Hello there everyone! It’s been a tough and busy year, and I missed this blog dearly! And here I am today! Not only back to blogging, but back with new content!
On my monthly special recs, I’ll pick three things related to the month in question and create prompts for recommendations or books I want to read. So, let’s have some fun with the items I picked for the month of march!
March has not one, not two, but three nature-related celebrations! On the 3rd we have World Wildlife Day, followed on the 21st by the International Day of Forests and on the 22nd by the World Water Day. All of that led to my first March prompt:
NATURE: Books with nature as a central theme or on the cover!
March 8th brings us our next prompt, with the International Women’s Day and it’s socialist roots:
LADIES: Books with working women MCs
And finally, march is also when the spring equinox (in the Northern hemisphere)/fall equinox (in the Southern hemisphere). Equinoxes are said to be days of equilibrium, as the day and night have the same duration. So, our last prompt of the month is:
CONTRASTS: Books with big contrasts as a theme (light/dark, night/day, good/evil, etc).
MY PICKS
NATURE
The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer
On the island of Sri Lanka, at a colonial mansion between the forest and the paddy fields, a caretaker arrives with four children in tow after pledging to keep them safe. When violent thugs storm the house demanding that Ushu repay his debt, young Jasmit and the other children hide in an upstairs bathroom where a running tap opens a gateway to escape. But the Dry House is not the only force at work in the place where the forest and the estate meet—something else stirs in the trees, something ancient, something that demands retribution.
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house’s inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion’s bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.
Why pick it? Honestly, I have had my eyes on this one from the moment I read the announcement. A horror that takes on both climate change and colonialism, as the connected issues they are? Yes, please.
LADIES
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.
Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain—and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life—and all the rules everyone expects her to play by—once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free.
Why pick it? With a main character that works hard for her dreams under the weight of so many responsibilities, With the Fire on High was just a perfect fit for this prompt! Plus, that cover!!!!
CONTRASTS
The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun. While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.
But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.
Why pick it? Well, this book was an immediate thought the second I chose “contrasts” as a prompt. I mean, it’s right there on the cover!
What would you pick for these march prompts? Tell me down in the comments!
Min and Her Books 