Like a little paranormal bump in the night? Like the feeling of someone’s hot breath caressing you neck only to turn and find no one there? Still jump from your door to the bed, terrified of the hand that may just reach out and grab you? Then this will be right up your alley!
Leslie Rule has definitively done for paranormal research what her mother Ann Rule has done for serial killers … put them square on the map and in your face.
I loved how not only did she include some of her favorite haunts from Ghosts Coast to Coast, and how she’s also provided updates as she’s found them, hammering in that Rule not only does her research, but KEEPS researching to provide any additional information. For those brave souls that love a good haunt, she’s even provided addresses, phone numbers and email addresses for some of the spooky amusement park ghosts.
The narrator, Lisa Flanagan, does a spectacular job of delivering Rule’s voice as well as adding a hauntingly, chilling flair as she navigates tales that range from fascinating to terrifying to even the disturbing.
This is a great addition for all those people who love a good ghost hunt, haunting, or eerie adventure. I will definitely be recommending this audiobook as. a paranormal dream.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #AndrewsMcMeelAudio, and of course the talented #LeslieRule for sending me this advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest opinions.
The perfect, renovated, expensive house in an upscale neighborhood. The perfect marriage and nuclear family. The perfect forgiveness of a husband and his previous affair. The perfect Halloween / birthday party thrown by the perfect husband for the perfect wife. The perfect killing of this husband leading to the “perfect” girlfriend and new baby in tow landing on a grieving widows doorstep. What could be more perfect than that?
Well, when KL Slater writes a novel, she will perfectly blow you away. So many suspects. So much craziness abound. This novel will keep you guessing, until her perfect ending that you just won’t see coming!
Highly recommended for those who love mystery/thrillers, family drama, and psychological suspense thrills. Who did it you ask? Grab The Girlfriend and jump in the mix. You won’t be sorry you did. A perfect addition to your October thrills and chills reads, conveniently being released Oct 27, 2022. You won’t want to miss this one!
Many thanks to #NetGalley, the publishers and author for sending me an ARC In exchange for my honest opinions.
Reading The Scarlet Letter in school was such an adventure for me. How women were treated, scorned for being different, and in their difference could be tried as a witch. I always wondered how Nathaniel Hawthorne came up with this tale. How in his writing, he in a sense, created the first female feminist.
This prequel tale is told in the 1800s (actually after when Hawthorne would have graduated college) with flashbacks to the 1600s witch trials in Salem. It’s a love story of sorts, interspersed with such rich history you can’t help being swept away with the story and vibrant characters created within. It’s a tale of a woman and all her secrets, and a man filled with all his ghosts, and how a chance meeting sparks the writing of The Scarlet Letter is imagined to have been born.
Witch trials, forbidden love, running from self and circumstance only finding you can’t outrun yourself, loss, friendships, death, secrets and the damage they inflict are only some of the adventures you will sail through on this imagined journey from Liverpool to Salem. Most of all, you will feel the indomitable strength of the women you meet.
This is definitely a 5 star book, and one you should not pass up!
I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.
Curfew by Jayne Cowie was a fast and fun read. Going into the novel, I tried to have zero preconceived notions or take into account any other reviews as I wanted to experience the novel from start to finish on my own, as a clean slate (okay, so as clean as I could be…)
This novel is another set in a “not so distant future” where females have taken the power “back” from males, and determined that violence stems from, and is perpetrated by men be allowed out in the evening to drink, and cat call, and sometimes even exude violence on the women trying to scurry from one safe place to another. Finding that when it came to violence, almost all was perpetrated by men, lawmakers enact a curfew, and an electronic tracking device installed as soon as make children reached the age of ten, and ensuring that all men are home “safely tucked away” starting at 7 pm. . Whoa- can you imagine those poor make children… being brought in to be cattle tagged, and by women who ensure that the tags can’t be removed or tampered with. No more running and playing outside, no more men paid more for work than women, gender gap equalized, women have become empowered. Think Britain in a whole Handmaids Tale situation, only female run.
