September 15, 2022 · 1:00 am

Dreaming of Happily Ever After: A Review of Somewhere in Time

Somewhere in Time by Fizza Younis book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a sun and stars superimposed on an actual photo of the night sky that has a few hazy clouds (or maybe galaxies?) floating through it. Title: Somewhere in Time

Author: Fizza Younis

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 31, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary, Historical

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

It’s a fairy tale retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty, set between the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, the story has a darker paranormal twist, and no happily-ever-after within sight. But what the future holds for our beloved characters, Aurora and Prince Phillip, is yet to be determined.

Review:

Content Warning: mafia, murder, suicide, and a brief mention of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Get ready for a wild ride.

This tale was a delightful mixture of topics I’d never think to include in the same storyline like the mafia, the Covid-19 pandemic, and Sleeping Beauty. I admire authors who are willing to take risks like this with their writing. It makes for an exciting reading experience for those of us who are well-versed in the fantasy genre and who can be difficult to surprise. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for what Ms. Younis writes next, although I won’t try to guess where her vivid and playful imagination might wander.

Fairy tales don’t have to explain everything, of course, but I found myself wishing this one had gone into more details about how the magic works in this world. For example, the reason why Aurora fell into her deep sleep never made sense to me. I could accept the magical veil that protected her and her stately home while she slept, but it sure would have been nice to know why this spell existed in the first place and under what conditions she might wake up. There were so many other changes to the classic Sleeping Beauty story in this retelling that I didn’t think I should make any assumptions about who or what might have caused these magical events. If the author had been clearer about this, I would have happily chosen a higher rating.

The ending made me yearn for more. I wanted to know how Aurora adjusted to the world after her long nap and what she was planning to do with the rest of her life. Given that this was a fairy tale, though, it did make sense to stop at that moment. Princesses have nearly always been traditionally been described as living happily ever after, and I’m hoping the same can be said about heiresses who wake up in the modern world. Who knows? Maybe we’ll someday get a sequel and find out for sure.

Somewhere in Time kept me guessing until the final sentence.

 

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September 14, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What Makes You Pick Up or Buy a Book?

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Woman holding antique book with blue cover in front of her face. Let’s see if I can answer this question without writing a whole book on the topic. Ha!

I prefer shorter works, so short stories and novellas rise to the top of my queue faster than books that are 200+ pages long. If something is more than 300 pages, I probably won’t read it unless it’s otherwise irresistible to me.

I like standalone stories.  It’s been my experience that they tend to have more concise writing, faster plots, and better character development because the author knows that he or she has limited time with which to get these things accomplished. Of course, there are  exceptions to this rule, and I love finding series that offer steady character and plot development from their first instalment to their last one.

I enjoy moderate amounts of descriptive passages. That is to say, give me a couple of pages describing what a setting looks like, but I’d prefer not to read Tolkien-esque descriptions that go on for a dozen pages unless there’s some rare, pressing need for that much detail. For example, some fantasy novels genuinely do need many pages to describe how things work in their world, but a contemporary romance or mystery almost certainly will not.

I love to be surprised. Authors who are intimately familiar with the tropes of their genre and have some indication that those tropes will be gently poked fun at, turned upside down, or otherwise subverted will grab my attention immediately. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is an excellent example of this, but I’ll happily read authors from any genre who pull this off. It’s much harder than it might look, but it’s so rewarding when it happens.

Here are some of the topics that will immediately make me read at least the first page of a book if they’re mentioned in the title or blurb:

  • (Non-romance) paranormal stories
  • Adoption, foster care, chosen families, etc. I have several adopted or chosen relatives and find these topics quite interesting.
  • Prehistory (hunter-gatherers, Neanderthals, mammoths, dinosaurs, etc.)
  • Hopeful speculative fiction
  • Alternate history books that aren’t about Hitler or World War II
  • Sapphic main characters (if they get to live happily ever after)
  • Stories about wild or domesticated animals (if they get to live happily ever after)
  • Non-fiction about the lives of ordinary people or historical events that usually aren’t taught in school. Learning new things is amazing.
  • Soothing fiction in general. Give me happy endings instead of heartbreaking ones.

