Monthly Archives: August 2017

Perfiditas by Alison Morton

Years have passed since the events in Inceptio but our main character Carina is no less awesome for it.

It’s possible she’s quite a bit more awesome, or maybe it was because this book dives a bit deeper into the culture of Roman Nova (the society founded by Ancient Romans and ruled by women ever since) but regardless I enjoyed this book even more than the first.

Carina continues to overcome obstacles by being a general kick-ass lady, and yet stays remarkably human and even, dare I say, feminine when dealing with controversy as she finds herself thrown into the middle of a conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Would I recommend it? This book certainly earned the “thriller” in it’s series title (Roman Nova Thriller Series). I had a terrible time walking away from it once I was a few chapters in. Which is basically the best problem one can have with a book. But, of course, start with book one.  Starting midway through a series has the potential to upset the natural order of the universe. Consequences can be dire, don’t risk it!

You can find a review of the first book here: https://behindthewillows.com/2017/08/02/inceptio-by-alison-morton/

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

My Oldest Frenemy

I saw my oldest frenemy over the weekend.

I was really happy to see him but my toes were sort of scared.

Yes, that is a turkey vulture.

Yes, I used to work with him.

Yes, he is a ham.

Yes, he bit my toes.

No, I didn’t wear real shoes then either.

Yes, he got car sick.

No, that’s actually worse than it sounds.

Yes, I love him anyway.

 

Total Eclipse

We drove into the path of totality to watch the eclipse on Monday and, yes, it was worth it.

Worth the drive, worth the crazy last minute plans, worth the insane heat, worth the traffic on the way home and the fact that it came at the end of a marathon week of capoeira and most of us hadn’t slept a real night of sleep in days.

The adults bounced around in excitement, the kids (if not quite as enthusiastic as the adults) were still excited. And it was truly awesome to watch. Full totality was just what they said it would be, an indescribable corona, sunsets all around, bats, a major  temperature drop… it was a thing that gives me goosebumps to remember.

But… as with most things in life, it’s not always about what you do, but who you do it with. Eight people who can happily jump in cars at the last moment and drive off into the sunset with barely a plan are hard to find. But there we were. Four adults who could be happily, geeky together as they reuse the same adjectives over and over in their excitement……and four kids who can play together in a truck for hours… and hours… and hours.

Two car loads of people swapping seats and stories across Illinois.

The total eclipse was an indescribable hiccup in the Earth’s journey.

But friends……friends make the world go round.

 

No Screens in the Car

John and I are mean spirited and old fashioned in our parenting and we are at our nastiest in the car where we won’t let the kids play on screens while we drive.

Clearly we are monsters.

We enforce this rule because we want the girls to grow up with the skill of being able to occupy themselves without a screen for more than five minutes without succumbing to a case of “I’m bored’s”. I do realize that this is probably a skill they will never need to use once they leave my house. That’s fine. My dad made me learn DOS, I’m just passing it on to the next generation as well as I can.

The other reason we are sticklers about this particular rule is that we are not shelling out the money to get them each some sort of handheld screened device and you know what would happen if there was only one to share…

Fighting. One screen does not divide among three girls. We know this. Oh do we know this.

Instead my poor, deprived, screen-less girls current favorite thing to do in the car is to “collect” all the edibles we drive by.

“I get this side!”

“I get this side”

“WHAT SIDE DO I GET?!?”

“I get the corn!”

“I get soybeans!”

“I get that wheat!”

“Yeah, well I get ALL the corn!”

“You can’t have ALL the corn!”

“I got those strawberry patches!”

“I DIDN’T SEE STRAWBERRIES, THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

“I got this corn too!”

“YOU HAVE TO SHARE THE CORN!”

Yes, that’s right. Currently my girls’ favorite thing to do in the car is to fight over the cornfields we drive by.

Proof that it doesn’t really matter what you do as a parent, when in the mood kids always know exactly how to push each others’ buttons.

On the bright side, it’s working – they aren’t bored.

 

Off to the Presses!

Perhaps you’ve noticed the little link off in the sidebar over on the right there or saw a few mysterious Facebook posts pop up. If you know me in real life I’ve probably accosted you with questions about winter apparel for butterflies and what sort of fonts you prefer. But, now that we have a product we are proud of, now that it looks like less of a dream and more of a reality I’m letting you know…

Guys! We made a book! 

I wrote down my first thoughts in May of 2014 and Tooks (Madhawi) and I started collaborating in June of 2016 and now we have … finally… sent the finished manuscript of our childrens’ book, What If Butterflies Loved Snow? off to the publisher!

I can’t even tell you how exciting and fun it’s been working with Tooks as she brought this story to life.

I mean I could tell you but I don’t want to. Because if I tried to explain the fun we have had, you would just laugh at our ridiculous conversations (snowflake vomit is totally a thing by the way). Then you would shake your heads about how cooperatively disorganized we are and how we did everything involving technology in the hardest way possible.  (And let me tell you, since we live with an ocean between us, there was a lot of technology to muddle through!) I think we prefer to continue to laugh at ourselves and you can just imagine the fun we are having without all the ridiculous details.

However… there are plenty of details we are willing to share.

So…

If you’d like to be in the know (Pssst these people will probably get to know fun things like how this all came about, stories about silly snowmen and release dates!) and get a fun coloring sheet……sign up in the form below.

 

Even if you don’t want us sending you occasional and delightful little e-mails, you can still find us popping up around the web.

On Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/what.if.butterflies.loved.snow/

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/What-If-Butterflies-Loved-Snow-276810322743929/

Our Website: https://whatifbutterflieslovedsnow.com/

And even Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/whatifbutterflieslovedsnow/

In the meantime we are on to the next phase!

We have a whole new set of skills to learn as we watch the publishing process happen and dive into marketing.

What if Butterflies Loved Snow?  is working it’s way toward the printing press and we are beyond excited to have made it this far together!

You know why? Because…

We made a book!

 

Island Camping

It was my brothers idea and it wasn’t even a bad one. (As his sister I’m required to say stuff like that.)

As kids we had taken many summer trips island camping in the flowages of northern Wisconsin and now that our own kids were all out of the major diaper/nap/crying stages he suggested we do it again.

The weather was rather…

…uncooperative……but it didn’t matter.

There was still fishing…

 

…and canoeing…

 

… and kayaking..

… and games…

… and sand to play in…

…and boats to learn to drive…

 

…and general silliness with cousins…

… and one very happy, very tired, rather stinky dog.

As we packed up on Sunday that brother of mine had another idea.

He said we should do it again next year.

I agreed wholeheartedly.

Because sometimes that brother of mine has really good ideas.

For accuracy’s sake I feel compelled to note that while we started with seven people more family joined us throughout the trip until we numbered 12. I however took more pictures of kids, bumblebees and my dog than anything else and they are all highly underrepresented in photos. Sorry family! 

Inceptio by Alison Morton

If you are looking for insight into what it might be like to live in an alternate reality in a civilization founded by Romans and ruled by women, this book will touch on that.

If you are wondering how it would be to step from a nobody into the top tier of society, this story flirts with that.

If what you really want is to read a book where, when circumstances get scary and difficult, a woman trains hard, becomes awesome and then kicks butt, this is your book


Would I recommend it? I was almost disappointed there wasn’t more insight into the different culture the main character finds herself in. Almost. But I couldn’t be at all disappointed because I was too busy turning pages. This story had me hooked!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!