Two Bloggers One Series ~ Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

Barb and I are continuing are read of The Dresden Files. I love this series and enjoying my reread as I have pretty much forgotten most of it...lol. After you see what I have to say head on over the BookerT's Fam and see what Barb thought. 

Harry Dresden has faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. It comes with the territory when you're the only professional wizard in the Chicago-area phone book.

But in all Harry's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: The spirit world has gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble - and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone - or something - is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn't figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself....

Who ain’t afraid of no ghost? Harry Dresden!!

Harry Dresden has really got himself into a grave situation and it’s going to take everything he has to come out of it alive. This one has some ghostly baddies and vampires. If my fairy Godmother is anything like Harry’s I think I will pass!

There is a nightmare wreaking havoc and it even gets a hold of Murphy and Harry has to pretty much wage a war with the world of vampires while dealing with a cranky fairy godmother and a demon who wants him dead.

It’s hard to talk about this book without giving away something important for those who haven’t ever read it, so I am just making this a short review.

Grave Peril was definitely darker than the first two and had a lot more action than the others. I loved that Harry and Susan were becoming a couple, but at the same time I was disappointed that there was much of Murphy in this novel. Though there is a reason there is not much Murphy in it and you will find out once you start reading it. The ending was good but a little sad at the same time, at least for Harry Dresden. He tries to protect everyone he loves but it doesn’t always work out how he would like it.

Can't wait to get to the next one and continue on with my reread. 

5 stars

To Bloggers One Series ~ The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness

 

So the All Souls Series is one of my very favorites (mostly the trilogy as I wasn't a huge fan of Times Convert which to me is more a companion novel), so to say that I was excited to hear about this book coming out is an understatement...lol. I was so excited to buddy read this with Barb so once you see my thoughts go see what she thought at Booker T's Farm.

Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.

Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.

****Spoiler Alert!***

So there is no good way to talk about this book without a  major spoiler so you have been warned. 

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First I am going to say I really hyped this book up way to much in my mind and should have known better!

So with this book we are jumping in time a little and following Mathew, Diana and their two kids who are now six years old and both have their own unique sort of abilities they are all finding out it seems as they get older when new things happen. 

The family were getting ready to go on summer vacation as they normally do when some strange things happen. A flock of crows come around Diana and Rebecca, and Diana is worried especially when her daughter starts talking to one. Then they get not only a letter from the congregation saying that it is about time they test the twins for what kind of powers they have but Diana also gets a letter telling her it's time to come home. 

Her Proctor side, a side she only thought was her father as nobody ever talked about his family. She finds out that she has some family in Ravenswood and with the Congregation bearing down on them she decide that maybe she should go and see what all of this is about. 

She is looking for a way that her and Mathew can protect the children from the Congregation who just wants to use them to their advantage. What she finds is a legacy of dark magic that she never knew about.

One of the first things I thought while reading this is it seem to jump ahead quite a bit and I felt like I have missed some things. Things like who is in the Congregation now, etc. 

This one also focuses a lot of Diana and the Proctors and dark magic which I will admit I am not as huge a fan of when it comes to magic things. Also I wanted more of Mathew and Diana together and they were apart for a good portion. I didn't like the way Diana treated Mathew at times. (To be honest it felt like it was all about Diana and if Mathew didn't like it who cares and I wasn't there for that. I truly hope the author doesn't try to throw to much I am female hear me roar into this new era of the series)

I did like Diana finding out more about her father side of the family and even about her mother and there was some fun battle scenes between rival witches. I would have liked more of Sarah and some of the other characters they we come to care a lot about from the first books. 

I loved the twins they were really cute! Each one is very different even for twins because they are half vampire and half witch, Rebecca being more on the vampire side of things. Love their animals, especially the fact that Pip has a Griffin disguised as a dog.

I really did have myself way to hyped up about how this book might go and I guess I thought it would be different than what it was and it really took me a while to get into the story and to quick thinking about all the things I felt I was missing in the gap years. I do think this is set up to be a new era for Mathew and Diana and I just hope that it's not going to be all focused on Diana and what she wants because they are a family and need to do things together. If it continues to focus all on Diana, I may not like the series as much going forward which is sad. 

Overall, it was good but I fear it may never be a favorite. I will always enjoy the trilogy part of this series as it is my favorite and think of these as two parts.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4 on Goodreads

Week in Review #94

How was your week? What did you get?The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

Not really much to chat about as I don't think I did anything newsworthy...lol. I can't believe we are on the last week of August already!!! 

Happy reading! :) 

What you might have missed on my blog

Review of An Irish Bookstore Murder 

Books I have added

• Murder in Season - Glad to see another book in this series coming out! The third book in the Lady of Letters historical mystery series.
• Rise of the Ancients - Also happy to get the conclusion to the Zombie Season trilogy!

Thanks Netgalley and publishers.

Books read last week

• An Irish Bookshop Murder - Overall this was an okay read for first in series. 
• Rum and Razors - Out of the three book from this series I have read so far I would say this is my least favorite. 
• War and Peaches - This was the last book for this series, it only got three books, felt like there needed to be more of them from things going on but that isn't the authors fault. It was an okay series.
• The Young and Violent - One of my vintage paperbacks. Sort of West Side Story without the song and dance. About two rival gangs who are going to rumble because of a girl that one didn't even care about anymore! It was okay.

Currently Reading

• Adventures in Babysitting Novelization - Just starting this one but isn't it cool! 
• Hard Riding Posse - It was a perfect pick for Garbaugust...lol.
• Grave Peril - Almost finished with my reread of this one! Should finish tomorrow!
• Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters - Cute middle grade book.

Have a great week and hope you read a good book!

Blog Tour ~ An Irish Bookshop Murder

 I am posting this as a part of Bookouture's blog tour program, my review is my honest opinion of the book. 

After receiving unexpected inheritance from her grandfather, Mercy and her twin sister Lizzie are now the proud owners of a charming antique bookshop in the tiny Irish village of Shamrock Cove. But before they can take in the beautiful view of the sea, one of their neighbors drops dead!

Mercy finds the Judge, a well-respected man who lives next door, dying on his own doorstep. She rushes to help, but with his final words, he accuses Mercy of murder! Most of their new neighbors hear his words and, with suspicion pointing at Mercy, she decides to investigate the case to clear her name.

Searching amongst the Judge’s old books, Mercy uncovers letters proving several of the townsfolk had reason to dislike the judge—but was it the local pub landlord, the kindly cook or neighborly knitter who killed him?

Then Mercy’s chief suspect turns up dead and she receives a threatening note, typed on paper from her own bookstore… Ireland was supposed to be a fresh start for Mercy and Lizzie, but dead bodies keep turning up.

Does Mercy have what it takes to nail the culprit or will the killer close the book on her time in this charming Irish village?

The first book in a new series is always sort of a set up no matter what genre you are reading an that is true of cozies. You are getting to know all the characters and getting a feel for the setting. 

Mercy and Lizzie are twin sisters who have had misfortunes and are in need a new beginning. They are American's and didn't know about their Irish side until they find out that a grandfather they didn't know has left them his cottage and bookshop in Ireland. So they decide to move there. The place is call Shamrock Cove and it's kind of like a gated community but called The Court. It has a different sort of way of handing down the property. 

They hadn't been there long when they are invited to a party to welcome them when they meet a grumpy judge who not long after ends up dead and they are the ones that find him. He even calls out and points at Mercy saying she murdered him. They don't even know him so that was a strange thing and nobody really thinks they did it but they are new to the court.

Mercy is a fairly famous mystery writer and she is suppose to be working on her new book while her sister Lizzie takes care of the bookstore, but the fact that this old man accused her of murder makes her curious about things so she wants to try and figure out the mystery. She drags her sister along at times. 

What I liked about this story:

I liked the close bond between the twin sisters. Even though they are twins they are very different, but those differences makes them a great team. I love that it's set in Ireland as that is a place I would like to travel to one day. I liked most of the characters on the court, Lolly probably being my favorite. I found the mystery to be decently hard to solve, the author  gives you plenty of suspects. I did figure it out though and at times wondered why the mystery writer was getting dupped. Still it was a decent mystery. 

What I didn't like:

The things I didn't like are my personal preference when it comes to reading stories. I don't need social commentaries or buzz words or phrases or things like that in my stories. I read to be entertained and I am not a critical thinker when it comes to reading. I often felt like the author was ticking off some boxes with things that were said. This would make me roll my eyes and take me out of the story. So while I enjoyed certain parts of this story I wasn't as big of a fan of it as I wanted to be. Which is a bummer as I really like her Scottish Isle series which so far doesn't throw in all the things I didn't like in this one. So that being said it was my personal preference that caused me not to enjoy this as much as I wanted too and I think others will be just fine with it and probably enjoy those things I didn't like. I may try book two to see how I get on with it.

