Interview With the Vampire is buzzing everywhere right now. Between the TV series to the thirty-year anniversary of the movie, it makes sense that a book in the spirit of everything we love about Louis and Lestat would surface. But this time, it tells a tale between two women. We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft has those Anne Rice vibes from beginning to end. It even has similarities all the way down to the introduction of Claudia.
It’s 1979. Amber is an American housewife married to an Englishman in London. She yearns to break free and enjoy the nightlife. While she wants to head to the disco every night, her husband would rather she stay home and domesticate herself. When she can get out, she heads to the club, enjoying every free moment under the disco ball. This, of course, catches the attention of Nicola, a vampire.
Amber is looking for a way out of her housewife situation. She yearns to be free to party whenever she wants. Nicola is looking for a new companion to join her in the club scene. They are a perfect match for the never-ending partying. After all, it is the nightlife both feel so alive in.
Fast forward to the present (almost 50 years later). Nicola and Amber are still enjoying the nightlife club scene. Amber (like Louis in Interview) hates the idea of killing people to survive. She also hates the idea of continuing to stay with Nicola. She is bored and ready to take flight. But how does one leave their maker?
Maybe by introducing a new friend to take her place?
As her maker, Nicola can sense everything going on inside of Amber. She will do anything to keep her companion from leaving her. If that means she needs to change, then she will change. She comes up with a brilliant scheme to keep the party going. Meanwhile, Amber starts planning her exit out of London.
But will Nicola eventually let her little vampire go?
The truths revealed in the end make for an insane twist you will never see coming.
If you loved the relationship between Louis and Lestat in Interview with the Vampire, you will definitely love this book. The vibes between Amber and Nicola are very reminiscent of Anne Rice’s two most beloved vampires. That’s what made me appreciate this book so much. Those same Louis/Lestat vibes that made me fall in love with Interview are the same vibes here. It made me love Amber and Nicola, and their bond with each other.
This book releases on August 20, 2024. You can order a copy through Bookshop.org or the Amazon Bookshop, which are both featured in my Shop link in the menu above.
It is rare that I come across a book that surpasses all others. A diamond in the rough, so to speak. Of the hundreds of books I peruse each year, I may come across one, maybe two books, each year that sit with me long after I’ve turned that last page. These are the books I take my time with. I don’t rush through them over the course of one or two days. I take over a month to read that book. It’s because I know I need to truly absorb the story.
Michelle Kenneth with Paul Tremblay. 03.03.2024
Back on March 3, 2024, I met Paul Tremblay at Barnes & Noble in Union Square. He signed a couple of copies of The Cabin at the End of the World for me. Personally, I thought Paul was a really cool guy. Someone I could see myself being really good friends with. It was the same vibe I felt with Edwin Walker and the fashion designer Malan Breton when we met (and yes, we’re still good friends).
There is a reason why I am starting this post this way. It may help you to understand just how special this book is, because in my world, when the universe gets involved, that means something very important is happening. Meeting Tremblay was the starting point.
As we talked about the horror movie Knock at the Cabin, starring David Bautista, which was based upon The Cabin at the End of the World, his publisher asked if I’d like a copy of his next release, Horror Movie. She warned me not to sell it. I mean come on, he signed it. This one is not leaving my curated collection. Especially, since I know every single horror book fan wants this signed ARC. I am never letting this one out of my library. Not even for someone to borrow it. I’d rather buy them a copy than to let them even touch this copy. [A side note to readers, that means there will be a future Instagram giveaway of a signed first edition of Horror Movie.]
When I left the store, I snapped a couple of pictures of the book and posted them on Instagram, to which the Horror community instantly became envious and hated me at the same time. Sigh. You just had to have been there.
As the weeks progressed, Saga Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) sent me a copy of My Heart is a Chainsaw and then Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones. Now, I mention these two books for a reason. It’s important for you to pick up the Indian Lake trilogy by Jones in order to completely understand Horror Movie. The trilogy and this book go hand in hand.
Stephen Graham Jones speaking at the New York Public Library. 04.29.2024.
Of course, at the time, I did not know this. I made the connection when I finished Horror Movie and read in the acknowledgements that Tremblay thanked Jones for the idea. That’s when Horror Movie and the trilogy clicked. But of course, I never would have made this connection at all if the universe hadn’t had Saga Press drop the trilogy into my mailbox and I ended up reading the books simultaneously with Horror Movie.
More importantly, while My Heart is a Chainsaw is the main book that is linked to Horror Movie, it’s Don’t Fear the Reaper that was on repeat in my universe. I could not figure out why that was until I read the acknowledgments. In the acknowledgments, Jones writes, “You know those moments when your world is kind of crackling all around you like crumpled paper unfolding, so you can finally read what’s on that page, what you didn’t even know was there hiding, had been written all along? This is that, for me. It’s my life going this direction, not that direction.”
While you may brush off these connections so far, I’m not done. After I posted Don’t Fear the Reaper as the week’s The Next Seven on Instagram (a weekly Wednesday post that features the next seven books I am reviewing), I saw Jones posted on his Instagram that he would be at the New York Public Library (more particularly, my NYPL branch) the following Monday. Seeing that as a strange sign from the universe, I go.
Of course, by this point, noticing that Don’t Fear the Reaper was on repeat in my universe (all the way down to some spiritual thing that happened that I’m not going to get into, I just know that someone else witnessed what I witnessed and was so freaked out, they followed me to safety), I still had not picked up that Tremblay and Jones were connected.
I was carrying these two books around with me, reading a chapter of Horror Movie, and then switching to Reaper, without ever knowing there was a connection. That is, I didn’t discover it until I read the acknowledgments in Horror Movie and did a WTF.
I carried these two books around with me, not knowing the authors and the books were connected.
It is strange, though, how all of this kind of fell into place in my world. First, meeting Tremblay and receiving Horror Movie, Saga Press sending the first two books in the Indian Lake trilogy, meeting Jones, then receiving the final installment of the trilogy. Then I discover the two authors and their stories are linked. As a book influencer, I can tell you, of all the books I’ve reviewed over the last decade, none of them have shown up the way that these four books did and the universe announced a connection (one for me to figure out). I’ve never unknowingly read books simultaneously together without knowing they were connected. As a writer, though, I understand the connection. It’s right there in Jones’s acknowledgements. It’s right there on the page.
So as you read this review, you may pick up on the tie-in that ultimately links Horror Movie with the trilogy (if you’ve read all the books). I recommend reading the trilogy alongside Horror Movie in order to completely get the WHOA factor while reading all four books. It will help you to appreciate them at a much deeper level.
All of these books are listed in the Bookshop.org and Amazon Bookshop in the Shop menu above.
The Review: “Horror Movie” by Paul Tremblay
I wanted to mull this one over before I did a review because my brain needed to be OK with what I just read. Please note this is a five-star rating for me.
It’s several days later, and I’m still thinking about this book. The screenplay. The filming. The reboot. The OMG did that just happen at the end?
There are layers to the way this story is told. There is the present day. They want to remake Horror Movie, a low-budget film that never saw the light of day until the director decided to release clips of it on YouTube before she died. There’s the screenplay, written in a way that we can understand what made this into a horror movie, keeping the Thin Kid (our narrator) out of the loop. There is foreshadowing of what is to come.
This is where I want to say if suicide is triggering for you, there are elements of this in the book. You have been warned. Mind you, that is a trigger for me. That is the main reason why I needed to sit a little while longer with my thoughts on this book before doing a review because maybe that was the part that scared me the most. Yet, I believe that the way Tremblay approached this topic was as gentle as he possibly could. It’s like he’s saying it’s time for this to happen. It will be ok. You’ll be ok. Everyone will be ok. And also not ok. It’s like looking back at a moment that has haunted you and will forever haunt you, and learning to be ok. To see the monster of death and not fear the reaper.
There are also flashbacks to fill in the gaps of how the Thin Kid was approached to make the film, what happened during filming, and what happened afterward.
There’s method acting, and then there’s Thin Kid. I don’t think I’ll ever look at a method actor the same way again. I will always be thinking about the Thin Kid and what he took with him after the film. What he became. Do all method actors leave the character behind, or does the character become a part of the actor after the movie?
As I write this, sitting outside on a lounge chair, enjoying the spring Manhattan weather, I have a copy of Stephen Graham Jones’s Don’t Fear the Reaper on my lap. Paul Tremblay thanked SGJ for the idea of Horror Movie. SGJ mentioned to Tremblay that he should watch something about chainsaws on YouTube. That took Tremblay down a very dark rabbit hole where Horror Movie was birthed. If you’ve read My Heart is a Chainsaw, the first book in the Jade Daniels trilogy, you’ll understand the horror movie and chainsaw reference in this book. SGJ is the inspiration for Horror Movie.
I can see a Paul Tremblay and Stephen Graham Jones horror writing and film class in some university’s curriculum in the future. You sort of need to read both of their works simultaneously to completely understand their stories and where the references are being derived from.
I will admit that the screenplay in this book kept my brow furrowed throughout. I kept thinking, what are you doing? Where are you going with this? Not in an accusatory way to the author, but in an ‘I know this is where you’re going to scare me.’
The entire time, I am trying to protect myself for what is to come. The hand in the pocket. The uncaring step towards death. What are you warning me of? It’s like my brain knew what he was going to do. That’s why I didn’t speed through this book in a day. I sensed the trigger. I took my time. Stuck other books in between the next chapter and the next to ease the moment when it happens.
Then, finally, it happens. I’m stuck there in my head, but I keep reading. And then the end. OMG. THAT. JUST. HAPPENED.
To which, days later, I remember there was a suicide in the book. But I’m still at the end saying, OMG, THAT JUST HAPPENED.
After you read the book, this caption will make sense.
Joan He’s Kingdom of Three duology concludes with the release of Sound the Gong. This tale is a re-imagining of the Chinese mythological tale of the Three Kingdoms.
It begins with Strike the Zither where we meet Zephyr, an orphan who took fate into her own hands to become one of the leading strategists in the kingdom for the warlordess, Xin Ren. Under Xin Ren, she seeks to create alliances with other factions for the wars that are forthcoming. She will betray someone in order to reach her end game, to make Xin Ren the empress.
Sound the Gong is the conclusion to this story.
Strike the Zither
The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions, and three warlordesses hope to claim the continent for themselves.
But Zephyr knows it’s no contest.
Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged―while Ren’s honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed.
When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren’s followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. But there are more enemies than one―and not all of them are human.
Sound the Gong
All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior’s body, and never has she felt more powerless.
The warlordess Xin Ren holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains a puppet under Miasma’s thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces.
Fate has a winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it. She will pay any price to see Ren succeed―and she will make her enemies pay, especially the enigmatic Crow. What she’ll do when she finds out the truth. . . Only the heavens know.
Review of the Series
If I could pitch this book, it would be Mulan meets the Celestial Kingdoms. The focus of Mulan’s story would center around the battles and war efforts. Place this in a fantasy world where women are allowed to fight. They can become generals. They can lead armies and become warlords. But then, let’s take out the ancestors part of this story and replace them with celestial gods. Next, let’s throw this all into a retelling of the Three Kingdoms.
