Book review: A Summerset Abbey by T.J. Brown

Yet another dollar store buy, surprise surprise. Amazon summary:

1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society in this stunning series starter that fans of Downton Abbey will love.

Rowena Buxton
Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.

Victoria Buxton
Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever...

Prudence Tate
Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

Totally sounds like the kind of book I like, right? Well, it was fine. The author writes well, and it sounds like she did her research. I like that she included some recommended books on the Edwardian era at the end of her author's note. If only that attention to detail had applied to that cover as well. The model looks like a 2003 formalwear model. The locale and building behind her are perfect, but literally nothing about the model is. Not her dress, not her hair, not her jewelry. I've seen much, much, much better historical accuracy on a bodice-ripper. It actually makes me a little angry. I like the font, although it's not Edwardian at all.

This was the first of a series, which of course means that nothing was really resolved. All three girls showed a frankly surprising lack of knowledge of the social mores of their own time. "Wh-what? You mean our governess's daughter can't be a guest and stay alongside with us unless she's a lady's maid? You mean she'll have to live in the servants' quarters and answer to the higher-up staff?? What madness is this???" I don't like the class differences either, but grow up. It was ridiculous how childish and stubborn the girls were about it. I wouldn't have liked that life either, but the differences between the social classes were so entrenched and separate until, like, the 1960s. 

Each girl has a love interest, of course, and two of them are unsuitable. I was suprised, though, that one of them gives up and married somebody else instead of defying convention, the way I'm used to these historical romance girls doing. There was very little lead-up, just thrown in the epilogue, which is poor writing on the author's part. 

Rowena, the oldest, was made responsible for all the matters that fell to them when their father died, but she was so weak and wishy-washy that she was too passive to fight for anything, not that her uncle would have listened to her anyway (he was in charge of everything for real). She didn't tell Victoria or Prudence anything when she should have, and it made things worse between them and led to a rift. Victoria was positively childish, demanding that her sister argue their case to their uncle even though she know how weak and passive her sister was, and that their uncle wouldn't listen to her anyway, instead of taking matters into her own hands. She's 18 but acts like a 15 or 16 year old. Prudence was the least annoying character, but everything was hard for her because she was brought up as a lady and was the governess's daughter, so there wasn't any real place for her. And of course there was the usual aunt & uncle machinations, cute but untrustworthy rich boys, hot but unsuitable working class boys, clothes and balls and parties.

Reading this book definitely made my evening shift fly by, but I wasn't very satisfied at the ending. The big mystery was made pretty obvious by all the hints the author kept dropping, but she did succeed in making me think that the perpetrator was someone other than who it actually was, so there's that. I do want to read the other books in the series; maybe I can find them online for a song.

Trigger warnings I'd apply to this book: child death mention, possible rape mention, sexual harassment mention, plane crash depiction, blood mention, era-consistent sexism, alcohol abuse/use

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: September 26
From: dollar store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away

Book review: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

I'm mad at myself for buying this book at the thrift store. It's described as "poignant"; of course it's going to be unspeakably sad! Here's the summary; see if you can guess why I picked it up.

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how record-breakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth and was totally ill-equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of feminine perfection. When he, too, relinquishes his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege and Truly to live on the outskirts of town, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.

Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of doctors for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen forever.

It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques,hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

If you guessed it was the wise woman healing with herbs stuff, you were right. I was also somewhat intrigued by the main character's medical condition, which is a pituitary-caused gigantism. It's the opposite of what I have, almost, but I haven't heard of many books where pituitary conditions are discussed. Anyway, everyone is horrible to Truly, everyone close to her dies or goes away, and the entire thing was super depressing. The worst character who does the worst thing never really gets his comeuppance, apart from getting leukemia and dying a painful, wretched death, which happens to everyone anyway regardless of how nice they are (the death, not the leukemia). The second worst character got a lukewarm comeuppance, nothing like what she deserved. I'm mad that Truly never stood up for herself, but I guess with the upbringing she had it's understandable. I'm also mad at one of the deaths. There was soooooooo much fatshaming and fatbashing. Even though you get dates and the Vietnam war namedropped, the whole thing still feels like it takes place in the thirties or forties. I'm glad that the one LGBT+ character got a happy ending, even if his childhood sucked. Not nearly enough witch and healing stuff. Good writing though. Would not recommend unless you love depressing stories set in close-minded small towns in middle or southeastern America.

