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An Atlas of Extinct Countries
Throughout the history of the world, the countries that have existed have been through constant change. Sometimes there’s an invasion and sometimes it’s just a case of an unclaimed island being claimed. This adorable book covers forty-eight countries that once existed but are now, in the words of the author, extinct, If you are looking for extensive information, this is not the place to go. Only a few pages are devoted to each country and one of those pages is a map. It’s a fun book with humorous accounts of how countries came to be and again how they ceased to be. It’s short and sweet and great for those…
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Forces of Nature: The Women who Changed Science
Historically, the contributions of women to science have been poorly documented and it’s really mainly in recent history that they’ve been given much more than a mention. So to have a book about women in science is pretty amazing. It’s also maddening and sad that what we know of women in science could even begin to fill only just one volume. And yet, the information is so scant as to having to piece together the puzzle of where women would have played their roles. This volume discusses women in the scientific world from ancient times to the contemporary. Early history is conjecture to a certain degree, based on what we…
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The Blacktongue Thief
“I was about to die. Worse, I was about to die with bastards.” These first words of The Blacktongue Thief provide a pretty good idea of the nature of this wonderful book. Kinch Na Shannack is the speaker of these words and he’s the narrator of this tale. He’s a Galt thief, who owes a massive debt to the Takers Guild. He also has a bit of magic, which isn’t exactly common knowledge. Kinch is offered an opportunity to reduce his debt and is asked to either accompany or follow Galva, a Spanth he and his associates attempted to rob earlier. The task is supposed to take him to Oustrim…
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Menopause Manifesto
A year or two ago, The Vagina Bible was recommended to me and I immediately downloaded it. I will admit I hadn't read very far into it yet but I liked what I saw. When this book was offered on Netgalley, I immediately requested and hoped very much to be accepted. Fortunately, I did get the okay and I've been reading it over the past few weeks. Growing up, I used to hear about menopause and my impression was it encompassed not just the final menstrual period but the time leading up to it. Many years later, I discovered the more correct term for the years leading up to menopause…
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the springtime of my life began with you
Suehiro is a first-year high school student that nobody really notices. She’s always got her head in a book and she doesn’t have any friends. Takasago is the outgoing and popular guy that’s been given the penalty game where has to ask out an unpopular girl. He chooses, Suehiro, of course, but after Suehiro calls out the penalty game, he tells her he still wants to go out. This is the first volume of a series and so far, it’s pretty typical for a shoujo manga. Suehiro fits the nerdy, wallflower stereotype and Takasago fits the popular guy one. Takasago is rather pushy early on, which is a bit annoying…
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Dark Apprentice: Fall of Magic Book One
Nikolai is a young wizard with high aspirations. He wishes to achieve immortality and become a grandmaster of dark magic. But he’s currently apprenticed to a mage who hasn’t been quite satisfactory and he is stuck in a town where dark magic is banned. He’s desperate to learn from Medea, an immortal mage with a reputation of killing all her apprentices and he goes to great lengths to manipulate her into accepting him. He gets what he wants but he’s still not happy and spends all his time working out ways to avoid doing the work she asks of him. He also becomes chronically unwell and thinks it’s all the…
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The Ripping Tree
At the age of sixteen, Thomasina Trelora, “Tom”, finds herself sailing for Australia to be married to a vicar she’s never met. She’s had a radical upbringing and isn’t too happy with the plan for her future, particularly the lack of any say in the matter. There is a shipwreck along the rocks on the coast and Tom finds herself rescued by an aboriginal man from the wreckage. She’s left on the verandah at Willowbrae, a well-to-do estate belonging to the Craw family in the middle of nowhere. At first, she feels she has gained a reprieve from her fate, and due to her (feigned) lack of memory, she tries…
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The Beautiful Ones
Nina arrives in Loisail for her first Grand Season, sponsored by her cousin and his wife. She’s long had difficulties fitting in, what with her uncontrolled telekinesis powers causing her considerable difficulty. She might have hoped for things to be better in the city but she feels more an outsider than ever and the attempts by her cousin’s wife Valerie to mold her into a Beautiful One cause her more misery than ever. It’s at a party that she meets the famous Hector Auvray, an entertainer with powers like hers. She recognizes him from a photograph and immediately forms an attachment, Hector, however, is only there to see Valerie, who…
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The Text God: Text and You Shall Receive
Jen is having a hard time in life at the moment and she really wishes something good would happen. She says a little prayer and “God” answers her in the form of a text. Meanwhile, Gabe sends a text message to the younger sister of his friend, offering some help as she is following the same career path as he has. This younger sister keeps asking for more and more and soon he is thinking she’s a bit off her rocker. Some of Gabe’s assistance gets Jen into a job at a hotel that he works with as a hospitality lawyer. It’s not long before they happen to meet and…
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Before My Actual Heart Breaks
First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK Cornerstone for sharing an ARC in exchange for a fair review. It took me a while to get into this book. Some of it was the slog through the local dialect which was hard to understand at times. I'm not complaining of it, but it did take some time to get used to it. The beginning chapters also had a lot of characters to get to know. Once I got into it properly it became a lot easier and it kind of sucked me into that world. Mary Rattagan is the youngest of a large Catholic family in Northern…