Now, let’s create an ongoing chess match being played out between warlords, and each has a strategist whispering in their ear. Throw in a bit of a love story between two strategists from warring parties, Zephyr and Crow, and we have the elements that compose this story.
Just for clarification in the comparisons between Mulan and the story of the Three Kingdoms, the Three Kingdoms took place between 220-280AD. Mulan (a folk heroine) existed sometime in the 4th century, long after the story of the Three Kingdoms. This story takes place in 414 AD.
Strike the Zither starts right off within the fields of war. A betrayal. And Zephyr is in the middle of it all. This is her strategy to change what fate has determined in order to make her warlordess the next empress. But I will warn you, don’t get too attached to Zephyr. She dies.
Crazy, right? She dies.
But isn’t this story about her? Yes, it is.
There’s more than one book about her. So how in the world does this get drawn out if she died?
Those celestial gods. I tell ya. They are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of humans, but every now and again, they do. In particular, Zephyr meddles in those affairs.
I’ll leave the review at that. I’ll be honest, when the celestial kingdom became part of the story, that is when I became interested in the story. I love stories about the gods. I’m not into the fighting or the war part of this book (which was literally the whole thing). Oddly enough, I perked up when Zephyr died. That is when the story had my full attention. Which, I know, is completely weird. But that is where the story really began for me.
Sound the Gong releases today (04.30.2024). You can purchase the duology in the Bookshop.org and Amazon Bookshop link in the Shop Menu above.
Harper St. George brings to us a new spicy Gilded Age romance series with The Stranger I Wed.
Pub Date: April 23, 2024
Synopsis
New to wealth and to London high society, American heiress Cora Dove discovers that with the right man, marriage might not be such an inconvenience after all. . . .
Cora Dove and her sisters’ questionable legitimacy has been the lifelong subject of New York’s gossipmongers and a continual stain on their father’s reputation. So when the girls each receive a generous, guilt-induced dowry from their dying grandmother, the sly Mr. Hathaway vows to release their funds only if Cora and her sisters can procure suitable husbands—far from New York. For Cora, England is a fresh start. She has no delusions of love, but a husband who will respect her independence? That’s an earl worth fighting for.
Enter: Leopold Brendon, Earl of Devonworth, a no-nonsense member of Parliament whose plan to pass a Public Health bill that would provide clean water to the working class requires the backing of a wealthy wife. He just never expected to crave Cora’s touch or yearn to hear her thoughts on his campaign—or to discover that his seemingly perfect bride protects so many secrets…
But secrets have a way of bubbling to the surface, and Devonworth has a few of his own. With their pasts laid bare and Cora’s budding passion for women’s rights taking a dangerous turn, they’ll learn the true cost of losing their heart to a stranger—and that love is worth any price.
Review
I am going to be honest with you. I was not expecting the spice. I was expecting some sort of historical fiction romance taking place in the Gilded Age with zero spice. I mean, honestly, historical romances are not known for any spice in the bedroom. These stories have been historically known to be absolutely boring. Did women even know what an orgasm was until the Feminist Movement?
Well, maybe Asian women did because men were taught the importance of making women orgasm so that it can increase the chances of pregnancy. But English men during the Gilded Age knowing how to pleasure a woman? I think that is the fictional part of this story.
Ok. So the market today is to add spice to any sort of romance story. Women want their eggplant and peaches stories that fall more under the pornographic end of the spectrum. I was in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee, listening to the audiobook going into detail of their first encounter. I literally stopped what I was doing, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Oh, we’re going there with this story?” Totally unexpected from Berkley Publishing. But alas, tis the market these days.
That spice was a signal to me that I am not allowed to listen to the audiobook or read the book in public. And the Maine Coon better be asleep because I feel embarrassed when he looks at me. Oh, these are things I don’t want going on in my mind in any setting where the cat or a human can sense I must be reading something super spicy.
So now that I have clarified this book is spicy, most of you will have already headed to Amazon, Bookshop.org, or whatever your favorite retailer is to purchase this book. For the rest of you who need more than the spice, keep reading.
This is for the people who love Gilded Age/historical fiction stories. What intrigued me about this story is that the book shows another angle to the New York debutantes with money looking for an English title. Cora Dove, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy NY businessman, does not want to marry. She just wants her inheritance. But since her father doesn’t want her mixing with people in American society (to save his wife and legitimate daughter from embarrassment), he’s made the caveat that she (and her sisters) must marry if she wants her inheritance. So she decides to marry someone with a title in England.
Her father agrees, so she, her sisters, and their mother (a former actress), sell their home and head to England in search of a husband with the help of one of her friends who married a gentleman in England.
As they are doing their reconnaissance, Leopold Brendon stumbles upon Cora. Literally. And that’s all it takes for their story to begin. He needs her money and she needs a husband. Works out just fine.
But what happens if this business deal could be more than just a business deal that would allow her to divorce him in a couple of years? What if they were to fall in love? What happens then?
This story is also the beginning of women’s rights in England, when women are seeking their freedom to own their own property. There was a time when women could not access their money or their property without a man. Their fathers, brothers, husbands, etc. were responsible for their property. Women were not allowed to handle their own finances, have bank accounts, own property, etc. without a man. At this juncture of the Dove sisters’ stories, giving women the right to their own property is set to a vote.
The Stranger I Wed is the first book in this Gilded Age series featuring the Dove sisters as they navigate English society, and being a woman looking for a husband so they can access their own inheritance. They will be met with suffragettes and their rights to vote, and so many more stories affecting women in their quest to be free.
You can purchase a copy of this book in the Bookshop.org or Amazon Bookshop links in the Shop menu.
Oh, and just to clarify, I think I’d put this as NC-17 on the spice scale. Not quite X-rated, but definitely spicier than R.
An Enchanting Case of Spirits by Melissa Holtz mixes a little bit of sleuthing with spirits who have unfinished business. Sprinkle a little bit of romance on top, and we have this new spirited mystery from Berkley Publishing.
Synopsis
When a fortieth birthday celebration leads to a ghostly visitor, four friends find themselves navigating surprising mysteries and spiritual hijinks, in this clever debut from Melissa Holtz.
Alyssa Mann isn’t adventurous, not since her husband died and she found herself the single mom of a teenage daughter. But there’s no way to avoid celebrating the big 4-0, so when her best friends drag her out for drinks and a tarot reading, she throws caution to the wind and decides to see what the spirits have to say. It’s all fun and games, until she wakes up the next morning with a wicked hangover—and a ghost perched on the edge of her bed.
Sheer panic sends her running to get help from Nick West, the (very attractive) detective who lives next door. When he finds no one inside, Alyssa has to accept that she really did see a ghost. As the dearly departed keep appearing, Alyssa and her friends do their best to learn how to control her newfound power. Trading insults with ghosts, tracking down family heirlooms, and getting closer to the skeptical but helpful Nick is more fun than Alyssa imagined. But when looking into one ghost’s past reveals unexpected—and unwelcome—facts about Alyssa’s late husband’s death, she discovers she just may be in over her head.
Book Review
In An Enchanting Case of Spirits, Alyssa’s medium powers awaken during a tarot reading and things will never be the same again for her or her friends. In this comedic ride with a psychic helping spirits with unfinished business move on (mainly, because she wants them out of her life), we discover that these spirits all have one thing in common (besides being dead). Unbeknownst to any of them, they all have a reason why they are flocking to Alyssa, and it is not just because she’s a medium now. It’s because she also has a connection to their deaths.
Alyssa and her friends (plus throw in the tarot card reader that sparked Alyssa’s newfound power) band together to help unravel what happened to these ghosts. Nick West (the hot homicide detective living next door) can’t really help them because his captain closed these case files after feeling pressure from the mayor.
Alyssa can’t stand her neighbor, but in the enemies-to-lovers trope, you know she’ll eventually change her mind. Both characters come from a background of loss. Alyssa’s husband died in a car accident. Nick’s fiancée died from cancer. In time, their attraction to each other takes over after all of her requests for help brings them together, even if he can’t believe she sees ghosts.
But Nick starts to believe after a girl goes missing and she is able to give him details on where she can be found. That case that he was told to close, it ends up that she can do something to uncover the truth behind not just that one case, but multiple cases. While he may hate that she is becoming an amateur sleuth, he can’t help but think that maybe he should listen to what she has to say, despite her strange way of obtaining information.
I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments with the ghosts providing comic relief to Alyssa’s predicament. I was happy at the end when I discovered this may be the beginning of this story. I actually felt like screaming, “YES!” We’re getting a book two.
Sleuthing friends where the ghosts are helping them with their own unfinished business, what’s not to love? What they’re getting themselves into though is pretty dangerous and could cost them their own lives. So yes, there is a bit of a scare element in this mystery.
If you like the show Ghosts, you will definitely love this book.
An Enchanting Case of Spirits is out now. You can order a copy through the Bookshop.org or Amazon Bookshop link in the Shop menu above.
Nick Medina is back with another Native American horror story steeped in folklore and mythology in his new novel, “Indian Burial Ground.”
Medina, author of “Sisters of the Lost Nation,” takes us back to the rez to talk about two issues that plague Native Americans – alcoholism and suicide.
In his Acknowledgments, he explains:
These two themes, along with Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, create the backdrop to this Louisiana story.
Synopsis
A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.
All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.
But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands.
After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers…but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.
Review
For those who know me, or follow me on Instagram, they know I reference Nick Medina’s books often, especially when we are discussing Indigenous issues.
One of the themes in this story that really resonated with me was the part about good and evil and how sometimes they can get out of balance. There are times when evil abounds, and then there are times when good outweighs evil. The universe will always try to correct itself when this happens in order to restore balance.
We can not have good without evil or evil without good.
This story is told by Noemi (present day) and Louie (past). For those who have seen Reservation Dogs, Gary Farmer narrates Louie in the audiobook, while Erin Tripp narrates Noemi’s story.
While Noemi is going through a horrible heartbreak (losing her boyfriend to suicide), Louie tells the story of the scary things that happened when he was a teenager. Stories of the Takoda vampire, the Takoda people, and the tamahka (the two great gators). Then there are the people dying and their corpses sitting up during their wakes. Bones in the cemetery are being dug up, and screams can be heard underground. People are going missing.
There are a lot of creepy things happening on the rez.
What I appreciate the most about Medina’s stories is the intertwining of myth and folklore into these characters’ lives in order to explain the unexplained. Each tale invokes ancient wisdom that helps people understand what is going on inside of them as they battle the monsters around them.
With every Medina book, I always learn so much. I enjoy reading Native American mythology and folklore, especially the scary stories that are passed down from one generation to the next.
The book is out on April 16, 2024. You can purchase the book through the Bookshop.org or Amazon Bookshop links in the Shop menu.
Something Kindred is a new coming-of-age story of a young Black girl returning to her roots, to a town filled with ghosts. Echoes.
Synopsis
Magical realism meets Southern Gothic in this commanding young adult debut from Ciera Burch about true love, the meaning of home, and the choices that haunt us.
Welcome to Coldwater. Come for the ghosts, stay for the drama.
Jericka Walker had planned to spend the summer before senior year soaking up the sun with her best friend on the Jersey Shore. Instead she finds herself in Coldwater, Maryland, a small town with a dark and complicated past where her estranged grandmother lives―someone she knows only two things about: her name and the fact that she left Jericka’s mother and uncle when they were children. But now Jericka’s grandmother is dying, and her mother has dragged Jericka along to say goodbye.
