Fantasy, Reading, Reviews, Young Adult

Fantasy – The Wild West of the Book World

Posted on

This post in my catching-up-on-reviews series was supposed to be called “Five Star Fantasy Reads.” Great title, right? Short, sweet, to the point. If only. As it turns out, the fantasy genre is *a bit trickier* than that. If you care to read on, I will explain. {Or you can scroll down to the reviews…no judgment from me!}

The Preamble

Let’s visit a bookstore, shall we? When you walk into a bookstore today, up front you will see three main displays.

The first display will have cover upon cover showing women walking away or gazing into the distance. Or possibly there will just be a seascape on the cover. This is the historical fiction display, a medium-ish table of books.

The second display will all have stickers with celebrities’ names on them who have claimed these titles for their book clubs. It’s like The Voice for books. Team Reese or Team Oprah! Team Jenna is having a good season. This is a fairly narrow selection of literary fiction for people who buy books they intend to read someday, perhaps on a flight or on vacation.

But the biggest display at the front of the bookstore will have covers showing all manner of silver swords and flowers, swirling fonts, maybe a gorgeous dress, and definitely some sort of feather – a wing, a quill, something like that. The edges of the display table will be adorned with special edition board games and impractical mugs. This is the fantasy genre. And it is a having a moment. Gone are the days when The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia were the only widely popular series in fantasy (though inarguably still the best, the-end-and-thank-you). Gone also are the days when small but scarily thick fantasy paperbacks with questionable cover art took up a small back corner of bookstores where only the nerdiest and bravest readers dared to go. The success of Harry Potter and The Game of Thrones has gradually but undeniably exploded the fantasy genre from obscurity to the front window display.

And why not? Castles, capes, magical abilities, fantastic beings, heroes and conflicts and spells…it is all highly imaginative, whimsical, captivating…everything a book lover reading for escapism or pleasure could hope for. In theory, I am all for it. The fantasy genre takes readers back to what reading was like when we were kids, when suspending belief in favor of a new world and a good story was easy and all-consuming.

And the potential this genre has for allegory or story telling that ultimately has a bedrock in truth and goodness? The sky is not even the limit.

And yet.

There are few fantasy books I can get in and out of cover-to-cover without finding at least one or two facets that don’t sit well with me. Often, darkness hovers in the pages of many of these fantasy books marketed to teens and adults. As my teenagers and I have delved into the genre lately, we’ve been faced with badly skewed versions of healthy reality, especially when romance is involved, and a mixed up sense of good and evil. So, as I bring some book reviews to you today, I’d also like to give a caveat: when it comes to fantasy, gentle readers, proceed with caution. It’s wild, and there are no rules– authors can put whatever the heck they want into their worlds…so. Yeah. Caution. As a reader who is most at home in books written between 1900-1950, there are very few fantasy books that don’t cause me some discomfort. But I won’t give up on it as a whole, because when it is good, it is very, very good.

[Side note: I am happy to say the children’s fantasy genre still produces gem after gem. We discovered some great ones in 2025-26 that will be featured in the next post!]

To the books!

Book Reviews – Adult and Y.A. Fantasy Books

{For my very favorite, top of the list, 5 star fantasy reads of the last year, check out this New Favorite Authors post and read Elizabeth Lowham and Elisabeth Aimee Brown}

Tress of the Emerald Sea – Don’t try to read a blurb describing this book, just dive in! The humor and world building in this stand-alone novel by fantasy legend Brandon Sanderson is next level. There’s barely a character you can truly root against. Tress is a new favorite in my book world. 4.25 stars. Content caution: Recommend for high school and up due to language and some gore.

Once a Queen – This book was gentle and beautiful, with tones of George Macdonald’s The Princess and the Goblin but in a more modern setting. It is a light read, possibly a little disappointingly light for a reader deeply committed to fantasy books with lots of world building and plot twists, but it was lovely and I will definitely read the second and third books. 4 stars. Content caution: I would hand this to anyone middle school and up, and would easily call it “wholesome.”

