Something very different for today… I love this mash up for NSYNC and Stray Kids from the AMA’s last year. Enjoy some fun K-Pop.
Next up on the TBR pile:
As I look outside my window: It’s alternating between cloudy and sunny, but it’s still very cold. Just another February day.
Right now I am: Finishing up some tasks before making brunch. Nothing too exciting.
Thinking and pondering: How exactly should we start our War and Peace podcast?
On my bedside table: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Alice in Borderland, Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
On my tv this week: J and I are watching our just dropped/currently airing shows along with more Dropout shows from years past.
Listening to: In between all the other things, I’ve been binging the You’re Wrong About mini series about Princess Diana. Also, I just downloaded some new-to-me albums from bands old and new.
On the menu for this week:
Monday - Sesame Chicken
Tuesday - Snack Dinner
Wednesday - Chicken Cordon Bleu Dip (with Buffalo Chicken Strips this time)
Thursday - Shrimp Lo Mein
Friday - Spaghetti
Saturday - Chicken Tagine
Sunday - Scallops Salad
On my to do list: I’m certain a lot, but right now I’m focused on finishing my Memory Planner for January and prepping for the coming week.
Happening this week:
Monday - Kid Birthday Party
Tuesday - Parent Info Meetings (lunch at the food court and evening at home)
Wednesday - Home Day
Thursday - Academic Co-op
Friday - Bowling Party for Valentine’s Day
Saturday - Home Day
Sunday - Home Day
What I am creating: J and I had a plan to read War and Peace this year and then decided that we are going to make a podcast out of the project. So, I’m working on creating a background plan about the novel for our first episode and then to put in when relevant.
My simple pleasures: Not being sick, being able to eat on both sides of my mouth, simplified planner decor
Looking around the house: I need to do a bit of light cleaning in the living room and kitchen for this week. Mostly I just need to vacuum and put away some piles.
From the camera: Apparently I am terrible about taking photos this year so far…
Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 4
Author: Haro Aso
Publisher: VIZ Media 2022
Genre: Comics
Pages: 344
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series
Where I Got It: Library
Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.
The Beach has turned into a killing ground as Aguni and his men use the witch-hunt game as an excuse to take out everyone in sight. Arisu and his friends must race to understand the logic behind the game and identify the real witch before they join the growing pile of Aguni’s victims!
Another great volume of this horror show. My favorite part of this one was the Runaway game. I did not see any of that coming at all. (I think I saw this with every volume now, but it’s still true.) I’m interested in seeing how the revelations in this one affect the games in the next volume and the relationships between the characters.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Fae Princes (Vicious Lost Boys #4)
Author: Nikki St. Crowe
Publisher: Blackwell House 2023
Genre: Romance
Pages: 224
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 8
I thought Peter Pan was a myth and Neverland a fairytale. A story spun by my mother who had lost her mind a long time ago.
But there was no denying the overwhelming shadow cast by Peter Pan when he was standing in my house.
Pan took me captive to Neverland and I somehow found my place among him and the Lost Boys.
I’ve never looked back.
Now I’m entangled right alongside him in a war we can’t seem to escape. We thought we had defeated our enemies.
We thought we could finally have our happily ever after.
But there was one enemy we never saw coming.
A fairy who has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The fairy with golden wings and a dark, twisted heart.
She wants Neverland and she’ll stop at nothing to have it. Including destroying anyone who stands in her way, even her own flesh and blood.
The cliffhanger at the end of the last book was absolutely bonkers! I didn’t not see that coming, but got very excited to see how they all handled this twist. I really enjoyed all of the characters, except Peter Pan. He was so brooding and unconnected to the other characters in this book that I really got annoyed with him. I wanted to see a really explosive confrontation between him and anyone else. Alas, he just moped along until Roc intercedes at the end. Beyond my quibbles with Pan, I loved seeing Kas and Bash really step up into their own destiny and exert power. I loved seeing the evolving relationships between Winnie and each of the men (except Pan of course). The ending is pretty abrupt, but I wasn’t dissatisfied. The main storyline concludes and we get a sense of the peace in the last chapters. I do want to try and pick up the spin off series featuring Hook and Roc.
