Sep. 12th, 2025 10:39 pm
Book 89, 2025
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chez_jae
Zombie Moon by Lori DevotiMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
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There was precious little left of my work book after lunch today, so I brought it home and finished it. The book was Zombie Moon by Lori Devoti. It belongs to the Silhouette ‘Nocturne’ line of paranormal romance. Main characters are Samantha Wagner and Caleb Locke.
Samantha never believed in things that go bump in the night until she receives a video of her BFF, Allison, reacting with fear to someone she calls “the Doctor”. The video convinces Sam that zombies are real, and that she needs the help of Caleb Locke, the most infamous zombie hunter out there, to rescue Allison. What Samantha doesn’t know is that Caleb is a werewolf.
Caleb chose to become a werewolf to better hunt and destroy zombies. His parents were killed by zombies, and he’s made it his mission to eliminate them. If only he could find out where they were coming from. Enter Samantha, who seems to have an inside track via her friend Allison. Caleb doesn’t want to work with Sam, but if she can help him find where the Doctor’s lab is, he will. Unfortunately, his wolf has decided it wants Samantha.
Nothing soft or humorous about this story; it was violent and gritty. It would have made a better urban fantasy than a paranormal romance. I could have done without Caleb and Sam falling in love over the course of about three days. Not everything was resolved by the end, which irked me. The female lead wasn’t sexually assaulted, however, which is refreshing for a Nocturne book.
Favorite lines:
♦ The heyday of zombies was fifty years past; ghosts were the new supernatural black.
♦ She had jumped out of one fire and into the arms of an inferno.
The story was well-written but not my cup of tea. Average score of three.
Sep. 10th, 2025 01:03 pm
WIP Wednesday
firethesoundInto week #4 of disruptions and horror of horrors, I woke up today with an irritated and gunky throat. Pray with me it's not covid because the last time Mr FTS went into the office (he's work from home like 95% of the time) he brought home covid and because life is unfair he always has a day or two of mild cold symptoms and bounces right back and I spend a week feeling like I got hit by a bus. I have so much stuff to do this weekend I can't afford to be sick right now.
New words this week : 5237 words which is a little behind where I wanted to be but yesterday's wordcount was 82 so accounting for that I'm still being pretty consistent on the days I do get words done.
WIPs worked on this week : 3, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 624 words which brings the total to 16,383 words and idk why my stupid brain has switched away from this one it's So! Damn! Close! To! Done!! I've got it all down it's just a matter of filling in the missing bits and it's silly and it's fun and I'm having fun writing it and yet here we are.
☆ werewolf au : 3719 words which brings the total to 5589 words and I guess we can see what my brain's latched onto recently. I've got more of a plot worked out but it's going to be like 80% pining and smut. I am okay with this.
☆ Old Kingdom au : 894 words which brings the total to 15,235 words and this one continues to benefit from having some brainstorming time on walks and while doing dishes etc.
New words this week : 5237 words which is a little behind where I wanted to be but yesterday's wordcount was 82 so accounting for that I'm still being pretty consistent on the days I do get words done.
WIPs worked on this week : 3, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 624 words which brings the total to 16,383 words and idk why my stupid brain has switched away from this one it's So! Damn! Close! To! Done!! I've got it all down it's just a matter of filling in the missing bits and it's silly and it's fun and I'm having fun writing it and yet here we are.
☆ werewolf au : 3719 words which brings the total to 5589 words and I guess we can see what my brain's latched onto recently. I've got more of a plot worked out but it's going to be like 80% pining and smut. I am okay with this.
☆ Old Kingdom au : 894 words which brings the total to 15,235 words and this one continues to benefit from having some brainstorming time on walks and while doing dishes etc.
Sep. 9th, 2025 09:35 pm
Book 88, 2025
chez_jae
Seashells & Suspicious : A Seaside Cozy Mystery of Murder, Shell Shops, and Secrets Washed Ashore by Merlin NewtonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
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Stayed up a tad late last night to finish reading Seashells & Suspicions by Merlin Newton. Honestly, I was just done with it at that point. Main character is Lana Tidewell.
Lana has returned to Coral Bay after inheriting her late aunt’s seashell shop. When a body washes up onshore, Lana finds herself drawn into a mystery that stretches back years, one brimming with strange shells, cryptic messages, and a cult-like order. The sea is hiding secrets, and it has memories of its own. It’s up to Lana to expose the secrets and calm the sea.
The story was odd and eerie, compelling at times and vexing at others. It was fractured and disjointed with precious little continuity. It was like reading the narrative of someone’s fragmented dream. The story was chaptered, but each chapter read like a stand-alone, short story; there was no smooth transition between chapters. Characters were not fleshed out, and I don’t believe I really learned what any of them even looked like. The author was good at describing the atmosphere around Coral Bay, but not so good with the characters. It was a difficult story to sink into. Not helping were several irksome things:
( Yikes )
Favorite lines:
♦ That was the thing about small towns—they didn’t change much.
♦ Max tried to lighten the mood with a muttered joke about cursed pirate treasure and Scooby-Doo mysteries.
