Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone #2)

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Square Fish 2013

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 435

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner—hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.

The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.

But as the truth of Alina's destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice—and only she can face the oncoming storm.

Can Mal get eaten by a volcra now? Seriously, I so disliked him as a character and kept wanting him to die so Alina could move on. Alas, it did not happen and we get way too many pages in this book where Mal gaslights and abuses Alina. I just cannot get behind their relationship at all. Their back and forth crap is the biggest reason why this book only gets 3 stars from me. Strip that crap out or change it into a more healthy relationship and I would have given it 4 stars. I really do love the magical elements in this series. I love exploring the evolution of both Alina’s and the Darkling’s powers. I want more and more of that. So sad that the Darkling only has a small part in this book. I wanted more of him. Thankfully we do get introduced to another mysterious character that had been in his side immediately. I wanted more Nikolai. Specifically, I wanted Nikolai and Alina to form a deeper bond. I’m still going to finish this series (reading the third book right now in fact), but I am very disappointed by the central “romance” to the series.

Shadow and Bone

• #1 Shadow and Bone

• #2 Siege and Storm

• #3 Ruin and Rising

Next up on the TBR pile:

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

• Took the boys to a movie yesterday. It’s been almost 18 months since we were in a theater. It was a nice excursion. We took advantage of the $2 second run kid’s movie for a cheap morning.

• Time blocking is going well… just need to keep up the routine.

• Day 1 of our fall road trip is planned (well, except for booking the hotel). Making progress!

• Sad that Q broke my pretty beaded bookmark. I can probably fix it, but it’s going to take some ingenuity.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Malibu Rising

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2021

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 384

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: MMD; Seasonal TBR

Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.

I dove into this book really hoping for another Daisy Jones and the Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. With this book, we get a really good story, but it didn’t quite hit the 5 star mark for me. Right away, I was drawn into the world of early 1980s (and then 1950-60s) Malibu. I wanted to learn more about the Riva children and how they came to be at the places they were in their lives. I wanted to really submerse myself in the atmosphere of Malibu at the various time periods. We get some of that. In flashbacks, we get to see what happened with Mick and June and the snippets throughout the children’s lives. And we get one big final confrontation between Mick and his children. Unfortunately, the book the left me wanting more. When we get to the last chapter, I was just a bit taken aback at the abruptness of the ending. I felt like we were just getting into the meat of the various characters. I wanted to sit with them longer. Ultimately, I felt like nothing had really been resolved and I wanted more. I cannot deny that Reid writes a propulsive story with interesting characters. I just wanted more.

My two side annoyances:

• I really disliked how they dealt with Kit’s big identity revelation. Or really, how they didn’t deal with it. I felt like it was thrown to give a “complication” to her character, but was really a cheap afterthought.

• From the very first page, I thought the fire would figure more prominently into the story. I kept waiting and waiting and it didn’t come into fruition until the last chapter.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #5

Reading: Continuing the Shadow and Bone trilogy with Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I needed something a bit more light after finishing Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Watching: Wednesdays are blocked out for Loki watching! Oh I am all in knots after last week’s episode. So incredibly good!

Listening: No big music this week, but I have been trying to catch up on some podcasts. Currently Reading is always a must-listen for the week!

Making: Our meal plan has gotten very much out of hand. I need to take some time this week and get everything under control. I also need to schedule some more 52 Desserts and Snacks to catch up a bit.

Feeling: The above 90 degrees days are really wearing on me. I am tired and hot almost all of the time…

Planning: I have so many fall projects on the horizon (book retreat, family road trip, kids’ birthday party) and the start of our second year of homeschooling. Plus all the usual house things. I’ve resorted to time blocking through July to get a jump on planning and organization for those. Once we hit August, I will be very busy so I’m taking advantage of my time this month.

Loving: I’ve been taking my book and coffee out to the back deck in the mornings and it’s been lovely. Thankfully the deck is shaded in the mornings and I can enjoy myself without feeling like I’m on the surface of the sun.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - New Years Day "Kill or Be Killed"

An older song, but I keep rediscovering it.

Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

Title: Friends without Benefits (Knitting in the City #2)

Author: Penny Reid

Publisher: Cipher-Naught 2014

Genre: Romance

Pages: 406

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she's unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello—her former nemesis—she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding a Nico charisma-electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

I finally got around to reading the second in this contemporary romance series. It was such a delight and I sped through it in two days. Elizabeth is such a taciturn character in the first book and I was glad to see her soft side in this novel. Right away, I absolutely fell for Elizabeth and Nico and especially those two together. There is a lot of angst in this novel, but I really did love the conversations. My biggest complaint was that there was only one steamy scene. I love the pre-steamy scenes, but I need more post-steamy scenes.

