An Unwavering Recommendation…
Usually, I post about the books I read, the friends I find within each story and reconnecting with them. And right now I am reconnecting with Olivia and Gabriel–and all the mystery and magic of Cainsville. But I wanted to tell you about something seemingly unconnected and in the process I will explain the thought train that led to this post.
I love reading, as you know all to well. And I dislike audiobooks because depending on narrator, the book can be enriched through the process of creating an audiobook or it can be ruined by the slightest thing-a name pronounced differently, an accent that is different than what was expected or any other of a million reasons. When we read a book, we imagine the characters, their accents, and a million other things. An audiobook can ruin that because it makes the elements written in stone and each of these things can skew the enjoyment of the book.
I have been a long time fan of the Elfquest comic book series. When I first found them they had been reprinted as a graphic novel and were in color. When they later rereleased the comics in Black and White, they used a similar explanation–that the coloration of the comics limited the possibilities and locked the characters descriptions in stone. Printing the comics in black and white allowed for infinite possibilities and for the enjoyment of the stories in a whole new way.
For years I was a physical book reader, and my daughter still is. For her a book has to have a physical presence in order to be a book. Ebooks do not work for her-without the pages to flip and the smell of the paper and weight of the book in her hands, they do not seem real to her. Now, I fully enjoy all the facets of having ebooks- the ability to carry hundreds or thousands of books in the palm of my hand, rather than having to carry an extra suitcase on trips. I enjoy having multiple copies of the books in multiple places and the ability to transfer from device to device. I was and am a firm supporter of amazon kindles and have been for a long time.
Anyone who reads ebooks should look into the freeware program Calibre. It allows you to organize your library by author or series or even by publication date. It allows you to convert your books from one format to another and that allows you to use multiple devices. It can also manage your devices. You can merge files together (using plugins) and a million other things.
So now I have found the best program for my needs to be google play books. First off, google offers 24-7 tech support on using the play books app for free. In addition to allowing books to be read on multiple devices, with your progress in each book being communicated no matter which device you read the books upon. Google Play has a read aloud feature-it uses a computer voice of your choice. Much like the black and white comics, it still allows me to add the details to the story. It also allows me to speed up the reading so I can keep pace with where I would be approximately without using the read aloud feature.
So, whats the point of this long rambling post? It’s actually quite simple. My smartphone has become my reading device of choice. And protecting that smartphone has become VERY important. While there are a million choices in the market for cases, tempered glass protectors or plastic film protectors I want to speak with you about my experience with a company called Skinomi. They produce plastic film phone protectors. You can buy one just for the front screen, one for coverage of the entire device (front, back and sides), or one for just the front and back. he plastic film is self healing and the have a lifetime warranty on their products. They now have lines that can be used to change the look of your phone from wood to tempered steel or even cool black carbonite looking skin.
They are the best phone protectors out there. I have used a lot of different ones, but theirs have stood the test of time with each of my phones. In addition, they have exceptional customer service and replace your screen protector if there is an error in installation or for some other reason you need a new one. And it is a lifetime replacement on their products and there is a bubble free guarantee. So protect your phone-get a skinomi protector, they are the best on the market and worth the price!
Hooray, Hooray Hooray today will be a beautiful day…
OK, Fangirl has emerged at this end of the computer. It is completely in charge of all content from this point forward
Seanan McGuire is an amazing writer and has been one of my favorites since I read her first October Daye novel All her book titles come from Shakespeare. Her sarcastic wit, her amazing take on old lore and the incredible way she spun a tale.
When the Incryptid series came along–OMG there is no end to the “soundbite” moments in these books. From the quotes at the beginning of each chapter to the millions of quirky statements made back and forth as well as just the familial dynamics. Add in a world of supernaturals trying to stay under the radar but who nee help to survive, the Price family of cryptozoologists who are familiar enough with all the cryptids unique biology, an organization dedicated to the elimination of all cryptids from the planet that the Prices defected from generations ago. Add in talking mice (who worship the human prices and record every word ever spoken as gospel and created a religion around them) and you have got an addicting series of books!
