tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47355241032082882552024-02-19T11:54:20.805-05:00Constantly Moving the BookmarkAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.comBlogger345125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-56810293526606948832017-06-09T18:16:00.002-04:002017-06-09T18:16:16.549-04:00The Inner Life of Cats - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
Subtitled “the science and secrets of our mysterious feline companions” this book should be a must read for every self-proclaimed cat-person.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>THE INNER LIFE OF CATS</b></span> by Thomas McNamee</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PocYc2weve-4k9SZGy2TU8e7N0qOf7SL3paUvxAuYbyXQ6KkZR3AD2B_zE9fx-dxRHnl2cezf9pNsM8UMzZFW3SKliBD21aTId_V-0cH9u29g1av9TPZNA1uj0PIv5AGH_0odFTqPPo/s1600/INNER+LIFE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PocYc2weve-4k9SZGy2TU8e7N0qOf7SL3paUvxAuYbyXQ6KkZR3AD2B_zE9fx-dxRHnl2cezf9pNsM8UMzZFW3SKliBD21aTId_V-0cH9u29g1av9TPZNA1uj0PIv5AGH_0odFTqPPo/s320/INNER+LIFE.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On a freezing cold and snowy night in Montana Mr. McNamee notices some tracks in the snow of the laneway leading to his barn. Investigating some mewling he discovered a very small, very cold and hungry looking black kitten. Realizing that this little bundle of fur was too young to be out on her own – probably too young to even be away from her mama – he bundles her up and takes her into the house. Named Augusta, because Mr. McNamee and his wife counted back and thought she was probably born in August, this was the start of a 15-year loving relationship.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book follows Augusta through the stages of her life with the McNamees and as he describes each milestone Augusta passes Mr. McNamee also shares his meticulous research about cats pertaining to the same subject matter. Mr. McNamee wanted to be a better cat owner and to understand Augusta as best he could and he shares everything he learned with his readers. He wrote about his own relationship with Augusta so touchingly that I had to close the book for a little while when he was describing when the time came to let Augusta “go”. The author also discusses many other topics such as the feral cat communities around the world and the timely (and touchy) subject of the impact of both feral and outdoor “house” cats on wildlife.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. McNamee has definitely done his homework to write this book. In my current business venture in <a href="http://www%2Cstayathomekitty.com/" target="_blank">cat-sitting</a> I have been asked many questions by clients, some – as a life long cat owner I had answers to, others I had to call my vet-tech daughter to answer. I have made it a mission to become more informed about the “science” of cats and this book fit the bill. There were things in this book that I had not read in any of the other “cat” books I have explored.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to have a better understanding of the enigma that is the cat, this is one of the better books to start that journey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The Inner Life of Cats” surpassed the reasons I had to read it and was at the same time an easy and entertaining read. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from his <a href="http://www.thomasmcnamee.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0ZeIlg5kzPwonRUdUDyv_-AgZDVvKGt8YDX56QFENk0Jon6ONkDZgKIyIXsz1m6KD35wmmhqbObNcTdsqVKLfzHeNoAeZDHNxqCWRBvrrfj3ZQ8MBdM30naF5GFezvIMlZlQVhZkbmA/s1600/INNER+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1370" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0ZeIlg5kzPwonRUdUDyv_-AgZDVvKGt8YDX56QFENk0Jon6ONkDZgKIyIXsz1m6KD35wmmhqbObNcTdsqVKLfzHeNoAeZDHNxqCWRBvrrfj3ZQ8MBdM30naF5GFezvIMlZlQVhZkbmA/s200/INNER+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thomas McNamee was born in Memphis and grew up there and in New York City. At Yale he was a Scholar of the House in Poetry under the tutelage of Robert Penn Warren. In his early career he produced the double LP Music to Eat by the Hampton Grease Band, said to be the lowest-selling album in Columbia Records history but now considered a classic. He then wrote the book and lyrics of a musical play, Sirens, under the guidance of Leonard Bernstein, but it never made it to the stage. His poems, essays, and book reviews have been published widely.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He served as a board member and as chairman of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He has also served as a board member of Rare Conservation and the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. After two decades in New York, he lived on a cattle ranch in Montana for eight years. He now lives in San Francisco.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2016, in support of The Inner Life of Cats, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-10839063170528670002017-06-07T22:04:00.003-04:002017-06-07T22:04:46.927-04:00Orphan Island - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
When the bell rings it signals “the changing”. One child arrives at the island and the eldest leaves. It’s always been the way …</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>“Nine on on island, orphans all,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>any more ...</i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>the sky might fall"</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ORPHAN ISLAND</b></span> by Laurel Snyder</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfovde2_-sVzfFagjywfM-SHKqJPXbJC2BPiL4DBZZiwqfXO625twJga8M6A-mVtW00q0f8kH8ObuyPgv86h0Rj9ZWDSk7f7iVTeGLp1BtLUBt9XdpNkUHlKn88yKMsRcNetBpbhSOSA/s1600/ORPHAN+ISLAND+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="229" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfovde2_-sVzfFagjywfM-SHKqJPXbJC2BPiL4DBZZiwqfXO625twJga8M6A-mVtW00q0f8kH8ObuyPgv86h0Rj9ZWDSk7f7iVTeGLp1BtLUBt9XdpNkUHlKn88yKMsRcNetBpbhSOSA/s320/ORPHAN+ISLAND+1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The children on the island do not know why they are there or why they must leave when their time comes. That’s just the way things have always been. The green boat arrives with a young child and the eldest must leave, always a boy for a boy and a girl for a girl. Then the next eldest moves up to take care of the new arrival, teaching them the ways of the island and how to be as self sufficient as possible until it is their time to leave. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The island is an idyllic place to live; nothing there would ever hurt you – even the wind would not let you fall off a cliff, the snakes do not bite, the bees do not sting and the fishing net is always full. Really, the only thing to remember is not to take the last of anything. If you pick the last fruit then no more will grow. It’s the way of things on the island, the rule to follow – like the changing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what would happen if one of the children decided not to leave? Would the sky really fall? Jinny didn’t think so and she knew that she was not ready to leave the island for the unknown fate the green boat represented, not even if it meant being reunited with Deen, who left the year before.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was an enchanting and captivating story that had me turning the pages until I got to the end. I don’t have too many one-day reads these days and this was such a lovely book to read on a quiet, overcast afternoon (and I have to confess to a bit of cover love as well). Ms. Snyder captures the voices of various children on the island with perfection, ranging in age from (I’m guessing) three to just pre-pubescent, that in itself is admirable. I had fun trying to figure out some of the terms the children has come up to name common objects. Just what are “poms” and “sweet snaps” exactly? I did manage to figure out “ersters” and “ink fish”! She also gave me a totally believable community of children living in isolation on their own mysterious island.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a YA novel and possibly because of my jaded and decidedly not YA mindset I kept looking for a lesson in the pages of this book. I am sure there is a wise lesson in there somewhere, I just couldn’t put my finger on it because I was so busy enjoying the story … I think I didn’t want to look too deeply.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I came to the end the story felt somehow finished and not at the same time. It wasn’t a cliffhanger but there was so much more I wanted to know. What happened to Jinny in particular and on the island in general? Who was Abby? What’s the deal with the green boat? I am hoping there will be a sequel – or better yet, a prequel, but if not – a little mystery in life is a good thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Loved this one so definitely 5 stars.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from her <a href="http://www.larelsnyder.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_oYv8Oh-QG86qVEWZkYUqhdMZHtPyXt8BMhiiKOWgl-g76Avtj-ODdS6aknD0I2z7s0R1qbIfOd7mQ8t4kjqroDgnnRkFfv48iBiePFqyykpNg9AWIriEY6eLdj_GY6dbGh8xe_ZYGKI/s1600/ORPHAN+ISLAND+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1144" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_oYv8Oh-QG86qVEWZkYUqhdMZHtPyXt8BMhiiKOWgl-g76Avtj-ODdS6aknD0I2z7s0R1qbIfOd7mQ8t4kjqroDgnnRkFfv48iBiePFqyykpNg9AWIriEY6eLdj_GY6dbGh8xe_ZYGKI/s320/ORPHAN+ISLAND+2.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurel Snyder is the author of six novels for children, “Orphan Island,” “Bigger than a Bread Box,” “Penny Dreadful,” “Any Which Wall,” “Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains OR The Search for a Suitable Princess,” and “Seven Stories Up.” She has also written many picture books, including “Charlie and Mouse,” “The Forever Garden,” “Swan, the Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova,” “Inside the Slidy Diner,” Good night, laila tov,” “Nosh, Schlep, Schluff,” “The Longest Night,” “Camp Wonderful Wild,” and “Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to her books for children, Laurel has written two books of poems, “Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse” (Burnside Review Press, 2005) and “The Myth of the Simple Machines” (No Tell Books, 2007). She also edited an anthology of nonfiction, “Half/Life: Jew-ish tales from Interfaith Homes” (Soft Skull Press, 2006) A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Michener-Engle Fellow, Laurel has published work in the Utne Reader, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Revealer, Salon, The Iowa Review, American Letters and Commentary, and elsewhere. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She is an occasional commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered, and she teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University, but most of all, she is a mom.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-75345009381470014942017-06-07T18:15:00.002-04:002017-06-07T18:15:47.113-04:00Books on Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeBZ2EqKLawT-lq00mgYmcXdapVQydpubTnLvxqljjhHA32ckhQQzWVIjLNWo-pVl9uAto9vV7jWqHac6uTUH53LkJYFTszP_TjhIJDiSdPfhbu2_QGBdVXea-BzALnzwFpYzpyRHunT8/s1600/BOOKS+ON+BOOKS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="93" data-original-width="400" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeBZ2EqKLawT-lq00mgYmcXdapVQydpubTnLvxqljjhHA32ckhQQzWVIjLNWo-pVl9uAto9vV7jWqHac6uTUH53LkJYFTszP_TjhIJDiSdPfhbu2_QGBdVXea-BzALnzwFpYzpyRHunT8/s400/BOOKS+ON+BOOKS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Back at the fire circle, Jinny opened the book, cradling its worn spine in one hand as she turned the soft, crumbling pages with the other. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All the kids knew to be careful with the books.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They were swollen, faded, eaten by the salt air and the grit of sand, not to mention so many grubby, grabbing fingers.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When a book died, there was nothing to be done about it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The kids could only bury it in the sandy earth beyond the book cabin door and try to remember the story.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They marked these little graves with the biggest shells they could find.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It made a funny sort of garden.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #660000;"><br />
</span></span> <br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #660000;">Orphan Island</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #660000;">by Laurel Snyder</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Loved, loved, loved this book so review to follow later this evening.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskyxQeTd66YRODwggQuMvOoOjLbVV7dHOXvZ7oiYGVZ9ka_VKXB9WX3BC0OFjs3f7SJKuW1RUOuTyNKbfV3smD_10_GnjdQlRrJLne_V2QznMfH1RziBpMs04dZofd_9viWfG7RM59Kw/s1600/ORPHAN+ISLAND+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="229" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgskyxQeTd66YRODwggQuMvOoOjLbVV7dHOXvZ7oiYGVZ9ka_VKXB9WX3BC0OFjs3f7SJKuW1RUOuTyNKbfV3smD_10_GnjdQlRrJLne_V2QznMfH1RziBpMs04dZofd_9viWfG7RM59Kw/s200/ORPHAN+ISLAND+1.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-9977886706008250362017-06-07T16:53:00.002-04:002017-06-07T16:53:49.745-04:00Emma in the Night - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
