Air Awakens by Elise Kova came across my Instagram in a list of books to read after finishing A Court of Thorns and Roses series (ACOTAR.) It was pitched as Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) meets ACOTAR, and since ATLA is my favorite show of all time, that comparison was all I needed. Air Awakens is the first of a five book series that came out in 2015-2016 and were indie published by the author. She has seven series total, some indie and some traditional, and she's hit best sellers lists.

Air Awakens follows librarian-in-training Vhalla. When asked to find a cure for a prince injured by a magical weapon, Vhalla surprises herself by unlocking her own buried magic to find the information. The healed prince delves into her powers only to discover she has an affinity for air magic, a power thought lost over 100 years ago. His affinity is fire, but he still attempts to tutor her, despite her protests that she doesn't want to do magic. But when other power players begin making moves, Vhalla has little choice but to embrace magic and the dangers it brings.

There was some really cool worldbuilding in this book, for example someone with an affinity for one of the elements can also do other things within that element's category, like word magic along with air magic. Vhalla and the prince had decent banter that made for some enjoyable chemistry.

I struggled sometimes with how overly similar it was to ATLA, like the air affinity people having been all (or nearly all) killed 100 years ago. The fire prince with daddy issues. A large war going on. The air user needing training. I kept picturing the woman who plays Aang in the Ember Island Players episode as Vhalla and Zuko as the prince. Is that fair to the author or book? No. Did it decrease my enjoyment of this book? Yes. However, a more book-related critique is that the prince's personality felt wildly different in his POV vs her POV. Not in a he's so mysterious and private kind of way but in a is this the same man way.

This book is for you if you enjoy elemental magic systems, bad boy prince love interests, or if you were a Zaang shipper when you watched ATLA. It's not for you if you love ATLA so much that you won't be able to unsee the similarities, if you are not a fan of morally gray/bad boy love interests, or if you're not in a headspace to read about genocide, war, or city bombings.


Have you read Air Awakens? The entire series? Do you recommend any of Kova's other series? Let's discuss in the comments!

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa was recommended by my writing group. It's very popular in Japan where it was published in 2012 and has been translated into many languages, including English (2017). If you're worried that the cat will die, rest easy. The main character, Nana, is not in danger.

Nana begins life as a stray, but is adopted by his owner, Satoru, who takes him in after Nana is hit by a car. Satoru begins travelling around Japan meeting with people from throughout his life and Nana learns about his owner's past as well as the friends'. Often, Nana is a comfort and some sort of emotional wound is healed with each stop. However, Nana soon realizes that Satoru must have a reason for all this travelling, and it is perhaps in Nana's best interest to not get close to Satoru's many friends.

This was a very cute book told from the POV of Nana, which I thought would get old but stayed cute. The way it built our understanding of Satoru was well done. The ending was so beautiful that I ugly cried.

On the downside, I ugly cried. Thankfully, I saw it coming and finished the book at home and not on my commute.

This book is for you if you love cats or pets in general (remember: Nana does not die!), bittersweet endings, contemporary Japan, or if you have something in your eye and need to cry to get it out. This book is not for you if you'll be reading in public or away from tissues, if you hate cats or pet ownership, or if you are not in the headspace to read about death (this is not a spoiler: Satoru's parents died, when he was a child, which is discussed when he visits his friends). 


Have you read The Travelling Cat Chronicles? Did it make you sob too? Let's discuss in the comments!

I was recently scrolling on Instagram and was shown an add for a barrette with little books on it. I liked the concept, but the books had plain leather covers without titles. I've seen tiny books in other places; some people make tiny books of every book they read for the year, there's a mindfulness toy where you put tiny books on a tiny bookshelf, etc. So I thought, why not make tiny books of books I love and put those on barrettes instead. I made them and I LOVE them! I didn't take many photos during the process, but here's how I did it:

I followed this guide initially, but ended up having to make lots of adjustments.

Materials: 
2 ~4inch long barrettes with a nice wide surface area for gluing
​Several sheets of plain paper
Scissors and/or a paper slicer
Needle and thread (color doesn't matter)
Glue (I used both rubber cement and super glue for different portions)
Printer
Microsoft Word
Measuring tape (ideally with inches and cm)

Step 1: Make the Pages
You don't necessarily need to have real pages in your books, you can replace them with a little rectangle (2cm wide, 3cm tall, 1cm deep) of foam or cardboard. However, if you want pages, here's how:

• Cut 3cm by 4cm rectangles from plain paper. You'll need 10 for every book you make, and 4 books per barrette. 
• Fold each rectangle in half so they look 2cm by 3cm (aka hamburger style) and really press that seam with whatever you have handy. I used the flat butt of a pen and it did fine. 
• Nest five of these folded pages together.
• Sew along the fold. Keep the knots on the outside edge, rather than the inside of the book, to allow the pages to close better. This will take 2-3 stitches, so don't feel intimidated if you aren't into sewing.
• Do this until you have two bundles for every book you plan to make.

