Rune's adventure in Reading 📚 2020

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Rune's adventure in Reading 📚 2020

1RuneFirestar
Dez 17, 2019, 4:34 pm

Starting my Reading challenge thread for 2020 now though I will not be posting to this Thread til the 1st of Jan :) My reading goal for 2020 is 155 :)

I look forward to sharing my adventure in books with all you dragoneers!

2RuneFirestar
Jan 1, 2020, 1:26 pm

1) My Great Ex-Scape
by Portia MacIntosh

Blurb

What if your future was somewhere in your past?

Rosie Jones has been dumped by every boyfriend she’s ever had - most recently by Dinosaur Dave, live on TV, during the ‘phone-a-friend’ segment of a quiz show.
After the footage goes viral Rosie receives a bunch of flowers with a message:

I love you, I should have never let you go, I want you back x

But who sent them?

At a loose end and with £50,000 prize money in her back pocket, Rosie decides to take a trip down memory lane, visiting each of her ex-boyfriends to see not just if they are the one who sent the flowers but if they are the one.

Her journey takes her back to the house she grew up in and on a transatlantic cruise to New York, but can Rosie figure out which ex-boyfriend is the love of her life, or should the past stay in the past?

My thoughts

I really loved getting to know Rosie and her ex's . This romantic comedy is perfect read for fans of Sophie Kinsella . For me it was also a great introduction to a new author :)

3RuneFirestar
Jan 3, 2020, 9:40 am

2. The Royal Rabbits Of London
(The Royal Rabbits of London #1)
by Santa Montefiore, Simon Sebag Montefiore

Blurb
Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible – by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage!
Shylo has always been the runt of the litter, the weakest and quietest of all of his family, his siblings spend their days making fun of him for not being like the rest of them. But when Shylo stumbles across a band of ratzis and overhears their evil plan to take a photo of the Queen in her nightie, it's up to this unlikely hero to travel to London and inform the Royal Rabbits of London about the diabolical plot! The Royal Rabbits of London have a proud history of protecting the royal family and now the secret society need to leap into action to stop the ratzis... But can a rabbit as feeble and shy as Shylo convince them that Queen is in danger?
The Hobbit meets Fantastic Mr Fox meets Watership Down in this charming novel from bestselling authors Santa and Sebag Montefiore, which proves even the smallest rabbit can be the biggest hero.

My thoughts

Very quick very cute.

4RuneFirestar
Jan 3, 2020, 11:01 am

3. Escape From the Tower
(The Royal Rabbits of London #2)
by Santa Montefiore, Simon Sebag Montefiore

Blurb

Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible – by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage!

Little Shylo Tawny-Tail is proud to call himself one of the Royal Rabbits of London, a secret order who live under Buckingham Palace and fight evil across the world. But high up in London’s famous skyscraper, the Shard, the horrible Ratzis are plotting to cause chaos during a visit from the President of the United States. And when the Grand Burrow is attacked and Shylo is kidnapped, it looks as though they might just manage it! Can Shylo escape in time to save the day?

5RuneFirestar
Jan 3, 2020, 11:38 am

4. The Great Diamond Chase
(The Royal Rabbits of London #3)
by Santa Montefiore, Simon Sebag Montefiore

Blurb

Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible – by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage!

Little Shylo Tawny-Tail and the Royal Rabbits of London are back! A precious diamond has been stolen from Buckingham Palace and it's up to the Royal Rabbits to uncover the culprit and rescue the diamond!

6libraryperilous
Jan 3, 2020, 7:49 pm

Oh, this rabbit series sounds super fun!

7RuneFirestar
Jan 4, 2020, 11:44 am

libraryperilous it is for very young readers, but I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Shylo and learning about the royal rabbits :)

8RuneFirestar
Jan 4, 2020, 11:50 am

5. The Monstrous Child (Mortal Gods #3)
by Francesca Simon

Blurb

A stunning, operatic, epic drama, like no other. Meet Hel, an ordinary teenager - and goddess of the Underworld. Why is life so unfair? Hel tries to make the best of it, creating gleaming halls in her dark kingdom and welcoming the dead who she is forced to host for eternity. Until eternity itself is threatened.

Francesca's first and wonderful foray into teen.

My thoughts

This was recommended to me by a friend of a friend who doesn't always share my tastes in what makes a book a great read. This is a wonderful wonderful story.

I didn't know much about How other than that she was Goddess of the underworld and half living half dead. This story brought her to life for me and taught me more about her. I loved it ! I started it and had to finish! Beautifully written . So far one of my faves for this year.

9RuneFirestar
Jan 7, 2020, 5:55 pm

6. Bedlam (Skulduggery Pleasant #12)
by Derek Landy

Blurb

The 12th explosive novel in the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, BEDLAM will blow your mind – and change everything…

On a desperate journey to recover her sister's lost soul, Valkyrie Cain goes up against the High Sanctuary itself, and there's nothing Skulduggery Pleasant can do to stop her.

With Abyssinia's grand plan about to kick off in a night of magic, terror, and bloodshed, it falls to Omen Darkly to save the lives of thousands of innocent people.

And as the madness unfolds around him, as hidden enemies step into the light, and as Valkyrie is sucked into a desperate, lawless quest of her own, he has no choice but to become the hero he never really wanted to be — or die in the attempt.

My thoughts

Omg this was amazing!!!!

10RuneFirestar
Jan 8, 2020, 12:45 pm

7. The Vampire's Mail Order Bride (Nocturne Falls #1)
by Kristen Painter (Goodreads Author)

Blurb

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year. The tourists think it's all a show: the vampires, the werewolves, the witches, the occasional gargoyle flying through the sky. But the supernaturals populating the town know better. Living in Nocturne Falls means being yourself. Fangs and all.

After seeing her maybe-mobster boss murder a guy, Delaney James assumes a new identity and pretends to be a mail order bride. What she doesn't know is her groom to be is a 400-year-old vampire.

Hugh Ellingham has only agreed to the set up to make his overbearing grandmother happy. His past means love is no longer an option. Except he never counted on Delaney and falling in love for real.
Too bad both of them are keeping some mighty big secrets...

My thoughts

Any time spent in Nocturne Falls is well worth it! Loved this story

11RuneFirestar
Jan 8, 2020, 12:58 pm

8. The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & Co. #2)
by Jonathan Stroud

Blurb

In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.

Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom.

Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.

My thoughts

This read was just as epic as the first. Loved it

12RuneFirestar
Jan 8, 2020, 1:08 pm

9. Tin by Pádraig Kenny

Blurb

Christopher is 'Proper': a real boy with a real soul, orphaned in a fire. He works for an engineer, a maker of the eccentric, loyal and totally individual mechanicals who are Christopher's best friends. But after a devastating accident, a secret is revealed and Christopher's world is changed for ever... What follows is a remarkable adventure, as Christopher discovers who he really is, and what it means to be human.

13RuneFirestar
Jan 8, 2020, 1:10 pm

10. The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot #1)
by Peter Brown

Blurb

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....

14RuneFirestar
Jan 10, 2020, 3:31 pm

11. The Apocalypse Codex (Laundry Files #4)
by Charles Stross

Blurb

For outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast track for promotion to management within the Laundry, the supersecret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats. Assigned to External Assets, Bob discovers the company (unofficially) employs freelance agents to deal with sensitive situations that may embarrass Queen and Country.

So when Ray Schiller—an American televangelist with the uncanny ability to miraculously heal the ill—becomes uncomfortably close to the Prime Minister, External Assets dispatches the brilliant, beautiful, and entirely unpredictable Persephone Hazard to infiltrate the Golden Promise Ministries and discover why the preacher is so interested in British politics. And it’s Bob’s job to make sure Persephone doesn’t cause an international incident.

But it’s a supernatural incident that Bob needs to worry about—a global threat even the Laundry may be unable to clean up…

My thoughts

Time spent in the laundry is never ever dull.

15Marissa_Doyle
Jan 10, 2020, 7:11 pm

The Royal Rabbits of London...Marissa squeals loudly and scurries over to Barnes and Noble to download it. :)

16RuneFirestar
Jan 12, 2020, 9:47 am

12. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Hercule Poirot #23)
by Agatha Christie, Hugh Fraser

Blurb

A dentist's suspicious death leads Poirot to drill the good doctor's patients, partners, lovers, and friends.

What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story and has therefore taken it upon himself to questions the good doctor's patients, partners, and friends. All he's come up with is the numbing fear that Dr. Morely wasn't an unlikely victim at all. Nor the first.

My thoughts

As always I adore Poirot.

17hfglen
Jan 12, 2020, 11:03 am

>16 RuneFirestar: This was serialised on BBC4extra recently.

18RuneFirestar
Jan 12, 2020, 9:01 pm

hfglen I know :)

19RuneFirestar
Jan 12, 2020, 9:04 pm

13. The Rhesus Chart (Laundry Files #5)
by Charles Stross

Blurb

LONDON CAN DRAIN THE LIFE OUT OF YOU . . .

Bob Howard is an intelligence agent working his way through the ranks of the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess - and deal with the witnesses.

There's one kind of threat that the Laundry has never come across in its many decades, and that's vampires. Mention them to a seasoned agent and you'll be laughed out of the room.

But when a small team of investment bankers at one of Canary Wharf's most distinguished financial institutions discovers an arcane algorithm that leaves them fearing daylight and craving O positive, someone doesn't want the Laundry to know. And Bob gets caught right in the middle.

The Rhesus Chart is a brand new supernatural thriller from Charles Stross, and sees hacker-turned-spy Bob Howard take on the (literal) bloodsuckers running London's financial district.

My thoughts

Time with Bob with is always an adventure, this one was an amazing head duck and I am left going WTF and how the hell can that be an ending?!?!

I can't wait to see what happens next.

20majkia
Jan 13, 2020, 8:20 am

>19 RuneFirestar: I've only read the first of the Laundry series but have that series flagged as a focus series for this year, so hope to get more than a few of them read.

21RuneFirestar
Jan 17, 2020, 11:25 pm

14. The Annihilation Score (Laundry Files #6)
by Charles Stross

Blurb

In this this science fiction spy thriller by Hugo Award winning writer Charles Stross, the Laundry - the British secret agency that fights supernatural threats - must team up with the police force, with one unfortunate secret agent caught in the middle.
PLAYING WITH DANGER

Dr. Mo O'Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess - and deal with the witnesses.

