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maisie🌙🍃

@thestarlessmaisie

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✲ [ 26 uk ] : @thelasttearoom 🍵🕊
✲ poetry & literary all sorts 💐🎠
✲ cr; winterkeep
✲ sept poetry; 🌾🌾

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introducing— the tearoom at the end of the world.

jess (@teaandcosyreads) & i are making a space for ourselves on wordpress! we’ll be posting book reviews there as well as here, but it’s also a place for us to talk about our other fixations and thoughts in long form! today in the tearoom at the end of the world, you’ll find jess’ six star reads of 2023 and the 24 flavours of my favourites shelf. everyone is welcome!

i’m pulling up a third chair to our table. the teacups here are mismatched and chipped at the rim. we would love for you to join us in #TheLastTearoom.

https://thelasttearoom.wordpress.com
-> also in my carrd & jess’ bio 🤍 by @thestarlessmaisie

[a reintroduction.]
well it’s been a while! i had decided to take a break from booksta because i was slumping really badly, and then suddenly i had been away for a whole year… but i’m here! tentatively better than ever and excited to talk about books again💓

mini gtkm / what i’ve been up to ;;
🌷i’m maisie, 24 turning 25 VERY SOON LOL, from the uk🫖

🌷is my fave book still if we were villains??? i think so! i have a shrine. summer sons is valiantly trying to take it’s place, and other faves shown alongside them. these are the ones that i keep closest to my heart

🌷fave genre ? definitely NOT dark academia lol. i have gone back to uni this year to do something same but different and i! dislike! study! any new stories vaguely steeped in academia feels tedious to me now. but i’m open to all things, maybe steering slightly away from genre fiction, still a big poetry lover. some recent poems on the swipes 👉

🌷2024 loves: the library at mount char, hera lindsay bird (poetry), whiskey when we’re dry, are you my mother? a comic drama, the woods all black, royal assassin, salt slow, old sharon creech girl stories. i have most of these reviewed on my feed❣️

🌷2025 so far: the dutch house!!!! review to come!!! also really enjoyed one dark window, year of the reaper, graceling, and sunrise on the reaping.

🌷very obsessed with vinted again. thank you to nic who i bought private rites by julia armfield & in these hallowed halls from— mainly because the m l rio short story is the only one signed!! 🥰 the parcel came with the sweetest note. second hand books forever <3

🌷things i’m looking forward to: my sister and i are seeing ethel cain (again) in october!!! she has a new single out today!!! m l rio’s sophomore novel, hot wax!!! summer break!!! new collections from richard siken and marie howe!!!

🌷booksta goals: reviews, both giving and finding recs, catching up on what everyone’s doing. so so grateful i came back to an account with familiar friends still here lol :’)

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PLEASE tell me how you’ve been!! what your faves from last year were, anything cool you’ve been up to, what you’re currently reading. all my love forever and ever i’m never leaving this place ok♥️ by @thestarlessmaisie

my fantasy last now next💫
hi!! i hope spring has been treating you guys well <3 it's finally approaching a heatwave here but fantasy still has me in her gnarly grasps!! i would love if you guys could send me some propaganda for what fantasy series i should start/continue next.

🌜last— THE BROKEN EARTH TRILOGY by n k jemisin.
amazing. gobsmacking. no notes. obsessed with the complexity of history and the depth of the complicated relationships here. essun!!! the woman EVER! will be reviewing this in full soon.

🪴now— THE NAME OF THE WIND by patrick rothfuss.
im 40ish% of the way thru and not quite feeling it... potentially bc you follow the childhood and early adulthood of kvothe, and i just came off the back of following the childhood and young adulthood of demon copperhead, which was a bit of a disappointing read for me (review also to come). compared with broken earth and some other fantasies i've read this year, the connections in my cr seem a bit shallow and juvenile.

🌞next— accepting all recommendations! my physical tbr is still insanely stacked so i will be prioritising those, but i just want another meaty life to sink into!! despite the incoming sun i'm still keen to explore something cold and dark like the scottish boy or deathless (catherynne m valente). though, these are standalones and i am keen to grind through some series'. brain is open to all comments.

