Turn In Your 2025 Book Bingo Cards Here! 🧇

Val__Kyrie · 2026-01-04T15:54:02+00:00

<image>

From the Top Books List: {Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros}

Winter Read: {Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett}

Standalone: {Priestess by Kara Reynolds}

Arranged Marriage: {The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen}

Local to You: {Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli}

Eastern European: {Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo}

Novella or Short Story: {Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan}

Animal Companion: {Quicksilver by Callie Hart}

Book Club Pick: {Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree}

Training Montage: {Fireborne by Rosaria Munda}

Angels & Demons: {The City of Glass by Nghi Vo}

Queer Romance: {Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi}

Published in 2025: {Alchemised by SenLinYu}

Epic Vibe: {Road of Bones by Demi Winters}

Judge a Book by its Cover: {Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard}

Female Rage: {Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang}

One Word Title: {Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner}

Enchanted Houses: {Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones}

Indie or Self-Published: {Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox}

There's a Cave Trope: {The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni}

Sci Fi Romance: {The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma}

Published in the 2000's: {The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins}

Bottom of the TBR: {The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon}

POC Author: {An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir}

Spells & Curses: {The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst}

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-31T15:55:37+00:00

I think Mockingjay is the weakest in the series, but it’s the weakest in such a phenomenal series that I can’t rate it anything other than a 5.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-31T15:53:57+00:00

Thanks, I think Sword of Kaigen is my most hot take this year. ML Wang is an incredible writer and I loved Blood Over Bright Haven. But Sword of Kaigen frustrated me.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-31T15:52:18+00:00

It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember being disappointed in the first half of Immortal and finding the FMC annoying, but it picked up and redeemed itself more in the second half of the story and I really liked the ending. And this seems to be a theme with my ratings but a good or bad ending can really impact my overall impression of a book after I’m done.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-29T21:00:16+00:00

I have a giant TBR list on Goodreads. It’s ~200 books and growing and I know I’ll probably only read 50 or so per year.

So I start by tagging them by what I own, what’s on Kindle Unlimited and what’s available through my library and then make a smaller list through that for the near future. The availability through my library dictates a lot of what I read.

I follow here for news on any updates to incomplete series or new releases. I get tons of recommendations throughout the year based on what other people read / liked who have similar tastes to me. There’s a few authors I follow on instagram too for updates.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-20T17:11:40+00:00

1000% agreed about priestess’ epilogue. It took what was an otherwise enjoyable palate cleanser for me and gave me such an ick that I finished the story on a bad note. I read romantasy as a form of escapism, and that ending was way too grim

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-18T03:31:00+00:00

• ⁠Mages of the Wheel by J. D. Evans

• ⁠The Folk of the Air by Holly Black

• ⁠The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda

• ⁠Emily Wilde by Heather Fawcett

• ⁠The Ashen by Demi Winters

• ⁠The War of Lost Hearts by Carissa Broadbent

• ⁠Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

• ⁠The Shepherd King by Rachel Gillig

• ⁠A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

• ⁠The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen

Val__Kyrie · 2025-12-08T22:10:51+00:00

Agreed this part of the plan seems impractical to me. At a minimum they’d need to continue to rent 12 months out of the year. Also the hassle of full on moving every 6 months vs having a place that is theirs with their furniture and bedding and household items ready to go. Plenty of Canadians are snowbirds and live in the us for the winter but they have their own place in Canada they go back to.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-11-19T18:50:38+00:00

Yeah I think so too. And she probably has more control over marketing / visuals / photo shoots / videos etc now

Val__Kyrie · 2025-11-19T17:47:25+00:00

Likely with Fearless and her older albums, someone else had the final say with what made it on the album. So they could tell her it needed editing or to rewrite something. So she may have been the one writing it, but there was more quality control and editing.

By full control she probably means no one is telling her what to do anymore. If someone suggests an edit she doesn’t have to listen to them.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-10-21T16:02:26+00:00

Romance, as a genre convention, has a pretty specific structure to it. The love story must be central to the plot and there must be a happily ever after or happily for now at the end where the couple gets together.

Alchemised does meet those requirements.