Vicious Lost Boys:
#3 Their Vicious Darling
#4 The Fae Princes
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
The kids are sick again. 2025 is really not off to a great start. I really wish that we could move past this.
On the bright side, we’ve got a ton of school work done while not going anywhere.
And J and I have watched a ton of great television.
I think we are going to start a podcast about our reading of War and Peace. Hopefully I can fit some prep work in this weekend.
Thinking about what I should read next. I have no idea… So many options, but I think I want to lean into whatever mood I am in after finishing my current read.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Temple of Swoon
Author: Jo Segura
Publisher: Berkley 2025
Genre: Romance
Pages: 355
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Latinx Author; Cover Lover - Favorite Color
Spice Rating: 5
While her mentor may be the world’s most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to her colleagues that she’s capable—and hopefully prove it to herself, too.
Journalist Rafael Monfils has joined the archaeological team to chronicle their search for the lost city. Or at least, that’s what they think he’s doing. Rafa’s real goal? Make sure the team does not reach the Cidade da Lua, stopping the desecration of the holy city and protecting his mother’s legacy. All he needs to do is keep them on the wrong path.
If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn’t so damn tenacious—each of Rafa’s tricks and purposeful wrong turns only seem to fuel her determination. Even worse, he’s charmed by her goofy attempts to channel Lara Croft as they traverse the dangerous Brazilian rainforest. But they’re not the only crew hunting for the lost city, and soon the untamed jungle—and their untamed hearts—might be the least of their worries...
I thoroughly enjoyed Segura’s first book. It was the perfect blend of romance and action/adventure. Romancing the Stone is one of my favorite movies from the 1980s and this one is definitely reminiscent of that movie. We get a fun, perky, slightly clues main female character and a brooding, sexy main male character. We see them come together and attempt to find the Ciudad de Lua (or are they?). Thankfully the book was very propulsive and the action pushed the characters into fun situations and tense situations. By the end of the book, I could actually buy the relationship between Miri and Rafa. I really hope that Segura keeps writing these types of books.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Hacienda
Author: Isabel Cañas
Publisher: Berkley 2022
Genre: Horror
Pages: 352
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; I Read Horror - Ghosts
Where I Got It: Book of the Month May 2022
During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?
Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.
Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
A perfect ghost story for this week! I can’t believe I let this book sit on my floor for this long before reading it. This was the perfect blend of atmospheric ghost story featuring a (potentially) unreliable narrator and a beautifully remote setting. I love these types of books and this is no exception. I couldn’t help rooting for Beatriz immediately after meeting her. This entire story including the characters really reminded me of the movie Crimson Peak. Beatriz is swept away to a house that is supposed to be her safe harbor, but quickly becomes something else. I loved the chapters we get from Andrés’s point of view as we learn more about the house and its inhabitants. The last third of this book is really a nonstop ride the I loved. And we get a great conclusion with a fun ambiguous last paragraph. Loved it!
Next up on the TBR pile:
I think we are officially back on track for the spring semester. We managed to balance school work, some errands, and a bit of play this week without too much stress. I’m very excited to see how far we got in our curriculum. It will make it easier when we take some days off bookwork to go on our trip at the end of February.
Apparently I was absolutely terrible at taking picture this week. Here’s to doing a better job this week!
Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We continued a new read aloud and it’s been much better than the last one. As an added bonus it appears in Hearth and Story G5 and as a Build Your Library Lit Bite. And it’s our co-op book selection for this month. We’ve got just a few more chapters to cover this coming week to finish off the book. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We got deeper into The Hobbit and are really enjoying it. Q is definitely liking it more than our last one.