And, of course, the “breath” line: Lana finally let herself exhale, the kind of breath you don’t know you’ve been holding until it leaves your lungs like smoke after fire.
I wanted to like this book. It was eerie bordering on creepy—perfect to read while curled up beneath a blanket, but the story was all over the place. Many things were not resolved at all, which was frustrating, and not much made sense. I can’t condone scoring this higher than a 2.
Sep. 5th, 2025 03:46 pm
FWF: Shocktober Edition
torino10154 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
firewhiskeyfic
Mark your calendars! FWF is returning on Friday, October 3rd @ 5pm EDT | 10pm BST. We hope you can join us for a fun night of drinking, conversation, and oh yeah, creating your masterpieces!
More info and prompts will be posted the week before (though it will be a lot like it's always been). Hope to see you here!
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Sep. 4th, 2025 08:06 am
WIP Wednesday
firethesound(A day late, but I'm doing my best. We're all doing our best.)
Trying to get back to my usual routines after August is over. Whew, a long weekend and a quiet week, I thought to myself. Surprise! On Friday the window people we've been trying to get on the schedule with all freaking summer called and were like, we're going to be there next week, that works for you right? And of course we said yes because my windows are very old and desperately need to be replaced, but, le sigh. It's more routine disruption and stress and shuffling about of furniture each evening and I am very tired. It'll be worth it when I'm not trying to stuff blankets around the sills this winter to keep out the drafty cold air, and we had a couple that didn't latch properly anymore which didn't make me feel particularly safe, but seriously. The timing.
New words this week : 1338 words which is pretty fantastic considering, you know. Everything else.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 768 words which brings the total to 15,692 words and I worked out the details on one little bit I'd glossed over earlier so I'm pretty happy with that. Not much forward progress has been made otherwise.
☆ werewolf au : 570 words which brings the total to 1461 words and still not much of a plot? Just a lot of pining, and also some smut. Not a bad thing by any means, I'm sure this story will let me know what it wants to be about when it's time to write it.
Trying to get back to my usual routines after August is over. Whew, a long weekend and a quiet week, I thought to myself. Surprise! On Friday the window people we've been trying to get on the schedule with all freaking summer called and were like, we're going to be there next week, that works for you right? And of course we said yes because my windows are very old and desperately need to be replaced, but, le sigh. It's more routine disruption and stress and shuffling about of furniture each evening and I am very tired. It'll be worth it when I'm not trying to stuff blankets around the sills this winter to keep out the drafty cold air, and we had a couple that didn't latch properly anymore which didn't make me feel particularly safe, but seriously. The timing.
New words this week : 1338 words which is pretty fantastic considering, you know. Everything else.
WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)
The Old Guard
☆ food truck au : 768 words which brings the total to 15,692 words and I worked out the details on one little bit I'd glossed over earlier so I'm pretty happy with that. Not much forward progress has been made otherwise.
☆ werewolf au : 570 words which brings the total to 1461 words and still not much of a plot? Just a lot of pining, and also some smut. Not a bad thing by any means, I'm sure this story will let me know what it wants to be about when it's time to write it.
Sep. 2nd, 2025 08:33 pm
Book 87, 2025
chez_jae
Tall Tail: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery by Rita Mae BrownMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
Stayed up a wee bit late last night (early this morning) to finish reading Tall Tail by Rita Mae Brown. It’s the 25th “Mrs Murphy” book, starring Mary Minor Haristeen “Harry”, and her pets: Mrs Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker.
Harry is nearly run off the road by a car that subsequently crashes into a local family graveyard. By the time she reaches the vehicle, the driver, Barbara Leader, is dead. While there is no evidence to suspect foul play, Barbara was the care nurse for former VA governor (and the grandfather of Harry’s BFF, Susan), Samuel Holloway. Although diagnosed with a fatal blood disorder, Sam has been working diligently on his memoirs, and it seems he was going to deliver a bombshell that Barbara was aware of. The question becomes, was it a secret worth killing for?
For the second book in a row, the author told a parallel story, set shortly after the Revolutionary War, that featured the same characters she wrote about in the previous book. It was an interesting tale in its own right, but it consumed easily half of the book. Once again, the reason for the flashbacks did not seem to relate to the present day until the very end of the alternate story. It was a compelling tale, fraught with danger and drama, but I would have preferred to have everything set in present day. There wasn’t much sleuthing on Harry’s part, mostly because it appeared at first that Barbara had died of natural causes. The story kept me engaged (both of them!), although I would have liked to see more resolution at the end. One other thing that bugged me: It was revealed that Boom Boom’s real first name is Ursula. I could swear that we learned her given first name early in the series and that it wasn’t Ursula. Can anyone else weigh in on this?
Favorite lines:
♦ Harry considered pawprints her fashion signature.
♦ “The whole point of silver and china is they’re supposed to be inherited.”
♦ “How many ways can you frighten or outrage people so they will kill you?”
♦ “I love October. The color, the cool nights, the pleasant days.”
♦ “Politicians don’t care about people’s feelings. They want to manipulate them.”
♦ A parade is a parade, even when the lead vehicle is a hearse.
♦ “The Bible is like the Constitution. People pick out what serves their purposes.”
