Bluebell & Sparkle!

Finally, the story we’ve all waited for!

Nalini Singh returns to the world of the Guild Hunters for the most highly anticipated novel of the beloved series—a love story so epic it’s been half a millennia in the making…

Illium and Aodhan. Aodhan and Illium. For centuries they’ve been inseparable: the best of friends, closer than brothers, companions of the heart. But that was before—before darkness befell Aodhan and shattered him, body, mind, and soul. Now, at long last, Aodhan is healing, but his new-found strength and independence may come at a devastating cost—his relationship with Illium.

As they serve side by side in China, a territory yet marked by the evil of its former archangel, the secret it holds nightmarish beyond imagining, things come to an explosive decision point. Illium and Aodhan must either walk away from the relationship that has defined them—or step forward into a future that promises a bond infinitely precious in the life of an immortal…but that demands a terrifying vulnerability from two badly bruised hearts.

Of Stains and Sins…and Ugly Truths

They pushed people into the mud and then called them filthy. They forbade people from accessing any knowledge of the world and then called them simple. They worked people until their empty hands were twisted, bleeding, and could do no more, then called them lazy. They forced people to eat innards from troughs and then called them uncivilized. They kidnapped babies and shattered families and then called them incapable of love. They raped and lynched and cut up people into parts, and then called the pieces savage. They stepped on people’s throats with all their might and asked why the people couldn’t breathe. And then, when people made an attempt to break the foot, or cut it off one, they screamed “CHAOS!” and claimed that mass murder was the only way to restore order.

They praised every daisy and then called every blackberry a stain. They bled the color from God’s face, gave it a dangle between its legs, and called it holy. Then, when they were done breaking things, they pointed at the sky and called the color of the universe itself a sin.

“That is no longer coffee” is SO completely the point!

“Hey. I wasn’t sure how long you’d be so I held off on the coffee. I also needed a couple minutes to figure out your fancy machine.”

She walked to the fancy machine as she spoke, placed one of his oversize mugs. “Go ahead and sit down. I’ll bring it out.”

Still blurry, he did as he was told while the machine whirred and finally that life-giving scent hit the air.

She brought out mugs—one no more than two-thirds full. When she set the other in front of him, he lifted it, inhaled the first dose straight into his brain.

“You drink it black. I’m always amazed at people who drink black coffee. I don’t actually like coffee.”

As he watched, she flooded her mug with milk, showered it with one, two, dear God, three spoonfuls of sugar.

“That is no longer coffee.”

“Exactly. But it still has that punch I go for in the morning.”

Aside: Did anyone else read this book and end up eating nearly an entire box of Swiss Rolls?

My sentiments exactly!

The inventor of single-serve coffee machines was a god. They should be sainted at the very least. Just think of how many people they had saved from going postal by their almost instant cups of coffee bean ambrosia.
Operation Foxtrot by Stormy Glenn

I don’t drink coffee that often, but when I’m that desperate….

Alpha Night by Nalini Singh

Hawke and Sienna need to hurry up and kill Ming.  He really needs to die.  I don’t care if it’s by tooth and claw, cold fire or photon laser.

About the Architect, did Henry and/or Shoshanna Scott have a child? I keep coming back to the spider and throne references. She’s been “training for this all her life”.  However, the psychic similarities with Nikita are . . . interesting. And that they, Memory and Ethan are the only ones who can see the parasites. And that she and Ethan seem to be the only ones to see the lightning.

On a lighter note, I would love to know Ena Mercant’s reaction to Arwen having to be bailed out of jail!

The Vikings by Neil Oliver

This book has 336 pages.  Nearly half are taken up by appendices.  Which is probably why the holes in this book are legion. And they are huge. Here are only a few of the most egregious, to my mind at least.

1. Ragnar Lodbrok’s role in the 845 Siege of Paris are only touched on in the Chronology appendix.  I’m serious.  What makes it worse is that Mr. Oliver was present at one of the filming locations of the T.V. show. Leaving aside the truth or fiction of Ragnar, how can a book about Vikings fail to spend any time at all on his exploits? In the text, his name is used only in relation to his sons Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan.
2. Æthelfaed, Lady of the Mercians, is never mentioned. He recounts the struggles of her brother, Edward, in a scant few paragraphs, that do not even contain her name.
3. Cnut the Great’s other wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, is not named. And only one of her sons, Harald Harefoot.  And all he merits is a couple of entries in the Chronology.
4. He refers to Svein Estridsson (or Ulfsson), in the Chronology, as the cousin of Harald Hardrada. He was Cnut’s nephew. This was the more important relationship when it came to his claim to kingship.
5. Clontarf, one of the most epic of Viking battles, is not covered. Like most of this list, it gets a single in the Chronology.

And, one more thing:  I thought it had been, mostly, proven that the Geats of Beowulf were Gauts, not Goths.  It is my understanding they were two different peoples.

For me, the gold standard when it comes to books on Viking history continues to be Gwyn Jones’s A History of the Vikings.  It’s woefully out of date, but it still manages to be a better, more complete, history.  In my humble opinion, you should read it, not this.

Can anyone recommend something more recent and up-to-date?

Bridgerton Pall Mall and the Mallet of Death

“Miss Sheffield!” came Colin’s impatient holler from up the hill. “It’s your turn!”

“So it is,” Kate said, analyzing her possible shots. She could aim for the next wicket or she could attempt to sabotage Anthony even further. Unfortunately, his ball wasn’t touching hers, so she couldn’t attempt the foot-on-the-ball maneuver he’d used on her earlier in the game. Which was probably for the best. With her luck, she’d end up missing the ball entirely and instead breaking her foot.

“Decisions, decisions,” she murmured.

Anthony crossed his arms. ‘The only way you’re going to ruin my game is to ruin yours as well.”

“True,” she acceded. If she wanted to send him into oblivion, she’d have to send herself there as well, since she’d have to hit hers with all she was worth just to get his to move. And since she couldn’t hold hers in place, heaven only knew where she’d end up.

“But,” she said, looking up at him and smiling innocently, “I really have no chance of winning the game, anyway.”

“You could come in second or third,” he tried.

She shook her head. “Unlikely, don’t you think? I’m so far behind as it is, and we are nearing the end of play.”

“You don’t want to do this, Miss Sheffield,” he warned.

“Oh,” she said with great feeling, “I do. I really, really do.” And then, with quite the most evil grin her lips had ever formed, she drew back her mallet and smacked her ball with every ounce of every single emotion within her. It knocked into his with stunning force, sending it hurtling even farther down the hill.

Farther…

Farther.

Right into the lake.

Openmouthed with delight, Kate just stared for a moment as the pink ball sank into the lake. Then something rose up within her, some strange and primitive emotion, and before she knew what she was about, she was jumping about like a crazy woman, yelling, “Yes! Yes! I win!”

“You don’t win,” Anthony snapped.

“Oh, it feels like I’ve won,” she reveled.

Colin and Daphne, who had come dashing down the hill, skidded to a halt before them. “Well done, Miss Sheffield!” Colin exclaimed. “I knew you were worthy of the mallet of death.”

“Brilliant,” Daphne agreed. “Absolutely brilliant.”

Anthony, of course, had no choice but to cross his arms and scowl mightily.

Colin gave her a congenial pat on the back. “Are you certain you’re not a Bridgerton in disguise? You have truly lived up to the spirit of the game.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Kate said graciously. “If you hadn’t hit his ball down the hill…”

“I had been hoping you would pick up the reins of his destruction,” Colin said.

The duke finally approached, Edwina at his side. “A rather stunning conclusion to the game,” he commented.

“It’s not over yet,” Daphne said.

Her husband gave her a faintly amused glance. ‘To continue the play now seems rather anticlimactic, don’t you think?”

Surprisingly, even Colin agreed. “I certainly can’t imagine anything topping it.”

Kate beamed.

The duke glanced up at the sky. “Furthermore, it’s starting to cloud over. I want to get Daphne in before it starts to rain. Delicate condition and all, you know.”

Kate looked in surprise at Daphne, who had started to blush. She didn’t look the least bit pregnant.

“Very well,” Colin said. “I move we end the game and declare Miss Sheffield the winner.”

“I was two wickets behind the rest of you,” Kate demurred.

“Nevertheless,” Colin said, “any true aficionado of Bridgerton Pall Mall understands that sending Anthony into the lake is far more important than actually sending one’s ball through all the wickets. Which makes you our winner, Miss Sheffield.” He looked about, then straight at Anthony. “Does anyone disagree?”

No one did, although Anthony looked close to violence.

“Excellent,” Colin said. “In that case, Miss Sheffield is our winner, and Anthony, you are our loser.”
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

A Star is Born

First, there were the Psychlo workers racing out to leave the platform clear for the incoming semiannual from Earth. There were flatbeds lined up to receive coffins and personnel.

There was the first shimmer of arrival of the Psychlos Jonnie and Windsplitter had knocked down.

Then a small puff.

There were the Psychlo workmen flinching back.

A force screen had gone on! A dome over the platform had closed instantly to contain that small explosion. It could not have been an atmosphere-armor cable. Some sort of shimmering, sparkling screen. Transparent but very much there.

Trucks had time to start up before anything else occurred. One huge emergency truck had lunged nearer the platform, evidently to handle the minor blast. A whole minute went by.

Then the first lethal coffin exploded! A big “planet buster” nuclear bomb, nestled into a bed of dirty mines.

The force screen held.

The holocaust was contained. The boiling, ferocious blast had not even bulged the screen.

Then another shock as the second coffined “planet buster” went off.

The screen held! Good Lord, what technology to build a screen like that. What power it must take to hold it.

Another shock inside that dome. The third planet buster. It and all its ancient, very dirty atomic bombs.

The screen held.

Psychlos were racing toward it from far off. Those near the platform were flattened by concussion transmitting through the screen.

The fourth contained bomb went off.

The screen still held.

But the transmitted concussion had hurled the emergency truck backward. Nearby buildings lost their glass.

The ground was shaking as though hit by gigantic earthquakes.

A nearby building suddenly dropped downward as though sucked from below. Other buildings began to go the same way.

The fifth bomb went off!

And seen in slow motion, first narrowly, then more broadly, the entire scene went into a churning, boiling mass of atomic fire.

No, something more! Molten, flaming fire was erupting in spots all over the plain.

They widened the angle quickly.

The whole Imperial City of Psychlo was sinking and all about it sprayed up rolling oceans of molten fire.

The circular trams, the mobs, the buildings, and even the towering cliffs were drowning in a tumult of liquid, yellow green flame.

They hastily widened the view.

And they saw the entire planet of Psychlo turn into a radioactive sun!
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 by L. Ron Hubbard

New Titles I’m Jonesing to Read the Second Half of the Year

A Sleight of Shadows by Kat Howard
Release Date: June 2020

Since there is no cover or pre-order link for this book, I have my doubts about this date. But I really hope it comes out soon. Can’t wait to find out what happens to Sydney. And where did Miles Merlin scuttle off to?

Alpha Night by Nalini Singh
Release Date: June 9, 2020

Just because. 🙂

Daring and the Duke by Sarah Maclean
Release Date: June 30, 2020

At last, Grace and Ewan. I’m not even sure I like Ewan, so I’m very interested to see just how MacLean redeems him.

The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Release Date: July 7, 2020

I adored The Royal We. It was both hilarious and poignant. I’ve been hoping Cocks and Morgan would write a sequel.

In the Valley: Stories and a Novella Based on Serena by Ron Rash
Release Date: August 4, 2020

Yes, a Serena novella. In which Serena, apparently, comes back to North Carolina in a final attempt to kill Jacob. I really can’t wait to read this.

War Lord by Bernard Cornwell
Release Date: November 24, 2020 (October 15 in the UK)

Finally, the last book. The saga comes to a dramatic close with the much anticipated showdown at Brunanburh.

Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh
Release Date: November 24, 2020

OMG, the Hummingbird! And she’s with Titus, one of my favorite of the other Archangels. This will be epic! And I hope something really, really nasty happens to Aegaeon!

What coming titles have got your inner biblioholic jonesing for a fix?

Foreshadowing?

One measly coma and the world turns upside down. Silver Mercant with a bear. What the hell am I going to find out next? That Psy Councilor Nikita Duncan has fallen madly in love and eloped?
Ocean Light by Nalini Singh