As Jericka attempts to form a connection with a woman she’s never known, and adjusts to life in a town where everything closes before dinner, she meets “ghost girl” Kat, a girl eager to leave Coldwater and more exciting than a person has any right to be. But Coldwater has a few unsettling secrets of its own. The more you try to leave, the stronger the town’s hold. As Jericka feels the chilling pull of her family’s past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her mother, her childhood, and the lines between the living and the dead.
Review
Is this a ghost story? No. Not in the way people want a ghost story. This is a coming-of-age story about a young woman discovering her bisexuality and the meaning of home and family. Yet, the town is haunted with echoes, ghosts stuck in the town of Coldwater. Not everyone can see them. Only a few can, and those ghosts are filled with sadness, which makes others feel that sorrow and despair.
As Jericka prepares her photography portfolio for Parsons, she struggles with finding a topic to shoot until she decides to photograph the echoes.
But all of this is such a small part of the story. The main part is Jericka’s relationships with her estranged grandmother, her father (whom she hasn’t seen since she was 4), and his new family, her mother (who carries a secret that could destroy her relationship with her daughter), and her new friend Kat.
This book focuses mostly on family relationships and the need to run away, far away, from the people that hurt you. There are generations of people that leave Coldwater and the pain this small town causes. But this book also focuses on mending those past hurts and letting go of the past.
All in all, I think this is a great book to give to a young woman preparing to leave home for college or a new life, especially if they’re running from a lot of pain. Speaking from experience, there are some rifts that can never be mended. Sometimes, the healing comes at the end of someone’s life. There are even those instances where there is no forgiveness and the trauma shapes us and our decisions to stay away from the places that brought us our greatest despair.
Coldwater represents that pit of sadness that will never be fixed. But there are people who choose to make the best of things and create a home in that place because it’s where they found their peace. A hometown is different for everyone.
The author did an excellent job diving into these themes, working out the suffering inside to find peace in the things that haunt them…the echoes.
This book is out now. You can find this book in the Bookshop.org and Amazon Bookshop in the Shop menu.
This is a topic every reviewer and book influencer has asked at some point. If you Google this question, you will find people doing a deep dive into the ‘legality’ of it, instead of just asking the publishers directly, “Is it OK to sell ARCs?” So I asked this question for you.
For those who do not know what an ARC is, it is an acronym for Advanced Reader Copy, or galley. These books are gifted by the publisher to reviewers, influencers, libraries, booksellers, etc. for early review. It is not the final copy of the book, and considered an uncorrected proof (i.e. draft). On the cover, there is a notice that says “NOT FOR SALE.” It is on every ARC.
I reached out to the Big 5 and two independent publishers and asked them two questions: 1) Is it OK to sell ARCs?, and 2) What should people do with the ARCs once they are finished with the book?
The responses I received (so far) are below. As more publishers respond to my request, this post will be updated.
What prompted this article was seeing someone with a lot of followers giving some very bad advice to new Bookstagrammers. Each publisher has their own rules regarding what you should do with an ARC after you finish it, but every single one of them had the same answer on whether it was OK to sell ARCs and every single one said NO. It is NEVER OK to sell ARCs.
As for what you can do with an ARC after you are finished with it, this is the part you should pay attention to, because there are a few extras you should be aware of (that I wasn’t even aware of).
HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins is one of the Big 5 publishers with numerous imprints under their name. Of all of the publishers, they are the most staunch about the “Not For Sale” policy, going so far as to sue people selling ARCs (and winning in court each time – one person had a $15,000 judgment against them for selling an ARC).
I reached out to their imprint, Harlequin, and this is their response, which is also what I have been told verbally by others from HarperCollins:
“Harlequin supplies ARCs on a “not for sale” basis and we trust recipients to honor this both before and after publication of the book. Should we become aware of a recipient selling or trading on ARCs received from the company, we reserve the right to no longer supply ARCs to such recipient.”
Of importance here is that they include trading as something that is not allowed. That means those of you who trade ARCs with each other should stop. It is not acceptable.
As for what to do with ARCs after you are done, you can donate them to Little Free Libraries, do giveaways, etc., so long as no buying, selling, or trading occurred.
Shadow Mountain Publishing
Shadow Mountain Publishing is a general trade publisher of both fiction and non-fiction titles. Their imprint Proper Romance focuses on clean romance stories (think Jane Austen). I was first introduced to Shadow Mountain years ago because they publish my favorite middle-grade series Fablehaven and Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull (huge, huge fan!).
I reached out to Callie Hansen, their Product Manager, and this is her response:
Shadow Mountain’s policy on the sale of ARCs is to not resell them. Ever. They are purely a marketing piece to generate early book reviews.
I would say readers are welcome to pass along physical ARCs before the book is released. My preferences are to donate to a Little Free Library (most libraries will not accept ARCs), keep the ARC for yourself, share with a young reader in the book’s demographic (especially if the book is a children’s or YA book), or simply recycle the book.
I know recycling the book may sound weird to a reader, but because it’s not a final copy, if you’re not going to keep the book, we prefer to recycle ARCs especially once the final book is released.
Shadow Mountain recently alerted their influencers that their books should be recycled after review, but they can also be passed along (as per above).
Simon & Schuster
I reached out to Saga Press, an imprint of Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster (one of the Big 5) for their take. This is what Joe Monti, Founder and Editorial Director, had to say:
Advanced Reading Copies, or ARC’s (“arcs”) are meant to simply get the word out with booksellers, influencers, critics, and traditional media. These are shared at great expense to simply generate word of mouth, hopefully amongst readers whom will love it. They have no commercial value and should never be sold as that would be the equivalent of stealing from the author as they get no return on that sale.
That’s it!
You can give it to someone to read, for sure. But never for money.
You can toss it.
You can also hold on to it forever, like my ARC of GOOD OMENS signed by Neil and Terry. 😇😈
Ok. So I’m jealous. But I loved that response.
The Answer Is…
So the ongoing consensus from publishers is that you should NEVER, EVER, EVER sell ARCs. Each one has suggested donating to Little Free Libraries or destroying it after reading. That latter part is difficult for most bibliophiles, because the thought of destroying a book, even if it is not in final form, is sacrilegious.
You can also do giveaways.
For those who trade, you’ll have to stop. This is considered a form of payment for a book, which would mean the book was for sale, even though it wasn’t money that was used to barter for it.
The best way to explain what to do with an ARC after you are done…keep it, give it away, or recycle it.
For those in the Bookstagram community, there is always one drama or another when it comes to what we share on Instagram. It becomes difficult deciding which books to share, especially during the age of cancel culture. You don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of the conversation.
For some book influencers, we get the luxury of deciding which books we will share. Others feel like they must share every single book a publisher sends to them. They have to do a review of every single title granted. Their Netgalley percentage needs to be at 80%.
Now, if you related to the last 3/4 of what I just wrote, and then did a “Wait…luxury of deciding which books to share???” Continue reading.
The purpose of this post is to talk about vetting the books we share. That means, making sure that the books you share align with your ethics and does not bring harm to others.
As a book influencer, you are not only influencing people to buy or read a certain book, you are encouraging people to read more. So make sure the books you are sharing are ones that will encourage others to read more. You are trying to develop trust in the book community. So don’t share books that may betray that trust.
Some Authors/Stories Can Cause Harm to Entire Communities
I think one of the hardest things to do as a book influencer is to make sure that the stories you are promoting do not bring harm to entire communities. There are times when I have picked up a book and had to stop reading it because one too many insensitive remarks are made about an entire race of people. There was even an instance when I was a beta reader and I decided that because there were too many references stolen from the Native American culture, I could not continue. It was borderline racist, because of the way the terms were used.
In these instances, it is best to have some form of contact with either the author or the publisher. Express your concerns (especially if you are reading an advance copy pre-publication). This will allow the author/editor to go back and fix these troublesome items.
Now, there are deceptive moments. I recently learned that the wonderful book The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune was taken from Native American history. Indigenous Children were (and still are) taken from their families and put into boarding schools where they are stripped of their culture. Many children were not only abused but killed in both the US and Canada. We’re talking mass graves. Genocide.
Klune had read something about this and was inspired to write this feel good book. He took the story that belonged to the Indigenous community and, as a white man, profited off of it. It was a colonizer move.
Now, if Klune had been an ally to the Indigenous community, he would have pushed the narrative that he was bringing to light the injustices that happened to the Indigenous community. He would have promoted resources to help learn more about what happened. He would have donated to organizations that helped their community.
Instead, he bragged about the inspiration, profited off of the pain and suffering of an entire community, and pocketed the money. This is the equivalent of a Nazi writing a feel good fantasy book about concentration camps, profiting off of it, not offering resources to learn more about the tragedies nor creating an allyship with those who suffered, nor donating money to organizations that helped the survivors…because…Nazi.
It is disappointing to learn how Klune profited off of the Indigenous community. It is because of this, I will not promote any of his titles, because his ethics do not align with mine. This does not mean I will blast his book. I will simply ignore it. The book and the controversy do not deserve access to my space.
Before sharing books like these where the author or the book are controversial, you should consider if you are possibly hurting an entire marginalized community. Are you contributing to the problem? If sharing the book means that you would be labeled as tone deaf, racist, or insensitive to your followers, you should reconsider whether to share the book with them. This does not mean you should never read the book. If you want to read the book, go right ahead. But keep in mind, should you decide to share it, people will assume that your ethics align with the author/book that are problematic. If your ethics do not align with theirs, you should consider not sharing it. You are not obligated to share every single title you read.
Who is the Author?
Since I read a lot of stories from marginalized communities, I check to make sure the person writing about them are either from those communities, have a strong connection to that community, or they are an ally helping that community.
Since I started reading Indigenous stories, I check to make sure the author is from a Native American tribe. If they are not, I start going down my checklist to see if this author is taking advantage of this community or doing this community justice. There are some authors that have no connection to the Indigenous community, but the way they share the story, it helps people to relate to the injustices that happened to them. They generally do this by making sure to work directly with someone from the Native American community to make sure that their words truly represent their people and their culture. You cannot write about their community and strip them of who they are (see Yellowstone and almost every single movie/TV show where a non-Native wrote the script). When you don’t learn from the people you are writing about, your work becomes problematic.
When you share the work of an author, just make sure you double check for any controversies. For instance, these days, some authors have been very vocal about the Israel-Hamas war. This is very dangerous for any author to do, because no matter what side you are on or what stance you take, you will be canceled by the other side (or both). When it comes to politics and religion, it is always best to just avoid the topic altogether. If an author is talking a lot about it and their words are controversial or they do not jive with your ethics and morals, absolutely do not share their work. Why? Because you don’t need your comment feed flooded with a lot of angry posts. This is not what being a book influencer is about.
So yes, you need to vet the authors just as much as you need to vet the book.
I will admit that every single day I curse J. K. Rowling for ruining the Harry Potter experience. Like many HP fans, we just want to live in that fantasy world she created. But then she makes these anti-trans comments and ruins HP for so many of us. It puts us in a difficult spot.