But the Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. Mo is appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as 'Lecter'.

Also, a mysterious figure known as Dr Freudstein has started sending threatening messages to the police, but who is he and what is he planning?

My thoughts

The laundry does super heroes Soo cool

22RuneFirestar
Jan 23, 2020, 8:51 pm

15.The Nightmare Stacks (Laundry Files #7)
by Charles Stross

blurb

Alex Schwartz had a promising future - until he contracted an unfortunate bout of vampirism, and agreed (on pain of death) to join the Laundry, Britain's only counter-occult secret agency.

His first assignment is in Leeds - his old hometown. The thought of telling his parents that he's lost his old job, let alone them finding out about his 'condition', is causing Alex more anxiety than learning how to live as a vampire secret agent preparing to confront multiple apocalypses.

His only saving grace is Cassie Brewer, a student appearing in the local Goth Festival, who flirts with him despite his awkward personality and massive amounts of sunblock.
But Cassie has secrets of her own - secrets that make Alex's night life seem positively normal . . .

My Thoughts

My time with the laundry has taught me that its fantastic being outside and that I hope that I never come to the attention of the said agency.

23RuneFirestar
Jan 28, 2020, 10:46 pm

16. The Spook's Apprentice
(The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles #1)
by Joseph Delaney

Blurb

A wonderful and terrifying series by a new writer about a young boy training to be an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have falled before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins..

My thoughts

I have read the spooks several times now and have always enjoyed the adventure.

24RuneFirestar
Jan 28, 2020, 10:50 pm

17. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula
(The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
by Loren D. Estleman

Blurb

After a mysterious schooner runs aground in an English harbor with no human passengers--only the dead captain, drained of blood--a series of bizarre nocturnal crimes takes place in London. It can only be the work of Count Dracula, and only one man can save the city: the great Sherlock Holmes.

My thoughts

Time spent with the great detective and his companion Dr Watson is always a welcome diversion. This adventure is no diffrent.

25RuneFirestar
Jan 30, 2020, 12:39 am

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

Blurb

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…?

My thoughts

It's defiantly an adventure

26RuneFirestar
Jan 30, 2020, 12:41 am

19. Murder at the Museum (Agatha Oddly #2)
by Lena Jones

Blurb

A second mystery for thirteen-year-old Agatha Oddly - a bold, determined heroine, and the star of this stylish new detective series. Agatha Oddlow's set to become the youngest member of the Gatekeepers' Guild, but before that, she's got a mystery to solve! There's been a murder at the British Museum and, although the police are investigating, Agatha suspects that they're missing a wider plot going on below London - a plot involving a disused Tube station, a huge fireworks display, and five thousand tonnes of gold bullion...

27libraryperilous
Jan 30, 2020, 10:58 pm

>26 RuneFirestar: Ooooohhhhhh!

28RuneFirestar
Editado: Fev 1, 2020, 12:19 am

20. The Silver Serpent (Agatha Oddly #3)
by Lena Jones

Blurb

A third mystery for thirteen-year-old Agatha Oddly – a bold, determined heroine, and the star of this stylish new detective series.

As the youngest and newest recruit to the gatekeeper’s guild, Agatha Oddlow know she’s got a lot to prove – not least because her mother was such an important member of the secret society.

So, when an assistant at the National Gallery goes missing, Agatha begins investigating. Soon she uncovers a plot bigger than she could ever have imagined. As Agatha delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, she’s not sure she’ll ever get to the bottom of it all…

My thoughts

This is the third adventure of Agatha and company and is as enjoyable as the first. A bit slow to start but fantastic read. I can't wait to see what mystery they stumble into next.

29RuneFirestar
Fev 1, 2020, 12:20 am

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

Blurb

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?

30RuneFirestar
Fev 1, 2020, 12:22 am

22. Killing Orders (V.I. Warshawski #3)
by Sara Paretsky

Blurb

V.I.'s battleaxe Aunt Rosa is under investigation by the FBI and SEC after counterfeit stock certificates were found at St. Albert's Priory, where she serves as treasurer. As malicious as her aunt is, V.I. knows she's not dishonest, so V.I. vows to protect her from taking the fall. But V.I. starts questioning the strength of her family ties when a menacing voice on the phone threatens to throw acid into her eyes if she doesn't butt out. The stakes are high as she begins to sniff out a connection between Chicago's most powerful institutions: the Church and the Mob.

31RuneFirestar
Fev 8, 2020, 3:13 am

23. Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta's Academy #1)
by Sandhya Menon

Blurb

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

My thoughts

Loved it! A modern take on the tale as old as time.
Set in the modern world with two very strong main ethically diverse characters it's a wonderful wonderful read.

32RuneFirestar
Fev 16, 2020, 8:43 am

24. The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 2
(The Ancient Magus' Bride #2)
by Kore Yamazaki, Adrienne Beck (Translator)

Blurb

Great power comes at a price...

Chise Hatori's life has recently undergone shocking change. As a sleigh beggy--a person capable of generating and wielding tremendous magical power--she has transformed from an unwanted child to a magician's apprentice who has been introduced to fae royalty. But Chise's newly discovered abilities also mean a cruel fate awaits her.

33RuneFirestar
Fev 25, 2020, 3:24 am

25. The Thirteenth Princess (Fairy Tale Princesses)
by Diane Zahler

Blurb

Zita is not an ordinary servant girl—she's the thirteenth daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita's father banished her to the servants' quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret.

Then, after Zita's twelfth birthday, the princesses all fall mysteriously ill. The only clue is their strangely worn and tattered shoes. With the help of her friends—Breckin the stable boy, Babette the witch, and Milek the soldier—Zita follows her bewitched sisters into a magical world of endless dancing and dreams. But something more sinister is afoot—and unless Zita and her friends can break the curse, the twelve princesses will surely dance to their deaths.

A classic fairy tale with a bold twist, The Thirteenth Princess tells the unforgettable story of a magical castle, true love, spellbound princesses—and the young girl determined to save them all.

My thoughts

Super awesome retelling of the dancing princess. I loved getting to know Zita and her friends.

34RuneFirestar
Fev 26, 2020, 5:02 am

26. Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Blurb

Pet is here to hunt a monster.
Are you brave enough to look?

There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson all her life. But when she meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colours and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question-How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

In her riveting and timely young adult debut, acclaimed novelist Akwaeke Emezi asks difficult questions about what choices a young person can make when the adults around them are in denial.

My thoughts

This is a powerful story..

35RuneFirestar
Fev 27, 2020, 7:49 pm

27. Clemency Pogue: Fairy Killer (Clemency Pogue #1)
by J.T. Petty

Blurb

Clever and resourceful Clemency must travel the world to reanimate fairies she has accidentally killed.

My thoughts

A cute and quick read

36RuneFirestar
Fev 28, 2020, 10:32 am

28. The Hobgoblin Proxy (Clemency Pogue #2)
by J.T. Petty

Blurb

"If you're looking for a quest, help me find the changeling, destroy it, and save the Make-Believe and this halfling's sanity."As a baby, Kenneth Mess was stolen from his cradle and replaced with a clay replica. Now he is being raised underground by Clemency Pogue's hobgoblin friend Chaphesmeeso, so that he will eventually become a hobgoblin himself. But that can't happen until the clay baby dissolves. And that "won't" happen, since Inky, the changeling, rarely washes. Which means that the world of Make-Believe is in serious danger.

Once again, an adventure is underfoot for Clemency Pogue as she tries to make the world safe for Make-Believe.

37RuneFirestar
Fev 28, 2020, 2:18 pm

29. The Scrivener Bees (Clemency Pogue #3)
by J.T. Petty

Blurb

There's a renegade changeling on the loose and the future of Make-Believe hangs in the balance -- it's Clemency Pogue to the rescue!

As Inky Mess gains power and amasses goblin followers, he sets his sights on the Forgetting Book. With the book, Inky will become master of every goblin, hobgoblin, and fairy in Make-Believe. Clemency's hobgoblin friends desperately need her help to defeat the power-hungry changeling, but Clem has problems of her own: Her dad has unknowingly angered the Scrivener Bees and they want to exact painful revenge. Will Clem be able to save her father -- and Make-Believe?

38libraryperilous
Fev 29, 2020, 4:36 pm

The Clemency Pogue books sound fun, and I think I need to check out The Thirteenth Princess. I love "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" fairy tale and recently read a super cool version of it, House of Salt and Sorrows.

39RuneFirestar
Mar 8, 2020, 1:01 pm

30. The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 3
(The Ancient Magus' Bride #3)
by Kore Yamazaki, Adrienne Beck (Translator)

Blurb

An Ancient Evil

Chise has come face to face with the person responsible for the brutal killings at a nearby churchyard--and to her shock, it's someone she recognizes from her visions of the tragedy at Ulthar! Appalled by the realization that the alchemist who wrought such horrors is still up to his old tricks, Chise must act to stop him. But in order to control her dangerous powers as a sleigh beggy, she ll need all the help she can get.

My thoughts

I am loving this world and these characters

40RuneFirestar
Editado: Mar 13, 2020, 11:50 pm

31 . Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience
by Rebecca Roanhorse (Goodreads Author), LeVar Burton (Narrator)

41RuneFirestar
Mar 13, 2020, 11:50 pm

32.Tilly and the Bookwanderers
(Pages & Co. #1)
by Anna James

A magical adventure to delight the imagination. A curl-up-on-the-sofa debut from a uniquely talented author.

Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents' bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.

One day Tilly realises that classic children's characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering' - crossing over from the page into real life.

With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.

42libraryperilous
Mar 14, 2020, 8:46 pm

>41 RuneFirestar: I liked the first Tilly book well enough to go on with the series.

43RuneFirestar
Mar 17, 2020, 9:42 pm

33. The Flyers of Gy
by Ursula K. Le Guin, LeVar Burton (Narrator)

44RuneFirestar
Mar 17, 2020, 9:43 pm

34. Empty Places
by Richard Parks (Goodreads Author), LeVar Burton (Narrator)

Blurb

An accomplished thief is approached by a wizard who wants to send him on an unusual mission. The two embark on a journey together, matching wits along the way.

