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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Black Candle in Books
May 18, 2024
99 of 220
Book
The Black Candle
By Catherine Cookson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bridget Dean Mordaunt was a woman of consequence in her own part of the world. Inheriting her father's businesses at the age of nineteen, by the time she was twenty-three in 1880, she was running them as confidently as any man. Yet the path destiny required her to follow was not an easy one. Her feckless cousin Victoria became infatuated with Lionel Filmore, the fortune-hunting elder son of an old but impoverished family living in the decayed grandeur of Grove House. Bridget had no illusions about Lionel, but Victoria's happiness was paramount to her. So a pattern began to form that would shape the lives of generations to come, a pattern of some good and some great evil, but all of it inexorably linking Bridget ever more closely with the Filmores and their house.
Catherine Cooksons books always bring out the emotions a whole range and this one does it best from sympathy to anger with some tears thrown in. This is one of my favourites.
Book
The Black Candle
By Catherine Cookson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bridget Dean Mordaunt was a woman of consequence in her own part of the world. Inheriting her father's businesses at the age of nineteen, by the time she was twenty-three in 1880, she was running them as confidently as any man. Yet the path destiny required her to follow was not an easy one. Her feckless cousin Victoria became infatuated with Lionel Filmore, the fortune-hunting elder son of an old but impoverished family living in the decayed grandeur of Grove House. Bridget had no illusions about Lionel, but Victoria's happiness was paramount to her. So a pattern began to form that would shape the lives of generations to come, a pattern of some good and some great evil, but all of it inexorably linking Bridget ever more closely with the Filmores and their house.
Catherine Cooksons books always bring out the emotions a whole range and this one does it best from sympathy to anger with some tears thrown in. This is one of my favourites.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way in Books
Jul 15, 2024
Ten More Mysteries with the World’s Smartest Ten-Year-Old
What is Encyclopedia up to this time around? He helps his father prove who stole an electric drill. He helps a kid get his harmonica back from Bugs. When a girl wants to figure out who got her kicked off a baseball team, Encyclopedia Brown takes the case. He figures out who stole a rattlesnake rattle from a display at a museum. And he helps a friend who thinks he saw a ghost.
The ten stories in this book are fairly short, which makes them easy to breeze through. I still find I rarely solve the case before Encyclopedia does, but that’s okay. I have fun with them. There isn’t time for much in the way of twists here, and the characters are fairly thin. I don’t think kids will mind either one. What they might find off putting is the dated elements of the books. Like, what’s an encyclopedia? Still, if they are willing to pick it up, they’ll find these stories fun.
The ten stories in this book are fairly short, which makes them easy to breeze through. I still find I rarely solve the case before Encyclopedia does, but that’s okay. I have fun with them. There isn’t time for much in the way of twists here, and the characters are fairly thin. I don’t think kids will mind either one. What they might find off putting is the dated elements of the books. Like, what’s an encyclopedia? Still, if they are willing to pick it up, they’ll find these stories fun.
Humbug: Scrooge Before the Ghosts
8.0
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Book
A Christmas Carol shows us one terrible day in Ebenezer Scrooge’s life, but have you ever wondered...
Historical MM Forbidden Love
Billie Wichkan (118 KP) rated Pray for the Girl in Books
May 22, 2019
Lucy Abbott never pictured herself coming back to Fawn Grove, Maine. Yet after serving time in Afghanistan, then years spent as a sous chef in New York, she's realized her only hope of moving on from the past involves facing it again. But Fawn Grove, like Lucy herself, has changed.
Lucy's sister, Wendy, is eager to help her adapt, almost stifling her with concern. At the local diner, Lucy is an exotic curiosity--much like the refugees who've arrived in recent years. When a fifteen-year-old Muslim girl is found murdered along the banks of the river, difficult memories of Lucy's time overseas come flooding back and she feels an automatic connection. At first glance, the tragedy looks like an honor killing. But the more Lucy learns about her old hometown, the less certain that seems.
There is menace and hostility here, clothed in neighborly smiles and a veneer of comfort. And when another teen is found dead in a cornfield, his throat slit, Lucy--who knows something about hiding secrets--must confront a truth more brutal than she could have imagined, in the last place she expected it . . .
Lucy is trying to heal from her past, so coming home is supposed to help with that.
I love the authors' description of the characters and town.
Very well developed plot with many layers to this novel.
The twist in part 2 was just a big WOW!
The ending I did not see coming at all.
Really enjoyed reading and have no trouble saying highly recommend!!
Thank you Net Galley, Kensington Books, and Joseph Souza for sending above book for review.
