#death comes to the village

[e-b-reads]

As I ended up choosing three mysteries, I think this is a good time to ask what's your top 5 favorite mysteries you've read this year? ✨️

Thanks for asking, and happy new year! Sorry it took a little while, it's hard to choose!

I've narrowed it down to 5, with 2 additional honorable mentions. (Maybe this is cheating, but oh well!) In no particular order:

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke - I enjoyed this contemporary mystery set on a Louisiana plantation with a Black protagonist; aside from being a good mystery, it dove into the protagonist's complicated feelings about her family's historical relationship with the plantation.

The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave by Bill Pronzini - Not sure exactly why I liked this so much, maybe I just enjoyed the main character's narration! A western-set mystery with, as it suggests, several crimes to solve, some more serious than others.

Death Comes to the Village by Catherine Lloyd - I guess this whole series kind of counts as cozy historical? Set in Regency England. I enjoyed that the series doesn't go on forever, and I also enjoyed the romance (across the books) between the practical rector's daughter and the wounded (recovering) soldier with PTSD. He's a lord of some sort, but he's all for abolishing the aristocracy.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones - I'm putting this on the list mainly because it's different, and it kept me thinking for a while. The narrator is charismatic and fascinating.

Nemesis by Agatha Christie - Of course I need to include something by Christie! This was a reread but I still think it's a favorite. It's Miss Marple, and I usually like the books with her, and also it's about a mystery that's several years old, and I enjoy those kinds of gradual uncoverings.

And then my two honorable mentions:

I started several contemporary cozy mystery series and liked some more than others: Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron is the first in a series that did manage to hold my attention for a while!

Death and Hard Cider by Barbara Hambly is book 19 in a series I love, so it's not necessarily the best mystery I read on it's own merit, but it has a cast of characters I adore.

[cryptiduni]

“white mourning.”

[estrogenism]

idk i wish people would talk more about papua when it comes to occupied nations.

free papua.

[problemswithbooks]

So, watched live action One Piece and now I'm watching/reading the OG stuff. No where close to done but my brain decided to fixate on Arlong so I can't help but talk about him a bit.

Something that I find kind of interesting about Arlong is that if you read his backstory then go back to the main Arc he was in you actually realize he's way more mellow then he was in the past. Now, he's still awful but given what we're shown of him in Jinbe's flashbacks I think it kind of shows that he did, in a weird way (and not in the way Fisher Tiger would have wanted) changed due to Fisher Tiger's words on not killing humans.

In the past Arlong was constantly advocating for killing humans and terrorizing them so they'd learn their place. He never warms up to Koala despite the rest of the crew--including his own friends coming to like her. Everyone is sad to see her go even Kurobi who is later one of the worst in Arlong's crew.

After Fisher Tiger's Death it's clear Arlong was going to kill everyone in Koala's village (and no doubt would have killed Koala). He was stopped and put in Impel Down--a notoriously hellish prison (run by humans). It's not clear how long he was there, but probably at least a few months, which is a long time in a place like that.

After his pardon he leaves Jinbe and the Grand Line. Presumably he started taking over villages pretty soon after.

Now, what I find interesting is that this is by far the most justified Arlong is in his hate of humans, yet it's also the nicest we ever see him being to them. Before Fisher Tiger's death and reveal of being a slave, or his time in Impel Down Arlong hated humans because of things that although affected him were not things he himself suffered.

Arlong was never a slave, and at least Hachi, Chew and Kurobi were also never slaves. They were all orphans and this might have been the fault of human pirates who attacked Fish-Men Island, but we don't know that for sure, and it's never brought up as a grievance of theirs. They know Fish-men and mermaids are taken as slaves and they surely get racist treatment from the visiting humans, but they don't have first hand experience with human cruelty--like slavery or murder.

Not until Fisher Tiger is killed for helping a human girl go home after being a slave do they experience real loss due to humans. From there, Arlong is captured and imprisoned in Impel Down where he was surely treated terrible by humans during his time there (given they treat everyone bad there). Yet, despite saying he's the anger of the fish-men he does not actually kill nearly as many humans as you'd think, given how he acts in the past.

