 Spider Robinson 0441001335 Heather 5 own-it, sci-fi 4.19 1993 The Callahan Touch (Mary's Place, #1; Callahan's, #6)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/12
date added: 2025/07/12
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches, #1)]]> 20821288 Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....
 
The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.
 
But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.
 
This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.
 ]]> 435 Cherie Priest 0451466977 Heather 3 own-it, historical, horror 3.57 2014 Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches, #1)
author: Cherie Priest
name: Heather
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/07/12
date added: 2025/07/12
shelves: own-it, historical, horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A History of Civilization: Prehistory to 1715. Vol I]]> 335524 382 Crane Brinton 0132283131 Heather 1 non-fiction, historical 3.50 1955 A History of Civilization: Prehistory to 1715. Vol I
author: Crane Brinton
name: Heather
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1955
rating: 1
read at: 2014/06/21
date added: 2025/07/11
shelves: non-fiction, historical
review:
Seriously out of date and 'civilization' here apparently only applies to the western world.
]]> <![CDATA[Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson, #13)]]> 53033939
But Wulfe isn’t the only one who has disappeared. And now there are bodies, too. Has the Harvester returned to the Tri-Cities, reaping souls with his cursed sickle? Or is he just a character from a B horror movie and our enemy is someone else?

The farther I follow Wulfe’s trail, the more twisted—and darker—the path becomes. I need to figure out what’s going on before the next body on the ground is mine.]]> 389 Patricia Briggs 0440001617 Heather 5 urban-fantasy, own-it 4.29 2022 Soul Taken (Mercy Thompson, #13)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/10
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson, #12)]]> 44571368
My only "superpowers" are that I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I'm going to need them.

Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill--until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived.

Now one of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like anyone, any creature it chooses. But if it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction. It can make you do anything--even kill the person you love the most. Now it is here, in the Tri-Cities. In my territory.

It won't, can't, remain.

Not if I have anything to say about it.]]> 352 Patricia Briggs 0440001552 Heather 5 urban-fantasy, own-it 4.33 2020 Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson, #12)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/10
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> The Thirteenth Child 205181098 This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.

All gifts come with a price.

Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.

When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.

But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?

From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love?]]> 498 Erin A. Craig 0593482581 Heather 1 4.05 2024 The Thirteenth Child
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2025/07/10
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: dark-fairy-tale, fairy-tales, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[House of Roots and Ruin (Sisters of the Salt, #2)]]> 62649010 A modern masterpiece, this is a classic Gothic thriller-fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig, about doomed love, menacing ambition, and the ghosts that haunt us forever.

In a manor by the sea, one sister is still cursed.

Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, seventeen-year-old Verity Thaumas has remained at her family’s estate, Highmoor, with her older sister Camille, while their sisters have scattered across Arcannia.

When their sister Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem—wife of a celebrated botanist—is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance, but Camille won’t allow it. Forced to reveal the secret she’s kept for years, Camille tells Verity the truth one day: Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn’t know it.

Stunned, Verity flees Highmoor that night and—with nowhere else to turn—makes her way to Bloem. At first, she is captivated by the lush, luxurious landscape and is quickly drawn to charming, witty, and impossibly handsome Alexander Laurent. And soon, to her surprise, a romance . . . blossoms.

But it’s not long before Verity is plagued with nightmares, and the darker side of Bloem begins to show through its sickly-sweet façade. . . .]]> 544 Erin A. Craig 0593482557 Heather 4 fantasy 4.10 2023 House of Roots and Ruin (Sisters of the Salt, #2)
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Heather
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/10
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: fantasy
review:

]]> A Land So Wide 222419258 From the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Roots and Ruin, comes an irresistible blend of dark fairytale and romantic fantasy set in the beautiful but brutal Canadian wilderness.

Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious Scottish lumber merchant, the tiny town on the edge of the American continent is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous—but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks’ pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds—monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken’s founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out—and the town’s citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken’s borders belongs to it forever.

Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Swiftly realizing that the stories she was raised on might be more myth than fact, Greer figures out a way to escape Mistaken for the very first time. Determined to rescue Ellis, she begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But Greer is being hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken’s founding, as well as her own origins.

