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My (current) Fave Bands with Less than 200k Listeners
One thing I love about going to live shows is finding new bands. Sure, I may be going for one band in particular, but I will dive into the others before the show every time. The thrill of finding new music and supporting smaller artists is just as, if not more, fun than the bigger ones. As one of my newer fave bands (The Funeral Portrait) just hit the 1 million listener milestone, I decided I wanted to highlight some of the smaller bands captivating my playlists.
5. POET the Band
I discovered POET the Band last week when I acquired tickets to see Savage Hands and Minute to Midnight. I knew both of the other bands – in fact Minute to Midnight is later in this list. Their sound is so good. I was shocked they only have less than 1,400 listeners. I would place them in the metal core category with a sound that makes me think of Versus Me and Memphis May Fire. Their entire EP theprolgue is a hit. Picking one for this purpose of this post was difficult, but I think I have to go with asabovesobelow.
4. nitelife
I had the pleasure of seeing nitelife live with Rain City Drive last fall. I say pleasure because these guys just put on a fun show. You can tell they love what they are doing. Billing themselves as “Soul Punk,” they are pretty unique in their sound compared to what I normally listen to. They have punk elements couched in soul beats and electronics. It gets you grooving.
3. Galleons
Galleons showed up randomly in my If Not For Me radio list one night. I have a habit of hearing a song and rabbit trailing through their artist page. The song that drew me in was DeLorean which opens with the line “I don’t want to be another memory, I want to be a haunting reminder.” Love it. The rest of the lyrics are haunting and sad set to an upbeat, punk rhythm. Casadastra is also high on my list of favorite Galloeons songs. Last thing, don’t sleep on their instrumentals…
2. Minute After Midnight
Minute After Midnight is another find through an artist radio. He doesn’t have a whole lot of songs – I counted 11 – but what he has is highly enjoyable. The newest release, Flames, hits all of my metal core boxes. Ghost, a bit more melodic than Flames, is the song that got me hooked. I highly recommend giving the whole Minute After Midnight catalogue a play through.
1. Oni
Oni was the opening band when I saw Pop Evil and Bad Wolves last fall. I love this find. The lyrics are powerful, the rhythms driving, and he puts on a good show. Control takes the top of the list for me, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share the latest single, Shouldn’t Feel This Way. If you want a song that makes you feel all of the feels, this song is for you. Very few songs have elicited such a visceral reaction out of me. There may have been tears. As the lead singer for Pop Evil said: This band is going places.
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Fresh Friday Music Drops
Fridays are always fun. New albums drop, my release radar (usually) updates on Spotify, and alerts go out for new music videos. This week seemed extra busy for new drops. Enjoy some of my favorite finds for the week.
New Albums
Shapeshifter by Memphis May Fire
– I love this album, and will have a full review coming very soon. (Probably writing and scheduling it after this one…) Favorite song so far: Chaotic.Carnal – Deluxe Edition (5 new versions of songs!) by NOTHING MORE
– This is a re-release of Carnal with one new song, 3 remixes, and 1 live version. To be completely honest, I may like the JD Remix of Angel Song better than the original.The Place After This One – Underoath
– I haven’t had a chance to do a full listen on this one yet, but I plan to dive in soon. That said, Underoath performed Generation No Surrender when I saw them live in November, and it’s just a fun song to see live with a lot of crowd engagement.New Singles
Sleep Now in the Fire – Sum41
– Add this one to my list of incredible covers.Up From the Bottom – Linkin Park
– Very much continuing the new Linkin Park vibe.Rabbit Hole, Coward Pt. 1 – Chevelle
– First new Chevelle in 4 years, and I am digging it.Sweet Child O’ Mine – Emo Version – Todd Barriage
– My husband found this song and shared it with me. I’ve not really heard any music of his before. He seems to be primarily a cover artist. Normally, I wouldn’t include this here, but this cover is just too perfect not to share.New Music Videos
Holy Water, Ft Ivan Moody (Five Finger Death Punch) – The Funeral Portrait
– Always love me some TFP.Shouldn’t Feel This Way – Oni
– This song is just beautiful. The emotions are so raw. You can just feel it. -
Reading Trackers – Finding the Diamond in the Rough
Recently, I’ve been wanting to try to move away from things related to big businesses and trying to support more small business/entrepreneur types. I’m also willing to support like-minded businesses and move away from those who’s value don’t align with mine. (Looking at you, Amazon…even as I struggle with a massive Kindle Unlimited addiction. Please send help and recommendations that work with Kindle!)
