Instagram story viewer> @themondaymuse> Posts

The Monday Muse 🇦🇺📚✍🏼

@themondaymuse

1.6K

followers

1112

following

Tamsin 🇦🇺📚 🐉
Reading: My over-flowing TBR of Fantasy/Sci-Fi 📚🏹 🚀
Writing: Debut Epic Fantasy ✍🏼 🪄 🗡️
Anti-AI 🚫 🤖

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

"Paint me like one of your book reviews" 😅😅

I thought it would be fun to do myself in the style I like to do my book reviews!

Slow burn on a daily basis, I am not a morning person 😅

What would your book review look like? Tag me if you do one! by @themondaymuse

56

23

3 months ago

It's been a year and a few things have changed so it's time for a re-introduction!

My name is Tamsin (aka The Monday Muse) because I'm only motivated to do work on a Monday and I like alliteration.

I've been reading predominantly Fantasy/Sci-Fi for over 20 years (I'm so old) with a little interlude of some rather intense non-fiction for my current profession. From these dark years my loathing of non-fiction began 😅😅

My "night time" job as I like to call it is writing my first fantasy novel!

When I'm not working, reading or writing I might be in my garden or an existential crisis. Depends on the day 😅

Would love to know where everyone who sees this is from and your favourite genre 🤗🤗

#bookstagram #booklover #books #fantasy #writing taken in Adelaide, South Australia by @themondaymuse

150

21

9 months ago

Well Spring seems well and truly here. My plants are popping off new leaves and I have some baby nectarines starting up 🥹

The weather is starting to feel as though summer is right around the corner though. Hoping for a cooler weekend or two soon so that I can get some gardening done!

Was a slower reading week, but I can feel my reading slump slowly coming to an end 😍😍

How was your week? by @themondaymuse

19

0

8 hours ago

Saturday Stacks are back!

And this is a very tall stack.

This stack is all the books I bought for my little self while I was in Canada.

We went to many new and secondhand books stores and I found some great books and some great bargains. It is also possible that some of the books I got purely because I liked how they felt 🫣

Some of these are completely random and some of them are books I've been wanting to get my little paws on for ages.

Also I'm glad that Indigo doesn't exist in Australia because the fall merch they had was killing me.

Note: I definitely did not go get a tiny op shop suitcase just to get these books home. That's some crazy book lady stuff.

What was your last book haul? Do you buy books when you travel? by @themondaymuse

40

12

2 days ago

This was a fun little challenge! It was hard to limit myself to three books most of the time, but I wanted to keep it simple.

Thanks @readingjourney_mieke for the fun tag!

I want to see yours, @kates_little.life @morgan.thelibrarian @sassyreadsandrants 😍😍 by @themondaymuse

23

4

7 days ago

October is again ARC central and while 7 books is usually doable, I have been slumping HARD.

Lots of books have just a struggle for me to read at the moment and I've been listening a lot more than I usually do!

Here's to October getting me out of that slump though! I have some very anticipated reads to get to🤞🏼🤞🏼 by @themondaymuse

34

5

8 days ago

Had me a very busy September which meant I didn't get through as much as I would have liked!

But what I did read was mostly yes's!

A little maybe due to the heavy sci fi elements of Massif, whilst also being a little bit of a weird story makes for a narrow audience.

Mirrored Heavens was the fave, a great finish to between Earth and Sky trilogy even though the ending didn't go my way 🥲 by @themondaymuse

38

6

11 days ago

I can't gate keep this any longer.

Writers block be gone.

Addit: white works too I suppose 🤷🏼‍♀️ by @themondaymuse

28

20

17 days ago

Happy Release Day to @oliviaoflynnauthor and @djangowexler!

Olivia continues to represent the Aussies wonderfully well in the romantasy scene with her follow up to Ever Blessed 😍 I love her world and her characters and I can't wait to continue.

Django has the start of a new lit RPG style series that will suit fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, He Who Fights With Monsters and Project Hail Mary (just trust me on this one).

So grateful/lucky to receive both as ARCs. I'm a little behind in my actual reviews but they are coming (so is Christmas, I know). Look for these in your local indie bookstore today! (not the other place)

💜💜💜 by @themondaymuse

12

3

20 days ago

Ballad of Falling Dragons
by Sarah A Parker
The Moonfall Series, Book 2

The world faces a moonfall.
Raeve thirsts for revenge while running from her past.
Kaan battles his own demons under an increasingly heavy crown.

Sarah takes us back into her intricate and vibrant world with new characters and creatures to meet and a hefty side of emotional damage.

There's blood and carnage, loss and grief; but also hope, love and salvation.

I found this better paced than the first book and anyone who even slightly enjoyed WTMH should dive in! by @themondaymuse

18

4

20 days ago

The Ballad of Falling Dragons
by Sarah A Parker
Moonfall, Book 2

I liked, but didn't love, WTMH so I was a little unsure going into this one. I really enjoy Sarah's writing and her world and that's what drew me in.

I found this to be better paced than her previous book and it was more enjoyable for me for that reason.

I had a few issues which stopped it from being 5 star for me and fair warning, some people might consider these SPOILERS.

I'm not a fan of the ol' villain tortures hero scene. I don't know why, I just think it's a cop out in books and movies and it lost me a bit here.

I'm also not sure about the choice to reveal a lot of things to us, but then take so long to reveal them to the characters. For me, that lost some of the impact and again I felt like the story was trying a little too hard to be *emotional damage* at times.

There were also some words that I think were over-used and sometimes not right for the context which made them stand out for me and be a little jarring.

This may seem negative, but I really enjoyed the world and writing overall and I'll definitely continue. These books will probably just never be hard favourites for me.

I did listen to the audiobook and I find it difficult to recommend. The female narrators were excellent and I enjoyed listening to them. The males however, had too much tonal variation that it made the listening uncomfortable from a volume/speed point of view. Too much soft growling mixed with loud yelling.

What did you think? 🤔 by @themondaymuse

26

9

24 days ago

Another slow reading week. I was busy exploring some new parts of Canada and celebrating my sister's birthday. 🤗🤗

Still chipping away at the old ARC pile. I'll get there! Holidays are sadly coming to an end though, so back to the real world soon 😢 by @themondaymuse

22

5

a month ago