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Accidental Knight
Book
Accidentally wed to a screaming hot stranger. I inherited a freaking husband. Grandpa's will was...
HEA Happily Ever After contemporary romance fiction adult
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated Paint Me a Crime in Books
Jul 24, 2023 (Updated Jul 24, 2023)
Grand Opening Murder
Jessamine Rhodes has worked hard to open a new community art center in Rose Shore, British Columbia, and is excited that opening day is here. She’s honored that artist Gabriella Everhart has agreed to show one of her paintings and teach a class on watercolors. But as the event is winding down, the lights go out briefly. When they come back on, someone has stolen the painting, and an art collector is dead. With her reputation and new business on the line, Jessamine tries to figure out what happened. Can she do it?
The book jumps right in with the opening, so it isn’t too long before the plot gets rolling. I was hooked the entire way through, thinking I had it figured out a couple of times only to be wrong when we reached the logical climax. The characters are also charming, and I loved spending time with them, although the suspects could have had a little more page time to be fully developed. The writing kept me a little outside the story at first until I adjusted, but it was a minor issue. One of Jessamine’s friends owns a tea shop, so there is lots of talk about food – enough to make me hungry while I read. This is a promising debut, and I’ll definitely be looking for more by this author.
The book jumps right in with the opening, so it isn’t too long before the plot gets rolling. I was hooked the entire way through, thinking I had it figured out a couple of times only to be wrong when we reached the logical climax. The characters are also charming, and I loved spending time with them, although the suspects could have had a little more page time to be fully developed. The writing kept me a little outside the story at first until I adjusted, but it was a minor issue. One of Jessamine’s friends owns a tea shop, so there is lots of talk about food – enough to make me hungry while I read. This is a promising debut, and I’ll definitely be looking for more by this author.
Merissa (13600 KP) rated The Book of Last Letters in Books
Mar 24, 2022 (Updated Jun 30, 2023)
THE BOOK OF LAST LETTERS is the first book by this author I have read, and it won't be the last!
Based on a true story, you get dual-timelines of Elsie in 1940/1 and Stephanie in the present time. Both sides of the story get me gripped! Fantastic characters also appeared in both times although one I disliked (as I was supposed to). In the past, the Golds were a great pair and I would love to know more of them. Nelly, ah, Nelly. You made my eyes leak! But so many of them deserve a mention because they were written so well. In the present time, you have Stevie's friends - Micah, I'm looking at you - but also those she cares for in the home. Oh my, but I loved them! Spreading rumours as they did had me laughing out loud.
An amazing story told of loyalty, friendship, and love in difficult times that kept me turning the pages and left me with a warm, fuzzy glow.
Absolutely 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!
Mar 23, 2022
Based on a true story, you get dual-timelines of Elsie in 1940/1 and Stephanie in the present time. Both sides of the story get me gripped! Fantastic characters also appeared in both times although one I disliked (as I was supposed to). In the past, the Golds were a great pair and I would love to know more of them. Nelly, ah, Nelly. You made my eyes leak! But so many of them deserve a mention because they were written so well. In the present time, you have Stevie's friends - Micah, I'm looking at you - but also those she cares for in the home. Oh my, but I loved them! Spreading rumours as they did had me laughing out loud.
An amazing story told of loyalty, friendship, and love in difficult times that kept me turning the pages and left me with a warm, fuzzy glow.
Absolutely 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!
Mar 23, 2022
A Magically Delicious Christmas
6.0
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Book
Thomas It’s been years since I divorced and became a single dad. We’ve adjusted, and I thought...
Contemporary MM Seasonal Romance
A(
Afterlife (Afterlife Saga, #1)
10.0
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Book
Afterlife… just some gothic nightclub where gossip is fuelled by the presence of a rich and...
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Grim Company in Books
Nov 14, 2019
The Grim Company aims to deliver a swords and sorcery tail in the epic mould while being gritty, grimy and dirty in detail. And to a very large extent it suceeds, managing to tell a tale of war between city states from the point of view of some of the characters cauught up in it.
One thing that is always hard to do when starting out on a new story is to get used to the characters. The author must balance the need to ensure that enough time is spent to flesh out each character as they are introduced without overwhelming the reader and Scull is adept at this, the first few chapters detailing some of the misadventures, goals and dreams of the main characters.
And what characters they are. Cole is a young hero with a magical blade, who's destiny is to free the city of Dorminia from the tyrant Salazar, while at the same time being a real catch for any pretty girls. Or so he sees himself. To everyone else he is vain, boastful and arrogant. Jerek is a barbarian who has the market cornered in foul language, pithy insults and scowling at everything. Also good is Barandas, head of the elite guard of the city who is just trying to do his job.
The obvious author to compare Scull to is Joe Abercrombie, and the comparison is a fair one although (in this book) Scull doesn't quite manage to create the depth and range in Abercrombie's characters and situations. So although they aren't really classic fantasy archetypes, they are still close and don't subvert them. What Scull does bring is a little less cynicism than Abercrombie. Here it is worth fighting for what you believe is right, and honour still has value. This gives it a rather refreshing feeling.