In fact in a lot of ways he seems to try not to kill humans if he can get away with other methods of control instead.

This is when he takes over Nami's village. This is not long after Fisher Tiger's death which Arlong wanted to kill an entire village for. Yet, now, despite a huge uprising happening, with nearly the entire village of humans trying to attack them, he's not going for the kill.

This is him probably less then a year before the panel above. He's furious and saying he embodies the rage of all Fish-Men. Yet he arrives to the village and tells his crew not to kill anyone despite their open hostility.

Yes, he wants money because he (supposedly) wants to take over the East Blue(world?) but he's already got his money and killing a few villagers should be no big deal--he plans on taking over more anyway.

In the end though, he does only kill Bell-mere due to her lack of money. She makes a good example, of course, but he was more then willing to let her live, despite her shoving a gun in his mouth before she used the money for Nami and her sister.

This is a huge change in a short amount of time.

This is another time he and his crew don't kill for zero reason. They have been attacked all day by members of Luffy's crew. Zoro absolutely beat the shit out of his guys earlier that day. He was furious when Usopp dared to fire on him (to the point of flipping a damn house) but now they just leave two strangers (so not cash cows) alive? Usopp--was worth Arlong's anger, but suddenly two other random humans doing the same thing aren't worth killing?

This is how he responds to Zoro being what I would assume is racist given what Arlong says. He does not know who this guy is--Zoro was found tied to a boat and just brought to him and his first words are racist. Yet, Arlong lets it 'slide once'. Again this is the guy who hit a child for no reason except she was human way before he lost Fisher Tiger or went to the human torture prison. Yet now he's putting up with a stranger calling him racist names?

Going back to Usopp, this is how furious Arlong was when he was attacked:

He's so furious that for a moment he's willing to destroy one of his money making villages, right after losing one not to long ago, just to kill one human guy who didn't actually hurt him, nor are they a rebelling villager.

Yet this is how he acts once Usopp gets caught.

This is after he comes back to Arlong Park to find most of his crew beaten to a pulp by Zoro. He flipped a house he was so pissed off at Usopp, ready to destroy an entire village that he gets good money from (and which he needs to keep Nami around) but suddenly after his crew is hurt he's not in the mood for killing Usopp ASAP?!

Also, he was only in Nami's village because he saw Genzo had a weapon. He thought the village was going to rebel like the last one and he wanted to nip it in the bud and kill Genzo before it got to far. That was the only reason he was there and yet, after Usopp makes him absolutely furious he and Kurobi leave Genzo alive.

Flashback Arlong, who was barely held back by Fisher Tiger would never have left any of these humans alive. They were in his eyes disrespectful, not fearing him like he wants, and most did not give him money--the only benefit he sees to keeping humans around. Yet, he lets all of them live--maybe he has plans to kill them later, but again, past Arlong would kill them ASAP.

I know that the most likely reason for this is because Oda didn't have everything with Arlong and Jinbe's past in his brain at this point (there's ten years or more between these parts in the story). Not only that he can't have important people like Usopp and Zoro being killed off. He also seemed less willing to kill characters off in the start of the manga, which is why Genzo and Zoro's friends lived (killing Genzo would also have been way to mean to Nami).

But from an in character perspective you could see this as Arlong being affected by Fisher Tiger's words of not killing humans. No, he can't fully follow that rule, let alone Fisher Tiger's orders to not treat humans badly. Arlong has hated humans for far to long, and he was barely managing to restrain himself for Fisher Tiger despite respecting/caring for the man with his whole heart.

He can't not kill humans or treat them like crap--but he can come up with excuses that limit how many he kills. A 'well, if they pay me, they can live', or a 'they're to weak to kill so I won't', or 'I'll give this guy a warning for insulting me before I kill him'.

