Book Beginnings on Friday – Page 32

Book Beginning: Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Published on March 30, 2018March 30, 2018 by Margaret10 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

This week’s book is Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs, one of my TBRs.

DÃ©jÃ Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1)

It begins:

I wasn’t thinking about the man who’d blown himself up. Earlier I had. Now I was putting him together.

30879-friday2b56 Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice.

These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56:

‘These murders have me pretty much uptight.’ I regretted saying it immediately.

‘What murders?’ Her voice was becoming thick, the words rounded and soft on the edges.

‘A pretty nasty one came in last Thursday.’ I didn’t go on, Gabby has never wanted to hear about my work.

Blurb (Goodreads):

The meticulously dismembered body of a woman is discovered in the grounds of an abandoned monastery.

Enter Dr Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, who has been researching recent disappearances in the city.

Despite the cynicism of Detective Claudel who heads the investigation, Brennan is convinced that a serial killer is at work. Her forensic expertise finally convinces Claudel, but only after the body count has risen…

Tempe takes matters into her own hands, but her determined probing places those closest to her in mortal danger. Can Tempe make her crucial breakthrough before the killer strikes again?

~~~

Kathy Reichs is one of those authors that I keep seeing around, but I’ve never read any of her books. I wondered if I’d like them, so when I saw this book in Barter Books a few years ago I brought it home with me – it’s been sitting on my shelves ever since. It’s the first in her Temperance Brennan series – and her debut novel.

Thisé quotation from The Times on the back cover makes the book sound irresistible:

Déjà Dead is terrific and terrifying in its own right, easily rising above Cornewellian similarities … Excellent plotting, appealingly headstrong heroine and superb mastery of tension.

Will it live up to such high praise, I wonder? If you’ve read it what did you think?

My Friday Post: The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris

Published on March 23, 2018 by Margaret13 Comments

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

This week was the week for the library van to visit (it comes once a fortnight on Tuesdays) and I borrowed a few books, including The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M Harris.

The Gospel of Loki (Runemarks, #0.5)

ALL OF US CAME FROM FIRE AND ICE. Chaos and Order. Light and dark. In the beginning – or back in the day – there was fire coming out of a hole in the ice, bringing disruption, turmoil and change. Change isn’t always comfortable, but it is a fact of life. And that’s where life as we know it began, as the fires of World Below pierced the ice of World Above.

Blurb:

The novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods – retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki. It tells the story of Loki’s recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself.

Using her life-long passion for the Norse myths, Joanne Harris has created a vibrant and powerful fantasy novel.

The first adult epic fantasy novel from multi-million copy bestselling author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56:

I found the smiths in their workshop. A cavern, deep in World Below, where a series of cracks in the earth gave vent to a seam of molten rock. This was their only source of light, it was also their forge and their hearth. In my original Aspect, I would not have suffered, either from the fire or the fumes, but in this body I was unprepared, both for the heat and for the stench.

~~~

At the beginning of the book there is a list of Characters, with a word of advice – don’t trust any of them. Loki describes himself as the Trickster, the Father of Lies … Not the most popular guy around. I’m really looking forward to reading this – hope I won’t be disappointed!

What do you think – should I carry on reading – or not?

My Friday Post: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Published on March 16, 2018 by Margaret21 Comments

At least two of my blogging friends, Cleo and Helen, have written reviews of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which have tempted me to at least have a look at this book. I hesitate because it’s written in the present tense, which often irritates me. So I decided to borrow a copy from the library and I collected it yesterday.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Day One

I forget everything between footsteps.

‘Anna!’ I finish shouting, snapping my mouth shut in surprise.

My mind has gone blank. I don’t know who Anna is or why I’m calling her name. I don’t even know how I got here. I’m standing in a forest, shielding my eyes from the spitting rain. My heart’s thumping, I reek of sweat and my legs are shaking. I must have been running but I can’t remember why.

Blurb:

‘Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.’

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden – one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party – can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath…

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56:

How can I explain that a strange chap in a plague doctor costume warned me to keep an eye out for a footman – a name that means nothing to me, and yet fills me with a crippling fear every time I hear it?