I used to adore psychological horror, too, but have cut way back on that during this pandemic. Maybe someday I can handle being scared more often again.

I’ve also been making an effort to diversify my reading, so any books about people who are not Caucasian and/or who don’t live in North America float to the top of the list. Authors and characters who have medical conditions, disabilities, religious beliefs, etc. that I don’t have personal experience with are being prioritized, too.

You can learn so much about the world by seeing it through other people’s perspectives.

Anyway, that is a brief overview of my taste in books. I can’t wait to read what all of you had to say on this topic.

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September 13, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Geographical Terms in the Title


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A wetland filled with still water and surrounded by a forest of deciduous trees. The geographical term I chose for this week’s prompt is wetlands. That is to say, areas of land that link water and land together. Some of them are always wet, while others can go through periods of being as dry as regular land depending on the season. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs.

I chose this term because one of the places I grew up in used to be a wetland before the land was drained and turned into farmland. It’s a beautiful place, but the mosquitoes there are overwhelming in the summer. I’ve often wished that my ancestors had left it the way it originally was and built their homes somewhere else instead.

1. Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination by Barbara Hurd

2. Swampwalker’s Journal: A Wetlands Year by David M. Carroll

3. Danger in Blackwater Swamp by Saundra Kelley

4. Birds of Lake Pond & Marsh: Water and Wetland Birds of Eastern North America by John Eastman

5. The Ghost Orchid Ghost: And Other Tales from the Swamp by Doug Alderson

Closeup photo of a frog sitting calmly in a pond next to some algae and reeds.

6. The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald

7. The Geese of Beaver Bog by Bernd Heinrich

8. In the Salt Marsh by Nancy Willard

9. Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story by Thomas F. Yezerski

10. The Bog by Michael Talbot

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September 8, 2022 · 1:00 am

Rooting Out Evil: A Review of Secrets of the Under Market

Secrets of the Under Market by Krysten Harlow book cover. Image on cover shows a glowing yellow coin with yellow lights orbiting it and some sort of archaic writing on it. Title: Secrets of the Under Market

Author: Krysten Harlow

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: May 4, 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 73 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Mortal Instruments meets Hellboy in this riveting urban fantasy series that is a prequel to the Visions of Darkness Trilogy.”

He was born into a rare demon-hunting lineage…

All his life, Max Damiano has trained with his family and waited for his arcane talent to awaken. On the morning of his fourteenth birthday, his wish is granted: he is a telekinetic.

Now he can fully take part in the family’s Work of keeping the world safe from demons, remnants of a long-gone universe, the Qlippoth, whose very existence is inimical to our world’s reality. His first assignment? To investigate the disappearance of a dozen children in the New York City area. In the center of the disappearances is the New York Under Market, a market for the arcane community run by the transglobal Underwood Corporation.

Concerned that their Market is at the center of these alarming disappearances, the Underwood Corporation hires Max and two of his siblings, Tom and Sadie, to investigate. Will they be able to catch the demonic malefactor in time?

One thing is for sure, it will not go quietly.

Review:

Content Warning: spiders, the kidnapping of human children, and the killing and dismemberment of demons. I will not mention these topics in my review.

Never underestimate a demon.

Character development is one of those writing things that can be trickier to display in a relatively short work like this one than it would be in a full-length novel. I mentioned this first so that my next sentence would have some context to it. Seeing how Max changed as a result of his adventures was delightful. He behaved just like any fourteen-year-old should as far as his emotional and cognitive development went, but I also saw exciting glimpses of the adult he would soon become. Honestly, that’s all that’s needed in the beginning of a series. I’m glad the author included them while still leaving plenty of room for further development in future instalments.

