It's time to wrap up the second trilogy of the Nine Kingdoms series with the final installment, Gift of Magic. This trilogy is what I'm calling Ruith's trilogy compared to the first three books which focused on his sister, Morgan. Speaking of her, let's dive right into it, but this won't be spoiler free. Beware! Morgan is in this book!!!! Albeit, her appearance is brief, but she's there all the same. In fact, she saves Sarah from probable death at the hands of the malicious Queen ...
Musings
WOMS: Spellweaver
This week we're getting back in the swing of things by continuing on with Lynn Kurland's next book in her Nine Kingdoms series, Spellweaver, and boy howdy did it deliver! As I hinted in my last review of A Tapestry of Spells, Kurland has a way of interweaving her plots together so you can see how the events of her first trilogy and this trilogy interconnect but also differ. In this book, especially, there are greater parallels and crossovers, ones which I had hoped would occur since they were ...
Embracing the Pain
Three weeks ago, my father was rushed to the hospital due to severe swelling, weeping of the skin, traumatic ulcers, and pain in his left leg. A few days later, he underwent an arterial bypass where they inserted a stent. Essentially, as I confirmed with a RN friend, he had a "heart attack" of the leg. During this time, my main concern other than supporting him by being present as often as I could in the hospital with him was caring for my mentally disabled mother. You know, the one who ...
WOMS: The Love Prescription
They never said marriage would be easy, but I also don't think when they warn you of the challenges you'll face as a new couple, those will include both a life-altering health crisis and global pandemic occurring all within the first year of said marriage. I know I've spoken before about some of the challenges my "new" husband and I have faced within the last three, going on four, years of our marriage, but I haven't, I don't think, revealed just how difficult overcoming these challenges has ...
Celebrating Success
It's official: I'm a published author! I don't know if it really has sunk in yet. The day of the book launch, I had mentioned to my coworker how I had a big event that evening. When she asked what, I didn't cower and mutter some half-baked lie. No, I told her the truth. Of course, like most creatives who constantly compare their level of success to the heavily-publicized, multi-billionaire artists who seem to be famous overnight (never happens that way except in the movies)---I did tell ...
A Small Beginning
Tonight is the night! It's book launch day! I still can't believe something I wrote is actually going to be in a literal, physical book, and people are actually going to read it! I can't even believe I told people and they bought it! Sure, it's not a major book deal with one of the major five publishing houses, nor is it a full-length novel or series. It is after all only a short story within an anthology. Even though this may be a small beginning---one small step for Lynn---it's my step, ...
WOMS: A Tapestry of Spells
Continuing with Lynn Kurland's Nine Kingdoms series, this week we're reviewing book four in the series, the start of a new trilogy: A Tapestry of Spells. Unfortunately, I wasn't as absorbed by this book as its predecessors, but this is not at all a comment on Kurland's writing. Rather I just had too much on my plate, so I didn't get to sit down and just let myself fall back into the world of the Nine Kingdoms and forget about life for a while as I would have preferred. Instead, I had to read ...
WOMS: Princess of the Sword
Well I can finally sit down and write out my review of Lynn Kurland's final installment of the first trilogy in her Nine Kingdoms series, Princess of the Sword. (So much for batch-writing and consistency. Maybe in an upcoming post I'll share the utter insanity that has been my life the past eight weeks, but anyway...onwards!) This series has been a delight, and this finale was no exception. I tend to be a second book person. It's the middle installments where the juicy backstories and ...
BOOK LAUNCH
The time has finally arrived: something I wrote is being published! As some of you may recall, I mentioned how I graduated from a little program where I obtained my certificate in written storytelling through the Story Center in partnership with Metropolitan Community College. What I hinted at, though, and can finally share in full details, is that as a graduate, they will be publishing my short story, which I was required to write as a part of my coursework, through their imprint [Woodneath ...
Coexisting in Harmony
The sages teach us that beauty is found within the balance of mercy and judgement; when gevurah is balanced with chesed, there is tiferet. Beauty exists in their harmony. This is a Kabbalistic understanding of how three of the ten sefirot---or emanations of the Divine essence, of the Infinite [Ein Sof]---are manifested within the world. To define what this beauty, what tiferet, is would take me much longer than this blog post will allow. (Good thing I wrote a fantasy novel to explore it ...