Poetry: Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space by Amy E. Sklansky
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur continued the second book of the course, exploring more about coordinate planes. This chapter has been a lot easier for him to conceptualize than the last one.
Math in Focus Course 1 Book A
Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons. Taking it slow but moving along.
Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic
Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur covered the French Revolution and Culture Corners on Mozart and Jacques-Louis David. I must say that those French names really throw us off, but we got through it with a little help from some videos.
Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Who Was Marie Antoinette? by Dana Meachen Rau
Joseph Bologne Le Chevalier de Saint-George: The First Black Classical Composer by Amelie-Mai Wright
The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart by Kyra Teis
Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Mike Venezia
Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
You Wouldn’t Want to Be an Aristocrat in the French Revolution!: A Horrible Time in Paris You’d Rather Avoid by Jim Pipe
Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we explored Yuan and Ming Dynasties China. He really got into the sections about the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. Plus we watched a NOVA Episode about the construction of the Forbidden City.
History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
DK Explorers
Kublai Khan, The Emperor of Everything by Kathleen Krull
No Year of the Cat by Mary Dodson Wade
Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.
RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim
Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne
Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We moved on to lessons about the Earth and our Moon. For documentary time, we started a series on NOVA with BBC Earth titled Universe Revealed. We watched the episodes about the Age of Stars and the Milky Way. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.
RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
RSO Asttonomy 1
DK Eyewitness Astronomy
DK Space
DK First Space Encyclopedia
DK Eyewitness The Planets
13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar
The Planets by Gail Gibbons
Earth: My First 4.54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty
Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth by Stacy McAnulty
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
Storybots: The Moon's Time to Shine by Scott Emmons
Moon! Earth's Best Friend by Stacy McAnulty
The Moon by Gail Gibbons
Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship by Susanna Leonard Hill
Another week of co-op with more changes to our line-up. I really hope that we are done with all this and can focus on the lessons. Quentin decided that he was going to pay attention during lessons and so we participated in homeroom and art and listened during biology. Um. I guess so… But it did mean that the stuff I had planned for him to do during co-op did not get done. Not terrible but definitely a chance in plans. Arthur learned about value in art, biomes in biology, and writing with voice in writer’s workshop. Overall we had a good day. And afterward, I got to solidify our travel plans with the two families joining us for the Kansas City trip.
Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.
For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We covered our last artist in the punk chapter: Talking Heads. I love Talking Heads and the boys seemed to also enjoy them. We watched their famous concert Stop Making Sense. I’m excited that we are in the timeline when we get to watch music videos for some of these songs.
Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
Not a field trip, but we did have an open playdate at Backyard Playworld on Friday afternoon. The boys ran, jumped, and climbed for three hours. I call that a win! Plus they got to hang out with some friends.
Not necessarily homeschool related but we did get an estimate to fix the van (late February appointment) and the boys had their dental cleaning. I have literally been in the dentist office every week for an entire month (and I have to go in on Tuesday for my crown). Thankfully the boys had no problems. They even seem to enjoy going to the dentist (weirdos).
Changes in co-op made us recalibrate once again. I am very annoyed with people who try to gaslight me. Some people apparently really want to burn bridges this January.
Finishing our current reads; maybe pivoting to a fun non-study read aloud
Moving forward with math lessons
Traveling to Haiti and then the US (A) and all over the oceans (Q) for history
Exploring the rocky planets for Q’s science
Listening to Michael Jackson
Going to the zoo for animal watching, the Luminarium for science play, OPPD Arboretum for a hike, and a friend’s house for a playdate - a busy week ahead!
Starting Opinion Writing for Writer’s Workshop at co-op
Next up on the TBR pile:
Almost a stripped down song for Badflower, but I’m digging it.
Next up on the TBR pile:
On my bedside table: I have the next three volumes of Alice and Borderland, a book about shipwrecks, and War and Peace (yes, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy).
