Summer Ishness 2022
Good morning, dear Reader!
Been a while since I posted an update like this. I have been so incredibly busy this summer. We really embraced summer in true Wisconsinite fashion here, which means that we were hardly ever at home, we saw a lot of friends and family we haven’t seen in years, and Derek and I got to finally go on our 15 year anniversary trip (3 years belated).
Let’s just dive in, shall we?
Summer Watching
Top Gun: Maverick - Topping the list for my favorite movie I watched this summer would have to be Maverick.
Y’all… I went to see this one FOUR TIMES in the theater, and I’m not even ashamed to admit that. It was soooo fun. I loved it so much. (And this is coming from someone who never really cared for the first one!) I’ve been trying to figure out a way to write a review of all the things I loved about it, but just haven’t had time. Suffice to say, I loved that it was a return to good, old-fashioned story and characters. I loved the nostalgia, but I also loved that it stood on its own. I walked out of the theater the first time and I told Derek, “THAT is how you treat your heroes.” I am so very sick of watching movies that take my childhood heroes and stomp all over them, trying to prove to me that they’re past their prime, that the newer heroes are the bestest ever, and that my old heroes weren’t actually all that good to begin with.
But Top Gun: Maverick doesn’t do that. Mav is still the best thing on wings. Sure, those new pilots are good, but Maverick can still outfly them all. And he’s got a lot to teach those new pilots. Maybe if they pay attention, they’ll be as good as him someday… but not this day.
42 - Although this one is a little older, it was new to me. I watched it twice this summer, I liked it that much. The story of Jackie Robinson is inspiring and uplifting, and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers is at his old-man-grouchy-best. But there are so many characters to love in this movie besides Jackie and Branch Rickey. There are so many beautiful lines, so many powerful moments, it’s just all-around a great movie about perseverance, standing up for what’s right, and baseball.
Stargate SG-1 - We started watching this with the kiddos and it’s been SO much fun to introduce them to Jack, Daniel, Samantha, and Teal’c! I’m pretty sure that Elf Princess loves it the most. Shield Maiden gets a little scared at parts, and nervous for her favorite characters, but she seems to enjoy it. Rider of Rohan has gotten into it a lot more than I expected, and he loves the banter. Littlest Hobbit is pretty much bored to pieces by it, but he’s only 5.
Camp Cretaceous - My brother recommended this one, and we have been loving it so much. Why can’t they make movies this good in the Jurassic Park franchise? I don’t get it. I really don’t. While the last five JP movies have been ridiculous, far-fetched, convoluted, lacking anything resembling heart or soul, and completely lack-luster when it comes to being anywhere near as inspiring or having characters I care about… Camp Cretaceous has it all. It’s even kind of terrifying at times! Don’t let the cartoon dinos fool you… this is not Land Before Time!
That’s about it for watching stuff. We haven’t watched a ton this summer because we’ve been too busy!
Summer Reading
I’m going to cheat just a little here, because: screenshotting Goodreads is just easier than grabbing images off Google of every cover. But I technically finished Between Kings in June, so I’m saying it counts.
I’m not going to talk about all of these here, and I am planning on doing some full-length reviews eventually (read: maybe). But I’ll just highlight my favorites.
Paper Crowns by Miriam Neal - Deborah has been suggesting this one to me for how long now? Only years. But it was every bit as sweet and delightful as she promised it would be. // I liked that Ginger was equal parts spunk and out-of-her-depth and made her quite compelling // Hal is a new favorite, what can I say? Clearly, I like snarky, loyal, noble types who hide their depth with a veneer of self-satisfied confidence that they are the best thing ever to walk the earth // I would have liked to see a little more of the resolution play out, the book ends kind of abruptly after the climax // I just wanted to linger in this world for a while longer...
Vortex by Anne Wheeler - I had bought this when it first released because the cover was gorgeous and I really enjoyed Treason’s Crown by the same author, so when the book club picked this as a summer read, I was very excited. This book is classic sci-fi at its best with just a smidgen of fantasy that I can’t go into here because: spoilers! // Josiah is the dearest captain ever and I just want to hug him to pieces // Coralie is... ah, I just love her // mystery // intrigue // futuristic Coast Guard vibes but in space! // loved it!
Imprint by Madeline J. Rose - Paige Turner has a special ability: she can escape the real world and enter the books she reads. Literally. But this wonderful talent turns deadly one day when men with strange powers suddenly appear and seem to be hunting for her. Paige doesn't know what they want, but she knows she wants to stay away from them!
This story was such a fun read. Paige is such a sweet little cinnamon roll floofball character, but throughout the story she is challenged over and over again to stand up for herself, to be brave, and to not give up. And I love the growth that she experiences throughout the story.