45RuneFirestar
Mar 17, 2020, 9:44 pm

35. The Paper Menagerie
by Ken Liu (Goodreads Author), LeVar Burton (Narrator)

Blurb

An immigrant mother tries to bond with her American-born son by creating a magical paper menagerie.

46RuneFirestar
Mar 17, 2020, 9:46 pm

36 The Specialist's Hat
by Kelly Link

47RuneFirestar
Mar 18, 2020, 6:34 pm

37. Every Heart a Doorway
(Wayward Children #1)
by Seanan McGuire

Blurb

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

My thoughts

This is my second read of this and more and more I love it. It also makes me think that maybe I am a doorway child... One can dream

48RuneFirestar
Mar 20, 2020, 10:12 am

38. Down Among the Sticks and Bones
(Wayward Children #2)
by Seanan McGuire

Blurb

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

My thoughts

The second book tells us the story of twins that are rather ill suited to being twins.

I love this series more and more with each book.

49RuneFirestar
Mar 20, 2020, 3:40 pm

39. Beneath the Sugar Sky
(Wayward Children #3)
by Seanan McGuire

Blurb

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can't find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests...

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

My thoughts

Love this

50RuneFirestar
Mar 21, 2020, 2:38 am

40. Virals (Virals #1)
by Kathy Reichs & Brendan Reichs

Blurb

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.

Fortunately, they are now more than friends. They're a pack. They are Virals.

My thoughts

Love Tori and enjoyed getting to know her and the rest of the virals.

51RuneFirestar
Mar 21, 2020, 3:21 pm

41. In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4)
by Seanan McGuire

Blurb

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

My thoughts

Oh this story it's tells us we need to be mindful of the bargains we make. I love it truely. Heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time.

52libraryperilous
Mar 21, 2020, 3:51 pm

>51 RuneFirestar: Do the other books reference the goblin market from Rossetti's poem, or just this book?

53RuneFirestar
Mar 22, 2020, 11:03 am

libraryperilous only Lundy went to the Goblin Market so only her story references the poem.

54RuneFirestar
Mar 22, 2020, 11:06 am

42. The Princess Test (The Princess Tales #2)
by Gail Carson Levine (Goodreads Author), Mark Elliott (Illustrator)

blurb

King Humphrey has decided it's time for his son, Prince Nicholas, to marry. But he must make sure the bride is a real princess. So he devises a series of princess tests, designed to weed out the phonies and the fakes. Meanwhile, Nicholas has fallen in love with Lorelei, a mere blacksmith's daughter. She's no princess, but he wants to marry her all the same--but how will she ever pass the terrible tests?

my thoughts

A very cute story

55RuneFirestar
Mar 23, 2020, 2:16 am

43. The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury

blurb

Humor and heart shine in this middle grade fantasy about a girl who attends a boarding school to learn how to use music to create magic, perfect for fans of Nevermoor and The School for Good and Evil series.

Amelia Jones always dreamed of attending the Mystwick School of Musicraft, where the world’s most promising musicians learn to create magic. So when Amelia botches her audition, she thinks her dream has met an abrupt and humiliating end—until the school agrees to give her a trial period. Amelia is determined to prove herself, vowing to do whatever it takes to become the perfect musician. Even if it means pretending to be someone she isn’t. Meanwhile, a mysterious storm is brewing that no one, not even the maestros at Mystwick, is prepared to contain. Can Amelia find the courage to be true to herself in time to save her beloved school from certain destruction?

My thoughts

I adored this story. Its perfect for the long hours.

56RuneFirestar
Mar 24, 2020, 5:59 am

44. The Spies That Bind (Gallagher Girls #0.5)
by Ally Carter

blurb

An original novella and prequel to Ally Carter's New York Times best-selling Gallagher Girls series, exclusively on Audible.

The first day at a new school is tough for any kid, but it's especially scary when you're going to a school for spies. Cammie Morgan has spent her whole life dreaming of becoming a Gallagher Girl, but she has no idea what she’ll face when she arrives at The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Secret passages? Check. Lab experiments that might make you lose your eyebrows (and other body parts)? Check. Classmates who are the smartest, strongest, most intimidating girls in the world? Double check.

Cammie might be a Gallagher legacy, but she's about to learn that the most intimidating part about the Gallagher Academy are the Gallagher Girls themselves. Soon Cammie and her clumsy-but-genius roommate Liz, and the glamorous Bex have to learn the most important lesson of the seventh grade: getting into spy school is hard. Surviving spy school is harder.

Ally Carter is the author of many beloved series, including Heist Society and the Embassy Row novels, and Not If I Save You First

My thoughts

I have known about the Gallagher girls for sometime now and have tried to pick the serries up several times but for some reason i never quiet manage it. For that reason
I really enjoyed this story, it makes me excited to get to know the girls at the Gallagher Academy. Its an excellent introduction to the series.

57libraryperilous
Mar 24, 2020, 2:27 pm

>53 RuneFirestar: Thank you! I'll start with this one. I love Rossetti's poem.

>56 RuneFirestar: She has a middle grade novel out now, too: Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor.

58RuneFirestar
Editado: Mar 28, 2020, 5:28 am

Libraryperilous I would start with Every heart a doorway and read from there in order . There are Soo many things I could say about Lundy but to say them would be to say to much.

I wish you safe travels and open roads. Enjoy your travels and may you find the doorway your looking for.

59RuneFirestar
Mar 28, 2020, 5:30 am

45. Interview with the Robot
by Lee Bacon (Goodreads Author), Kevin T. Collins (Narrator), Ellen Archer (Narrator), Josh Hurley (Narrator), Eileen Stevens (Narrator), Erin Mallon (Narrator), Jonathan Davis (Goodreads Author) (Narrator), Stephen Bel Davies (Narrator)

Blurb

Fugitive. Criminal. Robot.

Eve looks like an ordinary 12-year-old girl, but there’s nothing ordinary about her. She has no last name. No parents or guardian. She’s on the run from a dangerous and secretive organization that will stop at nothing to track her down.

And most astonishing of all: She’s a robot, a product of Eden Labratories.

When she discovers the truth, she realizes everything she thought she knew about herself is a lie. Eve manages to escape, fleeing the lab, the only home she’s ever known.

After being arrested for shoplifting, Eve is interviewed by Petra Amis from Child Welfare Services. Her incredible story unfolds during the interrogation, with flashbacks to her life inside Eden Laboratories, which has a dark secret.

Exploring a range of topics that drive our society and our lives - topics such as artificial intelligence and human nature - Interview with the Robot is a story told by a startlingly original protagonist, a story that explores the vast potential of technology and the deep complexities of humanity.

My thoughts

Oh wow this story is amazing! I truly loved getting to know these characters.

60libraryperilous
Mar 28, 2020, 6:01 pm

>58 RuneFirestar: Ha! I just saw this comment after finishing In an Absent Dream. I am going to try not to binge the rest of the series, but I expect I won't be able to wait too long.

I wish you safe travels and open roads. Enjoy your travels and may you find the doorway your looking for.

Thank you, and to you as well. I can't wait until borders are open again and people can find new places to fall in love with and be charmed by.

61RuneFirestar
Abr 6, 2020, 8:44 pm

46. Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5)
by Seanan McGuire

Blurb

The fifth installment in Seanan McGuire's award-winning, bestselling Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister--whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice--back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Again.

My thoughts

I adore these stories more and more with each one.

62RuneFirestar
Abr 25, 2020, 12:22 am

47. Revival by Stephen King

Blurb

In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs Jacobs; the women and girls – including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister – feel the same about Reverend Jacobs. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond, based on their fascination with simple experiments in electricity.

Then tragedy strikes the Jacobs family; the preacher curses God, mocking all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. In his mid-thirties, he is living a nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll. Addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate, he sees Jacobs again – a showman on stage, creating dazzling ‘portraits in lightning’ – and their meeting has profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings. Because for every cure there is a price…

My thoughts

I picked this up because I wanted something new something a bit diffrent.

I got both with this read and I knew some of the communities mentioned :)

63RuneFirestar
Abr 29, 2020, 7:22 am

48. To Kill a Mockingbird (To Kill a Mockingbird)
by Harper Lee

Blurb

The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

64RuneFirestar
Abr 29, 2020, 7:25 am

49. Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #39)
by Agatha Christie

Blurb

A teenage murder witness is drowned in a tub of apples... At a Hallowe'en party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no-one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence'. But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer...

My thoughts

A perfect guilty pleasure

65RuneFirestar
Maio 2, 2020, 3:33 pm

50. Lord Edgware Dies (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #9)
by Agatha Christie

Blurb

Poirot had been present when Jane bragged of her plan to 'get rid of' her estranged husband. Now the monstrous man was dead. And yet the great Belgian detective couldn't help feeling that he was being taken for a ride. After all, how could Jane have stabbed Lord Edgware to death in his library at exactly the same time she was seen dining with friends? And what could be her motive now that the aristocrat had finally granted her a divorce?

66RuneFirestar
Editado: Maio 2, 2020, 9:22 pm

51. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Blurb

Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family, and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead.

The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?

Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the long-hidden truths about themselves.

My thoughts

Oh wow! I was given this beautiful adventure for my birthday though at the time I was lost in other projects and not in mood.

I am so pleased I finally picked it up. It's wonderful! Darkly beautiful .

67RuneFirestar
Maio 7, 2020, 1:03 am

52.Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan (Goodreads Author), Brittany Pressley (Narrator)

Blurb

Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:

* She's landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
* Her crush, the dreamy Diving Pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the Princess of the park. But Lou's never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
* Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, who's always been up for anything, suddenly isn't when it comes to Lou's quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou's scheme to get close to Nick.
* And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland--ever--unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.

Jennifer Dugan's sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love--and themselves--in unexpected people and unforgettable places.

My thoughts

It's a wonderful story that will warm your heart and remind us that sometimes the love we have been searching for was there all along.

68libraryperilous
Maio 7, 2020, 9:48 pm

>66 RuneFirestar: Oh, this sounds interesting. Does mapmaking feature in the plot?

69RuneFirestar
Maio 8, 2020, 1:16 am

53.Nightmare City (Nightmare City #1)
by P.S. Newman

Blurb

In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, dreams come true. So do nightmares.

