#kiyash monsef

[terapsina]

Okay, it's been a while so here's an additional list of fantasy and sci-fi books with little to no romance in them that I've read recently and really loved.

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First post with books not heavy on the romantic subplots HERE.

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Once There Was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Kiyash Monsef.

An Iranian American girl discovers that her recently dead father was a veterinary for magical animals and that she - like him - has inherited the ability to help these animals because of a family line reaching back for hundreds of generations.

The story deals with grief, rage, neglect and how it all intersects.

But it's also an incredibly magical story that wakes up all the wonder and love for animals that most children have and some never lose.

Interspersed through the book are also short fables and legends that Marjan's father used to tell her when she was young and are now gaining new meaning as she understands that they were more than stories.

(totally also recommend the audiobook version for those who enjoy good narration. Nikki Massoud does a freaking excellent job)

(Marjan does develop subtly budding feelings for someone in the story but it's kept very, very background. On a scale from 0 to 10 the romance reaches barely a 2).

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Vespertine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Margaret Rogerson.

A story about a girl named Artemisia who is training to become a Gray Sister. A nun who cleanses the bodies of the dead so that their souls would not return as ravenous spirits that would then threaten the lives of the living.

But then her convent gets attacked by possessed soldiers and she's forced to pick up a sword holding the spirit of a very powerful revenant - a malevolent spirit of mass destruction that could possess her and kill everyone around her indiscriminately - despite not having the training of a Vespertine. So the only one who can teach her what she needs to know is the Revenant itself.

(The main character is autistic, antisocial and extremely introverted. And as for the romance, there is someone who develops feelings for her and we as the reader kinda notice it, but Artemisia the character notices nothing (also, the someone in question is not the Revenant, just thought I should clarify that). Amounts of romance in the book, like 1/10)

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A House With Good Bones ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher.

A Southern Gothic light horror with a bit of humor thrown in.

Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother so when her Paleoentomology dig falls through after she's already sublet her apartment for the next few months, she temporarily moves back in with her mother.

The mother who seems to be very stressed out while saying she's fine, and also seems to have acquired a sudden personality transplant. More specifically, she seems to have changed the house from the bright and colorful place it's been for decades, into the cookie cutter, bland (and slightly racist) fifties commercial kinda place it once was under the iron thumb of Sam's dead grandmother.

Is this some kind of weird delayed grief? Early onset alzheimers?

And why isn't there a single bug or insect in the entirety of the back yard's rose garden? Or why does she wake up to thousand's of ladybugs crawling all over each other - and Sam - one night in her childhood bedroom? And what's up with all these vultures staring at their house 24/7?

(Sam's POV is hilarious, her relationship with her mother one of the most genuinely emotional aspects of the book, and the story creepy enough to be exciting without reaching the point that would have made me throw the book down a hole for my own peace of mind. The romance... eh, there's a very nice dude Sam wouldn't mind going out with but it's not all that relevant to anything so amounts of romance don't reach past 2 out of 10).

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And finally some special shout outs to some other recently read books that I also enjoyed and that don't really have a lot of focus on the romance but that I don't feel like getting into rn.

Thornhedge ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by T. Kingfisher, Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Heather Fawcett (okay this one's a bit heavier on the amount of romance but it gets points for not being annoying and still doesn't reach past 4 out of 10 in its amount, would recommend this book for people who enjoyed The Memoirs of Lady Trent), Translation Slate ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐by Ann Leckie, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter ⭐⭐⭐⭐ by Theodora Goss (the daughters of classical book scientists like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde, Moreau and others come together to solve some White Chapel murders and maybe uncover a society that has been doing human experiments on women. 0.5 out of 10 on amounts of romance).

[slaughter-books]

Day 30: JOMPBPC: Read In December

My December, 2023 reading wrap-up! 🧡

🎉Happy New Year!🎉

[leer-reading-lire]

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

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42. Identity by Nora Roberts--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of the best things I did for myself with this book was going into the story without reading the synopsis. I legitimately knew absolutely nothing about this book and man, when that first twist happened I was HOOKED.

The familial relationships in this book were everything and I loved that there weren't any of the usual tropes in this one when it came to the romance. It was a thriller first and a romance/familial story second. I did love how all of the characters communicated and worked together, even if their dialogue was sometimes a little awkward--especially when discussing intimate things. I know all families are different, but I wouldn't confess to my mom and grandma that I just came back from a night of pure sex LOL. But hey, to each their own.

The love interest was interesting. I really liked him and his blunt delivery, but sometimes he DID push that line of like "Alright, I guess we're just going with this." It was funny watching these two come together and I'll be honest, when he was a certain way (which I know is just his personality), I thought "wow, our standards are flat against the floor." While the relationship sometimes felt stilted, it didn't detract too much from the story for me.