Playfully drawing from Scottish folklore, Erin A. Craig’s adult debut is both a deeply atmospheric and profoundly romantic exploration of freedom versus security: a stunning celebration of one woman’s relentless bravery on a quest to reclaim her lost love—and claim her own future.]]> 368 Erin A. Craig 0593686802 Heather 0 upcoming-favourites, to-read 4.03 2025 A Land So Wide
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Heather
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: upcoming-favourites, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Untitled (Sisters of the Salt, #3)]]> 200515340 Erin A. Craig Heather 0 upcoming-favourites, to-read 4.90 2026 Untitled (Sisters of the Salt, #3)
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Heather
average rating: 4.90
book published: 2026
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/10
shelves: upcoming-favourites, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson, #11)]]> 25026912 In this powerful entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, Mercy Thompson must face a deadly enemy to defend all she loves...

My name is Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman, and I am a car mechanic.

And a coyote shapeshifter.

And the mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack.

Even so, none of that would have gotten me into trouble if, a few months ago, I hadn't stood upon a bridge and taken responsibility for the safety of the citizens who lived in our territory. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It should have only involved hunting down killer goblins, zombie goats, and an occasional troll. Instead, our home was viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae.

The reality is that nothing and no one is safe. As generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.

But we are pack, and we have given our word.

We will die to keep it.]]> 384 Patricia Briggs 0698195825 Heather 5 urban-fantasy, want-to-buy 4.43 2019 Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson, #11)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/09
date added: 2025/07/09
shelves: urban-fantasy, want-to-buy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10)]]> 30687916 Mercy Thompson has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy’s bond with the pack—and her mate—is broken, she’ll learn what it truly means to be alone...
 
Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes—only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...
 
Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise...]]> 371 Patricia Briggs 0425281272 Heather 5 urban-fantasy, own-it 4.34 2017 Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, #10)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/09
date added: 2025/07/09
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lady Slings the Booze (Lady Sally's, #2; Callahan's, #5)]]> 218678 352 Spider Robinson 0743435788 Heather 4 own-it, sci-fi 4.21 1992 Lady Slings the Booze (Lady Sally's, #2; Callahan's, #5)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/09
date added: 2025/07/09
shelves: own-it, sci-fi
review:
The rating might change as I keep thinking about this book. I preferred the short story format of the previous books. I also found a lot of Spider's musings on rape and how it should be punished to be . . . distasteful at best, and downright awful at worst. I need to think further before I can articulate it better than that.
]]> <![CDATA[Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson, #9)]]> 25776210
Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?]]> 342 Patricia Briggs 0425256766 Heather 5 4.33 2016 Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson, #9)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/08
date added: 2025/07/08
shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)]]> 17562900
Soon her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s stalker is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.]]> 341 Patricia Briggs 042525674X Heather 5 4.39 2014 Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/08
date added: 2025/07/08
shelves: urban-fantasy, kick-ass-women, own-it
review:

]]> The King in Yellow 23167774 144 Robert W. Chambers 1906838925 Heather 2 3.42 1895 The King in Yellow
author: Robert W. Chambers
name: Heather
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1895
rating: 2
read at: 2017/05/01
date added: 2025/07/07
shelves: graphic-novels, historical, horror
review:
The art is lackluster and the story doesn't make much sense. Maybe if I read the original story I'll understand more of it.
]]> Temping Fate 370073 288 Esther M. Friesner 0142408484 Heather 0 mythology, to-read 3.83 2006 Temping Fate
author: Esther M. Friesner
name: Heather
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/07
shelves: mythology, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tales from Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #5)]]> 13659
The Finder
Darkrose and Diamond
The Bones of the Earth
On the High Marsh
Dragonfly]]> 280 Ursula K. Le Guin 0441011241 Heather 4 own-it, ya, fantasy 4.07 2001 Tales from Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #5)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/06
date added: 2025/07/06
shelves: own-it, ya, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Alpha & Omega (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)]]> 5393637 Cry Wolf, New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs started a new urban fantasy series set in the world of Mercy Thompson — but with rules of its own. Now, read "Alpha and Omega," the novella that inspired the new series, and see how it all began...

