YA Book Review: The House Witch

The House Witch by Delemhach
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up because I needed a light and whimsical book. I think this is perfect for those who grew up reading books by Patricia Wrede and Jessica Day George but are now old enough to crack a dirty pun without being hissed at by an adult. I think it's fine for teens, young adults, and older folk... but do be aware if you disapprove of such puns for your teen... Honestly, they hear far worse in the school yard and crack worse during sleepovers. There isn't a lot of it in here, but it's there. I cracked up at the part about waiting for the 8-year-old to "drink properly."

The main character is a male witch (THANK YOU to the author for that, from a witch) trying to find a place in the world for himself. I like him because he's within my dating range bracket (if I were on the market), he's witty, he's easily annoyed by people's nonsense, and he keeps his to a minimum... albeit a bit thick in the romance arena. The female lead has her own agenda, and at first, they do NOT hit it off, but they grow on each other while he tries to hide his true self from an entire castle. Quite the challenge for a cook.

This has themes of acceptance, love for oneself as well as others, fairness, and growing into one's inner power. I LOVE the fact he's in his 30's I'm still maturing and not quite there yet. There's plenty to enjoy for those 14ish and up. Just... watch out for that "son of a mage," which is now my new favorite curse.

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Ame's Unboxings: Pro Draw BeeJayDel Unbox & Review

This is a very belated video, but this allowed me to not only do the unboxing (yes in my favorite pajama top, it was cold and that was handy) and then my impressions after using it several weeks (now roasting and not needing flannels) of the Pro-Draw Grip designed by illustrator and Youtuber BeeJayDel.

The link below takes you to where it can be purchased on Amazon for cheaper than what I paid for it earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C21XNJJC/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_XDWXJ1SFSMFF2WB5MW5R?linkCode=ml1&tag=beejaydel01-20

Forgive the slowness in my work. I can't even sit up long without the twinging, tingling, and burning in both legs. Things are changing in my spine and I'm having to readapt myself.

Art Process & story: Celestial Companions (from the Selkies' Skins universe)

 This is a little late posting here, but this was the last piece that I did for this year's Mermay. I am particularly pleased how this fully digital piece created on my iPad turned out, and eventually will be producing it as a poster. Here, in this video, you can watch the time-lapse of the art process. You can also listen to the short story, expounding a bit more of the lore in my Selkies' Skins related books' universe.

You can also read along at my deviant art posting

https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/Mermay-2023-Celestial-Companions-963539181

or my Patreon posting

https://www.patreon.com/posts/mermay-2023-83345898

Book Review: The Meaning Wars Complete Omnibus by Michelle Browne

This is a great book to review, especially since it is currently pride month. Thanks to Michelle Browne, a lovely lady, for writing this masterpiece.

I love sci-fi, and even better is sci-fi that takes on social issues that mean something in the present day. There is an element of romance, and we follow several couples. Some of those couples are poly, some are straight, and some are not, just like life in the present day. The main plotline though is not the relationships, but the more significant threat that all of these couples, brought together from various space colonies along with a beautiful seasoning of pirates and revolutionaries, are facing. Spiritualism, which can be understood like today's Spiritism & Zen tossed in a blender and ramped up exponentially, and then warped as always happens with large spiritual movements, is now spreading and threatening to take over the whole solar system and ultimately resulting in getting Earth kicked out of the InFed because the aliens are NOT up for tolerating toddler system bs. I think that scene and the following consequences scene were my favorites and share first place, with the pirate station harboring the xenobotanist falling into second. If you like Star Trek, you'll like this.

Getting back to the characters, they were all very well-rounded and personified, even the one who turned villain and participated in the twisting of the non-religion of Spiritualism. The interplay of them all didn't feel contrived except where the author wanted it to. I feel like it would be a spoiler to mention exactly who that is, so I'll leave it to you to find it.

The above is the review that I posted on Amazon, which should cross-populate later to Goodreads. I'm archiving it here as well just in case, for some reason, it ever gets taken down. It happens from time to time and I'm never sure why. I will record this and a reading excerpt to my Youtube. For now, if you want to read this great book, follow the link below!

https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Wars-Complete-Omnibus-Queer-ebook/dp/B0BHXRZ8NP

Or the full series listing

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG9GCPQR?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

Signal Boost: Finding Forest Friends With Ivy Drake | Raise Your Hand

Finding Forest Friends is a pilot episode of Raise Your Hand, based in Tennessee, USA.

This is not one of our videos, but my aunt introduced me to the channel. This is a pilot episode for a new program, and as I understand it this lady is a friend of my aunt. So since I'm given to understand she needs a bit of a boost I thought that I would introduce her show to you all. Please go watch the video, leave a thumbs up, and subscribe there. If you've got young minds or know families with them perhaps pass the link along to them!

Ame's Art Desk Art Process ASMR: Mara's Heartbreak

Here you can watch the development of Mara's Heartbreak, an image done for #drawMermay2023

Ame's Art Desk: Kirsty full seal form (Selkies' Skins Character Art)

This is character art for Kirsty McKay, a half selkie/half-human-witch from my Selkies' Skins books and short stories. Here she is in full seal form hunting fish, her hunger distracting her from her original purpose. It's ok, it wasn't anything pressing. It's still counted as exercising the form to keep her muscles built up! Unseen in this image is the ring mark on her left ring "finger" she gained in her adulthood after marrying David Valnarius. With that in mind this could serve as an image of her at any time after she gained the twining woad color markings on her left wrist that stay with her in any of the forms she's managed to learn to take or are inherent to her.

This was done as someone close to me (you know who you are!) had been asking for more selkies and Kirsty art. I hope that you and he both enjoy watching the time-lapse process of creating this piece. I've not chosen a recording program yet for trying to capture things in real-time, although I have been considering trying to use a camera and boom.

This was done on my iPad with my iPencil in Procreate. I haven't unboxed the special grip yet which I plan to do a test and review of. I'm still recovering from Tax Season.

The manuscript for book two, Selkies' Skins: Temple and Skinquest, is still being finished before final edits will take place. The first book of the series, Selkies' Skins: Castle and Well, is available on Amazon and many other platforms. I have several other books available as well so feel free to check out my Linktree or the other links below to find them.

Sorry, I'm not the Teresa Garcia from the news channel that I keep finding when I run a curiosity check on my name. I'm just the Teresa Garcia author that writes under my name (not a pen name) and illustrates under Teresa Amehana Garcia and LadyRainStarDragon or LadyRainStarDrago. It would be interesting to meet the news lady though. That must be an interesting job.

Art Posting: https://www.deviantart.com/amehanarainstardrago/art/KirstyHunting-958584327

Music: Open Sea Morning by Puddle Of Infinity

https://www.linktr.ee/Amehana