This is where we meet Sarah, a working mother from an abusive relationship that has had her husband arrested for curfew violation, and supports the tagging so fiercely, she has become a target at the center herself. Her daughter Cass doesn’t but in to the whole men are the problem theory, and as a daddy’s girl, is non too pleased with her mother for having her father arrested. Teenage angst was NOT fixed by the trackers, and Cass has an ABUNDANCE of it to ooze around into her own life and, of course, into the lives of others around her. Her teacher. Her best friend. Her mother. Her moms job. You can see the trouble brewing a mile away.
Then the day comes when Cass is at her mother La job doing a job shadow experience when she witnesses her mother use a taser against one of the men in for a check of fitting of his tracker band. From that moment on, Cass makes decisions and choices that rock this book from there to the head spinning conclusion. It’s a wild ride, and I won’t spoil even one minute of it for you.
I will say, I am one of those readers that once the novel is finished, despite knowing all of the people that the “thank you’s” traditionally go to, I actually read every work of the acknowledgment section, as well as any other author left information as I am always intrigued as to The Who, how and why such novel came about. Cowie did not disappoint and I will say the information she presents about the rate of violence in Britain and its male driven numbers, she makes some crazy and long lasting impressions with her thoughts. As Cowie points out, the idea came for a “solution” to the violence – but did it work in theory in the novel, or are we shown what’s underneath… how violence can be created on both sides … she, of course , leaves that for you to decide. I suggest you take her up on this and get to preordering this gem for its release date of March 22, 2022. It’s a well done novel and one you won’t regret reading.
This was a 4 out of 5 star read for me. Thank you to #NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for an advanced ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
You can follow along with all my reviews and book art fun at http://www.oceansofbooks.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts as well!
James Rollins can put down some images that cause you to slink down and try your best to hide and not be noticed. This is the first book in a new series adventure of hidden secrets and ruthless control.
This is a complex tale with the introduction to, and eventual meeting up of a whole cast of characters tasked to save the world.
As with any epic, this is a long book. It does great at setting up this new universe. I will say that towards the last 10% of the book, I kept thinking “Really? ANOTHER battle? ANOTHER twist?? I guess for me I was ready to just wrap this one up and go on to book 2. This is a series I will look for the next book in, just know that in this one – one battle leads to another and another and another until your adrenaline is spent and all you want is a nap. Not saying it’s not a good story – just … you get it.
I will definitely be recommending this novel, and rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars – and I am excited for the next installment! Look for this first novel on its Jan 4, 2022 publication date at a retailer near you!
Thank you to #NetGalley, the publisher, and the author James Rollins for providing me with an electronic arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Welcome to the beautiful Home Owners Association of Arcadia. So beautiful. So tranquil. So perfect. Okay … so there may be some rules that are questionable… don’t be out after dark… no fences … keep where everyone can see all the way through your house … don’t lock doors … no breaking rules that go in and on. But, hey! Don’t we all suffer just a little bit for the person we love? Especially when seen through rose colored glasses and just determined they are just so perfect and that we were made for each other … soulmates of sorts. Right? Unless maybe the strange neighbors and their cryptic messages just might mean something. Or what about that nagging don’t go in the basement rule. Hmmmmm.
For me, this very short novella was a mash up of the strangest sort by billing it as horror with the necessary … horrific discoveries, but also encompassing the realm of fantasy, (think Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik,) a children’s story (The Three Little Bears) and then all of the above smashed into the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible. Whew. Is your head spinning yet?!
I can see this being used in a book club setting for the different nuances one can pick from the story and what other meanings might lay beneath the surface. It’s also just strange enough that when you get through your left thinking … huh. Interesting premise.
This was a 3 out of 5 star novel for me. I did like it. And the length is just perfect for reading as a palette cleanser between novel genre switching or just as a fast read.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley, the publisher and the author Catherynne Valente for providing me with an electronic arc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
I’d love for you to follow along with all my book reviews and book art fun! Leave a comment! Let me know what you thought! Happy reading my friends!
In the holiday spirit, a bunch of new items are being introduced into my #Etsy shop. Some of these are one of a kind, as they are made IN the book for which the design inspiration came from. Not only that, those one of a kind books are perfect collector items that add to the art. I love something I know that no one else has. What a talk piece. A conversation starter. I just love things that bring us together and allow us to talk about good things instead of the usual bad we are seeing these days.
