Red Wolf's Room

Cliffs of Moher - Photo by  Sarah Donisi  on  Unsplash If I were writing a travel brochure for Ireland, I start with what it smells like. It's a combination of just-fallen rain mixed with earth and something else, something secret. For me,  Love & Luck  by Jenna Evans Welch is reminiscent of the movie Leap Year because it follows the protagonist on a road trip across Ireland and she encounters many ups and downs along the way. But the plot of Love & Luck is quite different as it's a coming-of-age story. Its genre is YA fiction. I picked up this novel because I'm part Irish and would love to explore the country one day. I am fascinated by Irish lore and love getting swept up in the magic of the tales.  Love & Luck seems to be the unofficial second book since Welch's previous novel, Love & Gelato , follows Lina, Addie's best friend, and explains why she's in Italy. But readers, like myself, who have not read Lina' story are given enoug...

Since the troubling news I had received of late in the ASMR community, I threw myself into my artistic projects, one of which was this book review. The book was one I started back in September; it had been calling my name ever since I left it unfinished. At the time, I read half of the first chapter, but it felt depressing. It turns out that now was the right time to read it, and I listened to Adrien von Ziegler's haunting Celtic fantasy composition of Resting by the Fire . It complemented the story perfectly for me. You Should Read The Little Shop of Found Things if... You love antiques  You enjoy the new-in-town theme You want to be spirited away through time You are intrigued by the paranormal Want a short and spoiler-free version? Check out my review on Reedsy Discovery.  Summary  The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston is a historical fiction and fantasy novel that tells the story of Xanthe Westlake and her mother arriving in Marlborough, Wiltshire to s...

Writers are like anyone else; they don’t like rejection. People seek to avoid rejection, which means they will also avoid opportunities and people that could have made a lasting impact on them. Whether we like it or not, life is a balance and, in that balance, there is pleasure as well as pain. Image source:  https://www.pexels.com/photo/focus-photo-of-yellow-paper-near-trash-can-850216/ This blog post describes my own experience of how I dealt with rejection as a writer. There is no quick and easy way to deal with it. Everyone deals with rejection differently. It could be slower or it could be faster than another person. Just remember to not compare yourself to others. I am sharing my story to hopefully provide you with some insight should you ever find yourself in a similar position. You are not alone.  I’m also sharing to entertain you. After all, people love stories. The Beginning In the middle of the night, I sat among the shadows of my room with my lamp’s light focus...

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-man-touching-his-head-3752834/ Some of you may recall that I wrote about the COVID-19 quarantine , lockdown, pandemic, crisis, however you call it, and reflected on it from a writerly perspective. It is now two months later, and I, an introvert, have been feeling incredibly anxious. No, it has nothing to do with writing or the quarantine. It's other things in the real world. Yes, you remember. The world that's all around you while you're deep within your beloved books? I don't exactly excel at adulting (still not sure I like that word) and Life has been getting me down. Life and my own damn fears. While I'm an introvert and I like staying inside, even on sunny days, I'm not entirely okay with being physically alone almost 24/7. Anyways... What Can Help Anxiety? ASMR! I've been exploring the ASMR community on YouTube since the quarantine was announced in March. I discovered ASMR Weekly and that le...

After watching Cabaret , the Tin Man series and Instinct , I watched a ton of clips on YouTube of Alan Cumming's interviews and even found his Who Do You Think You Are? episode. Solving his family's mystery seemed to take a toll on him, especially when he reached the climax of the show. It's much worse these days with social media and television so integrated into our lives. We forget that celebrities, both major and minor, are real people with real families. We also forget that the ancestors of our family aren't just history; they, too, were real people. While watching Cumming uncover a family mystery, viewers don't think of what else could be happening in his life as he's filming. As a writer and avid reader, I love stories, and while stories make life interesting and engaging, we sometimes need to remember to lift the dreamy film from stories and come to terms with the realness of said story, turning it into fact.  Show your  support for books and rea...

Shane Snow I was on LinkedIn and a fellow writer reached out to me to read his new book. I was already following him on LinkedIn and had read the occasional post and article of his. Being a writer and novelist-in-training, I was aware that reaching out through social media is a marketing tactic that people use to sell their stuff and to spread awareness. However, when Shane Snow reached out to me to read Dream Teams , I was still flattered that he asked.  I read many reviews beforehand because it is a non-fiction book. I'd say that 85% of what I read is stories, so fiction with maybe 1-2% being biographies. I read fiction to escape from reality, so I need to mentally prepare myself before I dive into non-fiction. I know that non-fiction has gotten a bad reputation for being boring because, well, not everyone can make non-fiction interesting. But Shane Snow did. I have just completed my reading of Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart and I loved every minute ...

What an awful day it is.  Rain is bad enough, but ice rain?  On the bright side, writers and readers are rejoicing because they can stay in with a comfy chair, hot drink and good book. The book I'm reviewing today takes place in the summer, so prepare to be transported away from the bleak white world! It’s was a rainy Saturday and I decided to curl up on my wide pea green chair.  Its arms were out to embrace me as I plunged into the depths of a new book.  A book with hues of blue on the cover that speaks of death, love, life, books and everything in between.  It may sound like a John Green novel (and I do like some of his books and support him in his writing and video-making; plus he’s even referenced in this book), but this book has more to it.  It is haunting and comforting, funny and melancholic, fiction and non-fiction. Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley is told from the points of view of best friends Henry and Rachel.  Henry and hi...