Step 2: Make the Covers

• Select the books you want to recreate. 
• Use Google images, Amazon, Goodreads, etc. to find images of the front cover, back cover, and spine. (The spines were trouble for me, see below to help if this plagues you too.)
• Copy the image and paste into Microsoft Word. In Word, change the size of the images (and deselect the option to maintain the current aspect ratio):
  • Front/back covers: 1.33 inches tall, 0.95 inches wide
  • Spine: 1.33 inches tall, 0.19 inches wide. 
• Arrange the images to that the back cover is on the left, then the spine, then the front cover, and all are touching.
• If you struggle to find an image of the spine alone, crop an image of the book from a bookstack. If no images of the spine exist (maybe it's a super new book) just crop the title from the cover image. These will end up tiny, so imperfections aren't a huge deal. 
• Print your images. 

My barrettes turned out so cute and I cannot wait to wear them to the conference I'm attending later this month. I think they're great conversation starters. One features comps for the book I'll be pitching and the other features books I love to chat about. Because I owned all of the supplies except for the barrettes, this project only cost me $3.

If you try this craft, let me know how it goes! 

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May came up in my search for 20th century secondary worlds, even though it technically takes place in our world, just on a fictional island off the coast of England.

The 1920s prohibition in this book isn't against alcohol, but magic. Annie comes to Crow Island to take care of her late father's estate, and doesn't care much for the illegal magic parties at the house next door. However, the witch in residence, Emmeline, catches her eye. As Annie uncovers her father's surprises, she also reconnects with a friend who moved to the island, who happens to owe Emmeline a lot: the life of the husband she enchanted into loving her. However, the debt is costing Emmeline's life, bit by bit, and the husband is not just unwilling to pay, he's willing to fight over it. Annie makes choices that continue to wrap her up in the whole business, and eventually she must come to terms with not only who she's become, but who her father was. 

This book's twist with prohibition was cool, and I liked that the location was confined to the island to limit the amount of worldbuilding required. The story kept a good momentum and never really languished anywhere. It gave Practical Magic vibes in terms of the magic system, very herbal and soft.

Hurdle number one is that I dislike The Great Gatsby, and only after buying this did I learn it's a Gatsby retelling. I thought it was just the 1920s. (Let me have the 20s without Jay Gatsby barging in PLEASE!) I wasn't a fan of the flashbacks purposefully hiding who the flashbacks were about, then resolving that with a character being forced to change her name. I felt the author messing me with there, and I never like to notice the author while reading.

This book is for you if you like The Great Gatsby, if you want a sapphic romance in the 20s, or if you enjoy Practical Magic. It's not for you if you dislike The Great Gatsby or if you aren't in the headspace to read about fertility problems or abusive partners.

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Have you read Wild and Wicked Things? Let's discuss in the comments!

The Reckoning of Roku by Randy Ribay is the latest novel in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe. This is the first novel about Avatar Roku, Aang's predecessor, and also the first avatar novel by Randy Ribay. As a longtime fan of the avatar series, I knew I'd be reading this book the moment it came out.

The Reckoning of Roku follows a young Roku as he leaves for the air temple to begin his avatar training and his first adventures there. If you think you know Roku from the flashback episode (Season 3, episode 6 "The Avatar and the Firelord") think again. Roku is thrust into his first major conflict, but nothing is what it seems on a mysterious island, and with his new friend Gyatso, Roku must learn how to trust himself, and how to let go of the past.

I liked learning more about Roku, though I didn't expect to. Some of his deeper past added depth to his relationship with Sozin, though also explained how it broke down so easily. The new location and new angles on bending were also interesting, especially considering how much I know about the avatar world.

No major complaints about this book, honestly. I could have used a little bit of a clearer picture about the island, and there were a few minor mistakes, but nothing to put me off the next one. 

This book is for you if you enjoy Avatar: The Last Airbender, elemental fantasy, or the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels in the same series. It's not for you if you are wildly unfamiliar with the TV show, because the book doesn't stop to explain things like what is an avatar and what the world is like for new audiences.


