So turns out the reason I’m super tired is that I have a roaring sinus infection. I went to the doctor to confirm it. Which they did. I’m getting some strong anti-biotics which means me on the couch for 3-4 being feeling like a blob, and so there may no be any posts, but hopefully I’ll be recovered just in time for the Chopped Readathon. So if there there nothing for me for a few day just just consider it me taking a few sick days. I’ll see ya’ll when I’m feeling a bit better, be back in a few days.
The High Priestess is one of the strongest female energies in the whole entire deck. This card is about secrets, she knows about your inner mysteries and maybe the stuff you aren’t willing to face. When this card comes up in a reading think about reexamining those secrets before they come up at a time you don’t want them to. The high priestess knows your secrets but she cares about you too she wants you to be as open as possible.
Aquicorn Cove
Summary
Aqicorn Cove was all about strong female energies and secrets, from the secrets about Lana’s mother, to her aunt as well as the underwater priestess. To the secret Aqicorn Lana helps raise this piece is all about female energy/nurturing and the connection to nature as well as the need to bring out secrets for the good of the family and town.
This is another one about female power and secrets. Though the implications for this are a bit darker maybe a reverse reading of the High Priestess. We have both female heroes and villains here both with a lot of secrets a supposedly a lot of power, then there is even a female Darkhorse of a character. I think this group could use the High Priestess in a card reading to explore all the secrets they are having to deal with.
Another one with a female hero and villain and secrets. Maren Partridge works at her family’s dream shop, she makes a mistake and then is blackmailed by an evil villain who has her make nightmares.
With her family with power she is able to stop the villain and with her family by her side she is able to make things right, but not before a few secrets are kept, worries felt and power is shifted from different women in power.
Amazon
Sources
Art Credit to Sami Martin and Marisa De La Pina and How to Deal
We will start off today with Taurus characters, our hardhead but hard workers. We will see them in books where they show off both their positive and negative traits the first one being:
Taurus in Dragon Fury
So I’m going to say the twins are both this sign though they show it in different ways, they are both hard workers, one kept up Artime during the Frida Stubbs issue, the other had to deal with imprisonment.
Both have girls value honesty and neither will change their mind unless they really have a change of heart. I think we’ve seen this in Thisbe’s ability to hold a grudge. They are both great leaders in different ways so they fit they idea of being the calm in the storm and staying clearheaded and logical.
I think we’ve seen the Taurus trait of having an issue with being critiqued particularly in Fifer. I’m not sure that the other twins weren’t born under this sign as well but I’d have to go back and look, what is for sure is that the girl a great leaders with a stubborn streak.
Jiho from A Dragon Egg Princess shows more of the negative traits of a Taurus until the book gets going Jiho is stuck is his routine afraid of losing what little stability he has with his family. He is also holding a grudge against his father and the forest.
He blames the forest for making his father disappear. Before the chance of money to help his family appears he is not willing to be moved. He will not go in the forest. Once he is in the forest though he shows the Taurus qualities of leadership and and clearheaded logical thinking.
Fort is a Taurus he is a good leader with calm logical thinking. But he can also be stubborn and set in his ways and he refuses to give up on rescuing his father once he knows the possibility exist. He has a hard time listening to other people when he thinks his way is best, has that put the world in trouble, I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far in the series yet, but he’s very determined in what he wants and not likely to stop even if it’s the best thing for the group.
Can you think of any other literary Tauruses? Let us know who you think might fit in the comments!
I thought I’d make a special post for International Women’s Day. I found this tag from Dianthaa Dabbles. My tarot and astrological posts will be up soon they just require a lot of research. I was going to do research for my first Zodiac post (Aries) but I simply fell asleep. So the longer post will be up when they are up. Until then a little something for International Women’s day and remember to think of your sisters not just your cis-ters.
A book with a (closer to) gender-equal society
Skin of the Sea
A interesting world of mermaids gods and goddess this world is a lot closer to gender equality with its magic and monsters than our real world.
Lekha Divekar feels like she has to hide her authentic self at school because she’s afraid of being made fun of at school that is until Avantika moves in and she’s not interested in hiding her being Indian at all. Lekha wants to be friends with Avantika but will the social pressures of middle school keep them apart.
Two vastly different heroines on a treasure hunt for their own reasons. They end up encountering an old curse, a new dangerous woman, and all their own issues. It makes for a wonderful edge of your seat adventure.
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is a good book when talking about the role of women they literally shifted the women’s role in society and ended up with a problem that the main character has to face in this book. It’s all very interesting and the book comes highly recommended.