So I would recommend this to those who enjoy cozy mysteries. 

3.5 stars

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About the Author

Bestselling author Candace Havens has published more than 25 books. Her novels have received nominations for the RITA’s, Holt Medallion, Write Touch Reader Awards and National Reader’s Choice Awards. She is a Barbara Wilson Award winner. She is the author of the biography Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy and a contributor to several anthologies. She is also one of the nation’s leading entertainment journalists and has interviewed countless celebrities from George Clooney to Chris Pratt. Candace runs a free online writing workshop for more than 2000 writers and teaches comprehensive writing classes. She does film reviews with Hawkeye in the Morning on 96.3 KSCS, and is a former President of the Television Critics Association.

https://www.lucyconnelly.com/

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Week in Review #93

How was your week? What did you get? The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

Not a lot happened this week that would be newsworthy...lol. The weather has been pretty hot but that is normal for August here. The weather has been so weird everywhere lately. I just hope winter isn't bad. I am not looking forward to winter at all. I want to keep summer!

There is a reading event on Youtube I am participating in called Garbaugust and it's were we just read trashy books or books people don't deem worthy, see The Executioner book below. :) We could also watch movies. There is a bingo board so for Ninja, since I don't have a book about ninjas I watched American Ninja, I haven't seen that in forever. I also watched Code of Silence with Chuck Norris and a horribly boring Crocodile movie called Black Water.

Have a great week!

What you might have missed on my blog

Vamptember Announcement

Review of Fool Moon

Books I have added

 Nothing

Books read last week

• Black Bird Oracle - I think I hyped this one up to much in my mind as I love this series and it has been around 5 years since we got a book. I liked it but it was just different.
• The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost - This was decent, the MC was a bit whiny at times but he was learning about ghost for the first time...lol. 
• War Against the Mafia - First book in the Executioner series and it was fun and entertaining but definitely a product of it's time. It won't be for everyone but I am looking forward to trying another one which is good as I have about 40 in my collection.
• The Case of the Musical Cow - A Standalone book by this author and it was okay but much prefer Perry Mason books. 
• Black Demon Trilogy - This was about the folklore of the Black Demon a shark, sure nothing like the movie of the same name though about the same folklore shark.

Currently reading

• An Irish Bookshop Murder - I am 58% into it and I should be liking it more as I like this author but I am not a fan some things the author has decided to put in it which is a bummer. 
• A Lady in the Smoke - Historical Mystery that I just decided to start on a whim and I am 12% into the audiobook.
• Rum and Razors - The third book in the Murder She Wrote series and I was a bit board but finally at 27% the murder has happened so I hope it picks up some. 
• Coffin Corner - Still at the same spot as I haven't worked on it. I just don't care for short stories lol., so I keep putting it off. 

Have a great week and happy reading!

Vamptember Announcement!

Barb came up with a fun readathon event and asked me to join in and I was like sure! It's more of a blogger/booktuber collab as I will be making an announcement on my booktube channel but wanted to also put it on here as well. Please check out my booktube channel if you haven't already and also go and check out Barb's blog Booker T's Farm!

So this event is to basically read anything with vampires in it. They can be kids books, Middle Grade, Young Adult or Adult. The vampires and be the main character or a side character. We have to different ways you can participate. 

For those that may just want to do there own thing and just read what ever they want that has vampires in it. For this we have levels:

The Littlest Vampire - Read one book.

Bunnicula - Read two books.

Damon Salvatore - Read three books.

Dracula - Read 4 or more books.

Or if you would like to do a bingo card and see how many of the prompts you can hit you can do that.

Hope you will join in on the fun!! 

Two Bloggers One Series ~ Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #2)

Barb and I are continuing our read of The Dresden Files, I have read them all so these are all rereads for me but I am realizing how much you forget with a long running series! After you read what I have to say go on over to Booker T's Farm and see what Barb thought. 

Harry Dresden — Wizard

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work — magical or mundane.

But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise.

A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses--and the first two don't count...

It's been slow for Harry Dresden the only Wizard in the Chicago phone book. He shouldn't be glad that a murder has happened that needs his expertise but when your getting hungry and need some case, you will take anything.