One night, after an argument about a cheap necklace, two sisters disappear – three years later one returned.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>EMMA IN THE NIGHT</b></span> by Wendy Walker</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrHUat25RvZHUgMDiKXXN2iXpAUgrpdwpCBVqV0nJCQMp-rqz6ZpXDC5U7EAY3lgAT86ehx6qYcep8LAIrGCn-jo0OLv3FAQmZ0eKw8llIWmFdnDIbuNWPOrnV54zDvomNJ55gGdmarY/s1600/EMMA+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrHUat25RvZHUgMDiKXXN2iXpAUgrpdwpCBVqV0nJCQMp-rqz6ZpXDC5U7EAY3lgAT86ehx6qYcep8LAIrGCn-jo0OLv3FAQmZ0eKw8llIWmFdnDIbuNWPOrnV54zDvomNJ55gGdmarY/s320/EMMA+1.png" width="208" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cassandra and Emma never had things easy growing up with a mother who displayed classic signs of narcissism. One day they were loved and the next could be frightening in the neglect they suffered. They soon learned how to keep their mother happy but in turn she learned how to play them against each other. Then both girls disappeared on the same night. Emma’s car and shoes were found on the sand by the ocean, but no signs of Cass could be found and nothing was missing from her room. Could the girls have disappeared together or were they the victims of two random, but coincidental abductions?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The FBI psychologist assigned to the original case suspected something else was at play but trying to convince others almost caused her to lose her job. When Cass returned demanding action to find her sister, Dr Winter saw her second chance to set things right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was a twisty-turny tale of a severely dysfunctional family. It was obvious from the time that Cass returned that things were not as they seemed. As I read more and more of the story I developed plausible outcomes … and then changed my mind again and again. Despite my multiple guesses I still got the ending wrong but that’s a sign of a good psychological thriller, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While I enjoyed this book there were times I felt it could have moved along at a slightly quicker pace; the story is told from multiple points of view so some of it was repetitive. When I got to the end I couldn’t get past the feeling of <i>“well that could have all been prevented with one phone call”</i>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emma in the Night releases on August 29<sup>th</sup>, 2017 and while I certainly would not hesitate to recommend this book to friends, I cannot quite rate it among the top books I’ve read in this genre.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "symbol";">* </span>I’d like to thank the publisher, St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley for my copy of the book, sent in exchange for an honest review. *</i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from her <a href="http://www.wendywalkerbooks.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBs1s3yhuER5mdtxdS9YTIIjz6W-XkHYwNQ3_gdQzeTc2F8rcDRntxm3gixDtumUPqIrrJezUCNc-gw3-TdiPr1eUeaq1_DxQxqyhesI4X8OKLfHbIljNoJ1bYRwvoCZH_EcECDcn0JSo/s1600/EMMA+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBs1s3yhuER5mdtxdS9YTIIjz6W-XkHYwNQ3_gdQzeTc2F8rcDRntxm3gixDtumUPqIrrJezUCNc-gw3-TdiPr1eUeaq1_DxQxqyhesI4X8OKLfHbIljNoJ1bYRwvoCZH_EcECDcn0JSo/s320/EMMA+2.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wendy Walker is a former family law attorney in Fairfield County, Connecticut who began writing while at home raising her three sons. She published two novels with St. Martin’s Press and edited multiple compilations for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series before writing her debut psychological thriller, All is Not Forgotten. Her second thriller, Emma In The Night, will be released August 8, 2017.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wendy earned her J. D., magna cum laude, at the Georgetown University Law Center where she was awarded the American Jurisprudence award for her performance in Contracts and Advanced Criminal Procedure. She received her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University and attended The London School of Economics and Political Science as part of her undergraduate studies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Prior to her legal career, Wendy was a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., in the mergers and acquisitions group. She has also volunteered at the ACLU, Connecticut Legal Services and Figure Skating in Harlem where she served on the Board of Directors for over twelve years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wendy is currently writing her third thriller while managing a busy household.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-60812299853552125562017-05-31T17:34:00.000-04:002017-05-31T17:43:22.117-04:00The Only Child - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
The story of Frankenstein’s monster has captured the imagination of readers of almost two centuries, not only because of the story itself but also it’s back story. It has also been retold in many forms. With this one Mr. Pyper hits it out of the park.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>THE ONLY CHILD</b></span> by Andrew Pyper</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3FUrnLqTthLNo1p5JDcocNyjtRP5IBtFWcsdRc3ljrS2DA4QFdOpsoEFAbC5FiYDZr8T48NVLIWOXacWd4pIx_tQVf6FJ-dGLUL5a548xDrd_MX2Oat5qLyXpS3-OldUlw0_8tvPnhc/s1600/The+Only+Child.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3FUrnLqTthLNo1p5JDcocNyjtRP5IBtFWcsdRc3ljrS2DA4QFdOpsoEFAbC5FiYDZr8T48NVLIWOXacWd4pIx_tQVf6FJ-dGLUL5a548xDrd_MX2Oat5qLyXpS3-OldUlw0_8tvPnhc/s320/The+Only+Child.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lily Dominick was six years old when, as she looked on, her mother was brutally murdered. The trauma caused her recollections to be hazy … she recalled only a monster knocking on the door to kill her mother and her six year old self being rescued by a white creature. The incident still haunts her dreams and may well have led to her career choice as an adult where she is Dr. Dominick working as a psychiatrist with the worst of the worst criminals in New York’s Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Centre. At work it sometimes seems to her she can read the mind of the incarcerated. One morning she walks in to interview a man known only as <span style="background: white; color: #111111;">Client 46874-A and claiming to be 200 years old. For Lily he is an enigma; she can’t get a read on him and she feels as if he is looking into her mind instead of the other way around. Then he throws Lily totally off balance when he claims to have known her mother and what happened to her so many years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;">The next day Lily awakens to the news that Client 46874-A has escaped. Driven by clues he leaves for her and the need to discover if he can truly help her solve the riddle of what happened on the night her mother died Lily sets out to find him and hopefully the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;">Mr. Pyper takes his reader along on Lily’s quest as she travels across Europe picking up more and more information about not only “Michael”, as she named the mystery man, but about herself as well. And for Lily the truth does indeed turn out to be stranger than fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;">“The Only Child” is a well-written page-turner. I would expect nothing less from Mr. Pyper. This book is not only a psychological thriller with it’s share of the paranormal but is extremely entertaining in it’s explanations of the basis of not only “Frankenstein” but also “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Dracula”. Within the context of the story it had me nodding my head and thinking “Oh yeah … makes sense”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;">As I read closer and closer to the end I began to formulate my own theory about Lily and Michael so I was quite pleased to discover that I was at least half right. Despite that, the reveal caught me by surprise. I had hoped for a different outcome but the ending suited the story. Not wanting to have to include a “spoiler alert” I do want to mention that there was one scene at the end of the book which wrapped up the story so extremely well that I still pause to think about it a few days after I’ve closed the cover – so well done Mr. Pyper.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;"><br />
</span> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background: white; color: #111111;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><i>* I’d like to thank the publisher, Simon and Shuster, and Netgalley for providing me with the book at no charge in exchange for an honest review.*</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span><span style="color: #111111;"> (from his </span><a href="http://www.andrewpyper.com/biography/" style="color: #111111;" target="_blank">website</a><span style="color: #111111;">) </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhsxfVfV5DmWIb0wtiDZZEL_EONbioInXHmIl12cCOzXlHaF8fzcynqokCK_OsI1iU1ozmh3ZCkTUkJqhgC6zF7GXLOy8e8QmJSrkFr3TMrcGzJWUBknUCth02IawTlIpok3RA42R1e4/s1600/Andrew+Pyper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhsxfVfV5DmWIb0wtiDZZEL_EONbioInXHmIl12cCOzXlHaF8fzcynqokCK_OsI1iU1ozmh3ZCkTUkJqhgC6zF7GXLOy8e8QmJSrkFr3TMrcGzJWUBknUCth02IawTlIpok3RA42R1e4/s200/Andrew+Pyper.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1968. He received a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, as well as a law degree from the University of Toronto. Although called to the bar in 1996, he has never practiced.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andrew’s creative writing teaching experience includes terms at Trent University, the University of Toronto, and, currently, Colorado College. Last year he won the Grant Allen Award for contributions to Canadian crime and mystery literature.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
He lives in Toronto.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-88552815155607592952017-05-27T14:23:00.004-04:002017-05-27T14:23:55.026-04:00He Said, She Said - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
This is one of those books that sort of meanders along as story good enough to keep you reading … until page 300 … when you get an OMG moment that changes the pace of the whole thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>HE SAID, SHE SAID</b></span> </span>by Erin Kelly</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAMygwYRf4FeJ67LX-rumvG4aSo8yS56axhgJmwkvcBJju1_VUvtxt0KHJkMmdls0TFXT_mxlBHOTnQ9Zel5RUrwoidCuM7ttCnwQHhhcp2LgeZCFQpHdL9_VRziv8AoMTjUC1jNhT50/s1600/He+said.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAMygwYRf4FeJ67LX-rumvG4aSo8yS56axhgJmwkvcBJju1_VUvtxt0KHJkMmdls0TFXT_mxlBHOTnQ9Zel5RUrwoidCuM7ttCnwQHhhcp2LgeZCFQpHdL9_VRziv8AoMTjUC1jNhT50/s320/He+said.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kit has been an eclipse chaser since he was a child and it’s a hobby that he carried into his adult life and his girlfriend, Laura as well as sometimes their friends followed along more to keep him company than because they were also eclipse chasers. While attending a rather disappointing eclipse festival (the weather being such a big factor) Laura and Kit are walking back to their tent after the non-event when Laura happens upon a rape in progress. Of course, they report the crime and Laura feels a strong connection with the victim. She and Kit go through the whole trial process ensuring that the rapist, despite his protests of “misunderstanding”, ends up in jail. But that is hardly the end of the whole situation when the victim shows up at their doorstep and Laura begins a tentative friendship with her, much to Kit’s disapproval.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fifteen years later Kit and Laura are married, she is heavily pregnant with twins and they are living under an assumed name. No good deed goes unpunished!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s all I can really say about this book without giving away the aforementioned, brilliant, page 300, twist. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I enjoyed Ms. Kelly’s writing and the way she was able to pull me into the story but truthfully this would have been a 3-star read until I came to “the twist”. It caught me completely by surprise and I raced through the rest of the book to learn how things would play out and the last quarter of the book was certainly a page-turner. However, I can’t quite bring myself to give it 5-stars because it started off a little slow, because of the flashback sequences it was at times a little repetitive and the ending left me feeling a little … well … unsatisfied.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So 4-stars for this one. It’s still a good read that I would recommend and I will definitely pick up something else by Ms. Kelly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from her <a href="http://erinkelly.co.uk/" target="_blank">website</a>) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDo_P79bCgK76bHmaLX6gd56riLjcq-ifun1kHZ-_hbVZucRlerCLD4D9vr2i9-L2s30jhW_px4tbIwRYfzsTJhBuPFz7mRJAB6c6w5HphrsVj2Z_aZgFUItehPgSBMfNvsJ1Rnjk5qHw/s1600/He+Said+Erin+Kelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="468" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDo_P79bCgK76bHmaLX6gd56riLjcq-ifun1kHZ-_hbVZucRlerCLD4D9vr2i9-L2s30jhW_px4tbIwRYfzsTJhBuPFz7mRJAB6c6w5HphrsVj2Z_aZgFUItehPgSBMfNvsJ1Rnjk5qHw/s200/He+Said+Erin+Kelly.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex. I read English at Warwick University and began working as a journalist in 1998.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My first novel The Poison Tree became a major ITV drama and a Richard & Judy bestseller, and was longlisted for the 2011 CWA John Creasy Award. The Sick Rose, The Burning Air and The Ties That Bind were all published to critical acclaim and my books have been translated into 19 languages. In 2014, I wrote the novelisation of the BAFTA-winning Broadchurch but sadly did not get to meet David Tennant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as writing fiction I continue to work as a journalist and also teach creative writing. I live in north London with my husband and daughters.