Danielle Thamasa's Blog, page 4
July 4, 2025
PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp June 27 – July 3 Check-In
Hey all, Sam here.
Okay, this post is a couple hours later than I had planned, but I needed to have a late start for the day so I could do a little bit of relaxing. This past week was a doozy and I am glad that it is over.
Anyway, we have reached my next check-in for PaWriCo’s Bookish Bootcamp. I can’t believe that we’re two weeks into this six week challenge already. Time is absolutely flying by.
If you missed out on what my goals are, or just what this event is at all, you can check out my previous blog post about it or go straight to to the Pathfinders Writing Collective Instagram for more information.
All right, let’s get into the overview of my week.
June 27Today was the start of my work week, and it’s also where I found out that my boss changed her mind in how to schedule everyone with one of my co-workers off, so instead of getting my normal Tuesday-Thursday off, I instead have to work all of those days. That really sucks for my goals for this Bookish Bootcamp because I do most of my progress on my days off. I’ll figure something out though.
June 28It was another very busy day at work, so all I managed to accomplish was some thinking about my creative goals, but nothing that would amount to actual progress for this Bookish Bootcamp.
June 29While I did manage some writing today, it wasn’t on my D&D story, so I’m not counting it towards my Bookish Bootcamp goals. I am still glad that I accomplished some writing.
June 30Today was another day where I managed to write a little bit while at work, but it was on the other writing project I’ve been working on instead of my D&D story, so it doesn’t actually count towards the Bookish Bootcamp. Unfortunately it’s all I managed to accomplish because it has just been one busy day after another at work.
July 1I did manage some plotting on my D&D story today, so I guess there’s one day of writing that I can count towards my goal. Work continued to be busy and chaotic, so I didn’t get as much accomplished as I would like, but I guess a little something is better than nothing.
July 2Honestly, thank goodness I’m ahead when it comes to my Learn goal, because I haven’t even had a whole lot of time to read for pleasure, let alone for learning. I am very very ready to finish up this 7 work day stretch and have a couple days off, because I really need a bit of a break.
July 3Today was the last day I could get out and accomplish my Explore goal. The problem was that I didn’t have much free time. As soon as I rolled out of bed, David and I had to get our things loaded up in the car and head downtown. Every summer the town we live in hosts a Downtown Summer Market, and today was the second market of the summer….so my get out of the house and do something was helping set up our booth. I have photos on my Instagram, so you can check that out if you wish.
I also managed to do a little plotting and jotting down notes for things to work on with my D&D story, so I also made progress on my Writing goal.
Week Two ConclusionWrite: I did have three days of jotting down some notes for D&D story, and if I think of the two days of writing on an alternate project, it makes my writing progress feel pretty darn good so far.
Learn: While I didn’t manage any writing craft study this week, I’m still on track with this goal because I finished a craft book last week.
Explore: I did get out of the house for a couple hours to get our booth set up for the Downtown Summer Market, so that technically counts for this goal, but I hope to have a better outing next week.
All right, so that is all from me for today. Thank you for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
July 2, 2025
June Wrap-Up
Hey all, Sam here.
We have made it halfway through the year! Somehow we have survived half of this year. At times it has absolutely been a struggle, but here we are, still trying to keep going. This has been such a difficult year already, and I know a lot of us are concerned about the present and the future. I don’t know how, but somehow we’ll get through this.
Anyway, we’ve reached that time where I reflect back on the last month and do little check-ups on my yearly goals for reading, writing, blogging, and trips/conventions. There’s actually a decent amount to cover, so let’s go ahead and get started with that.
ReadingAs usual, let’s start with the reading wrap-up, and June was another pretty good month of reading, although I definitely felt like there were many day stretches where I didn’t read at all, so there’s definitely potential to finish even more books. However, for the month of June I completed 11 books, which is still pretty darn good.
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth — 4 stars
Of Knights and Books and Falling in Love by Rita A Rubin — 3 stars
Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle — 3.75 stars
House of Frost and Feathers by Lauren Wiesebron — 4 stars
Writing Mr Right by Alina Khawaja — 4.5 stars
The Author Stuck List by Becca Syme — 4 stars
Dear Writer, You’re Doing it Wrong by Becca Syme — 4 stars
A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie — 4 stars
Betrayed by the Hero, I Formed a MILF Party with His Mom! Vol 1 by Ishino Yassan and Makoto Kuon — 4.5 stars
Whoever Steals This Book Vol 1 by Nowaki Fukamidori and Kakeru Sora — 3 stars
The Ruin Reveals by Aimee Donnellan — 5 stars
WritingIn the month of June I managed to write snippets and scenes from a story I’m writing following my current D&D character, but I also started participating in the Pathfinders Writing Collective Bookish Bootcamp. The writing challenge is taking place between June 20th and July 31st, so I’m hoping to make some decent progress on my D&D romance story (working title Roll for Romance, but I definitely need to come up with a new title).
