Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Animals I’d Want to Meet


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Photo of an blond English Cocker Spaniel puppy sitting on a dirt trail in a forest. She is looking up lovingly at the human who is holding her leash just out of view and to the right of this photo. The forest is lush and looks as green and vibrant as it should in July or August when summer is peaking and everything is growing furiously. You can barely see anything of the sky because of how tall the trees are!If only it were possible to meet all of them!

1. Enzo from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

2. Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web
by E.B. White

3. All of the friendly rabbits from Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams

4. The Velveteen Rabbit from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco

5. Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and maybe even Toad from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

6. Bambi from Bambi (Bambi, #1) by Felix Salten

As some of these answers included multiple characters, I think this will suffice.

Which fictional animals would you want to meet?

 

 

 

 

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A Review of Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Book cover for Tiny Forgotten Wishes by Janky Fluffy. Image on cover is a drawing of a human brain made with a pink pen or marker. In the upper right hand corner is a smaller and less vibrant drawing of a single pink rose. Title: Tiny Forgotten Wishes

Author: Janky Fluffy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 20, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal

Length: 58 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Little Defective Things: Mother and Father must protect their ordinary daughter from the evils of perfectionism.
Forgotten Toys: She is not a toy and must save herself.
A Pretty Apocalypse: Social media causes the kingdom’s collapse.
Hair Like Starlight, Eyes Like Dreams: A man has a near-death experience and meets an angel.
21 Broken Christmases: The Grim Reaper is a woman and is in charge of more than just death.
Leftover Food for Wellness: A troll meets humans for dinner.
Salt’s Real Kiss: The magic man promises beauty for a price, and Salt refuses to pay.
Of Butterflies & Ghosts: Bobby enters the rundown funeral home and discovers the truth about his wife.
Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes: The genie falls in love.
Her Turquoise Reunion: She survived the most brutal school with kindness.
Tiny Songs for Nocturnal Beings: The ghouls come for their yearly feeding.
Fleeing Monsters: Emelia must survive the monsters. But who are the real monsters?

Content Warning: Death, a cult, ableist characters. I won’t discuss any of these topics in my review.

Review:

Think of this collection like a sampling platter of different worlds and characters. A nibble here and there may fill you up.

Trolls aren’t very common in modern fantasy stories from what I’ve observed, so “Leftover Food for Wellness” piqued my interest. Figuring out why someone would purposefully seek one out in this day and age didn’t take very long, but it did give me food for thought as the arrogant main character made one bad decision after the next. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what those choices were and how they turned out for him, but I liked seeing his reaction to getting his wish. There’s definitely something to be said for making wishes come true…even the ones that never should have been made in the first place.

As intrigued as I was by the premise of “A Pretty Apocalypse,” the plot holes in it made it difficult for me to remain invested in what was happening. Social media has downsides to be sure, but I wasn’t convinced that this alone could cause society to collapse. While all of the stories in this collection were purposefully written to be short and sweet, this was one of multiple examples I thought would have been better if there had been more time to explain what was happening in them.

“Another Curse of Unlimited Wishes” was refreshing. Of course genies should have the chance to fall in love the way humans do! There were a few fun twists in this one which was a little surprising given how short it was. I will tip my cap to the author for pulling that off and for finally making the genie the main character of this sort of tale. That doesn’t happen often enough in this genre for my tastes, so I was glad to see it here.

Tiny Forgotten Wishes was my first introduction to this author’s work, and I look forward to reading more in the future.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things I Wish More People Talked About Openly

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

This week’s prompt was interesting because I’m a pretty private person. Theoretically, I am all for people sharing details of whatever is going on in their lives, including topics that previous generations tended to keep to themselves.

A photo of four different phones. From left to right there is a: 2000s-era black cellphone, 1980s-era green landline, 1960s-era white rotary phone, and 1940s-era black rotary phone. That does not mean that I am equally comfortable sharing everything about myself in great detail, though! I need time to get to know someone first to see what sort of character they might have and whether something small I share privately with them is going to be spread to every single person they know in the world by tomorrow morning. 😉

So what do I wish people talked about openly more often?

Their Average Days. Social media can often be a highlight reel of the best times in life…but what about when you’re not doing anything out of the ordinary? What do those days look like?

Small Accomplishments. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I love listening to or reading about people doing little things that are difficult for them but may be easy for someone else like making a phone call or trying something new. There’s nothing like cheering someone on for something that most folks would probably overlook if it wasn’t pointed out.