Trigger warnings I'd apply to this book: semi-graphic rape depiction/description, child abuse (physical and emotional), neglect, multiple suicides, fatphobia, ableism, cruelty, controlling relationships, alcoholism (at least one character), a character has PTSD, era-consistent homophobia, implied transphobia, era-consistent sexism

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: September 24-25
From: thrift store
Format: hardcover, with handy attached ribbon bookmark
Status: giving away

Book review: The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell

I picked up this book from the dollar store, surprisingly enough.* The blurb on the back of The Twistrose Key spoke of everything I like: a Chosen Child uses a mysterious key to slip through a door to another world that is filled with anthropomorphic friendly animals and mythological creatures, and because of a prophecy must go on a quest to perform some important task and save that world. It was inevitable that I would love this book, and I did.

The allusions to other beloved children's fantasy books are plentiful and obvious, but handled so well that they do not detract from the story. Chosen ones and mysterious keys to magical doors that lead to fantasy worlds are so plentiful I don't have to give you any examples. The frozen land of Sylver with its talking animals is obviously Narnia, while the Snow Queen and Puss in Boots make appearances. There are more references, but I won't list them all so you can be surprised when you read it.

There is danger, sorrow, loss, and depth to this book. Lin is devastated to lose her pet vole, Rufus, when she already has to live far away from her extended family and friends in a city and building she does not like. She is overjoyed to be reunited with him in Sylver, but when her task is completed she must return to her world again and leave Rufus behind. There's more sad stuff I won't share because I don't want to spoil the book for you. When I read about Sylver being a sort of heaven for deceased childhood pets, I immediately thought of Sammy, the large gentle boxer we had that I "rode" as a small child, and my tears made it hard to read as I imagined going to Sylver myself and seeing him. If you've ever lost a pet, especially one you had as a child, this is going to hit you right in the feels.

This book was so good! I'm definitely going to get my hands on everything Tone Almhjell writes. English isn't even her first language and she writes so, so well. I think The Twistrose Key is the first in a series, and I am so excited to read the rest!

Cover notes: This is a good cover, and it is my least favorite part of the book, which lets you know how good the book is. Rufus and Lin's proportions are not drawn correctly; Rufus is said to be about five feet tall in Sylver, and Lin is 11 years old, so she should be rather shorter. The artist drew Rufus to be less than three feet high, perhaps thinking of Narnia. I don't think the sled is drawn correctly either. There are four animals drawn at each corner of the cover image: a fox, a wolf, an owl, and a rat. The four animal families in Silver are canines, felines, birds, and rodents, so the artist should have drawn a cat instead of a wolf (a fox shows up in the story but wolves don't). There is another cover for the hardcover version that just has a big Twistrose key on the cover with the same animal corners, and I rather prefer it.

Trigger warnings I'd apply to this book: blood, child endangerment, violence (PG), kidnapping, many parts can scare children

Score: 5 out of 5 stars
Read in: September 11
From: dollar store
Format: paperback 
Status: absolutely keeping

*surprising that this book was so high quality; obviously I buy books from the dollar store all the time

August 2019 books

August was also a lean reading month.

I read Thimble Summer when I was in elementary school, and I loved it. 1930s rural Middle America just seemed so exotic to me. It was on sale at Barnes & Noble for less than $4, so I bought it. It still holds up, although of course I no longer have the wide-eyed wonder of a child. I'm still kind of in awe that Garnet pulled off hitchhiking to a big city many miles away. I'd be too scared to do that even as an adult (but of course times are different now). There is of course a bit of time-period-usual racism and cultural appropriation, but it'll fly over most kids' heads. Everyone in the book is white, except for the Native Americans briefly mentioned in a flashback story of settler days told by someone's grandmother. Anyway, this is an award-winning classic for a reason. I recommend it for kids; I think they'll like it even today. 4/5 stars, keeping.