‘I’m sorry, Evie,’ I say, shaking my head ruefully. ‘There’s more I need to tell you, but not here and not quite yet.’

~~~

The endpapers show a plan of Blackheath House and the various cottages in the grounds, together with plans showing the locations of the rooms and where each guest is staying. It reminds me a bit of the game Cluedo.

What do you think – should I carry on reading – or not?

My Friday Post: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

Published on March 9, 2018 by Margaret17 Comments

I am at the stage where I just don’t know what to read next – there are so many books I want to read but I keep picking one up, putting it down, picking up yet more books not sure which one is the right one for me right now.

But yesterday I wrote about some of my TBRs including The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney and as three of my blogging friends, Cath, Sandra and Leah all said how much they had enjoyed it, I’m going to start reading it today.

The Tenderness of Wolves

The last time I saw Laurent Jammet, he was in Scott’s store with a dead wolf over his shoulder.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56

I have brought a knife in my pocket, which I am now holding, rather more tightly than is necessary. It’s not really that I think for a moment the murderer would come back – for what? – but I creep on, one hand on the cabin wall, until I can listen by the window for sounds within.

Blurb:

Canada, 1867. A young murder suspect flees across the snowy wilderness. Tracking him is what passes for the law in this frontier land: trappers, sheriffs, traders and the suspect’s own mother, desperate to clear his name. As the party pushes further from civilisation, hidden purposes and old obsessions are revealed. One is seeking long-lost daughters; another a fortune in stolen furs; yet another is chasing rumours of a lost Native American culture. But where survival depends on cooperation, their fragile truce cannot afford to be broken, nor their overriding purpose – to find justice for a murdered man – forgotten.

My Friday Post: Wedlock by Wendy Moore

Published on February 16, 2018 by Margaret15 Comments

This week I’m featuring Wedlock: How Georgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore, a library book, that my friend recommended to me.

Wedlock: How Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met His Match

It begins in London on 13 January 1777:

Settling down to read his newspaper by the candlelight illuminating the dining room of the Adelphi Tavern, John Hull anticipated a quiet evening. Having opened five years earlier, as an integral part of the vast riverside development designed by the Adams brothers, the Adelphi Tavern and Coffee House had established a reputation for its fine dinners and genteel company.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56

It should have proved a memorable occasion, summoning up reminiscences of the royal wedding just six years earlier. Yet by the time that Mary walked down the aisle of St George’s Church in Hanover Square, splendidly robed in her silver and white wedding dress, on her eighteenth birthday on 24 February 1767, her teenage infatuation was over. She knew she was marrying the wrong man.

Described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘ Splendid … as gripping as any novel’ this is non-fiction, the biography of Mary Eleanor Bowes who was the richest heiress in 18th century Britain. She fell under the spell of a handsome Irish soldier, Andrew Robinson Stoney. When Mary heard her gallant hero was mortally wounded in a duel fought to defend her honour, she felt she could hardly refuse his dying wish to marry her.

I’ll be reading this book soon. What do you think? Does it tempt you too?

My Friday Post: The Lake House by Kate Morton

Published on January 19, 2018January 19, 2018 by Margaret24 Comments

This week I’m featuring The Lake House by Kate Morton. This is one of my TBRs.

It begins in Cornwall in August 1933:

The rain was heavy now and the hem of her dress was splattered with mud. She’d have to hide it afterwards; no one could know that she’d been out.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. These are the rules:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it.
Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56

Sadie pictured the muddy lake and its eerie avian population. ‘Yes, that’s it. What happened there?’

‘A terrible business,’ Louise said, with a sad shake of her head. ‘Back in the thirties, before I was born. My mother used to talk about it, though – usually when she wanted to stop us kids from wandering too far. A child went missing on the night of a grand party. It was a big story at the time; the family was wealthy and the national press paid a lot of attention. There was a huge police investigation, and they even brought down the top brass from London. Not that any of it helped.

What a coincidence! I think these two extracts sum up what this book is about – an unsolved mystery of a child who disappeared without a trace.

I’ll be reading this book soon. What do you think? does it tempt you too?