A murder mystery party with friends sparks a hidden set of skills for Pippa Fitz-Amobi in this prequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

No dark fate determines the future. We do. Each day and each moment, we are able to create and re-create our lives and the very quality of human life on our planet. This is the power we wield.

Talk less, get more. This book is about learning how to engage with the world in ways that give us an advantage.

“Opposites are not always in opposition; the day and night are equals. One isn’t good and the other bad.”

But you know what's worse than suffering? Not suffering, because you're not even alive to feel it.

My bookish friends, Noah and Leslie, decided to compete for "Best Book" each month. This tiebreaker is for all the marbles!

Such an unsubtle use of enchantment was a crime against civilization, even before one counted in the piracy.

No men sat at the table, having been left at home to mind the children, guard the treasure, or quite frankly just stay out of the way of women’s business.

It takes a whole lot longer to dispose of a body than to dispose of a soul, especially if you don’t want to leave any evidence of foul play.

This was what real magic looked like—indecent, decadent, perverse.

“Why make anything if you don’t believe it could be great?”

The commonsense rules of the “real world” are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions.

The Book Spy follows the stories of Tiago in Lisbon and Maria from New Jersey during World War II. When Maria’s path crosses Tiago’s, they form an incredible bond and agree to help each other and end the war.

“Nothing,” he wrote, “vexes the mind so much as feeling one’s self injured in a way that cannot be prevented or avenged.”

2022 was a busy, fun, and exciting year at Beguiled By Books. Check out all the stats from reading this year and see the best books I read in 2022.

“Should I not be angered equally for a stranger as for my own family, as I would want a stranger to do….”

Need a last-minute gift? Check out these digital gifts and subscription ideas!

Celtic mythology and YA Fantasy come together for Queen Among the Dead

Margaret Willson compiled a fascinating retelling of Captain Thuridur’s life in Woman, Captain, Rebel. Thuridur defied many conventions of the time for how women were to act, what they were to wear, and how they are viewed within the Icelandic society.

And when we make mistakes—when we fail to lead—our identity; our sense of self; our self-esteem; our deeply held beliefs about what it will take to feel loved and safe and that we belong, as well as that most the basic ability to provide for ourselves and our loved ones, seems to implode.