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Teenagers - Haynes Explains
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The Haynes Manual is one of publishing's most famous and enduring icons. More than 200 million...
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Flora Britannica: The Definitive New Guide to Britain's Wild Flowers, Plants and Trees
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Flora Britannica covers the native and naturalised plants of England, Scotland and Wales, and, while...
Rainforest Cowboys: The Rise of Ranching and Cattle Culture in Western Amazonia
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Winner, Brazil Section Book Award, Latin American Studies Association, 2016 The opening of the...
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The Lost Order
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The Knights of the Golden Circle was the largest and most dangerous clandestine organization in...
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And the Monkey Learned Nothing: Dispatches from a Life in Transit
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Tom Lutz is on a mission to visit every country on earth. And the Monkey Learned Nothing contains...
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Listening to the Animals - becoming the Supervet
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Growing up on the family farm in Ballyfin, Ireland, Noel's childhood was spent tending to the cattle...
Autobiography biography
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horse/man
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What happens when your entire identity revolves around a way of life that is becoming obsolete? ...
Literary Fiction
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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Muse in Books
Jan 30, 2022
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The Muse
By Jessie Burton
⭐️⭐️
Seductive, exhilarating and suspenseful, The Muse is an unforgettable novel about aspiration and identity, love and obsession, authenticity and deception – a masterpiece from Jessie Burton, the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist.
A picture hides a thousand words . . .
On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery – no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.
The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .
Oh it started so well and I was enjoying it but I just got so bored. I really wanted to enjoy this book but I couldn’t find anything to keep me hooked in! The characters were wushu washy and the story lost it appeal. Such a shame!
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Acanthea Grimscythe (300 KP) rated Becoming in Books
May 15, 2018
As I’ve said before: I don’t make a habit of researching writers before I read their work. In a way, it can be a spoiler as to their style or mannerisms. That said, either Rolfe has done a lot of research or he knows what small town life is like, because Avalon most definitely mimics the intricacies of rural life. Reading Becoming felt very much like being in my hometown. For that, I applaud Rolfe.
Normally I summarize the plot of the book. This time I’ll skip that for the sake of length since it can be read in the synopsis above regardless of whether this is posted on my site, Goodreads, or Amazon. It should be noted that there is no pause in the story for a breather; Rolfe forges onward without a single breather in his story, filling each page with non-stop action. This makes for a great read and a welcome relief from the tedium of many stories.
The downside to this is that some characters are only half finished. For instance, Crowley and the Lady of the Lake have sinister origins. We know they are baddies and the reason for what goes wrong, but we don’t really get any answers. We don’t know why Clint ends up sick and doesn’t function like he should or why a journal somehow ended up in his house or how Avalon came to be, just that it is.
Overall, Becoming is a pretty solid story if you don’t ask too many questions. There are a few typos that made it past final editing as well (I read the Kindle Unlimited versión instead of the ARC sent to me by the author since the file was lost due to technical difficulties).