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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Other Words for Smoke in Books
Jun 11, 2023
75 of 235
Kindle
Other Words for Smoke
By Sarah Maria Griffin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Twins Mae and Rossa’s summer away from home becomes life altering when they discover a house full of witches, experience devastating first love, and face a dark power beyond any imagining.
Sarah Maria Griffin’s haunting and literary sophomore novel explores the balance between love and fear, weakness and power, and the lengths one will go to claim one’s freedom. For fans of Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Maggie Stiefvater’s All the Crooked Saints.
When the women from the house at the end of the lane went missing, none of the townspeople knew what happened. A tragedy, they called it. Only twins Mae and Rossa know the truth about that fateful summer.
Only they know about the owl in the wall, the uncanny cat, the insidious creatures that devour love and fear. Only they know the trials of loving someone who longs for power, for freedom, for magic. Only they know what brought everything tumbling down around them. And they’ll never, ever breathe a word.
This was the strangest book I think I’ve read in a long time. I really enjoyed it. The story was so strange but had you needing to read more. At first I have to admit I did think of not continuing with it but I’m so glad I did. The talking cat completely through me well worth a read.
Kindle
Other Words for Smoke
By Sarah Maria Griffin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Twins Mae and Rossa’s summer away from home becomes life altering when they discover a house full of witches, experience devastating first love, and face a dark power beyond any imagining.
Sarah Maria Griffin’s haunting and literary sophomore novel explores the balance between love and fear, weakness and power, and the lengths one will go to claim one’s freedom. For fans of Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Maggie Stiefvater’s All the Crooked Saints.
When the women from the house at the end of the lane went missing, none of the townspeople knew what happened. A tragedy, they called it. Only twins Mae and Rossa know the truth about that fateful summer.
Only they know about the owl in the wall, the uncanny cat, the insidious creatures that devour love and fear. Only they know the trials of loving someone who longs for power, for freedom, for magic. Only they know what brought everything tumbling down around them. And they’ll never, ever breathe a word.
This was the strangest book I think I’ve read in a long time. I really enjoyed it. The story was so strange but had you needing to read more. At first I have to admit I did think of not continuing with it but I’m so glad I did. The talking cat completely through me well worth a read.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2099 KP) rated The Nightingale Before Christmas (Meg Langslow, #18) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Meg has been drafted as the coordinator of the show house, which will be decorated by a group of designers and then opened to the public to raise funds for local charities. However, when Meg goes back to lock up late one night, she finds one of the designers murdered in the master bedroom. He wasn’t a very well-liked man, but who actually hated him enough to murder him?
Yes, this book does tie in to Christmas as well (as hinted at by the title). It’s a fun mystery I thought I had figured out, but I was surprised in the end. The characters are great, although Josh and Jamie, Meg’s twins, completely stole the show. I would have liked to see more from one thread from the previous book, but hopefully that will show up in the next in the series.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/12/book-review-nightingale-before.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Yes, this book does tie in to Christmas as well (as hinted at by the title). It’s a fun mystery I thought I had figured out, but I was surprised in the end. The characters are great, although Josh and Jamie, Meg’s twins, completely stole the show. I would have liked to see more from one thread from the previous book, but hopefully that will show up in the next in the series.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/12/book-review-nightingale-before.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2099 KP) rated Truth Be Told (Jane Ryland, #3) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Jane is on the scene of a foreclosure when a dead body is found in a bedroom closet. Since the house was supposed to be empty, who is the victim and how did she get there? Meanwhile, a man has confessed to a famous unsolved murder from 20 years ago, but detective Jake is certain the man is lying. Is he really the killer? Why would he confess to a crime he didn’t commit?
