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Earth Wolf & Fire (Eliza Falls #2)
Earth Wolf & Fire (Eliza Falls #2)
Maggie Francis | 2022 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
EARTH WOLF AND FIRE is the second book in the Eliza Falls series, although it can be read as a standalone. The couple from the first book, Seb and Cora, are in here but you don't need their story for this one to work.

Ulla is someone who has connected with Nature at a very young age. Unfortunately, children can be cruel and she paid the price. The only people she really sees as friends are Cora and Desi. She returns home to Eliza Falls and runs into Desi, sparking their friendship again. However, Cora and Desi are now part of a Pack. Through one thing and another, Ulla meets Tate and BOOM. There you go. Insta-lust in spades.

This is a great paranormal romance series, one that I am thoroughly enjoying. It is funny in places, spicy in others, and even the occasional hint of mystery. Ulla and Tate are just so goddamned cute together! AND you get it from both of their perspectives which makes it nicely rounded out.

All in all, this was a great addition to the series. I'm really hoping Desi is next, and with someone she doesn't see coming. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2460 KP) rated Over My Dead Blog in Books

Nov 29, 2023 (Updated Nov 29, 2023)  
Over My Dead Blog
Over My Dead Blog
Sarah E. Burr | 2023 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Debut I Had to Read. And I’m Glad I Did
Winnie Lark has moved to the other side of the country from her family and found a new life she loves in Copper Bay, Massachusetts, while she runs a hugely successful book blog. When her twin brother, famous actor Strider Lark, comes for a visit, Winnie is nervous since their relationship has been strained in the last few years. But she doesn’t expect him to be suspected of murder after just one night in town. A local reporter has been killed, and Strider was the last one to see her alive. Can Winnie clear him of the crime?

As a book blogger, the hook for this cozy series immediately caught my attention. I’m glad it did since I enjoyed the book. Winnie and Strider’s relationship is a strong element to the book, and I appreciated that the author made it complex. Winnie takes a little while to get a line on what is happening with the murder (she is an amateur, after all), but once she does, she then worries about proving her case, a nice change from many cozies. I loved the characters we met, especially Winnie’s relationship with her two best friends. I can’t wait to spend more time with all of the characters. I also smiled at Winnie’s cute, cozy swears. There’s a fall vibe to the October set story. This book blogger can’t help but recommend this fun debut.
  
Secret Admirer Pact
Secret Admirer Pact
Bernadette Marie | 2024 | Contemporary, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
kinda cute
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. Why?? I dunno, but book feelings are strong about this and ya'll know I need to share the book feelings!

It's a fun read, about friends who never really saw each other as anything other than best friends, until the thought of losing each other looms. And it's all laid out for you!

While there is romance here, there is no smexy times. I think that might be my biggest issue. I like my books smexy and I wanted Monique and Will to get their freak on, and they don't. At least, not on page. There's just some kissing.

It's painfully obvious who the secret admirers are, other than Will and Monique, but I didn't see the twist to Monique's boss' situation! So that was a great twist.

It's billed as a comedy romance. Now, I dunno if it was me, but I didn't get much comedy, at all!

It was a nice read (you know I don't like to use that word, but I can't find another one to fit!) one you can just fall into and wile away a couple hours, or less. Took me 90 mins.

I'd like to read something esle by this author, I haven't read her work before, but a longer work.

3 good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
Bella's Countryside Christmas
Bella's Countryside Christmas
Claire Huston | 2024 | Contemporary, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
BELLA'S COUNTRYSIDE CHRISTMAS is set in Haileybrook. To escape a boring conference, she fakes illness and goes to the church where she should have been married, if she hadn't called it off. While there, she saves a nativity scene from guaranteed disaster, as well as helping a cute man by pretending to be his date. After a better-than-expected day/evening and a moment of connection complete with a kiss, she disappears to help her younger sister, leaving Jack all alone. Fast forward a year (give or take) and Bella is returning to Haileybrook, this time to live and work.

