Poems To Be Afraid Of by Pixie Bruner

 

This haunting collection of poems explores phobias, from various cornophobias (fear of a particular color) to the made-up phobia coined by cartoonist Gary Larson: Luposlipaphobia, the fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor.  The poem, "Aichmophobia", a fear of sharp objects, tells the tale of Sleeping Beauty, who has been told to avoid the spinning wheel with its sharp needle.  "She's a beautiful idiot, as practical as a decorative vase," and "She could only use a silver spoon because what if a fork tine went rogue?" and is "sheltered from a lifetime of potential pricks.", a statement that could be taken more than one way.  Sleeping Beauty stupidly pricks her finger, causing her entire kingdom to enter into a deep, long-lasting sleep.    

The poem "High Infidelity (Commitmentphobia)" is another favorite of mine.  It examines desire, which "is just an excuse for need. Need-- dressed to kill, Tarted up, tipsy on stilettos".  This poem also looks at the physicality of love, desire, and need.  The imagery of the crisp white sheets with wet spots and the "id-entity" make this a poem worth reading.  The artwork in this book is amazing. The creepy picture of a young girl with button eyes for the poem "Koumpounophobia, the fear of buttons looks like something out of the scary movie Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling book.  The author is a good friend of mine, but that doesn't mean she isn't an incredible writer.  This collection includes some of her greatest works, aside from the Dream Fruit poems she wrote for Katabatic Circus Vol. 2, which are fabulous.  This book was just published in time for Halloween.  

 

Pixie Bruner has been published in such esteemed tomes as Spectral Realms and Strange Horizons, and her book The Body As Haunted was nominated twice for the Elgin.      

Quotes

Sensation and desire are easier than love.

They do not cut to the quick of you as easily.

They can be costumed as

love for exposure therapy.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.8)

Cynophobia--

Crawling through my skin

to avoid the blues.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.12)

Egrets give me regrets

make me scream and regress

Pristine pure, too too clean

blood cells lacking heme.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.35)

She could only use a silver spoon

because what if a fork tine went rogue.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.37)

Desire is just an excuse for need.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.46)

"Love" is only used in self-defense.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.47)

Need is only a man's excuse for neglect.

Only they need.

We must only love love love

until we are hollowed out

or fill ourselves at great risk

and shown the door.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.47)

To cook is to make mis-steaks

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.57)

Smile lines reflect, etched into skin

telling a story I am not ready to hear.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.74)

Language is a virus.

Pixie Bruner (Poems To Be Afraid Of, p.96)

Link To Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Poems-Afraid-Angela-Yuriko-Smith/dp/B0H9L7TS34/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TJW1SFJ3112U&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Rqu5JqSuTGSzMdSgfEMbK0ECloR_L_1FLkEK1jyzNfYsIL9qxrwBv_m6f2COqacyVcKI6gDzIaGnRdBRMo3WRZDTtKv9FryuP-pempvM4dHXfuJUT5xI_w2t2MkbnGNnfMxLYmi0uOHrE_fOeLjvlF0CC5Iec5mDP8vqJIGPjEoDCSBw9sd19xmRftpSKO22mcZHpPHDQKpoX8psWvucx03260oedLAWIL9LI8UaZp0.0JgQmPpkbhTqkv1m3NJis5WaYHqjTrVzzlylkb2L6yQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=poems+to+be+afraid+of&qid=1792516942&sprefix=poems+to+be+%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1

Link To ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/poems-to-be-afraid-of_pixie-bruner_angela-yuriko-smith/59823952/?resultid=5913035a-c532-4c3e-83f6-1972f4be0966#edition=76270373&idiq=90118539

Link to Authorities Press: authortunitiespress.com

Grave Secrets by Alice James

 

This sassy, supernatural comic thriller features vampires, zombies, and a necromancer.  Toni is a powerful necromancer who has to raise the dead for a short while or deal with being antsy.  She is also an estate agent in Staffordshire, England, who is looking for a place for a vampire, Oscar, to live.  In Europe, being a vampire is legal.  In other places, like America, it's more of a stake-on-sight.  The English vampire Assemblage has a huge problem with a Chicago mob Assemblage that has moved in on their territory and plans to take it over.  Oscar is a member of the English vampire Assemblage and has Peter, a German doctor, in his coterie, who hates living at the Assemblage.  Toni and Oscar fall in love, but they have to overlook faults, like his desire to drink her blood (Yuck!). There's also the matter of the head vampire of England wanting Toni to pledge fealty to him in exchange for protection from the other vampires, and the EDL, an anti-vampire faction that wants to kill all vampires and those associated with them.  

There is also the matter of the Jane Doe in the morgue that Toni's brother, Wills, keeps asking Toni to try to raise her so they can find out her name and who murdered her.  Toni has little luck in this task since she needs a name to raise a corpse or control vampires.  The vampires supposedly wiped out all the necromancers, and Toni must keep the fact that she can control the dead and undead a secret or risk being killed by the vampires.   Toni is a snappy, sarcastic woman who refuses to put up with any gruffness.  She is a strong character who can mostly take care of herself.  Oscar is an inscrutable vampire with old-fashioned values about male-female relationships and doesn't tell Toni anything about himself or what life is like as a vampire.  Peter is forced to fill her in.  The pages fly in this fast-paced novel that will keep you entertained to the very last page.  This is the first of three books, and I can't wait to read more.  

Quotes

God blessed me with pale English skin that burns under light candlelight and tangerine-coloured hair that tangles when you are asleep.  And when you are awake.  And probably when you are dead.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.21)

I noticed what beautiful cursive handwriting he had.  My own looks like a mating ritual of the rare Amazon ink dancing spider.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.27)

"Have you got her?" he called...in an English voice.  A Birmingham voice to be exact.  I wasn't going to die at the hands of an escaped zombie or a blood-eating vampire.  I wasn't even going to be shunted off this mortal coil by a ninja or a Chicago hitman.  I was going to meet my maker at the hands of some thug from Shirley.  Thank you, posterity. You suck.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.37)

We really needed to get to first names soon. Still, we were both English and it had only ben five years.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.49)

Next time there was a work party, I was going to lock the door, take the phone off the hook, and watch all three Lord of the Rings movies with a kebab, an entire tub of ice cream and a bottle of vodka.  If there was any evening left, I would start on The Hobbit.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.67)

-Hello, Tori.  How's your decapitated corpse doing:

-It's finished bleeding on me and now it's just oozing onto my lawn.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.70-1)

Croquet is a game with two teams, six hoops, eight mallets, and too many rules.  The worst rule is that you are not allowed to use the mallets to club the opposition to death.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.85)

Toni, I grew up in Germany, remember?  There we think sausages are vegetables.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.89)

I wasn't so much unlucky in love as damn well cursed.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.99)

My idea of tidying up and feng shui was to line up all the piles of rubbish in a visually pleasing manner.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.142)

Don't listen to your heart.  It's a liar and deceiver and brings nothing but grief.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.189)

When you seek through the world for love, you should first look for friendship and kindness.  Without these, I think there is a great risk of the heart making bad choices for the head.