Anna Latham never knew werewolves existed, until the night she survived a violent attack... and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the Chicago pack, she's learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But when she discovers wrongdoing in her pack, she has to go above her Alpha's head to ask for help.

Charles Cornick is the son — and enforcer — of the leader of the North American werewolves. Now his father has sent him to Chicago to clean up a problem there. Charles never expected to find Anna, a rare Omega wolf — and he certainly never expected to recognize her as his mate...

This novella was originally published in the anthology, On the Prowl. ]]> 81 Patricia Briggs Heather 5 4.29 2007 Alpha & Omega (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/06
date added: 2025/07/06
shelves: urban-fantasy, short-stories, romance
review:

]]> Fair Game (Alpha & Omega, #3) 7942786
They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...]]> 308 Patricia Briggs 1841497967 Heather 5 own-it, urban-fantasy 4.32 2012 Fair Game (Alpha & Omega, #3)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/06
date added: 2025/07/06
shelves: own-it, urban-fantasy
review:

]]> Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega, #4) 22571699
For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal, as Charles plans to buy Anna a horse for her birthday. Or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.]]> 324 Patricia Briggs 0425256758 Heather 5 4.26 2015 Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega, #4)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/06
date added: 2025/07/06
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it, i-want-to-create
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silver in the Wood (The Greenhollow Duology, #1)]]> 43459657
When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.]]> 112 Emily Tesh 1250229790 Heather 5 fantasy, forest-witch 3.98 2019 Silver in the Wood (The Greenhollow Duology, #1)
author: Emily Tesh
name: Heather
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/06
date added: 2025/07/06
shelves: fantasy, forest-witch
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, #7)]]> 13413589 River Marked was praised as "an urban fantasy where our everyday world is believably twisted into the world of fey, werewolves, vampires, and myths made real." Now Mercy Thompson faces a shapeshifter's biggest fear as the realm she has embraced is thrown into chaos...

Mercy Thompson's life has undergone a seismic change. Becoming the mate of Adam Hauptman - the charismatic Alpha of the local werewolf pack - has made her a stepmother to his daughter Jesse, a relationship that brings moments of blissful normalcy to Mercy's life. But on the edges of humanity, a minor mishap on an ordinary day can turn into so much more...

After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can't reach Adam - or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They've all been abducted.

Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. But she fears Adam's disappearance may be related to the political battle the werewolves have been fighting to gain acceptance from the public - and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outmatched and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.]]> 342 Patricia Briggs 0441020011 Heather 5 urban-fantasy, own-it 4.34 2013 Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, #7)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/05
date added: 2025/07/05
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)]]> 6587387 Booklist). But she is about to learn that while some secrets are dangerous whose who seek them are just plain deadly...

Mercy is smart enough to realize that when it comes to the magical fae, the less you know, the better. But you can't always get what you want. When she attempts to return a powerful fae she previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down.

It seems the book contains secrets - and the fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side - leaving Mercy to cover for him lest his own father declare Samuel's life forfeit.

All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she may not have many more...]]> 352 Patricia Briggs 044101819X Heather 5 4.37 2010 Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/05
date added: 2025/07/05
shelves: own-it, fantasy, kick-ass-women, urban-fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)]]> 1412138 I could smell her fear, and it satisfied something deep inside me that had been writhing under her cool, superior gaze. I curled my upper lip so she could get a good look at my sharp teeth. I might only weigh thirty or so pounds in my coyote shape, but I was a predator...

Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape - but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.

Mercy's loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can't decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her...]]> 287 Patricia Briggs 0441015662 Heather 4 4.34 2008 Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, #3)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/05
date added: 2025/07/05
shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, own-it
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling]]> 27791380
Ways to use your journal to enhance curiosity, creativity, and sharpen your naturalist’s eye.

Simple techniques to improve your visual memory and help you draw what you see.
Lessons on how to use graphite, pen, watercolor and gouache for fast field sketches.
Lessons on how to draw wildflowers, trees, mushrooms, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, landscapes, seascapes, and skies.

