Slowing Down in the Busy Season
Fall is in its final full month before we embrace winter. Around here, our homes are filled with the scents of pumpkin spice, cinnamon and cloves. Soups are simmering, leaves are turning and apples are abundant. Yet the temperature hasn’t quite seemed to make up its mind. In our part of the world, while we’re making out our Thanksgiving menus, the temperature ranges anywhere from the upper 20s to the low 70s.
We’re still in a time of transition.
We’re getting used to shorter days and longer, cooler nights. The holiday rush has already begun and parties are already being planned. Parents are filling their free time with school pick-ups, drop offs, extracurricular activities and upcoming recitals. Things are ramping up, but that doesn’t mean we can’t slow down.
This season, we’ve got some great books to help you unwind even during the chaos, stories to share with the ones you love, and new books, different genres, to honor the joy of change. One book I’m excited to share is Alchemised by SenLinYu. This is a different genre for me – dark fantasy and romance (a... romantasy) mixed with war, alchemy and necromancy. I’ll read almost anything, mostly thrillers but very rarely fantasy, with the exception of the Harry Potterseries. Interestingly enough, Alchemised got its start as the popular fanfic, Manacled, which provided an alternate ending to Harry Potter where Harry dies and Voldemort lives.
Alchemised follows Helena Marino, who wakes up as a prisoner of war with no memory of who she is or what she’s done. Manacles are placed on her wrists preventing her use of her resonance, and after determining that she may have valuable information buried deep in her mind, her captors imprison her in the home of the High Reeve, Kaine Ferron. There, Ferron works tirelessly to uncover what Helena is hiding, and Helena learns Ferron is holding secrets of his own.
This book is not for the faint of heart. It’s dark, deep, and horrific, but it is also beautiful, complex and immersive. I loved it. I still have my usual stack of books waiting to be read, but opening myself up to new things, a new kind of story, opened a new world for me. Books can do that.
In a way, we’re always in some kind of transition. Change never stops and the creative ideas don’t either. Lucky for us, we get to be at the receiving end of all that imagination in the forms of short stories, poems, essays and novels. As we navigate our way through the beauty and busyness of this time of the year, I hope you take time to let a book impact your life. Read with a loved one, try a new genre or maybe embrace a change of space and nestle with your next book in a pile of red, brown and golden leaves while we still have them.
Booklist Six: Books to Check Out in November
The Whistler by SW Kane – Thriller
SW Kane’s third installment, The Whistler, once more features Detective Lew Kirby. Connie Darke and her close friend Mole slip under the streets of London to explore the sewer system and its hidden architecture. After trudging through the damp and darkness and squeezing through tunnels, they finally reach their destination where they make an unwelcomed discovery: a mutilated body followed by an eerie whistling sound. Naturally they get out of dodge, but their experience is only the beginning, and while they evaded the whistler this time, it didn’t mean he was gone for good. Will be released November 14. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/49yu7Ja
The Forget-Me-Knot Library by Heather Webber – Fiction
When a road detour leads Juliet to Forget-Me-Not, Alabama, and straight into Tallulah’s life, the two women soon discover there’s magic in between the pages of where you’ve been and where you still need to go. And that happiness, even when lost, can always be found again. Will be released November 4. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/47mYUaB
How to Talk to Your Dog About Murder by Emily Soderberg - Cozy Mystery
Nikki Jackson-Ramanathan is struggling to get her pet behaviorist business off the ground, making ends meet as a dog walker while keeping her eyes peeled for greener pastures. An appointment in a rich suburb of Saint Louis seems to be her ticket to success. The wealthy Mrs. Van Meer wants Nikki to help the family’s old hound dog, who is grieving the loss of his owner. But then Mrs. Van Meer turns up dead. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/47o4JEP
Alchemised by SenLinYu – Fantasy, Horry
Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost. Check it out here: https://amzn.to/4nEbLds
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman – Mystery
It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/4nyc4WT
Nash Falls by David Baldacci – Thriller
Following his estranged Vietnam-veteran father’s funeral, Walter Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request: become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Sybaritic. At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI’s demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice. But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never could have contemplated. Will be released November 11. Check it out here: https://bit.ly/43OUhni
Coffee and a book
Coffee, tea and latte syrup combos to try with your next read
- If you're a coffee lover, consider checking out Coffee Emporium, https://www.coffee-emporium.com. They produce sustainably sourced coffee that is amazing. They're located in Cincinnati, Ohio but you can order online. One to try: Winter Solstice
- More of a tea drinker? Try the Bourbon Chestnut Herbal Tea or the Banana Nut Muffin Herbal Tea from The Spice & Tea Exchange at spiceandtea.com.
- If you're a latte drinker and make them at home (typically 2 shots espresso and 8oz steamed milk), consider adding the following flavored syrup combinations:
1T maple + 1T caramel
1T lavender + 1T vanilla
2T caramel + 1T shortbread