Alice James (Grave Secrets, p.279)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Secrets-Lavington-Windsor-Mysteries/dp/1781088616/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TifyQ6Ct-IdrTtuZA_sIhpUqoxnj_OO1iwKz-bgCncfGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.nVfr3e9kUiaiEEtbLaFZiJS9SNXEGfjCTBsTuyf3VS4&qid=1792267698&sr=8-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/grave-secrets-the-lavington-windsor-mysteries-book-1_alice-james/26135396/?resultid=3a780af1-608a-43bf-8b53-2769a1027d6f#edition=28875186&idiq=64844799

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

 

Stephen Graham Jones has written another New York Times bestselling book that takes place in Lamesa, Texas and Tolly Driver who is looking back on the summer of 1989 when he was seventeen. Tolly's dad had died a year before in a car accident. He only has his mother who owns a hardware store and his best friend from school, Amber Dennison, the only Native living in town`.  Amber drives a Rabbit truck that runs on diesel.  The two are very close but not in a romantic way.  They are not in the marching band or the Future Farmers of America which puts them on the outside looking in. 

Tolly likes to go to parties and get drunk, throw up and make a fool of himself.  For the most part the other students ignore him because he no longer has a father.  Stace Goodkin is one of those people who gets great grades and follows the rules.  One night, the In Crowd decides to show Justin Joss a lesson in why he would never be a part of their crowd by taking him to a oil pump horse, one of those machines that bobs up and down like a bronco horse.  They convinced him to climb on top and ride.  Justin ended up mutilated by the machine.  Stace tried to help him, but only managed to distract Justin into causing more damage to himself.

The In Crowd throws a party one night and Tolly, as usual, is plastered.  He got the brilliant idea to do a cannonball in the pool getting everyone nearby soaking wet.  One of them was a baton twirler in the marching band named Shannon who is sitting at a table flirting with a cute older guy.  Tolly has a severe allergy to peanuts, so Shannon's date who puts peanuts in his Coke makes Tolly drink it.  He has a major reaction and his EpiPen is in Amber's car.  The band members take their belts off their uniforms and tie Tolly to a lounge chair.  He starts throwing up to try to get rid of the peanuts.  

Amber and Stace are talking inside the house when Stace sees into the backyard Tolly convulsing on the lounge chair.  Stace, a gymnast, vaults into action to get his EpiPen to him.  She injects him and her and Amber start trying to get him out of the restraints.  Suddenly, the dead Justin Joss appears with a chainsaw and begins to kill those at the party who were responsible for his death.  Even Stace is included in this because she was there.  He doesn't kill her, but hurts her really bad.  Stace had called her doctor father to help Tolly so he's coming and the police likely are too.  There's also Justin to contend with so, everyone runs off.  

Unfortunately, Tolly gets a splash of Justin's blood on his forehead.  When he wipes it away, it goes into an open wound on his forehead.  This will cause Tolly to go psycho and start his own killing spree.   And while the Tolly looking back hasn't killed anyone since, he's recounting this to explain how he became a psycho for a while.  This is a sharp book that nails high school life and living in West Texas on the head.  Its also the perfect book for today, Halloween.

Quotes

Amber...leaned against the steering wheel to shove her own hand down under the front of he seat, closing her eyes to let her fingers see better. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p7)

You think big thoughts when you're seventeen. Big stupid thoughts. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p9)

My kind don't exactly do  funerals.  I know.  We're the reason for the funeral. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p25)

Make enough of an ass of yourself, you get noticed, right? (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p22)

Still? I'd just lost my dada year ago, hadn't I?  This--me being an idiot--was probably some stage of grief. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p28)

Someone not necessarily full of promise, but full of promises. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p66)

His two big sayings that year, both of which applied that night, were that nothing good happens after midnight, and that the grass really wasn't that much greener on the other side of fifty-five miles per hour.  Though it could get bloodier real damn fast. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p64-5)

Its less about survival, more about who you're holding when that big irradiated shock wave blows you to ash. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p66)

The world's so much simpler when you've got a chainsaw in your hand, isn't it? A chainsaw, or a machete or an axe, that's the elegant solution to every problem. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p67)

You always want your mom when you're hurt. When you call you're dad is when you've done something he can maybe be proud of. For pain, though, it's moms all the way. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p128)

We all want to hide, don't we?  To not have to be constantly navigating between our true selves and people's expectations twenty-four seven. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p136)

   

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

I started out liking this book that is about a teenage girl named Ivy who is pregnant and whose parents want to send her away to have the baby and put it up for adoption.  The father wants nothing to do with her, and Ivy decides she wants to keep the baby, so she sneaks out at night and meets up with a young woman who is going to Blackwell, a town in western Massachusetts, where a group called the Community believes in love and acceptance.  Both girls go there and find out that the handsome and charismatic man running the place, Joel, has a lot of rules, including: no acts of wickedness, no antisocial behavior, no contact with original family, no contact with the outside world, no reading, no attending public schools, no disloyalty, no personal possessions, and no terminating pregnancies.  Joel becomes immediately enchanted with Ivy and asks her to marry him, and they do after Mia's birth.

Ivy realizes that she doesn't want to live there anymore, but Joel threatens Mia if she tries to leave.  At first, Ivy has little contact with Mia because children belong to the Community, not to individuals, and a woman who cares for the children hates Ivy for taking away Joel and won't let Ivy see her daughter.  As time passes and Mia becomes a teen, she and Ivy grow close, and Ivy secretly introduces her to the library. Soon, Mia is sneaking books from the library to read in the barn on an apple farm the Community owns.  If you break the rules, you could have your head shaved, be given a letter placard announcing your crime, or a letter burned into your skin.  

After Ivy dies, Mia escapes the Community, but finds she cannot escape Joel, who easily finds her.  Then the novel takes a sharp left turn into the forest when Mia goes back in time to be with Nathaniel Hawthorne.  His book, The Scarlet Letter, saved Mia's life.  Ivy's story is a retelling of Hester and Pearl. I feel the book really went off the rails with this diversion to Hawthorne.  Up until then, the book is really good.  I have really loved some of Hoffman's books, including The Witches of Cambridge, which I reviewed earlier this month.  Her writing is magical and beautiful poetry that flows off the page.  All her books are worth reading because of her writing.  I don't know whether to recommend this book, but I suppose if you read it you will know that it goes a little wonky in the middle.  

       

     

Quotes

She loved Thoreau for his rebellious thoughts, and the Brontës for their dark and tragic tales of love, and Toni Morrison, whose novels made her cry and feel as if she didn't know the first thing about life.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.5)

Magic is a made-up concept that gives you the idea that you can control something you have no control over.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.45)

In a place where books were banned, there could be no personal freedom, no hopes, and no dreams for the future.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.46)

The worst thing that can happen often happens in silence.  It is not the explosion, but the aftermath, when you see through smoke and ash, and you know how much you have lost.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.68)

-You shouldn't trust me. You don't even know me.

