Review: Evermore

Evermore by Sara Holland
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Edelweiss, HarperTeen, and Sara Holland for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Evermore is the sequel to Everless. Sometimes you can get away without reading the first novel in a series and they can stand alone. This is not the case. Without reading the first novel you will feel fairly lost and won’t understand what is going on, how the world works, and the characters’ backstories. There is no real recap of what has happened previously to catch you up on where we are in the story. If you have read the first book you will remember that Jules Ember is the ancient Alchemist, who has lived twelve previous lives and is in a battle with The Sorceress. Jules had no prior memory of her other lives and is still trying to play catch up on her history, her powers and figuring out how she can kill The Sorceress. She stole the Sorceress’ heart and broke it into pieces and swallowed it. This is her last life and if she dies all is lost. The Sorceress has been alive the whole time, killed The Alchemist each life and controlled the last Queen. The new queen is Jules’ twin sister but doesn’t know it and thinks Jules has killed their father. Jules is in love with Liam, who has been helping her learn about her history and prepare for her battle against The Sorceress. The Sorceress is on a mission to kill all those who are close to Jules in an effort to break her heart. Only then will The Sorceress be able to kill her and steal her power back. In this land people give their blood because it holds their time, their years in life. Rich people have loads of time, whereas poor people beg for an hour of time.

I am sorry to say that I really didn’t enjoy this one any more than the first. The same problems that plagued the first book cropped up in this one. I had hopes that with the second one, they would have worked on things like character development, story problems and building something exciting, but nope, didn’t happen. I thought there were huge problems. I can’t stand when writers rely on tropes and don’t bother to develop storylines. Liam and Jules love story wasn’t developed in the first book and just because you say they are in love, then six chapters later they kiss and then they SLEEP TOGETHER???? Why - I don’t buy it. They have to share some experiences, build some connection. Most of the story was her rejecting him, pushing him away because she didn’t want him to be a target. He may or may not have been hurt, who know because we never hear that much from him, he believes she doesn’t like him because they aren’t that close and then boom - they are in love. Nope. The whole story was weak. There wasn’t any buildup up to the final scene between The Sorceress and The Alchemist. If I am waiting two books then please, make it exciting! Don’t get me started on her twin sister. That was the weakest storyline ever! She starts off by telling her sister she did kill Roan and then no contact, for hundreds of pages and Ina is hunting her, ready to kill her, and all of a sudden she believes her? Even Jules says that everybody else questioned her more than Ina. Why was she believed? I thought it was a trick until nope, nothing else is mentioned. I DON’T GET IT!!! I hate when YA books get lazy. Even the small details bothered me. When Jules puts on the Huntsman’s costume after sleeping with Liam (which is still bothering me because you are cutting out a whole bunch of readers when you add sex to the mix, especially when it wasn’t necessary), Jules comments that she hopes no one notices that the costume doesn’t fit properly and the cloak hangs crooked. Why doesn’t it fit properly? It was her twin sister’s? It should have fit perfectly. But because she was sneaking around it fits the storyline better to make her in an outfit that doesn’t fit because it creates tension in case she is caught. To me, that is manipulation, cheap and lazy of the author. I do have to say that the covers are beautiful and suck me in each time. I think that there are other series that are better worth your time and investment.

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Review: The Minimalist Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life

The Minimalist Home: A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life by Joshua Becker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Waterbrook and Multnomah, and Joshua Becker for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Joshua Becker has been in the “minimal” business for about 10 years. He has a website where you can get lots of tips and advice, including a newsletter sent to your inbox every so often. He has written other books but this one is sort of the culmination of his life’s work. He has been on TV, speaks all over and I have been following him for the past couple of years. In today’s world of massive consumerism, we can all use a dose of paring down and keeping things simple. We all have too much stuff. We are promoted, advertised, propagandized into thinking that it’s all stuff we need, what we have isn’t the right stuff and that the more stuff we have the happier we will be. This has been going on for years, I mean George Carlin had a bit about “Stuff” in the early 80’s. So I was excited to read what Becker had to say on what he promotes as a step by step, comprehensive room-by-room guide to decluttering your home and your life.

Ugh - what an awful read. First I felt like his tone was so condescending. I couldn’t take it. Obviously I have a lot of stuff - that’s why I’m reading this book. He would repeat himself, ad nauseam, throughout the whole book. There wasn’t any comprehensive guide - again, he would repeat the same thing over and over for each room, literally the same steps - for each room! Why bother going through each room, listing all of the possible things you might have accumulated, telling me “get rid of what you don’t use or don’t need”. Obviously I knew that much! I don’t need a book for that. I was hoping for some insight, maybe some ideas that I hadn’t thought of to help declutter, some instructions. There was no real guidance other than “don’t do it” for lasting change. Then, don’t tell me how my life is going to change, I will become richer, have a fabulous job, help the poor, have more time, blah blah blah, just because you told me to get rid of some stuff. I didn’t buy any of it. I have decluttered before and none of those things have happened to me. The “real life” examples were ridiculous, laughable. Look, I believe in keeping a home without a lot of junk. Nobody needs piles of clothes, lots of knick knacks, and yes, you should keep those things that mean something to you. You shouldn’t get sucked into marketing ideas of having the latest, greatest and best thing out there, which will go out of date and then you need something new. I also happen to live with a (mild case) hoarder, who believes every rock, piece of junk, paper, etc. is extremely important and sentimental and will not throw out anything. So according to Becker, those are the things to keep. Not helpful. But without something new or real to add to the discussion, don’t fill up a book with one idea. My advice is don’t add one more book to your bookshelf with this one.

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Review: The Similars

The Similars by Rebecca Hanover
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Rebecca Hanover for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Imagine the chance of going to school with the first set of human clones. The Similars, a group of six teenagers, will be attending Darkwood Academy and Emma is less than excited. Created by a rogue lab technician, they have been kept secret, raised apart from society, with only each other for company by a mysterious guardian. Until now. Now they will be going to school with their human counterparts. What will they be like? Will they be exactly like their doubles? Will they like the same things, behave the same way, be good at the same things? I mean, they have the exact same DNA. Emma might be more excited if one of them weren’t the exact copy of her best friend, Oliver. Oliver is the only one who won’t be meeting his clone because he committed suicide last summer. Emma still hasn’t come to terms with his death and now she has to run into his face everywhere - in class, in the halls, in the cafeteria. But it isn’t Oliver, it is Levi, his clone. Levi would rather not have to walk around with some dead kid’s face but he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. He gets that Emma can’t stand him, but she doesn’t even know him. But Emma doesn’t trust the clones, something is off with them. They can’t be trusted. But no one believes her. Now Prudence, her human friend has been attacked. Was it the clones? Was it someone who wants the clones dead and got the wrong twin? Emma is determined to find out and that might just give her some answers to why Oliver died.

I really like the premise of this story. The execution lacked for me. There were too many things going on and I didn’t find any of the story lines very exciting. It had potential but without development it fell flat. I didn’t really bond with any of the characters, so I didn’t really care what happened to any of them. There was the usual teenage angst, very predictable stuff with the cool kids being mean to Emma and her friends, of course the Emma/Levi romantic storyline, really nothing new, not even an interesting take on the old stuff. It was so predictable that the author didn’t even bother to develop the romantic storyline. They didn’t like each other and then they were in love - for no reason at all. Having six clones meant that there were too many to develop any of their characters, but even as a group we didn’t really get to know them. You could have had their point of view told through a character like Pippa. There were some enjoyable parts and the ending had some worthwhile bits, but overall I was disappointed.

