L I F E
I had the opportunity to visit the Penguin Random House library & archive, thanks to work! It was one of many sites that holds manuscript, contracts and artwork of books that stretches back to the mid-19th century! We had a short but amazingly presented tour of the inner workings of the archive. Such a small team that does such pivotal work! Afterwards, they let us just walk around all the books and my first stop was definitely checking out all childhood favourites and seeing them in such new condition felt illegal.
A R T
I was a little sick earlier in the month which means I didn’t get to draw as much as I wanted. But I did stream a bit of the progress of creating a new model for stream. I’m still deciding between two different poses but hopefully next month I can show better progress!
B O O K S
In April, I read 8 books!
Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
When I started working at Penguin, I kept hearing this title all over the Children’s team. At first, I wasn’t interested in reading a YA book at the time, but the cover was so pretty I couldn’t stop thinking about the book. It really suits the vibe of the book that I was shocked to see how differently the US cover looks since that cover makes it look like completely different genre!
Our Infinite Fates is a YA fantasy romance that follows Evelyn who is fated to die by Arden’s hand before her 18th birthday. Together, they have lived over a thousand lifetimes and Evelyn still can’t decipher the curse that follows them. She faces a problem in her current life when her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplant and she is weeks away from turning 18, waiting for the day Arden appears on her door. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she must discover the truth behind her curse and end the centuries old battle with Arden for good.
Honestly, I was bit on the fence with this book. And that was mainly due to the chapters set in the present time. I thought current day Evelyn and Arden weren’t as interesting as their past reincarnations. I loved the diversity of their past lives and seeing how they grow in every lifetime that it almost felt disappointing coming back to the main storyline because all I did was yearn for their past lives.
Something happens in the last 30% of the book that absolutely flipped the entire book on its head for me. I went from having very neutral thoughts to thinking:
Without giving too much away, the entire vibe of the last quarter reminded me of Resident Evil Village. No one I know whose read this book has also played Village and I’m dying to find someone else who has so they can also understand how much the two compare! It actually made me so excited for her adult fantasy debut, Silvercloak!
Continue reading “Monthly Rewind: April 2025”
as told by zaheerah 