Mar 28, 2024

Review—Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell

 

A supernatural force on the loose in San Francisco and a family reunion keeps witch and vintage storeowner Lily Ivory on her toes as she prepares to walk down the aisle...

When Lily Ivory stumbles on the uniform of a former prisoner from Alcatraz and SFPD inspector Carlos Romero’s cousin is kidnapped, Lily suspects something dangerous has been unleashed on the ghost-ridden island of Alcatraz. She'll have to sleuth out the culprit—when she’s not busy entertaining her visiting relatives and resolving romantic conflicts as her wedding date approaches. Could recent omens be pointing to the magical threat in her adopted city? If so, she'll have to line up her allies to change the fate of the Bay Area. Because no matter what, Lily's determined to celebrate her marriage with her friends by her side—even if it means battling a demonic foe before she can make it to the altar.


 

 

Bewitched and Betrothed continues Juliet Blackwell’s Witchcraft Mystery series that follows Lily Ivory’s journey. Lily has come a long way since she arrived in San Francisco so many books ago, but the mysteries and magic keep on coming! This series has been a delightful read and is one I highly recommend for those wanting a little magic to their cozy mysteries.

Lily and Sailor are in wedding planning mode, or more ceremonial handfasting mode. It’s a more spiritual ceremony and one that is more special for her and Sailor than going through a regular wedding. But naturally, Lily’s plans are halted when something strange happens. When her friend, Maya brings in some old clothes for Lily to sift through for sales, Lily uncovers an old shirt, but what’s particular about this shirt is that it looks like one a prisoner would wear…from a very long time ago, as in Alcatraz!

Yes, Lily has found a shirt that a possible escapee from Alcatraz would have likely been wearing. Of course the question is, did the prisoner survive or was this recovered later on? Blackwell being a nearby resident clearly did her research for these little tidbits and it shows very well. It is decided that Lily will donate the shirt that gives off bad vibes to the Alcatraz park that is the island. Having called the local rangers, one of which is Carlos’ cousin, she readily hands over the shirt with a few cautionary warnings.

But even more shocking is that as the rangers leave, Elena, Carlos’s ranger cousin, is kidnapped along with the shirt. An investigation starts and Lily is eager to help in any way she can, feeling like she should’ve done more about the shirt instead of just handing it over.

Meanwhile other things are happening under the radar in the city. Lily still suspects that Renee the Cupcake Lady is up to something shady that threatens the safety of San Francisco. Lily is also trying to help her gobgoyle familiar, Oscar, help locate his mother who could be hiding anywhere in the world as a gargoyle statue. Through all the chaos Lily remains ever positive and vigilant. She’s a tough person to bring down despite her gentle nature. She’s a force to be reckoned with.

There was still of course a nice sprinkling of romance! After just finishing a set of hardcore romance books, it was nice just to have some casual kisses and more mystery dynamics involved with the plot! I enjoy romance, but I like it as a side element. This one was truly a breath of fresh air after my latest reads.

Mystery wise, I felt like things were good. I didn’t really foresee the whodunnit all that well, but I feel like in the long run, we were meant to be floundering a little for suspects and motives. The answers that we got were logical and sound, perhaps if I remembered more from the previous books, the shock factor would’ve held more effect, but alas my poor memory just had me agreeing with what was presented! Lol.

All in all, Bewitched and Betrothed was a fun and magically delightful read! I always enjoy diving into what I call cozy paranormal reads, ones that are light on the paranormal dynamics but are still clearly apart of the story. This is a fun mystery series too and I always love traveling the streets of San Francisco with Lily and her friends. It’s probably because of these books that the city is on my Bucket List! I highly recommend this to just about any cozy mystery reader as well! 


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

 

 

 

 


 

Books from the Backlog #76

 

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. This meme is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books!

 

A prince.

A ball.

A glass slipper left behind at the stroke of midnight.

The tale is told and retold, twisted and tweaked, snipped and stretched, as it leads to happily ever after.

But it is not the true Story.

A dark fortress.

A past forgotten.

A life of servitude.