One of my absolute #favorite #ChristmasMovies is A Christmas Story. Okay, who am I kidding. I can watch that movie anytime… but I especially love it on repeat starting around thanksgiving time and through the holiday season. Ralphie makes me want that Red Ryder BB Gun… almost as much as wanting the A++++++++++++++++++++++++ paper. Cue the wild applause!!!
This is a one of a kind silhouette art piece. While I was lucky and given a couple copies of the book, each one will have a different theme or image. I started with my favorite … “You’ll shoot your eye out!”
This is available for purchase on my Etsy site here ~ http://www.etsy.com/listing/1099683314/a-christmas-story-silhouette-book-art ~ but this won’t last long. I’m also including a few photos for you to see this awesome creation here as a sneak peek as well! What an awesome Christmas gift, or even an addition to your own holiday decor or home decor.
Oh boy! The bunny suit too?! Oh that hidden Red Ryder BB Gun!! Oh my!! A Red Ryder BB Gun ad?!
How is any Christmas complete without the chilling tale of Mr. Charles Dickens telling us to watch our step with the haunting A Christmas Carol. This is also a one of a kind creation placed in a gorgeous copy of the novel. You can find it in my Etsy shop here ~ http://www.etsy.com/listing/1113872337/a-christmas-carol-silhouette-book-art ~ but like the previous art piece, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
I just love this tale! Oh Marley, those chains do look ever so heavy. Good thing Tiny Tim is there to bless us all! And this book has lighted bling! What an awesome image!
You just can’t imagine how gorgeous this is in person! Hand drawing and cutting each piece. Including those songbooks and the puppy!
I’ve also added one featuring a fathers love. You know, those sweet dads holding their babies hands. Taking them fishing. Those are memories and sites that live in us long after the event has happened. This tribute to a dads love can be seen soon on my Etsy site, but here’s a sneak preview here !
So many paper flowers and bling! I’m in love too! So sweet! Look at that aurora borealis shine!
There are many other silhouette books also for sale in my Etsy shop. This year, with pipelines shut down, why not #shoplocal and #supportsmallbusinesses and #supportlocalartists by adding one of these timeless pieces to your home, or purchase for someone you love today. There’s no better way to make someone smile that with #custom book art!
Oh Sherlock, do tell! Oh bother! Alice! And we’re off to see the wizard!
Thanks for reading my blog. I do hope you will follow along with my book reviews and book art fun! Leave me a comment and tell me what you think of the art! Until next time … happy reading and happy adding of recycled folded book art in your life!
This year has been incredibly trying due to the long reaching, and seemingly never ending, effects of the pandemic. USPS had become slower, things are lost more often when shipped, people are so paranoid they are absconding with other peoples packages left by delivery drivers, even IF the are captured on the home they are violating, or a neighbors door camera device. Shipping pipelines shutting down meaning less stock on our shelves, also warranting companies to gouge those already high prices to astronomical levels. Food prices soaring, ability to work decreased or hindered all together – and here we are … again at the precipice of another holiday season.
It’s a lot to take in. With reopening of holidays and space and gathering numbers returning to “normal” – people just want to have fun. Let loose. Mingle and mix and do everything bigger and better. Unfortunately that’s not possible for everyone. And with constraints on living and eating at an all time high – the word giving should be taking on newer and more heartfelt gestures this year of all years. We’ve had it tough. So much unrest and uncertainty.
So what’s the answer? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine, is as good as those in higher positions, and so on and so forth. I think for me, it’s the return to giving hand made crafts, crafts and items made by hands specifically for the person intended. The thought, the knowledge of the receiver, the amount of love and kindness doesn’t have to come from a big factory, be a store bought thing.
This year, why not look at sites like Etsy? Handcrafted with love is all over that site, and as a bonus, a lot of the sellers offer free shipping! Everyone knows that free shipping is dollars you aren’t adding to the price and taxes associated with purchases. Bam! And straight to your door! No muss, no fuss, and no venturing out in flu plus pandemic season chaos!
I started my journey into the craft world after suffering a stroke, at work, ON my birthday, from an undiagnosed brain aneurysm. Who knew?! Before the stroke I was very science minded, where as after the stroke I found that I had this huge creative side that opened up.
