discoveredinalj | Member Posts

Okay. The past few days have been pretty bad mentally, and I've really been struggling to do these write-ups. Giving it another try.

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It's 1980. Queen is on the radio. Here in the USA, the year's top film is The Empire Strikes Back. New terms coined include: differently abled, dis, ecotourism, electronica, high five, killing field, NIMBY, Usenet, voicemail, and yuppie.

For 1980, I read three fics: one Professionals fic, one Sherlock Holmes x Star Trek crossover, and one Man from U.N.C.L.E. x M*A*S*H crossover.

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gilda_elise

Bestselling, beloved author of The Charm Bracelet spins a tale about a lost young woman and the family recipe box that changes her life.

Growing up in northern Michigan, Samantha "Sam" Mullins felt trapped on her family's orchard and in their pie shop, so she left with dreams of making her own mark in the world. But life as an overworked, undervalued sous chef at a reality star's New York bakery is not what Sam dreamed.

When the chef embarrasses Sam, she quits and returns home. Unemployed, single, and defeated, she spends a summer working on her family's orchard cooking and baking alongside the women in her life--including her mother, Deana, and grandmother, Willo. One beloved, flour-flecked, ink-smeared recipe at a time, Sam begins to learn about and understand the women in her life, her family's history, and her passion for food through their treasured recipe box.

As Sam discovers what matters most she opens her heart to a man she left behind, but who now might be the key to her happiness.

I’m not sure why I picked up this book; I wasn’t crazy about the first book I read by this author. Turns out, this one was very much like that one. Sort of sappy and clichéd. Like a Hallmark card, and just as predictable. Plus, I get it, you like Michigan.

It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if Sam had been at all likable. But she acts like a teenager, constantly changing her mind and not being able to stick to a plan. I’m really not sure why Angelo, the love interest, even likes her. She’s whiny and tends to lash out. I thought the grandmother’s back story was more interesting, but then it turns out that now she’s practically a saint.

About the only thing I can recommend about the book are the recipes. I’m going to copy some before I give the book away.

( Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-45 )

46. A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and Its Implications by Carl Sagan
47. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
48. Curfew by Phil Rickman
49. The King's Justice by Stephen R. Donaldson
50. Virgin by F. Paul Wilson
51. The Ancients by John Larison
52. Children of Memory (Children of Time 3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
53. Claude’s Christmas Adventure by Sophie Pembroke
54. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
55. The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
56. Quick Fixes: Tales of Repairman Jack by F. Paul Wilson
57. Followed Home (Exalls Attacks, Book 1) by Andre Gonzalez
58. The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Goodreads 67

DEC - “Snuggle Up & Read”

Let’s get cozy! Read some cozy fiction, a cozy mystery, or a cozy romance book.

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

sweety_mutant

I am claiming Drace from Final Fantasy XII

Prompts are Table 7

01.	Rain.	02.	Fireworks.	03.	Music.	04.	Memory.	05	Sunset.
06.	Truth.	07.	Together.	08.	Kiss.	09.	Strangers.	10.	Crush.

gilda_elise

They thought the cabin would be a peaceful escape. They were wrong.

When a group of friends travels to a secluded family cabin for a weekend getaway, they're expecting campfires, laughter, and maybe a little drama. What they don't expect is a stranger lurking in the woods—watching, waiting, and ready to turn their retreat into a blood-soaked nightmare.

What begins as a single night of terror becomes something far more horrifying. Because the killer isn’t finished. He’s followed them home.

Now, scattered across the city, each survivor is being hunted—stalked in their own neighborhoods, their routines shattered, their lives unraveling.

You can survive the night. But what if the night survives you?

I guess it’s horror, though it also fit in the science fiction genre. Whatever it’s supposed to be, it’s not done very well. There’s a lot of stuff just thrown in that’s supposed to explain what’s going on but really doesn’t.

I never became attached to any of the characters. It starts out with a group of guys out camping and then jumps to a grandmother who’s also a top government agent. Much grotesque killings along the way.

The “monsters” are something of a puzzle. They’re either very smart or incredibly dumb. There’s a sequel that might make sense of all this, but I’m not wasting the time.

Written by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) author
1. Followed Home (Exalls Attacks, Book 1) by Andre Gonzalez

But, hey, it completed a challenge.

0ftgx

6 December 1989 - École Polytechnique de Montréal

Anne-Marie Edward - 21 years
Anne-Marie Lemay - 22 years
Annie St-Arneault - 23 years
Annie Turcotte - 20 years
Barbara Daigneault - 22 years
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz - 31 years
Geneviève Bergeron - 21 years
Hélène Colgan - 23 years
Maryse Laganière - 25 years
Maryse Leclair - 23 years
Maud Haviernick - 29 years
Michèle Richard - 21 years
Nathalie Croteau - 23 years
Sonia Pelletier - 28 years

tinturtle

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It's 1981. Journey is on the radio. (In a sign of the times, their "Don't Stop Believin'" is the first song I've featured that didn't have a music video.) Here in the USA, the year's top film is Raiders of the Lost Ark. New terms coined include: boom box, canola oil, gateway drug, graphical user interface, infomercial, phone card, snowboard, spellchecker, spreadsheet, and technobabble.

For 1981, I read four fics: one Professionals, one Star Trek, one Star Wars, and one Starsky & Hutch.

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gilda_elise

Arthur Oakes is a reader, a dreamer, and a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters, exceptional library, and beautiful buildings. But his idyll—and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot—is shattered when a local drug dealer and her partner corner him into one of the worst crimes he can imagine: stealing rare books from the college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for comfort and help. Together they dream up a wild, fantastical scheme to free Arthur from the cruel trap in which he finds himself. Wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren suggests using the unnerving Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. The others—brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen—don’t hesitate to join Colin in an effort to smash reality and bring a creature of the impossible into our world.

But there’s nothing simple about dealing with dragons, and their pact to save Arthur becomes a terrifying bargain in which the six must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow every year—or become his next meal.

Never make a pact with a dragon, as our intrepid six find to their sorrow. As the years go by, more and more is taken from them until their only recourse is to turn and fight back. But how do you do that when your nemesis seems to know your every move? King Sorrow is definitely not your run of the mill dragon. Actually, he’s like no dragon I’ve ever read about.

I came love Arthur and Gwen, their love both binding them together and tearing them apart; Alison and Van (Donovan,) who want from each other what the other can’t give. Donna and Colin are the outliers, their emotions hidden with anger or indifference. Yet the reader can’t help but be drawn to these fascinating yet flawed people. Perhaps it’s those flaws that make them so fascinating.

And I loved the Easter eggs, so many of them harking back to his father’s works. I’m sure I’ll be returning to this book for a second ride.

Goodreads 63

Frightening Cover
1. Blood of the Children by Alan Rodgers
2. King Sorrow by Joe Hill

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Discovered in a Livejournal

Member Posts

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1980

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Table for 10 True Loves

Followed Home (Exalls Attacks, Book 1) by Andre Gonzalez

never forget

Lookback Fic Bingo: 1981

King Sorrow by Joe Hill

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