I would have preferred to see a faster pacing in this novella. There were times when my interest in it wavered because of how long it took for the next action-heavy scene to appear. Introducing the characters and setting was obviously important, but I did find myself wishing that those descpritons and conversations had been broken up more often by conflicts with demons or similar events. The author had plenty of material to work with, and I would have happily gone with a much higher rating if the pacing had been sped up.

The world building in this novella was extensive and impressive. I actually stopped reading a few chapters in to confirm that I hadn’t accidentally started halfway through the series. There was so much attention paid to the countless little details that make a fictional world come to life in my imagination that it was hard to believe this was the introduction, and I mean that in the best possible way. This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish in a prequel by any means. Ms. Harlow should be proud of how seamlessly she wove everything together.

Secrets of the Under Market made me smile.

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September 7, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Plot Line You Love to Read/Watch and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

I so badly wanted to pick about a dozen different answers for this topic, but I will follow the rules and stick to one.

A drawing of a halo and some angel wings. My all-time favourite plot line is rebirth. That is to say, the audience is introduced to a morally ambiguous character (or even a downright jerk) who learns the error of his or her ways and eventually make a genuine and permanent change in their behaviour for the better.

The keywords there are genuine and permanent. If a character is truly a terribly human being when we first meet them, I’m going to need to see a lot more time dedicated to showing how they realized they were causing harm to others and how hard they worked to correct their faults than if they were someone whose might have only been moderately irritating instead.

This is not an easy feat for storytellers to accomplish by any means, but when it’s done correctly it gives me so much hope for the future of humanity. Another cool thing about this plot line is that it shows up in every single genre one can imagine which makes it even more exciting to discover. Whether you love reading romance, mysteries, horror, science fiction, fantasy, or some other genre entirely, you stand an excellent chance of stumbling across a character who follows this pattern sooner rather than later.

Here are some examples of films, tv shows, and books that make good use of this plot line:

Traditionally, characters needed to be rescued by someone else when this plot line showed up, but contemporary takes on the topic often show characters who are much more assertive about realizing there’s a problem with how they behave and working to on their own to correct it.

I’m happy with either approach to the subject.

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September 6, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A kindle surrounded by leaves, acorns, and yellow autumn flowers. I don’t own a lot of books due to how amazing my local public library is, but here are some I loved that I do own in ebook form.

If I’ve written a review for a particular book, the link will take you to my review of it. In all other cases, it will go to Goodreads instead.

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama

2. My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

3. The Visitor by Mark Lawrence

4. The Reluctant Familiar’s Guide to Christmas Tree Defence by Bethany Hoeflich

5. Safer at Home by Zoe Cannon

6. Boo and the Boy by Wayne Barrett

7. 1NG4 by Berthold Gambrel

8. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

9. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

How many of you also have wonderful local libraries? I hope all of you can say yes to that question!

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September 1, 2022 · 1:00 am

Reasonable Assumptions: A Review of The Interview

The Interview by Liz Tuckwell book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a red headed woman being interviewed by two black-haired people. There is one red ajar door behind the person on the left and one closed door behind the person on the right. Title: The Interview

Author: Liz Tuckwell

Publisher: Green Griffin Books (Self-Published)

Publication Date: August 6, 2021

Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary

Length: 22 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

 

Melissa’s being interviewed

… for a job she never applied for

… and she doesn’t know the name of the company

The interviewers ask some very strange questions before offering her the job of Junior Executive.

Even stranger – they insist every candidate, whether successful or not, leaves by one of two doors at the end of the offices.

What lies behind the doors?

Something unexpected and supernatural.

You’ll enjoy finding out what it is. Get it now.

Review:

Content Warning: Motorbike accident.

How would you respond to a frustrating and illogical job interview?

Yes, the premise of this short story will probably be easy to figure out for anyone who has read or watched something similar in the past. I’ll have to dance around the twist during the course of this review, but what I liked about Ms. Tuckwell’s approach to it was how she explored Melissa’s reactions to things like being asked if she had a boyfriend or needing to sit in a waiting room for a long time before the actual interview began. Little moments like these can reveal a lot about someone’s personality and character, both of which were displayed clearly to the audience.