What They’re Grateful For. I believe that gratitude is often an underrated virtue, so it’s wonderful to see what someone is grateful for today even if it’s something minor like watching a gorgeous sunset.

Compliments. Everyone needs a nice compliment now and again.

How about all of you?

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Trains


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Photo of train tracks going through a forest. There isn’t currently a train on them, but you can see the sun setting in the distance and the dark, evergreen forest on either side of the tracks. It’s a quiet and thoughtful moment. Thank you to Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next for this topic idea. I’m narrowing down “Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel” to just books about trains as I think travelling by train is just about the nicest ways to get around. 

Canada doesn’t have as much train service as I wish we had, but you can still travel between most of the larger cities this way. It’s so relaxing to sit in a soft, comfortable seat and surf the Internet, eat some tasty food, or watch the countryside fly by. I much prefer it to driving or flying!

Here are some books about trains. Interestingly enough, they are all for children.

1. The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, #1) by Gertrude Chandler Warner

2.The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

3. Ghost Train by Paul Yee
4. Bear on the Train by Julie Lawson
5 .A Sea So Far by Jean Thesman
6. The Runaway Train by Jane Flory
8. Bob the Railway Dog by Corinne Fenton
10. Lackawanna: A Novel by Chester Aaron

What is the train system like where you live? Can you hop on a nearby train when you need to travel, or do they only carry stuff like livestock or bulky goods?

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For the Sake of Knowledge: A Review of Grim Future

Book cover for Grim Future by Nick S. Nicholas. Image on cover shows the silhoutte of an adult human standing on a hill after dark. They can see part of the sky illuminated either by yellow and purple northern lights or by the last vestiges of sunlight as dusk ends and night begins. Or maybe it’s caused by both! It is too dark in this scene to show the age, sex, or race of this person other than their adult stature. So imagine yourself there if you wish. Title: Grim Future

Author: Nick S Nicholas

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 24, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 31 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Grim Future is a short story with the feel of an Indiana Jones meets the Mummy vs Space Invaders! Alec Kennedy, his love interest Rhonda Williams, and their expedition team’s leader Nathan Gray embark on an adventure to Egypt, hoping to discover an artifact that elevates them and their university sponsors into the international archeological spotlight. What they find will change the world in a way they never expected…

Content Warning: Murder, Sexism (I will discuss the latter briefly in my review)

Review:

Tombs are a window to the past. What sort of past that might be is an entirely different question altogether.

The character development was handled nicely. Alec’s self-absorption and difficulty with noticing subtle changes in his social environment quietly influenced every decision he made, and I was curious to see how he’d react to this expedition given that he was working in a group and would have to share the glory if anything of note was discovered. This was a pattern that repeated itself with other characters, too, whose flaws only made them more interesting to me because of how important they were to future plot twists. While I can’t say that I particularly liked most of the characters here, that is not a bad thing by any means. Honestly, unlikeable people can be the best options for certain types of storylines, and this is one of them.

While I could make an educated guess about what they were seeking, I do wish the ending had been longer and included more details about the antagonists’ motivations for behaving the way they did. The beginning and middle portions were so well written that I was surprised to see things suddenly be wrapped up the way that they were. There was a lot of space here for exposition, and I would have happily given a much higher rating if even if a paragraph or two of it had been added to explain what their precise goals were.

With that being said, I loved the way Mr. Nicholas turned certain science fiction tropes about female characters and what their roles should be in this genre on their head. I was a little concerned about where this was headed at first based on Alec’s one-dimensional approach to interacting with his love interest,  but I’m glad I kept reading anyway. Just because things appear to be one way in the opening scene does not at all mean they will still feel the same way in the final one. Keep that in mind as you read if your initial reaction is the same as mine was.

Grim Future was a wild ride.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Funniest Advice I’ve Received

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

 

The word advice is written in block letters with chalk on a chalkboard. I began working on this post in March and will slowly add to it until the publication date arrives.

Sometimes advice is funny because it’s horribly wrong and should never be followed by anyone.

In other cases it’s amusing because of how it makes you see the world or the way it plays with our expectations of what might happen among many other reasons.

I tried to come up with a mix of these types for my replies.

Piece of Advice #1

“Stop taking your antibiotics once you’re feeling better! That way you’ll still have some antibiotics to take the next time you’re sick.”

This is something a relative who does not understand science, medicine, public health, or how antibiotics work said a few years ago. Please do NOT follow her advice. The last thing we need in 2024 or beyond are more antibiotic-resistant superbugs getting passed around and causing life-threatening illnesses.

