All my life I’ve been a dog person. Which isn’t to say that I don’t like cats, I always have, simply that I felt more affinity with dogs. I understand dogs. They are bouncy and loving and they lick your face. However, I am married to a cat person, and last summer when my friend’s daughter’s cat had kittens, the husband and I decided to adopt two of them. I still don’t consider myself a cat person, although I love my cats. They are obviously […]
Known in your neck of the woods as ‘Midnight Riot’
I’ve been unsuccessfully casting about for a new urban fantasy series to sink my teeth into ever since I devoured every Dresden Files and Women of the Otherworld book I could find. Having tried (and failed miserably) to get into Laurell K. Hamilton, JR Ward, Alexandra Ivy and many others who made my shit itch, it’s taken a little while but, filled as this is with fun characters and a brilliant (and very British) sense of humour, I think this may be The One. DC […]
Tudor royals, books, shapeshifters and all manner of complications
According to history, when King Edward VI, Henry VIII’s son died young and childless, certain noblemen who wanted to make sure a ruler of the Protestant faith ruled the country put his young cousin Lady Jane Gray on the throne. She ruled for nine days, before Mary Tudor arrived with her armies, removed the poor girl and had her beheaded. This book bears a vague resemblance to that story. In the England of this story, the conflict in England isn’t between Catholics and Protestants, it’s […]
Let’s Give It Up For America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman!
*This review is for the audiobook version of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States* This book was really fun to listen to. The actors were well chosen, (someone should put Nick Offerman in a Washington biopic immediately) but it doesn’t hold up well on reflection. She begins by talking about Lafayette’s return to the United States in 1824 and I got excited. I’d never heard about this! After a few anecdotes from his trip the book takes a turn into Revolutionary War history, which is […]
Suddenly Surprise Equus – A Phrase No One Wants to Hear
I like to think I mostly get British humo(u)r. I can quote more than just Monty Python Holy Grail. I’m aware the Hugh Laurie is more than Gregory House, M.D. and one half of the British national treasure that is “A Bit of Fry and Laurie”. But… I did not get this on. I had two main road blocks preventing me from liking this one. One, the sudden surprise Equus. (Of course, if there ever a time when you can be prepared for sudden surprise […]
Get Ready for a Zombie-Punk Infested Battle Royale
‘Zombies and Shit’ follows a group of characters picked out of the poor quadrant of a dystopian future New York, and ditched on a zombie infested island for the televised entertainment of the rich masses. Escape is limited to one seat in a helicopter that will carry the winner to the rich sector as their prize, but who’s going to make it to the chopper? The book is written in third person present tense. This isn’t a narrative choice I come across often and […]