My New Book is Out Now!

My third new release for 2024 is here at last!  A Noble Companion retells Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling," but by focusing on side characters from the original fairy tale, not the ugly duckling himself.  

A Noble Companion is part of a multi-author project called The Cornerstone Series, a collection of sixteen fairy tale retellings by sixteen different authors.  Each book focuses on a character who is NOT the main character in the original story.  And all of the books in the series are non-magical fantasy novellas, which means that, yes, I have written something other than historical fiction!  

Well, sort of ;-)  I set A Noble Companion in a fantasy world based on Spanish California of the very early 1800s, in a place I call Costa Nueva.  This book has talking animals and dragons, but it is definitely low fantasy, or historical-esque fantasy.  I am a historical fiction author at heart, so this has a lot of similarities to my Once Upon a Western series, in that I did lots of research into the time and place I was basing my fantasy world on.  But it has little fantasy elements, too.

If you buy a copy of A Noble Companion before the end of November, you can receive some book swag related to it!  All you have to do to claim your swag is fill out this form and wait for me to email you to request proof of purchase and an address to send the swag to.  The swag includes:

• 1 double-sided bookmark
• 1 piece of dragon treasure
• 3 vinyl stickers

Here's what the goodies look like:

This swag bundle is available worldwide!  And you can buy either the paperback or the e-book.  Or, if you are a Kindle Unlimited reader, you can also get this swag if you read the entire book on KU before the end of the month.

If you want to know more, here's the official synopsis:

Raid a dragon's hoard for her dowry? It seemed like a good idea at the time... 

Madelena isn't in love with her friend Armando, but his marriage proposal offers the security she needs. She sympathizes with him—his father insists Armando must either find a bride or join the army. Armando would rather become a husband than a soldier, but his ugly face has scared away all other eligible ladies despite his family's wealth. Although she harbors only friendship for Armando, Madelena agrees to marry him on one condition: she insists on acquiring a dowry worthy of his family's noble standing in the land of Costa Nueva. But as a humble stablemaid, Madelena has no idea how to find such wealth. That's when the talking burro Terco mentions he's heard how to find a dragon’s treasure. 

Javier, Armando’s younger brother, has loved Madelena in silence for years. When he learns of their impending marriage, he offers to help her find the treasure, even though succeeding may cost him the chance to spend his future with her. Together, they face a dangerous wilderness, a charming bandit, and a dragon’s lair, forcing Javier to confront his feelings and Madelena to re-evaluate her heart.

I promise that's the last book I'm releasing this year ;-)  I'm tired and need a little break!

"One Must Die" by Candice Pedraza Yamnitz, Amber Lambda, Sarah Everest, Claire Kohler, Lydia Mae, and C. C. Urie

I'm not sure I've ever read a novel co-written by six people before.  Not an anthology, but a single novel!  It's quite the ambitious endeavor, but I think it worked really well.

It's hard to describe One Must Die succinctly.  As the cover says, it's a steampunk murder mystery.  Set in a mansion floating above earth that's filled with robots.  And hidden keys.  And secret passageways.  And, somewhere, a treasure vault.

A whole bunch of strangers are invited to try solving a mystery and finding the treasure in the mansion... and then it turns out they're not all strangers after all.  Someone must die before anyone can claim the treasure, and there's a time limit, too.  You have to find the correct key to open the vault, and you have to find the vault.  Lots of treachery and trickery ensues.

This book is kind of like if you put The Westing Game and Clue and Murder on the Orient Express and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in a blender.  It's a fast-paced ride, but never gets too scary or too bloody or too intense.  I'll be handing this off to my tween and teens to read now that I've finished it.

Particularly Good Bits: Dread seemed to settle over the large dining room like spider threads, wrapping us too tightly for any chance of escape (p. 50).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for violence, some romantic interludes (all tasteful), and talk about illegitimate children.

"The Bookish Bandit" by Erica Dansereau and Britt Howard

Awww, what a cute romcom this is!  It feels as autumnal as a pumpkin spice latte, as New York City-esque as a bagel with lox, and as bookloving-ish as a bookstore with a cat.  

