Fez Inkwright’s Folk Magic and Healing now has a darker sibling! Botanical Curses and Poisons looks at the folklore and science behind evil, cursed, and poisonous plants in a book just as beautiful as its companion.
Succulents and Spells is an adorable f/f contemporary fantasy full of sweetness, magic and monster science!
Many Comic Cons past, I fell in love with the art of Fez Inkwright (@rosdottir on Twitter), who combines beautiful art with folklore and witchiness, and is also a hugely sweet person. I have several pieces of her art up around my house, and I also bought her self-published book, Folk Magic and Healing: An Unusual History of British Plants. So I was thrilled when the last time I saw her, she told me it had been picked up by a publisher for a swanky expanded, hardback release – and even more thrilled when Liminal 11 offered me the chance to review the new edition!
I was so excited for this story of herblore and hidden magic, but I felt pretty let down by the worldbuilding in the end, which was a shame.
You guys know I’m mad for witches, right? So I absolutely couldn’t resist the idea of The Familiars, which is set during the Pendle witch trials – and even on top of my high expectations, I was surprised by how beautiful, fluid, and atmospheric the writing is. This is a gorgeous book inside and out.
I was so lucky to win a copy of this amazing book from Duckworth Books, as I’m a big fan of Eleanor Herman’s writing, and I love learning about the history of early medicine and cosmetics – especially when they’re actually poisonous!
This book was a total impulse buy for me. I was browsing in Mostly Books and didn’t really see anything that grabbed me in the YA or adult sections, so I made my way to their lovely kids’ section at the back, and picked this up more or less at random. I thought there was a chance it might be a bit twee (never having really had a horse/unicorn phase as a kid), but when I started reading it, I was really pleased to find that it’s a gorgeous portal to a magical world, in the best tradition of children’s fantasy.
If a book is about poisons and food tasters, it’s a guaranteed buy for me, so when I read the first line of City of Lies I knew I was in for a treat. Poison is front and centre in Sam Hawke’s debut, but so is an extremely original look at the complexities of siege warfare, and the difficulties of governing a city filled with different religious beliefs.
I was so excited to get my hands on These Rebel Waves early, because I just love pirates, and I also have a love of the history of botanical medicine and magic, so this sounded right up my alley. I’m extremely grateful to Shrina from Harper 360 for sending me a proof and letting me read this one!
Since we moved into the house we currently live in, I’ve had more of an interest in gardening than ever before. I’ve got an array of kitchen herbs, pots of roses, two deeply rebellious buddleias, and thanks to my in-laws, a new row of tomato plants! As we rent, a lot of our plants are in pots on the patio, and so I was very interested to read Kate Bradbury’s book about rescuing a small paved garden. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.
A Cat, A Book, and A Cup of Tea 