Jill's Book Blog

Blogmas – Day 13

The ideas for my Blogmas posts are from a post on the blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. You can see the list of ideas in my Day 1 Blogmas post here.

Well today is an easy one. I’m counting down to Christmas with Blogmas! I will also be posting my own 12 Days of Christmas Reading starting on December 14, where I will post a review of a Christmas themed book everyday until Christmas!

I’m really excited for Christmas this year. I’ve been listening to Christmas playlists on Spotify in my car. I have been busy with school and work so I haven’t had time to put up our Christmas tree yet, but hopefully I’ll be able to do that soon!

How are you counting down Christmas?

Blog Tour: Liar Liar

9781786690715

Title: Liar Liar
Author: Sarah Flint
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Aria
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: December 1, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

A faithful dog lies wounded beside the mutilated body of its owner.

A woman is discovered bound and gagged, dead in her own bed.

Both are police officers.

Both have a red rose at their side… worryingly more will follow…
Lies and accusations abound but who is behind the murders and why are the victims being targeted?

Charlie, Hunter and the team must find the killer targeting their own before another body is found.

Review:

This is another great thriller!

I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series, but I still enjoyed the story. There were some references to things that had happened before, and some relationships weren’t detailed, like Charlie and Ben, but other than that, it was great.

Each of the murders were so creepy. I couldn’t figure out who did it. There were a few suspects but I couldn’t piece together who did it, which made the book all the more fun.

I really liked how the chapters were from different points of view. Some focused on the murderer and others were about the detectives. Even the beginning was clever, because the first few chapters showed a different assault happening, which hooked me right away.

I really enjoyed this thriller and I will look for more from Sarah Flint in the future!

About the Author:

Sarah Flint

With a Metropolitan Police career spanning 35 years Sarah has spent her adulthood surrounded by victims, criminals and police officers. She continues to work and lives in London with her partner and has three older daughters.

Facebook: @SarahFlintBooks
Twitter: @SarahFlint19

LIAR LIAR blog tour

Buy the book:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2kKOf1S
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lGWEkP
iBooks: http://apple.co/2koJKXp
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2lBuZFM

Follow Aria:
Website: www.ariafiction.com
Twitter: @aria_fiction
Facebook: @ariafiction
Instagram: @ariafiction

Blogmas – Day 12

The ideas for my Blogmas posts are from a post on the blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. You can see the list of ideas in my Day 1 Blogmas post here.

We had some snow yesterday (and my car wouldn’t even start because of the cold). So I was able to take a picture of our Winter Wonderland! It’s our first snow of the year. I’m sure there will be lots more to come!

Here’s a picture of my backyard. Not too much snow, but I don’t like it, so any snow is too much for me.

What does your winter wonderland look like?

Review: The Trickster’s Lullaby

Title: The Trickster’s Lullaby
Author: Barbara Fradkin
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Dundurn
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A winter camping trip turns deadly as two missing teenagers, a twisted love triangle, and the spectre of radicalism create turmoil in the remote Laurentian wilderness.

Amanda Doucette’s cross-Canada charity tour is in for a cold snap when she organizes a winter camping trip for inner-city young people in the stunning setting of the Laurentian Mountains. With a view to bridging cultural divides, she brings along a mixture of Canadian-born and immigrant youth.

Trouble begins when two of the teenagers disappear into the wilderness during the night: Luc, a French/English-Canadian with a history of drug use, and Yasmina, an adventurous young woman from Iraq who dreams of becoming a human rights lawyer. Although frantic, their parents are strangely secretive amid suspicions of drug use and forbidden romance. But when a local farmer turns up dead and terrorist material is found on Luc’s computer, the dangers turn deadly. Now in a battle against both the elements and police, Amanda and Corporal Chris Tymko discover a far greater web of secrets and deception.

As Amanda races to save the young people from danger, she finds herself fighting for stakes far higher than their own lives.

Review:

I loved this Canadian thriller.

Last fall, I went to Montreal and Mont Tremblant, so I could picture exactly where the story took place. I liked that it alternated between a city setting and the wilderness. It gave a full view of Quebec in the winter.

The mystery was so chilling. I really didn’t know what would happen. There were many possible explanations for disappearances, from drugs, to accidents, to escaping to terrorist groups, so I didn’t know what was the real answer.

I really liked that this was such a Canadian story. Even the way that the youth who go on the trip are immigrants from other countries demonstrates how the way that Canada is so multicultural.

I loved this story. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I’ll have to look for more books in this series!

Blogmas – Day 11

The ideas for my Blogmas posts are from a post on the blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. You can see the list of ideas in my Day 1 Blogmas post here.

Our Christmas menu stays the same every year. For breakfast we usually have eggs and turkey bacon. Then, we go to my aunt’s house and snack on appetizers like cheese and crackers, devilled eggs, and shrimp. Then, we have a big turkey dinner, followed by lots of cookies and treats. By the end of the day, I’m stuffed!

What is your Christmas menu?

Review: Chasing Odysseus

Title: Chasing Odysseus
Author: S.D. Gentill
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Pantera Press
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: February 28, 2011
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

1 girl, 3 brothers… 4 daring young heroes…

Treachery, transformations and a deadly quest.

A thrilling adventure of ancient myth, monsters, gods, sorcerers, sirens, magic and many evils…the fall of Troy and a desperate chase across the seas in a magical Phaeacian ship…

Hero and her three brothers, Mac, Cad and Lycon, go on this exciting and dangerous quest to prove their murdered father’s honour, the betrayal by King Odysseus and the loyalty of their own people to the conquered city of Troy.