While HP doesn’t need any more publicity because it’s done fine on its own, this is something you should be careful about sharing. You may think “I don’t care, I love Harry Potter. I’m going to share it.” What it also communicates to a trans person or LGBTQ+ person is that you support J. K. Rowling’s statements. Is that what you want to communicate as a book influencer? Even if you do support her statements, is your aim to hurt people? These are questions you should always ask yourself before pulling an “I don’t care,” stance. You’ll find people will stop caring about you. You get back what you put out there.
Book Controversies
It is important to keep a watch on book controversies. The most recent one involved an author that left scathing 1 star reviews on her colleagues’ books before they were published. She created multiple accounts to do this, while boosting her own book with 5 star reviews. Of note, she only did this to books written by people of color or books doing very well (like Fourth Wing).
Needless to say, she lost her book deals.
In this case, this is where you would want to latch onto this story and uplift the authors and the books that were hurt by this racist person. This goes along with book bans. Find out what books are banned and uplift those authors and share their books. Take a stand against censorship.
So What Books Should You Share?
Share the books you love, but make sure they will not hurt a marginalized community. For me, there are certain publishers that get carte blanche to my feed. If they send me the book, it is a guarantee that it will hit my feed. For those who are not at this status, they’re usually delegated to monthly roundups or book stacks.
What you will find very rare on my feed is an actual book review. I read over 100+ books every year and not every book is featured as a review. I find that when it hits an actual book review status, there is usually a mad rush for people to buy that book and read it.
Why do I not write book reviews for every book? I like to think of the book review as my way of saying that this is a book I would curate into my own library. It was either worth the hype, or it’s just something I can’t stop thinking about.
As a book influencer, I am sifting through over 100+ titles to find the diamonds in the rough worth sharing. It’s important to share the books you love because you are building trust between you and other book lovers looking for their next great read. You are essentially curating their reading list for them.
Leave the Politics Out of It
On Instagram, posts that express political opinions are being limited or silenced. If you want your post to get out there, it’s best to avoid making statements. While this can be a form of censorship, it could also be Instagram’s way of trying to fix the social media problem of how politics is ruining our society. Books are a way to escape from the world. Maybe Instagram is trying to make their space an escape from what is damaging our world.
They started doing this on Threads when it was first launched. They wanted to create a community where like-minded people could talk about other things than activism and politics. People like movies and books and crafts. Can’t we just talk about that? That was where Threads was going and they wanted to keep the politics out of it. People felt happy and safe.
Now, Meta is moving this same thought process to Instagram. Unless an Instagram account permits posts dealing with politics and activism, if you post about politics or activism, the likelihood of it reaching your followers will be slim.
Scream censorship all you want, but maybe creating a safe space without the troubles of the world isn’t such a bad idea. The reason why most of us got into books to begin with was to escape the troubles of the world. Maybe it’s okay to leave the politics out of it and be the influencer that creates a space where people feel safe and happy.
For women growing older, we learn quickly that as our bodies change after our child-bearing years, the health care industry is no longer interested in helping us. They can’t explain what is going on with our bodies. They tell us to go plant-based, exercise more, and drink more water. They make very little to no recommendations as our hormonal levels plummet, and we start to feel the side effects of perimenopause and menopause.
For those who have suffered from hormonal imbalances that led to cancers and tumors, you will find that the symptoms are heightened compared to other women who have not had surgeries to remove tumors. For women who are overweight, you quickly discover that if you don’t drop the weight (and fast), a life changing event could happen to you (a stroke or heart attack).
There’s the weight gain (and difficulty losing it). Let’s not forget hair thinning and bald spots.
Then there are the doctors that go silent on what they can suggest to us as we enter the menopause era. You’re more likely to discover what you can do to help your changing body from a nutritionist than a doctor.
It’s only now that people are starting to talk about perimenopause and menopause. It’s women sharing what they have discovered, in order to help other women.
That’s what this post is all about. I’m here to share what I discovered that works.
An Overnight Change – What You Need to Focus on From Here on Out
All of the symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause seem to happen all at once. You wake up one morning, and your whole body has completely changed. I started perimenopause at the age of 38, just one year after I had a tumor removed from my parathyroid gland (the gland that helps synthesize calcium). This is a type of repeating cancer caused by an hormonal imbalance. After seven years, a second tumor should appear in one of the three remaining parathyroid glands. For me, one started forming, but then all of a sudden it stopped growing. Whether it was the Moderna vaccine or something I was doing that stopped the growth, we are not sure. So far, I’ve been able to keep it at bay. These days, my life is focused on getting my hormones in balance as part of my wellness program.
Hormonal imbalances, especially in America, are linked to how we live. Processed foods, beauty products, home fragrances, toxic cleaners, etc., can wreak havoc on your body. While the younger generation criticizes older women for not wearing makeup or taking care of their skin, all I can say is, “What makes you think we weren’t like you at that age? That is why we are in this current predicament.”
Your doctor’s advice of going plant based, drinking more water, and exercising is only part of the equation to getting your hormones back in balance. Vitamins and using the proper beauty products also fit into this equation. So here are the rules of getting your hormones in balance that I find works for me.
1. Eat More Vegetables
A plant based diet is what you should aim for. Start by eating less meat, dairy, fats, and oil (all of these equate to high cholesterol), and then begin replacing those things with vegetables and fruit. A great Instagram to follow is Kiki Nelson (@plantifulkiki). Her cookbook Plantifully Lean explains how she started off prediabetic with high cholesterol, needing to lose weight quickly or face a life changing event (exactly the predicament I am in). She did a lot of research to see what would work. She lost 70 pounds. She shares on her website and Instagram how she did it, but the cookbook shares exactly the method she used to create a program that worked for her.
A note on being on a plant-based diet. I do not consume processed plant-based foods. It’s still processed foods and processed foods are not necessarily good for you. Focus on actual produce, rice, pastas, quinoa, legumes, etc. Plantifully Lean explains which foods to focus on. I also recommend Bountiful Cooking to learn more about food nutrition, especially if you do not want to take your vitamins. Her charts are what I live by when I need to see which foods will provide the vitamins I need (but I still take my vitamins).
2. Exercise More
I say exercise more, but I simply mean just exercise 30 minutes a day. At this stage in life, you need to focus on low-impact activities, resistance and weight training. Now, don’t fight me on this one. I fought myself on this one for many years, but then my body started hurting. I was in so much pain all of the time. I was taking ibuprofen several times a week just to make it through the day.
Believe it or not, your muscles start to go mush overnight (and it’s extremely painful). I hate to exercise, so I decided to find activities I would enjoy doing. Note, I said activities. More than one type of activity. I also threw the word ‘enjoy’ in there. Find activities you enjoy and put them on rotation.
I decided to pick up aerobics (or dancing in place). I didn’t join a class. I just do random aerobic movements in my bedroom for 30 minutes, with the lights out, and Matthew Lucifer (the Maine Coon) sitting on the bed watching me. That way, I cannot see myself with all of the mush slinging through the air.
Something I want to make abundantly clear here with exercise is that I move like an old woman, and I’m only 47. I hadn’t worked out in 10 years (ok, maybe longer). I’m not a teenager or in my 20s anymore, so I can’t move like I did then. I am cautious with what I’m doing. I may move slowly and have the bed in front of me in case I fall, but it’s a small step forward. It’s about doing what you need to do… MOVE. In time, I will advance to not needing a bed in front of me to catch me. I’ll be able to workout with the lights on. It’s the small things you aim for.
I told my friend (who is in her early 30s) that I work out like an old woman and she reminded me that we are no longer our younger selves anymore. The way she works out now, is nothing like she did in her early 20s. She has to keep reminding herself that we are no longer who we were, so we need to stop comparing ourselves to our younger selves.
Keep in mind that you need to find low-impact activities (not high-impact activities, that’s not who you are anymore). I alternate doing aerobics, tai chi, qigong, walking 10k steps, and resistance training each week. I exercise for 30 minutes, Monday – Friday. I give myself the weekends off. I will say that before I started this, my body was in complete pain (head to toe) all of the time. Aerobics, focusing on the hip rotator (because my hips hurt), helped the pain to go away. Even if you are starting from a period of no exercise for the last 10 years, it’s fine. That’s where I was when I started this. I may move like an old woman, but I am moving. That’s the point… to move!
I do not recommend doing just one activity. I recommend trying different activities that are fun and get you to move. If you only walk, you risk injury because your body is basically moving one certain way. You need a variety of exercises doing different things for different parts of your body. Switch it up every day so you don’t get bored. Oh, and stretch more. Your body will thank you!
3. Drink More Water
One thing you will discover is how dehydrated you are. There seems to never be enough water, even though you feel like you’re drinking so much water. This is where I recommend having at least one glass of water with electrolytes every day. This will help your body retain some of that water. At this stage, water just doesn’t stay in your body very well. In our youth, we are 60-70% water. As we get older, it drops to 55% for women (and that’s not good).
How much water should you be drinking? Divide your weight in half. If you’re 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100 ounces of water a day. If you’re 120 pounds, 60 ounces a day. A bonus is that if you are plant based, you can also get water directly from the plants you are consuming. SOURCE: Gennev.
4. Vitamins
This is a category I thought would not stick for me, but it has. In order to remain symptom free, I’ve had to focus on having vitamins every single day. I take Boron (to help absorb the vitamins). This comes as a liquid dropper. Take this first before taking any of your vitamins. After the Boron, I take Vitamins E, B12, D3, Estrogen, Lemme Debloat (prebiotic and probiotic), and a multivitamin. Three days a week, I take iron for my anemia. Since I cannot take pills, all of my vitamins are in gummy form. The multivitamin is in liquid form. I also have a glass of either electrolyte water, Bloom water, or Magnesium water after I take my vitamins. [Note: All of these items are featured in the Women’s Wellness shop in my Amazon Store link under Shop in the menu above.]
5. Beauty Products
What every woman starts to notice are the changes in her skin. I’m telling ya, it happens so quickly. From age spots to pimples and skin discoloration that never goes away, to the inevitable wrinkle (eek!), your skin changes literally overnight. That means you need new products.
BUT… before you reach for that anti-aging cream, know that most products on the market are hormone disruptors. From your hair products, moisturizers, makeup, and bathing products, you will need a complete overhaul (the earlier you can do this in your life, the better (looking at you, GenZ)). I highly recommend Pacifica Beauty (see their link under the Shop tab in the menu). Their products are vegan and almost everything they sell is the answer to a healthier you.
I have spent the last 4 years sans makeup to help my skin heal. Pacifica Beauty has been a huge part of that journey. I use almost all of their products. I like to use Pore Warrior Everyday Lotion as the base, and top it with Vegan Collagen Every Day Lotion SPF 30. Glow Baby is a great vitamin C cleanser. I use their hairspray and their makeup (when I use makeup).
I spent a lot of money on luxury makeup and nothing worked. It wouldn’t even go onto my skin correctly. Pacifica Beauty was the only makeup that was perfect for my skin. Their website is literally my one stop shop for buying beauty products that are good for me.
I highly suggest doing a complete overhaul of all of your bath and beauty products and focus on vegan products that are not hormone disruptors.
6. Perfumes
Be careful with perfumes. This can be a huge hormone disruptor. Pacifica Beauty has their own line. But there are also scented oils that are popular in European and African countries that work far better than eau de toilettes and perfumes. They won’t disrupt your hormones, so be on the lookout for those.
