Goodreads Blurb: It is Christmas, A.D. 1141, Abbot Radulfus returns from London, bringing with him a priest for the vacant living of Holy Cross, also known as the Foregate. The new priest is a man of presence, learning, and discipline, but he lacks humility and the common touch. When he is found drowned in the millpond, suspicion is cast upon a young man who arrived with the priest’s train and was sent to work in Brother Cadfael’s garden. Indeed, he is soon discovered to be an impostor. To Brother Cadfael, now falls the familiar task of sorting out the complicated strands of innocence and guilt.
Goodreads Review: My first experience of this story was through the Cadfael tv show, and I have to say I enjoyed the book far more. There’s a bitterness, and surprising sexism in the show’s interpretation – and it’s adding of useless secondary characters – that just isn’t there in the book.
Goodreads Blurb: After surviving childhood at the snooty, stuck-up boarding school for budding omegas, I have everyone convinced I’m a dud.
My awakening? Never gonna happen. Heat, mates, and a fairytale pack life? Maybe next reincarnation.
All I want is to be left alone.
I’m invisible, headed to a blissful solo future until the Wyvern Pack destroys my dream of independence.
Atlas, Hunter, Finn, Jett, and Orion are poison candy. They don’t want an omega, but they need one, even if there’ll never be a real spot for me in their pack.
Who needs a pack? I’ll keep myself safe, same as always.
I’ll never awaken, and I’ll never ever give the Wyverns my heart… Because all they’ll do is rip me apart.
Goodreads Blurb: Once upon a time, there was a winter that wouldn’t end. And all that’s standing between the people of White Meadows and starvation is a young man called Lance.
He’s sixteen years old, and for all his courage and hunting skills, he’s running out of fight. His family has been wiped out in a border raid, and he’s drowning in loneliness. When strangers arrive at White Meadows, all Lance can think of is using his last strength to drive them away.
But these men have come in peace, not to burn and destroy. Among them is a hot-headed, utterly charming prince-in-training named Arthur.
For Lance, Arthur’s arrival is like the return of the sun. The prince has everything – learning, battle skills, a splendid destiny. But as the days unfold in the remote northern settlement in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall, it soon becomes clear that Arthur needs Lance, too.
Goodreads Review: Finally, the great gay Arthurian romance I’ve been looking forward. There’s no settling for mere implications here. That was a delight. I also found myself really liking the main character, which for anyone familiar with just how deep my usual hate of any version Lancelot runs that should come as a very big surprise.
From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by Elizabeth Schaefer (Editor)
Goodreads Blurb: On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers recreate an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back, through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists.
Goodreads Blurb: A recently married man misses his dead mother and his childhood so much that he can’t seem to live in the here and now, causing untold horror for his new bride.
Goodreads Blurb: In a future society where everyone must undergo an operation at the age of nineteen to make them look like everyone else, one young woman desperately tries to hang on to her own identity.
Review: I know her constantly mistaking other women for her mother was supposed to highlight the terror of a world where most everybody looks the same but I couldn’t help feeling like it just made the main character seem like she hadn’t grown up in this world. Like she was a holdover from our world – which now I say it out loud may have been the point.
Review: My God is this a weird one – even for the twilight zone. Though I have to say I like the twist at the end, it’s nicely foreshadowed in the Doctor’s office.
From a Certain Point of View by Elizabeth Schaefer (Editor)
Goodreads Blurb: Forty years. Forty stories.
On May 25, 1977, the world was introduced to Han, Luke, Leia, a pair of droids, a Wookiee, an old wizard, a villain in black, and a galaxy full of possibilities. Forty years on, Star Wars remains an unparalleled cultural phenomenon, having inspired and influenced generations of fans and creators. Decades of rich storytelling were sparked by one film, in part because the Star Wars galaxy feels alive. Strange and wonderful characters fill the edges of the screen and make us wonder:
What are their stories?
This unique anthology celebrates that legacy, as more than forty contributors lend their vision to this retelling of the original Star Wars film. Each of the forty stories reimagines a moment from the film through the eyes of a supporting character. From A Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors, trendsetting artists, and treasured voices from the literary history of Star Wars:
⁃ Gary Whitta bridges the gap from Rogue One to A New Hope through the eyes of Captain Antilles.
⁃ – Aunt Beru finds her voice in an intimate character study by Meg Cabot.
⁃ Nnedi Okorafor brings dignity and depth to a most unlikely character: the monster in the trash compactor.
⁃ Pablo Hidalgo provides a chilling glimpse inside the mind of Grand Moff Tarkin.
⁃ Wil Wheaton spins a poignant tale of the rebels left behind on Yavin.
⁃ Plus thirty-five more hilarious, heartbreaking, and astonishing tales.
⁃ Experience the story of Star Wars from a whole new point of view.
Goodreads Review: This book was fantastic, I would read it over and over again if I could…which seeing as I bought the audiobook, I guess I can. A must-read for anyone even a little interested in the star wars franchise, just brilliant 🙂
Goodreads Blurb: The latest novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory features one of the most famous girls in history, Lady Jane Grey, and her two sisters, each of whom dared to defy her queen.
Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days. Her father and his allies crowned her instead of the dead king’s half sister Mary Tudor, who quickly mustered an army, claimed her throne, and locked Jane in the Tower of London. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner’s block, where Jane transformed her father’s greedy power grab into tragic martyrdom.
“Learn you to die,” was the advice Jane wrote to her younger sister Katherine, who has no intention of dying. She intends to enjoy her beauty and her youth and fall in love. But she is heir to the insecure and infertile Queen Mary and then to her half sister, Queen Elizabeth, who will never allow Katherine to marry and produce a Tudor son. When Katherine’s pregnancy betrays her secret marriage, she faces imprisonment in the Tower, only yards from her sister’s scaffold.
“Farewell, my sister,” writes Katherine to the youngest Grey sister, Mary. A beautiful dwarf, disregarded by the court, Mary keeps family secrets, especially her own, while avoiding Elizabeth’s suspicious glare. After seeing her sisters defy their queens, Mary is acutely aware of her own danger but determined to command her own life. What will happen when the last Tudor defies her ruthless and unforgiving Queen Elizabeth?
The Wee Writing Lassie 