What is one trope you LOVE in a book and why? (I posted one on tropes you hate, I'm genuinely curious to see the differences in both!)

What is one trope you HATE in a book and why?

Do you have any book/reading takes that you think is controversial or unpopular? If so, what is it?

This post is coming to your from a tiny, backyard pub that only seats three people, but since the owner knows/loves me, it has four bookshelves. What are some fun places you have read at? (If you want to see the Frogmore Pub, I just posted a couple pictures to my Instagram, and I have definitely posted more in the past. I use the same username there.)

What are some books you adore that you rarely see recommended or being talked about? Feel free to give a little summary :) Heard about them once and then never again: - the Hostage of Empire series by S.C.Emmet. It's an adult political fantasy trilogy inspired by east asian history. It follows the lady-in-waiting of a princess being betrothed and sent over to her fiance's coutry. He's the heir and brother of 5 other princes (from the Queen and 2 concubines) and the FMC and her lady are immediately thrown into court intrigues and scheming from all sides, often with deadly results. It's brilliant and I'm constantly looking for similar books. -The Light between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth. It's a YA magical realism/fantasy about 2 sisters who crossed to another world as children and started settling there before abruptely getting sent back to our world. One sister wants to forget and move on, the other falls into deep depression, always searching for a way back. It's crazy to me that it's considered YA because it goes DARK, but I'm a sucker for that kind of "Narnia but if they delved a lot deeper with the trauma that this would have created" and that book had me by the throat. Only rarely mentionned: -The Winnowing Flame trilogy by Jen Williams. Incredibly cool and original lore, 3 povs (an excentric adventurer, a witch locked up by a cult, and a.. tree vampire? Honestly, awesome concepts) crossing paths as an acient threat comes back to life, except the race that saved the world before is now almost extinct after their life-force vanished and they turned on humans. -The Conqueror's Saga by Kiersten White. YA (once again, where??) historical fiction. Kind of retelling about the daughter (and son) of Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Dracula. It's about those kids being given to the Ottoman Empire as hostages for political gain and grow up with the son of a Sultan, and how they go from there, as their worldview change (in drastically different ways) while war is forever on the horizon. Lada, the FMC is THE anti-heroine. She's cruel, ugly, ruthless and bitter. I loved her. Her, and her sweet brother, and the sultan's son and their incredibly complicated and heart breaking dynamic while each fights for what they want (spoiler, it's incompatible). -The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. A 90s -first military- then epic fantasy about a 18yo woman running away from an arranged marriage to join a mercenary company. Very classic, old-school, it took me a while to get into the 1st, but by the end I felt like I'd gone through hell and back with Paks. -Babylonia by Constanza Casati. It's a famous author, it's wild to me that I never hear anyone talk about it. Reimagining of the rise to power of the Assyrian empire's only female ruler. It's beautiful, it's got the most toxic love triangle (but I say that as a love triangle hate. That one is mutual love and fascination, and adorable, and loyalty, and bitterness through every line of that triangle. Co-dependency, but three-way).

I want to get into audio books but don't know where to start, I don't want to use audible or Amazon related stuff so hoping you guys know about alternatives♡

I'll go first. Damn good worldbuilding. It's the foundation of fantasy. If you can't worldbuild, you can't fantasy. I love when the world takes into account dialects, evolution, differing languages amongst characters, linguistic roots, etc. Especially when they have well written fantasy history involving the world they live in?? Chefs kiss. Fantasy history is such a hard thing to balance. If you put too much, infodumping. Too little, the audience doesn't get it. You have to evenly space it and measure how much. It's like baking. Doing it well gets you a damn good cake/ story.

I got a 3yo and a 17mo, and I need some picture book recommendations! We are almost through our personal library of secondhand picture books (read multiple times). We are ready to start borrowing from the library but there are SOOOO many books to choose from there. I need a starting point hahaha.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. The worldbuilding is done so wonderfully, the characters and relationships are all well thought out and interesting, and there was never a dull moment (in my opinion, at least.) I could not put it down on my first read. I recommend this book to literally everyone I know.