7. Hair Care for Hair Loss
This is probably the most important item on this list because so many suffer from hair loss and balding. Pacifica Beauty’s Rosemary Purify is your answer. All of your hair care products are hormone disruptors. Rosemary Purify helps with hair loss. After a month, you will start to notice new growth.
For some women, they notice immediately. I have a friend who suffers from hair loss worse than I do. She noticed the changes in my hair and asked me what I was doing differently. She immediately bought all of the Rosemary Purify products. A week later, her sister ran into her and asked what she was doing differently, because she noticed her hair looked so much better. She bought her sister a complete set, as well. So it is not just you who will notice, people who see you every day will notice. [see link under the Shop tab in the menu to go directly to Pacifica Beauty’s website.]
Another thing I use along with the Rosemary Purify collection is a home remedy.
ROSEMARY & MINT WATER: Bring a pot of water to boil with a few sprigs of rosemary and mint. When the water becomes fragrant, turn off the heat. Remove the rosemary and mint. Wait for the water to cool and put the water in a spray bottle. Before bed, spray some of the water onto your scalp. Massage the water into your scalp. That’s it. Just forewarning you that this is very fragrant. While it smells good, some people may not like the fragrance.
Note: When using rosemary products, it is important to use the Rosemary Apple Cider Scalp Detox Tonic from Pacifica Beauty. Using hair products creates buildup (think congestion). You need to let your scalp breathe, so it can start new growth. Use the Detox Tonic every other day.
8. Collagen
I use Primal Kitchen Collagen Peptides (Unflavored). I sneak this into smoothies and soups. Since there’s no flavor, it just adds a little extra creaminess to the dish/drink. Collagen helps with hair, skin, and nails.
9. Meditation
Your mental health is just as important today as it is any day. Take some time out every morning and practice silence and self-reflection. Hormonal shifts can lead to a variety of different emotions that we do not want to feel (like anger).
If you experience anxiety (like I do), sometimes this occurs during a hormonal drop. I never had anxiety until about a year ago. This always occurred when I felt a hormonal drop. Practicing meditation helped me to work through that anxiety. If you’re doing everything else above, you will find that the anxiety starts to dissipate when you get your hormones back on track. But there are times when you have no control, and that hormonal drop will start the anxiety up again.
Believe it or not, Matthew Lucifer (the Maine Coon) taught me how to manage my anxiety. I was having an anxiety issue one night when I was trying to sleep. He sensed it and came over to me. He grabbed my wrist, put it against his neck, and started purring. It was like he was telling me to focus on the purring and breathe with him. Three minutes later, my heart rate was back to normal.
What this taught me was that the key to getting my anxiety under control was to focus on my breathing. I use meditation podcasts when I can’t get my heart rate down. I focus on ones that have a breathing exercise at the beginning. Within a few minutes, the heart rate is back to normal. It doesn’t matter where I am, if I am having an episode, I focus on me, not what other people might think. That is practicing self-care.
At Home
One thing you will be surprised to discover is that there are things around us in our home that can disrupt our hormones. How we clean, the detergents we use, and the air fresheners we plug-in can cause a hormonal imbalance. Even our mattresses can have a layer of formaldehyde on it that can disrupt your hormones.
USE green products to clean. Do not be fooled by products that are not 100% green. Use only products from reputable green companies. Clorox may say that their product is Green, but they don’t have to tell you the percentage of it that is not eco-friendly. I recommend using companies like Thrive Market and Grove Collaborative to read the labels for you and take the guesswork out of the process of trying to figure out if this product is safe to use or not.
DO NOT USE air freshener plug-ins or scented candles. First, it’s not good for animals, and it’s definitely not good for your hormones. A work around is room sprays made by Caldrea and reed diffusers. Grove Collaborative has a whole section of safe air fresheners you can use. Caldrea is a favorite of mine. It’s the only spray my Maine Coon loves (and he doesn’t run when he sees the spray bottle – it’s like he looks forward to smelling the fragrance).
USE eco-friendly laundry detergents and wool dryer balls. I use Stoneworks laundry detergent pods in Rose Petal or Method’s laundry pods, and Friendsheep wool dryer balls. Invest in a set of dark and light wool dryer balls. They last 5+ years. This saves you from buying dryer sheets that have perfumes and chemicals on it that could disrupt your hormones (and cause damage to your dryer). You can add your favorite essential oil to the wool dryer balls when you want to add a little bit of fragrance to your laundry. [You can find these products in the At Home-Apartment Living tab in my Amazon Store link in the menu above.]
USE eco-friendly products to wash your dishes, clean your home, and clean your carpets. I can’t even begin to tell you how horrible toxic cleaners are to your health. Not only are people with cancer sensitive to toxic cleaners, but you will find that the history of bleach in the home is what started a lot of cancers, and eventually the changes in our bodies, generation after generation to now seeing so many children with autism and childhood cancers. Blame the toxic cleaner that was introduced into the home, not the falsified report on vaccines. You can read more about it in Green This! Volume 1: Greening Your Cleaning. You’ll learn a lot about how toxic cleaners changed our DNA after it was introduced into the home.
Hey, even the vet told me to green my cleaning after she discussed Matthew’s allergies, just in case it was a toxic cleaner, and not seasonal allergies. I was instantly able to rule that one out, because we do not use toxic cleaners in our home.
Wow, Right?
I know. This is a lot to take in. I had to learn quickly what I needed to do when everything changed. So bookmark this page and come back to it. Print it out. I tried to make things easy to find in my Amazon shop. Pacifica Beauty is beyond amazing. I’ve seen instant healthy changes every single time I try a new product. I can’t speak enough great things about the products available there.
As you go through these changes in life, you will need to find what makes you feel better. Do I get hot flashes? In the beginning, I did. Do I get night sweats? Only when my hormones are not balanced.
What helped? Everything I mentioned above. I am month four into the menopause phase. I was feeling the symptoms like crazy in the very beginning. I went to my doctor for my annual physical and we focused on the labs from the bloodwork to see what needed to be my focus. I incorporated the vitamins, exercise, and a diet that is moving towards being 100% plant based.
Within two weeks, I noticed the changes. No more night sweats and hot flashes. The brain fog started to dissipate. My body wasn’t in pain anymore. I could actually move a little faster since I was not in pain (i.e. I could finally keep better pace with my friends). The anxiety is a little more under control now that I’m aware that I was suffering from it (and what triggered it).
You can find all of the products I’ve listed above at either the Amazon Store or the Pacifica Beauty website, both of which are linked under the Shop tab in the menu above.
If you’ve found something that works, comment below, because there are many women that need to try the things that are working for others. But I recommend visiting your doctor first for an annual physical. They can go over what they see from your bloodwork and show you what you need to focus on to get to better. For instance, my bloodwork discovered anemia, pre-diabetic, and high cholesterol. I even got to see what my blood cells contained (and it was not a good report). Really looking at that report helped me to see where the hormonal imbalances were happening so I could focus on those areas, while maintaining the others.
I recommend starting with your doctor first and then building a program that will work for you.
For those who love historical fiction and American politics, I have a new book suggestion for you that releases on March 12, 2024, called Becoming Madam Secretaryby Stephanie Dray.
Publisher: Berkley Publishing
Synopsis
She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it…
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine, Frances Perkins.
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.
When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.
But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.
Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.
Review
In order to understand Social Security, you should go back to its beginnings and why it was created to begin with. Frances Perkins was the woman behind it. She spent many years investigating labor conditions, trying to make things better for everyone. Becoming Madam Secretary dives into her story from her course studies to the honor given to her at the age of 80 by John F. Kennedy.
Perkins is responsible for the end of child labor. She helped change the 54-hour work week. She witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911, which would move her to advocate for fire safety.
But her claim to fame is the Social Security Act.
Today, lawmakers constantly challenge the Social Security Act. But in FDR’s days, the elderly could become homeless and destitute, especially women who were dependent upon men to support them. If their husband died and the money ran out, or if they did not have children to take them in, they would wind up on the streets.
The Social Security Act was meant to protect our elders from that fate, especially if they could not work anymore. Today, we lament paying taxes into the Social Security system, but we should consider how not everyone is able to save money for retirement.
Without Frances Perkins, the SSA never would have happened. She became the first woman to be appointed to a presidential cabinet. FDR chose her to become his Secretary of Labor.
This book shares the most amazing things one woman did to change how we work. These are all things the working class takes for granted. One woman did so much to make basic working conditions better for us. She looked for ways to protect us after we could no longer work.
While she was advocating for the working class, she also struggled in her personal life. Her husband suffered from manic depression, so he had to be committed. And later, her daughter would suffer from it.
How she was able to hold it together with so many issues at home while working towards helping all of America is incredible.
For those interested in politics and the conversations happening in Congress to overturn what this one woman did, you should read this book. There is so much to learn about the history of labor and how it changed thanks to Frances Perkins. It may change your mind on how you view certain labor policies today.
The Collection of Sir Elton John: Goodbye Peachtree Road
If you are in NYC, head to Christie’s in Rockefeller Center to see all of the items heading to auction from Elton John’s Peachtree Road home in Atlanta.
You will find jewelry, costumes, furniture, tableware, luggage, a Bentley, and lots of artwork and photographs. And the Versace…a lot of Versace. So much Versace.
Of course, you may have questions on why this estate sale is happening. Elton John decided to move back to England after spending 30 years in Atlanta. He kept a home in Atlanta while he was touring, so he could have a place to rest in between American tour dates (instead of living out of hotel rooms). Now that his days of touring are over, he’s decided to return to England, where his sons attend school.
If you are looking to purchase some memorabilia of your own, Christie’s opened up a pop-up shop filled with Elton John Memorabilia for those who can’t afford something from the Christie’s collection. If you just want a t-shirt or tote bag to add to your own collection, they have it. There’s a little something for everybody. [Note: Free Elton John tote bag with $40 purchase.]
One of the coolest items in the pop-up shop includes a jacket filled with ticket stubs from Elton John concerts over the last 50 years. As the shop assistant commented, it is cool to see how much tickets cost over the years. This jacket comes with a $4,000 price tag.
Or if you want Elton’s iconic sequin jumpsuit to add to your wardrobe (or wear for Halloween), you can grab one in your size.
This cool jacket (above) is one of the many collector items available for sale in the pop up shop. Yes, the letter is part of the jacket.
Is it really an auction if he didn’t include one of his grand pianos?
One of the most surprising additions to this auction is the 1990 Bentley Continental Two Door Convertible. The estimate is $25,000-$35,000.
Many of Elton John’s famous stage costumes will be auctioned. In the exhibit, you will see items from every single era. All of these items are part of the auction.
Part of the exhibition includes a look around at many of the items from Elton John’s closet that he is auctioning off. From the stage costumes to his Versace, you’ll find a little something from every decade of his life.
Yes! The famous EJ shoes are going to be up on the auction block, along with the touring case and jacket.
As you go through Elton’s closet, you may be tempted to touch or pick up many of the items. DON’T! Let one of the assistants pull them from the shelf and show them to you. But absolutely, DO NOT TOUCH!
