A “literary” mystery involving Wordsworth, Fletcher Christian, a London council block and England’s lake district. Could “Pirate Peat” the body found in a lake district bog be tht of famed mutineer Fletcher Christian who reportedly dies on Pitcairn Island? Did he dictate his memoirs to boyhood friend William Wordsworth to become the subject matter of an unpublished epic? Wordsworth scholar Jane Gresham returns home to Fellhead to follow up on two letters she found alluding to this manuscript. As she traces members of a family with ties to the poet, the family elders start dying. An engaging premise, and enjoyable page turner.
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Rating: 
As she watches the goings-on in honor of her seventh birthday, Princess Alyss Heart can’t help but feel that there’s got to be more to life. Or at least something more interesting. With her father being later and her best friend MIA, Alyss finds the whole affair leaving much to be desired. But when her party is crashed and her people killed by her evil Aunt Redd, Alyss quickly finds herself wishing to be back at the beginning when it was all so simple.
He father dead, he mother cornered, Alyss is sent through the Continuum with bodyguard Hatter Madigan, who is charged with keeping her safe. While in the Pool of Tears, Hatter loses hold of Alyss, exiting in France while she exits a puddle in England. While Hatter searches endlessly for her, Alyss is first taken in by a group of street children, then an orhpanage, then the Liddell family. In fact, she’s about to marry Prince Leopold when Hatter finally finds her.
Her childhood best friend Dodge’s appearance at her engagement party sparks questions in her mind. Questions about whether Wonderland was real, now that she’s convinced herself it couldn’t have been. About whether her past was as awful as she remembered it. Whether it was the true story she told the Reverend, only to have him contort and ruin in it his Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Wonderland, in the meantime, has turned to less than a shadow of its former self under Redd’s rule. The Alyssians fight a slow battle against her evil reign. And upon first reuniting with Alyss, are not at all sure that she can be the Warrior Queen they’ll need to save them.
To find out, Alyss must find and successfully navigate the Looking Glass Maze, which allows entrance only to those for whom it is intended. And while the White Scepter may seem an easy walk, appearances, as it happens, are quite deceiving.
This entirely new look at the Alice in Wonderland story may leave some readers up in arms. I personally found it incredibly intriguing and can’t wait for the next installment to see what comes of Redd after she’s thrown herself into the Heart Crystal.
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Love books? Like to socialize? How about combining the two?
I was recently invited to beta test Revish, a new site just along these lines. And I have to say, of all the private betas I’ve participated in, this has been the most fun.
I also have a LibraryThing account, which I never really use and will probably be canceling. And I have an aNobii account, which I can forsee keeping along with the Revish account. But Revish is far and away the coolest site I’ve used for book interaction, and it’s still a baby!
Anyone interested who fills out the form will be invited to test, so come on and join!
Rating: 
Having no prior knowledge of the myth of Angus, I didn’t have much footing going into this retelling. And I found the book so different from my usual fare that I’ve discovered it to be rather difficult to read about. In some ways it reminded me of Francesca Lia Block with the language.
Intertwined with the story of Angus, his birth to the tricked Boann, his being stolen from her by his father Dagda, his realization of who his true parents are (as he was raised by one of Dagda’s sons as his own), are stories of everyday people. A newlywed couple. A pair of brothers. An animal handler. A divorcee. All touched in some way by the mysterious hand of Angus.
Any myth-lover ought to enjoy the book. Along with any fan of dreams and love, or McCall Smith.
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Rating:
Ingrid Levin-Hill’s life has taken a turn for the dreary. Her brother, Ty, has started bulking up for the football team, and his attitude has taken a turn for the worse. After being called to help him spot one day (not a fun deal–he was lifting way too much weight for Ingrid to actually assist with), Ingrid also notices his back is covered in acne–not usual for him–but doesn’t know what to make of it.
Her father, the handsomest dad in Echo Falls, has changed into a shadow of himself. Working all the time, never really hearing what she says, dark around the eyes, cranky. She’s sure it has something to do with the paper that was hidden in the trash–the one announcing a new hire at the Ferrand Group, where he works, but since she’s not supposed to know about that she can’t bring it up.
Meanwhile, their assistant soccer coach has taken off to Europe and has been replaced by the rather sinister Julia LeCaine, who nails Coach Ringer in the head with a ball and afterwards feigns innocence. As Ingrid was the only girl to see her hit said ball, she keeps her mouth shut. Her mind is silently putting together pieces.
Add in a mysterious Mexican pill bottle found in her childhood treehouse, a missing DVD player in Ty’s room and new one at Sean Rubino’s, a shifty orderly at the hospital, and a kidnapping Ingrid can find no proof for though she knows it happened to her, and you’ve got more than enough for anyone to handle, let along a middle school sleuth. But Ingrid calls on her mind, and her memory of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and slowly but surely puts it all together.
A really fun read. Any mystery/detective story fan should definitely pick this up.
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Picking up where we left off in Once Upon a Curse, all is relatively well with Princess Emma’s life. She’s cured the family curse, she’s now the Green Witch, her Aunt and her sweetheart Haywood are reunited, and she has her own true love, Eadric. Her only remaining problem is trying to winner over his parents, who are not at all fond of magic, and therefore not at all fond of her.
On her mother’s orders, the two take a caravan to Upper Montevista, Eadric’s Kingdom, Emma trying her best to seem normal along the way. Easier said than done, when your traveling companions are a bat and a crab and your friend Ralf the dragon drops by to give you some news. Still, they make it to Upper Montevista in one piece and without many mishaps. Whereupon they find that Eadric’s brother Bradston has been kidnapped.
Using her far-seeing ball, Emma is able to conclude that the Troll’s have Bradston. And while his mother is loathe to have anything to do with magic, she must admit that Eadric will need Emma’s help. And so the two set off.
Along the way they encounter the trolls themselves, cockatrices, a banshee, a town of vampire bats, and some more trolls. Needless to say, not the easiest adventure they’ve set off on. But they do manage to retrieve Bradston, and return home to find that their wedding has been approved and will be happening the next day. Happily ever after, after all?
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Rating:
This book took me a long time to get through. The style is very odd, and hard to follow if you start thinking about it. If you don’t think about it, it moves right along.
This is the story of a father and daughter, both caught up in the legend of Vlad/Dracula. Paul gets introduced via his advisor in Graduate school when they discuss a mysterious book he found with his things one night while studying. It turns out Professor Rossi, the advisor, has one too.
That night, after their talk, Professor Rossi disappears, which leads Paul feeling compelled to find out what’s happened to him. Using the papers Rossi left him, he sets off to the Library to find out anything else he can regarding Vlad Tepes. Much to his surprise and dismay, another student seems to be studying the very same topic. While she seems wholly unapproachable, Paul decides he has to talk to her.
After meeting at a diner and sharing stories it comes to pass that Paul and Helen take off together for Romania, where they hope to glean enough information to form some new leads. From there on out, their paths keep crossing those of just the right people to help them, with a few hurdles along the way of course. And with each new acquaintance, they’re drawn deeper.
Their travels take them from Romania to Hungary to Bulgaria and back. Their discoveries are passed down to us via word-of-mouth, postcards, and letters.
Any vampire fan or Dracula fan should find a lot to like in this book. So long as you’re ready to give it your full attention, it shouldn’t disappoint.
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