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description=A blog about books, movies, music, knitting, and photography. Sometimes cats and opinions get in the mix.;
description=A blog about books, movies, music, knitting, and photography. Sometimes cats and opinions get in the mix.;
description=A blog about books, movies, music, knitting, and photography. Sometimes cats and opinions get in the mix.;

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Text of the page (random words):
nts a child he does not have room to feel but as megs slowly insinuates herself her great aunt and his family into his life he begins to live again in the same vein when godric opens up to megs she also must let go the ghost of the past she never had and that is the crux of this installment in the maiden lane series the coming together of two very wounded people hoyt uses a lot of nature imagery in this romance pairing the flowering between godric and megs with that of the overgrown dormant garden at saint house trimming back the dead growth while breathing life into its very heart and soul some of those scenes are almost painful godric being forced to acknowledge that he has bricked himself into a prison with his grief megs must finish grieving for roger if she hopes to have a future with godric they come together slowly tentatively and it s very satisfying to read even the scene where megs realizes the ghost staring at her is her husband ends quite a bit differently than it might have had only fifty pages before the hellequin fairy tale told at the beginning of each chapter a device hoyt uses in nearly all her books adds pathos to the story in the backround the ghost continues his activities the lassie snatchers from thief of shadows are back again still stealing children and making black market clocked lace stockings although the subplot feels a tiny bit rehashed i had always thought that there was more to the story than simply winter makepeace doing away with the dastardly seymour thankfully hoyt weaves that plot together very nicely with godric s and megs s love story almost every other character previously introduced in the series makes a return in this book barring silence and charming mickey who i admit would have been hard to shoe horn in there given the way scandalous desires ended lazarus temperance griffin hero winter and isabel all make small contributions to the plot hoyt even sets up the sixth book in the series duke of midnight with a delicious sneek peek at the end of the book although the mystery of the hero is given away solely by the title if you ve been paying attention aside i recently went back and re read wicked intentions and hoyt drops tiny little hints as to the ghosts identities that are almost undetectable on first read bravo lord of darkness is out now from grand central publishing i reviewed all four previous maiden lane books on this blog posted by melissa ward at 10 16 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels romantic reads stuff i read 21 february 2013 the duke diaries the royal entourage 3 summary from goodreads your heart will be set afire with the duke diaries the third book in sophia nash s royal entourage series set in regency england after a wild scandalous night rory lennox the duke of abshire finds himself in the bed of his sworn enemy s wholesome sister verity fitzroy to protect her honor and keep the peace he agrees to marriage but it s an engagement neither is happy about until unimaginable occurrences make them view the other in a new passionate light rita award winning author sophia nash is a master of the historical romance who has created unforgettable compelling characters with powerful emotions and intense sensuality sparkling and smart the duke diaries is a wickedly fun romp that will leave you breathless i love the premise of this series the hangover regency style and the first two books in the series were great reads i feel like the forward motion now stalls with the duke diaries rory and verity s elder brother the duke of candover have some serious bad history with candover s deceased fiancee and pretty much loathe each other verity doesn t want to get married there are lots of reasons thrown up why she won t can t etc and then verity s diaries a sort of tell all set of volumes where she recorded the exploits of her brother and the other dukes of the royal entourage for her own amusement and inexplicably totes them around with her everywhere are stolen and published in installments in the news sheets it just goes around and around with a brief glimpse at esme and norwich from book 2 the books are running concurrently but never really goes and then there s the odd unexplained sussex verity s ex companion plotline well i still want to read the next book since we are more or less guaranteed to see isabelle the duchess of march matched with his grumpiness the duke of candover the groom whose bachelor party to end all bachelor parties ended with standing up his bitchy according to his sisters bride and touching off the series posted by melissa ward at 10 02 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels romantic reads stuff i read 16 february 2013 the world s greatest love letters mini review the world s greatest love letters edited by michael kelahan was a little ish book i snagged in the bargain bin for valentine s day it was a quick read only the letters are arranged by subject which seems really subjective with no biographical information about the writers or recipients which made the reading difficult and i consider myself decently well informed regarding british historical figures but wikipedia only does so much it also seemed really narrow focus hetero british exchanges posted by melissa ward at 11 59 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels blah mini review stuff i read 15 february 2013 when women were birds fifty four variations on voice summary from goodreads terry tempest williams s mother told her i am leaving you all my journals but you must promise me you won t look at them until after i m gone readers of williams s iconic and unconventional memoir refuge well remember that mother she was one of a large mormon clan in northern utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby nevada it was a shock to williams to discover that her mother had kept journals but not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them they were exactly where she said they would be three shelves of beautiful cloth bound books i opened the first journal it was empty i opened the second journal it was empty i opened the third it too was empty shelf after shelf after shelf all of my mother s journals were blank what did williams s mother mean by that in fifty four chapters that unfold like a series of yoga poses each with its own logic and beauty williams creates a lyrical and caring meditation of the mystery of her mother s journals when women were birds is a kaleidoscope that keeps turning around the question what does it mean to have a voice i honestly can t give a review of when women were birds that is anything but omigodyoumustbuyandreadthisnownownownow the description on the flap copy gave me goosebumps and i sat down to read this in one sitting then i read it over again everyone has to read this every one the actual sentence level writing is the absolute best i ve read in a long time a master class in narrative non fiction some of the variations are biographical the grandmother who shared her love of birdwatching some are autobiographical williams s remembrance of teaching school or developing conservation efforts