Welcome to your monthly update from Watermark Book Company!

Below, you'll find what's new in the store, upcoming events,

book reviews, and more!

Hello to all of my happy readers!!!

April is upon us! Holy smokes! This has been a wild month. I thought I would take this newsletter to share with everyone a little bit about what I do in my very limited free time. I don't drink alcohol any more. I do love pastries. I love Thai iced tea and iced coffee dalgona. My husband likes to make cakes and pies, so we are well matched with that. I read a ton; I enjoy reading in the morning with a large cup of coffee. I like to do dance workouts to keep my limberness and leg strength. I hike several days a week. On Wednesdays, I hike with my hubby. I roller skate in my dining room and kitchen area. I work on footwork skills and practice turns, etc. The cats are absolutely terrified of me on skates. Since my boys moved out, I have dedicated two out of the three bedrooms for fun spaces. One of them is an art space that I started for myself. It is such a very happy space. All of the walls are filled with rainbows, my art, or art that I found that makes me happy. I have a daybed in there and I crochet almost every night in there. I love to watch TV series. My hubby also loves series. Together we are working our way through Grey's Anatomy. We also watch The Pitt, and I am independently rewatching Game of Thrones. For Christmas, Ben mounted a TV in my art room. I am trying to make blankets for each of my kiddos, as well as one for Ben and I to share. I also LOVE to color in adult coloring books with alcohol-based markers. Everyone in my house is always welcome in the art room to play, imagine, and have fun. Janet enjoys coming in and doing watercolor with me.

So far I have made a blanket for my oldest, Tristan, not featured here. Below you will see I finished two blankets this month; they have taken me what feels like forever. I made one for my boy John Johnny—he picked the colors—orange is his favorite. I used the star stitch—the blanket was my first time to use that stitch, and I finished with a linen stitch border. Turned out really lovely. I will mail it to him for his birthday, which is this month. I also finished my Janet's blanket. She picked the colors. Pinks and purples. I chose to do a chevron ripple, mostly because it is fun and super easy.

Sometimes I get down on myself because, if I listened to books while I worked, I could read soooo many more books. I have taught myself to let that feeling go. I get to chill the way I want to chill.

April 4th is my ten-year wedding anniversary with my hubby. Life is wild and crazy. He is my best friend. We will probably go to dinner, a proper date night.

Victorian Psycho, by Virginia Feito, was so good and so odd. This is not a book for everyone. There is body horror and lots of really bizarre happenings; however, I thought it was marvelous. I listened to The Pretty Ones, by Ania Ahlborn—it is only available via audio, so I listened to it through Libro.fm and it was wild, scary, and very good. This is the author who wrote The Seed. Creepy. I also listened to Deep Cuts, by Holly Brickley. This book surprised me. I found the beginning to be very annoying. The main character is young and full of herself. It was almost painful, and I just could not understand her or where she was coming from—we were too different. But I kept with it, and I am so glad that I did. Really lovely story about friendship and music. She is a music editor and a writer, and she really listens to what the musician is saying; she made me rethink how I listen to music. This book uses real music and songs through the ages. Talks about actual writing of music and giving credit where credit is due. I really appreciated this book.

I started reading The Diver, by Lewis Buzbee. I am enjoying it very much—I have always been super fascinated with deep sea diving. This story follows a boy who wanted to be like his father, to have his father notice him, to impress him. And the boy found his father to just be awesome. Good story—tell more later. I also picked up the memoir Men Have Called Her Crazy, by Anna Marie Tendler. This book is incredible so far, really excellent writing. Follows a woman through life, health, and relationships. I was immediately drawn in. I will also report about this later.

I hope to finish both of those books. I want to listen to Stag Dance, by Torrey Peters, and Kate and Frida, by Kim Fay—she wrote Love and Saffron, which was lovely.



I hope you stay safe and healthy. Happy Reading!

Brandy~

Author Events, Book Signings, and Shop Updates

Sign Up for Our Upcoming Workshops

There is still time to register for the Mini Memoir Workshop in April!

Amberly will be running this fun workshop on writing creative personal essays.

There is a registration fee. Please email for more information or to register!

Wednesday, April 30th 7:00pm-8:30pm

Local Author Event at the Anacortes Public Library

We're partnering with the Anacortes Public Library to bring you an event with

Matthew Sullivan and his new book, Midnight in Soap Lake.

Brandy and Amberly both read it and loved it!

Join us there at 7:00pm for Matthew's presentation.

We'll be there selling copies of the book—get one signed by the author!

Our Fiction Writing Workshop Was a Blast!

Thank you to everyone who joined us!

We happily hosted Hope Star with her book Accidentally Alaska.

We have signed copies here at the shop if you weren't able to make it.

Easter Is April 20th.

Watermark Book Company's 7th Anniversary of New Ownership

Monday, April 21st–Sunday, April 27th

All Week Long: Spend $100+ and enter to win the raffle basket of your choice! Check out these baskets below.

The Well-Read Basket

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The Nonfiction Addiction Basket

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The Trendy Reader Basket

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The Beautiful Home Basket

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The Family Fun Basket

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Wednesday, April 23rd

Cash Sale!

Enjoy 20% off your purchase when you pay with cash or check. Few exclusions apply.

Saturday, April 26th 12:00pm–3:00pm

Independent Bookstore Day

Local Author Meet-and-Greet

We are excited to host local author Patricia Alarcón Missler for a meet-and-greet.

Join us Saturday, April 26th to meet the author and discover her book,

Border Town Chica. She'll be here 12:00pm-3:00pm. Come say hi and pick up a copy!

This Just In

New tote bags!

New puzzles!

Live, love, gel pens!

Jaycee says, "I have to buy all of these banana stickers."

This Just In for Kids

Make bath time fun with these toys and activities.

Peanuts art supplies and activities—how fun!

Undercover Art coloring activities!

Hidden Colors magic paint sheets!

Knit a snack or paint a banana planter!

Check out our mid-month newsletter

for our calendar of upcoming events.

New and Noteworthy

📕New Hardcover📕

We have copies of Sunrise on the Reaping!!!!!

📘New Paperback📘

Watermark Book Club

This month, Watermark Book Club is reading

Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love, by Mariane Cronin.

This is a closed book club. If you'd like to join the waitlist,

please respond to this email and let us know!

In the meantime, feel free to follow along with what we're reading.

Here is what Amberly has to say about it:

I am halfway through this book, and I have already cried twice because of the sheer sweetness. Eddie Winston is a ninety-year-old who works in an antique shop, and when he meets Bella, a young woman donating clothing under tragic circumstances, a friendship blooms. These characters have my whole heart.

I am listening to it on Libro.fm, and the narrators are excellent!