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Review: Liars' Paradox

Liars' Paradox by Taylor Stevens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books, and Taylor Stevens for an excerpt of this book. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving this excerpt.

Meet Jack. He busts into a room, grabs a woman off of her lover, throws her on his shoulders and into the trunk of his car. He has been trailing her. Is he a stalker? Jealous ex? Nope. When he releases her from the trunk, they go at it like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Except these aren’t love interests. This is brother and sister. It is obvious that they have both been trained as assassins. Their “mom”, or the woman who trained them, needs to see them. When they approach her out-of-the-way home, it blows up in front of them. So the story begins.

So, you can get the idea that this is a mix of Kill Bill, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and any other famous trained assassin movie you can think of. It reads a little like those old gumshoe movies with the voice overs. From the excerpt it seems to have more violence and sex than those old movies would have shown. I’m not sure if it peaked my interest enough to go buy the book. I would have loved to have read the whole thing and give you a better idea of what it was like and see if I would have been interested enough to invest in the series, but I just didn’t get enough information from the excerpt to be able to tell. My fault for not reading the publisher’s note that the whole book was available to download at a later date.What I did read wasn’t enough to make me want to run out and buy it. There are just too many books in this world that I know I want to read first. That being said, it peaked my curiosity enough that if I come across it on sale, I’m interested enough to give the first book a try.

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Review: You Are Not Your Thoughts: The Secret Magic of Mindfulness

You Are Not Your Thoughts: The Secret Magic of Mindfulness by Frances Trussell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Frances Trussell and John Hunt Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

You are not your thoughts - what a concept. If I could do that, I’d be a happier little lamb! That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aspire to higher thinking. Now I know, I know, this is not a new concept but it bears worth repeating, or reading, over and over again. I seriously dove into the mindfulness/meditation world around 6 years ago and have read, studied and practiced a ton. So, I was looking forward to reading a new voice. Frances Trussell is based out of London and is a mindfulness, meditation teacher among other things. She has a meditation podcast called The Mindfully Happy podcast and this is her first book. It is small - just over 100 pages. I have to say that everything she discusses is right on the money. She offers many gems, or words of wisdom. The first third of the book she talks about mindfulness with the last two thirds focusing on meditation.

This isn’t a trite book and it doesn’t come off all buzz wordy. She knows her stuff and brings up many important issues that can help us lead a better life. Her main topic is trying to quiet the voice in our head. You know, the one that talks to us all day long, reading from a script that was written a long time ago, that criticizes and beats us down. That voice stops us from being our true self. When it is talking we are either living in the past, or worrying about the future. The amazing thing is no one else knows what that voice is saying or believes it to be true. Only us! We probably won’t be able to totally get rid of it but if we can at least be aware and keep it quiet, all kinds of wonderful things open up to us. With awareness comes space that will allow us to be more true to ourselves. One of the ways of creating space is meditation. Trussell takes you through from a beginning meditation to more advanced ones, explaining the how to and the goal of each one so you can progress accordingly. She also provides links to her website and podcast so you can use these additional sources.

I think the meditation part she did better than the mindfulness. You can’t just throw out a whole but of platitudes and expect people to understand how to go about this very hard work. I would have rathered she focus on one thing with mindfulness and then go on to the meditation part. Like I said, everything she writes is true and important but without guidance I think most people will be lost. Certainly, if you are new to this, I don’t think this will offer any chance at lasting change, or even start you on the road properly. And I have a huge problem with that. I think it is irresponsible to sort of drop all of this stuff out there and not back it up. That’s how mindfulness gets all twisted up and distorted and people don’t really understand what to do with it. I don’t think that if even offers inspiration that will motivate newcomers to go off and learn more. Because I better understand what she is saying, I could nod and agree with it as I read along, but it didn’t help move me along in my practice either. So not for beginners, not for experienced. One thing she does say, which bears repeating, is that there is no wrong and trying is doing. Just by the act of thinking about your inner voice can make a shift. I would encourage anyone to explore this idea of “you are not your thoughts” because all it can do is add to your life in a positive way. She does a much better job with explaining the meditation. Probably because she teaches it, she is better able to break it down. For that alone, the book is worth it.


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Review: Ashtanga Yoga Practice Cards: The Primary Series

Ashtanga Yoga Practice Cards: The Primary Series by Kino MacGregor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley, Shambhala Publications Inc., and Kino MacGregor for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

This is a book of practice cards. Each has an illustration of the pose, the name of the pose, an explanation of how to execute the pose and the benefits to your body. The explanation is quite detailed and very thorough. There are standing poses, seated poses, finishing poses with a small opening and closing prayer. It seems like you could print out them out as cards and mix and match them to make your own routine. You could always trade old pose cards in and create new routines, increasing level of difficulty as you master certain poses. There are almost 60 poses in all.

The illustrations are great and show the “ideal” way the pose should be executed. Unless you are extremely flexible or very advanced, you won’t look like her. I like the section on the benefits of each pose because it is nice to know how each one helps your body. She gives lots of cues for how to do each pose, which muscles need to pull in or tighten, where to look, all the instructions an actual live instructor would give.

Be warned that I think you need some experience in ashtanga yoga before attempting any of these cards. There are also no order or easier to harder poses and if you just decide to “try” it out, you could hurt yourself. There aren’t any warnings as to who should use this, seeing a doctor or any other warnings that usually accompany even the easiest physical exercise programs. I also happen to know that if you have high blood pressure there are certain poses that you should never try because you can pass out. So if I was doing this in my home, by myself, that might be very dangerous. Some of these are very advanced poses and without the proper build up of skills and muscle control you could really hurt yourself.

So, if you have enough experience and are just using this as a guide, I think it might be helpful. If you are starting from scratch and are looking to educate yourself with the book, I say - go take a class or 10 or 100, before relying on these cards. Remember, in yoga, it is not about executing the pose “perfectly” but doing what you can, at your level, to the best of your ability, without pushing yourself.

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Review: The Liar's Wife

The Liar's Wife by Samantha Hayes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture, and Samantha Hayes for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.


This was the worst. I haven’t read a bad book in a while, but this was a snoozer. The conflict happens right at the beginning and then you are left with 300 pages of boring, boring, boring, until the big reveal at the end. I didn’t like any of the characters, I had no sympathy for Ella being abused, honestly, I felt like I was getting a blow in the head each chapter I kept reading. If not for receiving this book from NetGalley, I would not have finished it. But, I felt an obligation and was hoping that it would improve as I went along. Clearly, not everyone, I mean mostly everyone, doesn’t agree with me because it has a 4 star rating on Goodreads. I would interrupt this to mean that it was above average.

So meet Ella. She is a boring non-nondescript person who doesn’t socialize with anyone at her place of work. Riding her bike home, she is in a terrible accident that lands her in the hospital. When she wakes from her coma, her loving husband is there, holding her hand, doting on her. Everyone tells her how lucky she is. Except that she is not married and is clearly afraid of the man who is standing before her. She thought he was long dead. There is history there and he is blackmailing her into going along with his little ruse. We don’t know what Jacob’s name really is and as she recollects the past, we are to figure out who he is. Jacob empties her apartment and moves her into a big new beautiful house. She is kept prisoner there, getting hit for the smallest of infractions. He forces her to quit her job, but WAIT. There is a guy that she has never spoken to, never gone out with, even in a group in a casual setting, won’t even accept a ride home from him, that she smiled at once after years of working there who is suspicious of what is happening. Can he save her? Who is Jacob? Why are her neighbours so nosy? What will happen to Ella??

