The Worlds of Ashley Stangl

This has been an interesting reading year. I read over 90 books (most of them short, as I struggled to keep up with my Goodreads Challenge), but I was in a bit of a reading slump for a good portion of the year, and had trouble finding books that really kept my interest. I'm linking up with the Broke and the Bookish for this week's topic of "Top Ten Books Read in 2016" . I was a bit afraid that 2016's lack of reading enthusiasm meant I wouldn't find ten books that rose above the others. Instead, I had the opposite problem, and couldn't narrow it down to only ten. So instead, you get my Top 12 books of 2016. Listed roughly in the order I read them: Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery One of L.M Montgomery's lesser-known works, and in my opinion, one of her best. After Jane's parents separated, she went to live on the Canadian mainland with her mother in her grandmother's dreary house. When Jane is invited to spend the summe...

Halloween's ended, Thanksgiving has passed, and now we're well into December and its Christmas preparations. I've got my Christmas shopping done, and I hope to find a little bit of time in the next few weeks to curl up by the tree with some Christmas-themed books. I've already finished a few of them, but I still have a decent-sized list that should carry me through to Epiphany. The Grift of the Magi: A Heist Society Novella by Ally Carter I've aged out of the target audience for these books, but I was still excited to stumble unexpectedly upon a new Heist Society novella, showcasing a new adventure for Ally Carter's team of teenage thieves in which they try to steal back a Faberge egg that's been stolen from a charity right before their Christmas auction. The story's frothy and unrealistic and would probably work better as a TV episode than as a book, but it was still nice to get back in with the characters. Some Christmas Stories by Charles Dic...

I've decided to take the plunge and join in on Top 10 Tuesday. Top 10 Tuesday was started by The Broke and the Bookish , and today's topic is to list books that you read because of book blogs, hype or recommendations from friends. I have lots of books that fit this category, because I'm much more likely to read a book if I hear someone else praise it first--and this method has helped me find most of my favorite books.  Little House on the Prairie- This was the book recommendation that shaped my childhood. My mother had loved the TV show when she was growing up, and encouraged me to read the books. I started with Little House on the Prairie , since that was the one the TV show was named after, and I read the entire series multiple times through my childhood. Ella Enchanted- For a time, this was the cool book for every girl at my elementary school. It was my first encounter with fantasy world-building, and the book stuck in my imagination. Several years later, it serv...

I was tagged by Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy for a tag meme with the following rules: Thank the person who nominated you  Nominate 3 new bloggers every day  Post a new quotation every day for 3 consecutive days The first step is easy. Thanks, Rachel! This looks like fun. I'm even going to steal your idea of sharing three quotes per day instead of just one, because I have a few ideas for themed quotes, and it'll be easier to narrow it down to three quotes per category. Today, I've decided to share quotes from the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers, as an excuse to gush about the series.  I've been working my way through these books, and a recent look at a short story collection reminded me of just how wonderfully quotable these books are.  In the 1920s and '30s, Dorothy L. Sayers wrote a series of mysteries about Lord Peter Wimsey, the second son of the Duke of Denver, who picks up a hobby of amateur detective work, and who obscures his ...

Rachel, one of my fellow Five Magic Spindles authors, is conducting a series of interviews with all of us authors on her blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy.  My interview was posted today. Check it out here if you want to see me fangirl about G.K. Chesterton and Agent Carter and other book and entertainment-related topics. You can check out last week's interview with Michelle Pennington, the author of "Spindle Cursed" here , and interviews with the other authors in upcoming weeks.

I love when books cater specifically to my tastes.  Lately, I've been wishing for more mysteries set in fantasy worlds.  Then, suddenly, I see this beautiful cover on Amazon, and find Masque by W.R. Gingell , an ebook (currently free) that's a fantasy, a murder mystery, and a fairy tale retelling .  Specifically, "Beauty and the Beast".  Watching Beauty and her Beast solve a mystery together?  I could not buy this book fast enough. Even so, I kept my expectations tempered.  Fairy tale retellings, though they're one of my favorite genres, are often not great literature.  Independently published fairy tale retellings are often especially amateurish, with thinly drawn settings and characters, as though simply throwing in the right symbols and plot points should be enough to satisfy the reader.  I expected, at best, for Masque to be a faintly drawn fantasy, with vaguely pleasant characters and just enough plot to keep me motivated to reach the la...