Review:

I love Greek mythology! I’m always looking for retellings or adaptations.

This story is a great continuation of The Odyssey. It has a logical place in the storyline. It tells the perspective of the herders and the effects the Trojan War had on them.

The theme of an odyssey is very present in the story. The four siblings go on their own odyssey by chasing Odysseus to find out why the Trojans are mad at them. The gods are also important to the story, because Hero is very pious and always praying.

One problem with this story is that since it relies so heavily on The Odyssey, I think readers would struggle if they hadn’t read it. This could be problematic since it’s aimed at a young adult audience and they may not have been exposed to Homer’s epic poems yet. I did not read them until university, so I wouldn’t have understood the story when I was a teen.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this story. Fans of The Odyssey should definitely check it out.

Blogmas – Day 10

The ideas for my Blogmas posts are from a post on the blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. You can see the list of ideas in my Day 1 Blogmas post here.

I don’t do much baking, so my winter recipe is my Snowman Cheeseball!

I’ve made one the last couple of years, and my recipe was even published on the website of the magazine I worked on during college. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 (250g) packages of cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups white cheddar cheese (or any other kind of white cheese), shredded
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tobasco)
coarse salt and black pepper, to taste
fresh rosemary sprigs
5 raisins
pretzel sticks
1 baby carrot
crackers (1 large Breton cracker for the base of the hat, and 3 regular Ritz crackers for the top of the hat)

Mix the cream cheese in a bowl with 1 ½ cups of white cheddar cheese.
Add the minced shallots, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.
Mix together and add salt and pepper to taste.
Scoop out ⅔ of the cheese mixture and roll into a ball.
Roll the remaining ⅓ of the cheese mixture into a ball and place on top of the larger ball.
Sprinkle the last ½ cup of white cheddar cheese onto the two cheese balls until covered in shredded cheese.
Stick raisins on the ball as the eyes and buttons for the snowman.
Cut triangular slice of carrot and place on the smaller ball for the nose of the snowman.
Stick two pretzel sticks in the sides for the snowman’s arms.
Place crackers on top of snowman for the hat (use cream cheese in between the crackers to make them stick together).
Garnish the plate with rosemary.
Enjoy!

What’s your winter recipe?

Review: Sawbones

Title: Sawbones
Author: Melissa Lenhardt
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Redhook Books
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Wrongfully accused of murder, Dr. Catherine Bennett is destined to hang… unless she can disappear.

With the untamed territory of Colorado as her most likely refuge, she packs her physician’s kit and heads West. But even with a new life and name, a female doctor with a bounty on her head can hide for only so long.

Sawbones is the first novel in a gripping historical fiction series.

Review:

I was approved for this galley last year, but I just couldn’t get into the story. I’m not a big fan of Westerns, but on my second reading the plot hooked me.

There were twists that I couldn’t have predicted. The twists weren’t even the answers to my questions. There were many surprises, and not all of them good.

Some of the descriptions of injuries and medical procedures are hard to read. I think that’s why I struggled with the book before. However, it added some realism to the story.

I think Catherine was a little ahead of her time in some of her medical ideas. For example, she says she doesn’t think smoking is good for your lungs, but that wouldn’t have been known back then. Her advanced knowledge reminded me a lot of Claire in Outlander. They were both thrown into similar medical positions in a world that is not ready for a female physician.

I enjoyed this book after reading it again. I’m curious to see how this series turns out.

Blogmas – Day 9

The ideas for my Blogmas posts are from a post on the blog Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. You can see the list of ideas in my Day 1 Blogmas post here.

The winter item I can’t live without is my reading socks from Indigo! They are sooooo warm! If I feel cold, I put them on and I’m instantly warmed up. They’re a little snug on my legs though so I have to bunch them around my ankles. But I can’t live without them in the winter!

What’s a winter item you can’t live without?

Review: Harry Potter – The Unofficial Guide to the Collectibles of Our Favourite Wizard

Title: Harry Potter – The Unofficial Guide to the Collectibles of Our Favourite Wizard
Author: Eric Bradley
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
Publisher: F+W Media
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A legacy of magical treasures!

Since 1997 with the publication of the first book, Harry Potter has cast a spell over millions of Muggles around the world–not the least of all bewitched collectors. Harry Potter: The Unofficial Guide to the Collectibles of Our Favorite Wizard conjures rare, extraordinary and magical treasures sprung from the Potterbooks and movies, and even the imaginations of fans. In its enchantingly visual pages, you’ll discover delightful riches including author J.K. Rowling’s writing chair that sold at auction for almost $400,000, first-edition books, original art, movie posters, film props, exclusives, limited-edition items, fun fandom pieces, and other wonders to behold.

So with a whisper of “accio” and a flick of your wand, summon forth the fascinating, the fantastical and the fabulous found in Harry Potter: The Unofficial Guide to the Collectibles of Our Favorite Wizard.

Review:

This book is a must-have for Harry Potter fans.

It not only lists all the different kinds of collectibles, but it gives some history of the publication. There were only 500 copies of the first edition printed. They didn’t expect it to sell as well as it did, but it made J. K. Rowling the first author to earn $1 Billion from her work.

Since I’m such a bibliophile, the section on the books fascinated me the most. The first editions are worth so much money! A first edition from the first printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone could go for more than $40,000. And it’s worth even more if it’s signed. Considering this book is only 20 years old, that’s an incredible amount!

This book will make you want to dig in your basement for all your old Harry Potter merchandise to see what it’s worth! I highly recommend this book for fans of Harry Potter.