241. Love Miscellany: Eveything you Always Wanted to Know About the Many Ways we Celebrate Romance and Passion by Deborah A. Levine

BOOK REVIEW: Love Miscellany - Everything you Always Wanted to Know About the Many Ways we Celebrate Romance and Passion by Deborah A. Levine

Love is a beautiful feeling that gives you pinpricks of emotions in your heart, makes you float in thin air and magically satiates physical hunger. But do you readers know the origin of Valentine's Day or how sweet nothings came about? This informative book has all you need to know about love.

Come take a breezy tour through the history and traditions surrounding the many ways people celebrate love. 

You may be surprised to learn that not one, but 3 St. Valentine's died on February 14th; that more than just dishes are broken at a traditional Greek wedding; that the same recipe has been used to make Conversation Hearts candies since 1902; and that aphrodisiac Spanish fly is made from powdered beetle carcasses.

Delightfully illustrated and complete with crafts and recipes, this book will appeal to everyone who has ever waited with bated breath for a suitor's roses - whether or not they actually arrived.

I found this book quite intriguing to say the least, and it's a generalized book that can be read by the young and old. For a non-fiction, I give this book my two thumbs up! Eat, pray and love people!

240. Every Which Way but Dead by Kim Harrison

BOOK REVIEW: Every Which Way but Dead by Kim Harrison

How's about throwing witches, warlocks, vampires and demons into an action-packed romance? It is sure to be one hell of a rollercoaster ride. This book definitely has all these elements and more.

There's no witch in Cincinnati tougher, sexier or more screwed up than bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, who's already put her love life and her soul in dire jeopardy through her determined efforts to bring criminal night creatures to justice.

Between "runs", she has her hands full fending off the attentions of her blood-drinking partner, Ivy, keeping  deadly secret from her backup, and resisting a hot new vamp suitor.

Rachel must also take a stand in the war that's raging in the city's underworld, since she helped put away its former vampire kingpin - and made a deal with a powerful demon to do so that coul cost her an eternity of pain, torment and degradation. And now her dark "master" is coming to collect his due.

Extremely fast-paced, this novel was one I couldn't put down for a second, relishing each and every page. Funny and with sprinkles of romance throughout, this novel is a great read which I would rate a 4/5. 

239. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

BOOK REVIEW: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

What happens when you put a dysfunctional family into a manor that is going to ruins after generations of their lineage with a self-sacrificing family doctor? A slowly unearthed ghost story that slowly and inadvertently turns every one of its residents over the brink.

In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire (all supposedly eerie ghost stories start in England), a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house (yes, eerie old English house = eerie ghost out for vengeance *sigh*), once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, its owners - mother, son and daughter - struggling to keep pace with a changing society.

But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

On a personal level, I found the book below my standards for the supposed horror genre that it was. The scares were pretty drab with poltergeist activity that was really annoying. With the issue of the brother turning mad, fear can drive a person to insanity so nothing there to see. Unknown blemishes, dark shadows and such are pretty much the norm. 

However, the style of writing and flow of words is beautiful and the characters are very individualistic. Do give this book a read, maybe you will find it jives with you. Happy Reading!