FEELING A BIT FRAGILE.

Whilst I don't make a habit of posting about all my various health problems I'm feeling a wee bit fragile and emotional and so wanted to share this as posted on Husband dearest's Facebook page with you.

Several weeks ago Tracy had a CT scan at request of the audiologist as her hearing has been getting harder and her tinnitus a little worse. What they were looking for wasn't present but the scan did show a mass where there shouldn’t be. We didn’t know more than the size and vague position of this lump so couldn’t really tell people anything.  We have since referred to it as ‘the lost bit of carrot’ whilst waiting to find out more.  She saw a neuro-surgeon this afternoon and the opinion is that she has an olfactory meningioma that appears to be benign (as 97. something% of them are). She will be having an MRI on Thursday to confirm that it is benign and isn’t growing into or touching anything critical. That being the case she will be having some regular MRI’s for the next few years to keep a check on it and make sure it’s not getting ideas above its station but otherwise, business as usual. The post consultation release of nervous energy through the medium of hot chocolate and substantial wedge of carrot cake, would seem to indicate this to be the case.

 

OF TATTOOS AND BOOKS.

How wonderful are these 50 tattoos? All of them inspired by childhood favourite reads, I think my favourites must be numbers 4 (The Chronicles Of Narnia) and 5 (Peter Pan). What about you?Oh, and which childhood read would prompt you to have a tattoo. 

Me?

I rather like this (though perhaps without the figure bottom right) in honour of Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Wood books........

- Graphic courtesy of Pintarest.

 

FAIRIES MISBEEHAVING

How lovely is this story?   
 
Manx (Isle of Man) legend has it that naughty fairies are transformed into bumblebees whose misdeeds are punished by them having to spend a night in a specially constructed 'bee cage' that has small hole that can be blocked up.

Not nearly as cruel as it sounds, the bumblebee is secretly released by the child's parent(s) who replace it with a stone which, the 'bad' fairy having been punished enough and thus transformed back into a 'good' fairy with enough magical power to make its escape, is left as a reminder as to what can happen when you are naughty.

 

THE ECHOES OF LOVE.

THE ECHOES OF LOVE by HANNAH FIELDING.

THE SOURCE: A blog win courtesy of Lindsay @ The Little Reader Reader.

THE BOOK {According to the inner front cover}: Venetia Aston-Montague has escaped to Italy s most captivating city to work in her godmother s architectural practice, putting a lost love behind her. For the past ten years she has built a fortress around her heart, only to find the walls tumbling down one night of the carnival when she is rescued from masked assailants by an enigmatic stranger, Paolo Barone.

Drawn to the powerfully seductive Paolo, and despite warnings of his Don Juan reputation, and rumours that he keeps a mistress, Venetia can't help being caught up in the smouldering passion that ignites between them.

When she finds herself assigned to a project at his magnificent home deep in the Tuscan countryside, Venetia not only faces a beautiful young rival but also a sinister count and dark forces in the shadows, determined to come between them.

Can Venetia trust that love will triumph, even over her own demons? Or will Paolo's carefully guarded, devastating secret tear them apart forever?

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1: Venice Carnival, 2000}:The clock struck midnight just as Venetia went past the grand eigthteenth-century mirror hanging over the mantelpiece in the hall.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {73}: "Fate is the superstitious mind's way of misinterpreting coincidence." Though as she spoke, Venetia wasn't sure how much she believed this. 

MY THOUGHTS: I really wish I could say that this bodice-ripper type of story telling simply wasn't to my taste but I thought the novel old-fashioned and so description heavy as to be (and I don't use this term loosely) boring.

More of a novella padded out as a novel. The descriptions of everything from the restaurants eaten in and the food consumed therein to the Venetian architecture and the unfailingly beautiful characters were so relentless and overdone that the rest of the story seemed an insignificant afterthought.

It's just as well Chapter one stated the year 2000 as the date as I wouldn't have otherwise been sure of the period in which this was set as the outdated, overly romanticised dialogue combined with a 'subtly proprietorial' hero with an antiquated attitude and a simpering heroine suggested times long gone.