No one has ever broken free of the Godmother’s terrible stone prison until a girl named Pin attempts a breathless, daring escape. But she discovers that what seems to be freedom is a prison of another kind, one that entangles her in a story that leads to a prince, a kiss, and a clock striking midnight. To unravel herself from this new life, Pin must choose between a prince and another—the one who helped her before and who would give his life for her. Torn, the only thing for her to do is trade in the glass slipper for a sword and find her own destiny.

 

I added Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas to my TBR pile in September 2015 and there it remains. This book was rocking the fairy tale vibes and I was all over that! It sounded incredible and is still one I want to read at some point! Fairy tales are where I started off with my reading days, they were my first form of magical tales and it evolved into a love of paranormal beings and that spun off into thrillers with monstrous human beings! So fairy tale retellings or books with fairy tale essence always snag my attention!

 

 

 

 


 

Mar 27, 2024

Can't Wait Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

 

I am sooooo behind on Leigh's books but that doesn't stop me from adding them to my TBR pile! This one sounds amazing, naturally, and I can't wait to read it!

 

TITLE: The Familiar
AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo

PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024

 

 

For a disgraced reporter, unraveling a conspiracy of murder could mean redemption in a powerful novel of suspense by the bestselling author of Out of the Ashes . Reporter Lee Ellerin’s investigation into a young woman’s unsolved murder gained national attention―only for her to lose everything due to a tragic mistake. After being publicly ridiculed for causing a suspect’s death, Lee is forced to leave her career behind. Five years later, pregnant college student Amanda Hartley lies in a coma. The police say she attempted suicide, but the details don’t add up. Where is the father? Who was paying for Amanda’s Manhattan penthouse? Why did Amanda have a note with Lee’s name in her backpack? There’s also one alarming Amanda was last seen on Dune Road in the Hamptons―where the murder victim in Lee’s previous investigation disappeared. As she’s pulled back into the still-unsolved case that destroyed her career, Lee sees the chance to amend the mistakes of her past. But finding a killer and unearthing Amanda’s secrets sends her down a darker path than she has ever walked before.

 

 

I still need to read Kara's first adult debut, I don't think these two are related...but I wasn't reading the description just in case of minor spoilers and whatnot! Lol! Goodreads doesn't have them linked together so I think it's safe to say they are both standalones!

 

TITLE: Lost to Dune Road
AUTHOR: Kara Thomas

PUBLISHER: Thomas & Mercer
GENRE: Thriller
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2024

 

 

 

 

 
 
 


Mar 26, 2024

Let's Discuss: Which Feeling is Better?

 

So one of the rare moments I hopped on Threads...I still haven't quite gotten used to posting or reading through all the posts on that app yet...I mean even with Twitter I would just pick up where they left me and scroll to the top and skim the tweets. I don't really use Twitter too much but for a few things. Trying to make Threads my go to app, but yeah...haven't really read through all the Threads. I think because they start me at the top and I have to scroll down to "wherever" I might have left myself. I'd rather start where I ended and go to the most recent one. But yeah, that's a rant for another day...which really, that was the sweet and short of it!

But ANYWAY--Lol--I was on Threads for some reason or another and saw Penguin Teen posting a poll or it could've even just been on Instagram now that I think about it...yeah, off topic again! But they had a poll and I found myself unable to vote as I felt like there were good reasons to each choice and Penguin Teen seemed to agree based on their comment!


Which Feeling is Better: Starting a Book or Finishing a Book?


And I was like...well...it presents different kinds of feelings for myself! Lol. Both are pleasant so I mean, how do you choose from one happy feeling from another? It's like which of your favorite desserts is better? All are equally wonderful!

I LOVE starting a new book because you're entering a new world! You're meeting new characters and experiencing all sorts of new things and it's all just sparkly and new! Even if you're returning to a favorite series, I mean it's still new characters from whatever your last book was. Unless you're binging reading a series...that then kind of deflates this whole discussion, so let's not discuss that option! Unless you're going to compare WHOLE series start to finish feelings vs feelings from finishing the book before the series binge! Lol. You see, I'm always overthinking things like that!

But yes, starting a book just brings about joyful new beginnings and you're thinking of all the adventures you're going to have with these characters--even if it's just the one adventure in a standalone, there's still mini events and happenings to make minuscule adventures. I feel like I keep adding these little "add on" descriptors because that little nagging voice we sometimes have is trying to contradict myself. Lol.