Working on the story also gives me even more of an excuse to play around with our terrain and miniatures and character sheets and dice…because yes, I actually set up some of the in-game scenarios and David and I actually roll the dice to see how it goes for the party. So unlike in a “typical novel” where the author plans how events go for the characters, sometimes I get absolutely surprised by how everything turns out, which is really fun.
With the way the world is going, I am struggling with writing stories the way I used to, with delightful reckless abandon, doing it just because. I think too much of reality is pressing in on me and making the writing process feel WAY harder than it used to. But I really want to get this story written. I don’t know if I’ll publish, if I would even be able to publish, but I’m at least determined to find a way to keep writing, even if it’s just for myself and David to read.
BloggingI think I did a decent amount of blogging this month. Actually I did better than last month, which is a nice improvement. There were eight posts this month and hopefully I can do the same (or more) in July. We’ll see what happens. Here’s the links to all the posts, just in case you missed any or want to check any of them out.
NetGalley Review: Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle
NetGalley Review: Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
I’m Looking Forward to These July Releases
PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp June 20-26 Check-In
NetGalley Review: Pearly Gates by Bonnie Solomon
Trips/ConventionsHmm…I don’t think I have anything to really talk about here this month. Everything’s all set for Gen Con, which we’re only a month away from now, which is very exciting.
Oh, I guess I can say that I surprised David with concert tickets for his birthday last week. The concert isn’t until September, but we’ll be going to see Lindsey Stirling, Halestorm, and Apocalyptica. That’s a pretty awesome lineup, and I guess it counts as a trip because the concert venue is about two hours away.
All right, well that is all from me for today. How did your June go? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 30, 2025
Manga Review: Betrayed by the Hero, I Formed a MILF Party with His Mom! Vol 1 by Ishino Yassan and Makoto Kuon
Hey all, Sam here.
You know what, I haven’t done a manga review post in quite some time (probably because it’s been a bit since I’ve read any), so let’s have a Manga Monday again. I make no promises about being able to bring this back every Monday, but I should try and get back to some of the series I was working my way through, as well as talk about some of the other volumes I’ve picked up, so maybe I’ll be able to get semi-regular with these posts again.
Today I’m talking about a fairly new release that I came across a couple weeks ago while online browsing new Sci-Fi and Fantasy books at B&N. It sounded interesting, but the title alone made me think it was something David would probably enjoy…so when we went to B&N a couple days later, David saw it in the store and bought it. And because the premise sounded interesting enough, I decided to read it as well.
Let’s dive into the review so I can talk about this more.
My Thoughts
After getting kicked out of his first adventuring party, one man is ready to give them a mother of a time with his brand-new MILF party! Get ready for hot moms and revenge in this fantasy isekai tale!
Ceres thought his life was over after being abruptly kicked out of the Hero’s party by the arrogant Hero Zect. Alone and dejected, he stumbles upon an unusual slave market, where he finds none other than the Hero’s own mother, Shizuko! Ceres has a thing for older women, and realizes that this is his chance to achieve a lifelong dream: Assembling a harem of MILFs!
Rating: 4.5 stars
It was definitely the title that caught my interest. Also the fact that it is an Isekai story. Our main character Ceres was in his 40s when he left his old life in Japan and was reborn in this world where the life expectancy is only in the 50s. Because of that, women are basically considered old by 18 and “put on the shelf” by mid-20s.
The story starts with the Hero Zect kicking Ceres out of the party (mostly because Zect wants the young ladies of the party–and any other ladies he comes across–to himself). After leaving Ceres decides to go check out a place he’s never been able to visit before…the slave market, thinking to get himself a domestic slave, and he discovers Shizuko, the mother of Zect (who Ceres has been lusting over basically his whole life…which, okay, there’s only like a 10 year age gap between them, and considering the setup of this world and Ceres’s having been Isekai’d, doesn’t actually feel all that weird).
When Ceres takes Shizuko to register as an adventurer so they can take on some jobs for some extra money, it is revealed that Shizuko actually was an adventurer before she got married, and that certainly makes things interesting. I’m actually looking forward to learning more about her adventuring past and seeing her in action more in the present. Shizuko was actually in an all-female adventuring party with the women who became the mothers of the rest of the Hero’s party, so I’m sure that’s going to make things extra fun later on.