-I know what you like to read. That's good enough for me.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.76)

Real life is unbelievable.  Souls are snatched from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It's all preposterous.  That's why we have novels.  To make sense of things.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.118)

There was no way for him to explain that a person didn't choose being a writer; writing chose you.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p. 138)

He believed it was possible to see inside a person's soul once you knew which books mattered to them.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.146)

She remembered that you could never look back, because if you did, you would understand just how much you were about to lose.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.171)

Love was cruel and unpredictable, and yet he wanted it more than words, more than anything.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.190)

Mia now understood that Joel was well aware that once a girl walked into a library, she could never be controlled again.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.226)

Life can be long or short, it is impossible to know, but every once in a while an entire life is spent in one night, the night when the windows are open and you can hear the last of the crickets' call, when there is a chill in the air and the stars are bright, when nothing else matters, when a single kiss lasts longer than a lifetime, when you do not think about the future or the past, or whether or not you are walking through a dream rather than the real world, when everythihg you have always wanted and everything you are fated to mourn forever are tied together with black thread and then sewn with your own hand, when in the morning, as you wake and see the mountain in the distance, you will understand that whether or not you've made a mistake, whether or not you will lose all that you have, this is what it means to be human.

Alice Hoffman (The Invisible Hour, p.228)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Hour-Novel-Alice-Hoffman/dp/1982175370/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wSW9NdmfEUhpKW_c_F_M2pGsRRax8dsIEUvEaKNBrGzZ1CBXlX6F_CFC8tcIhkI-o3-AlGuWgZTZ6w13HlkjEWRl0l7-s3nC46oaJxKK8ZetuPxz6YjaHgVuwozuScbeMmQREwTBXAVzz834qvJpeKFT3AGnN5iLHyYuds-rr1ZORHo8sHF9N_1a4pjsMRC6KuLr7KOtV0cKYrr0NVOQ-7yMYmC9HRt3PHs_a8z3UNw.UPxTkApeetV20v0YahMH2xkc_zVLiIpCIndVPSI5T5c&qid=1791733815&sr=8-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-invisible-hour_alice-hoffman/37654919/?resultid=7f0ba944-d479-4177-80e2-24ae3895551c#edition=70056080&idiq=71805257

 

Daredevil Vol. 2: No Devils, Only God by Chip Zdarsky (Writer), Java Tartagalia and Jordie Bellaire (Color Artists), and VC's Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

This book is a sequel to Daredevil Vol 1: Know Fear (https://nicolewbrown.blogspot.com/2020/10/daredevil-know-fear-vol-1-by-chip.html).  In the last book, Fisk has become mayor. In this one, Fisk decides to dismantle his criminal empire for appearances' sake, but still take his cut of New York City crime from the crime families.  To the world, Daredevil is dead.  Matt now works as a parole officer because he can't go back to being a lawyer.  One of his parolees is the brother of the guy he killed in the liquor store stick-up.  He had to turn to a life of crime when his brother was murdered to take care of their mother and family.  This leads Matt into a crisis of faith.  He seeks help from the church, his best friend Foggy, and others, but doesn't believe he deserves forgiveness for all the bad things he did.  Meanwhile, Detective North, who sought to bring down Daredevil, must face corrupt cops who want him dead.  This book is almost as good as the last one; however, I prefer the artwork of the first comic to this one. It was more realistic.  Zdarsky explores the soul of Matt Murdock as he is plunged into a deep quandary about God and life.  Zdarsky has started a series off to a good start, as this second book shows.    

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Daredevil-Chip-Zdarsky-Vol-Devils/dp/1302914995/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YPX3L92IAC1R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KfjYpfRzdvNyNOIF3-evIX1sh5BIz2zN6DBHf7QQLizz6g2u50PZ1pc93otbLz8-222ZIxuEmPU2b71Fm9dd8qOkymOeoWCGixdQDctQULXLJc5FNkxewhEz04JRLPcur_9s9gauiHdfEf7KehEfXHF0hiBewNWw61C8LNwuOnEcImQOHLDB_DK8Vhl8I3jiqjDbj15nVJzW4urH9UTZfZdlQbdIug83Yt-i44n3od8.o6vLHuPgXdK-klBdw63_UdduoZR20muRZ9C2USXA-0k&dib_tag=se&keywords=daredevil+no+devils+only+god&qid=1791300341&sprefix=daredevil+no+dev%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/daredevil-by-chip-zdarsky-vol-2/21309910/?resultid=c2b26088-5fef-4aef-b034-acc0db6efd18#edition=22748252&idiq=35682537

 

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

 

This cozy mystery centers on Leda Foyle, a travel agent who runs her own business and has a bit of a psychic streak.  When she saves Detective Grady Merritt from a plane crash by booking him on another flight back to Seattle, he looks her up and asks her to help him find the killer in an old murder case he can't solve. Leda is new to this psychic business and performs at a bar called Castaways, where audience members give her things to hold; she has a vision and sings a song that speaks to that person.  This is causing her abilities to strengthen.  Leda hopes that while working with Grady, she will also be able to solve her fiancé's murder of three years ago.  

Grady takes her to the crime scene and has her touch the evidence encased in plastic, and she does indeed get some odd clues.  He takes her and her friend Niki to reinterview some of the suspects.  Niki is the comic relief of this novel, hobbling around on a giant medical boot and being a cheerleader to Leda.  In Grady's investigation, they find that everyone wanted to kill Christopher, one of the dead guys found in a low-rent motel.  The other victim, who was found in the parking lot and is Christopher's son, Kevin, is believed to have been killed because he saw the murder.  Unlike his father, he was beloved by all.  As the mystery progresses, the insights she gets from touching things are better understood now.  Also, it turns out that Leda's murder inquiry and Grady's murders are connected somehow. 

Priest has written over thirty books spanning steampunk, urban fantasy, horror, and young adult.  This includes the books in her Clockwork Century series, which starts with Boneshaker (winner of the Lotus and PNBA Awards), and Four and Twenty Blackbirds from the Eden Moore series.  This was a pretty good book, and it was short, less than three hundred pages.  The killer is pretty easy to figure out if you read mysteries like I do.  This is a book you can curl up with and finish in a day.  You won't have to think too hard, and its simple, candy-like plot will keep you entertained until the end.  This is the first book in a series, and I plan to check out the rest.

Quotes

If you die and go to hell in the South, you have to stop in Atlanta.

Cherie Priest (Grave Reservations, p.1)

Listen to us kids, old man.  We know things about how to communicate when the world is super awkward.  Text messages are your friends.  She can answer when she feels like it or not at all.

Cherie Priest (Grave Reservations, p.74)

-It's a Star Trek thing.

-More of a Star Wars guy, to tell the truth.

She groaned. This is never going to work.  She said it half-jokingly, but the words sank into her soul regardless.  If they couldn't agree on which sci-fi memes to deploy in conversation, how would they work together long enough to fix anything?

