This is the blog version of Shannon Kay
We saw The Beths in concert. After seeing The Beths twice in 2023 , we’ve had tickets to two other concerts that we didn’t make it to because of complications with our kids. This year, the perfect storm was created with The Beths playing on my husband, Jerrod ,’s birthday right in our own county. We didn’t even have to drive to Los Angeles! For merch, we both got Straight Line Was a Lie t-shirts,…
The Last King of Faerie, the first book in Cassandra Clare ’s newest(final?) Shadowhunter series, The Wicked Powers, is expected to release November 3, 2026. Here’s the re-read I have planned to prepare for this new book. Will I make it? Time will tell! The new book is supposed to take place after The Dark Artifices and center the characters Kit, Ty, and Dru, with Ash being featured as well. I…
The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden was a beautiful book. It starts off leaning more historical with court/political drama than fantasy, and gradually moves into a story of enchanting legend. It grows to be a magical and romantic story. The writing style is lovely. This historical fantasy brings an about an alternate version of history, which really makes me think about why fantasy is a form of…
Cold Wire was fantastic. It felt properly sci-fi. It was fairly fast-paced with riveting mysteries. It deals with serious situations and has reasonably high stakes, but doesn’t feel at all dark. Great use of multiple-POVs! Cold Wire is quite sophisticated and enjoyable for adults while being very age-appropriate for all teens. No explicit content or gore. I heard Chloe Gong talk about Cold Wire on…
I sing in a Presbyterian church choir(Soprano 2), and I wanted to share our performance of this anthem that I loved, United in Purpose . It has lyrics from the writings of Maya Angelou and music by Rollo Dilworth . United in Purpose Your browser does not support the audio element. Lyrics by Maya Angelou: “The onus is upon us all to work to improve the human condition. Perform good deeds, for that…
I met Louis Sachar at Barnes & Noble in Huntington Beach, at a signing for his first adult book, The Magician of Tiger Castle . Louis Sachar is also the author of Holes . It was a delight to meet him, and hear him discuss his new book. Louis Sachar and Shannon Louis Sachar discusses his new book and answers questions at an event.
Make and do things for your own enjoyment. Do it for the joy it brings you. What is a Hobby Not A Hobby does not have to be productive You don’t have to be “good” at your hobby You don’t have to “finish” your hobby project You don’t have to go “all in” on a hobby or seek complete collections of things to enjoy that hobby. A hobby doesn’t need to become a business A Hobby Is Enjoyable Something you…
I got to see Sarah Beth Durst and Sangu Mandanna at The Ripped Bodice bookstore in LA. Their newest books came out on the same day! It was a delight to see them in conversation together as they talked about their books and writing process for cozy fantasy and romance. Sarah Beth Durst, Me(Shannon), and Sangu Mandanna at The Ripped Bodice in LA. I asked the first question! My question was about the…
After a busy last couple weeks, I’m excited that today is the first day of Summer Break for the kids. Not waking up early to get kids ready for school this morning was pleasant.