Geez, sorry, I can’t. It was all too ridiculous. Even if all that worked, the baby thing just put it over the top. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because I don’t want to reveal spoilers for those readers who want to read it. For me, more depth and fully drawn out characters was needed. Spending more time developing them would have allowed the audience to be invested and care about what was happening to them. Too many archetypes were being thrown around, leaving you to fill in the blanks. There were lots of loose ends for characters that a lot of time was spent on, but I’m not sure why? What was the purpose of Meggie? All that buildup that didn’t lead to anywhere? There were plot holes that just made things messy, didn’t make any sense, didn’t serve a purpose and those could have been edited out to make more room developing things that should have been developed. Also, if you have read more than a couple of these mysteries, you know there are bound to be red herrings. Spending three quarters of the book on what was an obvious red herring just ended up being a boring read. The reveal wasn’t so shocking and l was so happy it was over, I didn’t care. Then, the aftermath, was like a Hallmark movie where everyone got their happy ending. Bluch!! If all of it was true, from Ella’s childhood to her relationships to what happened, she needs therapy, not another boyfriend.

So, not for me, but I am just one opinion. Others have found it enjoyable and I am not one to judge. On this one, you will have to decide for yourself.

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Review: Gradient Style: Color-Shifting Techniques & Knitting Patterns

Gradient Style: Color-Shifting Techniques & Knitting Patterns by Kerry Bogert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, F&W Media and the dietary Kerry Bogert for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and idependent of receiving an advanced copy.


Working with colour can be one of the more challenging things when knitting. Especially today when you have so many options besides just switching yarn colours. There are beautiful ombre, speckled, gradient, variegated and handprinted yarns that it can be difficult to know how to handle each case. You want to showcase the colours at its best and avoid things like pooling. Sometimes a written pattern will take these things into account, however, what if you want to substitute a yarn, or change up the colours. If you are new to colour knitting, or don’t have much experience, I don’t think Gradient Style is the place to start. They also include 8 patterns to get you started.

Although it touches on some important things to think about, this book is not very comprehensive when it comes to explaining colour, and how these different kinds of yarn work when knitting them up. It has a colour wheel and talks about contrasting and. Complimentary colours but really doesn’t go into much detail. Really, any of the techniques or ideas that it talks about, it doesn’t do a great job at a thorough explanation. I hoped that maybe in the patterns they would give some examples of how to switch up the colours, or if you wanted to substitute yarns, but it didn’t do that either. Most of the patterns are using yarns that have colour built into them already, so you aren’t even learning how to use colour there either. I don’t need a shawl pattern that simply uses a variegated blue yarn and wow! I’m colour knitting! No, I don’t think so.

So if you looking for something comprehensive, or simply looking for something to give you inspiration, you might want to look elsewhere. This is pretty basic, without giving you the basics. If I can’t learn something new, then I want to be wowed by the patterns and they are okay, but nothing special. Overall, I was disappointed.

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Review: Delicate Crochet: 23 Light and Pretty Designs for Shawls, Tops and More

Delicate Crochet: 23 Light and Pretty Designs for Shawls, Tops and More by Sharon Hernes Silverman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgallet, F&W Media, and Sharon Hernes Silverman for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Delicate Crochet contains 23 patterns from 11 designers, focusing its designs on light and airy, and uses no yarn heavier than lightweight (#3). In the introduction, Silverman states that she assumes everyone using this book already knows the basics and at most might just need a refresher. The patterns range from easy to experienced, with some using Tunisian Crochet. There are some illustrated instructions in the back, with some attention being paid to the Tunisian technique. The patterns themselves are written out with charts and diagrams as needed. The illustrations of the patterns are okay, but nothing too inspiring. They mostly show off the design, but this is one area that could have been improved. Almost half of the patterns are wraps, shawls, scarves, rounded out with some cardigans, vests, tees, and one of each a skirt, gloves, and necklace thrown in for variety.

There are some heavyweight designers like Vicky Chan and Robyn Chachula just to name a few. Some of the patterns are cute, but overall I found it standard fare for what you see with crochet. There are some I would want to make, but I’m not sure if it would be enough for me to pick up and buy if I came across it in a store. As with any pattern book, it is how they fit that counts the most.

It is worth checking it out and if the patterns speak to you - happy crochet-ing!

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Review: Night of Miracles

Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Random House and Elizabeth Berg for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

I have always felt that if I could come back and live another life, I would choose to live that life in a small southern town. You know. The kind where everyone knows each other’s names and are up into each other’s business, where you find good people, salt of the earth and neighbours help each other out. The kind of town you can wander into, plunk down roots and watch the most beautiful sunset from your porch and later, on that porch, your friends will gather and someone will pull out a guitar, someone else the spoons and you’ll make music into the night. The Saturday afternoon movie version of what life would be like. Night of Miracles is set in that sort of town. As a quasi-sequel to Berg’s “The Story of Arthur Truluv”, this one can be read as a stand-alone, however, after you read it, you will want to pick up every one of her other books.

Berg writes beautifully, simple, clean. This isn’t the kind of literary fiction with language so flowery it can give you a headache. But she can make you feel as if you are right there, walking down main street or smelling Lucille’s cherry pie right out of the oven (check out the recipe below!). I wanted to don one of Lucille’s aprons, bake in a class with people who will become my friends, or stop in the diner for the usual, or teach with kids like Lincoln in my class. With a small cast of characters that you come to care about, life, with its ups and downs, is just a little better because you have people around to help you.

If you read Arthur Truluv, you will know most of the characters. The story centers around Lucille Howard, the elderly woman Arthur lived with, who is renting the house that Arthur left to Maddy. Maddy and her daughter Nola, are not central to the story, but we do get to follow up with her and see how she is doing. Lucille, a retired teacher, has been teaching baking classes from her home and they are becoming quite popular. She has been watching Lincoln, the next door neighbour’s kid , because Abby, the mother has just been diagnosed with leukaemia. Lucille is also trying to grow her baking classes and hires Iris to help her out. Iris has left her husband and was on her way to San Francisco, when she stopped in Mason and decided to stay. She becomes friends with Tiny, a big lug of a guy who taxi’s everyone around town. Tiny is in love with Monica, the waitress at the diner, but is too shy to make a move. Monica, who is also in love with Tiny, tried to make the first move and ask him out, but poor Tiny got so flustered he said no and now the two of them don’t know what to do with each other.

Trying to convey what this book is about by listing the characters and their sub-plot, is not doing any justice to the story. That is not what the book is really about. It is about people, who are quirky, odd, with strengths and flaws, who are just trying to get by, with every day’s challenge. How opening your heart to let people in, to lean on those around you, to be grateful for who you have in your life is what makes life worth living. It is about second chances, and how you have agency in how you live your life. It is about hope and how we all get a miracle. You’ll need tissues.

It is a great read, one of my favourites. The characters are ones you will want to spend time with. Her writing is seamless as she weaves the stories together. It is authentic and real.

