Two Bloggers One Series - A Rodent-Filled Meet Cute?

 

TITLE: Lair (Rats #2)

AUTHOR: James Herbert

PUBLISHER: Pan Books

PUBLISHING DATE: January 1, 1979

PAGES: 273   

SOURCE: Own Library

FROM GOODREADS: The mutant white rat had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to The Lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug-like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh.

MY THOUGHTS: I buddy read the first in this series last year so when my friend asked if I was interested in picking up the second one, I jumped at the opportunity. 

It has been several years since the rats invaded London and caused death and mayhem.  This installment takes place in Eppling Forest, a small community which focuses on wildlife preservation.  Luke Pender is called to the area to look into some suspected rat activity, as it is his primary job with RatKill to make sure the dreaded black rats don't return.  Well, guess what?  They have returned and they are bigger and nastier than ever.  Along the way Luke meets Jenny, a tutor at the local conversation center.  Together, they work to get the community to take the new threat seriously before it's too late.

This book is basically a full-on creature feature full of lots of action and very little plot.  The reader encounters some interesting characters along the way, but none have a very pertinent role in Lair other than becoming rat-chewed victims.  I am a bit amazed that Herbert managed to work a love story into so much carnage but hey, it kind of worked.  At least it gives the reader something else to cheer for other than the destruction of the giant rates or the death of some shady men and women.  

This was a fun read and I'm glad I picked it up.  As I mentioned, not a whole lot in the way of plot other than wiping out a giant rat colony but it provided some good entertainment.  I will definitely be picking up the third one.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

2 Bloggers 1 Series - The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls #5)

 

I knew when I heard this was being released, Stormi and I would end up buddy reading it as soon as possible.  We both really enjoyed the series when we read it (although I know for a fact she enjoyed it more) and we both had pretty much given up hope the author would ever continue.  But thankfully, she did and based on the ending in this one, I would predict she isn't done yet.  So read on for my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads for hers.

TITLE: The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls #5)

AUTHOR: Deborah Harkness

PUBLISHER: Ballatine Books

PUBLISHING DATE: July 16, 2024

PAGES: 464   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line. 

Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana. 

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.

MY THOUGHTS: This book picks up with Matthew and Diana's twins being seven years old.  It had been so long since I read the last book, that it took me about 75-100 pages to figure out what I had forgotten. The twins, Pip and Rebecca, are starting to come into their own magic and The Congregation wants to have them tested to see just how powerful they are.  Diana and Matthew both know The Congregation does not have the children's best interest in mind and are really wanting to learn how they can best use the children to serve them going forward.  One afternoon, Diana and Rebecca receive a mysterious visit by a black bird which leads Diana off to Ravenswood, her father's childhood legacy.  She hopes to find something that will help, and her Matthew protect the children, however, what she finds is her darker side of magic - a side she has refused to use up until now and a side which she does not understand.  Can she learn all about it, stay alive, protect her children and keep her marriage intact?  

There was a lot to grasp in this book.  The reader is introduced to a whole new set of characters from Diana's family as well as some rival witches who also live nearby.  The children are adorable (for children) and I especially love Diana's dog and Pip's familiar, who is a griffin but is usually masked as a dog as well.  I don't feel like the reader sees much of Matthew in this book and he doesn't really have his own plot, but rather his actions are done to prop up Diana and assist her in uncovering her new magical strengths.  I will say that while the plot is interesting, the whole book really sets the scene for what is to come.  I did enjoy the few magical battles the reader witnesses but all along, I keep feeling an undertone that what the author was doing was creating a wedge between Matthew and Diana we have not seen the end of.

Overall, this was a solid read.  I would say it's more accurately a 3.75 but will round up for the sake of Goodreads and making things easier.  I hope we don't have to wait too long for the next installment though because I finally feel like I once again have a decent grasp on the All Souls world.  One parting thing though, I NEED GALLOWGLASS!  Please Harkness, give him a book of his own.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS

2 Bloggers 1 Series - Fatal First Edition (Library Lovers #14)

 

Wow, every time Stormi and I see a new Library Lovers book is set to release, we always try to score an ARC and read it together.  We both love this series and this installment did not disappoint.  So read on to find out why I loved it so much and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads and see her thoughts. 

TITLE: Fatal First Edition (Library Lovers #14)

AUTHOR: Jenn McKinlay

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHING DATE: February 13, 2024

PAGES: 280   

SOURCE: ARC

FROM GOODREADS: People are dying to get their hands on a rare, valuable book in the newest Library Lover’s Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of The Plot and the Pendulum. 

Briar Creek Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular library conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey and Sully return the book to the conference director, not wanting to stir up any trouble. 

But just hours after the pair boards the train back to Connecticut, rumors that the Highsmith novel has gone missing buzz amongst the passengers, and they soon find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. And worse—the murderer planted the book in Lindsey and Sully’s room next door, making them prime suspects. Now, they must uncover the murderer and bring them to the end of their line, before they find themselves booked for a crime they didn’t commit.

MY THOUGHTS: Hands down if push came to shove, I'd have to say this is my favorite cozy mystery series.  What's not to love in a book featuring libraries, reading, fun characters and a great small-town Connecticut setting. I honestly can't believe I remain caught up with the series considering this is book #14.  I also realized today that there is even another set to release in November.  I'm so excited, it's a Christmas one!

So, this one starts out in Chicago with Lindsey and her husband Sully for a library conference.  They find a rare book beneath Linsey's conference chair and upon returning it, think all is well.  However, after the board their train back home, they learn that not only are a lot of the conference participants also on the train, but the book is missing, and someone is willing to kill to find it.

It was fun seeking the two MCs in another setting besides their hometown, but I will admit it meant we didn't see all my favorite characters quite as much which was a bit sad.  However, the murder mystery element was exciting and kept me guessing plus we ended up with the entire train getting snowed in as a horrible blizzard arrives.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cozies, especially ones that feature libraries or books.  I don't think you will be disappointed.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS