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booksandtea

Mysteries of Thorn Manor – Margaret Rogerson

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

This is a fun continuation of Sorcery of Thorns.    Nathaniel and Elisabeth have been living at Thorn Manor for a few months when it starts to go crazy, and they have to figure out exactly what the house wants.    It’s a fun romp through a semi-sentient house, and it’s interesting to explore Nathaniel’s family history, […]

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The Near Witch – V. E. Schwab

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

Lexi lives in the small village of Near, where everyone knows each other, and magic is there, but also a thing of the past.    Still, they distrust strangers in Near.    So when a stranger is seen near the village just as children start to go missing, Lexi struggles to solve the mystery of what’s happening.

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Tea and Alchemy – Sharon Lynn Fisher

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

This book is an interesting play on vampire stories.   The author uses Celtic mythology to create a different kind of origin story for a vampire family in Cornwall. I really respect that this book was begun based on vibes – she really wanted a back story to what sounds like a very romantic ruin she

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Small Magics – Ilona Andrews

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

This is a collection of previously published stories in the Kate Daniels universe.    Fortunately, I hadn’t read any before.      There are a few original stories, a few that don’t actually involve Kate or any of the regular crew, and it ends with several vignettes from Curran’s point of view. I really enjoyed Julie’s story, where

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Vivid Blanket

Knitting Notes

Leave a Comment / At Home, Knitting / Megan

The Vivid blanket is coming along, now that I have enough yarn. I’m far enough in that I’ve memorized the pattern. Our weather has been snowier than it has been in a number of years, and colder than it has been in a number of years. So I’ve also gotten a fair amount done with

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The Undermining of Twyla and Frank – Megan Bannen

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

If I wanted to get a chic lit or romance reader into fantasy, I’d give them this series. (First book reviewed here.) Twyla is 53, and is still trying to trying to find her way into what it really means to be a wife/widow, mother and grandmother. I don’t have kids, but I’m the right

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Wicked Like Wildfire – Lana Popovic

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

Iris and Malina are twins, and their family has a magical ability to ‘gleam’ – manipulate ordinary things into art. But their mother has always insisted that they keep their abilities secret, and that they never fall in love. This story is set in Montenegro, and I really liked the descriptions of their home city

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Ragnarok: The End of Gods – A. S. Byatt

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

When Byatt was asked to retell a myth, she chose Ragnarok. What’s lovely about this is how personal that story is her – the frame of this book is herself reading it as a child during World War II, and how closely that story of ending mirrored what was going on in the world around

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Lavinia – Ursula K. Le Guin

Leave a Comment / At Home, Reading / Megan

This book is the story of Lavinia, the last wife of Aeneas in The Aeneid. Because it’s Le Guin, it’s beautifully written, and thought provoking. When Lavinia is young, she goes with her father to the holy place of her family, and the dreams she has there are of Virgil, who will write her story

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Hermione Hearts Ron Hat

Knitting Notes

Leave a Comment / At Home, Knitting / Megan

This is the third time I’ve knit a Hermione Hearts Ron hat, so I won’t do a formal finished post. This is a continuation of using up the Targhee Tango sport. Slowly but surely! In other stash busting news, here’s the last of the End of the World sock yarn. I only had about foot-long

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  • Mysteries of Thorn Manor – Margaret Rogerson
  • The Near Witch – V. E. Schwab
  • Tea and Alchemy – Sharon Lynn Fisher
  • Small Magics – Ilona Andrews
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