The Seven-and-a-half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – I listened to the audiobook of this one, got really lost in the middle, and by 75% wanted to know the end but mainly just wanted it to all be over. It was the worst kind of Groundhog Day story BUT I still ended up enjoying the novelty of it and the setting of an early 1900s crumbling mansion and houseful of guests. I appreciated the talent of the narrator in doing so many different voices and giving them all weight in the story. The whole plot idea was super original; I did not guess the end at all. However, I would have gotten through it a lot faster and a lot less scathed if I could’ve skimmed over some of the many, many violent parts by reading the hard copy instead. 3.75 stars. Content caution: heavy violence and the typical mature themes of murder mysteries.

What the River Knows – Technically a Y.A. book with teen main characters, but fun for anyone who thinks ancient Egyptian artifacts and double crossing treasure seekers with family mysteries to solve sounds intriguing. It has an Indiana Jones vibe, for sure. There is a sequel I haven’t gotten into yet, but I would like to know what happens to the characters, so I probably will sometime. Perhaps the author describes the characters’ emotions a little too often and too fully, and there is a juvenile, headstrong and impulsive quality to the main characters that is overblown, but it is still a fairly riveting story. I love the title…3.25 stars. Content caution: language.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – This very popular book has a bit of a forced feel to some of the elements, but I really liked others. The creativity of the faerie world and the complexity of the two main characters kept me reading when it lagged at parts. What I didn’t like was the moral ambiguity between types of creatures. What is okay and what isn’t? Who is deciding? Who wants to do what is right and what isn’t and what are their reasons? As this is the first in the series, I’ll probably read the second book before giving up on the moral code of this particular world as a whole, but so far 3 stars. (Content caution: includes closed door romance, mild violence, some language – PG-13ish).

A Miss and An Almost

The Teller of Small Fortunes and The Spellshop both have beautiful covers and potentially refreshing settings and stories, but fell a bit flat for me. That being said, I think I will try the sequel to The Spellshop because there were several elements I liked, especially the setting. The slew of new creatures to keep track of and people groups and the flatness of a couple of the characters are what made it more of a “meh” for me, but I have to add that several of my friends really liked it, so maybe don’t just take my word for it! Content caution: Pretty mild overall for both of these, overall. Due to some romantic elements, high school and up, but I would also say there are some better options out there!

And that wraps up this catch-up post for fantasy reads of 2025-26! Come back for some much more wholehearted recommendations next time in the Children’s Fantasy department. Until then, happy reading!

Quick Lit, Reading, Reviews, Young Adult

Five Star Books (and a Few Others), Part 1

Posted on

Hi friends! Last week I launched back into book reviews with a post about new favorite authors. Today, I bring you some quick reviews of books I read last year that are in the contemporary literary fiction and historical fiction categories. As I looked back on my 2025 reading, I was surprised to see so many in the fantasy or magic genre…so stay tuned for a round up of those next time!

Contemporary Fiction

The Correspondent – Listen, I know rave reviews of this book are everywhere, and you don’t need another one, but I have to say it: this book is everything. I loved it. It’s the most delightful modern book I’ve read in a long time. Fans of Fredrik Backman, Anne Tyler, or Ann Patchett should definitely try this book, but also anyone who likes reading fiction at all (and maybe even some of you who don’t). I read it way too fast the first time and am already looking forward to reading it again. 5 stars.

Theo of Golden – Rave reviews of this book are everywhere, too. And I get why so many readers adore it; the aura around the main character and everyone else is, well, golden. Still, I had a hard time getting into it, and an even harder time believing Mr. Theo and the characters could exist in any world, but especially not ours. However, with so many five star reviews, you probably shouldn’t take my word for it but read it yourself! (If you have already read it, we need to talk about the ending…) 3.5 stars.

The Unmaking of June Farrow – I loved this book. It was like a mail-order bride plot mixed with a mystery of disappearing/reappearing memories. It’s set in the present day in mountainous North Carolina, and though it does have some magical realism elements, it’s going here with the contemporary fiction. The writing was amazing – I felt like I was right there alongside the main character. 5 stars. (Content warning for mature language)

Broken Country – DNF – I have plenty DNF’s throughout a reading year. It’s important to remember we aren’t required to read much of anything as adults, but get to be our own guides and filters! For this one, the writing was good, but I found that the plot included two themes I try to avoid for the most part.