Next up came the kindle serialized indexing and Indexing Reflections stories and not only did we get a covert agency dealing with the supernatural but we learned that there is an actual folk lore and fairy tale index!
When I learned she was up for a HUGO, I was super excited! But on Monday, while I was attending parent teacher conferences and mourning the fact I have a high schooler now (who by the way is Seanan Mcguire’s absolute biggest fan) Seanan Mcguire won the HUGO award !!!!
[Top]Happy Book Birthday to Kelley Armstrong
So, I did my happy dance about two hours ago, when my copy of Rituals hit my google play library. I’ve been posting a lot recently about the giveaways leading up to this, the final installment in Cainsville. For those of you wondering what on g-ds green earth is she talking about, I will try to explain.
Kelley Armstrong gained fame and notoriety with her women of the otherworld series. It started with Bitten, the story of Elena Micheals the only female werewolf. The series was exceptionally different as each book followed different strong woman of the otherworld. The otherworld was the paranormal world that coexisted with our world, but in secret and containing all the supernatural creatures. Many of us were greatly saddened by the end of the series and we have enjoyed each and every one of the short stories that continued to follow the stories of all our favorite characters, bringing our friends stories back into our lives.
These stories success opened the door for her Nadia Stafford series, about an assassin who is partially retired but somehow keeps getting sucked back into all kinds of shenanigans. Kelley Armstrong had written some other stand alones as well as some young adult series.
After the main storyline of women of otherworld concluded, except for the small vignettes the short stories allowed for quick peeks at how our characters were faring, Kelley Armstrong started two new series for fans to get excited about. The Casey Duncan series follows the main character, a trained police officer as she struggles to help her best friend with an abusive ex husband who seems to always find them which means they are constantly on the run. This continues until they hear of a rumor, a town whispered about where you really can disappear because there is no technology and the town exists on no map. It means that everyone must do whatever jobs they can and they live an almost communal type life. But rather than being created around an ideal of free love it is the idea that everyone, sometimes, needs a do-over and a way to disappear. But now there are murders occurring where people go to disappear after extensive background checks and thus begins the Casey Duncan series.
The other story, Cainsville, that Kelley Armstrong started seemed to be a more traditional fiction book. It centered around the world of Olivia Taylor-Jones, a vapid socialite who discovers that her true parents were serial killers. But as the story progressed it became more and more paranormal, calling on ancient Celtic lore. This is the final book in the series and I cannot wait to dive in…
Fiction
Random House Canada
August 15, 2017
496
The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own. When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fall-out, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville, and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen with Olivia as the prize. In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, who he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knock-out twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.
Goodreads Review
Ride the Storm by Karen Chance
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have long been a fan of Karen Chance’s body of work. I am a loyal fan and have remained undaunted in the face of all the machinations of the publisher and publishing machine. Karen Chance has long kept the faith with her readers. She often offers free stories that add to her published works to create a more complex, multifaceted and fulfilling world in which all her novels take place. Readers who only read the novels from the publishing house lose a lot of the details and the joy of seeing the characters in multiple lights. All that being said, Karen Chance’s Cassandra Palmer novel Ride the Storm has been one of the most anticipated novels in my memory. This is not the fault of Karen Chance and that cannot be said firmly enough. The publishing house has been moving dates on this novel for over a year with little to no explanation.
The previous book, Reap the Wind was judged too long by the publisher when submitted by the author. This led to a quick rewrite and the split of the book almost in half. This also left an unfulfilled feeling at the end of Reap the Wind. Many plotlines were left hanging, which left some readers unhappy and the continuous manipulation by the publishers with moving dates and little communication lost even more of the fan base. Ride the Storm is the second half of the previous book with a little bit of newer information which furthers the plot of the Cassandra Palmer novels.
