Rune's Adventures in Reading 2021

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Rune's Adventures in Reading 2021

1RuneFirestar
Dez. 10, 2020, 8:48 am

Hello Everyone! I know its early but I figured I would get this ready to go. Welcome to my reading adventure!

2-pilgrim-
Dez. 10, 2020, 2:10 pm

Glad to see you are raring to go!

3libraryperilous
Dez. 11, 2020, 12:32 pm

Woohoo! Placemarking! You read such delightful books.

4pgmcc
Dez. 11, 2020, 5:11 pm

Taking my seat for the show. Happy reading.

5RuneFirestar
Jan. 1, 2021, 7:01 am

Hello everyone! Happy New Year and welcome to 2021! I will be kicking things off on here shortly. :)

6haydninvienna
Jan. 1, 2021, 7:13 am

Happy new year to you too!

7YouKneeK
Jan. 1, 2021, 8:09 am

>1 RuneFirestar: Best wishes for 2021.

8majkia
Jan. 1, 2021, 9:02 am

Happy New Year!

9Peace2
Jan. 2, 2021, 3:55 am

Happy New Year and I'm impressed by how in advance you were prepared. Enjoy your reading this year.

10RuneFirestar
Jan. 2, 2021, 6:39 am

1. Murder Most Unladylike
(Murder Most Unladylike Mystery #1)
by Robin Stevens

Blurb

1934. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up a secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find a truly exciting mystery to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't.)

But then Hazel discovers the body of the Science Mistress, Miss Bell - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls have to solve a murder, and prove a murder has happened in the first place before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally),

But will they succeed?

And can their friendship stand the test?

My thoughts

I have had these books for a long while and up til now I hadn't picked them up. I can't believe how much fun I was missing out on . This was a brilliant way to start my new year.

11Sakerfalcon
Jan. 2, 2021, 8:44 am

Happy new year Rune!

>10 RuneFirestar: I read several of the Murder most unladylike books last year and really enjoyed them.

12Narilka
Jan. 2, 2021, 4:04 pm

Happy new year!

13Marissa_Doyle
Jan. 2, 2021, 4:12 pm

A good new reading year to you!

14libraryperilous
Jan. 2, 2021, 10:54 pm

>10 RuneFirestar: Glad you kicked it off with a book you enjoyed! If I may, and you've not read them, I recommend Katherine Woodfine's Sinclair's mysteries as similar reads.

15NorthernStar
Jan. 3, 2021, 11:36 pm

Happy New Year!

16RuneFirestar
Jan. 4, 2021, 2:47 am

Happy New year one and all near and far !

Libraryperilous I have them on my tbr pile and will get to them in good time :)

17RuneFirestar
Jan. 4, 2021, 2:50 am

2. Have His Carcase
(Lord Peter Wimsey #7)
by Dorothy L. Sayers

Blurb

Mystery writer Harriet Vane, recovering from an unhappy love affair and its aftermath, seeks solace on a barren beach -- deserted but for the body of a bearded young man with his throat cut.

From the moment she photographs the corpse, which soon disappears with the tide, she is puzzled by a mystery that might have been suicide, murder or a political plot.

With the appearance of her dear friend Lord Peter Wimsey, she finds a reason for detective pursuit -- as only the two of them can pursue it.

My Thoughts

Yes Lord Wimsey is a product of his time but I do love a good mystery! And yes I did listen to this as a radio play on BBC sounds . I feel it still counts lol

18RuneFirestar
Jan. 5, 2021, 6:13 am

3.Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death: A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation
by Simon Brett, Jeremy Front, Bill Nighy (Reading), Suzanne Burden (Goodreads Author) (Reading), Full Cast (Reading)

Blurb

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris

Charles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he’s unimpressed with the director’s vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.

But he soon finds himself back on familiar territory when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing, only to turn up dead. Did she take her own life, or was there foul play? As he amasses a list of suspects who might have wished her harm, Charles takes on the mantle of detective once more to decide if this is to be or not to be a murder case…

My Thoughts

Another guilty pleasure

19RuneFirestar
Jan. 5, 2021, 6:16 am

4. The Cinderella Killer (Charles Paris #19)
by Simon Brett

Blurb

Landing a minor part in the Empire Theatre Eastbourne's Christmas production of Cinderella, Charles Paris soon discovers that his main role is to gently introduce the show's baffled American star, famous sitcom actor Kenny Polizzi, to the bizarre customs of English pantomime.
During their convivial sessions in the local pub, Charles finds himself increasingly caught up in Polizzi's tangled affairs as the American fends off a vengeful soon-to-be-ex-wife, an obsessed groupie, and a barely-controlled drink problem. But Charles is about to be far more involved than he might wish when he stumbles across a body beneath Eastbourne Pier, a neat bullet hole in the centre of the forehead.
As the world's press descends on Eastbourne, the pantomime rehearsals descend into chaos and he himself comes under suspicion, it's up to Charles to put his renowned sleuthing skills to the test to find out who really killed his fellow cast member and why

20clamairy
Jan. 5, 2021, 8:52 am

Happy New thread!

21-pilgrim-
Bearbeitet: Jan. 5, 2021, 2:37 pm

Wow, you seem to have hit the ground running...

22RuneFirestar
Jan. 5, 2021, 2:31 pm

5.Max and the Spice Thieves
(Secrets of the Twilight Djinn #1)
by John Peragine

Blurb
When his mother goes missing, Max Daybreaker’s world is turned upside down. Luckily, a crew of Spice Pirates, led by the mysterious Captain Cinn, help Max on his dangerous mission across the three seas.

Along the way, an unlikely alliance aids in his search—a teenage warrior queen, a three-eyed seer, and an assassin spy.

Their journey takes them through treacherous lands while facing shapeshifting bears, an ancient witch, harpies, and the nightmarish Djinn, who will stop at nothing to enslave the world.

With every new challenge, Max unlocks the secrets of his unsettling past. Powers awaken within, forcing him to question everything he knows.

Is Max who he thinks he is? Only time and destiny will tell…

My thoughts

I was drawn to this book by the cover and its blurb and I just had to read it.

I loved reading Max's book as I read and got to know Max and be taken along for the brilliant adventure!

The characters are amazing. The use of herbs as weapons is wonderfully brilliant! This was a fantastic read and I loved ever single second of it

23libraryperilous
Jan. 7, 2021, 8:11 pm

>22 RuneFirestar: The use of herbs as weapons is wonderfully brilliant!

Sign me up. I love plant usage in sci-fi and fantasy.

24majkia
Jan. 8, 2021, 6:29 am

uh oh. BB hit me.

25RuneFirestar
Jan. 9, 2021, 11:51 pm

6. The Sleeper and the Spindle
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author), Chris Riddell (Illustrator)

Blurb

A thrillingly reimagined fairy tale from the truly magical combination of author Neil Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddell – weaving together a sort-of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty with a thread of dark magic, which will hold readers spellbound from start to finish.

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

My Thoughts

Its a fairy tale! My guilty pleasure

26Jim53
Jan. 10, 2021, 11:17 am

>10 RuneFirestar: I stopped in to say happy new year and took a bullet immediately! Humor and mysteries make a great combination in a lot of cases. Thanks, I think, and I wish you much good reading this year.

27RuneFirestar
Jan. 10, 2021, 3:26 pm

Jim53 Happy New Year my friend and thanks for sharing my adventures in reading

28RuneFirestar
Jan. 14, 2021, 12:11 am

7 ) The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie

Blurb
In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a table for a seance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: "Captain Trevelyan . . . dead . . . murder."

Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot..

29RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Jan. 18, 2021, 3:51 am

8 . Arsenic for Tea
(Murder Most Unladylike Mystery #2)
by Robin Stevens

Blurb

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy's home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy's glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy's birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn't really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious.

Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill—and everything points to poison.

With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem—and everyone has a secret or two. And when someone very close to Daisy looks suspicious, the Detective Society must do everything they can to reveal the truth... no matter the consequences.

My Thoughts

I am really enjoying spending time with these wonderful young ladies of the Detective Society. Its fast becoming another guilty pleasure.

30RuneFirestar
Jan. 18, 2021, 3:52 am

9. Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1)
by Rachel Caine

Blurb

The Wardens Association has been around pretty much forever. Some Wardens control fire, others control earth, water, or wind--and the most powerful can control more than one element. Without Wardens, Mother Nature would wipe humanity off the face of the earth....

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life....

Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he's also on the run from the World Council. It seems he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn--making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne's chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in--well, a place she may be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there's some bad weather closing in fast...

My thoughts

Wow! What a ride!

31RuneFirestar
Jan. 21, 2021, 11:40 am

10.The Ravens(The Ravens #1)
by Kass Morgan (Goodreads Author), Danielle Paige (Goodreads Author)

Blurb

Kappa Rho Nu isn’t your average sorority. Their parties are notorious. Their fundraisers are known for being Westerly College’s most elaborate affairs. But beneath the veil of Greek life and prestige, the sisters of Kappu Rho Nu share a secret: they’re a coven of witches. For Vivi Deveraux, being one of Kappa Rho Nu’s Ravens means getting a chance to redefine herself. For Scarlett Winters, a bonafide Raven and daughter of a legacy Raven, pledge this year means living up to her mother’s impossible expectations of becoming Kappa Rho Nu’s next president. Scarlett knows she’d be the perfect candidate — that is, if she didn’t have one human-sized skeleton in her closet…. When Vivi and Scarlett are paired as big and little for initiation, they find themselves sinking into the sinister world of blood oaths and betrayals.

My thoughts

Wow! This is a story about a girl finding yourself as much as it is one of friendship, love and deep heart breaking betrayal.

Its collage setting is certainly a new and refreshing take on magic and spellwork. I love that its still set in a school setting but the school itself isn't for only the magical community.

Two girls very much opposites in every way find themselves connecting coming to understand that sisterhood is nice but before that friendship is a must.

It has some light hearted moments and some very dark ones that will have you hanging on to the edge of your seat half wanting to continue and half wanting to stop. A powerful combination if ever there was one

32RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Jan. 25, 2021, 6:53 am

11) The Monster MASH
(Monster M*A*S*H #1)
by Angie Fox (Goodreads Author)

The day I was drafted into the army of the gods, all I knew about being a MASH surgeon was what I’d learned from Hawkeye Pierce and Hot Lips Houlihan. Now here I am, Dr. Petra Robichaud, in the middle of an immortal war, assigned to a MASH camp with a nosy sphinx, a vegetarian werewolf, and an uptight vampire who really needs to get a life.

At least they’re all too busy with their own dramas to discover my secret: I can see the dead. It’s a forbidden gift, one that can get me killed, so I haven’t told a soul.

Until the arrestingly intense Galen arrives on my operating table, half-dead and totally to-die-for. When his spirit tries to slip out of his fatally wounded body, I impulsively slip it back in. Call it a rash resurrection. One I’ll live to regret.

Now Commander Galen of Delphi knows my secret, and he’s convinced I’m part of an ancient prophecy—one that can end the war for good. But taking a chance could cost me everything. And it would be easier to convince him to leave me alone, except now the prophecies are starting to come true…

Warning: This novel contains a hefty dose of danger, drama, practical jokes, pet swamp lizards, brooding demigods, adventure, romance, and heart—in a MASH camp where everybody knows your business.

My Thoughts

Petra only ever wanted to make a difference. She never dreamed that would mean she would be drafted to serve at a MASH unit for the younger gods army.

With no time off for good behavior and hope of early release. She might as well do what she can. However, she has a deadly secret. She can see the dead and stop souls from leaving the their bodies..

The Gods don't like these kinds of gifts and are known to be creatively gruesome especially to those who have gifts they don't like.

With thrills , chills, laughs, some romance and danger this is a fantastic read.

