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“The strength of the novel is in the believable recreation of life in Elizabethan England, with the religious tensions between Catholics and Protestants and with the limits on a young woman’s ability to pursue her creative talents-even with Queen Elizabeth the head of the country. Hassinger creates a Shakespearean tale rife with imagery and beauty that pays homage to the Bard himself. But propelled by her love for Thomas Cole, a Catholic chorister, and her desire to sing, Susanna discovers that it is only with the support of those who love her that she has the strength to succeed. Once Susanna arrives in London, nothing is quite as she expected it to be, least of all her relationship with her famous father. She yearns to travel to London to see her father’s world of players and poets-and to follow a secret dream of her own. Susanna Shakespeare finds the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon much too quiet and provincial.
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Claire fuller unsettled ground5/26/2023 This is a pandemic novel, yes, but one that radically transcends the label. The entwined pain and pleasure of memory is at the heart of Neffy’s story, as is the hard work of establishing trust and finding forgiveness, particularly for oneself. Fuller’s intricately structured narrative makes great use of the Revisiting conceit, allowing Neffy’s history-including her love for an octopus she once cared for at an aquarium-to wrap itself around an increasingly nightmarish present, as Neffy uncovers secrets about the virus’s progression that other volunteers have been keeping from her. My Review of Unsettled Ground Dot’s death uncovers an unsettling chain of events. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations, and spin light from darkness. Neffy, who may have developed immunity, is identified as the group’s best hope for the future, but after fellow test subject Leon introduces her to a new technology called Revisiting, which allows her to relive moments from her past, she becomes increasingly drawn to the treatment. Unsettled Ground is a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. While Neffy and her fellow volunteers are isolated in a London hospital as they undergo treatment, the virus, nicknamed “Dropsy,” develops a new and deadly variant, which causes sudden memory loss before certain death. Twenty-something Neffy, still grieving the loss of her father and embarrassed by the crumbling of her marine biology career after a professional misstep, signs up as a vaccine test subject during the early days of the pandemic. Fuller ( Unsettled Ground) crafts a haunting novel of second chances set in a near-future pandemic.
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Project 17 by laurie faria stolarz5/26/2023 For Derik, it’s an opportunity to win a filmmaking contest and save himself from a future of flipping burgers at his parents’ diner. On the eve of the hospital’s demolition, six teens break in to spend the night and film a movie about their adventures. They tell stories about the unmarked graves in the back, of the cold spots felt throughout the underground tunnels, and of the treasures found inside: patients’ personal items like journals, hair combs, and bars of soap, or even their old medical records, left behind by the state for trespassers to view. Locals have long believed the place to be haunted. Built in 1878 and closed in 1992, this abandoned mental institution is rumored to be the birthplace of the lobotomy. High atop Hathorne Hill, near Boston, sits Danvers State Hospital. Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library Published December 2007 by Hyperion|248 pages
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Tales of the peculiar series5/26/2023 These are but a few of the truly brilliant stories in Tales of the Peculiar-the collection of fairy tales known to hide information about the peculiar world, including clues to the locations of time loops-first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his #1 bestselling Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.Riggs now invites you to share his secrets of peculiar history, with a collection of original stories in this deluxe volume of Tales of the Peculiar, as collected and annotated by Millard Nullings, ward of Miss Peregrine and scholar of all things peculiar. Before Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales.Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A companion to the bestselling Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, soon to be a major motion picture directed by Tim Burton.
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Manhattan beach egan summary5/26/2023 Her father died by self-inflicted gunshot wound, her platonic lover in a car accident, and she rages at her husband, Henry, and son, Christopher. Olive Kitteridge is a gorgeous 2008 novel in stories (and a stellar HBO miniseries) that depicts the life of a woman whose deep humanity is often occluded by her pain. Just as in Updike’s Rabbit series, a change in time changes everything. Olive has aged, and she, along with the residents of the fictional seaside hamlet of Crosby, Maine, are grappling with a changed world. Olive Kitteridge did not want for a sequel, but the result - charming, amusing, and consistently surprising - is a follow-up worthy of the original. “I really thought I was done with her, and she with me.” Then one day, while Strout sat in a European café, her difficult, lovable character roared back to life. “I never intended to return to Olive Kitteridge,” Elizabeth Strout said in a recent interview with The New Yorker. Such is the case with Olive Kitteridge, the namesake of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, and now the central character of Olive, Again. But sometimes a character so compels the author and readers worldwide that she practically demands to be written about again. A second book may rob readers of the pleasure of imagination, thus undoing some of the magic of the original novel. There’s a risk in returning to characters whose arcs have been resolved or purposely left in ambiguity.
