August Wrap-Up and September Goals

August reads

August Wrap-Up

• Finished: 4
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,977
• Average rating: 4
• Book bought: 8

It almost felt like I didn’t read anything at all last month! I think that was because I finished ten books in June and had quite a hefty schedule with Jane Austen July that finishing only two contemporary novels and two nonfiction books felt like nothing. But I did read almost two thousand pages, and two of the books I started last month are quite long (I won’t be able to finish them until early October). I also took a week of vacation when I read a lot less than normally (you can find a vlog of my combined writing retreat/summer vacation here).

Book Review: A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass

A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass

Book Title: A Thousand Heartbeats (*Amazon affiliate link)
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: YA fantasy, fantasy romance
Published: November 29, 2022 by HarperTeen
565 pages
My rating: 3/5

“Love has a sound. It sounds like a thousand heartbeats happening at the same time.”

Princess Annika lives a life of luxury in the prosperous kingdom of Kadier, but her life isn’t hers to control. Her father is forcing her to form a marriage alliance to duke Nickolas for political gain. Meanwhile, in the decaying Vosino Castle, Lennox prepares for a war to take back the throne from Annika’s father. When these two enemies meet, the call of a thousand heartbeats binds their fates together.

A Thousand Heartbeats is a Young Adult standalone fantasy romance. I expected the book to have more fantasy elements, especially as the cover seems to imply that the characters live in a world with a lot of water. But no. There’s no magic or magical creatures. Basically the only thing that makes the novel a fantasy is that it takes place in a fictional world. The setting is medieval-esque with its castles and princesses and warring kingdoms, so this book could be classified as a Young Adult fairytale.

Writing Retreat, Visiting a Medieval Castle, and Book Hauls!

In my latest writing vlog, I go on a little adventure to a small town in eastern Finland, Savonlinna. I visit the medieval castle Olavinlinna and get some editing done on Project Prehistory. And I have two book hauls to share with you! Find out what else I got up to in the vlog:

Book Review: Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James

Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James

Book Title: Tilly and the Bookwanderers (*affiliate link)
Author: Anna James
Genre: Middle grade fantasy
Published: September 18, 2018
400 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Our stories are how we will be remembered – so we’ve got to make sure they are worth telling.”

Eleven-year-old Matilda “Tilly” Pages lives upstairs the little bookshop kept by her grandparents. One day, she meets the main characters from her two favorite books – Alice in Wonderland and Anne of Green Cables – and learns that she can travel into books. Together with her friend Oskar they begin an adventure into the world of books and try to solve the mystery of what happened to Tilly’s mother.

Tilly and the Bookwanderers is a middle-grade fantasy for anyone who has wanted to travel into books or meet their favorite characters. Books about books, libraries, and bookstores as well as the idea that you can travel into books is something that I love. One of my favorite books last year (and also this year when I reread it) was WildWood Revisited by Cinasee Pollett. So when I spotted Tilly and the Bookwanderers in my local library, I knew I wanted to read it – even more so since one of my goals this year is to read a middle-grade book.

How I Wrote and Self-Published a Short Story

In the Shadow of Death (a fantasy short story)

It’s the release day of In the Shadow of Death, my urban fantasy short story about love and loss. What better opportunity to share with you how I wrote and self-published the story. In the Shadow of Death (*Amazon affiliate link) is an urban fantasy inspired by the myth of Castor and Pollux and takes place partly in the modern world and partly in the Underworld.

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Annotating a Novel

That’s me. I’m the beginner. And here’s a little guide to how I annotated my first novel.

Before last month, I had never annotated a novel. I have annotated nonfiction books before, but those were mostly for my studies. But annotating fiction purely for fun was something I had never done. I couldn’t figure out what it was that I was supposed to annotate and how to do it, probably because we never annotated fiction books in school. However, my bookstagram feed was full of photos of annotated books with beautiful doodles and color-coded sticky tabs, and I was intrigued. So during Jane Austen July, I annotated my all-time favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. Here’s a recap of what I learned from the experiment as well as some tips on how to annotate a novel.

Jane Austen July wrap-up and August hopefuls

Jane Austen July Reads

 

July Wrap-Up

• Finished: 6
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 2,323
• Average rating: 4.5

I had so much fun last month! July was full of Jane Austen and related literature as I participated on Jane Austen July for the first time. Here are short reviews of all the books I read in July, and a quick look forward to the books I’m planning to read in August. All links with * are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.