Weekly Mews: Autumn is Almost Here and I Have Witches on the Brain (Again)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently. 

Summer is finally coming to an end and soon I will be craving pumpkin scones and peppermint hot chocolate. Okay, so maybe I am already. Do you have a favorite autumn snack? 

I hurt my knee doing the most basic, normal activity--sitting down--earlier in the week. I think my knee cap popped out a little before popping back in place. It hasn't been completely right since. 

Mouse started her 7th year of Girl Scouts this year with a little Bridging Ceremony this past Tuesday. She's moved up to the next level. Her troop did some fun things together this summer and are all looking forward to the year ahead.

My reading may have slowed down a bit this past week but there was also more work. A lot more work. Mouse has been reading up a storm. She is at a sleepover tonight with a friend and took four books. You never know if you want to stay up all night reading, after all. She takes after me that way--never go anywhere without a book (or several)! 

Read Recently

Early in the week I finished reading Amari and the Night Brothers, the first in B.B. Alston's middle grade Supernatural Investigations series. Amari is a great character and I love her roommate. Amari is determined to find her missing brother even if it means sticking with a camp to the end where almost everyone thinks her magic is evil. I am looking forward to reading the next book. Hopefully soon.

Reading Now

I am in the middle of Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante (Maggie Hope Mysteries #5) by Susan Elia MacNeal. It's been ages since I last visited with Maggie and friends but I am enjoying catching up with their lives and seeing them through their latest adventures. 

Reading Next

I have not yet settled on the next book I will read. I was thinking maybe something of the nonfiction variety since I have been neglecting my nonfiction TBR so far this year. It turns out the books calling to me are anything but nonfiction right now though. Is it because autumn is fast approaching and I am still gravitating more toward the lighter reads? Probably a lot of both. I am not sure which of these I might read next, but they all sound so tempting.  Or maybe I will choose something completely different . . . 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Seven-Year Witch (Witch Way Librarian Mystery #2) by Angela M. Sanders

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

New to the Shelves

My birthday may have been last week, but it did not end there. At least where bookish gifts were concerned: 

Hao: Stories by Ye Chun 

Amari and the Great Game (Special Investigations #2) by B.B. Alston

To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino

Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard

Science of the Magical: From the Holy Grail to Love Potions to Superpowers by Matt Kaplan

The Science of Monsters: the Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear by Matt Kaplan

Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

Mouse made out too: 

The Keeper by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

My Happy Marriage, Vol. 1 by Akumi Agitogi, Rito Kohsaka, Tsukiho Tsukioka

Finding Gossamyr, Vol. 1 by David A. Rodriguez, Sarah Ellerton

Lumberjanes Gotham Academy by Chynna Clugston, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, Maddi Gonzalez, Kelly Matthews, Nichole Matthews, Jenna Ayoub

The Witch Boy (#1) by Molly Knox Ostertag

Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe (#2)  by Carlos Hernandez

Hooky, Vol. 2 by Míriam Bonastre Tur 

Let me know what you are reading and watching! What new books have made it onto your shelves recently? I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Reading!

My other cat wanted to be in the spotlight too

(I keep trying to get her to pose with my books, but noooo....)

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.Weekly Mews: 09/03/2022

Weekly Mews: A Visit to The Last Bookstore and Glorious Rain

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently. 

What better way to spend a birthday than curled up on the couch reading while the rain falls outside? After several triple digit temperature days in a row, it was nice to get some cooler weather at the end of the week. The rain not only helped cool down the temperature outside, but it also helped the firefighters gain an upper hand on the nearby fires. 

My husband and daughter had many surprises for me this weekend. There was cake, flowers, a Pink Drink, and then today we drove out to Los Angeles and visited the The Last Bookstore. It's toted as the largest new and used bookstore in California. There are comfy spots to sit and read or you can browse the many shelves of books and vinyl records. For the art lover, there's a few small galleries/shops upstairs not to mention book art throughout the store. Of course we bought some books while there. We visited Little Tokyo for a late lunch before heading home. 

How was your week? 

Read Recently

From Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews last week to the second and third books in the Hidden Legacy series, White Hot and Wildfire this week--a mix of urban fantasy and romance that really hit the reading spot. It is a promising sign my reading slump is well behind me. I also fit in the third and fourth volumes of Hotondoshindeiru's Uncle From Another World. I may have to steal the fifth volume from my daughter--she's been distracted by other books and hasn't finished it yet.