An aspiring author impulsively sends her novel to a big city publishing house.  It lands in the slush pile, where it catches the eye of the publishing house's heir apparent, who falls in love with the book and demands it get published.

But then... mistakes happen.  Identities get mixed up.  The book is published, but with the wrong author name on it!  Equally furious and forlorn, the real author rushes to New York to take on the publisher and force them to admit they've wronged her.  And then ends up starting to fall in love with some guy who works for the publisher... and you can see where this is going.  But that doesn't make it any less fun to see how everything gets unsnarled in the end!

One of the things I liked best about The Bookish Bandit was how naturally faith was woven into the story.  Never preachy, always organic, the Christian themes were an integral part of the characters and their behavior, and I applaud how well Dansereau and Howard did that.

Particularly Good Bits:

The nerves return, but in the rare form of butterflies rather than fear.  I marvel at the way this woman both unravels and remedies me at once (p. 166).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG.  No cussing, no violence.  Some kissing and a great deal of swooning.  The main characters make it clear to each other and the readers that they will not be sharing a bedroom until they get married.  So, no smut, but definitely a 1960s rom com level of kissing and holding.

This is my 26th book read off my TBR shelves for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"Summon the Light" by Tor Thibeaux

My dad died three weeks ago yesterday.  While traveling to Iowa for his funeral, I read Summon the Light by Tor Thibeaux, a retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest that's part of the Classic Retold series.  This is a slender novella, barely a hundred pages, but it was exactly the representation of hope and healing I needed at the time.

Nick works as a smuggler after barely surviving the epic fight between mighty forces of evil and good.  The fight killed most of his friends and left the spirit Ariel in a magical coma.  Nick goes through his days feeling numb and detached until he begins to hear a beautiful song that urges him to return to the island he once called home.  Once there, he strives to rebuild the island's ruined chapel.  With each stone he replaces, the song grows stronger, and so does his hope.  

The book's message is one of not giving up even when you are devastated, of doing the next task that comes to hand even if it seems meaningless.  That confidence that even mundane things are still important in the face of great tragedy is something I absolutely needed reinforced during that road trip to Iowa.  I'm so thankful I grabbed this particular book off my TBR shelves, seemingly at random, when I was packing things to read on the trip -- I think the Lord must have guided my hand at that moment.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for fantasy violence.  No objectionable content.

This is my 25th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR reading challenge.

"The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe" (Manga Classics) by Stacy King, et al

My kids are getting old enough to not be too creeped out by classic horror stories anymore (at least, so they claim), so I've finally pulled out a few Manga Classics titles that I had avoided until now.  Including this one!  (I knew once I read them, they'd demand to read them, so I just had to bide my time.  Mom life, yo.)

This volume has four stories and one poem, all by Edgar Allan Poe.  Each one was illustrated by a different artist, but all were adapted by Stacy King.  The stories and illustrators are:

"The Tell-Tale Heart," art by Virginia-Nitouhei -- this one was appropriately weird, and I liked how some of the angles of the artwork made me think of film noir.

"The Cask of Amontillado," art by Chagen -- I love this short story, but I feel like this retelling could have been a bit cooler and darker.  Maybe it just paled in comparison to the excellent weirdness of the previous piece.

"The Raven," art by pikomaro -- Really, really, really well done.  This has the full text of the original poem and brings it to live with wonderful vividness.

"The Masque of the Red Death," art by Uka Nagao -- another favorite short story of mine, and I think they brought this one to life quite well.

"The Fall of the House of Usher," art by Linus Liu -- never been a favorite of mine, and I feel like this retelling rushed things a little bit, at the expense of the suspense.

Overall, this was super enjoyable, and not as gruesome as I feared it might be.  Definitely less scary than the stroll we took through the Halloween costume section of Party City yesterday :-b

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13.  Nothing toooooo gross or graphic, nothing smutty, no bad language... but definitely creepy on purpose.

This is my 25th book read from my TBR stacks for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"Misty of Chincoteague" by Marguerite Henry

I reread Misty of Chincoteague and King of the Wind because I decided to use them both for the literature classes I teach at our homeschool co-op.  I read all four of the Misty books as a kid (Misty of Chincoteague; Stormy, Misty's Foal; Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague; and Misty's Twilight), and this one and Sea Star are the two I remember best.  Will I reread the other three in the near future?  Possibly.  They are charming, uplifting, wholesome, and educational -- what more could a horse-loving bibilophile want?