Then there were the odd little monologues - 'Thus fate Fate cast her thunderbolts into our lives, letting them fall with a feather-like touch, dulling our senses to the storm they would cause should we realise their devastating powers' - that though quite beautiful were random and unrelated to any event.

 

THE RECRUIT {CHERUB # ONE}.

THE RECRUIT {CHERUB # ONE} by ROBERT MUCHAMORE.

SOURCE: A World Book Night read.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: A terrorist doesn't let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they roam freely. She doesn't know that one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for CHERUB.

CHERUB agents are aged between ten and seventeen. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail. For official purposes, these children do not exist.

FIRST SENTENCE {1: Science}: James Choke hated Combined Science.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 234/5}: Something shrieked and brushed against his leg. James jolted. He was peeing on one of the chickens that roamed around camp.

MY THOUGHTS: A great book for older children and younger teens. I'd especially recommend this for those who are looking for an adventure packed read with which to tempt boys.

Based on a fictional secret service agency set up by French civilians during the second World War Cherub recruits and trains children to act as spies. Youngsters like James, Kyle and Amy who after their initial training (which would test the endurance of most adults) are sent on missions deemed only suitable for a child ..... after all who would expect anyone aged ten to seventeen of being a master spy?

OK so there are bits of the book that stretch the imagination but on the whole this is a fun read that is so much more.

I loved that despite being highly trained spies well versed in weaponry, espionage and survival skills (think Hogworts without the lessons in 'Potions', 'Defence Against The Dark Arts' etc) in many ways these are 'normal' children who enjoy everyday things which in the case of  the main character, eleven year old James, includes play stations, Mars bars and cute girls.

That as well as all the derring-dos this is also a thought provoking, ethical read that addresses a lot of issues, some of them very grown-up which, along with the use of some mild swear words and occasional reference to drugs, may be of concern to some parents. 

 

THE FRANKENSTEIN DIARIES.

THE FRANKENSTEIN DIARIES edited by the REV. HUBERT VENABLES.

SOURCE: A charity shop buy.

THE BOOK {According to amazon.co.uk): "Unknown to fiction writers from Mary Shelley to the screenwriters of Hollywood, the personal diaries and papers of Viktor Frankenstein, creator of living beings, lay untouched and forgotten for over 150 years... The fruit of 6 years of labor by its translator and editor, this first-ever long awaited edition of the diaries at last tells the true story of the agonies & triumphs of Frankenstein" 

FIRST SENTENCE {Prologue}: The reader is bound to view with some scepticism the publication, over 150 years after the event, of a volume purporting to contain extracts from the diaries of a figure universally considered never to have lived.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 44}: The castle stood stark against the sky, appearing only as a harsh, black outline deserving of its name, its battlements like the scaly back of some ancient monster.

MY THOUGHTS: Though a work of fiction because of the foreward in which we are led to believe that the legend that is Frankenstein is far from a legend and a prologue depicting 'the only known portrait of Frankenstein' its all too easy to believe that these are in fact the reproduction of a 'tattered bundle of ancient, decaying papers' sent to the author by a Swiss colleague ten years ago, some 150 years after the original story was penned.

Purporting to shed light onto the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, whilst I'm still not sure where I stand with regard to the re-interpretation of classics I thought The Frankenstein Diaries anything but a lazy, unimaginative re-writing. 

Narrated by the Rev. Hubert before turning to the diary entries of Viktor and finally the observations of Viktor's brother, Eustaice, in a book I found even more macabre than the original. Everything from the sepia coloured pages to the wonderful illustrations (many of them anatomical/scientific), to the 'family photographs' and 'hand written' diary pages 'penned in a flowery script' turned what I felt was otherwise an OK (3 star) read into something rather exceptional.

SANCTUS.

SANCTUS by SIMON TOYNE.

SOURCE: A church fete purchase.

THE BOOK {According to the outer back cover}: What is the secret of Sanctus?

Liv Adamsen is a New York crime reporter, Kathryn Mann a charity worker. They are very different people, but their fate is bound together by one man's desperate act.

