Review's Resort

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

Cobweb Bride Trilogy (Booktober)
These Old Shades (Booktober)

Wednesday 30 October 2019

All Souls Trilogy (Booktober)

"It begins with a discovery of witches."

What to say about the one witchy trilogy you absolutely NEED in your life? I was late to the Deborah Harkness train, but her All Souls Trilogy is absolutely stunning. It reminds you of Twilight, but in a very good way, and it brings all hands on deck to make the story believable, enchanting, and absolutely spectacular. Diana Bishop and Matthew de Clermont are in a race against the clock, against their own people, their beliefs, and time itself. Is there anything they can do to ensure not only their own survival, but the survival of witches, vampires and daemons?

Because it begins with absence and desire. And it begins with blood and fear.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell; but the real threat to the future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency ...

(from Goodreads)

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

These Old Shades (Booktober)

Tuesday 29 October 2019

Cobweb Bride series (Booktober)

"Fare thee well, and blessed be, beloved!"

Trying to pick just one of these three books is absolutely impossible. Why? Because unlike with so many other trilogies where there's a strong beginning and then it all fizzles out, Vera Nazarian's Cobweb Bride has a strong start-up, even stronger middle, and an iron-clad finish. I've always been a sucker for Greek mythology, and this particular retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth is an incredibly unique, mesmerizing take on a tale as old as time.

If you get the chance - look these books up. I promise you, you WON'T regret it!

Many are called. She alone can save the world and become Death's bride. And in a world where no one can die, she alone can kill ... now that she’s Death’s Champion, what will Percy do? For the world is broken … a dark Goddess rises. Percy still has a difficult task to do, the greatest task of all … For in the end the Cobweb Bride awaits, together with the final answer.

(from Goodreads)

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

Monday 28 October 2019

These Old Shades (Booktober)

"You offend my nostrils."

If you want some good old 18th century sarcasm and sass, there's absolutely no better book than Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades. The first in a series of Regency novels, this one introduces the two characters who will basically be the mama and papa of the lot of them later. I've read the other books, but none have captured my heart so much as this one, where Satanas prowls the streets of Paris and wreaks havoc over the English countryside just because he can, making sure everybody knows who's boss.

Want to take a jaunt with the Devil himself? Autumn is prime time for it!

Under the reign of Louis XV, corruption and intrigue have been allowed to blossom in France, and Justin Alastair, the notorious Duke of Avon and proud of his soubriquet 'Satanas' flourishes as well. Then, from a dark Parisian back alley, he plucks Léon, a red-headed urchin with strangely familiar looks. Among the splendours of Versailles and the dignified mansions of England, Justin begins to unfold his sinister plans against the Comte de St Vire - until, that is, Léon becomes the ravishing beauty Léonie ...

(from book jacket)

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

Sunday 27 October 2019

Term Limits (Booktober)

"Remember, we know nothing."

Probably one of my favourite books of all time, though I admit it's an acquired taste. There is A LOT of politics in this one, it's based directly off the political ups and downs in Washington, DC, but Vince Flynn also brings a certain degree of realism into his writing whenever there are any Special Ops forces in his books, so. Term Limits doesn't have Mitch Rapp - but even without Ironman, the retired SEALs make up for it.

If you want to wind down the murky streets by the Potomac river, you don't have to go any further than this book!

In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach—not even the president. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence ...

(from Goodreads)

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Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

Saturday 26 October 2019

Boudica (Booktober)

"Your sister is Boudica, Bringer of Victory. Remember that."

Before Arthur and Merlin ... a warrior queen rose to defend her people. There have always been songs and tales coming from the mists of the British Isles, and Boudica is probably the most famous of all legends, not counting the fabled man who pulled the sword of the stone. But Boudica was flesh and blood, a woman who terrorized the Roman invaders and rose up in defiance against them when they tried to enslave her people. She paid dearly for that, of course, but even today, she remains a symbol of courage and bravery.

Long live the Queen!

Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg”). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome -- and triumph.

(from Goodreads)

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The Lady of the Rivers (Booktober)

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Booktober)
Broken Sky (Booktober)

Friday 25 October 2019

The Lady of the Rivers (Booktober)

"Some women cannot march to the beat of a man's drum. Do you understand?"

So every once in a while I will pull out a Gregory novel, although I have to admit I prefer her Plantagenet ones to her Tudor ones - and even then only the first few! But Lady of the Rivers was a fascinating story for me, and for some reason it makes me think about autumn and falling rain what with it happening in foggy, murky England almost all the time. I know it's definitely not all true, but if you keep an open mind it can certainly be entertaining, plus Elizabeth Woodville's mother really WAS formidable!

I mean hey, only way to give birth to a future Queen, right?

Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of 19, she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her household for love, and then carved out a new life for herself; this is the story of the real-life mother to the White Queen.

(from Goodreads)

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