Ever since a shift in reality twenty years ago, peoples' dreams and nightmares come alive, spreading chaos and destruction. Monsters ravage cities, bottomless chasms split roads, and gold rains from the sky - the possibilities are limitless, unpredictable and often deadly.

Eden Maybrey is a hunter of these "shades". When a friend tasks her with tracking down and eliminating an evil shade, the hunt threatens to expose Eden's deepest, darkest secret. To find her prey, she is forced to team up with Vaughn Taylor, a hunter who hates shades with a passion - and who won't hesitate to put a bullet in Eden's head should he figure out the truth.

Book 1 in a new urban fantasy series with a twist: no vamps or weres - instead, dreams and nightmares coming alive.

Would you really want your dreams to come true?

My thoughts

Wow! This story was one hell of a ride! I loved it! Possibly not totally new but very very cool. I look forward to seeing more from this serries

70RuneFirestar
Maio 8, 2020, 1:20 am

libraryperilous yes in fact the characters Ryn and Ellis end up meeting due to a bad map. :)

71RuneFirestar
Maio 13, 2020, 5:13 am

54.A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple #5)
by Agatha Christie

Blurb

A murder is announced in a small-town newspaper advertisement—and Miss Marple must unravel the fiendish puzzle when a crime does indeed occur.

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.”

A childish practical joke? Or a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out and a gun is fired. When they come back on, a gruesome scene is revealed. An impossible crime? Only Miss Marple can unravel it.

72-pilgrim-
Maio 13, 2020, 5:35 am

>71 RuneFirestar: Serendipitous! I was listening to a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of this over the weekend.

I don't think the characterisation of Mitzi reads well nowadays. It seems to mock the traumatisation of a refugee. How did it come across in the text?

73RuneFirestar
Maio 13, 2020, 5:39 am

55. An Amateur Corpse
(Charles Paris #4)
by Simon Brett

Blurb

An Amateur Corpse' is another fascinating Simon Brett mystery set in the backdrop of theater.

Charles Paris is a part-time detective and professional actor, drawn into the affairs of an amateur theater company. Charles's friend Hugo's wife is murdered, and Hugo is charged with the crime.

Paris takes on the case personally. The solution to the mystery lies in a clever double alibi. An Amateur Corpse is an absorbing and entertaining account of theatrical back staging, back scratching and backbiting.

Author Biography - Simon Brett is a former radio and television comedy producer, who has been writing fulltime for more than 20 years.

Creator of the Charles Paris, Mrs. Pargeter and Fethering series of mysteries, Brett's psychological thriller, "A Shock to the System" was made into a movie starring Michael Caine. Married, with three children, he lives in an Agatha Christie-style village in West Sussex, England.

74Sakerfalcon
Maio 14, 2020, 6:45 am

>67 RuneFirestar: Hot dog girl is on my TBR pile. I'll move it up due to your review!

75RuneFirestar
Maio 15, 2020, 9:49 am

pilgrim it was audio book of the BBC cast production that I listened too lol I only just found out it was on the radio.

76RuneFirestar
Maio 15, 2020, 9:52 am

56. The Clockwork Scarab (Stoker & Holmes #1)
by Colleen Gleason

Blurb

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you’re the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood. And when two society girls go missing, there’s no one more qualified to investigate.

Now fierce Evaline and logical Mina must resolve their rivalry, navigate the advances of not just one but three mysterious gentlemen, and solve murder with only one clue: a strange Egyptian scarab. The stakes are high. If Stoker and Holmes don’t unravel why the belles of London society are in such danger, they’ll become the next victims.

My thoughts

Love this will much!

77RuneFirestar
Maio 15, 2020, 2:27 pm

57. The Prom by Saundra Mitchell

Blurb

The novel of the laugh-out-loud high school musical coming to Netflix in 2020, starring Meryl Streep, James Corden and Nicole Kidman.

Emma knows better than anyone that Edgewater, Indiana, is not a great place to be gay. But she's had enough of high school homophobia and really wants to take her girlfriend - the popular, closeted It Girl Alyssa- to prom. How big a deal could that really be?

But when their classmates find out, the backlash exceeds Emma's worst nightmares.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, Barry and Dee Dee are Broadway stars of yesteryear. When their new show bombs, they need some good publicity - fast. So when they happen to hear about Emma's plight, they decide to step in and create a prom for everyone.

Suddenly, Edgewater is the centre of a national news story. As the drama queens of New York take over the sleepy town, chaos ensues and the glare of the spotlight is brighter than anyone could have guessed.

But all Emma and Alyssa want is to dance together. Is that too much to ask?

The perfect read for fans of Mean Girls and Dear Evan Hansen!

78RuneFirestar
Maio 17, 2020, 3:36 am

58.The Spiritglass Charade (Stoker & Holmes #2)
by Colleen Gleason

Blurb

After the Affair of the Clockwork Scarab, Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are eager to help Princess Alix with a new case. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums, convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave. What seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa "appear lunatic," using an innocent-looking spiritglass to control her. The list of clues piles up: an unexpected murder, a gang of pickpockets, and the return of vampires to London. But are these events connected? As Uncle Sherlock would say, "there are no coincidences." It will take all of Mina's wit and Evaline's muscle to keep London's sinister underground at bay.

My thoughts

I am loving this series! Brilliant read!

79RuneFirestar
Maio 17, 2020, 6:00 am

59. Deception (Dark Matter #2)
by Teri Terry

Blurb

An epidemic is sweeping the country.
You are among the infected. There is no cure, and you cannot be permitted to infect others. You are now under quarantine.
The 5% of the infected who survive are dangerous and will be taken into the custody of the army.

As the epidemic spreads, survivors are being hunted like witches, for the authorities fear their strange new powers.

Kai is desperate to trace Shay, who tricked him and disappeared. Meanwhile, Shay is searching for the truth behind the origins of the epidemic ... but danger finds them wherever they go. Can they outrun the fire?

My thoughts

The first book was amazing and this second book matches it . I can't wait to start the next one!

80RuneFirestar
Editado: Maio 17, 2020, 4:32 pm

60& 61 Midnight for Charlie Bone. (The Children of the Red King #1) by Jenny Nimmo

Blurb

Charlie doesn't want to believe it. He can hear people in photographs talking. What's happening to him? his horrible aunts are delighted with his new talent.

The way Charlie's life is about to change, he'll be lucky to live till Christmas.

My thoughts

I read this one with my son. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

81RuneFirestar
Maio 18, 2020, 2:23 am

62. Goth Girl and the Fete Worse than Death
(Goth Girl #2) by Chris Riddell

Blurb

Preperations are under way for the Full-Moon Fete and the Great Ghastly-Gorm Bake Off.

Celebrity cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event, and as usual Maltravers is acting suspiciously. On top of all this, Ada's elusive lady's made Marylebone has a surprising secret, and everyone seems to have forgotten Ada's birthday!

My thoughts

These are lovely stories

82RuneFirestar
Maio 20, 2020, 7:34 am

63. The Chess Queen Enigma (Stoker & Holmes #3)
by Colleen Gleason

Blurb

And then she mouthed a word at me—an unmistakable word that told me everything I needed to know. “Checkmate.”

Evaline Stoker & Mina Holmes have reluctantly agreed to act as social chaperones and undercover bodyguards for Princess Lurelia of Betrovia, who has arrived in London to deliver a letter that details the secret location of an ancient chess queen that’s been missing for centuries. But when the letter—which will heal a centuries-old rift between England and the Betrovians—is stolen out from under Evaline and Mina’s watchful eyes, the two girls are forced into a high-stakes race to ensure they find the chess queen before anyone else does…including their foe, the Ankh. For the chess queen is not only a historic symbol of a woman’s political power, but it has literal power as well—the queen will unlock the chessboard, revealing both treasures and ancient secrets the Ankh would kill to possess. It will take Mina’s smarts and Evaline’s strength to beat the thief and untangle this mystery before it is too late.

my thoughts

This serries just gets more and more awesome as it goes on. I love it.

83RuneFirestar
Maio 25, 2020, 7:25 am

64. My Type on Paper by Chloe Seager

Blurb

Maya is down in the dumps ... quite literally. She's just been pied off by her boyfriend before what was supposed to be their last romantic summer before heading off to Uni. Luckily help is at hand in the form of her friends, determined to hook her up with a fun summer romance, no strings attached. And with a summer job working at fancy new beach resort in town, how can she fail to meet the guy of her dreams? Hot weather, hot guys, hot summer romance... it's a dead cert. But with three perfect-on-paper guys to choose from, not to mention her snakey ex re-entering the picture, how will she know which guy to go for?

My thoughts

This is not my usual choice for a read. It was an impulse buy as I liked the cover and decided to give it a go. At first I found Maya slightly annoying as she didn't seem to have any ability to move forward after her boyfriend breaks up with her.

But she changed as the story moves on and I started to like her a bit more. She grows on. It was an easy summer read.

84RuneFirestar
Maio 29, 2020, 6:02 pm

65. Rivers of London (Rivers of London #1)
by Ben Aaronovitch

blurb

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

my thoughts

I love these books!

85RuneFirestar
Maio 29, 2020, 6:04 pm

66.Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London #2)
by Ben Aaronovitch

blurb

The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul. They’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

86RuneFirestar
Jun 1, 2020, 8:09 am

67. Diary of a Confused Feminist
by Kate Weston

Blurb

Kat wants to do GOOD FEMINISM, although she's not always sure what that means. She also wants to be a writer, get together with Hot Josh (is this a feminist ambition?), win at her coursework and not make a TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT of herself at all times.

But the path to true feminism is filled with mortifying incidents and when everything at school starts to get a bit too much, Kat knows she's lost her way, and the only way forward is to ask for help . . .

Join Kat AKA the Confused Feminist as she navigates EVERYTHING from menstrual cups and mental health to Instagram likes and #TimesUp in her HILARIOUS, OUTRAGEOUS and VERY EMBARRASSING diary.

My thoughts

This was another impulse buy. It had its moments but it's not for me . Kat got on my nerves and the other characters float in and out. Not bad but not my read either.

87Sakerfalcon
Jun 1, 2020, 9:22 am

>86 RuneFirestar: I've seen this in the bookshop and considered it, but after reading your review I will stay away! Thank you!

