Feb. 23rd, 2026 09:58 pm
Book 16, 2026
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chez_jae
My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina GordeevaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Last night, I finished reading My Sergei by Ekaterina Gordeeva. It’s the account of her relationship with her skating partner, Sergei Grinkov. I chose to read it in February because it’s both a celebration of love and for the Olympics aspect.
As a child skater in Russia, Katia is paired with Sergei, a boy four years older than she. The story recounts their journey as skating partners, from learning the basics of pairs skating to winning championships and Olympic gold. Along the way, Katia and Sergei progress from partners to friends to lovers and eventually to husband and wife and parents to daughter Daria. Theirs was a magical love story, which shone through on the ice, until Sergei tragically died of a heart attack at age 28.
This was a difficult read, since I knew how it was going to end. I still remember how shocked and saddened I was to learn that Sergei Grinkov had passed away. The story was compelling, however. It was interesting to learn about life in the Soviet Union and how things changed when the USSR broke apart, all told in Katia’s matter-of-fact manner. The love that she had for Sergei was so deep and abiding, which was both uplifting and heartbreaking. They burned so brightly, both in skating and in love, that it seemed almost inevitable that it couldn’t last.
Favorite lines:
♦ Any day I’m living now, I would exchange for any day in the past.
♦ I was such a sad, funny little mom.
♦ After the fighting is over, don’t swing your fists.
Not an easy read, but poignant and evocative. Five stars.
Feb. 22nd, 2026 04:11 pm
“With you, every heartbeat feels like magic.”
torino10154 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
firewhiskeyficThank you to everyone who participated in the Valentine round of firewhiskeyfic! We had a quiet round but there was a clear winner in each category!
Without further ado, here are the winner's banners, such as they are, but as ever, we're all winners here! ♥
( Winners and Banners )
firewhiskeyfic! We had a quiet round but there was a clear winner in each category!Without further ado, here are the winner's banners, such as they are, but as ever, we're all winners here! ♥
( Winners and Banners )
Tags:
Feb. 18th, 2026 07:11 pm
Book 15, 2026
chez_jae
Break-ins and Bloodshed by Danielle CollinsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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I finished reading Break-Ins and Bloodshed last night. It’s the second book in the “Hearts Grove” series of cozy mysteries by Danielle Collins. The main character is Henrietta Hewitt, who owns H H Antiques.
Henrietta is busy with her store and getting ready for a local festival when her friend, Ralph, asks her to help him investigate a string of recent break-ins. Ralph is a licensed PI, and he values Henrietta’s keen eye for detail. When Henrietta sees a pattern, she goes to check out the neighborhood on her own, but what she finds is a dead body. While the police investigate this new situation, Henrietta and Ralph continue looking into the burglaries. As the clues and evidence come together, Henrietta realizes the culprit may be closer than she thinks.
I enjoyed the story. It was refreshing to read a cozy mystery that involved break-ins moreso than murder. Henrietta is a likable character who makes good use of her own common sense. The plot was quick, although I would have liked to see Henrietta at work and home more. Most of the narrative involved the investigation.
Favorite line: “I got free ice cream out of it, so I think it was worth it.”
Charming—four stars
Feb. 18th, 2026 01:22 pm
WIP Wednesday
firethesoundNew words this week : 2,931 words which is somewhat less than I'd hoped for, but not entirely unexpected.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
This week was... a lot. Visit went okay, they flew home Sunday night. This morning my mother-in-law called to let us know that my father-in-law just tested positive for Covid. So far so good here, but I'm pretty frustrated that I'm going to have this hanging over my head for the next week or so until I either get sick or I don't.
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 2,349 words which brings the total to 67,708 words and is there really any feeling more frustrating than having all the motivation to write, and be entirely lacking the time?? Next chapter needs like another 1.5k to be done, and that's like. I could knock that out in a day under ideal circumstances, and circumstances so far have been very very far from ideal. But anyhow, there is now KISSING and I'm hoping to get it off to beta by the end of this week. I did some very rough math, and if I can continue at mycurrent previous pace I will finish the final chapter by the end of March. The story takes place in the spring and I'm kind of caught up in the idea of posting it around that same time, so I hope I'm able to... I'd wanted to start posting mid-March, and I guess I could still do that even though I would definitely still have a few chapters left to write, but I really feel more comfortable waiting until I've got the whole thing done, even if "done" is just a first draft.
☆ werewolf au : 582 words which brings the total to 13,921 words and I was just reflecting earlier today that if I'd known how goddamn long food truck au was going to turn out to be, I would have started working on this one first. Ugh, I'm so desperate to write it, but I'm also really trying to avoid doing that thing where I start a dozen different things and don't actually finish any of them. My 300k of unfinished and unposted HP fic will absolutely haunt me until the end of time and I'm trying my best to not repeat that experience. SO. Mostly I'm just jotting down scene bits and plot ideas as they come to me so I don't lose them, and then using this as extra motivation to get me to finish the thing I am actually trying to finish.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
This week was... a lot. Visit went okay, they flew home Sunday night. This morning my mother-in-law called to let us know that my father-in-law just tested positive for Covid. So far so good here, but I'm pretty frustrated that I'm going to have this hanging over my head for the next week or so until I either get sick or I don't.
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 2,349 words which brings the total to 67,708 words and is there really any feeling more frustrating than having all the motivation to write, and be entirely lacking the time?? Next chapter needs like another 1.5k to be done, and that's like. I could knock that out in a day under ideal circumstances, and circumstances so far have been very very far from ideal. But anyhow, there is now KISSING and I'm hoping to get it off to beta by the end of this week. I did some very rough math, and if I can continue at my
☆ werewolf au : 582 words which brings the total to 13,921 words and I was just reflecting earlier today that if I'd known how goddamn long food truck au was going to turn out to be, I would have started working on this one first. Ugh, I'm so desperate to write it, but I'm also really trying to avoid doing that thing where I start a dozen different things and don't actually finish any of them. My 300k of unfinished and unposted HP fic will absolutely haunt me until the end of time and I'm trying my best to not repeat that experience. SO. Mostly I'm just jotting down scene bits and plot ideas as they come to me so I don't lose them, and then using this as extra motivation to get me to finish the thing I am actually trying to finish.
Feb 17