Title: Under the Lion’s Paw Author: Hamlin Garland In: The Mammoth Book of Westerns (Jon E. Lewis) Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one) My Bookshelves:Westerns Dates read: 24th May 2020 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2013 5th sentence, 74th page: I was working’ for myself an’ babes –
A cute, easy read of a Western to whil away the hours.
It doesn’t seem to matter how many westerns I read, I’m still not getting that into them. But I’ll keep trying.
This wasn’t a bad short story. I remember enjoying it while reading it… but that’s all I can remember.
Like I literally can’t remember what happened or what it was about. So this is the review that I’m writing.
Suzanne Enoch tantalizes: An innocent miss who has spent her life scrupulously avoiding scandal is suddenly—and secretly—courted by London’s most notorious rogue.
This story took a great pause and investigated what the different concepts people have of respectability. It does, obviously, take the regency spin on such an idea – but it does kind of act reminiscent of today’s issues. Throughout this entire story, Charlotte’s parents are more concerned with propriety and not being involved in a scandal than their own child’s happiness. It makes for a bit of a painful read in places, but it does work brilliantly well.
One of my favourite things about Charlotte in this is that she does point out the double standards that women are forced to adhere to. Xavier has run around town finding lovers, gambling and all sorts of entertainment. Charlotte has NEVER done anything untoward – but the moment he talks to her, a possible scandal is revealed. Again, it’s not as severe in today’s society, but it’s still a bit of an issue.
Throughout all of this novella, I was smiling and happy. But what I ended up loving the most was the ending. When Charlotte and Xavier have done everything they can to make her parents approve and feel comfortable, they take slightly more drastic measures. It’s definitely a comeuppance for the treatment that Charlotte is constantly receiving at the hands of her parents. It may not be overtly cruel, but it is definitely not exactly something that I can approve of.
Title: Sweet Bruising Skin Author: Storm Constantine In: Black Thorn, White Rose (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Fairy tales, Retellings Dates read: 24th May 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Prime Books Year: 1994 5th sentence, 74th page: She smiled continually in the presence of others, nodded often, but spoke little of herself.
This magnificent retelling of The Princess and the Pea is dark, twisting and not at all what you would expect. Filled with fantastic fairy tale tropes and a world of manipulation.
This is my second (I think) Storm Constantine short story. It has that same sense of mystery and darkness as the first story I read. This great feeling of manipulation and comeuppance throughout that is kind of impossible to forget. The strength of women – not one of the more glowing, benevolent strengths, but that dark one we can all harness shines throughout this story.
The lead voice in this story is not the kind of woman I have ever dreamed of being. Or wanted in my life. But I do love stories like this. She not only has found a way to completely harness her own son to her, but also manipulate every single circumstance that comes their way. It’s horrifying and somewhat evil feeling. But it is also really, seriously great. And when the tables are turned… I gave a somewhat gleeful cackle of joy.
Although this story features two incredibly scary and manipulative women, it also has a nice little titbit at the end. One where the ties of sisterhood are realised and acknowledged. It might be a nice happy ending, but it is one in which everyone realises what they wanted in life.
Gabriel loves his visits back to Cainsville every holiday. And this one is going to be extra special – he’s finally going to find that final gargoyle!
There are few books I’ve read that feature gargoyles. And, honestly, whenever I do read any mention of them, I think of the gargoyles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Because you know, they’re some of my favourite Disney sidekicks. The gargoyles in this story though really aren’t as funny and fun as the ones in Disney.
I read this short story straight off the back of Devil May Care. Which was excellent timing. After all, Gabriel’s beginnings are a little dark and you seriously hope that he gets a bit of a happily ever after. This doesn’t actually provide that in the slightest. But it does show the strength and gumption that the young boy has. It also has a great hint of the secrets of Cainsville throughout.
Finding gargoyles that constantly move in a town enmeshed in secrets sounds like exactly the kind of thing that I would have loved as a child. It made me wish that this town, which feels fairly dark actually exists. The fact that Gabriel is already a young boy on his own hints at the kind of man he is going to become. And I for one, can’t wait to meet him in Omens.
Victorian London: For five years, Charlotte (Charlie) Holloway has lived as a boy in the slums. But when one theft too many gets her arrested, her only means of escape lies with a dead man. Charlie hasn’t raised a spirit since she first discovered she could do so five years ago. That time, her father banished her. This time, she brings even more trouble upon herself.