As I am sure you can tell from my blogging choices, I absolutely love books. I have my whole life. The more the merrier and the happier I feel. When I learned that books deemed “unworthy” or that had outlived their shelf life (oh boy – shelf life …hmmm 😂) were sent to warehouses to be either destroyed or forgotten to mold in stuffed away places. How sad! So of course, my medium has settled to book art. While I do all kinds of art, (the drawing, painting, cutting, coordinating, floral arrangements and wreath making, vinyl work, wall art, paper art, etc) my favorite integration is, of course, these beautiful recycled books, and all of the crazy creations I can turn them into.
I mean seriously … I made a book lamp that lights up!
I’ve just listed my two newest Angel Folded Book Art Sculptures in time for Christmas. I’m adding new things and new designs quite frequently too! There’s A Christmas Story silhouette book art series coming out that will all be ONE OF A KIND, and IN the original book that started that movie craze.
You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!!!!!
There will be a couple of original and ONE OF A KIND, and IN the original A Christmas Carol silhouette book, that when these are gone they are gone so be sure to keep checking.
Oh Bah-Humbug, you old Scrooge!
There’s even coming to Etsy a Sherlock Holmes Silhouette fold book that will also be ONE OF A KIND, and IN the original leather book which is absolutely gorgeous! Again, when this sells out it’s gone.
I do make all of these featured in just whatever book I am working with on the site, available to purchase as well, for slightly less in price, but they DO NOT come in the book from which the image displayed is from. Just another collector bonus. I also customize so you can choose your ribbon or flower colors! You can see the Sherlock Holmes silhouette book NOT in the Sherlock Holmes book, but just in a recycled book in my Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/690906295/sherlock-holmes-folded-book-art but no two versions are quite the same. There are other silhouette books listed there as well.
Speaking of flowers, there will also be new vase appearances both in the book and free standing, as well as candles, music boxes, carousels, nativity sets, fairy houses, bird houses, and a few more brand new items as well. So keep checking http://www.etsy.com/shop/FallingInPaints for more to come!
Without further ado, introducing the Gold and White Angel Folded Book Art Sculpture with its absolutely stunning floral rose bouquet and glitter painted shine is an absolute room stopper. Walking around her in the different ways light hits her has her sparkling and sending positive and good luck for you this holiday season, and everyday as a reminder that there are good things watching over us. You can find it here on Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/listing/1095140950/gold-and-white-angel-book-art-sculpture or you can view it here on Pinterest, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/648236940123985445/ or I have put a couple right here for you to see!
She is just stunning! Those 6 tiny handmade roses in that bouquet!
Also added is the Black and White Gingham Angel Folded Book Art Sculpture, featuring another gorgeous rose bouquet as well as black ribbon rose, black and white glitter and black and white ink design. Oh my goodness, she’s a showstopper. No photograph captures just how stunning they are in person, and a customer review even pointed this out. They are crazy pretty. You can see this gorgeous angel on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/1109082215/black-and-white-gingham-angel-book-art and at Pinterest here: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/648236940123985294/, and of course I have put a couple here as well.
Words and photos just don’t do it. Such a looker. I just love making tiny rose bouquets!
Everything on these angels is folded by me, cut by hand, painted and decorated so that I’ve never had duplicate art, personalized, and made with tons of love and attention. Most things have any where from hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands of cuts and folds. And that’s before any of the hard work and magic happens. What better way to spread love and not break the bank, as well as avoiding all the stress and headache from hoping your stuff gets through the pipelines … yeahhh… I’d be a Grinch for sure!
Oh Mr. Pipeline trouble makers…
I do hope this helps you with creative ideas for holiday gifts, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, showers, parties, I love you gifts, or simply for those book lovers that enjoy showcasing their love in a new and improved form!
Thank you so much for reading my blog and I do hope you will be so kind as to leave me a comment, follow along with me on this book review and book art journey, visit the #Etsy shop, and customize and send some unique love to yourself or loved ones! May your holiday season be filled with loved ones, good memories, good times, and blessings abound!
Have you ever had a book come along at the right time and just sweep you away to a place where not only are your troubles forgotten for awhile, but you feel better about them once finishing the final sentence before? If you haven’t, THIS IS YOUR BOOK!!
Sleeping beauty as a tale has been told countless times in so many various ways, but Alix Harrow, in my opinion, takes the cake with this retelling.
