The Bell Jar (Plath) Movie, Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd, A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon, In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros, and Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey

Greetings fellow book dragons! It's the start of my favorite time of year, the "ber" season, with September, October, November and December. This December 4 will be the first anniversary of my husband's death, and my son has planned a "celebratory" party in honor of his demise, as my husband, by the time he died, was demented and abusive and generally an awful human being. 

Anyway, Nick and I also have birthdays coming up, Nick in November and me in December.Then there is the holidays, and this year Nick's beloved fiance Sylvie is going to share the Christmas holidays with us, which will be quite a treat. 

Meanwhile, though, my health has been rough and I'm struggling to get help through the maze of hospital and doctor bureaucracy. Hopefully things will smooth out in the next month or so. 

I've got a lot of reviews, but only one tidbit, so lets get going, and enjoy the upcoming cozy sweater weather! 

I read the Bell Jar as a teenager and found it very profound. I'm curious to see what this new adaptation does with it.

 

Movies: The Bell Jar

Focus Features has wrapped production on its adaptation of Sylvia

Plath's novel The Bell Jar directed by Oscar winner Sarah Polley, and starring Billie Eilish and Carey Mulligan, Deadline reported. 

The project marks 10-time Grammy winner Eilish's movie acting debut,

playing the lead role of Esther Greenwood, with Mulligan as Mrs.

Greenwood, Danielle Deadwyler as Dr. Nolan, Dylan Hawco as Buddy

Willard, Lili Taylor as Jay Cee, Ella Beatty as Joan, Maggie Kuntz as

Doreen, Ike Barinholtz as Lenny, and Connor Storrie as Marco.

Polley directed from her own adapted screenplay in her first film since

winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking in 2023.

The film is produced by Plan B, Studiocanal and Joy Coalition.

Thus With a Kiss, I Die by Christina Dodd is a Shakespearean take on modern "enemies to friends" romance, with some mystery thrown in for good measure. Dodd has taken the play Romeo and Juliet into the future, where neither dies, but instead create a large family of children (9!) while trying to keep the daughters chaste and the sons from harming themselves or others. Here's the blurb: The delightfully irreverent eldest daughter of the not-so-ill-fated Romeo and Juliet returns to sleuth another day in fair Verona, in this hugely entertaining historical mystery series with a refreshingly bold premise.

“Woe, for I am the bug that meets the windshield's might,
No longer the speeding glass, smooth, clean and bright . . .”

You’re right. I, Rosie Montague of Verona, am lousy at iambic pentameter and Shakespeare speak, but you get the point: Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. I, who for my whole life, have cruised along, unruffled by life’s trials, am suddenly smashed flat and speeding recklessly up the WhattheHellHappened Highway.

I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me. I’m trapped.

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right. 

 

 This is one of those books that will keep you engrossed from page one all the way through to the end. I loved the witty banter and the solid plot that never wavers, though it does take a few quick detours. I'd give it a B+ and recommend it to anyone who likes their Shakespeare with a large dose of humor and romance.

 

A Seer and Present Danger by Devon Monk is another small town cozy mystery by Oregon's own magical Agatha Christie. Monks prose is as clean and precise as a scalpel, and her plots are swift and intelligent and engrossing. Here's the blurb:  

A delightfully twisty, magic-packed cozy whodunit by Devon Monk

Come for the dining…stay for the criming (LOL)

Piper Themati is a waitress and seer who see flashes of futures that might come true. She’s gotten good at interpreting her quirky visions, but lately they’ve been static-filled and confusing.

When she stumbles upon a dead body outside the diner and her friend is there with blood on her hands, Piper has a choice: mind her own business and let the police solve the crime, or jump in with her unreliable power to try and clear her friend’s name.

Piper and her besties Medusa (yes, that Medusa) and Jules (the town’s most powerful witch) are on the case. But to catch a killer, Piper’s going to have to out think a magical thief, stay one step ahead of the police, and take on a power dangerous enough to stop time 

 

I always think Monk's books are too short, because I enjoy them so much, but this book really was a slender 241 pages, which is nothing in today's book market of hefty 400-600 page tomes. Still, everything wraps up nicely and by the time you've finished, you're ready for the next installment of the Ordinary Oregon series of books. I'd give it an A, and recommend this delightful tome to anyone who has read any of the other books in the series.

 

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke is a thriller/suspense/mystery that I was expecting to find irreverent and interesting, but instead found that the plot slowed to a crawl about halfway through, before picking up speed close to the ending. Here's the blurb: 

Six authors.

One private island.

Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending.

Due to the redundancy of going over each character's faults and foibles again and again, I was fairly bored by the time I reached the anticlimactic ending. The idea of the book is a good one...kind of like the game of Clue, but with less panache. The two authors who collaborated on this tepid novel seemed to have wanted to go in two different directions, and in so doing, made a muddle of the plot and the action, to the point where most readers would get exasperated and just toss the book out altogether. Still, I'd give it a B-, and recommend it to die hard mystery fans yearning for something "new" in the mystery genre...though with all the tropes used, it's hardly treading new ground.

