I've got a few reviews to make today, before I get back to card making. I'm going to have to find a new routine to get my book posts made more regular. I read every night, so I guess as soon as I finish a book I need to jump on the computer and post, but for some reason I like to savor my reads for awhile before I post a review. I'll get a routine worked out somewhere along the way.
Today I'm starting with the Diana Spaulding Mystery Series as you can see by the title of the post. I first came to know Kathy Lynn Emerson as the author of a series that each title starts with Face Down. It's set in the 1600's, and sly Kathy has hinted in the Diana Spaulding stories about a connection between the heroines.
There are four books in this series:
Deadlier than the Pen
Fatal as a Fallen Woman
No Mortal Reason
Lethal Legend
Unfortunately, the publisher Pemberley Press did not choose to publish any more after these four. However, don't let this deter you from reading this series. Diana Spaulding is another plucky herione.
If you like period fiction you'll like these books. The setting is 1888 New York and surrounding areas. Diana is a widow supporting herself, estranged from her family, working as a reporter for a newspaper, kind of like the gossip papers of today. Right off in the first few pages of the book, she has to interview a mysterious man who does horror readings. I was hooked. The two are attracted to one another and the books go on to take you through their evolving relationship, Diana's penchant for getting herself embroiled in mysteries and the way their two families play into the stories is priceless.
Four good books to immerse yourself in the 1880's of adventure, murder, mayhem, and a little love.
Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Bone-Pedlar by: Sylvian Hamilton
The Bone-Pedlar, published in 2000, by Sylvian Hamilton came to my attention this week. The cover and the author's short bio in the front of the book peaked my interest. This story is set in 1209, after the crusades, and a time in history when all things possible are still in peoples minds. Religion, magic, politics, and people are even beginning to dabble in science.
I wouldn't have wanted to live back then, but I do like to visit that period in books, for some reason it is fascinating to me. In this day and age of all things convenient people complain about being to hot, to cold, not having enough to eat, but back in those days those things were really true. I am also, continually fascinated by how the human race, no matter what the circumstances, are continually on the move, either from necessity or pleasure.
The collection and possession of relics at that time was of all importance to the church. The hero of our book makes his living in this trade. Ms. Hamilton has crafted an excellent story around the life and times of this period in history.
A little bit of adventure, a little bit of magic(if you believe), and a good story to boot.
Once, you get past the first few pages, you have to remember people were a lot more gruesome back then, you won't be able to put this one down.
It turns out there are two more books in the series, so she has just whetted our imaginations for some more adventure to come.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
I wouldn't have wanted to live back then, but I do like to visit that period in books, for some reason it is fascinating to me. In this day and age of all things convenient people complain about being to hot, to cold, not having enough to eat, but back in those days those things were really true. I am also, continually fascinated by how the human race, no matter what the circumstances, are continually on the move, either from necessity or pleasure.
The collection and possession of relics at that time was of all importance to the church. The hero of our book makes his living in this trade. Ms. Hamilton has crafted an excellent story around the life and times of this period in history.
A little bit of adventure, a little bit of magic(if you believe), and a good story to boot.
Once, you get past the first few pages, you have to remember people were a lot more gruesome back then, you won't be able to put this one down.
It turns out there are two more books in the series, so she has just whetted our imaginations for some more adventure to come.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
Guardians of Ga'Hoole by: Kathryn Lasky
I saw a preview at the movies a few months ago that really sparked my interest. It seems it has sparked the interest of a lot of other people also. The books are very hard to find. Fortunately, a friend of mine found the first 3 on Paper Back Swap . The series is the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. The first 3 titles are: The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue.
I found these books not only to be entertaining, but also filled with some wonderful life lessons. Friendship, loyalty, courage, love. I don't know that adventure is a life lesson, but oh my, life is so much more fun when we have some adventure included.
I think these books are rated for the 9 to 12 year old group of readers, but as I am still a kid at heart I do like to refresh myself from time to time with these most important things that we learn as we are growing up.
Since, these books have been hard to find at the book store it is wonderful to think that a movie preview would spark interest in reading and that parents would help their children to seek these books out to read.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
I found these books not only to be entertaining, but also filled with some wonderful life lessons. Friendship, loyalty, courage, love. I don't know that adventure is a life lesson, but oh my, life is so much more fun when we have some adventure included.
I think these books are rated for the 9 to 12 year old group of readers, but as I am still a kid at heart I do like to refresh myself from time to time with these most important things that we learn as we are growing up.
Since, these books have been hard to find at the book store it is wonderful to think that a movie preview would spark interest in reading and that parents would help their children to seek these books out to read.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Patriot Hearts by: Barbara Hambly
I've been very neglectful of my book blog these last 2 months. I couldn't believe that the last time I had posted was July 1st. I have been reading and have added the books to my 100+ Reading Challenge list(June 6th post).
One of the stand outs that I have read is Patriot Hearts by: Barbara Hambly. She has chosen the topic of the first 3 First Ladies and Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson's paramour, their interactions, and relationships with each other and their husbands. If you are anything like me I never quite put together that these ladies knew each other. I realize that Ms. Hambly's book is fiction, but as we studied about the Presidents in school it was never really touched on about their relationships with their families. What I knew about the first ladies has come from my own later reading and that was kind of sketchy. Reading this book has given me a much broader sense of who these ladies were at a very crucial time in our history. Ms. Hambly brings these ladies to life for us and as usual she is able to paint a vivid picture in words of the sounds, smells, and deep feelings of the characters in this book. It seems so funny to think of these people as young and saying how handsome and how much in love they were because I have always thought of our Presidents as old men. Past all that mushy stuff I guess.