I was recently asked by a friend to explain the Cassie Palmer novels and I drew a bit of a blank—how do you explain such a complicated and multifaceted storyline as the one Karen Chance has created? I told her she just needs to read it and we will talk about it once she has. To say that all of the Cassie Palmer novels are fast paced is kind of like saying a quadruple shot espresso is a little bit energizing. These books move along at a frenetic pace and always have plot twists that are unexpected to say the least. It is impossible to have predicted where the main characters end up at the beginning of this book, let alone at the end of the book.
So much happens in this book to move the plot along that after reading it 3 times, I am still finding new details to enjoy. This is not a book to start when you have a deadline coming up or really anything planned. Depending on your reading speed and availability, you should plan to be unavailable until you can finish the book. This is not one you are going to want to put down as there are no really good stopping places. My recommendation is to start it on a Friday so you can have the weekend to take a break from reality and a trip into the Cassandra Palmer universe.
This book brings resolution to a lot of the ongoing plot lines that readers have been gnashing their teeth to know. We find out why MIrcea is so interested in Pythias. We get to see Pritkin rescued. We get to see Cassie find her feet and establish her own space independent of all the forces tearing at her. We learn more about Cassie’s parents. Dorina and Cassie finally meet. We go careening through the story and learn so much along the way that it’s hard to even begin to summarize it so I am not going to even try. Despite this, there is a seeming resolution to the love triangle between Cassie, Mircea and Pritkin but it is open ended enough that I see it more as an affirmation of the fact that Cassie has complicated emotions and feelings for both men.
This book is a solid addition to the Cassandra Palmer world and yet leaves a lot of storylines open for more exploration. It is my sincere hope that Karen Chance continues to publish Cassandra Palmer books for a very long time. In order for that to happen, fans have to not only buy this book, but review it. Talk about it with friends and build it up so that the publishers contract with Karen Chance for more Cassie Palmer books.
I look forward to discussing all of this with fellow fans at my site bestbooklover.net and at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BestBooklove…
In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC ebook in return for this review.
Looking on the Bright Side
Today my husband would have been 39. I miss him every day. And despite what people say time doesn’t heal all wounds. There is no set way to grieve, no timetable that everyone can consult.
I am lucky–all I have to do is look at my daughters and I Can see him. It’s in an expression and their enormous generosity of spirit… And in the way they care for all those around them.
I am a lucky woman. I had a relationship with him that made me better than I was. And together we were more than the sum of our parts… But the problem with that is that now that I am alone I am less than I was before we started… But for a time I touched happiness and if I hold on just a little bit longer perhaps my story will change…
You never know what waits just around the corner
[Top]My Response to Laurell K Hamilton’s Latest Post
Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to just be. Being quiet can be harder than pushing yourself from one thing to the next. When we are always in motion, there is no time for doubt or reflection or growth and peace. I struggle to be good to myself because I am always harder on myself then I am on others. So, my advice to you is to be kind to yourself, cut yourself a little slack and take it one moment at a time. Remind yourself that everything is temporary and this to will pass. Find joy in the little things,. Especially your animals and the people in your life. You have so many blessings including your talent. Remember that you are incredibly loved by many people, even those who aren’t in your day to day life.
I look forward to discussing all of this with fellow fans at my site bestbooklover.net and at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BestBooklovernet-336745780072074/
If you want to help support this website, donations are accepted at paypal.me/Bestbooklover/
[Top]Review Of Karen Chance’s Ride the Storm
I have long been a fan of Karen Chance’s body of work. I am a loyal fan and have remained undaunted in the face of all the machinations of the publisher and publishing machine. Karen Chance has long kept the faith with her readers. She often offers free stories that add to her published works to create a more complex, multifaceted and fulfilling world in which all her novels take place. Readers who only read the novels from the publishing house lose a lot of the details and the joy of seeing the characters in multiple lights. All that being said, Karen Chance’s Cassandra Palmer novel Ride the Storm has been one of the most anticipated novels in my memory. This is not the fault of Karen Chance and that cannot be said firmly enough. The publishing house has been moving dates on this novel for over a year with little to no explanation.
