I’ve actually had the suggestion made to me that I start charging for entry, and if that didn’t include having people traipse through my mess, I would consider it.
I mean, that pretty much sums up my August perfectly. We are now up to five kittens, four dogs, three cats, and two outside strays. Send help. But just to give an update, because who doesn’t like fluffies … one kitty has a home, and the other five are tormenting my adult cats, who I’m certain are convinced we’ve lost our minds. I swear my orange cat, Cronus, was hiding in the boxes yesterday and gave me a look that clearly said, “If you tell them where I am, I’ll pee on you while you’re sleeping. It’s your turn.”
Our newest permanent fluffy (because we’re not keeping the kittens, no matter how much my daughter begs) is Thalia, a beautiful husky/shepherd mix who was dumped on the side of the road and injured. Our cats still haven’t forgiven us for that yet, either.
Enough with the fluffies! Let’s do a little recap on how my August went:
✦ My grandfather turned 88 and has decided he’s clearly going to die soon, so we should have a barbecue. I tried to tell him that we really don’t need a reason to have a barbecue, but he insists it’ll be his farewell barbecue, and I guess he’s old enough where he’s earned the right to be dramatic, even though he did this last year, too, and look where that got him.
✦ My library started a D&D group, and they’re valiantly attempting to teach me how to play. All I know is I’m a Sage Bard Tiefling. My job is to yell things at people, and that is for sure my speed and something I’m good at, so this will clearly work out fine.
✦ My middle-grade comedic fantasy adventure went to the editor and came back … not bad? She really enjoyed it, and the edits are pretty easy to do, and I’m counting this as a win. Which means I’ll be starting to query it soon and crossing my fingers!
Enough about personal, though. Let’s get to the books!
Click titles for my review.
Milton in Purgatory (★★★★☆)
The Haunting of Hill House (★★★☆☆)
The Wizards of Once (★★★☆☆)
The Doll Factory (★★★☆☆)
When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl’s Book (★★★☆☆)
The Lady Rogue (★★★★☆)
Pet (★★★☆☆)
The Ghost Collector (★★★★★)
Gideon the Ninth (★★★★★)
The Shamer’s Daughter (★★★★☆)
The Shamer’s Signet (★★★☆☆)
The Serpent Gift (★★☆☆☆)
The Shamer’s War (★★☆☆☆)
Reviews This Month:
Follow me on Goodreads
✦ Tag Thursday: The Liebster Award || Welcome to My Mind Castle
✦ Characters Who Should Be My BFFs
✦ Top Reasons I’ll Pick Up A Book
✦ Books I Hope Santa Brings Me
✦ August 14
✦ August 21
✦ August 28
✦ Leelynn at Sometimes Leelynn Reads and I did a buddy read book discussion for The Night Tiger on her blog.
✦ Krysta at Pages Unbound delves into Macmillan’s e-book ban and what it means for libraries.
✦ Morgana at Morgana’s Book Box talks about terrible book conversations she’s had, and they’re so painfully familiar.
✦ Lydia Schoch talks about response posts and particularly the lack thereof.
✦ Book-Wyrm-Knits talks about some of the great things you can do with Scrivener. As an added bonus, she’s working on a deliciously geeky blanket that’s super cool, if you want to check her progress so far.
✦ Stephanie at Adventures of a Bibliophile gives some bookish recommendations based on your favorite subject in school.
That moment when you finish your novel and you're full of relief and pride … then you send it to an editor and immediately spiral into an existential crisis with all the doubts. There should be a word for that. The Germans should work on it.#writerslife #writingcommunity
— Sammie (@srbetler) August 26, 2019
READERS' DEMANDS:
— Sammie (@srbetler) August 20, 2019
– More hours during the day for reading.
– Open book in hand = go away, I'm done peopling.
– "One more chapter" means whatever we want it to mean.
– Floor-to-ceiling shelves with matching ladders.
