Enid Blyton - The Wishing-Chair Again

46. The Wishing-Chair Again by Enid Blyton (1950)

The Wishing-Chair Series Book 2
Length: 185 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Started: 10 July 2014
Finished: 13 August 2014
Where did it come from? This was a birthday present given to me by a friend when I was six years old.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 June 1984
Why do I have it? I like fantasy and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

The children who possess the fabulously magical Wishing-Chair are back and are ready to have some more thrilling and fantastic adventures to far away lands. Mollie and her brother Peter come home from boarding school for the holidays and, after they hug their parents and see their rooms and toys again, they rush down to their playroom at the bottom of the garden. The children have a splendid secret that they've been keeping to themselves ever since their mother's birthday: they own the most terrifically magical Wishing-Chair ever!

Their friend Chinky the Pixie takes the Wishing-Chair to his mother's house to look after it, and when Mollie and Peter come home, they and Chinky go on all kinds of unusual adventures together. In this book, the children meet some of Chinky's family members; like his somewhat anti-social cousin Sleep-Alone, and his magical great aunt Quick-Fingers, as well as Chinky's cheery and rather rotund cousin Pipkin. They also meet a very naughty Brownie named Winks - a trouble-maker who wants to leave his own boarding/reform school and join Mollie, Peter and Chinky on their various adventures.

I don't know if I've read this particular book before, I don't think so; although I may have read a different book in The Wishing-Chair Series. I loved Enid Blyton as a child; she was one of my favorite authors! I still have perhaps five or ten of Ms. Blyton's books stowed downstairs in the 'Glory Hole' - the storage room under our stairs. In fact, I may have kept more then ten of Ms. Blyton's books; I'm not sure.

I've kept quite a number of the books that I read as a child - mostly just my absolutely 'gotta-keep-'em-or-else' favorite books from childhood. I give The Wishing-Chair Again by Enid Blyton a definite A! and will certainly be keeping it on my bookshelf.

A! - (90-95%)

May you read well and often

Kathryn Meyer Griffith - Four Spooky Short Stories

45. Spooky Short Stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2013) 
Length: 103 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 25 January 2013
Finished: 28 January 2013
Where did it come from? From Amazon 
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 2 August 2014
Why do I have it? I just wanted to consolidate all four of my reviews for these short stories into one single review and I have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past. 

I read Four Spooky Short Stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith separately in January of 2013. Now that these stories are collected together in one volume, I thought that I should post all my separate reviews as one, so here they all are!:
 
Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Spooky Short Stories Book 1: Ghost Brother - So what happens after you die? Do you go to heaven...or hell? Or do you go to a special place fashioned just for you and based on the life you had lived; how you had treated people...what you did to them during your time on earth? And do ghosts really exist? Do they roam the earth and torment the living, persuading them to do things they shouldn't do? Two brothers and their tale follow...their journey through life and death. Their ultimate reward for the lives they'd lived.

I have to say that I haven't read that many short stories before. So, when I was able to, I decided to splurge and treat myself by buying two of the four stories in Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Spooky Short Stories Series for Kindle as a Christmas present for myself. These stories were originally released in September of 2012 in celebration of the Halloween season.

I like Kathryn Meyer Griffith's writing style and the characters that she creates. I have read seven books by Kathryn Meyer Griffith so far, and have many more of her books waiting on my TBR shelf. I am avidly looking forward to reading them as soon as I can.

Overall, I enjoyed this story very much. The characters were sympathetic up to a point and I never could pinpoint when Gerald - the 'Ghost Brother' in the story - had actually died. I know that both brothers had gone off to fight in Vietnam together, but it was never entirely clear - at least to me - if Gerald returned physically, or as a wraith from Vietnam to haunt his brother Bobby. I give this short story an A!
 
Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Spooky Short Stories Book 2: The Banshee and the Witch - What would you do to live forever, stay young forever? To experience true love once more? And if you were a white witch with the magical powers to make it happen...and the secret of how to do it, would you? So when the banshee comes calling for you one rainy night you'll do what you have to do to get what you desire the most...more time.

