The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor - Shaenon K Garrity

Initial draw: ✰✰✰✰✰
Character development: ✰✰✰✰✰
Plot/Writing style: ✰✰✰✰✰
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the Cover:

"One dark and stormy night, Haley sees a stranger drowning in the river. Since her greatest passion is Gothic romance novels, she knows her moment has come. But when Haley leaps into the water to rescue the stranger, she awakens in Willowweep. It certainly looks like the setting of one of her favorite books: A stately manor. A sinister housekeeper. Three brooding brothers. There's even a ghost.

Except Willowweep is not what it seems. Its romantic exterior hides the workings of a pocket universe--the only protection our world has against a great force of penultimate evil, and its defenses are crumbling. Could cruel fate make Haley the heroine that Willowweep needs?"

 

Life hack for getting myself to read books when I'm in a rut - apparently if I need to check if a book recommended for ages 12+ would be okay to include in my school library, I'll read it right away! Strange twist, given that the school year just ended, so any books I look into buying a. I can't actually order for another couple months, and b. no student will be able to read them until school starts in August. But whatevs! If it works it works. It also helps that my students love graphic novels. Fast reads, baby! And this one is a delight, let me tell you.

Our adventure begins with Haley begging her teacher to reconsider her grade...apparently she's obsessed with Gothic romance novels (and who could blame her?!), and her teacher wants her to branch out. Teacher, I FEEL YOU. One of my most avid readers at school will only read a very specific type of book, and we got to a point where I didn't have any other books like that, and I was like look...I can't magically make more books appear...maybe try something new if you don't want to reread stuff? Sigh. But I digress.

On her way home from school after her teacher refuses to change her grade, Haley sees someone drowning and leaps into the river to save them (after propping her umbrella over the stack of library books she was carrying to protect them from the rain, which I found incredibly heartwarming). Heroic! Somehow, though, this act of heroism lands her at Willowweep Manor, an estate straight out of Wuthering Heights. What is this place? How did she get here? And who is that strange, hella suspicious monk? There's only one way to find out...check out The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor! (For the curious, this is officially on my list of books to add to my library. I think my students will enjoy it.)

Oh me, oh May

Thrilled to report that not only did I finish and enjoy The Making of Jane Austen, I also survived until the end of the school year! I am still working (don't believe anyone who talks shit about how teachers shouldn't complain about pay because they get summers off...it's a fuckin lie), but I'm still hoping I'll have more energy and get more reading done, since I won't be actively TEACHING as much. Teaching = So Much Peopling = Exhausting. I can only extrovert for so long, and then I spend the rest of my day recuperating, too tired to do anything else. 

So anyway...Black Boy Joy, I'm gonna read you! I'm also going to read Every Body Shines for Read Harder challenge #5, read an anthology featuring diverse voices, and The Courage of Elfina for Read Harder challenge #6, read a non-fiction YA comic. I'm also ALSO going to be reading (well...presently reading) the graphic novel The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, because it's recommended for ages 12+ but I had some students ask about getting it for our library, so I want to see if it would be age appropes for our older grades. So far? 👍👍

Finally, I'd really like to get back to more regular posting here, so I'm contemplating the best way to do that without completely exhausting myself. Trying to sit down and blog on Friday nights has proved tricky since my battery is very drained by the end of the week and since I frequently have DnD on Friday nights, but if I can get my ass in gear and write ahead of time, I could continue with First Page Friday posts. That's probably the best solution, working ahead. We'll see, I suppose. Only time will tell.