Unfortunately though, many of the other villagers hold on to more old-fashioned views, mistrusting the two elderly sisters who live on the edge of town. Before her father died, he had taught her that witches are just like anyone else-there are good ones, bad ones, and most just wish to be left alone to their own lives. Taking place in the sleepy little village of Near, the story follows Lexi, who lives with her mother and little sister Wren. In a way, The Near Witch reads very much like a traditional folk tale. The prose was plain, the story was simple, but in that straightforwardness was also a refreshing sweetness and charm I haven’t seen a lot from the author’s newer works. What I didn’t expect, however, was how much I loved this. I certainly wasn’t going to judge it by the same standards as I would apply to her later books. Schwab may be an experience writer now, but debuts are debuts-most are like raw, uncut gems, their latent potential waiting to be released. Schwab’s long out-of-print debut novel The Near Witch was going to be re-issued, my first thought was, “Oh hell yes, I’d read it!” even with the full understanding that things might be a little rough. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own. I received a review copy from the publisher. Book Review: The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab
0 Comments
I read this book in 2 fast and furious days, half the time reading so fast because I wanted to get through all the horror and terror of the first half, then compelled to read the second half with the same furious pedal to the medal as it became a full-on revenge tale interwoven with a detective murder mystery ~ continuing Rex Miller's intelligent, exciting, horror-filled, Jack Eichord detective murder series, involving serial killers and the like. No doubt, those who enjoy that sort of thing would probably rate this higher than I could. Very finely researched and written, however, the content and horrifically graphic tortures scenes in the first half of the book were just too heavy for my soft heart to give it a higher rating. Netflix has a Resident Evil TV series in the works, while Paramount+ is about to debut Halo.Īmazon Studios has been particularly aggressive in the arena. HBO has coming up the high-profile PlayStation game-based series The Last of Us , starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Peacock just landed another SPT/PlayStation property, Twisted Metal, with a series order and Anthony Mackie starring. This would mark the latest big deal for a TV series based on a popular video game title in a red-hot streaming marketplace for gaming IP. We’re learning from Deadline that a TV series adaptation is in the works from The Expanse creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. Sony has been on the fence with adapting this franchise for years and years but this new news is promising after the success of Uncharted. God of War is a hit franchise for Sony and their Playstation and has been for years. This beautifully written, thought-provoking genealogical mystery will captivate readers from the very first pages. With thoughtful candor, she explores the ethical questions surrounding sperm donation, the consequences of DNA testing, and the emotional impact of having an uprooted religious and ethnic identity. She then allows her readers to be a fly on the wall, as she dissects the situation and her feelings about it. On a lark, she does a DNA test and unexpectedly discovers that her dad isn’t her biological father. “What potent combination of lawlessness, secrecy, desire, shame, greed, and confusion had led to my conception?” Shapiro writes. Dani Shapiro tells the true story of her DNA test journey in Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. Shapiro realized that her childhood, her ancestral lineage, and the foundation of her world were based on deception. Her own parents had died, but now, with the support of her husband and son, she discovered her biological father, a doctor from Portland. But when she got the DNA test results, the then-54-year-old began researching her family history, and within months she unraveled a narrative leading back to the 1960s and the early days of artificial insemination. Shapiro grew up in an Orthodox family in suburban New Jersey blonde-haired and blue-eyed, she often felt out of place in a family of dark-haired Ashkenazi Jews, yet she had shrugged off the physical differences. In this fascinating memoir, Shapiro ( Hourglass) writes of how she questioned her identity when a DNA test revealed that she was not, as she believed she was, 100% Jewish. The Court of Appeal relied on Central Bank v. Plaintiff Ward Lambert (Lambert) petitioned for review after the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the trial court dismissing Lambert's action on the ground that all causes of action were barred by section 339(1). 1 Section 339(1) provides for a two-year limitations period on an action founded on a policy of title insurance. We granted review in this case to resolve a conflict in the Courts of Appeal as to when a cause of action against a title insurer alleging a failure to defend accrues under Code of Civil Procedure section 339, subdivision 1 (hereafter section 339(1))-when the insurer refuses to defend, or when the underlying action is terminated by final judgment? fn. Braun as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent. Cooper and Jamie Dubinsky for Defendant and Respondent. Camarena for Plaintiff and Appellant.