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like i said i have so many reviews to post. in the mean time tell me some fun reads or books that didn't meet your expectations! OR your thoughts on the fifth season bc half of my body is still there ♥️ by @thestarlessmaisie

monthly poetry reviews: spring edition🌷
my monthly's from the last 3 months! i've included a pic of the poem that introduced to the writer and my fave from the collection upon finishing

🌱feb: WILDNESS BEFORE SOMETHING SUBLIME by leila chatti
4★
this is a hefty collection! i really appreciate how chatti explains how she went about writing each section of the book. it's cohesive in its fragments, orbiting a wellspring of grief from previous relationships and a miscarriage. her poems feel resonant and cathartic.
[3] goatsong & [4] page 1 of madtown

🪻mar: WATER I WON'T TOUCH by kayleb rae candrilli
3★
this didn't quite meet my expectations, but it's a powerful collection. candrilli writes about trans love unashamedly, proudly, all the while reflecting on his past and how life with an abusive father has shaped him. for me, his strongest poems are the longest ones. the poem i discovered him through (pictured and still my fave actually) is ICONIC though!!!
[6] on travelling together & [7] sestina written as through genesis

🌼apr: THE AIR YEAR by caroline bird
5★
WOW!!! this was in my local library and i've been waiting a while to find it available. i love this so much. reading her felt reminiscent of HERA LINDSAY BIRD. it's witty, sharp, so full of sincerity despite the tone. bird has such mastery of repetition and imagery, i could taste her poems!!! very excited to read more. i've included a pic of the poem 'dive bar' at the end [12] bc this is my first fave, but wouldn't picture as well. both this and 'drawn onward' are so clever and vivid and entrancing!!!
[9] checkout & [10] drawn onward

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i've been waiting for a 5 star poetry read for months now honestly and i'm beyond ecstatic to have found one! i hope there's something here for you guys too💞 by @thestarlessmaisie

mini reviews of books i've read, liked, and never really talked about❣️

the weather is being incredibly indecisive rn and so am i! spring is usually the time i start picking up litfic but i'm riding the fantasy stream as long as possible. i'm a couple chapters into spinning silver, but also took out demon copperhead from the library last week bc it has been sooo hard to take out the pback (i ran when i saw the availability).

it's also deadline season & i'm flagging. fortunately i have a lot of short books and novellas that will probs be a good way to keep up the flow but only time will tell

how is march treating you guys! & lmk your thoughts on any of these recent(ish) reads 💝 by @thestarlessmaisie

winternight trilogy, katherine arden
5★

winternight, my beloveds. i finally reread this over the new year winter period and loved it even more somehow. the bear and the nightingale is a short fantasy series steeped in medieval russian history and folklore, and only gets more enchanting the more time you spend here.

winternight follows a young girl vasya, a witchy girl and the youngest of her siblings, trying to find her place as a daughter of her lord father. she thrives in the trees and the spirits only she can see, always straining against the societal expectations of her. alongside, medieval rus' is in the throes of change. orthodox christianity is warding the country against its pagan roots, and the royal throne sits prettily despite the warfare steadily brewing.

this is just such a rich tapestry of a fantasy! with so many threads that coalesce and unravel in the most heart wrenching ways. at its core, katherine arden writes about family. hands down my favourite aspect is vasya's relationships to her siblings. alyosha, closest in age, partner and protector in crime, home in memory. olya, her princess sister, world's away but both of them forever united in steel and ice. sasha, who loved their mother so much but only got a baby sister in her image, who is everything vasya wants to be and accepted for it, her parallel life line until the very end.

vasya is the force that drives the world and her family the lifeblood that keeps her tethered to it. the hard won freedom she keeps choosing for herself, paid in the cruelest ways. the new world she accepts, but ultimately leaves her fate in the hands of the old world: the winter king, the bear, the witch by the lake and her herd of magical horses.