In line with this, was a desire to move away from GoodReads to a different, better book tracker. Honestly, GoodReads isn’t even that great. The only feature I even slightly miss was the fact that GoodReads automatically updated with how much I read daily and when I started or finished a book because it linked directly into my Kindle. Other than that? I was constantly having to fix little bits and pieces of information. I’d end up with duplicated reads thank to the only feature I liked, making this feature more of a catch-22.
StoryGraph
When I joined BlueSky (follow me here), #BookSky introduced me to StoryGraph. Once signing up, I was able to easily import my information from GoodReads. Suddenly, I was in chart-nerd heaven. There are stat charts for just about anything. Genre, moods, authors, book length, pages read, books read – they have it all.
StoryGraph’s interface is relatively user-friendly. I wish you didn’t have to click into the books to track, but that’s just personal preference. The “track progress” interface is also just…lacking. It’s hard to put a finger on why it feels overly cumbersome, but in talking with some other book friends, the general consensus in the group is that was just don’t like it. If you want to track pages you read daily or even just track days read with non-specific read amounts, it’s just not inherently user-friendly.
Overall, I really like StoryGraph. I have used it for several months now and absolutely do not miss GoodReads.
Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stats Tracking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Recommendations: Yes
Book Recommendations Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mobile: Yes
Desktop: Yes
Premium: Yes, but you can be perfectly happy on the free versionBookmory
Bookmory was recommended to me by a friend when I was asking for reading tracking apps. For the sake of this post, I decided to give a try and play around with it. Importing information was relatively easy. I was able to import directly from my StoryGraph, which at this point was more up to date than the my Good Reads, though GoodReads was also an option. The import process went smoothly; the import itself? Not so much. The import was missing many read dates as well as have missing or completely incorrect book covers.
Additionally, zero stats imported. Even though I have read several books this year, none of it imported into the stats. Part of this may be due to the missing dates on some of the books, but even browsing the stats from previous years where I had seen dates import, there were no stats included. I would have to sit and go through my entire collection of read books to update read dates to try and get any stats.
I added a couple of dates to books to see what the stats would look like. Beyond the number of books read for the year, most of the stats are behind an ad gate or you could pay for their service ($28.99/yr). Now, I’m all for supporting a small business (I actually bought a month of StoryGraph Premium to see the *additional* stats and the supporter for Hardcover to get Librarian status), but I don’t like to be forced into it by either having to pay or watch annoying ads to do anything of value.
Bottomline, Bookmory doesn’t provide enough stats or unique feature to be worth my time or money in unlocking them. This one was deleted almost as quickly as it was installed.Ease of Use: ⭐⭐
Stats Tracking: ⭐ (because they are pay-walled)
Book Recommendations: No
Book Recommendations Quality: N/A
Mobile: Yes
Desktop: No
Premium: Yes – and it’s necessary to function unless you like watching ads for everythingFable
Fable was another recommended app by a book-loving friend. It’s not just for books, though, Fable also tracks tv shows. First impression was, “This is a very busy app.” There is a lot going on. The home page does have your current read as well as handy little “I read today” button that leads you to being able to track # of pages or percentage of book read. This is a nice, easy tracking feature missing in many apps.