-If you are interested, I have posted three of Lucille’s recipes on my blog. I will update my blog after I test out the recipes. If they are half as good as the book claims her baking to be - I’m in!


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Review: A Ladder to the Sky

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Crown Publishing and John Boyne for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Get ready to dive into a tale of deceit and subterfuge as you discover what make Maurice Swift tick. All Maurice wants to be is a writer. A writer and a father. But not just any writer, a famous bestselling, award winning author. He is an excellent writer, the only problem is that he doesn’t have any original ideas - not even one. Maurice’s ambition is not going to let a little thing like that stop him. Why should it? By using people, stealing their stories and leaving a trail of crushed spirits (and bodies) behind him, he manages to publish successful novels. How far will he go? Will he commit the ultimate sin to get his story?

This character reminds me a bit of “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. As I learned more about Maurice, I realized this wasn’t so much an arc of this character’s descent into evil, rather, he is so cold, calculated, and unfeeling, with psychopathic tendencies, that I realized he doesn’t have a moral centre at all. His wife, Edith, wonders if he ever loved her. She couldn’t believe that even in the beginning it wasn’t a real love. The relationship with his son really illustrates how he is incapable of emotion. Claiming he always wanted a son as much as he wanted to become a writer, he finds a surrogate and along comes Daniel. Daniel is a perfect child, but reality does not live up to what Maurice thinks and he says that “he always had expected to feel unadulterated love for a child…but things hadn’t quite worked out that way”. No parental feelings of love developed, even his own child can’t stir his heart. Psychopaths can only copy the outward actions of people, because they don’t have the emotions to guide them. Watching Maurice’s story unfold and following his rise and fall is thrilling and beautiful.

Boyle has a unique voice. I love the way this was written. Suspenseful, but not in a whodunit kind of way. It flows beautifully and I was so excited to keep reading. The characters are rich, well drawn and you can’t help but feel for Maurice’s victims, even those who should have known better. My heart broke for Erich, Dash, Edith, but mostly for Daniel. Gore Vidal was delicious. Yes, Maurice doesn’t have any redeeming qualities, but I was still drawn in by him. His ability to pick his targets and like a spider, spin a web that they are powerless to escape from. The ending was completely satisfying, everything I could hope for. This was just a great read and I enjoyed every bit of it.

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Review: Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land

Dear Zealots: Letters from a Divided Land by Amos Oz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Amos Oz for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

One thing is clear, Amos Oz loves Israel. It is his home, his ancestors’ homeland and it figures that he has very strong views on where its future lies. Amoz Oz is a well known, award winning, Israeli author whose works have been translated all over the world. I am a fan, having read several of his novels, so I was really excited to find this latest work. Dear Zealots is a collection of three essays that explore his views on fanatics, Judaism and a solution for Israel. The first essay looks at fanaticism and how to handle “the little fanatic who hides, more or less, inside each of our souls”. Zealots have been around since the beginning of time. Their seduction is their overwhelming interest in you, the desire to make you at one with his world, to lift you up and help you from the low place you are in. Their level of self sacrifice and knowledge of what is best for you is similar to how a parent is with their child. Oz recognizes that everyone, every race, every religion, can create these zealots, by shrinking their world and removing the ability to see things from another perspective or step in someone else’s shoes, and offers that through creativity, imagination and a little humour we might diminish the creation of fanatics.

The second essay Oz discusses his thoughts on Judaism. He feels the religion should not just be for the Orthodox and there is a need for secular pride. He feels that Judaism and humanism are one and the same. By reaching back in history he illustrates the idea (that, by the way, all Jews know very well and that is) that no two Jews will agree, or have the same interpretation of what it means and every one is valid. There isn’t a hierarchical system of cardinals and bishops that all defer to one man, the pope, who decides how each law should be expressed. He searches for an answer to the question “What is the heart of Judaism?”, really he is asking what is a Jew. He attempts to find the answer by looking back into our history and finding out that we are, as the title for this essay. says, “many lights, not one light, many beliefs and opinions, not one”.

The third essay is Oz’s argument of a two state solution. He has long been a proponent of this idea and has written about it many times before. Whether you agree with him or not (and there is plenty I don’t), this is an important book to read for problems that are current, a threat and difficult to discuss without people getting very heated. Well written, thoughtful commentary that is easy to read and definitely worth your time.

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Review: Girls on the Line

Girls on the Line by Jennie Liu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Carolrodha and Jennie Liu for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Luli has turned 16 and is turned out from the orphanage where she spent most of her life. She is off to the big city to meet up with her friend, Yun, who left the year before. Yun has a factory job and has promised to help Luli find a job and get settled. Although it is backbreaking work, it is better than staying to work at the orphanage looking after the babies. Luli can see how much Yun has changed in the one year since she left the orphanage. She has a stylish haircut, new clothes, disposable cash and a boyfriend. Luli learns that Yun’s boyfriend is bad news. He might be involved in trafficking women. Luli tried to warn her friend, but Yun doesn’t believe it. Soon Yun finds herself pregnant, alone and discovers that what people have been saying about her boyfriend is true. But she needs him to help pay for the abortion. The one child policy and the fact that she is unmarried, will make it impossible for her to keep the baby. At 16, she doesn’t want the responsibility. She is only just starting her life. Luli want to help her friend but how can she support her terminating the pregnancy or even worse, having the baby and giving it to the orphanage. The book explores the topics of family, friendship, coming of age, love, unwanted pregnancy and the One Child Policy in China through though the lives of these tow young girls as they navigate life on their own.

I have mixed feelings towards this novel. I thought that it did an amazing job of illustrating how difficult life can be in China. Being an orphan is tough. Having to support yourself at 16 is even harder. Getting pregnant at 16, with no family and having to make very tough decisions seems almost impossible. But when you explore these issues through the lens of another culture it really is eye opening. I had heard about the One Child policy, but I never considered what that entailed. I was very aware of the fact that girls were being abandoned, or worse killed, in order to have the “preferred” sons. I was also aware that it created a gender imbalance that has had huge ramifications for that society. I did not realize that if you did have a secret second baby they would not be considered a citizen and therefore wouldn’t be able to go to school or find a job. I was mildly aware of the deplorable conditions in the orphanages, but Liu brings to light so many issues that I hadn’t considered. She also did a great job of examining difficult issues through the lens of another culture. There were so many things in the story that made me feel if you were unlucky enough to be a pregnant orphan at 16, you were still way better off to be in North America. The. backbreaking work in the factory, being fined for having a baby that would take you most of your life to pay back, the prejudices against anyone outside of the norm makes for a very oppressive life.

There were a few things that didn’t work for me. One was the alternating chapters between Yun and Luli. This didn’t work for me at all. I find it disrupted the story and the transitions were awkward, even jarring, at times. The biggest downside for me was the language. I’m not sure why but the best way I can explain it is that it seemed too simplistic. It almost felt like a translation. I don’t think it did the story any justice. It kept bothering me as I was reading and it took me out of the story. I’m not referring to the dialogue between characters. However, the structure was sound and the events flowed nicely. Overall, I think this was an important story to tell and I would recommend it to others.

