Friday, August 1, 2014

The Poisoned Pilgrim

The Poisoned Pilgrim by Oliver Potzsch

This is the latest book in the Hangman's Daughter series.

I think this is a great series of historical fiction and Potzsch ends his books with a tour guide of the town (or locale) where the book takes place.  He points out the buildings that still stand that were featured in his novel and gives you good insight into the historical events that transpired.

This book takes place in 1666 at and around the monastery at Andechs. As always, he covers what passed for medicine at the time but also gives us insight as to the advancements in science and the experiments that were being done at the time.  We also get to meet an automaton which were apparently all the rage in the more cosmopolitan areas of the era.

I highly recommend this series but start at the beginning so you get the full benefit of the character development over the course of the four books.

The Seventh Child

The Seventh Child by Erik Valeur

What is it about the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians that they can write about horrific deaths as they were commonplace fender benders in life?

This book is part mystery, part murder mystery.  Being an adoptive parent, there were aspects of this book that were difficult.  The author, himself and adoptive child, wrote often of how many adoptive children felt like they didn't belong and how they were broken or discarded.  Granted, in this book the children were pretty much all told about their adoption around the age of 13 or 14 which made them feel as though they had been lied to by their parents all this time.  This made them question what else had been a lie, their love for the child?  Anything else they were lying about?  In one situation, the child was an adult and had never been told and only just learned as he helped solve a mystery involving these other people.

This was a pretty good book although a bit on the creepy side. If you like creepy murder mysteries, I think you might like this.

The Fracking King

The Fracking King by James Browning

This was a free book on my Kindle as a Kindle Single.  I have a hard time saying no to free.

This was a pretty good book although it was clearly an environmental message from the very beginning.  I liked how the author melded the world of boarding schools an scrabble in order to demonstrate the repercussions of fracking.

This was worth reading if you are at a loss as to what else to read.  I wouldn't say this was an absolute MUST READ book and if you don't read often or read slowly, there are plenty other books that would be higher on the list.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon

This is the latest installment in the Outlander series.  If you haven't read the other books, don't start with this one.  This is definitely a series that needs to be read from the beginning.

I loved it so much I read it twice in a row.  The second time I picked up on several things that I had missed the first time around because I was reading so fast the first time around.

For anyone who isn't sure if they would like this series, the television channel Starz is premiering the Outlander series on August 9.  Watch it and see if you like it.  That's what got me to finally read the Game of Thrones books.

What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Imagine losing the last 10 years of your life.  You pass out and when you come to, you think it's 10 years ago.  What were you doing then?  Who were you?  What do you feel and how did you live your daily life?  Was it the same as it is now?

This was an engaging book that forced a younger mind to reconcile with the person that she had become.  What or who had changed her so dramatically from the person she had been to who she had become?  Who will she be when this is all over and she remembers again?

I really liked this book and it started a bit of self-examination of my own.  I recommend it to busy moms everywhere as well as anyone else who is interested.