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Grave Girl - Amy Cross

I really enjoyed this quirky supernatural tale about spooky goings on in a small English village and the fiesty young girl who takes the job as gardener at the local cemetry, unaware that the Devil is buried beneath and the dead walk at night. Sharp dialogue added to the fun.

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Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick

Final book in the series about Alienor of Aquitaine, forget about Queen Elizabeth, she had immense freedom in comparsion to this woman who lived during the time of knights. Excellent writer!

Last edited by Morgana; 09/13/16 07:04 AM.

Morgana

A writer's job is to think of new plots and create characters who stay with you long after the final page has been read. If that mission is accomplished than we have done what we set out to do, which is to entertain and hopefully educate.
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I've only ever read a few of Chadwick's historical novels, picked up from charity shops, but I've always aimed to get more at some point. Agreed, she's excellent at envoking whatever period she's writing about and really brings her characters to life.

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Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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Magic of Thieves - C. Greenwood

A reasonably well written tale of Ilan, who, as a child, is reluctantly adopted into a band of forest bandits after her parents are killed by soldiers in a purge against magic. For some reason, though, I just couldn't engage with the characters and ended up not being much affected by their fates or having any inclination to read book two.

LabRat smile



Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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#47 Half Lost by Sally Green

Last of the trilogy. The Alliance continues to plot to overthrow Soul's rule. Nathan continues to learn more about his gifts.

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#48 Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Three couples get together for a barbecue. And something goes really wrong. The story is told from the different couples' POV and jumps back in forth time wise: Before the barbecue, after the barbecue, the day of the barbecue. Frankly I was wondering if the build up was worth the wait. It was. I like this author and would consider this one of her better works.


#49 Out-takes from a Marriage by Ann Leary

A woman married to a now famous actor suspects that he's cheating on her.

I got this one on my Nook so I kept thinking it was going to be some sort of psychological thriller. It was not. I think it was supposed to be funny, though it wasn't. The author never resolved the conflict. This book was a waste of time.

#50 The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

Madalyn and Grace are best friends who live on Nantucket. Rumors start to fly about them during the summer, some of which are true, some are not.

This writer does a good 'beach read'. It was entertaining, though I felt two of the key conflicts were glossed over in the resolution.

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#51 Blueprints by Barbara Delinsky

Caroline and Jamie are a close mother/daughter team. Trouble starts when Jamie is asked to replace her mom as host of the DYI show the two work on.

I've read other books by this author that I really enjoyed. Some of them dealt with interesting issues such as a mother and daughter involved in a car accident where the mother takes the blame for the daughter's mistake. This wasn't one of her better books.

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#52 Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Quote
In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now

Interesting YA time travel book dealing with an inter-racial couple. I'll read the next installment.

Joan

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#53 The Twelfth Victim by Linda M. Battisti

Was Caril Fugate an accomplice or an unwilling victim during Charles Starkweather's murder spree in Nebraska?

54 If You Only Knew by M. William Phelps

What actually happened the night of Don Roger's death?

I was in the mood for true crime so I tried these out. Since I live where the Starkweather murders' took place, I thought that might be interesting. The story wasn't written that well and it wasn't overly convincing of Caril's innocence.

The second book was written better but it dealt more with the trial portion than the evidence.

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#55 Tied Up in Knots: How getting what we wanted made women miserable by Andrea Tantaros

She makes a lot of good points.

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#56 Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Quote
Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

At first this book felt rather cliche. But the author was able to bring up some good points on the issue of racism.

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#57 Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Third book in "A Throne of Glass" series

Quote
Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak;but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could change her life;and her future;forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

I'm reading this series because my daughter loves it. I've never been much of a fantasy person. However, in this book, the writer tied together all sorts of wonderful things with plot and character so I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Joan

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Harvester of Light Trilogy - S J West

I. Harvester
II. Hope
III. Dawn


Quote
In a time when technology gives you the choice of trading in your humanity for immortality, war has broken out between those who have chosen eternal life, known as Harvesters, and the last bastion of humans who view death as a small price to pay to retain their immortal souls.