Lucy's sister, Wendy, is eager to help her adapt, almost stifling her with concern. At the local diner, Lucy is an exotic curiosity--much like the refugees who've arrived in recent years. When a fifteen-year-old Muslim girl is found murdered along the banks of the river, difficult memories of Lucy's time overseas come flooding back and she feels an automatic connection. At first glance, the tragedy looks like an honor killing. But the more Lucy learns about her old hometown, the less certain that seems.
There is menace and hostility here, clothed in neighborly smiles and a veneer of comfort. And when another teen is found dead in a cornfield, his throat slit, Lucy--who knows something about hiding secrets--must confront a truth more brutal than she could have imagined, in the last place she expected it . . .
Lucy is trying to heal from her past, so coming home is supposed to help with that.
I love the authors' description of the characters and town.
Very well developed plot with many layers to this novel.
The twist in part 2 was just a big WOW!
The ending I did not see coming at all.
Really enjoyed reading and have no trouble saying highly recommend!!
Thank you Net Galley, Kensington Books, and Joseph Souza for sending above book for review.
Merissa (13169 KP) rated Sixteen (The Dreamwalker Diaries #2) in Books
Dec 17, 2018
Sixteen continues approximately six months after Fifteen finished. Ashling is on community service for trying to buy sleeping pills, Tate and Nadette are still missing, and Ashling is still without her mum. She decides that if she can just find Dr Dietz, she will find a way to dreamwalk again, so that she can save her mum from dying. She finds Dr Dietz, plus a whole more than she ever imagined. She does manage to dreamwalk again, but to a different time and place than she wanted. Walker Smith is still a horrible character, he still treats Skylar as not being worthy of him (for reasons she still doesn't know about).
Numerous twists and turns keep this story interesting. With new characters, old favourites, and old ones who become new, there is something here for everyone. I love that we meet Coop in this one and, although I understand the reasoning behind it, I'm not too happy with the hinting of a love triangle between Coop, Caleb, and Ash. That's just me, I don't like triangles, never have, and probably never will. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will work out, and now I just have to wait as patiently as possible for the next book to come out.
Extremely well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow, Sixteen continues to impress with the fresh ideas and circumstances detailed within its pages. Definitely recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Numerous twists and turns keep this story interesting. With new characters, old favourites, and old ones who become new, there is something here for everyone. I love that we meet Coop in this one and, although I understand the reasoning behind it, I'm not too happy with the hinting of a love triangle between Coop, Caleb, and Ash. That's just me, I don't like triangles, never have, and probably never will. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will work out, and now I just have to wait as patiently as possible for the next book to come out.
Extremely well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow, Sixteen continues to impress with the fresh ideas and circumstances detailed within its pages. Definitely recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
American Kingpin: Catching the Billion-Dollar Baron of the Dark Web
Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar...
crime biography
GW
Gardening with Conifers
Michael A. Dirr, Adrian Bloom and Richard Bloom
Book
A revised and expanded edition of this highly acclaimed reference. Among the changes is the addition...
Merissa (13169 KP) rated Hunted (Werewolf Academy #2) in Books
May 15, 2020
Hunted is the second book in the Werewolf Academy series and follows on from Strays. Alex and Cassie are still being hunted but it seems Alex remains the number one target. Alex is doing all he can to protect Cassie and live up to being Jet's brother. It all becomes too much for a fifteen-year-old boy to cope with though and he starts down the path of self-destruction. Luckily for him, Jaze is there before he explodes and helps to channel some of the anger into different avenues.
Second book into the series and I'm already wanting the next. Alex is a complex character with good parts and bad. His reaction to Boris and Kalia's house (and I use the word deliberately as it was not a home,) was funny and I loved how he refused to speak down to the servants. I want Amos back though!!! It's not right, him being with a different Pack. He belongs with Jericho and Alex.
There are some errors in here but, to be honest, I paid them no attention as they do not detract from the story at all. My stars are for the story and how it gripped me. The minute I started reading, I was hooked. I love the characters, new and old. The story continues to fascinate and lead you onto the next book.
No 'second book slump' here and definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
Second book into the series and I'm already wanting the next. Alex is a complex character with good parts and bad. His reaction to Boris and Kalia's house (and I use the word deliberately as it was not a home,) was funny and I loved how he refused to speak down to the servants. I want Amos back though!!! It's not right, him being with a different Pack. He belongs with Jericho and Alex.
There are some errors in here but, to be honest, I paid them no attention as they do not detract from the story at all. My stars are for the story and how it gripped me. The minute I started reading, I was hooked. I love the characters, new and old. The story continues to fascinate and lead you onto the next book.
No 'second book slump' here and definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
Between Two Worlds
6.0
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From Tyler Henry, a twenty-year-old clairvoyant and star of E!’s hit reality series Hollywood...
Biography Spirituality