The numerous Versace items up for grabs are currently listed on Christie’s website. The auction began on February 9th and will end on February 27th.
This iconic outfit may have been designed by Bob Mackie.
You may or may not know this, but Elton John became a huge Atlanta Braves fan during the 30 years he lived in Atlanta. His jersey and jackets are going up on the auction block.
A lot of his trunks and suitcases will be available. Tour trunks, Louis Vuitton trunks, and suitcases are available. For those in the market for a Louis Vuitton vintage suitcase, you should try this sale. It has the added history of being formerly owned by Elton John.
One of the most amazing things in this auction is the number of art pieces and photographs he’s collected over the last 30 years. It is hard to fathom how he was able to display all of these pieces, including the glassware, in the two apartments he owned. All of these items were displayed on three floors in Christie’s auction house.
You can view the collection and visit the pop-up shop through February 21, 2024 at NYC’s Christie’s. It is free to the public to visit the collection. The catalog can be purchased at the front desk for $65.
The online auction runs through February 27. The live auction begins on February 21.
I don’t know who is on the Tony Awards committee, but whoever you are, I need to you to see this. I need you to vote for Between Two Knees.
It may make you feel a little uncomfortable (especially, if you are white), but by the end of the show, you’ll feel a little differently about how you approach the subject of Native Americans. You know, that race of people that everyone seems to ignore when they speak. Yet, they’re also the ones putting out their own stories. The stories that they tell, and the way they tell it, will enlighten you on your journey to decolonization.
You see, this show isn’t just for Native Americans making fun of white people. It’s about Native Americans having some fun telling their history in order to educate everyone on what really happened following the Wounded Knee Massacre. From Indian schools to serving in the wars, we follow one family from generation to generation as they battle all of the crap that America has dealt to the Native American.
This show was mesmerizing, funny, and lively. When they passed around a bucket asking for money, I thought they were joking until the bucket landed on my lap and it was filled with dollar bills. I never carry cash, so they caught me with $16 cash in my wallet, so I gave it all to them. It’s the whole starving actor thing for me. Gets me every time. Some might say white guilt, but I’m not white. And if we were going on white guilt, boy, by the time that bucket hit my lap, they would have been lucky to buy a slice of pizza in NYC during these inflated times.
At the end of the show, it got a little wild and crazy. They made everyone get out of their seats and dance along with them. Jana Schmieding (Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs, and Echo) said during the Native Representation in Contemporary Media panel that when non-Natives write stories about Native Americans, it tends to be about oppression and apocalyptic worlds. But when Native Americans write their stories, they tend to paint the world the way they want to see the world…with the happy ending.
So when I tell you that this ending was insane…it’s what made me laugh the most. In a happily ever after Native American ending, all white people would just disappear off the face of the planet. There would be no climate change. No capitalism. No poverty. Everything that is wrong with the world would be fixed and the entire world would be happy again.
This is what that happy ending would look like.
Trust me, I was shocked they said it. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but laugh. This is what Schmieding meant.
Between Two Knees is a production written by The 1491s and directed by Eric Ting. For those who’ve seen Reservation Dogs, you may know a few of the members of The 1491s: Sterlin Harjo, Dallas Goldtooth, Bobby “Dues” Wilson, Migizi Pensoneua, and Ryan RedCorn. The name Between Two Knees is derived from the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 and the Wounded Knee Occupation of the 1970s (i.e. between the two Wounded Knee historical events).
The actors were an absolutely incredible and versatile cast. I was impressed with Rachel Crowl and how she could easily switch between playing a man and a woman. Our host, Justin Gauthier, was so funny as he took us through each scene. I loved the dynamic between Wotko Long (who was in Mekko, one of my favorite Sterlin Harjo projects) and Sheila Tousey. And if you need eye candy, James Ryen ain’t so bad on the eyes. His big and bulky frame, as well as the various roles he plays in the ensemble, adds to each punchline. His presence really amplifies the hilarity of the show. Derek Garza, Shyla Lefner, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett round out the cast with Derek and Shyla taking on the lead character roles to help frame the story for each generation…essentially, they present the love story. I loved watching the two of them together.
Overall, this production went well above my imagination of what Between Two Knees could have been about. It was crazy. Insane. There were a lot of OMGs, they went there.
To the Tony Award voters, get yourselves to Perelman Performing Arts Center. This show is running through February 24, 2024. For everyone else, if you’re in NYC, go and see this show. For those outside of NYC, check to see if this show is coming to your town and go! You will not regret it. This show was a breath of fresh air. It’s so different than any other show I’ve seen. I can’t stress enough that you need to see it.
I’ve been working on two book projects for the last eight months. Both books center around an Indigenous man and an Asian American woman. I know a lot of writers were shocked to learn that I’m working on two books at once, but one is the buffer book to help me emotionally get through the main book…the horror romance book.
Yes, I had to add horror to that story, or I just wouldn’t be interested in writing it.
So what right do I have to write about a dream I had about an Indigenous man when I am not Native American? I can definitely write from the Asian American woman perspective, but what right do I have to write from the Native American perspective? Absolutely none.
So I have immersed myself in learning everything I can about the many tribes and their cultures, but more importantly, I am making sure I lift up those people I come across, because if I’ve learned anything, we rise by helping each other. This is what we call community. You give back by helping each other rise up.
While the book publishing world has been sending Indigenous stories my way, I spent some time at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center across the street from the World Trade Center monument in New York City over the weekend to learn more about Native Americans in Hollywood and in comedy.
I started off by attending Good Medicine, a comedy show making its rounds across America, featuring Jackie Keliiaa (First Nations Comedy Experience), Adrianne Chalepah (The Curse, Reservation Dogs), Brian Bahe (Vulture‘s “Comedian You Should and Will Know in 2023”), Bobby “Dues” Wilson (Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs), and Jana Schmieding (Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs, Echo).
The next day, I attended the Native Representation in Contemporary Media panel, followed by the play Between Two Knees (written by The 1491s). There was even a stop into Marcus Samuelsson’s newest restaurant, Metropolis, for brunch.
All of this, of course, took place on Lunar New Year. I am usually celebrating Lunar New Year with Matthew (the Maine Coon), but this year, I ended up spending the day decolonizing. But while I was in line, I heard many Native Americans talking about their excitement in celebrating Lunar New Year, as well. That put a smile on my face. We’re celebrating each other’s cultures.
Speaking of being in line, back in December, I got a news blast from the fashion industry that Polo Ralph Lauren selected a Native American woman as their artist in residence. This was amazing news. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I would wind up in line behind the Glasses family as they were on their way to the Between Two Knees show. Both Naiomi and her mother, Cynthia, were wearing items she created for the Polo Ralph Lauren collection. If you haven’t seen the collection in person yet, you must. Naiomi Glasses’s work is incredible. It’s literally how I would imagine Native American luxury clothing to be. That’s how well made everything is. I have my eye on two pieces to curate into my wardrobe, as well as the wrap that should be coming out in the next drop.
These pieces are ones you keep in your wardrobe for the rest of your life. They are well worth the investment. I even have my eye on the blankets designed by Naiomi and her brother, Tyler. You can pick those up at Sackcloth & Ashes. You’ll even find a collection designed by Lauren Good Day (who recently did some work for Louis Vuitton with Dee Jay Two Bears in the Pharrell Cowboys and Indians collection).
While I am not completely in favor of non-Natives wearing the blankets as a fashion trend, I would definitely buy them for the home. They are absolutely beautiful. I first became obsessed with the blankets when I saw Lily Gladstone wearing them in Killers of the Flower Moon. These blankets are the epitome of luxury. They’re beautiful and so well made.
Speaking of Gladstone, I’m looking forward to seeing her win Best Actress at the Academy Awards. I already see the narrative they have going there. Notice that all of the other women in that category are white. Not a single person of color except Gladstone. If you think the Academy did not plan that narrative out a certain way, think again. It’s designed so that the Native American woman will reign over the whites. All this talk about Margot Robbie not getting a nomination – consider this the Academy doing her a favor. It’s the narrative that will follow that they are protecting her from. So let it go…
Although, I would be really mad if I was any of the other women in that category.
Speaking of Hollywood, if you haven’t been watching True Detective: Night Country with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, you really should get on that. This story takes place in Alaska in the middle of winter. There are supernatural Native American elements involved as they investigate a strange occurrence at a research facility that killed all of the researchers in it, and it seems to be connected to an Indigenous woman that was killed a few years before. The murders are intertwined within a white world living on Indigenous lands.
If you like this show, I also recommend reading Village in the Dark, which also takes place in Alaska and deals with murders in the white world stretching into the Indigenous lands.
Speaking of books, if you’re looking to support a Native and queer bookstore, Vanessa Lillie, author of Blood Sisters, introduced me to Black Walnut Books. They have two different monthly book boxes you can subscribe to. This is a good way to decolonize and diversify your bookshelves. So far, I’ve enjoyed everything I received. I even bought a few more books, a t-shirt, and tote bags to help support their business.
So that’s it from me this month for this Editor’s Letter. You’ll find more posts going forward as I start to get back into my pre-pandemic life. I was getting tired of the post-pandemic Michelle. I missed my VIP life. It was time to give myself back the life I’ve been telling the Gen Z’er about. It’s been close to 4 years. Time goes by quickly, and before you realize it, your time left becomes short. This break from that VIP life just means that it’s time for transformation. That is what the Year of the Dragon is all about for us dragons. Our lives are about to transform into something else. I feel like it’s time for that change, as well.
For those looking for a little romance to read today, I have the perfect YA rom com for you! Marissa Meyer just released With a Little Luck yesterday. This standalone is the second book set in the Fortuna Beach universe. The first book in this series you may have heard of: Instant Karma.
Synopsis
After being magically gifted with incredible luck, a boy discovers this gift just may be a curse when it comes to love, in this sweet romantic comedy by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer.
Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw comics, host D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck.
Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His art is being published. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he wins a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he can use to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school.
But how long can Jude’s good fortune last? And why does he find himself thinking about Ari, his best friend since forever? If Jude has been dreaming of the wrong girl this whole time, does that mean he’s doomed to be unlucky in love forever?
With a sprinkle of magic, this sweet beachside romance is perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Beforeand Love & Gelato, as well as anyone who has ever swooned over Marissa Meyer’s beloved characters.
Review
In the spirit of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, With a Little Luck is an adorable feel good, light read when you feel like reading one of those cute YA rom com books. This book really took me back to my high school days of asking out the most popular guy in school (and he said, yes). About doing nerdy things with friends, loving music, and just wanting to be successful in whatever you put yourself out there to do (no matter how scary it is).
If I had a little extra luck on my side, I think things probably would have turned out just about the same. But sometimes you need that extra boost of luck. The extra bit of confidence. Or maybe even enough luck to notice that your best friend is in love with you.
I kind of laughed when the good luck charm appeared. It reminded me of my brother because he does Dungeons & Dragons meetings every week (and he’s in his 40s…thank you, Stranger Things). The book has comic strips within to show you the story that Jude is drawing as he tries to create his own D&D story. I really loved this added element in the book, because Jude’s art is what makes him unique.
Jude and his sisters reminded me of The Loud House on Nickelodeon. I love how they all have their own thing that they’re great at. They also have a great support system where they encourage and cheer each other on. I really loved that aspect of Jude’s family.