Paperback, 8.5 x 11, 368 pages, with full-color and black-and-white illustrations throughout.]]> 303 John Muir Laws 1597143154 Heather 5 4.71 2015 Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling
author: John Muir Laws
name: Heather
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/05
date added: 2025/07/05
shelves: crafts, gardening, want-to-buy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Ekarius, Deborah Robson and Carol (2011) Hardcover]]> 131383574 Excellent Book 0 Deborah Robson Heather 5 want-to-buy 5.00 2011 Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Ekarius, Deborah Robson and Carol (2011) Hardcover
author: Deborah Robson
name: Heather
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/05
date added: 2025/07/05
shelves: want-to-buy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1)]]> 71811 289 Patricia Briggs 0441013813 Heather 4 4.14 2006 Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Heather
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/04
date added: 2025/07/04
shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, own-it, favourite-authors
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Secret (Callahan's, #3)]]> 218681 192 Spider Robinson 0812572297 Heather 5 own-it, sci-fi, short-stories 4.22 1986 Callahan's Secret (Callahan's, #3)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/03
date added: 2025/07/03
shelves: own-it, sci-fi, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Callahan Chronicals (Callahan's, #1-3)]]> 34270 Callahan's Crosstime Saloon is the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space, where the regulars are anything but: time travelers, talking dogs, alcoholic vampires, cybernetic aliens--and a group of people who really, truly care about each other. It's the rare kind of place where bad pun are as appreciated as good conversation.

Time Travelers Strictly Cash is their policy, but then again everybody pays cash at Callahan's. Lay your money on the bar, name your poison, step up to the line drawn on the barroom floor, and after drinking make a toast and throw the glass into the fireplace. It's an odd tradition (don't worry about the cost--Callahan gets the glasses at a bulk discount), but one's that's led to some interesting stories.

Callahan's Secret may be something even the regulars would never guess. then again, it may be as simple as listening to those post-toast stories. After-all, like Callahan says, shared pain is lessened and shared joy in increased--a simple concept that could, after a few drinks, lead to saving the world....

This omnibus edition contains the trio of books that introduced the world to Mike Callahan, Jake Stonebender, Doc Webster, Mickey Finn, Fast Eddie Costigan, Long-Drink McGonnigle, Ralph Won Wau Wau and the rest of the regulars of Callahan's Place in the stories that helped Spider Robinson to win both a John W. Campbell Award and a legion of fans.
]]> 400 Spider Robinson 0812539370 Heather 5 own-it, short-stories, sci-fi 4.31 1988 The Callahan Chronicals (Callahan's, #1-3)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/03
date added: 2025/07/03
shelves: own-it, short-stories, sci-fi
review:

]]> The Stolen Queen 211025454 From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.” Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.]]> 352 Fiona Davis 0593474279 Heather 0 3.88 2025 The Stolen Queen
author: Fiona Davis
name: Heather
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/07/03
shelves: egyptology, highly-recommended, mystery, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Callahan's, #1)]]> 218677

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog 카지노싸이트 Fiction and Fact:

* "The Guy With the Eyes"
* "The Time-Traveler"
* "The Centipede's Dilemma"
* "Two Heads Are Better Than One"
* "The Law Of Conservation of Pain"
* "Just Dessert"
* "A Voice is Heard in Ramah..."
* "Unnatural Causes"
* "The Wonderful Conspiracy"]]> 205 Spider Robinson 0812572270 Heather 5 own-it, short-stories, sci-fi 4.17 1977 Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Callahan's, #1)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1977
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/02
date added: 2025/07/02
shelves: own-it, short-stories, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Time Travellers Strictly Cash (Callahan's, #2)]]> 146842 256 Spider Robinson 0812572289 Heather 5 4.22 1981 Time Travellers Strictly Cash (Callahan's, #2)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1981
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/02
date added: 2025/07/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Lady (Lady Sally's #1; Callahan's #4)]]> 218671
Wife of time traveling bartender Mike Callahan, and employer of some of the most unusual and talented performing artists ever to work in the field of hedonic interface, Her Ladyship has designed her House to be an "equal opportunity enjoyer," discreetly, tastefully and joyfully catering to all erotic tastes and fantasies, however unusual. Like her famous husband, Lady Sally doesn't even insist that her customers be "human."..as long as they have good manners.

