From King Edward VIII’s abdication of the throne in order to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson and King George VI’s subsequent crowning, through World War II, and all the way to Elizabeth’s courtship and marriage to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Crawfie’s memoir offers an intimate and revelatory perspective of Elizabeth and Margaret’s childhood during one of the most momentous eras in British history. Originally published in 1950, The Little Princesses was the first account of British Royal life inside Buckingham Palace as revealed by Marion Crawford, who served as governess to princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.Ī twenty-two year old teacher recruited to look after the Duke and Duchess of York’s young daughters in 1931, Marion Crawford-affectionately known as “Crawfie” by her charges-spent sixteen years with the Royal family as the children’s governess.
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"Immersive…a feast to savor slowly." ( BuzzFeed News ) "Lush, engrossing, and full of mystery and dark magic" ( BookPage ), The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a dazzling fantasy adventure by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, writing together as M. Enigmatic crime lord Derossi Vargo, stony captain of the guard Grey Serrado, dashing heir Leato Traementis, and the legendary vigilante known as the Rook all have secrets that could unravel her own.Īnd as corrupt nightmare magic begins to weave its way through the city of dreams, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled - with Ren at their heart. Now, she has returned with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister’s future.īut in the city of dreams, her masquerade is just one of many. Raised in the slums of Nadežra, she fled that world to save her sister. Ren is a liar and a thief, a pattern-reader and a daughter of no clan. When the macabre scene they uncover suggests violence much more sinister than animal, Tana must trust Crash if she wants to protect the town-and herself-from the evil that lurks in the frozen dark. One bitter night, she gets a call about the fatal wolf mauling of two students, and the only way to reach the remote scene is to enlist the help of the arrogant, irritatingly handsome Cameron “Crash” O’Halloran, a local bush pilot with a shady reputation for smuggling and a past cloaked in shadow. Daphne du Maurier Award Winner In the Barrens, a vast wilderness in northern Canada bordering the Arctic Circle, night consumes every hour of the winter. But with her superior out of commission, Tana becomes the sole police officer in 17,500 square miles. Maybe here she can find peace and community for her child. Five months pregnant and hoping to escape the mistakes of her past, she takes a post in Twin Rivers, population 320. Rookie cop Tana Larsson doesn’t mind the dark and quiet. Humans are scarce ferocious predators roam freely. In the Barrens, a vast wilderness in northern Canada bordering the Arctic Circle, night consumes every hour of the winter. 6/28/2023 0 Comments The Comfort Book by Matt HaigWritten in simple, short and easy to read prose the book is full of wisdom. "Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn't give up," Haig writes in the book. 'The Comfort Book' is Haig's reflections on the ups and downs of life and hope. This book is a reminder to all of us that no matter what 'this too shall pass' and life will go on. In some of these deeply personal pieces, the author also shares his own journey of battling depression and suicidal thoughts, how he kept hope alive and lived one day at a time. From writings on comfort foods and books, to anecdotes about inspirational people, to important life lessons learnt during hard times, to just accepting life and being in the moment- 'The Comfort Book' is a collection of Haig's writings on all these and more. This is a heart-warming collection of positive affirmations, quotes, and the author's personal notes. International bestselling author Matt Haig's 'The Comfort Book' released in July 2021. Then the ending was - well, it was out there. There is some danger and a whodunit, but the bad guy is caricature-like and at the risk of giving a little something away, the bad guy's helper was doing them a favor? Umm. From Harper and Sebastian's reactions to each other to their conversations to their steamy scenes, it all felt forced. I guess it's because the characters are kind of at fate's mercy from the start, but even that didn't help this romance. The funny thing is that if I'm going to like a kidnap/hostage forced proximity romance, it's usually one with fated mates. I know they're supposed to be fated mates and all, so they should be the perfect match, but Harper and Sebastian just did not work for me. I'm not sure if it was the story or the narration or both here, but I just didn't feel it with this couple. What I always look for in a romance is a sense that the characters need to be together like if I’m not rooting for them, then what even is the point of reading the romance to begin with? And listen, I was rooting for Morgan and Rachel so hard!!!! You really get a feel for how much history they have–I loved the little tidbits we got of their time together as kids and teens–and that history translates so well into the dynamic that they come to have as adults. First and foremost, the romance itself: Morgan and Rachel are so incredibly cute together. God, this