Anniekslibrary and Hâf@The Library Looter have teamed up and created thirty-one exciting blog prompts for a Halloween themed Blogtober! I am linking up with them today.

Blogtober Challenge Day 15 
- Characters with bad luck

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, by George RR Martin)

Theon Greyjoy. As a young boy, he was made a ward to Eddard Stark and later was disowned by his own father Balon Greyjoy. He fought for an alliance between the Ironborn and the Starks but was betrayed and captured by Lord Bolton’s bastard Ramsay. He never was lucky with women either. He lost his manhood and other body parts and was renamed, Reek. His sister Yara tries to rehabilitate him to fight with a sword again but he fails to protect her and it crushes him. Resigned to an honourable death, he gives up his life for Brandon Stark in the War of Winterfell against the White Walkers.

(Lord of the Rings).

Smeagol was so unlucky to not be the finder of the ring, but takes it as a birthday gift for himself. Deagol didn’t even give it to him as a birthday present! Then he murders Deagol out of greed only to be possessed by it for the rest of his life. The more insane he got the more unrecognizable he was not having a stitch of humanity left. I swear the only one to possess The Ring has got to be the unluckiest person ever!!! Out of everybody in Middle Earth??!! He is destroyed with the ring falling into the fires of Mount Doom.

Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban.

Sirius Black. He was framed for murders he didn’t commit by Peter Pettigrew and sentenced to Azkaban where he was seen as a dangerous criminal. Even his nephew is wary of him being a madman. When he transforms himself into a black dog and escapes prison, he appears to Harry who thinks he is a grim omen.
He was eventually cleared of all charges but he never was able to enjoy his life because he was murdered by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange.

Anniekslibrary and Hâf@The Library Looter have teamed up and created thirty-one exciting blog prompts for a Halloween themed Blogtober! I am linking up with them today.

The Vampire Knitting Club

(Vampire Knitting Club #1)
by Nancy Warren
Kindle Edition, 219 pages
Published October 4th, 2018 by Ambleside Publishing
Buy on Amazon

Hoping to spend some time with her Grandmother and mend her broken heart Lucy arrives in Oxford only to discover Agnes Bartlet’s knitting shop is closed and her grandmother is dead. Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting shop was one of four shops that were targeted to sell. Her grandmother never wanted to sell her shop. So, someone murdered her because they needed the money.

With her grandmother’s knitting shop now belonging to Lucy, it means she has a great responsibility to keep it. Her world is turned upside down when she is introduced to strange people who occupy the space in the back of her shop and that is one main reason why she needs to protect the shop and its secrets.

Out of all the supernatural things that were revealed, she couldn’t have been less enthusiastic about knowing she was a witch. I mean she took solace in her cat familiar now that her grandma was dead but using magic could have solved many problems in helping her solve crimes.

I thought the story moved slower than molasses but with great magic comes great responsibility and Agnes Bartlet’s knitting shop held many secrets.
The Vampire Knitting Club is only the beginning so I hope to be hearing more about this rag-tag club of knitting vampires.

Quotes

• Sherlock Holmes had his Baker Street irregulars, and I had my Harrington Street immortals.
• What did it say about me that knitting spells were easier than crafting a simple scarf?
• Everything I tried, whether it was a sweater, a pair of socks or a simple scarf ended up looking like a scrunched-up hedgehog.

Goodreads Summary

Vampires who knit
A troublemaking witch
Who killed Granny — and is she really dead?
At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she’s not exactly homeless, but it’s close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran’s undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey’s, Gran’s knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she’s going to do.

Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there’s a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door—including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?

When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there’s no body in the grave. Between a hot 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan.
The only one who seems to know what’s going on is her cat … or is it … her familiar?

About the author

The USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty novels, Nancy is known for her funny, sexy and suspenseful tales.

She’s an avid hiker, often tramping the hills with her Border Collie, Max. Nancy recently completed her MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, UK.

Nancy is a three-time Rita Awards finalist, a winner of the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award, and was featured on the front cover of the New York Times for her Harlequin Nascar series.