He lets his crew drag him away from Nami's village because he doesn't really want to destroy it (for monetary gain not kindness obviously). Kurobi doesn't kill Genzo because he wasn't told to so he lets him off, despite that being the only reason they came in the first place (despite defiantly knowing killing him wouldn't get him in trouble and is Arlong's intention). That gives Arlong time to calm down and by the time Usopp is caught he's more willing to take the time to ask him what he's doing there and then let Nami deal with him.

Part of it might also be Arlong knowing Jinbe will come kick his ass as soon as he finds out he's been killing/terrifying humans. He can bribe the Marines, but only to a point. If he was slaughtering every human that looked at him wrong or said something racist he'd be to much of a threat for higher-up the Marines to ignore. Eventually they'd tell Jinbe to deal with him and Jinbe would. Arlong would know that and given he was beaten easily by Jinbe he also knows he'd lose immediately (and either be killed or sent back to Impel Down).

Either way, he's showing some restraint even though he doesn't have someone like Fisher Tiger, or Jinbe directly telling him to. For whatever reason Arlong is way more willing to keep humans alive if he can come up with an excuse for it. Which I find kind of fascinating and adds some depth to his character that I don't think was necessarily intentional, but is the strength of the writing that Oda was able to add something years down the line that somehow didn't conflict with what's already established.

[obihoe]

thinking abt this screenshot of madara looking down on tobirama after attempting to take out his hurt over izuna's death on him .. but tobirama cannot die, he cannot feel pain and izuna is dead anyway so its not enough

[presidentcircles-assistant]

you’re just like your father

[ID: A digital drawing of Trey, a stylized original Flatland character, done against a beige background. Trey is an grey Isosceles triangle with dark brown markings, dark grey limbs, a blocky, dark grey eyebrow, and a single grey eye in his center. On his legs, his ankles have small triangular spikes.

He has markings that consist of two curved lines across his bottom two angles connecting his bottom side and his other sides, two thin triangles curving slightly inwards right above his eyebrow, and a curved line connecting the two sides below his top angle.

He is slighting facing to the right, looking down at the camera. He is standing with his right leg to the side and his left leg facing slightly outwards. His left hand is held in a fist at his side, and his right hand is resting, held slightly behind him. His top angle is thinner than the rest of his body and slightly chipped. There are uneven lines around his body and his left fist to show he’s shaking.

His eyebrow is pulled down and his eye is squinted in an angry expression. He has a slit pupil and there are tears in his eye.

Behind him, stretching out like a shadow, is a faded Isosceles triangle named Easton. He has a single closed eye. There are two curved lines connecting his sides above and below his eye, creating a circular center. His center is light grey, and his bottom half and top angle are dark brown.

End ID.]

[genmaichafan]

Hey, could you write something in your RE Mafia au like how Miranda found and "hired" the Lords or how Alcina adopted her daughters ?

Story under the cut! Thank you for asking about my au :sob:

This kinda covers both but that was actuallly not the intention lol twin tier cakes.

Tw for guns, child death, violence, manipulation filicide

“How interesting. The lovers, major arcana. This is a big event, a major union is in the family’s future.”“How interesting. The lovers, major arcana. This is a big event, a major union is in the family’s future.”

Miranda flips the sixth card in the ten card spread, this card pertaining to the mostly inevitable close future. Miranda handling the card with delicate touch. Hands revealing it with the grace and slight of hand of a magician. Weaving a story of this poor fools' predatory desires.

“What type of union oracolo?”

Miranda draws another card from the top of her deck. The backs of which showed intricate imagery of crows and bones, the gold runes etched into the imagery here and there, the cards mostly donning black and white otherwise. They were Definitely custom, more than surely handmade by Miranda herself to increase the ‘connection’ between her and the cards.

”the Empress.” The man itching closer in his seat leaning forwards in attentive agony as Miranda voice trailed off, edging the moment for what it is worth.

”There will be a union in the family. I'm getting a message, yes, a pregnancy in the next six months will bind two people together.” Miranda looking at the utter sap, expression covering the weaving of threads she was orchestrating. Miranda could barely hold back a sharkish smile let alone stay grounded.

