The True Love Bookshop: enemies to friends to something more?

The True Love Bookshop is the third book in the Somerset Lake series by Annie Rains. Tess Lane owning Lakeside Books has been a dream come true. She hosts a weekly book club there that has been her lifeline since her husband, Jared's sudden death three years ago. She’s ready to start a new chapter in her life, to finally move on until River Harrison shows up at the store. All her lingering unanswered questions come back. River is a former Marine turned private investigator. He is a reminder of everything she has lost. She tries to ignore him, but she soon realizes River is the key to finally getting the answers she needs. Together, they embark on a journey of discovery. Is she really ready for the answers she’s looking for? Once she knows, there’s no going back. Despite her misgivings, she forges forward and even finds joy and laughter in her life again. Can Tess find the strength to forgive, let go of the past and find love again? 

Annie Rains is a new author to me and I love the cover of this book that I picked it up. I didn’t realize that it is the third in the series and worried that it would affect my understanding. There were references to the previous two books, it didn’t overwhelm this story or my enjoyment. From the beginning, I felt for Tess and her struggles to move forward from her husband’s death. When River stumbles into her bookstore, she can’t quite be heartless and refuse his pleas for help. I enjoyed the chemistry and history between Tess and River. I also enjoyed that their story wasn’t a typical, formulaic romance. There were real issues that were discussed but didn’t magically disappear as their relationship grew from enemies to friends to maybe more? I even enjoyed the supporting cast. Overall, I truly enjoyed The True Love Bookshop and look forward to going back to the first two books and reading any future books in the series. I recommend The True Love Bookshop. 

The True Love Bookshop is available in paperback and eBook

Girls made of Snow and Glass: an excellent retelling of the Snow White tale

Girls made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust is the re-envisioning of the classic Snow White tale. Told from two perspectives, Lynet (the Snow White character) and Mina, her stepmother (the Evil Queen character). Lynet is the spitting image of her mother who died when she was born and everyone treats her with kid gloves as if she was so fragile, she would break. Mina came into her life when she was a young child when her father, Gregory, a magician and alchemist, came to live at the castle at Whitespring from the south. Lynet’s father, King Nicholas, marries Mina and she and Lynet become close as a mother and daughter. Until a terrible secret is revealed to Lynet and everything she believes to be true is all a lie. Who can she trust now? When a promise is broken to Mina and a tragedy occurs, Lynet and Mina are pitted against each other. Will they become bitter enemies? Or will they join forces when a greater enemy reveals itself?

Girls made of Snow and Glass is an excellent story with a new twist on Snow White. Lynet and Mina are both strong character who aren’t the typical female characters. They are both a bit of damsel in distress and strong females who don’t need a man to rescue them. It was filled with action and surprises at every turn. I could not put it down. There were a couple questions that came up that I feel the story doesn’t answer. However, the book is a great story and young adult and adult readers will enjoy this new Snow White story. I recommend Girls made of Snow and Glass.

Girls made of Snow and Glass

will be available September 5, 2017

in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

Last but not least: Doctor Who!!!!

The final show on my favorite show list is Doctor Who. Doctor Who originally aired from 1963 -1989 with the current, reboot show premiered in 2005. There have been many faces of the Doctor with Peter Capadli portraying the Twelfth Doctor. The show is about the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey, who travels the universe with various companions in the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). The TARDIS is a time-traveling space ship which appears as a blue British police box. On these adventures, The Doctor faces a variety of foes to save civilizations, help people and right wrongs. Doctor Who continues to be a significant part of British pop culture with a large following in America and becoming more popular around the world since the reboot premiered.

My favorite Doctor is the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant. The Tenth Doctor is when I was first introduced to the new series and I loved it. The Tenth Doctor was funny and sarcastic. He can be a goofball and often times he acted like one in order to distract the enemy from his plan. One of my favorite of his repeated lines is “Allons-y!” which is French for “let’s go.” A few of my favorite lines of the Tenth Doctor. One is from the episode “Blink,” when he is trying to explain how time travel works, he says “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a nonlinear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly, wobbly…timey wimey…stuff.” He realizes that his explanation isn’t helping and he really doesn’t know how to explain it.

There are have been many companions of the Doctor. Some of the fan favorites are Sarah Jane Smith (played by the late Elisabeth Sladen), Amy Pond (played by Karen Gillan) and Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper). While I enjoyed all these companions, my favorite is the current companion Clara Oswald (played by Jenna Coleman). Clara was first introduced in season 7 with the Eleventh Doctor (played by Matt Smith). She was known as the Impossible Girl because she kept showing up in different time periods and planets, following the Doctor. She is the first companion to break away from the famous line “It’s bigger on the inside” with “It’s smaller on the outside” which throws the Doctor off. I like her spunkiness as well as being able to keep up with the Doctor without the doe-eyed crush look that a few previous companions have had. I like her ability to stand up to the Doctor and questions why he does what he does but she also encourages and pushes him to continue to save worlds.

Doctor Who has many foes throughout his adventures. The Daleks are the oldest villain in the Doctor Who series. They appear as tank-like mechanical armor with the creature inside resembling an octopus with large brains. With metallic voices, their goals is to exterminate all non-Dalek beings. The Master is the archenemy of the Doctor. He is a renegade Time Lord who desires to rule the universe. The Doctor Who-The Master relationships has been compared to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Moriarty. My favorite villain is the Weeping Angels. The Weeping Angels were introduced in 2007 in the episode “Blink” with the Tenth Doctor. No one knows really knows where they came from but they are the deadliest, most powerful and malevolent life-form. They don’t kill their pray. They send a person into the past to a point past their birth and victims are forced to live out their lives in the past. It’s terrifying to think about living in a time and place where you are out of your element.

I highly recommend Doctor Who for those who love adventures, comedy and drama all rolled into one. Past episodes are available on Netflix and current episodes air on BBC America.