Summary: When of Harry Dresden’s students asks him for help to build a magical circle to enclose a beast, he refuses because he is afraid she will hurt herself. However, he is soon entangled in a murder case involving his student and her circle. As he searches for the murderer, he discovers all sorts of Werewolves and he has to figure out which are good and which are bad.

My Thoughts: This book is just as good as the first Dresden book. Although I hear he becomes more kick-ass in each of the following books and he eventually gets so kick-ass that he has reached the peak of kick-assedness and can’t go any further. I’m looking forward to seeing how kick-ass he can get. In this book, he is certainly more kick-ass than the first book.

Because I feel silly reviewing every short book that I read, I’ve decided to begin a Thursday tradition of listing off the children’s books and graphic novels that I’ve read each week.

To IL, I’ve read:

A cute book about a little bunny that wants to run away from home, but is convinced by his mom that she’ll follow him anywhere.

A short but sweet night-night story for young children.

I had to suspend my disbelief for this book, but it was still pretty cute. 🙂 It was about a family of ducklings moving through Boston to get to a lovely new home.

Yet another classic. I loved this book as a child. Is it an allegory for voting? lol

Despite knowing who Thomas is and playing with his little toy friends, I had no idea Thomas was such a fussy little engine. It’s nice to see him develop in this set of stories.

Cute book about how much mommy loves her son.

Adorable book about a big hare and a little hare telling each other how much they love each other.

Also adorable. Story about snowmen partying at night.

I think everyone knows what this book is about. 🙂

Hello Everyone! I don’t think I’ve posted this picture my cats, Myra (left), Puck (top), and Hero (right) – and I needed a picture for this post.

I just wanted to drop a quick note and say that I’m going to try to make Wednesdays about discussion posts in the spirit of Feed Your Addiction and It Starts at Midnight’s Book Blog Discussion Challenge. I can’t promise to post every week (I just had a baby, after all), nor can I promise that all my discussions will be about books or book blogging (the world is a many-splendored thing, after all). I will try to stay away from politics, other than side issues like, perhaps fracking. (Good Frack! I just pulled fracking out of nowhere!)

I have heard that well-written discussion posts garner a heck of a lot more hits than book reviews. Personally, I’m a book review sort of person, but I also have a lot of thoughts running through my head. Maybe I should share them with you. So to all those book bloggers out there – Do you find discussion posts get more hits than reviews? What kinds of discussion posts would you like to see on my blog? How do you come up with ideas? 

Thanks for your thoughts!

Summary: The Montrose family has moved to a small mill town to get away from the scandals of the big city. Lydia, who considers herself the less attractive of the sisters, suffers from the rumors that her more beautiful sister Catherine has brought upon the family. She feels she will never find someone who will love her and take her despite the rumors. When she meets a handsome and mysterious man, she wants desperately for him to love her, but knows that it is hopeless. On top of those problems, Lydia is realizing that she may be more powerful than she believes – there have been witches in the family…

My Thoughts: I loved it. The romance was adorable, and on top of that, there was drama that added a lot to the plot. Highly suggested to anyone that likes non-smutty paranormal romances.

Yes, this is another first day photo, but it has the happy parents in it. 🙂 Looking at this picture, I realize how much IL has grown already. He was 6 lbs 8 oz, and is now 6 lbs 15 oz. That doesn’t sound like much, but he is noticeably bigger. He is eating quite a bit, and is otherwise healthy.

D & M are doing a great job of adjusting to their new life with a baby. D feeds him regularly, and M has agreed to feed him in the upcoming month to help earn his reverence badge in Cub Scouts.

D, sadly, had a stomach bug and missed school for a couple days. Probably being overprotective, I quarantined IL in his nursery until she was better. Which meant I finally got caught up on blog comments!

My mom, and neice L with IL.

And my dad feeding IL.

Reading in the upcoming week

I am listening to two audiobooks: Fool Moon, for my Dresden Files Group Read, and Vaccine Race. I know I’m being too careful, yet again, but I don’t want IL to hear Fool Moon because it’s scary. A nice nonfiction work is so much more educational. 😊

My Serial Read is Scarlet Letter, and my work of fiction is American Overdose.

Completed this week

This was also considered ok for baby ears, and I got plenty of quality time with IL while listening to it.

Acquired this week

Nothing

Summary: Harry Dresden is America’s only Wizard. In addition to doing small occult detective jobs on the side, he is a consultant for the special division of the Chicago Police. When someone is brutally murdered, he must find out who the culprit is – making some enemies in the process.

My Thoughts: This is my second time reading this book. I started the series over for my Dresden Files Group Read that I started hosting in November. (Anybody is welcome to hop in whenever they please, even if they have not joined us for the first few books in the series). I enjoyed this book as the pinnacle of Occult Detective series beginnings. Harry is likable, yet makes stupid mistakes all the time. The other characters are weak in comparison, but I know from experience that they will develop with time. The plot is solid, and mostly not predictable. It’s a fun book, suggested for anyone who likes urban fantasy.

Thanks for anyone who participated in the first month of the Dresden Files Group Read. I’m sorry I didn’t get this post up on time. I was busy preparing for the earlier-than-expected induction of IL.

QUESTIONS:

• What did you think of Storm Front overall?
• Is this your first time reading a Dresden book?
• How about your first occult detective novel? Have you read others in this subgenre?

I loved Storm Front, and gave it 4 stars, as can be seen in my review. As far as occult detective novels go, I think Dresden is the gold standard.

This is not the first time I’ve read this book – in fact I’ve read the first three. But I restarted reading them for the sake of others who wanted to join this project from the beginning.

I have partially read three other occult detective series, if the Nightside novels (Simon R Green) and the Iron Druid Chronicles (Kevin Hearne) count. The third is certainly in that subgenre: Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovich).

Books and Chocolate is hosting Back to the Classics 2019! I’m looking forward to joining in the fun this year, though I already have a lot of challenges going on.

Good news! After 2.5 days of induction, my baby (IL) was born on 12/7/2018. Baby and mother are healthy and well. IL is a sweet baby who rarely cries and is quite cheerful either being held or hanging out in his pack and play. So far, anyway. Never know what will happen when he grows older, lol. D and M are enjoying their new baby brother, and Aaron and his mom have been so helpful to me.

IL did have high bilirubin levels at first, and got to spend a day and a half in a tanning bed, due to an AB O incompatibility. (In other words, I’m an O, and my body produced antibodies against his blood cells because he’s a B.)

I was discharged from the Mother Baby program for people with bipolar disorder already because I have had no symptoms of post-partum depression, anxiety, or psychosis. I can always go back if I DO have symptoms, but if I don’t need that level of care, the 5 hours a day 4 days a week was only causing more stress than it was solving. So, yay! more free-time than I expected in the first four weeks after IL’s birth. I look forward to at least some time to read.

On the blog

Believe it or not, nothing has happened on my blog for two weeks! I do have several reviews that I need to catch up on – most notably last month’s Dresden Files Group Read post. I’ll get that up tomorrow, promise!

Reading this week

Nothing new.

Completed in the past two weeks

Despite good intentions of listening to Sense and Sensibility while being induced, I was too distracted to do so. I did get some Haunting of Hillhouse watched, though. 🙂 Aaron and I are about half way through now.

Acquired