I have to say that while I completely understand the witch Cleona's motivations to do what she did...and while nothing that she did was technically black magic, I think, I would perhaps say that Cleona practiced 'gray' magic - not actually harmful to herself or to other people, but certainly self-serving and focused on her own personal desires.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found it to be well-written, but it did leave me with one last unanswered question on my mind: once you get what you most desire, will you truly be content with it? I give this story an A! and am looking forward to reading the two other stories in this collection.
 
Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Spooky Short Stories Book 3: Too Close to the Edge - Penelope had been looking forward to going with her husband, sister and brother-in-law on a road trip to visit the Grand Canyon. As an artist who was going through a temporary artistic dry spell, Penelope hoped that seeing the majestic Grand Canyon would enlighten her spirit and give her possible ideas for future paintings. Penelope was willing to try to overcome her terrifying fear of heights to go on this trip with her family. And Penelope was certainly looking forward to the vacation until she got there and couldn't bear to get too close to the edge.

She watched in terror as various sightseers balanced on one foot, acting foolish, taking photos - completely oblivious to the certain death waiting below them at their feet. Their careless antics made her dizzy, took her breath away. Scared her. Especially when the woman beside her relates the tragic story of a small child who fell to her death into the Canyon the day before.

Many people died that way - falling over the edge of the Grand Canyon. Many people also died down inside the Canyon - hikers and other people who are disoriented by the triple digit temperature, people who drowned in the river going through the rapids. Then Penelope witnesses a young girl fall over the edge of the Grand Canyon and no one believes her frantic account. For there was no child who had died - that day anyway. Was she seeing things that weren't there...or was there another explanation?

I really enjoyed this short story. The characters were well-crafted, and I felt that the story's ending wrapped up any loose ends very nicely, in my opinion. I give this story an A+!
 
Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Spooky Short Stories Book 4: Running With the Train - Sarah has been lonely most of her life. She's been searching for a love that she has begun to believe will never come to her. Her family and friends back home depend on her, need her...but they can't give her what she truly wants. True, eternal love. Like wolves have.

So, as a solitary traveler, desperate to try something new and get away, Sarah goes on the adventure of a lifetime to the Grand Canyon; rides the train from Williams to the South Rim and sees several huge wolves running alongside the train. Sees them in the evening twilight scurrying unbelievably along the ledges of the Grand Canyon among the trees. She's told that there aren't any wolves living in the region anymore but at night she hears their haunting cries.

No one else sees them and no one else hears them. Just Sarah. Have her senses left her; her loneliness made her crazy? For these are wolves...unearthly prowling creatures that follow and achingly call to her...and in the end Sarah must decide what she will do when she finally comes face to face with one of these phantom wolves.

I enjoyed this short story very much. Like all of Kathryn Meyer Griffith's stories that I have read, I found that the characters were well-drawn and very believable. If I did have one problem with this story, it would be that the ending was almost too quick and easily wrapped up for me. I give this story an A! and I am eagerly looking forward to reading more books by Kathryn Meyer Griffith in the near future. 

A! - (90-95%)
  
May you read well and often

Nikki Rae - The Donor

44. The Donor by Nikki Rae (2014)
The Donor Series Book 2
Length: 27 pages
Genre: Short Story
Started/Finished: 9 August 2014
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Nikki Rae for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 5 August 2014
Why do I have it? I like short stories and have read and enjoyed The Donor by this author in the past.

Casey Williams, a recent high school graduate, has left her sick and impoverished parents and moved to Boston. In an effort to earn enough money to help her family - to secure their financial future in the face of her dire medical diagnosis - Casey had turned to the website MyTrueMatch.com; and to the mysterious Jonah Black; willing to do almost anything for him. For the past several weeks now, she has lived in Jonah's Boston apartment - suffering from an inoperable brain tumor of which her parents know nothing.