From there, most of the rest of this volume is dedicated to Ceres wooing Shizuko and convincing her to marry him, both before and after some intimate scenes. And honestly, here’s where the volume lost a little bit of points with me because the sex scenes had a lot of sound effects on the page like “squish” and “spurt” and “splash”…and I didn’t need imagined audio while reading the scene. The art was well done and the little markings indicating movement was enough. For me the sound effects made it weird. But I realize that just could be me.
Oh, and when the volume nears its end, Ceres and Shizuko agree to head back to their home village, and Shizuko thinks about the fact that her party had made a promise to share their victories and rewards together…and how she thinks Ceres would be able to handle four wives…….so when this story pitches itself as the main character dreaming of forming a MILF harem, that isn’t totally accurate (although I don’t think he’ll be opposed to this idea).
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what happens when they reach their village, and I’m also looking forward to seeing Zect and the Hero Party struggle more and more as they realize that Ceres actually did most of the real work, like dealing with the paperwork to get them all paid, and all the cooking and taking care of camp needs and all of that.
The art style is cute, and I found the characters to be distinctly drawn, making it easy to follow who’s who in the scenes. And, as with most manga, this was a nice quick read. Volume 2 isn’t out until the end of July, but I already know this is a series David and I will be continuing.
All right, that’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 29, 2025
NetGalley Review: Pearly Gates by Bonnie Solomon
Hey all, Sam here.
I think today is a good day to review a book, especially since I have so many books I still need to review. While I do have a whole bunch of books I’ve read and would like to talk about, my primary review focus is on my NetGalley reads at the moment, so I can try and work on improving my review percentage a bit.
Honestly I might just do a mini-review spread for some of my other semi-recent reads because it would be nice to talk about those books a bit too. We’ll see what I can put together. I’m still trying to figure out a better balance for my non-work time so I can work on my own story and read and blog.
Anyway, I’m sad it’s taken this long to get this review up, because I read the book at the end of May, intending to review it in the beginning of June. But…at least I’m getting the review up in June, so I guess that’s something. All right, let’s get into it.
My Thoughts
A dead drag queen. A cozy café. A shady deal—and an unexpected family.
Deceased drag queen Pearly Gates has the worst job in the afterlife: cosmic sanitation worker. When her soulmate leaves her, claiming she’s incapable of growth, Pearly hatches a plan to win him back. By striking a deal to take over the caseload of a burnt-out spirit guide, she’ll prove she’s worthy of love—and redemption.
Her mission takes her to Thunderbolt Books & Coffee, a small-town café haunted by a 1920s burlesque dancer. There, she’s tasked with guiding a grieving young widow, a terminally ill college grad, and a trans woman searching for purpose. As Pearly works her magic (and charm) to help them heal and connect, she begins to discover something she thought she’d lost forever—belonging.
Then she learns the café’s owner is her soulmate reincarnated—and one of her charges is falling for them. Thrown into a love triangle she never saw coming, Pearly must sabotage the relationship or be the good guide she promised to become.
Pearly Gates is a humorous, uplifting fantasy celebrating found family, self-discovery, and second chances—even after life’s final curtain call.
Rating: 4.5 stars
I read this book over the course of a couple days while at work, and let me tell you, it was a delightful experience. Pearly Gates is such a character that I couldn’t help but get swept away into her story. Actually I rather enjoyed the whole cast of characters and following the parts of their lives we got to experience during the story.
As a character, Pearly Gates just jumps off the page. She has so much personality and presence, and it really drew me in. But we can easily see some of her flaws and blocks as well, especially when she sees her soulmate and other souls around her progressing in a way that she isn’t. So naturally Pearly starts charting her own course to show that she can still grow and progress, even if she has to bend/break a few rules to do so.
Honestly, this book might be one of my favorite reads of the past couple months. I love stories with found family. I love stories with intriguing concepts and geeky characters. I expected some emotional moments, but wasn’t quite prepared for how wild and wonderful the whole story would end up being.
There’s mystery and comfort and friendship and connection and romance, as well as some self-discovery and second chances. Throughout the book there were moments of magic and whimsy, laughs and tears, and a story that was heartwarming and endearing while also making you question your own life and journey.
Overall I’m really glad I picked this book up, and I wouldn’t be upset at all if the author chose to write any interconnected prequels or sequels, because some of the other souls in this story seem like they would have fascinating stories as well.
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.
June 27, 2025
PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp June 20-26 Check-In
Hey all, Sam here.
All right, well we have finished the first week of the PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp, and I figured it would be a nice time to check-in and give a breakdown of how my week went for this whole challenge. Some days are a little more active than others, but I tried to make sure that I tried to accomplish something each day, even if that something wasn’t technically something that I counted as progress towards the goals I set for the challenge.
