Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

  5★ 3🌶 I finished Den of Blades and Briars by LJ Andrews.  This is book seven in the nine book series The Broken Kingdoms.  This book is fabulous.  This whole series is fabulous.  There are four kingdoms North, East, South and West.  There are Fae, humans and all other sort of creatures.  The magic system is very complex but is explained and compounded upon with each subsequent book.  The complex and detailed world that Andrews has built is really like no other fantasy world I've read about.  The Viking influence is very strong and apparent.  The fairy tale re-tellings take a back seat to the complex plots in each of these.  This book in particular follows Ari to the Southern Kingdom where he has been charged to oversee the preparation of vows between Gunnar and Eryka.  Gunnar is the son of Valen's sister and Malin's brother.  Eryka is from the Southern Kingdom.  All of these people and their stories are very intert...

4.5★ 2🌶      I finished Guarded Treasure by Mae Lovette.  It was good but it didn't blow me away.  I enjoyed it overall.  I think the plot was decent.  It slowed the book down a little when the two MCs went back to Cairo to look for more information on the tomb.  I expected all the action to take place at the tomb and surrounding area, but why should it have, that assumption was on me.  The whole story came together nicely I think.  The only part I didn't quite care for was the jealously factor from Ben when he finds out Edith has an "engagement of convenience".  She shouldn't have needed to explain to him that being a woman in the 30s necessitated some sort of relationship with a man so that she could move about in social circles freely, but whatever.  They communicated with each other about it so it didn't become a huge sticking point for too long. One of my most hated tropes is miscommunication.  I did like that a good...

      I actually have a crafting update this week.  I started a pair of fingerless mitts last Sunday.  I have made some progress on them and took a picture. Pattern is  Timeline Mitts  and its free.  I'm using more Malabrigo Sock leftovers.  These are the five colors I used in both my Get a Shift On! shawls, so they'll match both.  Although I haven't decided yet if I'm keeping the second one for myself.  There isn't really enough contrast with the Abril, Anniversario and the Eggplant main color.  The other two colors; Solis and Indiecita contrast well.  I'm still really liking how these are coming out.  Because its all sock weight these are going to take me a while but that's okay.       I've been posting book reviews as I finish the books.  I finished A Soul to Keep and I'm nearly finished with Guarded Treasure.  My review of A Soul to Keep is here .  I'm not sure what I'll start ne...

  5 ★ 3🌶 I finished A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne last night.  This was my first foray into Monster Romance, so I don't really have anything else to compare it to.  It was pretty spicey.  I waffled between giving it another pepper.  The scenes are quite descriptive, long and there is a good amount of it.  Overall the book was good.  The story was interesting, there was a ton of world building.  The FMC is an outcast in her village, so when it's time to choose the next sacrifice for the Duskwalker who comes to collect once every decade she's the obvious choice.  Her choices are go with this Duskwalker willingly or spend the rest of her life in the underground cell in the village.  She chooses the Duskwalker.  Duskwalkers are a type of demon, but who can be out in daylight.  They are attracted to the smell of fear; it makes them go into a frenzy and they eat humans.  Luckily for Reia, she fears very little.  The Duskwal...

      I finished Stitches and Witches by Nancy Warren last evening.  This was book two in the Vampire Knitting Club series.  It was another quick and cozy installment, perfect for spooky season.  Lucy and the crew work to solve a murder mystery.  It was good.  It has a serial feel to it just like the first one and it was fast paced.  I noticed that the author repeated key information and events from the first book.  I personally found this a bit annoying since I had just finished the first book, however I could see this would be handy if there had been a good amount of time between reads.  I do plan to read more of these serials eventually.  But I'm going back to heavier reads and I'll come back to these when I need a palate cleanser.          I started A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne last evening.  This one is about a young lady who is given to a Duskwalker, a type of demon essentially as a sacr...

      I finished City of Snakes by Mariet Kay.  It was a 5 star read for me.  There will be another book in the series, so it ended with plot points still needing to be resolved.  It was fabulous though.  This book and Born of Starlight are comfort style reads for me.  They have just what I personally like.  Fairy tale re-telling, engaging and witty characters.  Good banter between the love interests, friendships, found family, magic/fantasy elements, world building and a nice amount of spice that doesn't detract from the story.  I'm excited for the third book to come out.  I got the feeling as I was reading CoS that the next one will be a sleeping beauty re-telling.   As soon as I finished City of Snakes, I started the book I got in the Favorite Things swap; The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren.   This was a cozy paranormal episodic read.  It was quick and fun and another 5 star read for me. ...

     I did some crafting this past week!  I sewed two bags for the Halloween Swap I was in.  So if you're my swap partner stop reading this right now, unless you've already gotten your package.  She likes purple and sugar skulls so I tried to lean toward that vibe with my fabric selections. outside inside I used some Singer fabric bundles I had picked up at Joann last fall.  I'm impressed with the quality of the fabric.  I did look to see if I can get Singer fabric anywhere else and I found it on Amazon, so that's a nice plus.  I'm really pleased with how this bag came out. She also likes The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I picked up some Jack Skellington fabric from Walmart and made a decent sized notions bag.  It's about 10x10 (inches) so I think it could also be used for really small projects or for circular needle storage.  In hindsight, I wish I would have added a loop tab on one of the sides to help with zipper closure, but I...