Now the villain was something else. He was creepy and horrendous. I actually pictured his face changing from when he first meets the MC to when he sees her sick friend. It's horrendous and he was so well written--especially when we get to see his steady decline into even more madness.

Overall, this was FUN and had some very disturbing moments. Roberts is a little too good at writing someone who thinks so horrendously and does some horrible things to his victims. I recommend this for the sweetness of the family and a character who loves her job, but also for the creepy POV of the serial killer.

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43. The Unknown by Katherine Applegate--⭐️⭐️

It's been a few weeks since I've read an Animorphs book because the library holds time is sometimes brutal. Why am I mentioning this? Because this was one of the rare books in this series that I didn't feel any urgency to read. I'll be super honest: This one felt like a weird dream. Half the time I was confused about how the characters got to certain points in the story.

I'll still be reading the rest of the series, of course, but this one was just okay. I do love these adventures, but this felt almost like a filler book?

Anyway, onto the next one!

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44. The Titan's Bride Vol. 1 by ITKZ--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will admit that while this storyline was actually sweet and pretty intriguing, this book is...nearly all porn. Had me blushing through the whole thing. I'm intrigued by where the story is going and I'm kicking myself for not having ordered the rest of the books yet, but yeah, this was basically porn with a sprinkling of a sweet and fantastical storyline.

I will say that the artwork is stunning!

Sigh. LOL.

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45. Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef--⭐️⭐️⭐️

ONCE THERE WAS would have been better as an adult fantasy book. Why? Because so many things in this book felt like an adult fantasy book--there weren't any adult themes, but a lot of the circumstances were a bit of a stretch. I think I, as a reader, wouldn't have had to suspend my disbelief so much if this had simply been an adult.

I mean, a fifteen year-old inherits her dad's Vet practice and and lives alone?

By the end of the book, I had forgotten this was YA.

Moving on from that, this book had a really cool concept. I loved the idea that there's a vet out there destined to take care of mythological monsters. I also loved that it was such a diverse set of characters too, including the MC. We get to see more about her culture and her father and what happens when Western society stamps out that aspect of an identity. For example: food, language barriers, and culture.

While the book felt a little all over the place, I really liked seeing the MC in action when it came to these magical beings. I also really liked how Monsef explored the concept of grief and how important it can be to just feel the emotions.

Overall, this book was OKAY. There were points where I was a little bored and a little confused as to why this was YA, but I can also see why so many people might love it. This was like Dr. Doolittle for mythological creatures.

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46. Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura-- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn't know what to expect from RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART, but I had a pretty good time with what Segura gave us. From the badass FMC to the stuttering and himbo of a MMC.

I think with books like this one, I need to not take the storylines too seriously so I can fully enjoy it (which I did). The romance, tension, and spice were great. The adventuring was fun (even though I would have loved to see a bit more). I think reading the author's note also helped in realizing how much leeway was given to the characters' adventuring, since it isn't really like this in real life.

This really felt like I was watching a movie. It was a quick and addicting read and had me hooked from the very beginning.

There is one character, however, who is clearly Pansexual and I do wish they had said that instead of having the FMC confused as to how one person could like more than one gender. I do like that this character explains it, but I do wish Segura had gone the extra step of saying the term.

Anyway, I enjoyed this for what it was and I'm glad I didn't pay attention to the rating!

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47. Olive Harvest in Palestine by Wafa Shami & Shaima Farouki (Illustrator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't normally rate or talk a lot about the storybooks I come across. But I came across OLIVE HARVEST IN PALESTINE while scrolling Instagram and I knew I immediately wanted it on my shelves. It's beautifully illustrated and the story it tells of an event that was a yearly tradition of harvesting and pressing olives in such a beautiful place like Palestine was both eye-opening and heartbreaking.

It breaks my heart to know that all of that beauty is now only on pages of storybooks, memories, photographs, and videos taken in passing. My heart ached while reading this important book. My heart cries for those olive trees that were hundreds of years old.

If there is a storybook you pick up this year, let it be this one.

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48. Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan--⭐️⭐️

When I read the first book in this series, I was hooked. I thought it was powerful, heartbreaking, and incredibly addicting.

And I don't know if it's because I spent yesterday sick in bed, but BLOCK SHOT was the last thing I wanted to finish (even though I only had like 4 hours left in the audiobook). I finally finished it earlier today but because I knew I wanted to finish it so I could get to the third book. Normally, I tell friends to DNF books but sue me, I wanted to give this book a shot.

All of that being said, I WAS intrigued at the beginning. I loved how these two knew each other from way back when and how, even years later, they still couldn't fight the chemistry between them. Call me wild, but I personally don't know how I would have reacted if I the FMC and the events of the first part of the book happened. On one hand, I get it because being a fat girl has always been my identity. Being the butt of fat girl jokes? Been there, done that. But on the other hand, I found that this FMC had a massive chip on her shoulder that she carried for the majority of the book, which she then moulded into a slightly unhealthy thing.

