Happy Summer Solstice!
The perfect summer read + an update on my first clay project
Notes from a Kindred Spirit is a bi-weekly newsletter about embracing curiosity, exploring hobbies, living with chronic illness, and finding contentment in the everyday.
Hi friends,
Happy Summer Solstice to those in the northern hemisphere!
I don’t have too much of a note to share with you today, as all of the good stuff is below!
Grab your favourite hot or iced tea and dig in!
I’ve talked before in the newsletter about how important it is to get to know your reading tastes in order to have a satisfying reading life.
Well, recently
wrote a piece called “Reading the Rainbow,” and I cannot recommend it enough! In it, she shares about Steven Reese’s Read Your Color Assessment, which I immediately had to take for myself to find out what colour of reader I am!Turns out, I’m a Yellow Reader, aka The Emotional Catalyst! And Blue, aka The Introspective Oracle, isn’t too far behind. Definitely a perfect match for my reading tastes!
I couldn’t help myself, so I shared the assessment with my book club members, and it was interesting to see everyone’s results and where we overlapped.
Take Steven’s assessment here (and get his book recommendations for each colour) and then share in the comments what colour you are, and if you think it’s a perfect match!
Take the Read Your Color Assessment here.
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune | Contemporary romance | Published in 2025
To help her grandmother recover from breaking her hip—and to recover from her recent breakup—Alice decides the two of them will spend the summer at the lake cottage she spent one precious summer at as a teenager.
Not long after settling in, a familiar yellow speedboat from the summer she was 17 appears, and Alice meets Charlie Florek, a shameless flirt who immediately wins over her grandmother.
After seeing Alice’s summer bucket list, she and Charlie agree to pretend to be teenagers for the season, but as the last days of August grow nearer, can they be honest about what this summer has meant to both of them?
My Thoughts
This book is the epitome of summer nostalgia. I felt like I was right back at the lake I spent my teenage summers at!
I have yet to come across a Carley Fortune book that I don’t like. Her characters are complex, grounded, and lovable, and Alice and Charlie are no exception.
She weaves magic with her writing that brings the setting to life and makes you feel like you’re right there with all five senses. And I’m definitely not complaining about the fact that all her books are set in Canada!
This really is a perfect summer read.
Trigger warnings: death of parent, medical content, grief, pregnancy, sexual content, car accident
In early May, I shared that I had attended my first clay workshop where we built a drink tumbler.
Well, when it was time to go back and paint it, I was nervous! I’m not very skilled when it comes to painting or drawing. So, I turned to Pinterest to find inspiration for a pattern I could easily replicate.
Luckily, it didn’t take long before I found a short video demonstrating how to use a Q-tip to paint dainty flowers. (Unfortunately, I didn’t save it, so I can’t share the link with you!)
It worked like a charm, and I’m so glad I stuck with something simple!
My finished piece is a bit rough around the edges, but for my first time working with clay, I’m pretty satisfied.
💨A free 5-day breathwork challenge to help you start your day with intention and calm
📖 Why your next girls’ trip should be a reading retreat and how to plan one
💬 From
: Issue #105: 36 excellent conversation starters for every occasion (The conversation starters are broken up into super helpful categories!)
Your turn! Don’t forget to share your reading colour with us in the comments. Bonus points if you have a book recommendation for other readers who share your colour!
Happy reading,
Cover photo by Anna Mysłowska-Kiczek on Unsplash
P.S. I have 3 digital products available in the Notion Marketplace!
📚 BOOK CLUB HUB for the book club host who wants to organize their club with ease so they can focus on the fun part—reading good books and chatting about them with friends! It’s perfect for small to medium virtual or in-person clubs.
📖 CURATED BOOK LISTS for the book club host or bookworm who doesn’t know what to read next.
🎁 GIFT PLANNER & TRACKER to help you organize birthday and holiday shopping and stay on budget.
Thank you for the shoutout, Cassandra! It's such a fun quiz to share with a book club, I love that you did that. Also, your tumbler turned out so cute!! You're making me want to make one!
Reading the Rainbow is so interesting! I scored pretty high on most of them. I thought I was a fairly flexible reader, but seeing my scores made it a little more clear. Thank you for sharing!