This reading was not accurate from the start, in fact the cards were planned months beforehand. Staged. Miranda had used swift sleight of hand to fudge the cards. The average person would call this taking advantage or manipulation, Miranda would call it telling her client what they wanted to hear.

Countless times Miranda has brought people closure. One of which was as young as her, ‘the poor thing’ she had thought at the time. How the girl's face had been burned and warped in her childhood, how she was not at fault and yet those nearest and dearest to her had to pay the price. The girl's father being one of them, nothing a little mediumship couldn’t salve.

Miranda gave her something she wanted and inreturn Donna was eating out of the palm of Miranda's cawthorne talons, Another silken string tangled to be collected.

Before Miranda could continue the reading something completely unexpectedly expected happened.

” Don- there’s some biz happening, we need you right now.”

the man, the don, cursed under his breath. leaving wordlessly.

Miranda felt pleased with how the pieces were played, becoming even more pleased as her admiried appeared from out the draped satin cloth.

”My beloved!” He said, taking his lips onto hers. feeling her slightly extended stomach which was obscured under the table.

”We are going to HAVE to tell my father sooner or later.” Giddiness adding a playful elongation to words.

“Soon frumos-“ pulling him close even though Miranda would actually prefer if he had never ever been touching her at all.

The Don never stood a chance. Never returning from trouble.

________

Marco becoming the new Don had little time to mourn the passing of his father. Giving the mare minimum respects when he was obligated to do so.

Although to Miranda this had been an unforeseen miracle. Hoisting her plans ahead months ahead of schedule.

Her partner seemily felt the same way. Marco impatiently rushed the wedding soon after, and if he had his way would be rushing their baby. When he wanted something he always got it ‘‘n quickly.’

Nature could not be stopped but humanity often tried. Miranda’s husband quickly sending her under the care of a midwife from France. A young virtuoso and black market “physician”.

Moreau was his name and though he was exceedingly smart; Miranda could feel him latch onto her like a neonatal kitten. Miranda could only attribute it to the fact she was the ONLY one that didn't treat him where he stood on the family's food chain. If she was asked to put that spot into words she would just say “grass.” Miranda just wished that her husband had not asked Moreau to do every old wives trick to speed up the process as much as he could.

anyhow the more twigs in her nest the better.

‘Speaking of twigs’ The woman whom she had helped, now to be revealed as Donna of the chemical and botanical branch of the ‘family’, was becoming closer and closer to her. Going on with the theme of cats Miranda would describe her as a neurotic tuxedo. Having to go through such an unfortunate path at a young age had caused her personality to fracture into two.

The white fur represents Donna: who was smart but introverted. Spending most of her time making new strains and variants of marijuana. Her garden was most precious to her.

The black fur on the other hand was a persona called Angie. Choosing the fewest words Miranda could Angie was “rabid, crass and unpredictable.”

Miranda otherwise easily wrapped Donna and Angie around her fingers.

_______

Cioara was born a few months later. Having been a week earlier than expected was small and frail.

Unexpectedly something in her plan changed in that moment she first held her newborn daughter. She could not help but care for Cioara being aptly named Miranda’s crown jewel in coming years.

What Miranda didn’t expect is that Cioara was not the only newcomer.

Three daughters in the business and of the Family. Three daughters adopted from the previous owner of an establishment they had “liberated”. luckily all too young to remember or have even an inkling of what could've been. The youngest of which being neonatal as well. In order their names were as told from youngest to oldest: Daniela, Cassandra, and Bela.

Their adopted mother, who took them in as her own, first found them hiding in the safe room of their original house. Cassandra attempting to beat on Alcina with tiny fists. Bela left to hold their baby sister.

Quick lies and some treats tricked their attitude to change.

Now they stood smiling at the edge of the crib watching their soon to be cousin be mystified by their very presence. Daniela going as far as reaching out in Cioara's direction, almost to say as if “hey she’s like me!” Looking back and forth confused wonder.

