Women of Myth by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy

Okay, so I do more of a "book babble" than a book review. Think of it like this, you and I meet up for coffee ☕ and a little chit chat 💬. You ask me what I'm reading. And I say "I just finished 'Women of Myth' by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy" And then you say "ummmm didn't you start that like a year ago?"

OK. Look, it hasn't been a full year, 9 months. And you know how I do this. I'm always reading a mythology or folk tales book. Usually more than one at a time. And I just kind of wander my way through them. When I read mythology I don't take the fastest highway and the shortest route, I take all the forgotten backroads and wooded trails.

And yes. I've really been taking my time with this one, and I've read a couple other folktale books in the meantime. But not for lack of love. This just felt like a book to read when the mood hits, to enjoy with extra attention and intent. I felt like there were times I just needed this book.

Originally I was going to mark the pages that had stories and myths that I wanted to add to my notes and collection o. Women in mythology and goddesses. And in the end, I think I marked 90% of this book.

These are told in little bite sized bits. And every one of them is absolutely delicious.

You know, I'm not new to mythology. And I had heard of most of the myths and goddesses in this book already. But I was surprised at how many new perspectives and tidbits were uncovered in this book. It was absolutely wonderful to revisit all these names that I knew in passing and discover new little pieces of them I hadn't known about.

It puts this book in a unique and wonderful place. Perfect for someone who maybe hasn't read a lot of mythology and wants an introduction to some of the best stories of women in mythology. But also wonderful for someone who is an absolute mythology nerd. But wants some fresh perspectives and little bits of trivia and gems they haven't run into before. I absolutely adored this book. And honestly, I wish I would have read it slower so that it didn't have to end.

Okay, so I do more of a "book babble" than a book review. Think of it like this, you and I meet up for coffee ☕ and a little chit chat 💬. You ask me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I just finished The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig".
Then you say "oh! How was it?" Me: Oh Bartholomew, it was most splendid!" You: My name isn't Bartholomew... Me: Oh pith Bartholomew. Never you worry about that. Now where was I? Oh yes, I absolutely loved the Shephard King Duology, remind me to tell you about those some other time. But I delayed a while before reading this one. My TBR pile is high, and the nights are short after all. And the hype around it seemed to be a strange brew of over enthusiasm and "it was okay I guess".

But I must tell you Bartholomew, the naysayers were misguided. This book was most delightful. I daresay, Rachel Gillig has single-handedly made riding on a horse with a knight sexy again. But that's honestly just a happy byproduct.

This is everything I want in a fantasy book. Interesting strong characters, a creative magic system, a world building through narrative not garrulous exposition. And a story that is more than engaging, more than enchanting. Why Bartholomew it was a marvelous tale and had me gasping outloud in public places.

Between this and the Shephard King Duology, Rachel Gillig has officially joined my shortlist of authors I will read anything and everything by.

• T. Kingfisher
• Ali Hazelwood
• Alix E. Harrow
• Lyonne Riley
• Jeff Vandermeer
• Rachel Gillig

And a special thanks to friend Bartholomew who talked me into reading this sooner rather than later. And Bartholomew, I'm so sorry for all the reading update texts that just said "and she's still not wearing shoes!!!!"

Okay, so I do more of a "book babble" than a book review. Think of it like this, you and I meet up for coffee and a little chit chat. You ask me what I'm reading, and I say "Oh, I just finished the Pack Darling books by Lola Rock". And then you say "oh really? how were those?" And then I say...

Ohhhhhhh honey they were spicy. But like, slow burn spicy. But also spicy from the first bite too. These are omegaverse stories, and I think there are some general baseline things that are just understood in an omegaverse book that I probably didn't have going in to these. I've read paranormal romance, werewolf stories and shifter stories. But not all that many omegaverse stories. So in the beginning I kept asking "wait, are they human? Are they going to change under a full moon? Are they super human?". I kinda had to let that go and just go along for the ride before I could enjoy it.

I feel like Part 1 in general was a lot of settling in and building the backstory. I'll be honest, I liked part 1, but I didn't fall in love with it. It was fun. I loved the way that scents were described so well. The scents were such an important part of the characters personalities, and I remember how they smelled as much as their name. And the one liners in this book left me cackling with glee.

There was a good bit of trauma and toxicity in the first part. It was honestly uncomfortable at times. So check the trigger warnings if you pick this up. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because it all played into part two.

But this is a second chance story at heart, and in the second half the healing and repairing begins. And that felt wonderful. That's where I went from just liking these books to really loving them. I'm so glad I stuck with this story. All of the struggle and trauma in part 1 made all of the rebuilding, healing and joy in the part 2 feel that much sweeter. And overall, I loved this story for that journey it took me through. And... did I mention the spice?

I do more of a book babble than a book review. I imagine you and I sitting down together getting coffee and catching up and you asked me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I recently read 'Dear Sylvia, Love Jane' by Erin Hall". And then you say "oh! How was that one?" And then I say....

Okay, you know how we've talked about not judging a book by it's cover and how we both firmly disagree with that worn out idiom? Because a beautiful cover? or gorgeous edges? Heck yes I'll take it. Well this book first landed on my TBR because Jennifer Prince did the cover and I LOVE her artwork! And I'm glad I picked this one up!

