Review: “Ride-Along” by Brendan DuBois

by Carol3 Comments
Image Credit In "Ride-Along" by Bendan DuBois, a veteran police officer has agreed to allow a freelance writer to ride long with him on his nightly patrol. When called, to a the scene of a jewelry store robbery, it turns out that everything is not as simple as it seems. This was not my favorite story in The Best American Mystery Stories 2011, but it was enjoyable enough. I like the cop character, smart, hard-working and conniving. The "reporter" was an interesting woman, too, but the story-telling style, was too disjointed for me. It jumped too many times from the present to the crime and back, for a short story. On the other hand, it was interesting how the author kept giving us bits until we had the whole story. I read it in The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 which can be ordered from Amazon or  an Indie bookstore. Even though it's not really a mystery, more of a crime story. 3 out...
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Mailbox Monday

by Carol13 Comments
I can’t believe it’s November already. These are books and other goodies I received during the month of October. Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of  A Girl and Her Books and is being hosted at Mailbox Monday this month. $15 Amazon certificate and box of Novel Teas (Won from A Novel Source. Thanks!) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Purchased) Hallow's Eve by Sarah Diemer (Purchased) Review A Clockwork Christmas by Jenny Schwartz, J.K. Coi, PG Forte, Stacy Gail (From Carina Press via NetGalley) In Other Worlds by Margaret Atwood (From Knopf Doubleday) Bright and Distant Shores by Dominic Smith (From Atria) A Double Death on the Black Isle by A. D. Scott (From Atria) The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (Won from vvb32 Reads. Thanks!) The Time In Between by Maria Duenas (from Atria) Reflecting Him by Carla McDougal, along with video teaching series, leader's guide and music CD (Won from the blog tour through Cathy Carlton Willis Communications. Thanks!) Yesterdays Tomorrow by Catherine...
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Review: The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer

by Carol6 Comments
Odd, sad and beautiful, The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer is not a book I would recommend reading, but the illustrations are gorgeous. The story is about a tiny girl who lives in a miniature castle inside the museum. During the day children come to the museum and stare in at the castle hoping to see the girl, but when they leave she is lonely. The castle is a wonderful place, but she dreams of the people who could visit her. Finally, she decides that the reader should place of picture of themselves in her castle in the museum in the book and then she would never be lonely. I know it's a picture book, but it disturbs me a little. The girl is stuck in the castle and can never play with anyone else or talk to anyone else, she can only dream about other children. The writing is disjointed, it doesn't flow well from one...
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Review: Magic and Other Misdemeanors by Michael Buckley

by Carol5 Comments
I am feeling kind of miserable this evening, so this review is going to be short and to the point. I just have a cold, but I'm tired and stuffed up and all I want to do is lay down and go to sleep. Happily the timekeepers must realize how much I need a little extra sleep, since tonight is the night we turn back our clocks, and an extra hour of NyQuil-aided sleep will be a good thing. The bad thing is that life doesn't stop when I'm not feeling well and right now my daughter is practicing her trumpet. I'm glad she is and that she enjoys playing it, but it's not exactly gentle and sleep inducing, especially since she's only been playing for 5 weeks. Hard to sleep through. I'm a bit of a fairy tale junkie and it might be an interest I'm passing on to my daughter, Amber (11). The Sister Grimm is a series we...
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Flash Fiction: The Lady of Amafel Pond

by Carol6 Comments
The Lady of Amafel Pond 388 words She was fading away, slowly but inevitably. They didn't believe in her anymore, didn't ask for her help with lovers, didn't send the little boats filled with flowers across her lake. The townspeople who whispered about her in the past, who told stories and claimed to have seen her were preoccupied with their televisions, their computers, facts and technology. They had forgotten about magic, didn't care about what they couldn't see. She was lonely and tired. Who would take care of her lake if she was pulled behind the veil as had happened to so many of her sisters. She shook her head, her long, pale hair swirling int he water. She sat on the shore, considering her options. She could just accept it. The world had moved on, maybe it was time she did too. But this lake was he home, had been forever; she wasn't ready to leave it. she could frighten the people...
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Thursday’s Tale: TV shows

by Carol21 Comments
I'm sure it's not a surprise to my regular readers that I was excited to watch both of the fairy tale based TV shows premiering this fall, Grimm on NBC and Once Upon a Time on ABC. Once Upon a Time has a soap opera feel to me. The evil queen from Snow White has cursed all the familiar fairy tale characters to a life in our world, in a town called Storybrooke no less, without happy endings or any memory of their previous live. Snow White's daughter, Emma, arrives in town at the behest of the son she gave up for adoption. He is the one who tells her about the curse and informs her that she is the only one who can save them. After two episodes, I have to say I enjoy it, but don't love it. Maybe I just don't know where it's going and that's makes me a little nervous. I am intrigued by the Rumpelstiltskin character....
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