“For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters-and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.
It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.
But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . . .”
“When seventh grader Monty Hyde moves for the fourth time in two years, it’s the same old story. New neighborhood, new school, new bullies, no friends. With his dad working all the time and his older brother too popular to notice, he’s the lonely outcast yet again. That is, until he finds a mysterious replication serum in his basement and decides to make a friend. From scratch.
But when his creation turns out to be a stinky, hairy eight-foot-tall monster that might be eating the neighborhood kids, Monty knows he must undo his experiment. STAT!
Welcome to the new home of Goodreads Monday! I have taken over the role of host from Lauren’s Page Turners who no longer blogs about books.
Goodreads Monday allows you to post about what books are on your “to read” lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenge, and any other Goodreads news!
✨Don’t forget to add your link in the comments section so that we can all see each other’s posts!✨
“An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . .
In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.”
This has been on my list since 10 January 2021, but I have wanted to read it since finding out that the films were based on a book!
Kindle Prime Reading Book(at the time of purchase)
Genre: Sci Fi, Mystery, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 329
📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS📖
Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.
Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.
💭THOUGHTS💭
I had seen this book around and then it came up on Prime Reading. I was very excited by this and downloaded it onto my Kindle immediately! Whilst it was a good book there were bits that confused me a little bit so I couldn’t give it the full 5 star rating. I will say though that it is one of the better sci fi books that I have read, possibly due to the fantasy and literature content.
The writing was as clear as it could possibly be. As I said above, there were bits that confused me, but I am not sure whether I would understand it even if it was written another way. I think that you either get it or you don’t. I just glossed over the intricacies and got the main gist (I think). I don’t especially like doing that as I like to have a thorough understanding of what I am reading, but it is what it is. I loved the whole concept of there being a Library that linked alternate worlds via literature. I also enjoyed the fantasy element and the different characters involved.
The chapters were fairly long so you got quite invested in what you were reading. The chapters were interesting in that they really just followed the story, there was no major shift of perspective or mention of what was happening in the story elsewhere. I think that this made the story easier to follow as there were quite a lot of things happening. There was a good pace to the story and with all the different things going on my interest didn’t waver, even when it got a bit complicated.
The characters in the story were great. You were never quite sure what the different characters were after, but that made them all the more interesting. I loved the strength and determination of the main character. She kept within her Senior Librarian role as best as she could and I enjoyed being able to read her thoughts as she presented herself differently to the other characters and only us as the reader saw her real inner thoughts and feelings.
The settings were great. A Library, museums and an alternate world?! I loved the imagination that went into it and enjoyed being on the journey with the characters (even if it was fairly stressful most of the time!).
Overall an enjoyable book. There were complicated bits in there that made you think. Even if I didn’t quite get all of it, I got enough that it didn’t completely ruin the story for me.
Tonight has been a rather successful night with the finishing of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. I have also managed to draft a review for it (hopefully to be finalised tomorrow). I then read a large chunk of The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, which I am enjoying except for the unnecessary swearing. I wish the swearing didn’t bother me so much, but it does.
I finished off the evening by reading my Blog Tour book Good Taste by Caroline Scott. Again I am enjoying this book and have high hopes for it.
I hope that you have had a good weekend. Tomorrow on the Blog it’s Goodreads Monday and my Book of the Week post. Hopefully I will get to finalise my review for The Invisible Library but I don’t want to make any promises!
My son went back to school after being ill last week and then on Friday I got a call from the school asking for me to collect him because he was once again not well. I was literally about to step out the door to have a coffee with my mum, so luckily we hadn’t gone anywhere and could get to the school fairly swiftly. This weekend will therefore be a quiet one.
Inbetween this I did manage to get a few Halloween bits out (the pictures are a bit dark, but you get the general idea!).
“book”, “read”, “book review”, “book blog”,”recommended”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “book meme”, “weekly wrap up”, “sunday salon”, “what books do you recommend”, “what books are popular on social media”, “what book should I read next”, “mystery”, “fantasy”, “romance”, “autumn reading”, “fall reading”
I had a good amount of reading time this evening, but what with my son being unwell and now me starting to feel a bit under the weather, I may have had a sneaky nap instead of reading…
I did however manage to read bits of my Kindle book The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, a couple of chapters of my Blog Tour book Good Taste by Caroline Scott and a couple of chapters of The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling so not an altogether bad reading night.
I hope that you have all had a good Saturday. Tomorrow on the Blog it’s my Sunday Wrap Up posts.
I will hopefully be making more progress on my Blog Tour book Good Taste by Caroline Scott and starting Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan. I am also hoping to get most of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman finished so that I can make a start on my Halloween Kindle Freebie (free at the time of purchase) Witch Happens by AM King! In between all of that I would also like to make some progress on The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling. This may be a bit optimistic!