33RuneFirestar
Jan. 25, 2021, 6:54 am

12. First Class Murder
(Murder Most Unladylike Mystery #3)
by Robin Stevens

Blurb

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are taking a holiday on the famous Orient Express. From the moment the girls step aboard, it's clear that everyone in the first-class carriages has something to hide.

Then there is a scream from one of the cabins, and a wealthy heiress is found dead, But the killer has vanished - as if into thin air ...

Daisy and Hazel are faced with their first locked-room mystery - and with competition from several other sleuths, who are just as determined to crack the case.

34RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Jan. 26, 2021, 1:41 pm

13. The Case of the Blue Violet
(Murder Most Unladylike Mystery #3.5)
by Robin Stevens (Goodreads Author)

Blurb
I am the Honourable Daisy Wells, President of the Detective Society, one of the greatest detectives ever known - and also a fourth former at Deepdean School for Girls.

Violet Darby - one of the Big Girls - recently asked me to solve a most puzzling romantic mystery. I knew I'd be able to crack the case, and I did, in just a day and a half. It was one of my greatest triumphs (Hazel Wong, my Vice-President and best friend, is telling me that this is boasting, but it is also the truth). Hazel didn't believe I would have the patience to write the account of it, but of course, she was wrong. I did write it down, and it came out very well.

I now, therefore, present to you: the Case of the Blue Violet.

35RuneFirestar
Jan. 31, 2021, 4:12 pm

14.The Dead Queens Club
by Hannah Capin

Blurb

Mean Girls meets The Tudors in Hannah Capin’s The Dead Queens Club, a clever contemporary YA retelling of Henry VIII and his wives (or, in this case, his high school girlfriends). Told from the perspective of Annie Marck (“Cleves”), a 17-year-old aspiring journalist from Cleveland who meets Henry at summer camp, The Dead Queens Club is a fun, snarky read that provides great historical detail in an accessible way for teens while giving the infamous tale of Henry VIII its own unique spin.

What do a future ambassador, an overly ambitious Francophile, a hospital-volunteering Girl Scout, the new girl from Cleveland, the junior cheer captain, and the vice president of the debate club have in common? It sounds like the ridiculously long lead-up to an astoundingly absurd punchline, right? Except it’s not. Well, unless my life is the joke, which is kind of starting to look like a possibility given how beyond soap opera it’s been since I moved to Lancaster. But anyway, here’s your answer: we’ve all had the questionable privilege of going out with Lancaster High School’s de facto king. Otherwise known as my best friend. Otherwise known as the reason I’ve already helped steal a car, a jet ski, and one hundred spray-painted water bottles when it’s not even Christmas break yet. Otherwise known as Henry. Jersey number 8.

Meet Cleves. Girlfriend number four and the narrator of The Dead Queens Club, a young adult retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. Cleves is the only girlfriend to come out of her relationship with Henry unscathed—but most breakups are messy, right? And sometimes tragic accidents happen…twice…

My thoughts

Wow! Mean girls meets the Tudors meets high school . Its one amazing ride!

36-pilgrim-
Jan. 31, 2021, 4:17 pm

>35 RuneFirestar: That sounds bizarre... And rather interesting.

37libraryperilous
Feb. 1, 2021, 11:28 am

>35 RuneFirestar:, >36 -pilgrim-: It does sound like campy fun.

38RuneFirestar
Feb. 2, 2021, 5:33 pm

15. Sabriel by Garth Nix

Blurb
Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.

With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.

My Thoughts

This is a masterful tale I can't believe its taken me so long to stumble across it and into this amazing world

39Sakerfalcon
Feb. 3, 2021, 10:22 am

>38 RuneFirestar: This is such a great trilogy! I hope you enjoy the next two books.

40libraryperilous
Feb. 3, 2021, 12:26 pm

>38 RuneFirestar:, >39 Sakerfalcon: I need to read this soon. LTer curioussquared is a big fan, iirc, and our tastes align quite a bit.

41RuneFirestar
Feb. 7, 2021, 11:59 pm

16.The Girl Who Fell
(The Chess Raven Chronicles #1)
by Violet Grace

Blurb
Chess Raven is a hacker who has grown up with nothing and no one. Her parents died when she was three and her foster care situation turned out badly – very badly. But on her sixteenth birthday, her life is turned upside down.

Chess learns her mother was Queen of the Fae and her father was a brilliant physicist. The unique blend of her mother’s fairy blood and her father’s humanity gives Chess – and Chess alone – the ability to unlock a mysterious vessel that will unleash unimagined powers – with devastating consequences. Thrown into a new world where nothing is at it seems, Chess must work out who to trust as vying forces race to control her. Or kill her.

Reunited with her childhood friend Tom Williams, an enigmatic shape-shifting unicorn, Chess discovers love for the first time and is prepared to risk her life for it. But first she must learn to overcome a fear of her own power and stop waiting for other people to save her. She is the one she's been waiting for.

My thoughts

Filled with magic, wonder and adventure it is at its very heart a story of a young girl finding herself and learning to be her own hero as she learns to master her powers and become the ruler her people need. I loved this story and the characters soooo much. It was amazing.

42RuneFirestar
Feb. 17, 2021, 4:28 pm

17. Lirael (Abhorsen #2)
by Garth Nix

Blurb

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr's birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is. Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil.

My thoughts

The adventure continues with an ever growing cast of heros and uncertain heros. Fantastic read

43RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Feb. 21, 2021, 7:50 am

18.The Soul Hunters by Chris Bradford

Blurb
Have you ever experienced dreams so vivid it seems like you have lived them? Or had déjà vu so strong you're convinced you must have been there before?

The explosive first book in a brand new action-packed series from bestselling author Chris Bradford.

Late one night a schoolgirl is attacked in a city park. When a stranger rushes to her rescue, Genna Adams believes it's luck that their paths crossed. Then a week later, the same boy saves her from being kidnapped and Genna realises this is no coincidence. But the explanation offered by the boy, Phoenix, is even stranger than she could have imagined - a long-forgotten foe has tracked her across lifetimes to lay claim to Genna's very soul.

As the hunters close in, Genna has no choice but to trust her mysterious protector - and soon she is swept into a deadly adventure, racing across time to save herself and, ultimately, the human race.

My thoughts

This book has appeared on my Facebook feed and caught the attention and imagination of many young readers. Something tells me this book is going to be one for the ages.

Weaving a brilliant and well constructed adventure with flashes of the past from all parts of the world and history itself it is amazingly fast paced read. I couldn't put it down and had to know what would happen next.

44RuneFirestar
Feb. 26, 2021, 2:25 am

19.K-pop Confidential by Stephan Lee

Blurb
Candace Park knows a lot about playing a role. For most of her life, she's been playing the role of the quiet Korean girl who takes all AP classes and plays a classical instrument, keeping her dreams of stardom-and her obsession with SLK, K-pop's top boyband-to herself. She doesn't see how a regular girl like her could possibly become one of those K-pop goddesses she sees on YouTube. Even though she can sing. Like, really sing.

So when Candace secretly enters a global audition held by SLK's music label, the last thing she expects is to actually get a coveted spot in their trainee program. And convincing her strict parents to let her to go is all but impossible ... although it's nothing compared to what comes next.

Under the strict supervision of her instructors at the label's headquarters in Seoul, Candace must perfect her performance skills to within an inch of her life, learn to speak Korean fluently, and navigate the complex hierarchies of her fellow trainees, all while following the strict rules of the industry. Rule number one? NO DATING, which becomes impossible to follow when she meets a dreamy boy trainee. And in the all-out battle to debut, Candace is in danger of planting herself in the middle of a scandal lighting up the K-pop fandom around the world.

If she doesn't have what it takes to become a perfect, hair-flipping K-pop idol, what will that mean for her family, who have sacrificed everything to give her the chance? And is a spot in the most hyped K-pop girl group of all time really worth risking her friendships, her future, and everything she believes in?

My thoughts

Wow! I learned so much about Korean culture and language. The world of k pop is amazing but can be super vicious. Awesomely powerful read.

45-pilgrim-
Feb. 26, 2021, 3:25 am

>44 RuneFirestar: If she is Korean, why does she need to learn to speak it?

46Sakerfalcon
Feb. 26, 2021, 6:55 am

>45 -pilgrim-: I just looked this book up because it sounds interesting. The heroine is Korean-American so presumably her Korean language fluency was limited.

>44 RuneFirestar: Having read a couple of Korean novels last year that touched on the darker side of the K-Pop industry (Winter in Sokcho and If I had your face) I'm adding this to my wishlist.

47-pilgrim-
Feb. 26, 2021, 7:01 am

>46 Sakerfalcon: That would explain it. But the blurb said that she WAS Korean, and I just assumed that it was accurate. :(

48Sakerfalcon
Feb. 26, 2021, 7:30 am

>47 -pilgrim-: A rookie error! I've been caught by misleading blurbs before ...

49-pilgrim-
Feb. 26, 2021, 7:55 am

>48 Sakerfalcon: What's the worst you've seen? I have seen plenty that are misleading in terms of what the book is about, but not factually inaccurate statements about the content before.

50jjwilson61
Feb. 26, 2021, 8:54 am

Someone can be both Korean and American so the statement is not wrong.

51-pilgrim-
Bearbeitet: Feb. 26, 2021, 9:36 am

>50 jjwilson61: I disagree. They cannot be wholly Korean AND wholly American. They must have one citizenship or the other. Any Korean citizen who accepts a different citizenship ceases to be Korean; Korea does not permit dual nationality.

To be an American with Korean ancestry is quite different from actually being a Korean.

52libraryperilous
Feb. 26, 2021, 9:41 am

>50 jjwilson61: Agree. I didn't find this blurb confusing or factually inaccurate at all. "Korean girl" references the stereotypes and constraints her classmates and family have placed on her. 'American' means white to a large number of people. It's a common prejudice that POC Americans endure. There are lots of novels that address this, and dropping the hyphenated 'American' is common. Exploring this labeling is even a topic in novels!

53libraryperilous
Feb. 26, 2021, 9:44 am

>51 -pilgrim-: People can be whomever they want, even if their governments have shitty attitudes about citizenship. I am disappointed in your comments on this thread, and I hope you will think about why they are harmful.

54jjwilson61
Feb. 26, 2021, 11:23 am

>51 -pilgrim-: Korean can refer to ancestry and doesn't have to mean nationality. Maybe this is a difference between British and American English?

55-pilgrim-
Feb. 28, 2021, 4:29 pm

>54 jjwilson61: As a qualifying adjective it can refer to ethnicity - although I think to do that is far more common in America than in Britain. But when it stands alone, it refers to nationality.

To claim that it refers to ethnic origins does not make sense. One's ethnicity and one's nationality are often quite different things. And to claim that ethnicity determines nationality is dangerous nonsense. (I could point out examples, but that would get dangerously close to talking politics.)

I have heard plenty of people say "I am American". I do not believe they were claiming "American ethnicity" - such a concept is meaningless; your nation is a mixture (just as the British are).

We know that when you say African-American you only mean "American whose ancestors are presumed by the speaker to have come from Africa", but in British English to hyphenate two nationalities means specifically that the person holds dual citizenship. That is the only linguistic difference I am aware of.

And as a difference in custom:
I have noticed that Americans tend to feel the urge to qualify statements of nationality with a reference to ethnic origin, particularly if that ethnic origin is non-white. To my British ears that sounds deeply offensive, implying those citizens are not considered full Americans.

My nationality is British, and if anyone describes me as "X British" I would take this as a reference to an assumption of recent immigrant status, and a prelude to remarks of the "we don't want your sort around here variety".

To give an example: if someone tells me that a Sikh is "Indian" (which would be a reasonable assumption of their ethnic origin) either that means the person referred to holds Indian citizenship, or the person speaking is of the "keep Britain white" persuasion.