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-82639296367153424402017-04-23T17:15:00.002-04:002017-04-23T17:15:20.174-04:00Happy World Book Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgByqzSKVl5_k5To5RmYxlYo7bMIz3DyEXS-TKybHxW5kgZl7mZYroEksrXTIkoiMDK7WMZA7pMOBSblENKlEotvIJRXBjVIL-9uAvyx68nGxwR86wVs4tfteqp40HF_HmtY1p04RIx0/s1600/Happy+World+Book+Day+II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgByqzSKVl5_k5To5RmYxlYo7bMIz3DyEXS-TKybHxW5kgZl7mZYroEksrXTIkoiMDK7WMZA7pMOBSblENKlEotvIJRXBjVIL-9uAvyx68nGxwR86wVs4tfteqp40HF_HmtY1p04RIx0/s400/Happy+World+Book+Day+II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Every day is book day at my house!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-64670089381751647162017-04-16T10:00:00.000-04:002017-04-16T10:00:08.676-04:00Happy Easter EveryoneTo all those celebrating this weekend ... Happy Easter!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnPgnBCQfiijTMHrU-caKMytjQXZWL0lClsK9NSDDKSFX1zvz7QNkW9oSBajXpvSzc2uPYA7g_yG-z3NIOvRdOh0xamxj3UNxnA6Eez_wTR5OEkqCIiL9Cj8oYLancOU_VHJJYEd1MYs/s1600/Easter+Bunny+reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnPgnBCQfiijTMHrU-caKMytjQXZWL0lClsK9NSDDKSFX1zvz7QNkW9oSBajXpvSzc2uPYA7g_yG-z3NIOvRdOh0xamxj3UNxnA6Eez_wTR5OEkqCIiL9Cj8oYLancOU_VHJJYEd1MYs/s400/Easter+Bunny+reading.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP4vp5RW-vDxhjbyYqulP3oGFUdGNNKrRzijK8Yv-USXvi9twVv5O1Ei_GjC-c7ZSX8bZY5Xbm571jzACNiigaay6xm4t5Q-qpvgJSaf9fC9FXv-1FYJjZ6E290iH8DYqMGvjEXBOMQQ/s1600/HAPPY+EASTER+EVERYONE.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaP4vp5RW-vDxhjbyYqulP3oGFUdGNNKrRzijK8Yv-USXvi9twVv5O1Ei_GjC-c7ZSX8bZY5Xbm571jzACNiigaay6xm4t5Q-qpvgJSaf9fC9FXv-1FYJjZ6E290iH8DYqMGvjEXBOMQQ/s1600/HAPPY+EASTER+EVERYONE.gif" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-22347057368591983262017-04-14T15:27:00.000-04:002017-04-14T15:27:23.031-04:00I'd be doomedThis is a list of acceptable reasons for commitment to an insane asylum for women circa 1864 to 1889. There are a few on here that would get me locked away ... but especially "reading novels". Hmm ... I wonder if they let you read in the asylum? Probably not!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a08kIfWjHcMa4syZHj4aeYPv4PVDtDlj6u4jy7eLaGLnG5zDp3XFZbvMbe0rXyfcbY_xmTEk09gRBRs-uF8yj48dEMks9-kF1iEPysgqhkkDSxymD89E9yXMsorpVux4q_4yA89B5wA/s1600/Reasons+for+Admission.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a08kIfWjHcMa4syZHj4aeYPv4PVDtDlj6u4jy7eLaGLnG5zDp3XFZbvMbe0rXyfcbY_xmTEk09gRBRs-uF8yj48dEMks9-kF1iEPysgqhkkDSxymD89E9yXMsorpVux4q_4yA89B5wA/s640/Reasons+for+Admission.jpg" width="438" /></a></div>
<br />
Origin: Unkown<br />
Source: FacebookAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-7536373642554209722017-04-10T11:54:00.000-04:002017-04-10T11:54:46.110-04:00Elvis the Gunslinger - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a Wild West <s>tail</s> tale with a twist – baseball and cricket have not been invented, nary a human to be found, dogs instead of horses and cats rule.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ELVIS THE GUNSLINGER</b></span> by Romey Connell</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmUxG0Z8yylwKK9K2bMcR78jNhGt_cAIQWqMl2g5V8_l3dGyNYyOR6J9JBo-VXpUpYJW3RyKj4u7VWBWHjk7FSjPuDXlfveALI5WMXUYTQEDBx8gkIgTVTvHJ92UGIcqk2Y_YAQ6tasM/s1600/Elvis+the+Gunslinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVmUxG0Z8yylwKK9K2bMcR78jNhGt_cAIQWqMl2g5V8_l3dGyNYyOR6J9JBo-VXpUpYJW3RyKj4u7VWBWHjk7FSjPuDXlfveALI5WMXUYTQEDBx8gkIgTVTvHJ92UGIcqk2Y_YAQ6tasM/s400/Elvis+the+Gunslinger.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the book blurb if you were to cross John Wayne and James Bond you would get Elvis the Gunslinger. To all appearances he is a gentlecat rancher but the truth is he is a government agent – the best of the best. After a night spent putting out a mysterious fire in his dog barn and chasing down the feline culprit Elvis’ partner Frank shows up announcing they are leaving on the train ASAP to take on a case. The son and daughter-in-law of millionaire cat Morris Pusserschmott IV have been kidnapped and Fatscat, the meanest, smelliest outlaw in the west is the prime suspect. Elvis and Fatscat have history so who better to get to his hideout compound and see that justice is done.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elvis is a hard drinking, hard loving lawman but that never gets in the way of his clever clue solving skills. And like any good G-man he always gets his man!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This fun read got off to a bit of a slow start for me. I found myself rolling my eyes at the beginning – you really need to suspend reality for this book – but soon enough I was caught up in the elaborate kidnapping scheme, the witty repartee between Frank and Elvis, the twists and turns of the case and the very creative characters Mr. Connell has written about. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I enjoyed the case, the chase and the resolution of the story but one of the dangers when anthropomorphizing cats is walking the fine line between making them too true to their feline nature or giving them too many human qualities. In this case Mr. Connell leaned a little to the latter. I was expecting more of a “cat tale”. This would have been a good read if the characters were human and, granted, replacing them with cats made it imaginative and often humorous but it would have been more fun (for me) with a few more cat-like moments and behaviours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Overall, once I got used to the cat characters, this was a fun read. Definitely intended for a late teen to adult audience. 3.5 stars for this one and if pushed would lean towards rounding up to 4 because it was creative and the story picked up in the last half of the book.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>* I won this book in a contest by the <a href="http://www.thepurringtonpost.com/elvis-the-gunslinger/" target="_blank">Purrington Post</a>, so would like to thank them for sending me this book at no charge with no expectation of a review *</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Romey-Connell/e/B01MSMXA3D/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a>)</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vJfXojVIUMn19Atz29Uvg8auWfa8QSHc0_7_TbesZ4bVz2MFixZ0xrZbAi8JZiV9vSK0injUCm2j7L01rkSPoPut9kMQGN_IcE2hOzR8LSpLNrldBjbGPgA5d_pv1BkvInoEVSN-GXk/s1600/Romey+Connell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vJfXojVIUMn19Atz29Uvg8auWfa8QSHc0_7_TbesZ4bVz2MFixZ0xrZbAi8JZiV9vSK0injUCm2j7L01rkSPoPut9kMQGN_IcE2hOzR8LSpLNrldBjbGPgA5d_pv1BkvInoEVSN-GXk/s400/Romey+Connell.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The oldest of four children, Romey Connell grew up in a suburban waterfront community in the Baltimore/Annapolis area, and moved with his family to their nearby horse farm at the age of 14. He graduated from the Auburn University School of Business in 1985 and the Cornell Law School in 1988, whereupon he moved to Atlanta, Georgia.<br />
<br />
Romey has been married to his lovely wife, Gretchen (an extremely talented artist and photographer), for fifteen years and they are blessed with two wonderful children, Jerry (13) and Jamie (11). In 2010, after EyeWonder was sold, Romey left the working world for a while, so that he could spend as much time as possible with his family. They live in the Lake Claire neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta.<br />
<br />
Though spending time with family is foremost these days, Romey’s interests include travel, sports, the outdoors, beer and food, not necessarily in that order. He firmly believes that you should be wary of persons who do not get along well with children or animals. Romey is a fan of nearly all genres of music, although he is partial to those in which the artists actually play instruments, and he considers dancing all night to be the greatest form of recreation.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-53745575272282462812017-04-04T22:23:00.002-04:002017-04-04T22:25:20.559-04:00A Change of Heart - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
Urban fantasy is not my usual go-to genre, but tempt me with vampires and I can be convinced to give one a try. The bonus is that the vampires in this one are bloody and brutal – just the way I like ‘em.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>A CHANGE OF HEART</b></span> by Mark Benjamin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxcUdJrWHyY1FGVDfw6zKNni7SB6RttPGiekSDt-waJMjk6JUZiRHnzBLMS_fruqWPTuyfoJN06PDpVlWjTktinR6SYykLtUoWOp1AeO5ZXOqH4NZIrl2mENtq3c2gjxUaZcFT-ObIyLI/s1600/A+CHANGE+OF+HEART.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxcUdJrWHyY1FGVDfw6zKNni7SB6RttPGiekSDt-waJMjk6JUZiRHnzBLMS_fruqWPTuyfoJN06PDpVlWjTktinR6SYykLtUoWOp1AeO5ZXOqH4NZIrl2mENtq3c2gjxUaZcFT-ObIyLI/s320/A+CHANGE+OF+HEART.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gabriel Harper could be the poster boy for the fellow they kick sand on at the beach. Smart and nice doesn’t always cut it and the bullies soon found he was an easy mark for their fun. Escaping from one such attack by diving behind a dumpster Gabriel never thought it would change his entire world. That’s where he came across the dying Lucas, one of “The Royals” in the vampire community. Lucas had never procreated but with his dying gasp he decided to turn Gabriel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alone and not knowing what was happening to him Gabriel navigates, with the help of a strange voice in his head, what it takes to be a vampire and the reader is introduced to a very unique world of vampires and the Silver Legionnaires – those who hunt them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Gabriel and three of his friends are unexpectedly yanked from their everyday lives and into the fortress of the Legionnaires life becomes very uncomfortable for Gabriel. Although he is a “hybrid” no one knows his secret, so how does a new vampire live among those determined to eradicate them. As the story progresses the reader realizes that things are not happy in either camp and, while each community is determined to rid themselves of the other, a little extra spice was added because each community also had traitors within their midst. Would the vampires and the Legionnaires destroy each other or would they be destroyed from within? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was a fairly lengthy book and just as I thought things could be moving ahead at a little faster pace Mr. Benjamin threw in a twist I was certainly not expecting. Well done as it certainly gave me my second wind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This book starts out with a bang. Mr. Benjamin definitely drops you right into the middle of the action and then just as you feel you need to catch your breath he the reader back to the norm … Gabriel’s world as a college student. From that point on the book follows a pretty straightforward time-line. While the book is written in the third person each short chapter is headed with the name of the character that the chapter features. I have no problem reading in this manner but the book has an overabundance of characters to keep straight and, rather than helping, the chapter headings seemed to make it more difficult to keep the minor characters straight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did enjoy this book. It was, in my opinion, a very original take on the vampire tale while still staying true to the nature of the beast. It also gave me a vampire protagonist I couldn’t help but like without making him too “twilighty”. I did feel that some of the characters had rather juvenile reactions to certain situations considering their twenty-something age bracket but this is book one in <i>“The Royal Blood Chronicles” </i>so I am going to assume the characters mature as the series progresses. I am also going to assume that I received an ARC because the book could have benefited from a last fine-tooth-comb edit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would definitely pick up the next one because I am curious as to where the story is going to go.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3.5-Stars for this one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>I would like to thank the author for providing me with the book at no charge to read and review.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>This in no way influenced my opinion.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Benjamin/e/B01EX716Q2/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" target="_blank">amazon author page</a>) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpB2h2XcMYXLB3gqiqzSzDpkdzVvxafOIfhbSMIzkdUJOrKdxMQGgNfF5RZGdankT_mgLF4d7BgfvsuyYZ3IiGGp_-3JrVxbri6dE4z0-Ezhx-27FaynHD_yA_y-AfX9MN9LBRA_DEBR0/s1600/BLACK+PHOTO.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpB2h2XcMYXLB3gqiqzSzDpkdzVvxafOIfhbSMIzkdUJOrKdxMQGgNfF5RZGdankT_mgLF4d7BgfvsuyYZ3IiGGp_-3JrVxbri6dE4z0-Ezhx-27FaynHD_yA_y-AfX9MN9LBRA_DEBR0/s200/BLACK+PHOTO.png" width="196" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mark Benjamin is the author of two books - one, in an adult urban fantasy series, The Royal Blood Chronicles; and the second, a short story. Devouring all books he could get his hands on from an early age, he managed to ruin his eyesight by reading (when he should have been asleep) under his bedcovers with a torch (video games had no say in his bad eyesight...okay, maybe a little). His love of books translated to a passion for writing, which he began aged ten (he still has his first juvenile novel to this day).<br />
<br />
Currently working for a national bank, his dream job is to be a full-time author, a path he fully took when he sent a sample of his work to a ten-week introductory fiction course funded by an American foundation and conducted worldwide in 2010. Out of the 15 available slots, one was his out of hundreds of thousands of applicants (okay, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it was advertised in the national dailies).<br />
<br />
