The Christmas Cottage / Ever After by Samantha Chase
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Continue reading “Book Review: The Christmas Cottage, by Samantha Chase”
The Christmas Cottage / Ever After by Samantha Chase
Continue reading “Book Review: The Christmas Cottage, by Samantha Chase”
Portraits of the Dead by John Nicholl
Performance: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Story ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Overall ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I have come to expect severe psychological depravity when I read John Nicholl’s books. This book did not disappoint in that aspect. The evil kidnapper has taken and killed at least five other women before he took Emma. Emma is held in a darkened area without knowing day from night, hours from days and days from weeks. He insisted on servitude from her while he tortured her and taunted her. It was chilling and sickeningly fascinating. John Nicholl has a history of working as a social worker and uses the terror he faced in that career in his own stories.
While Detective Inspector Gravel searched for Emma not knowing if she was alive or dead. Reaching out to the serial Killer while looking for few clues. With trusting people listening to vague and erroneous clues, the police struggle to find this serial killer.
This book is intense. It is just so cold and creepy. I read it on Halloween and was then a little nervous about being out and about at night with the little trick or treaters. It was just that good.
It is truly chilling listening to Jake Urry in his concise and gravelly voice. It takes the story to a new level when Mr. Urry narrates a thriller such as this. He does an amazing job with the voices of women, older adults, young women. His range is amazing. I am really impressed with the narration.
If you are a fan of thrillers, this one is a great one to read and delve into the mind of a psychopath. The telling is sinfully delicious and the story is well plotted and full of misdirection. It helps that you come to know about the serial killer one revelation at a time. I am such a fan of John Nicholl and Jake Urry. When they work together it is a masterpiece.
The audiobook, paperback and Kindle formats are available at your favorite retailers and by clickign the links below.
Portraits of the Dead by John Nicholl
Performance: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Story ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Overall ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Continue reading “Audiobook Review: Portraits of the Dead, by John Nicholl”
The Impetuous Heiress by Jane Ashford
Continue reading “Book Review: The Impetuous Heiress, by Jane Ashford”
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Publisher: HarperPerennial Classics (March 20, 2012)
Continue reading “Book Review of a Classic: The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett”
Titanic Poetry, Music & Stories by Ken Rossignol
Performance: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Story ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Overall ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Continue reading “Audiobook Review: Titanic Poetry, Music & Stories, by Ken Rossignol”
The Scent of Jasmine by Jude Deveraux
Continue reading “Book Review: The Scent of Jasmine, by Jude Deveraux”
Mr. Waldorf Travels to the Great State of Texas by Beth Ann Stifflemire
Copper’s Keeper by A.I. Nasser
Continue reading “AudioBook Review: Copper’s Keeper, by A. I. Nasser”
Our Man in Charleston: Britain’s Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher Dickey
Print Length: 410 pages
Award-winning author CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, the foreign editor of The Daily Beast, is based in France. Previously he was the Paris bureau chief and the Middle East editor for Newsweek. He served as Cairo bureau chief for the Washington Post and, before that, as the paper’s Central America bureau chief. His books include the acclaimed memoir Summer of Deliverance as well as Securing the City, Expats, With the Contras, and two novels about espionage and terrorism.
This is the story of Robert Bunch, the British government’s consul in Charleston, South Carolina, before the start of the civil war. I have never read such chilling accounts of the slave industry as I did in this book. To know that even after it had been banned in the south a ship was confiscated and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was carrying what was left of four hundred plus Africans to America, it was treated as a nonoccurrence.
After reading these secret memos that Robert Bunch sent back to England, you can understand the distaste for the south that he conveyed. He had seen into the deepest darkest aspect of life in Charleston. He had been privy to the leader’s inner workings and their flawed decisions about human trafficking.
When the Echo was brought into Charleston’s harbor, the city was given a birdseye view of the destruction, horrors, and inhumanity of slavery. Yet, when given an opportunity to prosecute the perpetrators, aka the ship owners, they were let go by the leaders of the legal system in Charleston. This shines a different light on what we in the south were told about slavery and Northern aggression. The north was not left out of the slavery problem as they were many times the owners and builders of these slave ships. Ships built to hide hundreds of illegally acquired Africans.
Bunch was in the thick of things in Charleston and he saw things that many were not able to see. Sending dispatches back to England allowed them to have inside knowledge of the slave mentality of the Southern states and America in general. Written in an easy to understand manner, I was pulled into the history of the prewar south.
An excellent read that encapsulates the real reasons behind that war and why Great Britain was so staunchly anti-confederacy. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
I can highly recommend this well crafted and researched book to anyone that wants to know the truth behind the slavery question of pre-civil war America This book brought so many points to the forefront that I had never seen in print before. It is an excellent resource. I felt I had to give it 5 stars, as it was wonderfully written.
This book is available in Hardback, Paperback, Audiobook, Kindle, and Nook.
Personal blog,Lifestyle,fitness,nutrition,health
Help to Successfully Live with Chronic Illness, Bipolar Disorder, and Familial Mediterranean Fever
Navigating life through the rainbow lenses of high-functioning mental illness and dirty humor.
Autism, Depression, and Chronic Pain - Oh My!
Lydia Rae Bush Poetry
Personal Development, Beauty, Style and general well-being
Animals, Gift Ideas, Travel, Books, Recycling Ideas and Many, Many More
Stories and photos from Scotland
Sustainable Living & Wildlife Conservation in Kenya Blog
Breaking Free From The Past, In Hope For A Bigger & Brighter Future
Becoming Newer Everyday | Travelogue | Travel Insights
(...and some I have)
A better way to live.
Original Art and Fiction Writing
“Compassionate toward oneself, we reconcile all inner, and the universe - from within.”
Inspirational Quotes To Motivate Your Life
Where The Eagles Fly . . . . Art Science Poetry Music & Ideas
odepaad International
Writing Fiction. Blogging Fact
A place for stories, poems and a little bit of everything