The White Witch - Barbara Cartland

Barbara Cartland needs no introduction. She wrote tons of cheesy romances, and every once in a while, I'll break one out and read it. I also don't look into what the book is about. It's more fun that way. Also, sometimes I like the covers. They can be pretty strange. Take this one for example. What the heck is this woman doing? I've finished the book, and I still can't answer that question!

This book is about a Marquis who believes he's being bewitched by a woman named Locadi. His butler finds a rock in one of his pockets, and since the Marquis has travelled the world, he's suspicious that Locadi is using black magic. To escape her power, he decides to go to his family home in the country.

When he gets there, he finds that his estate in a state he can't understand. The servants are gone, the vicar has left, and the school has shut down. He finds a young woman helping his grandmother with herbs, and he senses that he hasn't quite escaped all kinds of magic.

Flora is just trying to help people the only way she knows how. She's suspicious of the Marquis at first, but he quickly proves himself in her estimation. When Locadi turns up out of the blue, it becomes clear that she's not going to give up her prey easily.

This book was wild. Flora senses that Ivor (interesting name by the way) is being weighed down by an evil and sets out to help him. I don't know why Barbara Cartland used Satan worship in her books, but this book reminded me of The Flame is Love. If you've never seen it (and you probably haven't), it's a terrible movie that stars Timothy Dalton as not James Bond. He's a devil worshipper who kidnaps a virgin (even though those a rare in Paris - it's a line in the movie) to sacrifice to his weird puppet god. Basically the same thing happens here, except Flora will get sacrificed out of jealousy. I wonder if that's a good enough reason for sacrifice? 

Anyway, the whole good magic/bad magic thing was weird. I really didn't care about it either way. I did like that Flora and Ivor weren't doing the whole "look into each other's eyes and swoon" the entire book. They were just working together toward a common goal and only acknowledged feelings later on. I guess they made up for it at the end when they were mumbling about their love for too many pages. Overall, this one was pretty good in the Cartland universe. I haven't read the book for The Flame is Love, but it kind of feels like I've had the experience now. Good Book! (for a certain crowd)

The Secret of the Caves (Hardy Boys #7) - Franklin W. Dixon

Next up in the adventures of the Hardy Boys, they're sent on a mission to find a missing man. Fortunately, for Chet, it leads them to Rockaway, where the Honeycomb Caves are located. It just happens that Chet really wanted to go there to begin with. He has a metal detector and is anxious to use it. Biff is also excited to go to the caves for the fishing. 

The father of the Hardy Boys is checking on some problems at a site where they're building an antenna (I think, I can't remember), but it's being sabotaged. The two cases will end up being connected!

Okay, so I am concerned these people don't know what a concussion is, and it's concerning. Biff gets knocked out TWICE, and the boys are just like, "you'll be good" and "sleep it off." Bad ideas. Then, they just feel comfortable borrowing his speed boat. With the amount of kidnapping, fires, and general chaos that surrounds these boys, I don't think I'd let them borrow anything I enjoyed having. Especially if it cost more than a dollar. Also, Chet gets blown up. Daggone. These friends need to re-evaluate their friendships. 

Anyway, they solve the mystery. As usual. There was a cantankerous hermit, who I loved. I was so bummed when he ended up being part of the gang. That's what you get when you pretend to be a hermit. This book made me angrier than some of the others. I just didn't appreciate the way the boys used their friends. Sure, the kids were willing to help, but the Hardy brothers throw the girls at a potential shady business, one get assaulted - twice, and the other one got blown up. I didn't like this one.

Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup

This book tells the story of a man who was kidnapped from Washington and taken to Louisiana. He spent the next 12 years as a slave, even though he was technically a free man from New York.

There's not much to say about the content. It's about what you would expect. I will say that this is a very well put together narrative. It was easy to read, and it was interesting to see how Solomon (named Platt after he was kidnapped) was able to be reunited with his family after so long.

I can't imagine living through this time period. I know Solomon experienced both the kind and the cruel slave owners, but he shouldn't have had to live through that at all. It's disappointing the people responsible just made up a story to avoid responsibility. Unfortunately, it was all too common, and I'm a little shocked worse didn't happen to Solomon considering some of the incidents between him and the overseers.

I recommend this book if you want an insight into what things were like for people that deserved to be free. Solomon's account is interesting and worth the read. Good Book!