88RuneFirestar
Jun 4, 2020, 12:28 pm

70. Ghost in the Coffee Machine: Coffee and Ghosts Series Starter
(Coffee and Ghosts: The Complete Seasons #0)

Blurb

Katy and her grandmother have always used coffee to catch ghosts. It pays the bills and keeps them in high-end beans. But after Katy’s grandmother dies, it’s as if she’s taken all the ghosts with her.

Until Katy discovers there’s a rival ghost hunter in town, one who uses tea--of all things--and one who has stolen all her clients. But when an epic infestation threatens, Katy can’t help but get involved. It will take all her wits--and some excellent Kona blend--to fight the ghost in the coffee machine.

Ghost in the Coffee Machine is a short story of approximately 4,000 words. The story was first published in Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic. This story is now the pilot episode for the Coffee and Ghosts serial.

Episode 1: Ghost in the Coffee Machine
Episode 2: Giving Up the Ghosts
Episode 3: The Ghost Whisperer
Episode 4: Gone Ghost

My thoughts

This was cute and I might pick up the rest at some point. It's defiantly different to other ghost eradication books that I have seen.

89RuneFirestar
Jun 5, 2020, 9:55 am

71. Rehab Is For Witches
by Cynthia Valero (Goodreads Author), Elle J. Rossi (Goodreads Author), J.A. Howell (Goodreads Author), Miranda Stork (Goodreads Author), Tara S. Wood (Goodreads Author), Tyffani Clark Kemp (Goodreads Author)

Blurb

Welcome to Little Raven: an unsullied, beautiful woodland hamlet in the heart of the Midwest. The sort of place where furry creatures romp about and spend their days bursting into song. Actually, that's a giant pack of lies. Little Raven is a town...for witches. And some of those witches might have bent the rules. A teensy bit. When six magical miscreants dabble with black magic, they end up together at Incantations, the town's rehab center for witches gone awry. It's a slap on the wrist for naughty witches. Pretty much a daycare center so they don't wander off and start turning people into newts on a whim. Each witch must work through her addiction to black magic, and follow the tenets designed to lead them back to the path of the straight and narrow, as boring as that sounds. Even if following the tenets sucks worse than a group round of kum-bay-ya. Which sucks. Horribly. We will admit we are powerless over magic-that our lives have become unmanageable. We will make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of the Goddess as we understand Her. We will make a searching and fearless moral and magical inventory of ourselves. We will admit to the Goddess, to ourselves, and to another being the exact nature of our magical wrongs. We will make a list of all persons or beings we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. We will make direct amends to such beings whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. We are entirely ready to bow before the Goddess and have Her remove all our defect of character, even at the risk of being entirely stripped of our magic. But this is just the start. There's something rotten in Little Raven, something that seeks to take all the magic it can, and devour the inhabitants in the process. It will take the strength and power of all the witches to defeat the darkness seeping into their town, beat it back, and be rid of it forever...and maybe just make it through rehab while they're saving the world.

My thoughts

I loved this more than I ever thought I would. It's a brilliant collection of stories all woven together wonderfully. Started and couldn't put it down.

90suitable1
Jun 5, 2020, 10:48 am

What is a Goodreads author?

91libraryperilous
Jun 5, 2020, 1:54 pm

>89 RuneFirestar: Ooh, this sounds fun!

>90 suitable1: I believe that's the designation Goodreads uses for authors who have profiles in their site.

92RuneFirestar
Jun 9, 2020, 2:04 am

libraryperilous yes it was a very fun read and i really enjoyed it. And thank you for answering suitable1 for me :)

93RuneFirestar
Jun 9, 2020, 2:07 am

72. The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol.1: Eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations
by Alexander McCall Smith

blurb
Claire Benedict and Nadine Marshall star in these eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas adapted by Alexander McCall Smith

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile

‘Must-listen...beautifully cast, precisely timed, simply wonderful' Daily Telegraph

Alexander McCall Smith's hugely popular novels featuring Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of Botswana's only female private detective agency, have become international bestsellers. These acclaimed productions, complete with vibrant music, bring the exotic world of the books to life.

In these eight episodes, Mma Ramotswe takes on her first case – and a new secretary; tries to solve a bone mystery; tackles a domestic drama and a doctor's erratic behaviour; and investigates the case of a missing American. In addition, she is hired by a beauty contest judge to check the integrity of the finalists; looks for two women wronged by her client, Mr Molefelo; learns of a rival detective agency; and is commissioned by a physiotherapist to find out what her errant husband is up to. The stories included are: The Daddy; The Bone; The Maid; Tears of the Giraffe; The Chief Justice of Beauty; The Confession; The Kalahari Typing School for Men and The Admirer.

Claire Benedict stars as Mma Ramotswe, with Nadine Marshall as Mma Makutsi and Joseph Marcell as Mr JLB Matekoni

my thoughts

I loved the tv serries and this is fantastic as well.

94RuneFirestar
Jun 9, 2020, 5:21 pm

73. The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency: BBC Radio Casebook Vol.2: Eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations
by Alexander McCall Smith (Goodreads Author), Claire Benedict (Reading), Various (Reading), Nadine Marshall (Reading)

Blurb

A second collection of eight BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations based on the popular books by Alexander McCall Smith.

'this full- cast production will charm listeners whether they already know and love these stories or are hearing them for the first time' - Audiofile Magazine

'How to Handle Men through the Application of Psychology': Precious Ramotswe sets out to release her fiancé from a terrifying obligation, and a new case sparks a love quest.

'House of Hope': Precious and her assistant visit some bad girls as part of their mission to find a husband for their client, but Precious has some marriage problems of her own.

'The Return of Note': When Precious Ramotswe's ex-husband turns up to cause trouble, she finds an unlikely ally.

'The Ceremony': Precious works her way through a list of her own problems. But will the return of an old love jeopardise her romantic plans?

'There Is No Such Thing As Free Food': Precious is preoccupied both professionally and personally by the subject of food.

'The Best Profession for a Blackmailer': Mr Polopetsi, part-time mechanic and would-be assistant detective, takes on a case of his own; while Mma Makutsi finds out if blue shoes are the key to happiness.

'A Very Rude Woman': Precious faces change at the Agency, while Mr J.L.B. Matekoni meets the rudest person in all Botswana.

'Talking Shoes': A new detective takes on a case for the Agency, while Mma Ramotswe, among others, has a problem with high blood pressure.

Starring Claire Benedict as Mma Ramotswe and Nadine Marshall as Mme Makutsi, these dramatisations will appeal to all fans of the engaging lady detective.

95RuneFirestar
Jun 11, 2020, 9:05 pm

74.The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency BBC Radio Casebook, Vol. 3: Seven BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations
by Alexander McCall Smith (Goodreads Author), Claire Benedict (Narrator), Full Cast (Narrator), Nadine Marshall (Narrator)

96RuneFirestar
Jul 4, 2020, 1:05 pm

75. 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…

97RuneFirestar
Jul 4, 2020, 9:33 pm

76. Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey #8)
by Dorothy L. Sayers

blurb

When ad man Victor Dean falls down the stairs in the offices of Pym's Publicity, a respectable London advertising agency, it looks like an accident. Then Lord Peter Wimsey is called in, and he soon discovers there's more to copywriting than meets the eye. A bit of cocaine, a hint of blackmail, and some wanton women can be read between the lines. And then there is the brutal succession of murders -- 5 of them -- each one a fixed fee for advertising a deadly secret.

My thoughts

I love a good mystery.

98RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 12:06 am

77. Sad Cypress (Hercule Poirot #22)
by Agatha Christie

blurb

Beautiful young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock, accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard, her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive, the opportunity and the means to administer the fatal poison.Yet, inside the hostile courtroom, only one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty: Hercule Poirot was all that stood between Elinor and the gallows..

99hfglen
Jul 5, 2020, 5:51 am

>97 RuneFirestar: >98 RuneFirestar: These have both been (re-)broadcast as serials on BBC4-extra recently, nose to tail, in the order listed here.

100RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 10:35 am

hfglen i listened to wimsey but i read Sad Cyperess myself and then found out i could listen to it as well so i did :D

101RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 10:38 am

78.Dixon of Dock Green - Dixie (series 1 episode 4)
by Ted Willis

Audiobook
Published by BBC

102RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 10:40 am

79.Dixon of Dock Green - Crawford's First Pinch (series 1 episode 3)
by Ted Willis

103RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 10:42 am

80.Dixon of Dock Green - Rock, Rattle and Roll
by Ted Willis

104RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 10:43 am

81. Dixon of Dock Green - Needle in a Haystack
by Ted Willis

105RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 5:22 pm

82. Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co. #1)
by Anna James (Goodreads Author)

blurb

A magical adventure to delight the imagination. A curl-up-on-the-sofa debut from a uniquely talented author.

Eleven year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents' bookshop ever since her mother disappeared shortly after she was born. Like the rest of her family, Tilly loves nothing more than to escape into the pages of her favourite stories.

One day Tilly realises that classic children's characters are appearing in the shop through the magic of `book wandering' - crossing over from the page into real life.

With the help of Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland. Tilly is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago, so she bravely steps into the unknown, unsure of what adventure lies ahead and what dangers she may face.

my thoughts

throughly loved this one

106RuneFirestar
Jul 5, 2020, 5:25 pm

83. Tilly and the Lost Fairytales (Pages & Co. #2)
by Anna James

blurb

A magical adventure to delight the imagination. The curl-up-on-the-sofa snuggle of a series from a uniquely talented author.

Tilly Pages is a bookwanderer; she can travel inside books, and even talk to the characters she meets there. But Tilly’s powers are put to the test when fairytales start leaking book magic and causing havoc . . .

On a wintery visit to Paris, Tilly and her best friend Oskar bravely bookwander into the land of fairytales to find that characters are getting lost, stories are all mixed-up, and mysterious plot holes are opening without warning. Can Tilly work out who, or what, is behind the chaos so everyone gets their happily-ever-after?

The second enthralling tale in the bestselling PAGES CO series.

my thoughts

second adventure with Tilly and her friend is just as amazing as the first. I cant wait to see what happens next!

107libraryperilous
Jul 6, 2020, 9:42 am

Oh, I need to make time for the second Pages & Co adventure. I liked the first book.