As one of the few remaining survivors of the war, Skye and her best friend Ash struggle to live in what’s left of a post-nuclear United States. They elude capture by the Harvesters and simply try to stay alive in a world gone mad.

An above average young adult fantasy with good, solid characters and a plot that never flags. Skye can come across as a bit of a Mary Sue at times, but there is a good reason for it within the plot, so that can be forgiven.

The Bad Box - Harvey Click

Quote
Sarah Temple hopes to find a bit of peace and quiet when she leaves her abusive boyfriend, but instead she finds a world of horror. It’s bad enough that a sadistic serial killer and another maniac are both trying to murder her, but what’s worse is the mysterious Solitary One who controls both of them, a malevolent entity that the serial killer describes as a living darkness, a man and yet not a man, something that’s alive and yet not alive, something that wants to appall the world.

Trying to flee from the two killers, Sarah finds herself running deeper and deeper into a deadly supernatural trap, a place where people are buried alive, where ghastly apparitions mutter in the dark, where demented killers prowl, where a crumbling haunted house can drive its victims mad with terror, and where something buried for a very long time may walk again.

Very enjoyable supernatural thriller, densely plotted with good characters. I'll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

The Body At Auercliffe - Amy Cross

Quote
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”

When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.

A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.

The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.

Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?

The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

During the summer, Amy Cross quickly became my go to author for quirky supernatural stories. This is my favourite, so far. A genuinely chilling ghost story cum family mystery, with enough twists and turns to satisfy.

The Summer Queen
The Winter Crown
The Love Knot
Lady of the English

All by Elizabeth Chadwick


For my money, Chadwick is THE best writer of historical/historical romance novels, bar none. So it's a surprise that I've read only a couple of her novels till now. Something, I intend to rectify this year.

I tend to enjoy her romances over her true histories - in this batch my favourite was definitely The Love Knot - but whether its real historical figures or her own characters, she has the knack of pulling you into her world from the very first page and engrossing and enthralling till the last.

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Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.


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"The Pearl" by John Steinbeck.

My son will be in 9th grade next year, so I looked up the summer reading list so that he can start reading some of the books early while he's on winter break since summer will be busy with marching band practice. This book was short, so I figured I'd read it today since I had nothing else to do and then I'd be able to discuss it with him after he reads it. I will now anticipate his reaction to the book, because I know him too well:

"It was fine."

At this point, I will need to prompt him some more. wink

"Why do I have to read 'important' books? Why does it have to mean anything? It's obvious what was going to happen. Why is this book famous?"

At this point, I will be forced to rely on the mom standby, "Because." laugh rotflol


You can find my stories as Groobie on the nfic archives and Susan Young on the gfic archives. In other words, you know me as Groobie. wink
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Originally Posted by groobie
"The Pearl" by John Steinbeck.

.
.
.
Why is this book famous?"

At this point, I will be forced to rely on the mom standby, "Because." laugh rotflol
I think the first line of your description answers that question. It was written by John Steinbeck. (Disclosure: I don't recall ever reading this book.)


Harry Potter & the Cursed Child by JK Rowling

A sequel to the Harry Potter book series that starts just where the seventh book of the series ended and deals with Harry's relationship (or lack thereof) with his second son, Albus.

Unlike the other books in the Harry Potter series, this is not a novel but in script format (as is Fantastic Beasts, I so hear). It's a quick read (I both received and finished it on Christmas day). The plot is interesting, but skips around forward and backwards in time... which only makes sense as so does the plot. I found it a good story, but owing to the troubled childhood of many of the characters I was left asking who was "The Cursed Child" from the title. I would have preferred a fleshed out novel, getting more in-depth into the characters' lives, I did enjoy it. I only wish it hadn't been so quick a read. I'd LOVE to see the play, too, and see how the magic is created on stage.


VirginiaR.
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---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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#58 The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair

This is a topic I feel strongly about and this book did a good job mentioning specific issues with the different ages for children.

Joan

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