Cherie Priest (Grave Reservations, p.104)

All knowledge is contained within the internet!  Even if it's found in rumors on Reddit or whatever.

Cherie Priest (Grave Reservations, p.144)

You can turn literally any good thing into a Greek tragedy.

Cherie Priest (Grave Reservations, p.283)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Reservations-Novel-Cherie-Priest-ebook/dp/B08VJM211X/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3L3900A3WMT8G&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nnnnQnRiUsuQ6TZoFYl07MyctiyIygobNo0eICZ1ALL1d5Kin2riWaPBisiWStyITWBlIFbV1XEGI9ItSvGel9ilRRA63eFtoHcxBWtc859xqtRzfQynzhdND_qtm5P9QnlhKDjupXS21gpwx34SgmIyVJkWTypIAyW7tAGh9O5sFMLIMVgfkpMhvJRy7lqVOlQnhXIEg_Dau9OpsZbO--wn3ll1wcF3Z2da9nfIc8O2KXrBw3CRzLBbVd6DB3t4D5rEZBfl0Ae1hzTG3eVSdcSXGOQuEw6NCiVdFdsV4GA.u1iOeJCxJMbwyhX85Pj-WmKkxDV-Y64DfK4V2sH-j84&dib_tag=se&keywords=cherie+priest+books&qid=1791486485&sprefix=cherie+prie%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-6

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/grave-reservations_cherie-priest/28709527/?resultid=c0b065d8-33a5-4f6a-8794-cb6e405b0ac3#edition=59949313&idiq=56515340

The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman

 

Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic, Here on Earth, and Turtle Moon, has written a sweeping tale set in both the 1950s and the 17th century, about two young witches and their time at Radcliffe, and the first witch of Cambridge, who set up Lilith House, a place for witches at Radcliffe, where they can learn magic along with their studies.  Lauren comes from a rich family and is a descendant of the original witches of Cambridge, whose parents died when she was young.  She is attempting to turn her heart to stone so she can never feel the pain of loss, which also means not falling in love.  Ava, a stunning redhead, didn't know she was a witch; she was raised in Maine on an apple farm, bullied for being different, and forced to follow her parents' strict rules to keep her from being discovered.  Ava and Lauren meet before the nightlong celebration welcoming new witches to Lilith House.  They save each other from being run over by a car and become blood sisters.  

Ava finds letters from Cambridge's first witch, Rose Bridewell, who tells the story of her life and the lives of other witches.  Rose is rescued from a jail in England by Increase Mather's wife, and Mather takes her to America.  Mather's wife is a witch who doesn't practice, and Rose and she become more than employer and employee; they become fast friends.  Mather's son, Cotton, is a witch, but doesn't know it. He hates himself, and that hate reaches out to those like him.  Cotton will go on to start the Salem witch trials.  The fear of being named a witch mirrors the fear of the 1950s McCarthyism that Ava and Lauren live in.

Ava falls hard for Jamie Mather, a man whose family sent him to Harvard to become a lawyer like the rest of them, even though he has no interest in it.  Jamie wants to get far away from his family, who treat him differently for being a witch.  Despite her efforts not to, Lauren falls in love with a tattoo artist named Carick, but refuses to give in to her emotions, even as she finds excuses to keep going back to see him.  Lauren spends her free time trying to keep Ava away from Jamie because he is a Mather, and the Mather family has hunted witches for a long time, and he will only hurt Ava.  This causes her friendship with Ava to be quite rocky at times.

This captivating novel keeps you quickly turning pages to find out what happens next.  It explores the power of friendship, finding love, and two men, in the present and the past, who seek to destroy those who are different, whether they be witches or so-called communists.  Both women from the 17th century and the 1950s have to hide who they really are, as well as Lauren't brother, Lionel, who is not only a witch, but gay in a world that punishes people like him as being unnatural.  This book holds a mirror up to today's society and how those who are different are still persecuted.

Quotes

It was said that everyone had three fates, the one they were born with, the one they walked away from, and the one they made for themselves.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.15)

Her mouth was so red she looked like a flower, although her true intention was to be the thorn.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.19)

The world will break your heart, but you can repair the world every day.  You know how you are, even if no one else does.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.23)

Ava's mother had always warned her to not accept favors from other girls.  Once she did, she would surely find herself at their mercy, for that was what friendship was about.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.34)

Hate yourself and everyone else will agree with you.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.57)

People said you couldn't make someone love you, but Jamie knew for a fact that you could make someone hate you.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.65)

Love is chemistry.  If it weren't, people wouldn't do such stupid things in the name of love.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.68)

Be willing to do what you most fear if you ever plan to be free.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.93)

It's people that ruin things, not love.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.92)

Sometimes you don't know why you've gone somewhere until you've reached your destination.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.116)

What men don't understand they will seek to destroy.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.164)

Love was greedy; it was all that you wanted once you'd had it; it was the reason to wake in the morning and to go to bed at night.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.184)

A story can tell you what to do when you don't know how to live your life.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.217)

Once you read a story, you'd carry it with you.  Even if it's hidden, even if it's only a bonfire, it will remain a part of who you are, and one day you'll find it; it will rise up in your blood and your bones to be remembered no matter what.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.280)

He was clearly a tortured soul.  He'd be worse by the end of the night, when he finished The Catcher In The Rye and realized he would never be happy until he discovered who he really was.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.315)

Love has nothing to do with the here and now.  That's what he'd said.  It's what we have no matter what happens.

Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.392)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Cambridge-Novel-Alice-Hoffman/dp/1668074648/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jUVbBP5jlvHNHxcEt2RPKSIgU71VrH-ZkZFpACETZDCqvfpZfHMDnmcAGlFqR6ePWf6xr_kFWw12D_Bjom6gEliz2_gYT1xRy6tr_HWXdUnkSf_7rwhYORLFHs-yurQ85qkHgfGtNafJRBxyBxl3wE6PgIwafiH3Owz2YHnKaZhy_gZJV-QZwGKAaaHKmsiLMoSir8bKqYKPcwb6c0lfZWYt7UUuM_nC4EDGwZyAxyg.fE9HAiMf2qZQ0aYJJeZgbgeZ8EVJIS5V3onnpJHBcsY&qid=1791114161&sr=8-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-witches-of-cambridge/57207255/?resultid=4cafd96d-fced-435f-ad85-281019cdc7ea#edition=74508075&idiq=87017754

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

 

This is the third book, published in 1991, featuring Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a cop in Minneapolis.  He's had it rough in the last two books and is now in the depths of depression that seems to have no end.  His captain assigns him to the Bekker murder investigation, which is looking into the death of Stephanie Bekker.  All of her friends tell the cops that they wouldn't be surprised if her husband committed the murder because he was always a little off.  However, the husband has a rock-solid alibi.  Carlos Druze, a man Bekker met in a bar one night, kills and carves out the eyes of Stephanie for Bekker, who, like in the Hitchcock movie Strangers On A Train, will kill a woman at the theater Carlos works at who is giving him problems.  While killing Stephanie, Carlos is seen by her lover, who has just come out of the shower, to inspect the noises in the kitchen.  They both get a good look at each other.  After Bekker kills the theater woman for Carlos, Carlos kills the man he believes to be the lover so he cannot be identified.  Things begin to unravel for the two killers from there on out as Lucas draws closer to figuring out what is really going on.

