Good Evening Book Dragons! I'm going to make this post short, because I'm having a Crohn's flare and dealing with yet another infection, so please bear with me. I can hardly believe that February is almost over! But that means the cold temps are on their way out and spring's warmth is almost here. Meanwhile, I've got three reviews for you after this lone tidbit.
This sounds like a fun, wonderful movie based on an Italian children's book series. I will look forward to seeing what happens with the adventures of a mouse journalist!
Movies:
Geronimo Stilton
Radar Pictures has acquired the feature
film rights for Geronimo Stilton https://www.shelf
awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFCMxLkI6ak2IBtzHg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iXXsXxpoMLg-gVdw, the children's book series by Italian
author Elisabetta Dami "about the crime-solving adventures of a mouse
journalist and his eccentric gang of family and friends," Deadline
reported. Canadian animation writer, director and voice actor David Soren
(Turbo, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) is attached to adapt
and direct the project.
The character was created by Dami in
the 1990s from stories she invented for young patients while volunteering
at a children's hospital. "Since then, the character has been featured
in more than 300 books, translated into over 50 languages, as well as
graphic novels, an animated series, eight live stage productions, video
games and toys," Deadline noted. The original books and their spin-offs have
sold 180 million copies in 150 countries. The series is published in
Italy by Edizioni Piemme and by Scholastic in the U.S. and other
English-speaking countries.
"I'm excited to be working with
Radar Pictures to bring this incredibly popular book series to life,"
Soren said. "Geronimo Stilton is beloved around the world, and it's high time
for his first hilarious, feature film adventure."
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters is a funny, whimsical lesbian romance novel that was light-hearted and sweet enough to lift me out of the doldrums of a gray winter day. Here's the blurb:
For
fans of Casey McQuiston and Abby Jimenez comes a bold, hilarious, and
out-of-the-box novel about mixing business with battery-operated
pleasure . . .
When it comes to her career, Cade
Elgin has it all figured out. Only “professional talk” has become her
default mode, relationships are nonexistent, and don’t even mention the
word “orgasm.” All work and no play makes Cade a dull human. But when
she inherits a sex toy store, Cade is caught between business and a
store filled with every imaginable kind of pleasure—including her
infuriatingly irresponsible and deliciously sexy new co-owner.
Selena
Mathis learned the hard way that she can have too much of a good thing.
Which is precisely why she’s taken an oath of celibacy and is focusing
on how to make Satisfaction Guaranteed a success. She won’t mess this
up. Not this time. But once again, Selena’s emotions are getting in the
way and tempting her with a serious attraction to buttoned-up Cade.
But
the shop isn’t exactly vibe-ing, and Cade and Selena are on the verge
of losing both their income and the possibility of love. Can they find a
way to work together . . . before Satisfaction Guaranteed runs out of
batteries?
Though the oddball girl and the straight-laced gal is a trope that has been used many times, Somehow Stetz-Waters made it fresh, so that the characters transcended the stereotypes and became interesting. the prose was breezy and light and the plot easy to follow to it's romantic conclusion. I'd give this fun "beachy read" a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes oddball LGBTQ romance novels.
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett is a mystery/paranormal fantasy/romance that reads like a fun dissertation on the unseen world of the Folk/Fae. Though the prose was somewhat too detailed and fussy/overwritten, the plot managed to reveal just enough about the fairy folk to keep readers interested until the final page. Here's the blurb:
A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the
far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic,
friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new
fantasy series.
Cambridge
professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost
expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous
researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie
lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She
could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And
she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk
to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village
of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff
townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her
dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who
manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly
confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer
to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all
faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds
herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and
what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the
greatest mystery of all—her own heart.
Emily comes off as somewhat autistic/Aspergers type of person who is all cold logic and is frustrated with social activities and people in general. Add to that a very social Fae comrade, and you have the makings of an oddball romance and an interesting quest into the very heart of the fae realm. It was interesting that I found Wendell just as frustrating as Emily, because, though it's obvious at the outset that he's in love with her, neither can seem to make the first move or spell out their attraction to the other. However, Wendell does manage to save Emily, along with the kindly townsfolk, and all's well that ends well, though the door is left wide open for a sequel. I'd give this fantasy book that taught me more about fairy myths and legends than anything else I've read (and I've read a LOT of fantasy novels) a B+, and recommend it to those who enjoyed all the detail in the Lord of the Rings books. The Cliff's Edge by Charles Todd is the 13th book in the Bess Crawford mystery series by mother/son duo that is now just left to the son, as the mother half of the couple has recently passed on. I've read all the Bess Crawford mysteries, and though I know there is supposed to be a subtle undercurrent of romance, in the last few novels, this one included, there was little to NO romance and a lot more bloodshed and sorrow. It's the end of the Great War (WW1) and the Spanish Flu is rampant, and has been for a year or so, therefore Bess is hoping to transition from working as a nursing sister to being at home with her family. However, this is not to be when she encounters a woman who pushes her to help a relative with an illness, and death and mayhem ensue. Here's the blurb: In the aftermath of World War I, nurse Bess
Crawford is caught in a deadly feud between two families in this
thirteenth book in the beloved mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd.
Restless
and uncertain of her future in the wake of World War I, former
battlefield nurse Bess Crawford agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a
friend of her cousin Melinda through surgery. But circumstances change
suddenly when news of a terrible accident reaches them. Bess agrees to
go to isolated Scarfdale and the Neville family, where one man has been
killed and another gravely injured. The police are asking questions, and
Bess is quickly drawn into the fray as two once close families take
sides, even as they are forced to remain in the same house until the
inquest is completed.
When another tragedy strikes,
the police are ready to make an arrest. Bess struggles to keep order as
tensions rise and shots are fired. What dark truth is behind these
deaths? And what about the tale of an older murder—one that doesn’t seem
to have anything to do with the Nevilles? Bess is unaware that when she
passes the story on to Cousin Melinda, she will set in motion a
revelation with the potential to change the lives of those she loves
most—her parents, and her dearest friend, Simon Brandon.
The above blurb is a bit disingenuous, as Simon and his role in this family drama is only laid out in the last few pages, so that nothing is done about it and it's something of a shock. Though the prose is proper and clean and exceedingly polite, the plot founders at several points and I found it to be rather dull as Bess goes over what has happened in previous pages several times. Redundancy is boring if it does nothing to further the plot. At any rate, I'd give this latest book in the series a B-, (and I'm being generous) and only recommend it to die-hard fans of Bess Crawford.
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