This week’s links include: more on the Hugo Awards controversy; OpenAI lawsuits; Balzer + Bray moves to MacMillan; fantasy and romantasy explained; GenZ turns to physical books & libraries; diversity in romance; book banning (again); a fiction piece about a fearsome giant snail; a fantastic review of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell mystery series; and more.
Heartwarming cozy fantasy
What can I say about Legends & Lattes that hasn’t already been said? Baldree’s breakout, bestselling debut novel hits the sweet spot for me: low-stakes cozy fantasy, found family, believable (and likeable) main character, interesting secondary characters, and solid worldbuilding with a D&D feel. It’s a well-crafted novel with good pacing and just the right amount of description…enough to bring the scenes vividly to life without overwhelming the action or Viv’s emotional journey.
What I’ve been doing, reading, watching, and listening to in the past week… on the blog and in real life. Plus the weekly book haul!
A list of adult novellas and relatively short YA or middle-grade novels, great for reading when you don’t have a lot of time but want something really good.
I had three more Zoom meetings this week for the fiber guild. (That’s unusual; I rarely have more than one or two per month.) I have another Zoom this afternoon, this time a social with some friends from college. Other than that, I’ve been trying to catch up on a lot of stuff, from email to to-do lists.
This week’s links include: Babel and the Hugo Awards controversy; book banning news; an author’s creepy TikTok request; ABA closing headquarters; Gen Z rediscovers public libraries; grappling with Robert Burns’s legacy; rise of romantasy; plus a wonderful free short story and several book lists
A quick look at what I read, what I reviewed, and the current state of my challenges and resolutions.
I wish I had been better about reviewing last year, because I read some wonderful new-to-me authors! I hope to get around to reviewing some of them this year… which might require a reread.
In real life: work and lots of meetings. I finished up some requested changes to a work project and turned it in this week. I planned to go to a book club online on Tuesday evening, but I wasn’t feeling well. On Wednesday, I had several meetings on Zoom, and another on Thursday.
I was very excited to read The Lantern’s Dance, the first new Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes mystery since 2021’s Castle Shade. Once started, I could hardly put it down, staying up until 2:30 in the morning to reach the denouement. Like The Murder of Mary Russell, the novel alternates between past and present narratives, slowly revealing hidden connections that surprised and enchanted me.
