Of Shade and Shadow, Book 1 of A Daughter's Ransom Series, by Niamh and Rebecca Schmid is a freaking masterpiece! Well-crafted! Brilliant! I could seriously fan girl like crazy over every aspect, from the characters to the world building to the uniqueness of the story itself! Definitely a memorable highlight and one of my favorites from my 2022 reading!

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Oaths of Affection by Maria Yrsa Rönneus is a really fun regency romance that will fill that Bridgerton craving! It is a great book for anyone who enjoys Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde. There are three other books in  her Regency Tales series, with another I've had the honor of beta-reading coming out September 1st, Offers of Atonement (which is absolutely phenomenal)!

The character of Oaths of Affection were a hug inspiration for the bookmark...

• Scent- orange rose (the former for the love interest, Arthur Hastings, and the latter for Marigold's friends)
  
• Fabric- brown with gold speckles (represents Marigold's resiliency, as seen when her awful aunt orders her to only wear brown and she turns that order on it's head)
• Charm- copper key (the "fairy" key Marigold's father gives her in the beginning of the story, telling her it "shall unlock any conundrums you may encounter")
  
• Button- green flower (Marigold's eyes and the wedding ring)
• Ribbon- light pink (Marigold's friend gives her a light pink ribbon for her "fairy" key)

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Just in Time by Jenn Romano is a fun time travel novel that combines interesting legends with a historical setting! The sequel, Another Time, is also available, continuing Ana and Cara's travels through time to Italy!

Elements I pulled from Just in Time for the bookmark, setting, genre, and one of the main characters, Cara...

• Scent- rosemary, tulsi basil, and sage (Cara's cooking skill and job in Brodie Castle)
• Fabric- thistle (Scotland setting)
• Charm- filigree heart (romance with the highland brothers)
• Button- copper clock face (time travel)
• Ribbon- purple (compliments the purple thistles)

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Summer of '77 by Rebecca Amiss is a great nostalgic trip, exploring huge changes in childhood, from death in the family to a big move! I read Summer of '77 in June of 2022! I really enjoy Rebecca Amiss's writing and have more of her books on my tbr! The next one I have my eyes on is South of Home!

Elements I pulled from Summer of '77 for the bookmark, includes a quote I absolutely love, the setting, some major themes and more...

• Scent- triple citrus (inspired by my favorite quote from the book: "Anyone can make lemons into lemonade," she said. "But to make limes into lemonade you have to work extra hard.")
  
• Fabric- gold circle spirals on blue and purple (inspired by sparklers and fireworks as the book takes place around the 4th of July and both are tied back to changes in traditions)
  
• Charm- root beer float (important traditions and grief)
  
• Button- sparkly shell (tied back to the story's setting)
  
• Ribbon- sheer gold
  

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Dyrwolf by Kat Kinney is a phenomenal supernatural fantasy shifter YA romance. I read Dyrwolf July of 2022 and recently finished Darkwitch, the sequel, Februrary of this year! I highly recommend both, as well as the rest of Kat Kinney's books!

Elements I pulled from Dyrwolf for the bookmark, includes the love interest, the setting, the book cover, and some of the magic that can be found inside...

• Scent- sage (scent tied back to love interest, Henrik)
• Fabric- sparkly pine (setting)
• Charm- wolf (wolf shifters)
  
• Button- full moon (magic and powers that center around the moon)
• Ribbon- sheer black (a nod to the darker colors on the cover)
  

For both Dyrwolf & Darkwitch!

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Stalin's Door by John St. Clair is an incredible historical fiction. It was one of the first indie books I read in 2022, back in February!

One of the things that really stuck out to me about Stalin's Door was the play on temperature, whether it was pine and tea to keep warm, the coldness of the setting, or the very important toggle that Zhenya keeps with her. The setting itself was a huge part of the story and I wanted to touch on that, as well. All of these elements went into making the scented bookmark.

• Scent- earl gray (along with the play on temperature, the author is a tea enthusiast)
• Fabric- pine (again, the play on the temperature, but also a nod to the setting)
• Charm- snowflake (temperature and setting)
• Button- star (a nod to the toggle, as seen on the cover)
• Ribbon- black sheer (a nod to the cover)

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All of my fairy doors, fairy houses, fairy dolls, scented bookmarks, dryer balls, and other magical creations are available at my upcoming events and in my etsy shop! Click on the images to learn more about each one!

Inspired by this post by The Enchanted Wren!

If you are anything like me, you have done many pretend author interviews in the bathroom mirror since you were about eight. Yes, indeed, I am a pro of this type of Q&A. We’ll see if that carries over to my interview with Dot Cannon from Noelophile blog at the Mystic Dragon Book Festival on August 15th.

Throughout all of those pretend interviews, as well as the millions (no, I’m pretty sure this is not an exaggeration) of author interviews I have watched online thanks to youtube, and that one time I saw Diana Gabaldon live, one of the most commonly asked question is when did you become a writer? When did you start writing?