During her time with him, and despite the fact that Casey signed a contract which effectively allows Jonah full access to her body - to do whatever he wishes - Jonah Black has conducted himself like a gentleman around Casey. When she joined MyTrueMatch.com, she never expected to meet someone who would help her pay her bills, and who still treated her decently. She finds herself actually liking Jonah. Quite a bit.

As Casey's nose bleeds eventually progress to worse symptoms, she can't help the feelings she's developing for Jonah, despite how he may never return them. And Jonah's been keeping secrets from her. Big secrets. Such as how he makes his money. And the identity of the little girl in the framed picture. With the clock ticking, can Casey find the answers she's looking for?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. In my opinion, Jonah Black is not quite as frightening as he once seemed, although he still is just as mysterious. I can't wait until September to read the final part of this story; as this part ended in a cliffhanger that had me champing at the bit to learn what happens next. I give The Donor Part Two by Nikki Rae a definite A!

A! - (90-95%)

May you read well and often

Calling All Book Reviewers!

Alright, so I realize that Halloween is a little over two months away, but I don't think that you can possibly start the celebrations too early! LOL!!! Especially when there's the distinct potential that my wonderful readers will definitely receive a free ebook from author Kathryn Meyer Griffith. ;)

Kathryn Meyer Griffith will love you forever if five kind people could possibly read and write an honest review of her Four Spooky Short Stories? I have it on good authority that there will be a free Amazon Kindle download coming up during the Halloween Season if Ms. Griffith can reach 18 posted Amazon reviews. Imagine that, ghosts, banshees, witches and werewolves - what more can you possibly hope to read about, during the scariest time of the year? Grab your copy while it's available!!!

I had the pleasure of reading all four spooky stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith - separately, of course - over three days in January of 2013! Here are my reviews of Ghost Brother, The Banshee and the Witch, Too Close to the Edge and Running With the Train. Now is your chance to own all four stories together in one volume - I say go for it! You won't regret it! :)

Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

Four Spooky Short Stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2013)

Length: 103 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Four Spooky Short Stories Blurb:

Four contemporary spooky short stories:

Ghost Brother…

So what happens after you die? Do you go to heaven, or hell? Or do you go to a special place fashioned just for you based on the life you’d lived in the real world? Based on how you treated people? What you did to them?

And do ghosts exist? Do they roam the earth and plague the living, persuade them to do things they shouldn’t do?

Two brothers and their tale follow; their journey through life and death.

Do you believe in ghosts? Some do.

Running with the Train…
Sarah has always been lonely. Searching for a love she’s begun to believe will never come. Her family and friends depend, need her…but they can’t give her what she wants. True, eternal love. Like the wolves have.

So she goes on an adventure of a lifetime to the Grand Canyon; rides the train from Williams to the South Rim and sees these huge wolves running alongside in the evening twilight; scurrying unbelievably below on the Canyon’s ledges among the trees. She’s told there are no wolves but she hears their haunting cries. No one else sees or hears them. Just her.

Has her loneliness made her crazy?

The Banshee and the Witch…
What would you do to live forever, stay young forever? To find true love again?

And if you were a white witch with the magical powers to make it happen…and the secret of how to do it, would you?

So when the banshee comes calling for you one rainy dark night you’ll do what you have to do to get what you desire the most. More time.

Too Close to the Edge…
Artist Penelope had been looking forward to going with her husband, sister and brother-in-law to see the Grand Canyon…even though she was terrified of heights and, when she got there, couldn’t bear to get too close to the edge. She watched people balancing on one foot, acting foolish, taking photos, oblivious of the death waiting below them. It scared her.

Especially when a woman relates a story of a small child that fell into the Canyon the day before. Over the edge.

Then she sees a young girl go over the rim and no one will believe her.

For there was no child that had died - that day anyway.

Was she seeing things that weren’t there, or was there another explanation? 