The multiple view point approach, which usually works so well, falls flat at the beginning of the book when those breaks keep jerking us around and keep us from getting into the story. Once the story takes off, things really smooth out and I had a hard time putting the book down. The characters, as always, are great.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-truth-be-told-by-hank.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
The multiple view point approach, which usually works so well, falls flat at the beginning of the book when those breaks keep jerking us around and keep us from getting into the story. Once the story takes off, things really smooth out and I had a hard time putting the book down. The characters, as always, are great.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-truth-be-told-by-hank.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2099 KP) rated A Puzzle to be Named Later (Puzzle Lady #18) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
When Yankee’s pitcher Matt Greystone moves to town to rehab after a car accident, Cora Felton is thrilled. That is before a therapist’s house is broken into and Cora is asked to solve a puzzle that points to something in the therapist’s files. When a second puzzle shows up on the dead body, she knows she has to figure out what is going on.
Like some others in the series, the mystery is the weak link in this book. The action is quick even if it doesn’t always lead us anywhere. The climax is a bit convoluted as well. However, I read these books for the word play and comedy, and that’s here in spades. I laughed multiple times in the book and smiled throughout. Plus, it’s fun to spend time with the gang again, and I liked the new characters as well.
Read my full review at <a href="https://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/07/book-review-puzzle-to-be-named-later-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Like some others in the series, the mystery is the weak link in this book. The action is quick even if it doesn’t always lead us anywhere. The climax is a bit convoluted as well. However, I read these books for the word play and comedy, and that’s here in spades. I laughed multiple times in the book and smiled throughout. Plus, it’s fun to spend time with the gang again, and I liked the new characters as well.
Read my full review at <a href="https://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/07/book-review-puzzle-to-be-named-later-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years in Books
Mar 16, 2018
A book of hopey changey during the Obama years
This funny, poignant look at the White House from the perspective of a speechwriter, humanises those who worked for Obama and the former president himself.
From hilarious anecdotes, where David Litt was literally found with his Hulk pants down on Air Force One, to harrowing experiences watching Obama sing Amazing Grace after the racially-motivated Charleston shooting -it's like a real-life series of West Wing.
His admiration for the ex-chief is rather sweet, turning from full-blown hero worshipping to quiet respect for POTUS as a person as in his own words: "We are not perfect but we have the capacity to be more perfect".
Hence the ending seems bittersweet - Litt was part of Obama's legacy that is being decimated so for him it is personal. He asks "Was Barack Obama a good President?" And without hesitation he agrees that he was.
From hilarious anecdotes, where David Litt was literally found with his Hulk pants down on Air Force One, to harrowing experiences watching Obama sing Amazing Grace after the racially-motivated Charleston shooting -it's like a real-life series of West Wing.
His admiration for the ex-chief is rather sweet, turning from full-blown hero worshipping to quiet respect for POTUS as a person as in his own words: "We are not perfect but we have the capacity to be more perfect".
Hence the ending seems bittersweet - Litt was part of Obama's legacy that is being decimated so for him it is personal. He asks "Was Barack Obama a good President?" And without hesitation he agrees that he was.
Penelope Sutherland is beginning to build her catering company, and landing the job catering the movie her best friend Arlena is starring is in a plum gig indeed. That is until a dead body is found outside the house where the two women live and accidents keep happening to on the set that appear to make Arlena the target. What is going on?
I love movies as well as mysteries, so this combination of the two was right up my alley. It’s a very fun book as well. The pacing was a bit off, but never for very long at a time, and the mystery led up to a great solution. The characters are strong and human, not the over the top characters we can get somethings when movie stars are involved. I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/07/book-review-murder-on-silver-platter-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I love movies as well as mysteries, so this combination of the two was right up my alley. It’s a very fun book as well. The pacing was a bit off, but never for very long at a time, and the mystery led up to a great solution. The characters are strong and human, not the over the top characters we can get somethings when movie stars are involved. I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/07/book-review-murder-on-silver-platter-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
LilyLovesIndie (123 KP) rated The Long Winter (Little House, #6) in Books
Nov 5, 2018
Not one of my favourite in the Little House series, I must admit. We follow the family through a VERY long winter full of repetition and worry that eats away at the reader as much as it must have done poor Laura to live through it! (I must add, I read this during a period of bad snow ehere I had nothing to live off for several days but bagels, and as much as I love them, you don't half get fed up of blooming bread!)