Misty of Chincoteague is about a brother and sister, Paul and Maureen Beebe, who live on Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.  They hope to buy a wild Assateague pony called Phantom and her little foal Misty during the Pony Penning Days that take place each July.  Together, they do extra jobs for months and months to earn the $100 they figure Phantom will cost.  (That's about $1800 today...)  It's a lovely story about siblings cooperating, people who love horses, and the friendship and joy that a horse can bring to a child.

Because I was teaching this book for a literature class, I looked up the real history behind this book.  Misty was a real Chincoteague pony, and really belonged to the Beebe family, but the story in the book is largely made up.  Marguerite Henry actually bought Misty from Clarence and Ida Beebe, and they helped her with a lot of research about the wild ponies on Assateague Island in return for her writing their grandkids, Paul and Maureen, as the hero and heroine of her new book.  Although the books about Misty are fiction, they are grounded in fact about Chincoteague and Assateague, and about the people and animals that live there.  You can learn more about Misty, Marguerite Henry, and this book on this fansite, as well as on other sites such as Wikipedia.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Chincoteague and Assateague myself, back in my late teens.  We weren't there for Pony Penning Days, but I did get to see a few of the wild ponies!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  G.  Good, clean family fun for all ages!

This is my 32nd book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Ride the Dark Trail" by Louis L'Amour

I'm coming close to the end of my personal "My Years with the Sacketts" challenge.  Only one true Sackett novel left, and one that's tangentially related (or so they tell me).  

Ride the Dark Trail is a galloping good time.  You've got Em Talon, a fiery old woman holding off a host of greedy landgrabbers.  You've got Logan Sackett, a somewhat shiftless gunfighter discovering he's related to the old woman and coming to her aid.  You've got the Sackett version of the Bat Signal going up, and the Sackett version of "Avengers, Assemble!" happening, which is never anything less than delightful.  Smart and savvy folks on both sides, pert young woman to keep everyone on their toes, and a batch of rousing fights and brawls -- good stuff, friends.

Particularly Good Bits:

Now we Clinch Mountain Sacketts ain't noted for gentle ways.  The way I figure it is if a man is big enough to open his mouth he's big enough to take the consequences, and I was getting tired of talk (p. 11).

If This Was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for mild cussing, lots of violence with guns and fists, and very mild innuendo about a young woman leaving an employer because he made improper advances.

This is my 24th book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Challenge.

"The Solitary Summer" by Elizabeth von Arnim

I didn't realize until I started reading it that this is a sequel to Elizabeth and Her German Garden.  Imagine my delight when I discovered that was the case!  It was published a year after Garden and has a similar playful, refreshing feel.  And it shares the fact that it's written as if it is nonfiction, but is actually highly fictionalized.  

Elizabeth decides she wants to spend a summer in solitude, which her husband (always referred to as the Man of Wrath even though he comes off as fairly genial in a stoic German sort of way) thinks will be a disaster.  By "solitary," she doesn't mean she wants to be entirely alone all summer.  She just means she doesn't want to invite people out to stay at their German manor all the time.  She wants one summer with only her husband and children and servants around, to enjoy their home life, basically.  

The bulk of the book is her funny and insightful musings throughout the summer (and into the fall) about books, solitude, nature, gardening, and family life.  I didn't love this quite as much as Garden thanks to an extended section about the immorality of village young people, which felt more snide than funny.  But it's definitely a book I'll be rereading.  It did make me laugh aloud repeatedly.  I tried to read it entirely outside, mostly on my swing in our back yard, though I also read it on a bench outside my daughter's ballet studio a few times.

Elizabeth von Arnim was the pen name of Countess Mary Annette von Arnim-Schlagenthin, an Australian who married into the German aristocracy and used a pen name so as not to scandalize her in-laws.  While the character of Elizabeth is loosely based on herself, just as Elizabeth's husband the Man of Wrath is loosely based on Count von Arnim-Schlagenthin, and the children described here are presumably based on their children.  But what she recounts in the book is pretty much fiction presented as fact.