I also need to try Wimsey again. I've only read the first book, but I gather the series picks up steam once Harriet Vane shows up.

108RuneFirestar
Jul 6, 2020, 9:06 pm

libraryperilous I love Mysteries they are my guilty pleasure and so i read tons. Wimsey is very old fashion as is the writing style but i adore the radio plays :D and yes the few i have read after Vane shows up they do pick up rather quickly :)

109RuneFirestar
Jul 15, 2020, 4:14 am

84.Indexing(Indexing #1)
by Seanan McGuire

blurb

“Never underestimate the power of a good story.”

Good advice...especially when a story can kill you.

For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected—perhaps infected is a better word—by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results.

That's where the ATI Management Bureau steps in, an organization tasked with protecting the world from fairy tales, even while most of their agents are struggling to keep their own fantastic archetypes from taking over their lives. When you're dealing with storybook narratives in the real world, it doesn't matter if you're Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or the Wicked Queen: no one gets a happily ever after.

My thoughts

I dearly love this book and the characters have a place in my heart forever. I cant think how many times i have read and re-read and now listened to the audio book. This is one of those that if i need a friend , or to be comforted or just need a familiar adventure I will find this book and the world seems a better better place. This is a story which if you love once upon a time, or Fables or just fairy tales in general this is the read for you.

110libraryperilous
Jul 15, 2020, 12:30 pm

>108 RuneFirestar: It's cool that you enjoy the radio plays and other audio formats. I bet it makes your guilty pleasure feel even fresher. :)

>109 RuneFirestar: Ooh, this sounds fun!

111RuneFirestar
Jul 24, 2020, 8:22 am

85. Willow Moss and the Lost Day (Starfell #1)
by Dominique Valente

blurb

Misfit witch Willow Moss holds the fate of the magical world of Starfell in her rather unremarkable hands . . . A spellbinding new fantasy series for readers aged 8–12, perfect for fans of Cressida Cowell.

Willow Moss, the youngest and least powerful sister in a family of witches, has a magical ability for finding lost things – like keys, or socks, or wooden teeth. Her magic might be useful, but it’s not exactly exciting . . . Until, that is, the most powerful witch in the whole of Starfell turns up at her door needing Willow’s help.

A whole day – last Tuesday to be precise – has gone missing. And the repercussions could be devastating. Can Willow find the day to save the day?

My thoughts

This is a briliant read. I throughly loved getting to know Willow Moss and going on her adventure to find the lost day. There's magic, misadventure, friendship, self discovery and acceptance, joy and sadness to be found within the pages of this wonderful read. I look forward to the next part of the story.

112RuneFirestar
Jul 28, 2020, 5:43 pm

86. Blood & Ash (The Jezebel Files #1)
by Deborah Wilde

blurb

Cold-blooded kidnappers. Long-lost magic. When things get serious, she goes full Sherlock.

Ashira Cohen takes pride in being the only female private investigator in Vancouver. With her skills, her missing persons case should be a piece of cake.

She wasn’t counting on getting bashed in the skull, revealing a hidden tattoo and supernatural powers she shouldn’t possess.

Or the bitter icing on top: a spree of abductions and terrifying ghostly creatures on a deadly bender.

And don’t even get her started on the golems.

Reluctantly partnered with her long-time nemesis Levi, the infuriating leader of the magic community, Ash resolves to keep her focus on the clue trail and off their sexual tension because WTF is up with that?

But with a mastermind organization pulling strings from the shadows and Levi’s arrogance driving her to pick out his body bag, can Ash rescue the captives and uncover the truth or will the next blood spilled be her own?

my thoughts

I loved this story! the characters are fun and easy to get to know and identify with. The snarkyness of the main character makes her stand out and her need to give everyone nicknames is wonderful. The fact that she loved Sherlock holmes and is a private investigator who calls her best friend and flatmate Adler is just amazing.

The way the magic in the setting works is new, quirky and very awesome. Its compleatly new and fresh from the way magic has been handled in fantasy/scfi before.

I truely loved this read and finished listening to it in just 24 hours. I had to know what what happend next. if you love mysteries with a touch of magic these are truely the read for you!

113RuneFirestar
Jul 29, 2020, 11:13 am

87. Nemesis (Miss Marple #12)
by Agatha Christie

blurb

Even the unflappable Miss Marple is astounded as she reads the letter addressed to her on instructions from the recently deceased tycoon Mr. Jason Rafiel, whom she had met on holiday in the West Indies (A Caribbean Mystery). Recognizing in her a natural flair for justice and a genius for crime-solving, Mr. Rafiel has bequeathed to Miss Marple a £20,000 legacy -- and a legacy of an entirely different sort. For he has asked Miss Marple to investigate...his own murder. The only problem is, Mr. Rafiel has failed to name a suspect or suspects. And, whoever they are, they will certainly be determined to thwart Miss Marple's inquiries -- no matter what it will take to stop her.

my thoughts

The bbc cast verision is aces.

114RuneFirestar
Jul 29, 2020, 8:00 pm

88. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot #17)
by Agatha Christie

blurb

The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything - until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: 'I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.' Yet in this exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems...

115RuneFirestar
Ago 4, 2020, 2:15 am

89. A Caribbean Mystery
(Miss Marple #10)
by Agatha Christie

116RuneFirestar
Ago 9, 2020, 5:45 am

90. Grave Sight (Harper Connelly #1)
by Charlaine Harris

blurb

Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 1)

Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living - but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent - even if the dead can wait forever.

my thoughts

This is my second time reading this story . I picked it up again after starting to read and watch Midnight Texas. I have enjoyed getting to know Harper and Tolliver again. A brilliant mystery

117RuneFirestar
Ago 9, 2020, 5:59 am

91 . Whispers Under Ground
(Rivers of London #3)
by Ben Aaronovitch

blurb

A WHOLE NEW REASON TO MIND THE GAP

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world.

At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well

My thoughts

I truely enjoy Rivers of London and getting to know Leslie May and Peter Grant as they start down the road to become wizards in the modern world all while trying to be respectable police officers at the same time. There's never a dull moment.

118RuneFirestar
Ago 9, 2020, 8:35 pm

92. Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly #2)
by Charlaine Harris

blurb

When I was fifteen, I was struck by a bolt of lightning through an open window of the trailer where we lived...I recovered, mostly. I have a strange spiderweb pattern of red on my torso and right leg, which has episodes of weakness. Sometimes my right hand shakes. I have headaches. I have many fears. And I can find dead people. That was the part that interested the professor...
At the request of anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley, Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver come to Memphis to give a demonstration of Harper's unique talent. And what better place to have that demonstration than in a very old cemetery?

Dr. Nunley doesn't bother to hide his skepticism, especially when Harper stands atop a grave and senses two bodies beneath her - one of a centuries-dead man and the other of a young girl, recently deceased. When the grave is opened, Harper's claim is proven true. The dead girl is Tabitha Morgenstern, an eleven-year-old abducted from Nashville two years previously - a child whom Harper had tried, and failed, to find. The coincidence raises suspicions about her among the police - so she and Tolliver undertake their own hunt to find the killer. They make a nocturnal visit to the cemetery, hoping that Harper can sense something further about the murder.

And then, the next morning, a third dead body is found in the grave...

119RuneFirestar
Ago 10, 2020, 3:27 pm

93. An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly #3)
by Charlaine Harris

blurb

Hired to find a boy gene missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there, only to discover that the boy was the only one left of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways.

All calling for Harper.

Harper soon finds them—eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterward, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that's soon to descend. But when she's attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville—knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.

My thoughts

This is book will keep you up long after you should have gone to bed

120RuneFirestar
Ago 11, 2020, 5:49 am

94. Better Homes and Hauntings
by Molly Harper

blurb

Author of the beloved Half Moon Hollow series of vampire romances (Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs), Molly Harper has created a standalone paranormal romance in which a dilapidated haunted house could bring star-crossed lovers together—if it doesn’t kill them first!

When Nina Linden is hired to landscape a private island off the New England coast, she sees it as her chance to rebuild her failing business after being cheated by her unscrupulous ex. She never expects that her new client, software mogul Deacon Whitney, would see more in her than just a talented gardener. Deacon has paid top dollar to the crews he’s hired to renovate the desolate Whitney estate—he had to, because the bumps, thumps, and unexplained sightings of ghostly figures in nineteenth-century dress are driving workers away faster than he can say “Boo.”

But Nina shows no signs of being scared away, even as she experiences some unnerving apparitions herself. And as the two of them work closely together to restore the mansion’s faded glory, Deacon realizes that he’s found someone who doesn’t seem to like his fortune more than himself—while Nina may have finally found the one man she can trust with her bruised and battered heart.

But something on the island doesn’t believe in true love…and if Nina and Deacon can’t figure out how to put these angry spirits to rest, their own love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

my thoughts

This is a re read for me but its very awesome I love the story and all the characters. Its fun, very well written and if you want a sweet , some what paranormal romance this is totally the book for you

121tardis
Ago 11, 2020, 12:50 pm

You got me with Better Homes and Hauntings. Have put a hold on it at my library!

122RuneFirestar
Ago 12, 2020, 7:19 pm

95. Grave Secret
(Harper Connelly #4)
by Charlaine Harris

blurb

"While Tolliver slept, I wondered if it was possible that Cameron was still alive...At first, I'd thought she'd been abducted by a gang, sold into slavery, something lurid and horrible. Then I'd wondered if maybe she'd simply been fed up with her life: the tawdry parents and the tacky trailer, the sister who limped and looked abstracted, the baby sisters who never seemed to stay clean. Most days, though, I was sure she was dead."
Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface...

To make matter worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants nothing to do with the man - but he may not have a say in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so may years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever...

my thoughts

Getting to know Harper and Tolliver has been amazing and of course manfred has been brilliant. I loved these stories and cant wait to read more.

123RuneFirestar
Ago 16, 2020, 11:45 am

96. Paul Temple and the Conrad Case: A BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatization
(Paul Temple Novels #14)
by Francis Durbridge, Various (Narrator)

blurb

adio's smoothest sleuth and his glamorous wife solve a case of international mystery From 1938 to 1969 crime novelist and detective Paul Temple and his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular serials.

