Most people might be put off by the ghosts living in their house, but Margaret is not most people. She is patient, she knows the rules, and she will not let a little disembodied screaming chase her out of her dream home. Sure, some of the ghosts bite, and yes the walls bleed horrendously every […]
This classic guide gives detailed explanations and illustrations in the care of trees and shrubs. It offers specific advice for pruning many different species, and also provides clear guidance for pruning at various life stages and for for different purposes. Some examples: pruning to rejuvenate an older plant, or to create a barrier. There is […]
Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has never agreed with the point system of Sin and Virtue that decides a human’s fate after they die. Why should eating chocolate cost you a ½ point of Sin? Despite this, she stays out of the way and tries not to catch the notice of other angelic […]
Recent changes in my personal schedule gifted me a fresh start – an opportunity to get back into the habit of cooking regularly! I am really enjoying this change and hope to keep things interesting by trying a variety of recipes, but also need to keep it simple and quick. As with many people, I […]
Truly Livingston is a romance author and hopeless romantic. She believes in happily ever afters. And then…she walks in on her fiance cheating on her. Not only that, her parents, whom she believed to be in the perfect marriage, have announced they are separating. She is devastated, angry, and lost AND she was just invited […]
“The Innocents” (1961), directed by Jack Clayton and starring Deborah Kerr just a few years after she filmed “An Affair to Remember” and “The King and I”, is a creepy, dark ghost movie-cum-psychological thriller well worth a peek (during the daytime, with a friend in the room). Based on Henry James’ iconic ghost story The […]
During the Golden Age of Piracy, Jacquotte Delahaye, the daughter of a French father and Haitian mother, is forced to flee her life as a shipwright in Santo Domingo when her father is assassinated. Unfortunately, the ship she escapes on is captured by pirates. She and a fellow refugee named Teresa are made indentured servants […]
Melissa by Alex Gino is a delightful story that highlights the importance of being yourself. The big, bright letters spelling “be who you are” on the back cover suggest it, but the story inside makes it clear. The titular protagonist is a young transgender girl who navigates her gender alongside interactions with family, her best […]
Ria Khan wants nothing more than to become a famous stuntwoman, so she puts all of her prodigious determination and energy into making a name for herself online. She is bullied at school and discouraged by her parents for this dream, so she relies heavily on her older sister Lena. Lena has dropped out of […]
Barbara Kingsolver employs her exceptional talent for character development and world-building for the eponymous Damon “Demon Copperhead” Fields, set in Appalachia from the 1990s to today, in her retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. For readers of the Dickens tale, it is fun exercise to compare the new and the old versions of the classic […]