When is a very different question then the why (which most, I have found, answer much like Descartes- “I write, therefore I am”). Writing is a state of being, how we got to that state, though, is as diverse as the people who write.

For me, personally, it is something I have always been doing. I don’t mean this as a simple answer or a cop-out. It is the truth and I owe it to the most powerful inspiration in my life, my mother.

I grew up to the sound of her fingers dancing across the keyboards, making new worlds to explore and new characters to meet and fall in love with. And those were some of my purely happy childhood memories. I still remember the first story she wrote. It was about a small acorn I found walking back from dropping my brother off at the bus stop.

We had a deal. She would let me stay up past my bedtime to get to listen to what more she wrote that day as long as I brushed her hair. And I learned a lot in those nights. I learned tricks for editing (reading aloud). I learned research and the lengths one could go and the different resources available. I learned spelling and grammar (and that even the best sometimes flub in that area). Most importantly, though, I learned the power of storytelling, the power of writing, the power of words. It ignited a spark.

I remember my countless sketchbooks filled with what most would call scribbles on the front, and on the back would be a corresponding very short story. My mom tells me on the way to ballet, I would tell stories from the moment the key in the ignition turned to the moment the car would park. I grew up writing and telling stories, and I owe much of that to my mother.

I was fortunate to not only grow up with a mom who was passionate about reading and who shared that passion with me, but to grow up at my mother’s keyboard as well as her bookshelves. And what is even more exciting, as I follow in her footsteps and publish my own stories, is getting to experience the stories and characters I grew up with being shared with the whole world, too. Mouse and Shadow; and Emma and John; and Ellie and Alex were my earliest and oldest friends and playmates. And to see them become a book I can hold and open and revisit any time, is indescribable.

So when did I become a writer? When did it all start? It started with the first word my mother typed.

Check out my mom’s blog/website: http://www.keyboardmusings.com/
Her Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Barbara-Lieberman/e/B00NHI7PT6/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Her Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8442199.Barbara_Lieberman

When you are a child, you are handed down a lot of different things from your family. You have your name. Some idiosyncrasies you pick up along the way. You have the physical gifts and keepsakes. You also are given references, and by that I don’t necessarily mean what you would put on a job application. I mean, culture, whether it is the classics or more modern day pop culture. I mean, things they loved that they shared with you that you now have grown to love.

Growing up, if my family wasn’t randomly breaking out into song (because, yes, my life is and has always been a musical), we were tossing references back and forth. Close to every sentence has at least one reference, some so obscure those eavesdropping would have thought we were speaking a foreign language. This is probably why my newest book, Society’s Foundlings, is riddled with random references.

In the acknowledgements of my book I thank and tip my hat to a few of the people who have given me the building blocks of my reference palace, including by brother, Ben, my mother, Barb, and one of my best friends, Alyse. Someone who I failed to mention, though, was my Grandmother. And she is someone who deserves mentioning.

Anyone who knows about my Acorn Tops business knows well about my Grandmom’s influence and inspiration. One of the gifts she gave me, a picture, is now my logo and how I got the idea to carve fairy doors. She has also inspired products from my business, such as my collaboration with Seeds of Inspiration, the Seeds of Remembrance Rosemary Scented Fairy Pillows!

Though, she passed away when I was very young, she has given me a lot. She has added to my love of reading. I have her Anne of Green Gables books, the ones with her name written in them. I have her Anne of Green Gables doll. I order Eggs Benedict whenever I can for breakfast and orange cream ice cream at the boardwalk and the beach, just like she did. I share a name with her and am named after the same strong and incredible woman, she is named for. And, most relevant to this post, I share a love of Harvey, the movie about the 6ft 3.5in tall pooka. I even dressed up one year for Halloween as El Wood P. Dowd, with a hat that had slots cut in it for rabbit ears and business cards with one number crossed out (call me at this number, not at this number).

In Society’s Foundlings, the reference appears when three of the characters are gathered around the television. One, sitting upside down on the couch, offers non-stop commentary while they watch and another is showing off his knowledge of every movie ever made. It’s a very minuscule part, one that could easily be missed and would not even be worth mentioning, if not for the personal significance, and not necessarily my own.

A book, a movie, a song, a television show- they have memories tied to them. You see them, you hear them, and they make you pause for a moment with a small nostalgic smile. Because you remember that person it reminds you of, who first showed it to you, who watched it, read it, sang it with you. You remember that moment it’s associated with, like a photo album you don’t have to pull out of the top shelf of a closet. And you remember how it made you feel. The way it spoke to you.

John Green (yes I am referencing him once more), did a whole vlog about Harvey. As he says, “All I know is I woke up the morning after watching Harvey feeling a little bit better and in all the years since, I have never felt quite as hopeless as I did before I watched Harvey.”

If you haven’t watched Harvey, I suggest you do. It’s a life changer for sure. And maybe when you’re reading Society’s Foundlings and you come to the part where they are watching it, you will pause for a moment and smile.