In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected?
Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave, including the slaughter of their hens, an attic break-in and other menacing incidents. They become convinced the village continues to live under the curse despite denials from their new friends. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?
Author Bio:
Owen W. Knight writes contemporary and speculative fiction. He creates worlds based on documented myths, with elements of dystopia, mystery and science fiction to highlight the use and abuse of power and the conflicts associated with maintaining ethical values.
His works include The Visitors, a grounded sci-fi first contact novel, Another Life, a retelling of It’s a Wonderful Life for the 21st Century and The Invisible College Trilogy, an apocalyptic dystopian conspiracy tale for young adults, described as 1984 Meets the Book of Revelation.
Owen lives in Essex, England, close to the countryside that inspires his writing.
What does it mean to be crazy? Is using the word crazy offensive? What happens when such a label gets attached to your everyday experiences?
In order to understand mental health, we need to talk openly about it. Because there’s no single definition of crazy, there’s no single experience that embodies it, and the word itself means different things—wild? extreme? disturbed? passionate?—to different people.
(Don’t) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to better understanding how our mental health affects us every day. Thirty-three writers, athletes, and artists offer essays, lists, comics, and illustrations that explore their personal experiences with mental illness, how we do and do not talk about mental health, help for better understanding how every person’s brain is wired differently, and what, exactly, might make someone crazy.
If you’ve ever struggled with your mental health, or know someone who has, come on in, turn the pages, and let’s get talking.
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
A book that will make you see mental health in a new light.” Call Me Crazy” will leave you feeling distressed with everyone’s deep feelings, thoughts, challenges, while you will feel overwhelmed and helpless while reading, you will learn how each writer has been able to seek help and learn to manage their illnesses. This book is an anthology of essays written by different people who suffer from different types of mental illnesses. Each writer puts there personal life, thoughts and feelings out in the open for others to see all their secrets, struggles, but they also teach you how each person has manage to find peace, acceptance and be strong even with the challenges they face. I love that we are starting to be open about mental health and that our society is being more accepting and not keeping it locked in the closest. If we can talk about how different types of mental health affect others and learn about them, we can help others who might be going through the same thing. Thank you for sharing all your stories. They will help others who are in need of guidance and assistance.
Author Biography
Kelly Jensen is a former teen librarian who worked in several public libraries before pursuing a full-time career in writing and editing. Her current position is with Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America, where she focuses on talking about young adult literature in all of its manifestations. Before becoming a fully-fledged adult-like person, she worked in the swanky Texas Legislative Library entering data into a computer while surrounded by important politicians, scooped gelato for hungry college students, and spent hours reading, annotating, and scanning small-town Texas newspapers into a giant searchable database.
Kelly lives in the Chicago area with her husband, her daughter, her rabbit, and five needy-but-awesome cats. In her free time, she teaches yoga, writes for her personal blog STACKED (stackedbooks.org), drinks a lot of tea, and enjoys disappearing for days reading good books. Her writing has been featured on The Huffington Post, at Rookie Magazine, The Horn Book, BlogHer, and School Library Journal.
Please note: I don’t take review requests via Goodreads and I don’t respond to comments on reviews that are more than 6 months old.
Inspired by her wildly popular New York Times essay The Wedding Toast I’ll Never Give, Ada Calhoun provides a funny (but not flip), smart (but not smug) take on the institution of marriage. Weaving intimate moments from her own married life with frank insight from experts, clergy, and friends, she upends expectations of total marital bliss to present a realistic—but ultimately optimistic—portrait of what marriage is really like. There will be fights, there will be existential angst, there may even be affairs; sometimes you’ll look at the person you love and feel nothing but rage. Despite it all, Calhoun contends, staying married is easy: just don’t get divorced.
Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give offers bracing straight talk to the newly married and honors those who have weathered the storm. This exploration of modern marriage is at once wise and entertaining, a work of unexpected candor and literary grace.
