HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all my book loving friends! Read a romantic book tonight and enjoy some chocolate (or sweets of your choice!) I've had a great day and have scheduled my first appointment for the COVID 19 vaccine on the 20th! That will make it almost exactly one year since I've been in quarantine here at home. There's light at the end of the tunnel, finally!
I adore Stephen Colbert and his wonderful wit and sense of humor...I think it's fantastic that he's helping out a small indie bookstore during the pandemic.
Colbert's Late Show Spotlights N.C. Bookstore
Last night, on his special post-Super Bowl edition of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert featured a commercial for an unlikely business http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47398862: Foggy Pine Books http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47398863 in Boone, N.C. Colbert explained, "Big companies aren't the ones that need our support the most right now. It's small businesses that have been hurt the most in this pandemic. Of course a small business could never afford the millions of dollars it would cost to produce and run an ad on CBS tonight, which is why we here The Late Show have decided to just pick one and just give it to them."
The ad, which opens with a skydiver plummeting from a plane, features Sam Elliott, who narrates ("every book is an adventure waiting to happen"), and "satisfied customer" Tom Hanks ("Foggy Pine Books has the best selection in all of Boone. They have books on all of my interests, such as World War II, and also books about the events from 1939-45").
The bookstore tweeted, "We are so excited & honored to be featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert! Welcome everyone!!"
Peter D as a bear? Say no more, I'm there for this!
Movies: This Was Our Pact
Peter Dinklage will produce the upcoming animated film This Was Our Pact http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47400669, based on the graphic novel by Ryan Andrews, Variety reported, adding that Dinklage is also voicing one of the lead characters--a "mysterious and charismatic bear."
Dinklage and David Ginsberg's production company Estuary Films is collaborating on the project with veteran animator Ken Duncan's Duncan Studio team. Will Collins, screenwriter of Golden Globe-nominated Wolfwalkers and Oscar-nominated Song of the Sea, will write the script.
"I'm delighted to be a part of the team tasked with adapting This Was Our Pact into an animated feature," Collins said. "Ryan Andrews created a gem of a coming-of-age story which takes the reader on a journey through a unique, mysterious and beautiful place. From the outset I knew these boys, I knew the joy and pain of their friendship, and I willed that friendship to triumph with every turn of the page. It's a pleasure to be collaborating with Ken Duncan and the talented team at Duncan Studio and Estuary Films to bring this story to life."
Duncan added: "This Was Our Pact is a fantastic tale full of twists and turns, but at its heart is the relationships between the characters, and their developed friendship. We're excited to capture the unique qualities of the book, in the visual style as well as storytelling--it is utterly captivating and enchanting. With Will Collins coming on as our writer, we know this will be a film that will thrill the many fans of the graphic novel and help Ryan Andrews' wonderful work discover new audiences."
More movies I'm very interested in seeing, the remake of the Wizard of Oz! I don't know how they will beat the original 1939 musical, which I grew up watching (and being terrified of the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys!) but it's very brave of them to try!
Movies: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Free Radicals
Nicole Kassell (Watchmen) will direct New Line's film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47431297, Deadline reported, noting that this is "a major priority project for the studio and a big star-making opportunity for Kassell.... Her selection follows an extensive director search by New Line to find a visionary filmmaker to re-imagine The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are producing with Marc Platt. Isaac Klausner will be executive producer.
"I am incredibly honored to join Temple Hill and New Line in bringing this beloved classic to the screen," Kassell said. "While the 1939 musical is part of my DNA, I am exhilarated and humbled by the responsibility of re-imagining such a legendary tale. The opportunity to examine the original themes--the quest for courage, love, wisdom and home--feels more timely and urgent than ever. These are profoundly iconic shoes to fill, and I am eager to dance alongside these heroes of my childhood as we pave a newly minted yellow brick road."
Miramax has optioned Alice Munro's short story "Free Radicals," which will be adapted by writer-director Xia Magnus and producer Alyssa Polk, with Magnus also attached to direct, Deadline reported. Free Radicals http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz47431298 will be produced by Jon Shestack, who brought the package to Miramax."The story, like so much of Alice Munro's work, is dark and intelligent," Shestack said. "The encounter between the main characters is so unexpected and intense, it feels like it was conceived for the screen."
