Hey, Bookish Baddies!
I hope your New Year is off to a sweet start, filled with good reads and cozy moments. So, here’s the chisme – the past few months have been about taking it slow for me. Since I began my break in July, my life has been non-stop life event after life event. My workload became increasingly demanding; I moved into a house with my partner, got engaged, and buried loved ones. But fear not; my love for books never takes a vacation, and neither does the irresistible pull of a bookstore (nor the plan to open my own).
I recently strolled into my local bookstore, and well, let’s say my “no buying from big box stores” mantra took a backseat when faced with those shelves teeming with literary wonders. You may judge me, but I don’t live within a 20-mile radius of a decent bookstore. The only bookstores near me reside in deserted shopping malls and plazas. It’s not a good look for West Riverside County at all. It might have been a bit hypocritical of me to shop at Barnes and Noble, but who can resist the allure of a new book? Not this Bookish B.
So, was my supporting the slightly racist big-box corporation worth it? Yes, this money I’m spending still supports authors, especially BIPOC authors, but next time, maybe I’ll drive out to a decent bookstore and make a whole day of it.
But for now, join me as I spill the beans on my recent haul—each book has a different genre and purpose. I’ve had my eye on 2 of these books, and well, one just came to me by surprise.
So, grab your cafecito, find a cozy reading corner, and let’s chat about my recent book haul.
Cheers to a slow start and a fast-growing TBR pile! 😉
KITCHEN WITCH. PLANTS. HERBS. BRUJAS.
PLANT WITCHERY
by Juliet Diaz
GIRL! 💁🏻♀️ I have been wanting this book for a while now. I have 2 other books in the Juliet Diaz collection: Witchery and The Altar Within. I’m not ready to start on my bruja journey just yet, but i’ll be in good hands with these books once i’m ready to dive in further.
For now, Plant Witchery is going to be my best friend in the kitchen! I plan to keep this book in my kitchen because I want to learn how to make teas, heal my body with food/herbs, and use plants to influence the world around me. I want to stroll in my garden, plucking herbs and harvesting foods for dinner. I want to go on a hike and and harvest wild plants and let intuition guide me. Oh, i’m so ready to dive into this knowledge (and respect) for the land!
Juliet Diaz’s books are so sacred to me, because not only is she reconnecting with her indigenous roots through magic, she’s teaching us all how to do it, too. AND! She follows me on social media 🥹 which makes me feel like she’s really invested in seeing her community thrive with the tools she’s sharing. Same girl, same!
GREEK MYTHOLOGY. RETELLING. ROMANCE. DRAMA.
LORE OLYMPUS: VOLUME 5
by Rachel Smythe
If you don’t know Lore Olympus, you’ve been living under a rock 🪨 my friend. I was never into comics, let alone web comics, until 2 of my good friends recommended this web comic to me in 2020. You can read it for FREE on the Webtoon app.
If you can’t already tell, i’m obsessed with this retelling of Persephone and Hades. In Lore Olympus, Persephone is at the center of the story and she’s this boss ass over-achieving B* who ends up falling in love with Hades (and vice versa). Hades, in this story, is mature, gentle, caring—unlikely traits for the God of Death / King of the Underworld, but we love him for it.
I didn’t realize what it would cost me to collect all hardcover books when I purchased the first hardcover book, so now I only buy them on sale after they’ve been out for sometime. I only saved $3 on this book, but I’ll take it! Plus, Barnes and Noble releases these exclusive editions that almost always features Hades 😍. Sold.
HISTORICAL FANTASY. ADVENTURE. RIVALS-TO-LOVERS.
WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS
by Isabel Ibañez
This was one of those books that I walked past on a featured table, doubled back to take another look at the cover, instantly fell in love, and then put it back and walked away. Yes, I walked away. I tried to justify how I didn’t need another book, but it felt luscious like a Silver Moreno-Garcia novel. When I read these words on the inside jacket, “glittering upper society of nineteenth-century Buenos Aires,” I flashed back to Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Dr. Moreau. It felt familiar and cozy.
I didn’t want to settle for the first book that caught my eye, ya know? I wanted to explore my options. I was in a giant bookstore, afterall. So, naturally, I walked around the Sci-Fi & Fantasy bookshelves to see if I could find another familiar, yet cozy novel, but no luck. I sauntered over to the Horror and Historical Fiction section buts things were equally abysmal.
I went to find my partner and we walked past the featured table together; I kept my mouth shut about the book, thinking I would get it at a later date instead if I really wanted to read it. But he stops to pick up this book, shows it to me, and says, “Hey, this looks like the books you like to read!” And I’ll be damned–that’s all I needed to justify taking it home with me that day.
It turns out, my kind of books are: historical fantasies with adventure and a rivals-to-lovers romance trope written by Latine authors. If there’s magic involved, even better, I’m reading it–no questions asked.
READING GOALS FOR JANUARY
I’m hoping that the last book will at least get me out of the 6 month reading slump I’ve been in. I’ve been diving deeply into “all about love” by bell hooks, trying to get through “Silver Nitrate” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and “Witches” by Brenda Lozano, but I can’t seem to keep focus or stay motivated to stay in the story. I’m hoping to get through at least 20 books this year, which is pretty low in my opinion, since I can read a book in about a week. With my busy schedule, however, reading has been my last priority.
I didn’t really make any “New Years Resolutions” but if I had to choose one, I’d choose to read for an hour or more everyday. Cheers to seeing it through!
the bookish b* 