Danielle Thamasa's Blog, page 3

PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp July 25-July 31 Check-In

Hey all, Sam here.

It’s the final check in (I totally just thought those words to the melody of “Final Countdown” — I was in marching band for too many years; that was a standard stand tune). Today is also my birthday, so hopefully as this post goes live, I’m having a great day, but I’m sure I’ll tell you all about it when the Gen Con Wrap-Up post comes next week.

July 25

Most of the time my Fridays and Saturdays are not at all productive when it comes to reading or writing, and that’s just because those typically are some of the busiest days of the work week. I always spend time daydreaming, but I decided when I took on this Bookish Bootcamp that my writing progress couldn’t be just daydreaming; it didn’t count unless I had stuff written down, so there was proof of me actually making progress on my D&D novel.

July 26

I have almost finished my second writing craft book for this challenge. I did get a little bit of reading time while at work, so I think I will be able to finish this one just in time, because I do have the book in both paperback and e-book, so even if I have to read it on the way to Gen Con or after we’ve checked in at the hotel, I’ll still be fine.

July 27

Today was a reading day…just not a writing craft book reading day. David and I are doing a re-watch of “Solo Leveling” and I realized I had only read the first couple volumes of the Manhwa, so I decided to start reading that….and read the first four volumes before/during/after work.

I should’ve probably spent some of the time today doing some writing, plotting, etc on my D&D novel, especially knowing that the rest of the week is probably going to be busy, but I did want to do some more reading, because it didn’t feel like I had read all that much in July (but then I checked my wrap-up and realized I have actually read a bunch this month).

July 28

My July reading wrap-up just got a whole lot better, because my binge-read of the Solo Leveling Manhwa has continued to before/during/after work today as well. They are just so captivating. I’m drawn in and I don’t want to stop reading. I do need to think about getting my writing goal in for the week, but I’m at least certain that I’ll be achieving the Learn and Explore goals without issue.

July 29

Welcome to the day before leaving for vacation. You know, that day where you spend a lot of time doing things like any chores or errands that should be done (like laundry, dishes, etc), as well as packing since you put it off until the last minute. Add all of this to the fact that we also only slept like 4 hours last night because we are trying to adjust our life/sleep schedule from 2nd shift to something more like 1st shift—-you know, wake up around 7-8 am instead of noon, and go to bed more like 11 pm instead of 4 am. It’s an adjustment.

Sadly, all the last minute scurrying around and getting everything ready for an early wake-up to drive across a couple states meant that I didn’t really spend any time at all focusing on my stories or writing at all. It’s kind of funny that I have reached the last week of this Bookish Bootcamp and now I’m basically failing at getting words on the page.

July 30

Today was a travel day, because we left home in the morning and headed East towards Indianapolis for Gen Con. Then we had to wait in the Will Call line to pick up our badges and event tickets, grab a quick bite to eat, and then check in to our hotel. What made this day extra fun (and that should have been read with heavy sarcasm) was not being able to sleep last night and only managing about a 20 minute nap in the car. Needless to say, there was not a lot of reading or writing happening today.

And when we did get to the hotel, I wanted to try and build my own character for a TTRPG we’re playing on Day 1 of Gen Con, so I needed to pull out the blank character sheet, the Player’s Guide rulebook, and of course dice and pencil to get to work on that, something that was made far more difficult by the fact that I was exhausted and kept wanting to nod off while reading over character options.

July 31

It was a busy first day of Gen Con. I could probably actually count today as a bonus day for both my Explore goal and my Learn goal, because we got to try out some new stuff, but I also went to several panels at the Writers Symposium. It was a good time and I actually made a couple new writing acquaintances/buddies.

On the other hand, I definitely didn’t have much time in my busy schedule to actually do any writing, and since I hadn’t worked on any writing things the rest of the week, I actually needed to get 2000 words on the page to succeed in my writing goal……and I did not do that.

Week 6 Overview

Write: I failed this week, but I guess succeeding 5 out of 6 weeks is still overall pretty good, so I’m going to celebrate this win, even if it was kind of a failure at the finish line.