My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars
I give the author credit for sharing her private life issues in this book. I wasn’t really into this book. I have never been married, and I am in my 30s, which, back in the days, would make me a spinster. I view marriage as a happily ever after of two soul mates living life together forever. Being honest, loving, dedicated, and trustworthy. Unfortunately, our society has changed in staying married after tough times, which has led to thousands of divorces and infidelity. What I got from the book is that we should work hard at our faults, disagreements, and problems together instead of ignoring them and having them fall apart. We need to remember the vows we say and keep them forever. Love will always conquer, but we need to stay for the ride.
Author Biography
Ada Calhoun is the author of Also a Poet, named one of the best books of 2022 by the New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post; longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction; and featured on the TODAY Show and PBS News Hour. Other books include New York Times–bestseller Why We Can’t Sleep, Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, and St. Marks Is Dead.
An inspirational guide for visualizing and actualizing success on a personal and professional level.
Author Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino, master life coach and founder of The Best Ever You Network has long espoused that we must redefine success for our authentic selves—a one-size fits-all-concept is not only outdated but unworkable. Success is so much more than data or the dollars in our bank account. True success is reflected in the smiles that brighten our faces and the peace that settles in our hearts. It’s the gratitude we seek in all things and the intention and actions being our very best in each moment.
In The Success Guidebook, readers will find inspiration, motivation, and a pathway to live their best, most fulfilling life. By implementing Elizabeth’s unique Ten Factors of Success—the behaviors consistently exhibited by people who stand out and behave with world-class excellence—readers will learn how to finally overcome the stubborn obstacles that have stood in their way and harness the power to move forward with clarity, a renewed purpose, and the personalized confidence to build a life of bold, brave, and infinite possibilities. Included are profiles of 20 people who exemplify these principles. Here’s the secret: You don’t need to be on a national or international platform to be world-class. You can have it right in your own home, to be and feel successful in each and every moment of your life. This book will help you learn how to tap into world-class behaviors and get the results you desire—at last.
Author bio
Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino is the founder of The Best Ever You Network and co-founder of Compliance4. Through these companies, she has helped individuals and organizations around the world be their best and achieve world-class excellence with gratitude-based behavior and belief systems. She is one of America’s foremost personal and corporate development consultants specializing in mindset, strategy, leadership, and taking action.
Elizabeth is also the author of the award-winning personal development book PERCOLATE – Let Your Best Self Filter Through (Hay House) and multiple children’s books as a contributor and author. Elizabeth and her husband live in Maine with their four sons and three rescued cats.
New York Times bestselling author Susan Donovan welcomes you to Bayberry Island, a special place between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket where a bronze mermaid statue promises to grant true love to anyone who asks with an open heart…
For years Rowan Flynn distanced herself from Bayberry Island and its infamous mermaid legend. But after her investor fianc� lost what was left of her family’s fortune, Rowan reluctantly agreed to run the Safe Haven Bed-and-Breakfast, determined never again to fall for the ridiculous fantasy of the mermaid matchmaker.
Now Rowan is just biding her time until she can return to her “real” life in New York, fixing up the B and B and avoiding neighbors who are angry that the Flynns won’t sell their land to a developer set on turning the island into a glitzy vacation destination.
But when a handsome stranger arrives at the B and B the night before the annual Mermaid Festival, Rowan’s life takes a turn for the interesting. Could it be the divine hand of the town’s patroness? Or is Rowan being set up for another disappointment?
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
It is truly a remarkable book with a story that will make even the non-believers of true love believe! I loved that this story was about an island that worships a mermaid after a family legend. It is said that a man who is searching for true love and asks the mermaid with an open heart , she will grant there forever love. The Flynn family is a down to earth family that has family drama like a normal family. Mona, which is Rowan’s mother, was my favorite character since she is bossy and dragged everyone to do what she said. Loved that Ash was a character that only cared about work and money. He was the perfect character to see develop to a man who is truly kind, loving, and determined to be part of a family again. Great book, perfect for the beach.