And if you missed out on what my goals are, or just what this event is at all, you can check out my previous blog post about it or go straight to to the Pathfinders Writing Collective Instagram for more information.
All right, let’s get into the overview of my week.
June 20This was the start of my work week, so I knew I wouldn’t be likely to get a LOT of words down, so I read through some of what I had already written for the story I’m trying to focus on for this challenge. I figured reading through everything would help me start to think about if there’s any changes to make, and think about what else needs to be written to get the story to “The End.”
June 21I did get a little reading time at work, and I was in the middle of reading this writing craft book, Dear Writer, You’re Doing it Wrong by Becca Syme, so that’s what I was able to accomplish. I had other books by this author on my goal list for this bootcamp, but I wanted to get this book finished before jumping into one of the others.
Plus, my Learn goal is to read 2-3 books over the course of the 6 week challenge, so I don’t need to rush my way through my reading journey.
June 22I spent a little of my free time at work jotting down things that I know I need to work on for the story, like plotting out the last arc of the in-game story and doing a rough plot of the out-of-game story. Plus I realized that I still had a few places on the world map that need to be named, and I can technically jot down some details about pertinent locations in the world so that I can make the in-game side feel even more immersive.
So this counts as one day of actually working on my story. My writing goal is to either work on the story three times each week OR to write 2000 words. Achieving either of those tasks means a success for that goal.
June 23It was David’s birthday, and the only thing on the agenda (aside from work) was to dig out my previous story notebooks and make sure they were all easily accessible for our upcoming “weekend.” Yes, my work week runs Friday thru Monday and my weekend is Tuesday thru Thursday. It’s an odd schedule. But I found all of my assorted notebooks and can get everything condensed to just one notebook going forward.
June 24This may not sound like actual progress, but today was D&D day, which inevitably gets me in the right creative space to think about characters and story and adventure and encounters/hazards/plot. I always find this to be a great help to me in my creative journey.
But for actual writing progress, I delved into the in-game story characters and looked over the character sheets, making any notes or changes that I could see needed to be worked on or fleshed out a bit. Though the out-of-game story focuses mainly on two of the characters, the rest of the players still have a good presence in the story, and there’s always a chance that the rest of the players will get their own stories later, so I need to make sure that I understand who they are.
Who the characters are helps to shape how they build their TTRPG characters, which can affect the whole story.
June 25It was “Touch Grass Day”! One of my goals for this bookish bootcamp was to get out of my house for a non-work reason at least once a week. Basically at least once a week I wanted to go do something, like a walk to the park or a walk to the river, or something like that. I posted photos of my outing on my Instagram, so you can go see that if you’re interested.
David and I went to a local park, one that we hadn’t yet visited, and tried out their frisbee/disc golf course. Because it was a super hot day, we only managed to complete half the course, but it was a nice time.
After we returned home, I started to work on compiling my many notebooks of details into one notebook for my D&D romance book going forward but the heat and activity of the day had me feeling drained.
So…I read instead. And I definitely plan to sit down for more compiling and plotting, as well as some actual writing tomorrow.
June 26Today was a day of a lot more compiling, jotting down character details, and trying to work on plotting/storyboarding the rest of my D&D romance. Obviously, there’s not really anything specifics-wise that I can share in this post, because I’m keeping a lot of the details to myself until I’m a whole lot farther into the drafting of my book, but I’m liking how the story is coming together conceptually.
I know I’ve talked about this story off and on a bit on the blog before, and probably the most information I shared was in my Trying Out The 5 Sentence Method post. And if you don’t want to check out that post, I’ll just say that my book is a split storyline tale following two people who meet while playing D&D and begin a relationship while also following the in-game fantasy adventure that the party goes on.
I’ve never really tried writing a contemporary romance story, so that part of all of this has me really nervous, but it is inspired by the true story of how my partner and I met, so that gives me hope that I can portray it well enough.
Week One ConclusionWrite: Most of my writing was just jotting down notes and character details, and working on compiling everything into one place, but also trying to plot out some of the gaps still remaining in the story. But it does look like I worked on my book three times this week, so I have succeeded with week one of this goal.
Learn: I read what I had left in one craft book and started reading another, so I’m going to say the progress counts as a success for this week
Explore: Went to a park and played disc golf. This habit goal for the week was a success.
Overall, it looks like this week was a complete success. Hopefully I can keep on track with week two.
All right, so that is all from me for today. Thank you for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 26, 2025
I’m Looking Forward to These July Releases
Hey all, Sam here.
Coming to the end of June, it’s time to look forward to July and all the fantastic books coming out that I’m looking forward to adding to my shelves. And thankfully there are a number of books I’m adding to my lists. As with any month, there are a number of books I’ve been approved for on NetGalley, and I need to get a little more focused on writing up my reviews.