Learn: It took me way too long to accomplish, but I did manage to reach my goal of finishing 1-2 writing craft books. I’m kind of annoyed that I finished a book the first week and then didn’t get around to reading/finishing the second one until the final week of the 6 week Bookish Bootcamp.

Explore This was definitely a success. We got out of the house to drive from Iowa to Indiana, visited some restaurants, walked around the convention center, and participated in a lot of fun events for the first day of Gen Con. So yay, I did manage to get out and do something every week. Now I”m just hoping that the heat and humidity (well, mostly the humidity) will drop a bit so I can actually enjoy a walk down to the riverfront park back home. I haven’t been there much this year, and it’s just a pretty nice place.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Hey all, Sam here.

Sometimes you just have to rearrange your reading plans because you get approved for a book that sounds really interesting and you really want to read it. That is what had to happen when a copy of today’s book landed on my Kindle. Honestly, I tried to hold off on reading it until closer to release day, but I read this a few weeks ago, and now I’ve finally made myself sit down and type up this review.

This novella will be released on August 5th, so you can order your copy now, or pick it up (from your local bookstore or ask at your local library).

Let’s dive on in.

A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other—and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

This novella was honestly just so good. I was so drawn into the lives of these leftover robots and their goal to be free and independent and to make the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around.

It was cute. It was heartwarming. It had emotional stakes. It had drama (darn one-star review bots and robotphobia). There were so many layers to this story and the characters within…and I had to struggle to not devour this book rapidly. While I did want to know how the story would end, I didn’t want the experience to be over too quickly.

Actually, that’s one of the reasons I downgraded the story from 5 stars to 4.5 stars. I think I would have liked another chapter or two to have the story wrap-up a little more. We leave the characters as they are prepping to open up the shop for another day, but while most of the plot was nicely wrapped up, I don’t know, I felt like not everything reached its conclusion, and a few more pages would have let us all settle into the denouement of the story.

But maybe that’s just me and my feelings on the story. Nevertheless, I loved each and every one of the robots, and they all had time to shine, which was fantastic. This story was captivating and had me completely enraptured. I really cannot wait to add this to my collection.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons by Jaleigh Johnson

Hey all, Sam here.

With Gen Con starting tomorrow, I’m definitely in a tabletop gaming mood, which in general is true because I’m in two rather awesome gaming groups and we have a couple rather fun D&D campaigns going. But lately I’ve been even more in a epic heroes quest/fantasy adventure mood because of some of the books I’ve been reading…like the upcoming release I’m here to talk about today.

And don’t worry…this book just released on July 29th, so you can get your very own copy now. Honestly, I’ll be a bit jealous. I pre-0rdered this one months ago and because I’ll be at Gen Con, I won’t be able to open my copy until after I get home.

Anyway, let’s go ahead and jump on into the review.

The Fallbacks return for another adventure in Dungeons & Dragons’ Forgotten Realms!

The Fallbacks might not be Faerun’s first choice for saving the day, but if the money’s right they’ll get the job done. In this ragtag band of adventurers, each member plays a vital Tess the disciplined elven thief; Anson the courageous fighter; Lark the cunning bard; Baldric the wily cleric; Cazrin the inquisitive wizard; and Uggie, their pet monster who eats garbage. Squint a little and they’re the heroes Faerun needs.
 
Fresh off a harrowing journey into the infinite dungeon of Undermountain and the defeat of a powerful undead lich (with the help of a giant hungry worm or two), the adventurers are now a proven and dedicated team, ready for a new adventure which will take them to strange new realms.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first excursion of the adventuring group known as The Fallbacks (you can find my review here), so I was extremely glad to see that this would be something where we’d see the same characters returning for another installment….and for the record, I’d love to have at least a few more in this series.

We rejoin The Fallbacks shortly after the first book, and while they have sorted some of the shakiness of being a new group, there’s still a need for the group to build up their trust and camaraderie with each other. Because as some members’ needs get prioritized over others, what’s left unattended can add more cracks to the facade of the party.

