Books

Book 709: Arctic Heat (Frozen Hearts #3) – Annabeth Albert

Book cover of "Arctic Heat" with Amazon Affiliate link.In the final book of Annabeth Albert’s Frozen Hearts series, she takes the heat and turns it up in a winter setting! I felt this was one of the only things missing from the previous two entries in the series (Arctic Sun and Arctic Wild), especially because the protagonists living in Alaska put so much effort and emphasis on whether the mainlanders would survive an Alaskan winter.

Arctic Heat introduces us to Quill, the stoic ranger who was part of the team who rescued Toby and Reuben in Arctic Wild, and Owen, a cancer survivor checking things off his bucket list which included volunteering for a winter in Alaska. And if there’s one thing about this series that Owen nails in one line, it’s the opening line of this novel: “Come for the snow. Stay for the ranger porn.” So maybe it doesn’t fit the entire series, but I guess if you put “rugged outdoors man” instead of ranger you’d get it in one.

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Books

Book 707: Arctic Wild (Frozen Hearts #2) – Annabeth Albert

Book cover of "Arctic Wild" with Amazon Affiliate linkI am rapidly running out of Annabeth Albert novels to read. Probably not as fast as I think, she has a few newer series and standalone novels, but I really do feel like I’m running out of the ones I would probably prefer.

Arctic Wild finds us back in the Alaskan wilderness, this time with Toby, an indigenous Alaska Native who works as a pilot with Griffin from Arctic Sun, and hotshot New York attorney Reuben. Reuben and his friends were supposed to go on a private Alaskan tour, but his friends back out and that leaves Reuben and Toby alone for the trip and the simmer starts to build immediately.

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Books

Book 583: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Fantastic Beasts #2) – J.K. Rowling

Of course I was going to read this. It actually arrived in my mailbox the same day we saw the film (the first time :-D). If I’m honest, I’m impressed I only saw it twice AND it took me this long to read it. There was a lot to take in and with so much dialogue, reading this sooner would’ve helped A LOT.

With this being a screenplay, I can totally cop-out and say read this review of the film: ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald’: Beasts? Check. Crimes? Check. Fantastic? Not Quite., from NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour blog because Glen Weldon NAILS it.

I’m not planning to go into the major spoilers of the franchise so you should be okay to read as long as you don’t highlight the closing line of the book, but if you don’t want to know ANYTHING, then don’t read this! You’ve been warned.

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Books, The Classics Club

Book 426: Many Waters (Time Quintet #4) – Madeleine L’Engle

L'Engle, Madeleine - Many Waters (Time Quintet #4)L’Engle went right past allegory and straight up tells a biblical tale, the tale of Noah and the ark, in this book.  Duh, I mean look at the cover, why I didn’t make that connection when I started re-reading or remember it is beyond me. Strangely enough, I didn’t mind the story at all. I think it’s because “god”/”El” took a back seat and it focused more on the people in the story rather than the morals of the story.

I also need to say I have to eat my words for the abrupt ending this time. L’Engle did it again with less than five pages left she completely wrapped everything up, but this time it made sense. A lot of the story began wrapping up well before the last few pages, but the ultimate story and the return to modern-day happened over three pages max. The abruptness of it was necessary in that is how the twins experienced it and it’s only fair we the reader do so as well. Kudos to you L’Engle for keeping me on my toes.

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Books, The Classics Club

Book 425: A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet #3) – Madeleine L’Engle

L'Engle, Madeleine - A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet #3)It’s very fitting this is published on February 29. This book is all about time and leaping backward and forward in time. Four year’s isn’t a lot of time the older you get so they seem to happen much more frequently, but growing up four years was a LONG time to wait for something as exciting as an extra day of the year. Okay, on to the book.

I’m sure you’re all tired of me saying it, but I had to put it at the front this time because it’s really driving me crazy! After three books: the denouement needs to be longer! UGH! Invariably, L’Engle wraps up the entire story in less than ten pages with a bit of a and this and this and this type narrative. It’s not bad, it’s just frustrating. I want the details. I want to know why things happened. I want to know how they happened and not just the hints that she leaves. It’s a little too deus ex machina for me.

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