The Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event that was created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and is now hosted by Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and Dani at Mousai Books. It was inspired by the 1961 classic song by Neil Sedaka and created to ignite fun bookish discussions among readers and bloggers.

So, just like the song, each month a new theme is chosen (participants will get to vote between two choices), and participating bloggers get to choose their favorite book within the theme, or the book they think best fits the theme, to talk about in a blog post on the first Monday of each month.

For today’s post, the theme and my selection are:

St. Patrick’s Day
Book with Favorite Mythical Creature

WINNER:

Red Winter by Annette Marie

Check out Red Winter on Goodreads

Emi is the kamigakari. In a few short months, her life as a mortal will end and her new existence as the human host of a goddess will begin. Carefully hidden from those who would destroy her, she has prepared her mind, body, and soul to unite with the goddess-and not once has she doubted her chosen fate.

Shiro is a yokai, a spirit of the earth, an enemy of the goddess Emi will soon host. Mystery shrouds his every move and his ruby eyes shine with cunning she can’t match and dares not trust. But she saved his life, and until his debt is paid, he is hers to command-whether she wants him or not. On the day they meet, everything Emi believes comes undone, swept away like snow upon the winter wind. For the first time, she wants to change her fate-but how can she erase a destiny already wrought in stone? Against the power of the gods, Shiro is her only hope… and hope is all she has left.

Okay, when I first heard the topic was book with favorite mythical creature, I thought it may be tricky, because I love so many mythical creatures. Especially dragons and wyverns. BUUUT then I thought that there is one mythical creature that has stolen my heart from the moment I read about it, perhaps even more so than a dragon, and that is THE KITSUNE, the nine-tailed fox from Japanse mythology:

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox. In English, the word kitsune refers to a fox yokai capable of shapeshifting into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick human beings, other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. The more tails a kitsune has—they may have as many as nine—the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. In Japan, foxes are seen as messengers of the gods, and they stand guard over Inari shrines.

I rave about Red Winter and it’s Japanese-insipired mythology so much, but really, the kitsune is so underrated and we need more of them! Shiro is the kitsune in the story and he is mysterious, funny, sassy, brave and sweet. Plus he can transform in a cute little fox! What’s not to love?

What’s your favorite mythical creature?

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