I guess I can say what really made this book were all of the characters.
Like the other Marissa Meyer books I own, there are tabs I’ve left throughout the book of wise things that hit me at my core. They’re all little life lessons. In With a Little Luck, those wise sayings center around being confident in yourself to do the scary things. For Jude, that’s about getting his artwork published. For me, that’s about feeling confident in finishing my novels. There’s always some little words of writing wisdom that Meyer puts into her novels and they always leave a lasting imprint on my mind.
Also, of note, the Fortuna Beach series involves a little bit of magic from the universe, so if you have issues with topics dealing with karma or the universe granting you an unusual amount of luck, then you should probably skip this one. But, if you are like me and LOVE stories dealing with karma and the universe giving you a helping hand, then this is your kind of book.
At any rate, if you want a sweet rom com to get you through today, this is the book you should pick up either for yourself, or for your favorite teen who loves rom coms.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day filled with love. And rule number one to doing that is to make sure you do something for yourself. Show yourself that you are loved. Don’t always depend on others to do that for you. Do that for yourself. Love you, first. Then go share that love with others. You will find that the universe will make sure you feel loved when you start from within.
If you’ve been enjoying True Detective: Night Country as much as I have, you may like this new book out today from Iris Yamashita, “Village in the Dark.”
This book takes place in Alaska. So get your hot cocoa, tea, or coffee ready because we are about to travel into tribal lands.
SYNOPSIS
In Village in the Dark, Detective Cara Kennedy thought she’d lost her husband and son in an accident, but harrowing evidence has emerged that points to murder—and she will stop at nothing to find the truth in this riveting mystery from the author of City Under One Roof.
On a frigid February day, Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy stands by the graves of her husband and son, watching as their caskets are raised from the earth. It feels sacrilegious, but she has no choice. Aaron and Dylan disappeared on a hike a year ago, their bones eventually found and buried. But shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved, potentially connecting them to a string of other deaths and disappearances.
Somehow tied to the mystery is Mia Upash, who grew up in an isolated village called Unity, a community of women and children in hiding from abusive men. Mia never imagined the trouble she would find herself in when she left home to live in Man’s World. Although she remains haunted by the tragedy of what happened to the man and the boy in the woods, she has her own reasons for keeping quiet.
Aided by police officer Joe Barkowski and other residents of Point Mettier, Cara’s investigation will lead them on a dangerous path that puts their lives and the lives of everyone around them in mortal jeopardy.
Review
First, I would like to preface this in saying that the synopsis for Village in the Dark strips the story of what made it so intriguing. This book is written by an Asian American woman and includes the story of the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska. She brings together numerous tribes, including an Asian woman and her biracial daughter. These women create their own community together to raise their children. They live off the land, preparing for the day they could come under attack by an abusive ex.
Point Mettier is another community created by a former bank robber who was abused by her husband. In a large condo building, she lives with an entire community that seeks to hide women on the run from their abusive exes. The entire community exists in this one building, and they are there to protect each other.
Mia’s character is also of interest. She is a young woman who was raised in Unity Village. Reading about her journey into Man’s World was a centering moment in understanding how difficult it can be for Indigenous People to navigate the two worlds, especially ours. These are the conversations I’ve seen in the comment sections of Native American Instagram accounts.
After Cara discovers the DNA of her husband and son do not match the bodies that she had buried, that is when everything goes crazy. She soon discovers more and more dead bodies cropping up. And they’re all connected. She just has to figure out how, and it all begins with the photos they found on a gangster’s cell phone.
I was surprised how well an Asian American woman was able to include Indigenous stories into this book, all the way down to the language. She was able to do this with the help of the Native American community. They made sure she was including these elements correctly.
I also loved how she included a Japanese Indigenous woman to the Unity village. I loved seeing women uplifting each other, protecting each other, and creating a society together. They even came up with their own language, which is a little bit of everything from the different tribes.
As for the murder investigations and who is out there killing everyone, I wasn’t expecting any of it. First, I thought it was a serial killer, but it ended up being something far worse. Betrayals will abound.
This book is a quick read. A little under 300 pages.
I really enjoyed it. But mostly, I appreciated that an Asian American woman was able to tell a story that properly included Indigenous voices with the help of someone from the Native American community. There are a lot of strong women in this book. It’s like a happy ending for those who are victims of domestic violence. It’s all about community in the end and lifting your hand down to raise each other up. This is a quality that the Native American community teaches. That is what wins out in the end.
Thank you, Berkley Publishing, for sending this book my way. It gave me more confidence to keep working on my two book projects because I am an Asian American woman incorporating Indigenous stories into my books. It was good to read a book by another Asian American woman who accomplished this feat.
I took the first week of the year off to recuperate from the final stretch of 2023. It was nine glorious days of forcing myself to do absolutely nothing. But nine days ended up not being a lot of time to recuperate from 2023.
At the end of the year and during my time off, I started building my list of goals and resolutions I wanted to begin in 2024. I came up with one singular theme: HEAL YOURSELF.
This year, I’ll be sharing my journey on what I am doing to heal myself. But perhaps, I need to explain what that means. As we grow older, our body changes. For women, we start to suffer from perimenopause. Perimenopause can last from a few years to well over a decade. For those who have a history of cancer or have had surgery, that means the symptoms for perimenopause are heightened. I fall into that category, especially since it was removing a hormonal gland (due to a tumor) that kickstarted perimenopause when I was 38. Almost 10 years ago.
I knew I was suffering from perimenopause in that first year because a polar vortex hit me, and I was stripping my coat off because I was burning up. That’s not how weather works in the coldest January that NYC had seen in a while.
As the years progressed, the symptoms grew worse from night sweats to headaches to every part of my body being in a constant state of pain. 2020 didn’t make things any better. I lost muscle mass rapidly. Spending these last two years doing 10k+ steps 5 days a week with no change meant that I needed to change things up.
Diet and exercise. That is the key to beginning to fix all of these problems. Many people would become angry the second a doctor would suggest this (and trust me, I did, too). But as you grow older, you kind of have no choice. You’re not as young as you used to be. You can physically see and feel how putting off exercise and a healthy lifestyle causes you harm. BUT what they don’t tell you is that you need to focus on healing your hormonal issues.
What they don’t tell you is that cardio will not work. You need to focus only on walking, weight training, resistance training, and stretching (i.e. yoga). Your diet needs to be plant based. You need to drink more water. You need to focus on certain vitamins. Stop using hormone disrupter beauty products. The list goes on with everything you need to change.
But there’s also your mental health. I discovered that hormonal imbalances can trigger anxiety. Trust me when I say I never had anxiety problems until a year ago. Like I said, perimenopause does something insane with your body, and it happens overnight.
So this year, my focus is on healing this body and correcting all of the hormonal imbalances. I would like to be pain free, have my hair grow back, stop hormonal based cancers from occurring, and just get to healthy and focus on living a healthy last half of my life.
Speaking of the last half of my life, healing myself this year also means changing how I approach how I treat myself, especially when it comes to finances. Two months ago, I decided to fix how I approached finances because I was not happy with how things were going. I WORRIED. So 2024 is about making sure to heal that worry. It is incredible how quickly your finances change when you decide to make yourself the priority and not everyone else.
Another quest in my journey to heal myself is to do the things I have been putting off doing and then hating myself for not doing it. SIGH. The life of a writer. I may not be writing here as much because I’ve been working on two novels (at the same time). Sometimes it takes a writer 8-10 years to write a book. Most of the time, it’s the inner dialogue we are having with ourselves as we embrace our fears, instead of just creating what we know is already in our heads. This year, I am forcing myself to finish the books and create an ongoing writing system, so that I am always writing and publishing my work.
I started pitching my work and it’s funny how the publisher that you know in your gut is going to publish your work starts doing their due diligence.
When I took a class at Conde Nast College in London, one of the things the editor of Allure magazine kept telling me was my strong points were my writing and my photography. That led to a class with Nigel Barker and I started doing some fashion photography, as well as street fashion photography. Of course, when life keeps happening, you stop doing those things because you don’t have the time. Imagine just 12 days into 2024 and I’m being asked to do PAID corporate photo jobs. My friend, Grace, told me that maybe it’s time to get things together. Make this a side gig.
Which leads me to the last topic of resolutions and goals. I’m getting older. I know that maybe it’s just going to be me and Matthew (the Maine Coon) from here on out. I need to start thinking seriously about the last half of my life. I have to come up with a plan to make sure money is always coming in if I can’t work anymore. I have to think about how we’re going to live if I get sick and can’t work. I have to create a plan that will take care of us for the rest of our lives.
It’s funny how when you start prioritizing setting up your finances, creating financial goals, and working on generating passive income (in other words, focusing on paying yourself first and preparing for your future), the universe starts helping you. Two months ago, I was worried about how I was going to pay bills. Then I created a plan to get myself out of the worry. I didn’t care who was asking for money. Any money that came in, I paid myself 10% right off the bat. That is what I earned for myself. That belonged to ME. No one was allowed to have it, except ME. Then, all of a sudden, the universe started sending more money my way. In two months, I came up with 1/3 of my 2024 goal, and 11% of the long-term goal. IN TWO MONTHS. Oh, and I stopped worrying.
At one point, I got a call from Bank of America. There are certain banks that will help you reach your financial goals. While I was on the call, she gave me some financial advice and as soon as I got off the phone, I put her advice to work. It’s like I had an “Aha!” moment. She helped me figure out how to navigate the worst of the pickle I had found myself in, and put myself in a place where I didn’t have to worry anymore. Then the universe followed suit.
Grace told me at some point in our lives when Saturn Returns, everything you didn’t fix in life will become much harder to fix, unless you make sacrifices to ensure you’ve learned your lessons and you actively fix your mistakes. You have 20 years to fix it or things will get worse for you. That is why it is important to fix things that are hurting you in your life. Even the universe gets involved with making things better or worse. But I will tell you something, when you are doing the right thing, the universe helps you continue to do the right thing. If you’re doing the wrong thing, the universe will continue to help you do the wrong thing. See how that works?
So in 2024, you’ll be seeing a change in me. No more procrastinating. Just doing. The only way I can heal myself is to get up off my lazy butt and do something about it. Hopefully, you’ll find what I’m sharing on this journey will help you along the way.
Just because it’s November, it does not mean I am done reading scary books. This book I’m sharing today did not disappoint. It is perfect for horror movie fans.
Good Girls Don’t Die [#ad] by Christina Henry releases on November 14, 2023. [NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure at the end of this post for more information.]
This is not your typical horror novel. Take your horror films, cozy mysteries, and the insanity that is our world today, throw them in a blender and what do you have? Good Girls Don’t Die. [#ad]
Figuring out what was really going on was not so easy. I was confused at the end of each story, thinking, “What just happened?” At first, I thought this was reading like The Mill (a movie on Hulu), where it’s just a bunch of people going through some virtual reality. No, that wasn’t it.
Then the Cabin in the Woods story began, and I started thinking there is no way what I think is happening is really happening. Not at this scale. Are they stuck in some strange Truman like show? No, that definitely cannot be it.
Throw the Squid Game into this and you really are wondering what is going to happen after they all escape their strange scary stories.
