An Archangel Called Ivan - Barbara Cartland

I needed a diet book to feel like I was making progress on my TBR pile. This one was super short, and I finished it quickly.

Arliva is rich and wants to be loved for who she is and not for the money she has. Her plan is to take a governess position in the country and find people who appreciate who she is. She is hanging out with three kids and their grandpa when she gets kidnapped. Then she meets Ivan, falls in love and gets married. The end.

This book was even stranger than most of the BCs I read. Arliva didn't want people to like her for her money, but apparently liking her because she was beautiful was just fine. Ivan didn't pop up until 80% into the book (I'm not kidding), and he rescued her from the kidnapping. I still don't understand how the Countess knew where Arliva had vanished off to. I guess they suggested since she'd created the wildly popular "fairy wood," people from all over had come and word of her fame had spread and now her anonymity was broken? 

And will no one think of the children? Arliva didn't really teach them anything useful and then she just disappeared from their lives without telling them she was okay. She helped them by attracting extended family (?) I guess, but she made it sound like she really cared for them. But she didn't care if they were worried about them while she frolicked about with her "archangel" - ugh what a pet name!

And that romance was way weird! She begs for his help in a brief encounter in a church while the kidnappers are setting up the wedding (strange), then he climbs up a window to help her escape. Then they spend a week together (you know they smell with only one pair of clothes), and then they head off to get married! Hooray for love!

Nah. This one isn't good. Some of these are great and fun. This one made me sad for the children. Everyone is rich, and they have those first-world problems that just make you want to play the world's smallest violin. And Arliva was just irritating with her pushy attitude. I think she was meant to be strong and independent, but she was bossy and spent all the old man's money without a second thought. I don't think governesses got away with stuff like that!

The Necromancers - Robert Hugh Benson

I hunted down this book after we watched Spellbound. I was disappointed in some of it and couldn't imagine parts of that movie following the book.

The plot is much the same. Laurie falls in love with the shopgirl, Amy, who dies suddenly. His sorrow leads him to the world of the mystics. It seems that he's a sensitive, and he falls into a trance where he reveals details only Amy would know. In reality, it's an evil force using the guise of Amy to gain control of Laurie.

I found the book to be much better. In the movie, there was a young woman named Diana who was just in love with Laurie and conquered the demon with love and sleep. In the book, the young woman, Maggie, is smart and able to cope with things intelligently. Mr. Cathcart is in the book, but he isn't present at the final moments. Maggie faces things head on and does it with love and courage.

The epilogue seemed unnecessary, and it didn't really add anything. Other than that, I thought it was a pretty good book. It was actually written by a Catholic priest, so that was interesting, considering some of the commentary on the priest character. I'm giving this one a Good Book! review.

The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943 - Galeazzo Ciano

Ciano was the son-in-law to Mussolini and close to him for part of the war. At some point, Ciano voted to get Mussolini out of power, and it cost him his life.

The diaries only go up to the early part of 1943. Ciano left Italy and fled to Germany in August and asked to transfer to Spain, which was neutral at the time. The request was denied, and Ciano was later arrested and tried as a traitor. He was executed by firing squad on January 11, 1944. 

The entries themselves are pretty dry. It took me forever to get through them. It's not that they were boring in content, but they were just dry. They weren't written with the future reader in mind. And that's okay. It's also something he mentioned in the final entry, which was written shortly before he died.

I wouldn't recommend this for everyone. It's something of a slog for sure. But you can see how Ciano didn't think Italy was ready for war, didn't want the war, and wasn't a fan of the Germans. I liked seeing the way he felt about how the war was going, but it's unfortunate the really interesting part of his life is missing. When it all fell apart, it would've been interesting to see how he felt about voting against his father-in-law and how that affected his family.

