The Poison Diaries...

The Poison Diaries

by MaryRose Wood

 ...even the most innocent-looking weed can cure...

I loved this book - I picked it up because the whole idea of the ancient art of the Apothecary and Botany are sciences that interest me...but I never expected the magical story this book turn into. 

Based on the The Duchess Of Northumberland, and her famous Poison Gardens at Alnwick Castle, The Poison Diaries (The Poison Diaires) draws you into the world of Jessamine. 

Losing her Mother early, Jessamine is left to herself by a Father who stays busy (and away from home) practicing the healing art of the Apothecary. So Jessamine fills her days among the healing plants in his garden...and then she meets Weed and everything changes. 

The writing in this book is amazing - you become so entrenched in Jessamine's ability to converse with the plants around her that you really want to spend time in the wilderness...this book will seriously change the way you look at the wild life around you. A little slow starting (as is the background building in some books) but it picks up quickly and once Weed comes into the story you won't want to put this down. 


Product Description from Amazon:

In the right dose, everything is a poison. Even love . . .

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.

When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . .

Sea Glass by Maria V.Snyder

Sea Glass

by Maria V.Snyder

A wonderfully beautiful magic - the magic carried in the art of glass - Opal's talent has caused her to become both feared by the Council and a necessary ally!

This book has everything I love in an entertaining book...a great story line, a strong female heroine, magic and romance.

Trust is the underlying theme in this book - or should I say lack of trust - the Council, Derrick, Opal, Janco...

With the Glass series Maria V. Snyder affirms that all the praise reaped on the Study trilogy was deserved and this series follows through as a well crafted and suspenseful tale of adventure, romance, magic and above all...trust!

Product Description

Student glass magician Opal Cowan's newfound ability to steal a magician's powers makes her too powerful. Ordered to house arrest by the Council, Opal dares defy them, traveling to the Moon Clan's lands in search of Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because she is sure another man now her prisoner has switched souls with Ulrick.

In hostile territory, without proof or allies, Opal isn't sure whom to trust. She can't forget Kade, the handsome Stormdancer who doesn't want to let her get close. And now everyone is after Opal's special powers for their own deadly gain....

Spells by Emily Gravett

Spells

by Emily Gravett

Recommended for Ages 4 to 8

Staring at the cover Spells will capture every child's attention. Beautifully illustrated and wildly fun with just the right amount of dialog to visual content.

You get an idea of just how delightful and humorous this story will be when you read the author/illustrator's bio on the back book flap:

Back Cover - Flap excerpt: "As a child Emily Gravett was desperate to become a witch. She spent her time trying to fly, and attempting to cast spells on people who called her sweet."

Kids will spend hours in the center "split pages" matching and mis-matching tops and bottoms of magical creatures.

Gorgeous - this is going on my four year old grand daughter's book shelf!

Product Description from Amazon
From critically acclaimed author Emily Gravett comes Spells, the hilarious misadventures of a small green frog who just wants to kiss a princess.

Child of Fire by Harry Connolly

Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel

Spontaneously combusting children, a really creepy town, a successful company that makes utterly ridiculous products, the unsettling police department made up of three brothers, a sorceress charged with hunting down and killing rogue magicians...and her driver, a convicted felon who has recently been released...confused yet?

Good! Now we can all start from the same place!

What really works in this much anticipated first effort from Harry Connolly is that the lead character starts this ride as much in the blue as the reader. He knows nothing about the mission or his role in completing it.

In Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel, Connolly creates a world that, while at times completely implausible, grips you from the opening pages.

Ray Lilly's thoughts play out in front of you in much the same way the noir detectives did...gritty, hard boiled with a heart. It is the heart that continually gets Ray into bad situations.

All the comparisons to Jim Butcher's protagonist in Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) are warranted - in fact Butcher wrote a glowing review of Connolly's style of writing, calling it "a truly dark and sinister world, delicious tension and suspense, violence so gritty you'll get something in your eye just reading it"

I am really eager to see more from Harry Connolly and would love a little more about Ray Lilly and the Twenty Palace Society.

Product Description from Amazon
Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He’s the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him–or let someone else do the job.

Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise’s next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who’s sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must find–and destroy–the source of that inhuman magic.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane


By Katherine Howe

One of the hardest things for an author to do is move the reader seamlessly between to time periods - this book does it...but is it worth it?

The story of Connie - grad student in 1991 - is not really interesting. What does work for me is the house and the character of Grace (don't we all know a "new age" sensitive?). I found I was more interested in her "SteepleJack" boyfriend than in Connie.

The story of Deliverance Dane and her Physic Book is the story of the innocents lost to accusations of witch-craft. These "cunning women" were usually midwives and healers at a time when medicine and "doctors" were new in the area.

Whether it was the moldy bread or the toxic levels of leaded glazes used for cookware - people were thrown into seizures and some people died. The people of Salem believed that these witches in their midst were the cause.

What Howe brings to this oft told story is the twist that Deliverance Dane IS a witch and is appalled that these innocent women are dieing. Even when offered the opportunity to escape (because if these folks were witches how could they be held in prisons?) she stays to offer support to the women that were arrested with her.

The author, Katherine Howe, was a graduate student in New England studies...and brings her real-life family history to the table. She is a descendant of two women who endured the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, one of whom survived and one who didn't.

An interesting twist on previously published books about the Salem Witch Trials.