May you read well and often

Paul DeBlassie III - The Unholy: A Novel

43. The Unholy: A Novel by Paul DeBlassie III (2013)
Length: 200 pages
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Started: 31 July 2014
Finished: 4 August 2014
Where did it come from? I originally downloaded a copy of this book for free from Netgalley; although, many thanks to Dorothy at Pump up Your Book for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 9 August 2013 from Netgalley; Since 26 June 2014 from Dorothy
Why do I have it? I like paranormal mysteries and Paul DeBlassie III is a new author for me.

Claire Sanchez is the director of Mental Health Workers and Natural Therapeutic Services at the Ecclesia Dei Hospital. She is also a curandera - a medicine woman - trained by her people in the ways of natural magic, dream interpretation, visions and shapeshifting. From a very early age, Claire has at times embraced and rejected her heritage; having witnessed her mother's murder at the hands of a mysterious cloaked figure. Now, at age twenty-five - the same age as her mother was at her death - Claire suffers from inexplicable night terrors, awakening drenched and shaking with only vague recollections of her nightmares.

When one of her patients - a good friend of her mother's - suddenly attacks her while in the midst of a psychotic episode, and is later found dead on the grounds of the hospital; Claire becomes intent on uncovering the secrets of her past. She is absolutely convinced that the disturbed woman's last words to her: "Face what is yours to face," are a warning and not a threat. Her ensuing journey will lead her into a life-and-death struggle against a malevolence which she cannot comprehend - an evil Archbishop who will stop at nothing to ensure her death.

Claire is subsequently drawn into a web of mystery and deep despair, which will ultimately lead her on to a path through the twilight realm of discovery and decision. I found this to be a very intriguing story, full of sympathetic and multi-layered characters. I was completely caught up in the story from the first page, and found myself sympathizing for Claire and hoping that she would overcome the various difficulties in her life and find some kind of peace and tranquility. I give this book a definite A! and am looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.

A! - (90-95%)
 
May you read well and often

Introducing the Cover For The Donor Part Two by Nikki Rae!

Meet Nikki Rae

Nikki Rae is a writer who lives in New Jersey. As an independent author, she has appeared numerously on Amazon Best Seller lists and she concentrates on making her imaginary characters as real as possible. Nikki writes mainly dark, scary, romantic tales, but she’ll try anything once. When she is not writing, reading, or thinking, you can find her spending time with animals, drawing in a quiet corner, or studying people. Closely.

 The Donor Part Two by Nikki Rae (2014)

Length: 39 pages

Purchase your copy from Amazon!

The Donor Part Two Blurb:

When Casey joined MyTrueMatch.com, she never imagined she would meet a man who not only helps her pay the bills, but has been nothing but a gentleman.

As the nose bleeds make way for worse symptoms, Casey can’t help the feelings she has for Jonah, despite how he may never return them. And he’s been keeping things from her. Big things. How does he make his money, and who is that girl in the picture? With the clock ticking, can she find the answers she’s looking for?

[Disclaimer: This is a serial novella that will be told in parts about the length of a short story (20-30 pages).]

The Donor Part Two Cover Reveal:

May you read well and often

Reading Wrap-up For July at Emeraldfire's Bookmark

 

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Emeraldfire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog.

Anyway, I started out July with about two hundred unread books lying around the house and ended the month with...umm...uncountable amounts of books unread. All of the books that I acquired this month came from authors and Amazon.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- If That Looking Glass Gets Broken by Karl Drinkwater

- The Donor by Nikki Rae 

- The Dancing Boy by Michael Matson

- The Last Ancient by Eliot Baker

- Total Titanic: The Most Up-to-Date Guide to the Disaster of the Century by Marc Shapiro

- Guardians Inc.: The Cypher by Julian Rosado-Machain

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- The Merry-Hearted Boys, Liam Clancy, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem by Ronald L. Leonard
- Divine Intervention by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- If That Looking Glass Gets Broken by Karl Drinkwater

- The Donor by Nikki Rae

- The Last Ancient by Eliot Baker
- The Cat Who Lived High by Lilian Jackson Braun
- Guardians Inc.: The Cypher by Julian Rosado-Machain

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me, considering. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 6

Pages Read: 1,217

Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was July. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)