6/8/2023 0 Comments The wych elm book review![]() Plus, Uncle Hugo was a good character - and I wouldn't be surprised if he HAD actually done the murder himself, instead of just taking credit for it. Toby's valiant efforts to resist them were the one time I felt any sympathy for him at all. The two elements I did like were: 1) the whole art gallery scene near the beginning, with the privileged Toby and Tiernan dealing with the "lower-class" street artists (French should write a novel about that!) and 2) the way the police were perceived, and even presented as, the enemy, as they needled Toby and tried to make him confess to the murder. ![]() And the holes in the plot are so evident, and so clearly designed to keep some (false) sense of mystery going, that my exasperation level grew sky-high. Tana French can write, no doubt about that, but this book is so melodramatic and ultimately so unbelievable, that all her fine writing just weighs it down even more. The narrator, Toby, is a cocky self-centered jerk at the beginning and a self-pitying self-centered jerk at the end. French's writing is so beautiful that I didn't mind the slow pace. ![]() It's more character study than action plot and it's a bit slow-moving, but Ms. I finally managed to finish this endless and endlessly boring novel (albeit read brilliantly the whole way through by Paul Nugent). JudyGibson Even though I like the Dublin Murder Squad series better, I enjoyed this standalone novel from Tana French. ![]()
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6/7/2023 0 Comments Floriography by jessica roux![]() ![]() ![]() Floriography is a full-color guide to the historical uses and secret meanings behind an impressive array of flowers and herbs. Join us for a special event on October 1 as we dig deep into the language of flowers with Floriographyauthor and illustrator Jessica Roux.Ī charming, gorgeously illustrated botanical encyclopedia for your favorite romantic, local witch, bride-to-be, or green-thumbed friend. It soared in popularity during the 19th century, especially in Victorian England and the U.S., when proper etiquette discouraged open displays of emotion. What does it all mean? The language of flowers was historically used as a means of secret communication. Hollyhocks, hydrangeas, geraniums and carnations. ![]() 6/7/2023 0 Comments Shady by Harley McRide![]() What they don't expect is the resistance they receive-and why would they, they have always gotten what they want-until now, and at least not without a fight of wills. Even with trouble surrounding them, they are not men to let an opportunity get away from them-again. Including the little hellcat who walked away from them for no good reason. Even the ones who don't want their protection or don't need it. ![]() Building a life for herself, moving on, doing exactly what they wanted her to do-leave.Ĭreed and Fork run the Warriors, and when problems arise with the Diablos, everyone is called back in. When she left two years ago, she had been broken by the only family she had ever known. In book two of the Ops Warriors MC: Harmony finds herself being pulled back into the last place she promised herself she would never go again. ![]() Contains language and actions some may deem offensive. ![]() 6/7/2023 0 Comments Outline by Rachel Cusk![]() ![]() They reveal marriages splintered when shared assumptions diverge parents wearied by their children’s demands but ambivalent when they cease the struggle to give up comforting illusions and face reality-but then again, don’t we all construct our own realities? (That question, unsurprisingly, especially preoccupies her younger students.) As they pour forth the particulars of their lives, the narrator sparingly doles out some of hers while coping with texts and phone calls from her needy sons. ![]() It’s the first of many keening conversation she has with her students, Greek friends and fellow writers. “So much is lost…in the shipwreck,” he says mournfully. After learning the narrator is divorced, he tells her about his own marital misadventures. The nameless narrator is on a plane from London to Athens to teach a summer writing course when an older Greek man begins to confide in her about his unhappy childhood. Following an off-key memoir ( Aftermath, 2012), Cusk returns to fiction and top form in a novel about the stories we tell ourselves and others. ![]() ![]() Singh is working too far in the open to be smuggling anything. As Singh puts it, "the writers of The Simpsons and Futurama have been smuggling complex mathematical ideas onto prime-time television for almost a quarter of a century". ![]() For everyone else, the book is still a fine introduction to the more recreational aspects of mathematics: you'll find jokes about Fermat's theorem (the topic of a previous Singh book), topology, statistics and many more complicated puzzles and games. You'll find jokes about Fermat's theorem (the topic of a previous Singh book), topology, statistics and many more complicated puzzles and games.įor fans, the book provides an opportunity to go back over episodes where some of the mathematical detail got missed the first time round, particularly the freeze-frame mathematical jokes made possible by VCRs and, even more, DVDs. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As his bride you will find it hard to adapt yourself to their way of life." "He is steady, hardworking, and a very fine craftsman but it is breaking with tradition for a glass-maker to marry outside his own community. Christophe and law officer to the district, and a man of some importance. "I have no doubt Mathurin Busson will succeed in everything he undertakes," continued Pierre Labbé, who was himself bailiff at St. Both brothers showed great promise, and my father Mathurin had risen rapidly to the rank of master glass-maker, working directly under Robert Brossard the proprietor, who was a member of one of the four great glassmaking families in France. They had never had eyes for anyone but each other from the day they met, and my father, the son of a merchant in glass, orphaned at an early age, had been apprenticed with his brother Michel to the glass-house known as la Brûlonnerie, in the Vendôme, between Busloup and la Ville-aux-Clercs. She was twenty-two years old, and her prospective bridegroom, Mathurin Busson, master glass-maker from the neighboring village of Chenu, was a childhood sweetheart, four years older than herself. ![]() "If you marry into glass," Pierre Labbé warned my mother, his daughter Magdaleine, in 1747, "you will say goodbye to everything familiar, and enter a closed world." ![]() 6/6/2023 0 Comments Wild by Eve Langlais![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Arthur, Malec Zenta was part of a loving lycan family until his twin brother’s suicide took a piece of his soul. There are, and they’re the men of Feral Passions, a unique resort located on a private wolf preserve, owned and run by a pack of sexy werewolves who use it as their own personal hunting ground for mates. In Wild Passions by Kate Douglas, six women-friends closer than sisters-head off to an exclusive mountain resort for a week-long bachelorette getaway, where most of the women just wants to know if there are any good men left in the world. Sounds simple, except his company wants him to find dirt linking to the mob, his secret mob employer wants someone to pin the blame on, and the bar manager at the heart of the controversy doesn’t want him-even though she’s his mate. In Catch a Tiger by the Tail by Eve Langlais, Broderick has a job to do-audit the books of a gentleman’s club. ![]() 6/6/2023 0 Comments Family of liars lockhart![]() ![]() In “Family of Liars,” Lockhart explores themes such as family dynamics, power struggles, and the consequences of hiding the truth. Their three children are also dealing with their own issues of guilt, shame, and deception. ![]() His wife, Tipper, is a former beauty queen who is struggling with addiction and depression. The family’s patriarch, Harris Sinclair, is a wealthy businessman who has amassed his fortune through shady deals and unethical practices. However, beneath the surface lies a web of lies, secrets, and betrayal. The story revolves around a dysfunctional family, the Sinclairs, who are known for their wealth and privilege. The book is a thriller and psychological drama that explores the complex relationships between family members, and how secrets and lies can tear them apart. ![]() Lockhart, a renowned author who has won numerous awards in the past for her work. “Family of Liars” is the latest book by E. ![]() 6/6/2023 0 Comments Plain truth novel![]() but then there are some that are a little more challenging, that inspire complicated emotions lasting well into adulthood. There are some middle grade books that you read when you're a kid that are totally disposable just reading for reading's sake and you forget all about 'em ten minutes after they're done. which, to be fair, would have been a lot for a picture book to take on, but the heart wants what the heart wants. It's war and nature and violence and death and love and duty and loyalty and sacrifice. This is a powerful story it's harsh, but it's honest. okay, there was significantly less disappointment. There are actually very few pictures in here, and there isn't even a fox in all of them, which was kind of disappointing at first, but then i read it and there was no more disappointment. i couldn't wait to get my hands on it, and the day it came out i barreled straight over to the kids department and after rerouting myself from the picture book section, i grabbed a copy and had to pause for confusion. it was a very messy dance, like a drunken sprinkler, and i guess it dizzied me into thinking this was a picture book. When i first saw this book advertised at BEA, i did an anticipation-dance while drooling over that cover. ![]() ![]() ![]() Congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best middle grade and children's category 2016! ![]() 6/6/2023 0 Comments Stargazer gray![]() ![]() “The city which lay below was a charnel house built on multi-layered bones centuries older than those which lay beneath the cities of Hamburg or Dresden. Until that time, tell me what I need to know and then shut your mouth.” When you've done all that, Lucas, then you can talk to me about choices. Obviously he'd never imagined anything like that neither had I.Įven more quietly, Balthazar continued, "Try watching your baby sister die, and then tell me that you wouldn't spend the rest of eternity trying to make up for it. Try coming to in a stable, with your parents' dead bodies on the ground in front of you, your hands roped above your head and a dozen hungry vampires arguing with each other about who gets you next. ![]() Try running as far and as fast as you can and finding out their faster. "A choice? You think we all get a choice?" Although Balthazar spoke softly, there was a roughness to his voice I'd never heard before. "Guys, don't do this," I pleaded, but they paid no attention. ![]() "Bianca's no killer! She didn't have a choice about what she is." ![]() The same as you, the same as me."īalthazar cocked his head. Mine." Balthazar stepped closer, using every inch he had on Lucas, who was tall but not that tall. ![]() |