Particularly Good Bits:

...how can you make a person happy against his will?  You can knock a great deal into him in the way of learning and what the schools call extras, but if you try forever you will not knock any happiness into a being who has not got it in him to be happy.

Books have their idiosyncrasies as well as people, and will not show me their full beauties unless the place and time in which they are read suits them.

What a blessing it is to love books.  Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden.

I believe a week of steady drizzle in summer is enough to make the stoutest heart depressed.  It is to be borne in winter by the simple expedient of turning your face to the fire, but when you have no fire, and very long days, your cheerfulness slowly slips away, and a dreariness prevailing out of doors comes in and broods in the blank corners of your heart.

And was there every such a hopeful beginning to a day, and so full of promise for the subsequent right passing of its hours, as breakfast in the garden, alone with your teapot and your book!

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10, mainly for the aforementioned part about immoral villagers who go around getting pregnant out of wedlock and getting married later and seem to think this is fine.  It's not salacious at all.

This has been my 31st book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list, and my 23rd from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Challenge.

"King of the Wind" by Marguerite Henry

It's funny -- I remember this being one of my favorite books as a youngster... but I only remembered the first third or so of it.  As far as I could recall, the whole thing took place in the Middle East, but that's not true at all!  Most of it takes place in France and England.  Huh.

King of the Wind tells a fictionalized version of the life of the Godolphin Arabian, a horse whose bloodline runs through a huge number of race horses right down to modern day.  Both Secretariat and Man O'War came from his line, if that means anything to you.

In this book, a stable boy named Agba raises an orphaned Arabian colt he calls Sham in the stables of a capricious sultan.  Sham is faster than any other horse in the stables, leading Agba to nickname him King of the Wind.

The sultan decides to send some stallions to King Louis XV of France as a gift.  He chooses Sham as one of the gift stallions, and Agba gets to be one of the stable boys who accompany the horses.  They arrive in France looking terrible after the long voyage, and King Louis XV has Sham used as a cart horse.  One thing leads to another, with Sham being sold from one owner to the next, used for menial jobs and never valued for the race horse he ought to be.

Agba manages to stay with Sham through all the changes of ownership, and acquires a cat friend called Greymalkin along the way.  Agba is mute, and horses and cats don't talk, so the story gets told without loads and loads of dialog -- and it works beautifully.  Eventually, Sham gets sold to the Earl of Godolphin, and finally is recognized for the valuable horse he originally was.  Now, the real history of this horse, known as the Godolphin Arabian, is not quite so complicated or so fraught with misery, but most of what Henry adds is there to emphasize the theme of a person or a horse's true worth sometimes being hidden or unrecognized.

Gotta say, I suspect that much younger me probably read the whole book once or twice, but reread the first third over and over and over, when things were all going really well and both Agba and Sham were happy and valued, and that's why I remembered that part, but had forgotten the rest.  And I did still like that part best :-)

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some depictions of cruelty to horses, mentions of a sultan having people beheaded, and a sequence involving jail.  Nothing too grisly or horrible, but might be hard on readers younger than 8 or 9.

This has been my 30th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

Wrapping Up the 2024 Tolkien Blog Party + Giveaway Winners

Thank you for joining me in celebrating J. R. R. Tolkien and his creations with me this week!  I'm sharing the link-up here one last time so you can easily find each others' posts without scrolling back and back through my feed.  Also, the party runs through today, so you are welcome to still add new post links to this!

And now, the winners of this year's giveaway!

Prize One: The Fellowship of the Ring audiobook on CD read by Andy Serkis -- Makenna Marie

Prize Two: 2 Shire Pub Sign Stickers -- Bethani Theresa

Prize Three: 3 "postage stamp" stickers -- Rosa

Prize Four: 4 LOTR "postcard" stickers -- Ivy Miranda

Prize Five: 1 leather "leaves of Lorien" mini blank book -- Victoria 

Winners, I'll be emailing you to notify you of your win and ask for a mailing address, so check your email for that!

