Review: The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

 

Still continuing in this series and I have to say the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore is still my favorite. I am just obsessed with this cover because of the cabin and the little Westie on the cover. This is the third book in the Dream Harbor series and with every book I read, I want to move to Dream Harbor.

This installment follows Kira, a girl from Georgia who is trying to figure out who she is after her twin and other half, up and got married and moved to Denmark. Kira is a doomscroller and loves to follow homesteading profiles... which is so relatable. I follow so many homesteaders and renovating people. 

She ends up using her remaining trust fund to buy the christmas tree farm and delapitated farm house. She has no heating and she seriously underestimated the amount of work that would need to be done. The love interest is Bennet, who is the brother to Jeanie who owns the Pumpkin Spice Cafe.

Bennet is the helper and wants to help everyone with everything. He has three dogs and honestly, I wish that the were characterized better because their names are said so much, that I did not know which one was being talked about. Kira is obsessed with animals and she meets the dogs on her property and she is an absolute bitch to Bennet. 

My thoughts throughout the first half of the book was she is deserving of the cold and not having heat in her house because of the bitchy way she is acting towards Bennett and everyone. She doesn't want help, but then later she is reminiscing about the maid that she had growing up and how she finally noticed her when the maid missed a day of work because she was sick. 

She finally noticed because her breakfast didn't taste the same.... HOW FUCKING SHALLOW! Even though there is supposed to be some redemption for her character when she gave half her trust funds to charities... just to spite her mom because god forbid "what would their friends say"?

I really thought the town went to far when they recruited Bennett to snoop of the farm for a dead body because of the rumors of the previous owner. I also think that Kira and Bennett are not a good match for each other and that the sex scenes were boring. The only hot thing about it was in front of the fireplace during a snowstorm. 

I do kind of wish that when Bennett left to go back to California, he would have made Kira sweat out the wait a little longer before running back like a dog with a bone. Also Kira getting pitbull named Benny which is Bennett nickname is very tacky. 

I was uncomfortable with the dogs meeting because it was not a safe way. Bennett lets his three dogs run straight to Kira without knowing about the new dog and the pitbull was scared and timid and growling. It is realistic, but I feel that it would send the wrong message to people who read this book and have never owned dogs, and they suddenly get one and think this behavior is ok.

Review: The Pirate by Harold Schechter

 It is the end of the year and I am trying to hit my Goodreads goal and that means reading shirt stories and getting around to the amazon original stories that I have had my eye on forever. I got 3 months of free kindle unlimited a couple months ago and I have not utilized it because out of site, out of mind. I decided to dive into this series during spooky season, but never got around to it and now I am.

I went in knowing nothing about this installment or the whole series, and I was surprised that while I was reading, it was sounding like nonfiction and it had pictures. I googled and the Bloodlands series is in fact nonfiction which I had a hard time believing because one of my favorite things about good nonfiction is when he feels like a story and it is not boring at all. It keeps you engaged and makes you want to know the facts.

This installment is about a man named Albert Hicks who was charged with piracy after he committed murder on a Oyster slooper in New York. He could not be charged with murder outright because they never recovered the bodies of the captain and two crew members. The only punishment for murder back in this time was death by hanging. With the missing bodies, Hicks thinks he will be a free man, but then the U.S. government decided to charge him with piracy because he took around 300 dollars with his roughtly estimated to be a little over 1000 dollars today.

Piracy is punishable by death and Hicks lawyer tries to claim that it was not committed in open water, but if any type of robbery is committed on any type of body of water in the US, it is considered piracy. 

Hicks was found guilty and was hanged or more like strangled to death where the statue of liberty is currently standing. It was a big spectacle with people coming and watching and even P.T. Barnum bought the clothes that Hicks wore during his trial to display in his museum.

While reading this, the crowds and the entertainment outlook that was put on this trial reminded me of the Luigi Mangione perp walk earlier this year, and how it was just one big show and attention seeking for the politians and goverment. 

Countdown to 2026// Sunday Post #76

 

 The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

I follow a couple of book bloggers who do this countdown every year, where they share books that they have read throughout the year and fit it to the daily prompt. I have been wanting to do this for the past two years, but haven't done it.

I am going to be sharing a week's worth of daily prompts in my Sunday Posts because I cannot post daily because of work and kids.

December 1st-7th prompts:

1. Snow – a book set in a cold or wintry climate

2. Shopping- last book you added to your wishlist

3. Wrapping Paper- A lovely cover

4. Gifts- a book you enjoyed more than you expected too.

5. Chocolate- a book that was simply delicious

6. Christmas stocking- Novella or short story

7. Christmas Tree- a winter read

Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness *SPOILERS*

 

My hubby and I watched the first season of the show back in September and he liked it so much. I told him I haven't read the second book and I finally finished it and he has been going on and on, like have you finished it. Sadly, I didn't really enjoy this installment. It reminded me too much of the second book in the Outlander series, where Claire and Jaime go to France.

Diana and Matthew have timewalked and went back in time to 1590. Elizabethan London. As soon as they get the the old lodge, they find some members of the school of night. Very influential people who we study today, are ordinary people back then. They are surprised that Matthew has shown up days later in England and married. All of the men can smell that Diana is a witch and both sides learn that things are happening.

Matthew is still keeping secrets from Diana, mainly about the witch hunts and executions in Scotland. She learns that he has many hats and has to do all of these things to keep the congregation happy, the queen happy, and the brotherhood happy. Right away he gets a letter from Phillippe demanding that he return to sept-tours.

