It’s been quiet on the blog the last couple of weeks, what with storms and war dominating the news, it’s been hard to be enthusiastic about blogging. My hosting has been going up and down a bit lately too, so I just go and do something else instead. Like doomscrolling.

At least the sun came out at the weekend. We decided to walk from Beaulieu down to Buckler’s Hard, but sadly they’ve had so many visitors during the pandemic that they’ve closed off the riverside footpath to protect the wildlife. Another footpath is still open but it’s a pretty boring straight track which was so busy and loud. I doubt we’ll do that walk again, even though Buckler’s Hard is worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Here is a muddy Scully at our destination:

She managed to scratch off half her chin the other week. She’s allergic to Malassezia yeast, which just exists on skin naturally, as well as several pollens, so despite her prescription shampoo she does get itchy. I can relate. It’s healing up OK though, I think she realised she’d actually hurt herself as she seems to have been rubbing it less since.

Since my last check-in I’ve read House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas. I’m over the possessive macho crap from the male love interests (and some of the other characters to be honest) but I really like the fantasy world and story of this series. I did skim over the sex scenes a bit.

I listened to Homicide and Halo-Halo, the second Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery by Mia P. Manansala. This one continues to have lots of tempting foodie descriptions but the mystery revolves around the death of a beauty pageant judge. I managed to guess the murderer before it was revealed but it wasn’t too obvious, so the perfect cosy mystery. Both the books have recipes in if you need something for that Popsugar prompt. The dish of Halo-Halo sounds intriguing.

Whizzing through the audiobooks, I also finished Bad Apples by Will Dean, the fourth Tuva Moodyson book. This one was pretty creepy, what with all the teeth stuff. I highly recommend Maya Lindh’s narration of this series.

Mata Oti: Eyes of Death by Laini Young is a bit of a random read, but I needed to read a book by a Pacific Islander for Popsugar and I stumbled upon this Samoan zombie story. The premise is that a Covid-esque pandemic is genetically modified and they assume the outbreak in Samoa is that, until zombies. Tropey, a bit repetitive, but not bad for this type of story.

Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker is a cute graphic novel, reminded me a bit of Lumberjanes.

I was taking part in the ATY group’s readathon last week and one of the team tasks was to read a book by a Madeleine. I found vN by Madeline Ashby on my TBR, which I’ve had nearly ten years. I’m really glad I read it at last, has some interesting thoughts on AI. I might even review it properly!

I’ll have On My Radar for March up this week and try and get back to posting a weekly review. I’ve read plenty, so it’s not like I don’t have the material.

New books acquired:

Breathless by Amy McCulloch
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
Lies Like Wildfire by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez (ebook)