Knitting in the City

• #1 Neanderthal Seeks Human

• #1.5 Neanderthal Marries Human

• #2 Friends Without Benefits

• #3 Love Hacked

• #4 Beauty and the Mustache

• #4.75 Ninja at First Sight

• #5 Happily Ever Ninja

• #6 Dating-ish

• #7 Marriage of Inconvenience

• #8 Neanderthal Seeks Extra Yarns

Next up on the TBR pile:

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Title: Behold the Dreamers

Author: Imbolo Mbue

Publisher: Random House 2017

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Our book club selection for July… and I was very underwhelmed by this story. Let’s start with the good points. I enjoyed the look at Cameroon culture. In fact, those sections were the only ones that I really loved reading. Clearly the author has a love for the people of Cameroon and it shows through the writing. I also enjoyed the interplay of the family in the first half of the book. I found their struggles compelling. Unfortunately, the second half the book begins to show the fractures in the family and I was very annoyed. I was not a fan of Jende and his sexist bullshit. Combine that with the actions of the Edwards family and I really disliked all the characters in this novel. Per the summary, this book is supposed to heavily involve the economic collapse, but it seemed like an afterthought. I forced myself to finish this book, but I wasn’t at all excited about it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

2021 Desserts and Snacks - May and June

Week 14: Sicilian Orange Breakfast Cake

Definitely going on our top list! This was oh so yummy and easy to make. Our friends even appreciated it when we shared!

Recipe used from The View from Great Island

Week 15: Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I liked the overall taste of this one, but it ended up being a bit dry.

Recipe used from Amanda’s Cookin’

Week 16: Lemony Lemonies

Amazing! This recipe was loved by everyone in the family. Definitely going on our favorites list.

Recipe used from Bakerella

Week 17: Pesto Twists

These were so incredibly easy and a great side to our gazpacho.

Recipe used from a Facebook video

Week 18-19: Strawberry Pie and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie made on the new grill

J made these to try out his new grill and they turned out amazing. So incredibly good!

Recipe used from Joy the Baker and Traeger

Week 20: Chocolate Pound Cake

I’ve had some great recipes these two months, and this might be my favorite. This cake was amazingly moist and flavorful. I will be making this all the time now!

Recipe used from Cake Whiz

July 2021 Life Goals

I threw out all my goals for June and spent a lot of time really sorting through the brain fog. I’m tweaking my usual goals concepts for July and trying to time block. I have multiple projects coming this fall and I need concentrated time to work on each.

July Goals:

• Read 15 Books

• Plan August Homeschooling Lessons and Coop

• Stick to My Time Blocking

• Weekly Field Trips

• Cross Off 7 Items on Our Summer Bucket List

• Get My Email Inbox to 0

Next up on the TBR pile:

June 2021 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile: I did away with my TBR list at the beginning of the month to let the reader inspiration take me where it wanted. Here’s what I read this month:

1. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

2. Bellamy and the Brute by Alicia Michaels

3. Broken by Jenny Lawson

4. The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov

5. Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

6. Looking Glass by Christina Henry

7. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

8. A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz

9. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

10. The Downing Kind by Jennifer McMahon

11. The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks

12. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

13. The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

14. Scary Stories for Little Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

15. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

16. For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

17. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5530 pages
Pages Remaining: 468,997 pages

Current Read - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (4) - I grabbed two books from Book of the Month. I also received a book that I won from Goodreads and totally forgot about. And I got a book during our book club swap day.

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

• Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

• Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 279

• Books Read: 0

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 283

July TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: ???

2. Formerly Girly Book Club now Bookworms: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3. Friend Book Club: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

4. MMD RC: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

5. Nonfiction: Wintering by Katherine May

6. Fantasy: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

7. Fantasy: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

8. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3

9. Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

10. Romance: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

11. Kid Read Aloud: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

12. Kid Read Aloud: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Movies watched

• Deep Murder - Fun quirky movie

• Good on Paper - Interesting little comedy

TV Shows watched 

• Loki - Oh yes! I can’t wait to watch this one every week.

• Running Wilde S1 - I never watched this short-lived comedy sitcom, so we started. Short and sweet, but lots of fun.

