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Flickers of Gold: A Short Story

Flickers of Gold WRITTEN BY CHRISTINE MARIE It started with the paint I bought at the summer art festival. Rain streamed from the clouds, soaking my hair and making my sneakers squeak with every step I took towards the parking lot. My mind was so focused on reaching my vehicle that my heart nearly leapt out of my chest when a hand grabbed my bare forearm. I whirled around immediately. But my defenses lowered when I saw the wrinkled old lady beside me. Her curly gray hair piled high on her head, and her light blue eyes gazed at my face like she recognized me from long ago. “Please, my dear.” Her voice was a crackly whisper. “Take this.”  She raised my hand, placing a tube of metallic gold paint in it. The tube’s paper—as crackly as the woman’s voice—read, Imagination’s Creations . Must be homemade paint. I watched the old lady’s face as the raindrops trickled down my face like tears. Was this some sort of marketing tactic to get me to buy her pigment? Whatever she was pulling, it wo...
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How I'm Having a Whimsical Summer as a Teen

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I SSUE 05 - - - - - - JULY 2026   "Anne had the golden summer of her life as far as freedom and frolic went. She walked, rowed, berried, and dreamed to her heart's content." ~ L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Welcome to the next addition of my blog! This also doubles as a YouTube video: Summer Diaries Ep. 3. If you don't want to read this...watch it here! For now, though, we have my whimsical summer guide--- or, Me Casually Yapping About My Summer Goals. (But I think the first has a better ring to it).  Hopefully this will give you some ideas to make the most of your summer! Without further ado...
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June Reading Wrap-Up

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I SSUE 04 - - - - - - JULY 2026 Albeit late, the June reading wrap-up is here! I read mostly middle grade this month, with a few YA sprinkled in, with a variety in different genres including fantasy, contemporary, and historical fiction. These are all clean books---no spice whatsoever, but if there is some cursing, I'll put an asterisk by the title. Books read: 7 Average star rating: 3.89 stars
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PJO: The Lightning Thief Review

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  I SSUE 03 - - - - - - JUNE 2026 Welcome to my first ever no-spoiler review on my blog! I'm still pretty new to official reviewing, so this format is a work in progress. Today, I'm going to go over my rating of Percy Jackson #1: The Lightning Thief.  My rating: 4.25/5 stars Middle Grade, 384 pages Tropes: -urban fantasy -Greek mythology -a quest -found family -chosen one To Start off: Was I a huge KOTLC and Maze Runner and Hunger Games AND Warrior Cats fandom kid at 12 years old? Yes. Did I also see all the edits of PJO and all the fanarts on Pinterest? Yes. Did I ever read these at that prime preteen time of my life? No. Therefore I am taking it up on me this summer to read the entire first series of the Percy Jackson world. So expect more reviews! Also, don't kill me, but I did watch season one of the TV show before I read this, so the plot twists were not a surprise and I was sort of expecting everything that happened, which is why I rated it 4.25. What worked for me: ...
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My Top 15 Favorite Books

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ISSUE 02 - - - - - - - MAY 2026 "Top 15," you think. "That's strange. Isn't it usually top 10?"  OKAY, OKAY, you don't need to call me out on that. I'm indecisive, and I have too many favorite books. No matter how much I tried to condense the list, I just physically could not leave out these extra five.  I admit, the title of this post is a little misleading, because by books, I mostly mean book series. Sure, there might be a couple standalones in here---but if you're a reader, you know how daunting it is to pick just one singular book of a series and call it your favorite. At least for me, it feels like I'm not including the entirety of the world and the characters and such.  Also: all of the books on this list are CLEAN! There might be a couple minor swears throughout some of the YA series, but there is no spice whatsoever in any of these books. Last but not least: count how many ones YOU love. If you get 9/15, we are officially twins. Onto...
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My Book is Released!

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ISSUE 01 - - - - - - - - - - MAY 2026 My Book is Released! After a long summer of outlining, in September of 2024, I wrote the first chapter of Break of Day. I never would've guessed it would lead me down the path of publishing. Well. to be fair, I had a hankering---I did text my online friend, " maybe this book is IT!" While drafting, I started drawing the cover just for fun, just to visualize the world and pure vibes of the story. I spent long perfecting it, and had the time of my life choosing the fonts and colors for the title. (Seriously. I've always found choosing fonts fun. Even for this blog. Don't ask why.) I finished the draft, went through a couple rounds of editing, spent many tears over the technical aspects, and ordered a print proof for draft two of my book. I was absolutely ecstatic at the words I've scribbled by hand being in actual book form. Seriously! I totally recommend it, even if you aren't planning on publishing---making a basic cov...
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