#by c.m. waggoner

[allonsybadwolf]

January reading stats!

I've been trying out the storygraph this year as an alternative to Goodreads (because fuck Amazon), and as a big fan of stats and graphs I think I'm officially converted

[beganavagabond007]

"It's never as easy as you hope it's going to be, but you always end up knowing more than when you started."

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

This is a cozy paranormal mystery that features an amateur sleuth and middle-aged librarian named Sherry Pinkwhistle. The body count keeps rising in her quaint village, and after her lover becomes one of the victims, her cat is possessed by an ancient talking demon, and the villagers start acting strange, she begins to suspect that something supernatural is afoot. And that she might need an exorcist as well as the police.

So, banding together with the new priest, who is not keen on demon possession, as well as an array of village friends, who are an eclectic mix of grieving widow and neighborly busybody, they form the Demon Hunting Society. However, it is up to Sherry to solve the case and rid the town of demons.

If I had to characterize this, I'd say it was a mix of Murder, She Wrote and Miss Marple with a sprinkling of the occult. I thought it worked well as a cozy mystery because of its Stars Hollow-like setting and its quirky, endearing characters, but the supernatural elements felt out of place at times. Almost unnecessary. Granted, I did find the Lord Crowell cat possession to be humorous at times. However, I think I might've preferred the story without the paranormal elements because it would have made for a more seamless narrative.

All in all, though, this was lighthearted and amusing. A perfect read for snug autumn vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

3/5 stars

**Follow me on Goodreads

[abookishidentity]

Books I recently checked out of the library

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske- I read A Marvelous Light and I thought it was pretty damn good. I decided to check out the two other books because I like the world building so much.

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske- Might as well get the third book as well. I was going to wait until I read more of my reading list but I didn't want to wait.

A Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C. M. Waggoner- This book seemed interesting to me. However I didn't realize this was a sequel until just now so I can't really read it. i need to research books more. The first book isn't at my local library but it's at a different library so at least theres that.

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley- This is the sequel to The Rook which I liked but I wasn't going to continue. After thinking about it I decided I would read it.

[rosy-avenger]

"Fuck me, Winn. This ain't a particularly favorable turn of fucking events," Delly said, the second they were out on the street, the number of syllables in her personal lexicon being proportional to her perception of egregious enfucktation in her current, present, and unfortunate familial circumstances.

-The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

[usedgingertwinkhole]

We Are the Ants Summary:

Henry is periodically abducted by aliens, who give him a choice: push a button to save the world, or let it end in 144 days. With all the pain he's lived through, he's all for letting it end, but Henry decides to take his time to weigh the pros and cons of life, reflecting over bullies, grief, forgiveness, and the people just now entering his life who he isn't ready to lose just yet. The novel follows Henry over those 144 days as he struggles to decide the fate of the world as he begins to fall in love with the new boy in town.

The Unnatural Magic Duology Summary:

Gender doesn’t have to exist on the binary we think it does. Poverty can do more to people than we like to admit. And genius little girls and their eccentric mentors WILL take over the world if we let them.

[sapphic-book-tournament]

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Dellaria, the thief with a heart of gold is even more down on her luck than usual. But, then she sees a want ad from a rich young woman who needs a female bodyguard who can use magic. Dellaria is a bit of a witch and can use magic, and, she also has a silver tongue, and, so, she starts as one of the bodyguards.

She doesn’t really think that her boss has anything to worry about, and yet, then come the attacks, and, so, maybe there really is something to the lady’s need for bodyguards. Can she save her boss?

Dellaria was an interesting character. Definitely not the prototypical perfect protagonist. Instead, she definitely has some problems and such, but, on occasion she does try to be better instead of just surviving, although, let’s just say it’s not a straight line. A fun fantasy read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton, or Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry byC.M. Waggoner

[reviewsthatburn]

UNNATURAL MAGIC explores sexism and racism in a fantasy setting, following a human girl trying to learn magic when her brilliance is seen as threatening rather than extraordinary, a troll trying to figure out what she wants (given her mother's expectations) and the human man she finds in the snow and nurses back to health. Eventually, they all end up working to try and stop a series of murders of trolls by humans, which is a recently brutal escalation of long-simmering resentment between their two peoples. 