Uggie continues to be an absolute joy, and she’s even getting bigger and smarter. (There’s a chance she could become a big problem later, but I’m really hoping that raising a monster doesn’t come back to bite- the party in the butt.) A great deal of the focus in this particular tale is on our deal-making Cleric Baldric, because some of his deals (or trying to run from unintentional deals that were made in a moment of desperation) are coming back to threaten the whole party.

We have some bardic shenanigans from Lark, some moody mysterious drama from Anson, not nearly enough focus on Cazrin, but plenty of attempts at controlling and micromanaging everyone and everything from Tess. Honestly this felt like getting to follow a campaign and see the continuing adventures of a developing party. There are often times when a particular storyline or plot thread will spotlight one or two members of a party over the rest. You can’t give everyone equal focus all the time.

Honestly, I read this probably as quickly as I did the first book, and I can definitely see myself doing a re-read, probably going so far as to read both books back-to-back. There was a nice mix of intrigue, mystery, action, drama, dealings with higher powers, and a healthy dose of shenanigans (plus Uggie related ridiculousness). All in all, it was a rollicking good time, and I’m excited to soon have a finished copy on my shelf. I’ve really enjoyed these recent in-world D&D novels, and I hope there’s plenty more to come in future.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Gen Con 2025 Schedule

Hey all, Sam here.

This week(end)–as in Thursday thru Sunday, David and I will be in Indianapolis for Gen Con once again. We look forward to this trip every year, and every year we have a great time. David will be playing a bunch of different board games and such, and I’ll be spending a good amount of time at the Gen Con Writers Symposium, but I’ll be getting in some game time as well.

July has felt like a long chaotic slog through the work days to get to this vacation, but it is almost here…..and we should probably finish packing.

Usually around this time, I like to talk about my plans and schedule and hopes for the convention, so let’s go ahead and get started.

Thursday

How to Cosplay Your Character (with Ginny Di) 11am

Imposter Syndrome 1pm

Brainstorming 101: From Downpours to Droughts 2pm

Finding Your Character’s Voice 4pm

Writing with Emotional Intensity 5pm

Champion of Undeath – A Labyrinth Adventure 7pm (3 hours)

Thursday is probably the busiest day for me schedule-wise, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited for the Writers Symposium events, but I’m really ready for learning more about cosplaying your own character. And, both David and I have tickets to play the Tales of the Valiant adventure Champion of Undeath, which should be fun. We know we’re not likely to be at the same table, but we’re excited to sit down and play a session of ToV (since we have pretty much all the books for it).

Friday

Tripping on Tropes in Genre Fiction 10am

Drawing Inspiration from Religions and Myths 11am

Dealing with Writer’s Block 1pm

Writing Despite Existential Crisis or Despair 3pm (2 hours)

Friday feels like the day of some panels I really need to take. I’m excited for the religions and myths one because I think it will be cool, but the two I feel like I need are the writer’s block and existential crisis or despair ones. Oh, Friday is also the day we meet up with the Nerdparents (a couple who owns a gaming shop back in Ohio, and basically adopted us as their nerdlings years ago. We actually got married at their house) and eat dinner, so that’s always a highlight of our trip.

This day is also my birthday, so it seems like a pretty good way to spend the day.

Saturday

When to Stop Worldbuilding 11am

Structure 101 2pm

And I’m hoping to get into 21 Days to a Novel at 3pm (2 hrs). It’s listed as Sold Out currently, but I bought enough generic tickets to cover the cost if they can fit me into the room.

Critical Role Live: Indianapolis 7pm

Saturday is a more open day, but I’m hoping that means I get a little more time to wander the dealer’s hall. I know we can’t buy a lot this time around, but there’s still a few books, games, and accessories I’m hoping to pick up.

But Saturday is also the day we have to drive about a half-hour away from the convention center to go to the Critical Role Live show. This one is going to be their first Daggerheart adventure set in Exandria, and we’re really curious to see how they bring over their high-level D&D 5e characters to the Daggerheart system. Obviously we won’t be talking spoilers, but this one-shot will be shown in movie theaters next week, and then will probably be on the Critical Role YouTube and such in a couple weeks.