Sandford writes books that tell you early on who the killer is.  The novel alternates between Lucas's and the killers' viewpoints.  This way of reading a book is both interesting and hard for me.  I like the insight into the killer's mind, but I get frustrated with the cops who spend chapters unable to figure out what is going on.  Bekker is a weird character.  He takes all sorts of drugs and pharmaceuticals such as cocaine, speed, meth, Xanax, Clonopin, PCP, steroids, acid, and lots of other drugs that I have never heard of.  He manages his life by what drugs he takes to feel or act a certain way.  It's a wonder he isn't brain dead, or just plain dead.  As the book goes on, he starts to have lots of blackouts.  A friend of mine got me reading this series and is ahead of me.  They tell me that the fourth book, Silent Prey, is the best, but that you have to read Eyes of Prey first.  So I pushed my way through the book.  It wasn't a terribly bad book, just hard to read at times, and the insight into Bekker's mind is priceless.  

Quotes

They would find him there, standing over the body like the innocent man in a Perry Mason television show, point a finger at him, accuse him of murder.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.503)

A fifth man, older, sat by himself in front of a bowl of peanuts, nursing a lifelong rage and a glass of rye.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.506)

You gotta be young or naive to write poetry.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.507)

Fuckin' women. So casual about the way you break a guy's heart.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.577)

In a week, you couldn't find that hole with three Geiger counters and a Republican water witch.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.628)

Column-writing is the only job I know where sarcasm passes for intelligence.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.633-4)

Nothing gives an editorial writer more satisfaction than seeing somebody else booted out of their job.

John Sandford (Eyes of Prey, p.721)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Eyes-Prey-Book-3-ebook/dp/B000QFCFH0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PD9M5LTNQ4YK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.exRbuFpFcORbcTNIZRCnCF5ocRGc5IOSiDo5eF_37HmDppS6kwxuQZrzO0Lwgs9Psq3dzpV69G-nLZ94bLhnvOkDCJI92qUd4nzad4x8N4MnF12ka-BMErKVcoBs6TuKowuR0TZmyqCkAQG3XUk3uEp6MGzqPfcny7C-GxTzP-ED67ztiXjf5jhL7Mtd2ym0c2jntI-4J7XKDfd5At_C8sH9Jp2wQJS0GhCesLXhfsY.VzqUlukR98KcOcOEIQIFpoT9_q2dBTobUF3Iwu7MTr8&dib_tag=se&keywords=eyes+of+prey&qid=1790886222&s=comics-manga&sprefix=eyes+of+prey%2Ccomics-manga%2C347&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBookshttps://www.thriftbooks.com/w/eyes-of-prey-by-john-sandford-ken-howard/247386/?resultid=758dede3-d4c9-41c5-b5ab-b58e18daa9aa#edition=3504529&idiq=1384714

Mystique Volume one: Dead Drop Gorgeous by Brian K. Vaughn (Writer), Jorge Lucas (Art),and VC's Randy Gentile with Paul Tutrone (Letterer)

 

This captivating graphic novel opens up with Xavier's top spy, Prudence, in Russia, trying to get schematics for Russian Sentinels that had been sold out of the country when she gets caught by pyrotechnic arms dealer Steinbeck.  She tells him, "That you can't always get what you want," and he replies, "But if you try, sometimes you just might get what you" Then she knees him in the groin and says, "Kneed".  Later, she tells him she's more of a Beatles fan and says You know what they say about happiness ('Happiness Is a Warm Gun' off of the White Album).  There are all sorts of pop culture references throughout the book that will make you laugh.  

When Prudence is killed by Steinbeck, Professor X hunts down Mystique with Forge's help.  He offers her a trade-off: work for me, and I will keep your enemies and the government from finding you with a new device that can shield her presence, or take her chances without it.  She also can't kill anyone when she goes to Cuba to crush the recently bought Sentinels from Russia.  In Cuba, young mutants have been going missing, and their parents suspect the government, which has a decidedly anti-mutant stance.  Will Mystique complete her mission with only the tranquilizer gun Charles left for her and rescue the children? I absolutely adored this book.  It's the first Mystique novel I have read, and it's a winner.  This series takes place from 2003-2005.  I cannot wait to get my hands on it.  The art is amazing, and the writing is beyond great.  Get your hands on a copy today.

Link To Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Mystique-Vol-Dead-Gorgeous-2003-2005-ebook/dp/B08XN3YDP6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10TQIG4ZKR1HM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FsGkYrlE_FLw42QNZ1HuMUIK2old6zXymIsKtNbyUoWm3FIIKoFyxzclFMYXwu_sPnfrTVaJBYicDoiiVgvnHoOnvQ-PHaAeMyrddo7d6tWm8F6Otw-XiTGmrRc4Cyewljd8ianA3FkpljRDWUiz1VISX24SF6DCN6liaRJYOHbWbT6rmcLuCqx3vdkpedSokqJvD5DfTC8AcVooN655QXftjXmCCkxxSItoDHVTRNE.umBMdkGTneU9LDfYZSb12x3yfY6-6PiQS-YVF6vUo1E&dib_tag=se&keywords=mystique+volume+one&qid=1790610091&s=books&sprefix=mystique+volume+one%2Cstripbooks%2C145&sr=1-1

Link To ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/mystique-vol-1-drop-dead-gorgeous-x-men_brian-k-vaughan_jorge-lucas/1184931/?resultid=0090c858-03ed-4cd5-a236-1542b33f6b89#isbn=0785112405&edition=4207061

Verity by Colleen Hoover

 

This tense psychological thriller opens with Lowen Ashleigh, a novelist, who is introduced to Jeremy Crawford, the husband of famous thriller writer Verity, who has been in a terrible car accident (some say a suicide attempt) after losing her twin daughters to two tragic accidents.  Verity is barely alive, and Jeremy hired a nurse to care for her.  Verity's publishers are seeking someone to write the last three books in Verity's famous series.  Jeremy tells her that Verity admires Lowen's writing and that he wants her to write the rest of the series.  Lowen, an introvert, has not had much success in the publishing world.  It doesn't help that she refuses to go on book tours or participate in social media to promote her books.  This is why she lives in New York City: to hide from the world.

Jeremy and Verity still have a five-year-old boy, Crew, who is having a hard time of it after all the tragedy.  Jeremy has Lowen come to his and Verity's house in Connecticut to research the series and look for any outlines Verity might have written.  Instead of outlines, Lowen finds an autobiography Verity wrote.  This unpublished manuscript is very dark and paints Verity as a sex fiend who obsesses over her husband and wants him to love only her, not the children they have, which she resents for putting her in last place.  As Lowen reads about Jeremy in the autobiography, the two bond over their losses.  As she spends more time with Jeremy, she finds herself falling for him and wanting him to forget that he's a married man.    

