The Prophet – Amanda Stevens

"Twilight...when greedy, grasping entities drift through into our world, seeking what they could never have again."

Following The Kingdom, The Restorer, and prequel, The Abandoned, The Prophet continues with Amelia Gray's adventures in graveyard restoration and romance (both to a lesser extent this time), and explorations of the unseen plane, where ghosts are seen and less material events are happening.

Amelia really caught my attention this time around. I loved her character! During the opening chapters, even her self-talk about rush hour traffic was interesting, and I just wanted to jump into her world, her living room, feeling my own experience through her. Made for a very relaxed and curious read.

Although I didn't find the storyline as frightening as the other novels, I found the topic of African root magic even more interesting.  It reminded me of The Serpent and The Rainbow.

I read a review that complained that Amelia's relationship with John Delvin was a little tiresome this time around. I didn't think so, initially, but even the last lovemaking scene was disappointing in a way. It didn't hold my attention like in the previous novels. I can't pinpoint exactly why.  Maybe I sensed a lack of love from Delvin, a very essential element missing (yet, he was haunted). Or maybe it was just my mood this time around.

Still, this novel was just what I needed on a cold, spring night. I'm so happy to have started the series.
Preview Book Four, The Visitor on the author's website.

My latest trip to a second hand bookstore

I think I'll start with The Law of Similars - I love the opening quotes:

"Has it not got down as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death?" Abraham Lincoln - Oct 13, 1858

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Proverbs 17:22

The Bite of the Mango – Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland

My name is Mariatu, and this is my story. 

I was browsing in Chapters and came across this book. It really wasn’t what I thought I wanted to read, but as I skimmed through the pages I felt a connection. It turned out to be a beautifully written and telling story with as much joy as horror and sadness coming through the pages.

The people of Mariatu’s story touched my heart right off, and at times I wanted for their life of simplicity - eating free run chickens and self-farmed vegetables, rice, and hot peppers, picking fruit right off trees, and dancing and celebrating at night under the stars and moon.

Mariatu grew up as a happy child in a village in Sierra Leone. She made a wish to go to school like the other children from wealthier villages. After a nightmare about palm oil, Mariatu was confronted by her worst fears when rebels invaded her village. After the attack, and after having her hands cut off by children close to her own age, Mariatu began a journey of survival through the forest, where she met black cobras and other animal spirits, helpful and loving people, and eventually ended up in Canada.

Mariatu’s journey came across as spiritual to me. I was very moved at the end when she had a conversation with her grandmother who’d warned her that to dream of palm oil will lead to blood spilling. Her grandmother said: 

Mariatu, many things have changed because of the war. And witchcraft can’t change the past. I wish a spell could have stopped the attack on you. But you have turned your hurt and pain into something positive. When those demons reappear, think about all the angels who have come into your life since then.

Even though this is a small book, it’s full of information, heart and soul, and it’s worth every word. It made me believe that it does not matter where we’ve been, or are, but rather where we want to go that matters most. And that’s moving towards our heart’s desires and trusting our chosen path.

S.E.C.R.E.T - L. Marie Adeline - Kobo

“Cassie, we are our sexual lives”.

I really enjoyed Secret. It had more depth than I thought it would, and the storyline was so much fun. I can’t remember where it was suggested to me, but I wish every pick would be so great ;) As an added benefit, since I read it on Kobo, I stumbled across notes on the pages made by other readers, which made my experience all the better because of this interaction. I noticed from the first few pages in that the words were genuine and thought-provoking (not to the extreme, but just enough to make my reading experience worthwhile and meaningful as well as entertaining).

Cassie, a waitress in New Orleans, lives a boring and self-protected life. She finds a journal at the cafe where she works, left behind by a confident and mysterious older woman who she’s been admiring and is curious about. Although she doesn’t want to intrude on the woman’s privacy, she takes a peek, and discovers pages of sexual fantasies played out on paper. Events unfold and Cassie learns about an organization which exists to help fantasies become reality in order to foster personal growth.

A page-turner for me, and for anyone who has felt their desires (sexual and otherwise) to be unexpressed in any way, I'll say Secret will be comforting and encouraging. But I’m learning by other reviews that this does not include everyone :@) -- So, maybe this novel will be most appreciated by those who can relate.  I haven't as of yet found one male reviewer. To be expected, I guess.

One other note: I’m finding the people who didn’t like this novel didn’t, in part, because of the ending. This is one of the reasons why I liked it. The very point of this novel, exactly, for me is that women are often so caught up in the emotional idea of a happy ending that we don’t express and live our true desires and selves (whatever they may be) in the present moment. Of course the extreme to this end is probably not that healthy for one's self-esteem or growth, either, and so balance is the key.

It looks like Secret 2 is coming out in Oct of this year.

The Disappearing Spoon – Sam Kean

“We are all star stuff, but different star elements and minerals accumulated in different parts of the world."

If you have an interest in the periodic table and what the universe and matter are made of, read this book. If you are already an expert in this department, I'm sure you will still get something out of it. If you are a complete amateur - all the better, it's written in way that anyone can understand and appreciate, and it’s so very informative and interesting.  Packed with information about famous and important scientists since the beginning of time to current time, including political, romantic, tragic, heroic, and triumphant historical shenanigans, TheDisappearing Spoon is as exciting as a novel to read.  I can’t recall every – sometimes jaw-dropping – story and the loads of knowledge because there’s just so much, but below are a few quotes and notes I made along the way. *I apologize if I should add quotes and leave them out in places, I wrote these notes on my phone while lying in bed so that I wouldn’t forget.  The quotes may not be exact.

There is a section about the belief by some how every 26 million years or so, mass extinctions by asteroids or comets happen:  "The goddess nemesis punished hubris. She made sure no earthly creature could grow too proud by striking down anyone more powerful than the gods. The analogy to the sun's companion star was that if earthly creatures evolved towards intelligence, Nemesis would wipe them out before they got traction." -- “The sun is dragged along our spiral solar system, getting closer with time, loosening debris like comets as it gets closer, which may hit earth if we are not saved by planets like Jupiter.”

Another topic is about mining for cell phone minerals in the Congo, and the destructive behaviour that can ensue when wealth pours into a resourceful region.

The biology section was one of the most interesting to me, ESP how viruses invade cell DNA, and how poisonous elements, such as the less talked about cadmium, thallium and polonium, wreck havoc in the body, and how radon causes lung cancer.  Sulphur (like in garlic) prevents bacteria from reproducing by interfering with folic acid production.  Copper and silver are strong antibacterials (money - coins - are mostly made of nickel and zinc and are covered in copper to prevent bacteria from spreading). The gadolinium used in MRIs could be a potential cancer treatment because of its ability to absorb neutrons and become radioactive, producing a "nano-nuke" in the body. However, this element may be toxic to eliminate, if not transformed.  Pasteur's take on life and disease was that disease is caused by bacteria, hormones, and chemicals, etc., but that lab work could not mimic the workings inside the human body. Life is chirality... and side handedness in the smallest life matters (see teratogen drug causing birth defects 1950s, thalidomide). *This last part, chirality, I’m still trying to understand, I have to confess.

Read the excerpt from the website (the wonderful first chapter about mercury).

I wish my review could do this book justice. It really is fabulous.  I loved the writer’s humour, sincerity, detail and intellect.  I look forward to TheViolinists Thumb, and hopefully! more titles down the road.  

The Kingdom – Amanda Stevens

“He extended his hand, and I thought at first he meant to introduce himself, but instead he uncurled his fingers, and I saw my necklace coiled in his palm."

This is the second book in the Graveyard Queen series, following The Restorer (and there’s also the prequel, The Abandoned).

Amelia, graveyard queen, is summoned to South Carolina, Asher Falls, to restore a wealthy family’s graveyard. There’s another graveyard in town which is completely underwater due to flooding, and this is not the only strange thing about Asher Falls....  With a beautiful landscape, history, and a man who’s seductive (and possibly untrustworthy...), and a strange and evil force amidst - Asher Falls captivates Amelia.  She feels she’s been brought here for a reason.  What she discovers about the place and herself is beyond her wildest imagination or nightmare.

I found The Kingdom to be less frightening than The Restorer, but more intriguing in many ways – especially the characters! I felt like I was in a game of Clue, where the storyline was not predictable and the characters, so sinister! I loved the town’s landscape and cemetery – especially the creatures who roam about the forest and graveyard.  The cover was the least appealing to me of all the novels, until I noticed the statue's hand – so Asher Falls ;)

I have to mention (again) when I’m reading these novels I really do feel a deeper connection and understanding to and of the otherworld. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there every time, and as I read through the pages, I’m absorbing something. That’s why I like them so much!

The Kingdom ended on a suspenseful and romantic note, and I am excited to find out what will happen when Amelia returns to Charleston in The Prophet. 

Grimms' Fairy Tales - Happy New Year 2013!

Yesterday I downloaded these fairy tales, free of charge, from Kobo and started with Lily and The Lion.

First off, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It seemed short and sweet with underlying wisdom, but it wasn’t until really early in the new year after waking in bed that I realized the wisdom: love requires sacrifice.

At the same time, I also had a memory from my 20s, and I thought about the princess in Lily and The Lion and how she reminds me of Aphrodite. Aphrodite is not always all bliss and flowers and dreams come true.  She’s a Goddess who will steal your husband, like the princess in the story, and demand something in return to set you free again to love. While begrudging Aphrodite, I thought more about my memory.

When I was in my late 20s I felt unlucky in love. My friend bought me a small Aphrodite statue made of iron - from Greece, nonetheless - to help my love life. I thought, “Finally, my love troubles are over”. I had the tiniest apartment known to man in those days, and searched for a space to put Aphrodite. The next day, my phone caught on fire because of a nearby candle and the cord was burned in two. Then, my Buddha fell off my bookcase and cracked. On top of that, no change in my love life occurred. Aphrodite began to give me the creeps and every time I looked at the statue I felt like it was out to get me. She’s now tucked away in a box somewhere.  If I find her, I will take her out of hiding. Maybe.

The point of sharing my experience is that Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, is a force to respect. She is no fool and does not deliver the gift of love without demanding something in return. The Grimm Brothers’ tale seems to have stimulated this insight, and the opening of a door in my mind to a place where experiences, feelings, and images, similar to the story, were found. I find this very interesting and will try another tale soon to see if this will happen again.