What did you recently finish reading?

Reading Now & Up Next

I am nearing the end of Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B. B. Alston and am just about to start reading September's TBR List Poll winner. Thank you to everyone who voted! 

Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante (Maggie Hope Mysteries #5) by Susan Elia MacNeal came out on top with 11 votes. The Dark Archive (The Invisible Library #7) by Genevieve Cogman came in second with 8. votes and Etched in Bone (Others #5) by Anne Bishop got 7 votes. 

Thank you for voting! What are you reading right now? 

My TBR List is hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

New to the Shelves

Mouse and I added more books to our bookshelves recently.  Let's take a look!

My Birthday Loot:

The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea

Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

The Love Hypthesis by Ali Hazelwood

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rup Kaur

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic by Alice Quinn

Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer

Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell #4) by Juliette Cross

Fly Me to the Moon (Sylvia Stryker Space Case Mystery #1) by Diane Vallere

I'm Your Venus (Sylvia Stryker Space Case Mystery #2) by Diane Vallere

Saturn Night Fever (Sylvia Stryker Space Case Mystery #3) by Diane Vallere

Spiders From Mars (Sylvia Stryker Space Case Mystery #4) by Diane Vallere

Mouse's Unbirthday Loot: 

Sourceline #1 by Sylvia Douyé, illustrated by Paola Antista
The Body Under the Piano (Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen #1) by Marthe Jocelyn
Salt Magic by Hope Larson, illustrated by Rebecca Mock

The Thief Queen's Daughter (The Lost Journals of Ven Polyheme #2) by Elizabeth Haydon

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi

Class is Not Dismissed (School of Fear #2) by Gitty Daneshvari

What new books made it onto your shelf recently? 

I hope you have a great week and month of September! Let me know what you have been reading and watching!

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Weekly Mews: September Heat Wave (Be sure to vote in this month's TBR Poll!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently. 

How are you today? I had to take my daughter in for a blood test this morning (thank goodness the doctor requested it to be done stat because the wait would have been horrendous) and we followed it up with a visit to Barnes and Noble. That seems to be where we end up after every visit to the doctor's. We made it home before it got too hot outside. While we had a rather mild summer compared to past summers (high 90's instead of triple digit temperatures), this week we have been hit with a heat wave with temperatures over 100F. I think the hottest day this week was 107F. In my office building, however, it was sweater weather. Not that I am complaining. I am very grateful for the air conditioning.

I had not planned to stay away from blogging for so long, but life got in the way in more ways than one. It has been a rough several months, but things are looking up--or so I hope--and hopefully I can find my blogging (and reading) rhythm again soon.

Read Recently

Bait and Witch (Witch Way Librarian #1) by Angela M. Sanders was a fun paranormal cozy mystery and the book that gave me hope I was coming out of my reading slump. I should have picked up the next in the series, but instead decided to read Karen Heuler's The Splendid City, which I considered setting aside several times. I just was not enjoying it as much as I hoped I would. The ending was satisfying though, and so I am glad I stuck with it--mostly, anyway. After that I hemmed and hawed over what to read, nothing really catching my fancy. I finally decided to go with a couple of my favorite authors, husband and wife writing team, Ilona Andrews. I flew through Burn For Me, the first in their Hidden Legacy urban fantasy series.  

My husband, daughter and I are enjoying reading the manga series, Uncle From Another World by Hotondoshindeiru I am behind everyone else in house admittedly, but I am liking it so far. 

What did you recently finish reading?

Reading Now

At the moment, I am reading Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B. B. Alston. I am not too far in, but it's so good already! I hope I can talk Mouse into reading it. I think she would enjoy it too. I am also reading White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) by Ilona Andrews because why mess with a good reading streak? 

What are you reading right now? 

Up Next

I could use your help in choosing my next read! When I mentioned to my husband that I have found some relief to my reading slump by returning to old favorite authors of mine, he suggested this month's TBR List poll theme could include the next books in favorite series I have been neglecting. I thought that was a great idea--of course, narrowing it down to just three was next to impossible, but I tried! Which of these three books do you think I should read next? 