They inhabit a sophisticated, well-dressed world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women are chic and the men still wear cravats. And where Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard always needs Paul's help with a tricky case.

The case this time involves Dr Conrad's daughter Betty, who has disappeared from her finishing school in Bavaria. Paul is invited by the police to go over there to help trace the missing girl. Initially, though, even he is baffled, since the only clue to the mystery is an unusual cocktail stick found in her bedroom.

Can Paul work it out?

124-pilgrim-
Ago 16, 2020, 12:09 pm

>123 RuneFirestar: Ha! That is exactly what I have been listening to too.

125haydninvienna
Ago 16, 2020, 12:16 pm

>123 RuneFirestar: >124 -pilgrim-: Paul Temple! Another blast from the past. I remember them from ABC Radio in Oz when I was a child.

126RuneFirestar
Ago 24, 2020, 11:44 am

97. Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale
(Starfell #2) by Dominique Valente

blurb

Willow Moss, the youngest and least powerful sister in a family of witches, recently saved the world. The problem is, nobody can remember it – and, to make matters worse, her magical ability seems broken. Instead of finding lost things, objects keep disappearing against her will … which is especially troubling now that her friend Sometimes needs her help!

Sometimes has discovered how to see ten minutes into the future. Unfortunately that’s only enough time to find out that his kidnappers are on their way! His only hope is to write an urgent letter to Willow, asking if she wouldn’t mind trying to find him.

As Willow and her friends piece together what has happened to Sometimes, their adventure takes them from an enchanted tower to the magical forest of Wisperia and into dangerous new realms… Can Willow save Sometimes when her own powers are out of control?

My Thoughts

second verse every bit as good as the frist! loved this read and cant wait to see what happens next! A wonderful adventure.

127libraryperilous
Ago 30, 2020, 2:34 pm

>126 RuneFirestar: Oh, I've heard good things about this series. The UK middle grade market does an exceptional job with fantasy adventure series.

128Majel-Susan
Ago 30, 2020, 3:18 pm

>126 RuneFirestar: Ooh, that does sound cute! I see that my e-library carries the first book; I just might pick it up when I have time.

129RuneFirestar
Set 1, 2020, 10:55 pm

98.Viva Durant and The Secret of the Silver Buttons
by Ashli St. Armant, Bahni Turpin (Narrator)

Blurb

Viva Durant, New Orleans’ youngest detective, is on a quest to solve a jazzy mystery involving hidden treasure, while exploring the city’s unique culture, history, and music. This family-friendly audio original features original jazz music from the creator, Ashli St. Armant, and an enthusiastic performance from Audible Hall of Fame narrator, Bahni Turpin.

Plucky 14-year-old Viva Durant heads to New Orleans every summer to spend time with her loving but stern grandmother, known as Gram. After Gram reads Viva an article in the local paper about a missing treasure related to the world-famous song, "Miss Mary Mack," Viva traverses the Crescent City on an epic adventure to solve the mystery. Along the way she meets some of the city’s most colorful characters as her journey takes her to the French Quarter, a jazz club, a creepy cemetery, and even the circus. Can Viva rise to the occasion and solve this musical mystery? Listeners will find Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons a joy to listen to!

My thoughts

this is a perfect mystery to listen to if you want something fun and easy to follow at the same time. The music inculded in the audio version truely brings the music of the city of New Orleans to life for the listener and takes you to its city streets. I loved getting to know Viva and her grandmother. I truely look forward to the next adventure

130RuneFirestar
Set 3, 2020, 8:18 pm

99. The Unexpected Everything
by Morgan Matson (Goodreads Author), Морган Мэтсон

blurb

Andie had it all planned out. When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future. Important internship? Check. Amazing friends? Check. Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks).

But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life. Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected. And where’s the fun in that?

my thoughts

a wonderful story about a family that kinda drifted away from one another and then came back together. Its also about friends and learning that life is complicated,messy and painful but also can be truely amazing.

131RuneFirestar
Set 3, 2020, 8:21 pm

100. Cheshire Crossing
by Andy Weir (Goodreads Author), Sarah Andersen (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator)

blurb

The three meet here, at Cheshire Crossing--a boarding school where girls like them learn how to cope with their supernatural experiences and harness their magical world-crossing powers.

But the trio--now teenagers, who've had their fill of meddling authority figures--aren't content to sit still in a classroom. Soon they're dashing from one universe to the next, leaving havoc in their wake--and, inadvertently, bringing the Wicked Witch and Hook together in a deadly supervillain love match.

To stop them, the girls will have to draw on all of their powers . . . and marshal a team of unlikely allies from across the magical multiverse.

my thoughts

loved it!!

132RuneFirestar
Set 4, 2020, 5:25 am

101. The Devil You Know (Felix Castor #1)
by Mike Carey

Blurb

Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stamping ground. It may seem like a good ghost buster can charge what he likes and enjoy a hell of a lifestyle--but there's a risk: Sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him. While trying to back out of this ill-conceived career, Castor accepts a seemingly simple ghost-hunting case at a museum in the shadowy heart of London - just to pay the bills, you understand. But what should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize. That's OK: Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It's the living who piss him off...

My Thoughts

This is a re read for me but I love it. Fix is an amazing character and this adventure will keep you up long past your bed time cause you just gotta know what happens next.

133AHS-Wolfy
Set 4, 2020, 9:02 am

>132 RuneFirestar: It's a great series but looking like it might never get finished. Saw a tweet from Mike Carey that the publisher says there's no demand for another Felix Castor book and while his other work under the M. R. Carey name is performing so well he should just continue with those. Damn shame if you ask me though.

134RuneFirestar
Set 4, 2020, 9:53 am

101. Busman's Honeymoon (Lord Peter Wimsey #11)
by Dorothy L. Sayers

Blurb

Lord Peter Wimsey and his bride, mystery writer Harriet Vane, start their honeymoon with murder. The former owner of Talboys estate is dead in the cellar with a misspelled "notise" to the milkman, not a spot of blood on his smashed skull, and £600 in his pocket.

My thoughts

I throughly enjoy these whodoneits

135-pilgrim-
Editado: Set 5, 2020, 10:23 am

>134 RuneFirestar: Are you reading, or listening to an audiobook or radio play, for this?

I ask because I recently finished listening to the 1983 BBC radio adaptation, and, from what I recall, the premise differs slightly from what I recall. As I mentioned here, some other things seemed a little off about the characters, as compared with what I remembered from reading earlier books, so I am left wondering how 'free' the adaptation was...

136libraryperilous
Set 6, 2020, 12:56 pm

>133 AHS-Wolfy: It's so frustrating when publishers do this, especially when the last-published work ends on a cliffhanger and then the series is just cancelled.

>129 RuneFirestar: As a jazz fan, this sounds delightful!

I need to give the Wimsey series another try ...

137RuneFirestar
Set 13, 2020, 9:26 am

-pilgrim- I am listening to the raidio plays

libraryperilous is was fantastic and as a young adult read it was quick, fun and super easy to follow. Loved it

138RuneFirestar
Set 13, 2020, 9:36 am

102. The Stranger Times
by C.K. McDonnell

blurb

There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them. A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often the weird) of modern life, it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable . . .

At least that’s their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and
-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little (and believes less) of the publication he edits, while his staff are a ragtag group of wastrels and misfits, each with their own secrets to hide and axes to grind. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door – and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got her own set of problems.

It’s when tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job that The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious, proper, actual investigative journalism. What they discover leads them to a shocking realisation: that some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly, gruesomely real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined. It’s one thing reporting on the unexplained and paranormal but it’s quite another being dragged into the battle between the forces of Good and Evil . . .

My Thoughts

I saw the title on netgalley where I review books much like i do here and after reading the blurb I appiled to be an early release reader. Thing i know I get the email saying that I have been granted access!

stranger times is most certainly not your average paper.

The story is well written and the style flows easily and you can get lost in it very quickly. The characters are very memorable and you have to know what happens next.

It will most certainly change the way you look at newspapers and keep you reading long after your should have stopped. I loved every second of this read.

139RuneFirestar
Set 23, 2020, 1:40 am

103.Vicious Circle
(Felix Castor #2)
by Mike Carey

Blurb

Castor has reluctantly returned to exorcism after the case of the Bonnington Archive ghost convinced him that he really can do some good with his abilities ('good', of course, being a relative term when dealing with the undead). But his friend, Rafi, is still possessed; the succubus, Ajulutsikael (Juliet to her friends), still technically has a contract on him; and he's still - let's not beat around the bush - dirt poor.

Doing some consulting for the local constabulary helps pay the bills, but Castor needs a big, private job to really fill the hole in his overdraft. That's what he needs. What he gets, good fortune and Castor not being on speaking terms, is a seemingly insignificant 'missing ghost' case that inexorably drags himself and his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot to raise one of Hell's fiercest demons.

And when Satanists, sacrifice farms, stolen spirits and possessed churches all appear on the same police report, the name of Felix Castor can't be too far behind . . .

140RuneFirestar
Set 24, 2020, 4:20 pm

104. Winterly by Jeanine Croft

Blurb

Penny Dreadful meets Northanger Abbey with a dark peppering of Twilight in this sultry odyssey of gaslit underworlds seething with masquerades, mystery, and romance.

Something dark is prowling the gaslit streets of London—a monster with a taste for the blood of young women. When her beloved sister is attacked by an unearthly creature, Emma Rose finds herself in a contract of exchange for her life that defies all laws of heaven. A contract with a vampire.
Her world is torn apart and the reality she had known and believed in is revealed to be a facade, just like the masks of a midnight vampire ball; a mask worn by Markus Winterly, the inimitable viscount and master of Winterthurse. Whether demon, vampire, or monster, Emma discovers that these names are just facets to an ancient being who defies mortal comprehension. Spanning centuries, lifetimes, and the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, Winterly takes her on a journey of self discovery where Emma awakens to the truth of her identity at last, and she comes to learn that the line separating light and dark is as tenuous as her humanity.
When she surrenders to the call of her blood, she finds where she belonged all along. And it was never in London, or even heaven, but in the arms of the devil himself.od, she finds where she belonged all along. And it was never in London, or even heaven, but in the arms of the devil himself.

My thoughts

It definitely is a mix of North hanger Abbey and Penny dreadful with touches of other myths and legends thrown into the mix.