But the American predilection for specifying other people's presumed ethnic origin is something that I frankly find disturbing. My nationality is a matter of public record. You have the right to know whether I can legally live or work in a country, so it is something that strangers can expect to know. But my ethnic origins, like my religious or political beliefs, are my business - and no one else's. I can reveal them to whom I choose, when I choose. And unless I claim to speak publicly on behalf of a particular ethnic or religious group, or as a representative of a political particular political party, I do not expect anyone else to speculate about my affiliations either.*

*When I tag an author as "Jewish" or "Christian", that is because they are writing specifically from that perspective. If I know an author's affiliation but they do not make a point of it in their writing, I would consider it inappropriate.

56-pilgrim-
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 1, 2021, 3:30 am

>53 libraryperilous:
NO I cannot "be anything I want to be", and neither can you, or anyone else.

My nationality is not my CHOICE. It is a function of where I was born, who my parents were, and the laws of the states involved. I am British, and only British, because that is what international law states.

I do not have the citizenship of the country where I was born (nor can I get it now), so don't insult me by pretended by that I can become a national by "choosing to be".

I am proud of my ancestry, but I cannot become a citizen of the countries my ancestors came from by "choosing to be" either.

I am what I am, because that is determined by international law. It is true that I can renounce my citizenship, but I cannot demand another.

And so I will die in a country where it is has been repeatedly made clear to me that I am not welcome, and cannot "go home" as my interlocutors wish me to because I cannot choose my nationality.

What makes you think that you can expect to be given whatever you want, simply by saying "that's mine" - and then expect the rest of the world to go along with it? Other countries have their own laws. And they are entitled to decide how one qualifies for their citizenship - not you.

Americans have a worldwide reputation for behaving as is any law that they don't personally like simply doesn't exist; I had hoped that was a fallacy. But if you are going to pretend that other country's laws don't exist, whenever you don't happen to like them, then I would suggest that you never leave your own.

And if you want to call laws of your own country "shitty", that is your business - although I do not see how that can be interpreted as not being a political statement and hence against the rules of the GD.

But how dare you call the laws of another sovereign state "shitty" just because you happen not to want them to exist! Who do you think you are, that you think you have the right to pass judgement on the internal decisions of another country?

Your hubris in attacking me for not living in your fantasy land where all laws don't exist if YOU don't want them to, is a level of arrogance that I didn't expect to meet here.

What is genuinely HARMFUL is promulgating lies about international law. I cannot believe that you genuinely believe that everyone who chooses to say "I am an American" IS one. I am sure the hundreds who walk across the border from Mexico would choose to be American - are you trying to pretend to me that the news footage of them being imprisoned and deported is faked? Or that America deports Americans simply for entering the USA?

The peddling of that lie that citizenship is available for the asking is the cause of much of the human tragedy that we see at borders.

You are entitled to dream of whatever is your idea of utopia. But telling lies about actual situation helps no one. And you have no right to object to my wanting not to be lied to by a book review, or anyone else.

Why does a lie about a girl's nationality matter in the context of the book blurb, where I objected to it in the first place? Because if I buy a book about "a Korean girl" in Korea, that is what I expect to get, not some story about an American girl going to Korea. The difference is between an insider's perspective and that of an outsider; the experience will be completely different.

ETA: In the light of >54 jjwilson61:, I should add that I cannot choose my ethnicity either. I do not get to choose my parentage.

If an ethnic group only recognises matrilineal descent, then to claim I belong to it when my mother did not only makes me look ridiculous, however much I may "like the culture". I cannot confer membership on myself or appropriate a heritage to which I am not eligible.

And conversely, if a tyrant decides to exterminate all members of a particular ethnic group, then what I would LIKE to be will not save me from the camps. Whether I reject my heritage or embrace it, I will die for it just the same. (And whether that community accounted me a member will also be irrelevant.)

The fallacy that one can "choose one's ethnicity" has cost countless lives. I will be murdered for what others perceive me as; my own opinions are irrelevant.

57RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 11, 2021, 4:16 am

Wow I am glad that my reading choices caused so much discussion.

Back to my reading journey

20. The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax
(The Vinyl Detective #1)
by Andrew Cartmel

Blurb

He is a record collector -a connoisseur of vinyl, hunting out rare and elusive LPs. His business card describes him as the "Vinyl Detective" and some people take this more literally than others. Like the beautiful, mysterious woman who wants to pay him a large sum of money to find a priceless lost recording on behalf of an extremely wealthy, yet shadowy, client. So begins a painful and dangerous odyssey in search of the rarest jazz record of them all...

My thoughts

What an amazing musical adventure . Still a mystery but very very different from what I've read in the past. I throughly enjoyed this read.

58RuneFirestar
Mrz. 11, 2021, 4:16 am

21. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter

Blurb

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission—falling in love.

My thoughts

I am.not sure why it has taken me as long as it did to pick this up and read it but once I did I loved every second of it.

59-pilgrim-
Mrz. 11, 2021, 4:42 am

>58 RuneFirestar: That sounds interesting. How realistic would you say it was in how it portrayed the relationship side of things? (I don't expect you to comment on realism of the spy training! ;-) )

60Jim53
Mrz. 12, 2021, 11:05 am

>57 RuneFirestar: I took a hit on this one, and I have added it to my list for a future library run. Good shooting!

61RuneFirestar
Mrz. 13, 2021, 2:07 am

pilgrim the romance side of things was down played but was very sweet.

Jim- glad I could add to your tbr pile

62-pilgrim-
Mrz. 13, 2021, 8:17 am

>61 RuneFirestar: Thanks. It looks like something to look into.

63RuneFirestar
Apr. 9, 2021, 10:54 pm

22. The Trials of Morrigan Crow
(Nevermoor #1) by Jessica Townsend

Blurb
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she's blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks--and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.

But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.

It's then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city's most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart--an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests--or she'll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.

64RuneFirestar
Apr. 9, 2021, 10:56 pm

23.Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow
(Nevermoor #2) by Jessica Townsend Beatriz
Castro (Illustrator)

Blurb

Wunder is gathering in Nevermoor ...

Morrigan Crow may have defeated her deadly curse, passed the dangerous trials and joined the mystical Wundrous Society, but her journey into Nevermoor and all its secrets has only just begun. And she is fast learning that not all magic is used for good.

Morrigan Crow has escaped her deadly fate and found a new home in the fantastical city of Nevermoor. She has also discovered that she has a strange and magical ability. But will her unique talent be a blessing or another curse?

Now that Morrigan and her best friend Hawthorne are proud scholars in the elite Wundrous Society, she is sure that she's found a place to belong at last, but life is far from perfect. Can Morrigan prove that she deserves to be in the Society - or will an unexpected new enemy ruin her new life?

Return to the magical world of Nevermoor! Morrigan Crow's perilous adventures continue in the most anticipated sequel of the year, a treat for all fans of magic and Wunder.

65RuneFirestar
Jun. 1, 2021, 9:17 pm

24. Of Princes and Promises
(St. Rosetta's Academy #2)
by Sandhya Menon

Blurb

From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the second installment in a brand-new series set an elite boarding school that’s a contemporary spin on fairy tales, this one a delightful, romantic twist on The Frog Prince.

Caterina LaValle is determined to show she’s still the queen of St. Rosetta’s Academy. Sure, her crown may be slightly askew after her ex-boyfriend, Alaric, cheated on her, but she’s a LaValle. She’ll find a way to march right back in there, her hands clutching the strings to the whole puppet show. This time, she’s going to be untouchable.

Rahul Chopra knows that moment he shared with Caterina LaValle at the winter formal meant something. Surely she feels it, too. He’s a little uncertain how someone like him (socially inept to a point way past “adorkable”) could fit into her world, but he’s loved Caterina for years. He knows they’ll find a way.

When Caterina finds out Alaric is taking a supermodel to the upcoming gala, she knows she cannot arrive without the perfect date. But the thought of taking another superficial St. R’s boy exhausts her. The solution? Sweet-but-clueless Rahul Chopra and a mysterious pot of hair gel with the power to alter the wearer into whatever his heart desires.

When Rahul tries it, he transforms instantly into RC—debonair, handsome, and charming. But transformation comes with a price: As Rahul enjoys his new social standing, the line between his two personas begins to blur. Will he give up everything, including Caterina, to remain RC? Or will this unlikely pair find their way back to each other?

My thoughts

When I was given the invite to review this I was excited. I had really enjoyed getting to know Jaya and Grey and the other St .Rosetta's students.
So I was certain that this read would be no different.

I love that the title alludes to the story of the frog Prince. That's wonderful. I also love the quotes at that are found just before the story starts :

It wasn't a kiss that changed the frog, but the fact that a young girl looked beneath warts and slime and believed she saw a Prince. So he became one.
- Richelieu E Goodrich, Making Wishes

And then

Open the door, my Princess dear. Open the door to thy True Love here
The Frog Prince

Its just perfect for the story that awaits. As the story starts we are reintroduced to Caterina LaValle who is despite having a glamorous lifestyle is trying to get over a bad relationship ship and a slightly damaged social standing.

Her glamour lifestyle means she has a full social calendar and is expected to be on top form and with a good looking date to match her.

But she is tired of all the boys she knows. She wants someone who will help mend her social standing. In walks Rahul Chopra social awkward totally clueless boy. But he's part of her set kind of with some social polishing and finishing off he might just be what she needs.

As time goes on she starts to fall in love with Rahul not her polished socially acceptable Prince. Will they ever see one another as just a girl and just a boy who can love?

Find out in this wonderful reworking of the frog Prince.

66RuneFirestar
Jun. 3, 2021, 4:45 am

25. Dead Wrong
(Blackmoore Sisters #1)
by Leighann Dobbs

Blurb

There’s more than one secret in the old Blackmoore house. Some have been buried for a long time and some are sitting closer to the surface. Morgan and Fiona Blackmoore enjoy their simple life in the sleepy ocean-side town of Noquitt Maine where they offer herbal remedies and crystal healing for locals and tourists alike.... Until Morgan is accused of killing the town shrew, Prudence Littlefield.

My thoughts

Very fast Very fun cozy mystery. Really lovely read and will be looking to get the rest of the serries.

67RuneFirestar
Jun. 10, 2021, 2:59 pm

26.The Explorer's Code by Allison K. Hymas

Blurb
Three kids have everything they need to solve the decades-old mystery of Idlewood Manor, in this middle grade novel full of real ciphers, puzzles, riddles, and codes.

Idlewood Manor has been uninhabited for decades, until now...

Math whiz Charlie won admission in a puzzle contest — and he’s intrigued by the strange numbers he finds on Idlewood’s walls. His restless sister Anna had to be dragged to the house — but then she discovers its hidden floor. Emily’s parents brought her to the mansion on a secret mission — and she’s determined to prove herself to them.

All three kids soon unlock clues to Idlewood’s mysterious past and the famous female explorer who’s connected to it — and the secret treasure she left behind. But the adults around them are also hunting for the treasure. Charlie, Anna, and Emily will have to overcome their differences and work as a team to solve Idlewood’s puzzles before it’s too late, in Allison K. Hymas's The Explorer's Code

My Thoughts

I got this an audio book early review copy. Just reading the teaser Blurb was enough to get me excited about this read/listen.

I loved getting to know Anna, Charlie and Emily . Three amazing kids with their own personality quirks over the course of this amazing story.

I also loved hearing about the Brave woman explorer and her sister. It was brilliant and well paced adventure :)

68RuneFirestar
Jun. 20, 2021, 8:35 pm

27.Skulduggery Pleasant
(Skulduggery Pleasant #1)
by Derek Landy

Blurb

Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source - the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

My thoughts

Reread for me still love it.

