Goodreads’ Synopsis: When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn’t always what we seek.
In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.
Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned.
Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it.
What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.
Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
Read Start Date: April 1, 2024
Read Finish Date: April 8, 2024
My Review: I borrowed this audiobook from the library as it was on top of the “popular” list. I knew nothing about it, nor did I even read the synopsis before reading (as is mostly the case when I check books out this way). The characters are fantasy creatures such as Orcs, Elves, etc., but I felt the author could have easily just transferred the characters to humans, which would have made no difference. I never really felt how each species was different i.e., how their species made them unique or what attributes it gave them (other than being big in Viv’s case) or what the characters looked like.
Essentially, the story is about an Orc who works as a mercenary. She is injured and must convalesce until her mercenary group returns from their next mission. While looking around the town, she finds a bookshop and becomes friends with the owner, Fern, a “Ratkin” (which I assume is some giant rat?). Fern says swear words a lot, which fell flat if it was supposed to lend a funny air to the book.
While this book was imaginative and entertaining to listen to, I struggled to identify what this book was trying to be. It was definitely not your typical fantasy book. I couldn’t help making parallels to the book I read a while back called The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (see my review here). Bookshops & Bonedust felt more like a feel-good story about saving a struggling bookstore than a fantasy adventure. I should note here, however, that a subplot does involve a necromancer.
Unfortunately, although Goodreads identifies this book as a “romance,” and there is a romance subplot, I didn’t feel it. There was no heat, no fire. I just didn’t feel the connection between Viv and her romantic interest.
In conclusion, my experience with Bookshops & Bonedust was mixed. I recommend this book to readers interested in narratives that blend fantasy elements with everyday life. However, readers seeking intense romance or action-packed adventures may want more from the book. Ultimately, Bookshops & Bonedust offers a charming escape for those who appreciate whimsical storytelling and are open to blended genres.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A shipwrecked man comes upon an apartment building located in the middle of the ocean. Inside, he finds the skulls of twelve residents, each one eager to tell their story. This is the final book of The Bedlam Bible.
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for letting me read this! I listened to this audiobook while on vacation in South Carolina. It was a pleasant mid-70’s to 80 degrees (F), and this book fueled my long walks on the Hilton Head beach. As always, Pauley’s work is macabre, inventive, bizarre, and just all-out fun. I can’t believe that this is the last book in the series. I only recently found this series (and this author), and having to say goodbye feels like a bad breakup. Don’t do this to us, Pauley! We need more! For a brief synopsis of each book, please see the below.
The First Life of Anikoy Marlon: A man wakes up on a life raft in the middle of the ocean with a corpse. The corpse’s skin is etched with a journal of sorts (I think it’s the Bedlam Bible), which the man reads. The man has no recollection as to how he arrived on the rowboat. When he finds a platform in the middle of the ocean, he leaps without thinking and gets knocked out. When he comes to, he is in the 8th block tower. The following stories are from residents of the 8th block tower seen in Anikon’s mind’s eye when he sticks his finger inside the eye socket of their skulls.
Heirs of the Abyss: Rita had always had weird, terrifying dreams of 8th block. Rita’s mom (who had an unexplored connection to 8th block) always said that “dreams won’t eat you except in 8th block, where they eat you alive.” Rita is not an 8th block resident at the beginning of the story but lives in a neighborhood nearby. She starts to date someone living in the 8th block. When she enters in the building for the first time, she is relieved to discover that it doesn’t live up to her nightmares. Until she moves in with Tony.
Trapdoor: A serial killer stalks the residents of 8th block. He’s taken 9 so far, including Kimmy, a friend of the story’s protagonist. Everyone knows the face of the man in the 8th block, but he has yet to be captured. In an effort to find her friend, the protagonist finds the killer on a dating app and decides to go on a date with him. Despite her preparation ahead of time, she falls under the killer’s supernatural spell and finds herself trapped, just like the others.
Killing Teddy: I have read and reviewed this story before as part of another one of Pauley’s anthologies. You can see the review by clicking here.