This was such a great story! It is gentle, with no unnecessary angst or drama, with a healthy dose of mystery. Character-led with cameos from characters out of other books, this was a story I didn't want to end. The people here were funny and likeable, especially the ones from the home!

The flow of the story was smooth and left me wanting to continue reading, even when I got to the chapter breaks. It has Christmassy vibes but doesn't rule the whole story. A fantastic read and definitely recommended by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 25, 2024
  
My Little Scythe
My Little Scythe
2017 | Fantasy, Fighting, Kids Game
OMG look at the cute cover! Ok, the title is a little strange to those who are oblivious to its origin, but I knew the game to be a scaled down version of Scythe. This version started as a fan-made revision by a dad and his young daughter to make Scythe more playable for them. It’s basically about curating friendship through apple picking, delivering gems, baking pies, and trying to just be heckin good bois. My Little Scythe. Just don’t play it on My Little Game Table. It’s definitely a table hog, but it’s a glorious table hog.

Accost me later, but I have never played Scythe. I have played lots of area control and pick-up-and-deliver games. I have just now oversimplified an already mechanics-simple game. Without explaining the entire rulebook here, you are these cute little animal “seekers” who are buzzing around the board collecting apples and gems to deliver to the castle, upgrading your movement or “make” abilities, completing quests on the board, improving friendship, baking pies, or even winning pie fights against your opponents! Each of these accomplishments can equal trophies for your team and the first to four trophies triggers the end game.

Ok the good stuff. Everything. I absolutely love this one. The board is BIG, beautiful, colorful, and it makes me happy just looking at it. The theme is so easy to love, and the goals are clear. The game play couldn’t be simpler in what you do on your turn, and the components are absolutely top notch. It certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome on the table, and I want to keep playing it over and over. Those are signs of a GREAT game to me.

So, the bad. Well, I don’t really have anything negative to say about this at all. At least not that is the game’s fault. I have different strategies I still want to try in the game, but that keeps me playing more and that is actually a positive trait. Ok ok fine, I will give it a couple negatives, but they are just MY opinion based on what I enjoy. Can we borrow the idea of the berry component from Everdell to make the apples here cuter and squishy? Can we linen finish the cards? Can we make the Quest tokens bakelite or acrylic or something other than cardboard? Can the trophies be pre-painted minis of trophies? Can the seeker minis be pre-painted? Yeah sure. All that could easily be added to this game. But be prepared for another $50 added to the price (maybe, idk, I’m not a component manufacturer. Jamey, what’s the cost to bling this out?).

I digress, but the game is super solid. If you see it in the wild and you do not yet own it, pick it up. You will certainly thank me later. Let’s just propel this one into my Top 10 Games of All Time. Looks like I am not alone as Purple Phoenix Games gives this lovely adventure a 22 / 24.

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/my-little-scythe-review/
  
Hey, That's My Fish!
Hey, That's My Fish!
2003 | Abstract Strategy, Animals
How do you like your games, reader? Heavy and themeless? Dark and themey? ZANY AND KOOKY?! Well, this game is a combination of several categories of game type. I consider it cute and cutthroat. There aren’t many games that can fall into those two categories simultaneously, and maybe that’s why we like this one. Spoilers, sweetie.

Hey, That’s My Fish! is a game of attempting to gather the most fish possible before climate change engulfs your little penguin minis. I mean, before the land sinks into the sea. To setup, place all the shuffled fish tiles in a grid of alternating 8 and 7-tile rows. Then, each player will, in turn, place their penguins on tiles showing one fish until their play pieces are on the board. That’s the setup. Quick and easy.


Like I said, the idea here is to gather the most fish to be crowned the winner. You can gather fish tiles by simply moving off them and onto another tile. Choose a direction to travel from your hex, and travel to any fish tile along a straight line – stopping before jumping over any penguin and not travelling over a blank space. Collect the fish tile from where you originally left and add it to your pile. Play continues in this fashion until all players are stalemated and can no longer make any further legal moves on the ever-shrinking board of fish snacks.