With the world's media watching, a robed man has thrown himself from the top of the oldest inhabited places on earth, an ancient citadel in Turkey. For some it is a sign of great events to come. For Liv and Kathryn it is the start of a race into danger, darkness and the most remarkable secret in the history of humanity.

It is a secret that the fanatical monks in the citadel will kill, torture and break every law, human and divine, to keep hidden ....

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1}: A flash of light filled his skull as it struck the rock floor.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 58}: As he often said, he was thirty-two, earning good money, and whilst most Goths only dreamed of making a living amongst the dead, he was actually doing it.

MY THOUGHTS: Intrigued more than gripped. Whilst hardly the worst of reads nor is Sanctus (the first book in a trilogy) the best - unremarkable characters and a badly flowing plot that jumps around from one thread of the story to another are testament to this. The main problem however lies within the fact that in a market flooded with 'religious conspiracy' novels there is nothing that really sets this one apart.

ANNOUNCING THE VISITORS IN PAPERBACK.

Congratulations to Rebecca on the publication of the paperback edition of The Visitors.

Historical fiction combined with a tender love story, a murder and a good old-fashioned ghost story that, incredibly atmospheric, far from being in any way scary I actually found immensely touching. This is a wonderful debut novel by an author well worth looking out for.
- See my full review here.

Available from amazon.co.uk  and most other retailers as of today (July 17th). Rebecca can be found here.

For news of your favourite authors, as well as features, videos, interviews, competitions and much more visit www.hodder.co.uk and follow us on Twitter at @hodderbooks and @sceptrebooks.

HOW TO BE MARRIED.

HOW TO BE MARRIED by POLLY WILLIAMS.

SOURCE: Ex-library stock.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: Sadie Drew thinks she must be the world's worst wife. She only needs to walk into a room to make it untidy. She wears flannel pyjamas in bed. Furry things breed in her fridge. But she's a busy working mother not a wifebot and husband Tom loves her as she is. Until he gets a hot new job and things change. There are alpha-wives to entertain. Nuclear rows. Unsettling secrets. And the smell of another woman's perfume on his suit. Sadie risks losing everything if she can't transform herself into the perfect wife...

But what is a perfect wife anyway?

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter One}: I wake up with a jolt.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 83}: Everything in Perfect Pam's is Brilliant! Fantastic! and comes with exclamation marks.

MY THOUGHTS: A likeable enough novel, ideal for those occasions when a light read is needed to bury oneself in.

Definitely one for those readers for whom characters are just as important as plot as it is quirky and eccentric characters such as Sadie, Enid, and Perfect Pam who carry the story.

A feel good book with just a tinge of sadness. Whilst How To Be Married isn't exactly laugh-out-loud fodder the scrapes Sadie got herself into certainly provided some welcome chuckles.

Warm, engaging and just that little bit improbable but then so are some of the fixes I've gotten myself into, with its floristry side-story this is just that little bit different from your usual chick-lit.

AS IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW .......

30 DAYS.

30 DAYS by G.R. CASE.

SOURCE: Received for review from the author.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover. Contains spoilers, scroll over text to hi-light}: Marcus Freling is a military veteran working as a mail carrier enjoying life. His pride and joy is his thirteen-year-old niece. Innocence is lost when her young life is snuffed out by a sense-less random drive-by shooting in Harlem, NY. Over the next several months, Marcus's sorrow turns to anger. Anger gives way for a yearning to inflict vengeance on Troy, the drug dealer, whom fired the kill shot. Troy is questioned by Detective Rodgers about the murder but is released due to lack of evidence.

Marcus lurks in the shadows of Troy's existence, fiendishly watching his every move over the next year. He kidnaps Troy and holds him hostage in a secluded farmhouse in the Catskill Mountains. He heaps unrelenting torture upon Troy over the next thirty days. He insanely serves as the defense attorney, prosecutor, and judge at Troy's mock trial in a barn behind the house. Rodgers uncovers Marcus's plot and ventures into the mountains to stop him. Will he get there before it is too late?

