I got the idea and the motivation to start doing Tackling The TBR from All The Book Blog Names Are Taken. It has helped me to keep track of my reading shelf as far as current events and I also started doing a post for Books From The Backlog, from Carole’s Random Life in Books, to tidy up my shelves. I feel better about my out of control TBR and have even knocked off a couple of those old ones that had been hanging around for years. COME ON….JOIN IN.
I have missed sharing my TBR post, so this is three weeks worth.
Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let’s share some songs we’ve been enjoying lately! If you would like to play, and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below HERE
Good Morning…In the last weeks, Mr Wonderful was on vacation, then Hurricane Sally dropped in for a prolonged visit, so he was off another week. It was a good thing, because we were without power for five days and there was a ton of clean up. Thanks goodness the damage was only outside and an insurance adjuster will be around today to assess the damage. I will be sharing a Hurricane Sally post as soon as I can get my act together. I hope everyone on the Gulf Coast made it out unscathed.
Sometimes I wonder if the end is near…Covid, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, protests, uncontrolled police force…I fear, here in the US, it is going to get much worse, before it gets better, considering the nasty political climate and the upcoming election.
Oh, to be an ostrich, burying my head in the sand…or wherever I can find a place to hide.
That being said, I hope you had the best week possible and wish you another good week.
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery
by Ellen Byron
About Murder in the Bayou Boneyard
Murder in the Bayou Boneyard: A Cajun Country Mystery Cozy Mystery 6th in Series Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020) Hardcover: 304 pages ISBN-10: 1643854607 ISBN-13: 978-1643854601 Digital ASIN: B082H3BT6F
Maggie Crozat has the
Halloween heebie-jeebies in USA Today bestselling and Agatha
Award-winning author Ellen Byron’s howlingly funny sixth Cajun Country
mystery.
Maggie Crozat, proprietor of a historic
Cajun Country B&B, prefers to let the good times roll. But hard
times rock her hostelry when a new cell phone app makes it easy for
locals to rent their spare rooms to tourists. With October–and
Halloween–approaching, she conjures up a witch-crafty marketing scheme
to draw visitors to Pelican, Louisiana.
Five local plantation B&Bs host
“Pelican’s Spooky Past” packages, featuring regional crafts, unique
menus, and a pet costume parade. Topping it off, the derelict Dupois
cemetery is the suitably sepulchral setting for the spine-chilling play
Resurrection of a Spirit. But all the witchcraft has inevitably conjured
something: her B&B guests are being terrified out of town by
sightings of the legendary rougarou, a cross between a werewolf and
vampire.
When, in the Dupois cemetery, someone
costumed as a rougarou stumbles onstage during the play–and promptly
gives up the ghost, the rougarou mask having been poisoned with
strychnine, Maggie is on the case. But as more murders stack up, Maggie
fears that Pelican’s spooky past has nothing on its bloodcurdling
present.
About Ellen Byron
Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won
the Agatha award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty awards
for Best Humorous Mystery. Her Catering Hall Mystery series, written as
Maria DiRico, launched with Here Comes the Body and was
inspired by her real life. She’s an award-winning playwright and
non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like WINGS, JUST SHOOT ME, and
FAIRLY ODD PARENTS, but she considers her most impressive credit working
as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. A native New Yorker who attended
New Orleans’ Tulane University, she lives in Los Angeles with her
husband, daughter, and rescue furbaby. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.ellenbyron.com/
Book Title: One Boy’s War by Nancy McDonald Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 134 pages Genre: Historical fiction Publisher: Iguana Books Release date: April, 2020 Content Rating: G. There is no violence, bad language etc. in this book.
Raves for Boy From Berlin by Nancy McDonald:
“Inspired by a true story, Boy from Berlin shares a unique voice in the Holocaust. Highly recommended!”– Jennifer Roy, author of Yellow Star, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award.
“A compelling introduction to themes of war, courage and identity, certain to engage young readers.” –Trilby Kent, author of Stones for my Father, winner of the TD Canadian Children’s Literary Award.