Small wonder, then, that she and her staff encounter beings as unique and memorable as the superhuman Colt, whose banner never, ever flags...Diana, the deadly dominatrix who "cannot" be disobeyed...Tony Donuts, the moronic man-monster even the Mafia doesn't want to mess with...or Charles, the werewolf with a distinct difference...]]> 308 Spider Robinson 0671318314 Heather 4 own-it, sci-fi, short-stories 4.22 1989 Callahan's Lady (Lady Sally's #1; Callahan's #4)
author: Spider Robinson
name: Heather
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2025/07/02
date added: 2025/07/02
shelves: own-it, sci-fi, short-stories
review:
I just really want to swim around in Spider Robinson's brain for a while. It seems like a very kind and interesting place to be.
]]> <![CDATA[The Other Wind (Earthsea Cycle, #6)]]> 13658
Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman.

The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand.

Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.]]> 211 Ursula K. Le Guin 044101125X Heather 5 4.17 2001 The Other Wind (Earthsea Cycle, #6)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/02
date added: 2025/07/02
shelves: own-it, fantasy, nebula, world-fantasy-award, mythopoeic-award
review:

]]> On the Edge (The Edge, #1) 6329547
Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).

But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.]]> 309 Ilona Andrews 0441017800 Heather 5 4.03 2009 On the Edge (The Edge, #1)
author: Ilona Andrews
name: Heather
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/07/02
date added: 2025/07/02
shelves: urban-fantasy, own-it, fairy-tales, romance
review:
I raced through this book so quickly, I was so caught up in it. The romance really creeped me out at the beginning, but most of my concerns were addressed in the narrative.
]]> Bury Your Gays 195790870 From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for years, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―"for the algorithm"―Misha discovers that it's not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right―before it's too late.]]> 295 Chuck Tingle 1250874653 Heather 4 horror 4.10 2024 Bury Your Gays
author: Chuck Tingle
name: Heather
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/30
date added: 2025/06/30
shelves: horror
review:

]]> Summer in Orcus 32182098
Summer in Orcus is a free serial released twice weekly, by the award-winning author T. Kingfisher.]]> 386 T. Kingfisher Heather 5 fantasy, own-it, fairy-tales 4.40 2017 Summer in Orcus
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/30
date added: 2025/06/30
shelves: fantasy, own-it, fairy-tales
review:

]]> The Twisted Ones 42527596 When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher.]]> 385 T. Kingfisher 1534429573 Heather 4 horror 3.59 2019 The Twisted Ones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/30
date added: 2025/06/30
shelves: horror
review:

]]> A House with Good Bones 60784409 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 247 T. Kingfisher 1250829798 Heather 4 horror, gardening 3.65 2023 A House with Good Bones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/29
date added: 2025/06/29
shelves: horror, gardening
review:

]]> Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4) 13661
Once, when they were young, they helped each other at a time of darkness and danger and shared an adventure like no other. Now they must join forces again, to help another in need -- the physically and emotionally scarred child whose own destiny has yet to be revealed.]]> 281 Ursula K. Le Guin 1416509631 Heather 4 4.03 1990 Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/29
date added: 2025/06/29
shelves: fantasy, ya, own-it, mythopoeic-award
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle, #3)]]> 13667 DARKNESS THREATENS to overtake Earthsea. As the world and its wizards are losing their magic, Ged -- powerful Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a sailing journey with highborn young prince, Arren. They travel far beyond the realm of death to discover the cause of these evil disturbances and to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.

With millions of copies sold, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere. Complex, innovative, and deeply moral, this quintessential fantasy sequence has been compared with the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and has helped make Le Guin one of the most distinguished fantasy and science fiction writers of all time. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

]]> 259 Ursula K. Le Guin 141650964X Heather 5 4.13 1972 The Farthest Shore (Earthsea Cycle, #3)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/28
date added: 2025/06/28
shelves: fantasy, own-it, ya, mythopoeic-award
review:

]]> The Moorchild 309480
As Saaski grows up, memories from her forgotten past with the Folks slowly emerge. But so do emotions from her human side, and she begins to realize the terrible wrong the Folk have done to the humans she calls Da and Mumma. She is determined to restore their child to them, even if it means a dangerous return to the world that has already rejected her once.]]> 241 Eloise Jarvis McGraw 068982033X Heather 0 3.98 1996 The Moorchild
author: Eloise Jarvis McGraw
name: Heather
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/28
shelves: gentle, i-want-to-be-a-witch, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories]]> 17707691 Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro

Haunted Castles is the definitive, complete collection of Ray Russell's masterful Gothic horror stories, including the famously terrifying novella trio of 'Sardonicus', 'Sanguinarius', and 'Sagittarius'. The characters that sprawl through Haunted Castles are frightful to the core: the heartless monster holding two lovers in limbo; the beautiful dame journeying down a damned road toward depravity (with the help of an evil gypsy); the man who must wear his fatal crimes on his face in the form of an awful smile. Engrossing, grotesque, perverted, and completely entrancing, Russell's Gothic tales are the best kind of dreadful.]]> 235 Ray Russell 0143124013 Heather 4 horror, short-stories 4.05 1985 Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories
author: Ray Russell
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/27
date added: 2025/06/27
shelves: horror, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 13642
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.]]> 183 Ursula K. Le Guin Heather 5 own-it, fantasy 4.02 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/26
date added: 2025/06/27
shelves: own-it, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)]]> 13662
Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?]]> 180 Ursula K. Le Guin 0689845367 Heather 5 4.13 1971 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Heather
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/26
date added: 2025/06/27
shelves: fantasy, ya, own-it, mythopoeic-award
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking]]> 54369251
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…]]> 306 T. Kingfisher 1614505241 Heather 4 4.02 2020 A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Heather
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/26
date added: 2025/06/26
shelves: fantasy, i-want-to-be-a-witch, i-want-to-create, juvenile, mythopoeic-award
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)]]> 14061955 Alternative Cover Edition #1

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.]]> 435 Leigh Bardugo Heather 4 3.81 2013 Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Heather
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/26
date added: 2025/06/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)]]> 14061957 Alternative Cover Edition #1

The capital has fallen.

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.]]> 432 Leigh Bardugo Heather 5 fantasy, ya 3.97 2014 Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Heather
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/26
date added: 2025/06/26
shelves: fantasy, ya
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)]]> 37834723 Alternative cover edition of ISBN13: 9780805094596.

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Shadow and Bone is the first installment in Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy.]]> 358 Leigh Bardugo 0805094598 Heather 4 3.85 2012 Shadow and Bone (Shadow and Bone, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Heather
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/23
date added: 2025/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Owlknight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #3)]]> 14007 450 Mercedes Lackey 0886779162 Heather 5 3.99 1999 Owlknight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #3)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/22
date added: 2025/06/22
shelves: kick-ass-women, own-it, fantasy, i-want-to-be-a-witch, i-want-to-create, forest-witch
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Owlsight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #2)]]> 176790 450 Mercedes Lackey 0886778034 Heather 5 4.00 1998 Owlsight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #2)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/19
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: kick-ass-women, fantasy, own-it, i-want-to-be-a-witch, i-want-to-create, forest-witch
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flowers, Birds, and Unicorns: Medieval Needlepoint]]> 1607002 128 Candace Bahouth 0810933160 Heather 4 embroidery, want-to-buy 4.05 1993 Flowers, Birds, and Unicorns: Medieval Needlepoint
author: Candace Bahouth
name: Heather
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/19
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: embroidery, want-to-buy
review:

]]> Faust 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Heather 3 3.91 1808 Faust
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Heather
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1808
rating: 3
read at: 2017/08/26
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: victoriana, own-it, literary, religious-fiction, skimmed
review:
I was getting next to nothing out of the audiobook, so I'm going to try again once I have time to read this slowly and carefully, as it deserves.
]]> <![CDATA[Owlflight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #1)]]> 14009 342 Mercedes Lackey 0886778042 Heather 5 3.99 1997 Owlflight (Owl Mage Trilogy, #1)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: Heather
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/17
date added: 2025/06/17
shelves: kick-ass-women, fantasy, own-it, i-want-to-be-a-witch, i-want-to-create, forest-witch
review:

]]>