When not writing his third book or planning literary world domination, Mark enjoys spending time with his wife, entertaining his under one-year old daughter, playing on his Playstation (AnnA) and reading (obviously).</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-81522094296510621782017-04-02T20:36:00.001-04:002017-04-02T20:36:18.557-04:00Farfel and Bob - Two Reviews<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes you just have to read something light and fun, and if that something is told by two absolutely charming "talking" cats, well – all the better. This was my first introduction to Bob and his best buddy Farfel and it was cat-love at first read.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>FARFEL AND BOB’S SUMMER BROMANCE</b></span> by Kendra Carmichael</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78b0Xv87ZFnMBA5UE5yW8RnTxI6ZQCcrSi3CNoRrS3uqIMAaf8VaZteK1eFCaCEonlLUXhXW_j-a0gfBRXGq2wvCpotQH00aog5SQ3iu-gP8CEz1rQcJWyQCsOe9mLOiPMlx7lMFMT4E/s1600/bob+and+farfel+summer+bromance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78b0Xv87ZFnMBA5UE5yW8RnTxI6ZQCcrSi3CNoRrS3uqIMAaf8VaZteK1eFCaCEonlLUXhXW_j-a0gfBRXGq2wvCpotQH00aog5SQ3iu-gP8CEz1rQcJWyQCsOe9mLOiPMlx7lMFMT4E/s200/bob+and+farfel+summer+bromance.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Bob lives with Marcia who adopted him when she decided a cat was a better relationship than some of the boyfriends she had had. Needless to even say, she spoiled him thoroughly. One day Marcia came home and told Bob that she would have to be away every Wednesday evening for several weeks because of a new project at work. Hmmm – this was going to be a bit disruptive to his life because Bob like to spend his evenings on the fence with his best friend Farfel. Farfel’s life was a little more stressful than Bob’s because he lived with Mr. and Mrs. Gregson, Teenager, Bird and his nephew kitty, Rooster. Farfel liked to “unwind” during their time on the fence so he was quite shocked when</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Bob announced the change in plans.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-5gPoFpdJZRSHr55n4uOnJ6gw0kO9T1UXs1NAesDaa2EUgk39UYlg4ifQFUOnZkgLpD3_YLZtbf1sXkoCj-kHSTEtTFPVrpObO39j2-6DrlYMACazIQAO1Fqo8wo6yj1ZUqaCKjmjBU/s1600/Fargel+shocked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-5gPoFpdJZRSHr55n4uOnJ6gw0kO9T1UXs1NAesDaa2EUgk39UYlg4ifQFUOnZkgLpD3_YLZtbf1sXkoCj-kHSTEtTFPVrpObO39j2-6DrlYMACazIQAO1Fqo8wo6yj1ZUqaCKjmjBU/s320/Fargel+shocked.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Having a busy family to care for, Farfel relied on his evening with Bob for much needed</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>down-to-earth cat companionship."</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, Farfel was an awesome hunter so he decided that on his, now unoccupied, Wednesday evenings he would patrol the perimeter of Bob’s house. When he caught a mouse he would deposit it on Bob’s doorstep as a gift.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh72yjKpZLXsf-pRV3c9BGbujb0k4Q0-jY9RsqYTUnC95fxmYgc4QtW6pGIr1X8YyyhCpMyFvSj7fiYh3SzDZrklbgHMcWMXeCTuKFVGgOV99quhA6RkAlrmugWInb-R2dO5AmFQkVX24g/s1600/Farfel+and+Bob+Book+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh72yjKpZLXsf-pRV3c9BGbujb0k4Q0-jY9RsqYTUnC95fxmYgc4QtW6pGIr1X8YyyhCpMyFvSj7fiYh3SzDZrklbgHMcWMXeCTuKFVGgOV99quhA6RkAlrmugWInb-R2dO5AmFQkVX24g/s320/Farfel+and+Bob+Book+one.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>“Bob, who didn't even like mice that much, especially not dead ones, purred as he looked on. Because, as much as Marcia loved him, Bob liked knowing Farfel loved him too.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nice kitty idea but, unfortunately Marcia didn’t agree – and – she thought it must be Bob hunting since the mouse was on her doorstep. But how was he getting out of the house while she was away? Marcia had to get to the bottom of this mystery!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>FARFEL AND BOB’S SUPER STRESSFUL WEEKEND</b></span> by Kendra Carmichael</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcu-VVWlKkC7lZYD4qXYKCAz3ZVJMAHwldMksMIgPYljsTj6VUYSIpE1cuuOW3eHMU2rBmnDllipM2W6KbsBt16HWCQ6ZM6y8kO2caOJ17EwaRIC_hOQdNUIrTIZCtzDr9ZcA1wb5uQoY/s1600/bob+and+farfel+stressful+weekend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcu-VVWlKkC7lZYD4qXYKCAz3ZVJMAHwldMksMIgPYljsTj6VUYSIpE1cuuOW3eHMU2rBmnDllipM2W6KbsBt16HWCQ6ZM6y8kO2caOJ17EwaRIC_hOQdNUIrTIZCtzDr9ZcA1wb5uQoY/s200/bob+and+farfel+stressful+weekend.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Teenager has gotten his hands on some firecrackers and when he sets one off in the house Farfel runs out to join Bob on the backyard fence, his fur standing on end and definitely looking spooked. “That’s the last claw” proclaims Farfel … being scared out of his own home. Bob wasn’t too sure what <i>firecrackers</i> were and could only imagine something as horrible as the “tail devouring vacuum monster” or the “heat emitting hair-dryer monster”. Teenager, now relegated to the outdoors by Mrs. Gregson, continued on with the fireworks in the driveway. The two cats ran to Bob’s house and quickly scooted into the basement for safety. It wasn’t long before Farfel detected mice. Bob either lacked the hunting gene or was a conscientious objector because he just let them be. Before Bob could explain Farfel had caught and killed one of the mice. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marcia was devastated to know rodents were in her house and had to come up with a cat-friendly way to rid her home of these pests. Farfel just shakes his head in disbelief at her plan and Bob makes an interesting discovery about himself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Ms. Carmichael reached out to me through of my “<a href="http://www.twitter.com/SAHKCatSitter" target="_blank">Stay at HomeKitty</a>” twitter page to ask if I would like to read a couple of her books I agreed. I was a little apprehensive because one never knows what one is going to get but in this case I was more than pleasantly surprised. These books are beyond cute and the stories are accompanied by her amusing artwork. I fell in love with Bob and Farfel and their little adventures. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These stories will appeal to and be a fun, quick read for adults (especially those who love their feline fur babies) but the stories are definitely G-rated and would make a great introduction to short chapter books for young readers. The illustrations will help bring the stories to life and the “cat dialogue” will be something to chuckle over as your youngster reads along.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Make sure to check out her <a href="http://farfelandbob.geekycatstories.com/" target="_blank">website and her blog</a> … there’s all kind of awesome freebies available to give you a little sample of “Farfel and Bob”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>I would like to thank Ms. Carmichael for providing me with these books to review at no charge. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>This is not way influenced my opinions.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from her <a href="http://farfelandbob.geekycatstories.com/" target="_blank">web page</a>)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5TqVMVigpMTSZ0KQthvK7Cgr4f6SLcGNvVHd2Xm_zq5SF01wa3PzknK7l2CmEBvcoBVpB350cQVKLOoQIL-4XkU8VOaVdmnhI9vAtQK8DWUZ4Wt_8NJZ1dfzTKGMfydFbcKnOaZBCgE/s1600/farfel+author+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5TqVMVigpMTSZ0KQthvK7Cgr4f6SLcGNvVHd2Xm_zq5SF01wa3PzknK7l2CmEBvcoBVpB350cQVKLOoQIL-4XkU8VOaVdmnhI9vAtQK8DWUZ4Wt_8NJZ1dfzTKGMfydFbcKnOaZBCgE/s200/farfel+author+pic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A former interactive media developer, Kendra turned her creative skills toward storytelling in order to find more meaning in life. It turns out the same skills that can write JavaScript can craft stories about feline hijinks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An expert in cat ownership, she’s had eight cats in the course of her life, plus many others that have been temporary residents (mostly due to lack of timely feline birth control).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She currently lives with The One Cat to Rule Them All in New England, where she does all the shopping, cooking, and snow shoveling herself. Occasionally, the cat supervises, when she’s not busy napping.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>THE MUSES</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqZcpBi2hPErf9VmvobdfiNuIJKVhuzUb3bFgMi8JPT405nc_hCdgmLjVVBmjJkH51U8yJndpvKlT7aPQO0I0rBJ6iarmMOoHpOfNzGJ46K2qLJXd7SVBKB-lMHNHtrtlGmU50LfN-aA/s1600/Farfel+and+Bob+Muses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqZcpBi2hPErf9VmvobdfiNuIJKVhuzUb3bFgMi8JPT405nc_hCdgmLjVVBmjJkH51U8yJndpvKlT7aPQO0I0rBJ6iarmMOoHpOfNzGJ46K2qLJXd7SVBKB-lMHNHtrtlGmU50LfN-aA/s200/Farfel+and+Bob+Muses.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Farfel is partly based on my cat Jack, who passed a few years back. Both are fat and orange, with super soft fur. While Farfel is happy-go-lucky, however, Jack was angsty and, well, he’d bite you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though they would sometimes play together, Jack and Awesometown engaged in a massive power struggle for house dominance the entire time they lived together! Stressful for the human (me).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now that she is queen of her own house, Awesometown refuses to even contemplate adding another feline to the household. Though, when my mother visits, she does tolerate the dreaded dog.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFX5h8ag3VxqodbwXPM1TpICAMZevV25ltdhpFf7GS9UwVersvW6MElV_f7bujHc6E-Z80zU9jRtOpF2M3Ko7bNGEuegpqzAKPHxYZo95LsEKIrvz9p5FuvRPuZ8Iv6fPn29mXtaUSxE/s1600/bob+and+farfel+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFX5h8ag3VxqodbwXPM1TpICAMZevV25ltdhpFf7GS9UwVersvW6MElV_f7bujHc6E-Z80zU9jRtOpF2M3Ko7bNGEuegpqzAKPHxYZo95LsEKIrvz9p5FuvRPuZ8Iv6fPn29mXtaUSxE/s400/bob+and+farfel+books.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-4619114496842723542017-04-01T18:10:00.001-04:002017-04-01T18:14:04.822-04:00All You Need Is Love ... and a Cat - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
I love the idea of adult coloring books but was always a little apprehensive about purchasing one and jumping in … I know its supposed to be relaxing but I’ve seen some pretty complicated pictures that I think (for me) would be more frustrating than relaxing. When I came across this book it was enough to make me change my mind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE … AND A CAT</b></span> by Samantha Snyder</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-r_PVAUKhAqcgvgqAxlR55Gwb8XtHUt3RnOHnemP0rvQm4TNbwoZwZVwjDgPsZLlk83bXr2SkVQ54B-MyB5LAaOEXzTNyvxV84ZOPl5g_Ug7NIOw_vTJrxG-2rrtCme5DP7lYTGDZ5o/s1600/cats+color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-r_PVAUKhAqcgvgqAxlR55Gwb8XtHUt3RnOHnemP0rvQm4TNbwoZwZVwjDgPsZLlk83bXr2SkVQ54B-MyB5LAaOEXzTNyvxV84ZOPl5g_Ug7NIOw_vTJrxG-2rrtCme5DP7lYTGDZ5o/s320/cats+color.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This adult coloring book is very generous with its 50 pages of cat “doodle art” complete with a wide variety of quotes and saying by everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Abraham Lincoln accompanying each picture. Each page was nice and big and the pictures not too intricate, hence not leaning toward the frustrating.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m no expert by any means but I thought the pages were of good quality with the bonus of only being printed on one side, so if one wanted to use markers the next picture would not be damaged by bleeding through.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only reason I have not gone a full 5 Stars on this book is that not every page had a cat included in the picture; sometimes it was just a paw print and sometimes only the words of the saying with some florals or doodles around the edges. The cats that were included were charming and whimsical often reminiscent of folk art so I’m sure this would appeal to cat lovers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, did I find it relaxing or frustrating? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t answer that question. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had scrounged out the package of pencil crayons I had in my desk from a previous (unrelated to coloring) project and had gotten about halfway through the picture I chose to start with when a friend of mine popped in for a visit. She is an avid coloring book enthusiast – some of her completed works are amazing – and she quickly commandeered my book. She is definitely enjoying it!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>I’d like to thank Wordslinger and the author for providing me with a review copy of this book at no charge with the hope of receiving an unbiased review</i>.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from her <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Samantha-Snyder/e/B00XPU129U" target="_blank">Amazon Page</a>) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dts3-5xTzyUbSbzTdzylaZ4p_cozggnIrpVhObnm5pZ2PJaOQtHeoU4QkH0I8yWT-eg6_sDlt47lnoiS2bu0TI10OkGwef3N5QSgFX5gbntOVTfA9e3dqq84oET38EZgzD4XUQDgt1Q/s1600/Samantha+Snyder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dts3-5xTzyUbSbzTdzylaZ4p_cozggnIrpVhObnm5pZ2PJaOQtHeoU4QkH0I8yWT-eg6_sDlt47lnoiS2bu0TI10OkGwef3N5QSgFX5gbntOVTfA9e3dqq84oET38EZgzD4XUQDgt1Q/s200/Samantha+Snyder.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Samantha Snyder has been doodling her whole life. While teaching elementary school, she often drew up coloring pages and printables for her students and fellow teachers. She decided to start sharing her creations and in 2008, Doodle Art Alley was founded.<br />
<br />
Doodle Art Alley is dedicated to giving those squiggly lines the proper credit they deserve. Who would have thought that such a small and simple idea could possess so much potential? There are lots of fun art activities, tips and information to read through and enjoy at Doodle-Art-Alley.com, along with hundreds of free coloring pages and printables.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-41009659812597485602017-04-01T17:24:00.001-04:002017-04-01T17:24:13.932-04:00Strange History - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