I prefer linear stories, not ones that skip around in time. Nevertheless, this one gets four stars from me.
Sep. 2nd, 2025 08:23 pm
August Wrap-Up / September Goals
firethesound2025 GOALS
2021 Total Wordcount Goal : 27,399 / 50,000
2021 Total Writing Days : 33 / 365
AUGUST
Whew, what a month! Multiple rounds of visitors, birthdays, my and Mr FTS's anniversary, and then the relentless life stuff continues. I did all right for the first half of the month, and as predicted got basically nothing done for the second half. I had wanted to try to post a finished fic every month through the end of the year and that did not happen. Alas, the fic I thought would be 5k has run away from me, and that plus the end of the month being bonkers meant that it just didn't come together in time.
August Wrap-Up : I finished the month with 13,609 words which is remarkably consistent of me from the month before. A total of 2 WIPs & 2 new works got words, with all words going into 4 Old Guard fics. I did meet my goal of 10k (yay!)
SEPTEMBER
My biggest goal is to get this silly runaway fic finished and posted. My secondary goal is to pick which long term fic I am going to dig in on because right now I am torn and want to do both at once.
September Wordcount Goal : 15k and I will be curious to see how it goes! I did about 13k for both July and August, but only wrote about half of each month. So in theory this should be an easy goal, but we'll see!
September Fics to Focus On
☆ food truck au : because it's so close to done already, and this time I mean it. It's currently at 15k and I have the rest of it mapped out already, so it should come together quickly (in theory, at least). Estimated wordcount, 25k.
☆ Redamancy part 4 : Adding this one in as an easy win. It's at 1.4k and mostly finished. Really this just needs one or two focused writing sessions to finish off. Estimated wordcount, 2k
And then I need to decide my next long-term project. My options are:
☆ Old Kingdom AU : This one has benefited from spending the last month marinating in the back of my brain. It's deviated significantly by now from the source material, which is what I wanted. I remain obsessed with the idea of necromancer!Joe and his loyal oathbound knight!Nicky. The bad news is that at some point during the marinating process, I'm pretty sure it's going to have a sequel. Estimated wordcount, 50k
-or-
☆ werewolf!Nicky au : Other people were talking about their love of werewolf!Nicky and here we are. I actually had the idea of writing two stories at once: a horror story from Nicky's POV and tropey Hallmark channel character-returns-to-their-small-town-from-the-big-city-and-falls-in-love thing from Joe's POV, but honestly I think it's going to end up being a rom-com all the way down, which is fine. Not much of a plot so far, just vibes. I still like the other two-in-one idea so am saving that to see what else I can apply it to. Estimated wordcount, 30k (maybe??)
2021 Total Wordcount Goal : 27,399 / 50,000
2021 Total Writing Days : 33 / 365
AUGUST
Whew, what a month! Multiple rounds of visitors, birthdays, my and Mr FTS's anniversary, and then the relentless life stuff continues. I did all right for the first half of the month, and as predicted got basically nothing done for the second half. I had wanted to try to post a finished fic every month through the end of the year and that did not happen. Alas, the fic I thought would be 5k has run away from me, and that plus the end of the month being bonkers meant that it just didn't come together in time.
August Wrap-Up : I finished the month with 13,609 words which is remarkably consistent of me from the month before. A total of 2 WIPs & 2 new works got words, with all words going into 4 Old Guard fics. I did meet my goal of 10k (yay!)
SEPTEMBER
My biggest goal is to get this silly runaway fic finished and posted. My secondary goal is to pick which long term fic I am going to dig in on because right now I am torn and want to do both at once.
September Wordcount Goal : 15k and I will be curious to see how it goes! I did about 13k for both July and August, but only wrote about half of each month. So in theory this should be an easy goal, but we'll see!
September Fics to Focus On
☆ food truck au : because it's so close to done already, and this time I mean it. It's currently at 15k and I have the rest of it mapped out already, so it should come together quickly (in theory, at least). Estimated wordcount, 25k.
☆ Redamancy part 4 : Adding this one in as an easy win. It's at 1.4k and mostly finished. Really this just needs one or two focused writing sessions to finish off. Estimated wordcount, 2k
And then I need to decide my next long-term project. My options are:
☆ Old Kingdom AU : This one has benefited from spending the last month marinating in the back of my brain. It's deviated significantly by now from the source material, which is what I wanted. I remain obsessed with the idea of necromancer!Joe and his loyal oathbound knight!Nicky. The bad news is that at some point during the marinating process, I'm pretty sure it's going to have a sequel. Estimated wordcount, 50k
-or-
☆ werewolf!Nicky au : Other people were talking about their love of werewolf!Nicky and here we are. I actually had the idea of writing two stories at once: a horror story from Nicky's POV and tropey Hallmark channel character-returns-to-their-small-town-from-the-big-city-and-falls-in-love thing from Joe's POV, but honestly I think it's going to end up being a rom-com all the way down, which is fine. Not much of a plot so far, just vibes. I still like the other two-in-one idea so am saving that to see what else I can apply it to. Estimated wordcount, 30k (maybe??)