Fable really seems to be more of a social media platform first, book tracker second. The home page, other than the small tracker at the top, is full of book-oriented social posts. I’m sure this could be more curated once you start to follow people, but my initial page was just Fable mods and people hyping Fourth Wing. You can also join clubs to connect with similar genre loving readers.
The stat tracking is not terrible, but it is rather generic. Most of the stats are simply books read in several formats – bar month by month, calendar by month, and goal for the year tracker. There is a genre stat circle graph, but that’s really the only unique tracker they offer. They have a generated “Reader Summary” which, by the info, is a hand-written description by their editorial team that is tagged to you through the use of an algorithm based on your reads. Mine is:
Heroic Reader: Like the best characters in your books, you’ve embarked on a journey through epic fantasy and romance books. The literary treasure chests you find along the way hold the gift of empathy.
Honestly, it’s pretty spot on. Fable would be a great app for someone looking for more connections in their reading app. Personally, it’s too busy and distracting for my ADHD brain.
Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐
Stats Tracking: ⭐⭐⭐
Book Recommendations: Yes
Book Recommendations Quality: ⭐⭐⭐ – It would be 4⭐, but the only curated recommendation feature is an AI bot. Given the Meta controversy of stealing from authors for their AI, I am hesitant to like this feature.
Mobile: Yes
Desktop: No – There is a website for signing up and information, but it has no other functionality.
Premium: No, but you can buy books directly through their app.Hardcover
Hardcover was recommended to me when I was looking for an app to be able to incorporate information into the side bar of this blog. One thing to keep in mind when exploring Hardcover is that they are very much in Beta mode. Functionality is not always consistent, the library is not very complete (many missing book covers), and some features just simply aren’t even there yet. They are upfront about this, however, so expectations were set early there may be some issues.
That said, I like the bones of Hardcover and what their future looks like. Tracking the books is a little easier than StoryGraph. You do have to click into the book from your “Currently Reading” list to access the initial “Update Progress” option in the drop down, but from then on it is in the main drop down menu. The tracker is also a slide bar, which makes updating your read quick and easy once you start the tracking.
Recommendations leave a little to be desired right now, so I am hoping for some improvement here. For some reason, my entire recommendation list is Calvin and Hobbes and various anime. I have none of that in my read list. However, my kids use my Kindle Unlimited and have downloaded these types of books to their personal devices. I still am not sure how it ended up in my feed given that none of these books are attached to the StoryGraph import I used. So, that was a little confusing.
As for stats, Hardcover is a stats nerd dream. You can look at stats ranging month, year, and life. Hardcover imported stats data all the way back to 2020 for me using my StoryGraph import. Some of the imported books are missing stats, but it didn’t take away from the information presented. Hardcover has all the stats StoryGraph has and then some. Want to see how you rated all the books by your most read authors? There’s a graph for that. How many books did you read vs add to your TBR? There’s a stat for that. Pages, ratings, emotion, genre, pace – all of it has a stat graph. It’s not perfect right now, there’s a notice at the top of the stats page that they expect a full roll out in early April, so some things are a little weird, but there is so much promise here.
Last note on Hardcover, they are pretty new. Their library of book information – covers, summaries, etc – is not great. They have a unique way to fix this. You can apply to be a Librarian for them. Filling out the form and taking some steps through their Discord channel unlocks the ability to edit books and update their library database. You can also become a supporter for $4.99/mo to unlock Librarian status and other unlocks, but the app is completely functional and robust without it. That said, if you like it, supporting them is a huge way to help them keep going.
I’m going to stick around with Hardcover. I’m excited to see what they can do as they grow and improve.
Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stats Tracking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Book Recommendations: Yes
Book Recommendations Quality: ⭐⭐ – but it’s beta
Mobile: Yes
Desktop: Yes
Premium: Yes, but it’s not necessary to enjoy the app and access functionality.What am I going to use?
I think I’m going to keep using StoryGraph and Hardcover. I’m not sure which one I like more at the moment. Storygraph has way better book recommendations and runs smoothly. Hardcover has better tracking functionality, and, while it’s a bit buggy at the moment, has a lot of potential. One can’t have too many tracking apps, right?