I read another nostalgia-based book towards the end of the month. Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned From a Little Golden Book is an absolute mouthful of a sentence, but it was still a light, short, and fun read. Musings on mostly romantic love are paired with actual illustrations from real Little Golden Books. I read and loved Little Golden Books a lot growing up, so I enjoyed this book. However, I'm not sure I'll actually keep it. I rearranged my books on Labor Day and put books aside to give away, and I still have 4 medium stacks of books that don't fit in my 4 downstairs bookshelves (!). 3.5 out of 5 stars, tentatively keeping.

Latinx representation

Study finds films lag significantly in Latino representation

Latina women in films are all maids, immigrants (undocumented or not), gang girls or cholas, spicy and tempestuous, Jennifer Lopez, or all of the above. I'm trying to think of a Latina in movies I could relate to. America Ferrera has come close; she played Carmen in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but her story was not my story. I have yet to watch Real Women Have Curves, but it's on my list.

Representation matters. Ask me why I, a white, blue-eyed, brown-haired girl, never really saw any character I identified with. (Maybe I would feel differently if I had watched Gilmore Girls. Alexis Bledel is a white Argentinian with blue eyes and brown hair and her character loved books. But her character was white.) Ask me why I saw America Ferrera's awkward bespectacled face as Ugly Betty and immediately placed the TV show in the #1 slot in my heart. Ask me why her Mexican apron-wearing, cooking dad and prettier, more popular sister felt so familiar. Ask me why I latched on to Jane the Virgin, with her love of books and dreams of being a writer and the specter of religion haunting her desires. When Jane and her mom and her abuela sang feliz cumpleaños to her son, harmonizing, I burst into tears. My family does that. I had never seen anything on television so close to my personal experiences. I feel uncomfortable when, in TV shows and movies, second and third generation Latinx Americans speak in English to their parents and grandparents while they speak to them in Spanish. I do that to my dad without knowing, and it makes me feel guilty.

Depending on your interpretation, Latinxs have been here since before the United States claimed its independence. J.Lo goes to the gym every day, but she cannot carry us all on her shoulders. Nor should she.

Websites I used to do a lot of shopping at until they turned out to be owned by evil entities

1. Forever 21 (sweatshop labor, Christian hypocrisy)
2. Modcloth (owned by Walmart)
3. Amazon (human rights abuses)
4. H&M (sweatshop labor)
5. Wayfair (made money by selling furniture to the concentration camps where ICE dumps the people they kidnapped)
6. In N Out (gave money to the Republican party in the California elections)
7. I still shop there occasionally but JC Penney's, Kohl's, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Macy's have all been racist to employees/customers of color at one point or another
8. I cancelled my UCLA Visa because it was facilitated by a bank that funded pipelines, and have not signed up for Ulta or Barnes & Noble credit cards for the same reason.

Book reviews: June and July

The only book I read in June was Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, which was a reread. I watched the Amazon Prime series (booo. I used my mom's account), read the book, then watched it again. It's so good; I really recommend it even if you don't watch the show. For those of you who don't know, it's about the looming apocalypse and the angel and demon who become friends while trying to make the world better/worse, attempting to stop it. This is difficult because they lost the antichrist, and their respective sides definitely want the apocalypse to happen. There's also a witch and many prophecies. It does get rather close to being too sacrilegious for yours truly, but the humor and relationships make up for it. I felt the show was a perfect adaptation of the book, due in no small part to Neil Gaiman's influence and work as a show runner. 4.5/5 stars, keeping obviously.


On Sunday I went to Savers and bought like $40 worth of books. They have a buy 4, get 1 free deal which gets me almost every time. I started reading books from my haul pretty much immediately, starting with Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson, which is about a magic contest hosted by a wizard who needs to find a witch to marry. Ibbotson wrote the suspiciously Harry Potter-esque The Secret of Platform 13 (it was written long before HP), which I read a few years ago, and her writing is very good. It's that rather old-fashioned British fantasy children's lit that I like so much, very Dahl-esque. I noted there was another "orphan boy who at first was presumed to be ordinary but is actually More" character. I definitely recommend this if you like/don't mind reading about witches and wizards (they're written for a child audience). 4/5 stars, but I'll be giving this one away