Bad Blood: The protagonist is a nurse at a hospital. She volunteers for the Chance Program, which is a program providing healthcare aid to lower-income patients. One such patient is a woman named Ellie, who is a resident of the 8th block tower. Ellie is under the delusion that she has “bad blood,” and that if she transfuses it with someone else’s blood, she will get better. It freaks out the nurse, and she is relieved to get out alive. Against her better judgment, she goes back to care for Ellie with dire consequences. This story is probably my favorite so far. It had the right creepiness factor. I wanted more of this story. While there was enough details about the nurse to start to get invested, it left me wanting more…more details about the relationships the nurse had with her family and her girlfriend, and I wanted to have more creepy interactions with Ellie.
The Plant People: The protagonist’s brother is missing, and their mother is taking it hard. The mother is one of those senior citizens who have been complaining that they are going to die soon (for the past few decades). The mother lives on the top floor of the 8th block tower, and the protagonist notices that plants are starting to grow through the floor of the apartment. Put a pin in that, we will come back to it in a second. Although the protagonist hasn’t seen her brother in a while, since they are estranged due to his drinking, she agrees, at the mother’s urging to check on the brother. Oddly, the brother is not at his apartment, and what is more odd, is that he hasn’t been living there for years. Where is the brother, and what are these pervasive flowers that keep pushing their way up into the mother’s apartment? Another favorite of mine in this anthology. It was creepy as hell and with an unexpected twisted ending.
The Burden of Lunar Ticking: Grandpa Grimace is not well, which is why his daughter lets him live with her and her kids. The protagonist is one of the children. When Grandpa first tells the protagonist that he can astro project, the protagonist just thinks it’s his crazy Grandpa telling tall tales again (like how the moon ticks because it’s fake). But soon certain events make it hold not to believe.
Cyber Solaris: There’s a room in the 8th block tower that holds cages full of starving people. It’s a prison. And there’s one prisoner, prisoner 11 (a.k.a. Rover), for which a strange sound plays. Cyber Solaris is an app on a phone that allows you to time travel. One of the other prisoners has this device on his person, and he offers it to Rover for a pack of cigarettes. Rover accepts it with strange consequences. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming and it was awesome.
Black Friday: The parents of the protagonist are addicted to clearance sales, and bought depression on sale for Black Friday, and gave it to the protagonist’s Aunt Nora. They gave the protagonist anorexia. This is a weird, short story that was really fun.
The Sinking Sanctuary: I was a little confused about what was happening in this story. It had to do with Old Joe Booth, the Bedlam Bible, and weird hallucinations. The astronaut from The Astronaut’s Dream Book also made an appearance.
A Mist of Light: Mr. Crum is on the 2nd day of his new job’s orientation. Even though he’s 50 years old, he has no idea what he wants to do with his life, except collect rocks, but that doesn’t pay the bills.
The Eden Room: A decade ago, tumors sprouted from Waylon Peterhearst’s forehead, and everyone calls them horns (like devil’s horns). One night Tom Stripper, a “dispatcher,” knocks on Waylon’s door, claiming that Waylon is dead. Tom is there to “dispatch” him into the next life. It is yet to be seen whether to Heaven or Hell. The path to the next life is filled with traps created by the bad deeds Waylon did during his lifetime. This was a fun story and an interesting premise.
Life is Beautiful in Spite of Everything: The protagonist, a resident of the 8th block tower, finds a camera. He is bitter and resentful about the other residents.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads:Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?
My Review:Happy Place is a heartwarming story about two people who pretend to still be a couple for their annual weeklong vacation with their friend group. The Goodreads summary above is pretty accurate, so there is not much to add from my end to the plot description.
I absolutely loved this book. From the very beginning I was rooting for Harriet and Wyn. I ached for their heartbreak and hoped that they could work it out. I just wanted to read right through to the end because watching them struggle was tearing me apart. Although I knew that they would probably get together in the end — because isn’t that the ending of most romance novels? — I was still worried that they wouldn’t. Real life extended my reading of this book for 7 long days…but in the end I was relieved, and I must admit that the journey getting there was very enjoyable. I have read other Emily Henry books (you can see my reviews of the books by clicking on the titles: People We Meet On Vacation, Book Lovers and Beach Read), but Happy Place is by far my favorite.
The other characters are also great and overall relatable, and the friendships/relationships in the book are realistic. I also really loved the little details in Happy Place, like the book store called Murder She Read and the fact that the characters loved the show Murder She Wrote.
Stats: As of writing this blog post (October 10, 2023) this book has a rating of 4.09 on Goodreads. In my view, this is not enough stars. She deserves 5 stars for this book!
