Ballad for the Broken

6⭐️1🌶

I finished Ballad for the Broken last evening and needed a good night's rest to collect my thoughts on this one. It was amazing, no question about it. It sent me through an emotional roller coaster. The MMC and the FMC Draven and Lyra are both complex well thought out characters. They share similar trauma and worked through it together in book 1. This book starts out with them separated. Lyra was taken by *redacted* who on the surface seems like a bad guy. Well, he is fighting his own demons and after Lyra spends a lot of time with him, she comes to understand him at least a little bit better. Slight spoiler ahead. Lyra and Draven are reunited, a group of them from Bethara are actually, and its looking really great at least for a little bit. I know how these things go and I knew it wouldn't last. I seriously contemplated stopping at the 85% mark because the band was back together and everyone had time to breathe and were happy. I pressed on though and rode the roller coaster of plot twists, betrayals, capture, twisted games, reveal of the true bad guy (and he's quite sadistic) and an ending that, of course, leaves us all hanging. The secondary characters are so well done in this series. The found family from Bethara; Marcella, Kiran, Nuri, Gray all put a smile on my face when they are on the page. Wilkes brings depth to characters from the first book like Finlay and introduces a new character who was only hinted at in book one, Rhea. She made me start liking Finlay. She shows that everyone has their own story and reasons for being. The underlying narrative of humanities faults is interwoven beautifully in this. I really love the way she writes and pulls you into this story. I'm so glad I got the ARC of this book and I'm so glad I didn't know it was a sequel because I would have missed out on this series if I had passed it by. Both these books were 6 star reads for me and were compelling enough that I've ordered shelf trophies. There is also a novella that sits in between these two and I've ordered that as well. Check out this series if you like found family, shadow daddy MMC, morally gray characters, feminine rage, political intrigue, and heart wrenching emotional story telling.

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YOP: Week 36

I didn't get any crafting done this week. I did receive my swap package from the My Favorite Things swap. Here's what I received: An ample stack of fabric squares. Most are knitting related, the rest coordinate well. A book that looks interesting, The Vampire Knitting Club, one of my favorite candies, a skein of Alpaca yarn in a glorious color and cat chair feet. My daughter commandeered a couple of them already. I'm going to put a set on the clothes chair in the bedroom. All in all it was a fun swap. I also signed up for the Halloween Mini and got my partner assignment. I've got some ideas brewing for that one. Since my knitting mojo still hasn't returned despite the change in weather, I picked up a book (kindle) series instead. About two years ago I read an excellent science fiction romance; The Viridian Priestess. I know I talked about it. It was my favorite boo...

YOP: Week 34

I did some crafting this week, but it was all for the swap. I was nearly out of interfacing so I ran over to The Quilt Shop in Watertown. I'd been there once a couple of years ago and thought their prices were very good considering they are independent and Joanne and Hobby Lobby were both in Watertown at the time. They have really expanded and have a tremendous selection. They have more novelty type fabrics now, which is what I prefer for my bags, so I will be going there much more often.... probably too much. I got interfacing and I found two prints that were perfect for my swapee. I really wasn't expecting to find what I did. I sewed a bag with those two prints and two of the fabrics I picked up from Walmart. The Walmart fabric was acceptable. Not groundbreaking, but decent enough that if I find cute prints I'll probably grab them. I finished the handknit earlier today. I want to steam block it yet, ...

YOP: Week 35

Not much to report this week. I didn't do much crafting. I finished the swap, got it packaged up and mailed out. It should have arrived to my recipient yesterday. I'll share what I made. The theme was Favorite Things. She likes the colors pale yellow and deep dark red and dragons, so I went all out with the dragons. I chose Dragon Scale Mitts for the handmade item. I used Madeline Tosh Sport in the Tart colorway. My camera doesn't really do this colorway justice. It has more depth in real life. I think they came out nicely though. I was able to find dragon fabric at The Quilt Shop. I made a reversible project bag. I paired each dragon fabric with one of her favorite colors. Liara really liked the dragon fabric as well. I'm probably going to get some more when I go again. I also sent some stationary items and a bunch of Swedish Fish, which were also things she had req...

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