But finishing a book...! That just brings about great feelings of accomplishment! Even when you're an avid reader, you're like YES! One TBR book down and only another 592 to go! And yes, that's my current TBR number according to Goodreads, although I have been known to forget to add a book, and who knows what's on my Kindle that I haven't marked as "to read" here as that's a scary dusty mess! So 592 is a safe number, but we could round it up to 600 as I've a stack of "maybe" books, mostly from book boxes that I haven't decided if I'm going to read or sell/donate.

See, I get started on a topic here and I sidetrack myself. I can easily say that it's very likely that I would be doing this if we were talking in person too! I get on one subject, sidebar over to another topic that relates to what I'm talking about and then jump back on track after that! Finishing a book just brings me such joy too! There's the feeling of accomplishment but also contentment. That hurray! I did just read yet another book from the TBR mountain! I'm tackling that beast one book at a time...even though I know there's several books on there that border the 1,000 page count! We're talking multiple books with 800+ pages! That's daunting! Especially when you read slow like I do!

Now since both scenarios are joyful occasions, it's hard to say which feeling is "better." I mean seriously, how do you choose between two things that bring you equal amounts of happiness to declare a winner? It feels too full circle to me. You get the joy of starting a new book and reading it and all the joy and wonder that comes from it! Then you finish it and you start that cycle of joyful emotions and THEN you get to start the whole cycle of feelings all over again! It's really a tremendous feeling!

I really can't liken it to anything else, because there's that voice that will say one can still be better than the other. Like you love vanilla and chocolate cake but don't you sometimes love one more than the other? Perhaps cravings come into consideration.

Starting and finishing a book isn't like that to me. Besides, for me, it's vanilla cake all the way! Now if you say vanilla cake and yellow cake then yeah, I'm like they are both equally great! I'll take whichever you got! But I went with the first scenario as it seems more likely to resonate...maybe, unless you're not a cake person or you do prefer one over the other? I honestly couldn't think of two things that are the same but not the same. Because even when you bring in brands of the same thing there still might be a taste difference and preference comes about. Like Peter Pan peanut butter vs Jif peanut butter. Is that a better example maybe? Peanut butter is peanut butter after all when you go with it like that. Let's not get into the chunky vs creamy vs that natural kind. (Creamy all the way though! lol)

I actually don't like chocolate cake. Yeah, I'm weird. But I love brownies so go figure! Different texture though! And now I've gone way, way off course, again! Sorry folks!

But yes, I feel like the overall feelings I get from starting a book and finishing a book are both so overwhelming happy and positive that I can't really say one is better than the other. While one gives me a sense of excitement for a new adventure, the other gives me such a feeling of accomplishment that I'm giddy either way!


What about you? Which feeling do think is better? Or do you, too, think that they are both equally happy feelings? Even if you ended up not liking the book overall, don't you still feel a little bit accomplished for giving it a go? I didn't want to dive into those negative feelings where we felt "ehh" for the book or DNF'd it. That obviously brings about other feelings from starting it and ending it wherever we ended it! 








Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

 

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker



Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

 

"'Heh. "Forbidden,"' Oscar snickered. 'Yeah, right. Why would you call a place "forbidden"? Doesn't that just make you itch to go there?'" p 45


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE: Bewitched and Betrothed
AUTHOR: Juliet Blackwell

PUBLISHER: Berkley
GENRE: Paranormal Mystery
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019



Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. 



This week's topic is: Top 4 Movies/TV Shows That Would Have Made Amazing Books (submitted by Sabrina @ Notes from a Paper Plane Nomad)

&

Top 6 Favorite Novelizations of Movies/TV Shows!



*in no particular order
**OMG! This was SOOO hard! So many of my all time favorite movies and shows did actually have serialized novels! Nearly every FAVORITE I could think of, I remembered, yup, that one had a novelization!
***not entirely sure that my picks didn't have novelizations either. Mainly fuzzy on Are You Afraid of the Dark. I feel like if they had books they would've rivaled with Goosebumps. The Brothers Grimm was another one that I can't really recall if it had one or not.