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: “White Fuzz is a weird sort of love story between two deeply disturbed individuals, each a product of their isolated environment. It’s not an easy read. It’s shocking, gross, and horrifying. Manages to check off every trigger! You’ve been warned.”
Franklin feels alone in life. One fateful night, he gets a curious text from a stranger, Lynda, another resident of his apartment building. She convinces him to come over, against his better judgment, and surprisingly the night seems to be going great, despite a little awkwardness.
However, it’s clear that Lynda is living with demons that are in desperate need of exercising, as everything inside her apartment seems to trigger some dark memory buried deep within her psyche. In hopes of helping her escape the prison that is her home, he invites her over to his place, but the problems only get worse, to the point he fears she won’t make it through the night.
Just when he feels the night has reached peak insanity, he discovers her madness is rubbing off on him…
My Review:White Fuzz is the second book in the series The Bedlam Bible. As with many Pauley novels, this one is short, weird and wonderful. Franklin receives a mysterious text message from a stranger. Turns out, she is a neighbor in the Eighth Block Tower, and he goes over to her place. As they initiate a sort of romantic entanglement, weird (and gross) things start to happen. And when I say gross, I mean the description the author gave of the encounters were so vivid that I literally felt stomach sick.
A fun little read to listen to. Just make sure to wait to eat anything until afterward!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake.
As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
My Review:Tom Lake tells the story of Lara Novak, a woman who lives on a cherry orchard in Northern Michigan with her husband. Her three adult daughters return to the farm for the season. I believe that the present day events are set during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic is mentioned only in passing and doesn’t become an overarching theme of the novel. While picking cherries, the daughters ask Lara to tell them the story of Lara’s summer at Tom Lake during her early twenties, where, while participating in a summer stock theater company, she fell in love with a famous actor named Peter Duke. The daughters grew up watching Peter Duke in several favorite movies, and only recently learned that their mother had dated him in her youth.
The novel alternates between the present and the past, and the stories soon intertwine in a intricately woven story, where past actions / events, resonate with /dictate the present.
The storylines are character heavy, and not much happens other than the telling of their lives. In such books, I always find that it is vital that the book is written well, and that the lives of the characters are engaging enough to keep my interest. Both are true with Tom Lake. Patchett writes in beautiful prose, and her characters are relatable and loveable.
Stats: as of writing this post (October 9, 2023) Tom Lake has a 4.23 rating on Goodreads. My review of 4 stars is on par with the masses.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed….
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.
Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer–the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.
At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin….
Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.
My Review: Maya witnessed the sudden and mysterious death of her best friend, Aubrey, when they were both high school seniors. Seven years later, Maya is still haunted by Aubrey’s death and the gaps in her memories of that summer. When she sees a video of a young woman dying in a diner after sitting across from Frank, the same man who was with Aubrey when she died, Maya is forced to confront her past. She returns to her hometown in the Berkshires to try to piece together what happened, but she soon realizes that Frank is not the only one who has secrets.
The book has a feeling of the supernatural — and the twist at the end was not expected!
I really enjoyed this book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, just waiting to figure out what it is about Frank that make women drop dead around him. The characters development was also great. They are complex and realistic, and in the case of Maya, is flawed yet deeply likeable. We learn the backstory of Maya (the timeline alternates from the present, as Maya investigates the death of Christine, to what happened in the past leading up to Aubrey’s death). We get an in depth look at the relationships Maya has in her life: with her boyfriend, her mother, and her best friend when she was a child. We learn of Maya’s trauma, her struggles and her will to overcome them.
I felt invested in Maya and her growth through out the novel.
Stats: As of writing this review (September 12, 2023) this book has a 3.14 star rating on Goodreads, which I feel to be unfair. I thought this book was just fantastic!
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.
For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.
To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.
For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?
My Review: I wasn’t particularly in love with Blake’s book The Atlas Six (you can find my review here), and so had decided not to read the other books in that series. However, I figured I would give Blake as an author another shot, and so picked up Alone With You in the Ether from the library as an audiobook. I had no idea what it was about, other than it topped the “popular” charts at the Vienna library.
In reading the book, my mood was constantly at status quo. I neither loved, nor hated the book. I didn’t feel much of anything about it, really…it was more something to listen to in order to pass the time. I did become annoyed from time to time at the different voices in the audiobook version, as Blake had some weird “narrator” POV that popped up sporadically and only for a sentence of two to describe to the reader the backstory of what was happening at that moment.
