March Favorites 🌷
Plus Book Reviews and New Artwork
Hello again! We’re over a full week into April so it feels like a good time to share all of my favorite things in March plus the books I read and the art I made. March felt like a whirlwind of activity. I think the older we get the faster time seems to be flying by and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. The excitement for spring and new beginning was a huge theme for me during the second half of March. I am so ready to see some green again.
Also, please note if there is a link to anything in this article it is UNAFFILIATED. I’m linking solely for your convenience :)
That said let’s start with three of my favorite things from March!:
1. Holbein Irodori Gouache Sets
These sets are my favorite paints OF ALL TIME. I own one of each of the four seasonal color palettes and I love all of them. However, the Winter pallete in particular was really calling my name this month. The ‘Star Boy’ illustration you will see below was painted using this color palette. HIGHLY recommend.
2. Scent Split Perfume Samples & Decants
I’ve been really into discovering new scents lately but there is no where near me to sample different options. Enter Scent Split. They will send you little samples of perfumes for you to try and then potentially buy. They have SOO many options available and you can get tiny little 1ml samples or bigger samples. Pictured is a 5ml sample of Orpheon by Diptyque because I was pretty sure I was going to like it - usually I just get the 1ml.
Spoiler I did, in fact, love this scent.
3. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Eggs
The Easter candy dropped in March and Easter is my -second- favorite holiday of the year (after Halloween of course). My favorite candy of all time are Reese’s peanut butter eggs so I have been scooping some up every time I take a trip to the grocery store. My hot take, however, is that the white chocolate version is better (but they’re harder to find). Don’t come for me.
What I Read in March 🤓
I read three adult genre novels in March…and they were all pretty good each in their own way.
Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole - This book was definitely an improvement over book one. Prior to reading book two I was having a lot of problems with how our main character was making choices. It looks like our author was leaving her room to grow. There was a lot of political intrigue here and a sweet romance. It ended with a big twist just like book one which seems to be the authors MO. Four stars.
A Feather so Black by Lyra Selene - I went into this story with low expectations. When I read that it was a black swan/swan princess retelling I was suspicious of it actually being good. But much to my surprise I really enjoyed it. It’s very dark. Lot’s of pain both emotional and physical and some real yearning and romantic angst plus a bit of a love triangle or maybe even a rectangle?…..Looking forward to Book 2. Four stars.
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett - I love LOVE this series and I truly recommend it. This was the third and final book of the Emily Wilde series and Fawcett did a wonderful job of wrapping up this story. I’m not going to get into the story since it’s the third and final book and there would be too many spoilers but if you’re looking for a cozy fairy fantasy where the female main character is the grump and the male main character is the sunshine then this is the book for you! 6 stars.
I also read three Children’s/YA books in March:
The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith - This was Bridgerton but with faeries (the wicked mischievous kind). There were some darker moments and there was a good twist at the end. I will definitely be picking up the next book. 5 stars.
Shy Willow by Cat Min - this is a picture book and a sweet little story about a shy bunny on a mission to bring the moon to a boy and his mother. The illustrations are so lovely. 5 stars.
The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag - this is a graphic novel about a boy who is being raised to be a shapeshifter but feels called to be a witch instead. It’s a story about being yourself and finding your place in the world. 4 stars.
March Illustrations 🎨
Wild Things
This illustration was created using neocolor pastels, colored pencils and a little bit of digital painting. I created it for the March SCWBI prompt: Wild Things. I love how bright and colorful it is.
Star Boy
I had such a hard time naming this one. But I love his facial expression, haha. This was painted in my sketchbook using the Holbein Irodori winter gouache (mentioned above) and then I finished it digitally with my Apple Pencil.
Soft Spring Patreon Illustrations
Our theme on Patreon for March was ‘soft spring’ and so I came up with these four characters each with a spring themed object/creature. These are all available as downloads in my Patreon group “The Cozy Club”
That being said here is a sneak peek of our Patreon theme for April:
Our Patreon club voted on “Spring Reading” for this month so here is the first illustration I have completed for the theme! I will be posting the other sketches as a sneak peek over on Patreon this week. Please join us if this theme is your cup of tea 🫖
If you made it to the end, thank you so much for reading! I hope you are having a lovely week. See you in the next newsletter!
🤍 Amber