• Hustle S3-4

• Star Trek: Voyager S3-4

• Holey Moley S3

• Mythic Quest S2

• Last Week Tonight

• Rick and Morty S5

• Making It S3

Comments - I loved having no reins on my reading this month! It was lovely to allow my moods to determine my next reads. There were definitely some misses in there, but I knocked out a ton of titles from my bigger TBR. And we managed to watch some great television this month (hello Loki!!!!). Looking forward to what is July brings!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Title: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

Publisher: Ballantine Books 2021

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 482

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: MMD; Seasonal TBR

Usually I copy and paste a book summary here, but all the ones I found contained way too many fucking spoilers! So here is my summary: This is a fun space romp involving a desperate race to save humanity. That’s it. That’s all you need to know before reading this book.

I closed this book and had a huge smile on my face while simultaneously crying. So incredibly amazing. I loved The Martian, but was less enthused by Artemis. I dove into this book after my husband kept shoving it in my face. And I’m so glad that he did! Right from the first page, I was sucked into this story based in space. I love a well-written space adventure and this does not disappoint. Weir includes a lot of science, but it does it in such way that I understood and even if I skimmed it, it wasn’t absolutely essential to the larger story. This review is incredibly vague because I do not want to spoil anything. Seriously, don’t read the summaries, just go and get the book right now.

Next up on the TBR pile:

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

Title: For the Wolf (The Wilderwood #1)

Author: Hannah Whitten

Publisher: Orbit 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 403

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: MMD; Seasonal TBR

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose—to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood—and her world—whole.

I was so excited for this book and it ended up being a very lackluster read. It felt very derivative and overdone. I was intrigued by the concept of a Little Red Riding Hood retelling (I do love my fairy tale retellings). And this one added in elements of Sleeping Beauty and Rose Red and Snow White and lots of other snippets. I really enjoyed the world building and the Wilderwood itself. Seriously, I think the Wilderwood was the best character in the book. I loved seeing how the forest affected our characters and had it’s own presence. But then we get to the human characters and I got a lot less excited. Red was fine, Eammon was fine, Neve was fine. They were just fine. There wasn’t enough there to really make me care about them. Fife and Lyra annoyed me so much throughout the book. And I thoroughly disliked the constant repetitive actions (e.g. “lounging on the doorway” and “hands raking across __’s face”). At times the writing felt very immature. I loved the descriptions, but not when it focused on the characters. Overall, I think I’m really sick of reading these stories about a naive 20ish young woman who has to save the world. I’ll probably end up reading the sequel when it comes out, but I’m not super excited about it.

The Wilderwood

• #1 For the Wolf

• #2 For the Throne

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W38: We're Done!

What We Studied

We’re officially done with our first year of homeschooling! For next week and July, we will be taking it easy. Arthur will be working on his Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks. We will be continuing our read alouds and picture books at night. Beyond that, we are going to focus on downtime, games, and fun excursions.

Literature and Poetry

We’re still reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes and really enjoyed it, even if it is really scary. Beyond our reading selection, Arthur completed his end of Grade 1 spelling assessment. Not too shabby! Especially considering that spelling has not really been a focus this past year. (I’m debating about adding it in for next year.) Finally, he’s been working on his Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks. These pages are the focus of our language arts and math for the summer.

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Math

Highlights and BrainQuest summer bridge workbooks

Social Studies

None

Science

We covered motion and forces for our last official week of the school year. I was amazed at how quickly Arthur got the concepts of potential and kinetic motion. Definitely a science kid! We also watched two Magic School Bus episodes about energy and motion.

• Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

• Give It a Push! Give It a Pull! A Look at Forces by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Why Do Moving Objects Slow Down? A Look at Friction by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Cece Loves Science: Push and Pull by Kimberly Derting

• Experiments with Motion by Susan H. Gray

Art

None

Music

We continued listening to the Beatles. We covered recordings from 1964 to 1966. Arthur has only been a fan of a few songs (seriously, is he even my kid?). His favorites have been “Help” and “Nowhere Man.”

Unit Theme

We did a simple unit theme based on ice cream. We read a ton of ice cream books (fiction and Nonfiction), plus watched a great Modern Marvels documentary about the making of ice cream. Of course, had to also eat some ice cream!

• Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons

• Ice Cream Soup by Ann Ingalls (Arthur Read)

• Sweet Success by Liz and Jimmy Reed

• Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sís

• The Scoop on Ice Cream by Bonnie Williams

• Ice-Cream Cones for Sale! by Elaine Greenstein

• Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin

• Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems (Arthur read)

• Francesco Tirelli's Ice Cream Shop by Tamar Meir

• Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

• Fox Tails: The Giant Ice Cream Mess by Tina Kügler

• I Scream Ice Cream by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

• The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler

• Chuggington: Wilson and the Ice Cream Fair by Mara Conlon (Arthur read)

• Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop by Margret Rey and Alan J. Shalleck

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Sealed with a Kiss by Beth Ferry

• Be Who You Are by Todd Parr

• Rainbow: A First Book of Pride by Michael Genhart

• Welcome Home, Whales by Christina Booth

• Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

• Trapped! A Whale's Rescue by Robert Burleigh

• Phoenix Goes to School by Michelle and Phoenix Finch

• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino

• Curious George Good Night, Zoo by Gina Gold

• Whale Trails: Before and Now by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Highs

• We took advantage of a day with below 90 degree temperatures and went to the zoo. Apparently we had the same idea as everyone else in Omaha. But it was still fun. We finally got to ride the train (it’s been closed since summer 2019)!