I am fairly convinced that I now know where the writers on “Jeopardy” get some of their questions. I was flipping through the pages of this book during a commercial break while watching the game show and there it was! – The exact trivia tidbit that had just been a question on the show. Their secret is out now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>STRANGE HISTORY</b></span> by The Bathroom Readers Institute</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglq-P-oOZTp-X8d_NyY1B1ukuBe7JZUaVoVzdy6P4ZGlko1yt6p7u1wuVHKKSbfyNlMAXpGZjaKopGTS-nFzHylkVqEPq8gY-0X07ChT8Ea3H2GxZj4XgcMm2k9XDNhjhNOLl_19eOEI4/s1600/strange+history.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglq-P-oOZTp-X8d_NyY1B1ukuBe7JZUaVoVzdy6P4ZGlko1yt6p7u1wuVHKKSbfyNlMAXpGZjaKopGTS-nFzHylkVqEPq8gY-0X07ChT8Ea3H2GxZj4XgcMm2k9XDNhjhNOLl_19eOEI4/s320/strange+history.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The folks at the Readers Institute have taken some of the most interesting historical facts and strange stories from their numerous previous books and compiled them in this book that is perfect for history trivia buffs. According to the blurb on the book there are also about 50 pages of previously unpublished stories. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether you have read the some of the stories before or all of them are brand new to you this book is a fun read. Do you want to know if Marco Polo really saw Unicorns, the story behind the curse on Shakespeare’s Macbeth or who really discovered the Rosetta Stone? This is the book that will give you all that and so much more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn’t realize there was a Reader dedicated to Canadian facts and trivia nor one featuring scary stories … they are definitely going to be added to my TBR.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>I'd like to thank Printers Row Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with</i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>a review copy of this book at no charge</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b></span> (from the <a href="http://www.bathroomreader.com/">web site</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rJp0CpCELEBu03c3WXS2hpWaAOmk8OfzKhzYo0RDCGf8jFakR5DqtlYXAojxXJEmu9Cr3riIPWYsHO83JbKFwnM2EFoqzF0TiyGBMMJ_nCzSszuBKCuV7GchldPwgP8DbcQum2ovBWQ/s1600/logo15.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8rJp0CpCELEBu03c3WXS2hpWaAOmk8OfzKhzYo0RDCGf8jFakR5DqtlYXAojxXJEmu9Cr3riIPWYsHO83JbKFwnM2EFoqzF0TiyGBMMJ_nCzSszuBKCuV7GchldPwgP8DbcQum2ovBWQ/s320/logo15.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three decades after the first Bathroom Reader, the Bathroom Readers’ Institute is going strong, having released dozens of titles with content sure to beat the bathroom blahs, and even offering some of <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">the best online trivia available</span>. Consisting of the best trivia writers that Uncle John could find, the BRI has compiled loads of information, from history facts to sports, politics to pop culture, and even the odd science tidbit. After distilling this information into its most basic form, the BRI has generated a huge collection of articles, all of which are specially designed to be read in just a few minutes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It takes a real team to come up with the kind of authoritative bathroom reader trivia as that found in an edition of Uncle John’s, especially with more than 15 million books in print around the world and counting. The BRI is located in Ashland, Oregon, a small, quiet valley town, where they work night and day in the little red house known as home base, cranking out the second best paper product you can find in any bathroom, anywhere.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-65233874572136705142017-04-01T16:19:00.001-04:002017-04-01T16:20:11.584-04:00Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader - A Review<div class="MsoNormal">
I was introduced to Uncle John when I received one of the books as a Christmas gift with the inscription “Because it’s probably the only room where you don’t read”. Hahaha … if only she knew. What? No! No! Think bubble bath!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>UNCLE JOHN’S FACTASTIC BATHROOM READER</b></span> by the Bathroom Readers Institute</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbo2zUk69BkIXreJf8hTYBVpE6WPI3-rYhYjZIpNl6vQ_eLxtI65gYO24rt3jIIuMsfqRBM7D_z7YlGYHn7GWrWyZqCe7iCs32yjJZUk-NXB0NMZuhIlVmjvqgAiuHHdQa27WJwKda4sM/s1600/BATHROOM+READER+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbo2zUk69BkIXreJf8hTYBVpE6WPI3-rYhYjZIpNl6vQ_eLxtI65gYO24rt3jIIuMsfqRBM7D_z7YlGYHn7GWrWyZqCe7iCs32yjJZUk-NXB0NMZuhIlVmjvqgAiuHHdQa27WJwKda4sM/s200/BATHROOM+READER+2.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These are not the kind of books that you sit down and read in one or two sessions. They usually come in at 500+ pages crammed full of facts, trivia, odd news and all kinds of other things that absolutely boggle the mind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This entry into the series is no exception. I can’t seem to ever be without a book within arm’s reach and this is perfect book to have close by to flip through during commercial breaks, on your kindle when waiting for an appointment or, of course, in the bathroom. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I'd like to thank Printers Row Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book at no charge</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><b>ABOUT THE “AUTHOR”</b></span> (from the <a href="http://www.bathroomreader.com/">web site</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6EkInaluKHB_XmcULW6xFQSw6TawCZNO_m7CBxFmAoCfVWcsJedXUaAhtf7SzSbDR7MGa8Z2Q-o_Uu08rZQzMTbdd7AvNqsi8qE0ztPMv95kDpNLpfzE342BFRJDdxy77BjQunrB3aU/s1600/BATHROOM+READER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw6EkInaluKHB_XmcULW6xFQSw6TawCZNO_m7CBxFmAoCfVWcsJedXUaAhtf7SzSbDR7MGa8Z2Q-o_Uu08rZQzMTbdd7AvNqsi8qE0ztPMv95kDpNLpfzE342BFRJDdxy77BjQunrB3aU/s200/BATHROOM+READER.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was 1987. Uncle John found himself stranded on his throne with nothing to read. That’s when he came up with the idea to launch a series of trivia books specifically tailored toward his fellow bathroom readers. “Every article must be simple to read,” he told us, “and every page must either have an amazing fact or a good laugh—or both.” And with that, the Bathroom Readers’ Institute was born.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-72921488519149550982017-04-01T15:30:00.002-04:002017-04-01T15:34:27.222-04:00A Darkness Absolute - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Miss Armstrong had me hooked from the opening sentence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her ability to create unique “worlds” for her novels and characters never ceases to amaze me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This second book in the “City of the Lost” series took me once again to the middle of nowhere, Rockton, Yukon Territories ... the place people go when the want or need to disappear from their everyday lives.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A DARKNESS ABSOLUTE</span></b></span> by Kelley Armstrong</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9LeGHx9JRxhtwF5B3JtsxOfS8kkKjnlVQWz1PJqcYmCqf7tof_tqinSfzEpmbVDcMYeG8tzL9y8kMbPlqK6j4ztC1exYskbWlIYb5Xk-_guMDnutAyOwWHbxtf7LCl-vERNHWR3uKIs/s1600/darkness-absolute-cdn-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9LeGHx9JRxhtwF5B3JtsxOfS8kkKjnlVQWz1PJqcYmCqf7tof_tqinSfzEpmbVDcMYeG8tzL9y8kMbPlqK6j4ztC1exYskbWlIYb5Xk-_guMDnutAyOwWHbxtf7LCl-vERNHWR3uKIs/s320/darkness-absolute-cdn-web.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yup … Rockton is where people come to disappear but unfortunately they don’t check their natures at the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What Casey very quickly finds out is that when you populate the town with troubled people often their troubles come with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means sometimes people DIS-appear from Rockton too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tracking a town runaway through a blizzard is not an easy feat but you have to know when to call it quits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casey and Deputy Will Anders come to just that conclusion when they can no longer see each other on the trail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking shelter in a nearby cave they come across a surprise – a woman thought to be another town runaway thought lost and dead – here in “their” cave, where she has been held captive for over a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite being taken care by someone she cannot identify her captor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they bring her back to town she seems to be all right despite her ordeal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe a little too all right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was it someone from town or one of the hostiles living in the wilderness?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Casey Duncan and her (now) boyfriend Sheriff Dalton are determined to find out but just how do you do that when the whole town could be suspects. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the first book of the series we got a brief glimpse of the “outsiders” and the “hostiles”; those people living, to varying degrees outside the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad enough trying to identify suspects when all your neighbours are living a lie but how do you go about finding people who have no desire to be found and are not shy about letting you know that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few new characters were introduced in this book and a few from the first were fleshed out a little bit more – all interesting and unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, the new puppy was a nice touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another page-turner that kept me guessing to the very end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking forward to the next in the series.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>* I'd like to thank Minotaru Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>of the book at no charge* </i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from her <a href="http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/">web page</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhZ2vDp-YkDnrDyH9TC0O56dYLRI2xYBOBKpXrVbCof_qclMwmh74_Ti3rpxSz3Z5YLdmveAisYyQCmv6-atkdn6eJm6aGkTb67yFSWNQcshTuas7caHpkktlHYOFBAuiiYyR-V1I7K4/s1600/Armstrong_K.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhZ2vDp-YkDnrDyH9TC0O56dYLRI2xYBOBKpXrVbCof_qclMwmh74_Ti3rpxSz3Z5YLdmveAisYyQCmv6-atkdn6eJm6aGkTb67yFSWNQcshTuas7caHpkktlHYOFBAuiiYyR-V1I7K4/s200/Armstrong_K.jpg" width="151" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She lives in south-western Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-42477252550483430132017-03-30T16:45:00.002-04:002017-03-30T16:45:28.243-04:00Congratulations to Andre Alexis and Fifteen Dogs<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">My book nerd side is really going to be showing now but I have to post a special shout out to Toronto author Andre Alexis. His book, "Fifteen Dogs" (one of my favorite reads in 2015) won the "Canada Reads 2017".</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAFyYYASGDNFKZ3f4saZ8wuY8J2RTwtRT3VJcvpTaPRpVIXZ0qrKpC7rmt2fTyX4PG_zEpAE7H2vc2RfNO1_1NWP6c1d7v3dywuVrd23S4X9gA60o4tvpum6J2ifPoqQsmc0Qzu_hnBg/s1600/AA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiAFyYYASGDNFKZ3f4saZ8wuY8J2RTwtRT3VJcvpTaPRpVIXZ0qrKpC7rmt2fTyX4PG_zEpAE7H2vc2RfNO1_1NWP6c1d7v3dywuVrd23S4X9gA60o4tvpum6J2ifPoqQsmc0Qzu_hnBg/s400/AA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">Fifteen Dogs won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2015, making it the first Giller recipient to also win Canada Reads. Alexis was recently honoured with the Windham-Campbell Prize, which recognizes an author's body of work and is one of the world's richest literary awards. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">I so loved this book and would highly recommend it. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">My review <a href="http://constantlymovingthebookmark.blogspot.ca/2015/06/fifteen-dogs-review.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">Congratulations to Mr. Alexis ... very well deserved!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-48733856833228637642017-03-30T15:58:00.001-04:002017-03-30T15:58:53.810-04:00Checking Out the Katie Maguire Series<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
