Hobbit Yaga

A place for my book reviews & new recipes cooked in the coming year. wholesome Hobbit Yaga content 🍲📚 *header art is a Larry MacDougall piece*

[hobbityaga]

“Becoming Mrs. Lewis” by Patti Callahan

I’d describe this as a historical fiction , it’s gives an account of real poet Joy Davidman and the story of how she became friends with and eventually married C.S. Lewis.

It’s an incredibly sweet , romantic and sad story with lots of wonderful tidbits about Lewis (Jack to his friends) , The Inklings & Tolkien himself. I adored it and it made me want to re-read the Narnia books again ☺️

Trigger warnings for talk of Christianity , Alcoholism, Infidelity and cancer (none of which was gratuitous or unpalatable, at least to me)

There are bits of Joy Davidman’s poetry sprinkled throughout the book and it was cool to see and learn that she was an accomplished writer on her own and helped Lewis with his work enormously.

Bobby found this book for me and I’m so glad that he did! If you love C. S. Lewis , this is a must read ☺️👍📚

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“The Love Story Of Missy Carmichael” by Beth Morrey

This was such an unexpected lovely surprise! Bobby brought this home for me a few days ago and it absolutely stole my heart.

Missy is a 79 year old former librarian who finds herself lonely , missing her children , her husband and the bustle of her life in the past.

This all changes when she meets two strangers and a spirited dog named “Bob” who turn her world upside down in the best possible way.

Told in alternating timelines , we learn about young missy and her life and marriage & present day missy who thought she was past her own usefulness. It’s a love story, a self love story , a story about family both found and blood and about how lucky we are to share our lives with dogs.

I will say that although I loved this book , the last few chapters hit me like a ton of bricks and left me weepy. (Well worth it though)

Trigger warning for death of an animal, talk of abortion, miscarriage & Alzheimer’s although nothing I considered graphic , gratuitous or detrimental to my enjoyment of the book.

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“The House In The Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune

This was an absolutely perfect book. I’d heard good things about it but I was not prepared for how much I would love it.

I cried multiple times while reading because of how lovely it was.

It’s a fairy tale, it’s a love story , it’s a story of bravery & of found family.

It’s a story about the difficult nature of truly finding yourself. It’s about home.

No spoilers, just read it you won’t be sorry.

Trigger warnings for some discussion or childhood trauma, neglect & abuse but none of it is gratuitous or explicit.

I’m sad I can never read it again for the first time.

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“Hidden Bodies” by Caroline Kepnes

Finished this one on the back porch today with a cup of tea 👍

This is the second book in her “You” series and it’s a lot more of the same except we’ve moved from New York to LA. Joe is still a mega creep and I honestly fail to see how all of these women keep being taken in by him , but the writing is good and fast paced & this one was more palatable somehow.

I’ll most likely finish out the series because I’m into completionism , the main character is despicable and I feel like that’s kind of the point. Trigger warnings are the same as for the prior book with an additional one about a story about a dog being killed which was very hard for me to stomach but it was brief. Would also recommend reading this at the same time as something with a bit of brightness to it ☀️ 👍

[hobbityaga]

“You” By Caroline Kepnes

I was initially super wary of this series (both the books & the show) because of how much folks on the internet romanticized the main character. Stalking is something that I have a very hard time with , it’s not cute, it’s not funny and stalkers aren’t sexy. (I think a large portion of it has to do with the Actor who plays Joe on the series being very handsome and charming)

Luckily book Joe comes across as a very messed up person with vile thoughts & violent tendencies. Even still , he’s a great narrator and I was able to get lost in the story , which is compelling , well written and super unsettling. Hell, it had a flattering Stephen King blurb on the cover and his opinion holds weight with me & ultimately I’m glad I gave it a go.

Trigger warnings for stalking,violence against women , talk of drug abuse and infidelity. I’d be interested in reading the next book in the series ✌️

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“Talking To The Dead” by Helen Dunmore

Two sisters , a dark family secret & the unraveling of things during the hottest summer in over a century.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author and I enjoyed it enormously.

It’s incredibly dark but infinitely readable and it actually kept me guessing and second guessing until the end.

Would recommend to fans of dark mystery with a trigger warning for child death & infidelity.

I’m very curious to seek out some of her other books now! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Stephen King’s “Insomnia”

I really enjoyed this one even though it’s quite sad tbh with a bittersweet ending.

It has lots of cool mentions of Dark Tower related stuff as well as a few mentions of Derry Maine history that Constant Readers will be familiar with and a few name drops from other works as well.

Ralph is a fairly likable character & it’s interesting to see King write a much older protagonist. I’m glad I read it and I’d recommend it to any fan of his work

I will say Trigger Warner for the death of a dog (which is always super hard for me to deal with) but it’s not terribly dragged out and it does serve the greater narrative ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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“Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick , a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make”

Holly Black is always a good time for me , dark fairy stories are my jam and she is a fine purveyor of such tales.

A cool urban fantasy vibe with some gritty violence & fun mundane seedy underbelly action. The magic/shadow system is innovative & I enjoyed the world building of the “gloamists”

I figured out the big reveal about 2/3 of the way through but that did not ruin my enjoyment of the book. I was a little dismayed by the end of the book , only because it’s a setup for a series and I’m all reading SO MANY 😆

I will absolutely snag any subsequent volumes , this was delightful ✌️

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This book was such a fun surprise. A light murder mystery set at Oxford University in the early 80’s , this romp was exactly what I needed after the dark ride “Alice” took me on.

It’s the perfect book to read if you’ve had a rough day and want a pick me up that also lets you try to piece together whodunnit. I enjoyed this enormously 📚

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“Her future didn’t have butterflies and flowers and rain followed by sunshine. Her future slogged through a river of blood to find the well from which it sprung”

There are few things I love more than a dark retelling and this reimagining of Alice In Wonderland is sharp, wicked and more than a little bit violent. Reminiscent of Brom’s grim Peter Pan inspired tale “The Child Thief” , this story takes us to the seedy underbelly of Old City where Alice must come to terms with her past in order to preserve her future.

Trigger warning for mentions of rape & violence against women , but I never at any point felt it was gratuitous. The original wasn’t particularly sunny and everyone here is most definitely mad. It’s apparently the first of three (I think?) and I’m eager to read the subsequent volumes.

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First day of the new year, first read in the bag.

This was fantastic. I’m a huge fan of Critical Role and this book gave me everything I could have hoped for and more.

I love when we’re taken inside the mind of a “villain” and come to understand & see them as not quite the villain we thought they were.

Madeline Roux did an amazing job of capturing Molly’s voice and the emotional roller coaster of the M9 fighting Lucien.

It’s a wonderful read but you’ll get more out of it if you’re a fan of CR (obviously) , so many good tidbits and backstory and fun moments of *gasp* this person/place/thing.

I’ve never read anything by the author before , but now I’m quite curious.

Nothing left to say but I still miss you Circus Man …..Long May He Reign 💜

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Made this to have a spot to keep my book reviews and new recipes for the coming year. Just cozy wholesome content ✌️