 

Piece of Advice #2

“Never do anything you wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics.”

And, honestly, I think this is an excellent litmus test to apply when deciding whether to take a specific risk.

 

Piece of Advice #3

”Leave Canada geese alone.”

I had multiple Canadians tell me this when I first moved up here, and it’s something everyone should listen to. Yes, they’re beautiful birds, but they can also be quite territorial and aggressive, especially during breeding season. It’s best to give them a wide berth and admire them from afar.

 

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There is a stack of about five books sitting with their spines faced away from the viewer on a white desk and in front of a white wall. Only the edges of their pages are visible, and these give no clues about their contents.<br /> On top of the books are three toy wooden dinosaurs: a white brontosaurus, a brown stegosaurus with red horns, and a third orange dinosaur with a green spine on its back whose proper name I can’t identify. It is standing on its hind legs.

Thank you to A Hot Cup of Pleasure for submitting this theme!

Here are ten of my favourite books from series I’ve read. I had to dig deeply to come up with a sufficient number of answers because I almost never read series these days and only read them occasionally when I was younger.

That is to say, most of these titles were published many years ago.

For the sheer fun of it, I will include a brief, spoiler-free description of why I picked each one in this post.

1. The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry

Why: The world-building left readers plenty of room to come up with our own theories about what happened next.

 

2. The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl With All the Gifts, #1) by M.R. Carey

Why: There is a fantastic twist in this book that takes a little while to fully reveal itself to the readers.

 

3. Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1) by V.C. Andrews

Why: This series begins with a wild premise that I will allow other readers to discover for themselves. I thought it worked best when it was first introduced because of how unusual it was.

 

4. The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Why: There are a lot of Easter eggs here about things that were discussed in books #1-5 – especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – so that is why I strongly recommend reading this series in publication order instead of chronologically. You need that previous knowledge to fully understand why certain scenes are so thrilling.  This is my favourite Narnia story because of its beautiful descriptions of how Narnia was created and how many different ways characters could find themselves in that magical land.

 

5. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Why: It worked perfectly nicely as a standalone story, but it also sets up and foreshadows so many important elements of the Lord of the Rings trilogies. I also thought the pacing in this one was much stronger than later instalments in this series.

 

6. Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris

Why: Look, I adored Sookie and though this was a fun universe…but she also tended to make the same mistakes over and over again. This became repetitive later on, but it was endearing when I first met her. If you’re in the market for vampire romance novels, the first few books in this universe are the best ones.

 

7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Why: It was such a zany introduction to these characters!

 

8. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

Why: This was a period of Anne’s life when so many of her dreams began coming true. I loved seeing her finally have the chance to attend college and enjoy her youth.

 

I’d say eight answers is pretty good considering my strong preference for standalone novels!

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A Review of Among Mirages

Book cover for Among Mirages: A Short Story by Billie Dean Shoemate III. Image on cover shows a drawing of a ship mast and a tattered sailed against a blackish-purple sky. It is past dusk and night has almost completely fallen, so precious little else can be seen in this image. Title: Among Mirages

Author: Billie Dean Shoemate III

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 8, 2020

Genres: Paranormal, Contemporary, Historical

Length: 33 pages

Source: I receive a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

The crew of the ship tell preposterous stories. Stories of dry land, of other ships that sail the ocean. Of vast cities populated by people. Odd visions. Blasphemies that would get a person tossed into the ocean. Still . . . those on the crew talk in hushed tones. Something about the ocean is haunted, and it has something to do with this ship in particular.

Billie Dean Shoemate III puts a new twist on an age-old story. The story of a ship that, when the reader figures it out, has been terrifying sailors for centuries. ‘Among Mirages’ will breathe new life into a tale that has always been told by seafaring people . . . and always will be.

Content Warning: Religion (an amalgamation of various types of Christianity).

Review:

Certainty isn’t everything.

I loved Martin, the doubtful narrator of this piece. Honestly, I would have had the exact same questions about where the ship came from and why they kept seeing things their captain insisted did not exist if I were in his shoes. The tension between observable facts and religious certainties in this universe was handled beautifully. Regardless of your thoughts on religion in general, there is a lot of food for thought here for anyone who has ever found an inconsistency in their own belief structure and puzzled over it.