Lows

• The heat got to all of us and it wasn’t pretty. Lots of grouchiness and terrible attitudes.

Next Week

We’re officially on summer break. We have a stack of library books and our summer workbooks. Plus we have our summer bucket list to check off. And we have made sure to schedule lots of outings and field trips.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Love and Death "Down"

Random find for this month. I really digging this sound.

Life Right Now #20

On my bedside table: So many good books! Definitely too many choices right now… Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir; Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid; People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry; Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

On my tv this week: We caught up with episodes 2 and 3 of Loki (so incredibly good!). Plus we introduce the boys to Captain America for movie night. Keeping it in the Marvel family this week.

Listening to: Mostly my usual podcasts. Nothing super new or exciting.

On the menu for this week:

• Monday - Fish

• Tuesday - BBQ Cheddar Meatloaf

• Wednesday - Leftovers

• Thursday - Thai Red Curry Soup

• Friday - Pizza Night

• Saturday - Fish n Chips; Crab Rangoon

• Sunday - BBQ Ribs/Ring of Fire Chicken

On my to do list: So much…

Happening this week:

• Monday - Zoo Day! Taking advantage of it not being 100 degrees this week.

• Tuesday - Book Club!

• Wednesday - Park Playdate

• Thursday - Home day

• Friday - Possible state park day

• Saturday - Home day

• Sunday - Home day

What I am creating: Time blocks for July and August. I have so many big projects coming up and really need to organize my time to accomplish all the planning. I hope I have a good routine set up.

My simple pleasures: Air conditioning, good books, ice water

Looking around the house: I put away the kids’ clothes! Hooray!

From the camera: Loving my Sunday morning ritual of coffee and a book on the back deck.

2021 Reading Challenges Mid-Year Update

After the disaster that was 2020, I scaled way back with my reading commitments for 2021. My 2020 reading was decent (230 books!), but I felt like I was committing myself to reading a lot of things that I wasn’t super interested in. I decided to fall back on my mood reading process for 2021 and limit my reading challenges. I kept a few around, but only ones that fit in with what I wanted to do. Let’s see how I’m doing midway through the year.

• Goodreads 104/200 - I don’t count this in my update really, but here’s where I’m at overall.

• Perpetual Books 19/30 63.3%**

• UnRed Shelf Project 21/50 42%

• Modern Mrs. Darcy Past Summer Reading Guides 9/20 45%

• Winter Seasonal 14/25. 56%

• Spring Seasonal. 12/25 48%

• Summer Seasonal 2/25. 8%

• Fall Seasonal /25

• Currently Reading 12/12 100%

• UnRead Shelf 7/24. 29.2%*

• Kid’s Read Alouds 12/15. 80%**

Total Challenges  1/10 10%

Total Reading Slots 108/251. 43%

* - Needs Work
** - Doing a Great Job

Comments: Letting my moods pick my next read has really been helped this year so far. My reading has hit a steady pace and I’m picking up so many books that I’m excited for. I think the backing off of challenges has really helped me be more content with my reading life.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

Title: A Master of Djinn

Author: P. Djèlí Clark

Publisher: Tor.com 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 396

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city—or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…

I was super excited by the first full-length from Clark after reading some of his novellas. I got into it and really enjoyed the story following Agent Fatma and her adventures through Egypt. I loved the inclusion of steampunk elements to this alternate history of Egypt. I love a good world-building in my fantasy novels and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed puzzling out the mystery and how Fatma was going to catch the killer. I will admit that I had the killer pegged from about a fourth of the way through the novel. But I did still enjoy the ride. My favorite parts were the interactions with the various djinn. I loved seeing all the different types and how they fit into human society. The pacing was a bit off at times and I felt like there’s was a bit much of posturing by some of the characters. For those reasons, I did take off a star.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Pool Time Videos

Ooof So True…

J had me watch this the other night. It’s a fascinating look at an iconic song, even if you don’t really know music theory.

These were way too funny… Loved Six Eggs!