When Andra wakes from her thousand year sleep she’s surrounded by men, but she manages to get a good deal of information about her situation out of Zhade and quickly takes charge of the situation despite having little idea of the larger problems.
It didn’t say a matriarchal society you’d want to live in. This book had me wanting to half be really nice to Siri and half chuck my Apple products across to room, needless to say Ophelia, is in charge.
While it doesn’t start out as a romantic relationship these two hold each other up in ways that I haven’t seen in some other written couples, even though they are tied together at first it becomes clear very quickly that they want the best for each other despite the bond.
This deals with the issue of women’s history and witch burning in Scotland. It also deals with the underdiagnosis of women and girls with autism which is an international problem.
This book is definitely a flowers and cholate book, it’s also full of women making connections between the ghost and the girl who summoned her. The ghost and an old school mate, the girl and new friends the ghost helps her make, and all sorts of tea parties and food throughout.
The blog will be taking a break for a few days due to my laptop breaking and me taking time to get a new one. I look forward to being back by the end of the weekend, or the beginning of next week. I’ll see you all soon!
So this book has been super popular, did it live up to the popular. You’ve Reached Sam was a great book about grief and letting go and finding something beyond your grief, I can see why it had the hype, and I think it was well deserved. I don’t normally like romances, but this one wasn’t obnoxious and the protagonist, Julie spends time doing things other than talking to her boyfriend the whole time.
Summary
Seventeen-year-old Julie Clarke has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city; spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his belongings, and tries everything to forget him. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces memories to return. Desperate to hear him one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cell phone just to listen to his voice mail recording. And Sam picks up the phone.
The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes Julie fall for him all over again and with each call, it becomes harder to let him go.
What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?
Review You’ve Reached Sam
This concept has been explored in various media in different ways. Phones being able to reach each other through time and place isn’t a new concept, you’ve probably seen it before in at least one other movie or book. So what made You’ve Sam so buzz worthy, just because the concept has been done before doesn’t mean it doesn’t need a new twist. The connection between Julie and Sam is the heart of the book, it’s what makes it buzz worthy and the rest of the cast also rounds out the book perfectly. I love when Julie and Sam’s best friend Oliver become friends.
Oliver was secretly in love with Sam, Julie acknowledges this and the two become close because of it, Julie eventually giving Oliver one of Sam’s jackets so he’ll have something of his. I also like how and who Julie risks the connection for, they make perfect sense. Sam pushing her also makes sense but you can see even with the phone calls the Julie is growing through her grief with the help of Sam’s family and friends and new friends she makes. The final call is really a tear jerker, I didn’t cry because I’ve got a steel heart and it’s really tough to make me cry but I imagine make me cry. But I imagine people would tear up at the scene.
Overall it’s a great book worthy of the hype and that does an old trope well. Also it’s great to see more Asian writers and characters so there is always that as a bonus too.
I realized ya’ll don’t know much about me so I thought I’d do a profile the Meet the Blogger profile tag. Feel free to steal the tag from me, I should probably put some of this on the about section of the blog.
Name: Solara
Age: 31
Education: I’ve got a Bachelors in Film and Media Studies with a Minor in Asian Studies, and a Master in Film and Media Studies with a focus on Children’s Media
Location: Somewhere South ya’ll
A few of my favorite things: Books, Tarot, writing, baking, video games, RPGs, blogging. Twitter, witchy things.
Is there a story behind your blog’s name?
So let’s just say I like Buffalo Plaid, a lot. Before I had the blog and I was a bookstagramer (which I need to get back to, another story) I had a buffalo plaid comforter which would show up in the photos. So I though Plaid_Reader was a unique enough name and when I got the blog I added Reviews on the end and went from there.
What are you looking forward to right now?
I’m looking forward to the Chopped Readathon: Romantic Dinner Edition that I’m doing with The Blind Scribe in February. We go live on January 20th, come check us out and see more about us then.
Favorite Ice Cream: Chocolate Chipped Cookie Dough, I’ll eat most flavors with peanut butter and nuts but Cookie Dough is the top flavor.
Coffee or Tea? And how do you take it?
Coffee is disgusting bean water. I’d only drink if I had to stay awake to stay alive. Tea however is lovely but I find most American and British Tea too sweet when I was in school for my Asian Studies minor I got introduced to Chinese Tea. Now I love Pu-er tea, no sugar. But if I can’t have my Chinese tea I’ll take Chai, or Peppermint.