Good Taste by Caroline Scott
Book Description From Goodreads:
“You can tell a lot about a person from what they like to eat..When Stella Douglas, author of a much-loved but not very successful biography of a forgotten cookery writer, is summoned to see her editor in London, she is dreading being told her writing career is over before it’s even started. But much to her surprise, she finds she is being commissioned to write another book – this time a history of food in England and how the English like to eat. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men the glory of their country. The only problem is – all English food is really from elsewhere. So Stella sets about inviting recipes from all corners of England, in the hope of discovering a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is oatcakes and gravy and lots of lots of potatoes. Longing for something more thrilling, she heads off to speak to the nation’s housewives. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic Freddie springs to her rescue, she is led in a very different direction…Full of wit and life, Provenance is a story of discovery, of a modern England emerging from the past and one woman’s desire to make her own way as a modern woman.”
Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan
Book Description From Goodreads:
A family gathering
This Christmas the Miller siblings have one goal—to avoid their well-meaning family’s endless stream of prying questions. Ross, Alice and Clemmie have secrets that they don’t intend to share, and they are relying on each other to deflect attention.
An uninvited guest.
Lucy Clarke is facing a Christmas alone and the prospect of losing her job. Unless she can win a major piece of business from Ross Miller, the season promises to be anything but festive. She’ll just deliver her proposal to his family home and then leave. After all, she wouldn’t want to intrude on the Miller family’s perfect Christmas.
A Christmas to remember
When Lucy appears on the Miller family’s snow-covered Highland doorstep, she’s mistaken for Ross’s girlfriend. By the time the confusion is cleared up, they’re snowed in—she can’t leave, even if she wants to! But does she want to? As secrets spill out like presents from an overstuffed stocking and the chemistry between her and Ross ignites, this is going to be either Lucy’s worst Christmas ever or the best mistake of her life.”
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.”
Witch Happens by AM King
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Some people come from a long family line of lawyers, doctors, teachers and even cops. Febe just found out she comes from a long line of…witches! Febe Summer is not having a good day. Or a good year, for that matter. She lost her fiancé, her job, and her apartment all in one day—on her 25th birthday! Talk about the worst. Birthday. Ever! She’s jobless, penniless and soon to be…homeless. Will she be able to rebound and pick herself up again? Oh, and she just found out, thanks to a dark family secret, that she’s not who she thought she was. She’s a witch! And she’s not allowed to practice magic—yet. When she moves back to her small hometown of Blackshore Bay, there’s more family drama than she can handle. Her aunties are out of control, her sister is being secretive and someone has murdered the malicious town gossip. Will she be able to find out whom, before it’s too late?”
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.”
“Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.
Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.”
FRIDAY 56 QUOTE
“‘Imminent disaster takes priority over on-the-job testing,’ Irene said. ‘Let’s see what’s going on out there.'”
The quote shows how calm the main character is in a crisis. I love her strength and how she deals with anything that is thrown at her.
Hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies, this is where you share a favorite quote, line, or passage from your reading each week!
Each week I chose a Book of the Week to take part in this (and other) book memes. This week my chosen book is The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (click for link to Goodreads):
“‘I and Mr Strongrock are agents of a library which exists between the alternate worlds. Our task is to collect books for the Library from all those worlds, to preserve them.’”
There are so many quotes that I could have chosen, but I didn’t want to spoil it and reveal too much. The quote that I have chosen is a good explanation as to what the main character actually does. It is reiterated and explained a couple of times, which I appreciate as it can get a bit confusing.
Book Description From Goodreads:
“Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.
Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.”
It’s Time Travel Thursday! This is where I take a look back at what I was reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what I am reading now.
“All it takes is one morning for Sydney Photographer Lily Bianchi’s life to go off the rails and over a cliff.
A well-dressed English woman turns up at her door, swearing she’s a witch. If that’s not crazy enough, she explains Lily’s brother, James, has been kidnapped and the Paranormal Investigation Bureau needs Lily’s help finding him.
And the craziest part? The Englishwoman tells Lily she’s a witch too. Before she can say, “Where’s my coffee?” she’s on a plane bound for Westerham, England. Unfortunately, England’s not as welcoming as she hoped–she’s barely arrived before she gets set up, arrested and almost shot.
Things can only get better from here, right? Yeah, right…”
“Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.”
“Irene must be at the top of her game or she’ll be off the case – permanently…
Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she’s posted to an alternative London. Their mission – to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book.
Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene’s new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.
Soon, she’s up to her eyebrows in a heady mix of danger, clues and secret societies. Yet failure is not an option – the nature of reality itself is at stake.”
“It’s the season of peace and goodwill, but a Victorian Christmas is no holiday for the world’s most popular detective in this new book from Bonnie MacBird, author of the bestselling Sherlock Holmes novel Art in the Blood.
It’s Christmastime in London, and Sherlock Holmes takes on two cases. The angelic three-year-old child of a wealthy couple is the target of a vicious kidnapper, and a country aristocrat worries that his handsome, favourite son has mysteriously vanished from his London pied à terre. Holmes and Watson, aided by the colourful Heffie O’Malley, slip slide in the ice to ensure a merry Christmas is had by nearly everybody…”
Comparison:
Still on the Halloween type reads with a bit of Christmas this year thrown in because it is a Blog Tour book!
What were you reading this time last year or the year before (or the year before!)? Add your links in the comments below!
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