Miranda and Alcina having something in common: Shared time together with or without the kids. Often over glasses of wine with Moreau being appointed official babysitter. Moreau did not complain because he was often treated like the big brother and in tandem a the eldest son of Miranda. (Marco often hated this).

Miranda and alcina were like butter and bread these years. Alcina becoming a confidant to Miranda’s growing boldness in her machinations. Even backing her up when some of the ‘family’ came to her instead of her husband. (Mostly in the form of card readings where the meaning of cards were just often made up).

Marco being “the biggest little man” (-Miranda) sensed something wrong in his corner of his pond. The ripples of power Miranda was wading was finally stirring the attentiveness he lacked in the previous years.

confronting his own wife for treason they landed the first of many arguments that would lead to his fall. Using “YOUR daughter” (- Don Marco ) as a shield from the inevitable.

This had been an unexpected problem. Miranda had not expecting to care for her daughter more than a foot into the mafia's door.

Years passed and while Miranda did not grow in power she did gain loyalty in the ones that were already under her foot. Miranda having a finger in each of the other branches of the ‘family’ with one exception being the automotive.

_____

time passed and each fight escalated with the next.

Marco became more and more agitated with even his own loyalists. the biggest warning being the closest companion, the right hand of the don, daring to speak to him in a way that made Marco feel littler than he ever did before.

”where your fucking respect!”

”You don't got anymore little man!” The white haired man bellowed, in sneerful laughter.

”Heisenberg you WILL listen to me.”

”like i gotta! You need me more than I need you!”

This was the drop in Marco’s bucket. He grabbed Heisenberg by the collar, throwing him aside causing Heisenberg to continue hysterics louder.

Then Marco did something. Something vile and rancid. Deranged thoughts scattering him rationality. He only thought she needs to die.

He was going to commit a grand act of filicide.

“Surely that would break her spirit.”

“Put her in her place.”

”I can take away anything from anyone.”

” I am this ‘families’ ‘father’, I am the Don.”

_____

miranda remembers this part all too well. A day that still haunts her.

knowing something was wrong even before tragedy struck.

how she could hear Cioaras cries getting louder and louder.

The yelling, the screaming, the pleading.

They met each other halfway; Miranda meeting the setting sun, and Don Marco walking out of the evening darkness with their daughter in one hand and a gun in the other.

”abscond your power la Lupa Strega, you’ve played your fiddles and spells long enough.”

Miranda did not know what to do for the first time in her life. Nearly forgetting the knife she held on her at all times.

”Mamica!! Help i don't understand what I did wrong!” Cioara could only sob occasional begging ‘tati’.

”lets trade places ok fiica!- Please Marco!” Taking a thoughtless step forward. Marco only pointed the gun to the girls head.

”PLEASE MARCO” he considered her offer.

”come here Strega. Guess you do have a heart.” Not taking in the irony he spat.

Quickly swapping places Miranda loses herself to the adrenaline. making a quick maneuver: one Marco taught her when he still thought she was the love of his life. twisting his arm agonizingly in one hand and pulling out her knife with the other, she quickly spearing him through the heart.

He drops to the floor. Knife still embedded in his chest. Wheezing.

Cioara desperately scuttling to her mother they spend their final moment together

As with Marco spending the last of his life to make one final shot did what he set out to do.

_______

Miranda hobbled to the only person who could save her; now that both the Don and the Heir is gone. Miranda needed his support. The one man that was smart enough to listen to her in a sea of old blood. Heisenberg.

If she could get him, She would finally had a finger in all the branches or the organization.

All the other blood who didn't agree could suck on her for all she cared. They’ll all come back groveling or in body bags either way it was all the same to her now.

she opened the door to the office.

”wow you look like shit!” He puffed on the cigar boisterously.

Miranda's soulless eyes bared into the reflection behind him. she saw herself, the reflection of a broken woman: darkness on the other side taking hold of the sky. Fluorescent lights making it hard to see what was out there and showing what was in instead. Miranda could not recognize the woman in front of her; she was covered in blood looking freyed, frail and powerless.