When I got to the end, I sat there trying to wrap my head around what was going on. I kept thinking that this could actually happen because we see this kind of behavior out there in the world today. Women are murdered for these exact reasons, and that is scary.
I am not going to spoil this one for you. You are going to have to find out for yourself what happened. All I am going to say is that there is absolutely no way you are going to guess the ending at all. Good Girls Don’t Die [#ad] is straight out of several horror movies and stories ripped from the headlines.
About Good Girls Don’t Die
A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know aren’t their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone.
Celia wakes up in a house that’s supposed to be hers. There’s a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this family—and this life—is not hers…
Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip—but then her friend’s boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she is sure that something about this trip is very, very wrong…
Maggie just wants to be home with her daughter, but she’s in a dangerous situation and she doesn’t know who put her there or why. She’ll have to fight with everything she has to survive…
Three women. Three stories. Only one way out. This captivating novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.
About the Author
Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include Horseman, Near the Bone, The Ghost Tree, Looking Glass, The Girl in Red, The Mermaid, Lost Boy, Alice, Red Queen, and the seven-book urban fantasy Black Wings series.
She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on, and watching movies with samurai, zombies, and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son. Learn more online at www.christinahenry.net.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review on this site. My review is not influenced by the publisher or the author in any way. This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.]
November is Native American Heritage month. As I finish my two book projects, I will be sharing Indigenous stories, as well as stories from Indigenous creators and storytellers.
Berkley Publishing sent along Blood Sisters [#ad] by Vanessa Lillie to be featured this month on this site. This book released on 10.31.2023. [NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure at the end of this post for more information.]
In this story, Syd Walker is an archeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). She’s uncovered a skull of an Indian woman in Rhode Island. Finding that skull is just the beginning of a much bigger story.
Another skull is unearthed in her hometown in Oklahoma, but this one has her old badge inside of it, like a calling card asking her to come home.
Find me.
The BIA sends her home to Oklahoma, where she has to face her own demons. Haunted by a friend who was killed when they were kids, she suffers from ongoing psychological trauma from that incident. She killed their attacker, but it was too late to save her friend and her parents.
Going home isn’t what she expected. She’s not an archeologist on this return, she’s an investigator, but what she’s investigating is more than just the skull with her badge in it. There is so much more to what is calling her back home.
She arrives to find out her sister, Emma Lou, has gone missing. The land is poisoned and caving in, thanks to mining and energy companies polluting the land. People are being forced to take a pittance for their poisoned homes and nothing for the land. Drugs are becoming a way of life for their community so much that even Syd’s mother is making drug deliveries.
Bad people are taking advantage of this dying community. Whites are encroaching on the land and taking it as their own without reprimand. The government…don’t get me started. Underneath all of this are the Indigenous women who have gone missing. Their bones are littering the earth, completely undiscovered. But there are people looking for them, hoping they are still alive.
Lillie incorporates a lot of the issues plaguing Native Americans. The story takes place in 2008, but the problems are still relevant today (if not worse).
Lillie is a white-facing Cherokee. I didn’t start crying until I read the Author’s Note at the end of Blood Sisters. [#ad] Her note reminded me of why it is so difficult for me to write Book Project #1. I’ve cried so many times already, because to tell what is happening to Native Americans over these last hundred years all the way up until today has been so difficult, because it hurts me to know how much evil has been wrought against an entire race, all in an effort to exterminate them.
For this book, I will say that the ending surprised me. The twists kept coming and they didn’t stop. There’s redemption, surprise, intrigue, and just pure evil slamming up against you. She even threw a tornado in there (which actually did happen on May 10, 2008). There is more involved in this return to home than just investigating a skull with her badge in it. Ends up, everything is far worse than you can imagine.
This is a fantastic read for those who love thrillers and want to understand a little more about the terrors facing everyday Indigenous lives. If it’s not the white man trying to poison Native Americans, it’s people trying to murder them and steal the land out from underneath them, and people flooding their communities with drugs. This book goes into a very dark place, so tread lightly.
Thank you Berkley Pub and PRHAudio for sending Blood Sisters my way. [#ad] I think it frightened me more than I let on, because a lot of the topics Lillie touched upon are elements that appear in Book Project #1 (and that’s the horror book). It reminded me a bit of the psychological terror in the Hannibal Lecter books and the evil the FBI are chasing down (which is far worse than the cannibal). In this case, Syd had no idea what she was searching for when she arrived home, until it stumbled out of a cave. That was when everything changed.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review on this site. My review is not influenced by the publisher or the author in any way. This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.]
The Book Influencer is not just a person who influences people to buy a certain book. They influence people to read more books.
I am starting a new series on this site about being a Book Influencer. This site has been around for about a decade now (maybe longer). Going through the audit pages to see what people read on this site, I noticed there are a lot of hits from people wanting to know how this all works. How do we become book reviewers? How do we get advance copies of books?
So to help answer those questions, I am starting this series to help you become a better book reviewer, and eventually a book influencer.
How I Got Into This…
After leaving the hockey writing world, I switched to writing about books. I knew absolutely nothing about this. All I knew was that post-hockey, I wanted to focus on two things I loved: books and film.
I started off by attending the Book Expo. This was an annual event where publishers met with librarians, book sellers, and the media to talk books. The first conference I attended allowed book bloggers in. I attended several panels where I learned what publishers wanted from us in order to market their books. I memorized all of the rules, picked up my advance copies, and got to it.
The following year, I noticed I was the only blogger at the Expo. I went around to all of the publishers and asked if they had seen any bloggers there. Nope. I was the only one. Someone from Penguin Random House explained that the Big Five had a meeting about who they would allow to attend, and they decided to only allow five bloggers/book influencers. Apparently, there was an issue with the bloggers from the previous Expo. They had depleted their stores, wrote a tiny blurb (if they wrote anything at all), and that was it. It wasn’t enough to satisfy gifting these ARCs (advance reader copies) to them.
So how did I beat out everyone else? I found out from an old colleague that now works for HarperCollins that he saw my name on the list and he greenlighted me for all of the publishers. He told them he had known me for years, I was a former hockey writer, he knew I would do everything by the book and already had a history of doing so. So that’s how I became one of the five allowed to attend the Book Expo. I was actually doing the marketing that was requested of me.
Now, to save you some time Googling, the Book Expo is no more. The event did not survive past the pandemic. There are book festivals throughout the United States that you should definitely attend in order to meet with publishers and authors to learn more about being a book reviewer, and possibly pick up a few ARCs.
How Do I Become a Book Influencer vs. a Book Reviewer?
For me, moving from being a book reviewer to a book influencer was a little different than most. And yes, there is somewhat of a difference between the two (but not much). A book reviewer reviews books, posts their reviews on multiple platforms in a timely fashion (or at least, we try to get the reviews out by the week the book is released).
Depending on your social media platform, you’ll need to have some sort of post about the book on your Instagram, blog, TikTok, etc. You are basically doing the marketing and sharing your review of every title you receive.
Now, this is how the Book Influencer is a little different. I receive somewhere between 30-50 books each month. 75% of those books are not books I requested. Oftentimes, these books are just dropped into the mail or into my inbox or Netgalley/Edelweiss queue.
Now, I don’t read 30-50 books a month. I wish I could. I do read over 100 books a year, though. The question is which of these hundreds of titles will I choose to be among the 100 books I will actually read. Of those 100 titles, which ones are the ones I will actually post a review for? Which ones will I promote? Which ones will get a spot on my blog or Instagram?
As a Book Influencer, I can be a little pickier about which books I choose to feature. When I told publishers that I am only going to feature the books that are good enough to share to the masses, they actually got on board with this. This method is a very different kind of marketing. That means if your book is shared, that means it was a damn good book, and I will be promoting it on several different platforms. I will be pushing the sale of the book. This is like getting a feature in a magazine or in a newspaper. The space on this blog does not just go to every single book I read. It goes to the ones that I recommend people should read.
Now, since finding those gems takes some time, I still share the books I receive from all publishers. For Instagram posting, I do a monthly round-up featuring titles I received that are releasing that month. During each pub week, I will post a graphic of that week’s releases. For physical copies I receive, I try to do a weekly or bi-weekly bookstack. For book tours I sign up for, those books are always featured. There are certain publishing houses that get an automatic post of whatever they send (think Berkley – IYKYK), as well as Penguin Random House Audio.
I do not write a review for every single book I read. I sift through all of these titles looking for books that are the diamonds in the rough. I am curating books for people who love to read that don’t want to read a mediocre or bad book.
Trust me, I know how it feels to pick up a book and think you wasted your time on it. One year, I received so many horrible books from publishers, I literally sent a message to them going WTF. Every single title from your publishing house this season was horrible. That year, it took going through 35 different books (reading them from cover to cover) to find one book that was actually worth recommending to people. So I learned how to be more selective with the books I chose to spend my time on.
In the beginning, you will find that may be the case with you. You’ll read several bad books in a row. Being a good reviewer means learning which books to stay away from because it is not going to strike a chord with you. It takes some time to master this. It will also teach you how and when to DNF (not finish) a book.
The purpose of the book influencer is not just to influence people to read whatever book you are recommending, it is to encourage them to read more books. Recommending a bunch of bad books does not influence people to read more. But if you recommend a good book, or get excited about something you read, it gets your followers excited. It makes them want to go out and read that book. And when they read one good book, they want to read more.
As a book influencer, you are not pushing the books the publishers want you to push. You are trying to establish a reputation where you are trustworthy with the books you recommend. You want to encourage people to read more books. The way to do that is to provide them direction to which books they may love. These books are the ones you vet and then decide whether to promote them or not.
This is What Happens When You are an Influencer
Over the years, as I wrote reviews and shared books, I never really looked up from what I was doing to see if any of this was having any impact. But then I started noticing that I was making an impact on people.
People that followed me during my hockey writing career followed me into the book world. One person (shoutout to Kim) went from reading five books a year to reading a bunch of books every year. She even joined Bookstagram and became a book influencer.
People I went to high school with that followed me started their own book club because they were inspired by all of the books I was sharing. The hockey community started reading and sharing their books more. Even the friends I made in the media started their own book clubs and book talks.
I do have a lot of friends and followers that are celebrities (this comes from many years of attending film festivals, writing about hockey, doing interviews, etc.). They started prioritizing reading every single day. Imagine my surprise when they started posting about books! I swear I almost fainted.
Since I do not always do book reviews or suggest books, when I do, I see within the next day a bunch of followers run to purchase that book. I think they know the difference between a book recommendation vs. all of the other other posts I do. It’s the actual book that makes the blog review that is purchased.
This is what being a book influencer is all about. It’s not just about marketing. It’s about getting people to read more books. The only way to really do that is to recommend good books.
If you think this is just about writing or posting content, you should see me in person. If I know you like to read and I know your genre, I’ll curate a bookstack for you that will have you reading more and more books. I love talking about books, but I also love helping people discover their next great read.
I hope this series will help the book reviewer community. Feel free to ping me (Instagram/Threads: @michellekennethpw) or leave a comment on any of the articles in this series if you have questions and I’ll do a post on it. For those seasoned reviewers and influencers, leave comments with advice that will help others in the book community. After all, if it wasn’t for the book community, I never would have figured all of this stuff out. Plus, there’s something new every single day to talk about.
