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The Witch and the Englishman (The Witches Series #2)The Witch and the Englishman by J.R. Rain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hate when I don’t review within the day of reading a book. I am always already reading other books and find it hard to get back into the mindset of the previous book.

Let’s see, I finished this two nights ago. I was able to have the Whispersynch audible to listen to as I read. I must admit for Francesca Townes, narrator, this book seemed much better than the first one. She was able to handle all the voices male and female with great acting skills. Each character had their own voice and, well, character. The only voice I don’t like is the one of the detective. But he isn’t around so much so we don’t have to put up with that voice very much. Reading with her voice is so important for me now that I just don’t want to get into book three without it. So even though I want more of this series, I will wait to pick up the next book.

Meanwhile, the character Allison Lopez is gaining ground in her experience as a witch. It’s a good thing as the challenges she faces in this book seem harder, nearly impossible to solve. I love that she gets a new friend out of the deal. I love that we got to know her old friends in more depth. But is she ready for the demon realm?

This book was very intense in places but moved along quite well between. I look forward to more in this series, but please, add Francesca Townes’s narration soon!

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Dar49 Daily.


Alone in a Crowd.


Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian EraWild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era by Autumn Stephens

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Whew! I am finally finished reading this book. You wouldn’t think I would have such a bad reaction to a book about strong womyn. And honestly, the knowledge contained within this book is amazing. I did learn a lot about many ladies. I learned a lot about that era of history, also. If it hadn’t taken me SO long to read it, I would have given it lots of stars for the educational feature alone.

So why the low rating? The font was impossible for me to read. It is dark black font against a bright white background and the lines are spaced too close together. So I could only handle one or two pages at a time. Luckily, each bio is a page and a half so even though it hurt my eyes I could read at least that much in a day. And that might have been enough unto itself, but the author’s writing style was SO annoying. Alliterations and other pitiful poetic word choices built into very long complicated sentences, like this one, made me have to go back and reread whole paragraphs. When you already have tracking problems, this cutesy writing becomes very annoying. Often the choice of words makes for a very confusing read.

If you have great eyes this may be a fun read for you. If so, enjoy! My eyes need a vacation. Back to Kindles for me!

By the way, this copy is a BookCrossing book. BCID 142-11420919 Check out where it’s heading and where it’s been on BookCrossing.com

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The Scriptorium Daily.


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Homesteading Handbook vol. 1: The Beginner's Guide to Becoming Self-Sustainable (Homesteading Handbooks)Homesteading Handbook vol. 1: The Beginner’s Guide to Becoming Self-Sustainable by Michelle Grande

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was free when I picked it up. I expected another light overview of homesteading, like the ones I read before. No. This one was a surprise. It was so full of everything a person might need to get started on your own self-sustainable farm. Does it go into depth of all these topics? No. But it does give you an introduction on every aspect I could think of living out on your own. I would suspect that many of our forefathers and foremothers started with less information than this.

The first half of the book is devoted to gardening and the types of gardening styles there can be. But Michelle Grande (author) doesn’t stop with a light introduction. She includes pictures and charts and lists of tools and plants for each way of producing vegetables, herbs and flowers. The pictures are beautiful, the charts well written, easy to understand. All are clickable to enlarge to a suitable size.

Animals fill the next bit of the book, from chickens to llamas. Again, Ms. Grande was thorough in teaching the greenhorn the types of each animal that work best with what type of land you live on and includes husbandry for each. Of course, there are some that are left out, probably for brevity sake, but this gets one started.

Crafts, compost, solar and wind energy, recipes, canning and other storing of foods, even toilets that compost. This book is so full of so many topics! All with plans and recipes, charts and illustrations to get one started. I know I will need to read this over and over.

I didn’t read every word. Since I am not on the land I hope to buy, there is little I can do until I get there. Then it will be Fall and I won’t be able to do much of it then. But that is when I will pull this book out again and start making lists and reading in detail how to do everything. Then I will know what to read in depth. I may even try to buy this book in tree form so that I can keep it out on the table to refer to often.

This book is still free if you have Kindle Unlimited. I suppose if you need to give it a quick review or preview that would be the way to go. But I find that the $2.99 is well worth it. It is worth much more!

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Destiny Interrupted: Sweetly Romantic Time Travel Mini-Adventures (Eternal Time Shadows #1)Destiny Interrupted: Sweetly Romantic Time Travel Mini-Adventures by Lisa Shea

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this book for an honest review.

And there lies the uncomfortable truth I must deal with. So let me kindly say, I saw no editing errors in the story. It was well written, according to my low standards.

BUT… I hate short stories. I wish I would have known. I wouldn’t have jumped for a chance to read this. In a day when binge watching of a series is the best way to watch something, I feel the same for my reading. I want to read everything in a series non-stop. Except romantic chic-lit. I can tolerate it in some stories, but for the full reason to read something I find it demeaning to womynkind.

The saving grace, and probably the reason I jumped at the chance to read this story: time travel. But this story didn’t include that until the end. Just when you get to know the characters (weak and swoony) we are left with a cliffhanger that includes waking in another time. Oh, yeah, what else do I hate? Let’s say it all together: Cliffhangers.

Look, there are a lot of high ratings for this book. If you see yourself as able to handle this kind of writing, you will probably love this one, too. It is free. The rest of the series seems to be $.99 an installment. Not bad for snippets of story. Enjoy!

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Clone Three (Clone Chronicles, #1)Clone Three by Patti Larsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have I read too many Young Adult/Dystopian books? I feel like at some point in my reading I would have loved, loved, loved this book. But instead I found myself wishing for another Maximum Ride book instead of this one. Sorry. I kept telling myself to let go of the similarities (and differences–no wings) and accept this on its own merits. And maybe this goes over very well with the targeted audience. And not so much with old ladies.

It may be that I wasn’t in love with the main character, Clone3. She wasn’t horrid, she just hasn’t developed her spunk enough. Maybe by book two she will. She is learning about her abilities and starting to be more of a leader instead of a loner. After all, she can’t remember anything from her past and has no clue who or what she is.

Another thing I had a hard time with is the constant tension. Maybe the YAs love this. But I find I like moments of self-revelation or learning of the place you are at, etc. rather than one crises after another.

Still I did like it and plan to read the rest of the series someday. Since I have a move in the works, I am trying not to add to my ‘need to read soon’ pile.

I’m sorry, Patti Larsen, for taking so long in reviewing this book. I hope your promotional goes well. I admire you and your talent. I hope YA/Dystopiats come out of the woodwork for this series!

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