I have been so tired lately. I’ve been going to bed early with the intention of reading, and just falling asleep on top of the book. So only one review posted last week; Afterlove by Tanya Byrne.

I did finish reading the longest book on my TBR! I went into House of Earth and Blood with pretty low expectations, but ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Yeah, it infodumps all over the place at the start, but once that’s done with, it reminded me a lot of the kind of urban fantasy I used to binge read. I will most likely read the second book next year, and it looks like it might even be slightly shorter, which goes against the normal trend of SJM series!

I also read Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw which was a fun YA horror set around Fangfest in 90’s New Orleans. I know setting books in the 90’s means mobile phones and social media don’t get in the way, but I also suspect writers are doing these a bit for the adult readers who were teenagers at the time. This was definitely full of nostalgia, even if I wasn’t that into horror as a teen. I did at least like vampires!

Summer has returned! I love September when the weather is good, the forest has the first signs of the bracken turning a bright rust, the heather is in bloom and trees are still green. We ticked off another walk in our book at the weekend, heading out between Ringwood and Fordingbridge which has a much more moorland feel than close to home. Though weirdly very sandy paths! It’s also much quieter out that way.

Hang on a minute, what does that sign say?

Dog in front of sign pointing direction to "middle earth"

I didn’t realise we’d walked so far! I didn’t spot any hobbits or ring wraiths though… Just some sort of weird dog beast.

Apparently they are holiday cottages, but that doesn’t sound as exciting.

New books acquired:

The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell
Green Rising by Lauren James
The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino
Moonstruck Volume 2 by Grace Ellis + Shae Beagle
Moonstruck Volume 3 by Grace Ellis + Shae Beagle
The Last Library by Freya Sampson (ebook)
Sistersong by Lucy Holland (ebook)