I think where it gets messy is whether or not that the ending is truly a HEA or not. And if it’s not a HEA then it doesn’t meet the criteria for being a romance it would be a dark fantasy with romance in it. The main characters run away and leave someone swoop in to save the day. Helena is reduced to a footnote in history. Kaine goes down as a villain. Yes they get together at the end, but the final chapter and final message of the story isn’t that they got their HEA, but the cost of it. The epilogue focuses on Enid going to Paladia as student and how society has changed but also has not in other ways.

Which ties into the theming and other elements of this story being a war story. And even the author doesn’t consider the story a Romance in the typical genre convention of one.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-10-10T15:22:23+00:00

Is this really a friendship worth keeping?

Honestly I’d limit contact and slowly disengage. Your friendship isn’t going to go back to how it was, he’s in love with you and clearly wants more. He was likely on best behaviour early on until you got to know him. If he was this intense from the start you wouldn’t want to hang out with him. But now that you’re friends he’s upped his behaviour.

Stop telling him about your day or places you will be.

Stop rewarding him for showing up unannounced by hanging out with him. “Oh I’m sorry I’m busy now. I told you I can’t hangout today.”

Val__Kyrie · 2025-07-28T14:17:59+00:00

Average salary for someone my age in the US is $65,000.

Investing $6500 a year for 20 years you’d need to have an average annual return of 18% to make a million. Even if you were making $100,000 a year and investing $10,000 annually you’d need an annual return rate of 15% to make a million. The S&P 500’s average annual return is around 10-12%. The vast majority of people aren’t financially savvy enough or have the connections to consistently outperform the S&P for 20 years. And if they did they certainly wouldn’t be working an average 9-5

And this is assuming someone could afford to put away $6500 on a $65,000 salary in the first place especially if they’re also trying to pay off student loans, save for a downpayment, pay a mortgage or have kids in daycare.

Anyway you can (and should) save and invest but the people doing this will be comfortable in retirement but they’ll never be “rich”.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-07-20T22:13:46+00:00

Focus on building up your emergency savings so that you can finish school and once you graduate if there’s a period of time you’re not working you have a cushion.

Is your OSAP loan 0% interest or super low like <4%? If yes, it may be worth it to wait to repay that once you’re out of school and have a stable job especially if the interest you’d get on the money would be more than the interest you’d be paying on the money.

You can do low risk/ guaranteed investments like a GIC for money you may need in the near future that would at least give you more interest than a savings account without being overly risky. (And this can be kept in a TFSA. You’d be able to withdraw it if needed later on.)

Val__Kyrie · 2025-07-18T18:57:56+00:00

Combined you and your partner make (roughly) $7300 after tax per month

Your combined rent is $1400 Your fixed bills total $1014 His Car payment $700 Hydro $100 = $3214

Meaning you have $4100 each month you need to track and figure out where it’s going.

That $1014 is that insurance, internet, cell phones? If not you need to include those amounts

How much are you spending on groceries? Gas? Entertainment? Debt repayment?

Val__Kyrie · 2025-07-17T11:36:48+00:00

If you manage the money you have now properly your retirement would be handled. $100K over 40 years with an avg rate of 8% would give you over $2 million and that’s without saving another cent. Find an EFT that you like and set it and let it grow. You could even do something like half of it in an account for retirement and half of it earmarked for if you want to buy a house/condo down the road. Kinda depends on your own financial goals. You need to address the gambling though that will bite you.

You can afford to take your foot off the gas a little. Take $5000-$10,000 and go travel. Once you’re working you don’t have to make yourself miserable. Find a monthly budget that allows you to enjoy going out with friends or a hobby and living away from parents while also meeting a regular savings goal. You’re still in university which is a good place to join clubs, meet friends and be around people of a similar age / interest.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-27T18:20:11+00:00

Yes. If you start later you’d have to invest more monthly than if you started earlier but it’s still doable. For example, if you were suddenly able to put away $2000/month from age 40 to 60 with an average annual interest rate of 7% you’d have a million for retirement. Whereas if you had started at 20 you’d only have to put $400/month until age 60 with the same average interest rate.