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Nevertake Reviews Personally
Today at midnight, Anberlin dropped the album Nevertake – a full rerecording of the album Never Take Friendship Personally with new touring lead singer Matty Mullins. The original lead singer of Anberlin, Stephen Christian, said he was taking an indefinite hiatus from touring with Anberlin in 2023. He hand-picked Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire to replace him on the tour.
However, since then, the band has released several songs featuring Mullins on lead vocals. Two of the songs on the most recent album, 2024’s Vega, featured Mullins as the lead vocal. The newest single, High Stakes, also features Mullins on lead vocals.
Anberlin is currently in the middle of touring the 20th anniversary of Never Take Friendship Personal. I had the pleasure of seeing the show early in the tour in February. It was my first time seeing Anberlin with Mullins as lead and the show did not disappoint. I was honestly nervous about how the show would sound without Christian, the vocals of my young adulthood. (Enjoy some pictures of the show throughout the review.)
This review is not about this show though that information does provide context. To say I was caught offguard when I found out Nevertake was a full rerecord with Mullins is an understatement. I knew Mullins would be the touring voice, and he is obviously providing vocals on some of the new songs, but this almost seems a step further away from Christian’s involvement in the band.
Furthermore, I have a confession…
I like Nevertake better. Like, a lot better.
I sat and made a playlist of both albums interwoven – original, new, original, new – to truly see where the differences were. After a play-through, I focused on my favorites from the album: Paperthin Hymn, (The Symphony of) Blase, and – naturally – The/A Feel Good Drag (which has the change of “the” to “a” in the re-release).
In all of them, I like the Mullins version better – especially A Feel Good Drag. I sat and thought about why. Was it just the vocals? I tend to gravitate towards heavier vocals in my music. Truth be told, while I love Anberlin, they are probably my husband’s top band ever. Christian’s vocals are softer and more melodic than Mullins’ heavier, more driving vocal style.
It’s not just the vocals though. The guitars are more vivid, the drums more pronounced. Maybe it’s a comparison of 2005 recording vs 2025 recordings, but the original music seems more muted to match Christian’s softer vocals. The new recordings seem to match the heavier direction the band wants to take.
But don’t take my word that this is the direction the band is going. During the show we attended, Mullins made it very clear that the heavier sound is all belonging to the remaining members of Anberlin. The new song he most had influence over is High Stakes and he wanted it to have a more pop-rock sound in-line of old school Anberlin.
This rerecord seems to leave a slew of questions in it’s wake for fans of Anberlin. What role does Christian play in the band going forward? Is Mullins the true future of Anberlin or is he an addition? The band photos all feature Mullins and Christian – seeming to point towards a combined future. The artist bylines on Nevertake are all “Anberlin, Matty Mullins” – indicating he is not a full-fledged member of Anberlin. Will we ever have a situation similar to the new Three Days Grace with two leader singers?
While the future of Anberlin seems unclear, I can say a few things with certainty: Matty Mullins is a perfect addition, I love the direction they are headed, and Nevertake is well worth the listen.
(Even if I feel a little guilty at liking Nevertake more than the original.)
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5 Metal Covers Better Than the Originals
It’s not secret that I am a huge metal/punk fan. My musical tastes tend to go deep rather than wide, so it’s not uncommon for me to find the metal cover of popular pop songs to be better than the originals. I know…that’s just, like, my opinion.
Stepping aside from my own biases, there are some covers that truly outrank their originals in my opinion. The emotion is ramped up, the vocals more driven, and the guitars more epic. Don’t just take my word for it. Have a listen and see for yourself.
5. Bad Romance by Halestorm
It is no secret that Lzzy Hale has vocal prowess for days. I have had the privilege of attending a Halestorm concert and her vocals are just…wow. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Halestorm knocks Bad Romance by Lady Gaga out of the park. Lzzy’s powerful and angry vocals align perfectly with the feel of the song. The driving guitar is the cherry on the top of this incredible cover.