If you would like to get a new perspective on some strong women this would be an excellent book to read.We as women of today would have benefited from just a thimble full of these women's spunk and general living knowledge.
I became familiar with Ms. Hambly through her Benjamin January series. Again, she gave me a whole new perspective on a situation in history that is still a relevant part of our life and times today. She is an excellent author and you would definitely not be disappointed with any of her books.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
One of the stand outs that I have read is Patriot Hearts by: Barbara Hambly. She has chosen the topic of the first 3 First Ladies and Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson's paramour, their interactions, and relationships with each other and their husbands. If you are anything like me I never quite put together that these ladies knew each other. I realize that Ms. Hambly's book is fiction, but as we studied about the Presidents in school it was never really touched on about their relationships with their families. What I knew about the first ladies has come from my own later reading and that was kind of sketchy. Reading this book has given me a much broader sense of who these ladies were at a very crucial time in our history. Ms. Hambly brings these ladies to life for us and as usual she is able to paint a vivid picture in words of the sounds, smells, and deep feelings of the characters in this book. It seems so funny to think of these people as young and saying how handsome and how much in love they were because I have always thought of our Presidents as old men. Past all that mushy stuff I guess.
If you would like to get a new perspective on some strong women this would be an excellent book to read.We as women of today would have benefited from just a thimble full of these women's spunk and general living knowledge.
I became familiar with Ms. Hambly through her Benjamin January series. Again, she gave me a whole new perspective on a situation in history that is still a relevant part of our life and times today. She is an excellent author and you would definitely not be disappointed with any of her books.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Fever Dream by: Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
This is the latest in the series of books by Preston & Child. These gentlemen have included in this series of stories a little bit of everything: mystery, creepy, things that go bump in the night, psychological, I don't want to put off the faint of heart, but in some of the stories there is some gore as it pertains to the story.
They give us a fascinating hero-Special Agent Pendergast and a cast of characters that so interesting that as you read the books you feel you get to know them personally. You know you've hit upon a good author when you become invested in the characters of the tales they are spinning. I don't want to start talking about the story lines to much or that would give away your fun in discovering these very interesting authors and their books.
Preston & Child have written other books each on their own. I first became acquainted with Douglas Preston when I read Tyrannosaur Canyon. An excellent fast paced read with lots of adventure. You may have guessed by now my favorite reads are mystery, adventure, and historical. Oops, maybe I'm not as eclectic as I thought.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
They give us a fascinating hero-Special Agent Pendergast and a cast of characters that so interesting that as you read the books you feel you get to know them personally. You know you've hit upon a good author when you become invested in the characters of the tales they are spinning. I don't want to start talking about the story lines to much or that would give away your fun in discovering these very interesting authors and their books.
Preston & Child have written other books each on their own. I first became acquainted with Douglas Preston when I read Tyrannosaur Canyon. An excellent fast paced read with lots of adventure. You may have guessed by now my favorite reads are mystery, adventure, and historical. Oops, maybe I'm not as eclectic as I thought.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
The Lightning Thief/The Sea of Monsters by: Rick Riordan
I've included 2 books on this review. They are the first 2 books in the series Percy Jackson & The Olympians.
It is interesting to note that there is a movie coming out soon by this same title. It was interesting to discover that Mr. Riordan lives here in Texas also.
This is another series involving the Greek myths. Unlike the book I just read recently on the same subject you don't have to have as deep a knowledge of the myths in this series. Maybe it's just the fact that the story starts out with a bang on the first page and is exciting to the last page. Mr. Riordan has a fresh style of telling an adventure story that leads you from page to page and leaves you wanting more. So, be prepared if the movie makers do as good a job on the movie you will probably be wanting a sequel.
I have every intention of reading the rest of the series. As I can acquire each book in order they will go to top of my TBR Pile.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
It is interesting to note that there is a movie coming out soon by this same title. It was interesting to discover that Mr. Riordan lives here in Texas also.
This is another series involving the Greek myths. Unlike the book I just read recently on the same subject you don't have to have as deep a knowledge of the myths in this series. Maybe it's just the fact that the story starts out with a bang on the first page and is exciting to the last page. Mr. Riordan has a fresh style of telling an adventure story that leads you from page to page and leaves you wanting more. So, be prepared if the movie makers do as good a job on the movie you will probably be wanting a sequel.
I have every intention of reading the rest of the series. As I can acquire each book in order they will go to top of my TBR Pile.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
Rotten to the Core by: Sheila Connolly
This is the second in this series. The first one is One Bad Apple. I read it last year some time before I started all this blogging.
A well written story about a young woman starting in a new direction in her life and of course, she finds dead bodies on her property. I'm sure we would all want to helpful to the police to get a crime solved if it happened on our property. Since she has inherited an apple orchard and is trying to revitalize it there is all sorts of neat information about apples and orchards.
That's one of the neat things I like about being an eclectic reader I'm amassing all kinds of interesting information in the old brain cavity.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
A well written story about a young woman starting in a new direction in her life and of course, she finds dead bodies on her property. I'm sure we would all want to helpful to the police to get a crime solved if it happened on our property. Since she has inherited an apple orchard and is trying to revitalize it there is all sorts of neat information about apples and orchards.
That's one of the neat things I like about being an eclectic reader I'm amassing all kinds of interesting information in the old brain cavity.
Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥
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