Onna's storyline involves sexist expectations of her as a girl, not quite yet a woman. The whole reason she leaves her home country is because she was denied entry to a magical academy  because the examiners dismissed her as a village girl. Her class was less of a factor than her gender, but the combination of the two meant they ignored her on a technicality.

This is the first book in what is thus far a set of two books in the same world. This one doesn’t seem to be specifically setting up anything to be resolved later, but I suspect that if and when I do read the next one I might realize things I didn’t notice on this read through. For now, this functions as a stand-alone book and can be treated as such. It resolves its own major plot points and while it gives an idea of what the characters may do next, it's in the broad strokes of the trajectories of their lives, not in way that specifically teases a sequel. There’s been a series of murders of trolls, spread across a pretty large area, but it seem that the humans of various regions don’t know that the problem is more widespread. While  wealthy and well-connected trolls are at the highest levels of society with a great deal of control, individual trolls are being seemingly randomly murdered and their bodies mutilated for some unknown purpose. Onna becomes involved in the investigation as part of pursuing her magical studies. Tsira (who is half-troll and half-human) and the human she rescued end up working together to try and track down the murderers after someone close to Tsira is killed. 

Full Review at Link.

[rosemariecawkwell]

TBR Pile Review: The Ruthless Lady's Guide To Wizardry, by C.M. Waggoner

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace (14 Jan. 2021)Language ‏ : ‎ EnglishPaperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pagesISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 198480586XISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1984805867 Blurb Dellaria Wells – petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch – is behind on her rent. To make ends meet, Delly talks her way into a guard job in the city of Leiscourt, joining a team of unconventional women to protect an aristocrat…

[johnnyricks]

free that poor man, he has stockholm syndrome

[happilylostinwords]

3 star reads: "The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society" by C.M. Waggoner

If you start reading The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society you might find yourself thinking “wait, is this book two or book three in a series?” because it feels like it is. I know I asked myself that question multiple times, and even checked Goodreads and Google to be sure. But reading this novel isn’t jumping into a series late. It’s definitely arranged as the potential jumping-off point for…

[beganavagabond007]

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner ❤️

[duckprintspress]

Celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s Birthday with 54 Queer Fantasy Books!

Today, January 3rd, is J.R.R. Tolkien Day—the day we celebrate the legend’s birthday. It’s hard to imagine the fantasy genre without Tolkien’s influence on it. That’s why, we figured, what better way to celebrate than by having an adventure with an awesome fantasy book? And, as this is the first time we’ve done a queer fantasy rec list, our reccing crew got very excited, with the result that this is one of the longest lists we’ve ever posted. We asked our contributors for great queer, fantasy recommendations, and boy, did they deliver! We collected a list of whooping 54 titles, all thanks to Sanne, Kelas, Shadaras, Nina Waters, Shea Sullivan, E. C., Adrian Harley, Alex, D. V. Morse, Zel Howland, Shannon, Dei Walker, Linnea Peterson and an anonymous contributor.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Witch King by Martha Wells

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

The Husky & His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

Devil Venerable Also Wants To Know by Cyan Wings

Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

Ash by Malinda Lo

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

Reforged by Seth Haddon

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling

The Bone Doll’s Twin by Lynn Flewelling

Umineko: When They Cry by 07th Expansion

The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

The Brilliant Death by A.R. Capetta

Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha

First Test by Tamora Pierce

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin

The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett

Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

What are your favorite queer fantasy books?

You can find all these books on our Goodreads bookshelf of queer fantasy books.

Did something here spark your curiosity? You can buy it through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop. 

So many books means so much to talk about! Come, join our Book Lover’s Discord server to chat with us about aaaaaall the books!

[abookishidentity]

Books finished in January 2024

-The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner started December 30, 2024 and finished January 1, 2025 -4/5 stars. This book was quite interesting. The first few chapters felt different than the rest of the book. The main character was an amateur detective who helped the police catch criminals and such. The reason that there was so much murder in this quaint little town and it was stuck on a time period with no internet access was because of a demon who liked seeing her solve these crimes. Then there was a tone change and shift when this is realized. The book became more interesting after this. I need to read other C.M books.

