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...

Alexis Hall’s newest book, Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble , is now available. It’s the second book in the Winner Bakes All series. (Both can be read as standalones.) 🎂 🧁 🍰 🍞 🥖 🥐 You can read my original review here .  From quicunquevult.com: Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home. But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves. 🎂 🧁 🍰 🍞 🥖 🥐 ⚠️ Content Guidance: MC with an undiagnosed anxiety disorder (that does get diagnosed), on-page panic attack, hospital stay due to panic attack, treatment plan for anxiety disorder discussed, Islamophobi...

  Cat Sebastian’s newest book,  Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, now has a cover! And it is giving the grooviest 70s vibes. 🪩🕺🏻 Daniel Cabot is available Nov. 15! Read my review of it here .

 Happy Publication Day to Jacqueline Firkins and her newest work, Marlowe Banks Redesigned .  Check out my original review of Marlowe Banks here and then get your copy! 

  Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo  // 5 💀 out of 5 // I picked this book up just to read the first couple pages, with no intention of continuing because I had an ARC to read next but this had me before the first chapter was even over. There was no putting it down and coming back to it later. I HAD to keep going, ARC be damned.  I am Janice from Friends right now: OH  👐🏼  MY  👐🏼  GAWD  👐🏼      I feel like there is no way anything I say can do justice to what’s in this book. I’m not even sure I have all that many coherent thoughts, just a series of feelings that I’m struggling to articulate.  I was so impressed with how immersive this book felt. It’s hugely experiential.    Mandelo’s descriptions make heavy use of sensory information, with lines like “the cold sank straight through the gagging constriction of his throat to the cavern of his chest, grasping at him from the inside out” and “Andrew… [stood] in the wash o...

Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins Pub date: Oct 25, 2022 // ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ // Marlowe Banks is an overworked, under appreciated production assistant on a TV show filming in LA with dreams of one day becoming a costume designer. She has a run-in with grumpy actor Angus on set and things don’t really get off on the right foot. They eventually get to know each other through working together but it takes extra work for Marlowe to excavate the real Angus Gordon from all the publicity she reads about him in magazines and online.  Even though this is a romance, the main story arc of the book is more about Marlowe’s journey in discovering who she is, what she wants in life, and figuring out how she’s going to get it. It has more emotional depth than a typical romcom and explores many important topics.  Aspects of the book remind me a little of Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard and Ava Wilder’s How To Fake It in Hollywood, both of which I loved. The blurb totally sold me o...

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots  by Cat Sebastian  Pub date: November 15,  2022  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars out of 5 I’ve been looking forward to reading more Cabot stories since I finished the first two over a year ago, and it did not disappoint.  Daniel Cabot is a character study and a story about the gradual building of a relationship, filled with quiet moments that are both realistic and compelling. It always blows me away how Cat Sebastian can fit SO MUCH character development into so few pages. And you can always count on her to write incredibly unique, richly drawn people who you can’t help but fall in love with. There is a foundation of kindness in this story, as there has been in the previous two Cabot novellas (or, really, ALL her books I suppose) that I find so beautiful and hopeful. Daniel and Alex take care of one another and others - friends and strangers both - in so many little ways and without wanting anything in return. It’s a refreshingly uncynical displ...

 Red White and Royal Blue The Collector’s Edition  by Casey McQuiston  Oct 11, 2022, St. Martin’s Griffin 🇺🇸 ❤️ 🇬🇧   I first read Red White and Royal Blue back in December 2020. I became a fervent fan before I had even reached the end. I had never read anything like it before. I LOVED it. I wanted everyone I knew to read it and love it as much as I did. And now… it kind of feels like they do. 😂  “They” may not be people I’ve actually met in person but I do know, now, a whole lot of people who love the book as much as I do, or more.  RWRB is the book that really started me reading again. I absolutely devoured it, and wanted more. I soon discovered “Bookstagram” and the rest is history. I now have many new favorite books and authors and a whole bunch of amazing people I am lucky to call friends - all because of this book.  👑 The special Collector's Edition of Casey McQuiston's beloved  New York Times  bestselling novel, features: • illust...