If you're really dedicated, this could probably be a great research tool. Otherwise, I feel like it's missing the vital part most people would be interested in.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Volume 20-23) - Koyoharu Gotouge - FINAL THOUGHTS AND SPOILERS

This is the wrap up for this manga:

Volume 20 - This entire volume basically revolves around the fight with the upper 1 demon. There is a lot of time devoted to his backstory. He had a twin and the relationship between the two was complicated. It started out sweet, but when his brother surpassed him, Kokushibo's brotherly love turned to envy, and eventually hatred. It leads him to the path of the demon, but he never escapes the shadow of his brother. When the end comes, he still is thinking of his twin. 

Volume 21 - The fight with Muzan continues. Tanjiro is seriously hurt, and he has ancient memories involving the life of Yoriichi. Muzan is able to heal faster than they can hurt him, so their only hope is to get him outside and keep him there until sunrise. They still have over an hour to go, so it isn't going to be easy. Nezuko knows Tanjiro is hurt, and she's on her way. I need some Inosuke involvement soon. We only have two volumes left!

Volume 22 - We're getting close to the end now! Muzan is getting weaker! Tamayo is getting her revenge, and Tanjiro is back in the fight! He's getting help from Iguro, and I really liked getting his backstory. I wondered why he was always so standoffish. We're really close to sunrise, and Nezuko is on the road when she undergoes a change and remembers who she really is. Yushiro has really come through by helping out everyone with his demon cat. I felt bad for it, but it seems to be okay (and I'm NOT a cat person). Let's finish this thing up!

Volume 23 - The end of the road for Muzan. The demon finds a way to make a pest of himself even after he's dead by infecting Tanjiro (rude!). His friends are able to bring him back, though, and really there's no other way to do it. Tanjiro has always been grounded by those he cares about. The rest of the volume is dedicated to the fallen and the healing of those left behind. I want to spend a moment on the final chapter. It was so well done. Seeing the effect the Demon Slayers had on future generations was so cute (I hate to use that word, but it was cute). I'm also glad Gotouge put the little explanations after the chapter end to clarify who was descended from whom. And the very end was great as well.

My overall thoughts on this manga are A+. I loved the whole thing. I loved the way the various backgrounds of both the slayers and the demons were woven into the story. The unique powers, appearances and fighting styles of the demons were also interesting and set it apart. The depth and development of so many characters is impressive, and I appreciate all the time and effort the author spent to make that happen. If I had one criticism, it would be that I would sometimes have an issue keeping some of the characters separate in my mind. Some of their names would be similar, and or they would look similar, and it would be confusing for me. I'll take the blame for it; I'm sure there were details in there to tell them apart. It's just that sometimes I couldn't get back to the story for a bit, and I couldn't recall names. 

I would definitely recommend this manga. It's unique, the art is cool, and the story is amazing and has a lot of depth to it. I also appreciated the humility shown by the author, and I always looked forward to seeing the little alligator at the beginning of the volumes. It was just so cute! It's been a bloody, demon-murdering ride, but it's been a rewarding one! Team Inosuke Forever!! Great Manga!

Seven Firefights in Vietnam - John A. Cash

This is one of the books I picked up during our HPB trips. It was cheap and little, and it covered a time I'm not familiar with.

There's not much to say. The title tells you what you get. Some of them are in the jungle, and others involve the rivers.

The thing about this book is that I'm a 100% a visual person. The first incident described in this book confused the heck out of me. It was all "Company A was over here while Company D went over there." There were even a fair number of maps included, and I'd say I struggled with about 50% of those.

I was under the impression the book would be a bit different. When it said it had eyewitness input, I thought it would be more personal. At times, the book would mention men's names, and many times it would reveal their fates. But other times it wouldn't.

There was a lot of pen-drawn art in here, and they were really done. It showed the weapons and aircraft that were part of the stories. I was able to follow some of the stories more than others. Those tended to be the ones with the more linear movements, but I was able to follow a couple of the others a bit as well.

Overall, this was a pretty good book, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I probably wouldn't have picked it up had I known what it was, because I normally like a more personal experience in my nonfiction books. I'm still going to give this a Good Book! review, because it was short enough it didn't hang around too long, and I did learn new things about Vietnam.

 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Volume 15-19) - Koyoharu Gotouge

More summaries for my personal reference:

Volume 15 - This one was really confusing for me. I didn't have any issues following the fight with the tiny demon. It was when I got to the episode after Nezuko was able to walk in the sun. I think the researcher was writing a letter to Tanjiro, and then it switched to a kid. I thought the woman they were showing was the same one, so I had to go back. I thought the kid had killed Tamayo. I'll take responsibility. I was having trouble keeping everyone separate. What I eventually discovered is that the child was a disguise of Muzan called Toshikuni. He kills the women who have been taking care of him. I also got a connection between the broody Giyu and the two mysterious young people who trained Tanjiro at the beginning of his journey. Toward the end of this one, Genya is having sibling trouble, and since Tanjiro doesn't like families fighting, he tries to create peace between them. I still love this manga, it just had me lost in the middle. 

Volume 16 - This one is leading up to (and starting) the big fight between Muzan and the Hashiras. Ubuyahiki is really struggling with his illness, and he decides to use himself as bait to lure Muzan into a place where the Hashiras will come after him. Tanjiro and his friends have been studying under Himejima (the Stone Hashira), and it's no easy task. Inosuke remains my favorite character by far, but I really like Tanjiro's positive attitude and sweet spirit. The Insect Hashira, Shinobu, is breaking my heart with her fight with the weirdo with the fans. He's so infuriating with that stupid smile on his face! The big fight is under way, and I'm worried about everyone. I don't think everyone is making it out of this one alive...

Volume 17 - The fight between Tanjiro, Giyu and Akaza takes up most of this volume. There's an interesting interaction in there involving Zenitsu. Tanjiro is making some real progress toward the end of the volume, but a lot of this is centered on the fight with Akaza. Also the fan weirdo shows up towards the beginning a bit.

Volume 18 - The fight with Akaza comes to an end. The demon regains his memories, and as usual, they're sad and make me sympathize with Akaza. Now Giyu and Tanjiro are exhausted, and we move on to Kanao and weird fan man. I'm not sure anything in his past is going to make me sympathize with him, but I've been wrong before. But, guess what?! Lord Inosuke has joined the battle!! On the flip side, we do get some memories, but they're Inosuke's, and they're super sad. I guess the demon's name is Doma, but I really dislike him for numerous reasons.

Volume 19 - Hooray! Doma is dead! And I don't feel bad about it. I will say that they way he died was very clever and sad (not for Doma, for the Hashira). Kanroji and Iguro are fighting the upper rank 4, Nakime. She's a strange demon who just seems to sit on the floor and strum her biwa, which changes the layout of the building. Now the upper 2 and 3 are dead, and the upper 1 demon is currently fighting 4 Hashira, including Genya and Sanemi. The upper rank 1, Kokushibo, is unusual in that he was a demon slayer and retains his memories. He claims Tokito is descended from him, and that's a twist none of the slayers saw coming, but now isn't the time to think about that. 

On to the final four!

Season of Storms (The Witcher Saga #8) - Andrzej Sapkowski

It took me a while to add this one to my library, but it finally dropped in price. This book doesn't continue the story after The Lady of the Lake, but instead dives into the past. 

Geralt has handed over his swords to get into a city in Kerack, but when there's a misunderstanding (setup), he's arrested. When he goes back to retrieve his weapons, they're gone. Now he's got to try and get them back, but he's got sorcerers and princes trying to manipulate him for their own ends.

The story here was really interesting. I recognized the tale of the fox children from the graphic novel, so that was neat. I'm always a sucker for Sapkowski's worldbuilding. Coral was a bit much, but it's always great to know Dandelion's there. Yennefer even shows up here and there briefly.

Overall, I really did like this book. They're always page turners for me, and I'm looking forward to the day I get my hands on Crossroads of Ravens. Good Book!