Answers to the Ladies of Middle-Earth Unscramble

Here are the answers to Tuesday's game!  And everyone's scores are below.

1. newar steervan = Arwen Evenstar

2. onewy = Eowyn

3. sireo noctot = Rosie Cotton

4. anblerice = Celebrian

5. heriot = Ioreth

6. hitlune livenuti = Luthien Tinuviel

7. dragaliel = Galadriel

8. glewin = Elwing

9. greboldry = Goldberry

10. beliola lackviles-gangbis = Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

11. ilrange = Gilraen

12. anavyan = Yavanna

SCORES

Rosa -- 12

Olivia -- 11

Fundy Blue -- 10

Ivy Miranda -- 10

Miranda -- 6

Answers to Who Said It? Quotation Quiz

Here are the answers to Monday's game!  Everyone's scores are at the bottom of this post.  Thanks for playing!

1.  "It was a compliment, and so, of course, not true." (Merry Brandybuck, The Fellowship of the Ring)

2.  "Yet dawn is ever the hope of men." (Aragorn, The Two Towers)

3.  "I have never allowed anyone to stand me on my head." (Pippin Took, The Return of the King)

4.  "Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones." (Frodo Baggins, The Fellowship of the Ring)

5.  "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." (Gimli, The Fellowship of the Ring)

6.  "If you think that I have passed through the mountains and the real of Gondor with fire and sword to bring herbs to a careless soldier who throws away his gear, you are mistaken." (Aragorn, The Return of the King)

7.  "Ah! the green smell!  It is better than much sleep.  Let us run!" (Legolas, The Two Towers)

8.  "Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life." (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring)

9.  "I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!" (Samwise Gamgee, The Return of the King)

10.  "May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!" (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring).

11.  "As for me, my way home lies onward and not back." (Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring)

12.  "Go where you must go, and hope!" (Gandalf, The Two Towers)

Scores

Victoria -- 12

Ruth -- 11

Bea -- 10

Rosa -- 9

Astrya -- 7

Lissa -- 4

Miranda -- 4

Over the River and Through the Woods: A Party Game

One last game for this year's Tolkien Blog Party!  I hope you've all been enjoying the festivities thus far, and I look forward to catching up on reading all your posts soon.  But, for now, let's play a storytelling game!

All you need to play this game is a six-sided die (or an online number generator that will give you results between 1 and 6).  Simply roll your die once for each question, and the number you roll determines the path your adventure takes.

Who are You?

What Middle-earth group do you belong to?

1.  Hobbit

2.  Man/woman of Gondor

3.  Wizard

4.  Rider of Rohan

5.  Dwarf

6.  Elf

The Quest Begins

Where are you when you receive the call to adventure?

1.  The Shire

2.  Rivendell

3.  Minas Tirith

4.  Edoras

5.  Erebor

6.  Bree

The Call 

What is your quest?

1.  catch a runaway gingerbread man

2.  help a harried mother put her kids to bed

3.  find the owner of an abandoned glass slipper

4.  rid a village of some pesky giants

5.  find the queen's stolen tarts

6.  stop a talking wolf from waylaying travelers

The Helper

Who's going along to help you on your quest?

1.  Frodo

2.  Aragorn

3.  Gandalf

4.  Galadriel

5.  Tom Bombadil

6.  Eowyn

The Adversary

Who's trying to hinder your quest?

1.  Saruman

2.  Old Man Willow

3.  Shelob

4.  Gollum

5.  Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

6.  Sauron

The Conclusion

How does it all end?

1.  You succeed and are rewarded for your efforts.

2.  You succeed, but nobody really cares.

3.  You succeed, but you're badly injured in the process.

4.  You succeed, but you and your companion are both injured.

5.  You fail, but you resolve to try again later.

6.  You fail, and your reputation is forever tarnished.

Now you simply put it all together into a little story!  Like this, based on how my rolls went:

I am a hobbit, and I'm visiting Rivendell when I'm asked to stop a talking wolf from waylaying travelers in the surrounding woods.  My friend Gandalf and I are confident we can take care of this pesky little affair before tea, but we soon discover that Gollum is intent on stopping us!  Apparently, he's made friends with the talking wolf and thinks it will help him regain his Precious.  After a great deal of annoyance and not inconsiderable danger, we succeed in convincing the talking wolf that it would be wise to go waylay orcs in Mordor instead from now on.  But I am badly injured in the process when Gollum bites me while Gandalf is "persuading" the wolf to leave.  I have to remain at Rivendell for simply weeks while my wound heals, which I don't mind a bit ;-)

Your turn!  Comments are still on moderation thanks to the previous two games, but I will publish your answers to this game as soon as I find them in my inbox so we can all get a good chuckle reading them.