4. Bye, Bye, Bye by Further Seems Forever
This cover, admittedly, may be tainted by a bit of nostalgia. What millennial didn’t have their high school days filled with the over-the-top boy band craze. I was a metal head then as well, but my friends? Not so much. Therefore, ear-worms such as Bye, Bye, Bye were unavoidable. When I first heard this cover by Further Seems Forever on a Pop Goes Punk album, it was a true marriage of my love of metal and my memories of my best friend in high school, who swore up an down she would marry Lance Bass. (If we only knew…)
3. Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm
This one almost was placed in the #2 slot simply because it may be one of the oldest covers in my playlist. While it’s hard to argue with the “King of Pop” himself, Smooth Criminal performed by Further Seems Forever wins the original vs cover hands down. Jackson’s version lacks the power captured in the cover. The beats and riffs are more noticeable and catchy in the cover, while they tend to blend together in the original. Let’s just say, when I went to compare the two, I barely even recognized the Jackson version given the preference of the Further Seems Forever cover on mainstream radio stations.
2. Careless Whisper by Seether
Growing up, my mom was a pretty decent George Michael fan. I heard Careless Whisper so many times growing up, I already knew the lyrics the first time I listened to the Seether cover. As with Bye, Bye, Bye, nostalgia may play a bit in this one being placed #2. That said, don’t let that bias discount how truly incredible this cover is. Seether replaces the haunting sax of the original with power electric guitar riffs equally as haunting. My favorite part of the entire cover is the bridge. The power and emotion in the vocals hits in all the right places leaving you feeling all of the anguish the songwriter intended.
1. Blank Space by I Prevail
When everyone you know is a Swiftie, you hear plenty of Taylor Swift songs. I’ve tried. I’ve really tried hop aboard the Swift train, but, try as I might, I just can’t. There are parts of her songs I like. Lyrics here, riffs there, but, as a whole, I just haven’t found the magic pull everyone else seems to find. Furthermore, in the effort of full transparency, I fell in love with this cover before I ever knew it was a Taylor Swift song. I knew I recognized it, and couldn’t place it. This one wins the top spot of a cover better than the original for finally making me like a Taylor Swift song.
Fun side note, the guys of I Prevail hate performing this song. They made that crystal clear when I saw them in concert and they performed it, but it is so highly requested, they give us the show we want anyway.
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Talia Wins: Metal Music Rules – My Playlist for Silver Blood
If Rachel Rener isn’t a metal-head herself, I will delete this post. A common theme in her books is the protagonists love of or interest in metal music. Metallica, Nunslayer, Godsmack – all of these bands get mentions in her books.
“‘…listening to metal music can be relaxing,’ she argued. ‘It’s a controlled outlet for processing intense emotions – anger, for one.'”
This line…*chef’s kiss*. I make the joke all the time that metal is angry music for happy people, and it’s true, at least for me. All you have to do to see my love of metal is to look at any of my other playlist posts or the “On Repeat” playlist in the widget tab – which shows my top songs of the week. The fact that Rener infuses metal into her books made this playlist all the more fun to make.
Naturally, there is some Metallica on there. I would be completely remiss not to include some of Talia’s favorite band. In her honor, Master of Puppets makes an appearance on the list. Included my personal favorite, Nothing Else Matters.
“For the time being, at least, the slightly better of two abysmal choices was to keep her under the watchful eye of the devil she knew.”
As cliche as it may seem, the song Devil You Know by Tim Montana was a must on this list for this line alone. Zayn continued with this thinking throughout the book, viewing himself as the threat Talia knew, even if she didn’t understand, more than anything else. I also think Zayn would appreciate the clean vocals, even if he doesn’t like metal.