This creepy book enfolds you in the mystery that is Verity, another name for truth, that this novel attempts to uncover from all the lives involved.  But this thriller has a gotcha that is found in most thrillers today, and while I guessed some of it, I really didn't expect the surprise ending.  I want to thank Tyf, a friend from college, who told me to read this book years ago when it came out.  I finally got to it, just in time to watch the movie coming out soon.   This is a book worth looking into.

Quotes

Most people come to New York to be discovered.  The rest of us come here to hide.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.6)

It's what you do when you've experienced the worst of the worst.  You seek out people like you...people worse off than you...and you use them to make yourself feel better about the terrible things that have happened to you.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.7-8)

I wasn't simple. I was difficult.  An emotionally challenging puzzle he wasn't up for solving.  Which was fine.  I wasn't in the mood to be solved.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.21)

I think the idea of me is better than the reality of me.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.25)

Thinking I'm not good enough is part of the writing process.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.41)

Find what you love and let it kill you.

Charles Bukowski

You can't look at someone the way he looked at me--with the entirety of his past--without also imagining the future.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.71)

And that's what love at first sight is.  It isn't really love at first sight until you've been with the person long enough for it to become love at first sight.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.73)

But when a person finds someone who makes all the negativity in their life disappear, it's hard not to feed off that person.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.83)

I might be obsessed with him, but a woman knows if she wants to keep a man forever, she has to act like she could get over him in a day.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.85)

It's very simple, really.  Take care of your physical being.  Feed it what it needs, not what the conscience tells you it wants.  Giving in to cravings of the mind that ultimately hurt the body is like a weak parent giving in to her child.  "Oh, you had a bad day?  Do you want an entire box of cookies?  Okay, sweetie. Eat it.  And drink this soda while you're at it."  Caring for your body is no different from caring for a child.  Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it sucks, sometimes you just want to give in, but if you do, you'll pay for the consequences eighteen years down the road.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.103-4)

This is the first time I've ever had a guy open a door for me.  Dammit.  How messed up is that?

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.124)

A terrible sex life is like a virus.  Your marriage can be healthy in all other aspects, but once the sex dies out, it starts to infect all the other parts of your relationship.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.161)

It was one thing I hated most about being a mother.  All the fucking vomit.

Colleen Hoover (Verity, p.191)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Verity-Colleen-Hoover/dp/1538739720/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aMb3fQIGyVKZjwodFzuDTScRzPmcOxTH7yUcDjClKtloRatWhxHqywvzu8sHl0wjCWqioP231X6btO4q4pKnJGBAMzcDPWrUTLVJn_F8a1Qyog2rgAdp3w5ZCfrzjsH3sDk1nOzhB3ilgSbyBiwIWhKGwhKfmHC4gPuHT30lO8gYpfVmd2yudTItFsHj-DE7cLntOy1VVbfBdOscO6I68QOjV_fUqDX8YF6VqZioH6g.dYLTg0jkKaH3qbbHLGJrkTCYfwb-cr4q3D1Y9sJF8bg&qid=1790279581&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/verity_colleen-hoover/20153584/?resultid=adc61b33-d406-4bd0-9547-762832849a19#edition=60660156&idiq=48179562

Spider-Man Spider-Verse: Spider-Men by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer Spider-Man #4-5), David HIne with Fabrice Sapolsky (Writer Edge of Spider-Verse #1), Tom DeFalco (Writer Spider-Ham 25th Anniversary Special #1)

 

This graphic novel features Peter Parker from Earth-616, or the Amazing Spider-Man; Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man; Spider-Man Noir; Peni Parker, aka SP//dr; and Spider-Ham.  All of these Spider-Men will face off against Mysterio of 616, who gets rid of Peter Parker by sending him to another world so that he can rule Earth-616.  These Spideys must help him defeat Mysterio and get back to his own Earth.  Peter Parker makes the mistake of going to see Aunt Mae and Gwen Stacy.  The Peter Parker in this world is dead, and at first it is hard for them to see this other Peter Parker, but soon they are discussing the differences between their worlds.  

Other characters who appear in this comic are Nick Fury, Tony Stark, and Black Cat.  It is very well written, though that is no surprise, considering who wrote it.  The art, however, doesn't always live up to other artists' renderings of the subject matter.  For instance, I don't think the artistry for the Noir section is sufficiently dark and moody.  It really does not feel like the 30s and 40s.  I really enjoyed the Spider-Ham anniversary, which celebrates his birthday in a fun and hilarious way. Overall, I think that this is a good comic.  Three other comics in this series focus on different Spiders or villains. My slight disappointment in this one will not keep me from seeking them out, as this series has a unique concept that is very intriguing. 

Link To Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Spider-Verse-Spider-Men-Enter-Book-ebook/dp/B07JHZV8DN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1QO78MFJRG5FB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KEqo7OsM6IAT8OLJmW5w1-Pwg8XnPXEG_FiDE4_R70r0aeR2-IAkVC-qUGncD7IzieefNuWMfw7MdlU92AeNimZKyMTJxV8LJMjLvZI9hpLvsDXOERyixkGnvu6-wMiQX_EB5sQ9ymUMbBfUoEt_oW7MZm_XrCXdeSAHkDJ-6eYd7uAOaVmlmy-HvmqRM2Rc7TKg8Fk5SUxxiVdJy3Rz4CsP-IfCisglL3olxibrh-w.e_DQugzBLgT3ZbrxcGZ4WhpZi1oeIZ0A25VvgnA68js&dib_tag=se&keywords=spider-man+spider-verse+spider-men&qid=1790097569&s=digital-text&sprefix=spider-man+spider-verse+spider-men%2Cdigital-text%2C159&sr=1-1

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The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay

Set in 1973 London, this brilliant novel focuses on two women: Diana, the first female Director of the Modernist Collection at the Tate Gallery; Lily, her assistant director who emulates Diana. Pablo Picasso has just died, and Diana wants to put on an intimate show of some of his works.  On opening day, Lily's job is to listen to the crowd talk about the exhibit and report back to Diana.  Lily is a painter and hopes for Diana to look at her portfolio and offer her a slot in her Emerging Modern Artists exhibit.  But everything goes downhill quickly when Lily looks at the paintings in order and says aloud what she thinks: that the painting Woman Laughing is a fake.  

The Tate's director fires her on the spot, as the London Times is there and has heard her.  Diana tells her to go wait in her office.  She decides to put off firing Lily, for the time being.  Meanwhile, an art insurance detective from New York, Connor, arrives to investigate, and the two get closer, even as Lily becomes a suspect in the forgery.  The real forger is setting her up as a fall guy.  

