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 29

The fair was a success. My items did well and Liara got some ribbons as well. We went to the parade on Tuesday, then down to the grounds once it was over. We stopped by one local vender to grab some jewelry, grabbed some donuts from the Donut Diner then went to see how we placed. Liara entered earrings that she hand-made with clay. They did not place. She entered a beaded bracelet that got first. She also entered three of her drawings. A Pegasus, a bunny and a magical worm. The bunny and the worm received third and the Pegasus received second. The bunny is my personal favorite of all the drawings she's done. There is always a really good turn out in the drawing and photography categories, so she was up against some stiff competition. I'm really happy she received some ribbons. My items are as follows: Rotini Beanie; First Enchantress MKAL; First. Sunburst Potholder; Second. Cow and Hen Dishcloth set; ...

YOP: Week 30

I didn't have a very eventful crafting week. My time was limited and I think the weather is affecting my knitting mojo. I had to work last weekend so my husband picked up the items from the fair along with the help of our daughter. It looks as though she was supposed to get a first place ribbon for her earrings but they forgot to attach the ribbon, or it was attached and fell off. I'll get an official notification in the mail with our winnings in a few weeks. My garden was looking really good, the peppers and carrots had almost completely regrown. I made the comment to myself Saturday evening when I was watering everything that "oh wow its all looking really good." My parents came over for lunch Sunday so I took my mom over to see the garden. We've been busy so they haven't been over since we put in the raised beds. Well, the joke was on me. The deer or whatever it is came back and decim...

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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