69RuneFirestar
Jun. 20, 2021, 8:38 pm

28.Playing with Fire
(Skulduggery Pleasant #2)
by Derek Landy

Blurb
Skulduggery and Valkyrie are facing a new enemy: Baron Vengeous, who is determined to bring back the terrifying Faceless Ones and is crafting an army of evil to help him. Added to that, Vengeous is about to enlist a new ally (if he can raise it from the dead): the horrible Grotesquery, a very unlikable monster of legend.

Once Vengeous is on the loose, dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. Now pretty much everybody is out to kill Valkyrie, and the daring detective duo faces its biggest challenge yet.

But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home?

Look for Scepter of the Ancients

My Thoughts

Again a reread but still brilliant

70RuneFirestar
Jun. 20, 2021, 8:41 pm

29. Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant #4)
by Derek Landy

Blurb

Skulduggery Pleasant is lost on the other side of a portal, with only some evil gods for company. Can he possibly survive? (Yes, all right, he's already dead. But still.)

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior.

Oh yes. And dead.

Skulduggery Pleasant is gone, sucked into a parallel dimension overrun by the Faceless Ones. If his bones haven’t already been turned to dust, chances are he’s insane, driven out of his mind by the horror of the ancient gods. There is no official, Sanctuary-approved rescue mission. There is no official plan to save him.

But Valkyrie's never had much time for plans.

The problem is, even if she can get Skulduggery back, there might not be much left for him to return to. There’s a gang of villains bent on destroying the Sanctuary, there are some very powerful people who want Valkyrie dead, and as if all that wasn’t enough it looks very likely that a sorcerer named Darquesse is going to kill the world and everyone on it.

Skulduggery is gone. All our hopes rest with Valkyrie. The world’s weight is on her shoulders, and its fate is in her hands.

These are dark days indeed.

71RuneFirestar
Jun. 20, 2021, 8:43 pm

30.Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant #5)
by Derek Landy

Blurb

Following the shocking revelations of DARK DAYS, get ready for the fifth instalment of the bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series -- guaranteed to contain at least 40% humour, 50% action, and 100% thrills!

The blonde girl with the black lips turned to Valkyrie. 'We know,' she said. 'We've seen the future. We know you're going to kill the world!'

Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back -- just in time to see their whole world get turned upside down! While they struggle to protect a known killer from an unstoppable assassin, Valkyrie is on a secret mission of her own. This quest, to prevent her dark and murderous destiny, threatens to take her to the brink of death and beyond. And then the body-snatching Remnants get loose, thousands of twisted souls who possess the living like puppets, and they begin their search for a being powerful enough to lead them. Facing such insurmountable odds, Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Ghastly and Tanith can trust no one. Not even each other!

72RuneFirestar
Jun. 20, 2021, 8:44 pm

31.Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant #6)
by Derek Landy

Blurb
The sixth instalment in the historic, hysterical and horrific Skulduggery Pleasant series. Think you’ve seen anything yet? You haven’t. Because the Death Bringer is about to rise…

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior.

Oh yes. And dead.

The Necromancers no longer need Valkyrie to be their Death Bringer, and that’s a Good Thing.

There’s just one catch. There’s a reason the Necromancers don’t need her any more. And that’s because they’ve found their Death Bringer already, the person who will dissolve the doors between life and death.

And that’s a very, very Bad Thing…

73RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 3:11 pm

32. The Quiche of Death
(Agatha Raisin #1)

Blurb

Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely. Bored, lonely and used to getting her way, she enters a local baking contest: Surely a blue ribbon for the best quiche will make her the toast of the town. But her recipe for social advancement sours when Judge Cummings-Browne not only snubs her entry--but falls over dead! After her quiche's secret ingredient turns out to be poison, she must reveal the unsavory truth…

Agatha has never baked a thing in her life! In fact, she bought her entry ready-made from an upper crust London quicherie. Grating on the nerves of several Carsely residents, she is soon receiving sinister notes. Has her cheating and meddling landed her in hot water, or are the threats related to the suspicious death? It may mean the difference between egg on her face and a coroner's tag on her toe…

74RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 3:14 pm

33.The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin #2)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb

Feisty Agatha Raisin, former London PR exec, retired to quiet Cotswold village. Handsome vet Paul Bladen accidentally kills himself while attending Lord Pendlebury's horse. Agatha and attractive neighbor James Lacey investigate the curious lack of sorrow shown by his divorced wife while a killer plans another "accident".

75RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 3:16 pm

34.Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener
(Agatha Raisin #3)

Blurb
Agatha Raisin has a crush on James Lacey. In order to endear herself to him, s he takes up gardening, hoping to participate with him in the prestigious Carsely Horticultural Contest. But as the contest approaches, plants are being mysteriously uprooted, poisoned, and burned. When the prime suspect turns up dead, Agatha must solve the murder mystery.

76RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:29 pm

35.Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley
(Agatha Raisin #4)

Blurb

Agatha Raisin joins Dembley hiking club to pursue handsome Cotswold neighbor James Lacey. Angry member Jessica targets wealthy landowner Charles Fraith, who retaliates with tea invitation, but her body is found dead on his grounds. Agatha and James investigate the crime, the group ready to kill.

77RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:33 pm

36.Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
(Agatha Raisin #5)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb

In her fifth outing, Agatha Raisin - the sometimes pushy, sometimes endearing heroine of Beaton's Cotswold village mystery series - has her marriage to next-door neighbour James Lacey disrupted by the startling appearance of her undivorced, long-thought-dead first husband, Jimmy Raisin. Matters go quickly from bad to worse when Jimmy is found murdered - and Agatha and James are the prime suspects.

78RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:35 pm

37.Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham
(Agatha Raisin #8)

Blurb

The local ladies all deem Mr John a wizard, so when Agatha finds a few grey hairs on her head, she makes a beeline for the handsome Evesham hairdresser. As well as sorting out her hair it soon becomes clear the charming man also has designs on her heart - but their future together is cut short when Mr John is fatally poisoned in his salon.

79RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:38 pm

38. Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist
(Agatha Raisin #6)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb

In this sixth delightful outing Agatha travels to the north of Cyprus, only to contend with her estranged fiance, an egregious group of truly terrible tourists, and a string of murders as scorching as the Greek sun.

80RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:42 pm

39.Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden
(Agatha Raisin #9)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb
There is nothing more depressing for a middle-aged lovelorn woman with bald patches on her head than to find herself in an English seaside resort out of season. Agatha Raisin, her hair falling out after a run-in with a hairdresser-cum-murderess from a previous investigation, travels to an old-fashioned hotel in order to repair the damage away from the neighbors in her all-too-cozy Cotswolds village. Unhappy about the slow results and prompted by the elderly residents of the resort, she consults the local witch for help. Agatha purchases a hair tonic (and a love potion, just in case!) and is soon sprouting hairs and capturing the fancy of the village police inspector. But the quiet town is stunned by the murder of the witch. Which one of the graying guests is capable of such a brutal crime? The brassy yet endearing Agatha won't stop until she finds the culprit--and, of course, a little love, too.

81RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:48 pm

40.Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam
(Agatha Raisin #10)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb

When a fortune teller from a previous case informs Agatha Raisin that her destiny--and true love--lies in Norfolk, she promptly rents a cottage in the quaint village of Fryfam. No sooner does she arrive than strange things start happening. Random objects go missing from people's homes, and odd little lights are seen dancing in the villagers' gardens and yards. Stories soon begin circulating about the presence of fairies.

But when a prominent village resident is found murdered, and some suspicion falls on her and her friend Sir Charles Fraith, Agatha decides she's had enough of this fairy nonsense and steps up her sleuthing for a human killer.

The prickly yet endearing Agatha will have fans dangling in suspense: Will she catch her crook--and a husband?

82RuneFirestar
Jun. 23, 2021, 5:51 pm

41.Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death
(Agatha Raisin #7)
by M.C. Beaton

Blurb
Agatha Raisin's neighbouring village of Ancombe is usually the epitome of quiet rural charm, but the arrival of a new mineral-water company - which intends to tap into the village spring - sends tempers flaring and divides the parish council into two stubborn camps.

When Agatha, who just happens to be handling the PR for the water company, finds the council chairman murdered at the basin of the spring, tongues start wagging. Could one of the council members have polished off the chairman before he could cast the deciding vote?

Poor Agatha, still nursing a bruised heart from one of her unsuccessful romantic encounters, must get cracking, investigate the councillors and solve the crime.

83RuneFirestar
Jul. 9, 2021, 4:45 pm

42.The Gatekeeper's Staff
(TJ Young & The Orishas #1)
by Antoine Bandele

Blurb

TJ Young has been surrounded by magic his entire life, yet he has never tapped into it… until now.

Fourteen-year-old TJ grew up normal in a secret community of gifted diviners in the heart of modern-day Los Angeles. His powerful sister was ordained to lead his people into a new age of prosperity, but her mysterious death in Nigeria threatens to destroy the very foundations of TJ’s world.

Desperate to pick up where his sister left off and uncover the secrets behind her questionable death, TJ commits himself to unlocking the magical heritage that has always eluded him. So he enrolls in Camp Olosa—a remedial magic school for the divinely less-than-gifted in the humid swamps of New Orleans.

But little does he know, TJ is destined to cross paths with powerful spirits of old thought lost to time: the orishas.

Delve into this young adult fantasy based on the mythology of the West African Orishas, where TJ will encounter unlikely allies, tough-as-gatorhide instructors, and the ancient secrets of the orishas.

My thoughts

This is a wonderful adventure with the theme of self discovery at its heart.

TJ Young and the Orishas is an electric YA series that explores Yoruba tradition and is crafted especially for those who love adventure and magic. When we meet TJ, he is an awkward teenager with an inability to practice the magic - despite nearly everyone around him being able to. When his older sister - someone who exists like the sun in TJ’s life - dies under mysterious circumstances, TJ wants the truth about her death and, in doing so, discovers his own power. From here, TJ finds himself enrolled at Camp Olosa - a place for diviners to learn about and practice their magic. Equipped with new knowledge, new companions, and a deep love for his sister, TJ embarks on a journey for answers.

With a cast of expertly crafted characters, and an extraordinary world built around them, Bandele has cultivated a tale I can’t help but recommend. While enjoyable for all readers, my heart lights up at the notion of Black kids having access to a story truly written for them, with Yoruba tradition and Black cultural references woven into the foundation of this book. This is a story of family, friendship, and overcoming, that also touches on difficult themes of grief and loss.

TJ is exactly the kind of hero every kid needs. Relatably awkward, fun, and learning how to find his inner power, in both magical and non-magical ways.

I truly loved this read and eagerly await the next book!

84RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Jul. 24, 2021, 6:06 pm

43.The New Year's Party
(Fear Street Super Chiller #9)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb
Ring in the new fear.

P.J. wasn’t supposed to die. It was just a practical joke, no big deal. But P.J. had a bad heart…

The kids at Reenie’s Christmas party couldn’t tell the police what they’d done, so they hid the body…and then it disappeared.

Now someone is killing them, one by one. Someone is taking P.J.’s revenge…but who?

By midnight they’ll know. Because when the clock chimes, they’ll all get a kiss. The kiss of death.

My thoughts

I lived for this serries when I was a tween and well into my teens. I bought every single one of them.

85RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:10 pm

44.Bad Moonlight
(Fear Street Super Chiller #8)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

She wasn’t just crying wolf…

Danielle Verona can’t believe the band picked her to be their new lead singer. She’s on the road, performing at all the hot clubs. The adoring fans, the bright lights— it’s a dream come true!

But when nighttime falls, Danielle can feel the terror in the darkness. There’s eerie howling outside her window. And then a band member is killed—ripped to shreds by a wild animal. Danielle knows something is out there, lurking in the moonlight. Something savage…and hungry.