Actually, this feels like an appropriate time to discuss something I saw pop up on Threads the other day. There was a bookish influencer/reviewer who posted about making up reviews for books they hadn’t read and posting them on NetGalley to improve their numbers so they could get approved for even more books.
I’ll be completely honest here, y’all. I think my feedback ratio percentage is 38%. I still get approved for a decent amount of books. While some (many) reviews may come late, I will not fabricate my opinions on books to improve my percentage. If I’ve reviewed a book, then I’ve read it. On the extremely rare chance that I DNF’d the book, then I will say so in my review, including what percentage I stopped reading.
So, with all that being said, let’s go over the July releases I’ve been approved for on NetGalley. I do have a review up for one of these books, and I have more reviews coming, hopefully soon.
A Kiss of Hammer and Flame by Amy de la Force (July 3), Never the Roses by Jennifer K Lambert (July 8), The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen (July 8), Lore of the Tides by Analeigh Sbrana (July 8)
Soulgazer by Maggie Rapier (July 8), House of Frost and Feathers by Lauren Wiesebron (July 15), Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods (July 15), The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten (July 15)
Daughters of Flood and Fury by Gabriella Buba (July 22), Love is a War Song by Danica Nava (July 22), The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World by J.R. Dawson (July 29), Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons by Jaleigh Johnson (July 29)
Don’t these books look great? I know I’m very excited to talk about them more, and hopefully I’ll be able to get quite a few of them reviewed next month, although I know for some of them I need to get reviews up for previous books in the series first.
Anyway, that is all from me for today. What books are you looking forward to in July? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 24, 2025
NetGalley Review: Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
Hey all, Sam here.
Welcome back to another fiction focused Tabletop Tuesday, because yes, I have read yet another book where one of the main focuses of the story is all the characters playing TTRPGs together. I’m starting to see a whole bunch more of these types of books coming out, and honestly, I want to read every last one of them.
The first thing I’m going to say about today’s book review is not something I want to put in the review portion, but it is part of the reason why I absolutely had to pick up this book. So, you may or may not know that I’ve dabbled in writing books myself (I’ve been having some writing resistance issues for a handful of years now). Anyway, I’ve been writing a D&D romance story, inspired by mine and my husband’s relationship, and I had been using the title Roll for Romance for it (I had the idea for the story in 2017), and now I want to come up with a new title, because as much as I love the title, I don’t want to have the exact same title as another book and make things confusing for readers. Oh well, I’ll hopefully find another great title for my book. It’s still very much in the drafting stages (only like 30k written).
So yeah, basically I had seen a mention of this story on social media, was instantly intrigued because of the title, found it on NetGalley and read the synopsis, and naturally had to put a request in for it….and then I started reading it basically right after I got approved for it because I needed some more tabletop fun in my life.
All right, let’s go ahead and get into the review.
My Thoughts
Two fledgling tabletop gamers find themselves falling for each other—both in and out of their weekly D&D sessions—in this charming, fantasy-tinged romance.
For years, Sadie Brooks has declined her best friend’s standing invitation to join his Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But when she unexpectedly loses her marketing job and flees New York City to spend the summer with him in small-town Texas, she also runs out of excuses to say no.
In the game, she becomes Jaylie, a powerful and self-assured human cleric blessed by the Goddess of Luck with spells to heal her companions. But in real life, Sadie believes her luck has run out, and she hopes the distraction will give her time to clear her head and plan next steps.
She never expected Noah Walker—the handsome, outgoing bartender roped into joining them—to factor into that plan. Like Sadie, he’s new in town. But with a taste for adventure, Noah never stays in one place for long. He’s something of a traveling bard—just like his character Loren, the charismatic, lute-strumming elf. While Jaylie finds herself succumbing to the bard’s charms over the course of their party’s travels, Sadie also begins to fall under Noah’s spell.
As their relationship progresses in both worlds, Sadie can’t help but wonder if they might last beyond the game. But when a surprising new opportunity opens in New York, she must face the truth about why she lost her job in the first place—and whether she and Noah have found something in Texas worth staying for. Torn between her career dreams in the city and the exciting uncertainty of a new adventure, she will have no choice but to roll the dice.
Rating: 4.5 stars
First off, I’m just going to say that this cover is very cute and geeky and magical. Honestly, it definitely helps sell this as a D&D contemporary romance story. I look forward to having a copy of this on my shelf. This actually makes me think perhaps I should pull all of my D&D inspired fantasy or TTRPG romance books and give them their own special spot in my library, because I’m starting to get quite a collection here.