People are now hunting Charlie all over London, but only one man succeeds in capturing her.
Lincoln Fitzroy is the mysterious head of a secret organization on the trail of a madman who needs a necromancer to control his newly “made” creatures. There was only one known necromancer in the world – Charlotte – but now there appears to be two. Lincoln captures the willful Charlie in the hopes the boy will lead him to Charlotte. But what happens when he discovers the boy is in fact the young woman he’s been searching for all along? And will she agree to work for the man who held her against her will, and for an organization she doesn’t trust?
Because Lincoln and his ministry might be just as dangerous as the madman they’re hunting.
I bought this book because I needed a book with the word Necromancer in the title. I’d also heard of the author C.J. Archer in the past, and knew that she was one that I wanted to read. So, the combination of the two seemed like this was the perfect book to put on my shelves. And I was right. The Last Necromancer ticked all of my boxes. It took me to my happy place, featured a great storyline and was just impossible to put down. It’s been a while since I got this happily hooked into a novel.
This whole journey was thoroughly enjoyable and seriously fun. It also had the moments of darkness that I always love in a good novel. After all, if it’s all sunshine and light, there aren’t so many heart stopping moments. And, honestly, I just don’t find the storyline quite as realistic, and therefore harder to relate to. I love that this story featured a battle of wits between two wonderful characters who end up suiting each other really, really well.
I absolutely adored the way in which Archer was able to weave together the past and the present in this story. Whilst you start when Charlie is an adult and has been alone for five years, you constantly refer back to a time when she wasn’t. A time when she had a family. And what happened when that family was taken away. And destroyed. There is also the mystery surrounding exactly where she got her necromancy talents from and how everything in her life came to be. Different battles which you want to find the conclusion to… again and again and again.
This novel was definitely one of those enjoyable, love that it’s in my shelves, can’t wait to buy the next book in the series books. It was just a really great, fun read. And one that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. I’m very grateful that I had to buy a book with the word necromancer in the title… it meant that I got to have the great enjoyment of filling my head with this wonderful tale.
Title: 11/22/63 Author: Stephen King Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Alternate history, Historical fiction, Time travel Dates read: 6th – 23rd May 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Gallery Books Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: Another long fit of coughing, which ended with a terrible wet gagging sound.
Dallas, 11/22/63: Three shots ring out. President John F. Kennedy is dead.
Life can turn on a dime – or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away… but an even more bizarre secrets come to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession – to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke… Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten… and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful.
In Stephen King’s “most ambitious and accomplished” (NPR) novel, time travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.
I was told a few years ago when I first started feeling interest in reading a Kingnovel that this was one to start with. I then started with IT because I’m a fool who is kind of freaked out by clowns… but I digress. Turns out that this is a fantastic novel. Fantastic to start your King journey with and just a fantastic read all round. It was fun, enjoyable and not filled with the freakiness that I have found in King’s novels so far…
Although this didn’t have that horror aspect to it, there was still some serious feelings of discomfort and darkness throughout this novel. Not only in the relationship between George and Sadie (which I found tragic on so, so, so many levels). But also in the many journeys that Jake / George goes through. Each moment is a lesson in morals and the past, a lesson in understanding just what the future can hold for us… if we figure out a way to move on from the past.
The only thing that I truly know about the Kennedy assassination is that it happened. He was shot. That was the extent of my knowledge. And, to be honest, I don’t exactly know heaps more at this point. But I do know that Lee Harvey Oswald is the known shooter and that it happened in Dallas and it occurred through a window in a building called Book Depository (which disturbs me, because that’s my favourite online bookshop). This may be all a fiction, but it’s a fiction based on facts, so it was nice to not only read a very interesting and intense book that was also filled with facts about a reality I’ve never known much about. It was certainly a great way to find out more information.
11/22/63 will not only hit you in the feels, but it will also draw you in. The concept of time travel and the machinations that are involved in this are complex and brilliantly thought through. I’ve got a few time travel novels on my shelves, and some of them are just a great plot point, without much thought into the actual practices behind how time travel would work. This isn’t the case in this story – King has seriously thought through all of the details, the facts and the difficulties which time travel would entail. Which is kind of obvious when you realise just how damn big this book is…
Title: Sweet Author: Claire G Coleman In: Kindred (Michael Earp) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Australian authors, Gender, LGBTQI Dates read: 22nd May 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Walker Books Year: 2019 5th sentence, 74th page: No school could teach me what I needed to learn.