My thoughts

I wrote the band lyrics from.this book in my book of quotes I thought it was all so cool.

86RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:12 pm

45.The Dead Lifeguard
(Fear Street Super Chiller #6)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

In too deep…

The lifeguards at North Beach Country Club know they’re lucky. While other kids are flipping burgers, they’re sunning themselves by day and partying by night. So what if some people say the place is cursed, haunted. This is the life!

And then, one by one, the lifeguards start to die horrible deaths. Someone—or something—evil is stalking them. They all know how to save other people’s lives…but who will save theirs?

87RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:16 pm

46. Broken Hearts
(Fear Street Super Chiller #4)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb
Roses are red, corpses are blue. On Valentine’s Day, you’ll die too!

There’s someone out there, someone who kills on Valentine’s Day. Josie and Melissa are scared—especially when they receive threatening valentines. Then the murders begin. Who is sending these horrible valentines to the girls of Shadyside High? And who will be the next to die?

88RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:19 pm

47. Party Summer
(Fear Street Super Chiller #1)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Welcome to Fear Street.

Don’t listen to the stories they tell you about Fear Street. Wouldn’t you rather explore it yourself…and see if its dark terror and unexplained mysteries are true? You’re not afraid, are you?

Time to Party

Cari Taylor and her three friends look forward to a “party summer,” working at The Howling Wolf Inn, an old hotel on a tiny island off Cape Cod. But to their dismay, the hotel is completely deserted, and someone warns them to leave immediately.

The mysterious owner, Simon Fear III, allows Cari and her friends to stay, giving them the run of the hotel. The four teenagers are thrilled…until they realize they have been put up in the “haunted wing”…until Simon's weird and frightening brother appears…until they hear a woman screaming, “No party—please, no party!”…until the walls and faucets begin to drip blood!

When Simon Fear is murdered, Cari and her horrified friends want out. But they can’t escape! They’re trapped on the island. And that’s when the “party” begins…

89RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:21 pm

48. Who Killed the Homecoming Queen?
(Fear Street #48)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Tania is having the best year of her life. She has a hot new boyfriend, she landed the starring role in a student film, and she's just been voted homecoming queen. But someone is jealous of Tania. Someone plans to ruin her perfect year--even if Tania must be killed. Will Tania live to see the homecoming dance?

90RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:24 pm

49.Cat (Fear Street #45)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

The cat came back…

Marty never liked the cat—it always got in the way at basketball practice. But he never meant to kill it.

Now Marty thinks he’s going crazy. He sees cats everywhere. He knows they want revenge.

Too bad Marty doesn’t have nine lives. Because his first one is almost over.

91RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:26 pm

50. Runaway (Fear Street #41)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

She can't run away from her past.

Shadyside. It sounded like such a nice town, the perfect place for a runaway like Felicia. Nobody here would know about her dark powers. Nobody would know what she had done. For once, she could be a normal girl. She could be safe.

But someone in Shadyside discovered Felicia's secret. Someone found out about the awful things her powers made her do. Felicia doesn't want to run away again. But if she stays, she might lose control. And then people would start to die.

92RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:30 pm

51. What Holly Heard (Fear Street #34)
by R.L. Stine

Do you want to hear a secret?

Holly did. She learned a terrible secret, and now her friends know it too.

Someone want to make sure they never talk about it. Someone who'll go to any length to keep them quiet.

Lying...

Threads...

Even murder.

My thoughts

I bought this for myself and my friend Holly for her birthday and we read it together like a play. It was so awesome. I throughly enjoyed the memory.

93RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:34 pm

52. College Weekend (Fear Street #32)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Nightmare weekend

Nothing can ruin Tina River’s big weekend at Patterson College with her boyfriend, Josh Martin. She’s so excited, she doesn’t even mind that her cousin, Holly, will be tagging along.

But when Tina and Holly arrive, Josh is gone. His roommate, Christopher Roberts, says Josh is stuck in the mountains, delayed by car trouble. That’s weird—Josh never mentioned he was going away.

It gets even weirder when Holly suddenly disappears. But Christopher isn’t worried—about Holly or Josh. Christopher seems to have the answer to everything. Tina is confused. But one thing is clear—she’s about to learn more about love and murder than she ever wanted to know.

94RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:38 pm

53.Dead End (Fear Street #29)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Natalie Erickson and her friends share a terrible secret. They were all in the car that foggy night — the night someone died at the dead end.

Now someone knows too much, and there's danger ahead. Natalie just wants out of this nightmare. But that's the problem with dead ends — there's no way out!

95RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:40 pm

54.The Wrong Number (Fear Street #5)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb
It begins as an innocent prank, when Deena Martinson and her best friend Jade Smith make sexy phone calls to the boys from school. But Deena's half-brother Chuck catches them in the act and threatens to tell their parents, unless the girls let him in on the fun. Chuck begins making random calls, threatening anyone who answers. It's dangerous and exciting. They're even enjoying the publicity, and the uproar they've caused. Until Chuck calls a number on Fear Street.

To his horror, Chuck realizes he has called THE WRONG NUMBER. The jokes are over when murder is on the line. The murderer knows who they are and where they live — and they have nowhere to call for help.

96RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:42 pm

55. Wrong Number 2 (Fear Street #27)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Don’t answer that phone!

“You’re not safe anywhere. I’ll get my revenge!”

Can it really be Mr. Farberson on the line? He has to still be locked up after trying to kill Jade and Deena last year. Maybe the calls are just someone’s idea of a sick joke. But who else could possibly know the things the caller knows?

Then they realize that someone is nearby, watching them, close enough to know their every move. Someone who desperately wants revenge. Someone who wants to reach out…and kill them.

97RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:52 pm

56.Lights Out (Fear Street #12)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb
Welcome to Fear Street.

Don’t listen to the stories they tell you about Fear Street. Wouldn’t you rather explore it yourself…and see if its dark terror and unexplained mysteries are true? You’re not afraid, are you?

Who killed the counselor?

“I could kill you!” screamed Geri Marcus.

Could she? Would she? something is very wrong at Camp Nightwing, and junior counselor Holly Flynn is determined to solve the mystery before it destroys the camp!

The trouble begins with frightening acts of vandalism. After each, a red feather is left behind—signature of the culprit.

Suddenly, one of the counselors is dead. “An accident,” say the police. But Holly knows better—and she knows she’s next. Holly can’t trust anyone now, not even her best friend, as she stalks the camp killer—and hopes that it soon won’t be “lights out” for her!

98RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:54 pm

57. The Mind Reader (Fear Street #26)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

A bony hand beckons from a shallow grave…

But only Ellie Anderson can see the skeletal hand. Ellie has visions—visions of past secrets and future horror. Her visions have led her to the body of a girl who was killed two years before. Now her power may help her find the murderer…unless he finds her first!

99RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 6:58 pm

58.The Thrill Club (Fear Street #24)
by R.L. Stine (Goodreads Author)
Tom Perrotta (Ghostwriter)

Blurb

Thrills and chills…

Talia Blanton could scare you to death.

She writes horror stories—stories that often give her friends starring roles.

Everyone loves Talia’s terrifying tales—until they start to come true. One by one, Talia’s friends become Talia’s victims.

Is Talia making her stories come true? Or is someone trying to turn Talia’s real life into a horror story?

My Thoughts

This was a summer read for me and I remember having to stop and put the book away several times because the idea that someone could use stories to kill was way to creepy.

100RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:01 pm

59. The Dare (Fear Street #21)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Nice girls don’t kill…

Johanna Wise has always longed to be part of Dennis Arthur’s rich, popular crowd, and she can’t believe it when he finally asks her out. Now she’ll do anything to continue to hang out with his cool friends and keep Dennis as her boyfriend.

So when Dennis dares her to kill their teacher, Mr. Northwood, she doesn’t say no. She can’t. Besides, it was only a joke, right? But now the joke has gone too far, and the whole school is taking bets on Johanna. The dare is serious…dead serious. Will she do it? Will she really kill for love?

101RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:03 pm

60.Sunburn (Fear Street #19)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

You could get burned…

The perfect suntan. Soaking up the rays. Fun on the beach. That’s what Claudia Walker had in mind when she accepted her friend Marla’s invitation to spend the weekend at her cliffside beach house. Little did she know that horrible accidents—fatal accidents—would occur on the beach and in the house.

But Claudia knows they’re not “accidents.” She’s sure somebody is out to get them…out to kill them. The week of “fun in the sun” has turned dark and deadly!

102RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:06 pm

61. The Prom Queen (Fear Street #15)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Dance of death…

A spring night…soft moonlight…five beautiful Prom Queen candidates…dancing couples at the Shadyside High prom—these should be the ingredients for romance.

But stir in one brutal murder—then another, and another—and the recipe quickly turns to horror.

Lizzie McVay realizes that someone is murdering the five Prom Queen candidates one by one—and that she may be next on the list! Can she stop the murderer before the dance is over—for good?

My thoughts

Another reason I never wanted to be prom anything

103RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:08 pm

62. The Fire Game (Fear Street #11)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Welcome to Fear Street.

Don’t listen to the stories they tell you about Fear Street. Wouldn’t you rather explore it yourself…and see if its dark terror and unexplained mysteries are true? You’re not afraid, are you?

It was just a game…

The first fire started almost by accident. A wastebasket fire in the school library. Jill Franks and her friends found it exciting. And it got them out of school for a few hours.

Who could have guessed that the fire game would quickly spread? That one fire would lead to another? What Jill, and Andrea, and Diane, and the three boys they hung around with would find themselves caught up in the most dangerous—and deadly—game of all?

When one of their fires ends in murder, the game ends—and the real terror begins. All of them realize that someone is playing the game for keeps. Now Jill has no choice. She knows she must find the murderer—before her life goes up in flames!

104RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:11 pm

63.Halloween Party(Fear Street #8)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Welcome to Fear Street.

Don’t listen to the stories they tell you about Fear Street. Wouldn’t you rather explore it yourself…and see if its dark terror and unexplained mysteries are true? You’re not afraid, are you?

Invitation to Terror

The invitation arrived in a black-bordered envelope. Inside, the card showed a coffin with the inscription “Reserved For You.” It was perfectly fitting for an all-night Halloween party on Fear Street. But Terry and his girlfriend Niki wondered why they had been invited. They barely knew Justine Cameron, the beautiful and mysterious transfer student who was throwing the party.

The party was well under way when the lights went out. That’s to be expected at a spooky Halloween party. But when the lights come back on, there was that boy on the floor with the knife in his back. Just a Halloween prank? Maybe. Maybe not.

For Terry and Niki the trick-or-treating has turned to terror. To their horror, they realize that someone at the costume party is dressed to kill!

105RuneFirestar
Jul. 24, 2021, 7:13 pm

64. The Sleepwalker (Fear Street #6)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

'SOMEBODY HELP - DON'T LET ME SLEEPWALK AGAIN!'

One week after she starts her summer job on Fear Street with old Mrs Cottler, Mayra Barnes begins to sleepwalk, waking up in the dead of night not knowing where she is. Mayra becomes even more terrified when she discovers Mrs Cottler may be a witch...

Is the old woman casting spells on Mayra? To add to Mayra's horror, she is being followed by a menacing stranger who seems to recognize her - but she's never seen him in her life!

Mayra's sleepwalking is leading her into more and more peril. She soon realizes she must take action. She must find out what is happening to her - or she may never leave Fear Street alive!

106RuneFirestar
Bearbeitet: Jul. 24, 2021, 10:56 pm

65.Van Helsing Academy
(Supernatural Rehab #1)
by Stacey O'Neale

Blurb

Welcome to the Van Helsing Academy: a rehabilitation center for vampires, shifters, and witches who don't like to follow the rules.