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1- October 7th: Present Day}: Marcus Freling's fingers gripped the worn, brown-leather, journal tightly underneath the early dawn sky.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 250}: Marcus was the caged lion walking back and forth in the cage, licking its lips. Now the time had arrived for the door to open and the lion to pounce on its prey.

MY THOUGHTS: Despite a slightly annoying tendency to start each sentence with the word 'Marcus' and what I felt was an over-awareness that the book would make a great movie (albeit subtle there were a lot of what felt like directions and instructions) I found this an incredibly moving read, the characters, both 'good' and 'bad' so well penned as to raise an array of emotions within.

Though not without its action filled moments 30 Days is essentially a wonderfully dark psychological thriller of one man's descent into despondency and crime after the death of his beloved niece.

A gripping and thought provoking tale of vengeance (what would you do given these circumstances?) Not only did the author explore where Marcus' anguish would lead him next but he also cleverly examined a society fuelled by a drug/gun culture in what was an exceptionally well woven thriller.

QUEEN CAMILLA.

QUEEN CAMILLA by SUE TOWNSEND.

SOURCE: Ex-library stock.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: What if being Royal was a crime?

The UK has come over all republican. The Royal Family exiled to an Exclusion Zone with the other villains and spongers. And to cap it all, the Queen has threatened to abdicate.

Yet Prince Charles is more interested in root vegetables than reigning ... unless his wife Camilla can be Queen in a newly restored monarchy. But when a scoundrel who claims to be the couple's secret lovechild offers to take the crown off their hands, the stage is set for a right Royal show down.

And the question for Camilla (and rest of the country) must be: Queen of the vegetable patch or Queen of England?

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1}: Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, stood smoking a cheap cigarette on the back doorstep of Number Sixteen Hell Close.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 35}: The Queen said, 'Charles blames me and his father for most of the problems he's had in his life. He claims he was neglected, which is terribly unfair. We saw him at least once a day when we were in the country, and his nanny adored him.'

MY THOUGHTS: A big fan of the Adrian Mole books which I read as a teenager, I was bitterly disappointed with Queen Camilla, a follow-up to the 1992 The Queen And I.

Not into talking dogs (or indeed the kicking of them across decking), jokes (I use the term loosely) about the obese, the unemployed? Not clued up on British 'celebrities' such as Stephen Fry or Jeremy Paxman, the current political situation, the in-jokes surrounding the Royal family? Then you probably aren't going to enjoy this novel. 

Set on the Flowers Exclusion Zone (FEZ), a 'sink hole' estate, an open prison in all but name, in which the residents are electronically tagged, their every move recorded, this could have been a humorous social commentary (something the author is renowned for) and yet for me the witticisms were nothing but cheap stereotypical jibes aimed at a society loathed by certain tabloid newspapers.

Loosely plotted and reading more like a over-long comedy skit than a novel, I'm afraid Queen Camilla failed to raise so much as a smile but then humour is very much subjective.

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

FROM A 118 YEAR OLD SANDWICH TO CHRISTMAS FOOD IN JULY VIA EUROPE IN A 'DALEK'.

The remains of a sandwich have been found in a Lancashire church organ ...... more than 118 years after it was put there. FULL ARTICLE

Bizarre headlines of the week .....

   #1 Irish lad takes cow out on the town and has a BEEF encounter at a kebab shop. FULL ARTICLE


#2 Laughing gas stolen during knife point robbery. FULL ARTICLE

A Ripon butcher has joined in celebrating the fact that the Tour De France has come to Yorkshire by making a bike from meat, pies and pastries. IMAGE & FULL ARTICLE

Experts at Oxford University have linked Bigfoot back to prehistoric polar bears after apparent hair samples belonging to the creature showed DNA identical to that from a polar bear fossil dating back more than 40,000 years. FULL ARTICLE

Having spent four months transforming an old car into a Dalek four fans of Dr Who from Warwickshire will travel across Europe in a charity rally. IMAGE & FULL ARTICLE

The article that had me shouting 'NOOOOO! Christmas in July? Please tell me it isn't so' .....

