Being Light (Helen Smith)

Overall: 3.9 Plot: 3/5 Originality: 5/5 Language: 3.5/5 Believability: 4/5

Being Light by Helen Smith When Roy Travers doesn’t come home his wife begins to suspect he has been abducted by aliens, and she enlists the help of a private detective to find him. But Roy was not taken by aliens. The truth is far stranger.

Genre: General Fiction Purchase Links: Kindle US | UK | DE Paperback US | UK | DE Other Links: author website

In Being Light, we continue with the adventures of Alison, Taron, and Mrs. Fitzgerald from Alison Wonderland, adding in a host of new characters who are somehow intricately linked to one another through circuses, elephants, and familial ties.

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Erich's Plea (Tracey Alley)

Due to a high number of grammatical errors, I was unable to complete enough of this novel  to be able to write a review in good conscience. The story itself might have been quite interesting, but I was distracted by run-on sentences, misused semicolons, and the occasional addition of an apostrophe after the word its. At 43%, I called it quits.


My apologies for not having a full review to post this week. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: a Flavia de Luce Mystery (Alan Bradley)

Overall: 4.1 Plot: 4/5 Originality: 5/5 Language: 4.5/5 Believability: 3/5

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: a Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley It is June 1950 and a sleepy English village is about to be awakened by the discovery of a dead body in Colonel de Luce's cucumber patch. The police are baffled, and when a dead snipe is deposited on the Colonel's doorstep with a rare stamp impaled on its beak, they are baffled even more. Only the Colonel's daughter, the precocious Flavia -when she's not plotting elaborate revenges against her nasty older sisters in her basement chemical laboratory, that is - has the ingenuity to follow the clues that reveal the victim's identity, and a conspiracy that reached back into the de Luce family's murky past.

Genre: Mystery Purchase Links: Kindle US | UK | DE Nook Paperback US | UK | DE Hardcover (large print) US | UK | DE Other Links: Flavia de Luce series

Precocious child detectives and seemingly inexplicable murders make for rather odd bedfellows, but Alan Bradley proves that the two can get along — quite readily, in fact — in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

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Flaming Dove (Daniel Arenson)

Overall: 3.1 Plot: 4/5 Originality: 4/5 Language: 2.5/5 Believability: 2/5

Flaming Dove by Daniel Arenson Outcast from Hell. Banished from Heaven. Lost on Earth. The battle of Armageddon was finally fought... and ended with no clear victor. Upon the mountain, the armies of Hell and Heaven beat each other into a bloody, uneasy standstill, leaving the Earth in ruins. Armageddon should have ended with Heaven winning, ushering in an era of peace. That's what the prophecies said. Instead, the two armies--one of angels, one of demons--hunker down in the scorched planet, lick their wounds, and gear up for a prolonged war with no end in sight. In this chaos of warring armies and ruined landscapes, Laila doesn't want to take sides. Her mother was an angel, her father a demon; she is outcast from both camps. And yet both armies need her, for with her mixed blood, Laila can become the ultimate spy... or ultimate soldier. As the armies of Heaven and Hell pursue her, Laila's only war is within her heart--a struggle between her demonic and heavenly blood.

Genre: Fantasy Purchase Links: Kindle US | UK | DE ">Nook Paperback US | UK | DE Hardcover US | UK | DE Other Links: author website

In the aftermath of Armageddon, Earth is a desolate battlefield where angels and demons continue to fight tooth and nail for the ravaged land. In the midst of this chaos is Laila, a being half dark and half light who wants nothing more than a place to rest. With her, we find out what happens when this wish goes unanswered.

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