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Review: Body Mindful Yoga: Create a Powerful and Affirming Relationship with Your Body

Body Mindful Yoga: Create a Powerful and Affirming Relationship with Your Body by Robert Butera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Netgalley, Llewellyn Publications, Robert Butera and Jennifer Kreatsoulas for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

In today’s swell of the wellness arena, being mindful is what it is all about. You can’t get any buzzier of a buzz word than mindfulness. Yoga has reached an all time high in popularity and so many people are chanting mantras while living their best life, while being body positive, do we need one more book? Needless to say, I was a little hesitant to read “Body Mindful Yoga”. What is mindful Yoga? But body image continues to be a difficult subject for me to come to terms with, I at least wanted to know what it was all about.

Truth be told, I am one of the masses who is embracing mindfulness and yoga has become a steady diet (along with healthy food - ugh!) It has helped me get through the ordeal of late stage cancer and cope living with chronic pain. But I have taken enough courses, read enough books to know that there are a great many respected authors who have something to impart to this world, and others who want to jump on the bandwagon and sell you the snake oil.

This book is a bit of a mixed bag for me. As I made my way deeper into the book, I thought it got better and I definitely have a few take aways that I can incorporate into my daily practice. First, know that this is not a typical yoga book with poses and pictures and instructions on how to do each pose. The author is on a mission to “radically alter the way we see and value ourselves as well as the way we view, evaluate, and relate to others and the world at large. Body Mindful Yoga is “part of a movement rooted in social justice and anti-oppression.” The author wants you to throw out the negative talk we internalize regarding our bodies and reframe our “body narrative”. They break it down into four steps: Listen, Learn, Love, and Live.

The beginning third really put me off and I though this would be a bust. It is mostly hype trying to convince you how amazing this ideology is. Once they got into the actual methodology I found that there are some excellent journalling exercises that, I think, will really help me become more aware of the language I use towards my body image and awareness is really what mindfulness is all about. They cover finding out where these messages come from, your attitude towards fitness, food, social media and fashion. These journal exercises are something that I think I will revisit over and over again. They also touch on using mantras or affirmations and there are 16 yoga poses that they highlight. They reframe these basic poses demonstrating how to apply the mindful part of what you just learned and add some in depth information that I found very useful.

Although heavy handed at times, I found this had something to offer. In the current culture, body image is a problem for many people and any help to reframe your thoughts in a positive light, I welcome. Applying the mindful component with yoga made the whole philosophy full circle and I think there is something for everyone in this book.

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Review: The Art of Crochet Blankets: 18 Projects Inspired by Modern Makers

The Art of Crochet Blankets: 18 Projects Inspired by Modern Makers by Rachele Carmona
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Interweave (F+W Media) and Rachele Carmona for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Welcome to the world of crocheted blankets. But be aware! These are not the blankets your grandma used to make, that’s for sure. There isn’t a flame stitch, chevron pattern or granny square to be found in these pages and thank heavens for that. This is a unique take on crochet blankets that will make you excited to add one to your home decor.

There really is nothing better than making something with your own hands that you can use to curl up with or snuggle under. The beauty of blankets is that you are released from the struggle of making something to fit nicely. If if comes out a little bigger or smaller who cares and really who’s to know? Without the fit restrictions, it also allows you to be more flexible in choosing yarns that work and that means there is an opportunity to stash bust - always a plus when your stash is as big as mine! Carmona doesn’t market her book as a stash buster, but with her colourful designs, I think it lends itself to looking at what you might already have. However, should you choose to follow her designs as written, you will not be disappointed.

In this book you will find 18 patterns where Carmona looks at other art mediums for inspiration. She takes on weaving, digital art, fabric design, paper cutting, cement tile and quilting for coming up with fresh new ideas in designing blankets. You get a little bit of info on the artist and a picture of the original piece of art so you can easily spot the idea that sparked her creation. Some of the blankets are stunning, especially the graffiti blanket and the ombre stripe, where the colours are exceptional. Others are a bit of a stretch, or maybe not exactly my taste, but they might strike a fancy for you. What is original here is the source of inspiration. What a great place to look for design ideas. Carmona does not include how to design your own blanket, but after following her model, it seems like something I could do on my own.

There are lots of bright pictures, charts when needed and clear written out instructions so there is no guesswork in recreating these blankets. Because it is so well organized, it seems like it would be easy to change the colour palette if you wanted to make it match your own home decor. I did observe that a few of the patterns had to be done in pieces and you then had to assemble the blanket and sew (or crochet) the pieces together. Usually, the appeal of a blanket is just that it is one big piece, but I can see why the more intricate designs need to be done in pieces. There is a range of difficulty, from beginner to more intermediate patterns, which is always nice if you are going to invest in a pattern book.

Overall, a refreshing, original take on crochet blankets. So many new ideas and appealing designs that you should definitely check it out!

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Review: The Knitter's Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A to Z

The Knitter's Dictionary: Knitting Know-How from A to Z by Kate Atherley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Interweave, and Kate Atherley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Kate Atherley is well known in the knitter world. She has written several books and published lots of patterns, many of them found on Knitty, where she is the managing technical editor. As a mathematician, her patterns have lots of detail and are very well written.

This is a small but comprehensive book to help knitters understand patterns. If you find the language of patterns difficult, this would be a helpful reference. Some knitters love to design their own patterns, making it up as they go along. I, unfortunately, am not that kind of knitter. I have always relied on patterns. I was lucky that I never had a hard time understanding them. They always, sort of, made sense to me. Even the trickiest patterns I could decipher. For me, I didn’t find this collection outstanding. I think the you can find this information in other places. However, it is nice to have it one collection, for ease of use and reference for future projects. It is well written with lots of good tips.

A bit of a take it or leave it to me. If you think this would be useful for you, then I recommend. If it isn’t much of an issue for you, or you have other reference books (or don’t mind looking things up on the internet), I would pass on this one.

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Review: The Little Shop of Found Things

The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Paula Brackston for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Xanthe and her mother move to the small town of Marlborough to start life over and open up an antique shop. Both are running away from bad men. They are low on funds and there is pressure to open up the shop as soon as possible. Xanthe has a unique ability. She has a special, magical connections to old objects that have a story to tell. She comes across a chatelaine that has the strongest pull she has ever felt. While trying to get the shop ready to open, Xanthe also discovers that there is a sinister ghost haunting the place, who needs her help. The ghost needs Xanthe to save her daughter, four hundred years in the past. The chatelaine allows Xanthe to transport her back in time. Xanthe travels back, but saving the girl is not going to be so easy.

Yet again, I am sucked in by the premise of a book. I love books like “Outlander” and “Somewhere in Time” where the main character gets transported back in time. I love the setting of the book, a small town in England, with all the quaint shops and characters. Magical abilities, a ghost who needs the help of the living, are all things that I get excited about. Yes, I expected some sort of love story to happen, whether in current time or in the past. But all I have to say is Yuuuccchhhhhh!!! How can it all go wrong?

First there are the endless descriptions. On and on and on about stuff that not only I don’t care about, but doesn’t serve the story and isn’t gorgeous English-side scenery. Then we have the worst ghost - she is mean, nasty, bitter, and I don’t know why. What was the whole story with her and her daughter. I wasn’t even convinced she loved her daughter because we never got to see that. She was just super angry. So if you aren’t going to make the ghost a sympathetic character then make her scary, I mean really scary. I never understood why Xanthe would have done anything for her. I just didn’t buy that she would leave her sick mother and go risk her life for this women’s daughter, it was a shaky premise at best. Then, don’t make me wait 60% of the way through before I get a glimpse of the love story and then expect me to be invested in it. There was so too much preamble and not enough substance. The structure was just off for me. Overall, I wasn’t invested in the main characters. I didn’t care much for Xanthe. I liked the townspeople, both present and past, but why was so much time spent on them and nothing interesting happened with them. All the characters were really one dimensional, no depth. It was so slow I just wasn’t invested in the character’s outcomes. There wasn’t much magic and the time travel wasn’t captivating enough to hold my interest.