But this book is about more than art. It's about relationships.  Lily has locked her family out of her life because she feels to blame for an accident that took place twenty-two years ago that left her mother in a wheelchair.  Diana and her husband have a relationship where his ego is so big that there's no room for hers.  Both characters have difficulty with their families. It is also about the relationship between Lily and Diana.  Lily, who got her start working at St. Martin's art school cleaning and filing, gets her paints and canvases from the students' trash, and her "studio" is a utility closet.  Diana, meanwhile, is wealthy and has everything she could want.  She sees Lily as Eliza Doolittle and herself as Henry Higgins.  

I fell in love with this book on the first page when it mentions the Tate Gallery.  It is at the top of my list of places to see.  I also love art, though the Modernist Movement is not one of my favorites; I do appreciate it, and I once had a print of Picasso's Old Guitarist on my wall.  This book is set in a time when Nazi-stolen art is beginning to appear on the art market, as well as a lot of forgeries.  While labs exist to test paints and canvases, they are rarely used, and it makes it easier to sell a forgery. 

I really related to Lily, and even Diana.  They are two women trying to make it in the male-dominated field of art at a time when women's rights were a growing concern, and you had to work twice as hard for half as much.  Diana works hard to get to where she is, as does Lily, who started out as Diana's secretary and was promoted to assistant director.  These strong female characters must fight to find their way in this world, and while some may cheat to do so, sometimes it's necessary.  These two women have problems with family members that everyone can relate to, and problems in their relationship with each other.  This is a very relatable book and a good choice for a book club read.

Quotes

We live with our lies because we must.

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.38)

Is love merely a covering for despair?  A plaster that doesn't quite cover the edges of the wound?  Does darkness always creep around the corners of joy and press upon it?  Shrink it?

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.114)

Families are complicated, Lily.  You can love them and hurt them, want them to draw close while shoving them away.  Those two states--the pull and the push--can be true simultaneously.

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.145)

Art is the singular soul, the flaws, the vulnerability, and the many all on display.

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.153)

But feeling something and having the courage and vulnerability to act upon it are very different things.

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.166)

We don't get to choose what life throws at us. I suppose we only choose our reactions, our responses to it.

Katherine Reay (The English Masterpiece, p.202)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/English-Masterpiece-Novel-Katherine-Reay-ebook/dp/B0DMJQNKZ8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=16ZV3M2SI87GX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6-U8JikUThvFO3hEfcXVoqdfNDJqw9B78uUCmYBpEdW57pp82xcwZeNmZUENkF_RYbUtJPBt7oKEdeLKfRVR82-pkqFIF8ezSBMmHDA-4cU.Cu5Z8q5usjkpz1RO1WLUhMWkXyIfiW5C5tQwz_FV4WI&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+english+masterpiece+katherine+reay&qid=1789920312&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+english+mas%2Cdigital-text%2C167&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-english-masterpiece/55263073/?resultid=9d321c4e-2f01-4ed1-9e99-73e7bd340170#edition=72052803&idiq=86061292

 

Henry Tudor Must Die by Jillian Laine

 

This alternative-history fantasy retells the story of Henry Tudor and his six wives.  Catherine of Aragon is living in exile without her daughter Mary and realizes she can fake her death when a nun who looks like her is very sick and dying.  The nun is buried with the pomp and circumstance of the former Queen she is imitating.  Lina, Catherine's childhood nickname, is now her name, and she starts working for the Helleborne Sisterhood, a large group of women run by Princess Marguerite of France.  This organization's goal is to provide equality for women in Europe. This means that women, in secret, are given an education, medical training, and work undercover in various countries as political spies who try to help the women of that country.

Lina is sent back to England from a Sisterhood hideaway to save Anne Boleyn, her enemy, who will quickly become her friend. Anne is a witch, and Lina gives her a bespelled ceremonial knife and spells she can use to keep from being beheaded.  On the chopping block, Anne casts a spell to make herself invisible and then cuts off her pinky finger to create a body double to die in her place.  Lina whisks her away to a hideout and waits for news from Princess Marguerite.  The princess has plans for the two to recruit witches for the cause.  They start with the great-great-grandniece of Joan of Arc, who helps them recruit hundreds more, saving many from being burned at the stake.  

None of this keeps Anne from her promise to kill Henry Tudor for the many evil things he has done.  Lina and Marguerite try to rein her in, but Anne knows that her time to enact revenge will come soon.  Meanwhile, Henry is on wife number five, Anne's cousin Katherine Howard.  Will the Sisterhood be able to save her from her fate?  This novel delves deep into the lives of the women and men of the 1500s and brings them into brilliant light, including the six wives, the Duke of Norfolk, Cromwell, and many others.  As these brave women try to right the wrongs against them, they will create strong bonds of friendship.   I found myself relating to these women and cheering them on.  While the ending is both sad and awesome, this is Laine's first adult novel, and she promises a sequel.  

Quotes

Just be happy when you can.  And when you can't, make your anger count.

Jillian Laine (Henry Tudor Must Die, p.130)

Gabriel had been beautiful in the way only a Parisian could be, with both strength and delicacy.

Jillian Laine (Henry Tudor Must Die, p. 149)

It was far easier for humans to devolve than to evolve.

Jillian Laine (Henry Tudor Must Die, p.211)

Perhaps this was how Anne felt--bottomless anger burning just hot enough to cover all her fear, for it was far easier to be angry than to be afraid.

Jillian Laine (Henry Tudor Must Die, p.214)

Link To Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Henry-Tudor-Must-Jillian-Laine-ebook/dp/B0FX849753/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Q4U4L9A3MEHG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aY_d7rd2Lkyl3AXqvkPj7y2j0fRZUfgOKwWcyQuFJOFDcRL8zZdipdfoRyr2kqtNZLkWeVqWSyJecKrh8tIuPHkef2BnuYiyNsUFJX7S7BrDpuDximEmXjR6wnsacR2HimiPOtnlZ6u_niWOpO9V3Uid304CWshLJ5qSprCQ7qCdeESiDHviibmcnRu0z4HrEoxFMPPt4pzKIGpOQsSOLcfU_ZlSIAKgBfV8ng6cTps.7Xezg7BQ9_FcHPpZkd_S1PRN7tVcFtm4ccgVanXGnDw&dib_tag=se&keywords=henry+tudor+must+die&qid=1789658498&s=digital-text&sprefix=henry+tud%2Cdigital-text%2C162&sr=1-1

Link To ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/henry-tudor-must-die/57228246/?resultid=42bf7d7b-05ff-43f5-804a-6bedee6c7425#edition=74528260&idiq=87053506

Spider-Man Noir: The Gwen Stacy Affair by Erik Larsen (Writer), Andrea Broccardo (Artist), Marika Cresta (Artist), VC's Joe Sabino and Travis Lanham (Letterer), and Simone Di Meo (Cover Artist)

Set in 1939, right before the invasion of Poland, Peter Parker is a private eye whose business is failing and who has lost his apartment, going back and forth through history and different worlds to help.  His relationship with Mary Jane also fell apart, and his Aunt Mae knows about his secret identity, but deplores his use of guns.  He uses them because he is often outnumbered by gangsters with lots of guns.  He is about to lose his office, where he is currently living, if he doesn't get a client soon to pay the rent.  Then, a beautiful young woman named Gwen Stacy walks through his door, asking him to look into her father's, Chief Commissioner Gordon's, death.  She doesn't trust the cops because her father told her not to.  