Some people absolutely love this book, like Ary and Books. I believe the review even mentions that Ary and Books bought multiple editions.
“the relationship (Regan & Aldo) in this book is another reason I am still mentally brainrottingly obsessed over it. Their connection is so beautiful and so deep, I loved both of them dearly throughout, but together it was a wild, heart wrenching, beautiful love. I felt through the whole book that I was fighting for them, fighting with them.”
For me, Aldo and Regan (pronounced Reegan not Raygan) were not particularly enjoyable/likeable characters, and their “love” story was more like watching two trains barreling at full speed toward each other. You know they are going to crash and burn, which is not something you really want to witness, but somehow you can’t look away either.
From all the reviews of this book that I have read, it seems that you either love this book or don’t. I am sorry to say that I fell into the category of don’t.
Stats: My three star rating is below the average rating for this book, which on September 8, 2023 is 3.91 stars.
Recommended? Given that my 3 star rating is below the average for this book, and that other people absolutely love it, I can neither recommend, nor not recommend this book. You will have to judge for yourself :).
Goodreads’ Synopsis: An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?
Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.
My Review: The novel begins with the birth of William Waters, a boy who is unwanted by his parents. He grows up in a house filled with silence and sadness, and he never feels loved or accepted. When he meets Julia Padavano, the oldest of the four sisters, he finds a connection that he has never had before. Julia’s family is everything that William’s is not: they are loving, supportive, and full of life.
William and Julia fall in love and get married. With Julia comes her family, the Padavanos. The Padavanos are a close-knit family who are always there for each other, no matter what. William finally feels like he belongs somewhere. However, the Padavanos are not without their own problems. Julia’s father, Charlie, is a struggling alcoholic. Her mother, Rose, is a devoted wife and mother, but she is also exhausted and overwhelmed. The sisters themselves are all struggling to find their own way in the world.
The novel spans four decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s, and explores themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and redemption.
Hello Beautiful is a beautifully written and moving novel that deals with some heavy topics, such as childhood trauma, grief, and loss. I often felt melancholy while reading this book, so I think that you have to be in a good headspace before starting it.
Each character is well developed and complex and feels like a real person.
William Waters is shaped by a childhood trauma that follows him into adulthood. For decades, his choice to abandon his wife and infant daughter created ripple effects throughout the Padavano family. When abandoned by William, Julia, a strong and independent woman, blazes her own path despite the obstacles ahead of her. Sylvie is a dreamer and a romantic, and she is always looking for a new adventure. She is drawn to William’s vulnerability and makes a choice that creates a rift between the once close-knit sisters. The first to go her own way, Cecelia is an artist and a free spirit, and she is not afraid to be herself. Emeline, Cecelia’s twin, is the family’s caretaker and is always there to lend a helping hand. Emeline struggles with her sexuality and whether to be herself in the face of outside scrutiny or bigotry.
It is a story about the power of love and the importance of family, even when things are at their darkest. There is so much to unpack in this book, that it will stay with you long after reading it. Apparently, it is supposed to be based on Little Women, but in my opinion it is at best “loosely” based on Little Women.
Stats: As of September 8, 2023, this book has a 4.23-star rating on Goodreads, so my review is on par with that of the general public.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
My Review: I think most people know who Prince Harry is. He is a public figure, and has been one since birth. Spare, a title taken from the English saying “the heir and the spare,” is a revealing memoir about Harry’s life from childhood to the present. It is hard to write this review without acknowledging that I had read a fair bit about the book in the media prior to actually reading it. I was expecting something very dramatic and damning of the Royal Family. In this aspect, the book did not really meet my expectations.
The brothers fought? Of course, they did. They are brothers. Is William supposed to be someone above reproach because he’s the next in line to the throne? Why is it so scandalous to portray the Princes as human beings with emotions? Maybe because I’m American I don’t get it, but I didn’t find any “oh my God” moment in the book.
While I liked reading about how the “other half lives,” I feel the memoir missed the opportunity to show more of what it is actually like to be a Prince beyond the “pap” harassment. I thought the story spent too much time explaining how Harry took drugs, how his penis got frostbite this one time, and complaining about being the spare. The whole time, I kept thinking that Harry has some enormous chip on his shoulder because he’s not the heir and yet has to deal with all the unwanted attention that comes with that title.