On my tv this week: J and I are in the middle of The Recruit S2, Severance S2, Shoresy S4, The Franchise S1, and Rivals S1. I’m watching Pantheon S1 and am absolutely hooked (J already watched it).
Listening to: I’ve been binging some Stray Kids, Bring Me the Horizon, The Warning, and Dead Poet Society this week
On the menu for this week:
Monday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Tuesday - Baked Potato Soup
Wednesday - Kimchi Stew with Tuna
Thursday - Rueben Pigs in a Blanket
Friday - Pizza Night
Saturday - Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese
Sunday - Leftovers
On my to do list: Mostly I just need to stay on top of the logistical tasks and homeschool planning
Happening this week:
Monday - Home Day
Tuesday - Zoo Day; Dentist Appt (my permanent crown)
Wednesday - Luminarium visit (before our membership expires)
Thursday - Academic Co-op
Friday - Nature hike at OPPD Arboretum; playdate at a friend’s house
Saturday - Parent Info Meeting
Sunday - Co-op Book Club
What I am creating: Mostly I’m just making plans. I want to get to my Memory Planner for January, but that might wait until next weekend.
My simple pleasures: A good book, time to organize and decorate my planner, no urgent messages
Looking around the house: Things are decent. I should vacuum the playroom today, but that’s the most pressing need.
From the camera: Coffee and a book before my meeting this morning
Title: Their Vicious Darling (Vicious Lost Boys #3)
Author: Nikki St. Crowe
Publisher: Blackwell House LLC 2022
Genre: Romance
Pages: 248
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 8
The Dark One has finally accepted me…just in time for everything to change. Because Vane’s brother, The Crocodile, has just arrived on Neverland soil and he’s not alone. He’s brought with him members of the royal Darkland family and they want Vane’s Death Shadow back at any cost.
Of course, Peter Pan, Vane, Kas and Bash, they’re all familiar with war. But war isn’t easy when love is on the line.
I know those vicious Lost Boys would do anything to protect me. But what if I’m not the one that needs saving?
As power shifts on the island and shadows are claimed, all five of us have to let go of who we were, if we have any chance of becoming who we are destined to be.
Ooohhhh Winnie’s got a shadow! This book has definitely been my favorite so far. We get more development in the overall big plot and the relationships between the characters. Never thought that I would say that Vane may just be my favorite. (I really thought I would gravitate toward Kas.) I loved seeing Winnie really stand up for herself and be confident in her abilities. I loved seeing Roc come into play and add another dynamic to the conflict. And we get to spend time with Hook and Smee. I cannot wait to see how this all ends.
Vicious Lost Boys:
#3 Their Vicious Darling
#4 The Fae Princes
Next up on the TBR pile:
January TBR Pile (19/22):
Bookworms BC: Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen ✓
Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Friend BC: Small Angels by Lauren Owen ✓
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker ✓
Kid Book Club: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontorvant
Kid Read Aloud: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis ✓
Kid Read Aloud: The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder ✓
Kid Read Aloud: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Romance: Blame the Mistletoe by Dani Collins ✓
Romance: Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton ✓
Romance: Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Cordova ✓
Romance: The Never King by Nikki St. Crow ✓
Romance: The Roommate by Rosie Danan ✓
Romance: The Dark One by Nikki St. Crowe ✓
Fantasy: Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer ✓
Fantasy: A Ship of Bones and Teeth by Karina Halle ✓
Horror: The Gathering by CJ Tudor ✓
Scifi: Partials by Dan Wells ✓
Comic: Alice in Borderland Vol. 2 ✓
Comic: Alice in Borderland Vol. 3 ✓
1,000,000 Page Goal:
Monthly Total: 6442 pages
Pages Remaining: 184,896 pages
Current Read - The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Books I Gave Up On (0)
Books Bought/Received (7)
Half Price Books after Christmas sale!
Horseman by Christina Henry
The Albion Initiative by George Mann
Frogkisser by Garth Nix
The Swifts by Beth Lincoln
Book of the Month had some good selections for January. I had to get three.