Then there's Markus. Markus is the opposite of Paige. He's boisterous and goofy and full of optimism and spunk. So naturally, I ship him and Paige RATHER a lot. There's some super adorable awkward teen romance moments, but I appreciated that the author allowed her characters to be fairly mature about their feelings rather than just giving in to them like you see in so many YA books these days. Cute and awkward teens sort of crushing on each other? Yes. Steamy and inappropriate? Not in this book!
The villains of the story are devious and full of evil plans, and there are narrow escapes and dastardly schemes aplenty to keep you turning the pages late into the night. *not that I'm speaking from experience or anything... eheheh*
In short, this is a rolicking fun read, fantasy and meta-fiction combined in ways that put me in mind of James Riley's "Story Thieves" or Jasper Fforde's "Thursday Next" stories. I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel and eagerly look forward to the next installment!
Tower of Light series by Allen Brokken - I read books 1-5 this summer (book 5 will be coming out soon, I got an early copy!) and absolutely loved this sweet middle grade series. It reminded me a lot of the Spirit Flyer series by John Bibee (please, someone tell me they’ve read those, they’re so much fun) and The Wingfeather Saga, as well. These are a great read for families. They are an epic adventure filled with spiritual truths.
Seventh City by Emily Hayse - hugs book forever This book, y’all. This is my favorite read so far this summer. It took me a chapter or two to get into the narrator and style, but after that, I just got completely swept up in the story and fell in love with it. Absolutely gorgeous // completely gripping // Maki is such a dear, fierce little wolf cub // it takes a lot to make me fall in love with a story told in 1st-person, but this one absolutely swept me away // and THAT ENDING! // *sobbing* but in a good way... but also so heartbroken... oh man... all the feels with this one, y'all // I'd give it 6 stars if GR allowed it // highly recommend
So there’s an overview of my summer reading! I didn’t win the library drawing, but I am glad that my library actually had something for adults doing summer reading this year!
Summer Living
As I alluded to earlier, this summer was absolutely jam-packed with fun and travel. We went to Michigan for a family reunion in early June. I drove down to Lake Geneva for my sister’s concert there and a mini family reunion at the beginning of July. My parents and sister came to stay with us for a couple of days, then headed east across the state for some more concerts, we followed along behind them a few days later and met up in Door County for another concert and some fun vacation days that included a 3-mile very technical but also super beautiful hike at Peninsula State Park and a ferry ride over to Washington Island. Then we had more family visiting for a couple of weeks.
My daughters and I were also doing summer running (Elf Princess is on a homeschool cross country team. She ran 83 miles this summer!) Shield Maiden and I also ran, though not as much, clocking in 32 miles and I participated in my first race ever. It was 2 miles! I didn’t do too badly, and I was kinda proud of myself for trying something new. I’m not sure I’ll ever LOVE running like my oldest does, but it was more enjoyable than I thought it would be, and it was good exercise.
Then, I took my three littles back over to Indiana/Michigan to take Shield Maiden up to a horse camp while the boys and I stayed with my brother and his family for the week. We got home from that, had a week to breathe, and then Derek’s parents came up to watch the kids while Derek and I went down to Orlando and stayed in their house for our anniversary trip.
We went to Universal Studios one day, hung out at Hogwarts, dodged Dinosaurs, rode many rollercoasters, and basically had a blast.
Other that that, we mostly hung out, shopped, ate, played board games, built a lego, finished a puzzle, and…..
Summer Writing
….put together a pretty comprehensive outline for Echo book 2!!!!
I am super excited about writing this next book in the Echo series. (I need a better name than “Echo Series”). I’m thinking about calling it “The Fae Lands,” but I’m not sure I’m sold on it. What do you think?
I also spent the vast majority of the summer editing.
As we speak, The Orb and the Airship (Turrim Archive 1) is with my final proof-reader. My Super Secret Project is on deck for final proofing. Mantles of Oak and Iron (Turrim Archive 2) and Hearts of Stone and Steel (Turrim Archive 3) are both ready to go to my line-editor, and I just got started on the content edit of The Prisoner and the Pirate (Turrim Archive 4). So I have been busy, busy, busy!
Oh my goodness, this has become an epic novel. If you’ve read this far… congratulations! Have a cookie.
Fall Plans
Next week, the Silmaril Awards return for their 7th year! So get ready to nominate characters from your favorite fantasy books!
I’m excited about the return of the Silmaril Awards, and I’m kinda proud that they’ve been around for 7 whole years already. I’ll be talking more about this next week when I open up nominations for my category, but I wanted to share the Instagram Challenge we’ve got running since that starts before the nominations officially open.
Well, thanks so much for reading this huge newslettery-blog post of mine! I hope you enjoyed it! Have you watched any of the movies I mentioned? Or read any of the books? Have you seen Maverick yet? Did you have a good summer?
Are you excited about the Silmaril Awards? Start thinking of who you want to nominate!
Do you have any ideas for me on a series name for my Fae books? I didn’t really intend to write a series when I first wrote An Echo of the Fae, so coming up with a series title is really stumping me a bit.