I think on this note, the best book review to read is from Orangutan Librarian. One of my favorite paragraphs from the review is below.
“Irritatingly, a lot of Harry’s narrative comes down to infantile whining. Forgive me for not feeling sorry for him that he had the smaller bedroom in a castle- I can’t exactly relate. Then again, this prince is delusional about class, privilege and money- seemingly completely unaware that you can’t get into Eton without a shed load of all of the above (even if they let a few plebs in every year to maintain charitable status, it’s undoubtedly a club for the rich and powerful). Yet here he is, lamenting his lot in life and feeling sorry for himself. Not that I don’t sympathise- I guess I am just too far removed from the line of succession (probably about 357,405,837th in line to be precise) to understand the point when #TIARAGATE matters in the grand scheme of things.”
Did this book make me feel bad slightly that they were harrassed by the media? Yes, actually. I did think it was terrible, but at the same time, he seems to confirm that a lot of what the media said about him was true.
“I think he might have everything material-wise but not what he really needs, which is family support and perhaps therapy to help him deal with the loss of his mother. It’s sad to see him carry that trauma into his adulthood, and I find that the palace and the media seem to forget that celebrities and royals are people too. After his second and final tour fighting for his country, he suffered from bad PTSD episodes, and when he told his family, they weren’t the most supportive until he hit rock bottom. This memoir felt raw and honest, which is why I gave it four stars.”
Stats: As of writing this blog post on August 21, 2023, this book has a 3.91 rating on Goodreads. My review is less than the average by nearly 1 star. So, I would recommend to read these other fabulous reviews for some comparison: Sprayed Edges and George L. Thomas.
Recommended? This book was good but not phenomenal. If one were to manage expectations, this book would be a good read, especially for people interested in the Royals.
Goodreads Monday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. “Goodreads Monday allows you to post about what books are on your “to read” lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenge, and any other Goodreads news!”
Franz and Lola are vampires in love. They live in a cottage near the sea with their little vampire baby.
Burn Girl is a lonely girl who walks along the bottom of the sea, constantly on fire. The water doesn’t put her fire out or soothe her burns. It only makes her feel like she’s wearing an itchy wool sweater.
Bruno is the buffest vampire. He is building Muscle Island, a floating fortress comprised of mussels.
The Vampire Science Council has been working for centuries to prevent the depletion of their arctic planet’s blood supply, but the blood has finally run out.
Cyrus Lugosi’s friends want to slaughter him as part of a ritual sacrifice that will raise Cthulhu from his tomb at the bottom of the sea. There are just two The closest thing to the Necronomicon they’ve got is a unicorn coloring book, and Cthulhu is more interested in his quest for the perfect hamburger.
Their fates will converge when Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom .
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
The Norfolk coast made for a perfect holiday — as long as the sun still shone. But when the rain came, the creatures left the shadows…
WORMS Spectres from the past tortured James Hildebrand’s mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real.
WORMS The dead alone could not quench their hunger. And, for the living, the horrors that fed and multiplied in the darkness of the night became more terrible with the dawn…
Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it’s particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester .
Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose – step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.
It’s not like they don’t have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn’t like people touching his stuff – it’s the principle of the thing.
Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as ‘a lot of baggage’ and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.
This Charming Man is the second book in the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series.
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to: – Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); – Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; – Design your environment to make success easier; – Get back on track when you fall off course; …and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?
Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.
Since 1973, The Exorcist and its progeny have scared and inspired half a century of filmgoers. Now, on the 50th anniversary of the original movie release, this is the definitive, fascinating story of the scariest movie ever madeand its lasting impact as one of the most shocking, influential, and successful adventures in the history of film. Written by Nat Segaloff, an original publicist for the movie and the acclaimed biographer of its director, with a foreword from John Russo, author and cowriter of the seminal horror film Night of the Living Dead.
On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.
The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath.
Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.
Progress: Kindle 45% (May 15th: 11%, June 6th 22%, June 19th 33%)
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials? In this second, significantly revised and expanded edition of his widely popular book, Webb discusses in detail the (for now!) 75 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi’s famous paradox: If the numbers strongly point to the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, why have we found no evidence of them?
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.
For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.
To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.
For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?
The Legal Alien 