![]() ![]() I also got a tad bit bored with a lot of passages of Mal making appointments at bars, Mal ordering drinks, Mal getting up and walking through passages and downstairs, etc. I wished there had been more of Mal remarking that his female employee never smiled and laughed with him like she did with his male employee, or his long-time acquaintances having a clue that he was probably not the best choice for an extra marital seduction (and Mal’s interpretation of that seduction could have been great if it happened earlier in the book before we kind of new who was guilty and who wasn’t). The bookstore order, Mal, gives hints throughout that he’s an unreliable narrator, and I do love unreliable narrators, and Swanson does his best to explain Mal’s emotionally isolated POV by having Mal tell us how a wall seems to come up between him and other people after knowing them for a short while, but telling us he lacks emotional connection isn’t as fun as figuring that out from the reactions of people around him. ![]() Swanson does a good job of making the literary tour through murders good for even less well-read mystery fans like myself as he gives just enough explanation to make it understandable. Eight Perfect Murders (Malcolm Kershaw #1)Ī book store owner writes a blog called “the perfect murders” and lists 8 from famous real life novels such as Deathtrap, Malice Aforethought, Strangers on a Train, etc. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() But when she leaves the only home she's ever known, wanting only to see the floating lights that appear on her birthday, she gets caught up in an adventure across the kingdom with two thieves-a young woman named Gina, and Flynn Rider, a rogue on the run. For eighteen years Rapunzel stays locked away, knowing she must protect others from her magical hair. For her safety and the safety of the kingdom, Rapunzel is locked in a tower and put under the care of powerful goodwife, Mother Gothel. With it comes dangerous magical powers: the power to hurt, not heal. Nonetheless it heals the queen, and she delivers a healthy baby girl with hair as silver and gray as the moon. The 12th installment in the New York Times best-selling series asks: What if Rapunzel's mother drank a potion from the wrong flower? Desperate to save the life of their queen and her unborn child, the good people of Corona search for the all-healing Sundrop flower to cure her-but mistakenly acquire the shimmering Moondrop flower instead. ![]() ![]() ![]() When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour. ![]() Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper-a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son-but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In the never-before-published story “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll’s old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In stories brimming with Gothic shadows and ancient hurts, Claire Keegan tells of “a rural world of silent men and wild women who, for the most part, make bad marriages, and vivid, uncomprehending children” (Anne Enright, The Guardian). Now she has delivered her next, much-anticipated book, Walk the Blue Fields, an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. Claire Keegan’s brilliant debut collection, Antarctica, was a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, and earned her resounding accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. ![]() ![]() ![]() Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. ![]() Picoult ( Songs of the Humpback Whales ) brings her considerable talents to this contemporary story of a young woman in search of her identity. ![]() ![]() ![]() Told in third person POV, the main characters are compellingly complex and the plot is suitably twisting with a handful of shock-surprises near the end to persuade you to immediately turn to the second book and read on. This is classical stuff – if you enjoy Greg Keyes and Kate Elliott, then don’t pass up on the opportunity to read it. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics – and cultivate a flair for death. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.īut to be accepted, Azorth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums and learned the hard way to judge people quickly – and to take risks. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir. Over the last couple of years I’ve found myself knee-deep in the critters – and Weeks’ debut book certainly joins the list.įor Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. ![]() It seems that 2008 was a cracking good year for quality fantasy novels. ![]() ![]() The first thing I want to say about The Darkest Surrender is WOO-HOO!! I am a huge fan of LotU, and felt the last two books have been mediocre. Now Kaia and her sisters have the opportunity to prove their worth at the Harpy Games, a deadly “warrior Olympics” of sorts. Kaia was named “The Disappointment,” and while she never let it show, she was deeply hurt. He also happened to be the consort of a fellow harpy who to this date, waits to seek her revenge on Kaia. When she was only 14 years old and full of untested confidence, Kaia unknowingly released a prisoner who decimated a large percent of the Harpy population. We’ve seen Kaia around – twin sister to Bianca (Lysander’s mate) and big sister of Gwen (Sabin’s mate). ![]() ![]() Showalter kicks off her eight full-length Lords of the Underworld (LotU) book with a little history of harpy, Kaia. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Man in the Moon is the latest dazzling masterpiece, the one we Joyceans, young and old, have been pining for. ![]() It's an unforgettable story that will leave readers wanting more.and luckily there IS more, because The Man in the Moon is just the first in the Guardian's of Childhood series, which will, I predict, take their rightful places in the hearts of children everywhere." - BRIAN SELZNICK, author/illustrator of the Caldecott-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret "Each of William Joyce's books has been more beautifully painted, more magically imagined and more deliciously written than the one that came before. The Man in the Moon is filled with tenderness, love, and enchantment. Stunning! " - MAURICE SENDAK, Caldecott-winning creator of Where the Wild Things Are "William Joyce, to put it simply, is a genius, and we are lucky to have another book from him. Only a sure and meticulous hand could conjure up such luscious lunar moths and battling constellations."-Kirkus Reviews, "A fabulous recapturing of an old, real fairytale world. ![]() Only a sure and meticulous hand could conjure up such luscious lunar moths and battling constellations."-Kirkus Reviews, "Joycee(tm)s prowess as an illustrator is undeniable, and this may well be his most ambitious, marvelous-looking title to date. ![]() "Joyce's prowess as an illustrator is undeniable, and this may well be his most ambitious, marvelous-looking title to date. ![]() ![]() ![]() It had been explained in the first book, but it made a lot more sense once This started interacting with them, and a lot more nuance came out. The first book focused on Rhodaire and Illucia, and their complicated history, but Rhodaire also has a tricky history with the countries Thia needs to ally with. The sequel also takes the reader to new countries, and I really liked seeing their sides of the story. The battles are snappy but easy to follow, full of emotions as Thia faces the prospect of losing her friends. It’s action-packed, as Thia and her allies get ready to fight for their freedom. THE CROW RIDER is great sequel and duology finale. Thia has to decide if she can rely on herself and their bond enough to lead the rebellion and become the crow rider she was meant to be. She is also pursued by Prince Ericen, heir to the Illucian throne and the one person she can’t trust but can’t seem to stay away from.Īs the rebel group prepares for war, Res’s magic grows more unstable. Res excels at his training, until he loses control of his magic, harming Thia in the process. Thia must convince the neighboring kingdoms to come to her aid, and Res’s show of strength is the only thing that can help her.īut so many obstacles stand in her way. Princess Thia, her allies, and her crow, Res, are planning a rebellion to defeat Queen Razel and Illucia once and for all. *SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for THE STORM CROW* Synopsis: ![]() I received an eARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Gripping, touching and deliciously satirical…This is most likely to succeed Rowling. Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 55 million copies of his books worldwidePraise for the Percy Jackson series:’Witty and inspired. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt are far from dead and buried.Īnd neither, unfortunately, are their gods. To save their dad, they embark on a terrifying quest from Cairo to Paris to the American South-west and discover the truth about their family’s connection to the House of Life: an Egyptian temple of magic that has existed for thousands of years. Set imprisons Dr Kane in a golden coffin and Carter and Sadie must run for their lives. ’CARTER AND SADIE KANE’S dad is a brilliant Egyptologist with a secret plan that goes horribly wrong.Īn explosion shatters the ancient Rosetta stone and unleashes Set, the evil god of chaos. ‘I GUESS IT STARTED THE NIGHT OUR DAD BLEW UP THE BRITISH MUSEUM. Now the Gods of Egypt are waking in the modern world… The Red Pyramid: the first book in Rick Riordan’s The Kane Chronicles. ![]() |