The rest of the songs on the list are ones the made me think of Zayn’s mental state. My heart broke as he continued to tear himself down when his heart is beyond good. The way he treats Talia, Breta, Lamswyth, even just random girls in the bar who need a help to get out speaks volumes to the true nature of his character. It’s complete opposite to who what he thinks of himself.
I hope you enjoy the playlist as much as I enjoyed making it! -
“Silver Blood” – A Prequel Worth the Read
*Note: This review contains spoilers to the Gilded Blood series by Rachel Rener. I highly recommend reading the series in release order, rather than reading the prequel first.
Early last year, I blazed through the Gilded Blood series by Rachel Rener. I loved it so much, I ended up reading pretty much everything Rener had published at the time as well. When I saw she was releasing a prequel to the Gilded Blood series, I was 100% on board.
Much to my enjoyment, Silver Blood did not disappoint. The book follows Zayn’s viewpoint from the moment Talia walks into his tattoo shop through the first 2 or 3 chapters (in truncated form) of Inked. We get a clear look into the mind of our favorite tortured book boyfriend.
The insights we glean from Zayn’s point of view confirms everything we saw of him in the Gilded Blood series. He loathes the demon inside, and is entirely selfless in his interactions with those he deems innocents. He views himself as a monster to the point of near self-destruction, but he truly is anything but.
I found it interesting Rener had Zayn discover his parentage in Silver Blood. It came as a surprise revelation to readers in the Gilded Blood series, but to know he knew all along paints a different spin on some of his actions and feelings towards how Sol treated Talia throughout Gilded Blood. All of his pain surrounding Sol trying to claim Talia seems amplified knowing he was his father.
As far as prequels go, Silver Blood is near perfect in my opinion. Weaving the back story with the main story was done in such as way as to not feel forced. We see Zayn’s POV on their one-night stand, how he protected Talia for years before letting her in, and his reaction to Roy’s snake tattoo shenanigans. Upon finishing, I wanted to dived right into a re-read of Inked and keep the story going.TL:DR Details
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓 (Just read the dedication – there are 25.)
Diversity of characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Inclusion of lifestyles: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Favorite Quotes:
“You don’t exactly come off as someone with anger issues.”
“Yeah, because I listen to a lot of death metal.”“Despite everything, she remained the singular bright spot in my bleak existence. I couldn’t openly love her, but I could cherish her. I couldn’t hold her, but I could protect her. And while I would never again be her lover, I would forever be her guardian and steadfast friend – albeit in my own quiet distant way.”
“…it was almost as though destiny had devised a greater plan of its own for me, and I was just along for the ride.”
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Music for Empowering Women – Weyward’s Playlist
Weyward by Emilia Hart didn’t inspire a lot of music in me as I read it. I think the dark themes in the book made it hard to find the light in the moment that music brings to me. After reading, and for the purpose of this post, I went to build a playlist, and was drawn to songs of women empowerment. I guess, in that sense, the book hits it mark of building the resilience of women. You can find my review of the book here.
First, I found a pre-built playlist of songs for survivors put out by domesticshelters.org. The songs were suggested by survivors of domestic violence that have empowered and inspired them in their journeys. I would be remiss if I didn’t include it here. “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks is a particularly fitting song for Weyward.
Once I gained a little inspiration from their list, other songs from my own inner repertoire of music began to present itself. Some of these songs made me directly think of the book. For example, “Monsters” by Shinedown is highly fitting for Kate’s moment of power. “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed made me think of Violet and her father.
Others, such as “Titanium” by David Guetta ft. Sia and “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus just spoke to me in the sense of general female empowerment. (Sidenote: I also included a favorite cover of “Flowers” by Fame on Fire just because.) I also included some of my favorite mental health songs such as “Under Your Scars” by Godsmack and “Leave a Light On (Talk Away the Dark)” by Papa Roach.I truly hope any woman in situations the women in Weyward find themselves in find their way to freedom. Seek help. Please. There are others out there willing to help you even if they don’t even know you. You are worthy of love and worthy of a life well-lived. If you find yourself in need of help, please check out https://www.domesticshelters.org/ for help near you.