Book Description:
ENGLAND, SUMMER 1940. Following a brush with death in the Irish Sea, 10-year-old Käfer Avigdor unexpectedly finds himself back in London. There, he stumbles upon a sinister Nazi plot that targets hundreds of people in Britain—including the most powerful man in the country. The one person who might be able to defeat Adolf Hitler. With the Germans threatening to invade England at any moment, Käfer musters all his courage and ingenuity in a valiant effort to thwart the Nazis. But will he succeed in time to save the day? One Boy’s War, the sequel to Boy from Berlin, is inspired by real people and historical events.
Book Title: Boy from Berlin by Nancy McDonald Category: Middle-Grade Fiction (Ages 8-12), 142 pages Genre: Historical fiction Publisher: Iguana Books Release date: May 7, 2018 Format available for review: PDF Tour dates: September 14 to October 2, 2020 Content Rating: G. There is no violence, bad language etc. in this book. Book Description:
Berlin, April 1938. One night, eight-year-old Käfer Avigdor uses his specialty toilet-paper roll binoculars to spy on his Mama and Aunt Charlotte. The whispered conversation he overhears alerts him to a danger he didn’t know existed and starts him rethinking who he really is and where he belongs. Within hours, Käfer and his family flee their comfortable life. In a desperate race to stay one step ahead of the Nazis, Käfer is called on to be braver and more resourceful than he ever imagined possible. But will it be enough? Boy from Berlin is based on real people and actual events.
Nancy McDonald began her career as a journalist on television programs that include W5, Canada AM, and Marketplace before going on to become a sought-after freelance writer, penning everything from documentaries to live-action scripts to comic books. One Boy’s War is the highly anticipated sequel to Boy from Berlin. Nancy lives in Stratford, Ontario, where she revels in Shakespeare, takes theatergoers on tours of the Costume Warehouse, and treads the boards with the Perth County Players. She also works part-time at Fanfare Books, Stratford’s only independent bookseller.
Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those
neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything
like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in
your stacks.
The Timekeeper, one of the manipulators of the threads of fate, is now the target of Angels. After being on the protected list of every race known since her existence, Ilana is now forced to knock the rust off her Assassin training. Her death will trigger the end of time, but with her Dragon husband, a Demon King, and her own group of oddball guardians as her only chance, she might be able to save herself. Deception lingers in the Timekeepers world, and the beginning of the end of time hangs in the balance.
Do I even need to say why I grabbed this one? I mean check out that cover. Screams vampire to me…and then to think we have dragons too. OMG. I bumped this forgotten novel to the top of my kindle list. I plan on getting to it ASAP and I’ll let you know what I think. I added this to my Goodreads TBR on 10.11.12 but downloaded it on 9.8.12. What do you think of vampires. Do you like the Twilight vampires? I do, but that is not everyone’s taste. Do you like the evil, slay everyone, dripping fangs and long clawed ones? I do too. I’ll take vampires in any shape or form, especially when there are dragons involved too.
Baptism of Fire by Virginia Crow…what can I say. The amazing eye catching cover caught my eye and even though the title turned me off, it now seems appropriate.
I think you may immediately fall in love with 9 year old Kevin, to want to wrap your arms around this sweet child to protect him and to let him know that he is worthy of love. He feels he is cursed, followed by fires and death from one foster home to another.
I love that Virginia Crow gave nothing away in the blurb for Baptism of Fire. The title is interesting, but the wonderfully creative cover is what drew me in and I am so happy to be here. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was not what I got. I got so much more. I thought horror, yeah we have some humankind horror. We have lost and damaged characters that have so much to give, if only…
Baptism of Fire by Virginia Crow is a mystery, but the real story is about Kevin and Reverend Alistair Roberts. About how this wonderful group of damaged people come together. About the healing power of love.