Etched in Bone (Others #5) by Anne Bishop

New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop returns to her world of the Others, as humans struggle to survive in the shadow of shapeshifters and vampires far more powerful than themselves…

After a human uprising was brutally put down by the Elders—a primitive and lethal form of the Others—the few cities left under human control are far-flung. And the people within them now know to fear the no-man’s-land beyond their borders—and the darkness…

As some communities struggle to rebuild, Lakeside Courtyard has emerged relatively unscathed, though Simon Wolfgard, its wolf shifter leader, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn must work with the human pack to maintain the fragile peace. But all their efforts are threatened when Lieutenant Montgomery’s shady brother arrives, looking for a free ride and easy pickings.

With the humans on guard against one of their own, tensions rise, drawing the attention of the Elders, who are curious about the effect such an insignificant predator can have on a pack. But Meg knows the dangers, for she has seen in the cards how it will all end—with her standing beside a grave. [Goodreads Summary]

Mrs. Roosevelt's Confidante (Maggie Hope Mysteries #5) by Susan Elia MacNeal

In this riveting mystery from Susan Elia MacNeal, England’s most daring spy, Maggie Hope, travels across the pond to America, where a looming scandal poses a grave threat to the White House and the Allied cause.

December 1941. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C., along with special agent Maggie Hope. Posing as his typist, she is accompanying the prime minister as he meets with President Roosevelt to negotiate the United States’ entry into World War II. When one of the First Lady’s aides is mysteriously murdered, Maggie is quickly drawn into Mrs. Roosevelt’s inner circle—as ER herself is implicated in the crime. Maggie knows she must keep the investigation quiet, so she employs her unparalleled skills at code breaking and espionage to figure out who would target Mrs. Roosevelt, and why. What Maggie uncovers is a shocking conspiracy that could jeopardize American support for the war and leave the fate of the world hanging dangerously in the balance. [Goodreads Summary]

The Dark Archive (The Invisible Library #7) by Genevieve Cogman

A professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.

Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they both narrowly avoid getting killed in an assassination attempt, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left - especially when the assassins keep coming for them, and for Irene's other friends as well...

In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever. [Goodreads Summary]




Thank you for voting! What will you be reading next?

My TBR List is hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

What I Have Been Watching

My family and I have been putting on an episode of Star Trek: Discovery most evenings. We are well into the second season now. The show has a great cast, and although I am not an original Star Trek fan, it's been fun to pick out the Easter eggs that pop up now and then. We also are watching the latest Marvel series, She-Hulk. I loved Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black and was eager to see how she would do in her new role. I was a little leery after seeing the trailer for She-Hulk initially, but I think both my husband and I are enjoying the show more than we expected. I know not everyone appreciates it, but I like that all these Marvel shows are so different from one another in style and genre-mix. I talked my husband into watching the first episode of the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, and we plan to watch the next when it comes out. 

Since we are reading the manga series Uncle From Another World, we have also been watching the anime series. Anjin and Mouse are much more into anime than I am, but occasionally they tempt me. Mouse talked me into watching Demon Slayer with her last month. We just started the second season (which first came out as a movie but was broken up into episodes to create the series).  Mouse also introduced me recently to Fruits Basket, which I may have to watch more of. 

We ventured out to the movie theater for the first time in a couple or so years and saw DC League of Superpets at Mouse's request. I was kind of hoping she would pick Thor or Top Gun, but no such luck. The film turned out to be really cute though, and we all had a good time. I had forgotten how expensive going to the movies could be! 

What have you watched recently?

New to the Shelves

Mouse and I added more books to our bookshelves recently.  Let's take a look!

Mouse's Loot

Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission by Ridley Pearson

The Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile (Volume 2) by Shannon Messenger

The Apothecary Diaries #3 by Natsu Hyuuga
The Haunted Studio (The Hayley Mysteries #1) by Hayley LeBlanc
Timo the Adventurer by Jonathan Garnier

My Loot

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Witches by Brenda Lozano
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B. B. Alston
Signal Moon: A Short Story by Kate Quinn

Embers on the Wind by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg

What new books made it onto your shelf recently? 

I hope you have a great week and month of September! Let me know what you have been reading and watching!

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.