4. THE BROTHERS GRIMM--yes, yes, this was a movie based on the brothers who wrote the fairy tales. It's a tricky one, but basically I think a novelization of this movie would've been great! I don't think there was one though. A Google search showed me movie pictures and then pictures of actual Brothers Grimm books. So yeah, it's a tough one to locate if there was one!
3. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK--
okay, this I am fuzzy on! I loved the show as a kid and the reboots from a few years ago were pretty awesome too! I don't think they had books based on the ghost stories told...like "extra" ghost story novels. I think it would've been hard to compete with Goosebumps.
2. VAMPIRES SUCK--
this is one of my guilty pleasures! This is such a trash movie, but it is HILARIOUS! It's basically a parody of the first two Twilight movies and other "hyped" things at the time. I was laughing so hard at the theaters--luckily, I had the theater to myself! But yes, this would be fun as a book, but some jokes might hit better seen rather than read, but still, I'd read it!


1. THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON--and I mean a book based on this original movie! A quick Goodreads search showed me what looks like erotica takes on the storyline. Yeah...not looking for that! I think a book made more in lieu of this movie would be fun!



TOP 6 FAVORITE NOVELIZATIONS

since I couldn't think of many movies that would be great books without having already been novelized, I decided to pick my actual favorites that I read!


6. UNDERWORLD by Greg Cox--yup! The Underworld movies were made into books too! There was actually a prequel novel before they made the prequel movie. It had the same storyline for the most part, but there were some differences that I can't really recall, but I still remember that there were differences! Lol.
5. SUPERNATURAL by Keith R.A. DeCandido--
I sadly did not keep up with this series as it came around the height of the paranormal book explosion! Plus it was also before I started blogging and before I was savvy enough to keep up with book releases. From the looks of things there were different authors for each book too, some repeated of course, but I honestly would not have known how to keep up with release knowledge on this one!
4. ROSWELL HIGH by Melinda Metz--
I did learn that this book series came first and I was addicted to the show when it started so I thought, I'll read the books! Of course at that time I didn't know the books were first and had a slightly different storyline, just little things really. Liz had a sister who died...and other little changes. The Roswell books did keep coming with "added" episode kind of features, some that picked up past episode storylines and then there was a beautiful set that picked up where the show left off!



3. THE 10th KINGDOM by Kathryn Wesley--does anyone else remember this mini series? I'm showing my age because I remember when this was on TV and I was sooo sucked into it! I remember begging my mom to buy the "at home" package where you got the movie, the book, and the soundtrack! The book did have some differences, like a different first kiss moment and the at the end, words were exchanged but weren't as heartfelt as they were in the TV series. So yeah, differences were there! I still have it too...in storage, but it's there!
2. VAN HELSING by Kevin Ryan--
in my youthful days, when I loved a movie, I would check to see if there was a book adaptation! That way I could enjoy the movie again in a different way while I waited for the DVD release! Lol. This was one I read as I LOVED the movie. I still remember that my friend accidentally spoiled its ending for me, but even as I watched it I kept thinking, it's not gonna happen! He must have been teasing me...but alas, it did happen. Happened in the book too.
1. VERONICA MARS by Jennifer Graham--
I still need to read the second book but I was so psyched that there were at least 2 added mysteries that took place after the movie. We don't mention the Hulu reboot. That one is not canon. The story ends with the movie and/or these books. And AFTER that disastrous ending they didn't even do another season! So he angered fans for NOTHING!








Mar 25, 2024

Let's Discuss: Blogging Habits...& Reminiscing

 

So I'm wondering from my fellow bloggers out here, how often do you write up your blog posts? Do you write posts in advance or are you more of a blogger who writes a post that day and posts it when it's done?


Blogging Habits...& Reminiscing!


I'll admit, I blog in advance! I still like participating in a slew of weekly memes. I've just always liked to have some sort of daily content. Although Saturdays are a free for all. There may be a post, there may not be! Who knows! But for the most part, not really, unless I stayed up late Friday night to finish a book and then post my review for sometime on Saturday! Lol.

But the weekly memes I've participated in over the years have changed a little bit here and there. Usually it's just passing the torch to someone else to be the "blog host" for it. I've done maybe around 3 different kinds of posts for Fridays. Usually when a blogger is ready to retire they may or may not pass the meme to someone else to host, other times it fizzles out and I have to find a new one, yet similar.