The next book I read from my Savers haul was Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which is a series of interconnected short stories about the different people who own a possible Vermeer painting throughout the centuries, and what it means to them and how it affects them and their lives. Quite sad, but very good writing. It turns out I had read the first story before, which is about a math professor who kept the painting a secret in order to keep people from finding out his father was a Nazi who acquired the painting by looting a Jewish home. I think I read that in high school or college. My favorite (i.e. least sad) story was the one about the Rococo-era rich lady who had to sell the painting without its authenticity papers in order to flee her cheating/cheated husband, thus ensuring future owners were unsure it was a real Vermeer. I love the Rococo era, and the despair and hardship the other characters went through was not present in this story because the lady was rich. I did some googling, and the painting is not real (just like I'd assumed). However, an artist painted it, and you can read about it in his blog post. It's lovely, although rather different than I imagined it. 3.5/5 stars, giving away.

My perfumes: rollerballs and purse sprays

I mentioned in my previous post in this series that I was inspired to write about my perfumes after watching KathleenLights' perfume collection video. However, I own too much perfume to put it all in one post, so I decided to write about my full-sized perfumes first, and then write this post about my rollerballs and purse sprays. These are a longish glass tube, usually the circumference of a dime or less, that look like this. Mini rollerballs are roughly the same diameter, but a much shorter cylinder. The reason I have so many is because many of them were free gifts with purchase, plus rollerballs and purse sprays are much cheaper than full-sized perfume bottles.

Coty Exclamation Blush - This is the OG. A cousin of my mom's gave me this little perfume bottle for my 10th birthday. I LOVED it. As a nod to the name, the bottle is shaped like a fat exclamation mark, with the bottle as the point and the cap as the top part of the !. The bottle is frosted glass, and it made me feel so grown up. I still have it, although it has definitely gone bad. I remember it smelling girly and baby powder-y. I put this in the purse sprays category because it's too small to be full-sized.

Vera Wang Princess - I have already written at great length about my love of this perfume. I use the rollerball a lot and it has somehow not gone bad (it's pretty old but not as old as the big spray). I also have a mini rollerball that I take in my traveling makeup bag, but the ball part is broken.

I bought this trio of Clinique Happy rollerballs that came with three Pop Lip Colour lipsticks in a cute tin box.  I love the tin but I keep forgetting to use these perfumes.

Clinique Happy - This is one of my favorite perfumes of all time. This citrus perfume smells like oranges and high school to me. Instant summer and instant happiness. My mom and sister and I used to shop at the high-end makeup counters at Macy's when they had their free gifts with purchase promotions, and we got a lot of good makeup and perfume deluxe samples that way. I loved that tiny bottle, which had an orange plastic cap. I now have a purse spray tube and a small rectangular bottle. I should start using this again now that it's spring.

Clinique Happy Heart - This was in the set with Happy and Happy in Bloom, both as mini perfume bottles and as the purse sprays I have now. This smells much more floral than Happy, but it's definitely related. Now that I think about it, I had the mini bottle of Happy Heart, while my sister had the mini bottle of Happy (we shared stuff all the time though). Happy Heart's cap was flamingo pink.

Clinique Happy in Bloom - I think this one is a newer scent? This is the third purse spray in the Clinique perfume set. This smells like Happy but with more floral. I honestly cannot tell the difference between this and Happy Heart.

I bought this set of Clean small rollerball perfumes from Ulta for $10. Tbh I wouldn't really recommend them. I hardly wear them, as they are all rather odd scents.

Clean Air - I like this one the best, I think, but I can't really describe it.

Clean Rain - I have no idea why but this smells almost exactly like Clinique Happy, despite not having any citrus notes whatsoever. So weird.

Clean Skin - This one smells like flowery baby powder, the kind old ladies use in their toilette.

Clean Blossom - This also smells like old lady flowery baby powder, but with more floral. This is probably the closest one to regular perfume.

Clean Warm Cotton - this smells exactly like laundry detergent. Disgusting. I'm trying to sell it on eBay but no one wants to buy it.

I bought this trio of Tocca purse sprays from Sephora. Tocca perfumes are so lovely and feminine. Unfortunately Tocca makes me think of toca, which is the Spanish word for touch, which is odd for perfumes.