Sunday

The Sablewood Messengers 10am

All we have on the schedule for today is to play a Daggerheart adventure. Again, David and I don’t expect to be at the same table, but it will be nice to sit around with other players, as well as game masters who know what they’re doing so we can get more familiar with this new game system. We’ve been watching all of the videos and live plays on the Critical Role channel, but actually sitting down and playing will be really helpful for us, before we start playing the system at home.

Sunday is also our drive back home, so it still ends up being a fairly long day, but at least our souls will be filled with the energy of having spent four days surrounded by tens of thousands of other nerds.

All right, well that is all from me for today. We’ll probably have a Gen Con Wrap-Up post sometime next week, because there will probably be a lot to talk about. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Books I’m Looking Forward to in August

Hey all, Sam here.

Honestly, August feels like a slower month for book releases, but it’s also my birthday month, so I’m just always excited for it to come around again. Reaching my birthday each year makes me daydream about all the books I might get to read over the next year of my life….while sadly also being annoyed with myself for not reading and/or writing as much as I would have liked in the previous year of life.

I have an okay number of August releases that I’ve been approved for by the publishers on NetGalley, and I’m excited for all of them, so let’s go ahead and talk about them quickly.

A Tale of Mirth & Magic by Kristen Vale (Aug 5), Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Aug 5), Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer (Aug 12), Hemlock & Silver by T Kingfisher (Aug 19)

Voidwalker by S.A. Maclean (Aug 19), Lady Dragon by A.M. Strickland (Aug 26), Unseen by Christy Healy (Aug 26), The Art of Legend by Wesley Chu (Aug 26)

For a few of these books, I’ve already finished them or I am currently reading them, so I imagine there will be reviews coming soon enough (hopefully around their release dates but I make no promises for my review schedule. But about half of these releases are for authors I’ve enjoyed reading in the past, and for the rest the stories sounded interesting.

Honestly the only book on this list I can almost certainly say won’t be read and reviewed in August is The Art of Legend by Wesley Chu…and that’s because I need to re-read/read the previous books. But I’m feeling hopeful that I’ll be able to get through the rest of the books in a timely manner, which is nice.

Of course, there are also quite a few cozy fantasy and other books I have waiting on my Kindle, so I have no idea what books I’m going to gravitate towards in August. I’m hoping to read a whole bunch, because it’s always fun to spend my birthday month indulging in a whole bunch of awesome reads.

All right, well I do think that is all from me for today. What August books are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments because I love talking about books, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp July 18-24 Check-In

Hey all, Sam here.

Somehow we’re nearing the end of this writing habit challenge. I think overall it has been a productive challenge for me, but I still absolutely admit that I could have done better towards my goals. My final update will be next week (while I’m at Gen Con, so that’s extra fun). I’m hoping between this Bookish Bootcamp and the Writers Symposium at Gen Con that I’ll really be able to get back into the writing groove.

Anyway, I don’t have a lot of time before I have to leave for work, so let’s go ahead and get into the meat of the post.

Oh, I guess I should refresh folks on my goals for this challenge. They are Write: work on my D&D novel three times in a week OR write 2000 words per week, Learn: read 1-2 writing craft books during the challenge, and Explore: get out of the house for something fun once per week (such as take a walk, go to a park, etc).

Okay, now let’s get into it.

July 18

Today was the start of my work week, so there honestly wasn’t much time for a lot of anything else. I did do a little reading for pleasure during/after work, but it wasn’t nearly as much as I would have liked.

July 19

I didn’t get to read a whole bunch today, but I did get some reading time in, so I should be able to finish my second writing craft book by the end of this challenge. This still feels like a really appropriate book to have in my collection, especially considering the last few years of chaos in the world.

July 20

Today was an easier day of work, so I was able to jot down some ideas and snippets to be added into my novel later, so that is a day of writing progress. But most of the day was spent reading for pleasure.

July 21

Final day of the work week, and it was pretty busy with a whole bunch of little tasks that needed to be done, so while I was able to daydream about my book, daydreaming doesn’t count as progress towards my writing goal. Hopefully I’ll be able to do some writing over my days off work.