Retailers Marks & Spencer have launched their Christmas food range which includes liquid Brussels sprouts, an edible cheese board and a 'Christmas dinner' in a pie. FULL ARTICLE

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION #4: THE GOLDFINCH.

They say every person on the planet is linked to any other in six or fewer steps BUT what about books?'

Books can be linked in obvious ways - for example, books by the same author, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, boos given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge'

Yeah! It's that time of the month again, its 6 Degrees of Separation #4.

Hosted by Emma and Annabel who would love for you to join in the fun (for more information/to post a link to your choices click HERE) this month's book is ......

Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and 

thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.

Another book I have yet to read but for me The Goldfinch brings to mind .....

#1 BLACK CROW WHITE LIE. The story of Carson Calley who at twelve is almost the same age as the thirteen year old Theo. Raised by his mother, he sets out on an extraordinary journey to finally be with the absent father he believes to be a war hero.

#2 THE LAST TRAIN TO OMAHA. Just as I loved Carson because of/despite his flaws another character who will stay with me for a long time is war veteran Martin Diggs in The Last Train To Omaha which is set in a palliative care hospital for veterans of various conflicts.

#3 SPIDER BONES. The 13th book in the Temperance Brennan series, Spider Bones is the story of John Lowery, an American soldier who it would appear has died twice.

#4 CHARLOTTE'S WEB. Last read before I began blogging. Charlotte's Web is the story of a little girl named Fern who, with the help of a friendly spider (surely the only one to be loved by even arachnophobes), saves Wilbur, her pet pig, from a fate not uncommon to pigs.

#5 THE COOK. Containing descriptions of butchery that would see Wilbur running for his pig-pen this is the story of 17 year old Zac who is given the choice of either going to a young Offender's Institute or enrolling on a rehabilitation scheme that teaches juveniles to cook.

#6 SILENT BOY. Another story of a disturbed young man though this one happens to be based on actual events. Whilst in The Cook Zac is offered an alternative to life as a juvenile delinquency in Silent Boy the author of the book, an educational psychologist, is determined to offer the fifteen year old Kevin a chance of a life not spent 'desperately afraid of the world around him'.

Please note: Unless otherwise stated all the links are to books reviewed on Pen and Paper.

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG.

WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG by A.A. MILNE (With decorations by ERNEST H. SHEPARD coloured by MARK BURGESS).

SOURCE: A church fete buy.

THE BOOK {According to amazon.co.uk}: Curl up with A. A. Milne’s classic book of poetry for children, When We Were Very Young. This is the first volume of rhymes written especially for children by A.A. Milne – as popular now as when they were first written. Featuring E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations, When We Were Very Young is a heart-warming and funny introduction to children’s poetry, offering the same sense of humour, imagination and whimsy that we’ve come to expect from his favourite books about Winnie-the-Pooh, that Bear of Very Little Brain.

FIRST SENTENCE POEM {Corner-Of-The-Street}: *

MEMORABLE MOMENT VERSE {Sand-Between-The-Toes}: *

MY THOUGHTS: A big fan of the Winnie The Pooh stories, it was this along with the wonderful illustrations that initially drew me to the book rather than the poems themselves.

Comprising 44 poems for the young and young at heart. Whilst I cannot say I found the poems exceptional they did have a certain charm in that the author managed to capture perfectly the simplicity and wonder of childhood without being overly sentimental. 

First published in 1924. Just as many past generations of readers have enjoyed these poems they are of a timeless quality that I'm sure will be loved by many generations yet to come.

* Click HERE to view the PDF copy of the book.

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING.

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING by RONA JAFFE.

SOURCE: A Reading Group read.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: New York, 1952: Four young women have come to the city: to find love, to build their careers and to savour the indefinable optimism of the times. Caroline is the college graduate, determined to escape the typing pool and become an editor. April is the beautiful country girl with a penchant for disastrous romances. Aspiring actress Gregg is tangled in a dangerous love affair with a playwright; and divorcée Barbara writes about lipsticks by day and cares alone for her daughter by night.

