Susan’s Book Blog

  Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries    🧚🏻‍♂️ by Heather Fawcett 🧚🏻‍♂️ 🍄 Pub date: Jan 10, 2023 🍄 (US cover above; UK cover below) // 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄 out of 5 // I initially fell in love with the cover (both the US and UK editions are really cool) and was amused by the title and description, and I quickly discovered that the contents absolutely lived up to my hopes and expectations. It’s charming and delightful and clever and I really enjoyed everywhere the story went. This book is the very definition of cottage core. It’s so cozy and rustic, it makes for a perfect winter read. There’s cozy fires, snowy forests and tea drinking. But it also has great characters, mysteries, secrets, danger, adventure, and a sweet romance. And it’s  presented as a journal of Emily’s experiences during her research trip. The journaling element worked really well for telling the story.   I love the dynamic between Emily and Bambleby. Their banter (or bickering) is delightful. T...

It’s Pub Day for two truly EXCELLENT books that you need to run out and get right now! One is Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian (you can find my full review and more info  here ). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The other is Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade (my full review of it - and more info - is here ). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫   If you enjoy romance, you’ll love these. I enjoyed them both immensely and highly recommend them! Both are out now - 11/15/2022 

I’m so excited to have been approved for the ARC of Heather Fawcett’s newest book: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries!    I discovered this book and author on Instagram, adored the cover and immediately fell in love with the description (which you can read below) and the general cozy adorableness that practically radiates from this book. I can’t wait to read it.  Have you heard of this one? Does it sound like something that would interest you? I know I’m so excited to start it! Description from Penguin Random House site: Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the h...

This is basically part 2 of a previous post, Magic & Nature in A Marvellous Light , found here . (It is copied in its entirety and pasted below, as well.) This update/continuation includes content and information from the sequel, A Restless Truth.  The magic system in A Restless Truth carries on in the tradition we see established in A Marvellous Light of being closely associated with nature. You can see several examples from AML in the post below.  But right from the beginning of ART, I noticed the casual usage of flower names; I noted and highlighted 4 instances of flowers being mentioned in the first chapter alone. And then of course we have the characters of Violet and Hawthorn who themselves are plant/flower names. (And if you remember Flora Sutton from the first book, her first name means flowers.) A major aspect of the plot of ART is about a group of women who called themselves the Forsythia Club, after the yellow flowering spring shrub. Of course, the purpose of...

  A Restless Truth (The Last Binding, book 2) by Freya Marske Pub: Nov 1, 2022 // 3.5 stars out of 5 // tl;dr - I struggled to finish this. I needed it to be about 30% shorter. I think I just need to admit mysteries are not my genre. I found it a little tedious. But the characters are fantastic and Marske expanded on the magic mythology she began in the previous book and it was brilliant! My attention span just wasn’t totally up for this one.   Full review: The characters in this book were so great. Hawthorn and Violet both turned out to be a real highlight of the book for me. Lord Hawthorn really surprised me - I wasn’t expecting to like him! He’s the biggest grump ever to grump, he’s hilariously deadpan, feigns disinterest, and is, against his better judgment, caring (even though he’d never admit it). I enjoyed his character so much. And Violet is progressive, independent, ahead of her time and willing to push people’s buttons. She proudly refuses to be shamed or guilted fo...