Mina can't remember anything about the night she was attacked. All she knows is what she's been told: she got separated from her team during a mission and turned up two months later covered in cuts and bruises alongside two dead vampires.

After being blamed for their deaths, she is sentenced to three years at the supernatural rehabilitation center, the Van Helsing Academy.

As Mina searches for answers, lies are slowly unraveled and alliances forged. Soon she will uncover a secret plot that threatens to destroy her family legacy and ignite a war between the supernatural factions.

Van Helsing Academy is the first book in a new YA paranormal romance series

My Thought's

This read was very slow to start. It took me until chapter three to even care about Mina.

That being said the idea that Van Helsing had a family and established a school where super naturals who had gone wrong could find a new path was totally awesome.
I loved that idea.

I wasn't really sold on mina but I loved the characters around her. They made me want to see things through til the end. I think my favourite moment was the idea of a wear wearing pink pj's dancing and singing to Taylor Swift got me hooked.

This is one to watch

107RuneFirestar
Jul. 25, 2021, 12:02 pm

66.The Betrayal (The Fear Street Saga #1)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb
The Secret is Out!

Why do so many horrifying things happen on Fear Street? Nora knows.

She knows how the terror began. She knows about the young girl who burned at the stake--and the bloody feud between two families that caused the unspeakable horror that has lasted 300 years!

She knows, and she wants to tell.

Are you sure you want to hear it?

108RuneFirestar
Jul. 25, 2021, 10:48 pm

67. Once Upon a Broken Heart
(Once Upon a Broken Heart #1)
by Stephanie Garber

Blurb

From Stephanie Garber, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval, Once Upon a Broken Heart is the first book in a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well.

But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’s pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

My Thoughts

I was given this as an early review copy via Netgalley. I was excited when I read the Blurb and when I requested it and received it I was totally bouncing.

Give me something that sounds like it could be a fairy tale and I am sold . I was totally pulled into this story from page one.

Evangeline is a wonderful character. She starts out slightly unaware of the world and maybe a bit to trusting in the ide that magick must be real.
Watching her grow and really understand that she has her own magic is brilliant.

However her interactions with Jacks and the other fates are also amazing.

Totally amazing read.

109RuneFirestar
Jul. 26, 2021, 7:22 am

68.The Secret (The Fear Street Saga #2)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

Buried Evil

What is the secret of Fear Street?

Why has its horror lasted so long?

Ezra Fier wants to find out. He searches for the answer among the rotting bones in the ghostly town of Wickham. But he find only betrayal and death.

Elizabeth and Kate are in love with the same boy. How can they know that they too are caught by the evil that will haunt this family forever?

110RuneFirestar
Jul. 26, 2021, 11:38 pm

69.The Burning (The Fear Street Saga #3)
by R.L. Stine

Blurb

The end…and the beginning

Simon Fear thought changing his name would stop the evil. He was wrong—dead wrong.

After generations of unspeakable horror, it is up to Daniel and Nora, brought together by their fateful love, to unite the feuding families. But is their forbidden love strong enough to withstand such awesome evil?

Poor Nora—desperate to tell the truth and bury the family curse…before it buries her.

111RuneFirestar
Aug. 2, 2021, 2:55 pm

70. Stardust: Being a Romance within the Realms of Faerie
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author), Charles Vess (Illustrator)

Blurb
Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love.

112RuneFirestar
Aug. 4, 2021, 4:16 pm

71. Dead and Breakfast (Merry Ghost Inn #1)
by Kate Kingsbury

Blurb

Melanie West is getting her life back on track after a messy divorce when her grandmother, Liza Harris, asks her to open a B&B with her. Together, Liza and Melanie purchase a purportedly haunted mansion on the Oregon coast and jump right into clearing out the cobwebs. But while attempting to remove wallpaper in an upstairs bedroom, the new B&B owners stumble upon a very real skeleton in their closet.

The police suspect the skeleton is that of the wife of the previous owner of the B&B, but no one in town seems to want to say much about her. As the inn owners try to juggle renovations with their own amateur investigations, their grand opening looms closer and closer--and a friendly ghost in their walls starts playing tricks. But it all comes crashing to a halt when a new body is found stabbed to death on the beach below the inn--the victim chillingly close in resemblance to Melanie herself.

It seems someone doesn't appreciate newcomers prying into the small town's past, and now it's up to Melanie and Liza to get to the bottom of these murders to save their business...and their lives.

My Thoughts

Though this mystery isn't anything new as far as the cozy genre goes it's a fast easy read . The characters are fun I liked setting enough that I look forward to the next adventure with the owners of The Merry Ghost Inn.

113RuneFirestar
Aug. 13, 2021, 3:17 am

72. Doom with a View (Merry Ghost Inn #2)
by Kate Kingsbury

Blurb
With the arrival of six senior reading group members at the Merry Ghost Inn, the long-awaited Grand Opening week has finally begun for Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza. All is well with the Oregon coast-side B&B until Melanie's dog, Max, finds the dead body of one of their guests. Everyone at the inn immediately falls under suspicion, including the innkeepers themselves. Melanie and Liza are not sure who they can trust, and the idea of cohabitating with a murderer is enough to send chills down anyone's spine. To make matters worse, the curmudgeonly town detective wants them to steer clear of the investigation, but doesn't seem too inspired to solve the case in a timely fashion himself. To clear their own names and to avoid the blight on the inn's reputation that yet another dead body will bring, Melanie and Liza dive headlong into the murder investigation. With a little help from their chuckling ghost, Melanie and Liza dodge the detective, tip-toe around their suspicious guests, and still serve up delicious Bed & Breakfast meals on time.

My Thoughts

I love Melianie,Max and Eliza. They are wonderful and spending time with them at the Merry Ghost Inn is always fun.

Though I feel the Merry Ghost has a bit of a dark sense of humour.

114RuneFirestar
Aug. 14, 2021, 9:17 pm

73.Death Overdue
(The Haunted Library Mysteries #1)
by Allison Brook (Pseudonym), Marilyn Levinson (Goodreads Author)

Blurb
Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death fifteen years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.

The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie feels responsible for having surged forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie's determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it's the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.

Now it's due or die for Carrie in Death Overdue, the delightful first in a new cozy series by Allison Brook.

My Thoughts

I really loved this library based mystery and it's cat Smokey Joe

115RuneFirestar
Aug. 23, 2021, 9:39 am

74. Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Blurb
An unforgettable fantasy debut inspired by West African mythology, this is Children of Blood and Bone meets The Little Mermaid, in which a mermaid takes on the gods themselves.

A way to survive.
A way to serve.
A way to save.

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata--a mermaid--collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home.

But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable--she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy it.

To protect the other Mami Wata, Simi must journey to the Supreme Creator to make amends. But something is amiss. There's the boy she rescued, who knows more than he should. And something is shadowing Simi, something that would rather see her fail. . . .

Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. Because if she doesn't, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.

My Thoughts

This is an early reviewers copy issued to me via Netgalley. I was drawn to it first by the beautiful cover art. It is possibly the best cover I have seen this year.

Just as beautiful as its cover is the story. A re- inventing of the Little Meraid story but with the Yurba mythology and religion mixed it. Simply wonderful!

It's pure magic all the way through and once you start you can't put it down.

116RuneFirestar
Sept. 1, 2021, 10:15 pm

75. The Gourmet Detective (Gourmet Detective #1)by Peter King

Blurb

Meet the Gourmet Detective. A chef-turned-culinary sleuth, the Gourmet Detective tracks down obscure ingredients and unravels difficult recipes for rival restaurateurs -- until a guest unexpectedly drops dead at the prestigious Circle of Careme dinner. Drawing upon his epicurean and investigative skills, the Gourmet Detective hunts the killer among omelettes Bourguignonne and vats of Madeira sauce. Featuring many real recipes and actual cooking techniques, this delightful mystery is a charming romp through the kitchens of the finest gourmands.

My Thoughts

I really love this read. The characters the food its brilliant.

117RuneFirestar
Sept. 2, 2021, 7:16 pm

76.Spiced to Death (Gourmet Detective #2)
by Peter King

Blurb

The Gourmet Detective: He's got a gift for food, a taste for adventure-and a nose for nabbing a killer.

Critics hailed Peter King's debut novel, The Gourmet Detective, the first in a delicious mystery series featuring the Gourmet Detective-a chef-turned-culinary-sleuth.

Now, in his second outing, the Gourmet Detective is on his way from London to New York to authenticate Ko-Feng-an expensive spice, lost for centuries, and lauded for its taste and purported qualities as an aphrodisiac. But when the Ko-Feng disappears under his nose-and a culinary colleague turns up dead-the Gourmet Detective becomes the prime suspect in a case more slippery than Oysters Rockefeller. As he cooks up a scheme to find the killer, the Gourmet Detective embarks on a mouth-watering romp through the ethnic eateries of New York City, tasting his way to final justice.

118libraryperilous
Sept. 2, 2021, 8:41 pm

>114 RuneFirestar: This sounds like something my mom would enjoy quite a bit.

119RuneFirestar
Sept. 3, 2021, 9:29 pm

libraryperilous the TV show is brilliant too

120RuneFirestar
Sept. 3, 2021, 9:30 pm

77. Dying on the Vine (Gourmet Detective #3)
by Peter King

Blurb
And the main course is...murder.

Animated by a passion for food, wine and justice, the Gourmet Detective travels to Provence to investigate a shadowy business deal between two vineyards. But before he can even sample the delights of Pate de Grives on triangles of hot, crisp toast, he encounters a corpse leaning against a cart in the vineyard. Was he really gored to death by sangliers, wild boars rumored to live in the abandoned caves surrounding the village? And why would a tiny vineyard want to buy out its enormous neighbor-- and competitor-- at any price? Has one of them developed a wine to die for? Trusting In Vino Veritas, the Gourmet Detective follows his palate through a host of Provencal delicacies and sanguinary divertissements while a brilliant killer with exquisite taste prepares to serve him his last meal...

121RuneFirestar
Sept. 5, 2021, 8:08 pm

78. Death al Dente (Gourmet Detective #4)
by Peter King

Blurb

While in Bologna, the Gourmet Detective discovers food and passion are two Italian delicacies to die for...

Dispatched by London's premier restauranteur to find the ultimate Italian chef, the Gourmet Detective heads for Italy undercover. Accompanied by a seductive guide, he sets out to savor the delicacies-- and plumb the secrets-- of the three top contenders. But while sampling the region's gustatory delights, the Gourmet Detective discovers that his secret mission is public knowledge. Who spilled the beans? Are the culinary competitors ready to kill for the job? And when an agricultural magnate is found marinating in a swimming pool, and a killer monk tries to pare him to the core, the Gourmet Detective is ready to give a murderer his just desserts...

122RuneFirestar
Sept. 8, 2021, 10:25 pm

79.The Goblin King's Skull
by C.J. Stilling

Blurb
New Tokyo, 2056. Sixteen-year-old Max might be a numbers genius, but his personal life isn’t adding up. Already struggling to impress his crush and pay for college, his problems escalate exponentially when he learns the secret to resurrecting an ancient goblin warlord. But when ruthless beasts attack his family, Max must cross into the fairy world to defend those he loves.

Trading his freedom for his father’s recovery, he’s apprenticed to elves who are all too eager to exploit Max’s untapped powers. Thrust into the middle of an ancient war, Max's growing power only puts a bigger target on his head.

Can Max master enough magic to outsmart the goblins and their spectral ruler before they destroys both realms?

The Goblin King’s Skull is a thrilling YA urban fantasy novel. If you like mythical creatures, futuristic settings, and magical worlds, then you’ll love C.J. Stilling’s imaginative tale

My Thoughts

This was an early reviewers copy of the book given to me by Booksirens in exchange for a review.