Heisenburg took another puff. Giving Miranda her sweet time.

”i need you- to join me.”

”why should i do that”

fury bringing back some of what got her here in the first place.

“because this place is coming down with me. The organization needs me. The family needs- a father- a mother, someone. Or the power vacuum will kill us all.”

”why should i care” tickled by her words and conviction.

“Because they wont just accept you- you’ll have to fight but.. theyll take me.“

she paused. she needed to sweeten the deal knowing him.

”and if i were to die ill justly hand the throne to you. Only then are you guaranteed a place as Don.”

”THAT WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR.” He howled.

Heidengurg handed Miranda his phone. It didnt have a lock, only containing a few contacts.

Donna

alcina.

moreau

And heisenberg himself.

Miranda knew what she had to do next.

_____

It has been years after the “purge”

old blood replaced with the young.

More powerful than when even Marcos' father owned the organization.

Miranda takes out her tarot deck and begins to shuffle. Her question comes to mind.

its been a while since she's done a real reading for anyone, let alone herself. Almost forgetting that the cards are for more than tricking others.

Miranda begins to shuffle fingers swiftly letting cards go between her hands and repeating till she feels it is ready.

“What will the future bring”

a card jumps out of the deck.

Imagery of people falling out of their long slender house, a long fall ahead of them, the ground beneath said house crumbling away. Fire and lightning. Disaster.

“all thing that aren’t built on solid ground are bound to fall”

XVI THE TOWER.

[limelocked]

slice of life anime where its in a rural village

right next to the plot

in the first episode the mountain between the village and the plot gets blasted by a beam attack that leaves a perfectly round hole

and it has no impact on the everyday life of these people

other than gossip

[hazeism]

THERE IS A HOLE IN THE WORLD, AND THE LIGHT IS RUNNING OUT OF IT. THERE IS A HOLE IN THE WORLD, AND THE SEA IS RUNNING OUT OF IT.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s THE FARTHEST SHORE && angelo musco  / isabel allende / franz kafka /  marina tsvetaeva / anastasia ax / simone de beauvior / linda vachon / alexandra chu

[misericordel]

29. A memory they can’t let themselves forget

experience veyle's memories

TW: parental death

“this is your dragonstone.” comes a warm and soothing voice. a woman with white and black hair kneels before her. veyle is too young to understand this moment, barely a toddler in terms of a fell dragon’s lifespan.

“this is what makes you different from your mama, veyle.” she explains softly. “…different?” veyle tilts her head, ever the curious little girl a kid will always be— even if she was a fell dragon. “yes thats right. different.” her mama smiles. “with this dragonstone, you can transform into your dragon form. just like your papa and all your siblings.” the woman hands her dragonstone to her child, veyle clutching it carefully in her hands. “it’s heavy.” veyle frowns as her pale and skinny arms struggle with its weight. she doesn’t like the feeling of holding something that she struggled to even carry around. her mama laughs lightheartedly.

 “yes sweetheart. it has incredible power within it— it has to be heavy. but when you grow up it’s going to feel like nothing at all.” her mama chuckles, patting her child’s shoulder. veyle smiles slightly up at her mama. her mama who was warm and kind. her mama who was not at all like her papa— or at least what she’s heard of her papa. she still had yet to meet any of her family. her mama was really protective of her, for some reason.

