Shapeshifting romance novels are currently very trendy. There seem to be so many of them in existence right now, indeed, it seems more are being published every day, that you would have no problem finding one at any bookstore or second hand book selling site. If this is the type of story you are interested in, consider the Darkness Chosen series if you find yourself overwhelmed with choices and are open to suggestions. Scent of Darkness fulfills the craving for someone who is looking for a book in the human to animal transformation combined with a love story genre. The first book in this four part series sets the premise for what we can expect to happen in the form of a prophecy, parts of which are already fulfilled by the end of this book. I predict that all parts of the prophecy will become reality by the end of the series, and I’m going to continue reading just so I can see if I am correct. This wasn’t the most captivating book I have ever read, but I wasn’t entirely disappointed, I didn’t think it was a waste of my time, and I do want to see what happens. Also, the spicy bits in it certainly helped me to enjoy it. If you are someone who lacks patience, the spice happens pretty early on, but then you do have to read for a while before you get to the next racy bit.
Missing 411: A Sobering Coincidence by David Paulides
Missing 411: A Sobering Coincidence, isn’t a book so much as it is an accumulation of briefly summarized missing persons reports. The victims outlined in this book, the fifth in a ten part collection, are young men that disappear without a trace and are found in or near bodies of water. The author delivers the name, location, and date last seen of each victim, then gives a brief overview of the details of the case, in which you will notice some other common factors. As you read, you will note frequent mentions of missing clothes, bodies being found in areas that had been previously searched, and interviews from family and friends saying that what happened was completely out of character for the person. Oftentimes, the young men are excellent students, have good jobs, and are involved in their communities, they are not the sort of people that would have a reason to vanish.
I don’t have much more to say about this book. If you love mysteries, you might like this book. I love mysteries, but I didn’t like this so much. I had a certain expectation before I started reading this book which was hyped up due to having watched two documentaries, Missing 411 (2017) and Missing 411: The Hunted (2019), which were adaptations of the authors other books. I highly recommend either of the documentaries over this one book, I believe you can watch them for free on YouTube. They are spooky, well made, and leave you wondering. I was looking forward to reading all of the books in the Missing 411 series, but having been so disappointed in A Sobering Coincidence, I don’t think I’m going to bother unless the books are given to me. The details of the cases themselves are interesting, but the structure of the book makes it feel like you’re reading a textbook rather than a novel.
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder – Chapters 18-36 and final thoughts
Fire Study comes to a clean conclusion, but not without a great deal of turmoil leading up to it. While I was reading, there were many passages I came across that made me feel similar to the way I felt when I was watching Infinity War. I just kept thinking, this isn’t going to end well, there is no way the people I want to live are going to survive. But somehow, some of the people I wanted to live do survive, but there are the expected casualties. Even with the deaths, I was left feeling satisfied, not desiring more from the story but I would of course welcome more.
I will say, the story moved a little fast for me. It seemed like there was a lot crammed into this one book without there being enough down time, time for the reader to breath and absorb what they had read. I enjoyed the book, but I would not have minded it being slightly longer so it could have had some moments for the characters to relax. The journey that the characters go on needs to be completed in a certain amount of time due to the dangers involved, and the pace definitely induces anxiety, which is what I imagine the characters would be feeling, so maybe this is intentional.
There are companion books to the series, another trilogy, along with three short stories. I think I am going to take a break from Yelena and the adventures she has in Sitia and Ixia, and begin a new series for next week’s blog. If you have been reading my entries and want to continue the series, the next book to read is Shadow Study. The short story, Assassin Study, follows Valek and takes place after the events of Poison Study and before the reunion of Valek and Yelena in Magic Study.
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder – Chapters 1-17
Fire Study starts off slow, with Yelena continuing her magic lessons, but as of right now, the beginning is the only slow part in this story. A possible trail leading towards Cahil and Ferde is detected, and Yelena and a small crew leave the Citadel to seek them out. You will not get a break from the action and adventure for many, many chapters, the chase is fast paced and a little exhausting. I can’t imagine I would have survived this journey as well as Yelena and her companions did, but they do have magic on their side. So once again, Yelena’s magical training is put on hold as she tries to capture criminals, stop nefarious plans, and keep herself out of harm. Yelena’s life is always in danger, this being a constant since Poison Study, even more so now as her Soulfinder abilities are no longer a secret. The last Soulfinder lived over 150 years ago, and they had to be killed due to their lust for power. Magicians generally don’t trust anyone who possesses these skills as they have had a bad track record throughout history.
Yelena is supposed to be getting special training from Roze, the First Magician, but I’m starting to doubt that it will ever happen with the way things are going. Until I reached the midpoint of this book, I was starting to wonder if Yelena would ever make it back to the Citadel, the chase she was involved in lasted that long. Just when you think one plot point is going to reach its conclusion, another conflict is thrown in, effectively putting everything already in play on hold.
I’ll have finished Fire Study by next week, and we shall see if the story has a clean end. I don’t think it will, as it seems there is another trilogy chronicling Yelena out there waiting for me to read.
The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber – Part 4 and final thoughts
The final section of this book is titled Seed.
In the first chapter of this part we find out how Klaas, the organic farmer we met at the very beginning of the book, met his wife. It’s actually really cute and the circumstances are very fitting. I also learned about the lake effect, in which precipitation is greater near lakes and the body of water has an effect on the surrounding air.
The majority of the rest of the section named Seed is about: seeds. Most of it is lengthy discussions about different types of grain (wheat, rice, barley). The grains that we eat now are vastly different than the grains our grandparents grew up on, and this has a lot to do with crops being grown in order to harvest the greatest amount rather than grown to create grains that have great flavor. One man mentioned that whenever growers come to him and ask for grains, they ask him what they can grow that will yield the most, not, what can I grow that will taste incredibly good?
Planting seeds that produce more product has led to not only a loss of flavor, but a lack of seed saving and landrace farming. Seed saving is the practice of saving seeds after the harvest to use for planting next season. Farmers aren’t saving seeds anymore, they buy genetically engineered seeds that promise to produce. This has led to a loss of many varieties of seeds and gives no chances for variations. Variation is important, because if you allow the seeds to grow the way they want to, a dormant gene or a new gene could pop up one day, and it might actually be better than what currently exists. Landrace farming is one way in which dormant or recessive genes have a chance to turn up. If the growing season isn’t what is expected, or it is bad, a variant could pop up that has the ability to survive in not so ideal conditions. Letting nature do this naturally is better than anything that can be created in a lab.
There is a lot of good information in this section, too much for me to go over. I feel like I learned more from reading this section, and the book in its entirety, than I did in history class. And I feel like what I learned here is more valuable than trying to learn about the presidents of the United States.
This is a book that I am going to keep on my bookshelf. I know that there is going to be a point in the future when I have my own little garden, and I’m going to want to get it set up right. I know that there is going to be a piece of information in this book that will be helpful that I will want to review before I get started planting. I also want to go back to the Finger Lakes, where I just recently vacationed with a friend, because a lot of the places mentioned in the book happen to be right where I was. I need to go back and see the things I read about. Overall, an illuminating read. And, I only found one grammatical error, it was in the second paragraph in the very first chapter, so I’m very impressed.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 