Ladies of Middle-Earth Unscramble

By popular demand (okay, two people demanded it), our second game this week is an unscramble!  I'm muddled up the names of 12 women from J. R. R. Tolkien's books about Middle-earth.  These include The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.  Some of these will be easy, some will be hard.  (To be clear, I did not include any characters who appear in the movies but not the books, such as Bard the Bowman's daughters.)

1. newar steervan

2. onewy

3. sireo noctot

4. anblerice

5. heriot

6. hitlune livenuti

7. dragaliel

8. glewin

9. greboldry

10. beliola lackviles-gangbis

11. ilrange

12. anavyan

Put your answers in a comment.  I'll reveal the answers and people's scores at the end of the party!

Who Said It? Quotation Quiz

Welcome to our first game for the 2024 Tolkien Blog Party!

Below are twelve quotations from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.  They were all spoken by members of the Fellowship of the Ring.  Your challenge is to figure out who said each one.  (These are all from the books, though some are used in the movies too.)

Put your guesses in a comment on this post.  (I've put all comments on full moderation so I can hide your answers until the end of the party, so no one will be tempted to cheat.)  I'll post the answers and your scores on Saturday!

1.  "It was a compliment, and so, of course, not true."

2.  "Yet dawn is ever the hope of men."

3.  "I have never allowed anyone to stand me on my head."

4.  "Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones."

5.  "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." 

6.  "If you think that I have passed through the mountains and the real of Gondor with fire and sword to bring herbs to a careless soldier who throws away his gear, you are mistaken."

7.  "Ah! the green smell!  It is better than much sleep.  Let us run!"

8.  "Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life." 

9.  "I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!"

10.  "May your beer be laid under an enchantment of surpassing excellence for seven years!" 

11.  "As for me, my way home lies onward and not back."

12.  "Go where you must go, and hope!"

The Tolkien Blog Party 2024 Kick-Off Post + Tag

Greetings!  Welcome to my twelfth annual Tolkien Blog Party!

Let me explain how this sort of BYOBP (Bring Your Own Blog Post) party works, in case you haven't participated before, or it's been a while, whatever.  I will provide a couple of games for you to play (starting tomorrow), a giveaway (which you can enter here), and the official party tag (see below). 

Everything else is up to you party goers!  Everyone gets to share posts on their own blogs that relate somehow to J. R. R. Tolkien or his creations. We will spend the week celebrating not only the author and the books he wrote, but also the world of Middle-earth, the movies based on his stories, and so on!  I encourage you to use any of this year's official graphics in your posts -- you'll find all five of them here in my announcement post. 

The only real rules are: 

• your post must be related to Tolkien and his creations somehow, 
• your post should contain a link back to this post so people can find the party and join the fun, and 
• your post needs to be respectful and family-friendly (this is a celebration, so please don't contribute any rants or whiny posts). 

If you don't have any ideas of things to post, you can always simply fill out the tag, which you'll find below this handy link-up widget. Enter each of your posts in the widget (including posts of tag answers) so we can all visit each other's blogs and share the Tolkien party fun!

This year's tag is inspired by some of the most famous locations in Middle-Earth.  Here it is:

1. The Shire:  What place in Middle-earth do you think you would feel the most like home for you?

2. Bree:  If you could create a Middle-earth-themed restaurant, what would you serve there?

3. Rivendell:  Where in Middle-earth would you like to hang out with your friends for a week or so?

4. Moria:  Have you ever delved into the history of Middle-earth (or the history of Tolkien's creative process)?  If so, did you learn anything cool you'd like to share?

