Thursday, February 27, 2025

Exciting Announcement! New Book on the Horizon

I'm excited to announce that my second fiction collection is coming out April 10th!

Does that date sound familiar? It should, because it's the 100th Anniversary of The Great Gatsby! And since this book is inspired by that classic, it only seemed fitting to release it on that landmark publication date.


The book is now in public domain, so Janet Dale used the first page of each chapter to create found poetry (aka blackout poetry) and I used a sentence from the first page of each chapter to write an entirely new flash fiction piece.

Though we worked independently, things came together nicely and we can't wait for you to read the finished product in just six short weeks!

Monday, February 24, 2025

The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams

The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams

I’m a huge Babysitters Club fan so The Babysitters Coven had a more grown-up and modern (and WITCHY) twist on it that was right up my alley. I loved how it introduced the world and the characters so we were getting to know their powers along with them. The ending was so action-packed that I really just wanted to see it as a Netflix series so I could watch it all play out. 

After reading this book, I looked it up and was surprised to see that it was a re-release (apparently?) because the initial reception wasn't so hot. Publishers Weekly mentions that the slang, pop culture references, and political stances could make it seem dated, but those didn't stand out to me. Also, I still think 1999 was 4 years ago, but still. 

Complaints from Smart Bitches Trashy Books include that the narrator is "wildly insecure but also extremely judgmental" and that the book "tries VERY hard to sound teen-like while not sounding teen-like at all." Again, I feel like not noticing these issues probably speaks very clearly about where I am in life, ha, but honestly, the book rang true for me. As true as witchy babysitters can be, anyway. 

Kirkus Reviews said the humor was not funny at all (I laughed to myself many times) and that it was a ripoff of Buffy (which I have never seen) so yeah... I guess all of that just fuels my argument that this was a good read for me but might not land for you, unless you're a lot like me. (And if so, sorry, it's miserable, isn't it? Ha.)

The biggest bummer is that my library only has book one. However, I think I’ve got to get this series to read them all. I can’t wait to see how things progress!