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Babylonia by Costanza Casati
UnRead Shelf Progress
Starting Number: 308
Books Read: 3
Books Acquired: 7
Books Unshelved: 22
Finishing Number: 290
February TBR Pile:
Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Friend BC: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark
Kid Book Club: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Kid Read Aloud: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Kid Read Aloud: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
Romance: Their Vicious Darling by Nikki St. Crowe
Romance; The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe
Romance: Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura
Horror: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Movies Watched
Enemy of the State - rewatch with the kids
Venom 3
Wicked
The Idea of You - So much better than the book (and I hardly ever say that)
Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl
A Family Affair - Very meh
The Killer’s Game - So so bad…
Greedy People
TV Shows Watched
The Gentlemen S1 - finished
Bad Monkey S1 - finished
Wednesday S1 - finished
SAS Rogue Heroes S2 - finished
Below Deck Sailing Yacht
Love Life S2 - finished
Star Struck S3 - Somehow I left two episodes unwatched in this series…
Monarch - finished
The Franchise S1
Severance S2
Pantheon S1
The Bachelor
Comments - A great start to my year. I read a ton of books, including three from my own physical unread shelf. I finished many television shows and J and I started some new ones (or at least new seasons). Hoping to keep all the momentum rolling through the rest of winter.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Last Bookstore on Earth
Author: Lily Braun-Arnold
Publisher: Delacorte Press 2025
Genre: YA Scifi
Pages: 320
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Cover Lover - Floral Elements
Where I Got It: Library
The world is about to end. Again.
Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.
Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.
Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.
As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
My last book for January really landed with a thud for me. I was intrigued by this post-apocalyptic story set primarily in a bookstore. I was hoping for a great propulsive story full of great connectable characters. Instead, we get some really boring characters and absolutely no real plot development. I was willing to stick with the book to see where the characters went, but surprise it was nowhere. I was so incredibly bored with the book. As an added annoyance, I could not get over the accident that happens to Liz. There’s absolutely no way that the injury that happened would have seemingly healed on its own very quickly. Ridiculous. There’s also a lot about the storm that bothered me. It really felt like the author had a tiny kernel of an idea and then just smashed it together with an attempt at a character study book. It did not work for me at all.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Dark One (Vicious Lost Boys #2)
Author: Nikki St. Crowe
Publisher: Blackwell House 2022
Genre: Romance
Pages: 228
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series; Cover Lover - Skull
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 8
I spent most of my life feeling dead inside — until I met Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
It wasn't until Pan and Neverland that I finally felt alive.
But things are not all full of magic and sunlight on the island. There's something darker and more sinister haunting the forest.
And worse, the fae queen and Captain Hook are ready to fight for control of Neverland and they will stop at nothing to get what they want.
War is brewing—can the Never King get his shadow back and assume his rightful throne? And if he does, where will I fit?
Or will all of Neverland be in jeopardy right along with my dark, twisted heart?
I wasn’t absolutely sold with the first book in this series, but thankfully the second one pulled me in more. We get more plot and characterization and less erotica scenes. Thank goodness! The first volume felt a bit more like reading a Penthouse letter than a good dark romance. We pivot to more of a focus on the increasing relationships between Winnie and the men and even between the men. We learn more about the islands and the shadows on the loose. I’m invested in this series now and cannot wait to see where it goes.
Vicious Lost Boys:
#2 The Dark One
#3 Their Vicious Darling
#4 The Fae Princes
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: A Ship of Bones and Teeth
Author: Karina Halle
Publisher: Karina Halle 2023
Genre: Romance Fantasy
Pages: 508
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - The Lighthouse: Fairytale Retelling - The Little Mermaid
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 8
Princess Maren is a woman with a secret.
When she was just 16-years old, she sold her soul to the sea witch Edonia, giving up a life underwater in exchange for the love of Prince Aerik on land. But after a decade of abuse and misery inflicted by the cruel prince, Maren wants nothing more than to leave him and her royal role behind and find Edonia to reverse the spell.