Are you looking for something to read this summer? This list is a mix of old and new books that I can happily recommend. Not only do they all exist 1 , but I have read them. They’re not all explicitly summer-themed, but I think they would be good for reading in the summer. This list includes Adult, YA, and Children’s(middle grade) books, but I wrote these recommendations with adult readers in…
Seasonal Vibe: Summer Travel Location: South Carolina, Massachusetts, France Historical Time: 2019, flashbacks to 1800’s and 1900’s Genres: Literary, Contemporary, Historical, Multiple Timelines Read: May 19-20, 2025 Format: Switched between Book of the Month hardcover and Audiobook 352 pages • Short Chapters • 🎧 Great Audiobook Good Dirt deals with serious topics, but is hopeful and easy to…
Today I finished reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett . It was my first Terry Pratchett book. Here’s a quote. What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter. I look forward to sprinkling more of his books throughout my reading! There are many opinions on the internet about how to go about this. I’ve even been given this…
I listened to the audiobook for all of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, and it’s a fun sci-fi that’s a contrast to most of my other books. It’s just weird and imaginative, and there’s no romance at all. I particularly enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton for an easy, enjoyable listen. I finished this one while driving home from an event. This is my second book by John Scalzi…
Seasonal Vibe: Summer Travel Location: Seaside island in Georgia Historical Time: Contemporary, with flashbacks Read: April 24-26, 2025 Format: Switched between Barnes & Noble special edition hardcover and Audiobook 418 pages | 🎧 Great audiobook Great Big Beautiful Life has nice seaside vibes and the romance with the two writers has a great rivals-style tension to it. The stories told by the old…
Now presenting, Make Your Own Website This guide is intended to help beginners make their first website with HTML/CSS. I originally wrote it for my daughter, then 12 years old, so she could make a website for a school project. I think it is now complete-enough for anyone to follow to get started making a personal or hobby site.
My 13-year-old daughter started reading Wings of Starlight immediately and waited anxiously for me to finish it. A romantic YA book prequel to Secret of the Wings ? We both loved it. “ Discover the origin of the sweeping, star-crossed romance between the queen of Pixie Hollow and the lord of the Winter Woods. ” In 2012, when my oldest daughter was a toddler, a new TinkerBell movie came out. Secret…
Time: Future (2460) Location: Boston, Massachusetts and New Hampshire Genres: Dystopian, Romance, YA, Sci-Fi 346 pages | 🎧 Good audiobook The Dividing Sky sang. It’s a dystopian sci-fi adventure, but also had cozy vibe moments, somehow. The way the dystopian world is set up really makes a statement about our priorities as a society. Highly valued “productive” workers outsource their emotional…
In 2024, I read 89 books! That’s more books than I’ve read in a year since before I had kids. That count does include re-reads which I didn’t always track in the past. Here’s a non-comprehensive selection of books I read in 2024 that I loved and keep recommending. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery 💖 📚 The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst 💖 🦄 The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India…
We got a new NAS! It’s a Synology DiskStation DS1522+ to replace the DiskStation DS1511+ we’ve been running for over 13 years(solidly and beautifully). I’m swooning over the stack of 22 TB hard drives we’ve installed and can hardly contain my excitement at seeing 100 TB of hard drives in my server. It took a while to transfer everything from the old NAS(DiskStation DS1511+) and do a restore, but…
Visiting Peltzer Pines Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree for this year. Our Family Selfie We had to take some photos with our tree!
Here’s a photo of my three kids at the Blizzard Halloween party this year in the traditional photo spot in front of the orc statue. I shot this photo at 1/15s on my Fujifilm X-T5 handheld and I’m really impressed with how it turned out. There’s some motion blur where my son is flapping his Ender Dragon “wings”, but besides that it’s quite sharp. The lens used was the Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 if you’re…
Read: September 6-9, 2024 Seasonal Vibe: Summer Travel Location: the Caribbean Historical Time: 1719 Genres: YA, Historical, Fantasy, Funny, Romance 422 pages • 🎧 Great audiobook My Salty Mary might be the perfect beach read. It has pirates and mermaids, humor, romance, some “improved” history, and disruption of hierarchical systems. What’s not to love? I saved My Salty Mary to read during a…
by Sarah Beth Durst Travel Location: A cozy seaside town on a magical island Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Cozy, Cottagecore 376 pages The Spellshop is a delightful cottagecore cozy fantasy. A librarian is hiding spellbooks with her talking plant companion. She makes and sells jam(and spells) on a small island with winged cats. Friendly townsfolk include a baker and a handsome man who takes care of…
Books that I might want to read this fall. This is not a reading plan or a goal, but just some of the books I’m considering for this season’s reading. Books on My Physical Shelf Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs The First Ladies by Marie Benedict , Victoria Christopher Murray Weyward by Emilia Hart Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid This Spells Love by Kate Robb The…
Read: July 7-14, 2024 Seasonal Vibe: Summer Travel Location: England, Paris Historical Time: Victorian Era (but fantasy) Spice: Open door with more euphemistic language (mainly one scene) This is a truly delightful book, with a perfect blend of magic, humor, romance, and a “historical” setting. I read the Book of the Month edition.
This weekend was the dance recital for my daughter, Guinevere. Guinevere is now thirteen and has been dancing since she was three. Guinevere has been en pointe in ballet for almost two years, and this recital was her first performance en pointe. When I got to the theater and an usher handed me a program, I was surprised and delighted to see that it had a picture of her on the back from 2015 when…
Read: June 19-20, 2024 Seasonal Vibe: Summer! Takes place on June 20 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance This Night is Ours by Ronni Davis was a wonderful book about understanding yourself with friendship, some romance, and art. The characters and relationships feel very authentic. The book takes place all in 24 hours, on the Summer Solstice. It’s a wonderful book I happily recommend for…
Reading this book was like hanging out with friends and exploring New York with them for the summer. Seasonal Vibe: Summer Starts with a high school graduation and takes place during the summer after graduation. Travel Location: New York City There is a romance, but mostly this is a story about a group of friends figuring out what they love and what they want to do next. There’s also a really nice…
Just some books that I think I might want to read this summer. This is not an exhaustive list, or even a “To Be Read” list, but just a selection of books that I think I might read during the next season for a variety of reasons. Books on My Physical Shelf Funny Story by Emily Henry This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs Song of the Six…
My daughter’s sixth grade class was reading Holes by Louis Sachar. I decided to read it too since I had never read the book, but liked the movie. This is a really wonderful book. It touches on so many important themes in really accessible ways. It’s easy to read, but still compelling. I love the way everything works together in each character’s backstory for a really satisfying connection. My…
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery is one of those backlist classic books I’ve meant to read for years. I’ve loved the Anne of Green Gables book series since I was a young girl, but I haven’t read many of her other books. I read this mostly from an actual paperback book. I think The Blue Castle is as good a classic romance as a Jane Austen book, though it takes place about a hundred years later.…
Did you know that you can put photos in your GoodReads reviews? If you’re a “bookstagrammer” and also use GoodReads, adding one(or more!) of your photos to a review can let even more book lovers enjoy them. Here’s how to do it. Upload your photo to an image host. Some choices include Postimages , imgur , and Flickr . I normally use SmugMug because I have a paid account there for my photos, and…
This year, I went to yallwest for the first time. That’s a Young Adult book festival in Santa Monica. I went by myself and had a great time meeting people and attending panels. I brought two books to get signed, and both authors had lines that required wristbands. I was excited to get wristbands for both lines. The first was Tracy Deonn . I brought my copy of Bloodmarked for her to sign. I was…
Happy New Year! I truly love Rainbow Rowell’s New Year’s Eve themed short story, Midnights, and I already have it in two other volumes of her short stories. This year, I was delighted to enjoy the story in this adorably small paperback, which also has unique illustrations that are not in the other volumes. I also enjoyed Kindred Spirits, a story about camping out to see Star Wars Episode VII in…
In November, I started reading the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin for the first time and read Iron Flame, the sequel to Fourth Wing from earlier this year, as soon as it came out. I also continued my Jane Austen read-through by reading Mansfield Park. Books I Read In November: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Mansfield Park by Jane Austen The Tombs of…
My oldest child, Guinevere, is a 12-year-old, and while there are some new challenges to tween parenting, it’s mostly pretty great. She’s started reading the Percy Jackson books. Then she came home one day telling me about the classical Greek theatre she had experienced in her drama class. Now we can talk about Percy Jackson and Oedipus! At school, while discussing an article asking whether…
We attended our second concert in as many days on Friday night. It had been a while since I attended a live performance that didn’t star one of my children. Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl was amazing. I thought I might burst into tears a couple of times. We were excited to hear The Beths play again, this time opening at the Hollywood Bowl before Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service for…
Last night, we left the house and saw The Beths in concert. My gallery of photos and a few videos from the concert.