i want nothing more than to see vasya again. katherine arden is The Historical Fantasy writer i will bow down to every single one of her beautiful stories. katherine and her heroines vasya, ollie, laura, and soon anne! i will follow you girls anywhere 🖤 by @thestarlessmaisie

jan monthly poetry: mothman apologia by robert wood lynn
4★

this collection has been on my wishlist for a really long time, i first added it after reading 'sneaking onto the reservoir again' [slide 4], and the collection as a whole is so well crafted! mothman apologia has a shimmery, shadowy narrative to it, following the birth of the mothman (a mothman?), the blight of big pharma on small appalachian towns, the narrator's grief around a terrible incident that happens to someone he loves, mothman growing up, mothman getting out, the blurring of this story into smokey edges.

i recommend this to any readers interested in anne carson's autobiography of red. there's a wonderful narrative style to this poetry collection which makes the flow easy to ride. there's a lot of references to small roman histories that preface anecdotes shared by the narrator. mothman apologia meanwhile is a smaller book and easier to follow along.

there's also similarities (hold!!!) to ocean vuong's on earth we're briefly gorgeous... in it's discussion of drug abuse and the knock on effect to young people's lives. this was what i found most interesting about oewbg and it's a subject that the mothman feels passionately about.

a great start to my monthly poetry cycle. enjoy only a tiny handful of my faves on the swipes🩶 by @thestarlessmaisie

news to me's🪐
anyone else feeling “it's been january for months in both directions” ? it's still cold and grey here but i'm tentatively settled and so ready for spring. i hope everyone has had a good start to the year🤍🐎

new books i've acquired: i was the most spoilt kids coach ever and was treated to both coffee and books vouchers when i left, which i used to get 3 new poetry books and house of roots and ruin! roots is the sequel to house of salt of sorrows, which i read and loved quite a few years ago. it was my first foray into gothic romantasy (i dare say erin a craig was ahead of her time...) i'm in a magical haunting fantasy mood rn, what with my wonderful winternight reread in progress, so i imagine i'll be bringing this book with me into feb. jan poetry review of mothman apologia to come💫

new music (to me)'s: louis album and searows album!!!!! having so much fun bopping to these on the bus and while reading respectively. also been super obsessed with wolf alice's blue weekend and luvcat's debut album vicious delicious. absolutely no skips. yet to listen to wolf alice's latest, the clearing, but am very excited for it.

still to come's: mini reviews of some reads i've yet to talk about (incl. angels in america!), local theatre and ice hockey, eyeing up the how did we get here tour, the new jason statham film lol, seb reunion!!!, and wardrobe clear outs. TELL ME WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU!!! ♥️♥️♥️ by @thestarlessmaisie

the confessional: maisie's physical tbr.
🪻
so i don't usually put too much stock into clearing my physical tbr as a goal bc i'd FAIL lol. but the amount of books i have actually isn't too bad! i'm not one for buying new books bc i'm stingy but these are some from bargain hunts, thrifts, gifts, and books i've adopted over time.

today i'm asking you to convince me to read these titles— tell me why you love them! i'm not looking to cull them without at least reading a chapter or two.💃🏻💃🏻 (high hopes is kind of a cheat, i will definitely be getting to them this year, they're my highstar predictions!)

this post is brought to you by the cutest review postcard that came with a poetry book i bought! eagerly awaiting your commentcards if you have any thoughts on these books 💌 by @thestarlessmaisie

my only new 5 star read of 2025......
but it was an incredible one. THE DUTCH HOUSE has so many themes that resonate with me, it's gorgeously written and has a beautiful cover to match, and it kind of encompasses where my tastes are at now.

but! fantasy will never be too far behind. so many of my happy surprises were standalones with great romances and unique worlds. ONE DARK WINDOW had me binge reading for the first time in forever. YEAR OF THE REAPER and THE BONE ORCHARD were stories off the beaten track and i would rec to anyone looking for a fresh take on romantasy-adjacent shelves.

my thoughts constantly return to HOT WAX (yet to review) and THE SUMMER THAT MELTED EVERYTHING. heavy, ambitious, supremely written. i needn't have worried for hot wax, i will read anything ml rio writes. these books hide big voices within people that will keep on going despite the obstacles. because they have to. heartwrenching, unbearably tense, from 2 authors i will spend the rest of my life following i'm sure.

i'm desperate this year to discover more gems than this however. i wasn't excited about the books i was choosing, maybe even actively picking up books i wouldn't care about, which is so out of character for me. in desperation i reread HEARTLESS (amazing) and WAIT FOR IT (nobody got me like mariana zapata got me), but i want to explore more, review more, journal more, learn more, and experience more. and i want to do it here with you guys!!