An opportunity for escape presents itself when the prince and princess are traveling overseas and are taken hostage by a band of notorious pirates, led by the fearsome Captain Ramsay "Bones" Battista. Maren has heard the sordid stories about the infamous pirate--not only is his ship supposedly haunted and crewed by the damned, but that no prisoners ever survive. Fortunately for Maren, she learns that the captain also has a score to settle with the sea witch. With any luck, Maren may be able to get her old life back, even if it's being held in the captain's wicked hands.
But Ramsay gets more than he bargained for when he learns who--and what--Maren is, and that her appetite for revenge, freedom, and bloodlust rivals his.
Meanwhile Maren finds herself falling for the pirate's dark nature, even as she discovers that Ramsay has a secret more deadly than her own.
When it comes to the high seas, not all monsters lurk beneath the surface.
I grabbed this one as a dark, adult retelling of The Little Mermaid and it really hit the spot for me this week. I dove in not quite knowing what to expect, but very quickly I got my feet underneath me and the plot hit full steam. Trying to figure out exactly who Maren and Ramsay were was an added bonus to the storyline. We get a contentious relationship between our main characters until larger forces bring them together. I was fully immersed in the world and wanted to see more from all of the other characters. I must say that the steamy scenes are very steamy and very riské; be forewarned. While I really enjoyed this book, I might have actually been a bit sad that this is a standalone.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Reading: Currently in the middle of a Book of the Month, Unread Shelf book The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. It’s the spooky ghost story that I was really needing this week.
Watching: J and I started watching Rivals S1 and I’m absolutely obsessed with the campy 80s drama. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
Listening: I put on a big music mix, but mostly it’s been podcasts. And in particular, it’s been You’re Wrong About. I am official in summer 2020 in their back catalog.
Making: Today it’s supposed to hit 57 degrees, but it’s been super cold for the last week or so. I’ve focused on making warm meals, dare I say comfort food.
Feeling: After a crap January, I am feeling so much better this week.
Planning: Enrichment Co-op starts in April and I have to hold all the informational parent meetings before then. They litter my calendar for February and March. Now to finish up my documentation.
Loving: My preferred breakfast this week has all been banana bread. I always forget how much I love it!
Next up on the TBR pile:
More of our week was spent in your usual flow with school, co-op, and activities. I think that we ended the week in a really good place, I did implement a more intentional independent work task list to help the boys get on a good track and move quickly. Looking forward to February.
Arthur is primarily using Hearth and Story G5 for his language arts this year. We dove into a new read aloud and it’s been much better than the last one. As an added bonus it appears in Hearth and Story G5 and as a Build Your Library Lit Bite. And it’s our co-op book selection for this month. We also covered more grammar and extra language arts assignments.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat
Quentin is primarily using Blossom & Root G1 for his language arts this year. We will pull some elements from Build Your Library Level 2 and random books that we have around the house. We got deeper into The Hobbit and are really enjoying it. Q is definitely liking it more than our last one.
Poetry: Alphabestiary selected by Jane Yolen
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Arthur is using Singapore’s Math in Focus Course 1. Effectively this is Singapore’s 6th grade math text. Arthur started the second book of the course, diving back into algebraic equations. From there, we’re pivoting to coordinate planes. I am really am liking how Singapore spends a lot of time on what the equations are actually telling us vs just jumping into solving.
Math in Focus Course 1 Book A
Quentin is using Singapore’s Primary Mathematics Common Core edition 2B and 3A. We moved onto 3A starting slow to easy back into our lessons.
Singapore Primary 3A
Primarily Logic
Arthur is using Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 this year. Arthur moved onto the section about Australia and New Zealand. We really enjoyed this detour to place that often doesn’t get covered in history texts.