At times a bit slow and dull, however the descriptions and vocabulary bring the world of this novel to life. I throughly loved Emma she is, like me, a glasses wearing bookworm who can't see without her specticals. She is practical and quick witted.

The moments between her and her sister are fun and light and totally believable.

A wonderful dark romance.

141RuneFirestar
Set 28, 2020, 12:07 am

105. Britfield and the Lost Crown
by C.R. Stewart

Blurb

Britfield & the Lost Crown is the first book in a thrilling seven-part series for middle school and young adult readers. It will inspire children to engage both their creativity and their critical thinking skills as they encounter actual places, authentic characters, and exciting but realistic events in seventeen action-packed chapters.
Based on family, friendship, loyalty, and courage, Britfield & the Lost Crown and its hero, Tom, take readers on an epic adventure across England – from the smoldering crags of Yorkshire to the heart of London and, finally, to the magnificent shores of Dover.
With help from his best friend, Sarah, and a hot air balloon, Tom flees Yorkshire, escaping from Weatherly Orphanage and the clutches of a relentless detective, in pursuit of the truth about himself and his heritage: Are his parents still alive? Is he the true heir to the British throne? As Tom and a memorable cast of both heroic and dastardly characters unravel a royal mystery that could change the course of history, readers are taken on a breathless journey to a surprise ending that will leave them clamoring for more .
Built on more than seven years of extensive research and development, Britfield & the Lost Crown creates a real world that readers can embrace as it weaves accurate geography, literature, architecture, and history into its fast-paced story. With stimulating language and active writing, Britfield engages the reader from the first pages and doesn’t let go until it reaches its exciting conclusion.

My thoughts

What an adventure! From a daring escape from a horrible orphanage in Yorkshire to Oxford on to London and finally Canterbury this is one story you won't be able to put down. You'll have to know what happens next if Tom and Sarah stay safe. Unexpected help and the kindness of strangers sees them through.

This is a brilliant fast paced action packed read. I loved every moment of it. I cant wait for book two!

142CRStewart
Set 28, 2020, 1:39 pm

>141 RuneFirestar: Thank you so much for your kind words and great review! I am very encouraged! I am currently in the editing phase of Book II, Britfield & The Rise of the Lion, and it is set to be released in March 2021! I really think that you will love it!
Thank you again for your support,
C. R. Stewart
Britfield and the Lost Crown

143RuneFirestar
Set 30, 2020, 2:48 am

106.Dead Men's Boots (Felix Castor #3)
by Mike Carey

Blurb

You might think that helping a friend's widow to stop a lawyer from stealing her husband's corpse would be the strangest thing on your To Do list. But life is rarely that simple for Felix Castor.
A brutal murder in King's Cross bears all the hallmarks of a long-dead American serial killer, and it takes more good sense than Castor possesses not to get involved. He's also fighting a legal battle over the body - if not the soul - of his possessed friend, Rafi, and can't shake the feeling that his three problems might be related. With the help of the succubus Juliet and paranoid zombie data-fence Nicky Heath, Castor just might have a chance of fitting the pieces together before someone drops him down a lift shaft or rips his throat out. Or not. . .

My thoughts

Time spent with Fix is never dull!

144RuneFirestar
Out 2, 2020, 4:46 am

107. The Thursday Murder Club
(Thursday Murder Club #1)
by Richard Osman

Blurbs

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?

My thoughts

A brilliant story.

145RuneFirestar
Out 4, 2020, 4:58 am

108. Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1)
by Tamsyn Muir

Blurb

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

My thoughts

Wow! This story weaves a beautiful but decayed tapestry for the reader. The characters are vibrant and well written. You will laugh you will cry, you will celebrate amazing achievements, and be astonished at the revelations as they come to light. It is definitely a read to remember.

146libraryperilous
Out 4, 2020, 10:13 am

>144 RuneFirestar: Thanks for this review. I've wavered on the series, but it sounds like fun!

147RuneFirestar
Out 5, 2020, 11:46 am

libraryperilous : I wavered on the series myself. However I dont regret diving in.

148RuneFirestar
Out 5, 2020, 11:49 am

109. Dhampir
(Noble Dead Saga: Series 1 #1)
by Barb Hendee (Goodreads Author), J.C. Hendee (Goodreads Author)


Blurb

She hunts the realm’s most dangerous game.
Her fees are exorbitant.
She’s worth every coin she receives.
Or is she?

Magiere has earned a reputation as the most formidable vampire slayer in the land. Villagers far and wide welcome her with both awe and disdain — grateful to her for ridding their towns of the undead menace, but finding themselves made poorer for their salvation. Magiere knows she’s dealing with simple folk, who only wish to have their superstitions silenced, and sees nothing wrong with exploiting them for profit.

Now, tired of the game, Magiere and her partner, the half-elf Leesil, are ready to hang up their weapons and settle down in a place they can finally call home. But their newfound peace will not last — for Magiere has come to the attention of a trio of powerful and dangerous vampires who know her true identity — and fear the birthright that flows through her veins. And they will stop at nothing to keep Magiere from fulfilling her destiny

My thoughts

Loved this adventure!

149RuneFirestar
Out 14, 2020, 5:06 pm

110. The Cup and The Prince
(Kingdom of Curses and Shadows #1)
by Day Leitao (Goodreads Author)

blurb

One prince wants her out.
Another wants her as a pawn.
Someone wants her dead.

Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.

Yes, 17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn't attain glory on her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So she took his place.

Now she's competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It's her chance to prove her worth and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.

But winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she's a fragile damsel who doesn't belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he's stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.

The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted.

And then there's someone trying to kill her.

My thoughts

This is a wonderful read and draws the reader into a world of adventure and low key magic With sword fighting , flirting and intrigues this story has something for everyone. The characters are brilliantly written and Zora is fantastic. If your a fan of fantasy, action , adventure this it totally the read for you.

150RuneFirestar
Out 18, 2020, 3:29 pm

111. 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.

My thoughts

Somewhere between Harry Potter, The Worst witch and Charlie Bone fits the magic that you will find in this amazing read.

Morrigan's story doesn't have a very happy start. But I implore readers to stick around because once she reaches Nevermore the adventure is only just starting. This book will quickly find a place in your hearts.

Wonderful!

151Majel-Susan
Out 18, 2020, 4:56 pm

>150 RuneFirestar: Sounds like super-fun! I'm gonna look it up in my e-library.

152libraryperilous
Out 19, 2020, 12:01 pm

>150 RuneFirestar:, >151 Majel-Susan: It is, and the Hunt portion is so creepy and good, a clever children's book take on the Wild Hunt.

There also is a delightful, magical hotel that features a smoking room with rotating scents. From the second book: "The parlor was trying out a new seasonal range, with mixed results. Coconut smoke, ocean breeze smoke, and strawberries-and-cream smoke were big hits ... potato-salad-at-a-picnic smoke dramatically less successful."

153-pilgrim-
Out 21, 2020, 3:14 am

>152 libraryperilous: Have you read The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner? I read that as a child, and its portrayal of the Wild Hunt has stayed in my mind ever since.

154libraryperilous
Out 21, 2020, 11:25 am

>153 -pilgrim-: This sounds fantastic! I have smashed the Overdrive borrow button on a Weirdstone and Gomrath omnibus and will start the books this week. Thank you!

155-pilgrim-
Editado: Out 21, 2020, 12:06 pm

Weirdstone of Brisingamen is very definitely a children's book. The protagonists are about eight, I think. Don't let that put you off, please. In the sequel, the children are older, and the tale has more subtle undercurrents.

I loved Moon of Gomrath enough to spend a holiday dragging a boyfriend, who had also read the books, all over the area around Macclesfield, looking for the locations mentioned in the book.

156Majel-Susan
Out 22, 2020, 5:55 pm

I'm gonna look up Weirdstone on Overdrive too now for my TBR.

157RuneFirestar
Out 26, 2020, 11:42 am

112. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow
(Nevermoor #2)
by Jessica Townsend (Goodreads Author), Beatriz Castro (Illustrator)

Blurb

Morrigan 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 it's important to remember that not all magic is used for good . . .

Perfect for fans of the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials, this series takes readers into an extraordinary world, setting hope and imagination alive.

My thoughts

I loved this adventure even more than I loved the first one. The story just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait to pick up the 3rd book! And find out what happens next!

158libraryperilous
Out 26, 2020, 6:58 pm

>157 RuneFirestar: Hollowpox is out tomorrow in the US. I can't wait!

159RuneFirestar
Dez 10, 2020, 8:37 am

113. 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

This is a re read for me and i loved it this time just as much as i loved the first read through. Its quirky and fun. A visit to Nocturne Fallls is always a blast. Throughly a guilty pleasure and not to be missed.

160RuneFirestar
Dez 10, 2020, 8:42 am

sadly I have fallen behind on my reading challenge due to real life getting in the way of books. i am something like 30 odd books behind . So i wont be finishing my challege this year however I have enjoyed it throughly and have loved sharing my reading adventures with all of you dragoneers!

you are all awesome!

I will continue my reading adventure next year dont worry! My love of books hasnt faded away. And I will continue to share my reads right up til the end of the year never fear!

161libraryperilous
Dez 10, 2020, 9:58 am

>160 RuneFirestar: Aww, that happens sometimes! It seems like you've read a lot of books you enjoyed this year, though. I hope that offsets it a bit. :)

I've enjoyed following your thread and taking some book bullets, including the Jayne Frost book.

162RuneFirestar
Dez 14, 2020, 5:56 pm

114. Miss Frost Ices The Imp : A Nocturne Falls Mystery
(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.

My thoughts

Loving it

163RuneFirestar
Dez 19, 2020, 5:13 pm

115.Miss Frost Saves The Sandman: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (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?

My thoughts

Sooo awesome! This series is great!

164Sakerfalcon
Dez 21, 2020, 7:12 am

>163 RuneFirestar: This sounds like a great escapist series. I loved Painter's UF trilogy set in New Orleans - House of the Rising Sun and sequels.

165RuneFirestar
Jan 1, 2021, 6:40 am

I will check it out!

166NorthernStar
Jan 4, 2021, 12:42 am

I read one of the Nocturne Falls books, sounds like I should look for more.