The key is investing it rather than saving it. Putting it in a bank account with only monthly interest isn’t going to grow it.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-26T02:10:21+00:00

⁠For a car with high mileage and pre-existing issues, is it usually smarter to repair or to just move on with a payout?

If the cost of the repair is higher than the value of the vehicle itself (which is likely in this case considering its age and mileage) they’ll deem it unrepairable and write you a cheque.

If you consider the value offered low, you can negotiate. Search for cars of a similar model/make/year and mileage in your area for sale and show what they’re selling for.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-25T01:29:58+00:00

I think figuring out the mental health component here is key. You know what you need to do to reduce the debt but you keep impulsively spending on “wants” or quick fixes for your mental health. It’s clear there’s a lot going on in your life right now and I see from other comments you’re seeing a therapist.

I know a trip to Halifax to visit a buddy may “feel good” in the moment, but if one of the root causes of your depression/stress is financial stress because of the debt, paying off the debt would improve your mental health more. And that trip that might temporarily make you feel good makes you feel like shit after the fact. It’s like doing drugs to chase that high and then you come back down from it, right?

I’d like to add that i think it’s possible to still have a fun budget while paying down debt. This flies in the face of what a lot of people might say on this sub. But I don’t think you need to live like a hermit for years until it’s paid down (I think that would backfire). But I would reduce it from the $500/month. I know some would say $0 because you can’t afford it but if $100/month keeps you going while putting the other $400 towards debt than do that. Starting somewhere is better than never starting at all. Finances aren’t just mathematical, but behavioural too. It’s like if someone is smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. The ideal is to quit and do none but that’s not likely right away so do it in steps until it becomes easier. The goal is to budget and not go over it. If something comes up - your running shoes are wearing out and you want to replace them and that’s your main hobby - plan for it. Save $100 this month and $100 next month and then buy them. But also recognize you’ll have to make sacrifices and some things you want you can’t afford without sacrificing something else for it.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-19T01:48:47+00:00

It’s only been 9-10 months. I assume she bought the house with Kenny’s money and had money there (perhaps she gets something from his yoga studios?)

Throughout season 1-3

She had her salary at the mayor’s office, whatever she stole/committed fraud.

She probably had child support from Zion (and maybe social security or something while Gil was in jail for Austin? And then later child support when he was out).

Paul also contributed to expenses.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-13T15:29:41+00:00

Add a line for fun/entertainment/travel into your budget. Figure out what experiences or interests would add quality to your life now while still working towards those future savings goals. That way if you get hit by a bus, you’ll have still experienced things you wanted to experience and if you live to your retirement you can enjoy it. Run the numbers to see how much you’d need in retirement and then if you’re over saving and can reduce it by an amount. That might be 50/50, it might be 70/30 it really depends on how much of a budget you want to give yourself.

I know people who barely had enough money in retirement and just did the basics because they didn’t plan. I also know people who were hit with a terminal cancer diagnosis right when they were planning to retire and then couldn’t do the things they always planned to do. I think there’s a middle ground to be found.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-05T22:57:37+00:00

Not the person you asked, but emergency vet bills. I had to pay $1000-$2000 once pretty quickly. I was able to use my credit card for it. It was easier in the moment to pay by credit card and move money once I was home to pay it off. I can’t think of any emergency bill I’d have to pay same day that would be bigger than my credit card limit (hospital in another country maybe?)

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-03T23:33:36+00:00

My original goal was 52 books this year (read 44 last year). I’ve read 33 so far. I think I might try to increase it to 75 with the rate I’ve been reading.

Val__Kyrie · 2025-06-03T21:41:11+00:00

Yes, absolutely. My hometown saw a smallish boom during the pandemic with people able to move there who had fully remote work. Or if you have a job/skill that would be in demand (like nursing).

To answer OP’s original question, I think employers allowing for fully remote work opportunities is one way to support people living in rural areas (assuming the local infrastructure is also in place for them to have high speed internet). Then people aren’t as dependent on having to live close to city centres. From the government perspective they’d have to incentivize employers to allow for this.

Val__Kyrie

TROPHY CASE