Author Biography
SUSAN DONOVAN’s novels have won accolades for being witty, sexy, and entertaining. A former newspaper reporter with journalism degrees from Northwestern University, Susan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author whose novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Susan is a two-time RITA Award finalist, and her novel TAKE A CHANCE ON ME was named Best Contemporary Romance of 2003 by RT Book Reviews magazine. She lives in New Mexico with her family and dogs.
We had a wonderful time learning more about Polly Bodine’s court trials, especially the one that took place in Newburgh in the building where the book event took place. Unfortunately, the inside no longer resembles a court house, but the front of the building is original. Stay tuned for my book review.
Every instinct told Police Chief Clancy Flynn that his island’s claim to fame was nothing but a silly tourist attraction. But now and then, he couldn’t help but wonder if his lifetime of bad romances—starting with the pretty tourist who broke his twelve-year-old heart—could be traced back to a childhood prank involving that very statue….
Then one day the pretty tourist comes barreling back into Bayberry—all grown-up and on the run with her niece. Though Evelyn McGuinness is wanted for kidnapping, she tries to persuade Clancy that there’s more to the story. Now the by-the-book police chief must make the toughest decision of his life: to take Evelyn into custody—or into his arms….
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
An amazing continuation to Bayberry Island. I loved that this book was very thrilling and had my heart jumping, thinking that Evelyn was going to get caught after kidnapping her niece. The mermaid was able to get two love birds back together after 18 years. Love truly moves mountains. Clancy sheltered Evelyn and Christina while knowing that if he got caught, he was getting arrested, too. I was happy that the story ended in a happily ever after.
Author Biography
SUSAN DONOVAN’s novels have won accolades for being witty, sexy, and entertaining. A former newspaper reporter with journalism degrees from Northwestern University, Susan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author whose novels have been translated into dozens of languages. Susan is a two-time RITA Award finalist, and her novel TAKE A CHANCE ON ME was named Best Contemporary Romance of 2003 by RT Book Reviews magazine. She lives in New Mexico with her family and dogs.
Upcoming event hosted by @newburghhistoricalsociety. Author @alexhortis5 will be discussing his new book, The Witch of New York. Below, you will find more information on this upcoming Sundays event. I will also share a post on my blog. You can find the link in my bio. #bookevent #booksigning #thewitchofnewyork #alexhortis #booklover #booknerd #nybookevents
Come to this FREE presentation on the 1846 Newburgh trial of Polly Bodine–the “Witch of New York”–for the murders of her sister-in-law and niece. America’s attention was focused on Newburgh for this sensational trial, including Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. This event is being held inside the historic old courthouse where the original trial took place in April 1846. See you there at 3:00 pm, Sunday, April 21, 2024!
Goodreads Blurb
Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.
On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home—and then covered up the crime with hellfire.
When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin’s sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new “penny press” explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she’s a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials—in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh—for the “Christmas murders.”
After Polly’s legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated not only her guilt, but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel was inspired by her trials.
The Witch of New York is the first narrative history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America’s formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from Old New York—and uses the Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice of today.
Author Biography from his website
Alex Hortis is a constitutional lawyer and historian of crime. He has appeared on
national television as an on-screen personality for AMC’s The Making of the Mob
(2015), Hortis has been interviewed on NPR stations across the country and for true
crime podcasts. He has also been a featured speaker at the New York Public Library, the
Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
Hortis’s first book, The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the
Mafia Captured New York (Prometheus, 2014), was praised by Jerry Capeci, the dean
of mob reporters, who wrote: “If there’s a better book on the early history of
Cosa Nostra in America, I haven’t seen it.”
Malcolm Gladwell quoted Hortis’s book in “The Crooked Ladder:
The criminal’s guide to upward mobility” New Yorker, Aug. 3, 2014. The New York
Post also featured Hortis’s groundbreaking work on the Mafia’s control of gay bars, in
“How NYC’s gay bars thrived because of the mob,” New York Post, May 3, 2014.