“i want you to hold onto that, veyle. and then when the time comes and you need its power. call on it for me.” her mama’s hands cradle the ones that now carry her dragonstone.

when the time comes and you need its power. call on it for me. a now older veyle stares at the corpse before her as she remembers these words.

her mama was dead. the villagers had killed her, and then in turn veyle had hurt them. she had used the dragonstone for the first time in her life and she had used it to Hurt. “mama…” she whispers, her nose scrunching and her body trembling. tears form in the corner of her eyes. “i’m scared mama. i don’t want this power.” she whispers, her voice cracking with the pressure. “you’re dead because of them, but i don’t want to hurt them.” she cries, her hands clutching her dragonstone tighter. the dragonstone was what made her different… but right now, she didn’t want to be different. if she wasn’t different, her mama would still be alive.

she gets on her knees, placing the dragonstone on her mama’s unmoving chest. “thank you for everything you have done for me, mama. this stone… my heart will always be with you.” she whispers. she gets up, climbing out of the shallow hole with a grief stricken expression. she buries her mama’s body with her dragonstone and for a moment she simply stands there.

and then she weeps. she stands there with her hands on her face and she sobs in the face of her mama’s pitiful grave. a dirt patch with not even a headstone to her name.

with how long it has been since then she doesn’t remember the location of her dragonstone anymore, nor of her mama’s corpse, but veyle will always remember the moment she left her heart with her mama. no matter how long it has been. no matter how old she grows.

[queerbaitesque]

the uchiha and the senju are both cursed houses by the way. one cursed with never forgetting, and the other cursed with being forgotten. one cursed with a love so intense yet private that doesn't let anyone from the outside in, the other cursed with a selflessness so great that it lets everyone in and the clan dies out immediately after founding the village. both of them cursed with grief and both of them cursed with constant desecration from those who would seek to steal their powers, which are a curse in and of themselves.

[e-b-reads]

Book(s) of the month: April 2022

Plus: April Library Readathon wrap-up!

OK, the wrap-up is: thanks to a slightly ridiculous binge of one series in the middle of the month + the library’s ebooks system, I finished 29 books in April, 28 of which were library books (!). (A couple of those are technically novellas/short stories, but they still count on StoryGraph, so they get included.)  I didn’t actually finish all of the physical books I checked out during April (or even some of the ones I’ve had since March!) but this is pretty normal for me, just more noticeable with the end-of-month deadline.  I’ll get to them at some point!  For now, here’s my books of the month for April (all library books, which I guess was pretty statistically likely):

- Loot (Jude Watson): This middle grade heist book (and it’s sequel) are so readable. It’s like the adrenaline rush of an adult thriller, except you can be very sure the kids won’t die, so instead of seriously worrying about that, you’re wondering how the heck they’re going to work this issue out.  (The main character’s father does die in front of him right at the beginning of this book, which I was a little startled by just in terms of this being a children’s book, but it wasn’t incredibly graphic.)  There’s some sweet moments (and some drama) drawn from the found family relationships between the kids, but also there’s ridiculous, skillful hijinks.  Not a super deep book, but a very fun read.

- The Witness for the Dead (Katherine Addison): I wrote in an earlier librareadathon post that this reminded me a little of a Tamora Pierce book, in the way the worldbuilding is detailed and intense, but also revealed in ways that are directly relevant to the plot.  Also (like, it seems, everyone who’s read this) I want to shake Celehar and say “People care about you!” and then give him soup.  I look forward to the sequel!

- Death Comes to the Village (Catherine Lloyd): OK, bear with me here: I actually read 4 of the 8 books in this Kurland St. Mary Mystery series this month, and I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m liking them so much.  The mysteries are guessable but not too simple, twisty but light.  The regency romance between the two main characters that plays out in the background of the series is fun.  But there’s also something about the dynamic between those two that I really like; I think that in some way, despite some of the generalizations all the characters make (in a fairly period-typical way) about gender and gender roles, the two are way more equal than a lot of regency hetero couples.  This is, in a way, forced onto them by main guy’s permanent injury and PTSD from the Napoleonic Wars, and it took all 4 books for me to really decide, but I think it holds up so far.

[picklepie888]

Friendship ended with Jonathan Harker. Now unnamed wolf lady is my new blorbo.

[solcarow]

.

[moggetbright]

help I’m absolutely feral listening to the view between villages and thinking about remus lupin

[nobodieshero-main]

another possible idea for tfc could be that they never make it to the ocean at all, and instead R is killed in Slova's place