Also, I absolutely devoured this book back in JANUARY, but I wanted to wait until closer to release day to post my review. I started my year really wanted to read some more D&D inspired stories, and this one really hit the spot.
I really liked getting the glimpses into the in-game adventure, because the romance that develops between Sadie and Noah is hinted at and reflected by the development of Jaylie and Loren, which is a fun way to set up and build the relationship even more.
It was also nice to see how the game helped Sadie start to pursue her artistry and creativity as a more professional avenue, especially since she already had a number of skills and connections from her previous marketing job. I know personally how much more creative and capable of making art a person can feel after sitting at the table rolling dice and telling a story on a consistent schedule.
I’ll also say that I wanted to take my time reading this one, but even with needing to work, I finished this one in just a few short reading sessions over a four day stretch, so it is a nice fairly quick read. And it helped satisfy the urge (briefly) for stories with this sort of vibe.
I loved all of the characters, from Sadie and Noah, to the rest of the RPG group and the folks at the bar Noah works at. Honestly, I would definitely be interested if the author wished to write some interconnected standalones that follow some of the other characters a bit.
Basically, hey y’all, I want to read more books where the characters play TTRPGs or even in-fantasy-world stories that have D&D vibes to them. Give them all to me. I’m obsessed and will read them all (and all age groups qualify, because I’ve read Middle Grade, YA, and Adult).
Oh, and there’s not much longer to wait for this book. It comes out July 15th, so there’s still plenty of time to pre-order.
That is all from me for today, but if you know of any books with characters playing TTRPGs (or board games or video games), or fantasy stories with D&D vibes, please let me know in the comments. I’m always looking to add more to my library and my TBR pile. Thank you for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 12, 2025
PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp
Hey all, Sam here.
I need to get back to writing and creativity. It has felt EXTRA hard for the past 7-8 months, although it has been pretty difficult for the past two years. I keep wanting to tell my stories and to get them down on the page, and they’ve been simmering in my mind all this time, with me daydreaming and plotting and figuring out details about different scenes and details and characters and such…but they’ve stayed stuck in my head. It has been the biggest struggle to try and get the words to migrate from my imagination onto the page. And the longer I go without writing, without an outlet for that creativity, the harder the whole process feels.
I’ve enjoyed the bits of PaWriCo when I’ve actually been able to participate, but it feels like I only make it like 20% of the way through any of their very cool writing challenges. So they’ve announced another challenge, this one for the summer, and it lines up to end as I head off to Gen Con to participate once again in the Writer’s Symposium. Hopefully by the time David and I leave for Indianapolis, I’ve actually managed to make some okay progress in my writing.
I’ve linked the PaWriCo Instagram below, where you can find out even more information, but in this post I’m going to do a brief rundown of this summer challenge, and then talk about my own personal goals for the 6 week Bootcamp. So, let’s get into it.
When: June 20-July 31
The PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp is basically a 6 week challenge to help build up writerly muscles and develop good habits. As with any of the PaWriCo challenges, it can be customized to what suits your needs the best.
The PaWriCo team has very helpfully laid out 10 different habits as suggestions, such as:
Write (Write for 30 minutes a day, Draft 1000 words a week, Edit 10 pages per day, Work on project 3x/week) Choose/Create the goal that works for you.Read (Read for 15 minutes a day, Read 25 pages per day, Read one book a week)Learn (Read 10 pages of a craft book per day, Listen to one podcast per week, Watch a writing lecture each week with “Studying the Craft” Discord group)Connect (Encourage 2 writing friends per day, Engage online in a writing community 3x per week, Comment on another writer’s post once per day)Share (Post on your writing account daily, Post a story 3x per week, Share about your project once a week)Challenge (Write 100-word flash fiction daily, Write one short poem daily, Use a new writing prompt each week)Explore (Visit a new coffee shop each week to write, Sign up for a new activity to inspire you, Adventure out of town to see new sights)Move (Walk every morning, Do a workout 3x per week, Take daily exercise breaks between writing sprints: push-ups, squats, etc)Get Inspired (Watch a movie once a week and pay attention to how it impacts you emotionally, Look at art daily, Find a new song each day to add to your book playlist)Hydrate (Drink 2L of water per day, Use a reusable water bottle daily, Experiment with a new water flavoring each week)I’m not going to take on all 10 of these habits because that would be too much to focus on at one time, but that’s fine. It’s basically summertime now, so I do tend to drink a good amount of water and I already experiment with water flavoring, which means that isn’t a habit I need to build up. Likewise, I do tend to read a decent amount regularly (I believe I am at 53 completed reads so far this year), so I don’t need to pick up a reading habit.