Here are the reviews of my latest e-reads and regular dead-tree reads for the week.
The Last Tiara by MJ Rose is probably the 13th book of hers that I've read, and loved. Rose's prose is always sterling, her plots swift and her stories mesmerizing. I'm a huge fan of how she world builds and populates her historical fiction with unforgettable characters that linger long after the book is finished. Here's the blurb: From New York Times bestseller
M.J. Rose comes a provocative and moving story of a young female
architect in post-World War II Manhattan, who stumbles upon a hidden
treasure and begins a journey to discovering her mother’s life during
the fall of the Romanovs.
Sophia Moon had always been
reticent about her life in Russia and when she dies, suspiciously, on a
wintry New York evening, Isobelle despairs that her mother’s secrets
have died with her. But while renovating the apartment they shared,
Isobelle discovers something among her mother’s effects—a stunning
silver tiara, stripped of its jewels.
Isobelle’s research into
the tiara’s provenance draws her closer to her mother’s past—including
the story of what became of her father back in Russia, a man she has
never known. The facts elude her until she meets a young jeweler, who
wants to help her but is conflicted by his loyalty to the Midas Society,
a covert international organization whose mission is to return lost and
stolen antiques, jewels, and artwork to their original owners.
Told
in alternating points of view, the stories of the two young women
unfurl as each struggles to find their way during two separate wars. In
1915, young Sofiya Petrovitch, favorite of the royal household and best
friend of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, tends to wounded soldiers in a
makeshift hospital within the grounds of the Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg and finds the love of her life. In 1948 New York, Isobelle
Moon works to break through the rampant sexism of the age as one of very
few women working in a male-dominated profession and discovers far more
about love and family than she ever hoped for.
In M.J. Rose’s
deftly constructed narrative, the secrets of Sofiya’s early life are
revealed incrementally, even as Isobelle herself works to solve the
mystery of the historic Romanov tiara (which is based on an actual
Romanov artifact that is, to this day, still missing)—and how it is that
her mother came to possess it. The two strands play off each other in
finely-tuned counterpoint, building to a series of surprising and deeply
satisfying revelations.
Like most of her books, I couldn't put The Last Tiara down, and read it all the way through in a day and evening. My only problem with the book was SPOILER ALERT, I found it hard to believe that Izzy's father was still alive and yet never came to find her, and the whole ending seemed a bit too far fetched, though it was a modified HEA. Still, I'd give this beautiful novel an A- and recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of Russian jewels and mysteries.
My Funny Valentine by Debbie Macomber was a free ebook, and I have to say that it was only worth that, as it was a very cliched and trope filled romance that I would never have paid for. Here's the blurb: Dianne Williams needs a man . . . but only for a night. The night of the
Port Blossom Community Center’s Valentine’s dinner, to be precise. As
the dinner approaches, she grows more and more exasperated by her
children’s relentless efforts to set her up on a blind date. But one
day, when a kind stranger helps her with car troubles, Dianne decides to
take matters into her own hands.
Steve Creighton fits the bill
perfectly: He’s handsome, he’s charming, and he owns a decent suit. When
Dianne asks him to accompany her to a Valentine’s dinner after only
just having met him, he can’t help but find the offer amusing. As he and
Dianne grow closer, however, his feelings for her only intensify—and,
to Dianne’s surprise, so do hers.
This is billed as a Macomber classic romance, which basically means it's one of her backlist or old titles that she's trying to breathe new life into by giving it away. I think she should have saved us all time and painful reading by mothballing this ridiculously stereotypical romance. The female protagonist is a cardboard cutout of a damsel in distress, the male protagonist is the rich and handsome knight in shining armor who rescues her, and of course she can't resist him, (ugh) and they live happily ever after, one assumes. It bothered me a great deal that this woman's entire family, her children and her mother seem to run her life and constantly force her to date men she's not interested in, and then when she brings one home, they decide that they like him and that he has to propose and marry her...as if she has no agency, no will of her own! GROW A SPINE, woman! Tell your children, first of all, that your love life is NONE OF THEIR CONCERN or business, (which it isn't) and tell your nosy, bossy overbearing mother to STFU and leave you alone, because, again, its your life, not hers. If you want to be alone, be alone. No one should be bullied or coerced into a relationship that they don't want or need! Sheez! Be an adult and stand up for yourself, already! With that in mind, I give this sexist novel a D, and I don't recommend it to anyone with a brain.
Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster was another low priced ebook that is a YA fantasy romance, and was surprisingly good, for an author I've never heard of. I really enjoyed this author's take on the Fae and their connection to the land, and the human/fae connection to the land and right of birth to magic. Here's the blurb: The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.
Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?
Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised? His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?
His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?
Hetta
knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her
father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and
avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the
Choosing. Then she can leave.
But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to deal with.
Winged, beautifully deadly problems. For
the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm,
and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe. In theory.
It's not a huge spoiler, since anyone will see it coming, but SPOILER ALERT, I was fascinated by Hetta's growing response to the land and the sense of responsibility as caretaker of the land and it's people. Lancaster's prose is rich and lush, while her spartan plot manages to keep all that prose from becoming too much for the reader to handle. Nicely done ebook, and one that leads me to contemplate buying the rest of the series. Meanwhile, I'd give it an A, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal fantasy from an earlier time period that is graceful and well thought out.
Empire of Ash by LRW Lee was yet another ebook that I was encouraged to check out, and when I did I was pleasantly surprised by my fascination with the main character, an orphaned archeologist. The prose was slick and contemporary, while the plot got a bit wispy in parts and almost farcical in others. This was billed as a "passionate paranormal romance with adult appeal" and while I could see that was what the author was attempting, what she ended up with was much more like a YA paranormal romance that has very little "adult" appeal, especially when it comes to sex scenes, of which there are NONE at all. The main characters share a few passionate kisses and sniff each other quite a bit, but that's it. No booty calls at all. Here's the blurb:
Archaeologist Pellucid Rose discovers THE find of the century when an earthquake hits her Mycenae, Greece dig. But before she can claim it, a dark, dangerous, and very sexy stranger steps from a swirl of shadows claiming she’s loosed a sphinx on the world by translating an ancient secret on one of the scrolls.
What’s more, he insists Secret Magic requires her to go with him to capture the ferocious creature.
Against better judgment, Pell teams up with the hot stranger to discover a world of magic where the impossible is reality, crooked mortals hide corrupt secrets, and mysteries older than myth can kill you. That thought alone makes her heart race, but things get even worse when she discovers he’s hiding world-altering secrets, and only she has what it takes to stop him.
Empire of Ash is the first book in the enthralling God of Secrets paranormal romance series. If you like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Holly Black's Cruel Prince, you’ll adore USA Today Bestselling author L. R. W. Lee’s vulnerable, intimate, and gritty tale of destined lovers, potent sorcery, and unique ancient myth retellings.
There's zero grit in this "gritty tale" and there's also a lack of "destined lovers" because they never actually make love. And we never find out what the "sexy stranger" Harpoc "really" is...though he claims to be a god, he flies with wings like an angel, turns to smoke like a Jinn and acts like a sexist jerk when he's not oogling or sniffing Pell, or not answering her questions with anything but a smirk. I honestly liked Pell up until she started acting like a goofy, giggling, blushing teenager, but in the end, I wasn't enthralled with the tale enough to want to continue with the series. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to anyone who is seriously into Egyptian archeology and myths.
Moonburner by Clare Luana is the first book in a YA fantasy trilogy that is somewhat reminiscent of Mulan in it's Chinese myths and characters. The prose was clean and lyrical, and the plot sailed long on phoenix wings, much to my surprise. Here's the blurb:
I was surprised at how much I loved Kai and her journey, and how beautifully written this tale was, like a Chinese legend or folklore piece come to life. It almost reads as a stand-alone, and there's a satisfying ending to this first book in the series, so you can read it and not have to commit to reading the other books if you don't like it, or enjoy the tale as-is. I loved the "daemon" (from the Golden Compass series) familiars that each moonburner/sunburner is paired with, and Kai's fox reminded me of Sabrina the teenage witch's cat Salem, wisecracks and all. That's why I'd give this book an A and recommend it to anyone interested in Chinese folktales and Chinese paranormal fantasy.
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