Curiosity Chronicles Early Modern History Vol. 1
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Birrarung Wilam: A Story from Aboriginal Australia by Aunty Joy Murphy and Andrew Kelly
Welcome To Country: A Traditional Aboriginal Ceremony by Aunty Joy Murphy
Australia and Oceania: True Books: Geography: Continents by Mel Friedman
You Wouldn’t Want to Be an 18th-Century British Convict!: A Trip to Australia You’d Rather Not Take by Meredith Costain
Sun Mother Wakes the World by Diane Wolkstein
Indigenous Australian Cultures by Mary Colson
Great Barrier Reef by Martha London
Uluru: Australia's Aboriginal Heart by Caroline Arnold
Land of the Long White Cloud: Maori Myths, Tales and Legends by Kiri Te Kanawa and Michael Foreman
New Zealand by Alicia Klepeis
Quentin is using History Quest Middle Times with Build Your Library Level 2 as his main history curriculum. This week we covered a chapter about two Indian Empires.
History Quest Middle Times
DK When on Earth?
DK History
DK Timelines of Everything
DK Timelines of Everyone
DK A Child Through Time
Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World
DK Explorers
The temps were downright frigid this week…
Arthur is using RSO Biology 1 this year has the main science text. Our academic coop will also be using RSO Biology 1 as a basis for the fall and spring semester courses, so we will be just supplementing at home. We will also be doing some of Blossom & Root’s Book Seeds and various other small units in between. We did read some chapters from our Story of Science to keep up.
RSO Biology 1
Story of Science Vol. 3 by Joy Hakim
Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life by Anna Claybourne
Quentin is using RSO Earth & Environment and RSO Astronomy 1 as a base. Of course, we have a ton of extra science resources laying around the house. And I will be hosting some one-off science exploration days that align with the units. We moved on to lessons about galaxies, solar systems, and our sun. We are also still watching the PBS Eons videos here and there.
RSO Earth and Environment
DK First Earth Encyclopedia
RSO Asttonomy 1
DK Eyewitness Astronomy
DK Space
DK First Space Encyclopedia
DK Eyewitness The Planets
The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe by Sandra Nickel
Solar System By the Numbers by Steve Jenkins
Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman
The Book of Big Science Ideas by Freya Hardy
Sun: One in a Billion by Stacy McAnulty
13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar
The Planets by Gail Gibbons
Another week of co-op and one our absent families rejoined us. So exciting to have them back with us! Arthur had a good day learning about neurotransmitters (expansion of week 1), food webs, and drawing techniques. For writer’s workshop, the kids did their first conference. It’s a learning process, but I’m really pleased by how they handled it. Q and I figured out a way to still do our read aloud and poetry. I feel like both boys accomplished so much in those four hours.
Art will be very sporadic this year, but we do have some fun excursions planned. And I will incorporate art projects into a lot of other subjects and unit studies.
For music, we are using Music Lab: We Rock! as our spine. Each week we will be learning about a different rock musician and focus on a particular song. I have also created Spotify playlists so we can listen on the go. We moved onto two artists: Pattie Smith and The Replacements. The boys were not huge fans of those artists, but it is always good to expand our musical horizons.
Music Lab: We Rock!
DK Music and How it Works
DK The Arts
We attended board game club on Friday afternoon . It was a bit of a rough start (Arthur’s besties were not there), both boys settled in and played some games with other kids. I had a lovely time chatting with old, middle, and new homeschool friends. We will definitely be attending next month’s meeting.
Wednesday we restarted our Joslyn Art Explorers visits. The kids had a great time exploring color this month. And we visited one of the galleries that we haven’t gotten back into since the museum opened. I think we have now visited all of the galleries at least once. Love our art museum visits.
Q ended up having a bit of an emotional time after board game club and we had to have a big conversation afterwards. It was a bit rough. But we made it through.