This was such a fun story. It's a noir style mystery but with a bit of a twist. A sapphic twist, which are the best twists. The main character is private detective Molly Malone. She's smart, sassy, and capable. She's good at what she does, but in 1943 San Francisco it's an uphill battle for her. She has to let her friend be the face of the private investigation business even though she's the brains and the skill behind it's success. And then in the spirit of any good noir story we get the "and then she walked into the office" moment. A mystery unfolds, a mysterious woman with closely held secrets needs her help, and the queer community in San Francisco is threatened by the rich and powerful bigots. I loved the main character, Molly Malone. She was so interesting, and I want more of her!

I've never really fully gotten into the whole noir scene. I love the dark mystery and the shadowy alleys. But the sexism and misogyny that seems to be woven into so many of those stories has always kept me from completely enjoying them. But this style of noir? I'll take soooo much more of this!

I do more of a book babble than a book review. I imagine you and I sitting down together getting coffee and catching up and you asked me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I finished up the first Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman". And then you say "oh! How was that one?" And then I say....

Okay, don't hate me. I liked the book. It was fun. But I didn't loooove it, you know? Oh don't look at me like that. I know, I know. This book should be checking off all my nerdy boxes, right? Characters get player starts, it reads like a D&D adventure, there's talk of levelling up and achievements and special abilities, all the nerd things!

And again, I liked it. I'm not hating on it. But there were just a few things that kept it from being an absolute "loved it" for me.

I never ever want to yuk on someone else's bookish yum. And there were definitely parts that I smiled at and laughed and cheered during.

I LOVE Princess Donut. And I love Zev. And I loved the bonus chapter about Rory.

But there were also parts I cringed at. And maybe it's more me and where the world is right now. Maybe if I'd read this years ago, or years in the future, I'd feel differently. But for me right now it's an okay book in the end. Fun, sometimes funny, often problematic, easy to read.

It made a fun book to play in the background while baking though.

Galatea by Madeline Miller I do more of a book babble than a book review. I imagine you and I sitting down together getting coffee and catching up and you asked me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I recently read the short story 'Galatea' by Madeline Miller". And then you say "oh! How was that one?" And then I say....

I've got to tell you, for such a small book, there is sooo much in this story. It's just a smidge over fifty pages, just about the right amount to read over afternoon tea and a couple freshly made snickerdoodle cookies.

It's based on the greek myth of a statue that is brought to life and given to the man who created her as a wife. It's not a myth that I knew before I read this, and I think that's okay. But I don't know if t his is a retelling, a complete re-envision or just a sort of filling in the gaps. I'm not sure that it matters though, because in these few pages the author creates something so true, so insightful and so tragically moving that it feels like a myth for our world today. I don't want to say too much because it's so short that any detail is probably a spoiler.

But I feel like every single page in this story is worthy of contemplation. Being locked away from the world, the love for her daughter, the ideals that women are held to, the way that society would rather have a preternaturally beautiful but unmoving frozen woman rather than a living breathing imperfect one. The lengths that we will go to to grasp some little semblance of agency in our own lives. But also the soft instinct to be pleasant and not make trouble that can become a prison of our own making. And the lengths we will go to for the love of our children.

That is all in this short little story. I absolutely recommend it. I love short stories. I think a well constructed short story is one of the most beautiful things ever created. And this one is one of my favorites.

I do more of a book babble than a book review. I imagine you and I sitting down together getting coffee and catching up and you asked me what I'm reading. I say "Oh, I finished 'Dire Bound" by Sable Sorenson. And then you say "oh! How was that one?" And then I say....

Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you my friend. I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it. I feel like my run of 5 ⭐reads to start 2026 is balancing out. I liked the pacing, it was VERY readable, and especially in the last half of the book it had that "one more chapter, just one more chapter" pull to it. And if I had read it right after Fourth Wing when I was hungry for another book like that, or if I hadn't read Fourth Wing at all, I think I would have like it more. But reading it years later when we've had so many Fourth Wing-ish books already, I just found it a bit too predictable and a bit too much reminiscence of Fourth Wing. I loved the wolves though! I just wish we'd gotten more of them. I could get nit-picky on the specific things I didn't like. But I don't want to do that.

Instead, I want to tell you why reading this book was so much fun. I did this as a buddy read with @nicole.audiobookjunkie And even if the book was my favorite, doing it as a buddy read was so much fun. The conversations we had made me laugh and think. We were pretty much on the same page on how we felt about the book. And our shared eye rolls, trading predictions, and gasps (there are some legit plot twists) and looking up trivia on actual dire wolves and wolf pack behavior was so much fun! Honestly, doing the buddy read with her took this from a book slog to something I looked forward to every day.

And it was a book club book at @lakecity.books They are always so much fun, and the conversations are always great. We were probably more divided on our opinion of the book that any other. But honestly, that made it so much fun. My face hurt from smiling and I was laughing so hard at some of the "but wait, think about it..." directions the conversation took.

So my friend, all that is to say, even if the book isn't the best, reading and talking about it with friends is always the best thing in the world.