For me Graham Masterton is synonymous with “The Manitou”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Masterton has been responsible for some of my most cringe-worthy horror reads and his Night Warriors books still remain some of my favorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a long while he sort of dropped off my radar and then I came across his crime thriller series featuring Katie Maguire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I started the series with the most recent book so I knew I wanted to go back and check out the first few.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">WHITE BONES</span></b></span> by Graham Masterton</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJZ3ISNv77Y1sEN53rNmFBraadgQDBqwQQJD_oBndGTvaPW5OYQY8wekwvgnND52cJhhJFMGTAgYNmGdfiq2CygtUbUasKmbgYqL35LhC581l8heVGX9WCReDZfv181hUt6F0A2Wfx7I/s1600/White+Bones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJZ3ISNv77Y1sEN53rNmFBraadgQDBqwQQJD_oBndGTvaPW5OYQY8wekwvgnND52cJhhJFMGTAgYNmGdfiq2CygtUbUasKmbgYqL35LhC581l8heVGX9WCReDZfv181hUt6F0A2Wfx7I/s320/White+Bones.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When some construction on a farm building unearths bones D.S. Katie Maguire gets called to the scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It quickly becomes obvious that this is not a recent crime scene and after the forensics it turns out that the bones date back to 1915.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why so many dismembered bodies in one grave – each with a piece of lace tied through the thighbone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crime is passed on to an anthropologist to puzzle out until a new murder victim surfaces, oddly enough with a piece of lace tied to the thigh bones as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now Katie has a recent and a decades old murder to investigate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it possible that it is the same killer?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t say Katie Maguire is a fresh take on murder detectives … women have been taking the leading role in a lot of crime fiction lately but she is an interesting leading character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has a shady husband and some pretty questionable “friends”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What made this book a little different is Mr. Masterton takes some pretty fascinating Irish folklore and ties it into a crime thriller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those cringe-worthy moments I mentioned?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yup – still there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve read some pretty gruesome crime fiction in my day but this one had me grimacing, had it been a film I was watching I definitely would have been peeking out through my fingers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 Stars.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">BROKEN ANGELS</span></b></span> by Graham Masterton</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuP2KKpjxLzqcuRwsMFxn_pxpLqfp_yq0RmvP8Liq94v_gWKq4jDgqhpaUBVx3J4rFOOh8tBt73DZkkPshA_NadyQCVum8E9ZGXwNKezlNKKQHrxHax2L1zMCOBd_ut0QMGLVCyFZr4Q/s1600/Broken+Angels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuP2KKpjxLzqcuRwsMFxn_pxpLqfp_yq0RmvP8Liq94v_gWKq4jDgqhpaUBVx3J4rFOOh8tBt73DZkkPshA_NadyQCVum8E9ZGXwNKezlNKKQHrxHax2L1zMCOBd_ut0QMGLVCyFZr4Q/s320/Broken+Angels.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are out fishing on a chilly spring morning it’s because you hope to land a big one, but not necessarily as big as a human body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father Heaney’s bloated, tortured and garrotted body snags the fishing line and it’s quite obvious that he didn’t accidentally fall in the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Katie Maguire is informed about the murder of a second priest, also similarly tortured she has to amp up the investigation despite the Church trying to throw red herrings and cover-ups in her way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again, the story line of this thriller is not an entirely new concept but he does give it a fresh spin, once again drawing in some myths and legends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manner in which Mr. Masterton has his crimes executed it pretty bloody and leaves no doubt as to the reason for the killings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had that part figured out before it was explained, but that in no way took anything away from the rest of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reading this book immediately on the heels of “White Bones” I immediately noticed a pretty serious continuity flaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the characters that very definitively died at the end of the first book was very much still alive at the beginning of this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sounds a little petty but with 35+ books under his belt Mr. Masterton’s uncaught discrepancy set my teeth on edge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found myself reading the rest of this book anticipating other inconsistencies as I did so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a bit distracting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Masterton also likes to use the hospitalization of a family member as a distraction for Katie, once or twice I can accept, so I will pick up the third in the series somewhere down the road <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- hopefully some of those personal peeves will be left out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 Stars </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from his <a href="http://www.grahammasterton.co.uk/biog.html" target="_blank">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEF96DFkYWHxcSphyphenhyphenGfrde53HJ4rpyVWphpB6QTdMpaOICEGGmHqm1R0QwFkU77yevuhGCDi0S9frXI4Y-pWcMpcMnJAC2sD7zSiv7YB5E20aB-EOjfMcoIYYs9W4KPPvPFBbeU0UZqE/s1600/Graham+Masterton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEF96DFkYWHxcSphyphenhyphenGfrde53HJ4rpyVWphpB6QTdMpaOICEGGmHqm1R0QwFkU77yevuhGCDi0S9frXI4Y-pWcMpcMnJAC2sD7zSiv7YB5E20aB-EOjfMcoIYYs9W4KPPvPFBbeU0UZqE/s320/Graham+Masterton.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys. At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He lives in Surrey, England (sadly his wife, Wiescka died in April 2011). He has just finished writing a black thriller featuring Ireland's only female detective superintendent, Katie Maguire, set in the Cork underworld; and a dark fantasy, Jessica's Angel, about a girl's search for five supposedly-dead children.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has written several new short stories and is currently working on a new horror novel, as yet untitled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-33425053985877503102017-03-28T16:59:00.002-04:002017-03-28T17:00:19.161-04:00The Twenty-Three - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After reading the first two books in this Promise Falls trilogy I waited quite awhile before picking up this last book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know why I waited so long but now that I’ve read it I’m on the fence about this one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE TWENTY-THREE</span></b></span> by Linwood Barclay</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxdzbyCf3y0xK1G50I-izn4_-SvmSrxp2nfK10vaP-DpQ1uQm0y4mSjk3TKw0KhmE4ZIhn8he3jkkCAERemsamVZf0wtICOqZXx4Y8T0RCG0SnyB2rha8t7rUZo1cXidTU02OKOk8-rw/s1600/23+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxdzbyCf3y0xK1G50I-izn4_-SvmSrxp2nfK10vaP-DpQ1uQm0y4mSjk3TKw0KhmE4ZIhn8he3jkkCAERemsamVZf0wtICOqZXx4Y8T0RCG0SnyB2rha8t7rUZo1cXidTU02OKOk8-rw/s320/23+1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Promise Falls is a small town that has been under siege for a long while now and the number 23 seems to be important to whoever is perpetrating the horrendous acts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s the Memorial Day weekend, May 23<sup>rd</sup> and as the sun rises people are dropping like flies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t take long to figure out that something has been put into the water supply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if that wasn’t enough for the hospital and police department to deal with another murder occurs – one bearing horrible similarities to two past, as yet unsolved, murders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could all these events be related?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Barclay once again gave me a page-turner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things in Promise Falls were happening and they were happening quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this reader it was almost too much, too quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just when I was catching on to what was happening with the water the scene switched to the murder and then a quick cut to the mayoral candidate and then back to the water treatment plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I don’t mind a lot of action this instalment in the trilogy seemed overpopulated and slightly out of control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mystery of “23” was solved and yet with everything that went on there were still some questions unanswered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Barclay has stated this is his last visit to Promise Falls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll see?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from the author’s <a href="http://www.linwoodbarclay.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTIBOe9wgSXlFOtKsZ62GIlFecAFIRUBFjSKgRlt4tvlqqVXQyapgMBA-MVAr5C1WgXvp2A750tI4o-wSb_nv9_wqMuovbWnKT9JOtIkTIVHxC-UzjAezAdWEE9Q5WWa6MBsDM7-Ff4Q/s1600/23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifTIBOe9wgSXlFOtKsZ62GIlFecAFIRUBFjSKgRlt4tvlqqVXQyapgMBA-MVAr5C1WgXvp2A750tI4o-wSb_nv9_wqMuovbWnKT9JOtIkTIVHxC-UzjAezAdWEE9Q5WWa6MBsDM7-Ff4Q/s200/23.jpg" width="181" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two children, Spencer and Paige.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-76877567444162810032017-03-27T15:02:00.005-04:002017-03-27T15:04:46.513-04:00Fosgate's Game - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m always on the lookout for a good horror story so when I got the email that I’d won a copy of this one I was quite excited to read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve read a few other novellas by Mr. Cassidy and, like those, this one did not disappoint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">FOSGATE’S GAME</span></b></span> by David C. Cassidy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xRd9EpYY4npAd89gHupI3nTi_FoQqmVSbCx_oyQy2EhdGu2y4I7JUjng-rbrZggeYa7ovAGuEyRIw-MafGjdWqkZWVJ1lLO1pTigCvQDPxRE6plxQ7jFHq7T8jvlkQb9EQDNGGbKRDY/s1600/fosgate+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xRd9EpYY4npAd89gHupI3nTi_FoQqmVSbCx_oyQy2EhdGu2y4I7JUjng-rbrZggeYa7ovAGuEyRIw-MafGjdWqkZWVJ1lLO1pTigCvQDPxRE6plxQ7jFHq7T8jvlkQb9EQDNGGbKRDY/s320/fosgate+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chadwick and Fosgate were business associates but that was all they had in common.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fosgate is a hunter, a brute, insensitive to other people’s feelings, concerns and fears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chadwick was more sensitive – his ulcer flares up when he is in Fosgate’s company, the hunter’s trophies on the wall disturb him and thunderstorms are a phobia – and tonight’s dinner did indeed take place a very dark and stormy night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chadwick understands that Fosgate takes a perverse sort of joy playing on his fears but it cannot be helped; these ongoing evenings are a necessity of doing business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But this night is different.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This night Fosgate shares a mysterious secret about an object he picked up in his travels, a chess set with pieces so grotesque Chadwick could not comprehend why and who would have carved them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The set should have stayed hidden in it’s case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It emanated evil, but worse; Fosgate wanted to play! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This book had me in its grip from the first page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chadwick’s fear and loathing of Fosgate was palpable and as the evening and Chadwick’s discomfort progressed so did mine. Since I don’t care for Jason and Chainsaw “slasher” type horror finding a good old-fashioned scare seems few and far between these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rest assured there is still the requisite amount of mayhem, death, blood and gore but Mr. Cassidy does not feel the need to slap you in the face with it … one quick mention and the rest is left to the readers imgination … like some of the masters of the genre he understands that this reader does not need to feel splattered in blood to feel fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does it all turn out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Satisfyingly twisted thank you very much!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kudos!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>I’d like to thank Mr. Cassidy for providing me with this book through a contest</i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2" style="text-align: center;">
