So I fell behind on blogging a bit in May. I was feeling more rundown than usual and just wasn’t up to making blog posts.

When I was feeling well enough to do stuff and focus, I was—big surprise—playing Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m on my sixth playthrough and still having fun, finding new things, falling more and more in love with all the characters. It has also become more and more of a dress-up game for me with all the mods I’ve downloaded. And a game where I just smash the characters’ faces together like they’re my Barbies. Anyway, here’s my current character and Gale playing music together while Barcus and Scratch watch, and little kissy kiss between Gale and another character of mine who romanced him. I just love this game so much.

I actually did take a break for a week or two and played some more Immortal Life. Unfortunately I think I’m throwing in the towel because the combat is too hard for me and not something I enjoy, but the rest of the game is really cute! I would’ve liked to get to know the characters and see how the story progresses. I recommend it, as much as I can rec a game I haven’t finished, if you do enjoy combat in your crafting/farming sims, especially if you like Asian fantasy worlds. I might still do a review even.

I also took a break one day to make some quick art. I really wanted to do some Mermay art because, with how my health is going, it may be the last year I’m well enough to participate. So I started a piece, did the sketch, did the line art for the human parts, and then just gave up because my heart wasn’t in it. But I did make this drawing of the Emperor from BG3 as a squid merman, just because the idea was really funny to me. Tentacle face and tentacle body lol. Although, I learned something! Those things we call tentacles are actually arms! Tentacles are longer appendages that don’t have suckers, except for on a larger pad at the end. Also, squid usually have eight arms plus two tentacles. I don’t know why I was under the impression that squid have six arms/tentacles total.

So my blogging sort of is what it is at this point. I like having a place to talk about books and games and related things, but if I don’t feel well enough to post sometimes, then I don’t post.

Blog/Bookish Updates:

Nothing, other than what I already said.

Books I Received for Review:

I got Tears in Time by Christian Baines, from the author. I’ve gotten more and more into this urban fantasy series with each book, so I’m excited for more!

I received a few finished copies from Simon & Schuster recently. They’re not sci-fi/fantasy, which is what I normally talk about here, but they are beautiful! And they have some pretty little touches, like back cover art or etchings on the actual book. More books should have those kinds of things, I love them.

Books I Finished:

If you’re considering buying any of these books from Amazon, I’d really appreciate if you’d use my affiliate link!

I got my reading mojo back, then I sorta lost it again. It’s just hard for me to focus on books when I’m extra stressed or feeling worse than usual, so I didn’t read/listen to as much.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang – I got this one through the Libro.fm ALC program. Mixed feelings about it. It was marketed as a big love story romance, and I just didn’t feel that. Also one character had some sort of chronic illness that seemed to just disappear? I had fun trying to match up the timelines though. And it had great audiobook narration. One narrator for each timeline, and they all suited their part so well.

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin – Also from the Libro.fm ALC program. Just not really for me, I think. Or maybe wrong mood, wrong time. Another where I don’t think I felt what I was meant to? But some cool dark fantasy stuff. I might be interested in continuing the series. One narrator was a bit flat for my taste (possibly a purposeful character choice), but still a good audiobook overall.

Silver Under Nightfall // Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco – I relistened to the first, then finished the duology. I liked it! Sexy vampires, action, and a character getting the happy ending he deserved. Also great audio narration.

Blood Moon by Nazri Noor – This is a spin-off of another series, about a cheeky vampire side character who is a lot of fun. I’m not always really into the “conversation with the reader” style of POV, but it works for this character, and the audio narrator really brought it to life.