2026 ready to leave to cryo chamber lol. all my love ♥️ tell me your go to 5 star answer to: what was the best book of the past year? stay safe and open-hearted everyone xxx by @thestarlessmaisie

happy new year, lovers!! 🪼🌞💓
i hope everyone had a spectacular &/ restful holiday season. as soon as i finish with this post you can bet i'm going to rapid scroll everyone's yearly wrap ups to prepare for wherever my reading whims will guide me this new year.

2025 had me reading more consistently & more pages! sept and oct are still slump seasons for me but nov & dec proved i can very much overcome that (my longlist to come this weekend💫), this post is a mini poetry round up to intro the first of my resolutions + swipe for my fave poems bookmarked over the year! 💖

🌿 '26 in: monthly poetry reads
🪵 '26 out: .5 poetry ratings
i haven't been reading nowhere near enough to whet my appetite. partially my fault bc my favourite way to read poetry books is physically, and they're so expensive! my local libraries aren't great for the collections i want but i'm going to find ways to be hella resourceful (advice appreciated). i've decided to rate them as rounded stars bc the scale refers more to my enjoyment than any criticism (don't feel qualified).

🌿 '26 in: chapter a day goal
🪵 '26 out: annual book goal
this is mainly because i read more books in 2024 but more pages in 2025. i don't want to fall into the trap of reading lots of books but not actually reading that much. when i'm in the busy months, reading a chapter a night is very manageable and works well for me.

🌿 '26 in: stay excited
🪵 '26 out: reading books i care less about just to keep up my page a day
this is my attempt to bring back up my average rating. this year i picked books i was 95% sure i was going to find mid, not quite sure why, easy reads / low stakes / meeting my daily goal by a literal page ?

what are your 2026 bookish goals! please let me know your reader habits and what you love to do or what you'd like the change. i'm here to cheer you on and always will be. sending new years hugs and kisses, friends ♥️♥️

p.s. ethel cain live my beloved slide 2 xo by @thestarlessmaisie

can YOU🫵 help me?? (she's once again asking for book recs...)

oh hiiii it's been a while. i've crept out of my hole with an armful of faves, hoping you can help me add some more onto the pile. today i'm looking (begging demanding selling my soul for) books about siblings.

this has mainly come about because i saw some gorgeous gifsets of the australian horror film 'bring her back' but i am a wuss!! so instead of watching, i wiki'd the plot and now i want that precise feeling to consume in book form.

i already love stories about siblings. it's kind of a sure fire way to claim a spot on my favourites shelf tbh. the pictured books are all central sibling stories, each a different genre! the bear and the nightingale is a russian folkloric inspired fantasy, the dutch house is a generational litfic, private rites is a queer climate horror, whiskey is a queer literary western, and of course booksta historical fantasy darling babel. not pictured but reviewed on my feed is another literary horror, the summer that melted everything, that i will gladly throw on the pile.

i have such an interest and wellspring of love for sibling bonds in stories. the intrinsic connection, whether wanted or neglected, is something that adds so much depth to a story!! as a character-driven story explorer, and also my sister's no1 fan, i think sibling love is one of the most powerful forces that could drive a story. i have no doubt if i had the balls i would be adding bring her back to this favourites shelf and maybe one day i'll cry myself through it— especially as a grief story!!— but for now i'll have to appreciate from a distance
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from me to you, here are my sibling book recs. what are yours? 🩷🤍 by @thestarlessmaisie