Hello, my darlings.
Election Day was yesterday. There are many things that could be said about that, but all I’m going to say is: that was a big day! You should treat yourself to something nice. Maybe a bath or a muffin or some time reading on your porch with a hot chocolate. Let’s recover.
xoxo,
Becky
PS: I’ll have more info for you on this soon…but I happen to know that there’s a chance coming up for one lucky jewelry lover to win a free Sylvie Collection diamond stacking ring.
What I’m reading:
Prince of Cahraman by Lucy Tempest: This is the squeal to Thief of Cahraman – the book I was super into in my last WIR – came out, and I did end up buying it immediately. My reading frequency increases drastically when the days get shorter. I haven’t actually started this yet, but I’m about to!
Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: I’ve been wanting to read this series for a while. It’s YA fantasy and billed as having a strong heroine at the center of it AND I’ve heard that it’s noteworthy for its body positivity.
I enjoyed reading most of this series: it’s a good story and the main character does grow into a strong woman. But whoever said this series is body positive does not know what that concept means. The heroine starts out the series overweight and obsessed with food and then as she matures and becomes more powerful and self aware, she sheds weight and loses interest in food. Her diminishing interest in eating and shrinking body become an allegory for her growth and self-awareness. It’s pretty blatant: she starts the first book stuffing her face with pastries and crying because she doesn’t understand why her wedding dress doesn’t fit and ends it pushing away dinner and marveling at the look of her taut stomach the night before a battle.
I want to recommend this series because it’s a lot of fun, especially the second two books, but the way the main character’s weight issues are handled is awful and I can’t get past that. If you want to read books with badass young women heroines, read Kirsten Cashore’s Graceling realm books or Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha Trilogy instead.
Internets:
Guy Creatively Arranges His Massive Library of Books Into Imaginative Scenes.
Norah Smyth, Suffragette Photographer.
How a Collective Feminine Vision is Reshaping LA’s Jewelry District: Female-led jewelry-design firms are breathing new life into the city’s century-old manufacturing community.
Get Acquainted with the Gorgeous Wedding Gowns of America’s Wealthiest Families.
This Woman Has Spent Millions Making Her Entire Life Pink.
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In 1795, Marie Antoinette’s only surviving child, Marie-Thérèse de France (1778-1851), “Madame Royale,” was released and sent to her family in Austria. Upon her arrival in Vienna in 1796, she was given her mother’s jewels by her cousin, the Austrian emperor. Since she never had children of her own, Madame Royale bequeathed part of her jewelry collection to her niece and adopted daughter, Louise of France (1819–1864), Duchess of Parma and grand-daughter of Charles X, King of France (1757-1836), who in turn left them to her son, Robert I (1848-1907), the last ruling Duke of Parma.
I keep wanting to introduce each piece by saying “this was one of my favorites!!” but really that applies to every piece here. If something wasn’t one of my favorites, I didn’t ask the fine folks at Sotheby’s to take it out of the case.