Do you like your traditional medieval princess with poofy dresses and flowery language? Check! Or, do you prefer your princess to be more of the Viking, battle trodden, large as a house and takes no guff variety? That’s also a check! What about that dark 90s type, short hair, loner kind of princess? You’re still in luck! Prefer your princess to be futuristic with sleek silver lines and come equipped with a blaster? Oh yeah. Harrow still has you covered! You say you prefer your princess to be modern, of this day, toting a cell phone, typical youthful, colorful language, and sporting a best friend that brings the power of equality for LGBTQIA+ rights? Yup, this book packs a princess with a punch for all tastes!
Then add in the cosmic twist of multiverse themes and princesses and witches throughout time and you have one heck of an amazing read. I will shamelessly admit I woke this morning at 3:45 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I opened my kindle and chose A Spindle Splintered and oh my goodness, I read the entire thing in about 3 hours, tapping furiously on my kindle, flying through this adventure with wild abandon, reaching the end and wanting desperately for there to me more. This is the third book by Harrow I have now read and I must say, I have become a huge fan, patiently (ok maybe not so patiently – silently begging her creative juices to keep kicking in) waiting for the next novel with her name attached.
If you haven’t read her, why? If you need a feel good, page turning book addiction, jump on that electronic gizmo you have and pre-order this for its release date October 5, 2021. Just in time for the veil between the worlds becoming thinner around Halloween. Harrow is spot on in her dedication of this book “for everyone who deserves a better story than the one they have.” What more can you say?
Just read it!!! You’ll be glad you did!
So many thanks to #NetGalley, MacMillan-Tor/Forge, and the master spinner of female empowered fairy tales Alix E. Harrow for providing me with an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is one EVERYONE could use in their life. Read it!! Highly 5 out of 5 star recommend!
Thank you so much for reading my opinions. I hope you decide to follow along with my book reviews and book art journey… all we can do is be there for one another and sharing is the best! Leave a comment. Tell me what you think. How did you like it? What are you reading or would you recommend? I try to review based on would I purchase it or wait for the library, or skip this one all together. This is a definite win! Buy it! It’s worth it!
I always believe reviews are for just this purpose, but in case you missed the synopsis of the book… who better to give it to you than the publisher … so enjoy!
USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story. Featuring Arthur Rackham’s original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined.
“A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales.” ―Katherine Arden
It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one.
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.
Happy reading my friends! I hope you like, comment and subscribe to my love of all things bookish! Have a great day!
If you love witches, witch trials, an atmospheric time period with a dueling timeline, and a hauntingly beautiful story, well this is the book for you.
Told between 1998 and 2020 alternating people and timelines, this witch tale brings about the whole realization that the past, plus the present is all wrapped up in the future. That forgiveness is in itself time travel.
To forgive you have to go back ,.. truly forgive.. then move on…
From the opening chapter, I thought this was going to be a bloody, brutal portraying of the witch trials that so needlessly happened around the world, but was pleasantly shocked and amazed to find it was also a love story – a ballad to family, both what we are given, as well as what we make, and a story that will leave you aching to return to this tale over and over. It’s one of those novels you are both thrilled you dived into, as well as one you just wish you hadn’t cracked the magic open so you could relive that feeling all over again.
I’d definitely rate this a 4 to a 4.5 out of 5 star read for me. This is one I highly recommend you jump to pre-order, or snap up as quick as you can! Everyone needs a little magic in their life.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #BerkleyPublishingGroup, #Berkley, and the hauntingly talented C. J. Cooke ( @CJessCooke) for the electronic ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
This should definitely be on your radar for release day October 5, 2021!
Better hurry before they are all gone!
Thank you so much for reading my opinions. I strive to review based on would I spend my hard earned money to purchase this book, wait for the library, or skip it all together. I figure should you be reading reviews, you know the book premise as the publisher always sums it up so well. This is one I will recommend as it’s just that great of a story! I hope that you will join in my journey of book reviews and book art pieces. I appreciate you. What are you reading? Any recommendations? Have you read this novel? What were your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you!
If you missed the book synopsis… here you go! Straight from the publisher !
Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found–but she’s still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.
When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it’s an opportunity to start over with her three daughters–Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she’s frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.
Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her.”
The Lighthouse Witches, by C.J. Cooke
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Oceans of Books 