I did find myself wishing that the interview itself had included some harder questions. It seemed a little odd to me that her interviewers veered off into unrelated topics when they were trying to figure out if Melissa was the right fit for what she was interviewing for. If only there had been a scene at the end that explained their thought processes here. I would have loved to understand why they chose the questions they did instead of many others that may have made their point clearer.

The ending was delightful. Even though I knew what was coming in advance, I still loved seeing everything play out the way I thought it would. It also left plenty of room for a sequel if the author ever decides to write one. While this was satisfying on its own, I’d definitely be interested in learning more about how the interview process worked and what happened to people after all of the data had been collected and analyzed.

The Interview was a thought-provoking read.

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August 31, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Plot Line You Refuse to Read/Watch and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here 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 topic was a little tricky for me because I’m an adventurous and eclectic reader. I don’t regularly read romance, non-paranormal horror, westerns, or mysteries, but I have no problem picking up a book from one or more of those genres if a trope or clever plot twist in them tickles my fancy.

A stack of white cards arranged in a spiral pattern. The top card says, “no.”Of course, I still draw boundaries about what I’m willing to read and watch. I do not consume stories that make excuses for violence, hatred, or any form of abuse.

That is to say, I may read about these topics if they are themes in a story that otherwise appeals to me. They are a sad part of life, after all, and some authors have marvellous things to say about how people have risen about these experiences and helped others to escape them, too.

I will not read authors who make abusive relationships sound romantic or normal or who demonize entire groups of people for immutable characteristics like race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, etc.

Luckily, authors who write this way generally give hints that they will go in those directions within the first chapter or so based on the ugly comments they often make about their characters while introducing them.  Older novels are more likely to share such views in some cases, although there are still plenty of them that do not cross this line.

The beautiful part of reading book reviews is that many of them will mention stuff like this. I have only had to write a few such warnings in the hundreds of reviews I’ve written, but I think it’s better to let people know in advance than it is to give them a terrible surprise when they were expecting to read something nice.

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August 30, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Microhistory Books Worth Reading


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Vintage photos of people from the 1800s through to about the 1940s. Today’s theme is a school freebie, so I’m going to talk about something that doesn’t usually fit into the speculative fiction I blog about here.

As per Wikipedia, microhistory “is the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research (most often a single event, the community of a village, a family or a person).”

I enjoy learning about history in general, but microhistory is by far my favorite way to explore the past.

You can learn so much about all of our ancestors by exploring how they handled incurable diseases, dealt with racism, treated orphans, decided what to eat, and so much more.

All of these books are excellent, by the way!

If you have any suggestions of similar reads or enjoyed the ones I’m about to share, I’d love to hear about it. If you’re not a fan of history, tell me what subjects you did like in school.

Let’s geek out together.

 

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of London in the 1800s.

1. The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of Henrietta Lacks before she was diagnosed with incurable cancer. She is smiling and has a hand on one hip.

2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

 

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky book cover. Image on cover shows a white piece of paper that’s been crumpled up to look like a salt shaker.

3. Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

 

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore Book cover. Image on cover shows four young flapper women talking during a photo. There is a green hue overlaid them to symbolize the radium that poisoned them.

4. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore

 

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel book cover. Image on cover shows the tile of the book on a sticker that’s stuck on a ripe, yellow banana.

5. Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel

 

Children's Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain's Young by Peter Higginbotham Book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of a man who founded a children’s home as well as a photo of orphans sitting together in a dirty room.

6. Children’s Homes: A History of Institutional Care for Britain’s Young by Peter Higginbotham

 

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly book cover. Image on cover shows a black-and-white photo of young African-American girls in the mid-20th century.

7. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

 

The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages Book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of Tom Thompson standing on a log while wearing a knit cap and some working clothes.

