Hello everybody and happy 2025! I hope all your dreams come true this year. I took a break from my weekly treasures wrap-ups in December but I’m really excited to pick them back up again. They really force me to take a look at what I loved the most every week, before I forget all about it! Last week was a bit special since it started in one year and ended in the next. I went back to work yesterday, meaning it’s back to regular programing with a new post here every day I’m working from home (usually Mondays). I posted my first YouTube video of the year recently and I’ve been nervous about it – I received some comments which I think were bot-generated last year which made me so uneasy so I wasn’t sure about opening up the comments section again. I did and received two odd comments again but also a lovely message from one of my favourite YouTubers, Shannon. She’s got two channels and one focuses on her Disney World vlogs (she lives in Orlando) which I absolutely love (Disney World has my absolute heart). I found her main channel years and years ago and have loved her since and it’s always a delight to receive a message from her. On Saturday, we went out for ramen and found a wonderful little restaurant where we had the best ramen I’ve ever tasted. I like it when the broth is extremely flavourful and this really delivered. They were rich and morish. It was pouring out and that was the comfort we both needed.
Here were my delights this past week.
Historical Fantasy
The Twelve Houses series by Sharon Shinn. I binge read a lot of Sharon Shinn in 2016-2018, she’s one of my favourite authors and this is one of my favourite series ever. I reread it at the very end of 2024 when I needed something both gripping and comforting. This historical, adventure, friendship, romance fantasy series is one of the best. It’s about a group of 6 unlikely friends who roam Gillengaria to find out whether or not there’s a plot against the king. Could people be so frightened enough of those who possess magic to throw a civil war? On paper, it sounds like a massive high stake story and yes, it is (there is war in book 4 after all) but I can’t tell you how much of these books is about food, is about the absolutely amazing characters that feel like friends, is about the lovely romances (each book focuses on of the characters specifically and follows them as they find their soulmate), is about warmth and lovely places (Danalustrous, Goldenhall), is about loyalty and courage and heart. There’s a lot of humour and light in those books, they are some of my favourite comfort books. The secondary characters are also so great. This world feels completely real to me and our six main characters in particular feel like my best friends, in particular Kirra and Senneth, two of my favourite female characters ever. It’s worth noting that the last book, Fortune and Fate, is a spin-off of sorts and is a quiet domestic tale that takes place after the war and is maybe my favourite book in the series. I find those stories so hard to find (daily activities after a major event) and I just adore it with my whole heart. Please look up the content warnings as this mentions a lot of things (but I can 100% vouch for the fact that our six friends are happy, alive and thriving throughout the series) but if you’re in the mood for tavern adventures with your new favourite people, do pick this up.
Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey – this is my favourite new read of the year so far! Absolutely wonderful. OUTSTANDING! I never in a million years expected this to be so good. It’s one of those books that feels like it was written just for me, I’m SO grateful!
1815, Amelia and her cousin Serena are fresh off the boat from America and Amelia is on a mission – she needs to expand her family’s business ventures (dyes and fabrics) in England and secure a husband for Serena. Against a backdrop of Napoleonic wars, elemental magic politics and slavery abolition, Amelia and Serena learn to navigate the ton and its many rules with the help of their hosts, Amelia’s brother James and the Anglefords. They might ‘smell of the shop’ but they’re determined to make friends with every echelon of society. ‘No time for vapors!’
This is SUPER COSY. 90% of the book is a list of domestic details – exactly what it takes to run a household, how sewing, knitting, cooking, working with servants, attending balls, setting up a house,decorating, husband hunting, dancing, travelling, works in Regency England. You NEVER enter a room without its being described at length for several pages, every item of clothing, every meal is explained to you. This felt SO immersive. I LOVED both Amelia and Serena, they’re both so amazing and refreshing. Amelia is a champion of the abolitionist cause and is a very capable woman, you can’t help but root for her as she learns all the rules of society and tries to help as many people as she can along the way with her extraordinary powers. This has several references to Jane Austen which made me chuckle and it was SUCH a comfort read, the magic is so interesting to read about and the only higher stakes action is at the very end of the book and isn’t much at all. What a delight. My first Mercedes Lackey, I’d just seen that it took place in the Regency and had heard of her Elemental Masters series before so I bought this as soon as I could and it’s one of the best new things I’ve read in a while. Wonderful!