July 22

We are in Corn Sweat season right now in the Midwest, which means it is very humid and hot….meaning we don’t actually want to get out and do stuff, but we still kind of have to. We did some errands like grocery shopping and then relaxed at home…which yes, did include looking over some of the Worldbuilding details of my D&D novel, and jotting down ideas for areas that are still being developed. I am taking a couple of worldbuilding panels at the Gen Con Writers Symposium, and I’m excited to see how that helps develop my creative process more.

Today we went to our local movie theater and saw the new “Superman” movie, and honestly I think this is the best DC movie in a good number of years. I enjoy going to see movies or bingeing movies/TV shows at home. It’s a nice way to study plot progression, character development, relationships, action, tension, drama, etc.

July 23

We have had to switch our D&D days from Tuesday to Wednesday due to a shifting work schedule…but unfortunately we still had to cancel D&D this week. One of our players had to go to the hospital (don’t worry; she’s fine…she just has a host of things that cause her to flare up and have less productive days). So the rest of the group got together and played some board games.

Well, okay, we played a game of Tanto Cuore, and then we decided to use our set of random character dice to build randomized D&D characters and have a random boss fight….the random monster that got generated was a Beholder (and unfortunately our random rolls gave us all spellcasters-a warlock, a bard, and a sorcerer). It was fun and silly, and we’ll probably keep the characters around to play random boss fights again at some point.

July 24

Knowing that I needed to have one more day of working on my writing, I did make myself sit down, read over some of my scenes again, and take notes on things to expand on, as well as things to clarify and adjust. So there we go, three days of working on my D&D novel this week.

Today was Explore Day (technically part two of this week’s Explore, but this was the only one I documented on my Instagram). David and I went to our local movie theater and saw the new “Fantastic Four: First Steps” movie. Obviously I’m not going to talk specifics or anything, but we really enjoyed it.

Week 5 Overview

Write: I’ll be honest. The writing goal has been the hardest one to get through each week. I’m just barely scraping by on it, and I’ve only actually written a few thousand words of novel progress instead of just plotting, Worldbuilding, and character development.

Learn: I now have to finish my writing craft book in the next week to succeed with this goal. It’s not a long book, so I should be able to do it, but I’m hoping for a slower workweek so I can read more at work and then do a bunch more writing at home.

Explore: It was a pretty eventful week of getting out of the house and doing things, but the Explore challenge for this bootcamp is already a success. Next week we head to Gen Con, and if that doesn’t count as fulfilling my Explore goal, I don’t know what will. I’ll try to post Gen Con updates on my Instagram, so find me there to see all the geeky fun.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard

Hey all, Sam here.

Today’s review is definitely proof that sometimes I am really bad at getting my reviews written and posted in a timely manner. This was…I believe…the second book I completed in 2025 (as in I marked it as finished on January 5th). And yet, here we are, almost at the end of July, and I’m just now getting this post finished up and posted.

Maybe I should start prepping the post as I’m reading the book and then make myself sit down and write down the review portion before I pick up the next book. Most of the time right now, I finish one book and almost immediately start reading the next one. I need to figure something out, so I can keep up with talking about all the books I’ve read.

Anyway, this review has been waiting long enough. Let’s go ahead and dive on in.

A bladesmith blessed by the stars. A prince with a dangerous secret. A god bound in shadows. From USA Today bestselling author Amalie Howard comes a scorching new romantasy that will leave you spellbound.

“His Imperial Majesty King Zarek requests your presence as his esteemed guest.”

When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.

But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who captures her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the Starkeeper—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.

When the rebels attack, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the Starkeeper. But Roshan is guarding secrets of his own. And with no control over the power stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of a dark god, an immortal whose interest might be the biggest threat of all.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

First off, let’s talk about that cover. It is beautiful. In person it even has a nice glossy shimmer to it, which just catches the eye. It’s just really pretty and so that drew me in pretty quickly. Also, this is not my first Amalie Howard book. It’s my fourth (after Bloodspell, Alpha Goddess, and Queen Bee).