-Persephone Station by Stina Liecht started January 2, 2025 and finished January 5, 2025- 4/5 stars. Good representation, good science fiction elements, and I liked the plot. It was fun and I liked the characters a lot. It had cool aliens in it too. They had to protect the aliens from capitalism essentially. Characters meeting the aliens/the original people who lived on the land and having to protect them from invading forces is always good to read.

-Network Effect by Martha Wells started January 6, 2025 and finished January 8, 2025- 4/5 stars. It's always good to read about Murderbot again. They are such an interesting character. I liked how different this book was. We got the perspective of murderbot, a different killerware version of it, and a newly freed SecUnit. That was cool. I love Muderbots interactions with the humans. Muderbot seems to be having major feelings in this book.

-Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey started January 8, 2025 and finished January 13, 2025- 3/5 stars. I did not care for this book overall. It was cool that humans populated different planets and there was this virus going around infecting people. But this book was written and published in a different time. If I had read this over ten years I may have enjoyed it but sadly I don't now. There were lines here and there that made me want to throw the book. Also I don't want to read about cops. Even though Miller was fired and all that, an ex cop is still a cop. Not going to read more of this series.

-My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan started January 13, 2025 and finished January 15, 2025- 4/5 stars. This was easier to digest than the previous book. A young trans father doing everything he can to provide for his daughter and gets an advanced AI implanted in his head. This is a world in which technology, like computers and robots, are shut down because of some virus. It seemed at first that all technology was banned but that seemed like it would be unrealistic. It does exist just in basic forms. Once again, the main character essentially falls for a cop. Also I don't know how you can have a relationship with someone if you had shot them in the stomach. Overall a good book though.

-A Bid to Rule by Novae Caelum started January 16, 2025 and finished January 20, 2025- 4.5/5 stars. This is the first book in the series technically but it's the third to be published? Anyway its a prequel which means there isn't much tension because you know at least three characters aren't going to die. This is such a fascinating world. The rulers can do shapeshifting and can really fall into the characters they are trying to be. The main character does an inception kind of shapeshift. He was pretending to be a certain character who was pretending to be another character. It's fucking wild. Good series. I highly recommend.

-Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow started January 21, 2025 and finished January 23, 2025- 4/5 stars. A woman tries to con a rich ass man to marry her so she can take half his money but the man's stepsister is on to her con. It's gay and it's in space. What more do you want? I liked this a lot.

-Gnomon by Nick Harkaway started January 24, 2025 and finished January 28, 2025- 3/5 stars. Interesting plot. I like that it's different than the other book I read of the author. I wish we got more of the actual scary science fiction setting instead of the stories of the people in the dissident's head. The book was way too long. Or perhaps I just wasn't into it as I should have been. I like the ending though.

-Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree started January 29, 2025 and finished January 30, 2025- 4.5/5 stars. This book was so relaxing to read after the previous book. I liked this book more than Legends and Lattes mostly because I just love reading about bookstores and libraries. I loved Potroast and Fern's way of talking. Sachel was incredibly cool as well. This was such a fun and quick read.

[sapphicbookclub]

Sapphic Books List: Bodyguards

What’s better than women protecting other women? Explore the lives of body guards, knights, and guns for hire!

Fantasy:

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy

Alpennia series by Heather Rose Jones (Daughter of Mystery, The Mystic Marriage, Mother of Souls, Floodtide)

The Queen’s Curse by Natasja Hellenthal

Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon

Elemental Attraction by K. Aten

Science fiction:

Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth)

Godfall series by Barbara Ann Wright (Paladins of the Storm Lord, Widows of the Sun-Moon, Children of the Healer, Inheritors of Chaos)

House of Fate by Barbara Ann Wright

Contemporary:

Break in the Storm by Sherryl D. Hancock

Securing Ava by Anne Shade

The Bodyguard Affair by Anna Stone & Hildred Billings

Protecting the Lady by Amanda Radley

Guarded Desires by Anna Stone

Honor series by Radclyffe (10+ book series)