Honestly, I was bored, and really had to force myself to finish this one. I left it many times before finishing it. Disappointing and just glad to be done with it.

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Review: Listen to the Marriage

Listen to the Marriage by John Jay Osborn Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and John Jay Osborn for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100& my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

How much power, emotion, honesty, and truth can be packed into 256 pages? Quite a bit, if you are talking about “Listen To The Marriage”. What an incredible experience it was to be a fly on the wall, while Gretchen and Steve pore their hearts out to Sandy, their marriage councillor. I was completely caught up in their struggle, reading it all in one afternoon. I had been having a hard time, of late, trying to find a book to latch onto. Flitting from horror to magic to mystery, but nope, it was this little tiny gem about betrayal, growth and change that grabbed me. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down.

Gretchen and Steve are broken. So much so, that they are afraid they are headed for divorce. They find themselves in the office of Sandy, an unconventional marriage therapist. Can they pick up the pieces and put themselves together again? When they do, who will they be? Will they stay together or forge life ahead, apart? Told mostly through the therapist’s voice, we get a rare glimpse into what a marriage looks like, how what starts with love and hopes and dreams can get derailed into something so unrecognizable that you are driving straight into an abyss. Sandy is wise, patient and surprisingly non-judgemental for someone who can clearly see into these people’s motives. Both Gretchen and Steve have to do the work of breaking down walls and opening up about their feelings, in order to see what, if anything, is left between them. If you have ever sat in a therapist’s office, a lot of this will ring true. For example, Sandy always remains impartial, but damned if Gretchen doesn’t accuse her of secretly being on Steve’s side. Very typical, especially if your therapist is not always agreeing with you and maybe challenging you to grow.

If you are married, or have been married for a while, you will find something to relate to in Gretchen and Steve’s marriage. It takes you through all the mess that marriage can be. How you start out on a team and after some time goes by, without quite knowing how, you end up pitted against each other, just trying to keep your head above water and stop from losing yourself altogether. If you are lucky, you have healthy ways to communicate and respect each other’s boundaries. Sometimes, there is betrayal. Steve has an affair and Gretchen has to find a way to forgive him, regardless if they get back together. Once children are part of the picture, you are forever tied to one another.

I am still married. I related so much to this novel, it was a bit of a sob-fest for me. I completely understood Gretchen’s rage at how unfair it was that now that Steve had changed and became this self-aware, great father, someone else was going to get the benefit of all her hard work. I also recognized the pattern of speak that a couple can sometimes get into. You have the same conversation, over and over again, it almost writes itself. It is hard to break out of that without the help of someone from the outside. I thought the choice Osborn made to have the voice of the therapist narrate the novel brilliant, because how else can the reader stay impartial. It was a bit unrealistic how omnipotent she was with her clients. I doubt therapists are so in tune with their patients. If they were, no one would divorce. I recognized the desire to be “right” over the desire to try and fix things. How about saying something you don’t really mean because you are trying to cover up for how hurt you are.

There were a few unrealistic issues that did crop up other than Sandy being omnipotent. The couple never argued about money. Both were successful. I understood why the author made that choice. I’m going to assume it was because he could focus more on feelings but it rang a little false. Everyone argues about money, even people that have it. It also meant that it was easy for Gretchen to move out and find a place. Steve could jump from an apartment to this beautiful house without missing a beat. Finances bring a whole other dimension and host of problems to a divorce or separation and Osborn chose to ignore those in this situation. I think I understand why, but again, it was a little bell going off in the back of my head.

I was a little surprised that this was written by a man. I had no idea that a man could have so much insight into how a woman feels. The writing was really good. The pace of the novel moved quickly and, like I said, I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened. I was really rooting for them, even though I couldn’t see how that could happen after everything that had gone on up to this point. The cover is perfect and I love the symbolism of the green chair. At the end I was spent and completely satisfied. Don’t go looking for romantic gestures and fantasy dialogue in this novel. Only hard truths and raw emotion - the best that real life has to offer. But in the best way possible.

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Review: What They Don't Know

What They Don't Know by Nicole Maggi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Fire and Nicole Maggi for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.


Boy, this is going to be a tough one. First, this is very sensitive subject matter. The book brings up several issues that will hopefully open the door to many worthwhile conversations, but its main focus is on abortion. I find that it will be really hard to keep my personal feelings on the subject separate from reviewing the book. I will be very interested in reading what everyone has to say on this because of the subject matter it is dealing with. Also, this is a rough one to recommend to students. Because of people’s religious affiliations, I don’t believe it is appropriate for a teacher to introduce material that might go against a family’s belief system. On the other hand, open and honest discussion of the right to choose can be the only source of information some teenagers will have access to. I think it should be made available for students to be able to come to on their own, because I think that it is an amazing read.

So I’m going to tell you where I stand on this issue. I believe it is the only honest way, for me, to discuss this because how I feel influences how I read the book. I believe that it is a woman’s right to choose - no matter what the circumstances. Younger or older, through violence or consensual sex, no one should have to bear a child if that is not what the woman wants. And she deserves to have a safe, sterile, supported place to be able to abort the fetus, if that is what she chooses to do. Because my views lined up with the book’s, that allowed for me to enjoy it. I’m not sure if I was on the other side, or if the book was purporting the same ideology as Mellie’s parents, I would enjoy it in the same way.

Let me recap the story in order to offer some context. This is a book that deals with, among other things, rape and abortion. The style is done in the format of journal entries, alternating between the two main characters, Mellie and Lise. A teacher has assigned them a project of keeping a journal for the school year. This is a brilliant choice on the author’s part because we are privy not only to the events of that time, but to both girls’ deepest thoughts and feelings as they go through something very traumatic. Life changing, for both of them, although Mellie is the one who is pregnant and must decide what her options are. By using the teenagers’ voices, it allows an entry point for kids reading this book to engage in this subject in an open and honest way. Obviously, it is a little unbelievable to think these girls would be this forthcoming in a school assignment, but I was happy to suspend my disbelief because it worked so well. Also, for those that kids that are not the strongest of readers, or people who are just short on time, these small bites of daily entries are doable and will allow access for a larger reading audience. Interestingly enough, we never get to know who this teacher is. I was completely engaged, from beginning to end and found it truthful, honest, emotional, very powerful and even gut-wenching at times.

Mellie comes from a strong religious family, with a father who is running for Mayor on a pro-life platform, with a campaign promise to get rid of the last few legal abortion clinics in his town. He works hand in hand with the pastor. The pastor’s son Brandon happens to be engaged to Mellie’s sister Hannah. Brandon also happens to be Mellie’s rapist. Mellie is now pregnant and feels like she has nowhere to turn. She doesn’t feel like her family will believe her and knows that they will force her to have the baby. Although friends when they were younger, Lise and Mellie are not close anymore. But Lise knows enough to know that something is very wrong with Mellie and she wants to help.