5. Lothlorien:  Would you like to sleep in a tree?

6. Edoras:  Do you like horses?

7. Minas Tirith:  Have you ever dressed as a Tolkien character, whether for a convention or Halloween or anything else?  (Bonus fake internet points if you share a photo!)

8. Erebor:  Do you have any Middle-earth merchandise you particularly treasure?

9. Mordor:  Have you ever read anything by Tolkien that wasn't about Middle-earth?

10. The Grey Havens:  How long has it been since you last ventured into Middle-earth via book or film?

Simply copy those prompts and paste them into your own blog post, answer with as much detail as you wish, add party graphics and a link back to this post, and illustrate as much or little as you like! Once you've posted your tag answers, come back and add a link to your post to the list above so we can all visit each others' blogs and enjoy their answers. And don't forget to visit other people's blogs too, to keep the party going strong!

Giveaway for the Tolkien Blog Party 2024

Are you ready to win some Middle-earth-ish prizes?

I'll be drawing five winners this year!  Here's a closer look at (and a bit of info about) each of the prizes:

Prize One: The Fellowship of the Ring audiobook on CD read by Andy Serkis -- this is used, but all the discs at least begin to play in my CD player.  I didn't listen to all of them all the way through because I have my own set of these.  As you might imagine, Andy Serkis is a fantastic narrator!

Prize Two: 2 Shire Pub Sign Stickers that I bought from A Fine Quotation.  These are large, 3 1/2"-inch stickers made of durable vinyl that will work on things like water bottles that get washed sometimes.

Prize Three: 3 "postage stamp" stickers that are each about 2 1/2" tall.

Prize Four: 4 LOTR "postcard" stickers that are each a little over 3" long.

Prize Five: One leather "leaves of Lorien" mini blank book that is 3" tall, 2" wide when closed, and 3/4" thick.

I purchased all of these prizes myself, for the purpose of this giveaway.  This is not affiliated with any person or business besides myself.  Must be 18 or older to enter, or have parent's permission to provide me with a mailing address to send the prize to.  No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited.

This giveaway is open worldwide.   I will ship all prizes via the USPS.

The main way to gain entries is to participate in the party by contributing a post, such as your answers to the official tag or another Tolkien-related post.  Once you've written your post, be sure to add its link to the Mister Linky widget in my kick-off post (which is also where you'll find the tag questions).  

But, that isn't required!  You can also earn entries by doing other things like playing party games (which will start tomorrow) and telling me your prize choices.  And you can even get an entry just for being a Tolkien fan.

I do my best to match winners with their choice of prizes, but that doesn't always work out -- that's why I ask for your top three choices. However, I cannot guarantee that winners will receive a prize they want/request.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway runs through 11:59pm EST on Friday, September 27. I will draw the winners on Saturday, September 28 and post the names of the winners on this blog, as well a notify them by email.

PLEASE make sure your information for the giveaway widget includes your current email address so that if you win a prize, you'll get the email informing you that you won! If you don't reply to my email by Saturday, October 5, I will choose another winner and award the prize to them instead.

"Bowdrie's Law" by Louis L'Amour

Well, this was fun!  Like its predecessor, Bowdrie, this is a collection of ten short stories starring Chick Bowdrie, a Texas Ranger who rides a mean hammerhead roan and always gets his man... eventually.  The stories range from a bit humorous to very serious, and some have more action than others.  But they're all enjoyable.  I read the whole book over a couple of very stressful weeks, savoring one short story every evening or so as a way to unwind and recharge, and they were perfect for that!

Interspersed among the short stories are several historical notes about real people and places from the Old West.  I loved those!  They were always short and to-the-point, but informative.

Particularly Good Bits:

He realized what a fool he had been.  There could be no tolerating of evil.  One stamped it out or the evil grew worse (p. 140, from "The Outlaws of Poplar Creek").

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some mild cuss words, some western violence, and some vague hints about what could happen to good women at the hands of bad men.

This has been my 22nd book read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

"The Annotated Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen (Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapar)

You know what?  I really liked Mansfield Park this time through :-o  The first time I read it, maybe 15 years ago or so, I found it terribly dull.  The second time I read it, about ten years ago, I found Fanny annoying.  But this time, I thought Fanny was a lovely character, and I wasn't bored a bit!

