Update!

I can't believe it's almost October! Here's what's on the roster for me:

Thursday I'm going to the Leigh Bardugo author event at Changing Hands in Phoenix, and I'm super excited to get my copy of SIX OF CROWS signed! I'm bemoaning the fact that I only own the Grisha trilogy in e-book form… whiiiiich might need to be remedied before then.

I'm also excited about diving back into some other projects this week, now that I'm officially out of Revision-Land: finishing off a second draft of the fairy-tale retelling I wrote last year, outlining a new book, and maybe brainstorming yet another new book! Yay!!!

On the reading front, I devoured Victoria Schwab's VICIOUS and Naomi Novak's UPROOTED a few weeks ago. Both were absolutely stunning. VICIOUS freaked me out but I couldn't put it down (super-heroes! villains! chaos! revenge!). UPROOTED literally sucked me in like there was actual magic involved (wizards! enchantments! an angry forest out for vengeance!). Just, WOW.

Currently halfway through SCORPION RULES and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, both of which are freaking me out for different reasons. I definitely need to read something light and happy next!

So that's what's happening in my bookish neck of the woods. It's HOT HOT HOT here, but we're so close to the end (I hope!). Cooler weather is juuuuuust around the corner. But not this week. This week it's supposed to be 105 or hotter through Saturday.

If you need me, I'll be eating pumpkin ice cream and blasting the AC while I pretend it's fall. (Mmmmmmm pumpkin ice cream.)

Cheers, all. Happy almost-October!

Book Review: A Circle of Salt

A CIRCLE OF SALT, by E. J. Weaver

I was completely swept up in this book. It has lovely, lyrical writing, gorgeous imagery, and a wonderful, old-fashioned feel that reminded me of George MacDonald.

E. J. Weaver does an amazing job weaving together Russian fairy tales into a compelling narrative about proud Vasilissa, one of the Folk cast out of the Summer Realm and forced to live among humans.

I was completely fascinated with how NON-human Vasilissa is at first: she shape-shifts into a horse and a fish. She raises towers from the ground. But she finds herself slowly caught up in the affairs of certain humans who she meets and helps along the way, even while she's being hunted by the terrifying Koschei, the Deathless. Koschei is the servant of the witch Baba Yaga, who wants to use Vasilissa to open the door to the Summer Realm…

The book is broken into sections instead of chapters: Vasilissa the Proud, Sivka-Birka, The Fisherman and His Wife, etc., and each section is a mini-story in and of itself, following the thread of Vasilissa's long sojourn in the human world. The stories are steeped in beauty and terror and joy, sorrow and longing, but love and hope, too.

A CIRCLE OF SALT kind of broke my heart, a little, but in a good way. Read it on a rainy afternoon with a big cup of tea and a cat nearby for snuggling if you get too teary.

You can find it on Amazon HERE.