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![]() Reading bedtime stories is one of the many skills I’ve been honing over the last decade of motherhood, why not put them to good use? ![]() ![]() One of the things I am enjoying most about my new podcast is that I can publish original works that are completely indulgent and amusing… but I also really like being able to bring a new lease of life to some of my older stories, curating them for a new audience. Seriously, the Julio-Claudian dynasty makes so much sense if you accept that most of them were vampires and/or werewolves. It was this coin design that inspired me to write a series of stories reimagining the Julias of the first imperial family of Rome as an elite force of monster-hunting warriors and/or superheroes. ![]() Caligula commissioned a series of coins featuring his three sisters: Julia Livilla, Julia Drusilla and Julia Agrippina – standing side by side like goddesses or, to a modern eye, a lot like Charlie’s Angels. When Amanda Rainey, the cover designer at Twelfth Planet Press, asked me for an example of a Roman coin to use as a “texture” on the Love and Romanpunk cover, I knew exactly which design we had to use. It’s been fun revisiting this story, which is packed full of so many of my favourite historical characters and mythical monsters – and was directly inspired by my doctoral thesis, on the public image of Roman imperial women. The most recent story I’ve been serialising on my fiction podcast, Sheep Might Fly, is “Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary,” from Love and Romanpunk. ![]()
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Sanibel flats book review5/24/2023 ![]() These days, Doc, a semi-retired intelligence operative scratching out a living as a marine biologist on Florida’s Sanibel Island, is gradually selling off his find. In fact, one of the plots picks up the story told in “Caribbean Rim,” when Doc outmaneuvered a bunch of thugs hunting Spanish gold in waters off the Bahamas and secretly made off with a portion of it for himself. But the book’s twin plots are far-fetched, even for a Doc Ford novel, and readers who aren’t already familiar with the relationships between the characters might feel a bit lost. White’s prose is better than OK, of course, and Doc’s fans will be pleased that old friends, including the protagonist’s love interest, Hannah Smith, and his aging hippie pal, Tomlinson, are part of the action. ![]()
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The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore5/24/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Speaking about those two books in the same sentence is sacrilege because The Greatcoat is a particular kind of British kitsch that a favorite college professor of mine simply called “holly-golly.”īut before I get into the specifics of Dunmore’s latest novel, I think it worth talking about the notion of the unreliable narrator, which has had some real purchase lately with the publication of Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending and whose best examples in the past were Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and James’s masterpiece, The Turn of the Screw. But I can say, without equivocation, that Dunmore’s novel The Greatcoat is no The Turn of the Screw. ![]() Although I remember that a fuss was made over the Black book, I didn’t read it. She has won the prestigious Orange Prize and been short and long listed for other prizes her work has been compared to that of Tolstoy, Emily Bronte, and Virginia Woolf, and this newest short novel has been called by English critics “a perfect ghost story,” reminiscent of both Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Helen Dunmore is well known in her native England for her novels, short stories, and children’s books. I can say, without equivocation, that Helen Dunmore’s novel The Greatcoat is no The Turn of the Screw. ![]()
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Once more with feeling elissa sussman5/24/2023 ![]() ![]() That is, until Cal Kirby shows up with the opportunity of her dreams-a starring role in the Broadway show he’s directing and a chance to perform, the way she’s always wanted. Kathleen Rosenberg is okay with her ordinary existence and leaving her pop star image in the past. One unforgettable night is all it takes to blow up Katee’s relationship with Ryan, her career, her whole life. ![]() Quiet, serious Cal, who’s always been a good friend to Katee, is suddenly Cal with the smoldering eyes and very good hands. Maybe that’s why she finds herself in the arms of another CrushZone member, Cal Kirby. Katee loves to perform but hates the impossible demands of stardom. Everyone wants to know everything about her and her boyfriend, Ryan LaNeve, the hottest member of adored boy band CrushZone. ![]() Katee Rose is living the dream as America’s number one pop star, caught in a whirlwind of sold-out concerts, screaming fans, and constant tabloid coverage. “A pitch-perfect second chance romance with off-the-charts tension and chemistry.”-Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer AfterĪ former pop star finds herself back in the spotlight-along with an old flame from her past-in this friends-to-lovers meets enemies-to-lovers story from the bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask, the sensational TikTok romance! In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account. ![]()
