Spring is Here
Happy Spring Everyone!
How do I know it’s Spring officially? Well, for one it’s rained for almost three weeks straight, and it finally looks like we’ll be getting some sun and the ability to dry out! I can’t wait to watch the flowers finally start to bloom in the near future.
There will most likely be photos in May as the garden slowly blooms. So definitely check back next month for those!
A Peek at Meri’s Desk
Hotel Fen Universe
Monster Ridge, book 2, is in editing and on track for its August release.
Hotel Fen, the audiobook narrated by talented author and crafter Rebecca Lemke, is in review and is slated for a May 10th release. So make sure to get your headphones ready!
Into the Faerietale is still in editing, though it’s been paused so I can finish edits on Monster Ridge.
Project Founder’s Circle, is a new brainchild that kind of ran me over and wouldn’t stop until I started plotting it - I even have about four pages of a chapter written though after writing them I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with where we’re starting the story. So I might put a few chapters in front to open the world a little better. Also still deciding if this will be a Meri Benson release or if I roll it under a pen name. I need to see where it settles in the romance area of the story with the characters. The aim is for it to be a cozy witchy mystery but I’ve also not completely decided if I wanted it to be a reverse harem romance style for the love interest for the main character or not. That will be the main deciding factor for where it falls for an author pen name.
What I’m…
Reading
My desk is open for review requests, so check out my review policy if you would like to request a review for your book. I’m still on a super cozy witch mystery kick for my reading outside of the requested reviews. Though I did pick up a few indie author books, so those will likely make their way here in May.
Raven’s Cry by Charlie Nottingham (Newly Released, April 4th!)
Everyone has skeletons in their closet, but Rain’s are learning to open the door.
Rain’s lost everything in the last decade. Her grandmother, her brother, and her family home might be next. All she has is Graham – a powerful Fae who illegally escaped the Fae Realm and has been her best friend ever since.
Until Ezra – the sexiest Vampire she’s ever seen – commissions her for one hell of a job. Cleansing dozens of vengeful spirits from an abandoned mansion for a life changing amount of money.
All Rain wants is to focus on her budding relationship with Ezra, but the ghosts in the mansion have awoken the ones Rain has spent a decade trying to keep locked up.
But Rain isn’t the only one with secrets. Ezra has a few of his own.
Read the review on my blog.
Grits, Gamblers, & Grudges by Lisa B Thomas and Paula Lester
The third book in the Beachside Books Magical Cozy Mystery series, Paige finally has the bookstore on its feet and everything seems to be headed in a good direction. Until her plumber finds a dead body in the basement. Now it’s on Paige to try and solve a decades old murder to clear her Aunt’s name. Oh, and the inspector came by to look at the plumber’s work and she was told she couldn’t actually live above the bookstore because the building wasn’t rated for it. So she also has to find a new place to live, on barely any income because while the bookstore is doing okay, it’s not exactly rolling in cash.
Torrent Witches Cozy Mysteries (#1-6) by Tess Lake
Butter Witch (#1), Treasure Witch (#2), Hidden Witch (#3), Fabulous Witch (#4), Holiday Witch (#5), Shadow Witch (#6)
Harlow Torrent is a Slip Witch living with her family in Harlot Bay, a town that has a magical convergance above it that makes the weather a little odd no matter the season, but also tends to settle the magic witches.
The series follows our part-time journalist, full-time witch as strange things happen in her little town and it’s adjacent island. The first book starts out simple enough but the author has weaved upcoming plotlines for future books into earlier books well so when you get to a point where it becomes the major plot, you’ve watched it get to that point like a living, breathing town would naturally.
I’m really enjoying the series, and will be doing full reviews on the books later. So keep an eye out for those. I’m also planning to continue the series - there are ten books in all. So four to go!
A Pride and Prejudice Retelling (#1-3) by Alicia Chumney
First Impressions (#1, releasing April 21st ), Second Chances (#2, releasing May 26th), and Third Time Lucky (#3, releasing June 23rd)
I was lucky enough to beta read my friend’s upcoming Pride and Prejudice retelling trilogy. The three books follow Liam and Lizzy through their high school and college years, as life pushes and pulls them and they navigate the trials of life.
They’re a wonderful modern retelling of a classic that you won’t want to miss.
Watching
I’m still deeply invested in The Endgame, on NBC. The plot arc has been intriguing and trying to work out the puzzles and where the episode and show as a whole are going has been really fun as I watch it. Still highly recommended.
Legacies is back with new episodes, so I’ve been watching that as well. With me binge-watching The Vampire Diaries last month, it’s probably not a surprise I like the show.
Listening To
I haven’t been listening to too much on the way home over the last month. Mostly I’ve been chitchatting with my Mom on my way homes, it gives us some of the perfect time to catch up.
The little I’ve been listening to has been Fated Mates, mostly their interstitials where they talk about tropes in Romance books.
When not in the car or looking for music, I’ve been listening to a homemade playlist on Spotify that has a mix of The Greatest Showman, some Julie and the Phantoms, and my co-author’s original songs - Marie Sinadjan if you’re looking for her work.
Monthly Short Serial
This month’s short is a little bit different. A friend posted a kind of what-if on their social and I rolled with it for this month’s story. It’s also not quite at an end, so be sure to be on the lookout for part two coming in May. I might have just turned this into a serial for the foreseeable future. Without further ado, Generations.
Hope you have a drier start to your Spring than I’m having!