This has been a bit of a slow week. My family and I did go to a dance performance Thursday which was a lot of fun, even if I did have to take my cane with me. I dislike when necessity drives me to use it.

 

I started my beta-read for Lawrence Schoen’s new novella Barry’s Deal. ??

 

Books read, reviewed and posted/scheduled:

*Lockdown by Samie Sands, 3?

*Lockdown by Laurie R King, 5?

*The Telomere Effect by Dr Elizabeth Blackburn & Dr Elissa Epel, 5?

*Stack Your Bones by Ruthie Fraser, 5?

 

Samie Sands Lockdown put another notch in my Blogger Shame Challenge!

 

Current Read:

The Phoenix Cycle by Bob Collopy

‘Dystopic fiction at its finest’

“THE BEST SHALL RISE

New San Francisco is the last city standing on a world ravaged by storms of ash and debris. The city survived by putting the ideals of the American dream on steroids and inspiring its people to persevere, though they have become ruthless in the process. Its citizens are ruled by the General, who has made sure that his people understand that gentleness and pity have become weaknesses that nature no longer tolerates.

Now Steve and Leslie must choose whether they will apply for the General’s once in a lifetime opportunity to “Rise from the Ashes” and join the Inner Circle that rules the city. If they don’t, they will be damned to spend the rest of their lives in the ghettos of Edingburg, a place where virtual reality has become a government-subsidized addiction.

For Steve, the choice is easy. His loyalties lie with the IRA, a revolutionary army led by a voice only known as “Mom.” They are trying to overthrow the General and free the people of New San Francisco from the cruelties of the City Guard. Steve’s mission is to broadcast a recording of a speech that a famous philosopher died to tell. Many thousands have and will perish to get this message out, but is anyone willing to listen?”

 

Best Read of the Week:

Lockdown by Laurie R King

 

“A community comes together when threatened by someone with a thirst for revenge in this stunningly intricate, tautly plotted novel of rich psychological suspense from the New York Times bestselling author of the Mary Russell mysteries.

Career Day at Guadalupe Middle School: A day given to innocent hopes and youthful dreams. A day no one in attendance will ever forget.

A year ago, Principal Linda McDonald arrived at Guadalupe determined to overturn the school’s reputation for truancy, gang violence, and neglect. One of her initiatives is Career Day—bringing together children, teachers, and community presenters in a celebration of the future. But there are some in attendance who reject McDonald’s bright vision.

A principal with a secret. A husband with a murky past. A cop with too many questions. A kid under pressure to prove himself. A girl struggling to escape a mother’s history. A young basketball player with an affection for guns.

Even the school janitor has a story he dare not reveal.

But no one at the gathering anticipates the shocking turn of events that will transform a day of possibilities into an explosive confrontation.

Tense, poignant, and brilliantly paced, Laurie R. King’s novel charts compelling characters on a collision course—a chain of interactions that locks together hidden lives, troubling secrets, and the bravest impulses of the human heart.”

I cannot recommend King’s Lockdown enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hardcopy haul from City Book Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snagged several cool egalleys (always). I’m most interested in:

Tarnished City by Vic James

I loved Gilded Cage and am eager to read the next in series!

“MAGIC COMPELS. WE BLEED.

The captivating dystopian trilogy that began with Gilded Cage continues. In a modern Britain where magic users control wealth, politics—and you—an uprising has been crushed. In its aftermath, two families will determine the country’s fate. The ruthless Jardines make a play for ultimate power. And the Hadleys, once an ordinary family, must find the extraordinary strength to fight back.

Abi Hadley is a fugitive. Her brother, Luke, a prisoner. Both will discover that in the darkest places, the human spirit shines brightest. Meanwhile, amid his family’s intrigues, Silyen Jardine dreams of forgotten powers from an earlier age.

As blood runs in the streets of London, all three will discover whether love and courage can ever be stronger than tyranny.

How do you choose when you can’t save everyone?”

 

Victoria and Abdul by Shrabani Basis

 

“Tall and handsome Abdul was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Within a year, Abdul had grown to become a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher, or Munshi, her counsel on Urdu and Indian affairs, and a friend close to the Queen’s heart. “I am so very fond of him.,” Queen Victoria would write in 1888, “He is so good and gentle and understanding….a real comfort to me.”

This marked the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign. Devastated first by the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and then her personal servant John Brown in 1883, Queen Victoria quickly found joy in an intense and controversial relationship with her Munshi, who traveled everywhere with her, cooked her curries and cultivated her understanding of the Indian sub-continent—a region, as Empress of India, she was long intrigued by but could never visit. The royal household roiled with resentment, but their devotion grew in defiance of all expectation and the societal pressures of their time and class and lasted until the Queen’s death on January 22, 1901.

Drawn from never-before-seen first-hand documents that had been closely guarded secrets for a century, Shrabani Basu’s Victoria & Abdul is a remarkable history of the last years of the 19th century in English court, an unforgettable view onto the passions of an aging Queen, and a fascinating portrayal of how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the British Empire.”

 

Coupla events coming up. Three through Lola’s Book Tours and one via XPresso.

Book Blitz: Shades of the Gods by Erin Hayes June 19-25.

Book Blitz: Freak by Erin Lee  June 27- July 3

Book Blitz: Sketches of My Soul by TC Booth  July 3-9

Book Blitz: Your Crossroads, Your Choice by EJ Apicello  July 3-9