Jane Austen Project
I reread Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen, two of my favourite novels by one of my favourite authors. I’m not going to say too much about this since I made two separate posts with my thoughts on the books this time around, one for Pride and Prejudice and one for Persuasion. Jane Austen is one of the authors I’d like to particularly focus on this year so I’m making her novels a priority early.
Jen, from Jen’s Reading Life is hosting Jane-uary on YouTube this month, I’m going to try and hop on her videos if I can (I think she’s in California so the timezone differences make it harder!) but it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one rereading Jane this year! I love Jen’s channel and highly recommend her if you enjoy cosy, vintage books in particular.
Historical Mystery
Where Serpents Sleep (Sebastian St Cyr #4) by C.S. Harris – These books keep getting better and better! This one was a particular favourite because for the first time, Sebastian investigates with Hero, the daughter of his worst enemy, Lord Jarvis. She was interviewing a prostitute for research when the girl was murdered and Hero feels responsible for finding the truth. Their investigation takes them all around London, uncovering so many threads and conspiracies and rubbing shoulders with all sorts of unsavoury characters. I absolutely loved Hero, a well-to-do woman who’s intelligent, competent and very intellectual. Their relationship won me over straight away. I can’t wait to read the other books, this was absolutely unputdownable.
Christmas movies
The Santa Summit (Hallmark) – At a Santa themed holiday event, three teachers get their groove back, strengthen their friendship, and unexpectedly find love along the way. This was absolutely hilarious and had several relationships. The geeky one was my favourite but I really enjoyed the friendships in this the most.
Santa Class (Hallmark) – so wonderful, Kimberly is my favourite Hallmark actress. This was really a film for Hallmark fans, it had a lot of meta references, was super funny but also had real magic with the real Santa Claus having a lovely story here. Kate North (Sustad) finds herself reluctantly taking over her father’s once acclaimed and now struggling Santa School. In the weeks leading up to Christmas and the school’s next session, Kate and her new co-worker Dan (Ayres) discover who they believe to be the real Santa Claus, lost and without his memories after his sled steered off course and crashed near the school. They decide to help him remember who he is by inviting him to participate in the intense Santa training program. There’s a lot at stake this year with Kate’s school needs to best the rival St. Nicholas School or be forced to close their doors, and Nick (Santa Claus) needs to remember who he is, or the fate of Christmas might be at stake.
Sugarplummed (Hallmark) – my favourite of the lot and it’s not even a romance! This was SO heartfelt and played with Hallmark’s tropes like nothing I’ve ever seen. So so funny. I laughed out loud several times. I also loved both leads, they were so great, this had great writing and it’s one of those Christmas films I can see myself rewatching every year. Emily (Lawson) has always dreamed of creating the perfect Christmas, meticulously planning every detail year after year, only to feel like she’s falling short. Hoping to bring her family closer together, she makes a wish for a holiday as picture-perfect as the ones she sees in a made-for-TV holiday movie. To her shock, Sugarplum (Parrish), the film’s relentlessly optimistic main character, magically steps off the screen to make Emily’s wish come true — whether she’s ready for it or not. As Sugarplum applies her movie-world rules to real life, Emily gets caught up in the possibility of finally achieving the flawless family Christmas. But when Sugarplum’s magical fixes start to backfire one by one, Emily begins to question what an ideal holiday really is. With time running out, Emily and Sugarplum find themselves on a heartwarming adventure – one that might just amount to an entirely different kind of Christmastime perfection.
I hope you have a lovely week! With love, Emma. 💕⃝🕊️ 💕
Magical Emma Rose 