I'll admit, I found the portrayal of her body and how even the MMC referred to it (like being fat is a horrendous thing) really icky. I know that this was written a few years ago, but it made me so uncomfortable that the fat girl's humiliation was one of the big motivations for the FMC to "better" herself, as if her intelligence and already existent beauty wasn't enough. Don't get me wrong: wanting to feel a certain way and looking a certain way isn't a bad thing, I think the phrasing of it was just not it.

Which leads me to saying that...the FMC was one of those characters who supposedly had a powerful presence and was touted as this saint, but LOL, let's be real. She wasn't. Sure, she could put her business face on, but man, she was someone who was so easily manipulated. There were so many instances where I wanted to shake some sense into her. Like, we KNOW the MMC was an asshole, but at least he admits it? He was honest about who he was, while she was the one play acting.

I won't even touch on the fact that there's cheating in this and it's not like in the first book, where it felt like a glimmer of hope and fear. Here it was all pure selfishness. And I don't think we should always like the main characters in books, but like...at least make them consistent. I don't know, the FMC annoyed me and again, while I didn't like the MMC, at least he was honest.

Also, that twist. I saw it coming, but it added a whole other level of ick to everything and the FMC.

I'm disappointed with this book, but I'll still be picking up book 3.

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49. My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 1 by Wataru Hinekure (writer), Aruko(illustrator), & Jan Cash (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved MY LOVE MIX-UP! and how much fun it was. The storyline was entertaining and while I think things happened a little too quickly in this first volume, I did love the antics and honesty the MC had for his situation. I can never tire of these kinds of stories where kids are just casually living their lives and falling in love with the unexpected person.

This reminded me a lot of BLUE FLAG, which was one of my favourite reads a couple of years ago. I loved the friendship aspect and how, even though things have the potential to be messy, that friendship perseveres.

I also laughed quite a bit at that twist at the end. Will definitely be aiming to get this entire series!

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50. Happy Place by Emily Henry--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think I always kind of know what to expect from an Emily Henry novel, so while I went into HAPPY PLACE with a bit of nerves, I also knew I would probably enjoy it. I didn't read the synopsis, as per usual, and I was (unsurprisingly) hooked from the beginning. This book was a shot of melancholy, heartbreak, and that magic feeling that summer sometimes brings out in us that anything is possible.

At first, I was put off by the going back and forth with the past and present. Mainly, I've always found these kinds of stories feel a little abrupt when they have a flashback chapter every so often and I become impatient for the present day story. But as the story progressed, I realized it was impatience mingling with anxiety. I was afraid to see what broke these two up; what had the power to come in between these proclamations of forever I-love-you's and soulmate-y kind of love stories. I was worried and while I had to force myself to face it, I'm glad I did. I obviously won't say what it was, but I will say that it felt like a very real reason, even though these two would heavily benefit from couple's therapy.

I also appreciated the friendships and how this book isn't just about the romance that broke, but the relationship between friends. There are different kinds of happy places in this book and many of them include these amazing friends who are guilty of a huge crime: growing up. I find that I related a lot to the one friend who spent her time chasing that high of youth caught in a summer breeze. I remember summers long past full of memories that will never be replicated, but growing up means knowing that those memories exist, even if life and time changes everything.

Much like many other Henry books, this delves into deeper topics as well, like familial trauma, grief, mental health, and abandonment issues. Those were palpable on the pages as the characters faced these very real parts of themselves.

I'm not giving this a full five stars because of the flashbacks and how messy the MC and her love interest were. Communication is a golden rule I wish more romances adopted, but I also can understand that in order to have diverse characters, we need to be mindful of the ones who genuinely have a hard time communicating--usually because of mental health and traumatic responses. All of that being said, I still stand by this couple being chaotic--even if they were probably my second or third favourite couple in the Henryverse.

ALSO, DID EVERYONE PEEP THE BEACH READ EASTER EGG?? Hell yeah.

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Have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?

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Happy reading!