Historical Fiction

Born of the Gilded Mountains – I have been meaning to read something by Amanda Dykes for years. Last fall, I got this on audio book and listened to it through a painting project. It kept me in great company! I found the plot and setting to be absolutely involving and the characters thoroughly likable. Though Dykes doesn’t shy away from some heavy themes, over all it is a lighthearted, gentle book, perfect for either literary fiction or historical fiction fans. 4.5 stars.

Isola – This fictional account of a real person was potent and striking. About a third of the way through, I thought I wouldn’t end up liking it with all its painful realities for the main character in that day and age, but by the end, I gave it 5 stars. As far as tone goes, I would liken it to a book like Kristin Lavransdatter, though shorter and not quite as dark. Isola has plenty of tragedy, but the resilience of the main character and themes of religion and friendship were really well done. I couldn’t stop thinking about The Count of Monte Cristo. It was also so neat to pick up this book right when we were studying the discovery and development of the islands off the coast of Canada in our homeschool history lessons (we were in Volume 2 of The Story of the World at the time). 5 stars.

The Hired Girl – I would really have loved this book as a teenager girl! And even as an adult, I still loved the setting and the surrounding characters. 4 stars.

The Frozen River – I don’t like to give hot takes but…I did not love this book. I do like Ariel Lawhon’s other books I’ve read, especially Code Name Helene, and I was prepared for some graphic subjects or descriptions. The darkness of human nature shows up very starkly in her books. Still! Still. The story arc of this book is…a lot. It was just too gruesome, right down to the ending (what in the world…if you have read this, could you actually believe that ending?). I did some research on the main character’s history, and yes, it was great to see such an amazing woman dramatized in a novel. I enjoyed learning about Martha Ballard (though I thought her husband was too perfect to be believable for that time period). Overall, this book was just not for me.

I hope you’ll find a great read for you in this list today, and that you’ll let me know if you’ve found an amazing book lately (or in the past, or just whenever). Come back next week for a venture into the fantastical!

Happy reading!

Nonfiction, Reading, Reviews, Young Adult

Measuring a Year – New Fave Author Reviews

Posted on

“Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.
How do you measure- measure a year?” -Rent

The answer is, of course, in books read!

I was sorry to have paused on sharing books here in 2025, but I have changed my mind! As I look back on the whole year, I can see themes of authors and series emerge in a way I wouldn’t have if I were reviewing book-by-book every few weeks/months. Turns out, in 2025 I discovered some top-notch new-to-me or actually new authors. These are the kind of authors who write books I want to hug when I’m done reading. Here’s a rundown of who kept me company last year; I’ll start with the new current authors I loved and round out the list with some vintage authors that have won my reading heart.

New and Current Authors

Kristen Perrin – Perrin writes The Castle Knoll Files, and I cannot think of a more sparkling, witty, charming, and perfectly paced present-day mystery series than this one. The third book comes out in April and I cannot wait.

Elizabeth Lowham – I listened to the audio books of the Casters and Crowns series and I loved it. The first book was especially good on audio! I really appreciated the fully developed characters and the way Lowham put together a completely believable and realistic fantasy world that did not take much effort to feel at home in as a reader.

Elisabeth Aimee Brown – What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball was one of my favorite books of 2025. I adored the main characters, the setting, the twisty plot, all of it. It isn’t mind blowing and it isn’t going to make it onto a classics-everyone-should-read list, but it is a just-right, slightly fantastical novel to keep you company and in good spirits. You might have gathered that I like a gentle fantasy novel, but don’t want to commit to 500 years of reading a series OR get drug through a lot of gore or “spice,” AND if I have to memorize a complicated family tree, I am probably out. This book read more like a Dickensian setting novel with some magic thrown in. I am putting Brown on this favorite author list even though I only read one of her books because she was just that good and I am eagerly awaiting Brown’s second book coming out in April.

Gabrielle Meyer – The Timeless series by Gabrielle Meyer was surprisingly absorbing from page one. Honestly, I was not expecting a five star read when I picked up When the Day Comes last January, but that is what I got! Books 2-4 were more like 3.5-4 star reads, but I still enjoyed them and was pleased with the depth of historical detail; the time periods involved came alive to me. I haven’t been so fully immersed in history since I read Meet Molly at age ten.