Favorite Thing To Do On a Rainy Day: Depends on how I’m feeling, either meet some friends and go out in the rain, (except for like two months it never gets cold here and the rain is pleasant especially in the summer.
During the winter though I like to curl up with books and a candle and a sweet treat, preferably something I baked and a nice thick book by either a favorite author or a new author.
Favorite Movies: Anything Marvel, but specifically Infinity War and Endgame, and all the shows after, most Disney but the ones that are getting tattoos are Frozen II and Encanto. Oh I love so bad they are good horror movies and Japanese horror movies.
Favorite Books: Keeper of the Lost Cities, Small Spaces Series, Vespertine, Starfish, Finding Perfect, Ghost Girl
One Item on Your Bucket List: To meet some of my favorite authors in person (after the pandemic is over of course.)
Scariest Thing You’ve Ever Done: Getting disability and talking to the judges about my disabilities so they would decide whether or not I’d get disability or not.
Fun Fact or Two: My leg is finally a little better after a year of recovery and I want to get back to baking bread.
This tag made me think about my answers so, maybe try it too. It was pretty fun.
I don’t think I have to tell anyone now I’m a fan of Saadia Faruqi’s stories. But I found Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero especially timely. I was about two years younger than Yusuf’s uncle when 9/11 happened but I had the white privilege to not be aware of it, plus I had raging untreated mental illness at the time.
However everything did change after 9/11 just something in the atmosphere. Most older millennials I think see it as the end of our childhood, the carefree atmosphere of the 90s we grew up with as false as it may have been just never returned. I think Faruqi does a good job express this when the adults are asked in the story about 9/11, its like everything has changed in 20 years but nothing has changed at all.
Yusuf Azeem is not a Hero
Summary
Yusuf Azeem has spent all his life in the small town of Frey, Texas—and nearly that long waiting for the chance to participate in the regional robotics competition, which he just knows he can win.
Only, this year is going to be more difficult than he thought. Because this year is the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an anniversary that has everyone in his Muslim community on edge.
With “Never Forget” banners everywhere and a hostile group of townspeople protesting the new mosque, Yusuf realizes that the country’s anger from two decades ago hasn’t gone away. Can he hold onto his joy—and his friendships—in the face of heartache and prejudice?
Review
This is a great book for teaching kids about 9/11 and delving somewhat into the divided atmosphere inspired by Trump extremism. The Patriot Sons could just has easily have been the Proud Boys, and knowing that this was inspired by a real event saddens but doesn’t surprise me. I’m sure things like this are taking place all over the US right now. I just hope some of them have the same results as in the book. Finally I learned a lot about robotics reading the book, it’s amazing what can be done. I’d be really interested to learn more about that subject. Overall though it was a great and unfortunately timely book. Great work from Faruqi as always.
This is it, you made it to the final and toughest round, the dessert round it’s just you and your competitor can you make the winning dish and become Chopped Champion. You are presented with these ingredients as a challenge, what kind of dish can you make?
Dessert
Sugar: A sweet book for dessert
This is a surprise sweet book as the protagonist at first doesn’t appear sweet but slowly embraces her sweet side. She was good all along she just had a dark chocolate outer layer.
Even though it was a short book I found it to be a hearty book because I was really taken into the world with dragons, fairies and Jiho and Koko, there was a great villain, a wonderful Raman stand and a great array of creatures and people both magical and not.
The Last Windwitch is about a girl on the run from an evil queen because of her magic, before the queen took over there was a witch who wove the seasons with her magic and helped people. The main character Brida is going on a quest to find to learn about her family, her magic, and who she’s meant to be, this book reminds me of a delicate dessert maybe like a sponge cake.
Candy Canes: Something you’ve had to wait all year for.
I’m not normally waiting all year for summer but this book is an exception. I think it would represent something like caviar because of the monster so it would be a wild card ingredient.
From all of this I would make a cholate sponge cake with dark chocolate truffles maybe adding on some gold leaf in a dragon scale pattern and topped with caviar.
If you’ve liked this as a meme, come join The Blind Scribe and I for the readathon version of this in Febuary, all I can tell you right now is the theme will be a Couple’s dinner and each ingredient will be a reading prompt. There is also a signed book as a prize that is unfortunately only available with within the US due to shipping. However I’m also offering a $20 Book Depository Card to one of our international participants.
I’m going to the day up until Christmas off to relax and spend with my family. But don’t worry I’ll still have a surprise posted on Christmas. Hope you all are having happy holidays.
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