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Heather gay bad mormon5/25/2023 But her life as a good Mormon abruptly ended when she lost the marriage and faith that she had once believed would last forever. She attended Brigham Young University, served a mission in France, and married into Mormon royalty in the temple. Whether as a businesswoman, mother, or television personality, she is unafraid to blaze a new trail, even if it means losing family, friends, and her community.īorn and bred to be devout, Heather based her life around her faith. Straight off the slopes and into the spotlight, Heather Gay is famous for speaking the gospel truth. Drinking and Tweeting meets Unorthodox in this vulnerable memoir about The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star’s departure from the Mormon Church, and her unforeseen success in business, television, and single motherhood.
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Now Gracie's dignity and future hangs on this dinner going perfectly, to try and find sanity before insanity finds her. As the clock winds closer to the eleventh hour, Gracie's blind date debacles, ranging from a cross-dressing police officer to a mustached marauder to a heavyset swinger who lives with an elderly couple, have landed her on desperate grounds. Gracie has to scramble and embark on a series of blind dates to find someone who could not only survive Mother's bumbles, but would receive Mother's approval. Gracie knows Mother will soon call with an invitation to the holiday dinner, and she will not let the twenty-something girl live it down if she shows up without a date so she rashly tells Dearest Mother that she already has a boyfriend. Now Gracie is living single, with her obese, feebleminded, lazy cat Morgott in an apartment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. Her mother's blundering impudence seems to sabotage every job, every relationship, and every aspect of her life.
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The quantum prophecy5/25/2023 After Ragnarok’s battle tank was destroyed in an enormous explosion, nearly all of the superhumans vanished. The Quantum Prophecy trilogy is set in a time mostly about a decade after Mystery Day, the day a huge battle took place between many of the world’s superheroes and a supervillain named Ragnarok. (Note: The Quantum Prophecy trilogy was first published in the UK as The New Heroes with different subtitles: The Quantum Prophecy, Sakkara, and Absolute Power.) Having all six books under my belt, I thought I’d dig a little deeper into the stories be warned, though, that this may involve some spoilers. The Super Human books are prequels but were published later - but I happened to start with them, which makes for an interesting perspective on things. I mentioned Michael Carroll’s Super Human trilogy in my post about superhero fiction, and since then I’ve also read the earlier Quantum Prophecy trilogy. Don’t judge these books by their somewhat unexciting covers - there’s plenty of action inside.
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The Strain by Guillermo del Toro5/25/2023 The Strain is Bram Stoker meets Stephen King meets Michael Crichton. “A deliciously creepy story that will literally make the hairs on your neck stand up. Clive Cussler, #1 New York Times bestselling author Truly an unforgettable tale you can’t put down once you read the first page. Do not think this is your typical vampire book, no traditional blood sucking here !!! Keep a night light on !!!" Gave it 5 stars because although it is not my style it was a good vampire meets the end of civilization as we know it book. I finished it about a year ago and have the second book not quite ready to jump into that one yet. "This was one of the scariest books I have ever read. Brilliant, blood-chilling, and unputdownable, The Strain is a nightmare of the first order. Guillermo del Toro, the genius director of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, and Hammett Award-winning author Chuck Hogan have joined forces to boldly reinvent the vampire novel. “Chuck Hogan is known for his taut thrillers, Guillermo del Toro for his surreal horror films… The Strain brings out the best of each.” - Minneapolis Star TribuneĪn epic battle for survival begins between man and vampire in The Strain-the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy from one of Hollywood’s most inventive storytellers and a critically acclaimed thriller writer. “Part The Andromeda Strain, part Night of the Living Dead.”. “A high-tech vampire epic.Terrifying.” - San Francisco Chronicle
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The heroes of olympus book series5/25/2023 Octavian, Roman legacy of Apollo and augur of Camp Jupiter.She is a praetor of Camp Jupiter and previously made a brief appearance on Circe's island in Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters. Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Roman demigod and daughter of Bellona.She previously appeared in Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth when Percy washed up on Ogygia. Calypso, a second-generation Titan banished to Ogygia and eventually rescued by Leo.Coach Gleeson Hedge, satyr and protector of Jason, Piper, and Leo.Nico di Angelo, Greek demigod and son of Hades. Frank Zhang, Roman demigod and son of Mars.Hazel Levesque, Roman demigod and daughter of Pluto.Jason Grace, Roman demigod and son of Jupiter.
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