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I am enjoying this.

I love this, am enjoying it already. It is rare that I buy literature new. I read physical books almost exclusively and have as many as the average person must store on e-readers. To afford a good stock, second-hand is imperative. Thus I really treasure or feel a book is for me if I choose one that is new. Mark Spencer just needs to desist with "crimson" instead of red! I dislike indulgent, dramatic vocabulary.

Drat! It seems this gothic mystery novel might debunk like the majority of them and not contian a spirit like I had hoped! I hope that isn't how it pans out. Twenty pages don't seem to be enough for this novel to get into much action. I hope it doesn't build up to finding a discarded explanation letter from a mysterious, unknown character and solving everything peripherally. This hasn't had a haunted house feel.

I really enjoy deviations from the gothic mystery blueprint. I wonder if Carolyn Wilson sways far from it because she solely authored one. I enjoy that she is not living in terror, even though there are weird things to investigate. She has allies and isn't limited to the chief setting, three traits typical gothic mysteries overdo. In fact she is a 28 year-old Mom who worked and there is actually a spirit to meet!

Do I like it? I'm unsure. Right now, a lot of ground work is guiding the pages. How this widowed young Mother ran into her college professor and courted him. They are married, temporarily staying in his family manor until theirs is built. It is three-dimensional and realistic, with Laura needing to remind her Mom she is in charge of her son and feeling one sister-in-law dislikes her. The suspense is coming now.

A special find in mint condition. I can't wait to read my non-fiction book about the actual Allen House, written by its present, longtime residents.

I thought this looked like a lovely, precious, and emotional story in a positive way in lake country this week-end. I had to pick it up on my second-hand book-seeking trip and was astounded to find that "Franklin In The Dark" is a Canadian classic of twenty-five years. I am very glad to know it for this reason in particular, as well as it turning out that its authoress, Paulette Bourgeois, is from our own Winnipeg.

Now we're getting down to a part that is mystery-solving, as well as an exciting magical reason for the grim presence of that most ancient town, Y-Gros (shortened Welsh for "the crossing place"). The duo Phil Rickman finally made into protagonists, Berry Morelli the American and Bethan the Welsh-English teacher, noted there is no crossing place there. I surmise it is a good old transdimensional portal of some kind!

In the last section, we are getting back to the research that is much more interesting. I wish there hadn't been so much detail on scenes that I think were filler; mundane activity the novel could do without. We don't need a million examples that this village is weird and are past obtaining a clear picture of what being Welsh is like. Now for the good stuff; a historic figure or old magic that caused the horror.

A baby book is right for quartet birthday of our four kittens! Love is remembered with all our hearts. I continue to thank everyone giving us prayer and support that Conan comes home safely very soon now. I am sorry he isn't here by their birthday but my imppression is he wants time in the great outdoors in this good weather. I can't believe Conan & his sisters Angel & Petal are seven! Happy birthday, my babies!

I have concluded that there are too many characters and it isn't because I'm not sharp enough to keep track of them. We should relate to a central couple or protagonist. Instead, we have a bunch of people converging on Wales, which we are led to believe is a dangerous country for English to enter. As if the spirits of that place might reject or kill non-Welsh who try to live there. Awfully prejudiced, isn't that?

Too many characters and I'm not someone who has trouble keeping track. I'm sharp with details but no characters are polarizing yet. We begin to feel for a teacher but she seems like an outsider. Is she Welsh, or just not from that bizarre town? I don't think I novel or story should be introduced with so much uncertainty about the basics, even if there is a lot to set. We should know someone by 100 pages.

Extremely bizarre, the point unlear, and nor can I tell who the protagonists might be. It seems Phil Rickman eventually did very well but I think this is his first novel or among them. It was a weak way to start a story: opening unrelated scenes all over the place, with no characters that we hone in on or even like, after this many pages. All I can surmise is that this supposedly off-limits Welsh town factors in.

Fair warning: this is another of the far too numerous authors, seemingly being unaware that contriving ghost-related titles, no matter how clever they imagine they are, must not be done if there is no spirit! Surprisingly, despite not liking the sarcastic heroine at first, a reversal of the gothic mystery blueprint has had me enthralled. We know from the start that she, Anita, is the ghost but her plight is crazy!

I cherish knowing we can speak with trees but the first book comprised transcripts, without seeing Michael sharing the marvels with his family. In book two, Michael included Treenie all the time and related a story. His writing is still overdone; annoying things like water is "gentle" and I hated reading of animals being killed. Overall Michael was surprisingly slow to grasp the concepts of his mystical journies.

I like to see this author, exploring a change of consciousness with the nature soul of our world, including his wife, Treenie, much more. One complaint with the first book in this duology is that he shared extraordinary moments but doesn't show us how that fit into his normal life. It would have centered things well to see him walking home from a river or forest and how his family reacts to these occurrences.

I took a break from Michael's flowerly writing, not a propos for the cause of revealing new thoughts: the united consciousness of Earth. First, his introduction was too slow; anxious about prepping readers for ideas he had trouble with. I am continuing the second book, "Journey Into Nature" and find it odd he gives it no introduction. His inner self is suddenly inside a rock, meeting famous nature spirit, "Pan".

I have looked forward to this volume in particular. I had been thinking, since the previous novel or two, that I would love to revisit Charlotte's parents. Lo and behold, I saw that the next story would! Acquainting Thomas's parents at all would be nice as well. This is an interesting story. It differs from her others. There is no bad crime, which I never want. There is a refreshingly personal, small mystery.

What a surprise, because I love Mary Downing Hahn. Unfortunately, further to overdosing on all congugations of the stupid verb, "tug", more than anyone I've ever seen (for F's sake, use "pull" and "yank"!).... I do not like this story anywhere near as much as I anticipated. It looks so enchanting and exciting, certainly haunting. But the twist is what I thought it is. Clearly, the reverse is far less mysterious.

This isn't a novel about skimming the highlights of a summer trip, leading to the thrilling exploration of a cave for the duration. The whole story is this trip, step by step, with a couple of discoveries only as sidetrips. I tightened at a memory of killing a grouse in a boy's past (those lessons in "compassionate killing") but hunting was mentioned minimally, except fishing. This boy's trip is written enjoyably!