If you liked Artemis Fowl but want something a little more mature now that you're older, this book is what you're looking for.

The Goblin King's Skull has action, romance, moral dilemmas, and engaging world-building.

This story takes place in New Tokyo. The setting is both futuristic and post apocalyptic, giving it a very Anime vibe. I really liked this tons.

The main character of the story is Max a number loving genius. He’s smart, but his life is a wreck. His dad is cursed and Max is certain that the key to saving him is solving the so called unsolvable Eischer's paradox. Max believes that once he has the answer he will have everything.
Working with his partner Eileen they actually come up with the soution! However , it doesn't quite workout the way he thought and things start going weird.

After several failed attempts on his life, Max finds himself thrown into a world with plans to resurrect an ancient goblin warlord.


Each chapter starts with an excerpt from the fairy worlds history and I love that this plays into the story and you can slowly see how what’s happened in the past is affecting the present.

There’s lots of character development and a journey of friendship through the dystopian setting. There’s also a sincere feeling about the horror that has befallen them and it plays really nicely into the story.

Math, Magic , Goblins, Elves and a host of other creatures this story is one you won't be able to put down.

123RuneFirestar
Sept. 9, 2021, 9:41 pm

80. A Healthy Place to Die (Gourmet Detective #5) by Peter King

Blurb
The Gourmet Detective accepts an invitation to attend a cooking conference at a Swiss resort. Asked to evaluate healthy haule cuisine served by the spa, he finds that these are no ordinary dishes. For this is not a spartan diet spa, but a haven of relaxation and indulgence. He takes the opportunity to relax in mudbaths and swim in natural springs, but his experience does not remain idyllic for long. Suddenly two editors from a glamorous lifestyle magazine disappear -- and a lawyer shows up to inquire about the stories they were writing. Now the Gourmet Detective suspects they were uncovering more than the tastiest food secrets. The recipe for relaxation turns into a recipe for disaster, and the Gourmet Detective must find the killer before the spa serves up more murders.

124RuneFirestar
Sept. 9, 2021, 11:04 pm

81.A Deadly Habit (Charles Paris #20)
by Simon Brett

Blurb

Rehearsals in a new West End play are disrupted by sudden, violent death in the intriguing new Charles Paris mystery

Having landed a small part in a new West End play, The Habit of Faith, Charles Paris is dismayed to discover that his good fortune has been orchestrated by his bête noire, the now-famous screen actor Justin Grover. But why has Grover become involved in this relatively obscure production – and why has he roped in Charles to star?

From the outset the production is fraught with difficulties — and matters become even more complicated when a body is discovered at the foot of the dressing room stairs. Did they fall – or were they pushed? As one of the last people to have seen the victim alive, Charles Paris is drawn into the ensuing investigation – and discovers that more than one person involved in the play has a scandalous secret to hide …

My Thoughts

I am thrilled as always to spend time with Charles and his lovely long suffering semi- detached wife Francis.

This was a fantastic listen and I listened to the whole thing in one go.

125RuneFirestar
Sept. 21, 2021, 11:07 pm

82. Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey #2)
by Dorothy L. Sayers

Blurb

Rustic old Riddlesdale Lodge was a Wimsey family retreat filled with country pleasures and the thrill of the hunt -- until the game turned up human and quite dead. He lay among the chrysanthemums, wore slippers and a dinner jacket and was Lord Peter's brother-in-law-to-be. His accused murderer was Wimsey's own brother, and if murder set all in the family wasn't enough to boggle the unflappable Lord Wimsey, perhaps a few twists of fate would be -- a mysterious vanishing midnight letter from Egypt...a grieving fiancee with suitcase in hand...and a bullet destined for one very special Wimsey.

126RuneFirestar
Sept. 22, 2021, 4:17 am

83. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
(Hogwarts Library) by J.K. Rowling

Blurb

The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five richly diverse fairy tales, each with its own magical character, that will variously bring delight, laughter and the thrill of mortal peril.

Additional notes for each story penned by Professor Albus Dumbledore will be enjoyed by Muggles and wizards alike, as the Professor muses on the morals illuminated by the tales, and reveals snippets of information about life at Hogwarts.

127RuneFirestar
Okt. 3, 2021, 6:19 pm

84..The Man Who Died Twice
(Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman

Blurb

It's the following Thursday.

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?

But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?

My Thoughts

It was lovely to hear back in Coopers chase and chatch up with everyone. I love how the story has progressed between books but not so much that the reader is lost or feels like they missed something.

I adored getting to know more about Elizabeth and her past . Thar was brilliant.

All together a wonderful mystery adventure! Can't wait for the next one!

128RuneFirestar
Okt. 6, 2021, 12:06 pm

85.The Wee Free Men
(Discworld #30)
by Terry Pratchett

Blurb

"Another world is colliding with this one," said the toad. "All the monsters are coming back."

"Why?" said Tiffany.

"There's no one to stop them."

There was silence for a moment.

Then Tiffany said, "There's me."

Armed only with a frying pan and her common sense, Tiffany Aching, a young witch-to-be, is all that stands between the monsters of Fairyland and the warm, green Chalk country that is her home. Forced into Fairyland to seek her kidnapped brother, Tiffany allies herself with the Chalk's local Nac Mac Feegle - aka the Wee Free Men - a clan of sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men who are as fierce as they are funny. Together they battle through an eerie and ever-shifting landscape, fighting brutal flying fairies, dream-spinning dromes, and grimhounds - black dogs with eyes of fire and teeth of razors - before ultimately confronting the Queen of the Elves, absolute ruler of a world in which reality intertwines with nightmare. And in the final showdown, Tiffany must face her cruel power alone...

In a riveting narrative that is equal parts suspense and humor, Carnegie Medalist Terry Pratchett returns to his internationally popular Discworld with a breathtaking tale certain to leave fans, new and old, enthralled.

My Thoughts

Loved it the Frist time. Loved the second time.

129RuneFirestar
Okt. 7, 2021, 8:49 pm

86. A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld #32)
by Terry Pratchett

Blurb

Something is coming after Tiffany . . .

Tiffany Aching is ready to begin her apprenticeship in magic. She expects spells and magic – not chores and ill-tempered goats! Surely there must be more to witchcraft than this!

What Tiffany doesn't know is that an insidious, disembodied creature is pursuing her. This time, neither Mistress Weatherwax (the greatest witch in the world) nor the fierce, six-inch-high Wee Free Men can protect her. In the end, it will take all of Tiffany's inner strength to save herself . . . if it can be done at all.

THE SECOND BOOK IN THE TIFFANY ACHING SEQUENCE

130RuneFirestar
Okt. 12, 2021, 6:18 pm

87. Once Ghosted, Twice Shy (Ghosted Cozy Mysteries, #1)
by Jessica Arden

Blurb

Professor Pickett in the cafe with the Mardi Gras beads?

New Orleans ghost tour gift shop manager, Paige Harrington, makes a wish for her twenty-fifth birthday: to find the one thing she can be as passionate about as her cancer-curing scientist parents.

She doesn’t, however, expect her calling to come in the form of a mysterious app on her phone that matches her up with the ghost of a cute bartender who wants her to solve his murder. Nor for her pet hedgehog, Auguste, to start talking to her with a French accent.

When her favorite professor turned cafe owner, Liz Pickett, is framed for the murder, Paige can’t sit by and let all of this happen. Even if uncovering the truth means tangling with the Enclave, a secret society with the power and connections to make someone like her asking too many questions disappear without a trace.

With the Enclave and their dark secrets dogging at her heels, Paige will have to step up her sleuthing skills and unmask the real killer before she ends up their next victim.

My Thoughts

I was given this as an early reviewers copy from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. I stumbled across the book while looking through the available arcs listed and the cover caught my attention.

The title sounded quirky and made me giggle and so i read the blurb and , even if i had been hesitant before that I was hooked after. I am a sucker for a good mystery.
This title is certainly a cozy mystery with many thrills and some light hearted laughs here and there.

Paige and her friends are brilliant characters. i even love that she has a talking pet Hedgehog its just charming and sooo much fun. She starts off not sure what she should be doing and falls into her place.

I throughtly enjoyed getting to know Paige. I cant wait for the next mystery to pop up and see how she handles it.

131RuneFirestar
Okt. 12, 2021, 6:31 pm

88. Wintersmith (Discworld #35)
by Terry Pratchett

blurb

Tiffany Aching is a trainee witch — now working for the seriously scary Miss Treason. But when Tiffany witnesses the Dark Dance — the crossover from summer to winter — she does what no one has ever done before and leaps into the dance. Into the oldest story there ever is. And draws the attention of the Wintersmith himself.

As Tiffany-shaped snowflakes hammer down on the land, can Tiffany deal with the consequences of her actions? Even with the help of Granny Weatherwax and the Nac Mac Feegle — the fightin’, thievin’ pictsies who are prepared to lay down their lives for their “big wee hag.”

Wintersmith is the third title in an exuberant series crackling with energy and humour.

132RuneFirestar
Okt. 14, 2021, 1:53 pm

89. The Deathless Girls
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Blurb
They say the thirst of blood is like a madness - they must sate it. Even with their own kin.

On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community.

Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn't understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls as gifts.

They may not have had their divining day, but the girls will still discover their fate...

My Thoughts

I flip flopped back and forth as to weather or not this was going to be a read for me.
Then my friend suggested we read it together and I was like okay I'll go for it.

At its center its a reworking of the Dracula story. At its heart it explores things like what it means to be diffrent, loyalty and family , and love and diffrent forms thar love can take.
It's beautiful and tragic all at once .

A well written ,well told story that will leave you breathless .

133Sakerfalcon
Okt. 15, 2021, 9:17 am

>132 RuneFirestar: This is on m TBR pile, I must get to it soon.

134RuneFirestar
Okt. 24, 2021, 12:03 am

90. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
(A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #1)
by Holly Jackson

Blurb

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

My Thoughts

Wow! What a story! It took me a while to read buy as the story built I had to know what was going to happen next and weather or not the the guilty were actually as guilty as they were made out to be. But it also brings in to sharp focus that looking into secrets can be dangerous!

Awesome read , amazing writing.

135RuneFirestar
Okt. 24, 2021, 3:42 pm

91. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Blurb
A fast-moving, eerie tale set on Halloween night...

Eight costumed boys running to meet their friend Pipkin at the haunted house outside town encounter instead the huge and cadaverous Mr. Moundshroud. As Pipkin scrambles to join them, he is swept away by a dark Something, and Moundshroud leads the boys on the tail of a kite through time and space to search the past for their friend and the meaning of Halloween.

My Thoughts

Perfect for this time of year

136RuneFirestar
Okt. 24, 2021, 3:44 pm

92. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
by Washington Irving

Blurb

In the secluded Dutch territory of Sleepy Hollow, nebbish schoolmaster Ichabod Crane competes with the town hero for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel, the 18-year-old daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party at the Van Tassel's farm one autumn evening, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, an apparition said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper snuffed out by a stray cannonball during the Revolutionary War.

137RuneFirestar
Okt. 29, 2021, 2:24 am

93.The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess
(A Villain's Ever After #9)
by Lucy Tempest

Blurb
A usurped princess. A mercenary sorcerer. A fate neither expected.

As a crown princess, Ava has always anticipated betrayals—but never from her own twin.

The unspeakable treachery comes the night Ava meets her true love, when Lina hires the infamous sorcerer, Dietrich Von Rothbart, to turn Ava into a swan, and takes her place.

Kept across the mountains in Dietrich’s castle lake, Ava’s repeated attempts to escape, to return to her prince and life, keep failing. But in the last time Dietrich recaptures her, she gets close enough to glimpse the terrible truth of what she left behind—starting with that of her prince.