Harry is a Wizard and he investigates strange things that go on in the human world. He also helps Lt. Murphy when she comes upon a case that is a bit to strange to understand. After what happened in the first book Dresden hasn’t heard anything from Murphy in a while and his job as been pretty dead.

Now there is a string of murders going on and what has happened to them just can’t be considered normal. Murphy ask Dresden to take a look and it leads him to werewolves. Murphy is not quick to forgive Dresden and she doesn’t trust him either, there are a lot of miss communication that goes on between these two.

Marcone wants to hire Dresden to look into who is killing his associates and it would be good money for Dresden. Dresden can’t stand Marcone but the killings are in line with what Murphy is working on. He still refuses to work with Marcone.

Dresden and Murphy are at odds through this whole book and she even arrest him a couple of times but he escapes. Dresden figures out that not all of the killings are due to the werewolf of the fool moon because some of the killings happened on nights that there was no full moon. He finds a group with wolf pelts that can turn them into wolves.

I love Harry he always gets into almost more than he can handle. I hated that Murphy and him were at odds through most of the book as I like the banter between the two of them. We get to meet the fun young werewolf pack in this one and they are just fun! 

Loving my reread and remembering things I had forgotten!

5 stars

Week in Review #92

How was your week? What did you get? The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

Wasp are still getting into my room even after I stuff plastic bags into the places I thought they were coming in which was around my AC, so I give up...lol. At least I haven't been stung but I did kill a few.

This week has been mild for August in the way of temps. It was really weird today that in August it was 76! I don't think I remember an August being that cool. It just makes me worry about what winter will be like. I really hate being cold. :(

Well, not really anything to talk about for this week so have a great week and happy reading!

Books I have added

 Nothing!

Books I read Last Week

• Fur Love or Money - The 11th book in one of my favorite series, The Second Chance Cat, and I enjoyed this one.
• The Montauk Monster - Just a fun romp and chomp type books from one of my favorite creature feature authors. 

Books I am Currently Reading

• Case of the Musical Cow - I am almost finished with this one! I am on page 115 of 197 and it's okay but I think I like the Perry Mason ones I have read better. This was a standalone from the author. 
• Coffin Corner - I am not a fan of short stories but when they just end and I am left going that is all, I am even less of a fan...lol. I have only read a few of the stories so far but not really like any. Most have been only 5-10 pages, but the current one I am reading is 56 pages and I am liking it so far so hope it ends okay and not open ended like the other stories. Only on page 63 of 220
• The Black Bird Oracle - Okay, I think I had pretty high expectations and at the same time wasn't sure what to expect, so I can't say I am loving it  but it's still not bad. On page 254 of 444.
• An Irish Bookshop Murder - I am liking it I just have some issues with things I don't care to read about being in the book, but this author writing is good. 29% in to the eARC.

Hope you read a good book or two this week!

Week in Review #91

How was your week? What did you get?The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

Hi everyone, hope you all having a great day and that your week goes well.

I am still having the worst luck and have been stung by red wasp twice within the span of a week. Once on the bicep and once on my neck! I wasn't even doing anything to deserve getting stung but now every time I see a wasp of any kind in my room it's dead, I am out for revenge! I think I am mildly allergic because my face gets all tingly afterwards and I get really sleepy feeling and it gets really red. Hopefully this next week will be better!

Have a great week and happy reading!

Books I have added

 Nothing

Books Read Last Week

• Flight Into Yesterday - One of my harlequins for the 70s and it was decent.
• A Taste for Crime - I am now caught up on the Hope Street Church series and I enjoyed this one.

Currently reading

Reading a lot of from my own shelves for Garbaugust a fun reading event on Youtube.

• Black Bird Oracle - Buddy reading this with Barb. We have been waiting a long time for this book to come out and it's different. I am still trying to get use to the changes as it's like a new era for these characters.
• Coffin Corner - Series of short stories and I am not sure what I think. I have read two stories so far and to me they just didn't make a lot of sense.
• Case of the Musical Cow - This is a standalone book by this author (Writer of Perry Mason), only about 40 pages in so I am not sure what I think yet.
• April Evil - My first book from this vintage crime author. He is the author of Travis McGee but I haven't tried that series yet but have a few of the books. So far this one is okay as well but I am only 27 pages in.
• An Irish Bookshop Murder - I didn't get a chance to read on this one so still only about 5% into the eARC.

What might be up next

Not a clue but I suspect I will be reading some of these I am currently reading. :)