Books and Sensibility

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Adult Fiction

The Last Policeman and Countdown City by Ben H. Winters

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Release Date: January 1, 2012

Pages: 316

Genre:  Adult Mystery

Publisher: Quirk Books

 

 

The story of the first big case for rookie detective Henry Palace could easily be a run of the mill mystery novel. Except in The Last Policeman universe an asteroid, known as Maia, is coming and in six months the planet Earth won’t  exist. They are suddenly  “in a world where the idea of long term consequences had magically disappeared” which also means it’s not the best time to be in law enforcement. But when Palace  suspects foul play during a suicide he strikes out  on his own to solve the murder before time ticks away.

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The Page 69 Challenge – Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

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  • Release Date: October 2, 2012
  • Pages: 304 Pages
  • Genre: Adult Fiction
  • Publisher: Farrar, Staruss and Giroux (MacMillian)

I  discovered the page 69 theory from the Books on The Night Stand podcast, but I guess it’s been circulating the bookternet for while. The theory states that the litmus test for if you will like a book can be found by reading page 69. Well, challenge accepted.

 

 

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Book Review : Austenland by Shannon Hale

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Women’s Fiction Review

 

  • Release Date : May 29th, 2007
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury
  • Genre: Chicklit 
  • Page: 208

Synopsis :Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.  Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen . . . the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

If you click around, you will notice that I read most of the historical fiction for this blog, so I was drawn to
Austenland when the e-book went on sale.  The continuing fascination, adaptation and evocation of  Jane Austen and her works appears to be endless, and I wanted to check it out for myself. I couldn’t wait to see if a modern girl in a seemingly romantic era would end up as a fairytale or a fluffy disaster.

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Book Review : Royal Street By Suzanne Johnson

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Synopsis: As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. . .Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters. . . Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover. . .DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo

The premise of Royal Street is what initially drew me to this novel, I was excited by the idea of an urban fantasy based on a contemporary tragic event.

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