Joy Marie Clarkson – I gained a great deal of solid perspective from Aggressively Happy, and went on to enjoy the thoughtfulness of You are a Tree. Joy Marie Clarkson’s writing style makes her the friend I didn’t know I needed. It’s amazing how she can write about what she has learned in a conversational way, without sounding like she is trying to teach you something. I loved both her books.

New-to-me Vintage Authors

O. Douglas – Since I adore D.E. Stevenson, I am not sure how I ignored this writer who was her contemporary and close friend for so long, but what a delight that I am just now beginning to enjoy her books. I started with Penny Plain which was wonderful, but when I found The Proper Place and the other Rutherford Novels, I became a die-hard fan. They are full of the kind of bright and steady, Scottish (or border-country English), midcentury characters that I love, and the focus on home as the center of the world speaks to me.

Susan Scarlett – Try as I might, I always end up despising winter by the end of January, but last winter was one of the coziest, happiest I can remember and I credit Susan Scarlett and this puzzle for much of that. Together, they taught me I can almost enjoy winter. I now own three of these literary world puzzles and they are the best puzzles ever. But I digress! Susan Scarlett is actually a pen name for Noel Streatfeild of The Shoe Books fame (and many other books). Under the Rainbow hooked me as a fan forever, and though Scarlett’s books can be a tad formulaic, and you might know what you expect to occur by the last page, how the stories unfold is always entertaining and enjoyable. The characters and settings are so likable.

Margot Benary-Isbert – How to put into words the loveliness I found in Benary-Isbert’s accounts of the Lechow family in post-WWII Germany? Germany was a grim place at that time, and that is clear in The Ark and Rowan Farm, but these are gentle books full of kindness and courage. The tone and content gives The Sound of Music vibes. I liked how these books gave me a sense of what life was like for a middle-class German family. The shift in Germany to communism is just starting to make its effects felt in the form of laws and new government, and it’s not a huge part of the story, but those details stood out to me and stuck with me. There are two more books in the series I need to get my hands on!

Honorable mention goes to Molly Clavering – I liked Susan Settles Down and Touch Not the Nettle pretty well, and would definitely recommend if you are a D.E. Stevenson fan, but I will admit Clavering’s books are slower-paced and the dialogue a bit dated so possibly hard to connect to for modern readers. Still, I will read more of her works! Even if the titles seem like odd choices to me…

That rounds out the new favorite author discoveries of 2025. If you’ve read any of these or are adding them to your TBR, let me know! For authors whose works I just read one of last year, look for a post next week. Also upcoming will be a review of middle-grade novels, some I read to myself and some I did for read-alouds.

Happy reading!

Everyday Life, Home Renovation

A Long Overdue Life Update

Posted on

Thirteen years ago, I wrote my first blog post. It’s been over a year since I wrote here last, so this post will probably go out into the “dear void,” (ala Kathleen Kelly), but I find myself drawn back to the ancient art of blogging anyway. If you’re reading this, thank you for being here.

There’ve been some changes…

First off, we’ve moved into our fifth house.

After fixing up our last house for eight years and falling in love with it (me more than anyone), my husband and I felt it was time to reach for our dream of owning some acreage closer to our extended family. It was a wrench for me in a lot of ways, but we said goodbye to this finally finished fixer-upper:

and hello to the next one (maybe the last one? Who can say…).

We have done a lot inside (removed a wall, put in a new kitchen, and more) and have many more hopes for renovations, but the land and the street we live on…they are already absolutely wonderful. It has been healing and life-giving to live on 5 acres off of a quiet country road surrounded by so much more nature than I have ever had around me to call my own before.

It’s a lovely place, but the whole transition had me reeling mentally and emotionally, along with life changing and kids growing and all of that…middle age is so slushy.

My location has changed, but much about life looks the same. I still homeschool my kids. It looks a little different than it did when I started blogging, for sure. My youngest is now five, the oldest sixteen, and life in this mixture of stages is sweet and challenging. I teach almost all the main school subjects at home to my 4K, 3rd grade, and 6th grade students (the 6th grader does grammar and science at a homeschool academy where all the kids go for art, P.E., and Bible once a week). My high school students do a mix of academy classes and home based classes for their high school credits. It’s so hard to believe after this year I will have a senior in high school! I can barely stand the thought.