Tocca Giulietta - smells a little bit like fancy floral soap, with amber underneath. Sweet and feminine.

Tocca Stella - haven't tried this one yet but I'm sure it smells amazing.

Tocca Florence - idk why but this smells exactly like jasmine despite not having that ingredient.

I have almost all of the Pacifica rollerball perfumes, not counting their more expensive crystal ones. They all smell amazing and have gorgeous packaging. Most of them have a little heart on the inside of the flap you pull up to open the box that says "you are so beautiful", which I think is very sweet. These are my most-used fragrances, because I am afraid to use too much perfume and rollerballs give you the perfect amount. Plus you can just grab one and swipe it on. 

Pacifica Sugared Amber Dreams - I bought this because it has little unicorns all over it. The scent sounded delicious, and it does smell like frosting, but unfortunately it's cloying and doesn't last very long. At least the packaging is cute.

Pacifica French Lilac - This smells so good, exactly like lilacs. The packaging box is really cute; it's lilac-colored with little lilac flowers all over it. This is one of my most-used rollerballs.

Pacifica Hawaiian Ruby Guava - This smells so delicious! So summery and fruity and yummy. I'm Latina so I love guayaba-flavored/scented things. Love this one for summer.

Pacifica Persian Rose - This smells exactly like you're burying your nose in a rose. (I'm a poet and I wasn't even aware!) Gorgeous scent. I also use this one a lot.

Pacifica Island Vanilla - This scent is nearly indistinguishable from Sugared Amber Dreams. It is a tad less cloying, and is more vanilla-y, but that's it.

Pacifica Malibu Lemon Blossom - This one smells delicious, like a lemon dessert. I love that it's citrus but doesn't rely on orange or grapefruit. There should be more lemon perfumes! Whenever I see this perfume, this song starts playing in my head. I like this one for spring and summer.

Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange - This one also smells delicious, like a real orange instead of a perfume orange, if that makes sense. I like references to Tuscany and Italy because I lived there for a month, and I love oranges because I'm from the IE.

Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia - This smells exactly like gardenia blossoms, heady and gorgeous. Love this one for spring.

Disney Snow White Wishing Well - This rollerball came in a really cute cardboard tube package that is illustrated in a Snow White style, and the frosted glass tube has gorgeous SW designs as well. I bought it because Snow White is my secondary Disney Princess (I'm very pale and have dark brown hair), plus the packaging is so cute. It has a tiny gold apple charm. It smells like very sweet artificial apple.

Disney Beauty and the Beast Enchanted Beauty - This is the same kind of rollerball and packaging as above, but of course with B&tB packaging. It has a tiny bronze mirror charm, like the enchanted mirror in the movie. Cute rose packaging as well. It surprisingly does not smell much at all like rose; it's a sweet slightly floral scent. Belle is my primary Disney Princess, in case you were wondering.

Kensie - this is a medium-sized purse spray that I got from an Ipsy or Boxycharm box. I haven't tried it yet.

Demeter Perfume Oil in Paperback - I had to buy this one because it's supposed to smell like a paperback book. It kind of does? It smells cozy and comforting. I have to smell this again. Unfortunately it's very oily on the outside of the bottle for some reason. This is a mini squared rollerball.

Nest Black Tulip - This one smells nice, although not as floral as one would think. The packaging for all the Nest fragrances are sumptuous illustrations of flowers and plants, very pretty. Mini squared rollerball.

Nest Indigo - This one smells really good, a bit heady. Mini squared rollerball.

Blossom Honey Jasmine - I bought this perfume oil rollerball because it has dried flowers floating in the bottle and it looks really cute. It smells sweet, more like candy than flowers. 

Addison & Gates Fleur d'Osmanthus - I got this as a bridesmaids gift from my future sister-in-law. The packaging is very reminiscent of Art Deco and stained glass windows, especially the ones from the Beauty and the Beast castle, with lots of roses. It's a floral perfume and it smells really nice, kind of musky and feminine.

Carolina Herrera Good Girl - I think this is the original Good Girl perfume. This perfume is so sexy and smells amazing. The rollerball was a free gift with purchase and came in a velvet slip cover.