The previous book, Reap the Wind was judged too long by the publisher when submitted by the author. This led to a quick rewrite and the split of the book almost in half. This also left an unfulfilled feeling at the end of Reap the Wind. Many plotlines were left hanging, which left some readers unhappy and the continuous manipulation by the publishers with moving dates and little communication lost even more of the fan base. Ride the Storm is the second half of the previous book with a little bit of newer information which furthers the plot of the Cassandra Palmer novels.
I was recently asked by a friend to explain the Cassie Palmer novels and I drew a bit of a blank—how do you explain such a complicated and multifaceted storyline as the one Karen Chance has created? I told her she just needs to read it and we will talk about it once she has. To say that all of the Cassie Palmer novels are fast paced is kind of like saying a quadruple shot espresso is a little bit energizing. These books move along at a frenetic pace and always have plot twists that are unexpected to say the least. It is impossible to have predicted where the main characters end up at the beginning of this book, let alone at the end of the book.
So much happens in this book to move the plot along that after reading it 3 times, I am still finding new details to enjoy. This is not a book to start when you have a deadline coming up or really anything planned. Depending on your reading speed and availability, you should plan to be unavailable until you can finish the book. This is not one you are going to want to put down as there are no really good stopping places. My recommendation is to start it on a Friday so you can have the weekend to take a break from reality and a trip into the Cassandra Palmer universe.
This book brings resolution to a lot of the ongoing plot lines that readers have been gnashing their teeth to know. We find out why MIrcea is so interested in Pythias. We get to see Pritkin rescued. We get to see Cassie find her feet and establish her own space independent of all the forces tearing at her. We learn more about Cassie’s parents. Dorina and Cassie finally meet. We go careening through the story and learn so much along the way that it’s hard to even begin to summarize it so I am not going to even try. Despite this, there is a seeming resolution to the love triangle between Cassie, Mircea and Pritkin but it is open ended enough that I see it more as an affirmation of the fact that Cassie has complicated emotions and feelings for both men.
This book is a solid addition to the Cassandra Palmer world and yet leaves a lot of storylines open for more exploration. It is my sincere hope that Karen Chance continues to publish Cassandra Palmer books for a very long time. In order for that to happen, fans have to not only buy this book, but review it. Talk about it with friends and build it up so that the publishers contract with Karen Chance for more Cassie Palmer books.
I look forward to discussing all of this with fellow fans at my site bestbooklover.net and at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BestBooklovernet-336745780072074/
In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC ebook in return for this review.
Ride the Storm
Cassandra Palmer
Paranormal
Berkeley
August 1, 2017
606
The New York Times bestselling author of Reap the Wind returns to the “fascinating world”* of Cassie Palmer. Ever since being stuck with the job of pythia, the chief seer of the supernatural world, Cassie Palmer has been playing catch up. Catch up to the lifetime's worth of training she missed being raised by a psychotic vampire instead of at the fabled pythian court. Catch up to the powerful, and sometimes seductive, forces trying to mold her to their will. It's been a trial by fire that has left her more than a little burned. But now she realizes that all that was the just the warm up for the real race. Ancient forces that once terrorized the world are trying to return, and Cassie is the only one who can stop them...
A Quote to Remind us all of the Power of Words… Especially When it Comes to Those we Love
“What is that old children’s rhyme, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’? Anyone who says that doesn’t understand the power of words. They can cut deeper than any knife, hit harder than any fist, touch parts of you that nothing physical will ever reach, and the wounds that some words leave never heal, because each time the word is thrown at you, labeled on you, you bleed afresh from it. It’s more like a whip that cuts every time, until you feel it must flay the very skin from your bones, and yetoutwardly there is no wound to show the world, so they think you are not hurt, when inside part of you dies every time.”” Laurell K Hamilton, A Shiver of Light Book 9 of the Merry Gentry Series
[Top]