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The reading list sara adams review5/24/2023 ![]() ![]() The story is also partly inspired by my grandparents, and my Dada in particular, who always used to ask me what book I was reading when I was little. When I was younger, my weekly trip to the library was so crucial in instilling within me a love of and respect for books. Libraries are vital for communities – they are safe spaces for many, they’re places to connect with others. I really wanted to write a novel that celebrated stories, and libraries. And when she meets Mukesh, she realises the books on the list might help him too… It’s a book about family, loss and love – but especially stories, and ways they help us both escape and look at our own lives with a fresh perspective. Aleisha discovers a reading list left in a library book and, as she starts to read, the books transport her away from the painful realities she’s facing at home. ![]() The Reading List is the story of an unlikely friendship between a widower, Mukesh, who is trying to connect with his bookworm granddaughter, and a teenager, Aleisha, who is working in the library for the summer. Sara kindly answered a few of my questions.ġ. Sara Nisha Adams debut novel, The Reading List, is published by Harper Collins on 22 July 2021. ![]()
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Sommersgate house5/24/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() When they did, a curse settled on the house making it seem strangely alive. They both died mysteriously at Sommersgate months after it was finished. One more thing, Sommersgate House is haunted by the ghosts of the man who built the house and the woman who was the love of his life. And anyway, she's decided if she ever has another husband (since the last one wasn't so great), he was going to be short, balding, have a paunch and worship the ground she walks on (none of these characteristics define Douglas in the slightest). ![]() ![]() When he tells her (yes, tells her) she will be his wife, Julia thinks Douglas is (probably) insane. Not to mention, she has to deal with the active hostility of Douglas's frosty, Attila-the-Hun-in-a-skirt mother, Monique.ĭouglas decides the best way to give the children what they need, get his mother to behave and give himself what he wants is to marry Julia. Julia is struggling with grief and trying to make a go in a new country without much help from impossibly handsome but even more impossibly remote Douglas. After tragedy strikes, Douglas and Julia are forced to live together at Sommersgate and raise their newly orphaned nieces and nephew.ĭouglas has no desire to raise his dead sister's children nor does he want the distraction of the tempting Julia living under his roof. Julia Fairfax is his stubborn American sister-in-law. Douglas Ashton is the cold and unfeeling owner of the gothic Victorian Mansion, Sommersgate House. ![]()
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After Hello by Mhairi McFarlane5/24/2023 ![]() ![]() When Harriet’s most heavily guarded secret comes to light, her world implodes. Harriet and Cal are like chalk and cheese, but as they go from strangers to roommates to friends, it becomes clear they’re both running from something. ![]() She needs a new apartment, like, yesterday.Įnter Cal Clarke, a hopeless romantic who just experienced his own wedding-related disaster. Suddenly Harriet is single… and living down the hall from her ex. Which is why, when her long-time partner proposes, she panics. ![]() Harriet Hatley is the most in-demand wedding photographer in town, but she doesn’t believe in romance, loathes the idea of marriage, and thinks chocolate fountains are an abomination. International bestseller Mhairi McFarlane delivers a sharp, emotional new novel about a woman who calls off her engagement to "the perfect man" and moves in with a charming stranger who makes her question everything about her life, her past, and the secrets she's kept for far too long. " writes with a singular wit, charm, and emotional complexity, every word just right, every page brimming with delicious tension." - Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation ![]()
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All You Need is Love by Marie Force5/24/2023 ![]() أحب الرسم؟ هل تحب حيوانات العبث ولكن لا يمكنك رسمها في الواقع؟Find Cute Easy Animal Drawings stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Find Cute Animal Drawings stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. #artwork #art #panda #pandabears #cute #cutebaby #cutie #love #draw #dra. ![]() ![]() ![]() Cute animal drawing ķřïțīķå on Instagram: "Panda. ![]()
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![]() Drop your favorite fiction titles of the year in the comments if you get a chance. And I’d especially like to thank you guys, the readers who read and discuss the book and comic reviews. I’m certain many of our readers have read more books than I have, and better books than I have. If anything, let the following 10 entries serve as a list of humble recommendations from a man who has sampled the goods in 2012. ![]() Considering the varying marketing and distribution methods, it’s literally impossible to catch up with all the greatness out there.īut in my defense, I am a voracious reader, and a longtime fan of horror fiction. And while most of those novels aren’t necessarily good, there are dozens that are. In the wake of the e-reader, the number of horror fiction titles released each year has swelled into the thousands. ![]() When compiling a list of top 10 horror films of the year, it’s easy to narrow the selection group down to 50 or so candidates. First off, I’m not sure I’m completely comfortable labeling the following novels “the best of 2012”. ![]()
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Do nothing celeste headlee book review5/23/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The constant distractions throughout the day will make it harder and harder for you to own more of your time.įight back and say “THIS IS MY FOCUS TIME” and don’t let anything interrupt it.
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