Shannon Kay

We saw The Beths in concert. This year, the perfect storm was created with The Beths playing on my husband's birthday right in our own county. We didn’t even have to drive to Los Angeles! For merch, we both got Straight Line Was a Lie t-shirts, and I got a tote bag and sticker!

🎶 🎸 🥁 🎤 Full post at my blog.

Liz Stokes shouting out the venue, The Observatory, and a little more of Straight Line Was a Lie.

It was actually a double headliner show show with Beach Bunny, and the opening act was Wishy. Wishy was a good opening band, and it sounds like their new album is going to be even better. I had familiarized myself with Beach Bunny and come prepared to sing along. They put on a great show, and I enjoyed their vibe, but we were primarily there to see The Beths.

by Katherin Arden

Seasonal Vibe: spring/summer Travel Location: Brittany, France, Austria Historical Time: 1490 Genres: Historical, Fantasy Read: June 19-July 1, 2026 Format: Hardcover(library book) and audiobook  347 pages • 🎧 Great Audiobook

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden was a beautiful book. It starts off leaning more historical with court/political drama than fantasy, and gradually moves into a story of enchanting legend. It grows to be a magical and romantic story. The writing style is lovely.

This historical fantasy brings an about an alternate version of history, which really makes me think about why fantasy is a form of “speculative” fiction. I’m actually reminded of the Lady Janie and Mary books (starting with My Lady Jane), which are a series of alternative historical fantasy YA books. They are favorites of mine. The tone of the Lady Janie books is more humorous, so the style is quite different from The Unicorn Hunters, but they have a common theme; to take a real woman from history and “improve” her story(and add fantasy!).

I finished The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry, and I loved it. 

This book had...

• Delightful literary references.

• Scenes that moved back and forth between 1960 and 1939/1940

• Characters that I loved

• Descriptions of places that made me want to visit them.

This also alerted me to the fact that Josh Groban is playing the title role in a new Sweeney Todd revival, which is awesome.