was just the sweetest romance. There is so much that I loved about it. Friends to lovers! Second chance romance! Homecoming story! Small town charm! I was pretty much destined to love this, and I DID. 6/28/2023 0 Comments The stranger diaries book reviewInterspersed with each chapter are excerpts from the fictional author R.M. We then get the perspective of Clare’s teenage daughter who also plays a significant role in the story. That feeling lasted about one chapter before I realized she is actually very funny and smart, and a character I started like. At first I didn’t care for Harbinder because she seemed mean-spirited, and suspected Clare right off the bat, not to mention that she was very judgmental. I didn’t realize that the story would shift perspectives until it went from Clare to the Detective Sergeant on the case, Harbinder Kaur. One afternoon in October, Clare is informed that her colleague was found dead, and she is highly horrified along with the rest of the staff and the student body. The story is set in West Sussex in a sleepy countryside town where Clare Cassidy teaches English at Talgarth High, and lives with her teenage daughter Georgia. This book is going on my list of favorite reads for this year, and possibly favorite mysteries. I am familiar with the Ruth Galloway series that she writes, but I decided to start with The Stranger Diaries because there was a copy already available at the library where I work, and I found the synopsis to be very compelling and intriguing. I have been wanting to read Griffiths for a while now after a fellow reader recommended her. The Stranger Diaries is the first book in the Harbinder Kaur series by Elly Griffiths. 6/28/2023 0 Comments Swordspoint by ellen kushnerIt is The Three Musketeers distilled to a fine spirit then mixed into a cocktail with excess attitude. It is fundamentally murder over matters ranging from the utterly petty (one man engages Richard to fight over spurned sexual advances) to political power. The other part of it is the nobles of this nameless city, and their political/social conspiracy, which Richard and Alec stumble into, largely because nobles keep wanting to pay Richard large amounts of money to ‘issue challenges’ to other nobles. Swordspoint is mostly the tale of the swordsman Richard St Vier and his lover, the formed scholar Alec two boys that are mad, bad, and dangerous to know. The cutting was frequently a lot more literal and a good half of the book was spent in the rambunctious Riverside, a homage to every city district ever where moral and legal behaviour was always the last possible choice of entertainment. I expected a lot of gorgeous society people cutting each other dead socially. Swordspoint is arguably the start of the fantasy of manners genre, a term that might have slightly misled me. It finished with me finishing Swordspoint, and finishing it with sadness and joy, but something of a sigh of relief too that it was over. That plan got as far Swordspoint, the second book on the list, and Kushner’s diamond-engineered prose. I started last weekend intent on leafing through a bunch of books to find the one that’d claim my attention next. 6/27/2023 0 Comments Ryan la salaMy own life, actually! Be Dazzled is about all the things I love-nerdy things like comic book convention and anime and cosplay-but also about love itself. What was your inspiration for Be Dazzled? His debut novel was 2020’s Reverie His latest novel is Be Dazzled and he recently talked about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog. He technically lives in New York City, but has actually transcended material reality and only takes up a human shell for special occasions, like brunch, and to watch anime (which is banned on the astral plane). He studied Anthropology and Neuroscience at Northeastern University before becoming a project manager specialized in digital tools. Mentally, he spent most of his childhood in the worlds of Sailor Moon and Xena: Warrior Princess, which perhaps explains all the twirling. Ryan La Sala grew up in Connecticut, but only physically. 6/27/2023 0 Comments St augustine of hippo city of godThe idea of free will, however, was not entirely palatable to the Roman mind, which saw much of human events in terms of destiny controlled by the stars (astrology) and the gods. God does not give unqualified and unending temporal victories, nor is that a good measure of which God is true. Augustine explains that not only did the pagan gods not prevent such suffering, but Christianity also allows for such events as part of free will, and often for our good. 2 Books 1-5: The Effects of Pagan Worship in this LifeĪugustine first responds to the claim that if the Christian God were the true God, he should have protected Rome from suffering foreign attacks, as well and sickness and suffering in general. The concomitant rise of Christianity and abandonment of Rome’s pagan deities were being blamed by many for Rome’s decline, and in response, Augustine not only challenged the value of pagan worship in this life (Books 1-5), but in the next (Books 6-10), and then went on to describe the origin (Books 11-14), progress (Books 15-18), and final end (Books 19-22) of God’s kingdom, the City of God. It would seem hard to fathom that such a kingdom could ever end, but this decline helped Augustine realize that all human kingdoms end, but God’s kingdom does not. Augustine lived through what became obvious was the end of the millennium-long Roman empire. |