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Menampilkan postingan dari September, 2020

October Reads: Putting the Boo! in Books

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  This year just keeps on flying by, even when some days it feels like time is  moving super slow. I had to keep reminding myself today that tomorrow is October first, and the weather is turning much cooler and feeling like Fall.  This month's reads are full of supernatural hijinks and I can't wait to jump in! I'm still reading Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. Wow. It's definitely not a book I can read quickly but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'll confess that holiday books are starting to look very tempting, too. I'm going to try and have some self control and hang on until November before I start reading my feel good novels for the holiday season. I'm pretty sure I won't be alone reading escape fiction this winter. Is it wrong to be excited that I have a new flannel robe on the way? Holy cow my nesting vibe is hitting an all-time high.  Here's what's on the reading list this month: I know. It's not spooky. But I can't wait to read this n

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

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  I naturally turn to books that have the potential of keeping me up at night just as soon as the weather cools down, and Fall arrives. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I think I loved it so as a child (and still do today) because it was the unofficial kick off to the countdown towards my birthday in November, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, as an adult, it's less about the build up of excitement for those holidays and more of a nesting thing. I also love to watch paranormal shows, and October is definitely the time for those to pop up everywhere. My DVR works overtime to record everything I can't possibly watch during the week. I also love to watch the Halloween baking shows on Food Network, too...which lead directly to the winter holiday baking shows!  Onto the review. I realized as I was reading the author's bio in the back of the book that I had read Christina Henry before, and liked what I'd read. I read the first of her Black Wing series years ago, and enjo

The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox

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  Blogger upgraded and I discovered I can add more fonts. After years of using one particular font, I decided to branch out and use this font, called "raleway". Exciting stuff!  Hester Fox has written three novels, and I've read them all. I still love her first novel the most, but this one was pretty interesting, a mix of spiritualism, grave robbers, and a secret society determined to reanimate corpses ala Frankenstein.  Did you know there were people who were hired to sit with someone as they died, and then sit with them a few days more to make absolutely sure they were really dead? All because people were terrified of being buried alive. Can you imagine having that job?! So. The orphan in this novel is Tabby, a young woman who, with her older sister Alice, ran away from their horrible aunt and uncle ten years before. The sisters were separated, and Tabby was forced to fend for herself as a young twelve year old in 1844 Boston. Penniless, with nowhere to go, Tabby ends u

The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux

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  Food. France. Chateau. Yes please. You know I love my foodie novels, and practically every page of this novel screams food. The kind of novel I absolutely love, and race through as quickly as possible. It wasn't hard to do just that with Samantha Verant's delicious novel. I feel very lucky to have hit two novels in a row that I couldn't put down--this one and my previous read, The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline. Two completely different novels, but loved them both.  Sophie Valroux is a rising chef in New York City. She's working for a restaurant that has two Michelin stars and they are eagerly awaiting the announcement that they have been awarded a third star. It's her dream to be part of the team at such a prestigious restaurant. She's worked hard to get where she's at; in a field dominated by men, she's put up with a lot to stay and fight for her place. Her ex-lover Eric is a total asshat, and working together is rough. He is going to open his own

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

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  I was very lucky to receive an ARC of this novel, mostly because I finally just last week sat down to start it. I was browsing my bookshelves and spotted it and remembered it was out in August and I definitely wanted to read this latest from the author of The Orphan Train. I'm sure this will be wildly popular and hard to get unless you buy a copy for yourself.  Before I give my review, I'll update you on my bookshelves, after the Great Weeding Project of 2020 that I did a few months ago. I'm still being pretty tidy, and not stacking any books on the floor. I'm still buying books, but trying not to buy too much! Now I can see everything fairly quickly, so it does make it easier to find something to read. Now to just circle around and pick up on the books I tried to read this summer and didn't for one reason or another. I'm very happy I did the work and cleaned up my books. All that clutter was making me feel like I couldn't read fast enough, but no matter h

Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

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  This is one of those series of books that I've seen around so many times over the years, and never picked it up. The new show on Netflix (September 23) had me deciding it was finally time to read the first in the series and see just what it was about. I had another one of those "why did I wait so long?!" moments when I finished it this morning.  Enola Holmes is the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. Years after her brothers were born, their mother produced Enola, embarrassingly at an older age when respectable women didn't have babies. Enola is now fourteen, and it's her birthday.  She lives with her mother at the family estate, and she's had a pretty free life since her father died years ago, and her brothers have not visited in all that time. She's smart, quick, and loves to ride her bike. She's corset free, and happy about it. Until the morning of her birthday, when her mother steps out the door and never returns.  Enola doesn't un

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne

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It's been many years since I've read Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles series, so I was delighted to see he has returned to that world with this new series. I absolutely love contemporary fantasy that mixes in old magical elements, along with a sense of humor that makes me laugh as I read.  Set in Glasgow, with a few stints in Edinburgh and other places, this novel stars the charming Al MacBharrais, a sixty-something sigil agent who is caught up in a mystery involving the Fae.  A sigil agent works between the human world and the Fae world, making contracts that help keep both worlds apart, yet allow for some contact between the two when necessary. Sigils are handwritten symbols of magic, made with specially created inks. It requires years of apprenticeship and there are only 5 sigil agents around the world. Al owns a publishing house, and uses it as a front for his magical work. I loved the cast of characters and can't wait to read about future adventures. A hobgobli

The Deadly Hours: An Anthology by Susanna Kearsley, C.S. Harris, Anna Lee Huber, and Christine Trent

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So I've spent every night since Sunday coming home from work and reading all night. I find myself falling asleep for a short nap around 7PM and then a few hours later, ready for bed. Except once I shut the light off my mind starts racing a million miles a minute, and I can't sleep. So on goes the light again, and reading again for a little bit.  I'll admit my vow to start working out again this week didn't even make it past Monday morning. So darn tired in the morning I just can't get up and move. The Sue at 5 PM the night before is ready and willing to workout at 6 AM; the Sue at 5 AM the next morning is not! So I'll try again tomorrow and see if I actually do go to the gym. Even if I fail the next few days, I have chastised myself and made a vow that September 8th I WILL WORKOUT.  All this coming home and reading had me finishing The Deadly Hours Tuesday night. Made me happy to actually accomplish something! I did enjoy the four novellas, and certainly if you