Love Nancy’s books? The best way to keep up with Nancy and her work is to join the Nancy Warren Readers’ List

Anniekslibrary and Hâf@The Library Looter have teamed up and created thirty-one exciting blog prompts for a Halloween themed Blogtober! I am linking up with them today.

from R.J.Crowther Jr’s twitter

Blogtober Day 12

-Three books you meant to read last year

The Bear and the Nightingale
(Winternight Trilogy #1)
by Katherine Arden
At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind–she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed–this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

Zenith
(The Androma Saga #1)
by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she’s just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder’s all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi’s past.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.

Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

Tiger’s Dream
(The Tiger Saga #5)
by Colleen Houck
A tiger left behind.

A goddess in need of an ally.

Stranded in a time and place he never wished for, Kishan Rajaram must carry out his destiny of assisting the beautiful yet extremely irritable goddess Durga. This daunting task is not made easy by the fact that he must also face the truth about the girl he loves and the brother who stole her away.

When the wily shaman Phet appears and tells Kishan that Kelsey needs him, he jumps at the chance to see her again. In his efforts to save her, Kishan discovers that the curse he thought was over is just beginning. As time unravels around him, Kishan realizes that the fates of all those he holds dear lie in hands.

The goddess’s power hangs in the balance. Kishan has no choice but to sacrifice the unthinkable to fight the dark forces swirling around the woman he’s charged to protect. As he does, he discovers that love and loyalty create their own magic and accepts that he must decide his destiny once and for all.

Tiger’s Dream is the conclusion to the epic Tiger’s Curse fantasy romance series that left you breathless.

Blogtober

Anniekslibrary and Hâf@The Library Looter have teamed up and created thirty-one exciting blog prompts for the month of October in celebration of Halloween.

• Day 10 – Reading challenge update

Today is the first day of Fraterfest Readathon where I’ll be reading cozy mysteries and spooky books for the next 5 days. The name Fraterfest is inspired by Rhiannon Frater whose zombies, vampires and necromancers offer thrills and chills.
My list of books will also be contributing to Spooktastic Reads 2019 hosted @Wyrdandwonder

‘It’ can “Go, Float Itself”

I had planned on doing a month-long read-along but I realized I didn’t like what I was reading. Therefore I DNF’d it because of topics relating to child abuse, domestic violence, murder, and bullying. I regret even buying the book now. Oh well. I, however, liked the “It” 2017 film a lot more, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything by not reading the book. I had a blast watching It: Chapter 2 in theatre as well.

That is about the only updates I have to share other than my normal reading schedule; which hasn’t been too exciting.

I finished reviewing Dead Meat by Nick Clausen

Dead Meat is about three children who get stuck in the basement of a house that is overrun by zombies. The prospect of survival is very grim for Thomas, Dan and Jennie but if there is any hope to stay alive, they need to make sure all of the zombies are dead.

Blogtober

Anniek and Hâf@The Library Looter have teamed up and created thirty-one exciting blog prompts for a Halloween themed Blogtober! I am linking up with them today.

• Favourite Vampire or Werewolf

I actually like both Vampires and Werewolves in paranormal fantasy/romance but the werewolves in Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series stand out as being the most memorable to any other. I miss them.
Admittingly, why I like them so much is because Kresley Cole can write! She is a brilliant author who writes paranormal romance. I also think it could be possible my favourite book hasn’t been written yet? Idk.
There are so many books about werewolves that it’s just hard to remember them all. Yes, Twilight has its own shapeshifting clan and Harry Dresden has his but the one that stands out to me the most is A Hunger like no other -Immortals After Dark #1 and MacRieve #13. Check it.

In Immortals After Dark, they are called The Lykae Clan whose leader is Lachlain MacRieve.

“A proud, strapping warrior of the Keltoi People (or Hidden People, later known as Celts) was taken in his prime by a maddened wolf. The warrior rose from the dead, now an immortal, with the spirit of the beast latent within him. He displayed the wolf’s traits: the need for touch, an intense loyalty to its kind, an animal craving for the delights of the flesh. Sometimes the beast rises …”