Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tara has been thrown out from her the Hidden School, fallen to the earth. You don't get to know why at least not yet. She returns home to her family and resumes her life there until the chance comes to her in the form of Elayne Kevarian who hires her to work for the necromantic firm: Kelethres, Albrecht and Ao and her first job is to bring the God Kos Everburning back to life. Together with Elayne and Abelard, the chain-smoking priest of Kos she must now resurrect Kos before His city falls apart.

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Max Gladstone has created a wonderful and interesting world where ordinary people have discovered that they also can have the power of Gods, or at least some of it with led to the Gods War and the world that Tara is living in now is the result of the war. Tara has the Craft, she can bring people back from the dead. Now one of the last great Gods have died, and it's up to Tara to bring him back, but she must also figure out how he died because it's not very easy thing to kill a God...

I liked this book very much. It was not always an easy book to read, I had to get to know a new world and its history, but as the story progressed and I learned more about the world and characters the more I liked the story. Max Gladstone has written a fascinating book, and I loved how the story progressed and you got a greater insight into the world he has created. Also, the ending, it was great. I never that coming and I love getting surprised when I read a book!

A truly great first book in a new series!

Cost of Life: A Thriller by Joshua Corin

Cost of Life: A Thriller by Joshua Corin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is perfect for anyone that looks for a fast-paced action book with a great main character. Xana Marx, a disgraced FBI agent, just out of rehab will do anything to track down the plane. She has a temper problem and she recently got out of rehab after she drove under influence into a house and now she risks losing her job. Her boss Jim Christie decided that she needs someone that keeps an eye on her, the young intern Hayley. Hayley has always wanted to be an FBI agent, but because she is dying of bone cancer that will never happen. Xana and Hayley "working" together is actually one of the best things about the book. A cranky elder women and this young woman that knows that she will never live to be old, but doesn't let that stop her working together.

Besides all the action on the ground, we also get to follow the people on the plane. I was surprised when the real reason for the hijacking of the plan was revealed. I had not been expecting that.

In the end, it's a struggle against time. Will they be able to save the hostage? How many will die in the end?

Personally, I found the book OK, it didn't click all the way out for me. But what really made the book for me was Xana Marx and I wouldn't mind reading more books about her and hopefully Hayley. But I couldn't help thinking about the crash in the French Alps not so long ago and that perhaps destroyed the reading mood about. It's been a bit too many planes crashed lately and reading about a hijacking, well that just didn't feel that good. But besides that fact, I quite liked that book and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Joshua Corin.

3.5 stars

I received a copy from the publisher and TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review!

The Geeky Chef Cookbook: 50 Real-Life Recipes for Your Favorite Fantasy Foods by Cassandra Reeder

The Geeky Chef Cookbook: Real-Life Recipes for Your Favorite Fantasy Foods - Unofficial Recipes from Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and more by Cassandra Reeder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have yet to try any of the receipts, so this review is just for the book's contents.

Have you ever wanted to throw a theme party? Or just wanted to throw together a special dinner for you geek girlfriend/boyfriend? Now you can!

How about starting the dinner with a nice Slurm from Futurama or if you want to get your significant other in special mood an alcoholic beverage like a Romulan Ale.

Some snacks and appetizers is a must; Perhaps he/she/they are a Doctor Who fan? Some Fish Fingers and Custard or Lembas from LOTR. Hell why not some Spoo (Babylon 5)

Now for dinner; a nice Lamb Stew with Plums just the way Katniss wants it. Perhaps you are really lucky and have gotten yourself some Star Trek fans over for dinner or have a girlfriend/boyfriend that is a Trekkie then you can serve Plomeek Soup.

As for the entrée, if you have started with the Plommek Soup why not cook some Gagh, a dish that any fun-loving Klingon love.

Now we have come to my favorite part of the book; Cakes and Cupcakes and boy here we have some real treats. How about some Lemon cake (A Song of Ice and Fire) or Butter Cakes (Silent Hill) or some Cauldron Cakes, or all three of them?

Everyone still hungry for more, how about a dessert? Some Turkish Delight straight out of Narnia, they are so good you will betray your siblings for them. Or some Pumpkin Pasties that would make any Harry Potter fan overjoyed with happiness?

I received this copy from Race Point Publishing through Edelweiss in return for an honest review!

Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Norah Vincent

Adeline: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Norah Vincent
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

On April 18, 1941, twenty-two days after Virginia Woolf went for a walk near her weekend house in Sussex and never returned, her body was reclaimed from the River Ouse. Norah Vincent’sAdeline reimagines the events that brought Woolf to the riverbank, offering us a denouement worthy of its protagonist.

With poetic precision and psychological acuity, Vincent channels Virginia and Leonard Woolf, T. S. and Vivienne Eliot, Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington, laying bare their genius and their blind spots, their achievements and their failings, from the inside out. And haunting every page is Adeline, the name given to Virginia Stephen at birth, which becomes the source of Virginia’s greatest consolation, and her greatest torment.

Intellectually and emotionally disarming, Adeline—a vibrant portrait of Woolf and her social circle, the infamous Bloomsbury Group, and a window into the darkness that both inspired and doomed them all—is a masterpiece in its own right by one of our most brilliant and daring writers.