 

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon (I am assuming no relations to Mark Harmon or Angie Harmon) is an historical romance fiction book with a bit of science fiction that involves time travel. Here's the blurb: 

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

 

There's a lot of apologizing for the crimes of the IRA herein, whom Harmon seems to feel were forced to become bloody thugs who bombed and shot innocent people for merely being the wrong religion (which is the opposite of what religions supposedly for), and who tore families and lives apart. This was obviously not the case, and though Irish independence was a great idea and ideal, there were too many hot headed men involved with differing agendas for it to ever work, at least right away. Ireland has been, and is currently, broken in half, with the Southern part of the country fiercely independent and loath to talk about the horrors of the British occupation, and Northern Ireland, which is occupied by Irish protestants who are still loyal to the British Crown. Even after all these decades, there's still a great deal of animosity between the northern protestants and the southern catholics, sadly. When my best friend and I visited Ireland 26 years ago, there were local Irish people who were astounded that we were friends at all, considering she was catholic and I was protestant. There are more than a few infodumps in this novel, and a romance that is too light and airy for a novel of this kind. Still, I'd give it a B, and recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about Irish history and "the troubles."

 

In The Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros is a contemporary romance with a lot of military action from the current Middle East wars woven throughout. Here's the blurb: 

From the author of Fourth Wing, (though it was a hit I didn't like it, and found it derivative), Rebecca Yarros, comes a sweeping romance about the sustained power of chance encounters.

When Izzy Astor gets on a plane to go home, she isn’t expecting much. It’s the usual holiday travel experience: busy, crowded, stressful.

Then she spots her seatmate, who is anything but ordinary. Nate Phelan sports dark hair, blue eyes, and a deliciously rugged charm that Izzy can’t resist. Their connection is undeniable. Izzy never believed in destiny before, but she does now.

Just ninety seconds after takeoff, their plane goes down in the Missouri River.

Their lives change. They change. Nate goes on to a career in the military while Izzy finds her way into politics. Despite a few chance encounters over the years, the timing never feels right.

Then comes a high-stakes reunion in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with protecting Izzy’s life.

He’ll do anything to keep her safe. And everything to win her heart.

Sadly the two main characters fall into the dreaded ancient tropes of "Big he-man keeps his cool in a crisis and saves the female from harm" and "female protagonist loses whatever spine she had once she sets foot on an airplane and requires rescue like a damsel in distress every single time she runs into big he-man." UGH. The romance is, however, just spicy enough to seem realistic, and the book becomes a page-turner about halfway through, which surprised me. I was certainly a better book than 4th Wing, her rip-off of Anne McCaffrey (RIP)'s dragonriders of Pern series. I'd give this odd duck of a novel a B, and recommend it to anyone who longs to be in the right place at the right time for romance, but just can't seem to get there.

 

Where Angels Fear by Mackenzie Kasey is a paranormal angel romance that starts out to be a decent story of a psychic trying to save the world from evil, but it slowly devolves into a sappy and unbelievable romance with a dumb ending. Here's the blurb: One volatile psychic-in-training and one sexy fallen angel seeking redemption stand between the mortal world and the forces of evil. Better start praying.

Storm O’Malley’s psychic gifts are a time bomb waiting to go off. She has one last chance to avoid being completely wiped from existence after nearly killing her latest angelic mentor: trusting yet another Pathlighter to train her where his predecessors have failed. There’s just one small catch. Damien’s no ordinary angel—he’s the Fallen.

Fallen as in used to rub elbows with Lucifer and work for the shady syndicate known as the Diablerie. Seems he’s now seeking redemption and needs her just as much as she needs him. Storm must join forces with this sinfully sexy angel if she’s to have any hope of training her volatile powers without killing herself or others. Not to mention stop a kidnapper abducting children on the cusp of psychic manifestation before any more can be taken. No pressure or anything. 

I always wonder, when reading romances that involve angels (who are nearly always super-handsome guys), why the authors never seem to have done any research into the heirarchy of angels or their characteristics, from seraphim and cherubim to angels and dominions. Texts describing angels don't have them sounding like supermodels ready for the runway. Most are described in terrifying terms, like having many mouths, multiple genitals, claws, echoing voices or halos of light refracting around them. They're never terrifying or alien in any of the YA or adult paranormal romance books, instead they're beautiful and sexy and all too willing to bed a regular human being, something that was verboten by the Almighty about a thousand or so years ago. Angels were not humans transformed, no, they were God's messengers, invisible, usually, to humans and more voyeuristic than sexually attracted to immature human females. Still, this book was a fast read that I'd give a C+ to, and recommend only to those obsessed with the lives of angels and psychics.