Hortis is a former federal law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the
Eighth Circuit. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he was a
member of the Law Review. His writings have appeared in New York University Law
Review, New York Law School Review, and in book anthologies on crime.
Exploring a culture filled with arcane laws, historical incidents, and bizarre paradoxes, Piu Eatwell’s follow up to her award-winning and critically acclaimed myth-buster They Eat Horses, Don’t They is a delightful exploration of France’s quirky, literary, and culinary heritage.
From absinthe and catacombs to former French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, Eatwell leaves no stone unturned, taking readers off the beaten path to explore the kind of information that gets missed in guidebooks and ‘official’ information sources. Who could imagine, for example, that there is a village in France where UFOs are banned from landing? Or that there is a verifiable population of wild kangaroos in the forests surrounding Paris?
These, and many other off-beat delights, are just some of the curiosities awaiting readers in this journey through byways and hidden treasures of this endlessly fascinating and paradoxical country. Full of the richness and variety of France beyond the platitudes, including recipes and charming illustrations, F is for France is an ideal gift book and a must-read for Francophiles and anyone with an interest in French travel and culture.
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
I have been in love with France for a long time and was so excited to have won this book from GoodReads. I was fascinated with all the history and facts that I never knew about. This book provided me with so much information about France from A-Z. I also loved the concept of using words from the alphabet to be able to describe a time frame, person, place, or time, which has been a huge part of what France is all about. I am hoping to travel and experience the beauty that France has to offer. Best book ever.
Like Agent Mulder of The X-Files, microchip engineer and sheriff’s deputy Chuck Zukowski is obsessed with tracking down UFO reports in Colorado. He even takes the family with him on weekend trips to look for evidence of aliens. But this innocent hobby takes on a sinister urgency when Zukowski learns of mutilated livestock—whose exsanguination is inexplicable by any known human or animal means.
Along an expanse of land stretching across the southern borders of Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, Zukowski documents hundreds of bizarre incidences of mutilations, and discovers that they stretch through the heart of America. His pursuit of the truth draws him deeper into a vast conspiracy, and he journeys from Roswell and Area 51 to the Pentagon and beyond; from underground secret military caverns to Native American sacred sites; and to wilderness areas where strange, unexplained lights traverse the sky at extraordinary speeds. Inspiring and terrifying, Mezrich’s “dramatic narrative…connects dots we didn’t even know existed…Something’s clearly happening out there in the high meadows and along desert highways” (Kirkus Reviews). The 37th Parallel will make you, too, wonder if we are really alone.
My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars
This book was about Chuck, who is a UFO hunter and has detailed information of mutilated animals throughout the highway that he calls the 37th Parallel. He narrows down that all these events have occurred while on the 37th Parallel. He did thorough research to bring the reader past events of UFO sightings. I was always nervous for Chuck because he would push until he got his information and let his findings known. He was constantly being followed by unmarked cars and his sister for researching what others wanted to keep in secret. Was a little upset that I didn’t get to hear more evidence that talked about aliens rooming around. He did include images throughout the book, which made the reader see what exactly he was talking about.
Author Biography
Ben Mezrich has created his own highly addictive genre of nonfiction, chronicling the amazing stories of young geniuses making tons of money on the edge of impossibility, ethics, and morality.
With his newest non-fiction book, Once Upon a Time in Russia, Mezrich tells his most incredible story yet: A true drama of obscene wealth, crime, rivalry, and betrayal from deep inside the world of billionaire Russian Oligarchs.
Mezrich has authored sixteen books, with a combined printing of over four million copies, including the wildly successful Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and sold over 2 million copies in fifteen languages. His book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal – debuted at #4 on the New York Times list and spent 18 weeks in hardcover and paperback, as well as hit bestseller lists in over a dozen countries. The book was adapted into the movie The Social Network –written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher – and was #1 at the box office for two weeks, won Golden Globes for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score, and was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3 including best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin shared a prestigious Scripter Award for best adapted screenplay as well.
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