His character was not a favorite of mine upon meeting and how he was treating Diana, but near the end of his storyline, I was wanting a hug from him because it showed that with strangers he is hesitant, but to family and those he cares for he will do anything. 

During this time, they are trying to find Ashmole 782 and a witch to help teach Diana. There are so many times that they look for witches and find one only for them to be afraid because of retaliation or to tell a preacher to get good favor.

They eventually go to London because they are fleeing one such preacher who wants to question Diana. They spend some time in London where they find a group of witches who is able to teach Diana how to become the weaver she is and Diana forms her familiar which turns out to be a Firedrake. They also find out that Ashmole 782 was taken by the Emperor of Prague and that is their next stop.

The Emperor is really gross and he developes an infatuation with Diana. She hosts a play and she ends up gaing a favor from the Emperor and she demands to see the book. They see it with the three pages that were missing in modern time. They also learn the grisly and disgusting truth about the book which was very shocking.

There is a whole lot more, but otherwise, I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5. There was so much detail about the clothing and the food and the furniture that it got boring. But when it came to Gallowglass and Matthew stealing the book from the emperor, there was nothing. Just plans to do it and then the next paragraph was Matthew and Gallowglass walking into the house holding the book. I was fed up. 

I was also waiting for something bad to happen to Diana because of course something would, and it ended up being at the very end with an influential person and Matthew's sister Louisa. I really liked that Diana got to speak and see her dad in Elizabethan England and he helped her let go of her fears.

This took me so long to read and I am hoping that the show will be somewhat better. 

Review: Herakles by Lizzy Ford

 

The last novella in the Omega miniseries. I unfortunately didn't like this character very much. I read this at the library and once again there was another person there just talking at the top of her lungs to the librarian and it was very very distracting. I just didn't care about this character. 

We were told the same thing that was mentioned in Cleon about how he had all these surgeries to make him look perfect and be strong and that is how he became the peoples Champion. 

The only thing that really got my attention and made this a three star is that we learn that he is the one who took Lyssa from her home and shot down Mismatch. He is trying to keep her and the priest safe. He wants to leave after getting them the house on the plot of land from Cleon and the priest tells him that Lyssa is the next Oracle of Delphi and that he need help erasing her memories and shielding her so she wont be found.

Herakles is against this because he feels that this is the same exact thing that was done to him. He ends up doing so and attaching the red cord to Lyssa's wrist that shields her. This was a great full circle moment and I will be reading Omega next month.

Review: They Whisper by Claire Fraise

 

A year and a half after buying this book after finishing and loving the first one, I finally read it and enjoyed it. It picks up right where the first left off. I was not confused or lost about anything. I didn't forget much, only minor characters and then the story reminded me immediately. 

The story picks up immediately with Shiloh and Max back at home. Max has been found and Leonard is dead. Francesca is freaking out about seeing Miles spirit and goes to the hospital to see him only to be told that he had just died. Turns out, Leonard jumped into Miles body and then killed a nurse to get into his body. Francesca put Miles spirit back into his body.

Shiloh and her mom are trying to move on from Shiloh's claim about her dad molesting her and a cop comes by to tell them that he made bail and he will resume his job as sherriff because it was an elected position. Shiloh is appalled and she starts getting questioned about his missing gun and how the crime scene of Leonard's trailer was tampered with. Shiloh goes to retrieve the gun, but it is not where she stored it.

Miles body starts to detoriate and they find out that an old circus freak show performer who was with Leonard is still alive and coming to town with the circus. They go and they learn that since Miles was dead too long, that his body is rejecting the soul. He can't blink and his is forming rashes and blisters on his body. He gets given a drug that is essentially bone dust and it helps rejuvenate him.

This book only had three POV's and thankfully one of them was not Miles because he became a downright asshole and was blaming Shiloh for getting him killed and choosing Max over him. He became egotistical. 

Francesca learns how to cross the void and to walk among the spirits on the other side. She unwillingly takes one of her dead friends with her and accidentally leaves her behind. The preacher who Francesca trusts, ends up betraying her to Leonard in the end because he really wants to cross over.

I was not a fan of the relationship developement between Jonah and Shiloh and how there was an almost sex scene. The story could have done without that. The ending had me hooked and Miles is now inhabitating the body of the rookie cop who wanted to take Jonah down because he was a bad seed. 

Review: Cleon by Lizzy Ford

 

The penultimate novella in the Omega series. This follows the rich dude Cleon from the previous novella from Niko's perspective. This follows Cleon after his father's murder. We learn that is the first born and he expects to take his father's place and gain his inheritance by birthright. He and his siblings feared their father because he was a tyrant at home but loved by the citizens because he was a two face asshole.

The supreme magistrate visits Cleon and he is expecting to be given his fathers title and the supreme magistrate shoots him down. Telling him that he knows that Cleon had his father killed and that he has the evidence of Niko doing the job sloppily and that actually Cleon did the magistrate a favor by killing him because no one could actually stand him.

The supreme magistrate gives Cleon a lowly position and sends him upstate. He leaves with his servants and when he is at his home, his only friend and now turned enemy has shown up with a priest to ask for safety and a place to hide so they can pray in peace and not fear repurcussions. Herakles is the name of the person who was once a friend to Cleon but we learn of his past and I felt so sorry for him and disgust at Cleon. Cleon was kind of a Dr Frankenstein and did experiments and surgeries on Herakles to make him the strongest and biggest fighter. 

This once again gave me a boost in interest for the next and last novella and I am hoping to get to the main novel in January.