This is the Mask: A Book Blog

My list has gotten a little out of order, and I’ve had a couple surprise additions. Well, maybe not such a surprise, as I requested these extra titles from NetGalley, but they weren’t put on the SRL because I didn’t know if I was going to be blessed by the Book Gods. (Spoiler: I was.) Regardless, I’m well on my way, and so far have enjoyed most of the books I have read.

The first non-NetGalley book I read (and the actual first on the list) was Robert Macfarlane’s The Lost Words, illustrated by Jackie Morris. This is a children’s book, a gorgeous, giant picture book of beautiful paintings and magical poems. I refuse to outgrow picture books, and now that I’m a Gramma, I don’t have to. (Actually, I can’t pin this on my Grandies; I buy picture books for myself.) I also love Robert Macfarlane’s work. His poetic novella Ness was the best book I read last year; and I absolutely loved Underland and Holloway. I bought Is a River Alive? without bothering to read the synopsis just because he wrote it and I know it will be stunning.

Macfarlane’s poems are enchanting and whimsical, short enough to hold a child’s interest but deep enough to satisfy the adult mind. I am not familiar with Jackie Morris’ work, but her paintings in this book are absolutely beautiful; she is definitely an artist I want to look up.

Look at these!! I must own a copy of this book. I might even share it with my Grandies.

Next up is Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity.

I will admit that I do not read Romantasy. Please do not come after me with torches and pitchforks. I don’t read Romance at all, actually, despite having written a Historical Romance. The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing: Gothic and mysterious, kind of Jane Eyre meets Ghost Hunters. I won’t go so far as to say I was disappointed, but I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be.

I love Leena’s personality. Despite the difficulty of trying to live her everyday life with ghosts swarming about her, she’s a well-grounded, practical, intelligent, no-nonsense young woman. I would like to kick her brother in the head; he seems to just go out of his way to make her life difficult. Instead of getting a grown-up job, he participates in illegal fight rings, apparently for the sake of feeding is ego and traumatizing his sister.

To save her feckless brother’s life, Leena makes a deal with an arrogant, shifty nobleman who, in the tradition of Romantasy, has a complete personality reversal and becomes a tenderhearted true love who adores Leena above all things. Except maybe his ancestral home.

I know this character type is a common trope in Romantasy, and it’s just not for me. Even Rochester held on to some of his rather dubious morals after he fell in love with Jane; the complete personality flip just isn’t believable enough (yes, it’s escapism. Yes, I still want real personality models)

I didn’t not like Weavingshaw, but it’s not a favorite for the Summer Reading List, and I probably won’t bother to read the sequel.