Have you read the Reckoning of Roku? What did you think of that new character from Roku's past?! Let's discuss in the comments.

The Science of Game of Thrones by Helen Keen was on my planned-but-not-yet-purchased TBR for a long while because I thought 1) it sounded interesting and 2) it could help me with my own fantasy writing. I happened upon the book at a community book sale and bought it for $1. 

An important thing to know about this book is it was published in 2016, between seasons 6 and 7 of the show. It also focuses on science within Westeros/Essos, not on the science of how the show was made. It covers topics like incest, dragon anatomy, the Wall, and wildfire. It's a short read (251 pages). 

I liked that this book had a playful tone and communicated the science clearly.

I disliked that this book was so basic. If you know anything about any of the topics discussed, then you know everything the book will tell you. Probably more. I learned nothing from this book, but  I'm not the right audience because I already know so much science.

This book is for you if you are a GoT fan who has shied away from science, if you want to learn more about fantasy worlds for your own worldbuilding purposes, of if you want to know more about the specific topics covered in the book at an entry level. This book is not for you if you have no familiarity at all with Game of Thrones (it tosses in a lot of character names and events), if you are familiar with basic science, or if you were hoping to learn about the science that was used in the show itself (like pyrotechnics and CGI).  


Have you read The Science of Game of Thrones? What about other books that delve in to the science of other fantasy worlds, like Harry Potter? Let's discuss in the comments!

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel is a retelling of part of the Ramayana (an Indian epic focused on Rama, one of the avatars of Vishnu). The main character, Kaikeyi, is one of Rama's mothers (technically a step-mother) and is famous for banishing Rama from his home for ten years shortly after he gets married. A good portion of the Ramayana is about those ten years, and Kaikeyi is often cast a a villain. This book looked at things from her perspective, kind of like Wicked. This book was a Book of the Month pick, a NYT Bestseller, and was nominated for the Ignyte Award for best Adult Novel.

Kaikeyi follows the titular character from her childhood through the banishing of Rama. Kaikeyi's mother was banished from her home kingdom by Kaikeyi's father and so Kaikeyi had to take on the burden of raising her seven brothers. As a teenager, she was married off to the king of the nearby kingdom that had great power, but no heir from his first two (still living) wives. Kaikeyi makes a deal: she'll marry him if her first son becomes his heir, regardless of whatever other children he has. He agrees. As you can guess, this becomes a big issue later. This is all going on while Kaikeyi discovers a hidden power, and learns to control it. When faced with choices over the years over what's best for the kingdom or herself, she always chooses the kingdom--but not in the way the men around her would prefer.

This book was interesting. I came at it knowing what the Ramayana was and the basic concepts in it, but no memory of if we discussed the character Kaikeyi in my Asian Cultures class 10+ years ago. I think it definitely justified a lot of Kaikeyi's actions, and made Rama look like the bad guy. (I'm not sure if this is intentional because if Rama is an avatar of a god, shouldn't he be considered at least A good guy if not THE good guy in a retelling?)

Some of Kaikeyi's choices weren't the smartest, and if she'd just stopped to think she could have made better choices. Of course, the author was constrained by the Ramayana, so only so much could really change. Kaikeyi also sometimes came off as Not Like Other Girls, which is among my least favorite tropes.

This books is for you if you enjoy fairy tale retellings from new perspectives, if you want a feminist lens in the Ramayana's world, or if you enjoy stories focused on mothers. It's not for you if you aren't familiar with the Ramayana and don't want to be, if you dislike retellings, or if you aren't in the headspace to read about maternal abandonment.


Have you read Kaikeyi? What other retellings have you enjoyed recently? Let's discuss in the comments!

 Redsight by Meredith Mooring is a science fantasy/space opera. It came on my radar because I was hoping to find books by authors with disabilities. Meredith Mooring is blind, as is her main character, which I thought would lead to a unique reading experience. (She has a blog post about being an author who is blind here.)

As a side note, I used to work for a non-profit that dealt with donated corneas (the clear part at the front of your eye, where a contact lens sits) and getting them to patients who needed them. Through that job, I learned that there are all sorts of types of blindness and levels of sight someone can have; the term "blind" not an all or nothing situation. I'm going to refer to Korinna as being blind here for ease of communication, but some might prefer low-vision or vision-impaired.