I was swept away by this one. It was more fantasy leaning than any of Howard’s previous books that I’ve read, and it definitely hit the spot for me. I suppose it did have some of the court drama and political intrigue that made me think of the scandals and interpersonal drama of Queen Bee (which was basically a mash-up of The Count of Monte Cristo and “Bridgerton”).

Yes, I could say that the set-up of Suraya, the crown prince, and illegitimate brother Roshan plus royalty versus rebel forces premise is something that has been done numerous times in fantasy, it’s also fair to say that these elements keep happening because they work, and because people keep reading them.

I remember there being drama and intrigue and basically a competition to find the crown prince’s bride, plus lots of secrecy and magic that led into a whole lot of tension and action. Plus the writing was captivating as well, which is always a plus.

I even read this book in just a couple days, so I was definitely enthralled by the characters and the story. This is a book that I would certainly consider reading again (you know, if it wasn’t for my outrageous TBR making lots of re-reads difficult).

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp July 11-17 Check-In

Hey all, Sam here.

Four weeks down, two weeks to go. I think this is the longest I’ve been able to stick with a writing challenge in quite a while, even if I feel like I could be doing a bit better.

Well, with another week completed, I guess it’s time to look back on my goals for the Pathfinder Writers Collective Bookish Bootcamp and see how I’m spending my week as I work towards building up better habits for myself.

Let’s get started.

July 11

I did a little bit of writing craft book reading before bed tonight, but since it was before bed I didn’t get to read a lot. Still though, I think this will be a good book to soak in considering the reality around us, so I’m excited to read the rest. It’s not overly long either, so I definitely feel like I can finish it easily if I sit down and having a good reading session.

July 12

It wasn’t much, but there was a little bit of writing craft reading today, and I did get to jot a couple ideas down in my notebook. Technically this would count as progress towards my writing goal, but I’m hoping I have a couple days of better progress too.

July 13

It was a pretty busy day at work, so I didn’t really get much time for reading or writing or anything. My brain is always daydreaming, but I determined for this challenge that the daydreaming doesn’t count as writing progress because I’m not writing it all down somewhere where I can’t simply forget it.

July 14

Work today wasn’t busy in the usual way where there’s lots of things to do on a time crunch and no time to take a break, but it was hectic and filled with lots of prep work to get things sorted for the rest of the week for co-workers and other departments and such. It left very little time for breaks, and certainly no time for reading or writing.

July 15

A vast majority of our work weeks lately seem to be very busy and very draining. It continues to lead to us needing a big lazy day of doing nothing to start our weekend, just so we can recover. I will say that I had a nice conversation with David where I bounced ideas off of him for the D&D novel. I do this because it is a fictionalized version of how we really met and started dating in real life, so I want his input on things to make the D&D campaign and the character based on him to feel like a nice representation of him. So that’s one day of working on my story.

July 16

I typed up some of my handwritten notes for D&D novel today, in the time where I was waiting for D&D to start (especially since my anxiety was ramping up thinking about the combat that was to come when the session started). So I got to fully dive into thinking about a lot of characters and stories and stakes, and it is why I really enjoy this form of storytelling and try to capture it in my writing. Anyway, it counts as one day of story work.

July 17

One of my goals for this Bookish Bootcamp is to get out of my house and do something: go for a walk, visit a park, get away for a bit. But with how everything went this week, we were left doing errands like grocery shopping today, and it had to be done before our other D&D group had their session. So it wasn’t as big of an explore and touch grass excursion as usual. We stopped at Sonic and got yummy drinks and then enjoyed them while looking at the Mississippi River…so it was a brief outing at the end of a grocery trip, but it still counts. I’ll try to do something more worthy of my Explore goal next week.

Week Four Overview

Write: I had two proper days of making writing progress, but I did have one day where I jotted down some ideas in my notebook, so technically I did work on my D&D novel three times this week. I think about this story a lot. My struggle has been in actually getting words on the page, so I’m hoping to get some actual word count progress in the final two weeks of this bootcamp.

