“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads...
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Unsounded: All the FEELS


I’m gonna keep this as spoiler-free as I can, but if you haven’t read Ashley Cope’s Unsounded, then be warned. (And then go read it because it’s awesome. I’ll even link it for you here.)

 

If you want to know a little about Unsounded before you click that above link, then settle in. Unsounded takes place on a continent called Kasslyne. It’s filled with political intrigue, various well-developed cultures, and a mind-blowing magic system that hold the whole thing together. And in this world of thief-kings, dog-riding soldiers, and wrights lives a girl with a tail named Sette. Ferocious and sticky-fingered, Sette is on a quest to collect a debt from her cousin. She’s accompanied by Duane Adelier, a zombie wright whose patience is as great as his skills. Which is a boon because Sette would try the patience of the most zen person in the world.

Sette has a knack for finding trouble and dragging her zombie bodyguard into the fray. Things get even stickier when Sette and Duane run into the Red Berry Boys—smugglers using human bodies to transport expensive, rare First Materials.

Ashley Cope loves to make us laugh—and she loves to rip our hearts out. She doesn’t hesitate to set the reader up for a soul crushing, and she doesn’t soften the blow in her artwork.

Unsounded is currently into Chapter 7 and shedding light on Duane’s final living days. We’ve been warmed with family togetherness and dipped in political strife. We know the other shoe’s about to drop, we know that at some point Duane will become the poetic zombie we all love. Each page brings us closer, leaving us in panting, nail-biting suspense. And when we finally reach that moment, we’ll be left in a sobbing heap for the happiness that is lost.
And it’s Ashley’s fault because she’s just that good.

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