Rona Jaffe's frank, scandalous and thrilling 1958 novel, The Best of Everything follows a group of young women as they negotiate office romances, workplace politics, broken engagements, tiny apartments, lecherous bosses, heartbreak and lasting friendship

FIRST SENTENCE {Chapter 1}:You see them every morning at quarter to nine, rushing out of the maw of the subway tunnel, filing out of Grand Central Station, crossing Lexington and Park and Madison and Fifth avenues, the hundreds and hundreds of girls. 

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 127}:Love, Barbara thought, is a four-letter word, but most of the boys I meet seem to have it confused with another four-letter word that people don't mention in polite company.

MY THOUGHTS: First published in 1958, call me cynical but I can't help but wonder how much the decision to re-issue the book was based on the novels front cover 'claim to fame' that it was seen being read by one of the characters on the highly popular television series, Mad Men.

Seemingly thought of as scandalous and racy at a time when I'm informed the issues featured simply weren't spoken of much less written about I thought this a novel very much of its time.

A story of a group of women new to New York. Whilst I thought the 'romance' of 1950's America - the wearing of white cotton gloves in summer (black leather in winter), the drinking of scotch in smoky bars, the falling in love with an older/rich man - alluring I ultimately thought this a depressing read in that the message seemed to be that the only real security for these women was to please a man (no matter what the physical or mental cost) in order to snare him into marriage.

Full of one dimension characters, the women ultimately lame, the men whether they be pathetic or an an-out-and-out villain (for there was nothing in between) essentially cads. Though I hesitate to use the word I'm afraid I found all the unnecessary imagery and endless musings boring, the jumping around between the different threads in the story confusing.

The most disappointing thing though was that the story was told in such a matter of fact, emotionless way that the whole thing seemed flat and monotonous. 

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.

TALL, DARK AND DEAD.

TALL, DARK AND DEAD by TATE HALLAWAY.

SOURCE: Ex-library stock.

THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: 'The line between magic and sanity is very thin. That's part of why I, Garnet Lacey, quit cold turkey. Never touch the stuff. No Exceptions.'

Trouble is magic is so addictive, especially when you've got inner goddesses like Lilith to contend with. And it doesn't stop there for Garnet; if you are going to run an occult bookstore then you've got to expect customers like Sebastian Von Traum, with his piercing brown eyes, sexy accent, killer body and total lack of an aura; which means he's dead...

Trouble can be so hard to resist, and what with Vatican witch hunters, long lost vampire exes and a boyfriend with an ex-wife who is literally stirring in her grave, Garnet Lacey has trouble enough for anyone.

FIRST SENTENCE {First House}: What's the best way to keep Vatican Witch hunters off your scent?

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 142}: "Why are there always cats?" Leader Guy muttered between curses. "Why don't these people ever have goldfish familiars?"

MY THOUGHTS: The first book the Garnet Lacey series. Now a witch on the run, whilst Garnet's past as a member of a coven murdered by (well, that would be telling) is pretty much explained - eventually - like a jig-saw with pieces missing there were holes in the story making the whole novel feel as if it were part two in a series already begun.

A series with huge potential (and who knows perhaps the rest of the books in the set will live up to this) but I'm afraid for me Tall, Dark and Dead was full of promising ideas left unexplored, bad guys who were hardly bad and a heroine who, well, 'the Goddess within her' aside, was more whiny than 'kick-ass'.

Part supernatural/urban chick lit/fantasy (call it what you will), part thriller, part love story, sorry, make that, lust story. With its witches, vampires, poltergeist, dhampyr, cat with an unusual allergy, and, in the case of Sebastian's wife, something I'm still not sure of, this could have been a unique and quirky read and yet for me the only vaguely compelling thing was the exploration of the different kinds of 'being', of whether Sebastian was a vampire (albeit a seemingly different kind of vampire), a zombie, a golem, a highly magical necromancer or simply a 'witch of some high degree'.

Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper. All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.