I’ll watch basically anything with Dwayne Johnson in it, but this I’m a bit leery of.

The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks

Title: The Whispering House

Author: Elizabeth Brooks

Publisher: Tin House Books 2021

Genre: Gothic Fiction

Pages: 380

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: MMD; Summer TBR

Freya Lyell is struggling to move on from her sister Stella’s death five years ago. Visiting the bewitching Byrne Hall, only a few miles from the scene of the tragedy, she discovers a portrait of Stella—a portrait she had no idea existed, in a house Stella never set foot in. Or so she thought.

Driven to find out more about her sister’s secrets, Freya is drawn into the world of Byrne Hall and its owners: charismatic artist Cory and his sinister, watchful mother. But as Freya lingers in this mysterious, centuries-old house, her relationship with Cory crosses the line into obsession and the darkness behind the locked doors of the estate threatens to spill out.

In prose as lush and atmospheric as Byrne Hall itself, Elizabeth Brooks weaves a simmering, propulsive tale of art, sisterhood, and all-consuming love: the ways it can lead us toward tenderness, nostalgia, and longing, as well as shocking acts of violence.

Such high hopes for this one… and it fell so flat for me. Anne Bogel told me that this one was for fans of Mexican Gothic and Jane Eyre. I was sold after hearing that. But right away, I had less gothic vibes and more unreliable narrator. I was not a fan of Freya from page one and she just got worse at the book went on. And then the story begins to get very muddled and I started to have problems understanding what exactly was happening. Every scene with Cory took on this dreamlike quality that I wasn’t excited about. Instead, I just kept yelling at Freya for every stupid decision. And the plot got very silly and I just couldn’t enjoy myself. Boring.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Homeschool W37: We Finished Our U.S. History Curriculum!

What We Studied

Literature and Poetry

We finished one read aloud and started the next one. I was super excited about reading The Phantom Tollbooth and Arthur was excited about reading Scary Stories for Young Foxes. We also did some journal writing.

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

• Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

Math

Another week of math review and Khan Academy.

Social Studies

We finished our U.S. History curriculum for the year with a lesson on the Bill of Rights and one on the native groups of the Northwest and the Plateau.

• We the People: The United States Constitution Explored and Explained by Aura Lewis & Evan Sargent

• Flags Over America by Cheryl Harness

• Northwest Coast Indians by Liz Sonneborn

• The Eagle’s Song: A Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Kristina Rodanas

• Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott

• Nez Perce by Sarah Tieck

• Plateau Indians by Christin Ditchfield

Science

We covered energy in the form of sound and light. Arthur got pretty interested and made some great connections to previous lessons. We also watched two episodes of Magic School Bus to review our information.

• Light is All Around Us by Wendy Pfeffer

• The Energy We See: A Look at Light by Jennifer Boothroyd

• Invention Hunters: Discover How Light Works by Korwin Briggs

• Light Waves by David A. Adler

• Science Experiments with Light by Alex Kiskowski

• Let's Ride a Wave! Diving Into the Science of Light and Sound Waves with Physics by Chris Ferrie

• Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer

• The Sound of Silence by Katrina Goldsaito

• Science Experiments with Sight and Sound by Alex Kuskowski

• Can You Hear Sounds in Space? and Other Questions About Sound by Anna Claybourne

• All About Sound by Angela Royston

Art

Nothing formal

Music

We continued with The Beatles by listening to A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale.

Unit Theme

We spent some time learning about Juneteenth and connecting history to our current social issues. I’m amazed that Arthur really connected and make conclusions as much as he did.

• Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester

• Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

• All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson

• Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford

Misc. - Random picture books read

• Squid Kid the Magnificent by Lynne Berry

• Alistair and Kip’s Great Adventure by John Segal

• Together by Emma Dodd

• The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan

• The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole

• There’s a Dolphin in the Grand Canal by John Bemelmans Marciano

• A Perfect Day by Sarah S. Brannen

• Trucks Roll by George Ella Lyon

• Lenny the Lobster Can’t Stay for Dinner by Finn Buckley with Michael Buckley

• Whale Shines by Fiona Robinson

• The Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark by Lucille Colandro

• A Home for Leo by Vin Vogel

• I’m a Shark by Bob Shea

• Introducing Teddy by Jessica Walton

• The Whale the Sea and the Stars by Adrián Macho

Highs

• We had a lovely park playdate with friends on Tuesday. We are really enjoying shady parks right now due to the high temperatures.

Lows

• The temperatures were absolutely ridiculous… and we lost all motivation to go anywhere or do anything.

Next Week

Next up on the TBR pile: