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Those of you who’ve been around Heart.Wants.Books a while, might recall that Veronica Speedwell might be called witchy in some circles, but I’m not sure that came up in our June 2020 Virtual Book Club conversation.  We didn’t choose her second book, A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn, for that reason, we chose it because it’s comfortable, and December 10 at 7:30 CST feels like a time for discussing a comfortable book, a blankie read if you will.  If you haven’t read A Curious Beginning, we strongly feel you should before digging into the follow up, so you know Veronica’s history and how this cast comes together to solve mysteries.  We hope you’ll find this / these books calm, yet engaging, and interesting, but not stressful, and that you’ll sign up here to chat about it / them with us!

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove #3) by Shelby Mahurin
• The Only Woman in the Room: Knowledge and Inspiration from 20 Women Real Estate Investors by Ashley L. Wilson
• The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove #3) by Shelby Mahurin
• Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
• The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Ashley FIN

• The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
• Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money that the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! By Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
• Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
• The Vine Witch  by Luanne G. Smith
• Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Nikki FIN

• Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
• Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
• The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
• Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay
• The Vine Witch  by Luanne G. Smith
• Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
• Love That Dog (Jack #1) by Sharon Creech

Oh readers, October is for witches and we still have six days left!  Sadly, I won’t be reading witchy words all of them, but likely for a few more at least (read: at least until the book for Thursday’s post is done).  I also didn’t read witchy words all month, just most of the month.  I started with a book that B requested, because his fourth grade class was reading it and he thought I’d like it.  Love That Dog is a novel told through poems, which was interesting.  I did find my rule not to read books about animals (which I clearly broke) was validated in this book.  We had some good conversations about it, and I’m mostly not sad I broke my own rule.  Ugh.  

While Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay wasn’t witchy, it does feel like #blackgirlmagic.  Zeba Blay is now on my list of favorite writers, and I feel like I was given a true window into the lives of Black women from the depths of her soul. This title has the potential to be a favorite of the year for me, and is definitely near the top of the list for most important books for all the ways Blay calls out the work that is still needed to address the inequities, specifically those of intersectionality experienced by Black women in her insightful essays.  Part pop culture critique, part memoir, 100% experiences and reflections of being a Black woman, and moving through both Black and majority society. It’s brutal, but also not a new concept.  I got an e- ARC, and my pre-ordered copy is waiting for me to pick it up, so if you’re local and want to borrow it, let me know!  

There’s one book I’m mostly refusing to talk about it (although Ashley might convince me otherwise as I did already draft half a post).  The potential was there for so much awesome, it just wasn’t realized.  Perhaps in a later book in the series it’ll come around, but I just can’t overlook editorial and proofing mistakes in a 15th anniversary release to continue.  Instead of talking more, I want to ask you – what is your response when you read a book that is just underwhelming?  

~Nikki 

When Nikki reminded me at Virtual Book Club on Friday that we had our Reading Life Review post to do for today I had so many feelings! Mostly that I can’t believe October is almost over and I won’t have the most glorious reason to read witchy books everyday – can you tell that we love October and we don’t want it to end?  Celebration of Witches does need to end at some point because then our blog would get very boring for you and us. (You know, I say that, and then I realize if every book I read were about witches I might not get bored as fast as I am saying I would…food for thought.)

While Nikki read a new release book of essays for her non-fiction title this month, I re-read a classic book on investing and mindset with Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I can not remember if I read it at the end of high school or some time in the middle of college, but I did and my paperback copy is currently in residence at someone else’s house. That’s OK, because Kindle Unlimited came to the rescue. I had been meaning to re-read this book as a means of getting my mind in the right place for making better financial decisions and bigger money moves. I had forgotten that Kiyosaki has chapter summaries at the end of each and every chapter that is almost the entire chapter over again word for word. I 100% skipped through those parts and the study questions at the end of the chapters, too. I still got what I needed out of it, the reminder that money is a tool and it’s up to us to figure out how to make it work for us rather than us working for it. Yup, read that again friends, it’s up to us to figure out a way to stop working for money. My sister read it in high school and that’s a great time of life to read it, to set the youth up with a fabulous mindset about money and work and thinking out of the box. This is one of the twelve business books I set out to read in 2021 and I’m a little behind;  I’ve only now completed two from the list, whomp whomp. I guess I’ll have a good start on 2022’s list. HA!

Darling readers, I am sure you can figure out which witchy book Nikki says was underwhelming and did not meet expectations from our list above. I also found it troublesome, but we read it because it had such good reviews AND I had a malfunction in getting another one of our titles on time. Digital library failure on my part so that Nikki and I both scrambled to finish an extra book for this month so that we could have a title to bring you. Thank goodness my local library got the dead-tree version for me in time to read and post! Cause that extra witchy title was…well, not worth the $0 I paid on Kindle or the 4 star average it has garnered in reviews. 10/10 do not recommend.

I do recommend that you join us for Virtual Book Club again, because meeting with other readers who read the same books you do and discussing them can last for several fun hours, lots of giggles and laughs, and possibly some awkward stories about high school. Just us? Well, that should be all the reason you need to join us in December. 

Can’t wait to see you then!

~Ashley

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