and some really defy definition a poetic essay memoir philosophical musings on the choice her mother made to secretly break with the tradition of keeping a diary collected together they create beauty when women were birds is a book i will come back to again and again at different points in my life the paperback edition newly released is my staff rec and i ve been chasing customers and booksellers alike pressing it upon them voice choice and memory mind blowing dear ftc this is my copy that i bought and love and in an amazing twist of fate sent with a friend to terry tempest williams s reading at prairie lights were she inscribed it to me posted by melissa ward at 11 58 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels dies stuff i read writing 13 february 2013 the language of bees mary russell 9 the god of the hive mary russell 10 summary from goodreads for mary russell and her husband sherlock holmes returning to the sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet there was even a mystery to solve the unexplained disappearance of an entire colony of bees from one of holmes s beloved hives but the anticipated sweetness of their homecoming is quickly tempered by a galling memory from the past mary had met damian adler only once before when the surrealist painter had been charged with and exonerated from murder now the troubled young man is enlisting the holmeses help again this time in a desperate search for his missing wife and child mary has often observed that there are many kinds of madness and before this case yields its shattering solution she ll come into dangerous contact with a fair number of them from suicides at stonehenge to the dark secrets of a young woman s past on the streets of shanghai mary will find herself on the trail of a killer more dangerous than any she s ever faced a killer sherlock holmes himself may be protecting for reasons near and dear to his heart summary from goodreads in laurie r king s latest mary russell sherlock holmes mystery the acclaimed new york times bestselling author delivers a thriller of ingenious surprises and unrelenting suspense as the famous husband and wife sleuths are pursued by a killer immune from the sting of justice it began as a problem in one of holmes beloved beehives led to a murderous cult and ended or so they d hoped with a daring escape from a sacrificial altar instead mary russell and her husband sherlock holmes have stirred the wrath and the limitless resources of those they ve thwarted now they are separated and on the run wanted by the police and pursued across the continent by a ruthless enemy with powerful connections unstoppable together russell and holmes will have to survive this time apart maintaining tenuous contact only by means of coded messages and cryptic notes with holmes young granddaughter in her safekeeping russell will have to call on instincts she didn t know she had but has the couple already made a fatal mistake by separating making themselves easier targets for the shadowy government agents sent to silence them from hidden rooms in london shops and rustic forest cabins to rickety planes over scotland and boats on the frozen north sea russell and holmes work their way back to each other while uncovering answers to a mystery that will take both of them to solve a hermit with a mysterious past and a beautiful young female doctor with a secret a cruelly scarred flyer and an obsessed man of the cloth holmes brother mycroft and an intelligence agent who knows too much everyone russell and holmes meet could either speed their safe reunion or betray them to their enemies in the most complex shocking and deeply personal case of their career well i have to put the language of bees and the god of the hive together because the language of bees is the first of the russell holmes books to end with an actual cliff hanger and i couldn t wait to get back to the library to pick up the god of the hive these two entries in the series are crazy and veer all over england to sort out why and how damian s wife and daughter have disappeared unfortunately the separation of mary and holmes in the god of the hive takes away one thing i absolutely love in this series the interplay between the two characters keeping them apart for so much of the book actually pulls the plot down but it picks back up when they come together there s a strange perspective change to that of a bird in the cemetery that feels really forced i did love how disillusioned mary becomes with mycroft and she has grounds believe me cf the game i might be on series burn out so i m going to take a break from mary and holmes dear ftc i borrowed these from the library posted by melissa ward at 11 56 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels mini review sleuthing stuff i read 12 february 2013 locked rooms mary russell 8 summary from goodreads mary russell and her husband sherlock holmes are back in laurie r king s highly acclaimed new york times bestselling mystery series and this time the first couple of detection pair up to unlock the buried memory of a shocking crime with the power to kill again lost somewhere in russell s own past after departing bombay by ship mary russell and her husband sherlock holmes are en route to the bustling modern city of san francisco there mary will settle some legal affairs surrounding the inheritance of her family s old estate but the closer they get to port the more mary finds herself prey to troubling dreams and irrational behavior a point not lost on holmes much to russell s annoyance in 1906 when mary was six san francisco was devastated by an earthquake and a raging fire that reduced the city to rubble for years mary has denied any memory of the catastrophe that for days turned the fabled streets into hell on earth but holmes suspects that some hidden trauma connected with the unforgettable catastrophe may be the real culprit responsible for mary s memory lapse and no sooner do they begin to familiarize themselves with the particulars of the russell estate than it becomes apparent that whatever unpleasantness mary has forgotten it hasn t forgotten her why does her father s will forbid access to the house except in the presence of immediate family why did someone break in then take nothing of any value and why is russell herself targeted for assassination the more questions they ask of mary s past the more people from that past turn out to have died violent unexplained deaths now with the aid of a hard boiled young detective and crime writer named hammett russell and holmes find themselves embroiled in a mystery that leads them through the winding streets of chinatown to the unspoken secrets of a parent s marriage and the tragic car accident that a fourteen year old mary alone survived an accident that may not have been an accident at all what russell is about to discover is that even a forgotten past never dies and it can kill again going straight on to book eight we pick up right after the game left off i seriously started to worry about mary and holmes s relationship because mary almost goes off the rails by simply being in san francisco great plot twists and there s an interesting perspective switch partway through the book loved how dashiell hammett was brought in as a character and colleague dear ftc i borrowed this from the library posted by melissa ward at 11 55 pm 0 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels mini review sleuthing stuff i read 11 february 2013 the game mary russell 7 summary from goodreads it s only the second day of 1924 but mary russell and her husband sherlock h...