Category: Ratings

Book Review: Warrior by Fallon (4 Stars)

Warrior by Jennifer Fallon

4 out of 5 stars

Read in July 2008

Jennifer Fallon did not disappoint in this continuation of the Wolfblade saga. I probably should not have read it on the heels of Mistborn: The Final Empire as it is somewhat of a tragedy. I should probably find something less depressing to read next or I might become a footnote to my own life.

Note to my followers:  I apologize for these ‘short’ reviews from the early days of when I first joined GoodReads.  I’m still trying to transfer all my reviews from there to here, but I don’t have time to re-read these books to flesh out the reviews.  I did very much enjoy Fallon’s entire Wolfblade series and highly recommend it to fans of fantastic fiction.

Book Review: ABC Murders by Christie (3 Stars)

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

3 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2008

Not as engaging as And Then There Were None , but still an entertaining exercise in murder mystery theatre. I confess I did not discover the true murderer until Hercule Peroit telegraphed it to me in the final chapters. However, I did suspect that the obvious in-your-face suspect was just that – too obvious. For the longest time, I was convinced Inspector Crome was the mastermind behind the serial murders, but thankfully, I was wrong on that count.

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Restaurant Review: El Potro Mexican Cafe & Cantina (2 Stars)

El Potro Mexican Cafe & Cantina

2 out of 5 stars

Location:  Bonner Springs, Kansas (in the old Mazzio’s building west-northwest of the K-7/US-73 and I-70 interchange)

A couple of our friends mentioned that a new Mexican restaurant had opened recently in Bonner Springs, Kansas.  El Potro took over the old, long empty Mazzio’s Pizza building.  Terry and I made a quick trip to Nebraska Furniture Mart early yesterday evening and decided to try the cafe on the way home.

The parking lot was packed but we found an open spot near the front door.  The restaurant had no waiting area, so a dozen or so people were crammed in the corridor between the door and the hostess stand waiting to be seated.  The hostess took down our name and told us the wait would only be 10-15 minutes.  A few minutes later, one of the servers asked those waiting if they’d like to be seated at the bar for dinner and we opted to take him up on that offer.

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Book Review: Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Brust (3 Stars)

Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust

3 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2008

Warning:  Spoilers

This was not your typical Stephen Brust novel. In fact, I’ve never read anything quite like this.

It’s told in first person (with a few Intermezzos of third person to fill in the blanks) of a banjo player in a folk band named Billy. We meet Billy in Cowboy Feng’s as he listens to his band mates tuning up for the evening gig. The gig is cut short by a nuclear explosion which catapults the bar through time and space to another planet. They were on Mars, prior to that on Venus, prior to that a lunar colony and original in London on Old Earth.

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eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

2.5 to 3 stars out of 5

Read in January/February 2014

In the beginning, there were only Two Princes – Oken and Mabruke, apprentice/journeyman and master spies of the Egyptian Empire, an empire that never fell and where Cleopatra didn’t kiss an asp. The offspring of Caesar and Cleopatra multiplied and prospered across the centuries, bringing us to the golden age of culture and civilization we normally associate with the Victorian era. Never fear, Victoria and Albert have their parts to play in the political theater bubbling across Europe and between the two Empires of the Old and New Worlds.

And that’s where our Third Prince, Viracocha, makes his dramatic entrance, as a member of the royal family of the Inca/Aztec Empire of the New World. Logically, to the author at least, if Spain never rose to prominence, then the South American continent wouldn’t have been invaded and devastated by the Conquistadors. Instead, they flourished and prospered just as their Egyptian peers did in the Old World.

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Recipe Review: “The Easiest Pizza You’ll Ever Make by King Arthur Flour” (5 stars)

Recipe: The Easiest Pizza You’ll Ever Make: King Arthur Flour.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Baked: January 27, 2014

Home Made PizzaMy most recent order from King Arthur Flour (taking advantage of one of their frequent free shipping promotions) included their Pizza Dough Flavor.  Since I wanted to take advantage of this new seasoning, I didn’t use my standard pizza crust mix found in King Arthur’s 200th Anniversary cookbook.  Instead, I searched through the recipes available at King Arthur’s website and decided to try the one listed above.

I cut the recipe in half, just like I do the one from the cookbook, because my husband and I don’t need to make two or three large pizzas.  One large one is plenty for a couple of meals.  I also don’t let the dough rise but for a few minutes, long enough for me to heat the oven up to 450 degrees.  Terry and I prefer thin, crispy crusts so rising is never a necessity.

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Book Review: Peacemaker by Stewart (4 Stars)

Peacemaker by K.A. Stewart

3.5-4 out of 5 stars

Read January 2014

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Caleb Marcus is a Peacemaker, a roving lawman tasked with maintaining the peace and bringing control to magic users on the frontier. A Peacemaker isn’t supposed to take a life—but sometimes, it’s kill or be killed…

After a war injury left him half-scoured of his power, Caleb and his jackalope familiar have been shipped out West, keeping them out of sight and out of the way of more useful agents. And while life in the wild isn’t exactly Caleb’s cup of tea, he can’t deny that being amongst folk who aren’t as powerful as he is, even in his poor shape, is a bit of a relief.

But Hope isn’t like the other small towns he’s visited. The children are being mysteriously robbed of their magical capabilities. There’s something strange and dark about the local land baron who runs the school. Cheyenne tribes are raiding the outlying homesteads with increasing frequency and strange earthquakes keep shaking the very ground Hope stands on.

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My Best Reads of 2013

Yesterday, on the last day of 2013, I posted my uncle’s best reads of last year.  Today, on New Year’s Day 2014, I’m looking back at my reading for the past twelve months.

2013ReadingStatsAfter Amazon acquired GoodReads in the Spring of 2013, I resolved to not rate or review books on that site going forward.  I spent many hours relocating my existing reviews (and ratings) to this blog, where I can maintain my voice, my thoughts and my opinions as I see fit, without fear of censorship, tampering or deletions.

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