The new Percy Jackson book came out this week, and I read it within two days, despite being quite busy and trying not to rush it. In the end, it was pretty short and very wonderful. Chalice of the Gods is the coziest possible Percy Jackson book. It was reflective, sweet, and hopeful. It was funny, in the traditional style of Percy’s narrative voice. It was a book of low stakes questing with no…
The first 21st century Apple product that caught my eye was the pink iPod mini. After the Apple event on Tuesday, I ordered the pink Apple Watch series 9. I’m really excited about it, and planning to pass my current watch down to my tween daughter. I have a 13 Pro now and planned to upgrade, excited to move to the usb-c connector. I love the look of the pink iPhone 15, but didn’t want to give up…
Read: August 6-29, 2023 Seasonal Vibe: Summer Time: 2020 and 1980’s Location: Cherry orchard in Michigan and New Hampshire Genres: Literary, Dual Timeline, Contemporary, Historical 346 pages | 🎧 Amazing audiobook Tom Lake is a gorgeous summertime literary fiction. I loved the themes of theatre and family. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2020, a mother tells her three daughters about her…
I was intrigued when I saw Every Duke Has His Day by Suzanne Enoch described as Bringing Up Baby, in the style of Jane Austen. I love Bringing Up Baby , which is a 1938 movie starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and a Leopard. I grew up watching it, incorporated the song from the movie( I Can’t Give You Anything But Love ) into my wedding ceremony, and had a framed Bringing Up Baby poster in my…
I’m a seasonal planner, which means that I plan the upcoming season. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m planning based on the weather or the astronomical cycles. I am planning the seasons of my life and the year. This can include things like holidays, but also “back to school” and “summer vacation”. I’ve struggled with a “planning” method that works for me, in part because I don’t usually plan…
Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot was a funny and enjoyable fantasy romantic comedy with excellent fall vibes in a cozy small town, perfect for the Halloween season. Enchanted to Meet You stars a witch named Jessica who lives in a small Connecticut town and owns a cute clothing boutique. The fun begins shortly before Halloween when Derrick comes into her shop and tells her about a prophecy that…
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a great historical fantasy adventure. Amina Al-Sirafi is a middle-aged piratey sea captain who is persuaded out of retirement and away from her daughter. What she thinks will be a fact finding and rescue mission to recover the daughter of a former crewman turns into a full scale supernatural adventure. This book had a lovely, satisfying…
I saw the Barbie movie today, and it was my first time in a movie theater since 2019. I laughed. I cried. I brought my Legally Blonde 2 Barbie. It was an amazing movie, and I loved it. We(My husband Jerrod and I) went to the theater to see the Barbie movie, and it was definitely worth going out to see right away. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and the theater was still filled with people dressed in…
Fourth Wing was a wild ride. I enjoyed the dragon-centered fantasy adventure and the romance. The narrative style is a bit more crass and profane* than I prefer, but I was easily pulled in by the world, story, and characters. And, of course, the dragons! I think I hit the point of “can’t put it down” at about the 60% mark. I flew through it and preordered the sequel. It feels like the entire…
After having the carpet installed on Friday, we were just waiting for the stuff from our bedroom that they packed out to be returned. This morning they brought the pod back and moved everything back in and assembled the furniture. There are still a lot of boxes of things to unpack, but I’ll be so happy to sleep in my own bed in my own room again tonight. The new paint color looks really pretty,…
I finished The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry last night, and loved it. This book had… Delightful literary references. Scenes that moved back and forth between 1960 and 1939/1940 Characters that I loved Descriptions of places that made me want to visit them. A resolution that I couldn’t guess Coffee: Yes Plz.coffee
Today is my 40th birthday. I’ve completed my thirties.