There is so much more to the story. It’s complex and multi layered. It is really well written. I did find some of the characters nuanced and multi dimensional, however, there were some that were one-dimensional. Characters that were flat - either all bad or all good. The book has a clear slant and I think that it needs to be acknowledged. I’m not sure if students reading it will be able to tell, because although both ideologies are presented, it is clear one is bad and one is right. I also think that by having Mellie get pregnant through rape, it is a much easier way to create sympathy for Mellie to have the abortion. There are many pro-lifers who believe that rape is the exception to their rule.

The rape really isn’t explored in detail, it takes a much gentler approach. It is a great story about friendship, reaching out to help someone, and what happens when the beliefs that you have grown up with are challenged. It also touches on issues of bullying and losing your virginity. There is only one positive male in the whole story, Lise’s boyfriend, I wish there had been more. Even the minor male characters were rotten. It also did a great job of showing how difficult a decision to have an abortion is and no matter what anyone decides, no one comes to this conclusion easily or light-heartedly. It also highlights the positive role that Planned Parenthood has in society. It is not just for abortions, but provides much needed health care to women who can’t otherwise afford it. I did think it did an excellent job in portraying how alone Mellie felt. Teenagers often feel alone and that no one will understand what they are going through. On a side note, I was sad that there wasn’t one adult that Mellie felt she could turn to, or came to Mellie’s rescue.

I highly recommend this book, both for young adults and for adults. It is sad and beautiful but at its core it is heart-warming, having people who care and help in extraordinary ways and that you can survive something traumatic and come out the other side stronger.

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Review: The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow

The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel: A Story of Sleepy Hollow by Alyssa Palombo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Alyssa Palombo for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

A crispness in the air lets you know October is here and the time for some spooky reads is upon us. This is my first one for this month and a retelling of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from Katrina’s perspective sounded right up my alley. I was really excited for this one. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations and it was more sleepy and hollow than I wanted.

Palombo has given us, in her words, a feminist retelling of the classic tale. She has taken some liberties, as often is the case in a retell and I was fine with her choices. For myself, I don’t care if jack-o-lanterns weren’t around in the 1700, or the type of tarot cards she used was historically inaccurate -they served the story. I’m not convinced of the feminist claim, other than the fact that Katrina is a fully flushed out character and the story is told from her perspective. I guess giving her more agency in the events might be enough for a case to be made. I appreciated the fact that she made Sleepy Hollow, an actual place, “otherwordly” as to allow for superstitions to breed and magical events to take place.

Katrina is an only child of a wealthy farming family when Ichabod Crane come to town. He is to replace the schoolteacher and he supplements his meagre income by conducting music lessons for those in town. The two begin an illicit affair and eventually fall in love and want to get married. But not if Brom Bones has anything to say about it. He has threatened Crane more than once, warning him to stay away from Katrina. Once childhood friends, he is obsessive about making Katrina his wife. However, Katrina will have nothing to do with him after he ruined her best friend Charlotte’s life by spreading a rumour that she is a witch. Charlotte and her mother are healers and know the of the special properties of different herbs. But only those close to Charlotte know that she has a special intuition because if people in the town knew, they would turn against them. Brom knows better than to label her a witch but he has turned cruel since becoming a man. Katrina’s father has been putting a lot of pressure on Katrina to accept Brom as he believes this to be a good match. Her father has high hopes of joining their two farms together knowing that this will provide for his daughter long after he is gone. But Katrina knows her heart and it is set on Crane. She is crushed when her father declines Crane’s proposal to court his daughter. And now Ichabod has gone missing. Everyone in town has heard the tale of the Headless Horseman. Could Ichabod have fallen as one of his victims? Or did he really just abandon Katrina after being denied by her father. Was he just after her fortune after all? Or did something fouler take place. Katrina must have answers and she is not above using magic to find out.

So I loved the premise of the story and the outline sounded so exciting. Once I started to read, however, it fell rather flat for me. I did not relate to Katrina at all, finding her rather unlikable. She was self-centred, a rotten friend to Charlotte, and rather spoiled. Also, I needed Ichabod to be stronger and sexier. I don’t really know what his appeal was. He deferred to Katrina a lot, well she was bossy, but he never took matters into his own hands. He was supposed to be of high moral character, but the first thing he did after coming to town was to bed the teenage daughter of the man whose house he was staying at and food he was eating. Then snuck around for months, sleeping with her. Uhmm, yeah - not so moral after all. There was something about the writing style that bothered me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was off-putting. Plus, the story really dragged on. I wanted to stop a couple of times and if I had put it down, there wasn’t enough of a draw to make me pick it up again. I would have loved more magic, and one spell would have been nice. Given that this was a Headless Horseman tale, there should have been a stronger connection to the tale. It was weak at best.
There was a lot of potential for a rich story. I didn’t enjoy this one. It really was more of a sleepy (a really yawn) and hollow (with no substance) tale.

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Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you for Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Stuart Turton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Imagine being trapped in another person’s body, your memory wiped and the same day keeps repeating over and over again. That is the situation Aiden Bishop finds himself in. The only way to escape is to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. He has 8 days and 8 different “hosts” to help him.

Welcome to Blackheath Estate, or should I say Hotel California. You can stay, but you can never leave. Well, you can leave, but first you have to find out who the murderer of Evelyn Hardcastle will be, seeing as she isn’t dead just yet, today. The reader is thrown into this story and kept off balance, trying to figure out this maze of events, people and places. Aiden wakes up in these different guests bodies and has to walk a fine balance of using his hosts skills to aid in his endeavour, while trying not to succumb to the darkest parts of their souls, all the while trying to hold onto the bits of his own personality and not lose himself to the host. Aiden has to be careful as there are two other also trying to escape. Can he trust them to help? Probably not, since only one can solve the mystery and be allowed to leave.

What an original premise. A fresh idea that plays out into the most interesting, intricate, spooky thriller that I have read this year. This lives up to and exceeds all the hype it has received. It is multi-layered, smart, and so complex. You are glued from beginning to end. You follow each host through a roller coaster ride desperately trying to fit all the clues together, but don’t bother. You will never see the end coming. Turton does an amazing job of keeping the plot clean and tight, I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been. The characters are so well drawn, each having their distinct quirks, and all relevant to the plot. Never do you feel overwhelmed by different plot lines or lost with the amount of characters. It is seamless, from beginning to end.

Very reminiscent of Agatha Christie, “Murder on The Orient Express”, with multiple characters, multiple storylines that somehow fit together. Think the character of Death in “The Book Thief”, with The Plague Doctor all-knowing and setting the rules of the world. I know people have alluded to “Groundhog Day” but it is not a true repeat of each day. First, the main character inhabits eight different hosts, so each time we repeat a day, it is a different character, with a new perspective and new personality traits. Second, the day doesn’t repeat the way it does in “Groundhog Day”. He can enter into a different host at any point during the day. Thus, it feels more like a new day each day, rather than a repeat of one day over and over. The one linking event is the death/suicide of Evelyn. There are so many interesting, thoughtful parts to this story but rather than spoil it I am trying to keep the details brief. It would take an essay to unpack what there is to talk about making this the perfect book club novel.

It is such a remarkable read. I don’t think I’m doing it the proper justice here but I highly recommend it. I think it is pure genius how Truton weaves together this fantastic tale. The build up of tension and excitement meant that I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. The characters were authentic and multi-dimensional. I suspect that reading it a second and third time will only increase the charm of this unique story. Which I plan to do.