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“Weyward” – Book Review
Weyward by Emilia Hart Simultaneously following the timelines of three inter-connected women, Weyward by Emilia Hart explores the mystique of what it would look like for the magic and mystery of old to appear in as a subtle force modern times. The three women are connected through bloodlines. The first, Altha lives in the times of the witch trials of old. Violet is a young girl living through the turmoil of WWII. While Kate is the most modern, entering the timeline in 2019.
Weyward covers many difficult topics. Overcoming abusive parents, abusive partners, and rape are the strongest themes in the book. While Weyward portends to show the overcoming spirit of the women involved, I walked away feeling the tragedy of generational traumas, each one living and experiencing similar traumas through different timelines seemingly repeating the misogyny of men over and over. All of the women eventually overcome their traumas, but none of them (with the exception of Kate…maybe) seem to put much value in helping future generations in overcoming. Violet, in particular and slightly redeemed in the epilogue, could have done more in helping the next generation.
Weyward needs the increasingly common content warnings at the beginning as I truly had no idea what I was entering into. Some of the scenes could be extremely distressing to readers. While Kate’s timeline in the description mentions an abusive partner, there is no indication to the traumatic themes of the other women. Part of my disappointment with Weyward may even be tied to this lack of warning, as I was expecting a book of women overcoming together and was left with women overcoming alone and in the dark.
Aside from content, I found the consistent changing of point of view from 1st person to 3rd person past to 3rd person present jarring. Changing character POV each chapter was expected, but each character being told in a different way within that POV felt disruptive. I have no personal preference of 1st person vs 3rd person, but I would like it to be consistent through the whole book. Kate’s 3rd person in present tense was particularly awkward to read as it felt like it was even slipping tenses at times.
Overall, the constant POV changing and the seeming focus on the trauma more than the overcoming left me less than enthralled with Weyward. I’m willing to try more by the author, but this one simply wasn’t my cup of tea.TL:DR Details
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Spice: -🌶️(What little spice there is could be traumatic to read.)
Diversity of characters: ⭐
Inclusion of lifestyles: ⭐⭐Favorite Quotes:
“The physician spoke with confidence. He was a man, after all. He had no reason to think he would not be believed.”
“Fiction became a friend as well as a safe harbor; a cocoon to protect her from the outside world and its dangers.”
“Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us.” -
Playlist for the Enchanted Letters Series
More often than not, my brain is full of music. There is a never-ending playlist of songs feeding through my subconscious at any given moment. Most of the time, I give in to the need to quiet my ADHD brain with the music it desires. Often, a song or a lyric will pop into my head in response to something that was said or something I read. Anyone who knows me well will know that I will 50% of the time respond in a song lyric. The other 50% I’m holding it in.
This affinity for my brain to match my life to music also works with books. I will read a line a character says or a scene and instantly be transported to a song. Similarly, I can hear a song and link it back to the book I’m reading. I thought it might be fun to start putting these book playlists together and sharing them with you. As I just finished reading the Enchanted Letters series by Rebecca Ross (review here), I decided the first playlist shared would coincide with these books.
However, I built this playlist a little differently than I plan to do in the future. While I was reading these books, songs did pop into my head, but all I could think about was how they didn’t fit aesthetically. While the lyrics worked, the sound was off. After all, Ross does a great job of transporting you back in time to her early 20th century timeline. Then, it struck me: Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox is the perfect blend of modern lyrics with the swing style one might place in the early 1900s.
In building this playlist, I looked through the repertoire of Postmodern Jukebox and picked the songs that spoke to me about the book series. (Sidenote: A brand new album, Lounge Language Models, dropped yesterday. I highly recommend a listen.) Some are songs that are normally a part of my in-head playlist; others were fun finds in browsing through the catalogue. Some, like Grenade, were just too perfect to pass up. If you know, you know.
I really hope you enjoy the music!