And of course, I still read books constantly. I need a t-shirt that says, “While I breathe, I read.” The next post I am working on will be a very concise recap on what I read and enjoyed last year, and maybe a few mentions of books that fell below expectations.

Thanks for joining me on this life update, and I hope you’ll come back for some book catch up next week.

Happy reading!

Homeschooling, Nonfiction, Parenting

The Middle Years – My Favorite Parenting Books

Posted on

When I began this blog in 2012 or so, my parenting journey was in the new, shiny, rosy stage. I was full of optimistic ideals. Homeschooling was the plan but not the reality yet, as my two children were just 3 and 1 years old. In my memory, that time of my life was a time of very little sleep yet comparatively lighthearted days in ways I couldn’t even be grateful for at the time.

This current parenting stage is a bit more…muddled. I am still in those young children days, with a 3-year-old keeping us both laughing and on our toes, but I also have a high school student, middle school student, and two in elementary school. If you lost count along the way, that’s five. To put the icing on the cake, the fifth child of our family is a handsome, healthy, robust handful. Now that he’s three, I have fewer nightmares involving him jumping out of top story windows or swallowing button batteries, but those 2:00 a.m. night terrors still are about a once monthly occurrence for me. This kid is wild. Like, got straight up yelled at by a librarian yesterday wild. (Was I, a lifelong library addict, absolutely mortified? Yes, yes I was, and also very thankful we were not at our usual library; in this librarian’s defense, it is spring break in our school district and her last nerve had probably already been shattered). I am so very grateful for five healthy children; I don’t take that for granted for one second.

Without taking on a complaining tone, for life is indeed so beautiful and full of gifts I don’t deserve, I wanted to take a minute to be honest here that this current parenting stage I am in is a bit more muddled than shiny and idealistic. I’ve always heard that the middle years are full of mixed emotions, but it’s pretty dizzying to actually be in those years, realizing you have been working hard, but have so much work left ahead, yet somehow you have hardly accomplished anything you set out to, or so it seems many days. A lot of my current thoughts when I compare who I was as a mother twelve years ago and who I am now look something like, “How did I get here? I wasn’t always this grumpy/stressed/frazzled/unengaged.”

So though there used to be occasional posts here along the lines of “here’s a gem of a parenting thought or tip I have this week” mixed in with book recommendations, now there’s been a years-long complete quiet on the topic, and an absence of assuredness that I can offer any wisdom at this point. For now, while I don’t have the answer for how to thrive in the middle years fully worked out or a whole lot of confidence in any part of my mothering “methods” at all, I have found great hope and direction from two books in the last few months that I would love to share with you.

Remaining You While Raising Them is the number one parenting book I’d recommend to moms today, now that I am in the middle instead of at the idealistic beginning. I have read many, many parenting books, but this one is really the most encouraging, refreshing, and practical. I highly recommend the audio, and listening to the podcast episode of Don’t Mom Alone when author Alli Worthington is the guest. For anyone worried that this book will focus too much on a mom’s me-time or encourage you towards selfishness rather selflessness, I cannot stress more how pleasantly surprised I was with the way Worthington handles the topic of a parent’s health (mental, physical, and spiritual) without becoming in any way unbiblical (in my opinion, at least) or unbalanced.

Mothering by the Book is just absolutely a kindred spirit book for me. Not only does it draw from examples in novels and nonfiction books at homeschooling mom and author Jennifer Pepito has read aloud to her kids to combat the fears that mothers face on a daily basis, but it met me exactly in that middle years parenting place I have been struggling to figure out lately. Everything Pepito has to say on parenting is deep yet thoroughly practical and easy to understand. If you’re a homeschooling mom like I am, I also can’t recommend her podcast episode on Read Aloud Revival enough. The lay out of the book is brilliant, and I truly loved the book recommendations and scripture to memorize at the end of each chapter.

I’ve read many parenting books, and will continue to do so, but I really can say that these two books have been more helpful, refreshing, and applicable to my life than any others have in years. I’d love to hear from you on what parenting books you’d put at the top of your list! Or anything you’ve enjoyed reading at all lately. Until next time, happy reading!

{ Befriend me on Goodreads! }