Honest Nonsense

I've had this idea stuck in my head all day

you would receive the supply once a month

the brand/type will vary so you could

There are a few ways to answer that question.

You can read Beth Brower's other books. The Q is technically set in the Emma M. Lion world, and if you haven't read it yet, read it immediately. It maintains that meandering living with the characters day-by-day pace, so it takes a while to really get invested in the story, but if you give it a chance, it's very compelling. I'm obsessed with the romance in this one and it makes me overlook a lot of other flaws. The Books of Imirillia series is also worth a read. Book 1 in particular feels like a high fantasy version of Pierce coming to St. Crispian's, and if you want reassurance that Brower can end a series in an emotionally satisfying way, you can find it here.

You can read the books and authors that she's drawing from--Austen, Alcott, Wodehouse, Wilde, L.M. Montgomery, Jean Webster--all of which have different combinations of whimsy, wit, and charm. In this classics category, I also highly recommend reading Amy Levy. Her books written in the actual 1880s--specifically, The Romance of a Shop--prove that the New Women of the time actually aren't that much different from Emma M. Lion. Levy's got a breezy, readable style with such warmth and wit that she'd be a perfect fit for anyone who likes Emma.

When it comes to more modern books, I've seen a lot of people recommend Christina Baehr's Secrets of Ormdale series as a readalike. I can see why--it involves an intelligent upper-crust late Victorian heroine dealing with a cozy fantasy world--but I've read the first book, and it doesn't fill the same Emma M. Lion niche for me. The books that I tend to slot in the same niche tend to be fairy tale retellings or other underrated indie books, so some options there are:

Entwined by Heather Dixon: Warm sisterly relationships, emotional depth involving grief, Wodehouse type characters and a lot of wit and warmth

The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reeder: Indie-published fantasy set in a fantastical Edwardian era. Focuses on friendship between two male characters

What Comes of Attending the Commoners Ball and Lady Agatha Speaks Her Mind by Elizabeth Aimee Brown: Very humorous, very cozy indie fairy tale retellings set in Victorian-ish worlds

Kate Stradling's books all have a similar (though more sarcastic) blend of not-too-magical fantasy, humor, and common sense

The Galleries of Stone trilogy by C.J. Milbrandt isn't really a readalike, but it seems just similar enough that I feel like I should mention it. It's a very cozy fantasy series about getting to know a wide cast of likeable characters, and it's an underrated indie series.

The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson is more of a "if you like L.M. Montgomery" readalike, but I feel like I should mention it because of the Montgomery influences in Emma M. Lion

Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther is showing up on my reading list, and it seems like a stretch, but I think it might be a surprising fit. It's a collection of fictionalized accounts written during the very early days of WWII, originally published as newspaper columns, so they have that day-by-day life feel of Emma's journals, and Mrs. Miniver has a certain cozy charm. WWII isn't exactly a cozy time, but this also takes place before the war really kicked off, so it's not super-high stakes.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. A series of real-life letters between a witty, bookish writer and the staff of an English bookstore she befriends in the years after WWII. Maybe the most Emma M. Lion read? It's about books, friendship, and recovering from a terrible time, it's epistolary, and Hanff has a great voice.

Yours From the Tower by Sally Nichols is an epistolary novel about the friendship between three girls in Edwardian America. I don't remember a ton, but it would fit in that low-stakes Emma-ish niche.

The Shoes books by Noel Streatfeild are children's books, but they fit in that same genre that Brower is drawing from, and always have lots of vivid characters.

The Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace is also for children, and not as humorous, but is very much in that cozy, low-stakes, old-fashioned vibe of Emma.

You have been turned into this type of mermaid!!

Imprisoned in a Music Box - Submitted by SeesawSiya

it is good to fill up a page with lots of something. it looks cool even if the drawings are bad

it is good to draw small objects you like

it is good to draw yourself (in a mirror, specifically, although little goofy cartoons? also great) 

no need to erase or scribble over things you mess up - write a little regretful note next to em (if that) and move on. i learned this in 4th grade and believe it vehemently. 

Cecilio is Zhahara's 24 year old friend who works at the Candarwa library. He loves books and learning, and has a very wide field of knowledge he uses to help visitors find what they need.

He has a bit of a fanclub made up of young women who haunt the library hoping he'll fall for one of them. He finds them annoying and completely ignores them (unless they're noisy, in which case they promptly get evicted).

Gives off a brooding tall dark and handsome vibe until the moment you ask about one of his favourite subjects, at which point you realise he's a complete fanatical nerdy weirdo. He particularly loves to study the blight infection and the history of the Hero of Strahna, and he'll go off on a tangent about them for hours with an energy that many people find off-putting, but Zhahara can match, which is how they became friends.

He's absolutely fascinated with Ahleri, the new hero, and Bertie, the guardian of the Hero's Bonds, of whom he's read just about everything ever written. His grandfather was the last Hero, Zygos, and he becomes very frustrated with how little Bertie can remember of him and how he died.

Oh and he's a real foody, loves recipes and cooking and good food. His family are essentially the Strahnian equivalent of Aussie wogs, Greek/Italian immigrants to Australia, like my dad's family. The rest of them are very loud and boisterous, while he's generally quiet (unless you get him ranting on a fav topic of course, then the gesturing starts 👐. Or if you commit a food crime, then you'll set him right off 😂).

But also, when a preacher casually mentions that they asked ChatGPT about something in their sermon, my knee-jerk reaction is to want to leave or at least to stop listening. My brain’s all, “Oh, so you just admitted you didn’t do your own research? So now I’m gonna be left to question whether any of the “historical/cultural context” you’re providing is actually correct, or is a bot spitting out some shady website from a guy convinced that Jesus will reincarnate as a two-headed moose in an Iowan cornfield? So now I’m gonna wonder whether you built this entire sermon on a foundation of sand?”