Mirrored Heavens

Mirrored Heavens book cover, featuring a woman with glowing eyes and large headdress.

Mirrored Heavens is the fabulous conclusion to the Between Earth and Sky trilogy by Rebecca Roanhorse.

With fantastic world building, magic, and intrigue, the Between Earth and Sky trilogy is on par with some of my other favorite fantasy series, such as the Broken Earth, and Inheritance trilogies by N.K. Jemisin.

Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, and Serapio, the Crow God Reborn, both seek to save their people. They each face their own enemies, as we traverse the lands of Meridian, from the depths of the wastelangs, to Tova where the sun no longer shines, and the island of Teek, where the all-female islanders’ magic is fading.

At over 600 pages, it’s another long one, as are the first two books in the trilogy. However, I can’t recommend this enough! I loved the whole series, with its unique take on mythology, legends, magic, and the place of gods among us.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own. Amazon links in this review are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

The Swans of Harlem

The Swans of Harlem book cover, yellow with black text and 5 dancing ballerinas.

The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby tells the story of five Black ballerinas, and their time with the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH).

Predominately a character study, and a recount of the triumphs and trials of the featured five Black ballerinas, Swans also touches on history, racism, and AIDS. DTH was created in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell, and was one of the first all-Black ballet companies.

Capturing a forgotten history, The Swans of Harlem is a powerful narrative, and a reminder of how easily we can all be forgotten.

I enjoyed learning more about ballet, the history of DTH, and the ballerinas themselves. My only complaint about the novel is that it switches the narration and time abruptly, so I often felt lost as to whose story I was reading at a particular moment and when that story was taking place.

Recommended for fans of ballet or with an interest in history, both Women’s history and Black history.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own. Links in this review are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Empire of the Damned

Empire of the Damned Book cover

Empire of the Damned, by Jay Kristoff is the second novel in the Empire of the Vampire series.

I have always loved vampire novels, ever since reading Interview with the Vampire. Empire has all the qualities that I loved from that series: a tortured main character with a sordid past, interesting other characters, epic world-building, lore, magic, and history.

Since this is the second in the series, I won’t say too much about the plot. Like the first in the series, it’s a pretty lengthy book at 709 pages. If you don’t mind epic tales, love vampires, and a good story, I highly recommend this, but you’ll need to start with the first book. You can find what I wrote about the first book in a mini review in this post.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own. Some links in this review are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Succeeding as a Solopreneur

Given that I’ve been thinking about how to expand my career options beyond the traditional tech job, when I saw Succeeding as a Solopreneur: Six Keys to taking the Leap, Winning Clients, and Building Wealth by Liz J. Steblay offered by NetGalley, it seemed very timely.

Overall, it was a quick read, and I definitely learned some stuff.

First, I do not know enough about running a business to know if I need to be an LLC, get a business license, or file for “doing business as”. I have some research to do! The book provided more questions than answers for me here.

Second, I am not sure if I’m ready to take the leap into being a solopreneur just yet, so I’m not giving up on my job search. Rather, I’d like to explore both in parallel.

I also need to learn way more about marketing, making a brand for myself, and start doing more networking.

Overall, Succeeding as a Solopreneur was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The author talks early on about defining herself as a consultant/entrepreneur, later flipping it, and then ultimately dropping consultant to become simply an entrepreneur. However, the work she does as an entrepreneur, to me, seems like consulting work. So, I spent a lot (too much) time wondering what the difference was, why it matters, and if this book was really for me.

Some of the book seems pretty relevant for anyone looking to work for themselves. Is self-employed the same as solopreneur? What about gig workers? It’s all still a little murky for me. And this is where I felt the book was a let-down. It wasn’t clear to me if I was included in the definition or not.

Also, she spends a lot of time on networking and selling yourself. But this, again, felt geared towards people working in a similar “consulting” line of work. If you are, for example, a website developer, or a graphic artist, how much does your LinkedIn profile photo really matter?

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.