Midwinter Mysteries
Linda Stratmann, Cora Harrison, David Field, Graham Brack, Marilyn Todd, J. C. Briggs, Keith Moray, Seàn Gibbons, Gaynor Torrance and Kim Fleet
5.5
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Eleven authors. Eleven stories. One festive collection! Perfect for fans of crime fiction, short...
The Swallows
7.0
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A new teacher at a New England prep school ignites a gender war--with deadly consequences. What...
Praying For Sleep
6.0
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On a savage, storm-lashed night, Michael Hrubek — a dangerously paranoid schizophrenic — escapes...
Why the Ramones Matter
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via Edelweiss "Hey Ho, Let’s Go! A musical, cultural, historical argument for the centrality of...
Music criticism music history punk rock punk
Little Dorrit
10.0
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A novel of serendipity, of fortunes won and lost, and of the spectre of imprisonment that hangs over...
The Orchard Inn (Orchard Inn Romance #1)
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She’s hiding from her past. He’s looking for his future. Will they take a chance on a love...
romance contemporary The Orchard Inn series A.M. Kusi fiction
The Sin Eater
8.0
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Can you uncover the truth when you’re forbidden from speaking it? A Sin Eater’s duty is a...
Historical Fiction
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic in Books
Feb 13, 2022
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Magic Lessons (practical Magic book 1 )
By Alice Hoffman
In this “ bewitching” (The New York Times Book Review) novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.
Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Nameless Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.
Magic Lessons is a “heartbreaking and heart-healing” (BookPage) celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman’s masterful storytelling.
It was ok. I struggled to keep my focus in some parts as it didn’t seem necessary but I ploughed through. Hopefully I’ll enjoy Practical magic more as I loved the film.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2357 KP) rated Murder on the Home Front in Books
May 4, 2023
It was great to be back in summer 1940 with Billie and Peter. While most of the book is written from Billie’s third person point of view, we get some scenes from Peter’s, and they help flesh out the characters and plot wonderfully. I was hooked the entire way through the story, although I did wonder where it was going a bit at first. Once the body turned up, things were full speed ahead until we reached the end. There is a strong sub-plot that is unfortunately too real and should not have been acceptable then or now. I appreciated how it was handled. The overall mystery is something that could only be told in England during World War II, and it helped bring details of that time in history to life for me. If you enjoy historical mysteries, you need to pick it up.