Įrvin, Cohen & Jessup, Allan B. (Opinion by Arabian, J., expressing the unanimous view of the court.) COMMONWEALTH LAND TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant and Respondent. WARD LAMBERT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Goats are added to the menagerie, and a llama turns out to be an excellent foil to protect the flock from coyotes. Melissa, it turns out, has a powerful passion for poultry, evidenced the day that Friend misinterprets an affectionate look only to hear Melissa say dreamily, "God, I love chickens." They build a house and assemble a working farm of sheep, chickens, ducks and geese. In rather quick order, she and her partner, Melissa, acquire 53 acres of hilly land alongside the highway that connects Rochester to the Twin Cities. "Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn" is the chronicle of her transformation from Minneapolis city slicker to rural Minnesota shepherd. When her partner of a dozen years pleads to fulfill her dream of running a farm, Friend acquiesces and sets off on an adventure she doesn't see coming. She's cold, there's a suspiciously soft substance on the bottom of her sneakers and she has never really hankered to know what a healthy ram testicle feels like.īut we all do foolish things for love. Her charming memoir begins with her tentative reach between the legs of a male sheep, the better to squeeze his 16-inch circumference testicles. Catherine Friend knows how to get our attention. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who on reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isn't allowed to enter. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket". The Happy Prince is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. Yet a growing contingent of scythes, feared and flattered by society and operating outside the Thunderhead’s control, are proving rather dishonorable. In a world run by the (almost) all-powerful and (almost) omniscient artificial intelligence Thunderhead, only the Honorable Scythes deal permanent death to near-immortal humans. YA)ĭeath proves impermanent in this sequel to Scythe (2016). The author also offers a hint of mystery (although readers will soon figure it out) with a late-night radio show featuring Dirty Dirk, an anonymous student who reaches out to Marisa. Marisa’s realistic, first-person narration ably captures the importance of typical adolescent problems. The story isn’t new, but Colasanti keeps it fresh by speaking to teens in their own language. Why, then, would she rather hang out and discuss her problems, especially her relapsing depression, with her “totally geeked out” chemistry partner, Nash? Maybe while Marisa’s been waiting for love, it’s been in front of her all along. While her best friend is IMing older guys and her once-“normal” parents are separated, Marisa thinks she’s finally found romance with popular Derek, her first boyfriend. Now the amateur photographer is heading into sophomore year with some coping skills and waiting for love to find her. Marisa spent freshman year grappling with anxiety disorder and depression. Haesten takes Uhtred to a graveyard, where a corpse rises from the earth to tell Uhtred that the Fates have decreed he is to be King of Mercia. Haesten invites him to a meeting across the Temes in Mercia. When he informs Alfred, he is given the task of collecting a force strong enough to take the city back, then handing it over to his cousin Æthelred. After ambushing a band of raiders, Uhtred learns that two powerful Norse earls, Sigefrid and Erik Thurgilson, allied with Uhtred's treacherous former friend Haesten, have occupied nearby Lundene. This novel was used as the basis for the second half of the second series of the BBC's The Last Kingdom.Īlfred, King of Wessex, has Uhtred of Bebbanburg build one of the fortified towns that make up Alfred's system of defence. Uhtred leads battles against the Danes, as King Alfred strengthens the defences of his kingdom of Wessex. Sword Song is the fourth historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2007. Sands is a skilled writer so the plot moves quickly and I never wanted to put the book aside. She is stubborn and headstrong and he is almost a beta hero. The steam factor is on point, which is super satisfying considering the sexy cover! I think Evi and Conran are good matches for each other overall. Evi is honest and blunt to a fault which leads to some interesting group conversations that had me both gasping in second-hand embarrassment and laughing out loud. The Pros: This book is fun and lighthearted. Through a series of classic Sands hijinks, Evi ends up kidnapping Rory’s brother Conran. Evi is desperate to save her ailing father, so she goes to request (force) Rory Buchanan, a famed healer, to cure him. Luckily, THE WRONG HIGHLANDER stands alone well and I enjoyed this book about Evina and Conran. Jumping into a series on book seven is always a risk. |