In a world of no gender identity, what will happen when one girl figures out that she’s a she, not a they?
I’ve read a novel by Coleman not long ago. And what struck me most about her writing was the fact that she was able to take issues which are constantly occurring in our daily lives, flip them on our head and make you see things from a totally different perspective. The fact that she did that in this short story, all based around gender, made me literally clap my hands in joy.
I love that this is a world in which there is NO gender. It drives towards this idea that we have – that gender completely defines who we are. And that there are only two options; male or female. I may identify as a woman myself, but I don’t think that that completely defines me. Completely removing all identifications of gender throughout this story was a great stroke of brilliance. It made you think a little bit more about what makes a person a person, rather than how gender makes a person…
The other thing that removing all gender in this world did was remind us what prejudice against those who don’t fit into our schemes does. Instead of being attacked and hunted because the characters don’t fit a binary gender – they become attacked and hunted because they do. We’d like to think that this doesn’t happen anymore in today’s society. But that most certainly isn’t the case and this was a great reminder of that.
Mia Ryan delights: A lovely, free-spirited servant is dazzled by the romantic attentions of a charming earl… sparking a scandalous affair that could ruin them both.
This is a wonderfully sweet and innocent novella. The town rake falls for the quiet servant. There is nothing dark and twisty about this story. There is nothing horrible going on. Just a gradual falling in love between two people who would not necessarily otherwise have been bought together.
There are a number of somewhat insane moments throughout this novella, but I honestly think that one of my favourite things is the battle with the damn parrot. It is so completely obsessed, and adds a great sense of humour to a story that would otherwise just be a cute, sweet journey.
Ultimately, I love that this story is about two people falling in love. One woman finding her own way in the business world. And finding a way to break the bounds of convention – he might be of the ton, but he’ll still marry the woman he loves. Even if she does go into business and does things just a little differently…
Patrick has always enjoyed being footloose and uncaring about the responsibilities he should have. But a mysterious fae has sent him running back to Cainsville. And no matter how hard he fights, the future is going to have it’s own way.
When I first bought Omens, I didn’t realise that there was a fae aspect to the storyline. Or at least, not one that is very strong. I just loved past works by Kelley Armstrong, so figured that I would get some more of her books. And then I realised that there was a whole slew of short stories that take place before Omens. So I figured I had better read those too. And, honestly, it wasn’t until this short story that I understood how much of an impact the fae were going to have on this story.
I loved the introduction of Patrick in this story. He is everything that I imagine when I think of a puckish, trickster-like fae. He keeps a balance and makes sure that he repays all of his debts. He pursues his own interests and pleasure, regardless of what other people think or want to know about his life. And he DOES NOT want any responsibility – so the fact that he is embroiled in a pretty major prophecy, one that is filled with responsibility… it’s pretty damn good.
There was something that was surprisingly fun about this dark little origins story. And it is the very epitome of origins stories – the story of how a character I’m going to assume will be very important is bought into the world. And the horrible characters which will be a huge part of their lives…
Title: Silver and Gold Author: Ellen Steiber In: Black Thorn, White Rose (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Fairy tales, Poetry, Retellings Dates read: 20th May 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Prime Books Year: 1994 5th sentence, 74th page: is it any wonder I went deeper and deeper into the green trees?
A beautiful poem that investigates the reasons why we tend to follow the wolf off of the trodden path.
I absolutely loved this poem adaptation to Little Red Riding Hood. It’s not generally one of my favourite fairy tales – so many plot holes, but this one kind of took those into account. It questioned how you wouldn’t know that the shape in the bed was the damn wolf. It questioned why you would follow a wolf into the woods.
But, mostly what I loved about this poem was the fact that it had a much more adult take on the fairy tale. It was about following things that you just know aren’t good for you. But you’ll follow that anyway, it’s how we learn after all.
This is a great, easy to follow poem. There are hidden layers throughout it. But there is also a great and obvious storyline at the forefront too.
