Monday, November 21, 2022

Music Monday (222): Tove Lo, Ramsey Lewis

Rules:

  • Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 
Breana: Tove Lo has an extensive backlist of music, and I have too many favorite songs to count. I wanted to mention another track from Dirt Femme. It's called Suburbia, and I've had it on repeat.


Adri: I've been trying to branch away from my playlist some more. So, today I'm listening to Tequila Mockingbird by Ramsey Lewis.



What are you listening to this week?


Friday, November 18, 2022

The Friday 56 (226) & Book Beginnings: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.


Synopsis from Goodreads...
The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover—a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty—and discover how truth can survive becoming history.... Nghi Vo returns to the empire of Ahn and The Singing Hills Cycle in this mesmerizing, lush standalone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune


Beginning: "The tavern was little more than a waxed canvas tent, tilted towards the south by the wind that rushed headlong down the mountain."

56: "Ahnfi was the child of Pan'er, which sunk beneath the waves, and the latter-day daughter of that great city lacked all the parent's grace and beauty."


Comments: I had such a great experience with The Empress of Salt and Fortune that I couldn't wait to start its sequel, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. This was another great installment in this series, and I loved it as much as the first. My 56 comes from page 54 instead, because every sentence was a major spoiler. What are you reading this week?

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Flight Risk by Cherie Priest

Title: Flight Risk
Series: The Booking Agents #2
Author: Cherie Priest.
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Paranormal; Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Atria Books; November 15, 2022

Goodreads     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads...
Inconsistent psychic Leda Foley and Seattle detective Grady Merritt return to solve the case of a missing couple in this sequel to the “delightful” (The New York Times Book Review) mystery Grave Reservations.

When psychic travel agent Leda Foley is approached by a man searching for his sister, she quickly agrees to help. The missing woman disappeared with a vintage orange car, a fat sack of her employer’s cash, and a grudge against her philandering husband—a man who never even reported her missing. Meanwhile, Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt has temporarily misplaced his dog. While he’s passing out bright pink “Lost” flyers at the Mount Rainier visitor’s center, the wayward pooch appears—with a human leg in his mouth. Thanks to DNA matching, Grady soon learns that Mr. Leg has something to do with Leda’s new client, and soon the two cases are tangled. Theories abound, but law enforcement is low on leads. Lucky for Grady, Leda has a few ideas that might just be crazy enough to work. They’ll need one yellow dog, a fair share of teamwork, and perhaps a bit of Klairvoyant Karaoke to piece the clues together.

I requested an ARC of Flight Risk, because the synopsis was intriguing. It seemed to have everything I look for in a cozy mystery—plus the paranormal angle was just an added bonus. There were a number of reasons why I liked this one as well as others that I was more lukewarm toward.

The introduction of the various avenues of the mystery—the dog, the leg, and the missing woman—was just good. It was quickly apparent that the different occurrences were linked together, and the early speculation and realizations made by the characters were engaging.

The paranormal aspects were handled quite well. I liked the fact that while Leda had the advantage of her ability, there was still a limitation to what it could do. It was fairly unpredictable, and sometimes what she saw was too vague to be helpful. That being said, the scenes where its presence was most heavily felt—such as feeding her useful information about the cases—were some of my favorite portions of the story.

I did have some problems toward the middle of the book though, where the story slowed down, and it seemed like the mystery was running laps around the characters. Despite the fact that, with the clues available, I was able to figure out what was happening before they did.
 
Other than that, Flight Risk was a pretty entertaining read.

About the author....
Cherie Priest is the author of two dozen books and novellas, most recently The Toll, The Family Plot, The Agony House, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominee Maplecroft; but she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. Her works have been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction, and have won the Locus Award (among others) – and over the years, they’ve been translated into nine languages in eleven countries. Cherie lives in Seattle, WA, with her husband and a menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Atria Books) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Monday, November 14, 2022

Music Monday (221): Ellie Goulding, Luther Vandross

Rules:

  • Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 
Breana: Ellie Goulding released another song from her upcoming album. It's called Let It Die, and I love it!


Andrea: Hi all! This week I'm listening to Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. Have an amazing week!



What are you listening to this week?

Friday, November 11, 2022

The Friday 56 (225) & Book Beginnings: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.


Synopsis from Goodreads...
A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.


Beginning: "Something wants to eat you," called Almost Brilliant from her perch in a nearby tree, "and I shall not be sorry if it does."

56: "In-yo was silent behind her screen. Seated in my obscure corner of the hall, I could see a tiny twitch of movement, her hand tightening on the bulky silky robes that I had dressed her in that morning."


Comments: I read The Empress of Salt and Fortune, and it's probably one of the best novellas I've read so far this year. I loved everything about it. What are you reading this week?
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