Continuing our current reads
Moving forward with math lessons
Traveling to Revolutionary France (A) and China (Q) for history
Exploring the rocky planets for Q’s science
Listening to Talking Heads
Playing at an indoor playground to get our wiggles out
Heading back to the dentist, thankfully this time for the kids’ cleaning appointments and not anything about me
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: The Roommate (Shameless #1)
Author: Rosie Danan
Publisher: Berkley 2020
Genre: Romance
Pages: 325
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Starstruck Sweets (Celebrity); Cover Love - Need of a redesign
Where I Got It: Library
Spice Rating: 5
The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too tempting to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.
After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet...
Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too.
Overall a cute romcom style romance featuring some great conversations about sex work. The set-up/meet cute is very contrived and silly, but once I got over that, I really fell into he story and the characters. Josh is a great male lead who really stays true to himself the entire story. I loved seeing Clara grow and change throughout the book. The steamy scenes were definitely steamy and fun. The third act break-up/conflict felt believable and sufficiently full of drama without being too cliched. I also loved seeing a male lead actually make amends for his actions. The ending was rushed and a bit too cliched for my tastes keeping the book from being a 5 star book. But in the end, I still really enjoyed this one.
Shameless
#1 The Roommate
#2 The Intimacy Experiment
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: A Song for a New Day
Author: Sarah Pinsker
Publisher: Penguin 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 384
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: COYER; Quarter of a Century - 2019
Where I Got It: Amazon Kindle
In the Before, when the government didn't prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. One of her songs had just taken off and she was on her way to becoming a star. Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce's connection to the world--her music, her purpose—is closed off forever. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law.
Rosemary Laws barely remembers the Before times. She spends her days in Hoodspace, helping customers order all of their goods online for drone delivery—no physical contact with humans needed. By lucky chance, she finds a new job and a new calling: discover amazing musicians and bring their concerts to everyone via virtual reality. The only catch is that she'll have to do something she's never done before and go out in public. Find the illegal concerts and bring musicians into the limelight they deserve. But when she sees how the world could actually be, that won’t be enough.
Nerdy Bookish Friends’ first selection of the year and it was a bit of a dud for me. I don’t actually think that this is a bad book at all. I just started reading it, got about halfway through, and realized that it put me in a terrible melancholy mood. I deeply felt the loneliness of both of the main characters as they navigated an isolated world. At times, I was very intrigued by how the world has changed since the pandemic. But… the story meandered and seemed to get stuck in places. More importantly, I was having a lot of trouble really connecting to Rosemary. She was so incredibly naive that I couldn’t even root for her. While I didn’t love the book, I am excited to discuss it with my online book friends.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 2
Author: Haro Aso
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2021
Genre: Comics
Pages: 344
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series
Where I Got It: Library
Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.
Life in Borderland can be grim, but after completing two games Arisu feels like he might be getting a handle on how his new world works. Chota’s and Shibuki’s visas are expiring soon, however, so the group doesn’t have time to be picky about their next match. And the arena they stumble upon is a lesson in just how treacherous the rules in Borderland can be.
Diving back into this series and it just doesn’t let up. This particular volume really hit me in the feels. I did not see the events coming at all. The game depicted was absolutely brutal. I was completely slack jawed by the end. I am obsessed with this series.
Title: Alice in Borderland Vol. 3
Author: Haro Aso
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC 2022
Genre: Comics
Pages: 344
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series
Where I Got It: Library
Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future weighs on him like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.
Aguni now has control of the Beach, and one of his first actions as king is to lock Ryohei in a room on one of the empty floors of the hotel to die of an expired visa. But Ryohei gets an unexpected stay of execution when the Beach becomes the arena for a brutal game of Hearts! Can he survive a witch hunt and get his visa extended, or has he just traded one terrible death for another?
And on to the next volume… with a change of venue and new characters. I wasn’t sold on the beach resort plot line, but it grew on me. The volume got even better when a game began at the beach. I cannot wait to see what happens next and how this particular game concludes.
Next up on the TBR pile: