Jane Litte's Blog, page 59

Jayne’s Total Mashup Book List

200,000 Snakes On the Hunt in Manitoba: or, How I Found a New Beginning at the Bottom of a Giant Pit of Snakes by Pat Spain

Pat Spain was living the life he had always dreamed of. He had just finished filming his first National Geographic TV series Beast Hunter, put in an offer on his first house with his girlfriend, was in the best physical shape he’d ever been in, had paid off the massive debt he’d incurred filming a web-based wildlife series and was getting to hang out with his TV and punk-...

REVIEW: The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick

Sweeping across generations from the 1600s to the present day and inspired by the true story of the leader of the infamous Gunpowder Plot, Nicola Cornick’s latest historical mystery combines past and present story lines that fans of Philippa Gregory and Susanna Kearsley will devour.

1605: Anne Catesby fears for her family. Her son, the darkly charismatic Robert, is secretly plotting to kill the king, placing his wife and child in grave danger. Anne must make a terrible choice: betray her only ...

REVIEW: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (x 2) by Megan Bannen

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.

Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.

After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A...

Bridgerton, Season Two: A Discussion, Part II

On Tuesday, Layla and I (belatedly) discussed some aspects of season two of Bridgerton, including the production values, the main characters, and the romance. Today we move on to Penelope, Colin and Eloise, the matriarchs, the humor, and the show’s sibling relationships.
 

 

Penelope, Eloise and Colin
 
Layla: I LOVE PENELOPE AND ELOISE!!!!! They both look fantastic, and I love the exchange where Eloise critiques Lady Featherington in front of Penelope.

Janine: It’s so Eloise. I have liked thei...

REVIEW: Silver Pheasant: Kaifeng Chronicles, Book Four by Robert Campbell

In Beijing, Li Bing continues his quest to enter the imperial civil service.

Dear Mr. Campbell,

Well, that’s a rather uninspired blurb that barely covers a third of what goes on in this book. It’s an important third but still, much more happens in this story than that. Threads that have been carefully added to the tapestry of the Li family’s life continue to be woven in. Past characters, good and bad, are brought back and their actions seem set to collide with bureaucratic official Li Gong, ...

Review: Artifact Space (Arcana Imperil #1) by Miles Cameron

Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships.

With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume – and value – of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species.

It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space...

Bridgerton, Season Two: A Discussion, Part I

Janine: Last year, Layla and I wrote a series of posts about the first season of Bridgerton, and early this year we wanted to do the same for the second season. By the time we finished writing that post, though, we felt it would be more appropriate to run it a little before the return of show for season three. Sirius and I are hoping to run a post or posts about season three early next year, and we hope you return for that then. On Thursday, the second part of our thoughts on season two will pos...

REVIEW: Faux Ho Ho by ‘Nathan Burgoine

Silas Waite doesn’t want his big-C Conservative Alberta family to know he’s barely making rent. They’d see it as yet another sign that he’s not living up to the Waite family potential and muscle in on his life. When Silas unexpectedly needs a new roommate, he ends up with the gregarious (and gorgeous) personal trainer Constantino “Dino” Papadimitriou.

Silas’s parents try to brow-beat him into visiting for Thanksgiving, where they’ll put him on display as an example of how they’re so “tolerant,...

REVIEW: The Devil You Know by Elizabeth O’Roark

Dear Elizabeth O’Roark,

Last week I reviewed the first two books in your series of contemporary romances, The Devils, in one of my “What Janine is Reading” posts. Book three is my favorite, however, so I wanted to write a full-length review for it. Here is that review.

Gemma and Ben work in the same law firm and are competing to be made partner–shades of Julie James’s book Practice Makes Perfect, except this one is better. Gemma has an antagonism to Ben because she believes he stole one of her ...

REVIEW: A Living Dinosaur – On the Hunt in West Africa by Pat Spain

Pat Spain was nearly thrown in a Cameroonian prison, learned to use a long-drop toilet while a village of pygmy children watched, and was deemed “too dirty to fly” for this book.

On the Hunt in West Africa finds Bostonian Pat Spain, an inexperienced but enthusiastic traveler and wildlife biologist, on the first shoot of his new National Geographic TV series in Cameroon, the Congo, and the Central African Republic. He was told it would be his “trial by fire” for the world of wildlife TV, and so...