So here’s the rub with this one. It’s simple. Like, really simple. Pick up your penguieeple (sheesh) and move them to another hex tile in a straight line without jumping over any obstacle. Take the tile from which you left. Repeat. It sounds so stinking boring. But when you actually have your little peng… minis… and you are trying to get those elusive 3-fish tiles, but you have no way of getting there because your dang brother cut off your route so that only he and Josh can get them because they’re jerks – sorry. I got a bit carried away. But it really do be like that sometimes.
Components. This is an easy one. There are a bunch of cardboard hex tiles and some great little penguineeples. The penguins are brightly colored, and the hexes are very easy to understand and read. No issues here at all. Bonus: the pengeeples have such awesome little sassy poses hahahaha!

So what do I think? As a seasoned gamer and the most elder of our group, I absolutely adore it. It’s not the greatest game ever published, but sometimes you want to let off some steam and play a little cutthroat. So don’t let the cute penguins fool you – this is survival and you NEEEEED those little fishies! I have now owned this game twice (which my wife totally loves when she hears that), because I did miss having it available to me. So it is no surprise that we at Purple Phoenix Games give this little darling a fishy-fishy-bite-my-hook 18 / 24. Go on, grab a copy and destroy friendships!
  
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Kurt Vile recommended The Sun Years by Jerry Lee Lewis in Music (curated)

 
The Sun Years by Jerry Lee Lewis
The Sun Years by Jerry Lee Lewis
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I liked Jerry Lee Lewis, because my dad turned me on to him, so I had this collection of all the Sun sessions that I would listen to a lot. I mainly just listened to 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'. I used to love that line, ""got the bull by the horns"", I used that line in 'He's Alright', my song from a long time ago. It's so bluesy and goofy and from a wild man. But then at a later period, I read that book The Dark Stuff by Nick Kent. Adam [Granduciel], my buddy, one of my best friends, from The War On Drugs, he sent it to me for my birthday, which was nice. He wasn't even around, but he sent it to me. Anyway, I couldn't put that down. He knew I would like that book. The best article [in there], is on Jerry Lee Lewis, who's just a notorious maniac and is obviously an incredible piano player. In that article, he talked about a book, a biography about him by Nick Tosches called Hellfire and this book is off the hook, it's unreal. So just around that time I found the vinyl of this one, the Sun Sessions, maybe it's volume one, again I burned it and cranked it in the 'phones and played it a lot when I was driving around LA. There's a song, 'Little Queenie', which is a cover, but he says: ""She's too cute to be a minute over 17"" and I morphed that line in 'Pretty Pimpin': ""a little too cute to be admitted under marbles lost"". Whatever that part of the song is, the first time I say: ""All I want is to just have fun, live my life like a son of a gun"", but it's like a morphed version of that Seeds song, 'Pushin' Too Hard', like [sings]: ""All I want is to just have fun, live my life like it just begun"", so it's sort of referencing those old guys, two different eras. Obviously, if I had to pick one, Jerry Lee Lewis slays The Seeds. But it's just like that down-home, real rock & roll. How do you explore his back catalogue? I think you just start with the early stuff. He had a crazy career, because he had all these hits young and then he married his super young cousin, but he was totally in love with her and she was, and then they went to Europe and during that time they found out it was his cousin and then he was banned everywhere, basically. Then he had a resurgence, he started doing country music and was bigger than ever, so he would always go up and down, but he was a maniac. He would just always be battling demons. He would go back to Jesus. He would go to church where they would speak in tongues, he would just live extreme lives. He would go back and forth, lose his mind, take a million pills, play shows and his hair was flying around, playing with his foot. I mean, he was a bad motherhumper, as you would say!"

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