Explore: It was a short get out of the house relaxation moment, but it counts, so yay.

Learn: I read a few chapters in a writing craft book, which still puts me in a perfect position to meet my goal of reading 2-3 craft books over the six weeks of this better habits challenge, so I’m feeling pretty decent about my overall progress.

All right, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp July 4-10th Check-In

Hey all, Sam here.

Wow, all right, so we are already halfway through this Bookish Bootcamp that focuses on writing skills and wellness drills. I think I could probably be doing a little better with it, but I’m still meeting my goals, so I’ll consider it to be a decent writing progress anyway.

Well, with another week completed, I guess it’s time to look back on my goals for the Pathfinder Writers Collective Bookish Bootcamp and see how I’m spending my week as I work towards building up better habits for myself.

Let’s get started.

July 4

After working seven days in a row, I did absolutely nothing but lounge on the couch and watch TV. Yes, I could feel bad for not actually accomplishing anything, but I really needed the rest, so I’ll take it.

July 5

Okay, yeah, I had two days of absolutely nothing but binge-watching TV, but my mind really really needed the break.

It doesn’t actually count towards my writing progress goals, but I did daydream about my D&D novel for a little while, so even while resting my mind is still working on my stories in the background.

July 6

Is this technically progress on my writing related goals for this Bookish Bootcamp? Nope, but am I still marking it as something that I accomplished this week? Yep. It has been a rough couple weeks and I just felt so fantastic actually wanting to read and having the time to read, so here we are. I started and finished TWO books today, so yeah. That was awesome.

July 7

Did I do two reading days in a row? Yes, I did. And I managed to start and finish one book and make it almost halfway through a second book. Honestly I really needed this. So, I guess I’ll also say that I have a few book reviews coming to the blog in the next week or two. I’m already working on drafting them,s o hopefully I won’t get lazy and forget.

July 8

We had to skip D&D last week and I absolutely hated it, so it was absolutely wonderful to get to play D&D this week. Oh man, it’s always just such a fun deep character exploration and I love it.

The session ended on the brink of combat, and it’s going to be a pretty intense fight. Our characters are in the Feywild, in this pretty crazy, shifting, hedge maze, and we just encountered what are basically twisted alternate versions of ourselves as if we had walked down a different path in life. It’s going to be a dangerous fight. On top of that, my character is in the Feywild with her (just married) wife, and that wife happens to be Fey, and the enemy party is headed up by the Fey who had killed my character’s wife in my character’s backstory (the wife got brought back by my character’s goddess as a reward). So the emotional stakes are extremely high for my character, and I am so incredibly nervous about the combat next session.

But having awesome sessions like this really gets me thinking about my D&D novel more and more, which is a great thing…although I told myself that I can’t count daydreaming as writing progress for this Bookish Bootcamp. It has to be actually written down progress.

July 9

Today was our get out and explore day, that led to an overnight outing. We went to our closes Olive Garden for lunch, then had a quick Barnes & Noble trip, before checking in for a one-night hotel stay. I have a few photos up on my Instagram, because that is where I’m posting my proof of meeting my Explore goal.

I did do some brainstorming and plotting and writing on my D&D novel, so that counts as progress. I’m really hoping that when I add up the words from today and tomorrow that I reach my goal of 2000 words for the week, because I ran out of time to do three different days/times of writing.

July 10

When we got home from our overnight trip, one of our adorable fur babies just had to curl up on my lap and get cuddles (and I honestly can’t make her leave; she went through a lot before we adopted her)…so I wasn’t able to put my laptop on my lap and write on the couch. I did open up a notebook and write down a whole bunch of words, so hopefully it’s enough to say I succeeded this week.

Week Three Overview

Write: Okay, I’ll be completely honest. I couldn’t type up what I wrote in my notebook this week, so I don’t have an exact word count. But, I had like 5 notebook pages front and back, which should be enough to count as 2000 words or better. I’m just going to go ahead and say that it’s a success.

