February 2025, March 2025, and April 2025 Book Clubs

 To catch up on my book club posts I'm combining the last three into one. 

February-

 

Summer with the Leprechauns by Tanis Helliwell 

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Supposedly Non-Fiction, but I'm categorizing it as Magical Realism
Content: Clean

 

An astonishing true story about one woman’s journey to Ireland where she lived in a cottage with leprechauns.

These seldom-seen beings taught her about the evolution of elementals—the race to which leprechauns, faeries, elves, trolls belong. They explained the importance of humans and elementals working together for the betterment of both of their races and the Earth. Far more than a faery tale, this book is a classic that has been published in eight languages.

Now the author has re-edited her book so that the reader can hear the leprechaun’s voice in all his mischievous wisdom. You also learn about body elementals that keep you alive from lifetime to lifetime and about the beings in the center of the Earth who are helping our planet. And all this with a great sense of humor as Helliwell captures life in a remote Irish village with an insight into the people that is infectious.

An Irish Jewel, this is a good humored, true account of Tanis’ summer in a cottage in Ireland where the resident leprechaun taught her about the evolution of elementals (fairies, elves, leprechauns).

 

This was such a weird book. It wasn't what any of us were expecting. We thought this was going to be a cute magical realism story about leprechauns, sort of like Darby O'Gill and the Little People, but somehow missed that it's supposedly a woman's real life spiritual journey. We thought the true story claims were going to be tongue in cheek. I can't figure out if the author really believes this crazy stuff happened to her or if that's just a gimmick. This is categorized as non-fiction, but I'm not shelving it as that. Apparently there are sequels, but needless to say, I'll pass.

 

Here are some book themed foods we had-

 

 

 

 

 

Peat fire brownies

 

 

 

Irish Soda Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March-

 

Planetside (Planetside #1) by Michael Mammay 

I had already read and recommended this book to my husband. He liked it so much that when it was his turn to pick books, this one was on the list. 

Here's a copy of my original review:

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery, Space Opera
Content: Strong language

 

A seasoned military officer uncovers a deadly conspiracy on a distant, war-torn planet…

War heroes aren't usually called out of semi-retirement and sent to the far reaches of the galaxy for a routine investigation. So when Colonel Carl Butler answers the call from an old and powerful friend, he knows it's something big—and he's not being told the whole story. A high councilor's son has gone MIA out of Cappa Base, the space station orbiting a battle-ravaged planet. The young lieutenant had been wounded and evacuated—but there's no record of him having ever arrived at hospital command. 

The colonel quickly finds Cappa Base to be a labyrinth of dead ends and sabotage: the hospital commander stonewalls him, the Special Ops leader won't come off the planet, witnesses go missing, radar data disappears, and that’s before he encounters the alien enemy. Butler has no choice but to drop down onto a hostile planet—because someone is using the war zone as a cover. The answers are there—Butler just has to make it back alive…

 

Military sci-fi can be hit or miss with me, but Planetside was one that I ended up really liking. It felt rather like a space opera at times, so maybe that's why. I loved the mystery in this book. It really kept me guessing as I tried to figure out what in the world was going on! I thought the characters were very well done. The author is a retired Army officer, and I think that made his characters more convincing as military personnel.

One of the things I liked the most about this book, was that the main character is an older retired guy, instead of the usual younger character. He's also married, which can be rare for a main character in books like this. My friend said his personality reminded her a bit of Avasarala, from The Expanse series, and I can see that. She was one of my favorite characters in that series, so maybe that's one reason I liked him so much. I like his no-nonsense personality. He just does what needs to be done with no apologies. It was great!

There are three books and I'm looking forward to reading more.

April-

 

Orconomics (The Dark Profit #1) by J. Zachary Pike

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Satire
Content: Strong Language

 

Professional heroes kill and loot deadly monsters every day, but Gorm Ingerson's latest quest will be anything but business as usual.

Making a Killing in Professional Heroics

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters’ hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the beasts are slain. Once the contracts and paperwork are settled, the Heroes’ Guild issues a quest to kill the monster and bring back its treasure for disbursement to shareholders.


Life in The Shadows

Of course, while professional heroics has been a great boon for Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the other peoples of light, it's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin. Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by guild heroes. Even after getting their papers, NPCs are treated as second class citizens, driven into the margins of society.


An Insane Quest

Gorm Ingerson, a Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, has no idea what he's getting himself into when he stands up for an undocumented Goblin. His act of kindness starts a series of events that ends with Gorm recruited by a prophet of the mad goddess Al'Matra to fulfill a prophecy so crazy that even the Al'Matran temple doesn't believe it.


Money, Magic, and Mayhem

But there’s more to Gorm’s new job than an insane prophecy: powerful corporations and governments, usually indifferent to the affairs of the derelict Al’Matran temple, have shown an unusual interest in the quest. If his party of eccentric misfits can stop fighting each other long enough to recover the Elven Marbles, Gorm might be able to turn a bad deal into a golden opportunity and win back the fame and fortune he lost so long ago.

 

I actually read this book twice in April. The first time I listened to it and my mind kept wandering. There were big holes in what I could recall from the story. I felt like this was a book I could really enjoy but I just didn't enjoy the audio, so I decided to read the ebook after I had finished the audio. A weird choice in a month that I didn't have a lot of reading time, but it was my book club read and I wanted to give it another chance for that reason too. So, after reading the ebook version I bumped what would have been a 3 star rating up to 4 stars. I enjoyed the characters in this story and I loved the satirical nature of it. There were even a few moments where I teared up. 

Here are the book themed foods we had-

 

 

Healing Potions. These were significant in the book.

Rice Krispie Treats made to look like rocks or boulders. The purple sprinkles are the purple treasures given to the troll in the book. He would hide them under rocks, and he could change his shape to look like a boulder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beef Buns. They ate beef buns at the beginning of the book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Elf Food