The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris

by Carol5 Comments
I could break The Lazarus Curse down into three parts: the mystery- what happened to Matthew Bartlett, the botanist/artist who disappeared upon returning from Jamaica; the background research and storyline on the plight of slaves who were brought to England by their masters; and what's going on with Lydia, Thomas' lover. The mystery was okay. There's supposedly a Lazarus Potion that can bring people back from the dead, and the theory is that the expedition found the formula and someone killed Bartlett for the information. There were a couple of suspects but no good option. The wrap-up to this part surprised me in a good. It was interesting how it worked out, even if I don't entirely understand the reasoning. The part of the plot centering around the slaves was the most engrossing. There were Americans currently staying in London. In England at the time, slavery was not legal, but the American's slaves are still more or less considered property for all intents and purposes. Thomas sees the unfairness...
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Feature & Follow Friday 9/19/2014

by Carol6 Comments
Blogger pet peeves? – provided by Take Me Away… I don't really have many pet peeves when it comes to blogging. I have too many about my actual job to have any energy left for pet peeves about the things I do for enjoyment. That being said, my current minor annoyance has to do with the pictures on my blog. For some reason, I can only make them left justified and without surrounding text. No matter how I set them in the settings, that's just how they turn out. I assume it's a quirk of my template, and I like everything else about the way it looks so I'm willing to put up with it. Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The goal of the hop is to gain new followers and make new friends. All my "follow me" links are on the sidebar....
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Thursday’s Tale: The Maiden and the Fish

by Carol3 Comments
"The Maiden and the Fish" is a tale similar to Cinderella. It's from Portuguese Folk-Tales by Consiglieri Pedroso, translated by Henrietta Monteiro, 1882. We have a widower who has three daughters. The youngest is his favorite, of course, but likes to spend her time helping manage the house and working with the servants in the kitchen while her older sisters cared only about parties and pretty dresses. One day the father caught a fish, brought it home, and gave it to the youngest girl to cook. The fish was a pretty yellow color and the girl asked her father if she could keep it as a pet instead and he agreed. First she keeps it in a pot in her room, but at the fish's request she puts it in the well. Yes, the fish talks - this is a fairy tale. The next day,  she takes a walk in the garden to see the fish in the well. As she gets...
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Fitness Tuesday #9

by Carol4 Comments
Here's my plan, more or less. (SS stands for strength training/stretching; CT stands for cross-training) Since last check-in, I finished Week 8 and am repeating it. I got a cold toward the end of the week and just didn't feel up to doing a lot of running. I've got a couple of weeks leeway in my schedule, so I figured repeating it won't matter. I'm also changing my schedule a bit. I moved everything over a day, so now my "training week" starts on Tuesday instead of Monday. It'll be easier to stick with it that way now that fall activities and school are back in. Now the actual week of that last race, I'll probably go back to the original because I'll want two rest days before the run. If you read my last week's update, you know I switched Monday and Tuesday of Week 8. On Tuesday, I ran 4 miles outside with an average pace of 11:39 min/mile and then...
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Fairy Tale Magic Blog Hop

by Carol7 Comments
Love...All things Fairy Tale? We're celebrating them in all their forms...originals, adaptations, twists and retellings. Sweet or steamy or a little bit twisted! Hop through all the blogs for giveaways at each stop! And don't forget to enter for the $100 Amazon gift card grand prize drawing too! I love fairy tales, originals, adaptations, retellings, all of them. This week I'm giving away a spin on Cinderella, Charlie Glass's Slippers by Holly McQueen. I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a fun, light romance. This giveaway is open internationally. About Charlie Glass's Slippers In this delightful, clever spin on Cinderella, Charlie Glass—a heroine as loveable as Cannie Shapiro and Bridget Jones—inherits her father’s shoe empire and snatches up a drop-dead-gorgeous, multi-millionaire Prince Charming. But is he truly the key to her happily ever after? When Charlie’s beloved father, iconic shoe designer Elroy Glass, dies after a long illness, everyone expects that he’ll leave his business to his glamorous wife and eldest daughters....
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