I would have loved an epilogue, but that’s okay. The mystery is solved and all are safe.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Baptism of Fire by Virginia Crow.
4 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
Kevin gripped Jilly’s coat and his voice became little more than a whisper. “I’m cursed, Jilly. Everyone who looks after me dies in a fire, or someone they love does. I don’t know how to stop it.”
When Rev. Alastair Roberts adopts Kevin Alderman, he dismisses any reference to the boy’s curse. But, as the pair spend more time in each other’s company, it becomes apparent that Kevin is not the only one with a bitter past.
As the past continues to haunt them, can they hope to change their future?
EXCERPT
“Where’s Kevin?” He looked around the room, panic seeping
into him, but he forced himself to keep smiling. “Tuck in,” he continued. “I’ll
just go find him.”
He squeezed past the gathered people, but Trish stopped him
at the door.
“Are you alright, Vicar?” she asked, her voice clipped but
her tone caring.
“I’m just going to find Kevin,” he explained.
“Did he do it?”
“Do what?” Alastair asked, confusion on his face.
“That,” she said, pointing at the dresser.
“No,” Alastair whispered, staring at the array of crossed
out photographs. He didn’t know whether the word was in answer to Trish’s
question or a statement of disbelief. Perhaps it was both. He took the door
handle and put all his weight onto it.
“Do you want me to go find him?” she asked. “He’ll just be
outside.”
“No, I’ll go. But would you do something for me?” he asked,
looking over his shoulder at the other people.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Don’t make a fuss, just take them down.”
Trish placed her hand on his arm and nodded across at him.
Alastair stepped out of the room and back over to the French windows, then out
into the garden. The sudden change from clear electric lights into the darkness
took his eyes a moment to adjust, and he stood still for a time, waiting for
them to focus.
“Kevin?” he called softly. There were one or two people
still standing by the bonfire, smokers mainly, but Kevin wasn’t with them.
ABOUT VIRGINIA CROW
Virginia grew up in Orkney, using the breath-taking scenery to fuel her imagination and the writing fire within her. Her favourite genres to write are fantasy and historical fiction, sometimes mixing the two together such as her newly-published book “Caledon”. She enjoys swashbuckling stories such as the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and is still waiting for a screen adaption that lives up to the book!
When she’s not writing, Virginia is usually to be found teaching music, and obtained her MLitt in “History of the Highlands and Islands” last year. She believes wholeheartedly in the power of music, especially as a tool of inspiration. She also helps out with the John o’ Groats Book Festival which is celebrating its 3rd year this April.
She now lives in the far flung corner of Scotland, soaking in inspiration from the rugged cliffs and miles of sandy beaches.
She loves cheese, music and films, but hates mushrooms.
This is just a quick update to let you know, we made it through the hurricane in one piece. It was frightening and power had been lost from the 16th to the 20th. I will be sharing pics and videos later, but right now we are still doing cleanup and I will be catching up on missed blogging events as soon as I can.
Book Title: Beyond What Separates Us by R.A. Morris Category: Adult fiction 18 yrs +, 277 pages Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi Publisher: Iguana Books Release date: September, 2020 Content Rating: PG-13 Some swearing and violent scenes.
Book Description:
Four strangers from distant parts of the world struggle to survive on a planet torn apart by war, greed and disease. Living under drastically different circumstances, they are each presented with an opportunity to choose what type of world they want to live in. Beyond What Separates Us follows these four strangers as they attempt to overcome hardships and reach their full potential. This is a story about the best and worst aspects of humanity clashing to determine not only the fate of our species but all other life on Earth.
R.A Morris was raised in Ancaster, Ontario and holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University. After graduate school he spent a year teaching science in Honduras before heading back to Canada to work in the environmental sector. He has lived in the small remote community of Fort Good Hope and the territorial capital of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. He currently lives in Toronto. His first novel, Beyond What Separates Us, is a timely work of speculative fiction that offers a glimpse of what societies may look like if we continue on our path of ecological degradation.