This was inspired by a popular nautical legend that I wish had been shared in more detail in the last few scenes. I ended up looking it up online as I was only vaguely familiar with the stories associated with it and did not know in advance that this was going to be the theme. The storytelling would have been tighter in my opinion if a few sentences explaining this legend had been included for the sake of other readers like me, but I do look forward to hearing dissenting opinions from people who were similarly unaware of this legend and did not have my same experience here. Writing reviews is subjective, after all. What didn’t quite work for me might be perfect for someone else!

The twist at the end was excellent. I enjoyed going back and taking note of clues that were shared earlier on in the timeline I hadn’t exactly known how to fit together earlier, especially when it came to the purpose of this ship. It’s difficult to go into much detail without sharing spoilers, although I appreciated the way the author talked around the subject until it was time for the big reveal…much as I am attempting to do now! This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish, but it sure makes for an entertaining reading experience when it’s done as smoothly as it was here.

Among Mirages made me wish for a sequel.

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Summer 2024 Author Promo Opportunity at Long and Short Reviews

 

The text of this image reads: “Long and Short Reviews 17th Anniversary Party August 19-23, 2024. Win $100 Amazon GCs and more! Dozens of winners!” This image is light blue and has two balloons and some confetti on each side of the text. The balloons on the left are red and purple. The ones on the right are pink and green.The confetti is pink, purple, and yellow. (I do not know if all of those details are necessary, friends. Just trying to paint a clear picture for those of you who need alt text).

Happy 17th birthday to Long and Short Reviews!

As they do every year, they are once again throwing a gigantic birthday bash on their site from August 19 to 23 of this year.

This celebration includes a wide variety of genres:

  • Romance
  • Erotic Romance
  • YA, Middle Grade, and Children’s Fiction
  • Mystery/Suspense
  • Science Fiction and Fantasy
  • Horror
  • Mainstream Fiction
  • Non-fiction (memoirs, self-help, poetry, ect. )

If you’re an author, Long and Short Reviews would love to promote your book during this virtual party. Simply complete this form and they will get back to you about the payment process and when your post will be published. As of the time this post was written, there were still spaces available: https://form.jotform.com/41804468836160

The deadline for enrolment to participate is August 12, but I obviously can’t guarantee there will still be spots open if you wait until the last minute. Sometimes it fills up early!

If you’re a reader, get ready to discover all sorts of new books and authors. I’ve found some fantastic ones there over the years and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this time. There are also a ton of prizes to be won for folks who enter the drawings, including two $100 gift cards to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or another online bookseller of your choice.

The official Long and Short Reviews website has a page with all of the other details you’ll need to check this event out as well as another link to their submission form if you’d prefer to click through there instead.

This has  been one of my highlights of the summer for many years now, so I hope to see all of my readers over there in a few weeks when it begins.

 

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Would I Stay in a Haunted House? Why or Why Not?

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A black-and-white photo of a cobweb-covered staircase in an old house. On vthe right you see the stairs up to the landing. To the left you see the railing for the next flight of stairs up to the next floor, but you cannot see the stairs themselves due to how the staircase curves after the landing. I have already stayed in a haunted house! One of my relatives owns a townhouse that used to have shadow people in it a few decades ago.

The shadow people were never dangerous or violent. From what I’ve been told, you’d simply see them out of the corner of your eye or maybe catch a quick glimpse of a dark shadow walking across the room and then disappearing into a wall.

Sightings of these creatures stopped after a cleansing ritual was done many years ago.

While I did hear someone walking up the stairs there a couple of times when nobody was actually using the stairs, it was probably just the the sound of neighbours walking up their own stairs that echoed through their shared walls.

To make things more interesting, would I stay in a house with a more active supernatural presence?

Some places might have reputations as being haunted when they actually have raccoons or other creatures scurrying around in their attics and knocking stuff over or some other rational explanation for occasionally odd events. I’d stay there once all of the furry little intruders had been taken somewhere else, the squeaky hinges had been fixed, and all sources of cold drafts  wafting through the house had been repaired.

Other houses might be haunted by mischievous spirits who open kitchen cabinets at night but otherwise keep to themselves. I might be willing to stay there if that was the extent of their shenanigans. Honestly, sometimes I leave kitchen cabinet doors open by accident, too, so the ghosts would be in good company (and/or would be annoyed that this human is stealing their thunder).

If we’re talking about a genuinely haunted house that has any history of entities causing harm to the living, no thank you. I am not at all interested in fighting over real estate with anyone, supernatural or otherwise. There are plenty of other places in the world to live.

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