Anyone remember Follow Fridays from Parajunkee? She'd host a different blogger as a sort of "get to know the blogger" type thing and then there was usually a question/prompt of some kind to talk about. Much like the Book Blogger Hop I participate in now, just without the blogger feature.

Then there was Waiting on Wednesday which kind of shifted into Can't Wait Wednesday. Top Ten Tuesday was originally at The Broke and The Bookish before moving over to That Artsy Reader Girl.

I feel like someone else used to host the Teaser Tuesday, a Miz B I think? I've been blogging a long time folks! Lol. Then of course, the "Sunday Haul" post has evolved around with few different bloggers as well. I'm not sure if Reading Reality still hosts it or not, when I was last checking in 2023 or maybe even 2022 I wasn't seeing as many posts anymore.

But back on track! I do a slew of weekly memes for content on my blog! And I tend to write these posts ahead of time! I'll admit, it started that I would write them the week before and have them all scheduled out. I would and still do, write them up on Friday nights, because I'm definitely a homebody. So Friday night has always been blog writing night. 

But on occasion, things would come up, sometimes they were planned so I would blog ahead the weekend before and write TWO weeks of posts ahead of time. Then a vacation might pop up so I would write ahead again, maybe a signing followed a vacation on a Friday night and then I had rare plans for that Saturday too! So somehow I found myself blogging way, way ahead!

Currently as it stands, I have the rest of March memes scheduled and all of April and I just wrote up the first week of May too! Of course, Tuesday posts usually contain a teaser from my current read, so these I always save for Friday night to write before the coming Tuesday. Those are the only ones that aren't already written. But I will say that I do look ahead to the Top Ten Tuesday prompts and will write out my 10 or however many picks I choose! I keep a notebook at my desk where I occasionally jot random things down during research or when I want to do some math longhand style or jotting a number or two down. You know, scratch pad writing!

But I also keep a planner up to date with my memes also written out for Wednesday and Thursday picks! That way I'm not constantly checking my Goodreads pages for things. I also keep track of all the different shop sales in my planner too! So basically I have "rough" drafts through all of June! Which reminds me I need to start looking for a new planner as I am on the "academic planner" track. I still need to do "rough" drafts of my Top Ten Tuesday posts for May and June. I usually will write those out a month at a time so I don't overwhelm myself! Those can take some time! Lol. But when it's time to sit down and write them all up in post format, they are a breeze since I did all the work ahead of time!

I can't remember when I started being so detailed about all this! I know in the early days, I'd write my teaser that Tuesday at whatever time of day I found a good line to use! Lol. I might have wrote the Wednesday post ahead of time. And I can't remember if the Follow Friday prompts were posted ahead of time or not. Been blogging since 2009 remember? So much to remember because so much has come and gone!

I do feel like I've got my game down pretty tight here! Even if I somehow "fail" to write my blog posts on Friday night for however many weeks ahead I am, I end up writing twice as many the next week. Yeah, I'm that bad sometimes. Lol. But I suppose if I was doggone sick or tired I'd let it go. I might have a time or two, but then somewhere along the lines I wrote two weeks ahead again!

But needless to say, I'm a planner! I like knowing that I have content ready to go. Of course with some of my Can't Wait Wednesday posts I get "in trouble" (with myself really) when a book's release date changes! In fact, I think there's one I need to take out because of said release change and there's finally a cover to go with it now too. I think I had another pick to go with it, so I'll just delete the book with no cover or description.


So yeah, wow. Didn't plan on writing THAT much, but then I started reminiscing and I just kept writing! Lol. So the gist of all that was to ask DO YOU WRITE YOUR BLOG POSTS IN ADVANCE?







It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

 

Last Week I Read:

A Touch of Chaos by Scarlett St. Clair (4 stars)

 

 

Currently Reading:

Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell

 

 

What I Plan to Read Next:

Synchronized Sorcery by Juliet Blackwell 



Other Posts of Interest:

Let's Discuss: My Kindle & Me
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Let's Discuss: Does Hype Kill Your Enjoyment?
Can't Wait Wednesday
Books from the Backlog #75
Book Blogger Hop #298
Stacking the Shelves--One Book & A Rant About the Mail