I think that was partly because of the annotations -- as always, I learned a LOT from those.  But it was also because I read this as part of the #JaneAustenDeepDive2024 group buddy read on Instagram.  Discussing the book with other readers really helped me settle my own opinions about the characters, and especially about the romance between Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram.  I've never had much patience with Edmund before, because he seems so ridiculously unable to see the truth about either Fanny or Mary Crawford (or many other people around him), but this time, I could see how that is not necessarily a character flaw -- he sees the good in people and disregards the rest, which doesn't make him dumb.  It just makes him kind of endearingly naïve.  While Fanny did sometimes displease me a little with how she tends to do the reverse and see bad things in people while ignoring their better points, I didn't find her completely annoying this time.  In fact, I enjoyed the book!  Yay!  Total win.

Particularly Good Bits:

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply (p. 428).

"Shakespeare one gets acquainted with without knowing how.  It is a part of an Englishman's constitution.  His thoughts and beauties are so spread abroad that one touches them every where, one is intimate with him by instinct" (p. 606).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for the text for some discussions of adultery, and PG-13 for the annotations for some franker (but still tasteful) discussions of sexual matters. 

This has been my 29th book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"The Realm Beneath" ed. by Allison Tebo

This is a fun anthology!  I haven't really read loads of books involving mermaids or other undersea fantasy creatures, which made this collection especially refreshing for me.  Here's a little of what I thought of each of the seven short stories contained here:

+ "The Song of Arion" by Emily Golus had a marvelous theme of kindness triumphing over fear.

+ "The Mermaid Search" by Anna Christine had a great twist to it that made me want to reread the whole story to see it from a different point of view.

+ "A Fighting Chance" by Allison Tebo was heisty fun.  I really enjoy heist stories, and this one also had a bit of a found family vibe, which I love.

+ " Krakensong" by Olivia Gratehouse had a cool concept, and I liked how it twisted some stereotypes.

+ "In My Blood" by Jane Maree had great character development, and I loved the gladiatorial vibes.

+ "Loshed'Vo" by Danielle Bullen was lyrical and haunting, and the inclusion of a magical horse of the sea really bumped this one up in my favorites list.

+ "A Handful of Scales" had a lovely message about trusting God to provide.

I would say that "The Mermaid Search" and "Loshed'Vo" were my favorites.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.  I was not requested or required to review this book.  All opinions stated here are mine and unvarnished.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-10 for some intense scenes of underwater danger, some non-gory violence, and themes about loss of family members that might be harder on some younger readers.  No cussing, no smut, no gore.

"The Story Girl" by L. M. Montgomery

I think my kids enjoyed this book even more than I did when I read it aloud to them this summer.  That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, because I definitely did!  But I think they loved it even more.  Sometimes, with read-alouds, I am the one to say, "Hey, want me to read a bit?" but with this one, it was more often one of the kids saying, "Do you have time to read to us?"  Which was really delightful.

This is all about a group of kids on Prince Edward Island.  It's narrated by a guy named Beverly as an adult, looking back to a delightful summer from his childhood when he and his brother spent several months with an aunt and uncle and had fun with their cousins and friends.  The kids have all sorts of adventures together, get into mischief, learn some lessons, solve some problems for one another and others, and spend a lot of time listening to the Story Girl tell stories.

The title character's real name is Sara Stanley, but everyone calls her the Story Girl because she is so wonderful at telling stories.  She's fourteen and is blessed with both a vivid imagination and gift for storytelling.  She's the center of the group of kids -- not the leader, but the one their adventures always end up revolving around.  

This is one of those "slice of life" books I love that has a string of adventures and escapades and incidents in the lives of its characters, rather than one all-encompassing plot.  L. M. Montgomery excelled at both kinds of books, which is pretty amazing! 

Particularly Good Bits:

It is always safe to dream of spring.  For it is sure to come, and if it be not just as we have pictured it, it will be infinitely sweeter (p. 320).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Good, clean, wholesome fun!

This is my 28th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list, and my 21st read from my TBR shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.