[rubyfire777]

personal update 9.30.2023 🌷🌻🌼🐛🦋🍀

good things that happened this week:

i took lily out for her early birthday dinner, since she was going to be out of town. we shared a fancy grilled cheese and an order of scotch eggs at a fantasy themed bar ❤❤❤

we got to hang out really late together before her really early flight. we watched fallen angels which was a really beautiful movie, then g4m3rs which was not a beautiful movie but was still fun to watch with her. we snuggled a lot 🥺❤❤❤ i ended up falling asleep before she had to get ready to go but only for a couple hours, and i was able to wake up to (coherently) say goodbye and that i love her and give her a kiss :)

i prepped a big meal that was kind of a mess but ended up being really good and feeding me for several days without having to worry

movie night with quint! the movie we watched, oldboy, disappointed but i was glad to watch it with him all the same

i had a very efficient chores day on thursday where i got lots done and pretty much cleaned the whole house. i felt really accomplished without feeling like i pushed it too hard

i finished up a chunk of writing ive been putting off! and feel a little more in the writing mood as a result

bowling night was just me and darren this week so we went to that really good barbecue place again instead of getting pizza and bowled a couple games and played some air hockey :)

hung out with my dad for a few hours on saturday! i got to show him f-zero 99 and talk to him about cool modern indies and eat pizza with him and be reminded of how much he has and continues to learn and grow. i feel very grateful that we've come so far and very happy that hes becoming a happier person

i had time to listen to lots of new stuff this week!! and some of it was really really good

my wife just generally having fun on her trip :) <333

noticing ptsd progress this week :)

new art experiences:

albums:

surgery (machinery of the human heart, 2022)

hang-ups (phone call, 2016)

shrapnel flux: veiled terminal (purity filter, 2022)

digital princess (keisari / turbo, 2019)

club angels ep (jensen interceptor & dj fuckoff, 2022)

mocomoco (plissh, 2011)

welcome to aloe island (aloe island posse, 2014)

blood eagle (sabrepulse, 2015)

platonic planet (koto, 2015)

bye bye teens lullaby (koto, 2018)

magical metamorphosis (ghost data, 2017)

movies:

fallen angels (dir. wong kar-wai, 1995)

g4m3rs: a documentary (dir. kiyash monsef, 2002)

oldboy (dir. park chan-wook, 2003)

[puppy-phum]

thank you for tagging me alice @theedorksinlove ^^ sorry i'm very late, it was a hectic last week at work before switching to my internship and then getting used to that.

current time: 15.25 / 3.25pm current activity: having a break while cleaning my room :'D trying to go through all my shelves etc. and getting rid of the horrible amount of dust that has once again gathered sigh currently thinking about: how it's once again vv anniversary day and how much i miss them current favourite song: v's/taehyung's slow dancing! obsessed with the whole layover album honestly currently reading: kiyash monsef's once there was (as an audiobook for my internship hehe) and matt haig's the midnight library currently watching: following dangerous romance, only friends, and hidden agenda as they air. i don't currently have anything else to watch bc i've tried to keep my schedule empty but i'm eyeing west out of yumen/parallel world bc of bai yu and the sand sea vibes current WIP: i have way too many writing wips going on but currently, most of the time, working on my puentalay fic and finishing it + my waitalay soulmates au bc it allows me to go a bit bonkers with wai. on the editing side, planning the last prompt edit plus i have a couple of vv edits still stuck in my head

tagging: @dimpledpran @leonpob @stormyoceans @snimeat @i-am-just-a-kiddo @ashenlights @psychic-waffles @s1utspeare ♥

[culturevsnews-blog]

Créatures Fantastiques de Kiyash Monsef

Achat : https://amzn.to/3TaGMtB Bienvenue dans un monde de créatures fantastiques, cachées à la vue de tous… “Créatures Fantastiques” de Kiyash Monsef nous plonge dans un univers captivant où le monde des contes et des légendes devient une réalité saisissante. Marjan, qui n’imaginait pas un seul instant que les histoires contées par son père puissent être vraies, voit sa vie bouleversée…

[articleszine]

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef - https://tinyurl.com/yrcm25nx...

[myrealmagick]

Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef - https://tinyurl.com/yrcm25nx...

[nyancheetos]

The Unbeatable Deck of Ronan Shin, by Kiyash Monsef is an awesome short story about a nerdy, unimportant kid (Ronan), who, alongside his best friend, struggles to make his way through the dark and depressing world of high school. The Aftermath, a card game like Magic The Gathering is all that he and his friend look forward to. I don’t know why I loved this story so much, but the way it weaves together Ronan’s life with card descriptions and unanswered questions really tickles my fancy. Anyway, I loved it enough that I wanted to draw something for it....Ronan reminded me a lot of a character that some of you might recognize, which might’ve been rather influential in his design. If it sounds intriguing to you, check it out! It’s worth a read :) #theunbeatabledeckofronanshin #ronanshin

[slaughter-books]

Day 6:: Books And A Hot Drink

Four beautiful books and a delicious hot cupper tea, in a wonderful new mug! 💞🫖

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Day 2: JOMPBPC: Currently Reading

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Day 14: JOMPBPC: New Release

This beautiful book came out this year and I can't wait to start reading it next month! 🩵

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My beautiful July, 2023 book haul!

🩵 ~ 💙 ~ 🤎

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Day 18: JOMPBPC: Favourite Title Font