Waking up, now September’s ended…

I was a bit quieter this month, recovering from the busy busy summer. September was the month of author events and diving back into my reading habit. I kicked off September with a trip down to DragonCon the culmination of my late nights working on my Hannah Alexander Morpho Butterfly cosplay for Thursday’s Bunny Hutch night. 

I do plan on doing a deeper dive into making my bunny suit and this costume but you can go watch my videos to join me as I was making it. I am incredibly proud of of this cosplay! Additionally at DragonCon I was able to see one of my all time favorite authors Patricia Briggs, who comes almost every year and was the initial reason that I became interested in going to DragonCon way back when I was in college. 

I also had the absolute joy of meeting K.A. Linde who wrote The Wren in the Holly Library which I am absolutely obsessed with.  Book two, The Robin on the Oak Throne came out earlier this summer and I listened to it while I was working on my bunny suit outfit, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the series! Book three comes out next year… just in case you are interested. When I realized that Kyla was going to be there I whipped together a very quick Kierse McKenna cosplay – her as a thief. I was delighted to find a Wren necklace online that could make it in time. Between that and the spear, I could find the rest of what I needed in my closet. She was just as lovely in person as she is online and I was so glad that I could share some joy with her! I am already planning on making Kieran’s gold dress in book two… I’m still in planning stages on that one!

Overall DragonCon was such a blast and I am already planning next year’s outfits! I once again joined the Disney Regency Royal Court as Wendy, and after a lot of wear and tear my corset has let me know that it needs some TLC before it can be worn again. I am always over joyed to find such community and fandom love when I am at DragonCon. 

Note: All the Disney Regency Royal Court photos were taken by Cassie Rae Designs

The weekend after was the National Book Festival and Sooz (aka Susan Dennard) was one of the featured authors!! I was delighted to finally get Sooz on my home turf, and of course had to do something special to celebrate her coming, especially since The Executioner’s Three came out at the end of August! While I didn’t want to be in an outfit that was covered in prank shenanigans from the book, I decided to make matching hoodies for a few of us that went to see her. So instead we all got to be Winnie (The Luminaries) and wear our Save the Whales hoodie. I was so pleased with the quick craft and even more pleased that I got to see my friend and celebrate her most recent book birthday in person. 

The rest of the month was taken up by celebrating birthdays, work trips, and the kick off to my faire season! Maryland Ren Faire is always a favorite and I am excited to get to hit PA Ren Faire later this season. At the Maryland Ren Faire I was able to stop by the author signing tent and get to see Bethany Morrow and Lilli Lainoff and grab books from each of them to get signed, and Lilli was wearing the dress from the cover of her book One for All.

I feel like it was fitting that I kicked off the month with so many wonderful author events and ended it with Leigh Bardugo and Alix E. Harrow, who were celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Six of Crows and the release of the newest covers. Every step of the way I was surrounded by friends and got to make so many lovely memories. 

October is going to be busy as well, I have a wedding to celebrate and a work trip coming up, but I’m also working on Safi’s dress from Truthwitch, hoping that I can get it done in time for the release of Witchlight and Sooz going on tour! You can follow along on that journey on my socials.

I’m also hoping that October can be as good of a reading month as September was. While 7 books isn’t my highest read month, it was much better that I’d been over the summer and while yes it does have two kids books in here, everything I read was a delight and I would recommend! It was also a lot of books from authors that I go to meet this month, which was wonderful. So, be on the lookout for more reviews coming up from authors that you already know I love! 

Books Read: 

• When Demons Walk   🎧 by Patricia Briggs 
• The Bakery Dragon 🎧  by Devin Elle Kurtz 
• The Invisible Parade 🎧 by Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio 
• Daisy Jones & The Six *🎧 by Taylor Jenkins Reid 
  *highly recommend this one as audio
• Swordheart 🎧 by T. Kingfisher 
• The Enchanted Greenhouse 🎧 by Sarah Beth Durst
• By the Horns 🎧 by Ruby Dixon

I’m including links to all of these books, as well as to their audios for your ease if you want to read! Please note that I or an independent bookstore I love may get affiliate sales if you buy a book through one of my links!