One lovely highlight of this book is the loser interaction between the Wilder boys and the Ingalls family, even if, at this stage, it is just limited to Pa! It's nice to see the gradual steps towards what we already know occurs, and it's written well!
Not a bad read, drags a little and at times is like a plaster, you just need to whip it off and get on with it!
One lovely highlight of this book is the loser interaction between the Wilder boys and the Ingalls family, even if, at this stage, it is just limited to Pa! It's nice to see the gradual steps towards what we already know occurs, and it's written well!
Not a bad read, drags a little and at times is like a plaster, you just need to whip it off and get on with it!
Vegas (725 KP) rated Locke and Key in TV
Feb 17, 2020
I wanted to like this more than I did
I liked the idea of this series, returning to the family house after the death of the dad, a widow and her children enter a strange fantasy world where keys unlock a random selection of things, memories, doors to anywhere, shape changing and other things...
What is the mystery of what happened to the dad and his friends years previous, who are hiding secrets.
While I didn't like it as much as I thought I would have, as it lacked something (not quite sure what) to make it a must watch, I did enjoy it to some degree and I think it is a series that would improve once it's been around a while, enough for the characters to mean something to us as viewers as it did feel as if it was quite rushed in its storytelling. Spreading it over a full 24 episode series would probably have been an improvement...
What is the mystery of what happened to the dad and his friends years previous, who are hiding secrets.
While I didn't like it as much as I thought I would have, as it lacked something (not quite sure what) to make it a must watch, I did enjoy it to some degree and I think it is a series that would improve once it's been around a while, enough for the characters to mean something to us as viewers as it did feel as if it was quite rushed in its storytelling. Spreading it over a full 24 episode series would probably have been an improvement...
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Therapist in Books
Jul 29, 2021
An average locked neighborhood thriller
Alice and Leo have been in a long distance relationship for eighteen months when they finally move in together and buy a house in the The Circle, a development in the middle of London. It's a gated estate made up of twelves house designed to be especially safe and secure. But Alice soon discovers a horrible secret about her new home and becomes obsessed with Nina, the therapist who lived there before her. She starts trying to figure out what happened to Nina--at the expense of her relationship with Leo and her neighbors.
"It's only as I stand there, shrouded in perfect stillness that a thought slams into my head. I don't like this house."
This thriller was slow to start and was one of several locked neighborhood books I've read lately. I'm sort of over the trend of average folks up in everyone's business thinking they can solve murders. I didn't quite buy why Alice cared so much, even though there's supposed to be a "reason" for her attachment to Nina (she shares a name with Alice's late sister).
As with many of these types of thrillers, there's a cast full of mostly unlikable characters and a bunch of somewhat interchangeable neighbors. Alice forms an odd bond with a Private Investigator, Thomas, who is quickly added to the mix. She seems fast to accuse basically everyone she meets of nearly anything, so I suppose that added to the suspense/red herrings. The book does have a slightly ominous feel, though I think many of her problems would have been solved by simply changing the darn locks!
There are some good twists and the story held my interest once it picked up the pace. However, I'm afraid it will get lost in the swirl of recent locked neighborhood books and not stand out in a few months. 3 stars.
I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
"It's only as I stand there, shrouded in perfect stillness that a thought slams into my head. I don't like this house."
This thriller was slow to start and was one of several locked neighborhood books I've read lately. I'm sort of over the trend of average folks up in everyone's business thinking they can solve murders. I didn't quite buy why Alice cared so much, even though there's supposed to be a "reason" for her attachment to Nina (she shares a name with Alice's late sister).
As with many of these types of thrillers, there's a cast full of mostly unlikable characters and a bunch of somewhat interchangeable neighbors. Alice forms an odd bond with a Private Investigator, Thomas, who is quickly added to the mix. She seems fast to accuse basically everyone she meets of nearly anything, so I suppose that added to the suspense/red herrings. The book does have a slightly ominous feel, though I think many of her problems would have been solved by simply changing the darn locks!
There are some good twists and the story held my interest once it picked up the pace. However, I'm afraid it will get lost in the swirl of recent locked neighborhood books and not stand out in a few months. 3 stars.
I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
