Month: January 2021

Recent Reads: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files book 7)

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files book 7) has 6 Necromancer’s in town, all looking for the Word of Kemmler.  Mavra, the black vampire, also wants it, and is threatening Murphy’s career, and she wants Harry to find the Word, and give it to her.

There’s zombies of different kinds, a glimpse of Bob from the past, and a bit of body swapping.  It all makes for an average day for Harry!

I’ve been enjoying reading all of the Dresden Files.  The world is being filled more and more with every book.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher was published on 3 May 2005 and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Jim Butcher on his website, Twitter and Facebook.

My reviews for previous Dresden Files books are below:

Storm Front (book 1)

Fool Moon (book 2)

Grave Peril (book 3)

Summer Knight (book 4)

Death Masks (book 5)

Blood Rites (book 6)

Recent Reads: The Urban Sketching Handbook: Techniques for Beginners How to Build a Practice for Sketching on Location by Suhita Shirodkar

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

The Urban Sketching Handbook: Techniques for Beginners How to Build a Practice for Sketching on Location by Suhita Shirodkar is aimed at beginners, with lots of descriptions and information on how to gain techniques.

It comes from the point of view of several artists, which is good for showing different styles.

The Urban Sketching Handbook is a series, and so if you find this one helpful, you might want to have a look at the others!

The Urban Sketching Handbook: Techniques for Beginners How to Build a Practice for Sketching on Location was published on 3rd November 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Suhita Shirodkar on her website.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto Publishing.

Recent Reads: The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????

The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy is set in a future where more of nature has become extinct.

Franny Stone needs to follow the last of the Artic Terns on the migration that could be their last, all the way to Antarctica.

We are taken on flash backs on her life to see how she has been led here, to trying to get aboard one of the last fishing boats, and be able to follow the Terns, who will be following fish.

This is a very emotive book, with beautiful descriptions of the scenery.  I enjoyed the story, and the journey we are taken on.  It’s a sad future with so few animals in the world, which I hope we don’t ever see.

The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy was published on 28th January 2021, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Charlotte McConaghy on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House.

Recent Reads: 2nd Chance by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Women’s Murder Club book 2)

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

2nd Chance by James Patterson and Andrew Gross is the second in the Women’s Murder club series of books.

Yes, they’re back, and using all of their skills in order to find out how a gunman shooting at children leaving a church and an elderly woman found hung are linked together.

This was another easy read where you get taken on an adventure, and I enjoyed it!

2nd Chance by James Patterson and Andrew Gross was published on 4th March 2002, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow James Patterson on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his website.

You can follow Andrew Gross on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his website.

Women’s Murder Club books:

 1st to Die  – book 1 

Recent Reads: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files book 6)

Posted on by Pam

My review:?????

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher has Harry on the set of an adult film, undercover, trying to track down who is trying to kill the producer.  He only got involved in this because Thomas asked him to, and of course there’s going to be some money involved as well!  

There’s also the matter of the Black Court vampires that are lurking around!

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher was published on 3rd August 2004, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Jim Butcher on his website, Twitter and Facebook.

My reviews for previous Dresden Files books are below:

Storm Front (book 1)

Fool Moon (book 2)

Grave Peril (book 3)

Summer Knight (book 4)

Death Masks (book 5)

Recent Reads: Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann is a YA story of 15 year old Phoebe in her GCSE year, with her doctor mother off helping everyone else, and her best friend having fallen off the planet as she’s gotten a boyfriend.

This is written as a diary, which works so well as you get such an insight into Phoebe and her feelings.  I enjoyed this book, and wanted to see what would happen next.  I thought the situation was well created, and Phoebe’s feelings of abandonment, uncertainty and stress was well written.

P.S Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann was published on 21st January, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

P.P.S You can follow Wibke Brueggemann on Instagram.

P.P.P.S I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan Macmillan.

Recent Reads: Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley

Posted on by Pam

My review:???

Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley is a fantasy book, set in a matriarchal world, with those who are mages, and those who are mundane.  Shine is a mundane with a lot of mages for family, and so she is ignored or mocked.

It’s a festival where all the family come home, and so Shine has to endure them all.  This time, there’s a spy hiding, a letter to be found and a death to enliven matters.

I found the story to be ok.  It was good to see a book with an emphasis on female power, but this power was abused in the same ways that they are in patriarchal society.  

Shadow in the Empire of Light by Jane Routley was published on 19th January 2021, and is available on Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Jane Routley on Facebook.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Rebellion.

Recent Reads: The Stranger Times by C.K McDonnell

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

The Stranger Times by C.K McDonnell is about a newspaper full of weird and wonderful stories from the public.  Think UFOs, ghosts, and of course, Elvis.

Hannah Willis is running away from her life, and manages to get the job as the Assistant Editor.  It’s a role that’s seen more than a few people, and now is Hannah’s.  She gets to deal with the drunk and rude editor, which looked to be hard even before forces of darkness start to intrude.  Perhaps the things they write about aren’t all fantastic tales.

This is a fantasy romp and one that I enjoyed.  I liked the back stories of all the people who work at the paper, the mystical elements that are added, and the twists and turns the story takes!

The Stranger Times by C.K McDonnell was published on 14th January 2021, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow C.K McDonnell on Twitter.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Transworld Books.

Recent Reads: Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects–Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More by Ana Victoria Calderon

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media; A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects–Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More by Ana Victoria Calderon is a step by step guide with lots of information for beginners.  There are lots of photos to help you.

If you’re interested in starting watercolour, then this is a good book to help you!

Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media; A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects–Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More was published on 17th November 2020 and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.

You can follow Ana Victoria Calderon on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto Publishing. 

Recent Reads: 1st to Die by James Patterson (Women’s Murder Club book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:????

1st to Die by James Patterson is the first in the Women’s Murder Club series.

Inspector Lindsay Boxer needs help with her latest case and so her friend, Claire Washburn, the Medical Examiner on the case helps out.  Cindy Thomas, a reporter trying to make her mark, makes contact with Lindsay, who comments off the record, but they realise they can help each other.  Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt joins in soon, and so we have the 4 women who make up the Women’s Murder Club, and find that working together helps them to solve cases.

This first case has newlyweds being murdered on their honeymoon, which makes it high profile, and then another pair of newlyweds are murdered. 

I enjoy James Patterson books as they are fast paced, entertaining and everything wraps up in the book.  I find them easy to read, and have listened to some as audiobooks, and they are equally good there!

1st to Die by James Patterson was published on 5th March 2001, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow James Patterson on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his website.