
Granny Smith
Games and Entertainment
App
"Granny Smith feels like the climactic chase scene of a Wallace & Gromit cartoon" [slide to Play] ...

DHgate- Shop smart
Shopping and Business
App
The DHgate shopping app allows free access to the DHgate.com marketplace on the go – connecting...

The Children's Home
Book
For fans of Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl, and Edward Gorey, a beguiling and disarming...

Cat Got Your Crown
Book
Julie Chase is back with her fourth delightful Kitty Couture mystery, perfect for fans of Rita Mae...
Fiction Mystery Thriller

Rune's Folly (Tower of Shells #1)
Book
By day, Tansy McCoy is a florist making charmed bouquets for the citizens of Junonia, capital of the...
Adventure Young Adult Fantasy

The Island of Missing Trees
Book
It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a...
Historical Fiction Magical Realism Literary Fiction Cyprus Turkey London

Accidental Bonds (Elemental Bonds, #1)
Book
It was meant to be temporary. Fate had other ideas. Victor Mills would do anything to protect his...
MM Paranormal Romance Shifters Magic

Merissa (13159 KP) rated Crystal Shard (Paladins of Crystal. #1) in Books
Jul 26, 2022 (Updated Jul 26, 2023)
Of course, there's more to it than that. I am hoping there will be a book for each of the Paladins but this one was Anton's. Crystal feels attracted to all of them but Anton is the one she spends the most time with. The sparks fly but Anton can't act on his wants and needs, not if he wants his mother to live.
The world-building here is exceptional, just what I've come to expect from this author. The characters are multi-dimensional and, in Crystal's case, snarky and headstrong. This leads to some fantastic situations that you can see clearly.
This book ended way too soon for me. I feel it's going to be a series to read one after the other! Absolutely fantastic. I loved every word and can't wait to read more. Highly 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, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 20, 2022

D'Vaire or Nothing (D'Vaire #44)
Book
In these five previously unpublished short stories, the D’Vaires are invited to the newest dragon...
LGBTQ+ Fantasy Short Stories

tapestry100 (306 KP) rated The Girl with the Ghost Machine in Books
Aug 2, 2017
Emmaline Beaumont's mother has passed away. Unfortunately, Emmaline's father has become fixated with building a machine that will bring Emmaline's mother's ghost back, and in doing so, he himself has forgotten about the living in his obsession with the dead, so in many ways Emmaline has lost both of her parents. The only people she can confide in are twins Gully and Oliver, her best friends in school. Yet for of their understanding and patience, Gully and Oliver are unable to fully understand Emmaline's loss as they have never lost someone so close to them as Emmaline's mother was to her. Her father's machine, however, may actually work, and it is then that Emmaline must decide whether the cost of operating the machine is worth the price paid, and will the twins help her in her decision, regardless of what that decision is?
Lauren DeStefano has created a beautiful and poignant story that I feel would be an important book for anyone to read who has recently (or not so recently) lost someone very close to them. DeStefano has a keen ability to cut to the quick of the emotions of loss and what that can feel like, especially for someone too young to have have lost a loved one. Her characters are not cliché and their feelings are quite real, and the story she has created feels honest and important. That's the best way I can describe it. A fan of her YA series The Chemical Garden Trilogy and The Interment Chronicles, I have not yet read her other two middle grade books, The Curious Tale of the In-Between and The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart, and I think I'll be needing to rectify that soon.