<i>with no expectation of a review.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00C8PDRMI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1" target="_blank">amazon</a>) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7Oo_ru9qrDqDMFHAQb54I9TGEYD1f2oSB8PTBeKOJIl1eAr4HbgQcQ6DqVHbeIh7CLbL5hyphenhyphenU50UF7DoBY1S2WPBFN8DXwzHqCqKIiZ5IJ5-TbW_GqDZSqiWzU_RolEMf714KmIC8_3I/s1600/fosgate+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim7Oo_ru9qrDqDMFHAQb54I9TGEYD1f2oSB8PTBeKOJIl1eAr4HbgQcQ6DqVHbeIh7CLbL5hyphenhyphenU50UF7DoBY1S2WPBFN8DXwzHqCqKIiZ5IJ5-TbW_GqDZSqiWzU_RolEMf714KmIC8_3I/s200/fosgate+2.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Award-winning author David C. Cassidy is the twisted mind behind several best-selling novels of horror and suspense, including The Dark, Velvet Rain, and Fosgate's Game. An author, photographer, and graphic designer--and a half-decent juggler--he spends his writing life creating dark and touching stories where Bad Things Happen To Good People. Raised by wolves, he grew up with a love of nature, music, science, and history, with thrillers and horror novels feeding the dark side of his seriously disturbed imagination. He talks to his characters, talks often, and most times they listen. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the real fun starts when they tell him to take a hike, and they Open That Door anyway. Idiots. David lives in Ontario, Canada. From Mozart to Vivaldi, classic jazz to classic rock, he feels naked without his iPod. Suffering from MAD--Multiple Activity Disorder--he divides his time between writing and blogging, photography and Photoshop, reading and rollerblading. An avid amateur astronomer, he loves the night sky, chasing the stars with his telescope. Sometimes he eats. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To learn more and connect with David, you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or visit his website: http://davidccassidy.com http://www.facebook.com/davidccassidyauthor http://www.twitter.com/davidccassidy</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-36161082355289930152017-03-25T16:02:00.002-04:002017-03-25T16:21:45.554-04:00Echoes in Death - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the last few books I was ready to give up on this series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m quite glad I decided to plough through one more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought this was the best one in quite a while.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ECHOES IN DEATH</span></b></span> by J.D. Robb</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiH1B6kUCE5mB-4qBZbrePQxGmN7nFr_36tm6KzYQxI25IYtRo4qPYTXJDqqQzDfnV5fRqOmlbfS6-BzRi3_VEOja6GTqNg0yGgfFXt7KIIgEwL8GLbXf3xIplGgGM3eqZ0laoqh0jq4w/s1600/Echoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiH1B6kUCE5mB-4qBZbrePQxGmN7nFr_36tm6KzYQxI25IYtRo4qPYTXJDqqQzDfnV5fRqOmlbfS6-BzRi3_VEOja6GTqNg0yGgfFXt7KIIgEwL8GLbXf3xIplGgGM3eqZ0laoqh0jq4w/s320/Echoes.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In start of this 44<sup>th</sup> book in the In Death series Eve and Rourke have just returned from a lovely vacation on their private island in time to attend the Winter Ball, a charity event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eve, of course, hates every minute of the schmoozing, fancy dress and toe numbing heels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was looking forward to getting back to work on Monday but work finds her as she and Rourke are driving home when a young woman, naked and beaten, runs out in front of their car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eve Dallas is suddenly back on the job … heels and all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They manage to rush Daphne Strazza to the ER in time to save her life, but when Eve goes back to investigate it is quite obviously to late for her husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daphne swears the devil himself broke into their home after a dinner party, tied up her husband and then repeatedly assaulted her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eve understood that it couldn’t really have been the devil, but who was this master of disguise – who, as it turns out has targeted several other couples before and probably has a list of future victims as well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With Echoes in Death Ms. Robb has gone back to what I enjoyed about these books at the beginning – the crime, the squad, the investigation and Rourke to go home to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a relief to me that Rourke took a little bit of a back seat in this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, he was becoming annoyingly controlling and invasive of Eve’s space in the last few entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, he still helped with some computer work but this case was solved by good old police work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well 2060’s style police work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Therein lies my only complaint with this book ... the solving of the case seemed to come out of the blue. All at once Eve seems to have an epiphany and the bad guy is in the interrogation room. Did I miss a chapter or two? Was it supposed to be a surprise or did Ms. Robb realize the page limit was looming and she better get this case solved. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Echoes in Death has ensured that I will pick up at least the next instalment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from her <a href="http://www.jdrobb.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq58n6qUhXu__pNd1itgCTEUbhUi_5E48FbMPZWovtY0YhyphenhyphengHjZMBvcOtSITJP_YIjuZNwrKR17sNbtPiDizHt5LjVxe-5DS6vHkFnqNQqzFHd1oQLxptCri4jyOFL48CxzAT2pPE1u9E/s1600/Echoes+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq58n6qUhXu__pNd1itgCTEUbhUi_5E48FbMPZWovtY0YhyphenhyphengHjZMBvcOtSITJP_YIjuZNwrKR17sNbtPiDizHt5LjVxe-5DS6vHkFnqNQqzFHd1oQLxptCri4jyOFL48CxzAT2pPE1u9E/s320/Echoes+2.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, Nora Roberts was ready for a new writing challenge. As her agent put it, like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and caffeine-free Pepsi, a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new and different group of readers. The first futuristic suspense J. D. Robb book, Naked in Death, was published in paperback in 1995, and readers were immediately drawn to Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her even more mysterious love interest, Roarke.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The series quickly gained attention, great reviews, and devoted readers. Since the debut of Loyalty in Death (the ninth In Death book) on Halloween 1999 on the New York Times bestseller list, every J. D. Robb title has been a New York Times bestseller. While fans had their suspicions, it wasn’t until the twelfth book in the series, Betrayal in Death (2001), that the publisher fully revealed that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for bestselling powerhouse Nora Roberts. Unmasked, Nora Roberts fans who hadn’t yet picked up one of the Robb books were quickly playing catch-up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The In Death books are perpetual bestsellers, and frequently share the bestseller list with other Nora Roberts novels. J. D. Robb publishes two hardcover In Death books per year, with the occasional stand-alone original In Death story featured in an anthology.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Forty-four books later, there is no end in sight for the ever-popular In Death series.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-5044721792959420762017-03-24T22:30:00.002-04:002017-03-24T22:31:41.832-04:00I Liked My Life - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hadn’t heard any buzz about this book, but the cover caught my eye from the “express read” shelf as I was hurrying past it on my way to the “holds” shelf at the library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When that happens <i>(more often than I should probably admit)</i> I read the synopsis on the inside cover but I also flip through the book and read some random sentences and the first line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could I resist a book whose first line read “I found the perfect wife for my husband”?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I LIKED MY LIFE</span></b></span> by Abby Fabiaschi</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE6YBUWL7Ya6dtrIsMDxA-XCo_hEuPU864VUTfjpIrSmsSqvRQtGhwN0qR1cVj0kCW061uqtCv-5NMKl2tCfAKAotsyatXplw6T4OSi7Vya1D94637AJk-z1pWo_j4vUq1fY92swc5D4/s1600/LIFE+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE6YBUWL7Ya6dtrIsMDxA-XCo_hEuPU864VUTfjpIrSmsSqvRQtGhwN0qR1cVj0kCW061uqtCv-5NMKl2tCfAKAotsyatXplw6T4OSi7Vya1D94637AJk-z1pWo_j4vUq1fY92swc5D4/s320/LIFE+1.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Madeline is devoted to her teenage daughter, still in love (mostly) with her husband and proud of being a stay at home mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, possibly rightly, knows that she is the glue that holds her family together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s happy with her family and her accomplishments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what she and everyone around her thought until Maddy, for reasons unknown, went to the roof of the library building where she worked and ended up dead and broken on the tarmac below.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As her family comes to terms with her unexpected death Madeline finds that although her mortal life is over she is not quite ready to leave her family totally to their own devices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A presence - but not really a ghost - Madeline has to learn how to navigate in this limbo where she finds herself and, more importantly, how to steer her family in the right direction before she ascends to wherever she is meant to go.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Told from the perspective of the three family members, Brady (husband and father), Eve (daughter) and Maddy herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This style is perfect for this book because it gives the reader the insight they need into all three characters that an omniscient narrator could never accomplish in the same satisfying manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the fact that this book primarily deals with the death of woman, the pain and the grief her husband and daughter go through and their tense, often difficult, road toward forming a new type of relationship at it’s heart this is a feel good book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, it is sad in places and I can even admit to being angry with each of the characters at different points, it made me smile at others and, boy, I liked this book. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It never occurred to me while I was enthralled in the read but if you liked “Lovely Bones” then this is a book you should definitely pick up and read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The books are different in many ways, the same in others but certainly with the same type of <i>feels</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It didn’t take too much deciding to come up with my 5 star rating but I hesitated for a couple of moments wondering if I enjoyed this book so much because of my age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will definitely appeal to the “mature” woman but I truly believe it will appeal to young women and older teens just as much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a story of family, love and friendship and how to get through the tough times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>* Twenty percent of the author’s proceeds support women and children’s charities around the globe.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span></span> <span style="background-color: white;"></span>(from her <a href="http://www.abbyfabiaschi.com/">website</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigzt_2-29czFwqtp2-Img3dhWvoIcnU1x83aS1Bch3t_VrHG41SL7Ex_9cVt-PwMyvD3XqahisZJIKKSpH5xnKkimWRBFyuE4vmRhGmULBQuNG1d2mzIsVQWMx1C0jZuqOmO8GBxbjQY/s1600/LIFE+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigzt_2-29czFwqtp2-Img3dhWvoIcnU1x83aS1Bch3t_VrHG41SL7Ex_9cVt-PwMyvD3XqahisZJIKKSpH5xnKkimWRBFyuE4vmRhGmULBQuNG1d2mzIsVQWMx1C0jZuqOmO8GBxbjQY/s320/LIFE+2.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After graduating from The Taft School in 1998 and Babson College in 2002, Abby climbed the corporate ladder in high technology. When her children turned three and four in what felt like one season, she resigned to pursue writing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In March, Abby signed a two-book, hardcover deal with St. Martin’s Press. Her debut upmarket women’s fiction novel, I Liked My Life, will be released January 31, 2017.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abby is a human rights advocate interested in economic solutions to social/cultural problems. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She is Director of the Board for Made By Survivors, an international nonprofit organization with a unique prosperity model that uplifts victims from sex trafficking and extreme abuse. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She and her family divide their time between West Hartford, Connecticut and Park City, Utah. When not writing or watching the comedy show that is her children, she enjoys reading across genres, skiing, hiking, and yoga. Oh, and travel. Who doesn’t love vacation?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-83163345351812694292017-03-24T21:28:00.001-04:002017-03-24T21:28:15.031-04:00I Work at a Public Library - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am a bit of a sucker for this type of book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interacting with the public for most of my working life I have a few amusing stories up my sleeve too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that sets my expectations pretty high.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I WORK AT A PUBLIC LIBRARY</span></b></span> by Gina Sheridan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CFjRb3kqrvFM_rCeXpUl_G6uqqSIoYpla3REbLMNtfCm6iWIw1Y_CMum-xS5535npKzhEdiOU_7uerqMOSIGwyKetH8RoU3LebDI5_dC79n5AjMGe_2B5KcLLbs2cnx7F6Qoc4N99fk/s1600/library+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CFjRb3kqrvFM_rCeXpUl_G6uqqSIoYpla3REbLMNtfCm6iWIw1Y_CMum-xS5535npKzhEdiOU_7uerqMOSIGwyKetH8RoU3LebDI5_dC79n5AjMGe_2B5KcLLbs2cnx7F6Qoc4N99fk/s320/library+1.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tag line on this book is “A Collection of Crazy Stories from the Stacks”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Crazy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so sure.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Humorous?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Borderline.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t honestly say that, for me, there were any laugh-out-loud moments as I read this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found it mildly funny at best so that was a little disappointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand that Ms. Sheridan was sharing some of these stories in a blog and eventually had other librarians sending her stories that she added to her own and shared a select number in this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may go and check out the blog sometime just to see if she could have made better choices.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My favorite story in the book?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Ouchies, Library … I stubbed my toe just as someone dropped a book into the inside book drop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I yelped and howled in pain, a child on the other side said “Mommy, I think we hurt he book”.