Ravenscroft - Dorothy Eden

This paperback is one of the books I found in San Diego. It had a classic look that made me think it might be one of the older gothic romances I love. Usually, they have a woman running from a house/castle on the cover, and while this woman was stationary, it had that vibe.

Bella's father is dead, and she's on the way to London with her sister when they meet Aunt Aggie. The older woman offers to help them out, but she doesn't quite have the sweet intentions she's showing the girls. Guy helps the two women escape, but it looks like it's going to cost his career. To try and avert the downfall, he decides to marry one of the sisters. He initially chooses the gentle, timid Lally, but Bella ends up with the ring on her finger.

The plot of this one was pretty good. It did remind me of the older gothics, so it was nice to finally find one that wasn't a Zebra. Those are super easy to pick out. I think the plot itself was a good tradeoff for dealing with Bella. Her husband called her a shrew, and he's not wrong. That woman would argue and be childish for no reason. She knew Guy didn't love her when they married, but she's determined to "change" him. Don't try to change people. If he grew to love Bella, it needed to be his choice, not because she's throwing herself at him and screeching like a harpy. But, like I said, the plot made up for a lot.

When I was looking for the cover, I saw an alternate that I wish was on my copy. I'm not sure what it's portraying in the book, but it would've been cooler than the cover I have. The book squeaks by with a Good Book! review but not by much. Is it the best gothic ever? Of course not, but it was a nice read, and I enjoyed it.

 

Alternate cover

Forever Forward: K-9 Operations in Vietnam - Michael Lemish

I’m going to be 100% upfront – I didn’t finish this book. I didn’t even get 20% into it. Here’s why:

I’m a dog lover. I am aware of what happened to many of the K-9s at the end of the Vietnam War. It’s extremely sad and heartbreaking. I’m not sure where I got this idea, but I thought this book was going to be more stories of Jim with his dog, Ricky. It’s more of a history of how dogs were used during the war.

In the brief reading I did of this book, I almost cried multiple times. Knowing many dogs starved or died from not given time to adjust to the weather crushed me. In general, I get more upset when dogs are killed than people in movies.

The writing itself wasn’t bad, but this book was definitely not for me. I put it down before it got any worse. The Vietnam War was tragic for everyone involved, both men and dogs. I just couldn’t bring myself to read about it.

Grandeur Preserved - Historic Charleston Foundation

I was particularly interested in this book, because when we were in Charleston, I visited the Nathaniel Russell house. I’m pretty proud of myself for doing that by myself. For one thing, I took quite a trek that day, and normally my husband would explore touristy things with me when we’re at a conference city. After I finished my audio tour, I couldn’t find any books about the house. There were a bunch of random southern books but nothing specific. I asked one of the volunteers, and she recommended this out of print title. I found it for $12, and since I didn’t get my lapel pin (which is what I actually look for at touristy spots), I ordered the book.

The book covers two houses, the Nathaniel Russell house and the Aiken-Rhett house. I saw that one while we were wandering around, but when I researched both, I chose to tour the Russell house. It has a cantilever staircase that looked cool. It was even better in person. The book itself talks about the history of both houses, along with color and black-and-white pictures. I really liked being able to learn more history and catch things I might’ve missed on the tour.

I’m glad I chose the Nathaniel Russell house over the Aiken-Rhett. From the pictures, the Aiken-Rhett house hasn’t been remodeled and is in a pretty rough-looking state. I can appreciate the thought behind keeping the house in a natural state, but I really enjoyed seeing the house that showed more what it looked like in the past. It also helps to see it remodeled and not have to use my imagination. Because, honestly, there is no way I would’ve been able to conjure the sights that were in that house. Also, the Russell house had the staircase. I wasn’t able to walk on it, but I got a great picture of the way it wound up to the third floor.

I really liked this book, but just like the one for Boone Plantation, I’m not sure anyone would be interested in it if you didn’t have any exposure to the site. It gets a Good Book! review from me. 

