JAF Ink

🗣⁉️ : What was your last read/listen of 2021?

📚Aurora’s End Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲/5
📸 (snapshot)Review: Okay so technically this wasn’t my last read, since I manage to squeeze in Nobleman’s Guide at the last minute (which was a fantastic emotional adventure on its own), but this *was* the last read that also has a photo attached to it so it’s what you’re getting.

The dynamic duo that are and have proven themselves to be experts at creating intricate sci-fi adventure ensemble/found family series, and Aurora’s End (the culmination to The Aurora Cycle) is no exception.
Picking up where Aurora Burning left off, the finale follows the now-separated as they desperately scramble to save the universe from being taken over by the ancient hive-minded Ra'haam. Can centuries-old grudges and deep rooted prejudices be set aside, past, present, and future, to defeat a common? Or will our already broken squad, and everything they love, be torn apart, spread across time and space, forced to watch as planet after planet succumb to the hostile forces at play?

There’s time travel, redemption, humour, heartbreak, love (enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, you name it), and the requisite snarky AI to semi-save the day. All of these elements are further supported by a strong, diverse cast of characters who you can’t help but to love and root for.

Though it did feel almost *too* clean and tied up of an ending (borderline deus ex machina), overall Aurora’s End was a strong, satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. I recommend y’all invest in the full-cast audiobook to supplement your reading.

✨Hello beautiful people! We’re starting 2022 by tackling some fantastic prompts! Swipe ➡️ for A of JAF beginning the year as she means to go on: hopeful and inspired, and as always, making art.
Thank you to all the poets who put up prompts, and to for sparking inspiration with a simple: This is how it starts.
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This is how it ends
No, that’s not right
This is how it starts:
With faith, trust, and pixie dust
a heart
Steady and sure
Setting the pace for feet
That may fear
Falter
But never fail

This is how it begins:
high hopes and
One deep breath
Before diving into the unknown
Eyes on the heavens that light
the way
Coaxing embers out of the ashes
into inspiration
Some things shatter
And some things bloom
But there is always room to grow

So, this is how it ends
And
This is how it begins, again
With diminishing days caught in
the rear view
And the sun’s rays flowing ever
onwards
Forwards
To the next one
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✨Prompts:✨
🖊 .a.n___ - 1. the last days of December
🖊 - 1. some things shatter, some things bloom
🖊 .s.higgins - 1. begin again
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⁉️ : Which fictional world would you visit if you had the chance right now?
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J of JAF: Westeros (dragons! 🐉), Wonderland
A of JAF: Wonderland (you’d never get bored with that level of insanity) 🐇 🃏Middle Earth, Asgard
F of JAF: Middle Earth (who wouldn’t want to chill with Hobbits), Neverland, Sailor Moon universe

⁉️ : What are you currently reading?
A of JAF is almost done with by , and has many feelings.

“The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.” - Isabel Allende
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⁉️ : what’s the last book you read (fiction or non) that made you happy? Let us know below! 👇🏽
📚Sometimes you just need a little feel good memoir to remind you that the world isn’t such a terrible place. How We Met by did a great job of doing just that. The bright yellow theme also helps. 🌻

Swipe ➡️ for some poems by A of JAF.
📝
Another year, another April poetry adventure embarked on. As always, it was a journey of self- abd creative discovery. Some days the words burned through me like wildfire, some days there seemed to be a dam blocking them. Some days I wrote two poems (neither of which I liked), other poems took two days to feel complete, and a few are in half-written limbo. Some poems incorporated a slew of prompts, and a few sprung unbidden, but always welcome.

🙏🏽❤️An eternal thank you to , .j , .a.n___ , & for keeping me inspired and the encouragement.

And of course, thank you to the following for their fantastic prompts:

Prompts used:
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- celeste.poetry -
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- savage / .r.rogue -
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Join us as we (for some reason) discuss the Ramadan Khaleeji drama, Matar Saif. We did it, so you don't have to.

Su7oor Bites Check this out! Listen now on .

⁉️ : What’s the last book you couldn't get into and/or had to ?
📚A of JAF is taking a break from Before the Coffee Gets Cold by .
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I know, I know, such a shame. I've seen this book a lot around and was really excited to finally dive into it.
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It's not that I haven't enjoyed it (coffee + time travel + Japan, what's not to enjoy?), but there was something missing for me. It might have been the translation (at times the flow of prose felt stilted), or something different, but I wasn't able to get engaged with the story enough to get through more than a little bit at a time. Eventually, my progress just slowed so much that I had to put it down.
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I also don't think it helped that I was on the downward trajectory of a reading slump when I decided to pick it up.
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Do I still plan on finishing it? Yes, the premise is interesting and I do want to know about how each character chooses to use the chance to go back in time (restrictions notwithstanding). It does a great job of delving into the concept of happiness and second chances, and the intimate consequences that can occur. Does that look to be any time soon? Probably not, but only time will tell.

Happy ! What are you reading/creating on this beautiful day? I, Aof JAF, am in the midst of , a buddy read with (and throughly enjoying it).

This special edition of ’s features a dust jacket with gorgeous artwork of Alina, the Sun Summoner on one side. And, of course, our resident Darkling on the other.

expands the mythology of the with this gorgeously illustrated collection. tells the stories of Saints, their miracles and martyrdoms, from Ravka to Novyi Zem. Some are names that’ve been mentioned before in the series, some are entirely new, but all of them give you a little more insight into the nations from which they originated.