Obviously I will be trying to build up more of a writing habit during this challenge. Trying to set a daily writing goal hasn’t been working for me lately, so I think a weekly goal makes more sense. I believe I’m going to do a split goal, so each week I want to either 1) work on project 3 times OR 2) write 2000 words per week. Oh, and by work on project, I do mean that it has to be something more than just daydreaming. I need to scribble down ideas or plot chapters or do more character exploration. It needs to be something written down that will help build up the story. As long as I achieve one of those goals each week I will be happy.
I also really miss doing my Weekend Writer posts where I reviewed and tried out writing craft books, so my learning goal is to read 2-3 craft books during the 6 week challenge. I don’t know what books I’m going to dive into just yet, but I have some options.
Now, for a couple of these books–Stop Worrying, Start Writing by Sarah Painter, and Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig–I’ve already read them, but I think a re-read and re-examine would be pretty good right about now. But the others all sound good and useful for where I’m at right now, so I don’t know what I’ll start with (or what I might read before this PaWriCo Bookish Bootcamp starts).
Finally, I want to get myself out of the house a bit. I live in a nice little walkable town with several nice parks, and I’m right on the Mississippi River, so once a week I want to get out of the house and “touch grass.” I figure I can take my picnic blanket with me, as well as a book or notebook, and just enjoy being outside for a little bit.
I think that sounds like a pretty reasonable habit goal for this challenge. Wish me luck!
That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
June 10, 2025
NetGalley Review: Realm of Thieves by Karina Halle
Hey all, Sam here.
Hello and happy book birthday to today’s review. I meant to have this posted earlier today, but by the time I got off work late last night, the last thing I wanted to do was to open my computer and finalize this post. Still, I at least have it up on the day that I meant to post it, which is a win in my book. I’ve actually finished a few books already this month, and need to take some time to finish up some of my other book reviews and prep up even more.
Anyway, I don’t want to waste any more time. Let’s go ahead and talk about a sort of enemies-to-lovers, rival gangs, romantasy with dragons tale that came out today, so you can go out and pick up your own copy if you like the sound of this book.
My Thoughts
Two thieves vie for dominance in the illegal dragon egg trade, putting both their lives and their hearts on the line in this scorching romantasy from New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle.
For Brynla Aihr, crime and survival have always gone hand in hand. Ever since she escaped the fanatical dragon-worshipping cult that controls her homeland, she’s had to carve out a life doing the stealing dragon eggs. Egg theft is illegal and, in most cases, fatal. To breach a dragon’s nest means a harrowing journey through the ancient wards spelled to keep the monstrous beasts confined. Dragons can’t get out and only those with a death wish can get in.
Despite the risks, dragon eggs are highly coveted for their magic. A black market flourishes under competing criminal empires, and Brynla’s loyalty has always been to the highest bidder. Until she finds herself kidnapped and blackmailed by Lord Andor, a formidable lieutenant of House Kolbeck, and thrust into the dangerous political games of rivaling dynasties.
Brynla and Andor clash at every turn, sparking heat in ways Brynla’s never felt before. But in a world that’s prophesized to return to the dragons, and rife with betrayal and secrets at every turn…how close to the flames is she willing to stand?
Rating: 3.75 stars
This was my first Karina Halle book, although I’ve been aware of the author because of social media for a while…and I think I’ve had a few books on my never-ending TBR. Funnily enough, this is also the first time I’ve deviated from rating in either half or whole stars, but I really didn’t want to push this down to 3.5 stars and I didn’t think it quite reached a full 4 stars for me.
It was a good read. I think I read it in just a few hours over the course of two days at work, so it didn’t take long to fly through the pages. But there were parts where I just couldn’t sink into the writing. In the beginning the writing style of Brynla’s chapters didn’t really keep my focus and I actually kept getting distracted by how many commas connecting thoughts and phrases there were in practically every sentence. I don’t know why my brain kept latching onto the commas that way but it became distracting for me.
But after a handful of chapters I didn’t notice it as much, and I was able to sink into the story a bit more. Brynla and Andor were both interesting characters and I found each of their perspectives to be easy to follow. The problem was that this book is touted as a romantasy and I didn’t really connect with the romance aspect of their story. The lust for each other, yes, I definitely caught that. But I didn’t feel like there was much actual relationship building accomplished.
The first half of the book felt a little slow as the world and the characters and the conflicts were all set up and as readers we got to settle into the premise of this story. The second half is where a lot more of the action happened, and is honestly what took this book from 3 stars up to nearly 4 stars for me.
