Laura's blog

This book was another impulse purchase when I was bored and had very little money in my checking account. If you're going to be broke, it's better to have a book.  I selected Stonehill Downs for a "diverse reads" review because fantasy tends to be overwhelmingly filled with white people and settings based on European culture, myths, legends, and figures. Stonehill Downs has a black protagonist, and her experience of the traditional pseudo-European fantasyland is quite different. Summary When the mangled corpses of citizens start appearing among the remote villages and hills of the Stonehill Downs, it's up to Mal and Avani to figure out why. Mal is the newly named Vocent, a powerful necromancer sworn to the king's service. Avani is a shepherdess and weaver with latent powers of her own. Displaced from her island home, she has made her living on the Stonehill Downs. Now that murder and dark magic threaten her new life, she joins Mal in his attemp...

I'm not a very good friend. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm terrible at being friends with people.  I don't text much. I forget to reply via text and messenger until hours or days later. I don't often hang out with people and I feel awkward asking them to. I'm always working or at rehearsal or whatever. Sometimes, it's just too exhausting to try to interact with people.  But, I do still try to be there for people in whatever capacity I can. And I do at least try to let people know I will be there if they need someone to talk to.  Because I know that when I need someone to talk to, and there's no one there, it sucks.  I have a few close (closer?) friends. I'm not a social butterfly. I don't have a giant network of friends to fall back on and my family is also more or less useless in that regard, so being ghosted sucks. It's the worst feeling. I would much rather someone tell me "Hey, I don't want to hang out anymore" and go...

I wrote a review of The Greenstone Grail by Amanda Hemingway , in which I applauded the book for being the first Arthurian adaptation I had read that I didn't despise. I mean, how could I? Despite the book's other problems, it had aliens riding motherfucking dragons!!! Aliens! Dragons! Parallel universes!  After reading my review, one of my friends asked me why I hate Arthurian legend so much.  Well.  Perhaps one of the reasons I liked The Greenstone Grail 's take on the Holy Grail myth was because it was so different.  Most Arthurian adaptations fall along the same lines. It's the same damn story told almost the same damn way all the time. But  The Greenstone Grail took place in modern times, borrowing from the Holy Grail and Arthurian myths without making it so central to the plot that there was no room for other stuff like imagination.  Say whatever else you want about this book ( and believe me, I did ), it had imagination. Its main character c...

Since I drive a lot, I've been listening to more and more audiobooks that I get from the local library. Cast a Blue Shadow by P.L. Gaus is the latest.  Source Summary In Ohio Amish country, Juliet Favor, the rich benefactor of the local college, is found murdered after hosting a party -- and everyone there has a motive. Including her two children, who are about to be cut off from her massive inheritance. A witness may hold the key to solving the investigation, though. Martha, whose family left the Amish when they converted to Mennonite, is dating Favor's son. The sheriff believes she may have seen something, but she is so traumatized she can't speak. Is she protecting someone? Or did she commit the crime herself?  4 stars, woohoo!!! It was a bit of a struggle to choose between 3 and 4 stars. However, the plot was so well executed, the mystery so interesting, and the characters and setting so well-planned that I found myself borrowing one of the prequels to list...

With about 10 whole dollars left in my checking account, I picked out two fantasy novels under $5 on Nook. The Greenstone Grail  was one of them.  Let me just start out by saying that I have no idea what to think of this book.  I've spent the last week trying to think of what to say for this review, so...here goes, I guess. I'm going to rate it 3 stars because it was interesting enough to keep my attention, but it confused me, and I probably won't return to the book. Maybe the sequels.  3 stars! Yay... Summary Chased by dark shadows to a quiet English village, single mom Annie finds unexpected shelter in the home of the unflappable local historian who seems to have been around forever. Her son Nathan grows up there, sheltered by people and beings who, unbeknownst to him, have marked him for a great destiny. When he discovers the legendary Grimthorn Grail in the woods, he sets off a chain of events that ripples across universes.  Kin...