The book also has strength in being the first of a series so it doesn't have to be a stand alone story and can leave enough threads for the next book to pick up. This allows the end, after a frenetic climactic battle, to relax into telling the aftermath rather than spending too much time trying to tie up all the loose ends.
Overall a good book for the fantasy lover. Not as grim or dark as 'grimdark' but still with enough spit and sawdust to add an underbelly to the reliable fantasy concepts it should appeal to a wide audience.
Rated: Strong language, bloody violence and some sexual references throughout
One thing that is always hard to do when starting out on a new story is to get used to the characters. The author must balance the need to ensure that enough time is spent to flesh out each character as they are introduced without overwhelming the reader and Scull is adept at this, the first few chapters detailing some of the misadventures, goals and dreams of the main characters.
And what characters they are. Cole is a young hero with a magical blade, who's destiny is to free the city of Dorminia from the tyrant Salazar, while at the same time being a real catch for any pretty girls. Or so he sees himself. To everyone else he is vain, boastful and arrogant. Jerek is a barbarian who has the market cornered in foul language, pithy insults and scowling at everything. Also good is Barandas, head of the elite guard of the city who is just trying to do his job.
The obvious author to compare Scull to is Joe Abercrombie, and the comparison is a fair one although (in this book) Scull doesn't quite manage to create the depth and range in Abercrombie's characters and situations. So although they aren't really classic fantasy archetypes, they are still close and don't subvert them. What Scull does bring is a little less cynicism than Abercrombie. Here it is worth fighting for what you believe is right, and honour still has value. This gives it a rather refreshing feeling.
The book also has strength in being the first of a series so it doesn't have to be a stand alone story and can leave enough threads for the next book to pick up. This allows the end, after a frenetic climactic battle, to relax into telling the aftermath rather than spending too much time trying to tie up all the loose ends.
Overall a good book for the fantasy lover. Not as grim or dark as 'grimdark' but still with enough spit and sawdust to add an underbelly to the reliable fantasy concepts it should appeal to a wide audience.
Rated: Strong language, bloody violence and some sexual references throughout
The Alex Crow
Book
From the critically acclaimed author of cult teen novel Grasshopper Jungle, Andrew Smith, comes a...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated Death Waits in the Dark in Books
Apr 3, 2019
Don’t Wait in the Dark, Start Reading This Book
Summer has come to Blue Lake, Indiana, and with it the heat. Lena London and her mentor, bestselling author Camilla Graham, are trying to finish their latest manuscript, but the heat is making it hard to concentrate. However, a visit from Jane Wyland doesn’t prove to be a welcome distraction. Jane and Camilla were acquainted when Camilla first moved to the United States from England, but the two haven’t spoken in decades. Jane arrives to tell Camilla that she knows the secret the Graham family has been hiding, and Jane is going to share it with the world if Camilla doesn’t step up and acknowledge it first.
The trouble is, Camilla doesn’t know what secret Jane is talking about even when Jane implies that it is something from Camilla’s husband’s past. The next day, Camilla and Lena go to try to get more information from Jane so they can figure out what has the woman so upset. However, when they arrive, they discover that Jane has been murdered. What was this secret from the past, and did it get Jane killed?
As much as I enjoyed the first three books in this series, it was nice to see the plot move away from Lena’s boyfriend and focus on another character. This change also allowed the book to have even more of a gothic feel to it than the first three. While I’m not super familiar with that genre, I was definitely able to recognize elements of it as the book unfolded, and I enjoyed seeing how it was combined seamlessly with elements of a cozy mystery. The result works and we get a story that drew me in each time I picked up the book and made it hard to put down. The usual cast of characters are still here, and it was great to see them. The suspects didn’t get much page time, but they work perfectly for the story as it is told here since the main drive was to figure out what secret from the past upset Jane so much. This is a fun twist on the cozy mystery, and if you are looking for something slightly different, be sure to pick it up.
The trouble is, Camilla doesn’t know what secret Jane is talking about even when Jane implies that it is something from Camilla’s husband’s past. The next day, Camilla and Lena go to try to get more information from Jane so they can figure out what has the woman so upset. However, when they arrive, they discover that Jane has been murdered. What was this secret from the past, and did it get Jane killed?
As much as I enjoyed the first three books in this series, it was nice to see the plot move away from Lena’s boyfriend and focus on another character. This change also allowed the book to have even more of a gothic feel to it than the first three. While I’m not super familiar with that genre, I was definitely able to recognize elements of it as the book unfolded, and I enjoyed seeing how it was combined seamlessly with elements of a cozy mystery. The result works and we get a story that drew me in each time I picked up the book and made it hard to put down. The usual cast of characters are still here, and it was great to see them. The suspects didn’t get much page time, but they work perfectly for the story as it is told here since the main drive was to figure out what secret from the past upset Jane so much. This is a fun twist on the cozy mystery, and if you are looking for something slightly different, be sure to pick it up.
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
Book
Author and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin tackles the problems of twenty-first century information...
William Faulkner in Hollywood: Screenwriting for the Studios
R. Barton Palmer, Stefan Solomon and Matthew Bernstein
Book
During more than two decades (1932-1954), William Faulkner worked on approximately fifty screenplays...