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Wish Hunter
Wish Hunter: (The Savannah River Series Book 1) by Jordan Riley Swan and Hero Bowen. Story Garden Nadia Kaminski is a wish thief, using her position as a marriage counsellor to steal wishes from her clients. She comes from a family of wish hunters and they currently owe a huge debt of wishes. But Nadia has never used her own wishes and wants to use one of her own to resurrect her murdered husband. In order to do that, she needs to steal an untracked wish to find a way to clear the debt. An opportunity that fulfills this requirement happens along and she steals a wish from Miles, a…
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SHARD: Book One of the Shard Trilogy
Kaia Davis has a real future in sight as she travels to France for a foreign exchange visit. She’s been passed around foster parents for almost all her life but none of those placements has stuck. But this experience might be the one to turn things around for her. Then she’s flagged as a terrorist on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport only to be whisked away by another teenager, Connor, to a secret organisation where teens with special powers help rid the world of crime. Or something along those lines. It’s not long before she comes to know several peers who already seem like a real family to her.…
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The Witness for the Dead
Thara Celehar is a witness for the dead, a sort of cleric who provides services for those who have died and for their families. A witness for the dead also has the ability to communicate with the deceased and is often asked to investigate, particularly if the death is suspicious. It’s not a particularly well-regarded or well-paid position but he is dedicated to doing his work as long as he is capable of continuing. This story is a meandering story where we follow Celehar as he goes about his work. He never rushes and he takes meticulous care to do his job properly, whether he is investigating a death or…
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Catch Us the Foxes
Marlowe Robertson is a young photojournalist looking for the big break to get her out of small-town Kiama. She has a sort of rivalry going with Lily Williams, who was once her best friend. Lily has just earned herself a cadet-ship and is on her way out of the town and Lo is just a bit envious. It’s while working for the local paper as a photographer that she discovers’ a murdered Lily’s body at the local show. Soon she is trying to solve the murder and find justice for her one-time friend and goes on an interesting journey along the way. I won’t go into any more specifics here…
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Hunting the Wren
As Bennet is completing his training as a master astrologer, his esteemed mentor dies leaving him a book spelling out predictions about what’s going to happen next in his life. Christa Wren comes into his life through a client who is murdered. She has no place to go and the establishment needs someone to help out with household duties. The two soon become a pair of sorts and end up in all sorts of intrigue related to the murder and to other occurrences in the town. This turned out to be a pleasant enough read although there are parts that were a bit hard to fathom. I just don’t feel…
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Troy
Greek mythology was a part of literature in school and I did learn a bit back then. The translations tended to be rather dry so I wasn’t enthralled with it like some people are. Still, I picked up some of the basics with the regular forays into that branch of literature. I’ve revisited some of the stories more recently, having reread Homer’s “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” a few years ago. I enjoyed that for what it was and there was a certain beauty to the writing there. But I still wasn’t terribly engaged. Perhaps what was lacking is a translation with good storytelling. In this book, we have some…
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Eric Carle (June 25, 1929 – May 23, 2021)
I only really came to know Eric Carle when I became a parent. We spent a lot of time in the library and Carle’s books were checked out regularly. My son’s favorite was A Very Hungry Caterpillar and it got a lot of mileage in our house. I remember reading the board book version and I think we ended up with our own copy that eventually fell apart. When my son was eighteen, I bought him another copy to keep as a memento of his childhood. What I remember most of the books was the very simple language and the colourful artwork. It was beautiful and easily captured our attention…
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Court of Bitter Thorn
Elora is getting married. Her family is in some financial strife so it’s her job to help them out and marry a rich guy. She’s not terribly enthusiastic as the man is much older and there’s nothing that draws her towards him. Tragedy strikes and Elora’s marriage needs to come sooner so that she can look after her sisters. That’s if they don’t starve before then. It’s in her efforts to ensure they can eat that she meets Prince Brannick of the Fae world and is tricked into a bargain that takes her into the world of Fae. This is fairly standard fare in the world of young adult fantasy.…
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A Grimoire for Gamblers
Elizabeth, has been on leave from her job as an assistant to the mayor of her small town. A couple of weeks earlier her father had committed suicide, leaving her quite adrift, mentally. As she returns to work, she is approached by a stranger who hands over a file with news articles about several local suicides with a curious pattern. She soon realises she’s not quite ready to be back at work and takes further leave. Meanwhile, while going through the attic of her childhood home, she discovers a side of her father totally unknown to her, magic. It’s not long before she has learned a bit of it herself…
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Vasilisa
It’s 1919 and Vasilisa is a thirteen-year-old girl living in Edenfall, Pennsylvania. The Great War has ended but her father is missing, presumed dead, and the family life is not quite normal. Vasilisa’s mother is being “courted” by an ogre in disguise and her Babka, also named Vasilisa, is not well. Meanwhile, Ivan has travelled to Edenfall in order to fulfil the wish of his father to look after Vasilisa and her grandmother. These two young people will work together to reach Old Rus and to deal with Baba Yaga in her three forms and also with old Koschei, the ogre. This is a gentle story with an adventure to…