8. The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages

 

Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders Book cover. Image on cover shows an oil painting of a large Victorian family sitting around a table eating dinner.

9. Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders

 

nd the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts Book cover. There is no accompanying image for this cover. It only shows the title and author on a white and yellow background.

10. And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

 

. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade by Ann Fessler Book cover. Image on cover shows yearbook photos of girls in the 1960s.

11. The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade by Ann Fessler

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August 25, 2022 · 1:00 am

Making Their Moves: A Review of Empty Smiles

Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of an evil running clown. Behind him are two children running away from him while carrying two blue balloons each. Title: Empty Smiles (Small Spaces #4)

Author: Katherine Arden

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: August 9, 2022

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Contemporary

Length: 256 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Katherine thrills once again in the finale to the critically acclaimed, spook-tacular quartet that began with Small Spaces.

It’s been three months since Ollie made a daring deal with the smiling man to save those she loved, and then vanished without a trace. The smiling man promised Coco, Brian and Phil, that they’d have a chance to save her, but as time goes by, they begin to worry that the smiling man has lied to them and Ollie is gone forever. But finally, a clue surfaces. A boy who went missing at a nearby traveling carnival appears at the town swimming hole, terrified and rambling. He tells anyone who’ll listen about the mysterious man who took him. How the man agreed to let him go on one condition: that he deliver a message. Play if you dare.

Game on! The smiling man has finally made his move. Now it’s Coco, Brian, and Phil’s turn to make theirs. And they know just where to start. The traveling carnival is coming to Evansburg.

Meanwhile, Ollie is trapped in the world behind the mist, learning the horrifying secrets of the smiling man’s carnival, trying everything to help her friends find her. Brian, Coco and Phil will risk everything to rescue Ollie—but they all soon realize this game is much more dangerous than the ones before. This time the smiling man is playing for keeps.

The summer nights are short, and Ollie, Coco, Brian, and Phil have only until sunrise to beat him once and for all—or it’s game over for everyone.

Review:

Content Warning: Scary clowns, kidnapping, a sprained ankle, and a little blood (think the amount that can be staunched by what you’d find in the typical home first aid kit. It wasn’t gory).

Summer carnivals are supposed to be cheerful places, so why is this one so scary?

The character development was handled nicely. Coco and Brian were reluctant to tell the adults in their lives what was really happening during their previous encounters with the smiling man even when they were in terrible danger. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover all of the details of how they responded, but I was pleased to see how seriously they took their safety this time around. It’s always nice to read stories about people who grow and change as a result of their past experiences. We all make mistakes sometimes, but there is something to be said for folks learning from the past and trying to improve the way they react to scary unexpected things.

One of the biggest unanswered questions in this series has been the smiling man’s motivation for everything he’s done to Coco, Brian, Ollie, and the other people he has interacted with. I started reading with high hopes that he’d explain why he chose these particular people as his victims and what he wanted to accomplish. Without giving away more than the mildest of spoilers, I was disappointed with the vague answer that was provided here. After spending four books getting to know him and coming up with my own theories about why he behaved the way he did, I was really hoping for more closure. If only the author had made her intentions clearer in this area. Was it a reference to how people in real life also do terrible things sometimes without anyone ever figuring out why? Am I expecting too much from something written for kids? Despite this being branded as a quartet, is there secretly a prequel on the way that will explain his origins and desires? I can only hope that prequel idea will really happen!

I have always enjoyed reading about the friendships between these characters. Their bonds were strengthened in this book in all sorts of wonderful ways, some of which included fun callbacks to their earlier adventures. It made me smile to read about characters who genuinely liked each other and would do anything to help their friends. I saw glimpses of the teens and adults they may become someday in the way they behaved at their current ages.

This is the fourth instalment in the Small Spaces quartet. Be sure to read Small Spaces, Dead Voices, and Dark Waters first as there were many references to those tales that will only make sense to people who are caught up on everything.

Empty Smiles was deliciously spooky.

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