M.L. Sparrow's Blog, page 31

Fire Bound

Fire Bound, (Sisters of the Heart, Book 5), by Christine Feehan   Blurb:  Flame-haired Lissa Piner is a skilled glass blower whose delicate gift conceals a burning inner strength that can destroy as exquisitely as it can create. Commissioned to design chandeliers for a string of luxury hotels, her remarkable skills have taken her to Italy. But Lissa's real mission there is a secret. For her entire life has been a lie, leading to a chance to avenge a terrible wrong.Enlisted as her bodyguard is

The Too-Clever Fox

The Too-Clever Fox, (The Grisha, Book 2.5), by Leigh Bardugo   Blurb:  In Ravka, just because you avoid one trap, it doesn't mean you'll escape the next. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo’s upcoming novel, Siege and Storm, the second book in the Grisha Trilogy.   The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover, then I discovered that you can read it for free (click on the cover for the link) and decided to give it a go. I was not disappointed. This is a great

Day Twenty Five

  Had a great day in Shirakawa today. I caught the bus early and go there about 9:30, so for a while there weren't too many people around which was nice. I started by wandering around the little town and admiring all the thatched houses as well as the amazing natural scenery. I loved the view of the snow-capped mountains - how amazing it must be to look out of your window every morning and see that... on the other hand, your house is also constantly surrounded by tourists, so maybe I wouldn't

Day Twenty Four

Today was a bit of a fail to be honest! I had good intentions of doing the temple circuit, but... I kinda got bored after the third one and went in search of food instead...  I'm sorry, but I'm so tired of temples, shrines and your bog-standard museums! I've seen so many of them after the past few weeks and they're all pretty much the same. I saw Unryuji and Daioji Temples as well as Higashiyama Hakusan Jinja Shrine, none of which were all that impressive, though Daioji did have a nice little

Day Twenty Three

So I went back to the Teddy Bear Eco Village today and thankfully itwas open. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest, but it was actually a really cute, relaxing and un place to go. Some of the teddy bears were so adorable and so soft, you couldn't help but give them a hug! Thankfully that's actually encouraged, as well as taking pictures. The ones you couldn't touch were put into beautiful displays and you're never short of something to look at that's for sure! There were also loads of books

Earth Bound

Earth Bound, (Sisters of the Heart, Book 4) by Christine Feehan   Blurb:  After escaping from a cult, Lexi found refuge with her sisters on the farm that more than sustained her body-it nurtured her soul as well. But she never forgot the terror she left behind or the always present fear that the cult would find her again, and claim her. Then her nightmare came true.Lexi was discovered and threatened-only to be suddenly saved by a stranger. He is Gavriil Prakenskii, and he's awestruck by the

Day Twenty Two

Today I went to see the floats that they use for the Takayama festival - which I missed by a day, how annoying is that? There are currently four on display at Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan and they get changed throughout the year. The whole place was really nice and there was so much information on offer - I was given a tape recorder to listen to which had information about each float and I found it really interesting. For example, if it rains they can't use the big floats and have to use

Days Twenty and Twenty One

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I didn't really have anything to say. It was raining most of the day so, besides venturing out for food, I didn't do much, which wasn't actually too bad since I was in a writing mood anyway and managed to get quite a bit of my new novel, A Tangled Web, done.  The sun was back out again today though, so I decided to visit some of the museums. My first stop was the Takayama Museum of History and Art, which was actually very interesting. The information in

Second Nature

Second Nature, (Book 1), by Lauren Kuzimski   Blurb:  Fae had spent the entirety of her life training to protect her Queen.  Jace had spent the majority of his life trying to kill all the Queens.  In a world separated by realms and each realm ruled by a Queen, only the Queens are supposed to be masters of the elements: earth, wind, water, fire, light, dark.  One hundred years ago though a different group of elementals rose up and challenged the Queens. While the conflict had been long and not

Day Nineteen

Another gorgeous day - if the weather keeps up like this I'm going to have to find somewhere to buy suncream, my arms are beginning to look a bit red! I decided to walk to the Hida Folk Village today, since it's not far from my hotel. My first stop on the way was the Eco Teddy Bear Museum, which is near the village, only to find that it was closed, even though the guide book says it should be open. I had a look on their site to see if there was a reason for this, but couldn't find anything. If