Redsight follows a red priestess, Korinna, who has always believed she is the worst trainee of her cohort. Red seers are blind, but can tap into the universe's power (tactus) to "see" (think Toph from ATLA) and navigate the stars. When Korinna graduates, she is thrust into a prestigious position as the navigator of a planet-sized ship. An advisor on board, Litia, is strange--Korinna can see her face perfectly clearly, unlike anyone or anything before. However, Litia has a secret and a plan of her own. 

Something I liked about Redsight was that it made it so seamless for a blind person such as Korinna to move around the ships, even when she was the only person with that need on a plant-sized ship. Because with technology that advanced, why wouldn't you make Braille (called tactile script) available everywhere? Why wouldn't you have communication tech that works for everyone? It made so much sense and I loved it. I also liked how the limited visual descriptions from Korinna made the other sense descriptions feel important, instead of how in other books they're mentioned more for ambiance than information. I also liked the relationship of red, black, and white priestesses to each other, and how one could not be dominant over the others.

Something I wasn't as fond of in the book was the body horror element of the magic system. I love that there was a consequence for magic, but I couldn't really vibe with the number of times Korinna's fingernails fell off. I don't care if there was magical healing, losing fingernails is a no from me. (It got to be like that in Gideon the Ninth for me. Despite all the good stuff in there, the gore crossed a threshold I didn't know I had.)

You'll enjoy this book if you enjoyed Gideon the Ninth (Sapphic, science fantasy, blood/body magic), if you want to read from a vision-impaired perspective, and if you want to see how non-visual descriptions can really stand out. This book is not for you if you're not looking for a romantic subplot, if you don't do well with literary blood/gore, or if you are looking for a space opera without magic.


Have you read Redsight? What about other books from authors who navigate the world differently from the majority of people? Let's discuss in the comments!

This post has been on my to-do list for a while. Back in January, I contacted a professional freelance editor about getting a developmental edit. I worked with Jeni Chappelle, who has a great website and newsletter and she has participated in RevPit, a pitch contest to get a free developmental edit. I ended up purchasing what she called a Manuscript Critique, which has the same type of feedback as her developmental edit, but includes a couple fewer things (no list of resources, fewer calls, etc.). I wanted to discover what type of feedback a paid edit would get me vs a free beta read from my writing groups and some reader friends. Is a developmental edit/manuscript critique different or better than a beta read? 

I want to emphasize one of my points here: having others beta read your book is expected by agents before your query. (It's so expected that you don't need to mention it in your query.) However, no agent will reject your work solely because you didn't have a developmental edit. That type of edit might help you solve problems that then take your manuscript from a rejection to an acceptance, but:

No professional editing is required in order to sign with an agent.

My experience with Jeni Chappelle was awesome. She gave me incredible feedback, and our call together made me so inspired to work on my novel again. She was genuinely enthused about my project and was such a nice and caring person. If you're considering a developmental edit/manuscript critique and she seems like a fit for your story and budget, I recommend her.

My beta reader pros and cons are based on several years' worth of beta feedback on my current project and three previous novels. I've worked with betas in my writing groups and friends who were more readers than writers. Your beta experience will vary. Choose wisely and know when you've gotten enough beta readers to give you feedback (you can have too many.)


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Overall, getting a developmental edit is significantly different from receiving beta reads. In my experience, the developmental edit was better specifically for big-picture feedback, but that's what it's designed for. I would never skip beta reading, with or without a developmental edit, because the beta feedback's granularity and variety is also incredibly useful.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon is a Philippine-inspired adult fantasy. A newsletter I subscribe to also mentioned it started as a Kylo Ren/Rey fan fiction that the author adapted into a unique world of her own. It's arguably romantasy, but with a very low spice level.

I thought the world and magic system in this book were unique and really interesting. Despite the world being large and politically complicated, I never got lost. I understood the character motivations for the most part, and was really rooting for Talasyn to succeed. Overall I really enjoyed the book.

Despite being a cool magic system, I needed more about how it worked. It felt a little too limitless. I also didn't understand the romance at all. Sure Alaric is hot but he's a mass murderer. And not just a solider; he's been in charge and only gains more power as the book goes on. Not hot. Sorry not sorry.

This book is for you if you like the Kylo Ren/Rey dynamic from Star Wars, if you're looking for Filipino or south-east Asian fantasy, or if you want a low-spice romantasy ("Shadow Daddy" included). It's not for you if you want a less war-crime-encumbered male lead, if you didn't enjoy the Kylo Ren/Rey dynamic, or if you are looking for a high spice book. 


Have you read The Hurricane Wars? What did you think of Alaric? Let's discuss in the comments.