Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

by Carol4 Comments
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey I've mentioned before that a book's setting can be just as important to me as the plot or characters. This is one of those books. The culture, history,  and landscape of Ghana are integral to the storyline. Detective Inspector Darko Dawson is from his station in Accra, the capital, to a small village to investigate the death of a female medical student. Darko's not thrilled about leaving his family, a wife he loves and a son with a medical condition, but he knows the area's native language. His aunt lives in the village and it was the last place his mother was seen before she vanished years ago. As he investigates the murder he also learns the truth behind his mother disappearance. Darko is torn between his modern sensiblities and the age-old customs that still persist, like the trokosi, girls who are given as wives to the local priest in exchange for good fortune for their families. He steps on a lot...
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Guest Post – Barbara Bretton, author of Laced with Magic

by Carol5 Comments
Yesterday, I reviewed Laced with Magic which I enjoyed a lot. I have a soft spot for paranormal romances. Today, I want to thank Barbara Bretton for taking a page in my notebook to share her thoughts on finding "your voice." Thanks so much!   The Writer’s Secret Weapon --Guest Blogger Barbara Bretton, LACED WITH MAGIC First the good news: if you’re looking for information on how to develop your author’s voice, you can stop reading right now. Your own true writer’s voice is already firmly in place and has been ever since you opened your mouth and spoke your first words. The bad news? You’ve been trained over the years to do everything in your power to suppress it. Most of us mistrust our true and genuine voice. It seems too easy, too uncomplicated. Too much like sitting across the kitchen table from your best friend and telling a story. A friend of mine named Deborah Hecht first used the Kitchen Table analogy one day at our...
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My Fishing Journal by Louis Gary Lamit

by Carol2 Comments
My Fishing Journal by Louis Gary Lamit is a journal for children to track and record their fishing experiences. This journal is for those who want to detail their fishing trips and also save it for later in life to better recall these special times. There are 50-pages of full color sheets that are divided into categories for writing down the time, date, moon phase, weather conditions, water conditions, fishing gear, types of fish caught, fishing companions, etc. There is also a longer 100-page version that is not colored but has more sheets for older children or adults to document fishing trips. More than 75 fish types have been described in information blocks at the end of each set of facing pages so that you and your child can learn about the fish they will be encountering during their trips. I am really excited about these journals. Not only do they have places for all the details of the trips, there is...
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Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton

by Carol3 Comments
    Laced with Magic by Barbara Bretton Even if you're a sorceress-in-training, finding your true love does not guarantee your problems are all over. In fact, it's just the opposite in this follow-up to Casting Spells, which I reviewed last week. This story picks up where it left off. Bretton does a good job of giving enough of the background, though, that readers new to the sereis could catch right on. Chloe Hobbs, sorceress-in-training and owner of Sticks & Strings knitting shop, has fallen head-over-heels for Luke MacKenzie, a human cop staying temporarily in Sugar Maple, Vermont. Of course, he's the only human in Sugar Maple, but for the most part he manages to get along with vampires, werewolves, etc. But trouble's just around the bend. Luke's ex-wife shows up talking about their dead daughter, Steffie, trying to contact her. Another human is exactly what the townsfolk don't want. To top it off, Luke's daughter's spirit is being held hostage by a Fae leader we already know...
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E is for Eyes

by Carol6 Comments
Vicki of Reading At The Beach hosts A-Z Wednesday. Today's letter is E. This one is from my to-read list. I don't read many young adult novels, but this one sounds unique and I just love the cover.   Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I  by Lisa Mantchev All her world's a stage. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She is not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but has no lines of her own. Until now. Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known. Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic,...
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The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

by Carol1 Comment
The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) by Michael Buckley Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are orphaned after their parents mysteriously disappear. They jump from foster home to the orphanage, to a new foster home and back to the orphanage again. Finally, their Granny Relda claims them and has them brought home to Ferryport Landing. Through the first part of the book, Sabrina is convinced that the old lady is crazy and not even their grandmother. After all, their father had told them their grandmother was dead and Relda herself goes on about giants and sprites and has a room that no one is allowed in to. Relda claims that the Grimms have been writing about real events for years, events that others refer to as fairy tales. Eventually, though, Sabrina has to admit that all the stories are real. Ferryport Landing truly is populated with all the fairy tale creatures you can think of: the three little pigs, giants, Prince Charming,...
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