Explore: We had a road trip, food, book shopping, and a hotel stay including a little bit of very nice and relaxing adult-only pool time, which was really nice. (We did discuss D&D novel stuff while in the pool and hot tub, which I then wrote down when we got back to the room). Another successful week for this goal.

Learn: I’m still technically on track with this goal, because I said I would read 2-3 writing craft books over the 6 weeks of the Bookish Bootcamp, and I have finished one book. I’d honestly love to accomplish 3 books in total, so I’ll need to read one next week to stay on target.

All right, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier

Hey all, Sam here.

Today I’d like to wish a very happy book birthday to Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier. This is the first book in the Wolf and Magpie duology. I was lucky enough to be offered a digital copy through NetGalley, and I gladly accepted because the book sounded interesting. As always, I will continue to say that any book I request or accept on NetGalley is a book that I would pick up and read on my own anyway…so getting this early copy doesn’t actually affect my rating or review in any way.

Thank you to Ace/Berkley/Penguin Publishing Houses for letting me join in on the book release social media blitz.

All right, let’s jump into the review already.

Every legend has a beginning.

With their freedom on the line, a young woman and a rakish pirate take their fate into their own hands as they attempt to find a lost mythical isle with the power to save their entire world.

Saoirse yearns to be powerless. Cursed from childhood with a volatile magic, she’s managed to imprison it within, living under constant terror that one day it will break free. And it does, changing everything.

Horrified at her loss of control, Saoirse’s parents offer her hand to the cold and ruthless Stone King. Knowing she’ll never survive such a cruel man, Saoirse realizes there is only one path forward…she must break her curse. 

On the eve of her wedding, Saoirse seeks out the legendary Wolf of the Wild—Faolan, a feral, silver-tongued pirate. He swears to help rid her of the deadly magic, if she’ll use it to locate a lost mythical isle first. Crafted by the slaughtered gods, it’s the only land that could absorb her power.

But Saoirse knows better than to trust a pirate’s word. With the wrath of her disgraced father and scorned betrothed chasing them, Saoirse adds one last condition to protect if Faolan wants her on his ship, he’ll have to marry her first.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

There are definitely elements of this book that are inspired by Ireland and the myths of Ireland. A lot of the names and titles and all of that are pretty much pulled straight from Irish history, and I’m not complaining. I love stories inspired by the myths and folklore of Ireland and Scotland.

I was also intrigued by the idea of volatile magic, though the synopsis doesn’t give any other clues about what kind of magic it is. I’ll be honest, this is part of what brought my rating down a bit. It took so long to start to get an understanding of Saoirse’s magic, because it took Saoirse until probably the mid-point of the book before she started trying to understand the magic more instead of being afraid of it and thinking of it as a curse.

Yes, I understand that if you’ve been told your whole life that something is bad and wrong and a curse, you definitely hold onto that mentality, even after being told by others and even learning that it might not be as bad as you’ve been trained to believe. But it was still just a long frustrating build.

Speaking of a long build, it took quite a while before Saoirse and Faolan allowed themselves to really start getting physical with each other. Oh man, the tension of that build up…because it was pretty clear that they were interested in each other from the beginning.

This definitely has a Romance build up, but I felt like I could have used a bit more on the Fantasy side of things before starting to call this a Romantasy. I wanted to know more about the world and the culture and the history and the magic….basically I’m a fantasy reader who wants all the Worldbuilding and such. And since the romance aspect was a slow build up, I think there was time in the beginning to really expand the reader’s knowledge of the world.

But, maybe that’s just me. I know some Romance and Romantasy readers will be just fine with what is established in this story and world so far. Me? I’m hoping we’ll get a little more info in the second book of the duology.

I read this book pretty quickly, only taking two reading sessions (although one reading session was while I was at work so there were multiple brief interruptions to do actual work-related duties).

Also, let’s just give a shout out to that cover, because Saoirse is staring straight into the reader/viewer’s soul, which is very fitting considering her magic and the book’s title.

Overall, I had an enjoyable time reading this, and I am looking forward to seeing how complicated everything gets in the conclusion novel.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content. I’m going to go get ready for tonight’s D&D session now.