The magic was interesting, based on improved abilities and skills due to ingesting the suen within the dragon eggs, and I’d be curious to learn more about that. There are some characters who I’m curious to learn more about in future installments. And there’s enough going on with the creatures and beings and lands that I’m intrigued. I don’t know if I’ll rush out to check out the next book in this series, but I’ll keep my eye out for it, and depending on which characters are featured and what the synopsis is, I may move it up my giant TBR list a bit.
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.
June 6, 2025
May Wrap-Up
Hey all, Sam here.
I definitely meant to have this post up on Tuesday, but we had a huge storm come through and we lost power for a good portion of the day. Then Wednesday we were doing the final bits of prep work for a downtown market we vend David’s 3d prints at, and Thursday was the actual market, so it was a busy few days.
Anyway, May was a pretty decent month overall and I managed to get a decent amount of work done. So I guess let’s go over everything.
ReadingI completed 14 books in the month of May, which is pretty darn great, honestly. This sounds silly, but I still think I could have and should have read more. I had a number of days where I didn’t even think of picking up a book. And I’m working on getting a bunch of these reviews prepped and written so hopefully they’ll be up on the blog soon enough.
Built by Magic by Jenna Wolfhart — 5 stars
Dear Writer, Are You In Writer’s Block? by Becca Syme — 4 stars
Divine Blessings by K.R. Thompson — 4 stars
A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride — 4.5 stars
Roll for Love by M.K. England — 4 stars
The Oracle of Dusk by Elyse Thomson — 3.5 stars
Dear Writer, Are You in Burnout? by Becca Syme — 4 stars
The Violet Raven by E.E. Star — 4 stars
Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry — 4 stars
Pearly Gates by Bonnie Solomon — 4.5 stars
Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd by Delilah S Dawson and narrated by Ellie Gossage — 5 stars
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig — 4 stars
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins IV #5 by Matthew Mercer, Jody Houser, Noah Hayes, Diana Sousa, and Ariana Maher — 5 stars
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins IV #6 by Matthew Mercer, Jody Houser, Noah Hayes, Diana Sousa, and Ariana Maher — 5 stars
WritingI did some writing this month!! It wasn’t much overall, but it was something. I met up with my friend Bree Moore (who is an indie author and you should definitely check out her books) at one of our local coffee shops. She’s working on finishing up editing for her next book, and I was there for cheerleading, but I did manage to get at least a few paragraphs down in my own writing, as well as typing up the various snippets I had jotted on scrap paper over the last couple of weeks.
I’m still struggling to be consistent with my writing. Part of the problem is not really being able to carve out and protect my writing time. It seems like every time I actually do sit down with the intention of working on my writing, something comes up and I get pulled away, which leads to me losing all motivation for writing that day.
BloggingI did better with blogging in May, although still not up to my goal of 2 posts per week. There are still so many book reviews I need to get written up, so hopefully I’ll improve on my posting schedule even more in June. Here’s the posts with links, just in cast you missed anything.
NetGalley Review: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire
NetGalley Review: The Last Session Graphic Novel by Jasmine Walls, Dozerdraws, and Micah Myers
NetGalley Review: The Last Raven by Helen Glynn Jones
NetGalley Review: A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride
Getting Excited for the Books of June
Trips/ConventionsI actually have stuff to talk about in this section finally. Event Registration opened up for Gen Con, so David and I were able to choose a few gameplay sessions and some other panels. We’ll do a full breakdown of our Gen Con schedule when we get nearer to the date (probably mid-July), but I’m excited about my Writers Symposium events, as well as the TTRPG stuff we have scheduled.
And, even more than that, we had a four day trip to Ohio, where we got to relax for a bit, eat some great food, enjoy some nice drinks, visit some cool places, and of course, hang out with my mom. We’re actually already planning to repeat the trip around the same time next year, because there’s a lot more places that David hasn’t experienced yet, and my mom and I want to share some of the fun places we used to frequent in the handful of years before I met David.
This isn’t even remotely close to all of the photos, but I wanted to at least share a few. We went to a few different cultural and historical sites–such as Marblehead Lighthouse, Kelly’s Island Glacial Grooves, and Rutherford B Hayes Home and Presidential Museum and Library, hit up quite a few bars and wineries (because my mom really enjoys that), played some mini golf, and hit up one of my favorite Indie Bookstores (Main Street Books in Lafeyette, IN), where I finally got to meet the awesome Kel (AKA panediting on social media), bookseller extraordinaire and creator of the Biggest Gayest Table.
Overall it was a really nice month, and I guess I’ll see what happens for the month of June. It hasn’t been all that productive yet, so I guess I should probably focus on my hobbies and such, right? Anyway, that’s all from me for today, but I’d like to know, what did you get up to in the month of May? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