Peter has been working on putting away the Scorpion Gang and uncovers that her father was a member of the gang, taking a cut of criminal activity.  Peter is also busy dealing with homegrown Nazis wanting to take over America and join Germany in taking over the world.  A German scientist, working on monstrous things, gets put away by Peter, but one of her experiments escapes and starts zapping energy from men.  Peter gets zapped and loses his Spidey powers. Now he's not sure how to help his city.  Also, it turns out that he killed Gordon in self-defence, but how can he tell Gwen that when she wants vengeance for her father and the two of them are kindling a romance?

The language is pure 30s and 40s slang, and the dark artwork places you in the noir setting. I really liked how the lettering that was used when Parker was thinking- squares were used with an old-fashioned typewriter font, which takes you back to another time and place.  This graphic novel is my first introduction to Spider-Man Noir in his own time and place.  I think that I'm going to go back to the beginning and read what happened before this novel.  Erik Larsen, the author of this book, has written many comics, including:  Savage Dragon, Spider-Man, Aquaman, Wolverine, Nova, The Defenders, Thor, the Doom Patrol, Captain America: The End, and Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine.

Link To Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Noir-Gwen-Stacy-Affair/dp/1302967177/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2GXJA8YPQ1YJ6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vNk59GViqZK_cqL8LoHA8eHfmaPbglniPO4im9TZsvhBUDfttZ-xfW3_eQ6zyYD3fY0ue6wibfl9Zd3f9hygLGAUAEzstRzFF4Zsle3Ui1HYhX5r7-_aK1eI0KZetK1fnKXclPZiR5YbDrjikCPq3JOCdscOHNBvfEmw3ayKgTLbP499Fhwzi7SrBde4HPPpNrhnzB4PPFeRLS0jQBTzv7u66n9CIqCiUyortdzNXVI._Dthx30VAG7BgdssFFnX0gTynTzDqNZc5T4JImUqRB0&dib_tag=se&keywords=spiderman+noir&qid=1789492560&s=books&sprefix=spiderman+noir%2Cstripbooks%2C216&sr=1-3

Link To ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/spider-man-noir_erik-larsen/56802760/?resultid=8492f992-d2fc-420d-8417-d17abe3ee26f#edition=74231464&idiq=86542874

Link to ThriftBooks:https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/spider-man-noir-the-gwen-stacy-affair/59939656/?resultid=bac5c017-1a38-4709-9d62-1ab50d810885#edition=76336148&idiq=90239474

 

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

Let me just say, I finished this book in one sitting.  It was so compelling, with a driving force that keeps you reading until the end.  Adam is married to Sarah, whose career as a top criminal attorney in D.C. has often kept her from her from spending time with her husband.  Adam, a once-famous novelist who hasn't published anything good in a long time, starts an affair with Kelly, a young, beautiful, married woman.  Adam meets Kelly at his and Sarah's vacation home in Prince Edward County, Virginia.  Adam is supposedly using the place to write.  Sarah, busy with work, never makes it out there.  Adam desperately wants a child, but Sarah doesn't.  One night, Adam is at the vacation home with Kelly, and after a night of rough sex and deep sleep, Adam wakes up at midnight remembering that he promised Sarah he would be home that night.  Adam writes Kelly a note professing his love for her and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.  When Adam gets home to Sarah, she surprises him by telling him that she wants a baby.  So now Adam wants to break things off with Kelly and focus on creating a family with Sarah.  

The next morning, the police arrive to take him in for questioning in the brutal murder of Kelly at the vacation home.  It turns out that Kelly's husband, Scott, is a sheriff's deputy who has been abusive to Kelly in the past and whom Kelly is afraid to leave.  Scott left messages on her phone that he knew about the affair and was going to kill her.   Adam tells the Sheriff this, but as Scott is one of theirs, no one believes him.  Adam has been set up by someone who knows what they are doing.  Sarah becomes Adam's attorney and is doing her best to get him off the charges, no matter how angry and heartbroken she is.   Adam does not make it easier.  He is given bail with the condition that he wear an ankle monitor and stay at the vacation home.  Adam is doing his own investigation into the murder and when he believes he has discovered who the killer is, he leaves the house to go and confront them, which puts Adam back in jail.  This is just one of the many stupid things that Adam does that makes it difficult for Sarah to defend him.  

This is an incredible read that keeps you guessing as to who the murderer is.  When Gone Girl came out, I learned to accept twists in thrillers, but Rose had me going from one suspect to another, never sure who the killer was. I could easily see them all doing it.  Rose creates strong motives for everyone in this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride. I wrote a review of Rose's Dating At The End of the World (https://nicolewbrown.blogspot.com/2026/02/dating-at-end-of-world-by-janeva-rose.html) about finding love during the zombie apocalypse.  That book was so good that I looked into reading some of her other books, and I wasn't disappointed.  This was an amazing read, and I highly recommend it.

Quotes

It's the only reason the human race isn't extinct: people with no purpose breed.

Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, p. 36)

Three years later, I asked her to marry me, and she said yes again.  And although she said yes to me countless times since then, I think that was the last time she truly meant it.

Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, p. 14)

I've learned that everyone has skeletons in the closet and that the people who appear to be good are usually the worst of them all.

Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, p. 78)

A sandwich and chips did me some good, as well as a power nap.  I'm starting to feel like myself again--and by that, I mean, hopeless and depressed--but definitely sobering up.

Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, p. 206)

I don't know if I believe that, but I'm hopeful.  Even when you have nothing left in your life, hope is the one thing that can never be taken away.

Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, p. 256)

Link to Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Marriage-Jeneva-Rose/dp/B0D9KL1WJK/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fut-eeBsm6d8QEzNOX52DosHQpXLndoXhPWNJgZasW0jDcHro4wCpdoxRb3PVmR690AWf6Tu8Ugh1-6inqZBh3zyzXsDLLAYkGMYC8aRKEY7SfnkLvqUPvgKJbKZbh8hOqz0vwldhbF8ptnDI-04aF_lx-2SYCbl-0kqcWbH73LU7UUDOjmePA6ux2fA9_waOesL6G4SMPxcC8FVAC26XVgQowg_n9CBuyTvCXhtI9w.uPz0JNym41yQeLVaT6bItzPc1VmKA3drLmjjHxDj-bc&qid=1789327283&sr=1-1

Link to ThriftBooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-perfect-marriage_jeneva-rose/26819475/?resultid=e3bbfe32-c64a-4676-bd3f-323aebbd516f#edition=71643955&idiq=83944218