And if you’re in Charleston, I recommend both the Boone Plantation and the Russell House. The plantation grounds were very cool, but I have to give the edge on house tour to the Russell house. I saw a lot more and had access to a lot more of the house. The plantation tour is only parts of the first floor, but the grounds wagon ride made up for it with the critters we saw. Also, if you’re into gardens, the plantation has great gardens. It’s also worth it to see the Avenue of Oaks. I appreciate the volunteer at the Russell House recommending this book to me. Personally, I don’t think they should’ve let it go out of print. I think it would be an excellent book to have in the gift shop.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

You can't go wrong with Agatha Christie. What's even better is this book is in the public domain, so I was able to find it on one of my favorite sites: gutenberg.org.

Roger Ackroyd is murdered, and the main suspect is a young man who was considered to be almost like a son to the man. His fiancé finds out Poirot is living nearby and asks for his help. Our narrator is actually a local doctor, Dr. Sheppard. 

Enjoying watching Poirot on TV hurt me on this one. I knew who the killer was from an episode I'd seen a long time ago. I couldn't remember all the details, but I knew a lot of it. 

The writing was excellent - as usual. Even knowing who the killer was and many of the details didn't make reading this book tedious at all. I really liked it, and it's something I've come to expect when reading an Agatha Christie. Good Book!

Dark Souls: The Complete Collection - George Mann, Alan Quah and others

I love Bloodborne, but Dark Souls also appeals to me. I watched the price on this graphic novel for a while and ended up getting it in a "buy 2, get 1 free" sale. In this novel, they collected four comics together in one awesome place: The Breath of Andolus, Winter's Spite, Legends of the Flame and Age of Fire.

The art in this was excellent, and a few times I paused to admire it. In one particular story, the font was a bit difficult to read. Overall, every story was interesting, but The Age of Fire was easily my favorite. I loved all the mini stories and how clever they were.

I liked this novel, but I can't say for sure that I recognized anything from the game. I'm much more familiar with Bloodborne (as I mentioned before), so it's just something I'm putting out there. I appreciated the stories and especially the artwork. Good Book!

The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne

This is widely considered a classic, and the fact that it's labeled a gothic is what drew me in. I only made it about 1/3 of the way through and decided to throw in the towel.

At that point, nothing had happened. Phoebe had heard a voice, but that's it. Super long paragraphs and irrelevant descriptions made reading this book extremely tedious. I kept looking for other things to do rather than pick this back up. Since I quit early, I might've missed why it was important to describe chickens for three pages.

I looked up the plot online, and the funny thing is I'm sure some of the "good stuff" was coming up. But the writing style was so boring, I just didn't enjoy any of my time with this book.

Boone Hall Plantation - Michelle Adams

Last week, we were in Charleston, South Carolina, for a conference. The amazing thing was my aunts and a couple of my cousins made the trek to hang out with us. It was so much fun, and one of the highlights was when we went to Boone Hall Plantation. Once our tours were over and we were all tuckered out, I still wanted to learn more. They didn't have the usual souvenirs I collect (lapel pins), so I decided to pick up this book.

The book has tons of pictures with little summaries underneath. Do the summaries always match the picture? Not always, but I learned a ton. The pictures are all in black and white, which is understandable considering the time period the book was covering. I wish there were at least a couple of pictures in color, especially of the Avenue of the Oaks. I got some pictures of it while we were there, but it really was pretty. If you ever get a chance to get down that way, check out Boone Hall. The gardens were amazing as well.

I personally enjoyed the book, but I think a lot of that was because of my interest. I wouldn't randomly pick this book up and read it, especially since there aren't color pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't see the price of the book when I picked it up ($24.99), but I chalk it up to supporting the author's efforts and the plantation itself. I'm giving it a Good Book! review, but I'm not recommending it as something that everyone would be interested in.