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Adeline was a book I really looked forward to reading. I read Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellers a few years back and I loved that book. When it comes to Virgina Woolf I have so far only read Mrs. Dalloway, but I have plans to read more books by Mrs. Woolf.

So believe me, I was quite happy when I got a chance to read this book. But unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with it, nor the story or the characters. There were moments in the book when the text really spoke to me, but not nearly enough to make me truly enjoy this book. In the end, it just became a struggle to finish the book. Too much rambling for my taste. But as I said before, there were moments that were good, often when other characters interacted with Virgina, like Lytton or T.S Eliot or Yeats. But the moments were like gems in the sand, rare and hard to find.

In the end, I just want to say that this was a book that just didn't work for me. I hoped that I would get into the story, but it never happened.

I received this copy from the publisher in return for an honest review!

Mary's Christmas by Laurie R. King

Mary's Christmas by Laurie R. King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In many ways was this story way better than I thought it would be. For instance, I thought that a story taking place when Mary was a child, way before she meet Sherlock wouldn't be that interesting. But the story was really good. Not a mystery or a crime story but a glimpse into Mary's childhood, before her parents and brother died.

#BookReview The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths

The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The chilling discovery of a downed World War II plane with a body inside leads Ruth and DCI Nelson to uncover a wealthy family’s secrets in the seventh Ruth Galloway mystery.

Norfolk is suffering from record summer heat when a construction crew unearths a macabre discovery—a downed World War II plane with the pilot still inside. Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway quickly realizes that the skeleton couldn’t possibly be the pilot, and DNA tests identify the man as Fred Blackstock, a local aristocrat who had been reported dead at sea. When the remaining members of the Blackstock family learn about the discovery, they seem strangely frightened by the news.

Events are further complicated by a TV company that wants to make a film about Norfolk’s deserted air force bases, the so-called Ghost Fields, which have been partially converted into a pig farm run by one of the younger Blackstocks. As production begins, Ruth notices a mysterious man lurking on the outskirts of Fred Blackstock’s memorial service. Then human bones are found on the family’s pig farm. Can the team outrace a looming flood to find a killer?

Laced with dry humor and anchored by perennial fan favorite Ruth, The Ghost Fields will delight fans new and old.

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The Ghosts Fields are the seventh book in the Ruth Galloway series and I have read them all so I was quite happy when I was approved from this book over on NetGalley. Actually, I wasn't supposed to read this book now, but I let it get ahead in the queue since I really wanted to read a crime novel and also wanted to read a book with familiar characters.

This book picks up two years after the last book and Ruth daughter Kate now five years old and is starting school. Nelson, Kate's father Nelson I still married to Michelle, but he is as usual quite possessive of both Ruth and Kate. Which in my opinion he has no right to be since he chose to stay with Michelle. This case will bring them together again as they try to find out how the man came to be on the plane and why after Ruth discover that the man has been dead for years, but have been buried somewhere else. Also, when an heiress is attacked it seems that there is someone out there still out for blood...

It felt nice to return to Ruth Galloway world and I was pleased that she has stopped (well not completely) obsessing about her weight. Her "relationship" with Nelson isn't the easiest. Having a child with a married cop isn't easy especially since she hasn't really moved on even though she tries.

I like cold cases and this case with links to a prominent family turned out to be quite interesting and there is a part in this book what made me think of a special scene from the book /movie/TV-series Hannibal though less gruesome...

All and all a good read and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series when it comes out!

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!

Jeremy Clarkson: The Biography

Jeremy Clarkson: The Biography by Gwen Russell
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

It was quite fun searching for books on Scribd after I signed up on the site and of course, since I'm a big Top Gear did I just have to search for books concerning the program and its presenters and I found this book.

This may not be the deepest biography written I have read, but it was entertaining and quite informative and I quite like Jeremy Clarkson so I enjoyed the book.

The book is from 2007 so it was a bit ironic to read about the worries from the fans that the show wouldn't come back for another season...

#BookReview Vampire Seeker by Tim O'Rourke

Vampire Seeker by Tim O'Rourke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Samantha "Sammy" Carter thinks that the recent murders of four women in Whitechapel are committed by a vampire. The gruesome murders are identical to the murders of Jack the Ripper a hundred years ago. Is there a copycat or is Jack the Ripper back?

Sammy is desperate to prove that the killer is a vampire and one night she follows the killer on the night tube train. But she blacks out after an encounter with the killer and wakes up in the wild west. How and why did she end up there and will she ever get back home?

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Vampires, Jack the Ripper, and time-traveling. What an amazing combination. This book was really entertaining to read and I enjoyed Sammy's experience in the wild west. Not only is she far from home she is also a bit lost in time and now she has to get used to not only that vampires are really real, but that for reasons she can't understand she was sent back in time.

When Sammy wakes up in the wild west she is a bit groggy and also in danger, but lucky for her, the Preacher shows up at the right time to help her out. The Preacher isn't alone. He is traveling with Louise, Harry, and Zoe and they are not an ordinary group of people; they are vampire hunters. She also feels that there is something mysterious about them, besides the fact that they are vampire hunters.

This book was entertaining to read and even though I'm a bit sick and tired of the whole vampire genre really liked Tim O'Rourke's wild west theme with time travel. Also, having added Jack the Ripper to the mix was very interesting, The ending wasn't that surprising, but I enjoyed reading the book and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!