26 Comments
Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

Sounds to me like you are nailing being an adult. Iā€™m continually telling my 20something kids adulthood is having no idea but acting like you know what you are doing. If you are confused, unsure just winging it you are nailing adulthood. You get bonus points for stopping the Shame cycle before the crash landing at the end of the ride.

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Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

Hi Brooke, A magical realism book that I can't get out of my head after reading it a year ago is Lonely Castle in the Mirror. It's translated from Japanese and is wonderful! Em x

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Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

I'm loving the audio blog posts/letters/articles. Thanks Brooke! Must try that cashew spread soon...

Lynette Noni is a fabulous Australian YA author. I love all of her books, as do my teens, who don't always share the same taste as readers. I'd usually suggest starting with the Medoran Chronicles but for an adult who loves YA, you can't beat the Prison Healer trilogy.

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Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

Hi Brooke!

I agree with another commenter that Sarah J Maasā€™ books are enormous fun. My favourite fantasy novels of recent years are Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and Little Thieves by Margaret Owen (which is YA).

Thanks for all you do šŸ’•

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The best fantasy books Iā€™ve read lately are by Sarah J Maas. The Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses series were both great ā­ļø

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Thank you for reading and sharing Little Things, Brooke! Happy to have found your newsletter.

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Mar 17, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

Susan Dennard's Witchlands series is great šŸ˜Š There's still one book to go I think. Truthwitch is the first one.

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Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

Hi Brooke, Firstly glad Joey and rhe Postie are OK and hope your family are feeling better. I had a bit of a stressful week at work, took myself off for a few minutes and did some deep breathing and it did help. The stress was still there but it grounded me, made me remember the more important things. Looking forward to Values Workshop 2 on Sunday xx

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Mar 16, 2023Liked by Brooke McAlary

I am grateful Joey was not seriously hurt. Tried a bandaid on the dogs before. They always just pulled them off! Hope your family feels better soon.

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Yes to being a messy human and trying our best. Love how this related to your last piece! :)

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For YA books, I can recommend ā€˜Archibald Loxā€™ and ā€˜the saga of Darren Shanā€™ by Darren Shan and Steamborn by Eric R Asher.

Definitely not YA, but I highly recommend the chronicles of Breed by KT Davies

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As a fellow writer (on the topic of finding contentment) and yoga teacher (trying to teach people how to be zen) I can really relate to these feelings of imposter syndrome that creep up. I tell my students and readers to slow down when I myself am running a million miles a minute sometimes. Itā€™s ironic and also beautiful that we can teach ourselves through sharing. Xxx

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You will love everything from Sarah j Maas!

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Hi Brooke, highly recommend The Song That Sings Us by Nicola Davies. Itā€™s a beautiful dystopia/fantasy with strong environmental theme and itā€™s YA too.

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I havenā€™t read it but a book club friend recently raved about Her Majestyā€™s Royal Coven, a feel-good witchy romp. Iā€™ll recommend Flames by Robbie Arnott if you havenā€™t read it - magical realism plus strong sense of place/nature. Hope this week is a little smoother for your family!

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I'm not too bad. Still juggling health problems but despite that, things are pretty good. I'm loving audiobooks at the moment as I get to consume wonderful stories while resting. xx

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