Yet, it’s Dietrich’s true motivations and the unique bond that forms between them that shock her the most.

Will she reject their burgeoning feelings and trust to undo his efforts and reclaim her kingdom? Will he risk the consequences of freeing her from his curse? Will their love survive the demands of duty, and the toll of resentment and threats? Or will it fade away with the moonlight at sunrise?

My Thoughts

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Though this book will never be seen as the most imaginative or creative of its kind, This retelling and reworking of the Swan Princess was wonderful.

It stuck to the story fairly well but as you get to know Rothbart and learn more of his story and background you see him as less the villain and more of a man just doing what needs to be done.

I also love the school and that. That was brilliant.

Pure guilty pleasure read

138RuneFirestar
Okt. 29, 2021, 2:33 am

94. Sabriel by Garth Nix

Blurb

Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.

With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether

139RuneFirestar
Okt. 29, 2021, 4:35 pm

95. Lirael (Abhorsen #2) by Garth Nix

Blurb

Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Now, two years past the time when she should have received the Sight that is the Clayr's birthright, she feels alone, abandoned, unsure of who she is. Nevertheless, the fate of the Old Kingdom lies in her hands. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, Lirael must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil.

140RuneFirestar
Nov. 17, 2021, 6:28 pm

96. The Snow Child: A Russian Folktale
by Freya Littledale,Barbara Lavallee

Blurb

An elderly couple's wish comes true when their little girl of snow magically comes to life. Each spring the snow child must leave, but every winter she returns with the first snowfall and comes to life with a kiss.

141RuneFirestar
Nov. 17, 2021, 6:30 pm

97. The Hedgehogs' Christmas Tree
by Kathryn Jackson

Blurb

The little Hedgehogs sniff for the scent of the pine Christmas tree their father is bringing home. Includes eight fragrance labels.

142-pilgrim-
Nov. 18, 2021, 7:13 am

>140 RuneFirestar: Oh that folktale was a favourite of a very young -pilgrim-!

143RuneFirestar
Dez. 10, 2021, 1:14 am

98. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Blurb

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

My Thoughts

Oh my what a beautiful twisted enchantment has been created for us the readers. A wonderful story that there are no words for.

The circus arrives when you least expect it , opens only at night and things are never as they seem.

I invite you all my fellow readers to enter the circus.

144RuneFirestar
Dez. 10, 2021, 1:18 am

99. Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case
(Jayne Frost #1) by Kristen Painter

Blurb

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now...private investigator. Sort of. Needing someone he can trust, her father sends her undercover to Nocturne Falls to find out why employees at the Santa's Workshop toy store are going missing. Doing that requires getting to know the town, which leads to interesting encounters with a sexy vampire, an old flame, and an elevator that's strictly off-limits. The more Jayne finds out, the more questions she has, but the answers lead her deeper into danger. Will her magic save her? Or will she come up cold?

My Thoughts

Love it

145RuneFirestar
Dez. 10, 2021, 1:26 am

100. Miss Frost Ices The Imp (Jayne Frost #2)
by Kristen Painter

Blurb

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost’s daughter, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now…private investigator. Sort of.

When she buys a sealed box at an estate sale and cat-related circumstances cause that box to be opened, life in Nocturne Falls starts to go haywire. Jayne has no choice but to figure out what she unleashed and how to recapture it.

But Jayne suspects the woman behind the box is hiding something. Something that could cause a town resident serious trouble. Or worse, to lose their life.
With the help of her two favorite guys, a sexy vampire and a hot summer elf, and a few new friends, Jayne tackles what feels like an impossible mission. And winds up almost iced herself.

146RuneFirestar
Dez. 10, 2021, 1:29 am

101. Miss Frost Saves The Sandman
(Jayne Frost #3)
by Kristen Painter

Blurb
Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now...private investigator. Sort of.

When the Sandman comes to Santa’s Workshop, the shop Jayne manages, to do his first ever book signing, it’s a major event. He’s kind of a supernatural celebrity and she needs to keep him happy.

All is well until trouble shows up at the party thrown in his honor. Trouble in the form of Luna Nyx, the Mistress of Nightmares and his creepy counterpart. The Sandman’s assistant says Luna is dangerous, and Jayne believes it when her dreams turn dark.

Can Jayne keep the Sandman safe from this gothic goddess? Or will Luna’s threats put them both to sleep for good?

147Darth-Heather
Dez. 10, 2021, 11:17 am

>143 RuneFirestar: I loved this one so much! I like your description of it as a "beautiful twisted enchantment"; for me it was definitely hard to put down.

I also read The Starless Sea which is entirely different but I still found it mesmerising.

148RuneFirestar
Dez. 15, 2021, 2:05 pm

102.Attack of the Necron
(Warped Galaxies #1)
by Cavan Scott, David Tennant (Narrator)

Blurb

Audio book edition of 'Warped galaxies: Attack of the Necron'. Read by David Tennant. David Tennant is renowned for his theatre and screen work, and his voiceover talents can be heard in dozens of television shows, audiobooks and audio dramas. He’s probably best known as the tenth incarnation of television’s ‘Doctor Who’.

On the hive world of Targian, Zelia Lor helps her mother search for ancient tech, digging up treasures of the past on the wind-blown plains. They are happy. They are safe. All that changes when the Necrons attack. Without warning, a host of robotic ships appear in the skies above Targian and rip the planet apart. Separated from her mother, Zelia must escape the doomed world, her only hope a scrambled transmission promising safety at a mysterious place known only as the Emperor’s Seat. Launched in an escape pod, she crashes on an icy wasteland far, far from home. But Zelia is not alone. She is joined by a rag-tag group of survivors – the street-tough juve Talen, gadget-obsessed Martian boy Mekki and super-intelligent alien-ape, Fleapit.

149RuneFirestar
Dez. 15, 2021, 2:07 pm

103. Claws of the Genestealer
(Warped Galaxies #2)
by Cavan Scott

Blurb

The second book in the Warped Galaxies series. An exciting new series of sci-fi books for middle-grade reeaders from Black Library. Brave champions and the forces of the Imperium battle alien beasts and mechanical tyrants accross the gulf of space.

Having crash landed on a remote ice planet, Zelia Lor and her friends Talen, Mekki and the super-intelligent alien-ape Fleapit must do whatever they can to survive. A distress beacon offers some hope of rescue, but what else lurks in the ice and snow, watching them with hungry eyes…?

150RuneFirestar
Dez. 15, 2021, 2:09 pm

104. Secrets of the Tau (Warped Galaxies #3)
by Cavan Scott

Blurb
The third book in the Warped Galaxies series. An exciting new series of sci-fi books for middle-grade reeaders from Black Library. Brave champions and the forces of the Imperium battle alien beasts and mechanical tyrants accross the gulf of space.

Journeying to the bustling spaceport of Hinterland after being saved from certain death by a dubious Rogue Trader, Zelia, Talen and Mekki continue their quest to reach the Emperor’s Seat. But much here is not what it seems. Alone in a strange place and surrounded by aliens, who can they really trust and what are the secrets of the Tau?

151RuneFirestar
Dez. 16, 2021, 4:08 am

105.War of the Orks (Warped Galaxies #4)
by Cavan Scott

Blurb

Still searching for the Emperor’s Seat, Zelia, Talen and Mekki arrive on the jungle planet of Weald. Accompanied by the ingenious Fleapit and the dashing Rogue Trader Amity, Zelia and her friends become embroiled in a war between two brutish tribes of green-skinned orks! Only by using their wits can they hope to survive this savage encounter…

152RuneFirestar
Dez. 16, 2021, 4:46 pm

105. Plague of the Nurglings
(Warped Galaxies #5) by Cavan Scott

Blurb

The fifth book in the Warped Galaxies series. An exciting new series of sci-fi books for middle-grade reeaders from Black Library. Brave champions and the forces of the Imperium battle alien beasts and mechanical tyrants accross the gulf of space.

Zelia, Talen and Mekki arrive at Aparitus, a planet of huge industrial machines and the cybernetic race called the Mechanicus. Now under the protection of the mysterious Inquisitor Jeremias, they still search for a way to reach Zelia’s mother, but all is not what it seems on the forge world. A strange plague begins to spread, infecting technology and unleashing a host of gribbly monsters – the Nurglings!

153RuneFirestar
Dez. 17, 2021, 3:37 pm

106. Tomb of the Necron
(Warped Galaxies #6) by Cavan Scott

Blurb
Book 6 in the Warped Galaxies Series. Fantastic Sci-Fi books for children aged 9-12.

Guided by the vision of a mysterious psyker, Zelia finally finds her mother on a distant world, far from Terra. But even now, are the friends really safe while they carry the ancient relic that led to the destruction of Talen’s home planet? A family is reunited, but a world will be ripped apart as the unstoppable Necrons close in on their prize. Warped Galaxies reaches its exciting conclusion as loyalties are tested, destinies are set and the Space Marines arrive in force!

154RuneFirestar
Dez. 22, 2021, 8:00 pm

107.City of Lifestone (Realm Quest #1)
by Tom Huddleston

Blurb

Book 1 of the Realm Quest series

Far from home and freed from slavery, Kiri embarks on an epic adventures across the Mortal Realms, accompanied by a group of special friends. But dark forces gather to stop them…

READ IT BECAUSE
It's a brand-new and exciting way to experience the Age of Sigmar – and it's designed to be the perfect starting point for younger readers. Read it with your children to introduce them to your favourite universe!

THE STORY
Raised as a slave in the Darkoath camps of Aqshy, Kiri dreams of a better life. Of a city of wonders, the place of her birth… Lifestone! She despairs of ever reaching it until a fateful day arrives when her barbarian captors are attacked by Sigmar's noblest warriors, the Stormcast Eternals. Seizing her chance, Kiri flees through a mysterious realmgate that takes her far from the fiery lands of Aqshy. She arrives in the realm of Ghyran and finds the city of Lifestone. But a curse lies on this place, withering its noble spirit. Her path leads her to a special group of children who, like her, are realm-marked – the prophecised saviours of Lifestone. There's Thanis, the fighter; Alish, the inventor; Kaspar; the sneak and Elio, the healer. But dark forces are allying against the children and will do anything to stop them achieving their destiny.

155RuneFirestar
Dez. 22, 2021, 8:04 pm

108.Lair of the Skaven (Realm Quest #2)
by Tom Huddleston

Blurb
Determined to rescue their master, Elio, Kiri, Alish, Thanis and Kaspar find themselves in danger as they venture into the lair of the Skaven.

READ IT BECAUSE
The realm-marked heroes are back, and facing off against sinister ratmen in their own lair… How will they get out of this?

THE STORY
When their master, Vertigan, is kidnapped, Elio and his friends are determined to try and rescue him. Using a powerful artefact, they forge a magical doorway into a forbidding underground world teeming with Skaven ratmen! Hopelessly outnumbered, Elio, Kiri, Alish, Thanis and Kaspar must use all of their cunning if they are to find Vertigan and escape alive…

156RuneFirestar
Dez. 27, 2021, 2:39 pm

109. Forest of the Ancients
(Realm Quest #3) by Tom Huddleston

Blurb

Book 3 of the Realm Quest series

Desperate to save their friend, Kiri and her companions seek the aid of the mysterious Sylvaneth… but can they trust the guardians of the forest?

READ IT BECAUSE
If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a fantastic new adventure as the Realm Quest series continues by exploring the Sylvaneth.

THE STORY
As Elio lies stricken under a powerful curse, the only way his friends Thanis, Alish, Kiri and Kaspar can cure him is to venture into the Forest of the Ancients. Rumour tells of a race of healers who dwell there, the mysterious tree-folk known as the Sylvaneth, but are they allies or enemies…?