The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett

This is a magical AU of Anne of Green Gables, apparently. I did not know that when I checked it out! All I thought was "Oh yes, I enjoyed other things this woman wrote well enough, let's try this one!"

As a book alone it's pretty good. I think, though, it would've been a stronger one without the overt connection to Anne - 85% of the book could just be a book set in the past in rural wherever, but then the other 15% will jump up and punch you with "Aha, now she's just broken a slate over some girl's head! And not the boy who was teasing her, as you'd expect!" or "Something, something, raspberry cordial - can't tell her mother about magic, can we?" and so on.

If you look at it as a thing alone that happens to have a few weirdly referential scenes, though, it's a pretty good middle grade book!

Hah!

I put a fruit tree in a bad spot in Stardew and had to chop it down, and now I got a sapling back! Much needed improvement, guys.

On the other hand, I don't know what happened, but between the main game and my expansions I've hit a backlog of cutscenes. Everywhere I go, it's another two or three cutscenes. I'm going through days at the rate of half a day a day due to the cutscenes - and I don't even have my favorite expansion, Adventurer's Guild Expanded, because it isn't updated yet! (If this goes on much longer I may need to see if somebody has an unofficial update for me.)

Funny Stardew review:

The closest I've ever come to touching grass.

Jenn is in Oklahoma. She decided not to bring her laptop with her, however, she repented of that decision after contracting covid.