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All that aside I do applaud any literary effort that celebrates libraries and librarians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I use my library A LOT and am so grateful they do what they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For that reason I tacked another ½ star onto my rating of this book … 3 ½ stars!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from the book jacket)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXBeQseLoXc8mw6rHb9iKsgvD40iGtzDXAst5QFP1Se_thje_MhvisEeC0ztGzj7aLoERtL8VmUqOCMOt226rBZ6wmb1sqrbPenEJDycsoK1n6EAOpXrX-dn4NmHk2QXY1bH2GqGVyZI/s1600/library+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXBeQseLoXc8mw6rHb9iKsgvD40iGtzDXAst5QFP1Se_thje_MhvisEeC0ztGzj7aLoERtL8VmUqOCMOt226rBZ6wmb1sqrbPenEJDycsoK1n6EAOpXrX-dn4NmHk2QXY1bH2GqGVyZI/s1600/library+2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gina Sheridan is a librarian in St. Louis, Missouri, where she lives her partner Travis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she’s not collecting stories, she’s exploring cemeteries, dressing up her cats, or taking pictures of things overlooked by regular people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can visit her website at <a href="http://www.iworkatapubliclibrary.com/">www.iworkatapubliclibrary.com</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-35558664403163353932017-03-24T19:20:00.002-04:002017-03-24T19:27:03.182-04:00The Ice Dragon - A Review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I read and enjoyed the books in the Song of Fire and Ice series, and let’s face it; very few authors are as ruthless as Mr. Martin when it comes to killing off characters in the most gruesome ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I saw this book at the Dollar Store (sorry Mr. Martin, sad for you – good for me), despite my self-imposed book buying ban I had to pick it up to see what Mr. Martin considers YA fiction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE ICE DRAGON</span></b></span> by George R.R. Martin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxA-5PagWBvbTOG_3C5ArUDYdaljxekAr2dsmcKxaum2fJo_NmOarfW2fjviUOeZqRPwrtYzaStmpq9_nLfp1BSVadIomhVX7sYUe-vibzrgLC8vNEhHPgDdcJlVyugTMbfbWQmm2RpE8/s1600/ICE+DRAGON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxA-5PagWBvbTOG_3C5ArUDYdaljxekAr2dsmcKxaum2fJo_NmOarfW2fjviUOeZqRPwrtYzaStmpq9_nLfp1BSVadIomhVX7sYUe-vibzrgLC8vNEhHPgDdcJlVyugTMbfbWQmm2RpE8/s320/ICE+DRAGON.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Adara was a winter child, born during the worst winter anyone could remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, her mother died in childbirth – no one knows if that, the storm or her father’s (albeit) hidden blame resulted in her not ever feeling cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When other children tired of their winter games and ran inside for warmth Adara went alone to build her ice castle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was there she first met the Ice Dragon of legend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one had ever seen it other than from afar but after several winters Adara not only touched it but also rode on it’s back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They developed a unique friendship out of mutual loneliness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As war encroaches ever closer on her village neighbours and friends are leaving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Adara’s uncle, a King’s Dragon Master, warned her father to leave but he was a stubborn man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it was too late to leave and the only thing that could save them was Adara’s dragon it became a question of which friend was willing to sacrifice more for the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While not totally without war, bloodshed and death Mr. Martin has definitely toned it down for the younger audience intended to read The Ice Dragon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What there is, I would consider age appropriate and not graphic - happening “off page”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does give his young reader a page turning story and a poignant lesson about what it means to be a friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An added bonus is the wonderful illustrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcetynwSHw3vNnrEQwxfaLseW3lRBPP-GyBL_ICB2VLssG30iDsymDVO2CCXsenfNDsKtSQZiRWG-PxOwGik1bXg3__iMmC6W2o_rB9GPHd8JyuXUwYJV9FD8UnZqHzpklfu4qB42-oGs/s1600/ICE+DRAGON+PAGES.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcetynwSHw3vNnrEQwxfaLseW3lRBPP-GyBL_ICB2VLssG30iDsymDVO2CCXsenfNDsKtSQZiRWG-PxOwGik1bXg3__iMmC6W2o_rB9GPHd8JyuXUwYJV9FD8UnZqHzpklfu4qB42-oGs/s400/ICE+DRAGON+PAGES.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I enjoyed the book and am glad I “splurged” and picked it up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE AUTHOR</span></b></span> (from the book jacket)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak5LgjB9YBRav5Ybbv8FfzyLliOSamCwZZmy_xrlWSwyaJflmN600J8VFjrUdYrzzzSqaEPwv7otRPLHCM1PQVk3r4BvphijewfIRiggSygqick-MGvbIoQKTkmdQn-zTiYRx0AXM-t4/s1600/MARTIN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak5LgjB9YBRav5Ybbv8FfzyLliOSamCwZZmy_xrlWSwyaJflmN600J8VFjrUdYrzzzSqaEPwv7otRPLHCM1PQVk3r4BvphijewfIRiggSygqick-MGvbIoQKTkmdQn-zTiYRx0AXM-t4/s200/MARTIN.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Martin is a six time Hugo and two-time Nebula Award winner, is the author of the most wildly acclaimed and anticipated series in recent history, A Song of Ice and Fire, the basis for HBO’s show Game of Thrones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time magazine named him “One of the most influential people of 2011”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="color: #20124d;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR</span></b></span> (from the book jacket)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXguJ1jeqd1vuZlgd3Eyw53nCpjTq_GYvTRqSNq8p6xGAKx6bfQ8p7DIOtFLttIyL1lcW7kKMfwPGLNlXM21YXP8PXKqEpC_hBFCwK38LqBe0uxqbqMDkNSkOY8mCeH66xfyxkaiLLOI/s1600/ROTO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXguJ1jeqd1vuZlgd3Eyw53nCpjTq_GYvTRqSNq8p6xGAKx6bfQ8p7DIOtFLttIyL1lcW7kKMfwPGLNlXM21YXP8PXKqEpC_hBFCwK38LqBe0uxqbqMDkNSkOY8mCeH66xfyxkaiLLOI/s200/ROTO.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span id="goog_417720685"></span><span id="goog_417720686"></span><span id="goog_417720687"></span><span id="goog_417720688"></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Luis Royo is a prolific Spanish artist best known for his lush fantasy illustrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than thirty books of his collected art have been published, including “Women, Dead Moon”, and the “Malefic Time” series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Royo’s artwork is featured in Spectrum 3 and has been exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seattle and St. Petersburg.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4735524103208288255.post-91925124735211928812017-03-10T16:23:00.003-05:002017-03-10T16:23:23.322-05:00Switching things up with a movie review<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6k08GGBjcdKpQxLQ-0n2sbMa8jm1vFPPqMrdXN_Dzvijm_BmrWGaJYaX7j4FjbUxtl8A2zIme9YkVOulAL0T5i_FcD9Bxdffr2HjtQT7OK2jJDp8rXM8BRDMO6G6YbkGqS6_T1Delw4/s1600/KEDI+POSTER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6k08GGBjcdKpQxLQ-0n2sbMa8jm1vFPPqMrdXN_Dzvijm_BmrWGaJYaX7j4FjbUxtl8A2zIme9YkVOulAL0T5i_FcD9Bxdffr2HjtQT7OK2jJDp8rXM8BRDMO6G6YbkGqS6_T1Delw4/s400/KEDI+POSTER.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fortunate enough to see Kedi (<i>Turkish for cats</i>) at the Rogers “Hot Docs” in Toronto last night and I am not using the word “fortunate” lightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a delightful film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always walk into documentaries, especially those featuring animals, with a certain amount of trepidation because of what I might see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Kedi my greatest fear was that it would be tear-inducing account of the hardships feral cats face in the streets of Istanbul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh yes, I’d watched the trailers but they always put the best parts into those don’t they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thankfully, my trepidation was unfounded. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I am sure they purposely left out “ugly” but, with my blinders permanently in place, that was fine by me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZPslhBNl2bf394UuhpwxkvG54qLfG8sVhn2e9QCEbh27q4GWJwaSfQzxZVjC5JA2bvjQxvs3Uc4yhADGuiLagk0qfyH5hZrsHbW-DSV1betiuBiVxjPmEiHdHNj2-6G7k9v0rnq8pLY/s1600/KEDI+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZPslhBNl2bf394UuhpwxkvG54qLfG8sVhn2e9QCEbh27q4GWJwaSfQzxZVjC5JA2bvjQxvs3Uc4yhADGuiLagk0qfyH5hZrsHbW-DSV1betiuBiVxjPmEiHdHNj2-6G7k9v0rnq8pLY/s400/KEDI+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cats of Kedi are not feral cats – wild and uncared for, they are “street cats” (as the film’s English title infers) – cats that are cared for, fed, petted and loved by the people with whom they share their city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one of the people featured in the film explained <i>“we all have running tabs at the vet’s office”.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the fisherman who discovered an abandoned litter of kittens and took over feeding them using a syringe to the shop owner who was administering antibiotic drops to a kitten with an eye infection there wasn’t much in this film that didn’t make me smile.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezPajxUm97yX3Qk7lfFLrw6AnQWWu83qg14Al2uxoE25EM87SX1Yd-3OhWChyVEPUUr3uRTYeLh6WJMv_5pU8XCdVZTGz9mV3cifddlnYxNs6gNVDT3DjGTelSJEPLy9gguDnRfFTJfI/s1600/KEDI+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezPajxUm97yX3Qk7lfFLrw6AnQWWu83qg14Al2uxoE25EM87SX1Yd-3OhWChyVEPUUr3uRTYeLh6WJMv_5pU8XCdVZTGz9mV3cifddlnYxNs6gNVDT3DjGTelSJEPLy9gguDnRfFTJfI/s400/KEDI+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Common belief is that they first arrived on Norwegian trading ships and just stayed (a few of the cats definitely bore traits common to the Norwegian Forest breed).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why not stay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are treated like the royalty I’m sure they believe they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people in the film were eloquent in describing why the cats were such an important part of not only their lives but also the life of the city that they have roamed freely for centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kedi is also a truly beautiful film to watch … Istanbul on film is both breathtaking in the long shops and quite real, dare I say gritty at times, when the camera went to street shots and then even to cat’s-eye level.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnUZ0idmJ68U37tVdWFV1H6fE1bZqCSIjIA-pWZy97HzOpSSwfb8j6wKeHP91eyunl1sp4fh7NmXf9vQR79saEUaB9hNQE_8HzuGTj7ysmfHc92e4YVz7hS8u0I4qNBNObLP661-3Baw/s1600/KEDI+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnUZ0idmJ68U37tVdWFV1H6fE1bZqCSIjIA-pWZy97HzOpSSwfb8j6wKeHP91eyunl1sp4fh7NmXf9vQR79saEUaB9hNQE_8HzuGTj7ysmfHc92e4YVz7hS8u0I4qNBNObLP661-3Baw/s320/KEDI+2.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That entirely aside, and as it should be, the cats were the stars of the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of the featured felines had a distinct personality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a gentleman, a psychopath, the lover and the hustler the movie could be a Hollywood blockbuster but these cats are just going about their days and, more often than not, getting their own way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even President Obama was not immune to their powerful charms when he bent down to pet one of these felines on a tour of Hagia Sophia.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a serious side to Kedi that cannot be overlooked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people are concerned about the gentrification of their little part of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They worry about themselves but also about what will happen to these cats that are so much a part of their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the cats lounge in the sun on car windshields, relax in store doorways, perch upon high walls, sprawl on top of awnings and curl up on sidewalk café, they have their private little hidey-holes and safe places to disappear into when they need alone time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The citizens fear for them when all there spots disappear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where will they go … both people and cats?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEp4vzrEQ15ySkO83qap5beykFFw0GYm-kGHqr0yxZ1HFmZ8DoKQnuXDRJPHSjr1Ytu2IgRabRM9RKk1I8lH2QrZiKGRInCm-l28aToAv_2z5IUPGfju_BlapHw2C8I3yThsxbua6JCs/s1600/KEDI+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEp4vzrEQ15ySkO83qap5beykFFw0GYm-kGHqr0yxZ1HFmZ8DoKQnuXDRJPHSjr1Ytu2IgRabRM9RKk1I8lH2QrZiKGRInCm-l28aToAv_2z5IUPGfju_BlapHw2C8I3yThsxbua6JCs/s400/KEDI+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I must admit there was a big – okay huge – part of me that watched this film with my Canadian mentality and wondered why they would not start a Trap/Neuter/Release program in this beautiful city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people pick up and cuddle kittens, interact with these cats, feed them and look after their health … why not spay and neuter? But, this is a review not a platform so, definitely, this is a film I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone but especially those with a soft spot for furry feline friends.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764689207655947517noreply@blogger.com0