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Review: Christmas Cake Murder

Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books and Joanne Fluke for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

So you know when it is a Saturday afternoon, it’s quiet outside and you’re in one of those moods when you just want to curl up in front of the TV. A Hallmark movie or some such comes on and for the next two hours you surrender yourself to pure saccharine. Ahhh bliss…

First let me say - you have to be in the mood for this type of novel or don’t bother. It is formulaic, the writing accessible, the characters stock. Usually set in a small town where everyone knows your name. They are always super happy, not a serious care in the world, supportive - a real community. There will be a mystery to solve, but nothing violent and sans any twisty turns. Don’t look for high literature, descriptive flowy scenes, deep and thoughtful statements on life. You know what you are getting.

But in the mood I was, and Fluke delivered, yet again. Pure escapism and I loved every bit of it.

If you are familiar with the Hannah Swensen series, you will feel right at home. We go back in time to when Hannah has left school and returned to Lake Eden to help console her mother, after her father recently passed. Hannah is baking up a storm and realizes that this might be her path after all. You get to witness the opening of “The Cookie Jar”. If you can’t tell from the titles of these novels, baking is very much a part of each and every one. Hannah has a passion for baking and as a bonus, each chapter has her amazing recipes that you make yourself, at home. The premise this time is that they are trying to recreate the Christmas Cake Parade. Essie, an elderly woman beloved by all, has had an accident and is laid up. She has also fallen on hard times but has been too proud to say anything. She remembers the Christmas Ball fondly and would love to see it one more time. This will be a great project for Hannah’s mother to get involved in to get her back in the swing of things. Hannah has been tasked with baking all the cakes for the parade. The whole community will need to pitch in to get the old Hotel ready for the ball. While getting some things from home for Essie, Hannah comes across these boxes full of pages of what looks like a manuscript. It turns out Essie was writing a book! This is where the mystery comes in. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything when I tell you everything works out amazing for everyone. All the ends are neatly tied up and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, I’m counting on it.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with a little fluff in my life. It is what I love about reading. There are so many different types of books out there, each like a different dessert that Hannah makes, and if it tastes good - don’t we all enjoy it? Who cares if it is a cookie, cake, meringue, brownie - bring it on. The best things about reading is - no calories!

Fluke has done great job, yet again, with this latest instalment. I enjoy spending time with daughters who love mothers, mothers who are nothing but supportive, friends that care for each other and a community that reaches out to help those in need. It’s a world I like to live in, even if it is just for an afternoon. So if that is what you are in the mood for - this one takes the cake! (I know, I know, I couldn’t resist)

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Sea of Dreams for Baby #3

No, not my baby #3 - hee hee. Three of my nieces and nephews each had a baby in the last few months. I can't believe it - three more grandchildren for my sister. I'm so happy for her and her growing family. I was so lucky to have just met this baby a few weeks ago. The mom flew in with the baby from New Jersey for the day. The resourcefulness! I don't think I would have just hopped on a plane for the day with a four month old. I was lucky to get out of the house to go grocery shopping. Let's be honest - I don't even think I was getting dressed, in real clothes when my first was that young. I give her a lot of credit. She looks so beautiful and the baby is just adorable. Those cheeks!!

I am using an Aimee Alexander pattern again. I just love her designs. When I found her site, there was so much to choose from but I chose these three for these babies. I used Moving Mountains and Milestones for the boy blankets. I saved Sea of Dreams for the girl.  You can check out my other blog posts on the other two blankets I made. Both were for boys. Now it's the girl's turn. You can follow my progress on Ravelry -https://www.ravelry.com/projects/girlsound/sea-of-dreams-baby-blanket

Knit Picks Shine Sport in Blush

I have also stayed with my favourite yarn for baby blankets - Knit Picks Shine Sport in Blush (6555).

As I have said I love the way this yarn feels, shows stitch definition, has a beautiful sheen and drapes beautifully. It washes really well and is durable. So important because I want the blankets I make to be used. I want them to be spit up on, chewed, dragged and then be thrown into the wash machine for the next spit up. 

This pattern is quite challenging. It is 44 rows pattern repeat and too complicated for me to memorize or get any sort of momentum. I have to pay attention when knitting this one! It has a beautiful picot edge which I love. It is these details that will make it stand out.

Stand by for the finished product!

Review: I, Claudia

I, Claudia by Mary McCoy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, Lerner Publishing Group and Mary McCoy for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving and advanced copy.

Political intrigue. Think House of Cards for high schoolers, except teenagers are so much more ruthless than adults. A modern retelling of “I, Claudius” where ancient Rome is replaced by a Los Angeles private high school. Is this where we will find tomorrows leaders? Let’s hope not, but after reading this, probably, given what we have seen from the political arena. Has nothing changed? Not really. Is power the seductive - certainly. Does it corrupt - absolutely. A living entity and watching what it does to those students it comes into contact with - fascinating. From the outside, where it won’t affect you in any way. Does it turn good into evil and evil into…psychopaths? No one comes out unscathed, that’s for sure. We aren’t all good and all bad, but it does warp each person in a different way. Can you avoid it? Well, history has lots to teach us, but we don’t seem to learn from it. Many of these questions and more are raised in this fantastic, outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable read about the Imperial Day Academy.

Claudia McCarthy has a stutter and a noticeable limp as a result of one leg being noticeably shorter than the other. School has not been the kindest, most sympathetic place, with children often being cruel in their taunts. She quickly realizes that high school will not be any different. Her only friend is her sister, Maise, who sits on Imperial’s High Council. The school has two organizing bodies, the Senate and the High Council. The Senate doesn’t have any real power, with it’s main function organizing school dances and such. The High Council has more power than the administration, voting on a student’s smallest infraction with suspensions and expulsions. The story is told through Claudia’s perspective, privy only to people and events as she sees them. Interspersed between the chapters we get glimpses of the transcript of Claudia on trial. We learn that she is being accused of abusing her power as president of the High Council. How did she get from being invisible to holding the highest office? Claudia relates her journey that takes her from witnessing the corruption from those in power, to being enticed to running for the Senate and ends up being elected president of High Council. Her only intent was to weed out those who were abusing power and to restore the school to a safe, honest environment. How did she get into the predicament of Imperial Day Academy Board vs. Claudia McCarthy.

McCoy does an excellent job of retelling or reimagining the original. It is full of nefarious characters, intensity of emotions, depicting the rise and fall of a reluctant leader, all fo it just works at so many levels. Claudia’s rise and fall takes place over four years, crafted so well that makes it believable. She uses a play on the character’s names from Grave’s text - you have an Augustus, Livia, Herod becomes Hector. Her characters are deep and come to life, jumping off the page at you. It is dark with some violence, drugs, death, but nothing a young adult wouldn’t have come across in other novels for their age. Then ending, cruel almost - you’ll see why. There is al least one big flaw that I found in the story but I don’t want to get into spoilers in my review. I’d be happy to discuss in comments if anyone has the same feeling. McCoy includes two pages of discussion questions that will encourage thought and analysis. Something that can be done individually, in small groups or as a class. This so easily lends itself to be taught in a classroom setting, although I believe anyone would enjoy reading it on its own for pure enjoyment. It is too good to just be in a classroom. Too good to not be done in a classroom.

Definitely one of my stand out reads of 2018.

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