– All the books. This seems reasonable.#booklover #amreading
I never understood why people say, "You read too much," like it's a bad thing. That's like saying, "You breathe too much." You know, you should do less of this totally amazing thing that you enjoy, which has proven health benefits for living a happy life. #booklover #amreading
— Sammie (@srbetler) August 19, 2019
Random Person: You got this character's name wrong. It's *Bill* not *Bob*.
— Sammie (@srbetler) August 18, 2019
Me: Welp, I read over 100 books a year, which adds up to a lot of character names to remember. I only have three dogs. I still call them "hey you" half the time, so … ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#bookblogger
I love your “petting zoo” and your sweet rescue dog is adorable! I’ll admit I’m more of a dog person, but those kittens!!!
Thank you! We have both cats and dogs and love their separate personalities. But it’s hard to say no to those kitty faces, right? Even as dog people. 😛 That’s how they get you.
OMG, yes to that “you read too much” comment. My reply (though sometimes I only say it in my head) is that if you think I read too much, you clearly do not read nearly enough.
D&D is awesome. I stopped playing when I moved away from my group, but I think it’s something everyone should try at least once in their life.
Thanks for the pingback! I’m glad the Scrivener tips have helped out some folks. 🙂
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks that! xD I feel so judgy in my brain when I think that, but hey, they started it!
I have quite a few friends who play, and I love watching Critical Role, but I just never really got into it. But it’s good to get out of my house, and not always a lot of options in a small town, and I’ve got friends in the group, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. 😉 We’ll see.
I’m still super glad that we got to discuss The Night Tiger together. Who knows? Maybe I’ll reread it in a couple years and may like it better than I did this year! You never know. All the kitties are absolutely adorable! I know you aren’t keeping all of them, but ugh they are adorbs.
Yes, I had so much fun with it! <3 Ha, maybe, but probably not, and that's okay. 😛 Different people have different tastes, and that's what makes the world go round. Or, you know, physics or some such nonsense, I guess.
Oh gosh, no. Could you imagine if I had to keep them all?! I mean, yes, adorable, for now, but also rowdy as hell and a lot of work to clean up after lol.
Awwww! I love all the fluffy babies! And I thought my 3 boys/60 lbs of fluff was a lot!!!!
You had a wicked good month from the looks of it- both in books and in life! I hope September treats you as well as August did!
No, your three boys is totally a lot. We’re just crazy. xD That’s the only conclusion I’ve come to. Thank you! I’m surprised by how much I was able to read (but I sort of cheated, because several were shorter than I usually read, so there’s that hehe).
Oh my goodness! Kitties! Best post ever!!! They are so cute!
Also, your grandfather sounds amazing and he deserves all the barbecues he wants!
You want one? Or two?! xD Yes, they are super adorable and lovable. But five is too many lol.
He’s getting his barbecue. He’s already invited the people he wanted, and somehow talked hubby and I into cooking? I’m not sure how that happened. I was tricked.
So tempting!! They are precious!!
Haha! Once again he proves how amazing he is! He gets a barbecue and you’re cooking! I need him to teach me his ways! XD
Oh gosh, no! You two must never meet. I’m sure he doesn’t need to teach other people his ways. xD One of him is enough.
Omg they’re all snoozing near each other!!! Ahhhh!!! I think this post added at least 5 years to my life. XD And yay, congrats on your book! Fingers crossed the querying goes well! I missed your post where you talked about the Shamer books, I think(?), but dang, I’m sorry the last two books didn’t work out.
Also, I aspire to be as awesome as your grandpa when I grow up. 😛
Maybe that’s the secret to immortality after all! We just need to surround ourselves with pictures of cute fuzzehs. 😀
I did review them on Goodreads, but it was just a WWW post where I talked about them. I think it’d go fine for the age group, maybe, but I’m much more critical than, you know, midgrade peeps.
Awesome is one word for it. Crazy is maybe another. But you know, same thing. xD
Ahh, okay, I missed that post! I’ll read it tomorrow and we shall have WORDS. 😀
Oh my gosh look at all your cuties! Can I come live in your petting zoo? We got a kitten in August 😀
Of course! Bring Merijn, too. There’s plenty of fluffies to go around for everyone. xD
Awww what’d you name the kitty?
Aiko 😀